10 TO MIDNIGHT (1983) (Scream Factory Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

10 TO MIDNIGHT (1983) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 102 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: J. Lee Thompson 
Cast: Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens, Gene Davis, Geoffrey Lewis, Wilford Brimley

When I was just barely in the double-digits I caught 10 To Midnight on late-night cable TV, I am pretty sure this sleazy L.A. based thriller was my introduction to the Charles Bronson, and truth be told it's still one of my favorites in his filmography. We have L.A. Detective Leo Kessler (Bronson, Death Wish 2) on the trail of a homicidal killer whose been murdering young women around L.A., the identity of whom is revealed right from the start. The killer is a misogynist office equipment repairmen named Warren Stacy (Gene Davis, Cruising) who stalks young women and stabs them to death with a knife. In a nice bit of exploitation that pushes this Bronson thriller to another level the killer chooses to do so while he's completely nude! As a kid I found that highly disturbing, and it's still an odd bit of business watching it today, but Davis is pretty good here as the misogynist psycho, he's an attractive guy, but is all too ugly on the inside, a real sicko, and a fun villain for Bronson to square off against. 

The violence in the film is not as graphic but as the rampant nudity but it is perverse and dark with enough blood to drive home the blade, but watching it now I was surprised how much of the film is actually a crime procedural with some decent drama, more so than I remembered, but at age eleven I think it's always the nudity and blood you remember from these things. The detective's young and attractive daughter Laurie (Lisa Eilbacher, Beverly Hills Cop) catches the eye of the killer which draws Kessler even deeper into it, and when the psycho proves a bit too clever to catch legally the detective  resorts to planting evidence, which upsets his green but idealistic partner Paul McAnn (Andrew Stevens, The Fury). 

The film has some nice slasher sequences that are well done, given an even more lurid leaning by way of a nude killer, which s not something you see everyday. The film is also memorable for a few choices lines of dialogue, like when  Bronson's character says during an examination of the the first victim's body that "anybody who does something like this, his knife has to be his penis!", and when he later whips out a jack-off machine found in the home of a suspect during an interrogation, I challenge you not to laugh at the sight of crusty old Bronson whipping out an 80's vintage jack-off machine, you cannot do it! The highlights here are the murders scenes, including an amped-up finale that mirrors the infamous Richard Speck killings with the nude killer attacking a dorm full of nurses, it does not disappoint, very harrowing stuff, plus a fun vigilante shocker of an end that for my money is right up there with the best of Bronson's vigilante films. 

That being said I think the film is actually a pretty solid thriller with some fun slasher tendencies, there's not a ton of gore, but we do get of nudity and a good bit of bloodshed, making this is thriller that I think slasher fans will enjoy quite a bit. Bronson is also looking pretty committed here, he like working with J. Lee Thompson and it a shows, he's not just collecting a paycheck here they way he did with a few of the later Cannon films. Also be on the lookout for appearances from Wilford Brimley (The Thing) as a cop and Geffrey Lewis (Salem's Lot) as the killer's sleazy lawyer!  

Audio/Video: 10 To Midnight (1983) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with new 4K scan from the OCN. I never did snag the previous OOP Twilight Time Blu-ray release, but Scream do excellent work here presenting the film in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The source is clean and free of blemishes, grain is velvety rich, colors are well saturated and blacks are pleasantly deep with good shadow detail, fine detail is abundant and skin tones look natural throughout. Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono with optional English subtitles. The audio is not the most dynamic but it is clean and well-balanced, dialogue is never hard to discern and the score from Robert O. Ragland (Grizzly) sounds terrific. 

Onto the extras Scream Factory carry-over the excellent audio commentary with Producer Pancho Kohner, Casting Director John Crowther, and Film Historian David Del Valle from the TT release, a great track from guys who knew Bronson and who know a thing or two about movies as well, it's a great listen. 

New stuff comes by way of a brand new audio commentary with Writer/Historian Paul Talbot (Author Of Bronson’s Loose! And Bronson’s Loose Again!) who for my money is the authority on all things Bronson-related, his inclusion here makes this the more definitive version of the film right away, his no nonsense style of commentary are essential listening for any Bronson fan. 

