IT’S ALIVE TRILOGY (1974-1978) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

IT’S ALIVE TRILOGY (1974-1978) 

Label: Scream Factory
Release Date: May 15th 2018
Region Code: A
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen

For the first time on Blu-ray, and in a new, deluxe box set, the It’s Alive trilogy is reborn! On May 15, Scream Factory will release the It’s Alive Trilogy in a 3-disc set packed with bonus features, including new interviews, and new 2K scans of each film.

IT’S ALIVE (1974)

Rating: PG 
Duration: 91 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen
Cast: John P. Ryan, Sharon Farrell, Andrew Duggan, Guy Stockwell, James Dixon, Michael Ansara

Synopsis: It's newborn and … It's Alive … and murder is what it knows best! A proud couple's bundle of joy is really a newborn terror in filmmaker Larry Cohen's cautionary cult hit that tapped into environmental fears. The horror grows when multiple child monsters rampage in the first sequel It Lives Again as two brave parents try to stop them by becoming the bait for their spree. The now global mutants are rounded up and relocated to a far-flung island in It's Alive III: Island of the Alive. Will a parent's greatest nightmare become the world's gravest fear? Find out ... if you dare.

In Larry Cohen's 70's killer-kid classic we have L.A. couple Frank Davis (John Ryan, Runaway Train) and his wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell, The Premonition) expecting their second child, it was an unexpected pregnancy as she was on birth control, but they are happy nonetheless at the prospect of another kiddo around the house, as is their adolescent son Chris (Daniel Holzman) who will be a big brother. When she goes into labor they head to the hospital and as she begins to give birth while Frank sits in the lobby with the other expectant fathers, as was the tradition back in the day, not like now when father's are almost always in the delivery room. However, the birth is abnormal, and what emerges from his wife's womb is a toothy-mutant offspring that chews through it's own umbilical cord before slaughtering all the medical staff in the delivery room, the aftermath looking a bit like that scene fro Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 when Doctor Ock's sentient tentacles go ape-shit. The wife goes into hysterics as Frank wanders into he bloody aftermath, soon after a manhunt is launched for the ferocious killer-kid with Frank initially being on board with hunting it down and killing it, until his paternal instincts kick in. 

The film is a bit of a slow-mover by modern horror standards but I've always loved it, Cohen made a classic 70's monster movie here with early make-up effects by none other than Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) who sculpted quite a fearsome kid with a bulbous, vein-y head, fangs and clawed hands. Rightfully they keep the visuals of the kid to a minimum, showing it in fleeting glimpses and among the shadows. There are a lot of killer POV shots from the point of view of the homicidal baby, a double-vision image thing that worked pretty well. The film can be read in several different ways, informed by real issues like abortion, eugenics and the Thalidomide baby-deformities, with this one containing a corrupt drug company trying to erase evidence that their contraception pill which might be the root cause of the hideous mutation to begin with. 

John P. Ryan (Three O'Clock High) as the father really sells the expectant father part of the story as well as the conflicted post-hospital slaughter reality of the abnormal birth and ensuing man-hunt for the demon-toothed kid, he gives it some real depth and layers. While the film is a tiny bit slow and we don't see the killer-kid a bunch the film is very effective, plus it's well lensed with a sweeping score from Bernard Herrmann (Psycho) with loads of blood, particularly for a PG-rated horror film! I'm not totally convinced this will play all that well with a younger audience watching it for the first time, I grew up with it so it has some intrinsically nostalgic appeal, but I will say that my seventeen year old son enjoyed it quite a bit.  

This was Cohen's first time directing a horror film, it's a serious effort that's handled with a modicum of class, it's not quite as oddball and quirky as some of his later genre efforts, and I think that serious tone gives this monster-kid cult classic some legs.

