CONTRACTED: PHASE 2 (2015) (Blu-ray Review)

CONTRACTED: PHASE 2 (2015) 

Label: Scream Factory I IFC Midnight 
Region Code: A
Duration: 78 Minutes
Rating: Unrated 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Josh Forbes
Cast: Najarra Townsend, Marianna Palka, Matt Mercer, Anna Lore, John Ennis, Laurel Vail, Morgan Peter Brown, Peter Cilella, Richard Riehle, Suzanne Voss

Contracted: Phase 2 picks up at the very moment that Contracted (2013) left off two years ago with the infected Samantha (Najarra Townsend) taking a frightful bite out her own mother's neck before being gunned down by police. Now the focus shifts to her to her hanger-on friend Riley (Matt Mercer, Contracted) who you might remember slipped her the white worm only to find she was full of worms already, in a spectacularly horrendous moment. The difference this time around is that Riley actually knows what might be happening to him as opposed to Samantha, who was unknowing infected in the last movie by BJ (Morgan Peter Brown, Absentia), who again appears this time around as the diabolic patient zero who is helping to spread some apocalyptic plague. 

At the top of the movie we find Riley at the doctor's office, the doctor happens to be the husband of his sister, the doc is someone he can trust, and who it runs out fucks over everyone by not reporting his brother-in-laws condition to the proper authorities. This is something that will come back to haunt him later on. Anyway, Riley's initial blood tests come back clean, which is a relief at first, but true relief is in short supply in Contracted: Phase 2.

Despite his initial clean bill of health from the doc it does turn out that Riley is infected. despite his best intentions his actions threaten both family and loved ones, be it through intimacy and through casual contact he becomes one of the horsemen of the apocalypse in his own sort of way. As a sequel this one doesn't really push the story forward a whole heck of a lot, it does feel like a middle movie, and judging by the stingers at the end of this one we can probably expect a sequel in the next year or two, which I wouldn't mind.

What it does push forward only slightly is the recognition by the public health authorities that a plague is beginning to spread and it needs to be contained. To that end we have Detective Crystal Young (Marianna Palka) interviewing Matt about what happened to Samantha. He denies having any sexual contact with her, and the Detective is also on the trail of doomsday plaguer BJ, which gives certain parts of the movie a police procedural feel, and to a certain degree a medical drama. At the heart of the story though we just have more body-horror, and to that end they do a pretty great job.  Following the same progression as Samantha we have Riley noticing sores on his body, beginning on his back where Samantha viciously clawed him in the last film. At one point he pulls one of her infected fingernails out of the wound, and if the thought of that tests the strength of your stomach, you might not want to watch this movie, because that is only the beginning of the body-horror, it gets much ickier after that.

The first movie was a slow-burning character study of Samantha as she rotted from the inside out, the sequel is less concerned with the character study and is more concerned with making you uncomfortable. There's nothing quite on the level of seeing maggots fall from Samantha's vagina, but there are copious amounts of sick stuff, including eye trauma, the mandatory pissing of blood, and a scene that felt like a nod to Peter Jackson's Dead Alive wherein Riley inadvertently drips blood into the cheese dip at a party, which his pregnant sister consumes soon afterward, and that comes with the expected payoff

Audio/Video: Scream Factory presents Contracted: Phase 2 is 1080p HD widescreen (2.35:1) and the image looks solid as you would expect of a brand new digital image, the blacks are deep and colors are appropriately vivid. The icky body horror effects are very effective in HD with some nice crisp fine detail. The English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround audio is solid, dialogue and score come through crisp and clean, with some decent use of the discreet surrounds, but is mostly relegated to score, which is an unfortunately anemic electronic score. The disc is nearly barebobnes with only a small selection of trailers, bereft of interviews or a commentary. We do get a sleeve of reversible artwork with a slight variation, and a standard definition DVD featuring the movie and mirroring the slim extras. 

Special Features: 
- Theatrical Trailer (1 Mins) 
- Extended Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) 
- IFC Midnight Trailers 

What I would hope for with any sequel would be a slightly larger scope of the growing infection. The first movie was thoughtful and gross, this one was more visceral and disgusting, and while I am doubtful we will be seeing a large scale sequel. I do hope they build upon the movies in a way that is natural but also progresses the story without turning into something different altogether. Writer Craig Walendziak and director Josh Forbes did a decent job following up Eric England's movie, staying true to the vision he set-up, with loads of cringe worthy body horror and slightly progressing the story. Fans of the first movie will most likely enjoy the sequel, here's hoping that the third entry expands on it. 3/5

DEATHGASM (2015) (Blu-ray Review)

DEATHGASM (2015) 

Label: Dark Sky Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 86 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Jason Lei Howden 
Cast: Milo Cawthorne, Kimberley Crossman, James Blake, Sam Berkley, Daniel Cresswell,Delaney Tubron, Stephen Ure

