THE ENDLESS (2017) (Umbrella DVD Review)

THE ENDLESS (2017) 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE 
Rating: M
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
Cast: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson
Director: Callie Hernandez, Emily Montague, James Jordan, Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson

Lovecraftian cosmic terror has been a theme for me this week, having reviewed Dagon (2001), In the Mouth of Madness (1995) and now the latest from Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, the duo that brought us Spring (2014), I feel as if maybe the old gods are trying to tell me something. In the cosmic horror The Endless (2017) we have a pair of siblings, Justin (Justin Benson) and Aaron (Aaron Moorhead), eking out a rather shitty life of poverty somewhere in California, performing menial jobs and eating lots of Ramen. We learn that ten years prior the older brother Justin and his sibling were part of what they call a "UFO death-cult", with Justin pulling himself and his younger brother Aaron out of it for fear of cult-y stuff like ritual castration and deadly kool-aid drinking. Now years later they receive a video cassette in the mail from cult member Annie (Callie Hernandez, Blair Witch) that triggers a return to the Southern Californian desert were the cult have a compound, the surface level premise for the re-visit is closure, but you get the feeling that the brothers sort of miss the communal lifestyle despite recognizing that it wasn't healthy for them, though the younger sibling has fonder memories of the place. 

They return not knowing how they'll be received, but they are greeted warmly by Hal (Tate Ellington, Sinister 2) and welcomed by everyone else with open arms, but the friendliness has an underlying strangeness to it, it is a cult after all. As we see more of life within the cult it seems more hipster communal than straight-up cult, but that's not to say there isn't lots of weirdness afoot.

The communal life is very artisan, everyone has a skill, big red beardo Tim (Lew Temple, Waiting) makes an addictive home brew, Anna makes clothing, they practice archery, art and magic, and then there's a strange game of tug-o-war they call "the struggle", which entails yanking on a rope that ascends into the night sky, and something unknown and unseen is tugging on the other end, and while the older brother offers an Earthbound explanation it's dismissive and not at all disarming. While all this is happening the cult members give each other in strange looks in knowing ways implying even more an air of mystery.

The mountainous area is covered with strange nail-shaped rock formations which are never truly explained, it's sort of tossed off that they're ancient lava-rock formations, there's a circular pattern motif throughout, and a localized optical illusion that gives the appearance of two moons in the sky at night, and the discovery that there are recurring time loops in certain areas, and that a the higher power regularly drops communications into their lives by way of Polaroids and vintage media like video cassettes and hard drives. The strangeness isn't isolated to the commune, others in the vicinity who have nothing to do with the cult seem to be stuck in their own personal time-loop Hells, one looking to have originated back to the 18th century, and it's interesting to note the duration of the time loops seem to vary in length wildly. There's also talk of three moons appearing in the sky, signaling something called "the ascension", which surely does sound cult-y and ominous, but what we witness and what's semi-explained hints at anything from a Lovecraftian elder god to an alien influence, or maybe even interdimensional beings, and I love that this movie doesn't reveal too much, it has a mystery that it keeps to itself. I found multiple viewing of the film rewarding, I don't think one is enough, now having watched it four time now I think I have a good understanding of the internal logic, but it still has enough ideas floating around that I think I could watch this with fresh eyes again and walk away with something new to ponder.

In a way the myriad of genuinely interesting ideas the movie floats is a bit of drawback, it's a micro-budgeted film and the budget ceiling does seem to hamper the effectiveness of the exploration of these ideas, but even so the promise shines through with enough cleverness and indie-ingenuity that it worked well enough, it's not wholly satisfying, but I love a movie that reaches for the moon, even if it only lands in the neighbors yard, there's still a lot to celebrate. The main cast here is quite good, including the directors who appear in the main roles, really driving home the main theme of brothers coming together and making important realizations about themselves, but there was one thing that irked me, whenever they were presented with something so fantastically strange or terror-riffic they were so calm and non-plussed about it, a scene of a brother wandering through the desert when confronted by the sun being blotted out for a second, magically appearing Polaroids and an unseen force would have sent me running in fright, he just sort of shrugs it off. The older brother doesn't really show any concern until the dark unknown literally brushes up against him! 

Something I think that is missing here is a consistent tone and carry-through, directing and starring in a movie is fraught with problems I assume, and I think a lack of perspective and through line might be one of the casualties here, but not to a ruinous degree. Sometimes the tone just shifted in a strange way, there's a lot of sibling humor in the dialogue that interrupted a moment or two of weirdness or seriousness that felt off to me. Back to the pluses, the eerie synth score from Jimmy LaValle (The Album Leaf) really amps up the strange tonal quality of the film, interestingly recycling the public domain song "House of the Rising Sun" (made famous by The Animals) over and over in both song and score interpretation, it has a strange quality about it that fits the film perfectly. 

