THE MUTILATOR (1984) (Arrow Video Blu-ray review)

THE MUTILATOR (1984) 

Label: Arrow Video 

Rating: R
Duration: 86 Minutes
Region: Region Free
Audio: English PCM 1.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Buddy Cooper

Cast: Matt Mitler, Ruth Martinez, Bill Hitchcock

Synopsis: When Ed receives a message from his father asking him to go and lock up the family’s beach condo for the winter, it seems like the perfect excuse for an alcohol-fueled few days away with his friends. But no sooner are the teens on the island than they find themselves stalked by a figure with an axe (and a hook, and an outboard motor) to grind…Originally released under the title Fall Break, The Mutilator has earned a reputation amongst horror fans as one of the holy grails of ’80s splatter mayhem due to its decidedly gruesome kill sequences, courtesy of FX wizard Mark Shostrom (Videodrome, Evil Dead II). Finally making its long-awaited bow in High-Definition, The Mutilator has returned to terrorize a whole new generation of horror fans.

The Mutilator opens with a young boy named Ed, Jr. preparing to celebrate the birthday of his father. While mom is busy in the kitchen with preparations the young boy decides he will surprise his dad by cleaning his guns. While doing so he accidentally discharges the weapon, which turned out to be loaded. The shot goes through a door and straight into the back of the boy's mother, the impact of the bullet is a fine and bloody mess. As the boy mourns over his mother's corpse his father Ed Sr. arrives home, perhaps in a bit of shock, he drags the body of his wife to his den, props her up against a chair, and shares a glass of whiskey with her. A very strange opening, but one that establishes at least a bit of back story for what is about to unfold years later. 

Now some years have passed and the young boy is a college student, celebrating  "fall break", whatever that is, with his girlfriend and two other young couples. Ed receives a call from his father at the bar, apparently he frequents this place a lot! His father tells him he must come to the family beachfront condo to close it down for the winter, which seems like a bit of a drag, what a shit way to spend "fall break". Ed and his friends decide it will be a fun romp, closing down the house and partying on the beach for a few days, so they pile into Ed's car and head for the ocean front property. 

Upon arriving they settle in after Ed gives them a tour of the place, pointing out his father's numerous prized fish and game trophies, apparently Ed's father is quite a sportsman, he even has a grisly picture of a man he accidentally ran over with his sports boat, the man's flesh lacerated from the boat engine's prop, which is weird. As the night wears on and they grow tired of playing Monopoly one of the couple's decide to go for a stroll along the beach, and find them at a closed public pool, where they strip down nude and jump in for a bit of skinny-dipping, unaware that they have been followed. 

Soon enough young lover's begin to be offed one by one by a killer in a myriad of creative ways that are sure to please the gorehounds. What is not so pleasing is that the identity of the murderer is not hidden from viewers, you know who it is right away. This brought to mind the movie Final Exam, another college-slasher that mixes weird teen humor with some nifty kills, it also does not hide the identity of the killer. Despite this demerit against it I enjoyed this one a lot, probably because the group of friends are so likable and fun to watch. There's not an asshole or bitch among them, which is somewhat odd for an '80s slasher movie. While there is a prankster among the bunch who enjoys a good laugh at his friend's expense, he's not mean-spirited, but he is still a good guy, not that it helps him in the end. Personally I would have liked at least one of them to be a bit of a jerk. 

Ed is a good guy, too, even though he shot his mother dead as a kid, you don't get the idea that it fucked him up too much, unlike the killer from slasher-classic Pieces. The teens are of the horny variety, even friendly Ed, but his girlfriend Pam makes it painfully obvious that she's not gonna jump into bed with him on this trip, at least not unless they are fully clothed -  what a killjoy! As traditional slasher rules dictate, the horny teens must be punished, so maybe her abstinence will work in her and Ed's favor after all. 