These past few years we have seen a good number of quality indie horror movies coming out of New Zealand, and they've done it yet again!  Deathgasm (2015) is a brutal metal horror-comedy about a misfit thrasher named Brodie (Milo Cawthorne) who is sent away to live with his lame Christian aunt and uncle. Which as you might imagine does not make for a perfect pairing, even worse is their soccer-jock douche nozzle son David (Nick Hoskins-Smith) who routinely harasses and beats down Brodie. Brodie manages to make a few outcast friends at school by way of Dungeons and Dragons nerds Dion (Sam Berkley), and Giles (Daniel Cresswell), and a fellow thrasher named Zakk (James Blake). The foursome join up and start a metal band in Brodie's garage, calling themselves DEATHGASM. 

when Zakk and Brodie discover through an underground  metal zine that their reclusive idol Rikki Daggers (Stephen Ure) of the band Haxansword lives in town they break into his house and find the aging rocker looking a bit worse for the wear and out of his mind. Daggers gives the teens a sheet of ancient music known as the Black Hymn which is said to grant Ultimate Power to whoever plays it. They do what any teenage thrasher would, they take it to band practice and perform the doomed dirge as fast as can be. As they play it strange things begin to happen, the kick drum bleeds blood, the neighbors vomit blood, and before you know it the whole damn town is inhabited by demonic forces. Yup, these studded-leather longhairs have unknowingly summoned an ancient evil entity known as Aeloth The Blind One who will threaten to destroy the world, and our thrashers are the only ones who can stop the demonic apocalypse. 

This spunky metal horror-comedy comes of as equal parts The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and Trick or Treaty with a generous helping of Peter Jackson-esque gore throughout. On top of that we have a blistering Metal soundtrack that will have you cheering on our thrashers as you pump the devil horns into the air - this is a fuck ton of fun. As a lifelong metal fan I was pretty much guaranteed to love this with the teenage thrasher mentality, the witty script and spot-on metallic humor, there's just too much fun stuff happening here to not love it. 

The gore stuff exquisite, and fans of Evil Dead 2 and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive will enjoy the brutal and heinous bloodbath that ensues, with each scene of slaughter followed-up with a pitch perfect witty quips and loads of visual puns, these thashers truly give the demons metal up their ass. 

I looved the moments of daydreams and fantasy that are brought to life in a fun way in a few spots. Brodie daydreams of being a metal-god worshipped by teased hair metal whores - it's fun stuff. A young blond named Medina (Kimberley Crossman) is a bit of a virginal goodie-goodie who is dating Brodie's cousin at the start of the movie, but Brodie thrasher wins her over with his corpse paint, turning her onto metal in the process. When she first hears the heavy tuneage through the headphones of her Walkman she imagines herself as a viking metal warrior atop a mountain, which perfectly captures the empowering sound of metal to teenage ears.

Back to the gore, it's brutal and done mostly old school with loads of blood and guts spewing from decapitated heads, severed arteries and disembowlings. The weapons of choice for our thrashers range from barbed wire weed whackers, drill-pointed guitars, vibrating dildos, the classic chainsaws and of course axes - there's a pretty great variety to choose from, and all of it is violent and blood-soaked through and through.  

Blu-ray Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Jason Lei Howden
- Three Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes (15 Mins) HD 
- Music Video: Bulletbelt "Deathgasm" (4 Mins) HD 
- Trailer (2 Mins) HD 
- Teaser (1 Mins) HD 
- Sleeve of Reversible Artwork 

I loved this one, the metal-humor and thrashing music were awesome, the characters are fun and the gore is non-stop. Deathgasm is a high-energy metal-thrashing mad horror-comedy that hit all the right notes for me. Having watched it four times just this past week I can speak to how well it holds up to repeat viewing, this one will be around for some time - a riotous blast of metal mayhem. 4/5

AXE (1975) / KIDNAPPED COED (1976) (Blu-ray Review)

AXE (1975) / KIDNAPPED COED (1976) 

2-Disc Special Edition BD/CD 

Label: Severin Films

region Code: Region-FREE

Duration: 76 inutes, 75 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Frederick R. Friedel

Cast: Leslie Lee, Jack Canon, Frederick R. Friedel, Ray Green, Leslie Rivers, Gladys Lavitam, Larry Lambeth

Axe (1975) begins with a trio of thugs named Steele (Jack Canon), Lomax (Ray Green) and Billy (director Friedel himself) arriving at a hotel and waiting in a room for it's occupant to return. The man they're looking for shows up with a friend and the trio beat the snot out of the man, who succumbs to death from his injuries. His friend is so scared by what he has seen that he leaps out a ninth story window to his own death. In the aftermath the men head into the countryside to lay low for a few days, Billy, the youngest of the trio, seems disturbed by the murderous act, while Steele (Jack Canon) and Lomax (Ray Green) are not phased by it, they're straight-up cold-blooded killers. 

On their way to the countryside they stop off at a convenience store where Steele looses his cool after he bites into a rotten apple, which sets him off on a rampage.  After hurling apples at the woman behind the counter he forces her at gunpoint to strip down to her skivvies for a nerve-shattering game of William Tell. The trio find themselves at a rural farmhouse which seems an ideal place to lay low. Inside they discover a pretty young woman named Lisa (Leslie Lee) and her grandfather (Douglas Powers) who seems mute and is confined to a wheelchair. They take over the house and force the young woman to cook for them, with young Billy developing a bit of a crush on the quiet girl. As quiet girls go Lisa is a strange one, a young woman of few words but when she's finally decided she's had enough of the thugs the blood begins to flow, and the trio of men will wish they'd skipped over this particular farmhouse and moved onto the next. 