Special Features: 
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- NEW Cohen’s Alive: Looking Back at the It’s Alive Films featuring interviews with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, actors James Dixon, Michael Moriarty and Laurene Landon and more… (18 min) HD 
- NEW It’s Alive at the Nuart: The 40th Anniversary Screening with Larry Cohen (13 min) HD 
- Audio Commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen
- Radio Spots (2 min) HD 
- TV Spots (1 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (4 min) HD

IT LIVES AGAIN (1978)

Rating: R
Duration: 91 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen
Cast: John P. Ryan, James Dixon, John Marley, Andrew Duggan, Eddie Constantine

Synopsis: Is it human? Is it a beast? Whatever it is, It Lives Again in this second film in cult filmmaker Larry Cohen’s Alive Trilogy. Once again, Cohen brings to the screen a hideous threesome of mutant baby monsters that are the evolutionary response to man’s polluted environment. These frightened creatures lash out with deadly claws at what they don’t understand. There are only three, but they could reproduce into uncontrollable millions if someone doesn’t destroy them. Fredric Forrest (Apocalypse Now) and Kathleen Lloyd (The Car) star as the loving parents of one of the monstrous creatures. Parental love, however, is no match for these hell-spawned mutants. Their wild blood binge must be stopped. Will the next stage of their evolution become our last?

After the success of the first film a sequel was hatched, picking up a few years after the original we have John P. Ryan returning as Frank Davis who has traveled to Tucson, AZ (love seeing my city back in the 70's) to warn a young couple, Jody (Kathleen Lloyd, The Car) and Eugene Scott (Frederic Forrest, The Conversation), that their soon-to-be-born kid will most likely be a mutant, which since that last film have been being born at an alarming rate around the country. At first they don't believe him but they come around when they meet a menacing guy named Malory (John Marley, Deathdream) who has put together a death-squad who travel around the country exterminating the mutant kids the moment they're born. With the help of John the couple escape the hospital and she gives birth to the beastly kid in a mobile birthing unit built into the back of a shipping truck, and are taken to a retreat run by a group of scientists,  Andrew Duggan (Doctor Detroit) and Eddie Constantin (Alphaville), who want to study the babies, believing them to be the next evolutionary step of humanity, a sort of underground railroad for mutant babies, where they're kid gets to mingle with two other deformed monster-kids. 

The sequel is a nice continuation of the story, it's not just a simple retread, and it's great to have John P. Ryan back as Davis. Also returning are the special make-up effects of Rick Baker plus we get another score from Bernard Herrmann. While I don't love the sequel they way I do the first it's a solid sequel that expands a bit on the story and we get more moving parts, including the Scott's being betrayed by the wife's mother, ending with the authorities showing up at the facility where the monster kids are being kept. There's a bit more gore this time around too, but not a bunch, so keep those expectations in check.

Special Features: 
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- Audio Commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen
- Theatrical Trailer (1 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (4 min) HD

IT’S ALIVE 3: ISLAND OF THE ALIVE (1987)

Rating: R
Duration: 95 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen
Cast: Michael Moriarty, Karen Black, Laurene Landon, Gerrit Graham, Neal Israel, James Dixon 

Synopsis: In It’s Alive III: Island Of The Alive, Michael Moriarty (Q: The Winged Serpent) and Karen Black (Trilogy of Terror) star as Stephen and Ellen Jarvis, the distraught parents of one of the new mutant children. They’ve watched in horror as government death squads roamed the earth, shooting the humanoids on sight. They’ve suffered through the court hearings that sentenced their child and other surviving mutants to a remote, uninhabited island. And their nightmare continues … because the abandoned creatures are now grown … and they are coming back home to the society that created and rejected them. And no one who stands in their way will live.

The second and final (so far, not counting the remake) sequel in the It's Alive trilogy throws seriousness right out the window in far or of a more humorous approach with the introduction of Cohen regular Michael Moriarty (The Stuff) as Jarvis, who opens the film in a courtroom fighting for the rights of his mutant born son to live, arguing for the death of his son is a lawyer played by Gerrit Graham (Phantom of the Paradise), the over-the-top trial ends with the killer baby busting out of it's steel cage with Jarvis managing to calm it down, showing the judge that it's not pure evil, and thus the judge (MacDonald Carey, End of the World) rules that the five surviving mutant kids known to exist are to be shipped away to an isolated island where they will no pose a danger to society.