The look of the film is a mixed bag for me, shot anamorphically it has a kind of ugly desaturated, low-contrast look about it, but I like the way the semi-flat image distorts giving this reality-bender an otherworldly feel at times, other times I didn't care for it. Movies are like comics for me, if I don't like the artwork I find it hard to get into the story, but I did come around to it eventually. At times the film brought to mind influential interdimensional lo-fi film Equinox (1967), I really feel that movie had an influence on this one, the directors have a love for Lovecraftian terror, as evidenced by their previous film Spring (2014), and I would not be surprised if Equinox was on their mind while making this one, but I guess I could just be reading that into it based on my own love for it.  

Audio/Video: The Endless (2017) arrives on region-free DVD from Umbrella Entertainment,  the image is anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen with an English Dolby digital surround mix, there are no subtitles. The disc looks and sounds good, no issues with the A/V, but unfortunately the disc is barebones without a start-up menu or trailer. This is definitely a film along the lines of Donnie Darko where I could have found myself pouring through the extras looking for insights, so a few more extras would have been appreciated.   

The Endless (2017) is a thought-provoking slice of Lovecraftian cosmic terror that's overstuffed with big ideas and themes, while the budget doesn't always make it easy to explore those ideas I like the that not everything is revealed and over-explained. If you were a fan of the directors previous film Spring (2014) I think you're primed for this one, or if you're just into weird Lovecraftian horror, there's a lot here to digest, I recommend watching it more than once, it's one of those movies.

ANNIHILATION (2018) (4K UltraHD+Blu-ray+Digotal Review)

ANNIHILATION (2018)

Label: Paramount Pictures 
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 115 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 2160p HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 
Director: Alex Garland 
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Sonoya Mizuno 

I was thoroughly  impressed with director Alex Garland's debut film, the A.I. tale Ex Machina (2015), and I was excited to see what he would bring us next. He was already a talented sci-fi screenwriter before Ex Machina with films like 28 Days Later and Sunshine to his name, but his directorial debut was both electrifying and stunning. With his sophomore bit of direction he gets to play in a larger sandbox with the story of a meteor impacting the Earth on the coast of Florida, it strikes a lighthouse which become ground zero for a strange phenomena dubbed the "shimmer", a multi-colored translucent curtain that envelopes the area around the lighthouse, slowly expanding deeper into a swamp, threatening to eventually swallow more heavily inhabited areas. The military have quarantined the area and sent in multiple military forces to investigate, but communication is lost once the men enter the shimmer and the men never reappear, save for one. After having disappeared for over a year on a secretive military mission Army Special Forces soldier Kane (Oscar Isaac, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse) returns home unexpectedly to the surprise of his still grieving wife Lena (Natalie Portman, The Professional), a cellular biologist, who clearly believed him to be dead. 

His startled wife presses him for details about his whereabouts for the past year but he's not forthcoming with any specifics, in fact he seems unable to recollect exactly what happened at all, which upsets her. Soon after arriving he falls ill and begins to bleeds from his nose leading to Lena calling an ambulance, en route to the hospital they are intercepted by military police who take both to a military facility known as Area X and placed in quarantine. There Lena is questioned by psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight) who interogates her questions about her husband's strange reappearance, in addition to informing her about the "shimmer", explaining that it's an electromagnetic field of alien origins that's been expanding for three years, inside the perimeter plants and animal are transformed in strange ways, animals are hybridized, even humans who enter the shimmer are transformed as well. 

With her husband quickly deteriorating from systemic organ failure cellular biologist Lena joins Ventress on a research mission into the shimmer in hopes of obtaining information that could possibly save her husband's life, or at least give her an understanding of what happened to him. The team consists of physicist Josie Radeck (Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok),  geomorphologist Cass Sheppard (Tuva Novotny, Stoned) and paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez, TV's Jane the Virgin). Once inside the team quickly discover that their communications do not work and they experience a reoccurring loss of time and they cannot seem to get a bearings. Eventually make their way to an abandoned military base where Kane and the previous expedition holed up for a a period of time, there they find a memory card from a video camera which contains video of Kane and the others cutting open one of the soldiers while he's still alive, revealing that his intestines are moving around like the coils of python inside of the man.  

Along the way a sense of hopelessness and dread settle upon the group, they're attacked by a mutated albino alligator with what looks to be the teeth of a shark, and a hideous emaciated looking bear with a harrowing shriek that sounds like it's screaming "help me", mimicking the voice/cries of one of the women who was attacked and carried off by the beast earlier, it's a strange and dread-filled touch, and the attack is brutal. The beast tears the lower jaw off of one of the women in the process, her tongue left hanging from her torn mouth, there's not a lot of gore, but what there is is pretty damn disturbing, just wait till you see what happens to the corpse of the man with the squirming intestines! The group also begins to crumble as the women begin to contemplate what exactly is happening, turning on one another when it is revealed that Lena's husband was part of the earlier expedition, a fact that was known only to Lena and Dr. Ventress but kept from the remainder of the group. 

The film is based on a novel by Jeff VanderMeer which I've never read, but it bares more than a passing resemblance to the H.P. Lovecraft short story "The Color Out of Space" which has been adapted many times before (Die Monster Die, The Curse II), it tells the story in flashback (as Annihilation also does) of a meteorite that lands on Earth, transforming the landscape and afflicting the local inhabitants, I'm not saying it rips it off but it certainly is heavily influenced by it in many ways, as I have not read the novel I cannot say if this is something shared by the source material or something brewed into the adaptation.  