Regional filmmaker Frederick R. Friedel only made two movie and this infamous entry was his first, the movie has an offbeat tone with very little dialogue, the atmosphere is tense and the style is somewhat workmanlike but also a bit on the arthouse side of things. Cinematographer Austin McKinney has some interesting angles and composition to his credit here. Adding to the atmosphere is creepy and oddball score from George Newman Shaw and John Willhelm which well suits the movie, adding to the weird arthouse aesthetic. Overall I would have to say the movie doesn't have a lot of originality about it but it does have a certain charm about it that I find hard to put my finger on, I would liken it to an artier S.F. Brownrigg production, a grimy home invasion movie with a regional flavor. 

The performances are pretty good all things considered, particularly Jack Canon as the villainousy cool leader of the thugs, a real bastard of a man. The innocent looking Lisa as played by Leslie Lee is a quiet menace, very few words are exchanged among the characters, it's almost all mood and atmosphere punctuated by some decent low-budget drive-in gore. How this ended up on the infamous Video Nasties list as one of the final thirty-nine banned movies is bit if a mystery to me, but most censorship is confounding, but perhaps if this slice of grindhouse cinema hadn't of found it's way onto the list it might have drifted off into obscurity and remained out of reach. 

After Axe the only other movie to Friedel's credit is Kidnapped Coed (1976), which is a more refined and enjoyable movie in my opinion. Again we have Jack Canon, this time starring as a more kind-hearted small time crook named Eddie Matlock who is desperate for money. To that end he hatches a kidnapping/ransom scheme involving a red haired teenage girl named Sandra (Leslie Rivers), the daughter of privilege and wealth. After an almost too easy kidnapping Eddie takes her to a flea pit motel to await the ransom drop, but before that happens two armed thugs show up and and tie Eddie to a chair, forcing him to watch the rape of the young woman. Eddie escapes during the rape and takes his revenge in the thugs, shooting one in the crotch and appearing to shoot the other straight-up the ass!

With the young woman back in his control they head for the country and the two develop an odd sort of relationship, you could tell earlier during the rape that Eddie has his own code of ethics and doesn't wish harm on the young woman, he just needs money, and when we discover why he needs it it sort of makes him more likable, but the odds just are not in his favor on this particular day. They experience car trouble along the way, when he approaches the home of a hillbilly he is run off at the business end of a shotgun, another redneck comes after him with a pitchfork, driving home the pint that the rural folk don't much care for the city folk. The encounters with the rural folks are weird, particularly one with the pitchfork, which seemed like it was coming to a head earlier on in the scene, I didn't quite any of the motivations as to why the bearded fellow was so cross with Eddie, not sure if I was even supposed to understand. 

This time around the movie has more humor in the story, and a quirky romance story to go along with it. Canon and Rivers have a good chemistry with each other, the wordless glances and body language is quite expressive, as with Axe the movie is short on dialogue, but expressive with the body language and visual storytelling. Speaking of images, cinematographer Austin McKinney is again behind the camera, the guy also worked on cult classics like Pit Stop and Galaxy Of Terror, and his work here is a step up from Axe, there's some very nice low-budget movie making onscreen here. 

Audio/Video: Both Axe and Kidnapped Coed arrive on a single disc Blu-ray from Severin Films, the 1080p HD image is framed in 1.78 widescreen and the new 2K transfers are sourced from the original camera negatives. There's some minor print damage as evidenced by white speckling and small scratches, with Axe faring slightly worse of the two, but the image quality not too bad at all. The new HD upgrade and color timing is quite nice, with good black levels and accurate flesh tones, color saturation looks nice all the way around, with Kidnapped Coed looking particularly good to my eyes. Both movies come with English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 audio and sounds good with some source limitations. Axe has some minor hiss to it and some of the dialogue is not crystal clear but nothing too egregious. 

Onto the extras, this is where you can see how much love Severin have put into this release. We have audio commentaries for both movies from Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Philip Smoot and Makeup Artist Worth Keeter, and they're great. A fun look at the making of the movies and what it was like making an exploitation movie in the '70s. They've also included Friedel's super-cut of the movie titled 'Blood Brothers' which is the two films cut together with a tiny bit of additional footage added. We have Canon in essence playing a dual role as twin brothers whom are both on a murder-spree. While I didn't for it a whole lot myself I loved the audio commentary that accompanies it featuring “Nightmare USA” Author Stephen Thrower, there's also an introduction from Friedel explaining why he chose to make this re cut of the movies. This is a pretty substantial extra, if only for the sake of completion and for the the excellent Thrower commentary. 