The film moves ahead a few years and Moriarty's character has penned a tell-all book about the events, while his ex-wife Ellen (Karen Black, Burnt Offerings) wants nothing to do with him or the the damned kid, living her life out of the spotlight while Jarvis, a former TV commercial actor, has become an outcast of society. There's a great scene where the affection starved Jarvis meets a prostitute played by Laurene Landon (Maniac Cop) who beds him but goes ape-shit when she realizes why he looks so familiar, believing that the mutations gene can be passed by touch, sort of the ways the AIDS epidemic caused hysteria around the same time. 

Jarvis later is recruited to visit the island with a team to study the growth of the monster kids who have now grown into adulthood, and this is where I really started to miss the special effects work of Rick Baker who is not present here, instead we have men in rubber-suits that look real goofy, but there's also some fun Harryhausen-esque stop-motion animation which I enjoyed a bunch.

Jarvis and the team come under attack on the island by the mutants, who apparently miss home, they force him to pilot a ship back towards the U.S. mainland with his son saving his life by throwing him overboard when the other monsters - and their own monster kids - decide that Jarvis looks like a tasty piece of meat - stranding him in Cuba, where more off-kilter shenanigans take place. Eventually the deformed families arrive in Florida - where Ellen lives - and  the carnage begins with the mutants destroying a group of 80's punks down on the boardwalk before homing in on the whereabouts of Ellen, leading to a rooftop encounter/family reunion. 

This one is off-kilter and way more comedic than the first two entries, Cohen bringing in Moriarty guarantees plenty of hammed-up shenanigans which we get in spades, I love this guy, and even though it veers far away from the previous films, it's more akin to The Stuff than It's Alive, there's still plenty of low-budget horror and corny Cohen-Moriarty humor to make it a palatable straight-to-video sequel.

Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- NEW interview with Special Effects Makeup Designer Steve Neill (10 min) HD 
- Audio Commentary with writer/director Larry Cohen
- Trailer (1 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (3 min) HD 

Audio/Video: All three films arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen and sourced from new 2K scans of the archival interpositive elements, the 2018 2K scans were performed by Warner Bros. and look great. The first film looks the best of the bunch with finely managed grain, saturated colors and deep inky blacks. There's a surprising amount of fine detail in those 70's textures and facial details. The sequels also look great, they lack some of the deep fine detail and clarity of the first film, but are solid. 

Each films sports an English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 audio track with optional English subtitles, all are nicely balanced and clean without any hiss or distortion. The Bernard Herrmann score of the first film is certainly a highlight, if I was to niggle about an extra I would have appreciated it would have been an isolated music score for the films, particularly he first two which are scored by the legendary composer.  

Thankfully Scream Factory carryover all the Larry Cohen commentaries from Warner Bros. previous triple feature DVD set from 2009. New stuff begins with the 18-min 'Cohen’s Alive: Looking Back at the It’s Alive Films' which features interviews with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, actors James Dixon, Michael Moriarty and Laurene Landon, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and historians John Burligame, FX Feeney. The main attraction here is Cohen who speaks volumes about the films, from the troubled beginning of It's Alive to the success when a visionary WB exec saw the merit of the film and gave t proper distribution, creating the opening credit sequences at his home (where much of the second films was shot), working with the cast and crew, Rick Bakers special effects, getting Bernard Herrmann to score the films. The cast and crew also reminiscence about shooting Island of the Alive, getting sea sick on the open sea, bit Larry using the sick crew as extras on the boat, posing as corpses, typical low-budget Larry Cohen workarounds. The talk here is moistly centered around the first and third film with the second getting short shrift in regard to content, but there's a lot of ground covered.