Scream Factory also offer-up three brand new interviews, an 11-min interview with Actor Andrew Stevens, 13-min with Producer Lance Hool, 6-min Actor Robert F. Lyons and 7-min Actress Jeana Tomasina Keough, these are all newly recorded and exclusive to this release. Lyons speaks about working with Bronson, he describes him as having a "quiet knowing", not being very buddy buddy but respectful and professional. Noting how he would change in the presence of his wife Jill Ireland, and describing J. Lee Thompson's habit of tearing paper during filming. Actress Jeana Tomasina Keough speaks about her early modeling career, how connections through Playboy lead to her being cast in a ZZ Top music video and other films like Looker and Six Pack, and how a lie about her height on her resume cost her the lead in the film. She also notes how nice Bronson was and how intense Gene Davis was while playing the psycho, and how the director laughed when he realized she didn't know how to break an egg for her kitchen scene. Andrew Stevens recalls working with Bronson first on Death Hunt, where he recalls the actor being a reclusive health nut. He describes director J. Lee Thompson as a "mischievous imp" and also pointing out how he would roll and chew on bits of paper, plus describing Lisa Eilbacher as the best kisser in the world, and commenting on working with his other co-stars, mentioning that Gene Davis was "fearless" in the role of the nude psycho. I enjoyed how he described how he would covertly get Bronson to open-up about his past film roles, very cool. Producer Lance Hool shows up for 13-min speaking about producing the film with J. Lee Thompson, the screenwriting process, and the pros and cons of working with the infamous Cannon Films. He makes sure to praise J. Lee Thompson and his body of work, mentioning that his later-era work with Cannon Films sort of obscured his legacy. 

  

The disc is buttoned-up with a selection of trailers, radio spots and an image gallery of stills, lobby cards, and movie posters. The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster which was also used by TT, plus a new illustration from Joel Robinson, which is also featured on the disc and slipcase (o-card). 

Special Features: 
- NEW 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
- NEW Charlie’s Partner – An Interview With Actor Andrew Stevens (11 min) HD 
- NEW Producing Bronson – An Interview With Producer Lance Hool (13 min) HD 
- NEW Remembering Bronson – An Interview With Actor Robert F. Lyons (6 min) HD 
- NEW Undressed To Kill – An Interview With Actress Jeana Tomasina Keough (7 min) HD
- NEW Audio Commentary With Writer/Historian Paul Talbot (Author Of Bronson’s Loose! And Bronson’s Loose Again!)
- Audio Commentary With Producer Pancho Kohner, Casting Director John Crowther, And Film Historian David Del Valle
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) 
- Radio Spots (2 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (7 min) 

10 To Midnight (1983) is a good sleazy 80's Bronson thriller with a memorable psycho and loads of nudity, what's not to love? The new Scream Factory release looks and sounds very good, plus the extras are killer, making this one worth a double-dip. 
  

Blu-ray Review: THE FURY (Arrow Video)

THE FURY (1978) 

Label: Arrow Video 

Release Date: October 28th 2013

Region Code: B 

Rating: 15 Certificate 

Duration: 118 Minutes

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)

Audio: LPCM 2.0, 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with Optional English Subtitles

Cast: Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Amy Irving, Andrew Stevens, Charles Durning, Dennis Franz, 

Director: Brian DePalma

Synopsis: John Cassavetes gives his most sinister performance since Rosemary’s Baby as a man who kidnaps the telepathic son of his colleague (Kirk Douglas), aiming to turn him and similarly gifted individuals into human weapons. Meanwhile, Gillian (Amy Irving), is worried enough about the destructive potential of her own powers to agree to be institutionalized - but is the Paragon Institute all that it’s cracked up to be?