As if that were not enough, there's the hour-long documentary by Severin' David Gregory, At Last... Total Terror! The Amazing True Story Of The Making Of Axe And Kidnapped Coed!. The exhaustive doc features interviews with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Philip Smoot, Makeup Artist Worth Keeter and more, loaded with clips and vintage interviews. For a somewhat obscure pair of movies Severin and company have left no stone unturned, this is definitive stuff. The composers composers have a thirty-eight minute appreciation by way of Moose Magic: The George Newman Shaw And John Willhelm Story, which is truly a tragic tale of musicians gone too soon from this world, this is a nice tribute from family and friends. . 

Stephen Thrower appears again in a nine-minute on-camera interview discussing his appreciation of Friedel's movies, having already heralded them in his book Nightmare USA. A nice touch from Severin is the inclusion of a bonus audio CD featuring the scores for both films plus additional music from George Newman Shaw and John Willhelm Story, complete with an insert card and track listing. The last of the extras on the disc are a selection of Trailers, TV Spots and Radio Spots for each of the movies and their various alternate titles, including Kidnap Lover, Lisa, Lisa and Virgin Slaughter. 

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Philip Smoot, Makeup Artist Worth Keeter and PA Richard W. Helms
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Frederick R. Friedel, Production Manager Philip Smoot and Makeup Artist Worth Keeter
- BLOODY BROTHERS feature, conformed from new transfers of hybrid feature with Audio Commentary by “Nightmare USA” Author Stephen Thrower
- At Last… Total Terror! – The Incredible True Story of AXE and KIDNAPPED COED (61 Mins) HD
- Moose Magic – The George Newman Shaw and John Willhelm Story (39 Mins) HD
- Stephen Thrower on AXE and KIDNAPPED COED (10 Mins) HD 
- Axe Trailer (2 Mins) 
- Lisa, Lisa Trailer (2 Mins) 
- Virgin Slaughter Trailer (2 Mins) 
- Axe TV Spot (1 Mins) HD 
- Axe Radio Spots (3 Mins) HD 
- Kidnap Lover Trailer (1 Mins) HD 
- Kidnapped Coed TV Spots (1 Mins) HD 
- Trailers
- TV Spots
- Radio Spots
- Special Limited 2 Disc Edition comes with Audio CD of the first ever release of AXE and KIDNAPPED COED Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Plus Bonus Tracks By Soundtrack Composers George Newman Shaw & John Willhelm

Severin Films continue to plunder the underground grindhouse cinema vaults for '70s rusty gold and once again they've done some miraculous work, resurrecting the movies of Frederick R. Friedel and making them available to the unwashed movie masses with a new shine and some fantastic extras. I think that regardless of how you feel about the movies themselves the extras alone are worth the purchase in my opinion. 3/5

THE LAST HORROR FILM (1982) (Blu-ray Review)

THE LAST HORROR FILM (1982) 

Label: Troma
Region Code: Region Free
Rating: Unrated 
Duration: 87 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: David Winters
Cast:Caroline Munro, Joe Spinell, Judd Hamilton

Maniac's Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro reunite just a year after that slasher classic for a strange guerrilla-style slasher shot partially without permits at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. Spinell plays Vinny, a somewhat disturbed NYC cab driver who lives at home with his dear mother, who is played by Spinell's actual mother Filomena Spagnuolo, their shared apartment is Spinell's actual apartment, too. Spinell who was fantastic as the nut job in Maniac does some similiar work here, maybe not as insane as Frank Zito from Maniac, but prone to oddball daydreams about making it big in Hollywood as a director. The cabbie has saved up enough to by a ticket to Cannes and a pass to the festival, when he tells him mom about his plans to travel to Cannes and cast b-movie queen Jenna Bates (Bond-girl Caroline Munro) in his movie "The Loves of Dracula"  she thinks he crazy, and she might be right, but before you know it the cabbie is in Cannes trying to rub elbows with the stars. 

Jenne Bates in is Cannes promoting her latest movie "Scream" along with her manager and ex-husband Bret Bates (Glenn Jacobson), and the film's producer Alan Cunningham (Judd Hamilton), who is also her current boyfriend, and Vinny just can't seem to get close enough to make his pitch, which drives him a little crazy, so he walks around the festival with his 16,, movie filming the starlet as best he can from afar until he can find a way to make his move and offer her the role. 

Jenna and those close to her receive notes reading "You've made your last horror film.", later that night she goes to her manager Brett's room only to find him beheaded in the tub, when she reports the crime the police arrive and there's no body, the local cops chalk it up to Jenna and her manager drumming up some press through an ill-advised publicity stunt. 

After which more people begin to disappear without a trace, we as viewers see them die one by one, but the bodies continue to disappear, and the killer is filming the murders on 16mm. We're left to ask the question, is Vinny so disturbed by the brush-off from Caroline that he would kill? Clearly Vinny is a whack job, prone to strange visions, it may well be, he's so off his rocker he thinks it would be appropriate to break into Jenna's room through a bathroom window while she's showering, offering her champagne, which as you can imagine does not go over so well. 

