BODY PARTS (1991)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 88 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Eric Red
Cast: Jeff Fahey, Lindsay Duncan, Kim Delaney, Zakes Mokae, Brad Dourif, John Walsh, Paul Ben-Victor, Peter Murnik, Nathaniel Moreau
The Eric Red (Bad Moon) directed horror-thriller Body Parts (1991) is an underrated early 90's entry in the genre, concerning a criminal psychologist named Bill Chrushank (Jeff Fahey, Psycho III) who studies the psychology of criminals looking for ways to rehabilitate the worst that society has to offer. While driving to his office he is involved in a horrific car accident and is thrown through his windshield, tearing off his right arm in the process.He's rushed to the hospital where his wife Karen (Kim Delaney, Darkman II: The Return of Durant) is approached by Dr. Agatha Webb (Lindsay Duncan, The Reflecting Skin) who offers a miraculous new transplant surgery that will restore his arm, which she accepts.
The surgery is a success, afterward Bill goes through weeks of rehabilitation at the hospital before being sent home. Everything seems fine, though his arm is severely scarred from the operation, which sort of scares his young kids a bit, but at least he has full use of his new appendage. Not long after returning home he begins to suffer visions of horrific murders, and one day his arm takes on a life of it's own, uncharacteristically lashing out at his son with his right arm while wrestling with him, and later it attempts to strangle his wife while he is fast asleep. Later he discovers that a distinctive tattoo on his donated arm indicates the donor was a death row inmate. Doing a bit of investigating he finds out that it belonged to serial killer named Charley Fletcher (John Walsh, F/X2) who was executed, leading him to confront Dr. Webb at her clinic demanding she remove it, she refuses and assures him that there is no problem with the new arm despite his worries.
After a bit of snooping at the clinic Crushank learns that he was not the only recipient of the serial killer's appendages, tracking down Mark Draper (Peter Murnik, TV's Justified) and artist Remo Lacey (Brad Dourif, The Exorcist III) who have received his left arm and legs respectively. The three men meet for drinks at a bar and a fight breaks out when a drunk patron of the bar demands to see Bill's transplanted arm, Bill nearly takes on the whole bar before being stopped by Draper.
Later that night Draper is attacked and murdered in his apartment and his transplanted legs are ripped right off of his body, and then Lacey's arm is similarly torn off a short time later at his art studio, leaving Bill as the sole remaining recipient of the transplanted appendages, but who's killing these guys?
The answer comes soon enough and it's a bit of a head-trip so to speak, with he film going from a more serious psychological thriller into a more demented action-horror mode that I thought was absolutely delightful. If you don't want to know the more spoilery stuff you might want to skip on down to the "audio/video" portion of the review because I am going to spill the beans on Body Parts in the very next paragraph.
It turns out that Charley Fletcher's head was also transplanted onto another body and the killer has returned to reclaim his missing limbs! Not only that, but he is doing so with help from Dr. Webb, who already having performed the miraculous transplants wants to go full-on Frankenstein and reattach the severed head and limbs back onto to Fletchers original torso, which are seen being kept supplied with a fresh blood in a cool-looking glass enclosure at her clinic, the only part missing is Crushank's right arm!
Body Parts (1991) is an underrated slice of 90's horror, well-directed with a solid fast-paced script and some excellent gore gags that make this a riotous watch. The gruesome stuff is plenty gory, but for me the highlight of the whole is an action-packed car chase with Crushank in a cop car ending up handcuffed to the killer in another car!
Audio/Video: Body Parts (1991) debuts on Blu-ray from Scream Factory who have managed to crack the Paramount vault and get some of these long overdue genre titles back into the public consciousness with HD upgrades, having just releasex 70's cult-classic Let's Scare Jessica To Death on Blu-ray as well. The film is presented in 1080p HD and framed in 2.35:1 widescreen, there's no indication of a new scan for the film so this is probably the HD master prepared by Paramount for streaming platforms that have been floating around. That said, the image is strong but not perfect, grain is reasonably managed throughout and blacks are solid, but the image can look a bit soft at times, a new 2K scan probably would have given this one a tighter presentation but what we get is pleasing if not perfection
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. There are no issues with hiss or distortion on either track, the elements are in great shape, with my preference being the stereo track for this one.
While not branded as collector's edition this release is loaded with a body bag's worth of new extras beginning an audio commentary with director Eric Red, plus a 52-min interview with him, in which he gets into his earlier films as well as Body Parts, discussing the issues he had with the studio regarding a few bits of gore in the film that were excised, not due to fear of an x-rating from the MPAA as long thought, but because a couple of studio execs just didn't like it, even after it tested high with audiences. He also says he now actually agrees with the decision even though he fought hard to keep the pair of scenes at the time.
We also get a 14-min interview with actor Paul Ben-Victor and another 17-min interview with actor Peter Murnik, the later of whom discussed the process of having his molded for all the amputated body parts, also getting into the make-up effects for his severed legs, and mentioning how he feels the film arriving in theaters the same week that the notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested may have effected the box office negatively. Editor Anthony Redman shows up for a 23-min interview discussing his unorthodox way he broke into the editing films, his early career and editing this film, in addition to laying blame for the lack of proper marketing for the film on the part of the producers.
