Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: B
Duration: 88 Minutes
Rating: Cert.15
Audio: English LPCM 1.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Barry Morse, Robert Powell
This Amicus produced horror anthology directed by Roy Ward Baker (And Now The Screaming Starts), and written by Robert Bloch (Torture Garden), is a very fine example of the classic portmanteau-film, a collection of chilling (and usually slightly hokey) short stories blended together with a unifying wrap around story. Amicus made a wonderful assortment of them in the 70's, and Asylum is a top-tier entry. I ike that the wrap-around story evolves into it's own vignette, beginning with Dr. Martin (Robert Powell, Harlequin) arriving at an asylum, interviewing for the lead physician position. He's greeted by a wheelchair bound Dr. Lionel Rutherford (Patrick Magee, Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat) who informs him that the job interview will be a bit unusual, with Dr. Martin having to interview four criminally insane inmates who are locked away on the secured second floor, deducing which of the nutters is actually the former head doctor of the asylum, he or she having had a violent mental breakdown themselves, and if he chooses correctly he will be considered for the position. That's our wrap-around story in a nutshell, with Dr. Martin touring the second floor of the facility with an orderly named Max (Geoffrey Bayldon, The House That Dripped Blood) escorting him and offering some wry commentary along the way.
The first of the stories proper is "Frozen Fear", a tale of a unhappily married man named Walter (Richard Todd, The Secret of Dorian Gray) who is desperate to be rid of his wife Ruth (Sylvia Syms, The Tamarind Seed), to that end he has planned to ax-murder her in the basement, as you do. However, her dabblings in the occult makes her murder and dismemberment one worth remembering, with her having vengeance from beyond the grave. This one starts things off briskly as the husband chops her up rather quickly after luring her to his basement/kill-room, wrapping her torso and severed head and limbs in brown deli-wrap paper and tidily binding it with string like a well-manicured cut of meat from the butcher's shop. Stowing her remains in basement freezer he begins planning a getaway with his new lover Bonnie (Barbara Parkins, The Mephisto Waltz) only to be interrupted by his ax-whacked wife whose surprisingly re-animated pieces have a go at him. I loved this one, it's a fun opening salvo that starts things off with a wink and a nod, light-hearted perfection, if you can call wife-murder light-hearted.
Up next we have "The Weird Tailor" wherein a cash-strapped tailor named Bruno (Barry Morse, The Changeling) on the verge of being evicted from his home is approached by a seemingly wealthy patron named Mr. Smith (Peter Cushing, Corruption), tasked with stitching together a custom fitted suit with the odd instructions that it must only be sewn in the early morning hours after midnight and before dawn. Strange though the request may seem Bruno dutifully fulfills the order per the curious instructions, however, upon delivering the finished suit to his patron he finds that Mr. Smith not only doesn't have the promised money but has some weird occult resurrection in the works! Anything with Peter Cushing in it is gonna be worth a watch, but it's Barry Morse who steals the show this time around. I love his performance as the tailor, and the twist involving a store mannequin was pleasantly unexpected, if a bit goofy.
Orderly Max next introduces Dr. Martin to a young woman named Barbara (Charlotte Rampling, Orca) in the segment "Lucy Comes To Stay", she relays to him the story of how she was formerly incarcerated at an asylum before being freed, released to her brother George (James Villiers, Otley) who sets her up at home under the supervision of a nurse named Miss Higgins (Megs Jenkins, The Innocents), but having the defacto babysitter watching over her frustrates her. When Barbara's friend, the prankster Lucy (Britt Ekland, What The Peeper Saw), shows up unexpectedly it cheers her up a bit, but when Lucy's pranks turn to murder most foul she blames Lucy, but there's a problem with that scenario we come to find out.
The last of the stories proper is "Mannikins of Horror" starring the always great (no matter how bad the film may be) Herbert Lom (Count Dracula) as a patient at the asylum who is working on some sort of soul-transference process, obsessed with the notion of sending his psyche into that of a tiny automaton, which looks for the most part like a cheap wind-up toy with a well-crafted likeness of his own head on it. Let's just not think about why a mental health facility would encourage such a thing and let him keep the damn toy in his room, but it has a decent payoff that works better than it should. Herbert Lom is fantastic, and the premise works better than the cheap looking robot would have had me believe, this one tying directly into the wrap-around story at the asylum, and then we finish-up with a fun (though not shocking) conclusion with orderly Max addressing us, the viewers, directly, as a new candidate arrives at the asylum for the same sort of interview.
