FUTURE JUSTICE (2014)

FUTURE JUSTICE (2014) 

Label: Scorpio Film Releasing Region Code: Region-FREE 

Duration: 83 Minutes
Rating: Unrated 

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 

Director: Richard Griffin
Cast: Nat Sylva, Steven O'Broin, Aaron Andrade, Anna Rizzo, Dan Mauro, Johnny Sederquist, Tiffany Lee Ferris

Richard Griffin must be one of the most prolific makers of low-budget b-movie genre pictures out there today, averaging about three finished feature and short films a year. His latest movie Future Justice (2014)  is a tasty no-budget riff on John Carpenter's Escape from New York, and stars Nat Sylva (Murder University) as the bad ass anti-hero Python Dallas, a dangerous insurrectionist who at the start of the film is imprisoned on Saturn's moon of Titan. He's in the process of being transported back to Earth to answer for his crimes, but what exactly those crimes are exactly is a bit of mystery throughout the movie, we have numerous references to an incident that happened in Baltimore that ended with a high body count, but it keeps a bit of mystery about it. 

En route to Earth Python is interrogated by Major Uxbridge (Aaron Andrade) who clearly has contempt for the war criminal, though the tougher he gets the more sarcastic Python becomes, which only further enrages the Major. Approaching Earth the crew are unable to establish radio contact with anyone back at the base command, it soon becomes apparent that the Earth has fallen victim to some apocalyptic nuclear event, the cities lay in ruin and the few survivors left alive scrap over food and scramble for shelter. 

Arriving on the Earth Python is coerced into joining the crew on the surface on a mission to search for survivors. Eventually they find a small group who scientist and various survivors who have banded together and are holed-up in the basement of a building. Opposition arrives in the form of a motley crew of post-nuke pirates headed by baddie Gazebo (Steven O’Broin), a sneering Southern-fried menace who leads a band of redneck outlaws armed with lasers and explosive-tipped crossbow darts. 

Adding to the menace is the threat of a tunnel dwelling mutant-human who oozes irradiated goo, the creature appears from time to time to claim a victim. 

Richard Griffin is channelling the 80s sci-fi action films of his and our youth and the result is a ton of cheap b-movie fun anchored by the fun performances of Nathaniel Sylva, obviously channeling his inner Snake Plisken, and baddie Steven O’Broin, both do a fantastic job in their roles, neither of which requires much depth but it makes for fun action-movie caricatures . 

The special effects of the movie by John C. Dusek are wonderfully cheesy and pretty dated - which is keeping within the Scorpio Film Releasing aesthetic we've come to know and love 'em for through the years. The opening title credit sequence is fantastic, the retro sci-fi font and the accompanying score does a bang-up job of channeling vintage 80s science fiction with plenty of Carpenter's Escape from New York with maybe a little Richard Band thrown into the mix, kudos to Daniel Hildreth for the awesome score, it adds a lot of texture to the movie. 

The opening scenes in outer space are early 90s computer graphics type stuff that might illicit a chuckle, and that's not unfair, its part of the charm of the production, and I think both a result of necessity and design - one of the opening scenes of Python encased in ice -- or crinkled plastic wrap more precisely, made me laugh, it might just be the worse effect of the film, but I still loved it. The command center of the ship is a tight and cramped space, which is straight out of John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon's seminal low-budget science fiction student film Dark Star (1974), a film which surely must have been an inspiration for Griffin.