Set in the transformed swamps of Florida (but cleverly shot in England) the film balances a familiar setting with a subtle alien transformations, we see strangely hybridized flowers, deer with tree-like antlers, strange fish, and crystalline trees, all set among the dense canopy of moss covered trees drenched in pervasive fog, it's familiar yet alien all at same time. The hybrid creatures and transformed plant life are cool looking, though I would have loved to see more of creatures, but what we do get is pretty great. The film comes to a deeply satisfying discovery/encounter when some of the surviving team finally make their way to the epicenter of the event at the lighthouse that I thought was a real showstopper, with Lena discovering the true fate of her husband in a mind-bending sequence. It's something strange, unknowable and hard to describe, which was a lot of the essence of what Lovecraft wrote about, definitely falling into the category of a slow-burn sci-of tale along the lines of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in that it's a movie that moves along decidedly paced with a stunning visual event that caps it off, but still maintains a lot of it's mystery, and I liked it a lot, I didn't love it, but I've watched it three times this week, and each time I was more and more intrigued by the questions and ideas it posed, not just of alien encounters but of human grief, loss and environmental issues. 
  
Audio/Video: Annihilation arrives on 4K UltraHD and Blu-ray on this 2-disc set from Paramount Pictures, framed in the theatrical aspect ratio of  2160p HD widescreen (2.39:1). For a science fiction film I will say that visually the movie has a bit of a subdued color palette, there's a lot of lush green swamp canopy punctuated by some muted colors, a lot of it shrouded of fog, but the 4K does offer some crisp visuals with nice clarity, resolving the fog nicely, details of the mutated creatures and plant life which populate the swamp look fantastic.  The effect of the prismatic shimmer which envelops the area has a nice unearthly quality about it, the purples and greens of it have a good intensity in 4K. It looks true to the theatrical but might not be the truly eye-popping 4K UltraHD experience some might be hoping for visually.  

Audio comes by way of both English Dolby Atmos with optional English subtitles, the Atmos track strong and robust, the sounds of the surrounding swamp come to life in the surrounds, and the score from of Ben Salisbury and Portishead's Geoff Barrow (Ex Machina) is nicely atmospheric but also menacing throughout, particularly during the stunning finale which becomes an overwhelming symphony of low-end frequency and dread-making sounds. Everything is razor sharp and crisply delivered, dialogue is never hard to decipher. 

Onto the extras we get three 2-part featurettes which add-up to about 72-minutes in total. These feature contributions from the director, cast, cinematographer and special effects crew members, it goes into adapting the source material, the shooting locations, selecting the cast, creating the digital and practical effects, I found it all very interesting, this is a film that doesn't button up a lot of questions you might have after watching it, and truthfully the extras don't either, but I enjoyed hearing about the process of making the film. 

The 2-disc 4k/Blu-ray release is a Best Buy exclusive for the time being, it comes in a black 4K keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork and a slipcover with the same art. The artwork itself is a standard issue photo-shopped floating head style number that doesn't impress on any level. As a side note, I do wish that they would not print the HDR box directly on the slipcover and the sleeve, what an eyesore!   

Special Features: 
Part 1 Southern Research 
- Refractions (11 min) HD
- For Those That Follow (15 min) HD
Part 2 - Area X
- Shimmer (12 min) HD
- Vanished Into Havoc (15 min) HD
Part 3 - To the Lighthouse
- Unfathomable Mind (12 min) HD
- The Last Phase (8 min) HD

Annihilation (2018) is a science fiction film of the brain-tingling variety, it's not a alien shoot 'em up disguised as science fiction movie, it's a sci-fi film that makes you think, it inspires wonder, and might leave some viewers thoroughly unsatisfied, but it's exploration of environmental and behavioral ideas are interesting. We get some healthy world building and visuals with a healthy dose of Lovecraft-ian other-worldliness made for a great watch. I've watched it three more times this week and each viewing brought a bit more understanding but more questions than answers, but that's the sort of the sci-fi I tend to love. It's a slow-burn that generates wonder not finality, highly recommended for fans of thoughtful sci-fi and Lovecraftian horror.   

THE RESURRECTED (1991) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

THE RESURRECTED (1991)

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 105 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Dan O'Banon
Cast: Chris Sarandon, Jane Sibbett, John Terry, Laurie Briscoe, Robert Romanus

The late writer/director Dan O'Bannon directed far too few movie for my tastes, the man helped bring Alien (1979) and Lifeforce (1986) to the big screen as a writer, he directed the seminal 80s punk rock zombie flick The Return of the Living Dead (1986), but would only go on to direct one more feature film, the Lovecraft adaptation, The Resurrected (1991). Adding insult the film was taken away by the  producers in the final stages of post-production after disagreements, after which it was dumped straight-to-video without a proper cinema release.