The set-up here is nothing new, even in 86 this would have been a pretty standard prelude to a bloodbath, what this movie is most fondly remembered for is the glorious gore which comes courtesy of special make-up effects artist Mark Shostrom, who brings the gore with a certain amount of gruesome glee. The killer uses a variety of weapons found around the home, including a machete, a battle ax, a large hook-gaff, and the business end of a boar motor. The most brutal of the deaths occur when the killer straps a young woman down to a workman's bench in the garage, inserts a menacing hook-gaff into her crotch and pushes it up through her abdomen, like he's baiting a hook, before lopping off her head with the ax - brutal stuff! On top of that we have decapitations, a drowning, a machete to the face, a boat prop attack, a severed leg, a pronged fish spear through the neck, and a few other nasty delights. 

The movie moves along at a tidy pace for the eighty-six minute run time with very few instances of drag, Buddy Cooper might not be the most stylish of directors but he kept things moving, when the teens first arrive at the beach house there's a tiny bit of drag but once the first couple are offed it picks up again and doesn't let up. The tone of this one does sway a bit, originally titled Fall Break for it's initial release the movie feels like a teen comedy for the first half, complete with a screwball comedy theme song, thankfully the score is more synth-driven and does offer up a more traditional fright-music. The odd tonal dissipates as the killings begin, but the end credit sequence again takes up a jokey feel with outtakes from the movie, it doesn't ruin the movie, but the tonal shift is weird. 

The Mutilator is a movie that horror fans have been clamoring for for quite a long while, it never had a legit North American release on DVD or Blu-ray, now slasher fans can rejoice, not only is it on Blu-ray, but it is stuffed with bonus content. They killed it with Blood Rage and have done it again with The Mutilator, if they're taking requests for deluxe editions of obscure horror tiles I'd love to see The Slayer (1982) and The Prey (1984) arrive on Blu-ray with some cool bonus content. 

Audio/Video:The Mutilator arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Arrow Video looking mighty fine, after years of bootleg and YouTube viewings this new widescreen 2K restoration is something that should please every fan of the slasher cheapie. Years were spent looking for a proper uncut version of the film until an uncut master print was found at the Library of Congress, that's out tax dollars at work! Film grain is nicely managed, there's an abundance of fine detail with crisp textures, skin tones look natural and the colors are strong, with some source limitations. imperfections are limited to small white speckling, Arrow have done a phenomenal job bringing this on to HD for fans, the gore looks great, and for fans who've long suffered with dark bootleg copies that rendered the latter half of the film near unwatchable, you will be pleased to know that the black levels and shadow detail are quite nice. 

Audio is capably handled by an English PCM Mono 1.0 track that is appropriately flat and probably very true to the original presentation, for better or worse. The creepy synth score from Michael Minard is just fine, as is the annoying theme song :"Fall Break", this one is right up there with "Everybody But You" from Night Train to Terror as far as songs you don't want stuck in your head, but end up there just the same. Optional English subtitles are provided. 

Arrow Video have once again gone way above and beyond what the movie might actually merit, just like they did with Blood Rage, and that is why we horror collector's love them. We begin with a brief iintroduction to the movie with writer-director Buddy Cooper and assistant special make-up effects artist/assistant editor Edmund Ferrell. There are also two audio commentaries, the first with director Buddy Cooper, Ferrell, co-director John Douglass and star Matt Mitler, the second with Buddy Cooper and star Ruth Martinez Tutterow, both commentaries are moderated by Arrow Video's Ewan Cant who produced the disc. The commentaries cover a lot of ground, plenty of on-set anecdotes about the production, both commentaries are lively and informative. 

The brand-new making-of doc Fall Breakers: The Story of The Mutilator )75 Mins) features interviews with Cooper, Douglass, Ferrell, Mitler, actors Bill Hitchcock, Jack Chatham and others, telling the story of how the movie came to be, beginning with Buddy Cooper making $86,000 from a sale, and wondering what to do with the money, the choice was either invest in in a vineyard or make a movie, and I am not sure if it paid off for him or not, but I am glad he chose to make a horror film, which at the time were turning tidy profits for indie movie makers, and few were as indie as Cooper at the time.

Special make-up effects artist Mark Shostrom shows up for a 16-minute look back at his gory work on the film, which was one of his earliest paying gigs,and his first slasher movie. He recalls this being the most fun he had on set making a movie, also giving a candid account of how a few of the effects went wrong. Composer Michael Minard recalls coming onto the project, speaking a bit about how he went about create the creepy score and the theme song "Fall Break". 