Special Features:
- Commentary Track with Director, Producer, Cast and Crew
- Short Film 'Mutants of the Apocalypse' (7 Mins)
- Trailer ( 3 Mins) 

A post-apocalyptic science fiction movie is pretty damn difficult to do on what amounts to a shoe-string budget, and this is proof of how challenging it can be. Sure, it has a lot of warts on the surface but I loved the concept and the spirit of the execution, it's hard to convey a nuclear wasteland when your back lot is green with vegetation, but they make a real go for it anyway, and the end result is a shit ton of retro-80s sci-fi apocalypse fun. 2.5/5

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958) 

Label: Olive Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 69 Minutes 
Audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Video: HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Edward L. Cahn
Cast: Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, Ann Doran, Dabbs Greer, Paul Langton, Robert Rice, Shirley Patterson, Kim Spalding, Ray Corrigan

Synopsis: 
Following a rescue mission to Mars, the survivor of a space expedition claims that his crew was hunted down and killed by an alien creature. Skeptical, and believing that the survivor may have killed the crew in order to survive, the rescue captain dismisses the explanation only to find that a Martian creature has stowed away on the spacecraft and begins to hunt the human hosts. It! The Terror From Beyond Space stars Marshall Thompson (The Clock) as Col. Carruthers, Shirley Patterson (The Land Unknown) as Ann Anderson, Kim Spalding (The Gunfighter) as Col. Van Heusen and Ray Corrigan (New Frontier) as “It”.

I love these low budget science fiction movies from the 1950's, especially when there is a man-in-a-suit styled creature roaming around and sucking the life force from our astronauts, which is what we have happening here, while not on par with Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires (1965), the films do share something in common, both were enormous inspiration on Ridley Scott's Alien (1979), It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) shares a vaguely similar story line of an alien creature stowing away on a ship headed for Earth, while Mario Bava's film offer an equally familiar story and a lot of aesthetic choices that Scott and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon seem to have copped for their own seminal science fiction film. So, mentioning Alien and Planet of the Vampires may have your expectations slightly inflated, but come back down to earth because this one is neither of those film, not even close, so grab some tortilla chips because this one is total cheese. 

A rescue mission is bound for the planet Mars in the very futuristic year of 1973, the year was born! The first mission met with disaster having crash landed on the surface of the Red Planet, upon arriving they discover that the sole survivor is Col. Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson), whom the crew suspect may have killed the remaining survivors for their food and water rations, which he denies. He places the blame on a monstrous creature he says attacked the crew, but his story is met with skepticism, and the fact that one of the victims is found with a bullet hole on their skull doesn't help his case either.

The crew are in for a surprise all their own, because it turns out that the Colonel was telling the damn truth, but that bullet hole in the skull is never explained. As the rescue mission leave Mars for the six-month return trip to Earth the monstrous creature boards the ship and hides away away in the air ducts, where it remains unnoticed until it starts to kill off the crew members one by one, draining each of the victims of their precious bodily fluids leaving behind a seriously dehydrated corpse. 

The beast is humanoid and somewhat reptilian in nature, scaly skin and three rough clawed fingers. Quite beast, but for the most part the creature is caught only in shadowy glimpses, which was probably a smart move on the part of the filmmakers because it can look awfully cheap, but then again this was the 50's and by standards of the era probably not that awful looking.

What transpires is the crew must fend of the creature which is after their fluids, and the monster  turns out to be damn near impossible to kill. Bullets, grenades and massive amounts of radiation seem to have little effect on the beast, but as is so often the case it turns out that something quite simple can undo the creature. I laughed when I thought about the fact that this is a science fiction film, the human race have the ability to travel to and from the planets throughout our solar system but our weapons still consist of carbine rifles and grenades straight out of World War 2, just thought that was funny, no space-age ray guns in this one. 

As a kid I would eat these cheap sci-fi movies up with a spoon when they aired on TV during weekends afternoons and I still love 'em, while they may not have aged very I love 'em, there's just something about those corny futuristic sets and cheesy space ships I cannot get enough of, and they still have their charm and thirty-years of youthful nostalgia to keep me coming back. 

Audio/Video: 
It! The Terror from Beyond Space arrives on Blu-ray from Olive Films with a pleasing transfer sourced from a clean print with very few flaws to speak of. The black and white cinematography looks nice with good contrast and a few moments of nicely resolved fine detail. 