The film opens where it ends, with private eye named John March (John Terry, Zodiac) walking in on gruesome bloodbath scenario at the local asylum, from there he goes back to his dimly lit office and in time horned noir fashion recounts the story of how it came to be he was investigating the curious case of Charles Dexter Ward (Chris Sarandon, Fright Night), beginning when a gorgeous woman named Claire Ward (Jill Sibbett, TV's Herman's Head) walks into his office and ask the P.I. to look into what her reclusive scientist husband has been up, hes been holed up away a crumbling family estate, performing some bizarre and mysterious experiment. .

March tracks Ward down to the remote Gothic mansion out in the country and interviews him under the false pretense of being some sort of government regulator concerned about possible chemical contamination emanating from the home. March cannot help but help but notice the foul stench that permeates the area, while Ward offers little insight the private eye later asks the town folk nearby about the place and learns a bit of the sordid history associated with the Ward family, particularly his 18th century ancestor, a diabolical chemist named Joseph Curwen (Sarandon again in a tasty dual role), who sought to discover the secret to immortality. It seems that ward has found his journals and is continuing his work, experiments that apparently require more raw meat than the average diner uses in a month, it also requires loads of fresh animal blood, sourced from a local slaughterhouse. 

I long ago read Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and this seemed to be to be quite faithful to the source, with the exclusion of updating the era and introducing the noir-ish private eye as the narrator of the story, and it works very nicely, in fact this is one of the truest Lovecraft cinema-adaptations yet, more so than any of Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft tales, which I also love, but if you ask me this Lovecraft entry is right up there with those. 

The gooey and grotesque special effects creations from Todd Masters (Demon Knight) and his team are awesome, they all do not hold up in crisp HD image but if you love rubbery special effects there's a lot to love, some seriously demented stuff winds up onscreen right here, including deformed experiments gone wrong and hideous transformations, making  this an easy go-to for lovers of practical creature design and gooey gore. 

The cast is strong, Sibbett and Terry do good work as the suffering wife and persistent private eye, at times I felt Terry comes across wooden, but then again maybe he's just going for the stone-cold private eye thing. Sarandon does a lot of the heavy lifting here is a tasty dual-role as both the wealthy scientist Ward and his 18th-century ancestor in flashbacks, he plays maniacal and insane very well, with more than a tinge of creepiness, at times he reminded me of Jefferey Combs as Dr. Herbert West, which was fun. Also be on the lookout for Robert Romanus from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) as one of March's investigators. 

This movie deserved so much better than to be dumped straight-to-video, it's a Lovecraft adaptation shrouded in mystery, grue and intrigue, the Gothic subterranean set pieces look great and the special effects are worth the price of admission all by themselves. The only dig I have is that it can be a bit long in the tooth at moments, it goes off the boil to a simmer for a few too many minutes, but it didn't drag the film down much, it just lagged from time to time.  

Audio/Video: The Resurrected (1990) (aka Shatterbrain) has not been an easy to find move through the years, released on an open matte full frame DVD that has been long out of print, the film was released a few years back on a German import media book Blu-ray release and streamed on Netflix for a brief time before evaporating from the streaming service. Now we have a proper Region A release from distributor Scream Factory, sourced from a brand new 2K scan from the film’s vaulted interpositive film elements, framed in 1.85:1 widescreen and it looks solid, a bit on the grainy side, but that was not unexpected considering this is a low budget early 90's productions. Colors are impressive, shadow detail is adequate, ski tones looked good, and there some nice fine detail to the image, which is nice, love those practical special effects from Todd Masters, some super icky stuff happening here. 

Audio on the disc by way of an English DTS-HD 2.0 - not 5.1 as advertised on the sleeve - it's a clean crisp presentation, dialogue is crisp and clean, the music score from Richard Band (Re-Animator) comes through strong, with a nice eerie title sequence score and some atmospheric music throughout that amps up the tension. Optional English subtitles re included.

While not branded as one of Scream Factory's Collector's Edition this single-disc Blu-ray is absolutely stuffed to the gills with special features, porting over nearly all the Red Shirt Pictures produced extras from the German import Blu-ray, minus two German language commentaries and a German audio reading of the Lovecraft short 'The case of Charles Dexter Ward', and a whopper of an 84-page booklet. Scream Factory and Red Shirt also offer up two brand new extras, interviews with actress Jane Sibbett and S.T. Joshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft. This all adds up to over two hours worth of extras for this one, it might not be a CE but it should have been, if they'd thrown a slipcover on this one and labeled it a CE no one would have complained. 

The release comes in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side is a new illustration from artist Justin Osbourn,  which to be I didn't much care for,  looking like a riff on another Lovecraft adaptation, Stuart Gordon's From Beyond. However, the reverse artwork is fucking fantastic, also by Osbourn, which was featured on the German Blu-ray, glad they were able to offer it here as an alternate artwork! The one-thing I wish we could have gotten for this release was a workprint version as assembled by Dan O'Bannon, it exists, probably only on VHS, but I would have enjoyed seeing what his original vision was. 

