Blu-ray Review: PUPPET MASTER II (1991)

PUPPET MASTER II (1991)

Label: Full Moon Features
Rating: R
Region Code: A
Duration: 88 Minutes
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: David Allen
Cast: Elizabeth MacLellan, Collin Bernsen, Gregory Webb, Charlie Spradling, Steve Welles , Jeff Weston, Nita Talbot
Tagline: They're Back. No Strings Attached!

Summary: The nasty little puppets are back to take care of unfinished business. Joined by Torch, the newest member of the sinister troupe, they exhume their beloved creator Toulon to gather the brain matter that keeps them alive. But the Puppet Master has a deadly plan of his own…


Film: Puppet Master 2 open with a nicely macabre pre-credit sequence as Pinhead, Leech Woman, Jester and Tunneler unearth the grave of their departed master Andre Toulon at the Shady Oak's cemetery which is conveniently located just a stones throw away from the Bodega Bay Inn. Pinhead pries open the casket and pours the re-animating serum onto the rotted corpse as the other puppets look on in wonder and awe as Toulon is the reanimated, his rotted skeletal arms reaching toward the sky from his casket. Some time later we see a group of paranormal researchers led by Carolyn (Elizabeth Maclellan, Crash and Burn) arrive at the Bodega Bay Inn to investigate the murder of the hotel's previous owner as well as the lunatic ramblings of Alex Whitaker, the lone psychic-survivor from the previous entry. Apparently the victims had their brain-matter extracted through the nose - Egyptian mummification style. Carolyn is joined in her quest for paranormal activity by her brother Patrick (Greg Webb, TV's Boone), the psychic Camille (Nita Talbot, Chained Heat), sexy red-head Wanda (Charlie Spradling, Wild At Heart), and techie Lance (Jeff Watson, The Player).

That night psychic Camille spots the puppets and plans to leave the Inn in fear of her safety but before she can go is pummeled  dragged off by Pinhead and Jester. The next to go is poor Patrick who gets his forehead rather bloodily excavated by Tunneler, it's a great gory scene. Lance runs into the room after hearing Patrick scream bit it's too late to save Patrick though he is able knock-out Tunneler. While looking at Tunneler's body under x-ray the team deduce that the puppets are being sustained by a chemical in their bodies. Soon after a mystery-man calling himself Enrique Channe (Steve Welles, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) appears and announces that he has inherited the inn. Mr. Chanee is really Toulon's reanimated corpse decked out in an Invisible Man-esque costume of gauze, goggles and a cape. Chanee/Toulon retires to his room were he sets about creating a new puppet, Torch, a  flame-throwing assassin. There is a flashback to Cairo Egypt at the turn of the century where we see the origins of the reanimating formula and how it came into Toulon's possession and catch a glimpse of two unique animated puppets; Mephisto and Hermuncules. We also find out that the formula involves human brains, and this is why the puppets are murdering people. In fact, the puppets are not content to murder visitors at the inn, they travel to a nearby farmhouse where they attack a farmer played by George "Buck" Flowers (They Live, The Fog) and his wife in an effort to get more brain tissue to complete the formula, the scenes wherein Torch, Blade and Leech Woman murder the couple is fantastic, she's set afire in a blaze and then Blade hacks a chunk of her brain with his hook. Torch really amps up the kills this time out including roasting a young boy he encounters in the forest with his deadly flame-thrower, it's dark stuff. Toulon's is portrayed as an obsessed madman in this film, not very likable, it seems that rotting in a casket for 50+ years has had a poor effect on his mental health . He's also laboring under the belief that the gorgeous Carolyn is the reincarnated soul of his long dead wife Elsa and has devised a plan by which the two can be reunited forever. 

This time around the puppets are more fully realized and articulated than the first film, great stop-motion effects works from director David Allen and his team of puppeteers, really imaginative and wonderful artistry on display here. We get to see them on screen more which is a treat and their movements are more fluid. I enjoyed the flashback to Cairo and the origins of the formula. Toulon's disguise is creepy and effective and while for 90% of the film he remains bandaged and his face is not visible Welles performance and vocal characterization recalled the great Christopher Lloyd, wonderfully dramatic and the final unmasking of his rotting face is just grotesque 

Something I did not care for was the need for brain-tissue to create the life-giving serum Toulon administers to reanimate himself and the puppets as I feel it it vilifies both Toulon and the puppets, which I guess was Allen was going for here, it really ramps up the gore and horror. In the first film you liked Toulon, he was a good man who sacrificed himself so that the Nazi's could not use his formula for evil and without giving too much away about either film the puppets obey their master until they realize they are being used or mistreated for evil purposes. Here they are more villainous and it degrades the characters a bit in my opinion. The ending of the film is also a bit wacky and felt too far out of left field for me. It's telling that future installments dismiss it or out right ignore the events of this film, which on it's own separate from the series is a very strong entry. 