Following the success of supernatural prom-scare Carrie (1973) Brian De Palma continued his exploration of the supernatural with the spy-supernatural thriller mash-up The Fury (1978), it's definitely a weird ride that begins with Robin Sandza (Andrew Stevens, The Terror Within) having a conversation about the direction of his life on a Middle Eastern resort beach with his CIA agent father Peter, played by Kirk Douglas (Paths of Glory) when terrorist storm the beach in a hail of machine gunfire. The target of the attack is Peter, Kirk Douglass even at 62 years of age was looking pretty damn fit while rocking a pair of short shorts while taking out terrorists with an AK-47. It's a thrilling start to the film, action-packed and loaded with De Palma's signature moving camera, we're off to a great start.

During the attack Peter's son is protected from harm by Sandza's CIA friend Childress (John Cassavetes, Rosemary's Baby) who it turns out is not such a great friend after all, he set-up the attack in order to remove Peter and recruit Robin for a CIA-funded telekinetic murder squad. Believing his father dead Robin turns cold and disillusioned by the tragic event. Childress along with the help of seductive mentor, Dr. Susan Charles (Fiona Lewis), dope-up and brain-wash their new psychic assassin, but the process further unhinges Robin who becomes an increasingly powerful and soulless weapon.

Meanwhile, Peter who actually survived the attack is searching for his son while evading clandestine CIA agents, this plot thread leads to some weird, humorous scenarios with Peter dropping in through the window of an apartment building and holding a family a gunpoint while he disguises himself with shoe polish and a fresh set of clothes. When the CIA track his whereabouts he escapes the apartment in an age defying Bourne Identity-esque series of gymnastic escapades,  then he hijacks two off-duty police officers, one of whom is played by De Palma regular Dennis Franz (Blow Out) as Peter leads them on a wild ride through a fog drenched construction site.

Eventually Sandza tracks his son down to the Paragon Institute with the help of his girlfriend Hester (Carrie Snodgrass, Pale Rider) and the sweet, young psychic recruit Gillian (Amy Irving, Carrie). The psychic warfare prep-college is being run by Dr. Mckeever (Charles Durning, Dark Night of the Scarecrow) who always delivers a great villain when onscreen, good stuff. However, when Peter attempts to spring his psychotic son from the institute the results are expectantly tragic and psycho-kinetically explosive.


The film is a bit of a clunky mash-up, t times the spy-thriller and supernatural elements don't exactly mesh perfectly, when the two meet head-on during the finale it's fun stuff if a bit odd. The Fury is an interesting watch with some great moments, during the finale when Robin's eyes are burning iridescent blue and the psychokinetic mayhem is full-tilt it's fun stuff. Douglas is entertaining as the betrayed agent in pursuit of his son, and Cassavetes as the cold, calculating villain is fantastic, his presences is just something you can't take your eyes off. As ever Amy Irving is delightful as the naive and sympathetic telepath Gillian, a young woman recruited by the Paragon Institute, she really pulls you in, which is great because Andrew Stevens doesn't exactly make you feel anything for his character, turning in the most non-effectual performance of the film.  At nearly two hours the film struggles a bit to keep a decent pace despite De Palma's enjoyable visuals, the interesting bits just don't add up to form a cohesive story.


I think the film's biggest flaw is the script, it's incoherent at times, but De Palma's tense directing style and some strong performances keeps the weirdness flowing along while keeping head scratching to a minimum, it keeps you off balance just enough to go with it. If you think too much about what you're seeing here O think it would be detrimental to your viewing, trust me.

There are some nice effects and gore peppered throughout, including a great Scanners-esque finale, the film shares quite a bit with Cronenberg's classic, but falls a bit short on it's promise. We get the usual array of De Palma cinema magic, a great scene of Gillian escaping from the Paragon Institute plays out in beautiful slow-motion, nearly silent, the escape is successful but not without collateral damage, a victim's life ends on the shattered windshield of an out-of-control car, it's pure De Palma awesomeness. While it's not a perfect film this is supernatural spy-thriller has some nice horror elements and is worth a watch even if it struggles to maintain coherency from time to time.