More extras come by way of a five-minute alternate opening titles with The Mutilator title card, thirteen-minutes of screen tests, a selection of trailers, TV spots and radio spots, two versions of the theme song, a behind-the-scene gallery, and storyboards from the opening sequence. Separate from the disc extras there's a sleeve of reversible artwork and a collectible booklet with new and vintage writings on the movie by Arrow Video's  Edward Cant and Fangoria's Tim Ferrante - both a fantastic reads, with Cant going into detail about his love of the movie, his quest to bring it to Blu-ray and his trip to Oceana Motel in Atlantic Beach, NC to interview the cast and crew - it's a fantastic read. There are also notes about the restoration, artwork and images from the movie. 

Special Features
- Brand new 2K restoration of the unrated version from original vault materials
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Introduction to the film with writer-director Buddy Cooper and assistant special make-up effects artist/assistant editor Edmund Ferrell (1 Min) HD
- Audio Commentary with Cooper, Ferrell, co-director John Douglass and star Matt Mitler
- Audio Commentary with Buddy Cooper and star Ruth Martinez Tutterow
- Fall Breakers: The Story of The Mutilator – brand new feature-length documentary on the making of the splatter classic featuring interviews with Cooper, Douglass, Ferrell, Mitler, actors Bill Hitchcock, Jack Chatham and more (75 Mins) HD
- Mutilator Memories – special make-up effects artist Mark Shostrom looks back at one of his earliest projects(16 Mins) HD
- Tunes for the Dunes – composer Michael Minard reveals how The Mutilator’s unique score was created (8 Mins)
- Behind-the-Scenes Reel (17 Mins)
- Screen Tests (13 Mins)
- Alternate Opening Titles (5 Mins) HD
- Fall Break Trailer (2 Mins) HD 
- Fall Break TV Spot (1 Min) HD 
- The Mutilator Trailer (2 Mins) HD 
- The Mutilator TV Spot Version A (1 Min) HD 
- The Mutilator TV Spot Version B (1 Min) HD 
- 2 Radio Spots (1 Mins) HD 
- Fall Break’ Theme Song (Original and Instrumental Versions)(4 Mins) HD
- Opening Sequence Storyboards (4 Mins) HD
- Motion Stills Gallery (9 Mins) HD
- Original Fall Break Screenplay (BD/DVD-ROM content)
- Reversible Sleeve featuring two original artworks

Like Arrow Video's sweet release of slasher rarity Blood Rage before it I have no problem saying that The Mutilator is not a top-tier slasher, but I am someone who loves the lower-end of cinema, and this one is a lot of fun and the gore is bloody superb. Director Buddy Cooper set out to make "a real popcorn muncher", and he did good. Arrow Video have gone above and beyond for this one, a movie that has been a long time coming on Blu-ray, and now that it has arrived all I can say is that it is even better than I could have anticipated. 

THE CURSE (1987) / CURSE II: THE BITE (1989) (Blu-ray Review)

THE CURSE (1987) / CURSE II: THE BITE (1989) 

THE CURSE (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 90 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: David Keith 
Cast: Wil Wheaton, Amy Wheaton, Claude Akins, Cooper Huckabee, John Schneider, Malcolm Danare

Synopsis: Life on the family dairy farm is difficult for young Zach Hayes (Wil Wheaton, Stand by Me): hard work, long hours and the normal family squabbles. But after an ice-blue meteor plunges through the midnight sky and lands on their property, it gets worse. Zach and the local doctor discover that something inside the meteor is infecting every living thing on the farm. Fruits, which look perfect on the outside are teeming with worms… and Zach's family is beginning to change… hideously! This shocker is directed by actor David Keith (Firestarter, White of the Eye) and co-stars Claude Akins (Tentacles), Malcolm Danare (Christine), Cooper Huckabee (The Funhouse) and John Schneider (Smallville).

