THE SHINING (1980) (4K UltraHD Review)

THE SHINING (1980) 

Label: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region Free (4K), A (Blu-ray) 
Duration: 144 Minutes
Dating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional english Subtitles
Video: 2160p UltraHD Widescreen (1.78:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd 

I was eleven years-old the first time I watched The Shining on late-night cable, I remember it well, it was a chilly winter's night in Upstate New York and I was staying at my friend Barry McDonald's house. I use to love staying at his place because his folks had satellite TV with all the cool channels, and his parents love to watch semi-raunchy comedies, which I thought was cool. As the night bore on his folks would usually go off to their room and leave us alone watching Terminator or something of that ilk, and then Barry would either fall asleep on the floor or retire to his room for the night. I would stay up late into the wee-hours to watch scary movies, and one night I tuned into something called The Shining, I was transfixed by the birds-eye view of a yellow VW driving up a winding road, and it scared me something terrible. It's the tale of a father who moves his suffering wife and young son to a mountaintop resort, the grand Overlook Hotel, to be the caretaker for the place while it's closed down for the five-months of winter during the off-season.

While there the aspiring author and recovering alcoholic begins to lose his grip on reality, succumbing to seemingly supernatural forces that inhabit the Overlook, forces that are pushing him to ax-murder his whole family, including his supernaturally attuned son Danny, who has something called "the shining", a psychic link of a sort that also allows him to tap into the supernatural vibes of people and places. 

This was probably the first film I ever watched where I was acutely aware of the movement of the camera, an early adopter of the Steadicam, which allowed for gorgeous disembodied and fluid camera movements that give the film an eerie atmosphere, especially when combined with the thrum and drone of the dissonant score. 

Something I've caught onto in the years since first watching this is that Nicholson's character Jack Torrance was already a bit of nutter from the opening scenes of the film, or there's just something about Nicholson's manically arched eyebrows that broadcast crazy, or maybe it's a bit of both. The dad who at one point dislocated his young son's shoulder out of anger has since sworn off the sauce, and sees the secluded five-month caretaker job as a way to keep dry and work on his new novel, but seclusion and hallucinations, supernatural or otherwise, begin to chip away at his sanity, with his family's every action beginning to grate on his frayed nerves until he erupts into an unforgettable ax-wielding kill-spree!

The cast here is fantastic, and if you have ever read or watched any interviews with the cast and crew Kubrick really put them through the wringer, with legendary amounts of shooting the same scene again and again, playing psychological games that chipped away at the sanity of poor Shelly Duval to keep her in a constant state of hysteria, literally on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Even the lovable Scatman Crothers (Deadly Eyes) was not immune to the director's actor brow-beating, having to do so many takes it nearly brought him to tears! Was it worth it, it must have been, because the end result is a technical marvel of a dread-filled film with a core cast of characters who drive the film to the delirious heights of fright.

Young Danny Torrance as played by Danny Lloyd always gave me a young Corey Feldman (The Goonies) vibe without the comedic slant, he's really terrific here playing against both Duval and Nicholson, and even in his early scenes with the cook played by Scatman Crothers, whose character also has "the shining". The kid has a great range of emotion, but doesn't overplay anything, the scenes of him enthralled in terror - which are many - are all well-done, it's a shame he didn't go onto do more in film. Duval's character use to irk me quite a bit, coming off as a simple-minded victim of domestic abuse, but in the end she comes through with an inner-strength that turns me around on her character. As stated before Nicholson is in top demented form here, when I was a kid I though it was the Overlook that drove him mad, but when I watch it now he just seems like a bomb with the fuse already lit from the opening scenes, which combined with alcoholism, cabin fever, and a malevolent supernatural forces, are a recipe for psycho-thriller terror.

This of-course is based on Stephen King's blockbuster novel of the same name, and it's directed by a Kubrick who was at the top of his game, but the finished film was less than pleasing to the author who compared the film to a "big, beautiful Cadillac with no engine inside it”, continuing to disparage it for years in the press and interviews which sort of drove me mental, how could he not think this was a masterpiece? Looking back at it now and having read the novel I can see where the creator is coming from, the character of a good but struggling alcoholic father driven to terrible deeds by a malevolent force is lost in Kubrick's film. That said, if you've seen the TV mini-series version of the story directed by Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), which is spot-on faithful to King's novel, killer CGI topiary and all, you will known that truer to the source does not necessarily mean better. Kubrick made the superior film (sorry Mick), not just a superior King adaptation but one of the best horror film's ever made in my humble opinion.  

