FIRESTARTER (1984) (Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

FIRESTARTER (1984) 
Collector's Edition Blu-ray 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 115 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS--HD MA Mono with Optional English subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Mark L. Lester 
Cast: George C. Scott, Heather Locklear, Louise Fletcher, Art Carney, David Keith

Firestarter (1984) was a movie I discovered during its lengthy run on 80s cable TV, I would plop down on the floor in front of the TV to watch it anytime it aired. But, that was back in the 80s, I'm quite a bit older now, and I haven't watched it in years, and with the way that youthful nostalgia works I was a bit worried it wouldn't hold up, but good news, Firestarter is still a good watch.

As a Stephen King adaptation this is a fairly faithful to the source material, we have a gifted youngster Charlene "Charlie" McGee (Drew Barrymore, Santa Clarita Diet), with the power of pyrokinesis, the ability to produce fire without the aid of a flame, which is cool. Her father Andy (David Keith, White of the Eyes) is a telepath who can "push" people into doing things against their will, they are both on the run from a secret government organization known as "The Shop", baddies who want to perform experiments on Charlie, to weaponize her. The Shop is run my Captain Hollister(Martin Sheen, Badlands), and when his standard-issue agents fail to apprehend the super-powered duo Hollister enlists assassin Agent John Rainbird (George C. Scott, The Changeling)to recover the pair by an means necassary. 

Firestarter is sort of a superhero origin story at a time when superhero movies were not as commonplace as they are today, a story with telepaths, gifted youngsters, secret government agencies sort of smacks of the X-Men franchise, and truly the father/daughter on the run storyline is mirrored by the recent film Logan (2017). Another way to see it might be Stephen King's Carrie by way John Farris's The Fury, two movies which were brought from the page to the big screen in spectacular fashion by director Brian De Palma, and while this adaptation doesn't rise to the level of Carrie (1976) it's right up there with The Fury (1978) in my opinion, sharing very similiar themes.

The movie holds up nicely, it's a fun watch, with Drew Barrymore anchoring the whole shebang as the gifted child, apprehended and coerced into honing her pyrokinetic abilities by the baddies. Barrymore has some nice depth about her, she was already a damn fine actress at such a young age. Keith David as her father is good, I've always like him, his concern for his daughter comes through in the performance, but he can be a bit wooden, but overall he turns in a good performance. Martin Sheen as the head of the shop is good, a menacing presence, but not too over-the-top. Then we have the venerable George C. Scott, unfortunately playing a native American assassin, which is silly. Somehow Scott rises above the sorely miscast role, sporting a ponytail and an eye patch, a disturbing character with some truly unsavory plans for Barrymore's young character, while it's never spelled out in black and white it always seemed to me to hint at pedophelia, so creepy. 

At The hop Barrymore's Charlie is kept locked away, sequestered from her father, fake-friended by Rainbird masquerading as a kind-hearted orderly, coerced into showing off her alarmingly frightful abilities, climaxing with young Charlie firing it up full throttle after a tragedy, burning the place to the ground in a rather fulfilling series of scorching scenes. Barrymore anchors the movie, but I think it's all the cool fire stunt work that sticks with people, with plenty of fireballs and baddie agents going up in flames real nice, these are real people on fire, old school stuff that now would be done digitally. 

The movie has a a lot of heart, the father-daughter story is strong, the government agency makes for good baddie, and there's just enough back story peppered into the film to give it some added depth, including flashbacks to Andy's college days, where he volunteered in an experiment in which students were dosed with a hallucinogenic drug called LOT-6, a drug which gave Andy his telepathic abilities. This is also where Andy met Charlie's mother, Vicky (a bright-eyed Heather Locklear, TV's Melrose Place), who also acquired the telepathic ability to read minds, with the two later giving birth to Charlie, who in turn inherited her own special powers. 