We also get a 13-min  Q/A from the 40th anniversary screening of the film at the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles from 2014, the audio on this one is a bit choppy and wonky in [paces but it's good stuff, Cohen is a great storyteller and he doesn't disappoint here. 

The last of the new stuff is a 10-min interview with Special Effects Makeup Designer Steve Neill who worked on the third film, he speaks about getting ti know Rick Baker, who offered him the job on this film. He speaks about wanting to create a different type of look for the monsters, but Cohen wanted to go a different route, leading to the rubber-suited creatures which emulate the look of the baby monsters from the previous films, he also discussed Mark Williams sculpting of the masks, and the use of stop-motion animation. 

The first film has a selection of trailers, radio spots, and a gallery, the sequels get a trailer and a gallery minus the radio spots. Onto the packaging we get pretty much the same packaging style Scream Factory offered with The Amityville Horror Trilogy, all three films get their own keepcase wrapped in a flimsy card-stock slipcover. Both It's Alive and It Lives Again feature reversible artwork while Island of the Alive features an image from the film on the reverse side. The discs themselves feature the reversible artwork options, except Island of the Alive which features the home video artwork which also adorns the sleeve. 

The Larry Cohen love continues with this impressive looking three-disc set from Scream Factory, Cohen's made so many great cult-films through the years, it's great to see many of them getting new HD releases from Scream Factory with new extras, I hope this is a trend that continues. I also hope there are kids out there discovering some of these for the first time and loving them, and that it's not just us old farts getting nostalgic cinema-erections every time they announce another one. 

DEATHDREAM (1974) (Blue Underground Blu-ray Review)

DEATHDREAM (1974)
2-Disc Limited Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD

Label: Blue Underground 
Duration: 88 Minutes 
Rating: R
Region Code: Region-FREE
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English SDH, French, Spanish Subtitles
Director: Bob Clark 
Cast: John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus, Anya Ormsby,  Henderson Forsythe 

Deathdream (1974) (aka Dead of Night) is directed by the late Bob Clark (Porky's, A Christmas Story), written Alan Ormsby (Deranged), and was part of a trio of horror films Clark directed, this coming right in between Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972) and the seminal-slasher Black Christmas (1974). In this chilly anti-war horror film we have the Brooks family gathered around the dinner table, we have father Charles (John Marley, The Godfather), mother Christine (Lynn Carlin, Faces), and teen daughter Cathy (Anya Ormsby, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things), when there's an ominous knock at the door, which turns out to be an Army recruiter delivering the worse news imaginable, that their son Andy (Richard Backus) has died serving his country in Vietnam. 

Everyone is devastated but the mother Lynn refuses to accept this horrible truth, sitting alone in a room with a candle in the dark whispering that her son cannot be dead. Later that night a noise in the house awakens the family, and they are surprised to find Andy has come home, his mother's wishes seem to have come true. It seems that the military had been mistaken, but the Andy before them turns out not to be the same young man they remember, in what turns out to be a waking nightmare. 

The film is an obvious allegory for PTSD and the war being fought at home during the Vietnam era, Clark and Ormsby crafted a haunting examination of how war changes a person and how sometimes families struggle with the return of loved one, who are changed in sometimes dramatic ways. Andy is very subdued and spends hours alone in his room in a rocking chair, his emotions are erratic, scaring the neighborhood kids when he strangles the family dog, and the family physician Doctor Allman (Henderson Forsythe) begins to suspect Andy in the murder of a truck driver who was found dead, his throat ripped open and his body drained of blood. There's a scene of Andy visiting the doctor, allowing him to examine him before he kills him, using a syringe to drain the doc's blood, afterward he ties off his arm and injects the blood into his veins like an addict shooting heroin, which was another affliction facing returning vet's in the 70's looking to numb themselves to the horrors they had experienced. 