Audio/Video: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) arrives on 4K UltraHD from Warner Bros. with a new 4K scan from the original camera negative, slightly cropped from the original 1.85:1 widescreen to a widescreen TV friendly 1.78:1, which I am sure is gonna be controversial, but I personally found it fine all things considered, though you do lose some very minor information on the edges of the frame. Re-framing aside the image looks superb, with a healthy amount of grain throughout, which also allows for rich texturing and fine detail to shine through in 4K! Colors looks natural and true, the HDR color-grading allowing for deep hues and contrast and clarity are very pleasing. The blacks are deep and inky with superior shadow detail throughout. Right from the opening opening helicopter shots of the Torrence's yellow VW Bug driving up the winding sidewinder road the improvement is readily noticeable. 

Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD Ma 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Again, like the Pan's Labyrinth 4K UHD I am a bit disappointed we do not get a Atmos upgrade, but the DTS is nothing short of excellent. Notably we still do not get the original mono audio mix, which n this day and age of 4K with it's vast storage is a damn shame, but like I said, the audio as presented with the DTS os solid, and not something to worry too much about. 

Extras on the 4K disc is limited to the audio commentary by steadicam inventor Garrett Brown and Kubrick biographer John Baxter. Onto the Blu-ray we get nearly all the vintage extras from Warner's 2007 Blu-ray, with the exception of the original fullframe trailer for some strange reason. The Blu-ray also offers the new 4K scan of the film in 1080p HD without the benefit of the HDR re-grading, which is cool, I sort of hate it when we just get a recycled Blu-ray from a past release with the 4K releases.

The 2-disc release arrives in a black eco-case with a one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring a new illustration that I liked very much, and there's a slipcover containing the same artwork. Inside there's a digital redemption code for 4K digital copy of the film. Note, make sure to check out the cool variant artwork on the Best Buy Exclusive Steelbook exclusive, it's pretty darn cool, I might double-dip to have that on my shelf, also hoping we see a Steelbook with the original Saul Bass artwork at some point.

Best Buy Exclusive Steelbook edition  

Special Features: 
- Commentary by Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown and Kubrick biographer John Baxter 
- The Making of The Shining (35 Mins) *
- View from the Overlook: Crafting The Shining (26 Mins) *
- Wendy Carlos, Composer (8 Mins) *
- The Visions of Stanley Kubrick (17 Mins) *
* Blu-ray Extra Only 

The new 4K UltraHD of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining looks phenomenal, lack of new extras, Atmos or the original mono is absolutely a downer, but not even close to a deal-breaker. The improved picture quality on this is outstanding, if you're a fan of this supernatural psycho-thriller you need this release in your life, highly recommended! 

ZAPPED! (1982) (Blu-ray Review)

ZAPPED! (1982) 

Label: Olive Films
Region Code: A
Rating: R 
Duration: 98 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0
VIideo: 1080p HD WIdescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Robert J. Rosenthal
Cast: Scott Baio, Willie Aames, Scatman Crothers, Robert Mandan, Heather Thomas, Felice Schachter

Synopsis: When a lab accident leaves high school student Barney Springboro (Scott Baio, TV’s Happy Days and Charles in Charge) with telekinetic powers, it’s a comic free-for-all in Zapped!  Encouraged by his friend, the hormonally minded Peyton Nichols (Willie Aames, TV’s Eight is Enough and Charles in Charge) to put his powers to good use, Barney exacts revenge on school bullies, cheats a little at sports and improves his luck with the girls, culminating in a prom scene reminiscent of Carrie … with laughs. Zapped! co-stars Heather Thomas (TV’s The Fall Guy) as Jane, the cold-as-ice high school beauty; Felice Schachter (TV’s The Facts of Life) as Bernadette, feminist class president, nerd and the girl of Barney’s dreams; and Robert Mandan (TV’s Soap) as high school principal Walter J. Coolidge.