In closing I must say that viewing the film in anamoprhic widescreen for the first time was a revelation, the 1080p visuals were popping off the screen at me with great locations, wonderful set dressing and seeing this 35mm film get the high-definition treatment made this feel like a first time viewing which is quite wonderful, very excited to see future installments of the series and other Full Moon titles like Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak (1991) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1995) get the 1080p treatment - let's hope they all look this good if not better,. 

Blu-ray: To my knowledge this may be the first-time ever that Puppet Master 2 has been presented in it's original anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio. The MPEG-4 encoded image is transferred from the original negative and remastered in high definition with all new color timing and color correction and the results are simply stunning, it's like night and day. I've seen this film several times in it's VHS and DVD incarnations and it's always been the same fullframe standard-definition transfer, interlaced with rampant compression issues and artifacting of both the audio and visual variety. The cropped image was always soft, murky and lacking any fine detail. What we get with this Blu-ray release is a pleasingly crisp 16x9 widescreen presentation from a very nice negative with a pleasant amount of natural grain left intact, with that though we also get a fair amount of noise, too. The noise is mostly noticeable during the darker scenes naturally but overall this widescreen presentation blows away any of the previous SD transfers of the film with wonderfully saturated and vibrant colors, natural skin tones, decent black levels and a fair amount of fine detail.

On the audio front we have something a bit less exciting than the image. Sure, we get a newly created 5.1 sound surround mix but it's Dolby Digital and not lossless. Like the previous DVD edition it is equally lamented by compression issues most notably with a metallic-ringing throughout the film. Dialogue and score sounds very nice but this is a disappointing oversight. More so than even the video upgrade that the 1080p format allows for is a sonic upgrade and this is a bit of failure.  

On top of the sweet widescreen transfer we get a nice array of bonus content beginning with a new Introduction (2:35) to the film from creator Charles Band filmed on the set of the forthcoming Puppet Master 10 in which the always fun auteur discusses the difficulty getting the early Full Moon Films on Blu-ray. Band also offers up a brand new commentary track for the film beginning with explaining that director David Allen passed in 1999. The commentary is regularly off topic but  quite a treat for fans of the series and of Full Moon Entertainment in general. It doesn't get too scene-specific but there's a ton of FM anecdotes and history, his association with director David Allen whom he met in the 70's whom he co-credits with creating the Puppets and commenting on his skill as an effects artists and director and that he was a protege of the works by Ray Harryhausen. Bands again goes into the troubles with getting early FM films on Blu-ray, creating new high-definition transfers and the financial woes that were prohibitive to that end. He speaks to his love of practical effects and disdain for CGI when overused it becomes cartoonish and he prefers the jittery stop-motion technique over it because of it's 3-dimension physicality. Band specifically talks about Dave Allen creating the iconic Bodega Bay Inn on a cliff shot used in the PM series. The interiors of the Bodega Bay Inn were shot at a an actual castle were they also shot Meridian, Skullheads, Castle Freak, The Pit and the Pendulum, and Demonic Toys 2. Lie k a lot of the commentary it's not Puppet Master II specific and he talks at length about the evolution of the FM Roadshow and the trials, tribulations and rewards of going theatrical with the film Ghoulies, including acquiring an R-rating from the MPAA. My favorite anecdote about Ghoulies being hate mail from pissed-off parents who had a Hell of a time potty-training their toddlers after viewing the film.  Band also discusses his wish to find all the deleted scenes and reinstate them, he also mentions wanting to find all the deleted scenes from this film and others and re-instating them at some point, it's a pretty entertaining listen. There's a Killer Puppet Montage (1:52),  a Rare Puppet Master Toy Promo (1:30) and one of FM VideoZone video magazine which were probably some of the first featurette/bonus content I ever recall seeing from the VHS era. This one featuring a behind-the-scene glimpse of  of PM2 highlighting the new character of Torch and some of the SFX work with interview with David Allen and the puppeteering team, Steve Welles, Jeff Weston, Nina Talbot, Gregory Webb and others. Also featured on the episode is an interview with director Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) who speaks about his film The Pit and the Pendulum plus trailers for the film and Puppet Master (1989), Shadowzone (1990), Meridian (1990), Crash and Burn (1990). Finally we get a selection of eight Full Moon trailer in HD widescreen including Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak (1995) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) which are both slated for Blu-ray editions in the near future, so psyched for that!