The movie was shot on a shoestring budget from the looks of it, with a script that must have  been just a few pages long with plenty of opportunity to ad lib I would assume, shot largely guerrilla style at the Cannes Films Festival I must say that was inspired idea, it offers the film-within-a-film some decent production value, you can spot some forced cameos from Karen Black and Kris Kristofferson, which is fun, as well as banners for the movie Possession and Pink Flamingos which were being promoted at the festival that year. 

Scenes of Munro running through the crowds in a only towel as she escapes Vinny after he crashed her shower are fun, Spinell has no trouble playing crazy, and this might be one of Munro's more substantial roles in a movie when I think about it, and as an aside she has some of the greatest '80s hair of all time in this movie, a two-tone coif for the ages. It helps that there's just something about Spinell that is magnetic, truly a schlub of a man, but his eyes are so expressive, there's a mix of frailness and insanity about his face that the camera loves, and even if the script is threadbare the actor manages to pull you into the insanity. 

Spinell and Munro both turn in some great performances, everyone else is pretty blah, but they save it time and time again, I sort of love this movie, maybe more than it deserves, but the Spinell/Munro combo is a winner, and at east believable this time around. Watching Maniac, as much as I love it, you struggle to see what Munro's character could possibly see in Frank Zito, truly a beauty and the beast scenario, here she is rightfully repulsed by the creepy guy. The movie has some decent gore, too. Some real and some of it not so real within the context of the move-within-a-movie, but all of it is pretty satisfying. We have some decent variety, from burning to stabbing, beheading, a shooting and even a chainsaw attack ...what more do you need? 

The Last Horror Film is an odd and uneven movie all the way around, it has some truly inspired moments and a few that just don't work, but I enjoyed it. I liked the obsessed cabbie character, his surreal nightmares, the way they shot it at Cannes without permission, and the Spinell/Munro team-up is magic yet again. 

Audio/Video: The Last Horror Films arrives on region-free Blu-ray Troma in 1080p HD framed in the original widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio, from what I can surmise this appears to be the same HD transfer as used by 88 Films for their UK release, sourced from the original negative as well as other undefined sources, which might help explain the varying image quality which ranges from watchable to not-so-watchable, but I would assume is a vast improvement over the fullframe DVD from Troma. It's cleaned-up but still grimy and not quite up to HD standards. The print used for the transfer has the alternate 'Fantatic' title card. For whatever reason Troma has opted to g0 with a lossy Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 track, it is serviceable. 

Onto the extras we have an assortment of non feature movie related Tromatic extras which I did not care to watch this time around. we do get a rambling audio commentary from Joe Spinell's close friend Luke Walter moderated by Evan Husney, which should be a treat for fans of Spinell. Tromas have also included the eight-minute short film 'Mr. Robbie' (aka Maniac 2) wherein Spinell plays a deranged clown who exacts revenge on a young girl's parents who mistreat her, this is a gem of a short, shot by director Buddy Giovinazzo who directed Combat Shock (1984), it was shot as a short to help finance a full-length feature, but Spinell passed away before it happened. 

Why Troma chose not to include 'My Best Maniac' and the 'Interview With Maniac Director William Lustig' from the previous special edition DVD is beyond me, 88 Films have it on their Blu-ray but it's conspicuously absent here, which is unfortunate. When it comes down to which version to purchase I would have to go with the 88 Films Blu-ray, which features the same transfer plus a lossless LPCM 2.0 Stereo audio, "My Best Maniac" Conversation with Luke Walter and the Interview with "Maniac" director William Lustig that appeared on the Troma Special Edition DVD and a Caroline Munro Q/A filmed at Glasgow Film Theatre, which is also region-free.

Special Features: 
- Intro by lloyd Kaufman
- Audio Commentary by Associate Producer Luke Walter Moderated by Evan Husney
- A Short Film by Buddy Giovinazzo - Mr. Robbie, starring Joe Spinell (8 Mins) 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1 Mins) 
- Highlights from the 2015 Tromadance Film Festival (5 Mins) HD 
- A Full episode of Troma's Latest Web series Kabukiman's Cocktail Corner: starring Paul Booth (10 Mins) HD 
- The Return of one of Troma's Beloved Characters, Dolphin Man (5 Mins) 
- Troma Trailers 

I recommend The Last Horror Film (1982) for the performances from Spinell and Munro, and for the inspired notions behind it. The execution is a bit shoddy, as are the source elements used for the HD transfer, the movie and the Blu-ray are both mixed bags, which version you buy depends on how important the extras are for you. 2.5/5 

THE DUNGEONMASTER (1985) / ELIMINATORS (1986) DOUBLE FEATURE (Blu-ray Review)

THE DUNGEONMASTER (1985) / ELIMINATORS (1986) 

THE DUNGEONMASTER (aka RAGEWAR) (1985) 
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 77 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Rosemarie Turko, Steve Ford, Ted Nicolaou, Charles Band, David Allen, John Carl Buechler, Peter Manoogian
Cast: Jeffrey Byron, Leslie Wing, Richard Moll

Synopsis: Paul, a young computer ace, is forced to pit his physical and mental skills against unimaginable odds when a hulking wizard looking for formidable opponents picks Paul as his next challenger. Paul faces a series of seven spectacular and death-defying challenges and must survive not only to save his life but that of his girlfriend's too! Jeffrey Byron (Metalstorm: The Destruction Of Jared-Syn) and Richard Moll (Night Court) star in this eye-popping thriller featuring an appearance by W.A.S.P.!