Audio/Video: Asylum (1972) arrives on region-B locked Blu-ray from Second Sight Films, this looks to be the same 2K scan as released by Severin Films as part of their The Amicus Collection. Framed in 1.85:1 widescreen the 1080p HD image is a bit on the soft side but acceptable given the source, looking to be a theatrical print, colors look good and the grain field is nicely managed for the most part, while looking overly abundant at times, it's not pristine but still a vast improvement over the Dark Sky Films DVD. The English DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono audio exports the orchestral score from Douglas Gamely nicely,including his wonderfully bombastic rendition of "Night on Bald Mountain" which opens the film. Optional English subtitles are provided.
Onto the extras we get the same set of extras from the U.S. Scream Factory release beginning with a lively vintage commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and camera operator Neil Binney moderated by Marcus Hearn, many facets of the production are covered, good stuff. We then get a vintage on-set featurette by the BBC filmed during shooting of the film. New stuff begins with an appreciation of writer Robert Block (Psycho) by writer David J. Schow (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), plus a remembrance of Amicus' Milton Subotsky by his widow. The 20-min Inside The Fear Factory Featurette is a nice overview of Amicus Films as told by Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg, if you're a fan of British horror and Amicus in particular this is a fun watch. The disc is finished up with two trailers for the film.
The single disc release comes housed in oversized black Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, the a-side featuring new artwork from by artist Graham Humphreys, the b-side featuring the original illustrated artwork for the film, without the blemish of the ratings logo obscuring the front cover and the spine, with the Humphrey's artwork option also being featured on the disc itself.
Asylum (1972) was previously issued by Second Sight Films as a limited edition release with a rigid slipcase along with a 40-page booklet with new essays, and While that edition is now out-of-print the film has kindly been reissued by Second Sight as this attractive standard release.
Special Features:
- Two’s A Company: 1972 On-set report from BBC featuring Interviews With Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland (18 min)
- David J. Schow on Robert Bloch (21 min)
- Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky – Featurette (10 min)
- Inside The Fear Factory Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg (20 min)
- Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney
- Theatrical Trailers (3 min)
I have always loved the Amicus horror anthologies, the short-story format is appealing to me, and while there's usually a dud among the three or four stories I find that the occasional bad apple doesn't spoil the whole basket of vignetted-fruit. While none of the stories in Asylum (1972) are particularly horrifying or overly clever they all bring a smile to my face, even the wrap around story is great fun, plus we have an outstanding cast that includes Herbert Lom and Peter Cushing. A well-crafted and stylish series of vignettes that flow well, making this a classic slice of British anthology horror. Asylum gets a wonderful UK release from Second Sight Films, highly recommended to UK readers who have not imported the Scream Factory release.
HARLEQUIN (1980)
Label: 88 Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Cert.15
Duration: 96 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD (2.39:1)
Audio: English PCM 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Simon Wincer
Cast: David Hemmings, Robert Powell, Carmen Duncan, Broderick Crawford
Synopsis: For fans of Ozploitation it is the likes of MAD MAX (1980) or even the trash-tastic TURKEY SHOOT (1982) that may first pop into many a horror hound's mind - however, the cycle offered so much more and never is this clearer than with the surrealist shocks of HARLEQUIN (1980) a true genre standout that was also released under the more ominous moniker of DARK FORCES. In this oddball mix of sci-fi, horror and political espionage (yes, you read that right) a mysterious healer appears in the abode of a leading American senator who finds that his terminally ill son is quickly cured of his leukaemia. The appreciative politician opts to keep this puzzling presence around... although all is not as it seems. With a cast that includes such acclaimed thespians as Robert Powell (TOMMY) and David Hemmings (DEEP RED), the thrills come thick and fast in this genuine curiosity that, once seen, is hard to forget - exactly what one might expect from a script penned by the legendary Ozploitation hand Everett De Roche (LONG WEEKEND, PATRICK, ROAD GAMES, FORTRESS)!