Few actors scream 80s cheese to me the way the face of Scott Baio does, from his appearances on Happy Days as "Chachi" onto his starring appearance on the ludicrous 80s TV sitcom Charles In Charge the guy is a slice of bonafide 80s awesomeness. Here he appears with his future Charles In Charge co-star Willie Ames, Baio is a nerdy science geek Barney and Ames is his jocular friend Peyton, the star of the high school baseball team. Together these two find themselves in amidst horny 80's tomfoolery after a lab accident imbues Barney with telekinetic powers, what transpires is a oddball 80s mash-up of Brian De Palma's Carrie by way of Hard Bodies with an Exorcist homage thrown in for fun. 

There's a lot to pick apart with this movie if you're so inclined, but as a nostalgic slice of 80s comedy this is fun stuff. Sure Willie Aames might be one of the worst actors ever but both he and Baio exude a certain nice guy charm that is hard to deny, and then we have the lovely eye candy of blond bombshell Heather Thomas as the popular girl who our teens lusts after while Barney slowly begins to fall for the nerdy, school reporter who won't leave him alone. 

Along the way we have the always awesome Scatman Crothers as the physical education teacher who has a very strange and surreal hallucination about riding bicycles with Albert Einstein and a salami cannon, I shit you not! This one is rated R and proud of it with copious amounts of nude women and some strange sexual scenarios you won't soon forget. If you loved 80s sex comedies like Hard Bodies but wished there was a lunatic science fiction element thrown in for fun then this is the movie you've been waiting for.

Zapped is a fun time, my love for it is surely enhanced by a massive amount of VHS era nostalgia so I cannot guarantee you will get the same mileage out of it that I do, but if you love '80s comedies there's a fairly good chance you will have a blast with this one. Happy to see more '80s comedies arriving on Blu-ray, always worth a few bucks for some good laughs. 2.5/5

DEADLY EYES (1982)

DEADLY EYES (1982) 

Label: Scream Factory

Release Date: July 15th 2014

Region Code: A

Duration: 87 Minutes

Rating: R

Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono

Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.78:1)

Director: Robert Clouse

Cast: Sam Gordon, Sara Botsford, Scatman Crothers, Lesleh Donaldson, Joseph Kelly, Lisa Langlois

It seems so long ago that my horror-loving mother rented this vermin-infested chiller on VHS and I plopped down in front of the TV eating my pizza while enjoying the giant-rodent menace before me, those were some good times. That must have been almost thirty years ago but I must say that many of this movies cheap charms have stuck with me through the years. DEADLY EYES (1982) was never before available on DVD so it was a great to sit down and revisit it on a format that for better or worse presents it in the cleanest and sharpest format yet. 

Set in Toronto the city is plagued by a horde of steroid-infused grain eating rats which have grown large by Toronto standards - rats of unusual size are not that unusual in New York which is more than likely what it was not set in NYC. The contaminated grain is ordered destroyed by Health Dept. inspector Elly (Sara Botsford, STILL OF THE NIGHT) and when it goes up in flames the rats flee the factory and head to the city sewers where they spread throughout the city. One of the very first first death scenes is quite a shocker when a baby is dragged by the rats down to the basement and eaten. The child's mother finds a blood trail leading to the basement where she finds the blood-soaked jammies before the rodents dispatch her. Even to this day very few movies go for the death of a small child and this one does right from the start - no one is safe!

Enter into the equation a high school teacher Paul Harris (Sam Groom) who has all the charm of a day old fart but somehow captures the attention of super-cute student Trudy (Lisa Langlois, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME) who is totally crushing on him. It's sort of funny the way she throws herself  at him - going so far as to break-in to his apartment and crawl into his bed in her undies. Paul has very little interest in the young woman but her infatuation threaten to derail his budding relationship with Elly - the Health Department inspector from the start of the film. 

