ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH (1989) (Severin Blu-ray Review)

ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH (1989)

Label: Severin Films

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 88 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Claudio Fragasso

Cast: Jeff Stryker, Candice Daly, Massimo Vanni, Jim Gaines, Don Wilson

From director Claudio Fragasso (Troll 2) - which should tell you something right there - comes Zombie 4: After Death (1988), a Filipino shot zombie film that opens with a zany prologue wherein an angry voodoo priests condemns his wife to the pits of Hell as a smokey-hole opens up in the ground swallowing her. The rite is interrupted by a group of medical anglo-interlopers who show up and dialogue is exchanged with some crap about them causing the death of the voodoo priest's daughter through their cancer research. The priest places a curse on them, which ends up being a zombie plague. This is a strange prologue as it doesn't have a whole lot to do with the rest of the film but we do get some green-drooling zombies, one of which looks a bit like a cheap knock-off of the Garretta Garetta demon from Lamberto Bava's much superior Demons (1985). The only survivor during the prologue is a young girl, and we flash forward about ten years and this girl returns to the very same island with a group of mercenaries, though I'm not sure why she came back, the whole time she keeps speaking about how they are all doomed if they step foot on the island, but they do anyway, of course. This first group we're introduced to ends up as victims for the undead from the get-go, falling victim to the surprisingly fast and kung-fu inclined undead in quick succession. The undead here appearing in black shrouds and white-face, with caked-on make-up meant to make them look like their flesh is rotting off, but just looks really cheap, but that they are fast and inclined to use weapons at times made me think of another Italo-schlocko, Umberto Lenzi's batshit infected flick Nightmare City (1980).

  

Much like in the Fulci-Mattei-Fragasso hybrid Zombie 3 (1988) the film has two groups of people plagued by the hungry undead who meet-up and face-off against the threat, the second group turns out to me the main group we stay with for most the film, we have group leader David (Massimo Vanni), Chuck (gay porn star Jeff Stryker) and Valerie (Candice Daly). This adventuresome trio are on the island to explore a volcano, but end up down in the catacombs of where we saw the voodoo priest earlier and reading from the "Book of the Dead", in a bit stolen straight from the Evil Dead, eventually making their way to the island hospital where they encounter more undead before ending up down in the catacombs again. 

As mentioned the film is directed by Fragasso (director of Troll 2, screenwriter of Zombie 3, Shocking Dark) so you know this is gonna be a silly sort of film, but it's also nice and gory with some really fun blood and guts gags that are sure to entertain the horror fiends. The film actually has some nice atmosphere too, dare I say it, it superficially brought to mind Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) a few times, the jungles and tunnels are all drenched in wafts of fog and with a synth-drenched score from Al Fiesta (director of Fatal Frames!) that heaps on the queso-delic campiness, accenting the sometimes shambling, often running undead, as they emerge from graves and chomp down on the living.

The acting in this one is pretty spotty but also appropriate for the film, this is a straight-up Italian cheese-fest, and that's what I was in the mood for when I popped this on, and I was not even a little bit disappointed by it. It certainly lives up to it's reputation as a hideously awful - but totally fun - slice of late-80s Italian/Filipino schlock. 

Audio/Video: Zombie 4: After Death (1989) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, advertised as a 2K scan from elements that aren't advertised, so it's probably not the original camera negative. It's worth noting that this is the 8-min longer uncut version of the film, so you're getting more gore with this release! The image shows some wear and tear but isn't DNR-abused, grain shows up just fine, looking it bit chunkier during the darker scenes and looking considerably less gauzy. Colors are decent, occasionally a red, green or blue gel light shows up and looks good, blacks are just okay, it's not gonna blow you away but it looks better than my Shriek Show DVD by a Filipino mile and is gorier! 

Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 track, with no subtitle options. Dialogue is clean and never hard to decipher, the synth score from Al Festa sounds good, if you dig it the first 3000 copies of this one include a CD soundtrack, listening to the szcore in the car today I was a bit shocked how good it was.

Extras begin with another wonderfully candid interview with Director Claudio Fragasso and Screenwriter Rossella Drudi (plus their ever-present cat) who speak about this being his vision as opposed to other films he co-wrote, this time out he was director, but was slightly hamstrung by the fact that he had limited access to a camera as Bruno Mattei was making Strike Commando 2 at the same time, so he only had access to the cameras at night. They talk about how they came up with idea of a more action oriented zombie movie, wherein the zombies could think, handle weapons and run fast, which he points out he did a long time before films like the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later, and having to shoot the prologue for the film when the movie ended up a bit too short.

