COOL HAND LUKE (1967) (WBHE 4K ultra HD Review)

COOL HAND LUKE (1967)

Label: WBHE

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: PG-13 

Duration: 126 Minutes 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono (UHD), DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono (BD) with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: (HDR10) 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.35:!) , 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)

Director: Stuart Rosenberg

Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Canon, Robert Drivas, Lou Antonio, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet

In the prison classic Cool Hand Luke (1967) Paul Newman (Road To Perdition) stars Luke Jackson, a war hero who at the start of the film is arrested for disorderly conduct and destroying public property after the cops nab him walking an empty city street quite drunk and cutting off parking meters at the stem with a pipe cutter. Sentenced to two years of hard labor at a Florida prison run by a warden who goes by Captain (Strother Martin, The Brotherhood of Satan). Luke proves to be not a fan of being told what to do by the prison staff, especially the menacing prison guard Godfrey (Morgan Woodard, Battle Beyond the Stars), who always wears mirrored sunglasses, and sits watch over the work crew with a rifle. 

Inside he earns a reputation among his fellow incarcerated as someone who is cool under pressure, hence his titular nickname, and not one to easily fall into line when told do so. He earns the respect of the towering Dragline (George Kennedy, Creepshow 2) after taking him on in the weekly prison yard  boxing match, and despite being whupped by Dragline hands down he refuses to give up, even when he can barely stand up, he never stops swinging. 

Occasionally his ant-authority antics begin to rub Captain the wrong way, and after various infractions throws him in the sweat box overnight several times, but it never breaks him. However, when his dear momma Arletta (Jo Van Fleet, Satan's School for Girls) passes on it get's under the skin of Luke, and despite the Captain preemptively locking him away in the box so as he is not tempted to escape, he does just that. His escape makes him in instant hero among the convicted, he is re-captured and the Captain lays into pretty hard so as to set an example and discourage he and others from attempting escape again. He makes several more escapes, each time his punishment grows more extreme, and finally it seems to break him. The fellow inmates start to lose faith in their former hero, but Luke has more tricks up his sleeve, and eventually makes a final break-out with his bud Dragline in tow. 

Cool Hand Luke is a classic among prison film, Newman is in top physical form and the camera loves his glistening bare-chested body as he labors away in the son. He's just a cool cat and his character is charming as heck, his indomitable spirit even winning over a few of the prison guards along the way. He's capably supported by Kennedy who gives a terrific Oscar-winning supporting performance as the hulking Dragline, a felon with heart; and Strother Martin just about steals every scene he shows up in with his wicked and slightly effeminate Southern drawl, uttering perhaps the film's most iconic line, "What we have here is a failure to communicate...", made famous to my generation (Gen X if you're keeping track), after it was used on the Guns N' Roses tune "Civil War".  The film also feature turns from a lot of familiar faces including Joe Don Baker (Charley Varrick), Harry Dean Stanton (Repo Man) as a guitar strumming felon, Dennis Hopper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Clifton James (Experiment In Terror), and Anthony Zerbe (Omega Man).

Audio/Video: Cool Hand Luke (1967) gets a region-free 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in HDR10-enhanced 2160p UHD widescreen (2.35:1), and while there's no specific information about the source of this new scan it looks quite nice. There's an unobtrusive layer of fine film grain that exports pleasing depth, clarity and fine detail throughout, especially in close-ups of characters caked in mud and sweat while working outdoors under the noon day sun. Colors are a bit muted and dingy by design, enhanced slightly by some judicious HDR10 color-grading that subtley  enhances primaries and boosts contrast with deeper more layered blacks during the night scenes. Audio on the UHD comes by way of DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with optional English subtitles. Its a solid track that is clean and offers intelligible dialogue, and the terrific Lalo Schifrin score sounds great. Unfortunately, the accompanying Blu-ray is a recycle of the 2008 release, which has only lossy Dolby Digital 1.0 mono, so the UHD's dual-mono DTS-HD track is actually a nice upgrade 

No new extras are afforded the Oscar nominated film, we get the archival Audio Commentary by Eric Lax on the UHD, which is duplicated alongside all the other archival extras on the Blu-ray, again a recycle of the 2008  disc, which are a bit light for a classic film in my opinion, a real shame The 2-disc release arrives in a black dual-hubbed keepcase with a single sided sleeve of artwork. Inside there's a redemption code for a 4K digital copy of the film. The slipcover is adorned with the WB 100 anniversary logo in the upper right hand corner, the wrap does not. 

