Blu-ray Review: SUBSPECIES 20th Anniversary Edition (1991)

SUBSPECIES (1991)

20th  ANNIVERSARY EDITION Blu-ray

LABEL: Full Moon Entertainment
REGION CODE: A
RATING: Unrated
DURATION: 83 mins
VIDEO: 1080i MPEG-4 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
AUDIO: Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0
DIRECTOR: Ted Nicolaou
CAST: Michael Watson, Laura Tate, Anders Hove, Angus Scrimm, Irina Movila, Michelle McBride
TAGLINE: The Night Has Fangs.

B-movie filmmaker Ted Nicolaou has directed what I would consider some of the better productions from Full Moon Entertainment and it's forerunner Empire Pictures which unleashed such wacky 80's classics as TERRORVISION, and BAD CHANNELS. My love of Full Moon is part and parcel of growing up a teen in the late-80's VHS era and I think SUBSPECIES and it's sequels are probably his strongest films to date.

SUBSPECIES is an early 90's vampire flick set in the small Romanian village of Prejnar that's nestled deep in the fabled Carpathian Mountains, it's thick with Gothic atmosphere and stands as one of my top five vamp films in the past 20 years. In a pre-credit sequence vampire King Vladislav (Angus Scrimm, PHANTASM) is murdered by his outcast son Radu (Anders Hove, CRITTERS 4) so that he may obtain the Bloodstone, the Bloodstone being a mythical stone that drips blood and apparently empowers it's possessor with great strength, before his father can bequeath it to Radu's younger and more favored sibling Stefan (Michael Watson, TV's GENERAL HOSPITAL). Radu as played by Hove is a very cool visual mash-up of NOSFERATU's Count Orlock and Eric Draven, the avenging spirit from THE CROW, he's a beastly white faced ghoul with 10" clawed fingers and a gnarly set of teeth that ceaselessly drool an unsavory mixture of viscous saliva and blood. It was fun to see PHANTASM's Angus Scrimm in a very brief cameo looking mighty frightful in white face and a powdered wig as King Vladislav, has this guy ever looked to be in good health? I definitely had an Abe Vigoda "he's still alive?" moment when I saw Scrimm in Don Coscarelli's MASTERS OF HORROR episode "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road". For the record both Scrimm and Vigoda are still among the living.

Entering into the fray are two American college girls Michelle (Lara Tate) and Lillian (Michelle McBride) who along with their Romanian peer Mara (Irina Movila) set out to explore the area's rich vampire folklore with the help of a local vampire lore expert Stefan, whom as it so happens is a vampire himself, no less than Radu's younger, better looking brother. Stefan and Michelle develop a relationship but when Radu becomes aware of his brother's affinity for Michelle he kidnaps the girls in an attempt to lure the hated Stefan to his death.

The films plays a bit with the vampire mythology, for instance they are daywalkers and able to walk unharmed in indirect sunlight and the film's name is derived from Radu's minions known as subspecies for some crazy reason. In an early scene he severs several of his own fingers which fall to the ground and transform into red fleshy looking mini-demons who do his bidding throughout the film. Let me just say that the CGI creations are not the most impressive digital effects you've ever seen but are only slightly worse that THE MUMMY and in 1080i they've never looked better (or worse) than they do here.

Realistically this is a Charle's Band production so you just know it's low-budget shoot but the film shot on location in the Romanian countryside has some decent production values taking advantage of a creepy centuries old castle that has atmosphere to spare with some great locations, creepy interiors and gorgeous Romanian scenery. The acting is pretty flat from the trio of ladies and Michael Watson as Stefan is alright but the guy lacks personality and charm, he's an attractive man but it really ends there which may just be enough for the lady viewers. The main attraction is Anders Hove as Radu, a purely vile vampire creation, he's loathsome but a charismatic villain and his performance carries the film, without him this film wouldn't be talked about today, it's really that simple. If you haven't at least checked out the first SUBSPECIES film and you enjoy vamps of the non-glittery variety there's a lot to love here and I think if you give it a chance you'll soon be seeking out the sequels SUBSPECIES II: BLOODSTONE and BLOODLUST: SUBSPECIES III.