Also discussed is the Al Fiesta score, the gory special FX of Franco Di Girolamo, the visual FX of the Paolocci Brothers, who Drudi amusingly recalls as being "full of shit and pretentious", plus working with the Roman/Filipino hybrid crew. There's also a fun story of how during a dinner with his Filipino crew he unknowingly drank a hallucinogenic coconut liquor that warped reality, plus anecdotes about working with the Filipino crew on this film and on Strike Commando 2 with Mattei, and remembering actors Jeff Stryker and the late Candice Daly. 

Gay porn star Jeff Stryker shows up for a 10-min interview discussing how he was cast in the film by a gay casting director who was infatuated with him,  hoping it would lead to more legit movie (which it didn't), also modeling his 12-inch action figure for us, remembering how dedicated the Filipino crew were, also remembering that Candice Daly was so upset with how hideous her make-up was at the end of the film she cried. 

There's a 2-min vintage interview with the late Candice Daly who recalls flying to the Filipines to join her then boyfriend who said she could get a gig on some Italian films, remembering how hot and humid it was, and referring to Fragasso as Francis Ford Fragassio, ha ha.nThe disc is buttoned-up with 4-mins of behind-the-scenes footage of shooting the prologue in Rome, plus a 3-min trailer for the film. 

The 2-disc BD/CD release comes housed in a black Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, the same key art on the sleeve is featured on the Blu-ray disc, the CD featuring an image from the film. 

Special Features:

- Run Zombie Run! - Interview With Director Claudio Fragasso and Screenwriter Rossella Drudi (32 min) HD 

- Jeff Stryker in Manila - Interview With Actor Chuck Peyton (10 min) HD 

- Blonde vs Zombies - Interview With Actress Candice Daly (2 min) 

- Behind-The-Scenes Footage (4 min) 

- Trailer (3 min) 

- Limited Edition: First 3000 with First Ever Official Release Soundtrack CD of Music By Al Festa

Zombie 4: After Death (1989) is not a good film, but it's the good sort of bad that I find hugely entertaining, sometimes you just wanna watch a bad zombie movie and few did it better (or worse, depending) than the Italians. It's with only a small amount of  slight towards Claudio Fragasso that I say he had his hands on quite a few of these z-grade zombie curios throughout his career, and Severin have given it a Blu-ray several times over more opulent than it probably deserves, so dig in! 

VINEGAR SYNDROME SEPTEMBER TITLES ANNOUNCED!

Straight from the VinSyn newletter: 

It‘s time to officially announce our September lineup - available for preorder now at VinegarSyndrome.com!

Unlike August, which is a love letter to the waning days of the Nixon era, September is all about variety (well, different types of movies involving killing).

First, Philip Brophy‘s early 90‘s Aussie slime-fest, BODY MELT, makes its overdue North American Bu-ray debut, featuring a stunning, all new, never-before-seen (unless you were at the theatrical premier last month in Montreal) restoration sourced from the original camera negative. You‘ve never seen BODY MELT looking like this and our disc is the only way you can see it. We‘ve also got a bunch of newly produced extras to make it the ultimate BODY MELT package.

Moving on to slime of a different kind (or is it scum?), James Riffel‘s celebration of yuppie killing (and yuppie zombies), THE HOUSE ON TOMBSTONE HILL (which was first released as THE DEAD COME HOME, but best known as DEAD DUDES IN THE HOUSE (sigh)…), is coming to Blu-ray and also newly restored from its original negative. If you remember it being a murky sea of darkness, you‘ll no doubt be amazed by what we have in store…

Lastly on Blu-ray, one of the finest pieces of hardcore filmmaking, probably ever, Gerard Damiano‘s pitch perfect saga of sadness, loneliness, and sexual repression (with some good catholic guilt stuff to round things out), MEMORIES WITHIN MISS AGGIE. If you‘ve never seen it, be wary of what you read on it, lest spoiling its genuinely unsettling twist. It‘s quite a visual gut-punch.

Then on DVD, a duo of extreme rarities from smut master, Shaun Costello, with the silly SENSUOUS FLY GIRLS and the surprisingly downbeat SCHOOL GIRL REUNION.