The somewhat surreal political thriller Harlequin (1980) begins with Deputy Governor Eli Steele spearfishing in coastal waters when he goes missing, neveragain to resurface, despite being surrounded by secret police. In his absence Senator Nick Rast (David Hemmings, Deep Red) is moved into a position of power, at home Nick's wife Sandra (Carmen Duncan, Turkey Shoot) grows distant from her husband who has been increasingly consumed by political aspirations. At home she cares for their terminally ill son Alex (Mark Spain, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome), but she's been informed by the family physician that further treatments will only prolong the boy's suffering. Enter a mysterious Rasputin-type character named Gregory Wolfe (Robert Powell, Asylum) who infiltrates the senator's guarded compound disguised as a party clown during the boy's birthday party, seemingly curing the boy's illness with the wave of his hands. Wolfe fast forms a friendship with the young boy, andsoon begins romancing his attrractive mother. The senator doesn't really raise an eyebrow about any of this, being distracted himself with his own side-lover and career aspirations, aligning himself with dark political forces who would rather the influence of Wolfe be eliminated.
This is a 80's modern Rasputin sort of story, with the magical healer casting a strange spell over the family, a multi-faceted political thriller filtered through weird fantasy, it's a weird mix but I found it refreshing in how odd it was. Powell is really channeling his inner David Bowie here as the mysterious healer, and Hemmings does good work as the conflicted politician, he's not the most attentive family man but he comes off as more a cog in the wheel in the service of bad men, more so than straight-up evil. The story has some nice intrigue and melodrama about it, the performances are strong, but also a little strange, owing the strange mix of political intrigue and surreal fantasy. The special effects are a little wonky at times, a lot of the optical special effects are sorely dated, but also charming in their own vintage way/ It's hard not to love it when Wolfe throws a cymbal at a pigeon perched atop a man's head at a party, slicing it in half!
Audio/Video: Harlequin (1980) arrives on Blu-ray from 88 Films in 1080p HD framed in 2.39:1 widescreen - it looks faithful to the source, filmic but inherently soft with heavily filtered lensings. The source here looks to be a print, or at something less than original film elements, so there's only so much to be done with it. It leans towards the softer side and doesn't have a lot of depth and clarity, but is still considerably sharper and cleaner than my Elite DVD version of the film, released under the alternate release title of Dark Forces.
Audio comes by way of an English PCM 2.0 stereo, the track is solid if unremarkable, very minor hiss can be heard in the track at times, dialogue is typically clear though a few lines of spoken dialogue can be lost in a few of the action sequences when things get slightly chaotic. The Brian May (Nightmares) score sounds very good in the mix, optional English subtitles are provided.
Special features kick off with a vintage audio commentary with director Simon Wincer and producer Antony Ginnane, speaking about the influence of Rapsutin the Mad Monk and the real-life disappearance of an Australian Prime Minister on the story. They also touch on the cast and producing the film and putting it into context of where the Aussie film scene was at during this time.
Cult-film writer/critic Kim Newman shows up to discuss the exploitation cinema of Australia in the wake of Mad Max, and the body of work by writer Everett De Rocha in particular. It's a sort of meandering conversation as his usually are, but I do love hearing him wax-on about cult-cinema, always a welcome presence, describing Powell's turns as a Rasputin performance with a bit of Charles Manson thrown in.
We also get a vintage six-minute interview with Robert Powell and David Hemmings with Hemmings pointing out the similarities to the Rasputin story, plus fifty-minutes of extended interviews with Director Simon Wincer, Producer Antony I Ginnane, Screenwriter Everett de Roche, and Actor Gus Mercurio from Mark Hartley's Not Quite Hollywood doc. The last of the disc extras is a trailer for the film.
The single-disc release comes housed in an oversized clear Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring a pair of theatrical artwork options, There's also a limited edition o-card (slipcover) if you ordered directly from the website, also included with the limited edition version is an 8-page booklet with writings on the film from Calum Waddell focusing on the work of prolific screenwriter Everett de Roche (Patrick) and touching on the new wave of Aussie exploitation.