The returning vet experience is exaggerated here to a degree as Andy turns out to be a ghoul of sorts, requiring human blood to live and apparently stave off the rot of being dead, he seems sort of like a zombie with a blood lust, and when he doesn't get his transfusion blood terrible things happen, like when he goes on a double-date to the local drive-in, a strange brown liquid begins to leak from his head, his eyes and skin begin to change, his appetite for blood no longer deniable he kills his ex-girlfriend in the backseat of the car and then goes after his own sister, killing her boyfriend before driving off, running down another victim with the car in the process. As his father and sister fully come to realize Andy is a killer Mom clings to her son with desperation, leading up to a chilly and poignant final scene

Deathdream has a creepy vibe that permeates from the opening scene to the final, it's not the most lively horror film but it's one that gets under the skin, and was one of the first to address the issue of Vietnam, though it's doesn't ever mention the war by name, it is steeped in it nonetheless. The special effects in the film were done by script-writer by Alan Ormsby who was assisted by a young Tom Savini (The Burning), this being Savini's first job on a film. As the film wears on Andy becomes a bit more zombie-looking, his skin becoming flaky and mottled, his eyes strangely discolored, and towards the end you can see bit of his skull exposed through his thinning skin, it's low-budget but very well-done, it definitely look more like Ormsby's work on Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972) than it does any of Savini's later work.

The movie has an eerie score from Carl Zittrer (Black Christmas)that enhances the atmosphere, a piano/string score used sparsely and effectively, some of the odd strained-piano strings sounds got under my skin, deepening the dread, a ploy he uses on Black Christmas as well.   

Audio/Video: Deathdream (1974) arrives on Blu-ray/DVD Combo from Blue Underground, upgrading their previous DVD release with a brand new 2K restoration sourced from the original 35mm negative, presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, and baring the Dead of Night alternate title. I believe the film was shot on 16mm and blown-up to 35mm for theatrical, so the source-inherent grain is still an issue here, particularly during the darker/night scenes, but it is better resolved. Colors are improved, the green-hue from the DVD is gone, flesh tones look more natural, and the black levels are deeper and more consistent. Audio on the main feature comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono track which sounds good within the limitations of the modest production, but dialogue and effects are well-balanced, the atmospheric and minimal score from  Carl Zittrer (Black Christmas) comes through strong, optional English subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras Blue Underground carry-over nearly all the extras from their 2004 DVD, this includes the two audio commentaries, one with Co-Producer/Director Bob Clark and  a second with Writer/Make-Up Artist Alan Ormsby, both moderated by David Gregory. We also get the vintage interviews with Tom Savini and actor Richard Backus, the alternate opening title sequence with the "Deathdream" title, a theatrical trailer. Not included is the 3-minute extended ending sequence, and with good reason, the main feature is the even longer  version with the omitted dialogue from Andy's mom saying, "Andy's home, sometimes they never come home", which was not included on the extended ending extra on the DVD. 

Onto the new extras we get an a half hour interview with star Anya Liffey and Writer/Make-Up Artist Alan Ormsby, who speak about Ormsby's early student films, meeting Bob Clark and teaming-up with him on Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, including shooting it in sweltering Miami, and recruiting drunk/stoner-hippies from the park to be zombies. Ormsby also goes into writing Deathdream, wanting to make a anti-war horror film, his various inspirations, and casting the film - with the nugget that Christopher Walken auditioned for the role of Andy - but he was too weird! They also discuss working with the cast of the film, remembering John Marley as a consummate professional, a few quirks actress about Lynn Carlin, and working with Tom Savini. There's also discussion of how the movie was received, and next going on to co-direct Deranged (1974). It ends with Ormsby going into creating the Hugo - The Man with the Thousand Faces doll which he pitched to Kenner toys and was produced for a short time, and his Movie Monsters book published by Scholastic.   