Audio/Video: Firestarter (1984) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory framed in the original widescreen scope (2.35:1)  aspect ratio, sourced from a brand new 2K scan of the interpositive. The 2K scan breathes new life into the image, beginning with not having been egregiously DNR-scrubbed as the previous barebones Universal Blu-ray was. With the nicely managed grain we get some good fine detail, with decent depth and clarity. The image appears a bit brighter, colors are more robust, the forest greens are vibrant, skin tones look more realistic, and the image is sharper. On PQ alone this is already a significant improvement. 

The lone audio on the disc is an English language DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track, and it sounds fine, the dialogue and sound effects are crisp and clean. The Tangerine Dream core comes through with a nice resonance, but I think it would have benefitted from a surround sound mix. Optional English subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras we have an audio commentary with director Mark L. Lester flying solo, he's a bit soft spoken and there's some dead space, but it's good stuff, I think having a moderator would have livened it up a bit. The center piece on the extras is a 55-min making of doc, featuring interviews with director Mark L. Lester, actors Freddie Jones and Drew Snyder, stuntman/actor Dick Warlock and Johannes Schmoelling of Tangerine Dream. Lester covers a lot of the same ground on the commentary track, recalling coming to the attention of producer Dino De Laurentiis following the success of his film Class of 1984 (1982), writing the script with writer Stanley Mann, shooting in a non-union state to keep costs low, shooting the fire stunts, and the score.  He also speaks about the casting, bringing big names into the movie, also dropping that Heather O'Rourke (Poltergeist) was in the running to play Charlie. Actor Drew Snyder who played one of The Shop agents recalls Lester being a good director, a creative guy, and working with the stuntmen on-set, including a fire stunt he did, which was the one and only fire stunt stunt of his career. According to him the stuntmen would go to local bars after hours and brawl with the locals. Freddie Jones, who played Dr. Joseph Wanless, doesn't seem to remember a whole lot about the shoot, other than being warned not to wander around town and being intimidated by George C. Scott. Actor/Stuntman Dick Warlock (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning)speaks a bit about working with Barrymore, and the fire stunts. Johannes Schmoelling of Tangerine Dream speaks a bit about the process of recording the score, and an odd meeting with producer Dino de Laurentis. Sadly there are no interviews with the main cast, that being Martin Sheen, Drew Barrymore or David Keith, which would have kicked the extras up a notch.

Johannes Schmoelling shows up again for a 17-min interview, speaking about scoring Michael Mann’s movie Thief (1981), which is how they began their decades long career scoring movies, before going into a bit more detail about creating the Firestarter score.  Extras are finished up with a 3-min performance of “Charlie’s Theme” by Johannes Schmoelling on piano, theatrical trailers, TV spots and a gallery of production images, the press kit, and poster art from various territories.

The Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Scream comes housed in a standard blue blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, one side is a new illustration and the other is the original movie poster image. The release also comes with an 0-ring (slipcover) with the new illustration from the CPR Group.

Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan of the inter-positive film element
- NEW Audio commentary with director Mark L. Lester
- NEW Playing with Fire: The Making of FIRESTARTER – featuring interviews with director Mark L. Lester, actors Freddie Jones and Drew Snyder, stuntman/actor Dick Warlock and Johannes Schmoelling of Tangerine Dream (55 min) HD 
- NEW Tangerine Dream: Movie Music Memories – an interview with Johannes Schmoelling (17 min) HD 
- NEW exclusive performance of “Charlie’s Theme” by Johannes Schmoelling of Tangerine Dream (3 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailers (4 min) HD 
- Radio Spot (5 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (6 min) HD 

80s scorcher Firestarter (1984) holds surprisingly well, thanks to the compelling story and a solid cast, further enhanced by the ethereal synth score from Tangerine Dream. The new Collector's Edition Blu-ray looks and sounds great, the image upgrade is significant and the nearly hour long making of doc is good stuff, fans of 80s sci-fi thrillers and Stephen King adaptation should be very pleased with this release, recommended. 3.5/5

SCREEN CAPS

Having already sold my Firestarter Blu-ray from Universal all I had on hand to compare the Scream Factory Blu-ray to was the Universal DVD (2008), which is not a fair comparison, but here you go, for the sake of comparison. 