Special Features:
- Limited Edition O-Card slipcase [First Print Run Only]
- Limited Edition Booklet notes by Calum Waddell [First Print Run Only]
- Destruction From Down Under, An Ozploitation Retrospective: Interview with Kim Newman (15 Min)
- Archive Interview with Robert Powell and David Hemmings (6 min)
- Audio Commentary with Director Simon Wincer and Producer Antony I. Ginnane
- Cast and Crew Interviews with Director Simon Wincer, Producer Antony I Ginnane, Screenwriter Everett de Roche, Actor Gus Mercurio (50 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
Harlequin (1980) is a tough slice of ozploitation to nail down, it's not the over-the-top actioner or bloodfest you might expect from an ozploitation film, it's a quirky political intrigue movie with fantasy leanings, it's an oddball mixture but the film did cast a bit of a spell on me. The new region-free Blu-ray from 88 Films looks and sounds good, the extras are probably a little better than the actual film in my opinion, but if you're looking for something a little bit different the film delivers just that.
ASYLUM (1972)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 88 Minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Cast: Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Barry Morse, Robert Powell
This Amicus produced horror anthology directed by Roy Ward Baker (The Vault of Horror) and written by Robert Bloch (Psycho) is a very fine example of the classic portmanteau-film, a collection of chilling (and usually slightly hokey) short stories blended together with a unifying wrap around story. Hammer's arch-rival Amicus made a wonderfully robust amount of them in the 70's, and Asylum is one of the best of the bunch. The wrap-around story - which evolves into it's own vignette - begins with Dr. Martin (Robert Powell, The Asphyx) arriving at an asylum for a job interview for the lead physician position. He's greeted by a wheelchair bound Dr. Lionel Rutherford (Patrick Magee, A Clockwork Orange) who informs him that his job interview will be a rather unusual one, he will have to interview four criminally insane inmates kept locked away on the secured second floor and deduce which is actually the former head doctor of the asylum, he or she having had a violent mental breakdown, if he chooses correctly he will be considered for the position. That's our wrap-around story in a nutshell, with Dr. Martin touring the second floor of the facility with an orderly named Max (Geoffrey Bayldon, Tales from the Crypt) escorting him and offering some wry commentary along the way.
The first of the stories proper is "Frozen Fear", a tale of a unhappily married man named Walter (Richard Todd, Bloodbath) who is desperate to be rid of his wife Ruth (Sylvia Syms, The Tamarind Seed), to that end he has planned to ax-murder her in the basement, as you do. However, her dabbling in the occult makes her brutal dismemberment one worth remembering, she having her vengeance from beyond the grave. This one starts things off briskly as the husband chops her up rather quickly after luring her to his basement/kill-room, wrapping her torso and severed head and limbs in brown deli-wrap paper and tidily binding it with string like a well-manicured choice cut of meat fresh from the local butcher's shop. Stowing her remains in freezer he begins planning a getaway with his new lover Bonnie (Barbara Parkins, The Mephisto Waltz) only to be interrupted by his ax-whacked wife whose surprisingly re-animated pieces have a go at him. I loved this one, it's a fun opening salvo that starts things off with a wink and a nod, light-hearted perfection, if you can call wife-murder light-hearted.
Up next we have "The Weird Tailor" wherein a cash-strapped tailor named Bruno (Barry Morse, Funeral Home) on the verge of being evicted is approached by a seemingly wealthy patron named Mr. Smith (Peter Cushing, Corruption), tasked with stitching together a custom fitted suit with the odd instructions that it must only be sewn in the early morning hours after midnight and before dawn. Strange though the request may be Bruno dutifully fulfills the order per the instructions, however, upon delivering the finished suit to his patron he finds that Mr. Smith not only doesn't have the promised money but has some weird occult resurrection in the works! Anything with Peter Cushing in it is gonna be worth a watch, and this segment is no different, but it's Barry Morse who steals the show this time around, I love his performance as the tailor, and the twist at the end involving a store mannequin at his shop was rather unexpected, and a bit goofy.
Orderly Max next introduced Dr. Martin to a young woman named
Barbara (Charlotte Rampling, The Night Porter) in the segment "Lucy Comes To Stay", she relays to him the story of how she was formerly incarcerated at an asylum before being freed, released to her brother George (James Villiers, Otley) who sets her up at home under the supervision of a kindly older nurse named Miss Higgins (Megs Jenkins, The Innocents), which frustrates her. When her friend prankster Lucy (Brit Ekland, What The Peeper Saw) shows up unexpectedly it cheers her up a bit, but when Lucy's pranks turn to murder most foul she blames Lucy, but there's a problem with that scenario we come to find out.