Lastly, can you survive two more warped sleaze epics from Ray Dennis Steckler? If so, then indulge in THE SEXORCIST [DEVIL] and DEVIATES IN LOVE. 

WAKE IN FRIGHT WITH THE LATEST 88 FILMS SLASHER CLASSIC BLU RAY - FRIGHTMARE (1983)!!

SCARED? You will be as FRIGHTMARE (1983) hits UK home video for the first time since the era of VHS on 10^th September. And this chilling story of resurrected supernatural murder has never looked better!

FRIGHTMARE (1983) 

Label: 88 Films 
Region Code: B
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: Eglish DTS-HD MA 1.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles 
Certification: 18
Duration: 87 Minutes
Cast: Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Nita Talbot

Director: Norman Thaddeus Vane

Also known as THE HORROR STAR, the 1983 cult creeper FRIGHTMARE was a beloved video rental favourite that might even be seen to anticipate the more supernatural direction that the genre would go in with the following year’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET! Perhaps even an influence on the better known blockbuster FRIGHT NIGHT, this tightly-paced and well-directed gem introduces us to a late night horror star who is long past his peak and about to meet the Grim Reaper – for real rather than ‘for reel’! But you cannot keep a embittered old genre star down and, sure enough, when some fanboy teens decide to disturb the deceased celebrity’s grave he opts to rise up… with a vengeance!

FRIGHTMARE was the fear-film that gave audiences postmodern shocks long before Wes Craven gave us his game-changing SCREAM in 1996. An underrated and underseen gem, the film highlights a notable supporting performance from the great Jeffrey Combs (RE-ANIMATOR) and character great Chuck Mitchell (PORKY’S) as well as assured direction from Norman Thaddeus Vane (who also worked on the X-rated cult favourite DRACULA SUCKS). With a dash of pitch black humour, and a literate script, as well as characters that you actually want to see make the end credits with their limbs still intact, FRIGHTMARE was a revelation to slasher fans back in 1983. Far removed from so many of the opportunistic cheap and cheerless slice and dicers that were still rushing out to theatres and video shelves as the mid-eighties approached, FRIGHTMARE is a unique blend of student-slaughtering and old dark house thrills – mixed up in a malevolent and unpredictably nasty narrative!

Kicking-off with some heady laughs and genre references, FRIGHTMARE boasts more changes of tone and identity than Madonna, and it has aged at least as well as the ‘Material Girl’ too! Take our word for it, this is one of the most stylish and sublime of all the eighties slice and dice horror-pack and 88 Films is thrilled to present FRIGHTMARE as part of its Slasher Classics collection in a jam-packed edition. Numbered as number ‘38’, FRIGHTMARE is proof positive of the ambitions of this line – resurrecting the brave indie-shockers from the past for a new generation to enjoy and an older one to reappreciate. The disc hits UK shelves on Monday, September 10^th but early birds can get their order direct from 88 Films NOW – with a very limited slipcase reserved for the first 300 orders only!!!!

SPECIAL FEATURES

- Limited Edition Booklet notes by Film journalists Dave Wain and Matty Budrewicz

- All new 2K Scan and Restoration from 35mm Camera Negative

- Bobo's Confession - An Interview with Scott Thomson

- New Interview with Cinematographer Joel King

- Archival Audio Interview with Director Norman Thaddeus Vane (Played over the Film)

- Audio Commentary with David Del Valle and David DeCoteau

- Audio Commentary by the Slasher Loving Podcast, The Hysteria Continues

- Audio Commentary by Film Journalists, Nathaniel Thompson and Tim Greer from Mondo Digital

- Original Theatrical Trailer

- Stills Gallery

- Optional English SDH Subtitles

- Reversible Cover Artwork

Severin Films Presents ANTHROPOPHAGOUS and ABSURD – A Duo of D’Amato Nasties, Uncut on Blu-ray for the First Time Ever in America 9/25!