Special Features:
-Brand New Introduction by Puppet Master creator Charles Band (2:35) 16x9 
-New 2012 Audio Commentary by Charles Band
-Behind the Scenes VideoZone  (21:37) 4:3
-Killer Puppet Master Montage (1:52) 4x3
-Rare Puppet Master Toy Promo (1:30) 4x3
-HD Full Moon trailers:
Puppet Master (1:38) 16x9
Castle Freak 2:15) 16x9
Zombies vs Strippers (1:19) 16x9
Demonic Toys 2 (1:15) 16x9
Evil Bog 3  (1:00) 16x9
Gingerdead Man 3 (1:02) 16x9
Killjoy's Revenge (1:39) 16x9
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (2:06) 16x9 

Verdict: In the past I felt that Puppet Master 2 lacked much of the charm of the first film. It's definitely a bit darker and more menacing, the horror elements are ramped up and the puppets are rendered with more detail and articulated movement plus they get more screen time but the film just seemed a bit hollow in my opinion and was outmatched by the first film. However, viewing the film on Blu-ray and in widescreen for the first-time I think it's definitely stepped up a few notches, presentation is everything, it's a wonderfully entertaining watch, the Blu-ray looks great and while the audio leaves a bit to be desired this is still recommend. 3.5 outta 5
  

DVD Review: SCHOOLGIRL REPORT #8: WHAT PARENTS MUST NEVER KNOW (1974)

SCHOOLGIRL REPORT #8: 
WHAT PARENTS MUST NEVER KNOW (1974) 

Label: Impulse Pictures

Region Code: All Regions 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 87 minutes
Audio: German Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Ernst Hofbauer
Cast: Wolf Ackva, Puppa Armbruster, Sandra Atia, Astrid Boner

Synopsis: Those promiscuous schoolgirls are back and more naked than ever, in this eighth installment of the super sexy German softcore series! A two week bus trip to a country hostel turns into a series of crazy sexcapades for some young female students. In a series of eye-and-pants-popping vignettes (a trademark of the Schoolgirl Report series), the girls take us on the ride of our lives and we learn Gisela seduced a worker at her home (watch for a strange “cameo” from Swedish sensation Christina Lindberg here) to open his eyes to the pleasures of lovemaking. Annette is hiding her pregnancy from her parents, because she fears their reaction. A few of the girls turn their prudish Biology teacher from a lame dame, to a boobtastic sexpot. Two skinny dipping teens compare breast sizes as a perverted man swipes their clothes. A beautiful girl dodges huge sticks and balls (on a pool table) as she makes love to her father’s boss to keep him from getting fired and, in the final story, blonde bombshell Evi inadvertently reveals one teacher’s secret after trying to molest him and confess her love.

The Film: The kinky month of SEX-tember continues at the Mausoleum and you dear readers get yet another erotic delight from the purveyors of fleshy freakishness Impulse Pictures. The Schoolgirl Report is a series of films that first popped-up on my radar via the Gert Wilden & his Orchestra: The Schulmadchen Report soundtrack CD which I purchased in the mid-90's, surely for it's erotic cover art. I picked it up on a whim and fell in love with it's swinging 70's sound, punchy orchestral arrangements, fuzzed-out 60's guitar, bongos and wailing bass. I used it as segway music when I was DJ-ing a garage-punk show, it just sounded so good sandwiched between cuts the New Bomb Turks and the Oblivians. So while I was intrigued by the music somehow I never ended up tracking down the films until now. 

What we get here is a bus full of nubile schoolgirls on their way to a hostel somewhere in the German countryside and along the way they exchange lurid stories of the sexual adventures from the previous semester. The structure of the  film is broken down into a framing story and  six adolescent sex fantasies as each girl recounts her lustful story we are taken back in time to relive the tent-in-pants inducing tales. 

First up is the story of Gisela and her seduction of a young gardener Rolf whom is obsessed with jacking-off to a door-sized poster of Swedish sexpot Christina Lindberg. Poor Rolf would rather beat his meat to a girly mag than give-into Gisela's seductions. Eventually she gets her way and Rolf experiences the pleasures of flesh to flesh contact, fun stuff in a you-must-be-joking sorta way, one might assume that a horny 13 year old scripted this sex-comedy nugget.

The worst of the bunch is the tale of Annette and her unintended pregnancy at the business end of med-student's love rod. The gist of the story is how it strains her relationship with her parents - boring. It seems the previous films have a cautionary tale aspect to them and I guess that what we get here and it's pretty awful. 

The best of the bunch in my estimation comes next, students Jutta and Evi are out to get their mousy high-school biology teacher Ms. Steinbach good and  laid and to that end enter into a deal with a lothario named Hans who takes the bet and sets about running-into the educator by truly preposterous means - which goes right back to the idea that a horny 13 year wrote these vignettes. After the initial run-in on the street the stud escorts teach back to her apartment where he gets her drunk on whiskey and before you know it she peels off her clothes like a ripe banana and is transformed from frigid to freaky in the wink of a one-eyed willie, fun stuff. The teacher is one of those poorly disguised sexpots made to look "unattractive" with the addition of horned glasses and a bun, i gotta say that was just more of a turn-on for me.

