DVD Review: PROFANE (2011)

PROFANE (2011) 

Label: Artvamp
Duration: 78 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Director: Usama Alshaibi
Cast: Manal Kara, Molly Plunk, Dejan Mircea

Iraqi-American filmmaker Usama Alshaibi's film Profane (2011) is advertised as a psychedelic glimpse into the world of a young Muslim Dominatrix in the midst of a spiritual crisis and that about sums it up nicely. We have a twenty-something young woman named Muna (Manal Kara) who is a Muslim dominatrix living in Chicago and when she's not smacking genitalia with the business end of a riding-prod she's going through a bit of a spiritual crisis. Shot docu-style the film introduces us to her dominatrix friends as they exchange scatological stories, smoke weed and ride around the city in a cab looking for food and fun and fulfillment.

Spurred by a conversations with a devout Muslim cabdriver she seeks her spiritual self but struggles with her faith and an empty sexual relationship with her boyfriend who craves more friendship and less fucking which she finds that hard to do, preferring instead to fill the void with more emptiness. Furthermore she suffers from disembodied voices speaking to her which may  or may not belong to a demonic presence called a Jinn.

There's  a fair amount of arthouse pretension on hand with blurry close-ups, scattered editing and a somewhat non-linear story punctuated by scenes of what appears to be an exorcism - at times it feels like a film school senior project and that's okay but as a cohesive film it failed to come together for me. 

While the story is a bit piece meal the imagery is oftentimes quite interesting with a steady stream of spiritual and surreal erotic imagery, it definitely creates a specific atmosphere from time to time but lacks cohesion. I think it's entirely possible the material would have resonated with me if I understood the Muslim a bit faith more.

Highlights for me were the low-budget psychedelia and sexual imagery with kinky scenarios involving a riding-prod and geniality, strap-on fun and rope bondage and whatnot but at the end of the day it failed to connect with me with the exception of some superficial titillation but the spiritual journey didn't work for me. 2 Outta 5.

DVD Review: BRUTALIZATION (1973)

BRUTALIZATION (1973) 

Label: One 7 Movies

Region: 0 NTSC

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 98 Minutes

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.77:1) 

Director: Fons Rademakers

Cast:  Bryan Marshall, Alexandra Stewart, Sylvia Kristel

Synsopsis: Sylvia Kristel, of Emmanuelle fame, stars in this nasty rape and revenge thriller in which a gang of wealthy bastards break into peaceful homes and rape the women while forcing their husbands to watch in pain. Inspector van der Walk (Bryan Marshall) a strong-willed police cop, is determined to make them pay for their awful crimes but the members of the gang are bounded by an oath that is linked in some unpredictable ways to some high ranking people in the upper echelon of the Dutch society. Thus begins a painstaking quest for truth and to make sure that the ruthless gang of rapists is put behind bars. But van der Walk has to play against all odds...

Not sure why this one was re titled for it's American release on DVD but its only slightly better known as Because Of The Cats (1973) which is what the title card for the film advertises. This is a Dutch/Belgium co-production from 1973 with the dramatic tendencies of a classic crime procedural with the more exploitative elements of a 70's rape-revenger beginning with a nasty bit of business right at the start. A middle-aged upper crust couple arrive home to discover a group of stocking-masked miscreants have broken in, the youths rape the woman several times over as her helpless husband can only look on in horror as they hurl mean-spirited taunts at him.

Inspector Van der Walk (Bryan Marshall) is on the case, this just one in a series of similar incidents. As the film plays out  it's a pretty straight faced procedural as the inspector sets about sleuthing the crime which leads him to The Ravens - a gang of teenage tyrants, violent, middle class snots with a bit too much time on their hands. There are also female counterpart to the male delinquents, a foul-mouthed cadre of young women known about town as The Cats. Van der Walk investigates and interrogates various suspects which leads him down a path some members of polite society wish he would just abandon. 