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

UNIVERSAL DVD (TOP)

SCREAM FACTORY Blu-ray (BOTTOM)

THE CURSE (1987) / CURSE II: THE BITE (1989) (Blu-ray Review)

THE CURSE (1987) / CURSE II: THE BITE (1989) 

THE CURSE (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 90 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: David Keith 
Cast: Wil Wheaton, Amy Wheaton, Claude Akins, Cooper Huckabee, John Schneider, Malcolm Danare

Synopsis: Life on the family dairy farm is difficult for young Zach Hayes (Wil Wheaton, Stand by Me): hard work, long hours and the normal family squabbles. But after an ice-blue meteor plunges through the midnight sky and lands on their property, it gets worse. Zach and the local doctor discover that something inside the meteor is infecting every living thing on the farm. Fruits, which look perfect on the outside are teeming with worms… and Zach's family is beginning to change… hideously! This shocker is directed by actor David Keith (Firestarter, White of the Eye) and co-stars Claude Akins (Tentacles), Malcolm Danare (Christine), Cooper Huckabee (The Funhouse) and John Schneider (Smallville).

The Curse (1987) is an '80s adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space directed by actor David Keith (White of the Eye), the movie takes place on a small farm in a rural area of Tennesee. When a white-hot meteor lands on a farm it melts away, leeching its cosmic properties into the ground water supply and causing all sorts of havoc for the residents of the small community.  Actor Claude Akins (Rio Bravo) plays farmer Nathan Crane, a strict religious-nut whose affection-starved wife Frances (Kathleen Jordon Gregory) is a horny adulterer. His oldest son Cyrus (Malcolm Danare) is a mean bully, and his youngest son Zack (Wil Wheaton) seems to be the only decent one among the bunch, and the subject of Cyrus's relentless bullying.

What we have here is an environmental horror movie, just replace the 80's standard culprit of toxic waste with the ill effects of a meteor from outer space and you have a pretty good idea what you might be ins tore for here. At first the contaminated ground water leads to a bumper crop of fruits and veggies for farmer Crane, which is good, as they're on the verge losing the farm to the bank. This unexpected crop would seem to indicate his financial woes have come to an end, but while the contaminated crops looking robust and tasty, they are flavorless and rotten on the inside, the delicious red apples from the orchard are loaded with meal worms. 

As the Crane's drink the contaminated water they are affected physically and mentally by it, with the father becoming more abusive, while mother Crane begins to lose her mind, with boils appearing on her face. Young Zach notices the water tastes funny early on and refuses to drink it, further upsetting his father who is already stressed with the future of the farm and his cheating wife on his mind. The animals in the area are also affected by the contaminated water, which gives the movie a nice when-animals-attack flavor at times. 

There's also a thread about a crooked realtor named Charlie Davidson (Steve Carlisle) who is in league with a local doctor named Alan Forbes (Cooper Huckabee), both are aware of a plan by the state to build a dam in the area, together they set about buying as much property as they can in the area to profit from the dam-building project, with one of the sole holdouts being Nathan Crane who steadfastly refuses to sell his farm. A representative from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is played by Tom Schenider of Smallville, who I did not recognize at first, those eye glasses really nerd him up a bit, it worked for Superman, too. He plays the hero of the movie, and is one of the first to recognize that something has contaminated the water supply, and to notice the ill effects on the community. 

The movie was directed by actor David Keith who you might remember from starring roles in Firestarter and white of the Eye, and this is the first of just three movies he directed. This is not a great movie, not straight-up awful but on the lower end of good. The movie was produced by a man who knew a thing or two about b-movies, Ovidio G. Assonitis directed Tentacles and The Exorcist rip-off Beyond the Door, according to legend Eurocult icon Lucio Fulci shot some second unit on the movie and may have created some of the optical effects in the movie, not sure of the validity of that info, but some of the special effects are pretty gross, rotting fruit and vegetables has always grossed me out. As a teen I worked in the produce department of a grocery store, one day I was restocking oranges when I put my finger through the rotten flesh of a green-blue molded orange, it was so gross. I'd rather handle the bloodied remains of fresh roadkill, but maybe I am just weird that way. Anyway, a scene of a maggot-spewing cow corpse feels like pure Lucio Fulci. 

