THE UNBORN (1991)
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 96 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Rodman Flender
Cast: Brooke Adams, James Karen, Lisa Kudrow, Kathy Griffin
The Unborn (1991) is a creepy sci-fi thriller about an infertile couple, children's author Virginia (Brooke Adams, Invasion of the Body Snatcher) and her lawyer husband Brad Marshall (Jeff Hayenga) have tried for several years to bring a baby into the world. After years failure, miscarriages and a nervous breakdown for Virginia they join in on an experimental in-vitro fertilization program developed by Dr. Richard Meyerling (James Karen, The Return of the Living Dead). The process is an immediate success much to the surprise of the couple, but several months into her pregnancy Virginia begins to experience some strange happenings associated the pregnancy which cause her to look deeper into the career of Dr. Myerling, and soon after she begins to suspect that the doc may have impregnated her with some seriously strange semen - but to what end?.
Brooke Adams is pretty darn good in the role of the expectant mother, she plays vulnerable and strong without resorting to cliched hysterics, plus she plays the paranoia of the situation really well, egged on by the experiences of the other expectant moms in the same experimental baby-making program who, with what turn out to be - SPOILER ALERT - an evil breed of super-human buns-in-the-oven.
This flick has a decently creepy vibe and some occasional lite body-horror elements, and a fun cast including James Karen who plays the overly-nice but still creepy doc, I love this guy and he always brings a smile to my face. Also be on the lookout for comedienne Kathy Griffin (she of the decapitated Trump effigy infamy) as one-half of an over-the-top lesbian couple/birthing coach, and we even an get a rare horror appearance from Lisa Kudrow (Clockwatchers) who went onto star in the TV mega-hit Friends a few years later.
There's a lot of pregnancy-horror tropes on display in the flick, the story is not exactly original but I liked it enough, thanks in large part to charms of James Karen and Brooke Adams, who keep things interesting even when the threadbare story might not. As I tend to enjoy schlock more than the cream of the crop I liked that this is more It's Alive than Rosemary's Baby, and this one falls somewhere in between with a 90's veneer that has aged better than expected. I've always thought a lot of 90's cinema looked bland the first time around, but re-visiting them lately I find that they have a new found patina I agree with. One of the strangest moments in the film, aside from the threat of a super-intelligent offspring, is a bizarre rocking chair sex scene that while not played for laughs is certainly a strange, the movie has a few choice scenes of weirdness like this that kept it interesting for me.
Just as the talent onscreen is notable so too are the names behind-the-scenes, the film was also the start for director Rodman Flender (Idle Hands), and early entries in the careers of cinematographer Wally Fister (Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy) and screenwriters John Brancato and Michael Ferris who went onto write the Bruce Campbell-starring apocalypse thriller Mindwarp (1995) before penning the more prestigious The Game (1997) for David Fincher. Notably, the score was also co-composed by 70s/80s new-waver Gary Numan, for those not in-the-know might be most familiar with his new wave classic "Cars", adding some atmosphere to the proceedings.
The Unborn covers a lot of familiar territory as far as evil-fetus stuff goes, but it does so with a steady hand, delivering creepy paranoia and sci-fi thrills along with some body-horror elements that make for a solid watch, feeling a bot like an extended version of an X-Files episode, this is definitely a slice of 90's terror worth re-discovering.
Audio/Video: The Unborn (1991) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a new 2K scan from original elements, the 1080p HD image is framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, it has a nicely filmic look with a consistent layer of fine grain, color reproduction is solid and the black levels are deep with good shadow detail. Some of the latex appliances show up more than I would have noticed on TV airings of the film, but overall this is a very pleasing image with good clarity and modest amount of depth.
Audio on the disc comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA stereo track, dialogue and effects sound good, the score from new-waver Gary Numan sounds terrific in the mix, optional English subtitles are provided.
Extras are slim but appreciated, we get a brand new audio commentary from Producer/Director Rodman Flender and filmmaker Adam Simon who give us a nice candid account of working for Roger Corman, plus we get an HD trailer for the film. The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a 2-sided wrap featuring the original one-sheet artwork on the cover and the reverse image is a scene from the film, the disc also features the same key art as the cover.
Special Feature:
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- NEW Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Rodman Flender and filmmaker Adam Simon
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
The Unborn (1991) is a decently creepy prego-horror, feeling like a 90's update of Rosemary's Baby by way of It's Alive, and enhanced by a solid cast and some creepy body-horror stuff, not a classic but definitely something ripe for re-discover now that we have a great looking Blu-ray from Scream Factory.