The info on the disc case incorrectly lists the aspect ratio as full frame (1.37:1), the correct aspect ratio featured on the disc is widescreen (1.85:1).  

The English language DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio comes through with very few issues, the low-budget production has a limited sound design but for fans of schlocky sci-fi there's enough futuristic sound effects and overly-dramatic score to bring a smile to your face.

The only extra on the disc is a trailer for the film that's in pretty poor shape. Olive Films tend to go the bare bones route these days, and I think a commentary would have been a nice value-added feature. At least offer something for the fans of the movie who maybe wouldn't upgrade to Blu-ray unless you sweeten the deal with at least a cursory bonus features. 

It!  The Terror from Beyond Space is a fun slice of '50s science fiction with a man-in-a-rubber-suit monster, the sort of film that absolutely appeals to my monster movie matinee nostalgia, if you love cheesy sci-fi and creature features I think you would enjoy It! 2.5/5

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

Label: Olive Films 
Region Code: A

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Duration: 80 Minutes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 

Video: HD SuperScope (2.00:1)
Director: Don Siegel
Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Carolyn Jones, Larry Gates

One of the greatest and most influential Sci-Fi films of all time stars Kevin McCarthy as a doctor in a small California town whose patients are becoming hysterical and accuse their loved ones as emotionless impostors. Plant-like extra-terrestrials have invaded Earth, replicating the villagers in giant seed “pods” and taking possession of their souls while they sleep. Realizing that the epidemic is out of control, in a terrifying race for his life, he escapes to warn the world of the deadly invasion of the pod people! Directed by the great Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) and co-starring Dana Wynter, Carolyn Jones, Larry Gates and King Donovan. 

This is one of those many science fiction and horror movies I watched on the late night horror show that aired on WPIX back in the early '80s. Most of these I watched sitting directly in front of the tube TV in the floor with a big bowl of cereal and a glass of soda in hand. Those wonderful nights of sugar-fueled nightmare cinema are what fed my love of scary stuff from a young age, my mother was a horror fan herself so she was permissive about my late night viewings. 

Afterward the credits rolled I through the darkened house on my way to my room just a bundle of nerves and jumping at every shadow. Once snuggled in bed would be unable to succumb to the sandman for quite some time having been temporarily scarred for life by what I had just watched and the massive amounts of sugar still coursing through my veins. Once I managed to fall asleep my nightmares were usually a continuation of whatever film I had watched only now starring a cast faces familiar to me, my friends and neighbors. It was scary stuff but somehow I have never been able to get enough of the creepy movie magic. 

I can definitely recall watching the original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS for the first time and it certainly gave me nightmares of strange happenings in a small town. It all begins with Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) returning to the sleepy village of Santa Mira, California after a brief trip. Here he runs into an old flame named Becky (Dana Wynter) who has also returned to town following a recent divorce, and the two divorcees begin a budding romance picking-up where they left off some years earlier. The strange happenings begin when a frantic young boy is becomes convinced that his parents are not whom they appear to be and have changes in some insidious way. Soon after Becky's cousin Wilma (Virginia Christine) suspects that her own father, psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kaufman (Larry Gates), has been transformed into an soulless impersonator, but the psychiatrist assures Miles that the village is simply suffering from some form of mass hysteria, which he accepts, after all, Dr. Kaufman's a psychiatrist and if anyone would know what tricks the mind could play it would certainly be him. 

While the doc and Beck slowly rekindle their romance at a cocktail party the strangeness around town persists and the doc is called away to the home of friend Jack Belicec (King Donovan) and his wife Teddy (Carolyn Jones). The couple have discovered a strange body in their home, a humanoid form devoid of detail. Oddly, they do not report the eerie discovery to the authorities and the doc simply advises to the couple to keep an eye on it, to which I would say "fuck you". Later that night the doc and Becky find another half-formed body in her own basement, this one resembling Becky herself. Hitting a bit closer to home the duo are take things a bit more seriously, while they don't know what the fudge is happening in the village of Santa Mira it is certainly more than a case of mass hysteria!