This version of The Dungeonmaster is unrated and different from the PG-13 version shown theatrically and released by Scream Factory as part of the All Night Horror Marathon Volume 2 DVD. It includes an additional scene with some nudity, which is always fun for lover's of b-movies, nudity certainly never hurt a movie. I love this slice of '80s b-movie schlock, we have computer whiz Paul Bradford (Jeffrey Byron) who wears the 80's version of Google Glass that links him into his home computer, the X-Cal-BR8, which allows him to do such nifty things as turn traffic lights green when it suits his needs... AWESOME!  At night Paul is plagued by nightmares, one of which comes true when a demonic wizard named Mastema (Richard Moll, Night Train to Terror) whisks Paul and his girlfriend Gwen (Leslie Wing) away to a netherworld, where Paul is forced to complete seven challenges or lose Gwen to the devilish demon. Each of these challenge sequences are directed by a different director working for Empire Pictures at the time, making this a strange anthology of sorts. Directors Rosemarie Turko, Steve Ford, Ted Nicolaou, Charles Band, David Allen, John Carl Buechler and Peter Manoogian do their best to keep this thing afloat on a limited budget and for the most part they succeed, creating an entertaining series of connected vignettes, each with it's own flavor

In "Ice Gallery" from director Rosemarie Turko Gwen and Paul must face off against a rogue's gallery of Mastema's former challengers, ranging from Jack the Ripper to Einstein! Next up is John Carl Buechler "Demons of the Dead" which takes place in a cave where Paul is made to battle the undead and contend with the pint-sized demon Ratspit, looking a bit like a reject from Ghoulies. My favorite of the bunch has to be "Heavy Metal" which is directed by Charles band and pits the couple against the band W.A.S.P. and their maniacal lead singer Blackie Lawless as the band tears through their song "Tormentor", the short is basically the band's stage show with poor Gwen being the centerpiece, it's truly not anything of substance, I just love the vintage W.A.S.P. performance. 

I am a fan of anything David Allen did, he was Empire Pictures king of stop-motion stuff, his entry  "Stone Canyon Giant" pits Paul against a stone giant and is a fun change up, while Steven Ford's "Slasher" has Paul on the run to stop Gwen from becoming a next victim of a serial killer stalking the street of Los Angeles. We're back in a cave for Peter Manoogian's "Cave Beast" and we finish strong with Ted Nicolaou's "Desert Bandit", a cheap Mad Max knock-off with armor-plated golf carts in place of muscle machines, which brought to mind the Roger Corman production Battle Truck, only shorter and therefore less painful. 

The movie has a definitive '80's sheen to it, Paul's short shorts are proof of that, as is his fantasy-based Tron-esque costuming, which also smacks of cheapness. The Dungeonmaster (aka Ragewar) may not be a great movie but it is certainly entertaining in a bad '80s sort of way. I cannot imagine my kids watching this and enjoying it, I think you need to have a certain amount of '80s nostalgia and reverence for the era to fully appreciate it, which I have plenty of, so this went down quite smoothly with a few brews and a head full of youthful nostalgia. 

ELIMINATORS (1986) 
Region Code: A
Duration: 99 Minutes 
Rating: PG-13
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Peter Manoogian
Cast: Andrew Prine, Conan Lee, Denise Crosby, Patrick Reynolds, Roy Dotrice

Synopsis: A mandroid – part man and part machine – seeks revenge on the evil scientist who created him. Enlisting the help of a beautiful woman and a mysterious ninja, he pursues the scientist in hopes of stopping him before he can further harm humanity. Andrew Prine (The Town That Dreaded Sundown) and Denise Crosby (Star Trek: The Next Generation) star.

Up next on this double feature is the Eliminators, which Scream Factory have previously issued on DVD as part of the SciFi Movie Marathon collection, and to my knowledge this is the exact same version only with a new HD transfer. The movie starts with reclusive inventor Abbott Reeves (Roy Dotrice, Amadeus) hard at work on perfecting time-travel for nefarious reasons, sending his half-human, half-robot "mandroid" (Patrick Reynolds) back to Ancient Rome, which is successful. No longer requiring the "mandroid" he orders his assistant Dr. Takada (Tad Horino) to destroy his creation, however, Takada has compassion for the "mandroid" and helps him escape from the compound, with Takada dying in the ensuing fire-fight with Reeve's henchmen. 