The Curse (1987) is an '80s adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space directed by actor David Keith (White of the Eye), the movie takes place on a small farm in a rural area of Tennesee. When a white-hot meteor lands on a farm it melts away, leeching its cosmic properties into the ground water supply and causing all sorts of havoc for the residents of the small community.  Actor Claude Akins (Rio Bravo) plays farmer Nathan Crane, a strict religious-nut whose affection-starved wife Frances (Kathleen Jordon Gregory) is a horny adulterer. His oldest son Cyrus (Malcolm Danare) is a mean bully, and his youngest son Zack (Wil Wheaton) seems to be the only decent one among the bunch, and the subject of Cyrus's relentless bullying.

What we have here is an environmental horror movie, just replace the 80's standard culprit of toxic waste with the ill effects of a meteor from outer space and you have a pretty good idea what you might be ins tore for here. At first the contaminated ground water leads to a bumper crop of fruits and veggies for farmer Crane, which is good, as they're on the verge losing the farm to the bank. This unexpected crop would seem to indicate his financial woes have come to an end, but while the contaminated crops looking robust and tasty, they are flavorless and rotten on the inside, the delicious red apples from the orchard are loaded with meal worms. 

As the Crane's drink the contaminated water they are affected physically and mentally by it, with the father becoming more abusive, while mother Crane begins to lose her mind, with boils appearing on her face. Young Zach notices the water tastes funny early on and refuses to drink it, further upsetting his father who is already stressed with the future of the farm and his cheating wife on his mind. The animals in the area are also affected by the contaminated water, which gives the movie a nice when-animals-attack flavor at times. 

There's also a thread about a crooked realtor named Charlie Davidson (Steve Carlisle) who is in league with a local doctor named Alan Forbes (Cooper Huckabee), both are aware of a plan by the state to build a dam in the area, together they set about buying as much property as they can in the area to profit from the dam-building project, with one of the sole holdouts being Nathan Crane who steadfastly refuses to sell his farm. A representative from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is played by Tom Schenider of Smallville, who I did not recognize at first, those eye glasses really nerd him up a bit, it worked for Superman, too. He plays the hero of the movie, and is one of the first to recognize that something has contaminated the water supply, and to notice the ill effects on the community. 

The movie was directed by actor David Keith who you might remember from starring roles in Firestarter and white of the Eye, and this is the first of just three movies he directed. This is not a great movie, not straight-up awful but on the lower end of good. The movie was produced by a man who knew a thing or two about b-movies, Ovidio G. Assonitis directed Tentacles and The Exorcist rip-off Beyond the Door, according to legend Eurocult icon Lucio Fulci shot some second unit on the movie and may have created some of the optical effects in the movie, not sure of the validity of that info, but some of the special effects are pretty gross, rotting fruit and vegetables has always grossed me out. As a teen I worked in the produce department of a grocery store, one day I was restocking oranges when I put my finger through the rotten flesh of a green-blue molded orange, it was so gross. I'd rather handle the bloodied remains of fresh roadkill, but maybe I am just weird that way. Anyway, a scene of a maggot-spewing cow corpse feels like pure Lucio Fulci. 

The Curse was a decent watch, but not a great one, the story is overly convoluted and the pay-off is not spectacular. half the fun for me was spotting actors like a young Wil Wheaton from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Clause Akins from Rio Bravo, and John Schenider from The Dukes of Hazard - none of whom do great work in my opinion, but it was fun to see Akins play such a mean-spirited cuss. As adaptations of the source material go, I don't think we;ve seen a great one yet, but I do have a fondness for the technicolor horror of Die Monster Die (1969) starring Boris Karloff, which strays quite a bit from the source, but I love it. 

CURSE II: THE BITE (1989) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 97 Minutes
Rating: R
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Fred Goodwin 
Cast: Bo Svenson, Sydney Lassick, J. Eddie Peck, Jamie Farr, Jill Schoelen, Shiri Appleby, Savina Gersak

Synopsis: Two young lovers, Clark (J. Eddie Peck, Kyle XY) and Lisa (Jill Schoelen, The Stepfather), traveling through the desert unwittingly pass through an abandoned nuclear test site which has become a breeding ground for deadly mutant killer snakes. When Clark is bitten, he undergoes a grotesque transformation into a hideous snake monster! This chiller filled with slithering horror also stars Jamie Farr (M*A*S*H), Shiri Appleby (Roswell) and Bo Svenson (Walking Tall Part II).

