DVD Review: COMBAT SHOCK (1984)

COMBAT SHOCK (1984) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Duration: 94/97 Min. 
Rating: Unrated 
Video: Fullscreen (1.33:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 
Cast: Rick Giovinazzo, Veronica Stork and Mitch Maglio
Director: Buddy Giovinazzo
Tagline: FROM JUNGLE HELL TO URBAN HATE

Synopsis: ‘Nam, a green jungle hell. A terrifying place of death, violence and bloody war where seeing your buddies die in front of you is a daily event and getting your seed corrupted by Agent Orange is an occupational hazard. Poor Frankie came home with a messed up head and scrambled DNA, now he has a mutated baby, a nagging wife and a grim collection of junkie friends to deal with. In the dilapidated tenements of Staten Island, life is harsh and sanity is transitory at best.

Here in my hands I have Buddy Giovinazzo's gritty descent into urban madness, Combat Shock (1984). It's  a film I saw on the VHS shelf many times as a young teen while browsing for horror and one I passed over every single time for several reasons.  One, it was marketed as a war film of sorts, the title just didn't draw me in while I was on the prowl for previously unseen gems from John Carpenter and George A. Romero, the directors of choice at the time. If I had actually known what a gritty and demented head-trip this  was I probably still would have passed it over as that too wouldn't have been my cup of tea at the time, it would have been too fucked-up for me to truly appreciate at that age.

Arrow Video's edition offers two versions of the film, we have Combat Shock (1984) and Govonazzo's original cut of the film American Nightmare that runs about five minutes longer, this is the cut I watched for the reviw. It opens with a nightmarish 'Nam sequence as Frankie (Ricky Giovinazzo) is pursued through the jungles by the Viet Cong, his voice narrates over the scenes explaining that he "goes back there every night, I know it isn't real but the terror is real" just before he abruptly wakes up in his dingy Staten Island, New York apartment. It's straight from one nightmare and directly into another, he wakes up to the sound of his nagging and pregnant wife, the hiss of a humidifier and the otherworldly cries of his deformed infant son, apparently the victim of his father's exposure to agent orange. The dingy apartment is completely disgusting, the toilet is broke, the fridge is empty and the walls are covered in grime - it's a shit hole. When your day begins with a glass of soured milk, what can you say, it's gonna be a shitty day.
   

Suffering from some pretty obvious post-traumatic stress Frankie is outta of work and he's struggling just to scrape out an existence and provide for his wife and son. The wife ain't no picnic either, she's hungry and tired of living the way they do, she's quite unsympathetic to his post-'Nam struggles and adds more stress to his already dire state of mind. Then there's the clay-faced child screaming away in the background, it's haunting wail is nerve shattering, a hideous aberration of a child that Frankie doesn't really seem to have any attachment to  This creepy child aspect of the film bares more than a passing resemblance to  David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977), there's a lot of Lynch's film present throughout the film, right alongside gritty NYC cinema like Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and William Lustig's Maniac (1980) - I would say these three film's definitely informed Giovinazzo's vision without resorting to copying any one of them but the influence is present throughout.

Most of the film is dedicated to Frankie walking the streets of Staten Island,  it's a wastelands and the landscape is oppressive, it's looks burned out and one wouldn't be too surprised if cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers might emerge from the sewer and drag Frankie screaming to his death, but that's not what happens. The creatures on these streets are child prostitutes, pimps, drug addled homeless and violent street toughs.  When Frankie walks past a stray dog eating scraps off the street I was unsure of he would fight the animal for the scrap of food or possibly kill and eat the dog, that's how desperate things are here, this is dark and haunting stuff.

While walking the streets Frankie winds up at the unemployment office where there's no respite given, he bares witness to the harsh realities of poverty including child prostitution, a random woman stealing a gun off a junkie's corpse, plus he is subjected to the menace of thugs to whom he owes some debt, the scumbags threaten the safety of wife and child if the debt is not repaid, and he encounters his childhood friend Mike whom is now a destitute junkie resorting to street crime and pouring drugs directly into his  festering sores for lack of needles, perhaps this is a glimpse into Frankie's own not-too-bright future, things definitely seem hopeless. On top of everything else his own sanity is being chiseled away by not just the oppressive nature of his own reality but by memories and vivid flashbacks to his time in 'Nam as a POW. Watching the film I was overcome with hopelessness and despair, this is potent stuff. 

The acting is a bit spotty at times but Ricky Giovinazzo is outstanding as the crumbling Frankie, he secures the film, it's a fantastic portrayal of a desperate life  Some of the effects work is extremely accomplished for such a low budget endeavor with some great blood work, gunshot wounds and scenes of torture, the finale especially exceeds with bits of viscera and grue on display. The deformed child abomination maybe not so much, but for a puppet created for $140 it's not too shabby either. Adding to the atmosphere of the film are several memorable music ques from actor/musician Rick Giovinazzo who performs a haunting synth score.  The film's nihilistic ending is deeply affecting, as his frayed sanity snaps under the strain of poverty and hopelessness Frankie takes things into his own hands to save his wife and child in the only way that makes any sense to him, and it's a shocker ripped right outta the tabloids. 