After the baby death there's another less deadly bite attack of a teen n the street but up next is an elderly gent who the rats stalk through the park which ends poorly for the old man. After that attack Elly sends her field inspector (Scatman Crothers, THE SHINING)  down into the city sewers to assess the rodent problem.  The scenes of Scatman driving through the sewer tunnels could have been taken straight from THE SHINING - I sewer its the same outfit! Crother's doesn't last long and is no match for the flesh-starved rats and his death scene is humorous as he lobs four-letter words at them before rolling to one side in the most casual sort of way as the rat-costumed dachshunds lick him to death. 

His death sends Elly and Paul to a rat-expert friend of Paul who theorizes based on reports that a new breed of super-rat may be on the lose in Toronto. Armed with this knowledge the Health Department introduces a deadly gas into the sewers which only sends the rats into the subway system where they gnaw they're way through hordes of Canadian passengers there to celebrate the grand opening of the mass transit system. Chewing through the electric cable supplying power to the subway the passengers are helpless to escape which makes quite a feast for the rodents. 

Before the days of digital effect the filmmakers resorted to using Dachshunds dressed in rat costumes for many of the scenes and I must say while it's at first goofy the overall effect of it holds up. Some shots are better than others and while they don't come of as the desired voracious rodents the mass of living creatures rushing towards victims are effective with only the occasional bark ruining the effect. For the close-ups of the rats we have some fun practical animatronic  toothy rodents gnashing at the camera. Sure, it's a little bit goofy but for an early eighties b-movie rat-fest this is a lot of fun. 

I thought the performance from the leads were a bit wooden but they're not awful either.  I would say it was played a bit too straight for the sort of movie they were making. No one is watching this film for the boring love story that goes nowhere - we're watching it for the scenes of bloody rat violence and on that end it delivers. Director Robert Clouse (ENTER THE DRAGON) keeps the film moving along even with the obvious filler material and threads that go nowhere which pads out the running time . 

The last twenty-minutes are a blast beginning with a ravenous attack at a darkened movie theater where movie goers are enjoying a Bruce Lee retrospective when the rodents start gnawing popcorn-popping patrons by the dozens. Another fun scenario features an unfortunate bowling alley employee resetting pins only to end up as rat bait in the darkened inner workings of the venue, this is fun stuff. Eventually the film climaxes in the subway with out main protagonist holed-up in a maintenance cage while holding off the vermin with acetylene torches - but not before the rats take off his finger! 

After thirty years it was a blast to visit the one again. Scream Factory's new widescreen edition looks nice in hi-def and quite a step-up from the murky VHS of yore. The print used for the transfer - with the alternate NIGHT EYES title card - is quite pleasing with strong colors and decent black levels. There's a nice layer of grain and while it's not reference quality this low-budget Canadian horror is sure to please. The audio is capably handled by an English language DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that is free of distortion and balanced, there are no subtitles. This is a 2-disc set with a standard-def DVD mirroring the feature and extras of the Blu-ray.  

I was surprised the amount of extras on the disc which begins with a brand featurette with interviews from writer Charles Eglee (DEXTER) and art director Ninkey Dalton, special effects artists Alan Apone and Alec Gillis. Writer Eglee speaks of the film being more a tribute to the Roger Corman produced PIRANHA more so than an adaptation of the source material. 

Actress  Lesleh Donaldson (CURTAINS) speaks about her scream queen notoriety in Canada and working on with the cast and the dogs plus she speaks about a few of her other films including HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME with director J.Lee Thompson and STONE COLD DEAD (1979).

Actress Lisa Langlois (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME) who played the blond cutey with the crush of the prof speaks about the audition process and not knowing what director Robert Clouse had previously done till after the shoot. She speaks poorly of Roger Corman and her experience making THE NEST which she says was the worst experience of her life plus almost landing the lead role in TERMINATOR!

There are also interviews with Joseph Kelly and another with special effects artists Alan Apone who comments about working with the Dachshunds and terriers on the film and how hysterical that was at times. There's also a thirty second TV spot for the film. 

 Maybe not the greatest horror title ever to get the Scream Factory treatment but a fun b-movie that's quite entertaining. Great to see Scream unearthing these dusty gems and giving them a spit shine for the fans to enjoy. I f you love b-movie nature-gone-wrong movies like SQUIRM and THE NEST you are gonna want this one, seriously I've watched this three times already.
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