The second half of this double-feature is Curse II: The Bite which came a few years later and has nothing at all to do with the original movie, this is a pure cash-in retitling. This one concerns a young couple driving across country to California, we have Clark (J. Eddie Peck) and his girlfriend Lisa (Jill Schoelen, The Stepfather), a nice '80s couple, and Schoelen is easy on the eyes. 

While crossing the desert the couple encounter a massive horde of snakes covering the road, the couple drive straight through it, but along along the way a mutated snake slithers into the back of their Jeep, where it later bites Clark on the hand. They seek treatment from a sketchy doctor at a nearby motel, the doctor is played by none other than Jamie Farr, Clinger from M.A.S.H.! They bandage up the hand and continue their journey West, but Clark begins to become more aggressive, and it turns out that what is happening is that the snake bite has caused his hand to tun into a snake, which sounds cheesy ...and it is, but it's not played for laughs, this is serious hand-snake stuff.

There's a surprising amount of decent gore in the movie, a lot of it done by scream Mad George, the diabolical make-up effects genius behind Brian Yuzna's Bride of Re-Animator and Society. First we have a mutated dog who has been bitten by a snake, which is grotesque, I was a bit upset that this scene was overly dark, it was hard to make it out. Later scenes of Clark's hand attacking people against his will are better resolved, the final sequences of him chasing Lisa trough a construction site are damn good, fans of icky body horror are in for quite a treat. 

There's also a fun cast of minor character that make this a fun watch, we have the aforementioned Jamie Farr, plus Sydney Lassick from The Unseen, I love that guy, always playing sightly fey weirdos. Bo Svenson also makes an appearance as the sheriff.  There's also a strange thread having to do with a cast of shady trucker characters, including the horny Big Flo played by Marianne Muellerleile. 

Audio/Video: The Curse and Curse II: The Bite arrive on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in their original scope aspect ratio (2.35:1) looking good with some nicely managed film grain. Colors are nicely robust, and the black levels are adequate for the most part. Scream Factory have indicated that the only source for the HD transfer fr Curse II was an actual film print, and while it does fall short in a few areas,all things considered the A/V presentation met my expectations. I wasn't expecting a collector's edition A/V presentation for either of these movie to be honest. Both films sport an English language DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 audio tracks with optional English subtitles. Not the most dynamic audio presentation for either, but they are clean, crisp and nicely balanced.  The only extras on the set is a 2-minute theatrical trailer for The Curse presented in standard definition. 

What we have here is another fun b-movie double-feature from the '80s that is sure to please fans of either movie, though I wish we could have had a few interviews or commentaries from any of the major participants. Some trivia for you, this is not the first of the Curse films to be released on Blu-ray from Scream Factory, Director David Schmoeller's Catacombs (1988) holds that distinction, when that film was released on home video in the '90s it was marketed as Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice (1988), which like the other Curse entries have absolutely nothing to do with the original film. 

 

MILLENNIUM (1989) / R.O.T.O.R. (1987) (Blu-ray Review)

MILLENNIUM (1989) / R.O.T.O.R. (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 106 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD WIdescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Michael Anderson
Cast: Daniel J. Travanti , Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd 

Synopsis: Leap into thrilling, time-traveling mayhem with Millennium. When safety investigator Bill Smith (Kris Kristofferson, Blade) looks into a disastrous airplane crash, he soon makes a shocking discovery – one that will impact the future of humanity itself. The beautiful but mysterious Louise (Cheryl Ladd, Charlie's Angels) may prove to be the key to it all – but can Smith figure out the truth in time? Daniel J. Travanti (Hill Street Blues) also stars in this centuries-spanning tale from the director of Logan's Run.

I remember laying on the floor in front of the TV with my girlfriend watching this movie in the early '90s and thinking it was alright. even then it felt clunky but at the time I assumed the science fiction themes of time travel had probably gone over my head to a degree, and that perhaps I wasn't yet smart enough to fully grasp the complicated in and outs of time travel, Now that I am watching it again some twenty plus plus years later I now know that even in my teens I was plenty able to wrap my head around the concepts, and that the movie was just clunky and poorly executed.