Special Features: 
- NEW 2K transfer from the film’s vaulted interpositive film element
- NEW Claire’s Conundrum – an interview with actress Jane Sibbett (15 min) HD 
- NEW The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward – an interview with S.T. Joshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft (24 min) HD 
- Audio Commentary with producers Mark Borde and Kenneth Raich, screenwriter Brent V. Friedman, actor Richard Romanus and make-up effects artist Todd Masters
- The Resurrected Man – an interview with Chris Sarandon (16 min) HD 
- Abominations and Adaptations – an interview with screenwriter Brent Friedman (18 min) HD 
- Grotesque Melodies - an interview with composer Richard Band (10 min) HD 
- Lovecraftian Landscapes – an interview with production designer Brent Thomas (8 min) HD 
- Human Experiments – an interview with special effects artist Todd Masters (16 min) HD 
- Deleted and Extended Scenes from the Workprint (18 min) HD 
- Home Video Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Japanese Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Photo Gallery (8 min) HD

That The Resurrected (1991)is now available on a proper looking and reasonably priced HD format for fans in the U.S. is a reason for rejoicing! If you're a Lovecraft fan you need it, this is one of those under seen horror gems just waiting to be discovered, or re-discovered as the case may be, highly recommended, great to see the other Dan O'Bannon film get some love from Scream Factory! 

BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1989) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1989) 

Label: Arrow Video 

Region: Free

Rating: 18

Duration: 97 Minutes

Audio: PCM 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Brian Yuzna
Cast: Jeffrey Cobs, Bruce Abbot, Claude Earl Jones, David Gale, Fabiana Udenio, Mel Stewart

The events of Brian Yuzna's lunatic sequel to Re-animator begin eight months after the events of the first movie with both Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, From Beyond) and Dr. Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) working as medics in Peru where a bloody civil war is raging around them. The steady stream fresh corpses proves ideal for West and his continued experiments in reviving the dead with his green, glowing re-agent serum. When the medical camp is overrun by enemy soldiers the duo are forced to abandon their South American endeavor and return to Arkham, Massachusetts where they resume their former careers as doctors at Miskatonic University Hospital, where Dan seems content in making terminal patients comfortable during their finals days, while West just sort of wrings his hands with delight waiting for them to pass, at which point he can use their corpses as test subjects for his coveted re-agent serum.   

Both Dan and Herbert West live together in a house on the property of the local cemetery which seems appropriate, though the two once again make for combative housemates, not exactly seeing eye to eye on things. West is conveniently able to pilfer body parts from the Miskatonic University morgue, which is where he finds Dr. Hill's severed head and Meg's heart among other medical artifacts saved from the Miskatonic Massacre, Meg being Dan's former love interest from the first movie. West steals the heart and uses it to coerce Dan into helping him create a body from human parts, which when finished they will give life to by using the re-agent serum. This experimentation takes place in the basement of the home, a space that shares a wall with a cemetery crypt next door, which is where West conveniently disposes of his failed creations, which will come back to haunt him during the final moments of the movie. 

Meanwhile, back at Miskatonic University the aptly named Dr. Graves (Mel Stuart) has himself become obsessed with the work of the late Dr. Hill (David Gale, Ritual), and while using some of the re-agent serum found at the crime scene from the first movie is able to re-animate Hill's head, who then sets about exacting revenge on West, beginning by using his diabolical hypnotic powers to force Grave to sew a pair of bat wings to the sides of his severed head, which enables him to fly around. This has always brought to mind the winged skull mascot of the thrash band Overkill, and if the notion of a bat-winged severed head flying around seems a bit on the silly side that is because it certainly is. While the first movie was darkly comedic this one amps the comedy up quite a bit and goes right off the deep end of demented.

Also figuring into the story is police officer Lt. Leslie Chapham (Claude Earl Jones) who harasses both Dan and Herbert whom he holds responsible for the re-animation of his dead wife nine months earlier. As Dan and West were the only survivors of the Miskatonic Massacre he knows that deep down they had something to do with it. His quest for deranged justice results in him becoming one of Dr. Hill's re-animated minions, joining the ranks of the formerly undead. This time around Dan has a new love interest, another doctor named Francesca Danelli played by Fabiana Udenio, who was a face I knew, but it took me awhile to place her as Alotta Fagina from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), her inclusion seems a bit jammed-in there but it's not ruinous.

The movie comes to a head with the completion of their Bride, a corpse stitched together from various cadavers, with the heart of Dan's beloved Meg within it, they inject it with re-agent and the re-animated bride arises, just as the winged head of Dr. Hill and his re-animated minions lay siege to the house, leading up to a fevered finale with a cat fight between the Bride and Francesca, but when Dan rejects the affections of the creature she rips out her own heart and begins to fall apart quite literally. There's some very cool Screaming Mad George created freaky looking creatures that have been kept hidden away in the crypt which come after West he and the others take refuge from Dr. Hill's mind-controlled minions in the crypt, which brings this weird and gory sequel to a proper close. This sequel solid, maybe a bit on the absurd side, with more comedic and slapstick moments than the Stuart Gordon original, but a worthy and gory entry with a nicely over-the-top performance from Jeffrey Combs as the beloved Dr. Herbert West, a sweet slice of '80s gore cinema loaded with humor. 