Up next two busty cousins are skinny-dipping at the lake when they are observed by a pervy old fisherman whom steals their clothes and chases them naked through the woods with their breasts bouncing away in defiance of gravity until they are rescued by two young men whom are also skinny-dipping. Hey, it the 70's - everyone was skinny dipping, right? What I enjoyed about this tale was it's silent-film-esque comedy with physical gags and pratfalls, and the chase scenes had a very Benny Hill Show sped-up film effect which just had me rolling on the floor with sexed-up nostalgia.

Susanne is up next with a tale of how she saved her father's job by screwing his boss whom is much older than she, they fall in love and their relationship runs it's course when age takes it's toll and his back gives out while fucking in a cow pasture. My second to least favorite of the bunch.

The film culminates with the young women (probably all in their 30's in actuality) arriving at the hostel and partaking in a gloriously way-too long shower scene where they are spied upon my the handyman whom they exact a watery revenge on. 

A pretty terrible film but definitely an entertaining sex comedy that's a feast for the eyes, gorgeous German women with heaving breasts, full thighs and lustful thoughts - the kind of women that could only exist in an adolescent wet dream which is exactly what this  is, not based in any kind of reality except the sexy surrealistic fantasy filled mind of an under-sexed teenager - and that's okay with me. Gorgeous 70's women who put most modern beauties to shame with their full figures and ample cleavage, their shapely asses adorned in mini-skirts and go-go boots when they're dressed at all. 

After viewing a few of the dark and more depraved Nikkatsu films recently it was good to get back to some light-hearted and somewhat naive sexual escapades, a feverish adolescent sex fantasy filled with promiscuous European women and their wonderfully hairy bushes, amen

DVD: Impulse Pictures anamorphic widescreen (1.66:1) transfer presents the film in it's original and uncut German language version with newly translated removable English subtitles. The print is not very sharp and does contain some minor print damage throughout - it's not pristine but it is of a quality that does not impede enjoyment despite a rather soft image and looking a bit washed-out. It's a bare-bones affair with not even a trailer, a Schoolgirl Report trailer collection would have been a wonderful addition but nope, nothing. 

Verdict: A rather silly film but when 85% of the film is stuffed with softcore 70's delights one can tend to overlook the adolescent wet dream of a plot. The guiltiest of sex-comedy pleasures and enjoyably so. Fans of the series will be pleased to know that on November 13th Impulse Pictures will unveil the next entry in the series Schoolgirl Report #9: Mature Before Graduation. 2.5 Outta 5

DVD Review: TRIPPIN' (2011)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

DVD Review: DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981) Deluxe Collector's Edition DVD

DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981)
- Deluxe Collector's Edition DVD -  

Label: VCI Entertainment 

Region: ALL NTSC

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 96 Min.

Video: Fullscreen (1.33:1) 

Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, 5.1 Surround with English/Spanish Subtitles Director: Frank De Felitta
Cast: Charles Durning, Robert F. Lyons, Lane Smith, Tonya Crowe, Larry Drake

Synopsis:  When young Marylee Williams (Tonya Crowe) is found viciously mauled, all hell breaks loose in her small rural town. Officious postmaster Otis P. Hazelrigg (Charles Durning) leads a gang of bigots in pursuit of the suspect: her mentally challenged friend Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake). Finding him hiding inside a scarecrow, they exact brutal mob "justice"...only to discover a tragic mistake! Now a strange apparition stalks the land seeking each of them out, as the legend of the Scarecrow begins. 

The Film: Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1980) is a made-for-television horror film that aired on the CBS network the week before Halloween in 1981 that chilled my eight-year old self down to my ratty Chuck Taylors. What great timing, truly a classic Halloween film and the film affected me deeply because much like the location in the film I grew up a rural area blanketed with fields of rustling corn and agriculture. Afterwards I had quite a few nightmares about scarecrows and cornfields, and at this point I hadn't even seen The Children of the Corn (1984), yet - that one cemented my fear of all things corn - at least until I realized what a cheese-fest CotC was. 

The film is directed by Frank De Felitta, the author and screenwriter of ghost-chiller Audrey Rose (1977) and writer of The Entity (1982). The film opens with the simple-minded Bubba (Larry Drake, Dr. Giggles) playing with Mary-Lee (Tonya Crowe, TV's Knots Landing), an adolescent girl and his only friend. As they play they are watched through binoculars by Otis (Charles Durning, O Brother, Where Art Thou?), the meanest mailman since Crum Petree in Funny Farm, he disapproves of the relationship despite it's innocence nature, the thought of a 36 year old retard playing with the sweet young lass really curdles his cream something fierce. It must be said that Durning is amazing in this film, he's just so goddamn mean. Soon thereafter young Mary-Lee is attacked by a vicious dog after sneaking into a neighbors backyard. Otis rescues her from the jaws of the vicious canine and takes Mary-Lee's seemingly lifeless body to her mother where he tries to explain the situation but the distraught mother panics and it's assumed that Otis has harmed the girl in some Of Mice and Men sorta way. 