Blu-ray: SUBSPECIES makes is widescreen Blu-ray debut not so much in stunning, eye-popping fashion but with an adequate and marginally improved 16x9 enhanced widescreen (1.78:1) presentation with a 1080i MPEG-4 AVC encode without the benefit of an lossless audio option, in it's place is a pretty standard English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. The transfer comes from a relatively clean print with instances of specks, scratches and minor print damage. The increased resolution of the HD format clearly offers a significant bump in quality from the previous 4x3 DVD's but it's soft, smeary and lacks depth. Flesh tones appear tinged with a pinkish hue and a lack of film grain is indicative of some level of DNR scrubbing thereby removing some fine detail and giving facial features a slight plasticine appearance. The skimpy special features include the original Videozone featurette with some behind-the-scenes footage and six 16x9 trailers for a few of Full Moon's more recent releases.The Blu-ray's a definite improvement over the DVD editions but one can't help but wonder what it could have been with a better transfer, a lossless audio option, a trailer and perhaps even a commentary track from Nicolaou or Hove.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- First SUBSPECIES Videozone (9:55)
- Full Moon Trailers: EVIL BONG 3 (1:06), GINGERDEAD MAN 3 (1:02), KILLJOY 3 (1:38), DEMONIC TOYS 2 (1:15), PUPPET MASTER: AXIS OF EVIL (2:06), SKULLHEADS (1:32)

VERDICT: Anders Hove's Radu is a fantastically vile and memorable vampire creation and SUBSPECIES get a high recommend from me, it's definitely one of the better and sorely underrated 90's vampire films. While the Blu-ray isn't all that it should have been it is presented in 16x9 widescreen for the first time and is by far the best the film has ever looked on any home video format. 

Blu-ray Review: MANIAC COP (1988)

MANIAC COP (1988) Blu-ray

LABEL: Synapse Films
STREET DATE: October 11th 2011
REGION: Region FREE
RATING: R
DURATION: 85 mins
VIDEO: MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 16x9 Widescreen 1.85:1
AUDIO: English: 6.1 DTS-HD MA, 4.0 DTS-HD MA, 2.0 DTS-HD MA
DIRECTOR: William Lustig
CAST: Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Robert Z'Dar, Lauren Landon, Richard Roundtree, Wiliam Smith
TAGLINE: You Have The Right To Remain Silent... Forever.

SYNOPSIS: In William Lustig's MANIAC COP a seven-foot tall disgraced cop named Cordell (Robert Z-Dar, TANGO AND CASH) has seemingly returned from the grave and is stalking the streets of New York City slaying not criminals but innocent folks which sets off a wave of panic and paranoia as everyday citizen's grow to fear the very men sworn to protect them.

FILM: Set to some chilling score from composer Jay Chattaway (MANIAC) a waitress walks home from work on a desolate NYC street. Two punks attack her but she's feisty and gets away but the punks give chase leading to a city park. At the far end of the park she spots the figure of a policeman, she calls for help and runs in his direction, it seems safety is within her grasp... nope. The cop grips her neck with over-sized hands lifting her off the ground, snapping her neck with ease and tossing her limp body aside like a child's toy as the punks stare on in disbelief. The punks are nabbed for the murder after being fingered by a witness who saw them hassle the young woman on the street but did little to prevent the attack, they're protests of a maniac cop on the loose fall on deaf ears.

Detective Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins, HALLOWEEN III, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS) is assigned the case and makes a great noir-ish entrance walking down the shadowy corridor of the coroner's office wrapped in a trench coat. McCrae is alone in thinking that the crimes are in fact being perpetrated by one of the NYPD's own, that the young punks just didn't possess the strength to inflict the severe injuries upon the woman. His instincts don't sit well with NYPD's Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree, SHAFT) or Captain Ripley (William Smith, CONAN THE BARBARIAN), the former insinuating that McCrae is unstable, suicidal and that he may be the killer himself. He also notes that he doesn't smile very often to which the veteran detective responds by cracking a bizarre awkward sliver of a grin, funny stuff. If you're a genre film fan I need only tell you once that Tom Atkins is THE fuckin' man with a list of genre film credits that include John Carpenter's THE FOG, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, CREEPSHOW, LETHAL WEAPON and NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. Does it get any more awesome than that? Nope.