Audio/Video: Bride of Re-animator arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video in both the R-rated and unrated versions - both running at 97 minutes in length. Both versions are new 2K scans with the unrated coming from a 35mm Composite Master Positive Print and the R-rated version coming from a second generation intermediate interpositive. I would definitely give the unrated version the edge over the R-rated version with a nicely managed grain field and more saturated colors. There's a nice sharpness to the image but it is marred by some strange and over powering set-lighting and the inclusion of cuts scenes which aren't up the same standards, but overall this is a very pleasing presentation on Blu-ray from Arrow Video that easily advances the previous DVD versions. The PCM Stereo 2.0 audio on the set sounds awesome, with Richard Band's almost criminal Bernard Hermann-esque score coming through with some real power, both dialogue and sound effects are nicely balanced and clean sounding. Optional English subtitles are provided. 

Arrow Video have above and beyond for the fans of the movie, first offering new 2K restorations of both the R-rated and unrated versions of the movie, plus the inclusion of three audio commentaries, including a brand new one with director Brian Yuzna moderated by David Gregory of Severin Films, the director right from the start reveals the influence of schlock-master William Castle on the movie with the floating head of Dr. Hill. I have not listened to the commentary with Yuzna, Combs and the special effects team yet, but the commentary with Combs and Abbott is a great listen, the two have a great chemistry onscreen and on the commentary, coming across as humorous, the two are always questioning the why and how of the absurd sequel.  

The disc also has two brand-new Severin Films produced featurettes, beginning with the 10-minute 'Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-animator' with the director remembering the origins of the sequel, unused story idea,making Society before getting to the sequel, the hurried start to the movie and selling the movie to Troma for distribution under the banner of 52nd Street Films, in addition to the critical and fan reception to the movie. 

The 15-minute 'Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-animator' features interviews with the many talented special effects creators who worked on the movie including Robert Kurtzman of KNB, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin, John Buechler and Brian Yuzna, these are great, I always love hearing about the creation of these '80s practical effects, it begins with Yuzna recalling the work on Stuart Gordon's Dolls, and is peppered with loads of behind-the-scenes footage.  

Other extras on the set included an archival making of featurette offering some great behind-he-scenes footage of the movie being made along with the set-up of the great gore gags, eight minutes of deleted scenes, a theatrical trailer, and a behind-the-scenes reel

Special Features:
- Brand new 2K restoration of the R-rated version (97 Mins) HD
- Brand new 2K restoration of the Unrated version (97 Mins) HD
- Brand new audio commentary with Brian Yuzna
- Audio Commentary with Brian Yuzna, star Jeffrey Combs, visual effects supervisor Tom
Rainone and the effects team including John Buechler, Mike Deak, Bob Kurtzman, Howard Berger and Screaming Mad George
- Audio Commentary with stars Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott
- Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-animator – brand new featurette in which the director looks back at the making of the first Re-animator sequel (10 Mins) HD
- Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-animator – Brand new FX featurette with a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Robert Kurtzman of KNB, Screaming Mad George, Tony Doublin and John Buechler (15 Mins) HD
- Getting Ahead in Horror – archive making-of featurette (24 Mins) HD
- Deleted Scenes (10 Mins) HD 

- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) HD 

- Behind the Scenes Reel (15 Mins)  

- Original Stereo 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

- Newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

- Limited Edition Collector’s Booklet

This release from Arrow Video is stacked from top to bottom, it really goes above and beyond for this gore-soaked sequel, offering new 2K restorations of both the R-rated and unrated versions of the movie with the usual sweet Arrow Video design and packaging. As a sequel the Bride of Re-Animator is fun, gory and wonderfully nutty, a step down from the original but a totally fun watch, and this is the definitive version to own.

Blu-ray Review: FROM BEYOND (1986) Collector's Edition

FROM BEYOND (1986) 

Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack

Collector's Edition - Unrated Ditrector's Cut

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A

Rating: Unrated
Duration: 86 Minutes
Video: 1080p Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Ted Sorel, Kenneth Foree, Barbara Crampton

Synopsis: The Resonator, a powerful machine that can control the sixth sense, has killed its creator and sent his associate into an insane asylum. But when a beautiful psychiatrist becomes determined to continue the experiment, she unwittingly opens the door to a hostile parallel universe... and to the deviant behavior within the human psyche. With its victims becoming creatures who feed on - and become aroused by - human brains, the Resonator is the ultimate man-made monster. And now somethings gone horribly wrong and no one can turn it off!