DVD: The film is presented in it's original fullframe 1.33:1 aspect ratio and like the film itself it's a gritty and sleazy affair. The interlaced transfer is dull, colors are muted and black levels are pretty awful but some might argue that the trashy presentation, artifacting and all, might just add to the potency of the  film, it doesn't in my opinion but it's not likely we will ever see a restored, cleaned-up high definition presentation either so it is what it is. The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is a bit muffled at times, shot on a 16mm Bolex camera the audio was post-dubbed and for what it is it's not awful but like the video it's not great either, that said this is completely watchable and it's distracting to the point of being unwatchable. 

Arrow Video's 2-disc edition mirrors Troma's own Tromasterpiece Collection with the added incentive ofa  reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphries and a collector’s booklet with writings from author Anthony Timpone, press book extracts and a new introduction by director Buddy Giovinazzo.

It contains both the 94 minute Troma theatrical version  of the film and the longer 7 minute American Nightmare version constituting Giovinazzo's  original cut - the Tromatic version also benefits from an audio commentary with the director whom is joined by Nekromantik (1987) director Jorg Buttgeeit - it's a great commentary with the director rattling off pretty much anything you could want to know about the film, it's quite candid and he openly addresses the film's shortcomings and limitations plus Troma's re cutting of the film.

Post-Traumatic: An American Nightmare (29:12) is a half hour documentary on the film’s impact and influence featuring interviews with William Lustig (Maniac Cop), John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), Scott Spiegel (Intruder), Richard Stanley (Hardware), Roy Frumkes (Street Trash), David Gregory (Plague Town) and others offering their appreciation of the film and it's haunting power. A lot of credit is given to Chas. Balun's Deep Red fanzine for spreading the word about the film. 

Also included are five of the director early short films including Mr. Robbie (7:56) featuring Joseph Spinel (Maniac) as a children's TV clown whom answers kids letters for help and meads out punishment brutally, this was a fun one with some good gore. Jonathan of the Night (12:58) is a modern day vamp tale, Subconscious Realities (15:26) is a drug tale, after dropping some serious acid a young man is plagues by nightmarish visions of pervy priests, coffins and vile wedding vows. The Lobotomyy (7:13) features a chronic masturbator at an asylum, this one is particularly memorable for a fun electronic freak-out score and the last tale Christmas Album (7:04) has a couple gathered around the Christmas tree unwrapping each other's gifts, for some reason the young man becomes increasingly unpleasant after opening each gift until the situation spins wildly out of control, fun stuff. Also included are three music videos for Rick Giovinazzo's post-punk band Circus 3000.

Interview with director Buddy Giovinazzo (4:06) is an on-camera interview conducted by Lloyd Kaufman wherein Buddy discusses the film's truth, the infamous sour milk scene and the guilty pleasure of putting his brother through the wringer during filming. Unscarred: Interview with star Rick Giovinazzo (6:33) features the star of the film revisiting it after 30 years, topics covered are the tribulations his mother endured during the filming and the final scenes, which were quite upsetting for him. Der Combat: Buddy Giovinazzo and Troma President Lloyd Kaufman at the Tromanale in Berlin (4:25) again features Lloyd catching up with Buddy and discussing the origins of the film, shooting it on 16mm and the film's influences. 

Rounding out the features on disc two are an interview with  Buddy Giovinazzo and Jorg Buttgereit at the Berlin Film Festival (7:53) who appear together on the commentary track which I would assume was recorded around the same time, the Original Theatrical Trailer (3:17) and Hellscapes: The Locations of the film revisited (2:42) featuring then and now video shots of locations used in the film.

Special Features: 
- Feature Presentation of “American Nightmares”, director Buddy Giovinazzo’s Original Cut
- Feature Presentation of “Combat Shock”, the Troma theatrical cut of the film
- Audio Commentary with writer-director Buddy Giovinazzo and Jorg Buttgereit (Nekromantik)
- Post-Traumatic: An American Nightmare (29:12)
- Buddy’s Early Works: Five short films directed by Giovinazzo
- 3 Circus 2000 Music Videos (11:36)
- Interview with director Buddy Giovinazzo (4:06)
- Unscarred: Interview with star Rick Giovinazzo (6:33)
- Buddy Giovinazzo and Jorg Buttgereit at the Berlin Film Festival (7:53)
- Der Combat: Buddy Giovinazzo and Troma President Lloyd Kaufman at the Tromanale in Berlin (4:25)
- Hellscapes: The Locations of the film revisited (2:42)
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3:17)

Verdict: Combat Shock/American Nightmare rises above it's shoe-string budget to offer up something quite unique and unforgettable, a soul-shredding post-'Nam nightmare that just makes you wanna take a razor and open up your wrists out of despair, this is powerful film making albeit one of the most unpleasant viewing experiences you might ever have, a post-war tale of poverty and insanity that contains just as much unpleasant truth today as it did 25 years ago. 4 Outta 5 

DVD Review; X-GAME (2010)

X-GAME  (2010)

Label: Danger After Dark
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 119 Min. 
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (2:35:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Yôhei Fukuda
Cast:  Hirofumi Araki, Kazuyuki Aijima, Shôta Chiyo, Meguru Katô, Ayaka Kikuchi
Tagline: Ready or Not... It's Time to Play. 