The DVD cover would have you believe that this one is a rape-revenger through and through  and while it does to a degree that's just one part of the story, this is way more of a police procedural and it's a bit of a slow burn but I rather like a drawn out story, especially when it goes a bit nutty at the end. The cast is only just decent - no one's pouring themselves into these characters - though it was nice to see a very young and gorgeous Sylvia Kristel (from the Emmanuelle films) here in what amounts to only a peripheral appearance despite what the marketing of the film would have you believe, exploitation indeed.

The film starts of scuzzy with the home invasion and rape but quickly settles into crime thriller mode for awhile before we have a surreal nude swimming orgy/death scene then straight into some fun erotic ritual weirdness. The transition is a bit jarring but I just went with it. Note to cat-lovers, you should be aware that no less than three kitties are skinned, skewered and stabbed to death in short order here - you've been warned. 

Brutalization (1973) comes to DVD from One 7 Movies with an anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) transfer that quite watchable if unremarkable. Color reproduction is strong but detail and clarity are lacking  plus there's some some unfortunate DNR scrubbing and edge enhancement on display. On the bright side the source elements are in great shape with only minor print damage. Similarly the English mono audio is unimpressive but I dig the funky Ruud Bos score, the only extra is a theatrical trailer for the film. 

Rape-revenge enthusiasts might be disappointed by the lack of the visceral stuff other than the uncomfortable scene at the top of the film as this one tends not to play up the exploitative elements too much, but it's a decent watch. A time slice of Euro-Cult with some sweet nudity and a pretty decent story if not a lot of juice. 2.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: SEX HUNTER: 1980 (1980)

SEX HUNTER: 1980 (1980) 

Label: Impulse Pictures
Region Code: 1 NTSC

Duration: 68 minute

Rating: Unrated 

Release Date: February 11, 2014
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)

Director: Toshiharu Ikeda
Cast: Erina Miyai, Ayako Oota, Teruo Matsuyama

A young ballet dancer named Miki (Ayako Ohta) gains notice of a young and very attractive dance instructor named Kaibara (Erina Miyai) who  invites the young dancer to her mansion/private academy. Once inside the young woman is treated to a recital from Kainara's students and is asked to join the private academy. Afterwards the teacher undresses in front of the young woman with the assistance of  Headmaster Kel and then pours Miko a strange liquor which immediately sends her head swimming, Ms. Kaibara then attempts to seduce Miki who runs into the next room where she happens upon the dancers from the recital who are now entwined like a four-headed beast in an orgy of young flesh. Dizzy and not-quite-herself young Miki is seduced by the erotic-spell of Ms. Kaibara.

After the initial awkwardness of the situation Miki is game to her teachers sex games, that is until she is passed off to Headmaster Kel (Rei Aso) who robs her of her virginity while she's forced to watch in a mirror. He then ties her up performig some kinky rope bondage before greasing her up for more carnality... and then come the soda enemas.

You heard right, Headmaster Kel shoves six fizzy long necks of cola right up her snatch one after the other before hoisting her up on a rope and pulley while forcing her to hold in the frothy mixture.  Miki is swinging like a pinata in the air until she finally erupts in a carbonated geyser of fizzy lifting drinks. Slowly but surely the young woman is transformed from an unwilling participant into a sex-puppet begging for it, literally sucking toes for just a taste of sexual debasement. That seems to be the theme here, the corruption of innocence and beauty transformed through humiliation and sexual degradation and the filmmaker doesn;t pull any punches either.

You get a taste of nearly every fetish you would care to imagine with few stones left unturned. We have a bit of foot-fucking, rope bondage, double-teamed on a swing, tragic wheelchair sex, whipping, urine drinking, cum transferred mouth-to-mouth and incest, of course, there must be incest.

As unflinching and brutal as the film can be it's gorgeously shot with scope cinematography and stylish composition that seems to riffs a bit on Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) if the private academy was run by a perverse headmistress instead of witches, there are also some nice architectural flourishes and colored lighting that brought to mind  that particular Argento classic.