SHAKES THE CLOWN (1991)
Label: Mill Creek Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 87 Minutes
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Cast: Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, Kathy Griffin, Paul Dooley, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, Sydney Lassick, LaWanda Page, Tim Kazurinsky
Shakes The Clown (1991), written, directed and starring Bobcat Goldthwait exploits of an alcoholic clown named Shakes (Goldthwait), which is an appropriate name for a beer-soaked clown, right? The film opens with him waking up the morning after a one-night stand with a clown groupie (played by Florence Henderson, TV's Brady Bunch), he's passed out on the floor in front of the toilet when the woman's kid takes a leak, missing the bowl, and pissing straight onto Shakes head, waking him from his drunken slumber. This sad scene pretty much sets the pace and tone for the movie, the down and out life of a burned-out clown with a taste for booze. His long suffering, an amusingly lispy, girlfriend Judy (Julie Brown, Bloody Birthday) has had just about enough of his boozing a cheating ways, bolstered by her girlfriend, played by comedienne Kathy Griffin (Pulp Fiction), who insists Judy needs to dump his drunk clown-faced ass.
It's not just his personal life that's suffering because of his chronic drinking, his clown-career suffers, too, when his agent Mr. Cheese (Paul Dooley, Sixteen Candles) finds it hard to book him new gigs at kids parties, because he rummages through their parent's cupboards looking for liquor. He has a pair of friends, Dink, played by Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer)in his first movie role, and Stenchy, played by Blake Clark (the voice of slinky the dog in the Toy Story films) who join him on his adventures around Palukaville, USA.
Shakes is up for the job as the host of a kiddie TV show, as the current host Peppy the Clown (Sydney Lassick, The Unseen) is retiring, but his rival Binky (a pre-Spongebob Squarepants Tom Kenny) is also up for the role, and Tom Kenny steals every scene he's in as the coke-snorting, ball-punching evil clown of the movie, his voice is instantly recognizable. The main gist of the movie involves Shakes being framed for the murder of his agent Mr. Cheese, by Binky, and there's not a whole lot more to it than that. The movie is simplistic but good, sarcastic fun, and I dig the way the characters don't really acknowledge that their in clown make-up, it's just their way of life. The clowns also have rivalries with mimes, and rodeo clowns, so we have a Warriors type gang thing going on in the background, and sometimes in the fore.
The movie is loaded with cameos, aside from everyone I've already mentioned we have the late-great Robin Williams (World's Greatest Dad) as a mime instructor, and LaWanda Page (Mausoleum) as a foul-mouthed barfly clown, cracking dirty jokes, like this little nugget, "I got one of them peanut butter pussies: it's brown, smooth and easy to spread". My second favorite quote is Dooley as Mr. Cheese who walks in on Binky and friends snorting lines of coke, screaming "You clowns are on dope!", good stuff. The movie lags a bit from time to time, it can be slow, but it's just so demented and sarcastic, it just makes me laugh. I often hear this compared to Bad Santa and in tone that's not too far off the mark.
Audio/Video: Shakes the Clown (1991) arrives on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment in 1080p HD, framed in 1.78:1 widescreen - looking solid but not perfect. There's a nice looking grain field, but at times it looks noisy in certain scenes, blacks aren't the deepest, but colors look nicely bright and saturated, the clown make-up and costumes look great in HD. There's not a lot of depth but the clarity is nice and the fine detail is plentiful. Audio wise we get an uncompressed English LPCM 2.0 stereo track, it does the job, well-balanced and clean, dialogue is crisp, and the tasty music cues from Muddy Waters, NRBQ, and composer Thomas Wright Scott (of The Blues Brothers) sounds very good. Optional English subtitles are provided.
There's only one extras but as Mill Creek are not known for having new extras in their releases it's worth pointing out, we have a brand new audio commentary with Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, and Tom Kenny, which is a lot of fun. The trio reminisce about the making of the movie, working with the various cast, with Bobcat speaking about working with the Brady Bunch's Florence Henderson, who was apparently fond of blue humor, chitlin circuit comedienne LaWanda Page, Adam Sandler in in his first role, and the fallout Bobcat received from clowns following the scathing film, which he says was more an indictment of stand-up comics at the time, also pointing out that Milton Berle does not actually appear in one of the opening scenes, despite the familiar face, it's actually his friend Martin Charles Warner. It's a fun track and fans of the film should have a blast joining the trio for their memories about making the movie.
This release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, pretty standard release from Mill Creek, but this time around they go a step beyond and offer up an O-ring (slipcase) with pretty much the same artwork but with a white background instead of yellow. That they've also included a new audio commentary with stars Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, and Tom Kenny is something special. Mill Creek have a vast and varied catalog of titles, everything from b-movie schlock to Hollywood blockbusters, I would absolutely love to see them go above and beyond and actually create and/or license new extras for their genre titles, it really does make them more desirable. They've also announced their first Steelbook with the upcoming Blu-ray release of 90's supernatural thriller Flatliners (1990)- keep it up Mill Creek!
Special Features:
- New Audio Commentary with Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, and Tom Kenny.
Shakes the Clown (1991) gets fun Blu-ray release from Mill Creek, I am pleased they sprung for the commentary track and the slipcase, otherwise it's bare-bones, but hopefully they're starting off small and we see more newly-produced extras from them in the future. This is a fun, sarcastic, drunk-clown movie, and one deserving of some space in your movie collection, if you enjoy the other movies that Bobcat directed, or Bad Santa, there's a good chance you're gonna love this slice of black humored clown comedy.