In the aftermath the Mandroid is damaged and he seeks the aid of Colonel Nora Hunter (Denise Crosby) who helped design some of his parts. From here Hunter and Mandroid, dubbed John by Hunter, head back to Mexico to put an end to Reeve's diabolical time-travelling plans. The duo enlist the help of a river guide named Harry Fontana (Andrew Prine, The Town That Dreaded Sundown) who guides them down the river to the mad scientists laboratory, along the way they must fend off Fontana's own personal rogues gallery, including a butch rival river guide named Bayou Betty (Peggy Mannix)

I found it hard to watch this and not think of the Astron-6 movie Manborg, obviously the guys drew a lot of influence from this one, just look at the design similarities, I found this a ton of fun, again I don't think this is good cinema, but its fun and entertaining, and further proof that Empire Pictures knew how to stretch a dollar bill to the breaking point. Bringing Andrew Prine into the cast was an inspired idea, the guy is a blast and by far my favorite part of the movie, as is the tiny scout bot named SPOT. The special effects are done by John Carl Buchler and David Allen, a team that deserves a lot of credit for what they were able to achieve on what was likely a small budget, loves the Madroid's mobile unit and overall design, somewhat cheeseball but '80s awesome at the same time. 

Both films arrive on Blu-ray from Scream Factory on a single disc. the 1080p HD framed in 1.78 widescreen, and looking good for the most part. The image can be a bit soft and some of the optical special effects show some grit, but not bad at all.  The English DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo 2.0 does the job, not the most dynamic but a solid stereo track with optional English subtitles. 

Extras on the disc include a brand new interview with director Peter Manoogian who recalls is early years at New World Pictures and working for Charles Band at Empire Pictures, going into the production of Eliminators. There's also a trailer for The Dungeonmaster.

Scream Factory have done a fine job bringing these two junk-food slices of '80s cheese to Blu-ray for the first time, I give them a proper tip of the hat for making the longer and more explicit version of The Dungeonmaster to fans, and while I would have loved new interviews from Richard Moll or Denise Crosby or a director commentary from John Carl Buechler or Ted Nicolau, there are only so many resources you can throw at these movies, they're not even cult-classic, they're video obscurities and just having them on Blu-ray might seem like overkill to some. 2.5/5

 

COUNT DRACULA (1970) (Blu-ray Review)

COUNT DRACULA (1970)

Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated 
Audio: English DTS- HD MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Full Screen (1.33:1) 
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Herbert Lom, Soledad Miranda, Maria Rohm, Paul Muller, Fred Williams

The late horror legend Christopher Lee had taken a years long break portraying the bloodthirsty vampire he made famous with Hammer Films when he was approached by Spanish director Jess Franco to make a vampire movie that more closely followed the original Bram Stoker novel. Franco, along with producer Harry Towers, assembled quite a cast and brought us a memorable adaptation indeed, though largely devoid of Franco's signature eroticism. We find Jonathan Harker (Fred Williams) travelling to the castle of Count Dracula in Transylvania to oversee the purchase of a new property in London for the Count. Along the way he is warned by his stage coach driver of the strange goings on at the castle, but he attributes the warning to local superstition. Once he meets Count Dracula he finds his aged host to be a welcoming sort, that is until after dinner when he finds himself imprisoned within his room, soon to discover that the Count is a bloodsucking vampire with a trio of vampire brides who also want to feast on his blood. 

Harker manages to escape through a window and returns to London, recovering from his ordeal at a sanitarium run by Dr. Seward (Franco regular Paul Muller), where he also encounters Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Herbert Lom, Mark of the Devil). Harker's lovely fiancee Mina (Maria Rohm) visits him at the sanitarium, along with and her sublime friend Lucy (Soledad Miranda, She Killed in Ecstasy), Unfortunately both women become entranced by Count Dracula who has since moved to London and into his newly acquired property. Madman Klaus Kinski appears as Renfield, a disturbed patient at the sanitarium, he plays it appropriately unhinged, eating bugs and generally being weird, giving Dwight Fry a run for his money. Kinski makes a damn fine Renfield but I feel he gets a bit short-shrifted and is not onscreen nearly enough for my own tastes.. 

Harker's wild stories about his trip to Transylvania go largely unheeded by Dr. Seward, a man of science who attributes the tales to a disturbed mind. However, his peer Van Helsing is well aware of the legend of Dracula and soon joins forces with Harker and Lucy's boyfriend Quincey (Jack Taylor, Pieces) to face-off against the threat of Dracula, the trio form a vampire hunting alliance against the centuries old bloodsucker. Lee is fantastic as the titular blood-drinker, to the surprise of no one I would expect. A moustached version of the legendary Count appropriately fanged with bloodshot eyes, the aging make-up looks great, the blood drinker becoming more vital and younger as he drains each victim of the red stuff, Lee is a class act through and through. 

As is Herbert Lom as the legendary vampire hunter, the man brings a certain amount of gravitas to the every role. Fred Williams is quite good in the role of Harker but he does fade a bit into the background when standing in the shadow of Lee and Lom, not to mention a roomful of Franco regulars like Jack Taylor and Paul Muller. Add to that the beauty of Maria Rohm and Soldedad Miranda and the poor guy was bound to get lost a bit, which he does, to no fault of his own. Kinski as the wild-eyed Renfield s wonderful as I have said, a fantastic performance from the madman as a madman, but I wanted more of him and I found it a bit odd that his own connection to Dracula is a bit obscured in this version of the story. 