What I love about this movie is the creepiness and paranoia of it all, it seems that these imposters are formed once you go to sleep, and eventually you have to fall asleep, there's just no way around it. Once you drift off the pod transforms into a mirror image of you, the copy assumes your role in the community, imbued with your memories and knowledge but devoid of all humanity. It is revealed that the copies come from a large pod seeds that are somewhat corny by today's standards, looking somewhat like a four foot long pea pod, but in context of a '50s sci-fi movie they're pretty decent props. Something else I love about the film is that there is no hideous alien creature that comes off as more schlocky than shocky, a lot of the paranoia and fear come straight from your mind. 

Realizing what a threat these space pods from space pose to the world and humanity Miles repeatedly attempts to warn the public of the impending doom but you just never know who you can trust when the people you know may not be the people you know at all. They realize just how large scale the invasion is when the discover a plan to send truckloads of the space pods into neighboring cities thereby spreading the alien invasion from town to town until the entire planet are a community of hive-minded doppelgangers.

McCarthy is fantastic in this paranoid science fiction thriller, his chiseled chin and all-American good looks brought to mind the '50s version of '80s b-movie legend Bruce Campbell with a bit more depth and way less camp, McCarthy can do unhinged with the best of them on the big screen. 

I love the look of the film which has a moody noir aesthetic with most scenes bathed deeply cast in light and shadows which accentuates the creepy vibe. The brassy score from composer Carmen Dragon is effective but secretly I wised for a cheesy theremin score. 

The special effects are simple but effective considering the era, the black and white images of the seed pods blooming and spilling forth a foamy white liquid with the malformed bodies emerging thrilled me as kid and still do something for me today, while they may not be on par with what was to come with the Kaufman remake in '78 they are quite good and don't come off as cheesy.  

More so than any effect what sells the film is actor Kevin McCarthy and the paranoid vibe the film creates and carries through right until the fantastic end, and this is one of the most memorable finales of all time with McCarthy running crazed through the streets warning strangers of the impending invasion which by now is well underway, it's one of my favorite apocalyptic endings in all of cinema. 

Not a lot of negative comments about this one, the script is tight and the pace is brisk, running at just eighty-minutes long, the biggest beef would be the tacked-on book end beginning and ending and the voice over narration, none of which was necessary but both were added by producer Walter Wanger. It doesn't ruin the film but on the whole I feel t would have been a more effective film and the ending would have had more weight had it stopped with McCarthy screaming  "They're here already! You're next! You're next!" to passing motorists. 

AUDIO/VIDEO
The Blu-ray from Olive Films presents this science fiction classic in the  SuperScope (2.0:1) aspect ratio as it was originally screened in theatres with an AVC encode and it looks fantastic. The source used for the HD master is nearly flawless with only minor instances of print damage, white speckling is kept to a minimum, this has a very smooth and natural appearance. Contrast looks very nice throughout with fantastic shadow detail accentuating the noir inspired cinematography, there's a lot to be happy about here. The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 exports the dialogue, effects and Carmen Dragon's score very nicely, crisp and clean throughout, no subtitles options are provided. 

SPECIAL FEATURES
Unfortunately there are no extras on the disc of any sort which is saddening as this is a film with a storied production history and there must be film scholars and science fiction authorities who would have loved to wax nostalgic about it. I would have enjoyed a newly commissioned featurette or a brief making of documentary, but nope, nada.
VERDICT
If you love vintage black and white science fiction films I think it is safe to say that Olive Films presentation of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is worth a purchase, the new HD upgrade is fantastic even if there are zero bonus features. If you have seen the Philip Kaufman's remake and have not treated yourself to a viewing of the original movie you are doing yourself a disservice, sixty-years on this is still quite a gripping slice of sci-fi cinema, highly recommended.