The Curse was a decent watch, but not a great one, the story is overly convoluted and the pay-off is not spectacular. half the fun for me was spotting actors like a young Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Clause Akins from Rio Bravo, and John Schenider from The Dukes of Hazard - none of whom do great work in my opinion, but it was fun to see Akins play such a mean-spirited cuss. As adaptations of the source material go, I don't think we;ve seen a great one yet, but I do have a fondness for the technicolor horror of Die Monster Die (1969) starring Boris Karloff, which strays quite a bit from the source, but I love it. 

CURSE II: THE BITE (1989) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 97 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Fred Goodwin 
Cast: Bo Svenson, Sydney Lassick, J. Eddie Peck, Jamie Farr, Jill Schoelen, Shiri Appleby, Savina Gersak

Synopsis: Two young lovers, Clark (J. Eddie Peck, Kyle XY) and Lisa (Jill Schoelen, The Stepfather), traveling through the desert unwittingly pass through an abandoned nuclear test site which has become a breeding ground for deadly mutant killer snakes. When Clark is bitten, he undergoes a grotesque transformation into a hideous snake monster! This chiller filled with slithering horror also stars Jamie Farr (M*A*S*H), Shiri Appleby (Roswell) and Bo Svenson (Walking Tall Part II).

The second half of this double-feature is Curse II: The Bite which came a few years later and has nothing at all to do with the original movie, this is a pure cash-in retitling. This one concerns a young couple driving across country to California, we have Clark (J. Eddie Peck) and his girlfriend Lisa (Jill Schoelen, The Stepfather), a nice '80s couple, and Schoelen is easy on the eyes. 

While crossing the desert the couple encounter a massive horde of snakes covering the road, the couple drive straight through it, but along along the way a mutated snake slithers into the back of their Jeep, where it later bites Clark on the hand. They seek treatment from a sketchy doctor at a nearby motel, the doctor is played by none other than Jamie Farr, Clinger from M.A.S.H.! They bandage up the hand and continue their journey West, but Clark begins to become more aggressive, and it turns out that what is happening is that the snake bite has caused his hand to tun into a snake, which sounds cheesy ...and it is, but it's not played for laughs, this is serious hand-snake stuff.

There's a surprising amount of decent gore in the movie, a lot of it done by scream Mad George, the diabolical make-up effects genius behind Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator and Society. First we have a mutated dog who has been bitten by a snake, which is grotesque, I was a bit upset that this scene was overly dark, it was hard to make it out. Later scenes of Clark's hand attacking people against his will are better resolved, the final sequences of him chasing Lisa trough a construction site are damn good, fans of icky body horror are in for quite a treat. 

There's also a fun cast of minor character that make this a fun watch, we have the aforementioned Jamie Farr, plus Sydney Lassick from The Unseen, I love that guy, always playing sightly fey weirdos. Bo Svenson also makes an appearance as the sheriff.  There's also a strange thread having to do with a cast of shady trucker characters, including the horny Big Flo played by Marianne Muellerleile. 

Audio/Video: The Curse and Curse II: The Bite arrive on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in their original scope aspect ratio (2.35:1) looking good with some nicely managed film grain. Colors are nicely robust, and the black levels are adequate for the most part. Scream Factory have indicated that the only source for the HD transfer fr Curse II was an actual film print, and while it does fall short in a few areas,all things considered the A/V presentation met my expectations. I wasn't expecting a collector's edition A/V presentation for either of these movie to be honest. Both films sport an English language DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 audio tracks with optional English subtitles. Not the most dynamic audio presentation for either, but they are clean, crisp and nicely balanced.  The only extras on the set is a 2-minute theatrical trailer for The Curse presented in standard definition. 

What we have here is another fun b-movie double-feature from the '80s that is sure to please fans of either movie, though I wish we could have had a few interviews or commentaries from any of the major participants. Some trivia for you, this is not the first of the Curse films to be released on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, Director David Schmoeller's Catacombs (1988) holds that distinction, when that film was released on home video in the '90s it was marketed as Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice (1988), which like the other Curse entries have absolutely nothing to do with the original film. 