ANTHROPOPHAGUS (1980) 

Label: Severin Films
Release Date: September 25th 2018
Duration: 90 Minutes in English and Italian
Region Code: All regions.
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: English and Italian Dolby Digital Mono
Director: Joe D'Amato
Cast: Tisa Farrow, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi

It has been called “seriously creepy” (CoolAssCinema.com), “insanely violent” (Nerdist.com) and “truly repulsive” (DVD Talk). It was seized by UK authorities as a ‘Video Nasty’ and accused of being an actual snuff film. Yet even by ‘80s Italian gore-spewing standards, this grueling shocker from sex & sleaze maestro Joe D’Amato (BEYOND THE DARKNESS) still stands as perhaps the most controversial – and extreme – spaghetti splatter epic of them all. Tisa Farrow (ZOMBIE), Zora Kerova (CANNIBAL FEROX) and co-writer/producer George Eastman (STAGE FRIGHT, 1990: BRONX WARRIORS) star in this depraved daddy of cannibal carnage from “Italy’s King of Trash Sinema” (Horrorpedia.com), now featuring a 2k scan from the original 16mm negative – including two of the most gut-retching scenes in horror history – and spurting with all-new Special Features.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Don't Fear the Man-Eater- Interview with Writer/Star Luigi Montefiori a.k.a. George Eastman
- The Man Who Killed the Anthropophagus- Interview with Actor Saverio Vallone
- Cannibal Frenzy- Interview with FX Artist Pietro Tenoglio
- Brother and Sister in Editing- Interview with Editor Bruno Micheli
- Inside Zora's Mouth- Interview with Actress Zora Kerova
- Trailers

ABSURD (1981)

Label: Severin Films
Release Date: September 25th 2018
Duration: 94 minutes in English and 88 minutes in Italian
Region Code: All regions
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
Production year: 1981
Director: Joe D'Amato
Cast: George Eastman, Annie Belle, Charles Borromel

Toss away those inferior bootlegs and experience sleaze maestro Joe D’Amato’s infamous follow-up to ANTHROPOPHAGOUS like never before! Borrowing heavily from HALLOWEEN, D’Amato unleashes gut-spewing Greek boogeyman (screenwriter George Eastman) into suburban America for a “gruesome as hell” (CinemasFringes.com) and “incredibly sadistic” (ASlashAbove.com) saga of doomed nurses, butchered babysitters, bio-chemical clergy and some of the most insane splatter scenes in Italian gorehound history. Edmund Purdom (FRANKENSTEIN’S CASTLE OF FREAKS, PIECES) and Annie Belle (HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, LAURE) co-star in this “violence-soaked bloodbath” (Hysteria Lives) and former ‘Video Nasty’ – also known as THE GRIM REAPER 2, ZOMBIE 6, HORRIBLE and MONSTER HUNTER – now featuring a 2k scan from the original negative and gushing with all-new Special Features. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- ROSSO SANGUE- Alternate Italian cut (with optional English subtitles)
- The Return of the Grim Reaper- Interview with Actor / Writer / Co-Producer Luigi Montefiore
- D'Amato on Video- Archive Interview with Director Aristide Massaccesi
- A Biker (Uncredited)- Interview with Filmmaker/Extra Michele Soavi
- Trailer

ZOMBIE 3 (1988) (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

ZOMBIE 3 (1988)

Label: Severin Films

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: UNrated

Duration: 95 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)

Director: Lucio Fulci, Claudio Fragrasso, Bruno Mattei 

Cast: Derian Sarafian, Beatrice Ring, Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Massimo Vanni

I will always remember Zombie 3 (1988) as my first Lucio Fulci disappointment, I adore Zombie (aka Zombi, aka Zombie Flesh Eaters) which was an early Fulci discovery for me, and I was working my way through his filmography when I happened upon this strange little film, which was advertised as a sequel to his seminal gore and atmosphere soaked zombie classic. I went into this one sight unseen with huge expectations, and what I got was a fever-dream of poor filmmaking that feels like an inept nightmare you cannot wake up from, and while a fever dream nightmare could describe a number of Fulci classics this was like that only in a bad way. 

The premise begins with a military lab where scientist are working on a biological weapon called "Death One", we see it reanimate what looks to be a dead corpse in a glass tube, the experiment nearly goes out of control, and the scientist recommends that all trials end immediately. Then a terrorist steals a sample of the bio-weapon and ends up infecting themselves and releasing it into the wild where it infects the Filipino population who transform into highly-mobile infected/zombies bent on ruining the day for a trio of soldiers om a weekend pass and five friends on a road trip in an RV, who converge at a dilapidated hotel. Together they must defend themselves not just against the infected hordes but a military crew bent on killing every last soul in the area, infected or not, to clean-up their mess. 