At the start of the movie a 747 collides in mid-air with a DC-10 causing both aircraft to crash, killing all on board.  National Transportation Safety Board crash investigator Bill Smith (Kriss Kristofferson, Blade) arrives on scene, and after hearing the cockpit voice recorder becomes suspicious that something more than pilot error may have been to blame for the tragedy, a suspicion further bolstered by the discovery of a strange device among the wreckage. Another strange anomaly is that many of the digital watches worn by the deceased passengers are running backwards, not forward.

Enter into the picture physicist Dr. Arnold Mayer (Daniel J. Travanti, The Witches of Eastwick), a man who also suspects that there is something odd about the crash, and a mysterious woman blond named Louise Baltimore (Cheryl Ladd) who falls into bed with Smith faster than smooth talker Dr. Challis and Ellie Grimbridge in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Turns out that Louise is a time traveller sent from the future, apparently the future is a bad place, the atmosphere has gone to shit, the human species has become infertile and the whole species is dying off. I an effort to repopulate the world of the future a small group of time travellers are send back through time to save the victims of plane crashes that occurred in the past, sending them off to the future and replacing their bodies on the doomed aircraft with cloned bodies. 

This could have been a pretty interesting science fiction thriller in an alternate reality, but the story seems rushed and over simplified, it also does not help that Kris Kristifferson is his usual wooden self. He doesn't seem to be into the role and comes off as disinterested. Cheryl Ladd as the love interest doesn't have any chemistry with Kristofferson, the two make for an odd pairing, and the material is weak. The late '80s hair and fashions were maybe not the best era for the former Charlie's Angel TV star, she looks better nowadays, and the decade doesn't seem to have been any kinder to Kristofferson, either.

The special effects of the movie are dated, but not awful for the era that they were made. Unfortunately the future-world, which is set 1,000 years in the future, is not sketched out in a satisfactory way, there's very little world building at pay here. We have scenes wherein we glimpse the deformed elders of the future, a robot with a sad sense of wit, and a claustrophobic enviornment which brought to mind a mix of Brazil by way of 12 Monkeys, but none of it is satisfying. 

The direction from Michael Anderson (Logan's Run) is just okay, I like the way we experience the same events as seen through the eyes of different characters from different time streams, these are nicely done, but on the whole the movie lacks cohesion. I found myself wanting to know more about the paradoxes and "time quakes" they created in the time stream, but we only are ever fed small spoonfuls of any of it, very unsatisfying. 

The disc from Scream Factory offers the movie is 1080p HD in the original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio, the HD upgrade is a marginal improvement over the DVD in my opinion. The image can be soft and the colors muted, we do get some nice clarity to the image, but there's not much depth. Millennium features an English DTS-HD Stereo 2.0 audio track, dialogue is crisp and clean, and the largely forgettable score comes though well-balanced. English subtitles are provided. Extras for the movie are slim and include the theatrical trailer and a six-minute alternate ending that doesn't add much, both are presented in high-definition. 

Special Features:
- Alternate Ending (6 Mins) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) HD 

Millennium is a movie that with a better script and more capable direction with a better cast could have been something special. I have always loved science fiction and time travel in particular, but this is not a good movie, this is a time travel dud and it's not even bad enough to be enjoyed on a bad-movie level, just sort of boring. 

R.O.T.O.R. (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Duration: 90 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stero with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD WIdescreen (1.78:1)  
Director: Cullen Blaine
Cast: Carroll Brandon Baker , Margaret Trigg , Clark Moore , Jayne Smith , James Cole, Richard Gesswein

Synopsis: Gear up for a cult classic you've got to see to believe: R.O.T.O.R! When corrupt Police Commander Earl Buglar (Michael Hunter) orders the development and construction of the ultimate weapon in the war on crime, robotics expert Barrett Coldyron (Richard Gesswin) warns against the dangers of such a project – and loses his job in the process. But when the prototype R.O.T.O.R (Robotic Officer Tactical Operation Research) is accidentally activated, the city is suddenly faced with a rampaging mechanical maniac acting as judge, jury, and executioner – and only Coldyron can stop him! 