Well, that bastard Otis just jumps at the chance to go after the simple-minded Otis forming a lynch mob, armed with guns, ignorance and bloodhounds they track the scared-shitless Bubba to his mother’s home. Mrs. Ritter (Jocelyn Brando, The Big Heat) sends the angry mob away but the hounds have already picked-up his scent, leading them to a scarecrow hung from a post in a field behind the Ritter home. This is the pivotal moment in the film and it is extremely well done. The inquisitive Otis walks-up to the scarecrow to investigate, it’s a chilling sight. Bubba’s eyes stare manically out of the eerie burlap mask, his eyes tearing up and trembling with fear. The men open fire executing him in a hail of gunfire. Let me say that for a '81 made-for-TV film it's a quite bloody sight. Right on cue the truck radio gurgles to life informing the men that the search for Bubba has been called off, the girl is all right, and Bubba may have saved her life not harmed her, well that's just a little late, no? Acting quickly Otis takes a pitchfork from the truckbed and places it in Bubba’s hands, thereby claiming self defense. There’s a short trial afterwards and the men are cleared of murder charges in a true travesty of rural justice. Soon thereafter the men are dispatched one by one in a series of chilling revenge killings, each foreshadowed by the appearance of a scarecrow in a field outside the men's homes.

I won't spoil the film for those who haven't been initiated so I won’t go into much detail about the murders or finale, but they are awesome. This is a TV film, as such it is absent of gore which is by design, but the way that character Harliss (the always great Layne Smith of TV's V) is killed horrified me as a kid, it's chilling stuff and kept me outta the neighbors barn for years. This is a classic tale of revenge with some supernatural elements and it's also the first scarecrow film that I know of. The films also has some great supporting characters, particularly Charles Durning's Otis who's one mean motherfucker. Larry Drake of course is amazing, his role is limited but what a performance and it lead to him taking his simple-minded act to the next level with his role TVs's LA Law. I love the entire film, but the last 10 minutes are above and beyond amazing, the final stalking though a pumpkin patch is brilliantly shot and creepy as Hell, the scars enhanced by Glenn Paxton's frightfully good score.

The film is firing on all cylinders - it's not a blood bath by any means but there's so much great atmosphere and chilling moments - this is just a stunner of a fright film that earns it's scares with a great script, solid performances and a fantastically eerie finale that culminates with a cornfield encounter that chilled me when I was eight and still works it's Halloween magic on me still.

DVD: It was thanks to VCI Entertainment that this classic TV fright film ever made it to DVD/Blu-ray in the first place and to see it loving restored to it's original glory is quite wondeful. The film is presented in its original fullscreen (1.33:1) broadcast aspect ratio with a newly created 5.1 surround sound mix plus the original mono track, from what I can tell this is the same stellar transfer as the previous BD/DVD incarnation - the real bonus here is the value-add bonus content which was previously exclusive to the Blu-ray edition.The restoration that VCI Entertainment has bestowed upon Dark Night of the Scarecrow is nothing short of stunning particularly when compared to the shitty VHS-rip I watched in on for years. Shot on 35mm film the image is surprisingly crisp with very nice fine detail and surprisingly vibrant colors, the print used is flawless. The Dolby Digital mono and 5.1 surround sound are quite nice though it lacks the depth one might hope for when compared to the stunning visual elements, but the 5.1 does offer some nice audio atmosphere, Glenn Paxton's chilling score comes through quite nicely too. This is the definitive DVD edition of Dark Night of the Scarecrow, it's great release and the new bonus content makes me think fans of the film will want the upgrade, it's worth it, even more so if you shell out for the Blu-ray.

Special features include an audio commentary with the writer J.D. Feigelson and director Frank De Felitta, it's quite an entertaining listen, particularly when you enjoy the film as much as I do. We also get the original world premiere CBS Promo (1:06) and the CBS Rebroadcast Promo (1:05) both of which brought back a flood of nostalgic made-for-tv memories for me. There's also a nifty Behind-the-Scene's Photo Gallery (10:02) and the inclusion of two new features that were previously exclusive to the Blu-ray edition. First-up is the 2012 extended version of the "Bubba Didn't Do it: 30 Years of the Scarecrow" (34:00) which is just a fantastic watch with interviews from actors Larry Drake and Tanya Crowe, director Frank De Feliita, director Stuart Gordon and writer J.D. Feigelson among others. Topics discussed are the script and inspiration for the film, casting, locations, production, the finale and reaction to the film. We get a ton of great insights, director and fan Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator) offers an appreciation for the film, while director Fellita admits he almost passed on directing, and rememberances of the great supporting cast which included Charles Durning, Jocelyn Brando, Bobby Lions, Robert F. Lyons and Layne Smith. It's a great watch. There's also a cast reunion from 2011 Frighfest Film Festival which brings together Drake, Crowe and writer J.D. Feigelson on stage for a fun and chatty discussion about the film. 