Blu-ray: Earlier this year we saw a region-free Blu-ray of Brian De Palma's The Fury (1978) from US distributor Twilight Time that suffered from rampant film grain in the darker scenes, it was murky and the contrast was not great. Arrow Video have sourced a brand-new transfer from the original camera negative with an AVC encode on 1080p Blu-ray, and it's quite impressive when stacked-up against the Twilight Time Blu-ray with more robust colors and more natural skin tones, improved depth and clarity, it's quite impressive, fans are gonna be pleased.

Audio options include both the English 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM English 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles. I preferred the 4.0 with it's pleasing dynamic range, dialogue and effects are nicely balanced, plus it opens up the sound stage nicely. Dialogue is crisp and John Williams fantastic Bernard Herman-esque score sounds superb, compared to the TT Blu-ray the audio here is more intense,  we also have an isolated score and effects track to enjoy.

As with all of the recent Brian De Palma Blu-rays from Arrow we have a nice selection of Fiction Factory produced extras beginning with Blood on the Lens (27:00) an interview with Cinematographer Richard H. Klinehe speaks fondly of his only film with De Palma, remembering his experience on the set, setting-up shots, De Palma meticulous nature and commenting on the gorgeous cast, John Williams score and going into details about the specific scenes like the carnival sequence and the levitation scene.

Up next is Spinning Tale (13:38) with star Fiona Lewis who remembers the film as being ahead of it's time  and bearing the distinct De Palma stamp. She speaks briefly about her time on Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers and A Day at the Beach with Peter Sellers and not wanting to do the film after reading the script until she met with De Palma, who impressed her.  She offers some great recollections of working with John Cassevetes who was cold and dry witted, working with Andrew Stevens and being battered over the course of 24 takes of being thrown to the ground repeatedly.

The most in-depth and rounded of the features would be The Fury - A Location Journal: An interview with Sam Irvin (49:49), who at the time of the film was intern and correspondent for Cinefantastique magazine. His recounting of his De Palma fandom and time on set working with the director and interviewing the cast is fantastic and offered a lot of behind-the-scenes info ranging from stealing the estate location from the Omen II production,the make-up effects, cut scenes, and differences between the book and film. Irvin is an unabashed De Palma groupie and was totally in love with Fiona Lewis, he would go onto direct and produce quite a few films of his own including Elvira's Haunted Hills and Gods and Monsters, the entire feature is quite a love-letter to De Palma and his film.

Also included is Sam Irvin's Brian De Palma-esque short film Double Negative (17:58) a noir crime thriller about the film industry, fun stuff. There are also vintage interviews from the 1978 promotional tour, featuring Brian De Palma (6:03), producer Frank Yablans (6:52) and stars Carrie Snodgress (5:06) and Amy Irving (4:45), a collection of behind-the-scenes stills, and the theatrical trailer.

Reversible Artwork 

Not included with my review disc from Arrow but with the retail version are a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw plus a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Dumas, author of Un-American Psycho: Brian De Palma and the Political Invisible, as well as a re-print of a contemporary interview with Brian De Palma, and a brand new interview with screenwriter John Farris on the writing of the film, his and De Palma’s unrealised adaptation of Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man and more, illustrated with original stills and posters.

This is a fantastic edition of a film that's received short shrift with previous DVD and Blu-ray incarnations, Arrow's Blu-ray have rectified that with a superb AV presentation with some interesting and in-depth supplement material, if you have not gone region-FREE here's yet another reason from Arrow Video to do so NOW!

Special Features:

- Brand new digital transfer of the film from the original camera negative
- Optional uncompressed mono 2.0 PCM and 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio audio
- Isolated John Williams score
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Blood on the Lens: An interview with Cinematographer Richard H. Kline (27:00)
- Spinning Tales: Fiona Lewis on starring in The Fury (13:38)
- The Fury - A Location Journal: An interview with Sam Irvin, intern on The Fury, author of the film’s shooting diary and then correspondent for Cinefantastique magazine (49:49)
- Original archive interviews from the 1978 promotional tour, featuring Brian De Palma (6:03), producer Frank Yablans (6:52) and stars Carrie Snodgress (5:06) and Amy Irving (4:45)
- Double Negative: A short film tribute to Brian De Palma by Sam Irvin, starring William Finley (17:58)
- Gallery of behind-the-scenes production images
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw
- Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Dumas, author of Un-American Psycho: Brian De Palma and the Political Invisible, as well as a re-print of a contemporary interview with Brian De Palma, and a brand new interview with screenwriter John Farris on the writing of the film, his and De Palma’s unrealised adaptation of Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man and more, illustrated with original stills and posters.