It's not long before more citizen's fall prey to the maniac cop. Next up is a young couple making out in a parked car when they are interrupted by a strangely silent officer who puts the young man through a sobriety walk only to unsheathe a blade hidden within the hilt of his billy club then double-slashing the man's throat and tossing his body onto the windshield of the car. To me this had shades of the Son of Sam or Zodiac murders, great stuff. The killing spree grips the city with paranoia which escalates even further when the next victim, a musician, falls prey to the uniformed psycho killer. Handcuffed he escapes only to falls face first into a slab of freshly poured cement as the maniac cop presses his foot into the back of his skull pushing the man's face into the concrete suffocating him, the next scene is a forensics team excavating his corpse. 

When a little old lady blows away a well-meaning officer after she mistakes for the maniac cop the mayor lays the heat on the NYPD commissioner who presses Capt. Ridley to find the culprit. It's then that a philandering young beat cop named Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell, BUBBA HO-TEP) finds himself the main suspect when his unhinged wife Ellen (Victoria Catlin, GHOULIES) turns up dead with her throat in the very same hotel room she confronted him and his new lover Theresa Mallory (Lauren Landon, THE STUFF), a fellow officer, at the very night before. Pike and Ripley feel that he's definitely the guy, particularly when the wife's diary reveals clippings of the maniac cop killings and a journal entry indicating that she figured him for the killer. Campbell's mighty decent here and this is probably an overlooked performance coming just after what I think should have been a star-making turn in Sam Raimi's splatter classic EVIL DEAD II. Speaking of chins, actor Robert Z'Dar's chinly protuberance puts Campbell to shame by comparison, check out the mug on that man - that ain't no prosthetic.

McCrae dismisses Forrest as a suspect right away, perhaps a bit too quickly in my opinion, he figures it's a set-up to distract the authorities from the real killer. McCrae ends up working along side Forrest and Mallory and the trio come to realize the killings seem to be the work of a disgraced former police officer sent to prison for brutal acts of vigilante-style justice. The mystery thickens when it's revealed that Cordel apparently died in a shower room assault at the hands of the very criminals he sent to prison over the years. There's a great flashback to prison murder of Cordell in a steamy homo-erotic shower brawl that's right up there with Cronenberg's EASTERN PROMISES bathhouse brawl, it's well shot and thick with ropey tendrils of blood spewing from painfully broken mouths.

The films comes to a thrilling climax with a fantastic car chase with vehicles spinning wildly outta control, screeching sharp turns, a final showdown between Forest ad Cordel and a paddy wagon tearing up the warehouse district before taking a final plunge into the dirty waters of the Husdon River.

Of the film's I've seen from director William Lustig (MANIAC) this may well be my favorite, possibly inching out MANIAC. It's gritty, violent, stylish and co-written by a man who's a great director his own damn self, Larry Cohen (IT'S ALIVE, GOD TOLD ME TOO), and produced by James Glickenhaus who directed the 'Nam vet vigilante classic THE EXTERMINATOR which I would be remiss not to mention has just this week been released through Synapse Films. It has definite slasher vibe mixed-in with a rogue-cop grittiness and a unique anti-vigilante element, it's well paced and impressively action-packed. While the kills are most certainly  violent, brutal and bloody they do lack the visceral punch of Tom Savini's brilliant work in Lustig's MANIAC.

Not sure what the budget was on this production would be but I don't assume Lustig was working with a Spielberg-ian sum but the film looks fantastic with some great cinematography by James Lemmo (MS. 45, MADMAN) and the previously mentioned atmospheric and eerie score from Jay Chattaway (VIGILANTE).