Part of the problem of this one is revealed in the extras that accompany the film, Fulci was not happy with the production which was underfunded and under-prepared, resulting in Fulci losing  interest in the film, he ended-up leaving due to either his own illness or disinterest, it's not exactly clear, the extras offer various interpretations. Anyway, after his departure original screenwriter Claudio Fragasso (director of Troll 2) and second unit director Bruno Mattei (director of Rats: Night of Terror) were brought in by the producer to rewrite and film additional scenes, and the end result is a bit of a demented nightmare on film, it's trashy and lo-fi, but not without some cheap Italian charms and low-budget gore. The special effects here were created by Franco Di Girolamo (Nightmare City) and the infected running around look a bit like the Hell of the Living Dead/Nightmare City variety, nowhere near the zenith of what we saw with Fulci's Zombi, these are cheap looking and often comedic in how bad they look, we get both the shambling variety and the more limber parkour type like 28 Days Later, jumping out of the trees and even using machetes and a bit of kung-fu, it's a mixed bag but no un-entertaining in a trashy sort of way. The highlight for me was the disembodied head that defies physics by flying out of a refrigerator and latching onto the neck of a victim, it's so bad, but it oh so good.

The hybrid film is a mixed bag, admittedly it's mostly awful but there's still some interesting stuff, some of it borrowed from other films, like we have a recurring blind DJ who cuts in from time to time that brought to mind Vanishing Point (1971) and the cremation of infected remains that only serves to spread the contamination, this looking to be pilfered from The Return of the Living Dead (1985), but not as effective - and there's no cool tracking shot. Other cool stuff is the addition of infected birds attacking the living, which I think was a nice touch and a good way of spreading the contagion.  

As a sequel to Fulci's Zombie (1978) this is real bad stuff, but as just an bad Italian zombie movie it's certainly entertaining in a bad-movie sort of way, and an interesting footnote in the Fulci discography with a cool story behind it as told in the extras.  

Audio/Video: Zombie 3 (1988) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, sourced from a new 2K scan of unspecified elements. This has always been an ugly movie, shot with that hideous diffused lighting style we saw in Shocking Dark (1989), but it at least looks better than the Media Blasters/Shriek Show DVD. Grain levels vary throughout, colors are more saturated and detail and clarity is slightly improved, but that's about all I can say positive about it, it's the best it's ever looked, but there's no wow-factor here.

The only audio option is an English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 track, no subtitles are provided. The track is solid, the droney-synth score score from Stefano Mainetti sounds good, alongside cheese-metal tracks from Clue the Crew which will latch onto your ears and chew on them long after the movie ends. 

Extras begin with a new interview from Co-Director/Co-Writer Claudio Fragasso and Co-Writer Rossella Drudi who tell the tale of how Lucio Fulci was tapped for the project, his illness on set, disagreements with the producers, and how he left the project, with Fragrasso having to come back to re-write the film and co-direct the re-shoots with Bruno Mattei to finish the film. They discuss Fulci's liver cancer and how the Philippines were not an ideal shooting location for a man so ill, and in a way that sort of shirks Fulci's reputation Drudi says he was actually a very nice man, writing her letters to apologize for scenes he had to remove from her script because of the lack of budget on the film. They also discuss Fulci seemingly having his revenge on the producer's by shooting 20-90 minutes of canoe scenes, depending on who you believe. These interviews with Fragrasso and Drudi interviews that have accompanied are some of these Severin releases recently are some of my favrotite extras, adding context to this strange Fulci/Mattei/Fragrasso hybrid.  The talk of Fulci is amazing, stories of him pulling out his own teeth, and going to a Filipino witch doctor to find a cure for his illness. They finish up with a fun story about Dario Argento and the film Wax Mask (1997), which was to be a film directed by Fulci, but after his death Argento offered it Fragrasso who turned it down.  

Severin also carry-over the extras from Media Blasters old DVD release of the film, we get the audio commentary With Stars Deran Sarafian and Beatrice Ring, plus three vintage interviews, the first with Actors/Stuntmen Massimo Vanni and Ottaviano Dell'Acqua who show up to discuss the shoot, what it was like shooting a film on the alleged sets of Apocalypse Now! and noting that rebels were fighting in the streets, and how Fulci fell through the wooden floor of a set only to shrug it off, that Fulci was a tough little bugger! Another vintage interview comes from co-director Bruno Mattie who discusses the stuff he shot, including the beginning and end of the film, plus all the stuff with men in white decontamination suits, claiming he shot about 40% of the movie as what Fulci shot was too short, also saying he feels all his film are terrible, and contradicting the stuntmen saying he never saw any of the rebellion happening at the time. Actress Marina Loi shows up for a brief interview discussing being cast in the film, and enjoying Fulci's sarcastic and intelligent brand of humor. The last of the vintage extras is an interview with FX Artist Franco Di Girolamo who walks us through his horror factory showcasing various gore-gags and props from his film like a head from Black Cat, and stuff Zombie 3, Night Killer among others, while espousing his love of practical FX. The last extra is a wordless three minute trailer for the film showcasing it's utter strangeness. 