We also get the two gore-scenes from the film with optional commentary from director Eric Red who again dispels the myth of the x-rating. These come from a work print and are in rough shape, they've been circulating n YouTube for a while not, but it's great to have them preserved here on the disc.
The disc is stitched-up with a theatrical trailer, TV spots and an still gallery. The single-disc release arrives in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, both options are original movie poster designs, both are very similar, one with a white logo n the spine, the other with a red logo. The design on the disc itself is the same as the a-side artwork.
Special Features:
- NEW Audio Commentary with director Eric Red
- NEW I Dare You to Read the Script – an interview with director Eric Red (52 min)
- NEW Something Unstoppable – an interview with actor Paul Ben-Victor (14 min)
- NEW Molded for Cinema – an interview with actor Peter Murnik (17 min)
- NEW That One Hurt – an interview with editor Anthony Redman (23 min)
- Deleted Gore Footage with optional commentary with director Eric Red (10 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (4 min)
- TV Spot (1 min)
- Still Gallery (2 min)
Not only is it great to have this underrated cult-classic on Blu-ray but it is awesome to see Scream Factory cracking into the vaults at Paramount, there's a lot of genre treasures in there that need HD upgrades on disc, so I hope they're able to keep a steady stream genre goodies coming our way. This upgrade of Body Parts (1991) is long overdue, a high recommend for an unsung 90's cult-classic.
BAD MOON (1996)
Label: Scream Factory
release Date: July 19th 2016
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration" 79 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Cast: Hrothgar Mathews, Johanna Marlowe, Ken Pogue, Mariel Hemingway, Mason Gamble, Michael Paré
Director: Eric Red
Synopsis: Full, crescent, quarter... each is a Bad Moon for Ted Harrison. By day, he's a photojournalist visiting family in the Pacific Northwest. By night, he transfigures into a horrific half-human – a werewolf. Dead men tell no tales, so Ted's sure he alone knows about his vile double life. The secret, however, may be out. The family dog Thor, devoted to defending the household, has his suspicions.
Writer/director Eric Red (Cohen and Tate, Body Parts) delivers a new infusion of thrills with this red-blooded shocker. Michael Paré (Streets of Fire) portrays Ted, hiding his accursed condition from his sister (Mariel Hemmingway, Lipstick, Star 80) and nephew (Mason Gamble). What better way to hide it than to create suspicion that the local killings are the work of another – especially if that other is the family's all-too-wise German shepherd!
The nineties are not a decade fondly remembered by horror fans, after they heyday of '80s horror the '90s seemed pretty dame tame and lacklustre, even a bright spot like Wes Craven's Scream spawned a generation of watered down horror cinema, but if you dig down a bit beneath the surface of slick mediocrity there are a few gems to be found. The decade was not as awful as you may have been lead to believe, and if you are willing to expand your definition of horror you will find great movies like Guillermo del Toro's Cronos, Event Horizon, Jacob's Ladder and Richard Stanley's Hardware and Dust Devil tucked away among the folds of the decade.
Which brings up to Bad Moon, a movie I didn't catch at the cinema but I did watch on the numerous cable airings it was afforded in the '90s. It made for decent background fodder, it wasn't something I was overly fond of as I remembered but not having watched it for a decade or so I was sort of keen to check out this new Blu-ray from Scream Factory.
The movie is very straightforward, we open with American photo-journalists named Ted Harrison (Michael Paré) in the rain forest of Nepal on some sort of ambiguous assignment with his girlfriend Marjorie (Johanna Lebovitz). Apparently the assignment has gone well and the two go back to their tent for some vigorous celebration sex, that is until they're rudely interrupted by a werewolf which tears open the tent and rips Marjorie to shreds, wounding Ted in the process, who manages to grab a shotgun and blow the werewolf's head off. It is a fantastic opening scene, full of gore, sex and loads of energy, way better than I remembered from my last viewing years ago.
In the aftermath Ted moves back to the Northwest US to be near his sister Janet Harrison (Mariel Hemingway) and her young son Brett (Mason Gamble), who may remember as the kid from the Dennis the Menace movie. It seems that Ted has been looking for a cure to the lycanthropy which he is now afflicted with after the attack, moving from spot to spot in his airstream camper leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in his wake. Having no luck with a cure he decides that pulling his camper up in his sister's back yard might be a good idea, that perhaps re establishing a bond with family will somehow prove curative ...bad idea.
Janet and Brett live with their loyal and protective German Shepherd named Thor, who immediately takes a disliking to Uncle Ted, he can sense that something is wrong with Uncle Ted and that he will prove to be a threat to the family. After the rather good first few scenes of the movie which offered some sweet gore and hot sex the movie cools down for a long period of time, and this is where the movie lags for me. Unfortunately Pare and Hemmingway are not so good, Hemmingway is flat and has no depth. Pare comes off like a budget version of Michael Biehn without the depth or charisma, his character is conflicted, a seemingly nice guy who turns more menacing as the lycanthropy consumes him, but the material seems beyond Pare's range, the portrayal is inconsistent and unconvincing. Mason Gamble is okay as the kid, but comes off annoying and doesn't have a whole lot to do except play with his dog. Suffice it to say that the best actor in the movie is Primo, one of the dogs that played Thor, he has more depth in his eyes than anyone esle in the cast, everyone else just seems to be sleepwalking through this one.