Verdict:  Having just reviewed The Fury (1978) a few months ago I then stated it was not a top-tier De Palma but an interesting supernatural actioner mash-up, watching it again I was a bit more into it this time out, it's fun to see De Palma explore the supernatural themes of Carrie (1976), watching the new extras probably enhanced my viewing quite a bit, this gets a recommend. 3.5 Outta 5 

Blu-ray Review: THE FURY (1978)

THE FURY (1978) 

The Limited Edition Series 

Label: Twilight Time DVD

Region Code: Region FREE

Rating: R

Duration: 118 Minutes

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)

Audio: English 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with Optional English Subtitles

Cast: Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, Carrie Snodgress, Amy Irving, Andrew Stevens, Charles Durning, Dennis Franz, 

Director: Brian DePalma

Following the success of 1973's supernatural prom-scare Carrie Brian DePalma continued his exploration of the supernatural with this spy-thriller mash-up, definitely a weird ride that begins with Robin Sandza (Andrew Stevens, The Terror Within) having a conversation about the direction of his life on a Middle Eastern resort beach with his CIA agent father Peter (Kirk Douglas, Paths of Glory) when terrorist storm the beach in a hail of gunfire, the target is Peter, Douglass even at 62 years of age was looking fit as a fiddle and rocking a pair of white shorty shorts while taking out terrorists and arming himself with an AK-47. It's a thrilling start to the film, action-packed and loaded with DePalma's signature moving camera.

During the attack Peter's son is protected from harm by Sandza's CIA friend Childress (John Cassavetes, Rosemary's Baby) who it turns out set-up the attack in order to take-out Peter and obtain Robin for a CIA-funded telekinetic murder squad, that bastard. Robin, believing his father dead, turns cold and disillusioned by the tragic event. The Agency with the help of seductive mentor, Dr. Susan Charles (Fiona Lewis), dope-up and brain-wash the psychic assassin, the process further unhinges Robin who becomes a powerful and soulless weapon. 

Meanwhile, Peter who actually survived the staged attack is now searching for his son while evading clandestine CIA agents, this plot thread leads to some weird, humorous scenarios with Peter dropping in through a window and holding a family a gunpoint while he disguises himself with shoe polish and a fresh set of clothes. When the CIA track his whereabouts he escapes the apartment in an age defying Bourne Identity-esque series of gymnastic feats. Fresh from this agile escape Peter hijacks two on-duty police officers, one of whom is played by DePalma regular Dennis Franz (Blow Out) as Peter leads them on a wild ride through a fog-laden construction site while escaping a CIA tail. 

Eventually Sandza tracks his son down to the Paragon Institute with the help of his girlfriend Hester (Carrie Snodgrass, Pale Rider) and a young psychic recruit Gillian (Amy Irving, Carrie). The psychic warfare prep-college is being run by Dr. Mckeever (Charles Durning, Dark Night of the Scarecrow) who always delivers a great villain when onscreen, good stuff. However, when Peter attempts to spring his psychotic son from the institute the results are expectantly tragic and psycho-kinetically explosive. 