Shot largely in Spain the exterior shots and wooded locations looks fantastic, Franco makes great use of the Castle location. His work with producer Harry Alan Towels produced some of his best work with his biggest budgets, and this one has a great aesthetic, you can see the production value up on the screen. The story itself does tend to have a certain amount of paciness about it, dragging in certain parts, which is not unusual for a Franco movie by any means, but certainly not enough to derail the production, there's a lot to love about this movie. 

As much as I enjoy it there are some things that don't quite work in it's favor, notably a trashy rubber bat on a string that lingers for far too long, it is laughable. Franco-philes who know his body of work will not be surprised by the copious amount of zoom-lensing present in the movie, a choice that doesn't work for the period piece, but the lensing for the most pasrt looks great with nicely framed composition. Perhaps the biggest cinema-beef I have with the film is that we never get any scenes of Lee with either Lom or Kinski together in one shot, their scenes were filmed separately and assembled, what a missed opportunity! 

Audio/Video: Severin Films have a reverence for Franco's movies and have gone above and beyond yet again. Count Dracula arrives on Blu-ray framed at the correct 1.33.1 fullframe aspect ratio. The print used for the new HD transfer would seem to be French as evidenced by the French title card. There's a modest amount of improved depth and clarity over the previous standard definition release fro Dark Sky Films, but only slightly to be honest. They have restored a missing scene of a mother pleading at the castle gates for the return of her doomed baby, it's sourced from a 16mm print and the drop in quality is noticeable but it is nice to have it back in place. The English language LPCM 2.0 Mono sounds fine, the dialogue is crisp and the Bruno Nicolai (The Case of the Bloody Iris) comes through clean and strong, there are no subtitle options on this release. 

Onto the extras Severin have been kind enough to carry over all of the extras from the Dark Sky Films release beginning with the twenty-six minute interview with Director Jess Franco, with a cigarette in hand discussing the film in heavily accented English. Also carried over is the eighty-four minute recording of Christopher Lee reading sections of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula over a music score, the hypnotic reading of the source material is fantastic and quite a treat for Lee and Stoker fans. 

Onto the brand-new extras from Severin Films we have a commentary track featuring actress Maria Rohm and moderator David Del Valle. Rohm was married to producer Harry Alan Towers and has unique insight into the making of the movie, sharing some great stories about her experiences on set and behind the scenes making the movie. For his part film historian David Dev Valle does a great job, informative and animated, he keeps the commentary focused and insightful. I just heard his commentary from another 1970 bloodsucker film, Count Yorga, Vampire, he knows his stuff and it makes for a great commentary.

A nice added extra is the inclusion of the Pere Portabella experimental making of doc Cuadecuc, Vampir, shot in black and white and without sync sound, which makes for a somewhat arty behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie with shots of the effects being composed with many of the main cast, with the exception of Klaus Kinski. 

There's also a new ten-minute interview with Eurocult legend Jack Taylor (The Ninth Gate), plus a twenty-six minute interview with actor Fred Williams, both discuss their careers with Franco, commenting on Maria Rohm, Harry Alan Towers, Soledad Miranda, and Christopher Lee. Finishing up the extras there's an eight-minute appreciation of the movie by Filmmaker Christophe Gans (The Brotherhood of the Wolf), discussing the movie and offering theories on how Franco and Towers convinced Kinski appear in the movie, there's also a German trailer for the movie plus the German, French, Italian and Spanish Alternate Title Sequences, all in all a well-fanged special edition of the movie. 

Special Features:
- Uncut Feature in HD (Includes Controversial Previously Deleted Baby Scene) at Franco’s Approved Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
- Cuadecuc, Vampir (1970): Experimental ‘Making Of’ Feature By Pere Portabella (75 Mins) 
- Audio Commentary with horror historian David Del Valle and Actress Maria Rohm
- Beloved Count Interview with Director Jess Franco (26 Mins) 
- An Interview With Actor Jack Taylor (10 Mins) 
- ‘Handsome Harker’ Interview With Actor Fred Williams (26 Mins) HD 
- ’Stake Holders’ An Appreciation By Filmmaker Christophe Gans (8 Mins) HD 
- Christopher Lee Reads Bram Stoker's Dracula (84 Mins) 
- German, French, Italian and Spanish Alternate Title Sequence (8 Mins) 
- German Trailer (3 Mins) 

Jess Franco's Count Dracula (1970) is not a perfect movie, very few of his movies were to be honest, but it does have an atmospheric charm and an outstanding cast, starring none other than the legendary Christopher Lee as the titular blood-drinker, and strong supporting roles from Herbert Lom and Klaus Kinski, plus the sultry curves of Maria Rohm and Soledad Miranda. On top of that we have Franco regulars Paul Muller and Jack Taylor, if you've seen any of Franco's movies from the 70's you will know their faces, if not their names. The movie is dripping with atmosphere, and while its true that it does get a bit pacey at times and a few of the special effects are awful, for Franco fans and lovers of Eurocult this is a fine time all the way around. Severin Films have assembled a superb 1080p presentation, they've knocked it out of the park this past year with a handful of wonderful Jess Franco films on Blu-ray, and this is yet another definitive version. 3/5