Synopsis: In 'X-GAME,' Hideaki is kidnapped and when he awakens the next day, finds himself in a recreation of his old schoolroom, along with his recently reunited classmates. Trapped and held captive by mysterious hooded figures, each of them must now play a brutally violent, version of the punishment game...or face death. A twisty, horror/mystery 'mash-up' peppered with dark humor and inventive gore, director Yôhei Fukuda's ('Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad aka Chanbara Beauty') shows how revenge is a dish best served cold and not very sweet - Japanese style

If you've seen the Japanese film DEATH TUBE (2010) then director Yôhei Fukuda's X-GAMES (2010) will seem slightly familiar in design and concept, four people wake up in a classroom held against their will by masked figures armed with ass-whooping cattle prods. In the center of the room is a TV set and a small red box with the letter X emblazoned upon it. A spinning wheel of misfortune on the TV screen chooses one of the four whom are then required to draw a punishment from the "X" box. These bizarre penalties must be administered by the others under penalty of an even more severe punishment - branding with an "x" shaped branding iron seared into their flesh.

Most are a bit reluctant to dole out the punishments but quickly come realize that the consequences of not performing the penalties in the prescribed manner are far worse. There is one guy who seems to relish performing the sadistic and brutal penalties, the characters are not particularly well developed but you do get a feel for who they are just underneath the surface, it's enough to keep you interested in the dynamic amongst them .

As it turns out the four all attended the same grade school and were somehow linked in varying degrees to the bullying of a young girl, could it be that she's behind this bizarre brand of revenge? There's some decent gore and violence on display here, the penalties are based on the pranks and punishments perpetrated upon the young girl whom was bullied years earlier only more extreme. We get a version of sitting on tacks which is now a chair studded with ass-piercing nails, the pencil guillotine just might take a finger off and the clothespin torture has now upgraded to flesh-tearing meat hooks - it's pretty twisted and outrageous stuff. There's definitely some black comedy at work here, it's not laugh out loud funny but a sort of nervous laughter as we witness to the increasingly over-the-top penalties, it's hard not to think of SAW (2004) when watching it, but infused with a dose of twisted humor. 

The film is definitely messaging over and over again that bullying is a pretty terrible thing that leaves deep scars and that the monster you create through you actions might just come back and bite you on the ass in horrific ways, that is messaged throughout the film over and over again, perhaps a bit more than was needed. The major downside to the film is that it's a bit overlong at nearly two hours in length, my interest really started to wain a bit in the final third and the extended ending is a bit more convoluted than I think it needed to be. 

The film is peppered with some neat flashbacks to the bullying years earlier from different points of view that inform the proceedings and fill in some of the missing gaps, it's pretty cool and really changes the way we view some of the characters and alters our sympathies slightly. This is was an entertaining watch with some awesome murder set pieces, a nasty bit of dark comedy with some decent gore, shocking violence and tense moments, definitely worth a watch. 3 Outta 5 

Blu-ray Review: OUR MAN FLINT (1965)

OUR MAN FLINT (1965)

Label: Twilight Time DVD
Region Code: Region FREE
Rating: Not Rated 
Duration: 108 Minutes
Video: 1080p Anamorphic Wiescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: English 1.0 DTS-HD MA with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Director: Daniel Mann
Cast: James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, Jean Hale, Andrew Duggan, Anna Lee, Steve Ihnat

Synopsis: Derek Flint (James Coburn)—super-spy, man of multifarious skills, playboy extraordinaire—has his hands full in Our Man Flint (1965), the Bond spoof to end all Bond spoofs. With a team of mad scientists plotting to rule the world by controlling the weather, Flint is called into action by the chief (Lee J. Cobb) of Z.O.W.I.E.—Zonal Organization for World Intelligence and Espionage. Now he must contend with a seductive counter-agent (Gila Golan) and her evil cohort (Edward Mulhare), in a race against time to save the swinging world as we know it. 

James Coburn is the star in this whimsical Bond-spoof actioner from director Daniel Mann (BUtterfield 8), in it we're treated to equal parts homage and anti-007 shenanigans. It's got everything one could hope for from a Bond film plus some wonderfully irreverent humor, too. It's not quite as over-the-top as the Austin Powers films but it's pretty damned funny just the same, and it's interesting to note just how much Austin Powers copped from this film, from the particular tone of a phone to the idea of fem-bots - it's all right here. We get the nifty gadgets, the chics, garish fashions, the shag carpeted bachelor pad, not one, but three villains set on word domination, some hot pleasure unit action plus an awesome volcano lair plus it's all wrapped up in candy-colored 1960's technicolor.

Our super-spy is Derek Flint (Coburn), the character is pretty anti-Bond, the man is just not Sean Connery in any way, shape or form but is instead a lanky fellow with a toothy smile - not what one has come to expect from the super-spy genre but he brings his A-game with charisma to spare and an ultra-cool detachment, it makes for a great performance and he really makes it his own, which is something given how easy it would have been to just give what Coburn himself called a "Bond-age" performance.  

Flint is a former operative of the spy agency Z.O.W.I.E.  and is reluctantly brought back in by the spy chief (J. Cobb) to help stop a trio of scientist bent on controlling the world through means of weather manipulation, these weather manipulation scenes are a mixed bag of awful looking stock footage and dated (but awesome) miniature sets, some far worse than others. Shot relatively cheap the film definitely has it's share of schlocky moments, some o the sets visibly shake at times, but I sort of love that sense of underlying cheapness, it's part of the fun. 