 

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory 
Release Date: November 17th 2015 
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD 5.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles E
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Donald Cammell
Cast: Alberta Watson, David Keith, Michael Greene, Alan Rosenberg, Art Evans, Cathy Moriarty

Synopsis: If you're a wealthy, attractive woman, stay out of Arizona, because you are fair game. A twisted killer is on the loose and he tortures and dissects his beautiful victims as part of a primitive Indian ritual. All the clues lead to one man who is clearly innocent. But nothing is as simple as black and white in White Of The Eye. David Keith (An Officer And A Gentleman, Firestarter, Daredevil) and Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull, Casper) star in this shocking mystery-thriller co-written and directed by Donald Cammell (Demon Seed and co-director of Performance). The film also features an eclectic score by Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and Rick Fenn (10cc).

I live in Tucson, Arizona and the opening aerial scene of downtown Tucson just makes me happy from the get-go. What's more, while this is actually set in Globe, Arizona director Donald Cammell gives this '80s thriller an art house twist with some stylized cinematography and an Italian whodunit twist, and I love me some Italian whodunits, the Southwestern setting is a nice twist. There's an opening scene of woman returning home after a day of shopping when she is attacked by a gloved killer. The incendiary scene is well-crafted and had the quick stylized look and edit of a classic Dario Argento movie, and while you don't see a drop of blood, through the magic of editing the visceral scene is violent and kinetic with a shot of the victims head smashing through a pane of glass, a broken bottle of red wine, a well-placed meat cleaver and a helpless goldfish out of water make a memorable first kill scene with some nice slasher movie POV lensing, too. 

We're introduced to hi-fi home stereo installer Paul White (David Keith, Firestarter) and his wife, Joan (Catherine Moriarty, Neighbors) and their strangely boyish daughter Danielle (Danielle Smith). They're home life becomes complicated when tire tread marks left near the crime scene lead Detective Charles Mendoza (Art Evans) to question Paul, who soon becomes the prime suspect in the string of serial murders of women around the small Arizona community, and when his infidelity is brought up it only makes things more tense, with his now angry and distrustful wife beginning to doubt his own innocence.

There are several time shifts throughout the story, things are told in flashback, in scenes that have gone through a bleach-bypass process which give the images a unique high contrast appearance, through these we learn of Paul's former best friend Mike DeSantos (Alan Rosenburg) and are told how and why the friendship broke apart, with Paul stealing away Mike's then girlfriend Joan, and a bizarre deer hunting excursion into the desert, which speaks to an early madness in one of the characters. 

The story is a little meandering at times, it keeps you guessing, but the narrative is disjointed and at times the pace was lethal. What does work for me are the visual flourishes director Donald Cammell and co-cinematographers Larry McConkey and Alan Jones (not the British film critic), including some excellent Steadicam POV from McConkey, which lends it that slasher type feel, but with a more European whodunit flavor, including some nice close-ups of the human eye. There are a few elements that are dropped into the story that seemed as if they would be key to the story in some way,  that are dropped-in and never played out to any satisfactory conclusion. Such as the fact that Paul can emit a high pitched sound, and using his sinus cavity like a tuning fork, he can place stereo speakers in any room in the most acoustically proper configuration, I can only guess that in earlier drafts of the script this played out in some way. There's also a Native American slant to the way the murder scenes are staged by the killer, but aside from some very vague face painting at the end it goes nowhere, these are interesting story flourishes that add some superficial texture to the story, but seem to be vestiges of earlier drafts of the screenplay that go nowhere, not unlike some of Argento's whodunits, neat stuff that doesn't pan out. 