Special Features:

- Audio Commentary by Eric Lax

- “A Natural-Born World-Shaker: Making Cool Hand Luke” (featurette) (29 min) 

- Trailer (3 min) 

- Slipcover

- Digital Copy 

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR COLLECTION (1979-1983) (Blu-ray Review)

THE AMITYVILLE HORROR COLLECTION (1979-1983) 

Label: Via Vision Entertainment 
Release Date: September 28th 2016
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: R I R I PG
Duration: 411 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 
Directors: Stuart Rosenberg I Damiano Damiani I Richard Fleischer
Cast: Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, James Brolin I  Burt Young, Jack Magner, Rutanya Alda, Andrew Prine, James Olson I Tess Harper, Meg Ryan, Tony Roberts, Robert Joy

Synopsis: Blood drips from the walls. A terrifying chill permeates through the rooms. Menacing eyes glow from the upstairs window and inside this charming Long Island home, an unspeakable evil lurks the halls, waiting to torment all who dare enter. Experience the ultimate in haunted house film trilogy…and delve deeper into the history of the films with vintage special features and all-new extras in a deluxe collector’s boxed set.

DISC 1: THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979)

Rating: R
Duration: 119 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Stuart Rosenberg

Cast: Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger, James Brolin

Synopsis: In the first of a series of Amityville films, George (James Brolin) and Kathy Lutz (Margot Kidder), plus their cute kids, move into a riverfront home in the small town of Amityville. The house is a seemingly tranquil retreat except for one minor detail: The man who lived there prior to the Lutz family brutally killed his wife and children. Even with this knowledge, George and Kathy decide to purchase the house. As they begin unpacking their belongings, strange things start happening to them—odd nightmares, voices in the hall, and a feeling of madness that will drive them to the brink of sanity. It appears that the Lutzes are not alone inside the Amityville house, and whatever else is living with them wants them out…or dead!

Here we have the first classic entry in the now sprawling Amityville franchise, which includes no less than ten sequels and a re-boot. but this is the one that started it all, the one that scared the shit out of me as a kid watching it on TV with my mom.  James Brolin as the 70s dad who slowly becomes possessed by the presence inhabiting the house is good stuff, the movie contains most of the usual haunted house tropes but is still effective, accentuated by a great atmospheric score from Lalo Schifrin who also wrote the original, unused score for The Exorcist. Another highlight for me is Rod Steiger's unhinged performance as the priest which is is the cherry on top of this 70s possessed house chiller. 

Special Features: 
- Haunted Melodies with Composer Lalo Schifrin (10 Mins) HD 
- "For God's Sake, Get Out!" Documentary with actors James Brolin and Margot Kidder (22 Mins) 
- Audio Commentary by Dr. Hans Holzer, PH.D. in Parapsychology (author of Murder In Amityville)
- Original Theatrical Trailer and TV Spot (2 Mins) HD 
- Radio Spots (4 Mins) HD 
- Still Gallery (8 Mins) HD 

DISC 2: AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION (1982) 

Rating: R
Duration: 104 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Damiano Damiani

Cast: Burt Young, Jack Magner, Rutanya Alda, Andrew Prine, James Olson

Synopsis: This second installment in the Amityville series is a “prequel” which traces the events leading up to The Amityville Horror. In Amityville II: The Possession, the Montelli family moves into the Amityville house replete with its demonic windows. The family’s patriarch, Anthony (Burt Young), is a brutish father with a timid wife, Dolores (Rutanya Alda), two small children, and two teenagers, Patricia (Diane Franklin) and Sonny (Jack Magner). After only a few days in their new home, strange occurrences take root; the cellar produces a nasty amount of flies and feces. Malevolent voices reverberate through the halls. And most disturbing, Sonny begins to have visions of murdering his entire family. The events that follow produce a battle between good and evil that ultimately paves the way to one of the greatest horrors Amityville has ever experienced.

Amityville II: The Possession (1982) is a prequel and was directed by Italian Damiano Damiani who also directed the Spaghetti western A Bullet for the General  (1966). The prequel  is a funhouse chiller for sure with some awesome atmospheric and gruesome sequences. I do love the prequel premise and Burt Young (Rocky) as the abusive and overbearing Italian father is great stuff, plus we have some weird incestuous tones going on here, really weird stuff that will make you uncomfortable. A real ghostly atmosphere and demented sense of perversion saturates the film,, plus we have the shocking deaths of children. Fittingly directed by an Italian the film sort of feels like one of the Exorcist knock-offs Italians were so fond of at the time, but I love it and actually enjoy it more than the first entry, this is stylish, spooky and a little bit sleazy, too.