Sex Hunter: 1980 arrives on DVD from Impulse Pictures with an anamorphic widescreen (2:35:1) presentation with a great looking transfer sourced from a very nice print. A very crisp image with vibrant colors, this release definitely deserves a Blu-ray. The Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 sounds nice with balanced levels and optional English subtitles. Special features are limited to a trailer and booklet with liner notes from film scholar Jasper Sharp - which was absent from the screener sent for review.

This one's a dark slice of  erotic cinema that comes across as a sex-infused version of Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) and the end result is a satisfying and gorgeous slice of exploitation cinema with excellent performances from the cast. 3.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: SEX HUNTER: WET TARGET (1972)

SEX HUNTER: WET TARGET (1972)

Label: Impulse Pictures
Region: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated

Duration: 69 minutes 

Audio: Dolby Digital Japanese 2.0 Mono

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2:35:1)

Director: Yukihiro Sawada
Cast: Aoyama Miyoko, George Harrison, Isayama Hiroko

My wife loves to says that the erotic and exploitation cinema sent to the Mausoleum corrupts me in some weird way and will not suffer it being watched in the house. What can I say, I'm totally whipped guys but I love her a bunch and she asks so very little of me why not just humor that one request. I usually tuck away the naughty stuff for a rainy day when I'm home alone - which seems to be never - and watch one when I can without fear of upsetting my better half. As it happens I'm out of town on an extended business trip and brought with me a year's worth of naughty cinema so consider this review an early start on what's shaping up to be a very freaky February at the Mausoleum with titles from One 7 Movies, Impulse Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome being reviewed daily. Enjoy!

Sex Hunter: Wet Target (1972) is an early Roman-Porno entry that's a more of a revenge-thriller along the lines of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) than a nasty slice of erotic cinema, but only just barely. A story of vengeance as sought by Okamoto (Jojo Sawada), the brother of Natsuko (Miyoko Aoyama), a young woman gang-raped and hung till death by a trio of drunken American soldiers on a weekend bender in Japan.

The opening scenes of the rape of Natsuko and her best friend Etsuko (Hiroko Isayama) is gut-punching stuff and not for the timid. It only gets worse with each subsequent flashback to the tragic night as more and more details are revealed as details are remembered by eye-witnesses - each new flashback revealing yet another layer of depravity.

Okamoto's is haunted by his sisters nightmarish death and his search for the offenders sends him to work at a strip club where his sister was once employed. Immersed in the underbelly of the seedy nightclub he performs a live-sex show with Etsuko who survived the attack but suffers from some form of brain-damage following the incident. The two join forces along with the club owner, a former lover of the victim who knows more than he initially lets on. Okamoto's single-minded quest for revenge transforms him into a rather despicable person, in fact I found it increasingly difficult to sympathize with a character who mouth-rapes (and quite a bit more) women who are blameless in the matter even if they weren't particularly sympathetic character themselves.

So what we end-up with is a violent rape-revenger wrapped up in the seedy trappings of a trashy exploitation film with a lot of what you might expect. The dark titillation of live sex shows, plenty of nudity, plus the gang-rape and sickening degradation of women. Not only raped but pissed upon afterward and when a man accidentally stumbles upon the crime in progress he is forced to lick the urine from her body- it's dark stuff... and then there's the whole vomiting cum after being mouth-raped scene... 

The DVD from Impulse Pictures looks great with a anamorphioc widescreen (2.35:1) transfer that's solid and a decent Japanese language Dolby Digital tracks with optional English subtitles. Special features are pretty bare with just a trailer and the usual booklet with liner notes from Japanese film scholar Jasper Sharp - which are quite informative.

Par for the course for the Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection is how very strange a watch this winds up being. Not so typical is what  damn decent violent, revenge-thriller it turned out to be. Of course, there's the prerequisite naked women and oodles of sleaze plus the added bonus of an compelling story  which cannot be said of all the Nikkatsu movies. A decent watch - even our protagonist is a low-life - if you crave rape-revengers with some strong exploitation elements this just might be for you. 3 Outta 5 

Cult-Classic POPCORN (1991) Coming to BD/DVD from SYNAPSE FILMS 2014

Synapse Films announced via their Facebook page a few days ago that they will be bringing the much sought after film POPCORN (1991)  to BD/DVD in 2014. The release will feature a brand new 2K restoration of the film original vault materials and new extras from Michael Felsher’s Red Shirt Pictures. This is pretty damn exciting new as I've personally been wanting to see this movie for ages! 