Aside from that first stylish kill there's another great murder scene of the gloved-killer grabbing a woman in the bathroom as she prepares for a warm bath, he grabs her around the waste and flips her upside down before dropping her onto her head, knocking her unconscious, which always makes me laugh, it is such an odd choice, but what follows is a frightening and harrowing drowning scene and the killer wraps her in a blanket and binds her, placing her in a the tub under water, holding a mirror over her face so she can see herself dying, which is pretty twisted. If you know anything about director Donald Cammell you may know that he committed suicide in a fashion that is eerily similar to this, not to dwell on it, but when I first learned about how he went out it haunted me to a degree.

Audio/Video: Scream Factory have licensed the 2K restoration from the original negative that was completed by Arrow Video in the UK for their superb 2014 2-disc BD/DVD. The results are very nice, a solid 1080p transfer with a healthy layer of natural film grain, looking very filmic. A few of the darker scenes are on the grainier side of things but that is to be expected, and I am a fan of grain, I love to see it. Colors are nicely saturated and appear to be accurate with warm skin tones and the fine detail in the close-ups is fantastic. 

Scream Factory one up the audio of the Arrow disc with an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 in addition to the DTS-HD MA 2.0, optional English subtitles are provided. The surround option does offer a somewhat immersive experience but mostly spreads the solid Southwestern-tinged score from Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and Rick Fenn (10cc) to the surrounds. Dialogue, score and effects are nicely balanced on the 2.0, coming through crisp and clean. 

Last year I snatched-up the Region B locked Arrow Video Blu-ray of the movie, so I was keen to see what the differences were in the two releases. I'll start by what was carried over to the Scream Factory release, beginning with the audio commentary by Donald Cammell Biographer Sam Umland, which is an informative listen, packed with tidbits about the director and the production of the movie. Umland also provides commentary for the deleted scenes (5 Mins) which were cut from the movie by the distributor. Unfortunately we have no audio for these scenes, but the commentary from Umland suffices. There's also an Alternate Credit Sequence (2 Mins), plus the Flashback Sequences Prior To The Bleach Bypass Process (12 Mins), offering a look at the scenes before they were chemically treated. Also carried over from the Arrow disc is the Into The White - An Interview With Cinematographer And Steadicam Operator Larry McConkey (11 Mins).

Not carried over are the feature-length Donald Callumm doc Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance (75 Mins) and the Donald Cammell 1972 short film The Argument (11 Mins), plus a whopper of a 40 page Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing by Brad Stevens and Sam Umland, and a previously unpublished extract from the memoirs of producer Elliott items not to have, but if you're region-locked the Scream factory does offer some exclusive extras of their own, making this a great alternative option for fans of the movie. 

What Scream bring to the table are two brand new interviews, with actors actors Alan Rosenberg (18 Mins) and Art Evans (16 Mins), whom are very cool and down to Earth, they both speak about how they came to the movie, working with the director and crew, and what it was like on-set during the production. The Scream release also offers a sleeve of reversible artwork with new artwork by illustrator Dennis Calero, which is pretty cool, but the Arrow artwork from Nathaneal Marsh in my opinion is just unbeatable, it captures my favorite moment from the movie. Scream's release like Arrow's is a BD/DVD combo featuring the movie and the same set of extras as the Blu-ray only in standard definition and with Dolby digital audio, I like that Scream went with different artwork options for the separate disc, I am not a fan when  DVD/BD combo packs have the same artwork on both discs, but that's just a nitpick of mine, and not valid here. 

Unfortunately, what neither Arrow Video or Scream Factory were able to do is score a new interview with either of the stars Catherine Moriarty or David Keith. As a fan of the movie I am not familiar with how either received the final film or their experiences on set, do they even like the movie? I really wanted to hear from both of these actors about this movie. If any readers out there are aware of any print or media interviews with either Moriarty or Keith in respect to White of the Eye please let me know. 

