THE HORNY '80'S
FUN CITY EDITIONS TWO-FER BLU-RAY REVIEW:
HEAVENLY BODIES (1984)
&
PARADISE (1982)
Oh the early 1980, a time when I was coming of age, finally hitting those double-digits, a time when 80s pop culture was a zesty enterprise of sex and vibrant colors, my own pop-culture tastes were being cultivated by steady viewing of late-night cable TV offerings and regular trips to the video store, which is where I would occasionally convince my parents to rent something other than the usual horror flick, usually a goofy comedy. But sometimes it would end up being a sex-comedy, or some other slightly risqué, some semi-erotic adventure that would turn me on. Not porn mind you, my parents were not that permissive, but just something with enough sexuality and a bit of nudity, just enough that it worked me up a bit, and awoken some emerging sexual feelings - something like Porky's or The Last American Virgin. Along those lines I would put both of these Canadian flicks, which were sort of knocking off more popular blockbusters, those being coming-of-age flick The Blue Lagoon and the horny dance flick Flashdance.
HEAVENLY BODIES (1984)
Label: Fun City Editions
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 89 Minutes 35 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Lawrence Dane
Cast: Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, Walter George Alton, Laura Henry, Stuart Stone
A year after the box-office success of Flashdance (1983) we got the Canadian knock-off version with Heavenly Bodies (1984), aka Scratch Dance, an aerobicized slice of leg-warmer romance starring the bodacious Cynthia Dale (My Bloody Valentine) as aerobic-dance instructor Samantha Blair who operate the Heavenly Bodies aerobics studio who is in direct competition with the larger corporate studio, Sporting Life, run by Jack (Walter George Alton, The Pumaman). When the opportunity arises to audition for the instructor on a local fitness television show it outs her in competition with Jack's bitchy girlfriend Debbie (Laura Henry), who gets even bitchier when she loses out to Samantha. These sorts of shows were wildly popular at the time, I remember watching one in the mornings before the school bus would pick me up, not that I was interested in aerobics, but watching those pretty women in their neon colored skintight leotards and leg warmers stretching and undulating to what sounded like softcore porno music really moved me, if you know what I mean, and my mom certainly did, she would change the channel every time she caught me watching it.
The sore Debbie is super-jealous of Samantha, catching her boyfriend Jack smooching on her in the pool, so she cones Jack's business partner to buy out the warehouse housing Heavenly Bodies, effectively shutting the business down, but Samantha uses her newfound public outlet hosting the aerobics show to publicly challenge Jack and the Sporting Life aerobics staff, including the bitchy Debbie, to a grueling hours-long aerobicizing dance-off to save the studio in Joysticks fashion!
It's a fun flick, the star is truly the charismatic and glowing Cynthia Dale, who is an actual dancer, and it shows in the choreography, there's a joy that she conveys that is totally infectious, and her smile is truly radiant, She has a charm that reminds me a bit of Jessica Harper (Suspiria) that attracted me. One of my favorite bit of choreography is when she first enters the TV studio believing she is alone, and she just starts swaying and eventually erupts into a prolonged choreographed number that perfectly conveys her inner-joy and love of dance, it's quite something. There are plenty of scenes of her a s a single mother raising her young son, and a tepid romance with a footballer named Steve (Richard Rebiere, Happy Birthday To Me), with way too many montages of their burgeoning romance, but the sizzle here is Dale's easy to love charms and the dance sequences, which are beautifully choreographed and nicely lensed as well.
Notably this is the sole directorial effort by actor Lawrence Dane who horror fans will know from Rituals, Scanners and Happy Birthday to Me. It was well-directed so I am a bit surprised he never sought out or got more directing work, whatever the case may be. The film also has a banger '80s soundtrack featuring choice cuts by Bonnie Pointer, Sparks, and my favorite, the synthy new-waver "Into the Flow" by Boys Brigade - the whole soundtrack is a total 80's earworm that will be stuck in your head for days afterward.
Audio/Video: Heavenly Bodies (1984) makes it's worldwide Blu-ray debut from Fun City Editions with a brand new 4K restoration of its original 35mm internegative, presented here in 1.85:1 widescreen. A nicely filmic presentation with natural looking grain, nice vibrant colors and solid black levels. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. It's clean and well-balanced, there are no age related issues like hiss or distortion, and the infectious soundtrack sounds terrific.
On-disc extras include a new Audio commentary by Millie De Chirico and Jeffrey Mixed; the wonderful 14-min A Little Bit of Gold Dust - Cynthia Dale on Heavenly Bodies, plus a 3-min Image Gallery. The single-disc release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork
Inside there's a 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Nathan Holmes. The booklet is designed to look like a retro TV guide complete with TV listings for FCE compatible flicks, and synopsis for a handful of FCE films. There are also cast and crew credits and Blu-ray credits as well. It's quite a nostalgically designed and brought me back to a time when we would get the TV listings weekly in the Sunday paper, right after I would read the comics I would snag the guide and highlight all the comedies and horror flicks I wanted to watch for the week.