There's also a new interview with composer Carl Zittrer who interestingly discusses how the film failed to find an audience because of the various title changes, he of course also discusses his score, the placement of music in the film and even playing some selections from the score on piano during the interview. Production Manager John ‘Bud’ Cardos, a director in his own right, having directed Kingdom of the Spiders (1977) and The Dark (1979), also shows up for a brief interview discussing his time on the film, interacting with Bob Clark and John Marley, and creating some of the special effects work during the early 'Nam scene and the car chase at the end. We also get 12-minutes of screen test footage showing actor Gary Swanson (Vice Squad) in the role of Andy, which would have been a very different film, and a ten-min black and white student film of Ormsby, the tale of a black man accused of rape, which was very affecting. We also get an expanded image gallery with posters from various territories under numerous titles and the US press book. There's also a trio of ester eggs to be found, we get Alan Ormsby showing some prosthetic appliances used in the films, an Orgy of the Living Dead TV Spot, and a TV spot for the Hugo: Man of a Thousand Faces doll. 

This 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD release comes housed in a clear Criterion-style Scanavo case, with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring the Deathdream poster on the a-side and the alternate Dead of Night poster on the b-side. The disc themselves feature the same two artwork options, but both have the Deathdream logo. Of note the Deathream poster art make the film look like a 70's Italian cop-thriller mashed-up with a black-glove giallo, which speaks to the strange marketing campaign for the film under various titles, none of which seemed to land with theater goers at the time. We also get a 20-page booklet with an insightful new essay by critic Travis Crawford, also containing cast ad crew information, and chapter selection. 

Special Features:  
- Audio Commentary with Co-Producer/Director Bob Clark
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Make-Up Artist (Uncredited) Alan Ormsby
- NEW! A Recollection With Star Anya Liffey and Writer/Make-Up Artist Alan Ormsby (29 min) HD 
- NEW! Notes For A Homecoming – Interview with Composer Carl Zittrer (19 min) HD 
- NEW! Flying Down To Brooksville – Interview with Production Manager John ‘Bud’ Cardos (5 min) 
- Tom Savini: The Early Years (10 min) 
- Deathdreaming – Interview with Star Richard Backus (12 min) 
- Alternate Opening Titles (3 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (4 min) 
- NEW! Screen Test with original Andy, Gary Swanson (13 min) 
- NEW! Expanded Still Galleries
- NEW! Alan Ormsby Student Film (10 min) 
- EASTER EGG: Orgy of the Living Dead TV Spot (1 min) HD
- EASTER EGG: Alan Ormsby Make-Up Outtake (1 min) 
- EASTER EGG: Hugo TV Spot (2 min) HD  
- Collectible Booklet with new essay by critic Travis Crawford (First Pressing Only!)
- WORLD PREMIERE of brand new 2K restoration from the 35mm negative in its most complete version ever!

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it did not disappoint, the movie gets better with each watch, a haunting anti-war film that leaves quite an impression, and one that could have been very exploitative, but it's handled with a deft touch, all things considered. This 2-disc collector's edition from Blue Underground offers the most complete/longest version on home video, and the the new 2K restoration looks fantastic, plus we get some great extras, highly recommended, this surpassed by expectations!

Blue Underground detail their 2K restoration of Bob Clark's DEATHDREAM (1974)

Blue Underground have announced the final details for their 2K restoration of Bob Clark's DEATHDREAM (aka DEAD OF NIGHT). The Deluxe Limited Edition of Bob Clark's critically-acclaimed zombie shocker will be unleashed on Blu-ray November 28th! This version is the longest version available, including a longer ending not included on the original Blue Underground DVD release, plus loads of new extras!  

DEATHDREAM (1974) 
2-Disc Limited Collector's Edition Blu-ray/DVD

Label: Blue Underground 
Duration: 88 Minutes 
Rating: R
Region Code: Region-FREE
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English SDH, French, Spanish Subtitles
Director: Bob Clark 
Cast: John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus 

SOMETHING UNSPEAKABLE HAS COME HOME

In this shattering variation on “The Monkey’s Paw,” grief-stricken suburban parents (Academy Award® nominees John Marley of THE GODFATHER and Lynn Carlin of FACES) refuse to accept the news that their son Andy (Richard Backus) has been killed in Vietnam. But when Andy returns home soon after, something may be horribly wrong: Andy is alive and well… or is he? Produced and directed by Bob Clark (BLACK CHRISTMAS) and written by Alan Ormsby (DERANGED), DEATHDREAM was one of the very first films to confront the domestic ravages of the Vietnam War. More than forty years later, it remains one of the most chilling horror films of all time.

