LASERBLAST (1978)
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: A
Duration: 82 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono 2.0, Surround 5.1
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen
Director: Michael Rae
Cast: Cheryl Smith, Roddy McDowall, Kim Milford, Gianni Russo, Keenan Wynn, Eddie Deezen
Laserblast opens with a green-skinned alien wandering the Southern Californian desert when two stop-motion aliens arrive in a space craft, they disintegrate the green-skinned alien after an exchange of laser-fire but are scared off by an approaching Cessna airplane before they can recover the weapon and and accompanying amulet.
From here we follow the exploits of teen-loner Billy Duncan (Kim Milford, Corvette Summer), hopping in his sweet 70's van to visit his girlfriend Kathy (Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, Massacre at Central High), but instead he is hassled by the girls deranged grandfather Colonel Farley (Keenan Wynn, Piranha) and doesn't end up seeing her. As we continue to follow Billy we see he is not well liked, and is hassled by bullies Chuck and Froggy, the latter of whom is played by eternal-dweeb Eddie Deezen (1941), he makes for quite the nasally and nerd-afflicted bully, which is hilarious. Billy is also hassled by two local keystone stoner-cops who issue him a speeding ticket.
Later while wandering alone if the desert Billy discovers the laser gun and amulet left behind by the aliens, and figures out how to use them in combination with one another - blasting desert scrub brush for fun. With the discovery of the weapon and amulet Billy begins to change, from a somewhat typical brooding-teen with a chip on his shoulder he becomes more resentful and vengeful, the weapon/amulet combo seems to have an adverse effect on his personality, heightening his sense of alienation and propensity for violence.
It also has some physical side effects, where the amulet touches his chest begins to show signs of a strange growth, his concerned girlfriend makes him see the local doc, played by a clearly slumming-it Roddy McDowall (Fright Night) who is there and gone before you know it, a victim of the alien-influence on the murderous teen. He continues to turn green and his teeth sharpen, he seems possessed by the weapon.
From space the aliens observe Billy and what he's up to, making him the target of a pair of aliens who return to earth to recover the laser gun, but the now deformed and menacing Billy is running around town like a feral Tusken Raider blasting mailboxes, newsstands, pinball games, telephone booths and cars, which is a lot of fun, with loads of fiery car and stuff exploding real nice, they even blow-up a billboard advertising the original Star Wars (1977).
The main draw for me to this schlock-cinema classic is the vintage stop-motion animation from David Allen, which was hist first job working for Charles Band. The aliens are rough looking but I love the vintage look of the stop-motion creatures, sort of looking like elongated turds with eyes and laser guns, but it has a certain 70's drive-in charm. I also loved the small turns from Keenan Wynn and Roddy McDowall, these guys always class up a picture. There's also a fun electronic score from Richard Band (Re-Animator) alongside Joel Goldsmith (The Man with Two Brains) — son of legendary score-composer Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen), which was the first movie score for both these guys.
The film is awful but it is a fun watch, there's a reason it was lampooned by the MST3K crew, if you love 70's drive-in schlock there's a lot to love with this slice of Charles Band produced science fiction, but the acting from Kim Milford, who lurches around like a green-skinned, laser-equipped orangutan for the final third of the movie before being done-in by the aliens with a deadly pink laser blast! On a side not, based on the original poster art, which is used for this Blu-ray release, I always thought that Klaus Kinski starred in it, the rendering of Kim Milford looks a lot like the wild-eyed Kinski.
Audio/Video: Laserblast (1978) arrives on Blu-ray from Full Moon with a new HD scan from the 35mm answer print and it looks surprisingly good. Grain is a bit chunky at times and there's some white speckling, dirt and minor print damage but the image is decently bright and satisfying. Fine detail is less than stellar, but the colors are decently vibrant with some reds and blues popping nicely, but overall this is not a vibrant movie, lots of earth tones, but decently rendered for Blu-ray. Audio on the disc includes the usual Full Moon lossy-audio, with both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono and 5.1 surround options - there are no subtitles provided. The sound is decently mixed, canned sound effects, dialogue and the Goldsmith/Band score sounds good, not super crisp, but well-balanced and clean sounding.
This release includes a brand new audio commentary by Director Charles Band and his brother Composer Richard Band. The track is fun and laid back, as are most Band commentaries. The recalling mostly what's happening on screen, working with the cast, poking fun at the movie and generally having a good time. It's not very scholarly or well-informed Band could barely recall Kim Milford's name, but it like the movie has a charm, at one pint Richard begins speaking about "bush gardens" in regard to 70's pubic hair, as Charlie feigns embarrassment, which is about par for the course on this track.
There's also a selection of vintage trailers, including Cinderella, Crash, The Day Time Ended, End of the World, Fairytales, Mansion of the Doomed, and Tourist Trap, however, notably Cinderella and Tourist Trap would not play when selected, which is probably a disc authoring issue.
- Brand New Audio Commentary by Charles and Richard Band
- Vintage Trailers: Cinderella, Crash (4 min), The Day Time Ended (1 min), End of the World (1 min), Fairytales (2 min) HD, Mansion of the Doomed (2 min), Tourist Trap
I am loving these vintage Charles Band produced movies coming to Blu-ray, they're not all great, but seeing these VHS era cult-classics getting the HD treatment brings on the nostalgia in a big bad way, we get aliens, lasers, stop-motion, mutations and Roddy McDowall and Keenan Wynn for the win!