Dr. J. Barrett C. Coldyron (Richard Gesswein) works for the Dallas P.D., an engineer who has been tasked with creating a robotic police officer prototype, a project dubbed R.O.T.O.R. (Robotic Officer of the Tactical Operations Research/Reserve Unit). A working prototype is said to be years away from completion, but Coldyron's crooked financier demands a working model within sixty-days, when Coldyron refuses he is tossed off the project, and control of the project is give to his lackluster assistant, who accidentally activates a fully functioning prototype, which is strange, since Coldyron just said a working prototype was years away from completion, but this is only one of numerous head-scratchers you will encounter with R.O.T.O.R., which is a damn mess of a movie, but at least it's an entertaining mess

The prototype is not some robotic looking Robocop-type unit, nope, it looks pretty much like a moustached biker-cop, which looks a lot like Robert Patrick's T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which this pre-dated. Early on we get some crude stop-motion animation of the R.O.T.O.R chassis, which looks very much like a very low-rent version of the T-800 endoskeleton from Terminator. 

As you might have expected R.O.T.O.R escapes from the laboratory and speeds off on his custom-built motorcycle, heading out onto the streets of Dallas to patrol the city. A minor fuck-up with his programming is that he is designed to act as judge, jury and executioner - nor unlike Judge Dredd. He pulls over a young couple for speeding. and immediately executes the boyfriend. His panicked girlfriend flees in the car, and R.O.T.O.R. chases after her very much the same way that the T-800 pursues Sarah Connor. When Coldyron discovers that his creation has been unleashed he sets off in search of his creation to put a stop to it's reign of terror. 

The science fiction mumbo-jumbo of this movie is beyond goofy, a scene of Coldyron explaining how the chassis for the robot works without gears and motors is super-stupid, stating that the chassis has been given a "prime directive" and has "molecular memory learning", and "simulated brain impulse"... you've never heard such bullshit in all your life, but this is exactly the sort of nonsense that makes this such a fun watch. 

Early on in the movie we are subjected to a prolonged movie-padding montage of Coldyron on his ranch, using a lasso made of explosive primer cord to remove trees on his ranch, and you just know this is gonna come back at the end of the movie, and it does. Coldyron also enlists the help of the robotic chassis co-designer Dr. Steele (Jayne Smith, Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders), a woman with a strange skunk-hair style, she reminded me of nosey-neighbor  Marcy from TVs Married with Children if Marcy had been addicted to anabolic steroids. The woman is pumped and goes toe-to-toe with R.O.T.O.R. during the ridiculous finale. 

While Millennium was just sort of boring I found R.O.T.O.R. plenty awful enough to merit a few watches if just to bathe in the glory its awfulness. Obviously this was made to cash-in the success of Robocop and movies like Terminator, but so rarely do the knock-off come off this entertaining. The frosting on the b-movie cake is the poor over-dubbing of the Coldyron character, who lets loose some of the oddest dialogue, such as "You just try it and I'll make more noise than two skeletons making love in a tin coffin, brother! and "He was 39 when he realized gravy wasn't a beverage.". Not sure wht they over-dubbed the character, but it paid off in my opinion.

R.O.T.O.R. arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1.78 widescreen with a surprisingly robust transfer. Of the two movies on this double-feature it looks the best, there's a nice amount of clarity and depth to the image, though it does look like it has had some DNR applied to it, but not to the point of erasing fine detail and texture. The DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 audio is solid, dialogue is clean and the cheesy synth score comes through nicely, English subtitles are provided. The only extra for R.O.T.O.R. is an HD trailer. 

Special Features:
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) HD 

Not sure how this slice of '80s awfulness movie has eluded me for so long, truly one of the best-worst movies I've come across recently, a seriously demented chunk of vintage '80s cheese, for fans of bad '80's cinema this is a must-own, as '80s robotic cheese goes this is right up there with Eliminators (1986).

I am loving these MGM double-features from Scream Factory, they're definitely carrying the torch once held by the MGM Midnight Movie releases, many of which I have retired after they arrived in 1080p from Scream Factory. 