The 2-disc BD/CD release comes housed in a spiffy black Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork. the disc also featuring the same key art as the sleeve, plus we get the CD featuring the droning synth score from composer Stefano Mainetti, intermixed with totally catchy progressive cheese-rock songs from the band Clue the Crew, no idea who they are but they are totally 80's and their song "The Sound of Fear" is now stuck in my head. 

Special Features:

- The Last Zombies - Interview With Co-Director / Co-Writer Claudio Fragasso and Co-Writer Rossella Drudi (19 min) 

- Tough Guys - Interview with Actors/Stuntmen Massimo Vanni and Ottaviano Dell'Acqua (5 min) 

- The Problem Solver - Interview with Replacement Director Bruno Mattei (9 min) 

- Swimming with Zombies - Interview with Actress Marina Loi (5 min) 

- In the Zombie Factory - Interview with FX Artist Franco Di Girolamo (6 min) 

- Audio Commentary With Stars Deran Sarafian and Beatrice Ring

- Trailer (3 min) 

- Limited Edition: First 3000 with Remastered Soundtrack CD of Music By Stefano Mainetti

Zombie 3 (1988) is a bad film, a trashy hybridization with contributions from Fulci and cheesier elements provided by re-shoots by Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragrasso, it certainly feels more like a Mattei/Fragrasso film than it does a Fulci film, but compared to some of Fulci's later work this isn't THAT bad, but it is bad. If you love schlock like Nightmare City and Hell of the Living Dead you need this slice of Italian/Filipino infected nuttiness in your life, and for you Fulci nuts it's worth it just for the extras which goes behind-the-scenes to tell the story of a doomed production, a lesser entry of the crap-tastic variety, and a film best not watched alone or sober. 

SHOCKING DARK (1989) (Severin Blu-ray Review)

SHOCKING DARK (1989)

Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 90 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono, Sponaish Dolby Digital Mono, German Dolby Digital Mono, Italian Dolby Digital Mono, Chinese Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: Christopher Ahrens, Haven Tyler, Geretta Geretta, Fausto Lombardi, Dominica Coulson

Italian master of schlock Bruno Mattei (Violence In A Women's Prison) was never one to shy away from a good knock-off, and never was this more evident than with this balls-deep and shameless mash-up of a pair of sci-fi action cinema classics, swiping from both James Cameron's Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986), aping the latter film almost beat for beat in a way that is actually quite breathtaking in it's sheer audacity. Set in Venice, Italy in the once futuristic sounding year of 2000 we find that the scenic city has fallen on desperate times due to pollution, oxygen clogging seaweed, and corrosive sea water. The now dead city has been abandoned by all except the insidious Tubular Corporation who are supposedly there to rehab the city with a variety of eco-friendly experiments, all the while guarding the city from outsiders with their own private military force known as the Mega Force. The story starts proper when a trio of Tubular employees send a scream-filled video distress call to the Tubular headquarters, when the video is cut short the Mega Force is sent in to investigate, the group being a z-grade version of the marines from Aliens, highlighted by the presence of b-movie queen Garetta Garetta (Demons) as a foul-mouthed and ill-tempered bad ass named Kostar, and the inclusion of scientist (and a total Ripley stand-in) Dr. Sara Drumball (Haven Tyler). The band of mercs venture down into the subterranean utility tunnels beneath the city and find more than they bargained for, first one of the scientist they are there to rescue opens fire on them and then they encounter red-eyed rubber monsters who quickly decimate the team. The creatures here looking like a mix of Marvel's Man-Thing by way of General Ackbar from Star Wars, there's one that looks decent but they're mostly awful, but they're good in a trashy sort of way, wisely seen in only fleeting glimpses throughout. 