Special Features:
- Director and Writer Commentary
- Original CBS World Premiere Trailer (1:06) 
- CBS Rebroadcast Trailer (1:05) 
- Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery (10:02) 
- "Bubba Didn't Do it: 30 Years of the Scarecrow" (2012 Extended Version) Directed by Daniel Griffith and Produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures (34:00) 16x9 
- "DNOTS Cast Reunion Q and A" - Recorded at the 2011 Frightfest Film Festival in Louisville, KY (45:02) 16x9 

Verdict: Dark Night of the Scarecrow is a film I could gush over all night, definitely a film that I can trace my love of all things horror back to, not just a great made-for-TV 
film but a classic fright flick steeped with fear and paranoia, classic stuff. If you already own the previous DVD edition I gotta say it's worth the upgrade for the "Bubba Didn't Do It" documentary alone, great stuff. Do yourself a favor and shell out the extra bones for the Blu-ray if you can, it's worth the upgrade. 
4.5 Out of 5 

DVD Review: ZOOM IN: SEX APARTMENTS (1980)

ZOOM IN: SEX APARTMENTS (1980)
Zûmu in: Bôkô danchi 

Label: Impulse Pictures

Region: Region 1
Duration: 68 minutes
Rating: Unrated 
Audio: Japanese 2.0 Dolby DigitalMono
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Naosuke Kurosawa
Cast: Erina Miyai, Youko Azusa

Synopsis: Saeko, a woman with a mysterious past, is hit with a rock and brutally raped by a man wearing a dark mask and black gloves. Her life is spared, but soon brutal murders befall the residents of the Kibougahara Apartment building. The victims are beaten, killed, and their genitals are set on fire. Saeko has her suspicions about the killer’s identity, but will she live long enough to unmask the pyromaniac?

The Film: This is volume 5 of Impulse Picture's Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collecton and it's also the debut feature film from director Naosuke Kurosawa. The film is better known in some circles as the more appropriate Zoom In: Rape Apartment and is a sequel of sorts in a series Nikkatsu Zoom Up films. It's an interesting blend of Asian erotica, misogynist violence and Giallo inspired thriller  elements - it doesn't always make a lot of sense but it's a doozy of a watch for the exploitation set.

The film centers around a young married woman named Saeko (the quite attractive Erina Miyai) whom decides to take up with her former lover when her befuddled husband leaves town for a few days to partake in a cycling race. Before he goes they engage in some awkward apartment floor sex in which he grunts something about "coming first" repeatedly, I am assuming this is a reference to cycling and not just a reference to beating his wife to the orgasm, hilarious. No sooner has he left the apartment than she hops on her own bicycle and heads off to the apartment of her lover. On the way she cuts through a vacant lot and is knocked-off her bike by an assailant dressed in a long black coat and black leather gloves - clearly inspired by the Italian Giallo's of Dario Argento. The attacker rapes her with while threatening her with a distinct tool that looks like an ice pick. After the faceless attacker flees the scene Saeko picks herself up off the ground, pisses out the unwanted semenal discharge and continues on to her lovers apartment where she says nothing of the attack, instead she casually wipes the attackers residual cum from her inner thigh and immediately gets it on with him. The two have a great sexual chemistry and the lover truly sets her loins on fire with passion as the two engage in tons of submissive sex, it's steamy and erotic stuff. 

However, the black-gloved faceless serial rapist is now stalking the area and raping young women and then setting their groins on fire - literally. Coming into this film expecting erotic delights I was a bit repulsed at first by the misogynist attacks on the women, it's brutal stuff and while the camera does truly not show all the burning of genitals it is still disturbing stuff by its very nature, the killer applying a flammable solution and setting them afire while still alive, it's grotesque A particularly well done scenario features a woman running between two apartment building screaming for help, in indifference the lights start to turn off one by one, no one wants to get involved. She runs into a barbed-wire fence tearing her eyeball in a nice display of Fulci-esque eye gore before her snatch is set up in flames as she screams in agony, another victim is found nude, torched and elaborately strung up on a jungle gym at the playground. The deaths are extremely fetishistic in nature, another has the black-gloved killer simulating oral sex with his gloved finger before tweaking her breasts and ultimately taking a blow-torch to her labia, just awful stuff. It gets more and more depraved as the killings go on, including one wherein he disposes of a woman who is still alive in a fiery dump incinerator - this particular kills is witnessed by a young woman who stuffs her face with rotted veggies while she watches the horrific events, her presence adds a new twist to the films confounding finale. 