POPCORN (1991) 

Buy A Bag, Go Home In A Box!

Popcorn, the 1991 cult classic starring Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather, Cutting Class), Malcolm Danare (Christine, Heaven Help Us), Dee Wallace (E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, The Frighteners, The Lords of Salem) and Tom Villard (One Crazy Summer, My Girl) is coming to Special Edition Blu-ray and DVD from Synapse Films, Inc in 2014!

This release will give fans a brand-new 2K restoration of the film, taken directly from original vault materials. Supplementary materials from Michael Felsher’s Red Shirt Pictures will round out the exciting package. While the line-up of bonus materials has not yet been finalized, it will feature a retrospective documentary on the making of and legacy of Popcorn along with more extra features currently in the planning stages.

“We are thrilled to be working closely with Kristy Jett and Red Shirt Pictures to bring Popcorn out properly. We now have some amazing materials, including the original camera negative and 35mm Interpositive materials to go through, to make sure this release is the best it can be. We just got a palette of amazing stuff we have to sort through for extras, including never before seen behind-the-scenes photos, documents, vintage interview tapes and even an alternate, never used original movie poster design that I found in the bottom of a random box,” says Donald May, Jr., President of Synapse Films.

Getting Popcorn to this point started very simply with a dedicated fan, Kristy Jett of HorrorHound Magazine, launching a Facebook page with the sole purpose of gaining momentum to encourage a distributor to re-release Popcorn. A year in, she gained the support and guidance of Michael Felsher and within the next year she had secured advocacy from Don May, Jr. and Jerry Chandler of Synapse Films. In late 2013, Synapse Films was able to finally secure the rights to the film, to bring it out properly for the fans.

“Make no mistake, this would not have happened without the support and efforts of Don May, Jr. and Jerry Chandler of Synapse. Other companies inquired over the years but Don and Jerry fought alongside me for the past two years. Without them or Michael Felsher, we would not be here.” –Kristy Jett

More details will be released in the coming months, including the release date (estimated date is Halloween 2014, but this is not confirmed). In the meantime, keep up to date on developments at Popcorn’s Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/popcornmovie

DVD Review: REEL ZOMBIES (2008)

REEL ZOMBIES (2008)

Label: Synapse Films

Release Date: February 11th 2014

Region: 0

Duration: 89 Minutes

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)
Directors: Michael Masters. David J. Francis
Cast: Michael Masters, David J. Francis, Stephen Papadimitriou, Sam Hall, Paul Fler

Redbox, Netflix and the shelves at Best Buy are littered with low-budget found footage-type and zombie films - the market is stuffed to the gills with both. It should be no surprise that there are a number of mash-up movies that meld the two ideas,  it's not exactly a new conceit, For better or worse George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead and Zombie Diaries come to immediately to mind. Now filmmakers Michael Masters and David J. Francis have thrown their own hat into the ring with a mockumentary variation on the sub-genre exploiting the low-budget movie making process. Reel Zombies (2008) features  the co-directors of a shot-on-video zombie franchise exploiting the real-life zombie apocalypse happening around them. There's stoke of genius is to use the actual undead to amp up the production value of their schlocky zombie gore-fest. It's really a slice of pure inspiration and you just know Roger Corman would have done something very similar if the zombie apocalypse had happened during the New World Pictures golden age.  .