The Mega Force also discover a young girl who has survived on her own amidst the monster menace, she of course being the Newt character in the film, and as far as annoying kids in Italian cinema go she's right up there with "Bob" from Fulci's The House by The Cemetery (1981), maybe even a little worse, towards the end of the film she and doc Sara become separated in the tunnels and just start screaming each others names for what feels like fifteen minutes, it's nerve-shredding cinema at it's worst-best-worst.

Late in the game this slice of Italian exploitation comes through with some surprises, starting with the revelation that one of the Mega Force-ers is a cyborg - and thus begins a short-lived Terminator riff complete with a facial wound revealing cyborg circuity and a stiff Terminator strut. Then, with just a few minutes left Mattei pushes full-on with a head-spinning time travel element that comes out of nowhere and really goes nowhere, but damn if this thing is not entertaining through and through. As the saying goes, good artists borrow and great artists steal outright, if that's the case then judging him by this movie alone director Bruno Matteil was possibly the greatest Italian director of all time! Few have pilfered so freely with so few resources to make it happen, but he made it happen, this movie exists, somehow. The biggest downfall of the film, aside from the derivative nature, is some overly-long dialogue stretches that will bore you to tears, but if you love trashy knock-off of the Italian variety there's plenty to love about Shocking Dark, which was distributed in Italy under the title of Terminator 2!

Audio/Video: Shocking Dark (1989) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Film in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, "scanned in 2k from the Director’s Cut negative discovered in a Rome lab vault", the image looks good within reason. This was shot on the cheap and not exactly shot well either, the steam and smoke filled shots can be soft looking and lacking detail, not helping is a diffused lighting style, but some of the shots that are well-lit and have a fair amount of fine detail. Colors look nicely saturated with the exception of some poorly lit shots, the black levels are adequate, and while there's some age-related wear and tear on the print it's all very watchable, and at times modestly impressive. 

The main audio option is an English DTS-HD MA Mono track with optional English subtitles, there's alsob Dolby Digital mono mixes in Italian, German, Spanish and Chinese. The mix is good, there's a little bit of hiss present, and occasionally during the livelier scenes the sound can be a bit shrill on the ears, the cheesy synth score from Carlo Maria  Cordio (Pieces) is pretty good, it definitely suits the film, but it's not very memorable. 

Severin offer a few nifty new extras on this one beginning with a nicely candid interview with Co-Director/Co-Screenwriters Claudio Fragasso and Co-Screenwriter Rossella Drudi who give an overly honest recollection of this one, such as being assigned the project with the explicit direction to rip-off Aliens, which they didn't seem too happy about. They seem surprised that this stinker has the cult-following that it does, with Drudi saying she regularly omits this from her filmography, but I'm glad she's here to talk about it. Also discussed is shooting the film in a decommissioned nuclear facility, the less than stellar special effects by the Paolocci Bros., and how the producer is the one who re-titled the movie Terminator 2, the interview is in Italian with English subtitles.

Portland-born model/actress Geretta Geretta shows up to discuss her whole career, beginning with being cast in the punk cult-classic The Smithereens, doing some modeling and moving to Italy. She discusses working with Lucio Fulci (Murder Rock), Lamberto Bava (Demons), and Bruno Mattie on Rats: Night of Terror, describing how they would "recycle" the mice used in that film. 

The disc is buttoned-up with the alternate Italian title sequence with the Terminator 2 title card, plus an Asian trailer for the film with the Alienator title card, but the English voice-over which advertises it as Shocking Dark, with a bizarre coda right at the end that had me in stitches. The single-disc release comes housed in a spiffy black Blu-ray keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork. the disc also featuring the same key art as the sleeve.

Special Features:
- Terminator in Venice - Interview with Co-Director/Co-Screenwriters Claudio Fragasso and Co-Screenwriter Rossella Drudi (13 min) 
- Once Upon A Time in Italy - Interview With Actress Geretta Geretta (13 min) 
- Alternate Italian Titles (2 min) 
- Trailer ( 1 min) 

There are a metric shit-ton of Italian knock-off films from the 70s and 80s, but very few were as shameless as this one at lifting directly from the films they were aping,it's sort of amazing how much this straight-up steals from Aliens and Terminator. It's on the level of the infamous Jaws knock-off Great White, but somehow this one hasn't been banished to copyright infringement limbo the way that one (or the black Exorcist knock-off Abby) have been, and of course it had to be Severin that brought this bonkers slice of trash to to Blu-ray, and that's why I love them!