The last of the stories proper is "Mannikins of Horror" starring the always great (no matter how bad the film may be) Herbert Lom (And Now The Screaming Starts) as a patient at the asylum who is working on some sort of soul-transference process, obsessed with the notion of sending his psyche into that of a tiny automaton, which looks for the most part like a cheap wind-up toy with a well-crafted likeness of his own head on it. Let's just not think about why a mental health facility would encourage such a thing and let him keep the damn toy in his room, but it has a decent payoff that works better than it should. Herbert Lom is fantastic, and the premise works better than the cheap looking robot would have had me believe, this one tying directly into the wrap-around story at the asylum, and then we finish-up with a fun (though not shocking) conclusion with orderly Max addressing us, the viewers, directly, as a new candidate arrives at the asylum for the same sort of interview.
Audio/Video: Asylum (1972) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films, this is a film that hasn't had an update on home video since Dark Sky Films gave it a special edition DVD polish years ago, so this is a welcome HD upgrade, sourced from a new 2K scan of "vault elements" which judging by the image was a good quality theatrical print. Framed in 1.78:1 widescreen the 1080p HD image is a bit on the soft side but acceptable given the source, colors look good and the grain field is nicely managed for the most part, while looking overly abundant at times, it's not pristine but it's the best we've had on home video so far. The English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono audio exports the orchestral score from Douglas Gamely nicely, dialogue is clean and clear, everything well-balanced without distortion. A Spanish-dub track is also included as an audio option.
Onto the extras we get a nice selection, beginning with a lively vintage commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and camera operator Neil Binney moderated by Marcus Hearn, many facets of the production are covered, good stuff. We then get a vintage on-set featurette by the BBC filmed during shooting of the film. New stuff begins with an appreciation of writer Robert Block (Psycho) by writer David J. Schow (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), plus a remembrance of Amicus' Milton Subotsky by his widow. The 20-min Inside The Fear Factory Featurette is a nice overview of Amicus Films as told by Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg, if you're a fan of British horror and Amicus in particular this is a fun watch. The disc is finished up with two trailers for the film.
The single-disc release comes housed in a nifty black Blu-ray case with a reversible sleeve of artwork, of which I preferred the b-side. The disc features an excerpt of the a-side artwork.
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| Reversible Artwork |
This release is also available as part of Severin's 4-disc limited edition of The Amicus Collection which also features the Gothic-shocker And Now the Screaming Starts (1973), the werewolf whodunit The Beast Must Die (1974), as well as a bonus disc stuffed with a complete set of Amicus trailers, TV commercials, rare interviews and more. The limited edition set (of 3500) copies is now sold out on the Severin site but still available for under $60 at various online retailers, so act quickly on this one if you want the 4-disc set, I'm glad I ordered mine the day that set went live at the Severin site!
Special Features:
- Two’s A Company: 1972 On-set report from BBC featuring Interviews With Producer Milton Subotsky, Director Roy Ward Baker, Actors Charlotte Rampling, James Villiers, Megs Jenkins, Art Director Tony Curtis and Production Manager Teresa Bolland (18 min) HD
- David J. Schow on Robert Bloch – Featurette (21 min) HD
- Fiona Subotsky Remembers Milton Subotsky – Featurette (10 min) HD
- Inside The Fear Factory Featurette with Directors Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and Producer Max J. Rosenberg (20 min)
- Audio Commentary with Director Roy Ward Baker and Camera Operator Neil Binney
- Theatrical Trailers (3 min)
I love the Amicus horror anthologies, in fact I watch them a lot more than I do the Hammer Films truth be told, the short-story format is appealing to me, while there's usually a dud in the three or four stories I find that the occasional bad apple doesn't spoil the whole basket of vignetted-fruit. While none of the stories in Asylum (1972) are particularly scary or overly clever they all wok for me as a whole, even the wrap around story is great, plus we have an outstanding cast that includes Herbert Lom and Peter Cushing. That the film doesn't culminate with the usual 'they're already dead' trope we've seen several times from Amicus is a bonus, but even this twist here is nothing all that original, it's just a well-crafted and stylish series of vignettes that flow well, making this a classic slice of British horror.