Our Man Flint is fun stuff, there's so much to enjoy here for fans of the spy and spy-spoof genre, this one really holds up, there's some great super-spy riffing to be had and I would find it hard to believe that if you are a fan of the 007 series you won't love this spy spoof on the genre, I prefer it to many of the Roger Moore entries myself, this is great stuff. 

Blu-ray: Twilight Time presents Our Man Flint in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer in the original 2.35:1 CinemaScope aspect ratio. The print used for the transfer is in fantastic shape with few if any instances of dirt, scratches or specks and it has a healthy amount of natural film grain too, which is wonderful. The image doesn't exactly pop with 1080p brilliance like you would get from a new title and the fine detail while decent for a film of this age is not all one would hope for but overall this is a very nice image, aside from the truly awful stock footage elements.

The English language DTS-HD Master Audio Mono sounds quite nice, dialogue, score and effects all sound quite good and are presented with wonderful clarity, it's a lively audio track and the Jerry Goldsmith score sounds fantastic, even more so is the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 isolated score track that brings the Jerry Goldsmith score to life when broken free of it's mono theatrical track.  

We get quite a few more extra features on this disc that I am accustomed to seeing from Twilight Time, it's a pleasant surprise. First we get Jerry Goldsmith's isolated music score for the film, a fantastic score with a few nods to John Barry's iconic themes. 

The Audio Commentary with Film Historians Lee Pfeiffer and Eddy Friedfeld is a nice listen, pleasantly conversational and not at all academic or dry, good stuff.  There's an extended Theatrical Trailer (6:42)  for the film presented in 2.35:1 - it's a great trailer, too. 

The first of several featurettes begins with Spy Style (6:48) a brief and fun look back at the film with film critic Chris Gore and set designer Perry Blake that puts the film in context of the spy craze of the 1960's following the box office phenom that was Dr. No (1962)

Up next is Spy-er-Rama (9:14) features Pfeiffer, Friedfeld and screenwriter Ben Starr discussing the film's origins beginning with 20th Century Fox's reluctance to finance any more epic films after the fiasco that was Cleopatra (1963) which nearly bankrupted the studio, plus them wanting to cash-in on the Bond zeitgeist with a mainstream hit. 

Perfect Bouillabaisse (1:30) is a fun recipe laden goof paying tribute to one of the film's tastier subplots. A Gentleman's Game (4:13) is a fond appreciation of James Coburn from cast and crew, remembered as a one of a kind gentleman by all accounts. 

Derek Flint: A Spy is Born (24:29) is the longest of all the other featurettes and also puts the film into context with the 60's and the spy craze, it talks about film's like The House on 92nd Street (1945) and it's gritty docudrama style and the evolution of the spy spoof which aped similar spoofs like The Pink Panther (1963) which were big box office successes. There's some talk about a nutty first draft of the script which involved an alien angle, really weird stuff. eventually screenwriter Ben Starr was brought onto the project and he speaks a bit about his own life's experiences finding their way into the script. James Coburn's daughter Lisa makes an appearance and offers an appreciation of her father's character and sense of style. 

Directing Flint: Daniel Mann (11:09) is a look back at the film's director with fond remembrances from son-in-law Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters) and his son who speaks of ruining the final shot of the Judith (1966) when he inadvertently walked onto camera during an impossible to re-shoot explosive finale. 

My favorite segment was Flint vs Kael (6:07) in which we learn how the legendary film critic loathed the film and the controversy her scathing review stirred up, even ending in her firing from McColl's magazine.

The special features are rounded out by three storyboard to film comparisons totaling about 10 minutes in length  featuring Jerry Goldsmith's score. Lastly but not least are two screen tests featuring James Colburn and Gina Golan in black and white plus another with Coburn opposite a very lovely Raquel Welch who was up for the role of the seductive counter-agent but who instead went on to feature in The Fantastic Voyage (1966) instead. Last but certainly not least is an full-color 8pg. booklet with writings from regular Twilight Time writer Julie Kirgo offering the always insightful liner notes, this time pitting the film's inherent sexism up against the delightful whimsy of the spy spoof.

The disc is jam-packed with extra goodies, a fantastic edition from Twilight Time and surely one of their most well-stocked with extras so far. As with all Twilight Time DVD Blu-ray release this title is limited to just 3,000 editions and is available exclusively from www.screenarchives.com  so snap it up quick if it's appealing to you. 