It doesn't take long for Saeko to start suspecting that here piano-tuner lover just might be the culprit in the grisly string of rape-arson-murders but she's so turned on by her lovers sexual prowess she keeps her suspicions to herself that is until she catches him setting fire to a would-be victim. This is a strange one to be sure, reconciling the films erotic delights of rampant lust, lesbianism and group sex with the lurid misogyny onscreen can be a chore. not so much a erotic horror film as an exploitation flick with tons of nudity, some meant to titillate while others are clearly meant to disturb - and it work on both levels.

There's a strong hallucinatory quality to the film, at times it recalls Deep Red era Dario Argento by way of David Lynch and  I believe it's meant to call into question the psychological stability of Saeko especially during the final reel of the film when things just spin outta control ending in a double-suicide and a gloriously extended female masturbation scene that leaves her crawling on the floor leaving behind fiery pools of cum just before the immolation of pregnant woman - oh yeah, it's fucked-up... enjoy. 

DVD: Impulse Picture's DVD release features a wonderful 16x9 transfer from a very nice print of the film, it looks quite good with decent black levels, it's fairly sharp and colors look saturated and natural, particularly all that lovely skin tone, very natural indeed. The Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio sounds great, crisp with no discernible noise. The disc features optional English subtitles and liner notes from Japanese film historian Jasper Sharp just like the other Nikkatsu titles from Impulse. Bonus content is limited to a trailer but it's pretty great.

Special Features:

- Newly Translated Removable English Subtitles
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Liner notes from Japanese film scholar, Jasper Sharp

Verdict: A stylish giallo-inspired Japanese exploitation film with some truly depraved horror elements, for this reason I must say it's my favorite of Impulse Picture's Nakkatsu Erotic Films Collection, a definite recommend for fans of dark erotica, exploitation and Japanese horror, a sleazy delight of sex, the grotesque and nudity. 3.5 Outta 5 

Blu-ray Review: RE-ANIMATOR (1985)

RE-ANIMATOR (1985)

Label: Image Entertainment 

Region: A
Rating: R
Duration: 95 minutes
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale

Director: Stuart Gordon

Synopsis: The strange tale of medical student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot) and his girlfriend Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton), both of whom are drawn to odd new student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) conducting secret experiments involving the re-animation of dead tissue. When one of the instructors, Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), stumbles upon their activities, West murders him -- but is brought back to life, now thirsting for revenge as well as lusting after Megan. 

The Film: Through the years there have been many films I grew  to love after an initial viewings that left me luke-warm but precious few films were able to make a visceral impression on me the way Stuart Gordon's take on H.P. Lovecraft's story "Herbert West - Reanimator" did right away, it was a game changer. It's a title I saw on the shelf of my local  mom n' pop video store as a youth in the late-80's the wonderfully macabre green-tinted artwork on the Vestron Video VHS just drew me in like a moth to a flame. My first late-night viewing of Re-Animator left an indelible mark  which surely is the film that set the watermark high and firmly cemented the criteria by which I would judge all other horror films: great characters, an abundance of nudity and grotesque amounts of gore. 

The movie opens with a great pre-credit sequence by which we are introduced to Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, From Beyond) a medical student at the Zurich University Institute of Medicine in Switzerland where he's been studying under his mentor, Dr. Hans Gruber (Al Berry, Halloween III) whom dies suddenly from reasons unknown and we are thrown directly into the fray as West injects Gruber with a chartreuse liquid which apparently re-animates the dead but not without some truly grotesque consequences which are witnessed by staff and security of the institute whom break into the lab after hearing the commotion inside. It's great stuff and it's just a taste of what's to come, exquisite 80's gore and madcap horror!

Somehow West is not prosecuted in Zurich for the bizarre event and winds up in New England at Miskatonic University where he studies under Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale, RITUALS), it's an acrimonious student-professor relationship from the start when West claims that Hill stole the theory of brain death from Dr. Gruber and dramatically snaps a pencil in defiance of his teachings. 

Shortly after West meets-up with a promising medical student named Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot, Bad Dreams) whom is looking for a roommate and against the wishes of his girlfriend Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton, Brian De Palma's Body Double) rents the room to the very strange West. Megan is creeped out by the strange, stiff and awkward West who has an unhealthy fascination with the basement of the house. It turns she might be onto something for it's not long before before Dan awakens one night to the unearthly shrieking of his cat Rufus whom he discovers dead, sorta.  West has reanimated the dismembered feline in the make-shift basement laboratory. The cat is ravenous and attacking West relentlessly, Combs really sells the rather shitty stuffed cat as a menacing clawed demon-cat, it's great schlocky stuff. Dan's of course is quite shocked by the entire unnerving event but when West shows him the re-agent fluid and it's effects Cain is hesitantly on-board and joins West in his quest for life after death leading to all manner of fucked-up hi-jinx. 

