THE NEW KIDS (1985)
Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 90 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Cast: James Spader, Lori Loughlin, Shannon Presby, Eric Stolz
Synopsis: Abby McWilliams' (Lori Loughlin, TV's Full House) nightmare begins when she attracts the unwanted attention of teenage psychopath Eddie Dutra (James Spader, TV's The Blacklist). Turned down for a date, Eddie destroys Abby's home, vandalizes her uncle's car and nearly stomps her brother to death. But it's only when he kidnaps Abby from the school dance, that Eddie shows his true feelings. Fueled by cocaine and armed with a shotgun, Eddie's lust turns to uncontrollable rage, as he takes Abby on a date from hell, in this terror-packed thrill-ride from the director of Friday the 13th
Nasty 80's gem The New Kids (1985) was directed by Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th), the film concerns newly orphaned teen sibling Abby (Lori Loughlin, Amityville 3-D) and Loren McWilliams (Shannon Presley) whose parents were killed in an accident. After the funeral the siblings move to rural Florida to live with their uncle Charlie (Eddie Jones, C.H.U.D.) and aunt Fay (Lucy Martin), who run a small-time gas station/roadside attraction called Santa's Funland.
They settle into school there and things looks good at first, they easily make friends and Abby starts dating Mark (Eric Stoltz, The Fly II) and Loren begins dating the Sheriff's daughter Karen (Paige Lyn Price, Silent Madness). things begin to sour when Abby draws the unwanted attention of albino bad-boy Eddie Dutra (James Spader, Wolf), a drug-addicted teenager who is the leader of a group of redneck teen-delinquents, his underlings include Gideon (John Philbin, Return of the Living Dead), Moonie (David H. MacDonald, Joy of Sex), Gordo and Joe Bob.
The delinquents begin to make life hell for the siblings, vandalizing their uncle's amusement park, peeping Abby in the shower, and beating the snot out of Loren in the bathroom at school. This mischief culminates in a violent kidnap of Abby from the school dance, bringing the film to a violent and over-the-top finale that takes place at uncle Charlie amusement park where the teen thugs menace the sibling and their family with shotguns, the threat of immolation and a vicious bloodthirsty pit-bull.
This film is a fun product of the eighties that has some nasty exploitation elements, starring the sweet-faced Lori Loughlin and the always reliable 80's teen-psycho James Spader, the latter appearing here as a pale bleached-blonde with a creepy but not all together authentic Southern drawl. The gang of teen bullies get more than they bargained for though, the sibling's late father (a too short lived Tom Atkins, Night of the Creeps) trained them in self-defense, so they're not about to sit back and take the abuse from the redneck bullies, resulting in some satisfying carnage, including a decapitation by a kiddie-sized rollercoaster ride!
Audio/Video: The New Kids (1985) and has long been on my list of film in need of a Blu-ray upgrade, and we finally get it from budget-distributors Mill Creek Entertainment through their licensing agreement with Sony. The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio in 1080p HD, the image is surprisingly strong, I was expecting serviceable from an older master, but this has the look of a newer HD scan, it's a solid upgrade in regard to clarity, colors and black levels, with a good looking grain levels throughout. I didn't detect much of any evidence of digital tinkering no compression artifacts, this should be very pleasing, especially for under ten bucks!
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo track with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is always crisp and clean, and the score from Lalo Schifrin (Rollercoaster) sounds terrific, as do the cheesy 80's tunes from Bill Wray, Brock Walsh, Jess Harnell and Miriam Cutler.
Unfortunately there are no extras on the disc, which is a shame, this is a film with an interesting pedigree both behind and in front of the camera, if this had been in the hands of a different distributor there could have been some interesting extras. As it is we get a static menu with the option to watch with or without subtitles. Another distributor giving this an extras-laden release at a later date is not out of the realm of possibility, both Mill Creek Entertainment and Scream Factory have released Blu-rays of hag-sploitation classic Strait-Jacket (1964)and the sci-fi slasher Brainscan (1994), so it might happen, with someone Scream Factory packing on the desirable extras.
The single-disc release comes housed in a standard issue Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the same artwork as the previous DVD release, plus a Retro VHS slipcover featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork, the disc artwork is an excerpt of the illustrated slipcover.
The New Kids (1985) is a entertaining slice of highschool teen exploitation, it's a bit uneven as far as tone goes, but I enjoy the trajectory from new kids at school drama to full-on nasty revenger at the end.
Label: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 97 mins
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA. Dolby Digital 5.1, LPCM 2.0
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Gregory Widen
Cast: Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stolz, Amanda Plummer, Viggo Mortensen
Tagline: Marked By Fate. Doomed By Prophecy... Time Is Running Out For Mankind.