From Beyond (1986) is a title I snatched-up at my local VHS rental shop as a youth, it lured me in with pretty much everything a horny gore-hound could want: chills, tits and slime slime-covered sci-fi viscera  It's the film that introduced me to director Stuart Gordon and actor Jeffrey Combs, not to mention the teen masturbation fantasy that was Barbara Crampton. The only familiar face to me at the time was Ken Foree, from George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which even at that young age was already a favorite of mine.
As story goes, renowned physicist Dr. Pretorious (Ted Sorel) and his assistant Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs) are hard at work on an invention called The Resonator, a machine that stimulates the pineal gland located in the human brain with mind-expanding resonant vibrations. A unforeseen side of effect of this pineal stimulation is that those affected are able to perceive another dimension separate from our own reality. It's Tillinghast who first makes this startling discovery while making adjustments to the machine, turning it on he sees creatures resembling moray eels floating in the air, at first intruiged by their appearance his interest turns to fear when one takes a nice bites out of his face, startled he turns it off. The panicked physicist immediately notifies Pretorious who, of course, against Tillinghast's advice turns on the machine and is overwhelmed with a powerful sensation. Pretorious  spouts off  about his insatiable need to see beyond normal human perception, it's almost orgasmic the way he delights in it. All the while Tillinghast implores the scientist to turn off the machine but he refuses, the scene ends with the assistant feeling the house as Pretoprious's corpse lies next to the resonator, his now MIA head having been twisted-off in a grotesque fashion. The experience leaves the Dr.'s assistant near insane, accused of the murder Tillinghast ends up in the loony bin under the care of a Nurse Ratched-type character named Dr. Bloch (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Dolls).

Arriving at the psychiatric hospital to study the case is Dr. Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton, Re-Animator), after some tests reveal that Tillinghast's pineal gland is larger than normal she becomes convinced that Pretorious's experiments were successful and that the discovery could benefit the science of schizophrenia. Further proving the adage that  the road to Hell is paved with good intentions McMichaels checks Tillinghast out from the psychiatric ward against Bloch's wishes and is accompanied back to the scene of the crime under the watchful eye of Detective Bubba Brownie (Ken Foree, Dawn of the Dead) with the intention of rebuilding and re-creating Pretorous's resonator experiments. That's pretty much in a nutshell is the story, it's pretty simplistic but with a great cast of b-movie stars and some inventive special effects director Stuart Gordon created of my favorite mid-80's science fiction horrors, a slime-covered Lovecraftian classic.

Once the Resonator is brought back online it's not long before all three bare witness to the strange other dimensional creature from beyond, as well as the transformed Pretorious, now transformed into a slime-covered grotesque version of his former self, the lustful doc attacks McMichaels a whom only just barely escapes with her brain intact when Tillinghast and Bubba manage to get past a toothy sandworm-esque creature in the basement to uncouple the power from the machine. The encounter leaves Tillinghast completely bald, the continued exposure to the Resonator prompts his pineal gland to emerge from his forehead like a phallic third-eye and he's cursed with a hunger for human brains!

The film is steeped in creepy atmosphere, the fantastic otherworldly score from Richard Band combines with the neon pink and blue hues to great effect onscreen. Crampton's character as the Dr. driven by ambition and overcome by lustful desires thrilled me as a teen and still does today. The role is a sweet reversal of what we saw in Re-Animator where she played victim to Comb's maniacal Herbert West, it's a delicious twist. The film is wonderfully twisted, perversely sexual and grotesquely slimy, there's a lot to love. The effects team does great work here, not all of it holds-up equally but overall the film was ahead of it's time, ambitious stuff. It's not on the level of John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) but the two are kindred spirits. The Pretorious transformations are particularly fantastic, unsettling stuff which still managed to sends shivers down my spine today.

Blu-ray: Shout! Factory imprint Scream Factory, the new home of classic horror, presents Stuart Gordon's slime-tastic classic in it's original widescreen aspect ratio (1.78:1).  I gather it's sourced from the same master as the MGM's 2007 Unrated Director's Cut, it looks fantastic, even more so with a sweet 1080p upgrade! The film benefits from increased clarity and depth, there's some great fine details, too. The old school practical and optical effects here from John Buechler, Anthony Doublin, John Naulin, and Mark Shostrom are fantastic and have never looked better.The film has a gorgeous neon color scheme and the otherworldly pink and blue hues pop off the screen. Even twenty-seven years later the film still packs quite a visual wallop. Definitely check out the  featurette on the disc explaining the difficulties incorporating previously cut scenes back into the film, the before and after restoration demo is a revelation, and it's great to see these b-movie masterpieces getting the attention they deserve.

Audio options include choice of 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio with option English subtitles. The 5.1 is quite good with some fun use of the surrounds, we definitely get a more enveloping sound field with some depth to it. Dialogue, effects and Richard Band's fantastic score are presented crisply and well-balanced, this is good good stuff. 

Scream Factory's edition incorporates all the special features from MGM's Unrated Director's Cut  including over a minute of restored footage that was excised due to an MPAA "castration". The restoration is fantastic and documented with The Editing Room – Lost and Found (4:45) which features interviews with the restoration team and director Stuart Gordon..

The Audio Commentary with Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna and cast members Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs is quite entertaining. The foursome have blast reflecting on the film and their time in Italy, lots of fun anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stuff, a lot of this you will hear repeated to some degree during the other special features but it's a commentary definitely worth a listen.