Jeffrey Combs' mad-scientist character of Herbert West is one for the ages and s is his arch nemesis, Dr. Hill,  who has it out for him from the get-go. Hill manages to turn the school's dean of student, Dr. Halsey (Robert Sampson, Robot Jox), against West and Cain, the latter whom is dating Halsey's daughter whom Hill is a total perv for.

West and Cain are barred from the med-school for their bizarre experimentations but that doesn't stop them from breaking into the morgue to try the re-agent on cadavers which not unlike the pre-credit sequence with Dr. Gruber goes horribly awry when the muscle bound cadaver, in a scene that brought to mind The Return of the Living Dead (1985), goes ape shit and attacks Cain and West killing Dean Halsey whom stumbles onto the scene before West can gruesomely incapcitate the cadaver with a bone-saw through the heart. West who is ever determined doesn't skip a beat and takes advantage of the freshest corpse in the room, Dean Halsey is injected and re-animated leaving him in a zombie-like state and committed to the psychiatric ward under the watch of Dr. Hill who soon links the bizarre case to West's research into brain-death. When confronted by Hill in his laboratory West sweetly decapitates the megalomaniacal professor with a shovel and still unable to curb his macabre curiosity uses his re-agent to resuscitate his disembodied head. 

Amping up the story even more is that Hill can somehow telepathically control his headless body which knocks the distracted West unconscious and stealing his life's work continuing on to wreaks havoc of it's own including kidnapping Megan to exact a bizarre act of disembodied cunnilingus - one of horror cinema's greatest and most-tasteless moments which leads to a sweet showdown in the morgue wherein we discover the bizarre extent of Hill's (not very well explained) telekinetic control over the undead.

There's some truly great 80's gore here for the gorehounds to enjoy; we get a gorgeous face-peel, a brain exposed after having the skull removed, animated intestines, a talking decapitated head that resides in a pan full of blood and a dismembered cat that gets it's brains smashed against the wall, those seeking the grotesque shall not be disappointed.

Stuart Gordon doesn't quite get the recognition of his peers Wes Craven, John Carpenter or George A. Romero but he is definitely in the same league in my opinion. This film is a masterwork of horror cinema that's loaded with macabre atmosphere, blood-soaked gore and a unique black humor - it really stands the test of time and if you are not familiar with the works of Gordon please check out his filmography beginning with these; From Beyond (1986) Dolls (1987), The Pit and the Pendulum (1990) and Castle Freak (1995) and I guarantee you too will drink the Kool-Aid at the altar of Stuart Gordon, not to mention the genius of Jefferey Combs who appears in three outta the four.   

Blu-ray: Image Entertainment's dual-layer Blu-ray offers a nice 1080p boost in image, it looks quite nice but don't expect a miracle here either. The film grain is nicely intact and black levels are strong. Fine texture is definitely improved over previous DVD editions but lacks the depth of a newer film or an older film shot on better filmstock - that said this is easily the best the film has ever looked and will probably ever get. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio sounds great with some nice use of the surrounds adding atmosphere to the proceeding. Richard Band's score sounds the best it ever has, and remains one of his finest moments. 

Extras are extensive but we do not get any new content, in fact we lose a few of what I would consider lesser extras from the previous DVD edition but the real meat and potatoes are here and in abundance. Worth the price alone is the 68 minute  Re-Animator Ressurectus documentary and the two entertaining commentaries. 

Special Features:

• Documentary: “Re-Animator Resurrectus” (68 mins) 16x9 
• Audio Commentary by Director Stuart Gordon
• Audio Commentary by Producer Brian Yuzna and Actors Bruce Abbott, Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton and Robert Sampson
• Interview with Director Stuart Gordon and Producer Brian Yuzna (48mins) 
• Interview with Writer Dennis Paoli (10 mins) 
• Interview with Composer Richard Band (14 mins) 
• Music Discussion with Composer Richard Band (16 mins) 
• Interview with Fangoria Magazine editor Tony Timpone (4 mins) 
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (26 mins) 
• Theatrical trailer (2 mins) 
• TV Spot (2 mins) 

Verdict: This is definitely Stuart Gordon's definitive moment - one of the finest 80's horror-comedies of all time right next to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 - Dead By Dawn and Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead. It's disturbing, shocking, funny and remains a right of passage for newly inducted legions of horror fan, a macabre good time and a must have that looks mighty good in 1080p. To whomever owns the rights let me just say I would love to see Dolls or From Beyond get the Blu-ray treatment soon! 4.75 outta 5