Special Features:
- Audio commentary by Millie De Chirico and Jeffrey Mixed
- A Little Bit of Gold Dust - ,Cynthia Dale on Heavenly Bodies 14:02)
- Audio commentary by Millie De Chirico and Jeffrey Mixed
- A Little Bit of Gold Dust - ,Cynthia Dale on Heavenly Bodies 14:02)
- Image gallery (3:07)
- Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork
- 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Nathan Holmes (First Pressing Only)
Buy it!
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PARADISE (1982)
Label: Fun City Editions
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 101 Minutes 56 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo Theatrical and Pre-Release Mix Audio with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Stuart Gillard
Cast: Willie Aames, Phoebe Cates, Tuvia Tavi, Richard Curnock
As mentioned before it would be hard to watch Paradise (1982) and not think of coming-of-age tale of The Blue Lagoon, but it's more than just a cheap knock off. It tells teh tales of two teenagers during the 19th century who find themselves travelling together in the Middle East, on the road from Baghdad to Damascus via camel-caravan. David (Willie Aames, Zapped!) is travelling with his Christian missionary parents, while and Sarah (Phoebe Cates, Gremlins), the daughter of a wealthy British Merchant, is chaperoned by her loyal manservant Geoffrey (Richard Curnock). While camping in the desert the caravan is massacred by a slave trader known as the Jackal (Tuvia Tavi, Sahara), who earlier spotted Sarah at a market and has become obsessed with her. beauty. Only David, Sarah and Geoffrey survive the attack, finding shelter in an cavernous underground oasis with a fresh supply of water, where they stay for a bit, hoping to make it to Damascus somehow, but the Jackal kills Geoffrey and the teens find themselves alone in the desert, travelling by camel at night to distance themselves from the Jackal's marauding men who are searching for them.
They end up stumbling onto a lush desert oasis complete with greenery and a waterfall, which they call "Paradise", and place which also seems to be quite close to the sea apparently. It's here that The Blue Lagoon influence really come into play, instead of a deserted island the teens coming-of-age story happens at a lush desert oasis, the pair bonding and finding love and discovering sex, as well as befriending a chimp, dealing with pregnancy and the threat of attack by the Jackal's marauders.
The film is attractively shot by cinematographer Adam Greenberg (Terminator, Near Dark) whose camerawork make the desert and oasis locations look gorgeous, but the serious sizzle here is the stunning Phoebe Cates in her many nude scenes that drew the eye of this once young man when he saw it on a cable as a kid, she is absolutely glowing and gorgeous, and it should be noted that this uncut version contains several minutes of never-before-seen footage. When I first saw this i had an instant crush on her, how could you not, her turn in both Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins further solidifying my crush as well-justified. As a kid I was less interested in Willie Ames physicality, but he was a pretty stunning young man back in '82 and he looked terrific with Cates onscreen, though he was nominated for a Worst Actor at the fickle Raspberry Awards that year. The film is also notable for having a theme song sung by Phoebe Cates, which apparently topped the charts in foreign lands.
It's most definitely A Blue Lagoon knock-off, but that didn;t detract from how entertaining and charming I thought it was, with it's attractive lensing and exotic locations, gorgeous young stars, there's a lot here to love, and it certainly gave me the nostalgic warm and fuzzies watching it.
Audio/Video: Paradise (1982) makes it's worldwide Blu-ray debut with a region-free disc from Fun City Editions, sourced from 4K Restoration from the original 35mm camera negative, frame din the original 1.85:1 widescreen. The film looks appropriately grainy, no ugly digital-scrubbing here, it's quite filmic with pleasing detail and textures, skin tones look spot on, and colors are robust throughout. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo Theatrical Mix with optional English subtitles. We also get the Isolated Score Track and a Pre-release Sound Mix. It sounds terrific, dialogue is clean and well-balanced, and the score by Paul Hoffert (The Groundstar Conspiracy) breathes nicely in the mix.
Disc extras include a new Audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson; both the 3-min Red Band Trailer and Green Band Trailer; an 8-min Image Gallery; 2-min of Radio Spots and 1-min of TV spots. Additionally we get an Isolated Score Track and the option to view the film with a Pre-release Sound Mix.
The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a clear keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring legacy artwork on both sides. Inside there is a 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Amanda Reyes, which is available only with the first pressing. Like with Heavenly Bodies the booklet is designed to look like a retro TV guide complete with TV listings for FCE compatible flicks, and synopses for a handful of FCE films. There are also cast and crew credits and Blu-ray release credits as well.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Nathaniel Thompson
- Red Band Trailer (2:47)
- Green Band Trailer (2:33)
- Image gallery (7:31)
- Radio spots (2:16)
- TV spots (0:42)
- Isolated Score Track
- Pre-release Sound Mix
- Theatrical Sound Mix
- Double-sided wrap with legacy artwork
- 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new essays by Margaret Barton-Fumo and Amanda Reyes (First Pressing Only)
Buy it!
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