The film is a bit of a clunky mash-up, the  spy-thriller and supernatural elements don't exactly mesh quite perfectly, when the two meet head-on during the finale it's fun stuff if a bit odd. The Fury is an interesting watch with some great moments, during the finale when Robin's eyes are burning irradesent blue and the psychokinetic mayhem is full-tilt it's fun stuff. Douglas is quite entertaining as the betrayed agent in pursuit of his son, and Cassavetes is an calculating and intense villain, he's one of those presences you just can't take your eyes off. As ever Amy Irving is delightful as the naive and sympathetic Gillian, a young woman recruited by the Paragon Institute, really pulls you in, which is great because Andrew Stevens doesn't exactly ever make yo feel anything for his character, turning in the most non-effectual performance of the film.  At nearly two hours the film struggles a bit to keep a decent pace despite DePalma's enjoyable visuals, the interesting bits just don't add up to form a cohesive story. 

I think the film's biggest flaw is the script, it's incoherent at times, but DePalma's tense directing style and some strong performances keeps the weirdness flowing along without much scratching, it keeps you off balance just enough to go with it, thinking about it too much would be detrimental to your viewing experience, trust me. 

There's some nice effects and gore peppered throughout, including a great Scanners-esque finale, the film shares quite a bit with Cronenberg's classic, but falls a bit short on it's promise. We get the usual array of DePalma cinema magic, a great scene of Gillian escaping from the Paragon Institute plays out in beautiful slow-motion, nearly silent, the escape is successful but not without collateral damage, a victim's life ends on the shattered windshield of an out-of-control car, it's pure DePalma awesomeness. While it's not a perfect film this is supernatural spy-thriller has some nice horror elements and is worth a watch even if it struggles to maintain coherency from time to time. 

Blu-ray: Brian DePalma's The Fury (1978) comes to Blu-ray for the first time from Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer presented in widescreen (1.85:1). Having just recently thrown on the Fox DVD for a view when this Blu-ray was announced I am pleased to say it's an improvement. Colors are nicely saturated plus fine detail and sharpness are improved. One thing you will definitely notice an abundance of film grain throughout, not just a fine silted layer either, this is robust stuff. The black levels suffer a bit, definitely handling them better than the DVD but they're pretty murky and infused with grain and contrast issues. The source print is not exactly pristine either, there are minor instances of print damage with scratches, white specks, there doesn't appear to have been much of any restoration afforded the film to my eyes past a clean-up. Not to say the presentation is not generally pleasing to the eyes, the 1080p upgrade shows increased fine detail and sharpness,  while it's not on par with Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) on Blu-ray if you're a fan of the film, if you love DePalma, I can safely tell you this is worth the upgrade provided you are willing to shell out $35 for the Twilight Time edition. . 

Audio options include both the English 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with Optional English Subtitles. The 4.0 wins the contest quite easily with a pleasing dynamic range, dialogue and effects are nicely balanced. John Williams brassy Bernard Herman-esque score sounds nice and full, a definite upgrade from the DVD even if the surrounds don't get much of a workout.

Twilight Time have been releasing some recent Blu-rays stuffed with extras, check out Our Man Flint (1965), In Like Flint (1967), Christine (1983) and Major Dundee (1965), all of which are are dripping with great extras. Unfortunately, we don't get much in the way of extras with The Fury, what we do get is the signature Isolated Score Track, John Williams score is pretty fantastic, Williams is strongly channeling Bernard Herman and it's a joy to listen to. Also included is the Original Theatrical Trailer and an 8 pg. Collector's Booklet with Julie Kirgo's extensive liner notes which frame the film in a post-Carrie (1976) world with DePalma further exploring the occult and supernatural. While features are a bit anemic they are certainly appreciated, would have loved a commentary, interviews with the cast or crew, but the original Fox DVD had none and keeping with Twilight Time's business model they have not sourced new features, but we do get the nifty Julie Kirgo liner notes and a great isolated score.  

Special Features: 

- John Williams Isolated Score Track 

- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Collector's Booklet with Extensive Julie Kirgo Liner Notes

Verdict: Not a top-tier DePalma film by any means but an interesting supernatural actioner mash-up, it's fun to see DePalma further explore the occult following Carrie (1976), it's just not as successful a film. As usual Twilight Time's Blu-ray is limited edition of only 3,000 and available exclusively from www.screenarchives.com, so get it while you can. 3 Outta 5