Special Features: 
- Isolated Score Track 
- Audio Commentary with Film Historians Lee Pfeiffer and Eddy Friedfeld
- Derek Flint: A Spy is Born (24:29) 
- Directing Flint: Daniel Mann (11:09) 
- Spy-er-ama (9:14) 
- Spy Style (6:48) 
- Flint vs Kael (6:07) 
- A Gentleman's Game (4:13) 
- Perfect Bouillabaisse (1:30)
- Screen Test - James Coburn and Gila Golan (4:40)
- Screen Test - Raquel welch and James Coburn (1:54) 
- Storyboard Sequence 1 - Arrival at Galaxy Island (3:46)
- Storyboard Sequence 2 - Control Room Battle (4:31)
- Storyboard Sequence 3 - Escape from Armageddon (1:23)  
- Original Theatrical Trailer (6:26) 

Verdict: This was a first time watch for me and it was quite a romp, James Coburn at first seemed an odd choice to me but he completely owns this film. Our Man Flint is a quite a romp, chock full of jokes, gadgets, lavish sets, volcano lairs and world threatening baddies all wrapped up in garish 60's technicolor awesomeness, this gets a high recommend. 4 Outta 5  

DVD Review: CHERRY. (2010)

CHERRY. (2010)

Label: MVD Visual
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Rating: Unrtated
Duration: 94 Minutes
Video: 16:9 widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digtal 2.0 
Director: Quinn Saunders
Cast: Lili Bordan, Ray Valentin, David Crane

Brian Cherry (David Crane) is a real nice guy, too nice, one of those guys. Super decent, never makes the first move, the poor schmuck just has no game whatsoever when it comes to the ladies. Enter his best friend Sam Reyes (Rey Valentin) who is quite the opposite, self-assured and a chic magnet who one night while at the bar convinces a friendly vixen named Jules (Lili Bordan) to buy his nice guy friend a drink, thus setting in motion a budding relationship. Jules and Cherry ignite some real romance, there's a tenderness to their relationship but you can tell that Jules has a darker side and that her past must be quite a read on a cold night. Poor Cherry is a bit oblivious to this and he's just in seventh heaven with ignorant bliss, his friend Sam however can sense a kindred spirit in Jules, and as such doesn't trust her motivations. 

There's some sexual incompatibility between the two lovers and it seems that Jules needs something a bit more electric between the sheets than what nice guy Cherry has to offer and it's that urge for sexual gratification that brings her and Sam together creating a tense love triangle.

Eventually Sam and Jules realize they're falling in love with each other and she breaks  it off with Cherry who just falls apart at the seams, and at this point he doesn't even realize the betrayal that's been perpetrated upon him by those closest to him. After the break-up he goes about hibernating in his trash strewn apartment, he loses his job and just becomes even more of a pathetic wretch than he was before. It's not that he's unlikable it's just that he's so god damned pathetic, if he was your friend you would think this guy just needs to get laid, but obviously that's just not the case.   

When it is finally revealed to him what's really going on behind his back he goes off the deep end and the film goes further than I thought it ever would, it's pretty dark stuff. 

Special Features: 
- Trailer (1:53) 

Verdict: A  tightly knit film that really stays within the confines of reality, the relationship, the friendship, the fall out a out following the break-up and Cherry's descent from nice guy to something else all together. Some of the scripted dialogue was a bit off from time to time but the performances are strong from the get-go, this is a really well acted production. There's a lot of complex emotions at play here, you really feel for Cherry and what's happening to him up to a point, and you will know it when you get there. This is a slow-building low-budget thriller with some nice tension and it gets a recommend. 3 Outta 5 

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Blu-ray Review: LIGHTNING BUG (2004)

LIGHTNING BUG  (2004) 

Label: Image Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: Not Rated
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Anamorphoc Widescreen (1.78:1) 1080p
Cast: Bret Harrison, Laura Prepon, Ashley Laurence, Kevin Gage, Hal Sparks Director: Robert Hall

Synopsis: Bret Harrison (Grounded for Life) stars as a frustrated teen who dreams of escaping his miserable life in a small Alabama town for a special effects make-up job in Hollywood, creating grisly monsters. His dream may even be in reach when he's hired to design the community's annual Halloween spook house and falls in love with a local girl (Laura Prepon, That '70s Show). But there are real monsters in his way, including an abusive stepfather (Kevin Gage, Heat) who terrorizes his mother (Ashley Laurence, Hellraiser), a fanatical religious group who attack his work, and his girlfriend's own shocking secret that may destroy their happiness together.

Like many I would imagine director Robert Hall came to my attention following the gore-tastic slasher LAID TO REST (2009) and it was based on that viscera strewn feature that I picked this up sight unseen. I was a bit surprised to discover the film was bittersweet coming of age story based in part of Hall's own life as an aspiring make-up effects artists in rural Alabama.

Green (Brett Harrison, TV's REAPER) is a young man obsessed with horror films and special effects make-up, he dreams of moving to LA to design effects for Hollywood films. Things are going pretty well for him when he secures a job designing the scares for the small town's annual haunted  Halloween attraction after scaring the shit outta the proprietor in a fantastic scene.  Things are looking pretty decent for Green but they get worse real quick when he develops a crush on the girl working at the local video store (Laura Prepon, TV's THAT 70'S SHOW) who just happens to be the daughter of a local religious nut with a few quirks of her own. 

Aggravating matters more is the fact that his mother (Ashley Laurence)  is dating an obnoxious and violent drunk named Earl  (Kevin Gage) which makes for an unstable and unpleasant home life. The film is surprisingly poignant and touching, it's a dark coming of age story peppered with some very nice moments of humor, particularly any scene with his horny cousin Billy who really wants to fuck his kin, "fist cousin, and cutest one I got", there's no shortage of interesting peripheral characters here but the focus of the film is on Green, his other and younger brother, mom's asshole boyfriends and video clerk girlfriend and her Jesus loving mama. Also making memorable appearances are Hal Sparks (QUEER AS FOLK) as a deputy who moonlight's as an variety show host and Josh Todd of rockers Buckcherry as Earl's cousin who figures prominently into he film's dark finale.