DEATHDREAM was released under several different titles, including DEAD OF NIGHT, THE NIGHT WALK and THE NIGHT ANDY CAME HOME, and marked the grisly debut of gore effects legend Tom Savini (DAWN OF THE DEAD). Blue Underground is proud to present this acclaimed zombie shocker in a new 2K restoration from the 35mm negative in its most complete version ever, along with original and brand-new Extras exclusive to this release!

Special Features:  
- Audio Commentary #1 with Co-Producer/Director Bob Clark
- Audio Commentary #2 with Writer/Make-Up Artist (Uncredited) Alan Ormsby
- NEW! A Recollection With Star Anya Liffey and Writer/Make-Up Artist Alan Ormsby
- NEW! Notes For A Homecoming – Interview with Composer Carl Zittrer
- NEW! Flying Down To Brooksville – Interview with Production Manager John ‘Bud’ Cardos
- Tom Savini: The Early Years
- Deathdreaming – Interview with Star Richard Backus
- Alternate Opening Titles
- Theatrical Trailer
- NEW! Expanded Still Galleries
- NEW! Alan Ormsby Student Film
- BONUS Collectable Booklet with new essay by critic Travis Crawford (First Pressing Only!)
- WORLD PREMIERE of brand new 2K restoration from the 35mm negative in its most complete version ever!
- EXCLUSIVE LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION includes Blu-ray, DVD, bonus collectable booklet, reversible "Dead of Night" artwork, and special packaging

THE CAR (1977) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

THE CAR (1977) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English, DTS-HD MA 5.1, DTS-HD 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Cast: Elizabeth Thompson, James Brolin, Doris Dowling, John Marley, John Rubinstein, Kathleen Lloyd, Kim Richards, Kyle Richards, R.G. Armstrong, Ronny Cox, Dennis Shryack

Synopsis: Fasten your seatbelts for the terrifying thrill ride that has become a cult classic! The peaceful tranquility of a small Western town is disturbed when a murderous car wreaks havoc by viciously mowing down innocent victims. The new sheriff, Wade Parent (James Brolin, The Amityville Horror), may be the only one who can stop this menace in its tracks. But what Wade Parent doesn't realize is that the driver of this indestructible vehicle is far more dangerous than any man... because it is driven by pure evil.

I have always loved this movie, a classic Jaws knock-off full of piss and vinegar, in it we have a souped up black car menacing a small desert town without any sort of rhyme or reason to it. It emerges from the desert with a plume of dust behind it, the first victims are young lovers on a bicycle ride whom are run off the road by the menacing black car. The next to taste it's wrath is a horn-playing hitchhiker who is viciously run over again and again. The local cops don't know what's happening but when the sheriff (John Marley, Deathdream) is run down in the street Deputy Wade Parent (James Brolin) is out for vengeance

While the titular car is not explained in anyway shape or form it does have a demonic presence about it, a nameless killer with no motive, no other explanation is necessary. Occasionally we get some yellow-tinted POV shots from inside the car through the windshield, it ominously blasts its nerve-shattering horn when it's on the prowl for victims. The 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III black coupe was modified by the legendary George Barris and it is a thing of menacing beauty, the exaggerated front bumpers and bumper forming an evil face and it sounds terrific when it revs up the engine and those open pipes let loose the fury, sweet stuff. 

There's not a great deal of deaths but they are set-up nicely, though most are bloodless affairs with no actual car to victim contact, you never do see the car hit anyone, shot with some clever editing it does the trick nicely. In one of the more memorable scenes the car actually tears straight through a house to tag one of the victims, and most will remember the scene of the car menacing a group of middle school band members who are chased into a cemetery, it's a bit on the corny side of things but it works fro me time and time again, I love it. 