Director’s Perspective (8:53) features Gordon talking about his three picture deal with Empire and thinking Dagon would be his next film following Re-Animator until producer Charles Band balked at the idea, which is how he ended up coming to From Beyond. He also speaks to the role reversal of the Combs/Crampton characters whom both appeared in Re-Animator, the connection between horror and sex in cinema and a fun story about battling the MPAA for an R rating, including a stiff scolding by a librarian in regard to the infamous eye-sucking scene, going on to discuss the origin and assembling of this director's cut of the film.

Interview with the Composer (4:33) featuring composer Richard Band whom explores the film's horror and sexuality through it's score. The last of the MGM extras includes Photo Montage (4:45) set to Richard Band's score, a the Storyboard to Film comparison (1:23) featuring five scene from the film. 

So these features are fantastic unto themselves and when I bought that 2007 MGM edition I was quite thrilled but Shout! being the fans of classic horror that they are and realizing they needed to sweeten the pot beyond the brilliant 1080p presentation and carry over extras went on to commissioned four new featurettes from Red Shirt Pictures in addition to a brand new Audio Commentary with longtime Stuart Gordon collaborator and screenwriter Denis Paoli (Re-Animator, Castle Freak) who offers a sparse commentary detailing the differences between the source material and the film, it's interesting but fairly quiet, it's a welcome addition and a must listen for fans of Lovecraft.  

Multiple Dimensions – A look at the film’s extensive Make-Up and Creature Effects with Special Effects Creators John Buechler, Anthony Doublin, John Naulin, and Mark Shostrom (23:24) is a must watch for fans of practical effects.The effects geniuses behind the film talk about the difficulty of bringing Gordon's Lovecraftian vision to the screen on a relatively budget. It's pretty great to hear the guys talk about their craft with such fondness, the best of the bunch include John Naulin telling a pretty freaky story about losing two of his fingers on-set during a freak accident and the revelation that Ted Sorel is the nephew of Universal horror legend Jack Pierce, who did so many of the classic universal monsters, it's fun stuff.

Reversible Artwork 

Paging Dr. McMichaels – An interview with Actress Barbara Crampton (13:45) features the starlet of the film whom speaks about the reversal of roles between her and Jefferey Combs characters in From Beyond versus Re_Animator, that awesome leather outfit, her characters sexual awakening, and on a side note, Crampton is still quite a cutey, too. 

A Tortured Soul – An interview with Actor Jeffrey Combs (17:46) features the longtime Gordon collaborator speaking about coming into the role, not really feeling suited to playing the victim, working with Ken Foree, Ted Sorel and Barbara Crampton. He also goes into the mechanics of some of the effects work in the film, plus an amusing anecdote about having to chew on Fixident during the brain-noshing scene, it's always a blast to hear from Combs. 

The last of the new features is An Empire Production – An interview with Executive Producer Charles Band (5:02), a new conversation with director Charles Band whom reflects on the genesis of the film and this specific period in time shooting the film in Italy. 

The 2-disc set also includes a standard definition DVD featuring the same special features, a very cool slipcase and newly commissioned artwork from designer Jeff Zornowa plus a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring the original theatrical poster art  for the film. 

Now this is a nearly definitive edition, chances are From Beyond will never look better than what we have here but there is another UK edition on Blu-ray and DVD  from Second Sight Films that feature the same MGM extras plus separate Severin Films produced extras, too. Read the review for the standard definition DVD edition from Second Sight HERE. 

Menu Screen 

Special Features: 

All New Scream Factory Extras

Audio Commentary with writer Denis Paoli

Multiple Dimensions – A look at the film’s extensive Make-Up and Creature Effects with Special Effects Creators John Buechler, Anthony Doublin, John Naulin, and Mark Shostrom (23:24)

Paging Dr. McMichaels – An interview with Actress Barbara Crampton (13:45)

A Tortured Soul – An interview with Actor Jeffrey Combs (17:46)

An Empire Production – An interview with Executive Producer Charles Band (5:02)

Extras Carried Over from the MGM 2007 DVD

Audio Commentary with director Stuart Gordon and the Cast

The Director's Perspective - interview with Stuart Gordon (1:23)

The Editing Room: Lost And Found - Gordon Stuart and MGM restoration team interview (4:45)

Interview with composer Richard Band (4:33)

Storyboard to Film Comparisions with Introduction: Introduction (1:23), Appearance of Dr. Pretorius (1:22), Death of Bubba (2:16), Hospital Escape (2:59), Katherine Frees Herself (1:09)

Gallery (4:23) 

Verdict: Stuart Gordon's From Beyond (1986) remain a fantastic mid-80's sci-fi horror classic dripping with grotesque creatures and slime covered horrors. Gordon just doesn't get enough praise in my opinion and if you haven't check out his 80's and early 90's oeuvre you are missing out on some excellent cult-classics. Shout Factory's reputation for sterling editions of beloved horror classic remains untarnished, they've assembled a stunning 1080p edition of From beyond, this gets a high recommend. 4 Outta 5