Special Features
- NEW Into The Vortex – An Interview With Actor Alan Rosenberg (18 Mins) 
- NEW Eye Of The Detective – An Interview With Actor Art Evans (16 Mins) 
- Audio Commentary By Donald Cammell Biographer Sam Umland
- Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Donald Cammell Biographer Sam Umland (6 Mins) 
- Into The White - An Interview With Cinematographer And Steadicam Operator Larry McConkey (11 Mins) 
- Alternate Credit Sequence (2 Mins) 
- Flashback Sequences Prior To The Bleach Bypass Process (12 Mins)

White of the Eye (1987) is no masterpiece of modern day thriller cinema but it is certainly a captivating, often confusing, and sometimes confounding Southwestern thriller with some tasty art house visual flare and a twist of the Italian whodunit cinema. This one has been hard to find for awhile now in North America, now we have a brand new Blu-ray release from Scream Factory with fantastic A/V qualities and some value-added extras. This one deserves some love, and now that its back in wide release and easy to find I hope it finds a new audience. 3/5 

 

DVD Review: CLOWN HUNT (2012)

CLOWN HUNT (2012)

Label: MVD Visual

Region: 1 NTSC

Duration: 90 mins

Rating: Unrated

Video: 16:9 Widescreen

Audio: English 2.0 Dolby Digital

Director: Barry Tubb

Cast: David Keith, Barry Tubb, Brandon Wayne, Eliose DeJoria, Robert Earl Keen, Tuff Hedeman, Tanner Beard

Tagline: Clowns: they're not just for laughing anymore

Synopsis: In the wilds of Texas, grown men gather to hunt the rarest game of all: Clowns. Once plentiful and common now one must pay a hefty some to hunt clowns, and for some it’s become an annual tradition. However this season the appearance of Albino Willie, a rare albino clown, poses a special prize and danger.

In recent years we've seen a few interesting entries in the clown sub-genre of horror from the artfully demented and depressing Spanish film The Last Circus to blood-soaked Troma schlockfest Klown Kamp Massacre, entertaining fare that offer tons of clown-centric shenanigans though fair warning friends The Last Circus might have you reaching for the razor blade, that's a seriously depressing film right there but I highly recommend checking out for both you sillies and sads out there.

Here we have yet another clown entry of note, Clown Hunt, a low-budget silly from Texas-filmmaker Barry Tubb (Javelina) which presents us with the notion that clowns are now hunted for sport ala whitetail deer, elk and moose. We join a hunting party in Texas (where else) right at the start of the "Silly Season", the sad clowns aren't yet in season you see. The sport is government regulated and you need a license to hunt the clowns and large hunts are organized all over the country, interestingly the clowns are also eaten, it's bizarre conceit and the execution ain't too bad either.

I wouldn't call the men and women of the hunting party rednecks but they're definitely rural-minded folks out to bag their limit of clowns. Growing up in Upstate New York I can see they're not that much different than the folks in my neck o' the woods come opening day of deer season, avid sportsmen. I don't think the film exactly villafies hunting or sportsmen but it has some fun with the stereotypes for sure, even throwing some homo-eroticism our way with some mud wrasslin', it's an interesting array of characters including one who's a closeted clown, fun stuff.

The clowns gather in a village called Gigglestown, USA where they ply their trade; juggling, performing tricks and a few more off kilter practices like crushing baby chickens to death underneath their over sized clown shoes, torturing kittens by trampolining them to the death. The clowns are pretty easy prey for the sportsmen 'cept for one named Albino Willy, a legendary clown who's evaded the hunt for two decades whom has his own agenda, to exterminate the hunters and he comes equipped with a prop-engine plane which he dive bombs the hunter encampment with, dropping water balloons and rubber chickens, when this fails to deter the hunt he resorts to corn-holing one of the unlucky bastards and picking 'em off the others with a 30 .06 rifle.

It's shot on the cheap but the film benefits from decent production value, on the down side the acting is pretty shit across the board but it's not without it's lo-fi charm either, sadly the clown make-ups are pretty uninspired and there's little to no gore (or nudity) to be found but the films is pretty damned funny at times with loads of low-brow lunacy. At 90 minutes the film is a bit of a slog and I could see it being slightly more successful as a short film but for those demented enough to seek out a lo-fi indie feature about a clown hunt that's chock full o' quips like "Why don't you eat clown meat?", "It tastes funny" there's some definite silliness to be had, like clown meat it's probably an acquired taste. 2 outta 5