A great cast, everyone here is firing on all cylinders and the acting while poignant isn't schmaltzy in an egregious way, it's very natural the way it just rolls along. Green rand Prepon were particularly good, as was Gage as the violent redneck Ear, just a great cast all around. 

Blu-ray: The film is presented in it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen, it's a good looking image though there's no denying it was shot on the cheap and in enhanced by some very nice cinematography - for a low budget indie it's quite good looking which should not come as a surprise - there's quite a few great looking cheapies out there. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sounds pretty good, too. It's not great, but it's lossless and there some use of the surrounds but it's not ear shattering awesome if you know what I mean. There are no subtitle options. 

Aside from the never before available extended cut version of the film which runs about 15 minutes longer than the theatrical version there is quite a wealth of bonus features including two behind the-scenes featurettes running almost 46 minutes combines featuring cast and crew interviews with Laura Prepon, Michael Hall, Kevin Gage, Ashley Laurence, Darren Lynn Bousman, Hal Sparks, Brett Harrison and Shannon Eubanks - very cool watches, peppered with clips from the film and appreciations by various people. There's also about 20 minutes of comedic deleted scenes, some goofy outtakes, a video for Kevin Kinney's "Sun Tangled Angel Revival", a theatrical Trailer, a new Blu-ray Trailer and a photo gallery. 

Special Features:
- Never-Before-Released Extended Cut (Additional 15 Mins)
- Lucifern: The Making of Lightning Bug  (20:47)
- Afterglow: A Look Back at Lightning Bug (24:47) 
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Michael Hall
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Robert Hall, Producer Lisa Waugh and Actors Ashley Laurence and Laura Prepon
- Deleted Scene with Optional Commentary (19:07)
- Outtakes (4:31)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:11)
- Blu-ray Trailer (2:36)- Kevin Kinney Music Video (3:50)
- Photo Gallery

Verdict: It was quite interesting to see another side to writer/director Robert Hall who's slasher film LAID TO REST was maxed with grue but short on character development - this is a pretty rich personal story and it makes for some good dramatic storytelling  a recommend if that's your thing, don't be afraid to dig into this one, it's touching without dragging the depths of a Lifetime Channel melodrama, and you horror fiends out there might be surprised by how easily your sucked right into it. 3.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR (1986)

FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR (1986) 

Studio: Second Sight Films

Region Code: 0 PAL 

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 86 Minutes

Video:16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 

Director: Randal Kleiser

Cast: Joey Cramer, Howard Hessmen, Veronica Cartwright, Albie Whitaker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Paul Reubens

Synopsis: It’s 1978 and 12-year-old David Freeman is mysteriously knocked unconscious while out playing. He wakes up and heads for home only to find strangers living there. It’s now 1986 and he’s been missing for eight years. NASA believes he’s been abducted by aliens and want to use in him in their research. But with the guidance of a strange unseen entity he discovers a top-secret spaceship and with the help of MAX the computer sets off on an

incredible mission to get back to the past where he belongs.

Film: Damn, until I popped this one in I had completely forgotten catching this in theaters when I was just about thirteen years old, not a lot of it stuck with me either but after just a few minutes  I was overcomes with a wave of post-E.T. Spielbergian nostalgia. It's the 4th of July, 1978 and David Freeman (Joey Cramer) is a 12-year old kid living in Florida. It's the 4th of July as his family prepares for a night of fun he is sent to bring home his obnoxious younger brother Jeff (Albie Whitaker) who is at a friend's home. He shortcuts  through a small wooded area and stumbles into a small ravine knocking himself unconscious, he awakens after what seems like just a few moments, and walks backs home only to have his world crumble around him. He enters his house and against belief his family no longer lives there, it's somehow 8 years later, 1986,  and David hasn't aged a day.

Where did the eight years go and why has David not aged are just a few of the immediate mysterious at hand here. At about the same time NASA recovers a gleaming silver alien craft after it struck high voltage power lines. Could there be a link between these two odd occurrences  what do you think? This is a film that brought me right back to the mid-80's when Disney films weren't such sickeningly sweet pablum, there's a real sense of magic and wonder at play here that totally evokes films of similar caliber and subject matter like THE MONSTER SQUAD (1987) and THE GOONIES (1985) as well as Spielberg's E.T. (1982) with the it's kid vs. government themes and the friendly alien influence.

It's not long before NASA come looking for David having discovered a link between the two events, it seems that David's brain is stuffed with alien star charts way beyond our Earthly knowledge and David is reluctantly surrendered for observation to NASA scientists for a period of 48 hours under the watch of Dr. Faraday, played by Johnny Fever himself, Howard Hessmen of TV's WKRP In Cincinnati and DR. DETROIT (1983) fame - it just don't get any more 80's than that. Sequestered at NASA David meets a sweet young intern named Carolyn, played by a not-too-far-removed from TV's Square Pegs Sarah Jessica Parker, Lordy did I love me some SP! While poor David is becoming NASA's guinea pig he starts to receive telepathic transmissions from the alien craft, voiced by Paul Ruebens of PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985), a quick note that director Kleiser would go on to direct BIG TOP PEE-WEE (1988). Reuben's at one point cops quite a few of his own Pee Wee-isms for the voice of the alien craft's artificial intelligence named Max, it's fun stuff. With the help of the sympathetic Carolyn, David escapes from his room and into the hangar where the craft is kept, afterward Max and David form a partnership and escape endeavoring to find answers to the boy's many questions and just maybe find a way back to his own time. 