SHEBA, BABY (1975) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

SHEBA, BABY (1975)

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: Region FREE
Duration: 90 Minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: English LPCM Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: William Girdler
Cast: Pam Grier, D’Urville Martin, Austin Stoker

No woman was more badass in the '70s than Pam Grier, a fierce black woman who dripped sensuality and kicked some major baddie-ass. She started off in a string of AIP women-in-prison flicks with director Jack Hill before becoming the AIP action-queen in a series of sweet blaxploitation movies which are still adored by cult-cinema lovers. Unfortunately Pam never did attain the leading lady status she deserved outside of the American International Pictures b-movie grinder, it wouldn't be until her turn in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown that she received the proper leading role deserved by someone of her caliber, but her seventies movies with AIP as an ass-kicking woman of the '70s were pretty badass and are a blast to re-visit. Even some of the lesser entries manage to entertain despite weak material - the lady had class, charisma and was drop-dead gorgeous.

Sheba, Baby is one of the lesser entries, it stars Grier as a Chicago private eye returning home to Louisville, KY to help defend her father's loan business against a group of low down racketeers who are trying to force him to sell. The story is hackneyed, and it does not help that the movie lacks style and substance. However, Pam Grier is always magnetic and she does her best to carry it through to the end, and for me that's enough to keep me plugged, though the prohibitive PG-rating means it lacks a visceral edge to the violence and no there's an absence nudity.

Like the story the cast of characters are cookie cutter and somewhat stereotypical, we get a selection of roughies and hustlers, including the main villain, a comical D'Urville Martin who is working for a white-devil in the neighborhood. All the baddies just seem silly, each having their asses handed to them by our woman Sheba. Classing up the movie to a degree is the appearance of Austin Stoker from John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 as Brick, the good-guy business partner of Sheba's father. Stoker has some real presence and provides a love interest for Sheba, both he and Grier deserved a better movie. 

There are some decent action sequences, including a car-bombing at the start of the movie and a speed boat chase finale that has an alright harpooning, but the staging of the action is pedestrian and poorly assembled, making this a decent watch for fans of '70s black action cinema, but on the lower-end of the spectrum.

Audio/Video: Sheba, Baby arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Arrow Video in 1080p HD looking very nice, framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The source was in good shape, a few white specks here and there but otherwise no print damage. There's a nicely managed layer of fine film grain, some modest depth and decent clarity to the image. The Mono LPCM audio is clean and crisp, the funky score sounds nice, and there are optional English subtitles included. 

Onto the extras we start with two audio commentaries, the first from producer-screenwriter David Sheldon, moderated by critic Nathaniel Thompson from Mondo Digital, plus a second one from Patty Breen, the webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com. 

Arrow Video have also included a pair featurettes, beginning with "Sheldon: Baby" a new interview with David Sheldon, who is always a great interview, and he's no different here. The producer speaks about the genesis of the project, the original working titles, his split from AIP and the dissolution of his partnership with director William Girdler following the release of Sheba, Baby. The second is "Pam Grier: The AIP Years" with film historian Chris Poggiali who walks us through the AIP years of Grier. Additionally we have a image gallery, theatrical trailer for the movie, and a booklet  new writing on the film by Patty Breen, illustrated with archive stills and posters. While I don't think that Sheba Baby is a top tier Pam Grier movie I do love all the work that Arrow Video have put into each of the Grier movies they've brought to Blu-ray these past few years, collectors and fans need this one in their collection.

 Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with producer-screenwriter David Sheldon, moderated by critic Nathaniel Thompson 
- Audio commentary with Patty Breen, webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com
 - Sheldon: Baby – a brand new interview with David Sheldon (15 Mins) HD
- Pam Grier: The AIP Years – a look over the wonder years of the Blaxploitation queen with film historian Chris Poggiali (12 Mins) HD
- Trailer (2 Mins) HD
- Gallery featuring rare publicity images and Lobby Cards (18 Images) HD
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips
- Booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Patty Breen, webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com, illustrated with archive stills and posters 

A hackneyed story and lack of style do hurt Sheba, Baby (1975), and while it might be on the lower end of Pam Grier's filmography for me this Blu-ray release from Arrow Video is top-notch with a great selection of bonus content, and well-worth the upgrade.