It goes for comedy straight from the get-go as the duo put together a script and rag tag film crew to get the production underway. Holding script meetings, location scouting and casting sessions requiring women to bare their assets. Sure, the zombie apocalypse is in full swing but its nice to know that some things never change. Along the way we experience the true-spirit of independent filmmaking in a very real way, you could actually learn quite a bit about making low-budget movies watching this one. Shot like a pretty typical behind-the-scenes documentary with interviews from cast and crew with clips from the previous Zombie Night movies stitched in alongside new raw footage from the new sequel in progress.  We see both the positive and negative of having actual zombies on set. Spoiler Alert! The downside is that the undead extras just might eat you if you're not careful, gotta love it. So whatya do when your star is eaten by a zombie - you get that shit on film obviously! 

The film sorta went where I figured it would with a  few surprises, but even if you're expecting it what you may not expect is just how fun the script and characters are. It's a fun variation on the mockumentary plus with a decent cast and the gore is pretty satisfying. There's a lot to enjoy including an appearance from Lloyd Kaufman as himself and some fun commentary on Troma and Lloyd built into the script. which is self-aware but not too clever for it's own good if you know what I mean. 

Special Features
- Audio Commentary with Directors Mike Masters and David J. Francis, and Producer Stephen Papadimitriou
- Over 40 Minutes of Deleted Scenes and Outtakes
- Original Trailer

Verdict: A second watch of the movie confirmed that it holds up to repeat viewings, it's quite funny and the performances are spot on. If you enjoyed the mockumentaries Behind the Mask: The Rise and Fall of Leslie Vernon (2006) and Brutal Massacre: A Comedy (2007) I think this is a watch for you. 3 Outta 5 

DVD Review: KNIGHT OF THE DEAD (2012)

KNIGHT OF THE DEAD (2012) 

Label: Inception Media Group
Region: 1 NTSC

Duration: 84 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1

Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Alan Calton, Alf Thompson, Dylan Jones, Feth Greenwood, George McCluskey, Jason Beeston, Lee Bennett, Vivien Vilela
Director: Mark Atkins

Knight of the Dead (2012) comes from the same distribution company that brought us zombies vs. Old West gunslingers with the low-budget The Dead and the Damned (2010). They're latest offering features the undead vs. medieval crusaders and is directed by Mark Atkins who previously directed several  "mockbuster" productions from The Asylum which were aimed at cashing-in on popular movies with similarly titled direct-to-video titles like Battle of Los Angles, Jack the Giant Killer and Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls - none of which I've seen to be fair. By the same token I've had zero interest in watching any of those films for the simple fact that there are so many original and unique indie filmmakers out there struggling for an audience, Why waste my time watching something that exists solely to cash-in on someone else ingenuity. I love 70's exploitation cinema but these mockbusters rarely rise to the level of what filmmakers like Roger Corman and his crew were doing in decades past - they seem so crass and uninspired. 

With that in mind I was quite reluctant to give this a spin but the movie starts off interestingly enough with a renaissance style animated sequence which gives us a bit of the back story about a plague that's beset mankind turning the infected into flesh-hungry zombies. We have a priest and a band of knights escorting him through what's known as the Valley of Black Death - a place infested with the plague and zombies. The priest has been charged with delivering the Holy Grail but hordes of the undead and evil assassins stand in their way - that's pretty much the story - not too bad. 

The locations used in the film shot around the UK look decent and period specific. The filmmakers make great use of what appear to be authentic ancient ruins to get the most from a low budget and the costuming is pretty decent. Some of the tunics and cowls looked a little too new and could have used some aging but that's about it. . 

However, the acting is pretty spotty ranging from decent to downright distracting. The main baddie chews it up pretty badly with over-the-top line delivery that took me straight out of the film every single time he appeared onscreen. The deaths are pretty decent but rendered with help of cheap digital blood spatter and gore - not a fan. The udead were a huge problem for me - they didn't feel undead and that was a major problem when the undead make-up a large part of your film. 

The filmmakers do a decent job with coverage and getting some decent shots that are framed nicely but the editing was a bit choppy and the action sequences were frantic and that annoyed me. in addition everything is put through a filter which desaturated the color to a bland cold blue grey scale which is way overused. This Holy Grail story wrapped up in medieval zombie construct had potential but in the end it just didn't add up for me, it's not terrible it's something a bit worse - boring. 2 Outta 5