This was a fun revisit,  the film is oozing with 80's nostalgia and a true sense of wonder as only the 80's could offer. It's impossible for me to review this as a man nearing forty s I was instantly transformed back into a pie-eyed early teen staring up at the silver screen those many years ago and I'm pretty unapologetic about that, I love nostalgia. Sure, the film is dated in a lot of ways, maybe even more so than it's contemporaries of the era,  but it holds up on an emotional level. David as a young person displaced in time totally works, his suffering parents, played by Veronica Cartwright (ALIEN) and Cliff De Young (SHOCK TREATMENT),  are at their rope's end having painfully declared their son dead years earlier only to have him return, un-aged, the film is a lot deeper than your average Disney flick these days. Reubens as the ships computer voice Max is entertaining, at times it's just this side of being annoying but it's a fine performance and is the heart of the film's comedy.  Also an interesting aspect of the emotional dynamic is David's once younger brother Jeff (now played by Matt Adler) has now had his role reversed as the aged older brother, sixteen to David's eight, not to over sell it but there's some real emotional complexity at play here. 

The effects are also quite good for the time, the alien craft is a shimmering chrome vessel and an early adopter of the environmental mapping utilizing CGI to depict the alien craft and they are still quite solid, some of the more traditional stop-motion used to create the ship's suspended liquid stairs hold up considerably less but are still passable. One of my favorite series of effects in the film are the creatures on board the ship that Max has collected throughout the galaxy, definitely wanted to see more of these but one in particular does figure into the finale of the film. 

DVD:  The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1). Colors look natural and nicely saturated though the image is a bit soft at times, I think owing more to the cinematic style it was filmed in more so than any fault of the transfer. Skin tones are a bit off and there's some minor white speckles and dirt, particularly in some of the effects shots,  but the black levels are quite decent. There doesn't appear to have been much Digital Noise Reduction applied, there's little evidence of artificial sharpening and there's a nice layer of film grain left intact. Overall, a very nice looking image if not spectacular.

The lone audio option is an English language Dolby Digital 2.0 mix with optional English subtitles. It offers up a solid presentation with clean dialogue, score and effects. Alan Silvestri's score comes through nicely and neither it nor the effects track drown the dialogue. Like the image itself it's not overly dynamic and doesn't offer a lot of stereo panning but it suffices and is probably true to the original theatrical presentation. 

The only bonus feature is an audio commentary with director Randal Kleiser and producer Jonathan Sanger and the two strike up a fun, nostalgic conversation with plenty of anecdotes to make for an interesting listen. A featurette, even a vintage one, or a trailer would have been appreciated but this UK exclusive commentary track is very nice.

Special Features:
- Audio commentary with director Randal Kleiser and producer Jonathan Sanger

Verdict: If you haven't seen this film in some time it 's deserving of a re watch, it maintains it's sense of 80's wonder and is still enormously fun family entertainment, my kids were sucked right in much the same way that I was at that age, it really hold up on an emotional level. I have lots of love for the UK's Second Sight Films for giving some attention to these niche cult films. Already having released RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, SHORT CIRCUIT and BASKET CASE: THE TRILOGY on Blu-ray we can look  forward to more awesome cult titles on the way in 2013 including David Cronenberg's SCANNERS and THE BROOD, SCANNERS 2, SCANNERS 3, Stuart Gordon's RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND, and Brian Yuzna's SOCIETY and BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR. The film is also available on Region "B" Blu-ray from Second Sight Films.  3.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: V/H/S (2012)

V/H/S (2012) 

Label: Magnet Releasing
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Duration: 93 minutes
Rating: R
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 

Cast: Calvin Reeder, Lane Hughes, Adam Wingard, Hannah Rose Fierman
Directors: David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard

Synopsis: V/H/S is a point of view, found-footage horror film from the perspective of America's top genre filmmakers. In V/H/S, a group of misfits are hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house in the countryside and acquire a rare tape. Upon searching the house, the guys are confronted with a dead body, a hub of old televisions and an endless supply of cryptic footage, each video stranger and more inexplicably terrifying than the last...

It should be no surprise that I do love a good anthology film, and that I also find enjoyment with the found footage format as well but it seems less and less so as of late. This title piqued my curiosity with the inclusion of Ti west (HOUSE OF THE DEVIL) as one of the nine directors involved. 