I don't think the 1990's are exactly remembered for standout genre film fare but in actuality there were quite a few truly great films, they've just been forgotten under a heap of crap nineties SCREAM clones and shitty sequels. I mean we had JACOB'S LADDER (1990), THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991), DEAD ALIVE (1992), ARMY OF DARKNESS (1992), CANDYMAN (1992), CEMETERY MAN (1994) and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1990). Sure, some of these verge on thrillers and not so much pure horror I think we can agree they're pretty great, no? Let's add to this venerable list a film that seems to have slipped by the wayside - THE PROPHECY (1995), fine horror-thriller that is just not mentioned nearly enough for my tastes, this is a gem of a genre film that's been given short shrift and undeservedly so.
The film's prologue begins with Tomas Dagget (Elias Koteas, LET ME IN) on the cusp of becoming an ordained priest when he is overcome with disturbing images of angels slaughtering each other, the horrific vision costs him his faith and he leaves the order to become L.A. detective. While investigating a strange homicide Dagget encounters Simon (Eric Stoltz, PULP FICTION), who claims to be a fallen angel, warning Dagget that a stalemated civil war amongst the Angels rages on in Heaven and that the fate of the life eternal hangs in the balance. Dagget further investigates the strange homicide which takes him to Arizona and on a journey that will test his languished faith. The Archangel Gabriel (Christopher Walken, MCBAIN) is a key figure fueling the war in Heaven, it would seem the Angel has grown jealous of God's love for the "talking monkeys" on Earth and he come to Earth in search of an evil soul which is to lead his army against the Lord in Heaven.
When a young girl named Mary becomes a pawn in the battle between the Angels her school teacher Katherine (Virginia Madsen, CANDYMAN) is also drawn into the Angelic war alongside Simon and Dagget. Adam Goldberg (DAZED AND CONFUSED) appears as a would-be suicide victim named Jerry whom was stopped from dying by Gabriel and has in effect become his undead chauffeur on Earth, it's a fun role and later in the film Amanda Plummer (NEEDFUL THINGS) assumes the mantle when Jerry is dispatched, much to his own happiness, the relationship between Gabriel and his familiars is laced with dark humor, it's fun stuff.
While Mary suffers what appears to be a possession of sorts she is given an exorcism by Native Americans as our heroes battle the Archangel, during the conflict who should appear but Lucifer himself, played with Devilish delight by Vigo Mortensen (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE), a mischievous tempter whispering sweet blasphemy into the ears of our protagonists. Of course Old Scratch has a stake in the Heavenly civil war however his motivations turns out to not be quite as apparent as one might think, that Satan sure is a sneaky sort of fellow.
THE PROPHECY is a pretty great film, it's well-paced, the some nice action set-pieces, the cast is top-notch and there's some decent practical effects work and haunting imagery. It's great to see Walken, Plummer and Stoltz reunited after their turn in Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION just a year prior with my favorite performance coming from Walken as the seething Archangel, so disgusted by the talking monkies that have won the love of the Lord, it's rife with dark comedy and vitriol, it's fucking awesome. If I have to leverage a complaint I would say the film needed to run at least 120 minutes, the scope of the story outreached the film's breadth in my opinion. I easily could have gone another half-hour with this story without a fuss, I was left wanting more and that's a good thing. I have yet to check out the sequels and would love to hear what you think about the film, it's sequels and your favorite 90's horror films.
Blu-ray: Previous DVD editions of the film were non-anamorphic presentations so I give a big thumbs up to Echo Bridge for the 16:9 widescreen (2.35:1) transfer though the box art erroneously advertises 1.78:1. Appropriate aspect aspect ratio aside the transfer is not very dynamic and lacks fine detail, clarity, vibrancy and depth.
The disc offers English language 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Dolby Digital 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 audio options with no subtitles. The 5.1 DTS offers some decent channel separation with dialogue, effects and the impressively textured score from David C. William (CRITTER 3) coming through rather nicely if not exactly giving the home theatre system a substantial workout. There is no subtitles option on the disc. Pretty typical of the Echo Bridge blu-rays there are no special features, not even a theatrical trailer.
Verdict: If you haven't caught up with THE PROPHECY yet I say treat yourself, it's a wonderful thing and a true gem of the mid-90's genre filmmaking, it's smart, action-packed and entertaining. The recent film LEGION attempted something similar and failed quite miserably in my opinion. Quite the opposite THE PROPHECY is a faith testing supernatural-thriller that's definitely worth a watch. 3.5 outta 5