The movie is populated with some decent small town characters, we have a wonderfully moustached James Brolin (The Amityville Horror) bringing some nice intensity to his role as the determined Deputy. TV actress Kathleen Lloyd brings a lot of spunk to her role as Laura, the girlfriend of Brolin's character. She has some great energy and brings a palpable sense of fear to the movie, she's also a victim of one of the most memorable death scenes in the movie. Another familiar face is that of R. G. Armstrong (Evilspeak) as a curmudgeonly wife-beater, who might seem an unlikely hero but he's pretty handy with a stick of dynamite. 

TV director Elliot Silverstein does a great job ratcheting up the tension on this one with some fun gimmicks to enhance the mood of the movie, it's not a flashy production but it does the job nicely. Why this demonic-car chooses this sleepy desert town to  terrorize is never answered but the desert locations make for a great backdrop to the movie, it also isolates the characters to a degree, making this a fun watch.

Audio/Video: The Blu-ray from Scream Factory looks and sounds great, the 1080p HD transfer presents the movie in the proper scope aspect ratio. I have the Region B Blu-ray from Arrow Video and comparing the two they look like they may have been sourced from the same Universal HD source, they're very close in appearance, with the Scream Factory Blu looking a tad brighter in certain spots. The grain has been nicely managed offering a crisp and clean image with some nice depth and clarity, this look great. Audio options include the choice of English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 or DTS-HD Surround 5.1 with optional English subtitles. There's some good meaty depth to the surround sound, when the car revs the engine you can feel the bass kick in and that ominous horn from the car sounds menacing. 

Onto the special features we have new interviews with Producer/Director Elliot Silverstein and Actresses Geraldine Keams and Melody Thomas Scott. They're short but informative and loaded with some great info, director Silverstein seems overly apologetic about the movie, apparently not a fan of his own movie, pointing out numerous times that it was a Jaws knock-off. I grew up watching actress Melody Thomas Scott as the character Nikii Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, she is only in the movie for a few fleeting moments but I loved seeing her here, still a cutey! There's also a selection of trailers, TV and radio spots, plus a gallery of images from the movie. 

The Arrow Blu-ray has a leg up on this release in my opinion, with a very similar technical presentation, but they push it over the edge with a more robust set of a extras, beginning with an audio commentary with director Elliot Silverstein. They also have a half-hour interview with  Special Effects Artist William Alridge, a ten-minute interview with actor John Rubinstein who played the unfortunate hitchhiker, plus the Trailer From Hell commentary with John Landis, plus a hidden away Easter Egg, an interview with Elliot Silverstein. Arrow als offer a reversible sleeve of artwork plus a 40 page booklet with new writing on the film from Cullen Gallgher and an interview with co-writer Michael Butler. 

Scream Factory's new Blu-ray is great, but I will say that if you are a serious collector with a NEED for the most complete package available I do give the edge to the Arrow Blu-ray - which is Region B locked - but if you're just looking to chill with a fun movie and aren't concerned with extras the Scream Factory release has the marginally more pleasing A/V presentation and a fine set of extras.  

Special Features:
- NEW Mystery Of The Car – Interview With Producer/Director Elliot Silverstein (9 Mins) HD
- NEW The Navajo Connection – Interview With Actress Geraldine Keams (12 Mins) HD
- NEW Just Like Riding A Bike - Interview With Actress Melody Thomas Scott (12 Mins) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins)
- TV Spot (1 Mins)
- Radio Spots (3 Mins) HD
- Still Gallery (125 Images) HD

Often described as 'Jaws on land' the description is both apt and short shrift in my opinion, The Car is a wildly entertaining slice of '70s b-movie cinema. It may not get the accolades of Steven Spielberg's Duel (1971) or John Carpenter's Christine (1983) but it has made a mark on popular culture, if you need proof just watch the were-car episode of Futurama. 3.5/5