Like all good anthologies we get a wrap-around segment entitled TAPE 56 from director Adam Wingard (A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE) wherein a group of low level criminals who regularly videotape their petty crimes are contacted by an unknown person to procure a VHS tape from a rural home. These guys all have their own video recorders and the entire extraction is videotaped, so we're definitely firmly in the found footage trenches for better or worse from the get-go. Once inside the house the hoods find a corpse and hundreds of VHS cassettes and this is the device by which we are introduced to a series of five cinema verite vignettes inter cut with an exploration of the house in search of the coveted VHS cassette complete with it's own conclusion, for what it was it was at least an interesting entry into the film and introduction if not overly satisfying. 2.5 

First up of the shorts proper is AMATEUR NIGHT from director David Bruckner of THE SIGNAL notoriety. In it a group of four drunken guys head out for a night on the town with the idea of documenting a lurid night of sex capturing the act on a pair of web-cam enabled spyglasses worn by one of 'em. At the bar they pick up two girls and take them back to their hotel room for some lascivious debauchery, at this point I was thinking this was gonna be a found footage take on sexploitation or a rape revenger, thankfully it's not but we do get some nudity and sexual situations. All signs pint to a imminent threesome when the events turn very strange. One of the young women is quite a bit more than the timid sprite she appears, much to the dick-shredding dismay of all four young men. This was a pleasant surprise, blood soaked and ferocious, when the shit hits the fans it's unrelenting and wonderful, some good gore, lots of blood and with the added bonus of some cool creature effects. When the finale takes flight I think the effects suffer a tiny bit but it's a great ride and the best of the bunch right off the bat. 4

Next entry comes from Ti West (THE INNKEPERS), a languid travelogue called SECOND HONEYMOON and like nearly all of West's output thus far it's a slow burn. A young couple drive through the South West United States on a second honeymoon recording their journey on video. I found this pretty dull from the start and it's not until we witness someone coming into their hotel room and videotaping them in their sleep that the suspense kicked-in, this aspect of it reminded me a bit of David Lynch's LOST HIGHWAY when someone videotapes Bill Pullman's character and his wife in their home while they sleep, it was creepy then and it was creepy here, too. However, the twist while unexpected fell flat for me. 2

Third story up is TUESDAY THE 17th from Glenn McQuaid, the director of the quirky and quite cool I SELL THE DEAD (2008). This time out a group of three teens are persuaded by their friend Wendy to visit a rural lake that was the scene of heinous murders a few years prior, of which she was the only survivor. This "found footage" take slasher was pretty decent, played with a few conventions, had some great gore effects and an interesting spin on one of my favorite sub genres. The killer here is someone or something you can't quite get a good visual on for some reason, it's never explained. My main beef with this one was Wendy's motivations and her "plan" which involves using her friends as bait to draw out the killer, it didn't all add up at the end but a decent slasher spin with some good kills and an attempt to bring something different to the game at least and it was nice to see Jason Yachanin from POULTRYGEIST (2006) who's character was afraid to smoke weed for worry of suffering a dreaded condition known as "the fear". 3

Vignette number four, the somewhat Giallo sounding THE SICK THING THAT HAPPENED TO EMILY WHEN SHE WAS YOUNGER, from director Joe Swanberg features a young woman named Emily Skype video-chatting with her boyfriend James who's out of the state. Strange things are happening to Emily, he has an odd bump on her arm and is hearing strange things in her house at night. One night while on Skype James see's a childlike figure run behind her and slam the door shut, it's pretty creepy. So what appears to maybe be a haunting of some sorts veers wildly off the path and into something quite a bit more otherworldly and interesting. Emily attempts to make contact with the "spirit" inhabiting her home, walking through the halls with her laptop with a Skype connection open to James, I actually got tense a few times as it goes where many found footage have, through a darkened house with poor lighting as we await the next scare and it worked on me, again. The twist is unique and I really enjoyed the picture-in-picture Skype gimmick here and there's some decent body horror and voyeuristic elements (read: partial nudity), too. 3

The fifth and final vignette 10/31/98 comes from a film-making collective known as Radio Silence who I know nothing about but this fun entry in the found footage omnibus definitely has piqued my curiosity. It's Halloween night and a group of three friends head out to what is supposed to be a raging party at a friends house, the night's events are captured on camera via one of the party goers dressed as a working nanny cam. When the guys arrive at their destination they find the home apparently deserted but experience some strange sights like arms reaching from walls, lights flickering, some minor weird shit but they think it's just a haunted house prank and continue to assume so right up through to the point they walk in on an exorcism in the attic and then shit gets real, this is no mere haunted prank but a real-life case of supernatural possession This was a fun one, the effects are maybe a bit too slick for the short honestly, you see it and think yup that's an effect but this was still one of the better entries on the set. 3.5

Special Features:
- Alternate Ending 10/31/98 (1:31) 
- More Tuesdat the 17th (2:38)
- Amateur Night: Balloon Night (3:32)
- Webcam Interview with Actors Simon Barrett (5:56), Helen Rogers (7:37) 
- Conceptual Design Galley - Lily
- Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery
- AXS TV: A Look at V/H/S (4:49)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:47) - Cast and Crew Interviews with Brad Miska, Zak Zeman, Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Ti West, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillette, David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg (28:39) 
- Magnolia Trailers (8:48) 


Verdict: This was a great idea, young genre directors taking a stab at the found footage format, each one with a unique gimmick. At times it was tense and thrilling and there  were a few that seemed a bit uninspired, particularly disappointing was the Ti West entry which was lackluster. On the other end of the spectrum we have David Bruckner and Radio Silence's entries which were each well executed. If you're a fan of found footage this is gonna be worth a watch if not exactly a high recommend from me, if you find the sub genre a slog as it is this isn't gonna win you over, a bit disappointing but two very strong vignettes and some decent elements that overall just don't come together quite so well. 3 Outta 5 

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