Special Features: 
- The Possession of Damiani - Interview with Director Damiano Damiani (8 Mins) HD 
- Adapting Amityville – New Interview with Screenwriter Tommy Lee Wallace (12 Mins) HD 
- Family Matters – New Interview with Actress Diane Franklin (14 Mins) HD 
- A Mother’s Burden – New Interview with Actress Rutanya Alda (14 Mins) HD 
- Father Tom’s Memories – New Interview with Actor Andrew Prine (4 Mins) HD 
- Interview with ghost hunter/author Alexandra Holzer (Growing Up Haunted: A Ghostly Memoir) (29 Mins) HD 
- Audio Commentary with ghost hunter/author Alexandra Holzer (Growing Up Haunted: A Ghostly Memoir)
- Trailers (3 Mins) HD 
- Still Gallery (4 Mins) HD 

DISC 3: AMITYVILLE 3-D (AMITYVILLE III: THE DEMON) (1983) 

Rating: PG
Duration: 93 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Tess Harper, Meg Ryan, Tony Roberts, Robert Joy

Synopsis: In the third installment of the Amityville Horror series, the terror is not only real…it’s coming to you in three dimensions! John Baxter (Tony Roberts) is a psychic investigator who spends his time debunking phony so-called “experts” of the occult. John and his wife, Nancy (Tess Harper), are recently separated with a young daughter, Susan (Lori Loughlin). John haphazardly decides to purchase the infamous Amityville house and moves in, unaware of the horrible dangers that lie inside. As John spends more and more time inside the house, he begins to endanger not only himself but also his family, friends and coworkers. It’s three times the terror in Amityville 3-D!

Amityville 3-D (1983) is the last sequel in the franchise I can safely say is worth a watch, it most certainly not a good movie but it's goddamn entertaining right from the start! Paranormal investigators Melanie and John (Candy Clark, Tony Roberts) expose a pair of con artists during a seance at the now empty Amityville house, it's a great set-up and the reveal and ensuing confrontation are great. Afterward the realtor explains to John that because of the famous history of the home he just cannot sell it, which enables skeptic John to purchase the infamous house for a song. He moves in with his daughter and things just start going wrong all around him, though he seems blind to the supernatural happenings until tragedy strikes close to home. Because this was a staple on cable TV in the 80's I've seen it more than any other entry, again, it is not a good movie but I loved it and some of the special effects work on the movie are pretty great including a bizarre car incineration and a demon that appears in the last few minutes, rising up from a well in the basement long enough to burn off someone's face which is just awesome. As was the craze at this time in the eighties the movie was shot in 3D and like Scream Factory before them Via Vision have given this disc a Blu-ray 3D option for those with 3D TV's. 

Special Features: 
- 2D and Blu-ray 3D presentation of the film for the first time!
- A Chilly Reception – New Interview with Actress Candy Clark (9:46)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1:32) 

BONUS DISC: THE AMITYVILLE CONFIDENTIAL (2005) / MY AMITYVILLE HORROR (2012) 

As a bonus DVD disc on the set Via Vision have included the Amityville Confidential : The History Channel Documentary (2005), which includes two 42-minute History Channel explorations of the Amityville case which came out around the time of the remake. The disc also includes a brief promotional bit about the remake. 

The bonus disc also includes the  Eric Walter directed documentary My Amityville Horror (89 Mins) featuring the actual Daniel Lutz who recounts his version of the infamous Amityville haunting that terrified his family in 1975. While Via Vision seem to have licensed the extras on the disc from Scream Factory, mirroring both menus and extras, they've gone beyond that Scream Factory release with the inclusion of these cool extras, which make this the more definitive version of the trilogy, and I have confirmed that the set is Region A compatible!

Audio/Video: This four-disc set from Australia's Via Vision Entertainment includes the first three movies in the series which I say are the movies in the franchise worth owning. It looks like Via Vision have licensed the extras on the first three movie right from Shout! Factory, as the disc have the same Red Shirt Films produced bonus content, commentaries and menu design, the HD transfers and audio options also appear to be identical.

All four discs come housed in a Blu-ray quad case within a slipcase, the discs look and sound great on 1080p HD, with the slight exception of Amityville 3-D which has some softness and an odd red and blue shading anomaly which I suspect comes from the original 3D conversion process and not from any fault of the transfer. Via Vision have also included a bonus DVD disc, which includes the Amityville Confidential and My Amityville Horror docs, which is a nice add-on for Amityville completists. The discs are loaded with special features, including audio commentaries on the first two films, a vintage documentary with James Brolin and Margo Kidder, an interview with director Damiano Damiani plus newer interviews with actors Andrew Prine, Diane Franklin, Candy Clark, Rutanya Alda and ghost hunter/author Alexandra Holzera, whose father does the commentary for the first movie. As stated before the extras on the first three discs have appeared on the Scream Factory three-disc set, but Via Vision go one-step above with the inclusion of the History Channel documentary and the Daniel Lutz doc, making this the more definitive version of the original trilogy on Blu-ray.