The cast is the main problem with the movie no one seems to be into the material or have any interest in creating depth for their characters which made it hard to care about te fate of anyone. All is not lost though, this movie offfers up one of the more awesome onscreen werewolves in my opinion, the design and look of this fearsome beast is a top five werewolf for me. The werwold was created with a man in a suit with an animatronic head which was created by special effects creator Steve Johnson and his crew, the man in the suit is stuntman Ken Kersinger (Freddy vs Jason), the design and hair work is pretty awesome, the snarling visage is one for the ages, this is really good stuff.
As for the gore we have a few good scenes, beginning with the initial attack in Nepal as a mostly nude woman is eviscerated, it makes for a great opening scene that ends with a nice head explosion. There's a con man who shows up to harass Janet and the kid who becomes fodder for the werewolf, he's come to the home to kill the family dog with a machete but ends up in pieces, clawed savagely by the beast, torn up from the gut and his hand mangled, more good stuff. Overall I would say that this movie is over lit, these are some of the brightest Northwest woods at night I have ever seen, which takes away a lot of the potential atmosphere and suspense, but thankfully the design of the creature is so goodf that it holds up even when overlit during the finale. There is an infamous transformation scenes which is awful in an early 90s sort of way, they took some great practical effects by Steve Johnson and ruined it with digital morphing, which is probably what a lot of folks remember about this movie, the bad stuff.
Bad Moon is not some lost classic of 90s horror but it is a fun watch with a fantastic werewolf, one that is so cool that you can sort of forgive the shortcoming that surround it. Director Eric Red also directed Body Parts (1991), another 90s entry I need to revisit, he also wrote The Hitcher (1986) and Near Dark (1987), the guy has talent and a keen grip on horror, but this one falls short in ways that have kept it any sort of cult-staus, but that werewolf is awesome.
Audio/Video: Bad Moon debuts on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in the original 2.40:1 widescreen scope aspect ratio with a new HD transfer of two versions of the movie, the original theatrical cut and a shorter by seconds director's version of the movie which was supervised by Eric Red. The movie looks great, colors are vibrant and robust with some nice shadow detail and a crisp image that will surely please fans of the movie, a solid upgrade iover revious DVD version I own. Audio is capably handled by an english DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround option with optional English subtitles, the dialogue, effects and score from composer Daniel Licht have a nice presence. .
Scream Factory have included a nice array of new bonus content, beginning with the director's version of the movie which adds back in some of the softcore sex from the opening and trims away a few seconds of the awful digital-morphing they did during the transformation scene, which if you watch the theatrical version should give you a laugh, that they somewhat ruined the good work done by Steve Johnson is sacrilegious.
There's also a new audio commentary by Eric Red recorded for this release for the director's cut of the movie and a commentary with writer/director Eric Red and actor Michael Pare for the theatrical cut. Theres also a thirty-five minute making of doc with new interviews with Eric Red, Steve Johnson, Michael Pare, Mason Gamble and Ken Kerzinger who offer some nice honest opinions of the movie in retrospect, what t was like working with Primo the dog, creating the creature effects and Reed even makes a few disparaging remarks about Hemmingways range as an actress and what he had to resort to to get a decent performance out of her during the more harries scenes.
Additionally there's a selection of storyboards sequences for a few scenes, the theatrical trailer for the movie, plus the longer unrated opening scene from the Director’s first cut of the movie which has been sourced from VHS source which goes on for about six minutes, showcasing the more erotic nature of the opening scene, which I think was trimmed down for good reason, but as a red-blooded male I did appreciate it that it was included, haha.
Special Features:
- High-definition theatrical cut of the film plus a NEW Director’s version supervised and approved by Eric Red.
- NEW Nature of the Beast: Making Bad Moon featuring interviews with writer/director Eric Red, actors Michael Pare and Mason Gamble, Special Effects Make-up artist Steve Johnson and stunt coordinator Ken Kirzinger (35 Mins) HD
- NEW Audio Commentary with writer/director Eric Red (Director’s version only)
- Audio Commentary with writer/director Eric Red and actor Michael Pare (Theatrical Cut)
- Unrated opening scene from the Director’s first cut (Sourced from VHS) (6 Mins)
- Transformation Sequence Storyboards (7 Mins) HD
- Thor/Werewolf Fight Stoyboards (10 Mins) HD
- Thor Stares Down Uncle Ted Storyboards (4Mins) HD
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1 Mins) HD
Bad Moon is an over-looked 90s werwolf horror entry that I won't say is a lost classic but I will say that it is overly neglected and has a killer werewold creature. I just wish the movie lived up to the promise of the werewolf design in the movie, it deserved way better than the vehicle it was delivered in. Scream Factory's Blu-ray is top-notch, it looks and sounds great and has some great bonus content, and if you're a fan this is an easy recommend, if you're not familiar with it give it a chance, it deserves a watch.