BLU-RAY: Synapse follow up their meaty BD of James Glickenhaus's THE EXTERMINATOR with a single disc 50GB Blu-ray of William Lustig's MANIAC COP presented in it's original 16x9 enhanced 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a brand new 2K HD restoration of the film remastered from original vault elements. Having just watched Synapse's MANIAC COP DVD I can say it's a pretty definitive upgrade in image quality with finer detail, clearity and deeper blacklevels than I've previously seen. Quite pleased to see that the film's grain structure is wholly intact and free of any unwanted DNR scrubbing. Synapse's HD transfers are some of the best I've seen, right up there with Blue Underground and this is no exception, fantastic stuff. The print used is not pristine but nearly so with precious few instances of print damage. 

Not only a superior video upgraded but the audio gets a fidelity boost as well with a dynamic, newly created 6.1 DTS-HD MA surround sound track plus the 2.0 and 4.0 DTS-HS MA tracks. The 6.1 sounds mighty fine with great use of the directionals and atmospheric surrounds, it's an immersive track with some real depth to it plus Jay Chattaway's score sounds creepier than ever. Dialogue, score and effects are well balanced, crisp, clear and free of distortion. Overall a pretty fantastic presentation well worth the upgrade - but don't trade-in your Synapse DVD edition just yet.

Special features begins with Maniac Cop Memories a interview with Robert Z'Dar ported over from the previous DVD edition. Z'Dar reflects upon his early acting career in film and TV, Lustig bringing him onto the project, his fandom among NYPD police force (which is sorta scary) and working alongside Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbel and Laura Landon whom he hints he may have had a romantic relationship with. New bonus content created this release are the Out the Window featurette with Tom Atkins whom recalls working with Campbell and Sharee North, feeling that his character died too quickly, which I agree with, I definitely could have gone for some more Atkins here and in any film for that matter. Something else I could relate to is his recollection of watching the film for the first time on VHS with a huge "NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION" watermark imposed on the screen. I get a lot of DVD screeners with watermarks that are quite distracting, film is a visual medium so stop obscuring your films. The second new feature is Three Minutes with Danny Hicks which is exactly that, Hick's mostly recalling the joys of throwing pretty boy Bruce Campbell up against the paddy wagon during a scene in the film.

Other features carried over from the DVD are the French theatrical trailer, TV Spots, a Spanish radio spot and six scenes from the Japanese TV version of the film involving a subplot with Mayor Killium (Ken Lerner) that really aren't that interesting but are here for completest just the same.There's also an animated promotional art gallery of various posters, DVD, VHS and soundtrack artwork set to the main title. Earlier I mentioned not tossing the previous Synapse DVD to the wolves quite yet and here's why, that's because the one feature not ported over is the group commentary with director William Lustig, writer Larry Cohen, actor Bruce Campbell and composer Jay Chattaway. Not sure what the reasoning may be for this but I would speculate so as not to invalidate the DVD edition. A few of the Synapse Blu-ray editions have been Blu-ray/DVD combos, the exception seems to be titles that Synapse have released recently on DVD previously so it makes sense from a business perspective though I wish it were included just the same. What else could we want? Perhaps a Bruce Campbell interview but honestly is it worth hearing him promote BURN NOTICE every five minutes? Nah.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- MANIAC COP MEMORIES - Interview with Robert Z'Dar (12:12) 16x9 HD
- OUT THE WINDOW - Interview with Tom Atkins (10:56) 16x9 HD
- THREE MINUTES WITH DANNY HICKS Featurette (3:32) 16x9 HD
- Motion Still Gallery (3:07) HD
- French Theatrical Trailer (1:23) 16x9
- TV Spots (3:55) 4x3
- Additional Scenes Filmed for Japanese Television (5:43) 4x3
- Spanish Radio Spot (:31)

VERDICT: Definitely a film that gets a check mark in the must-own box. Is it worth the upgrade if you own the DVD? I say yes though it's unfortunate that the commentary is absent, so don't post it on SwapaDVD just yet. That said, Synapse continue to release top of the line genre-cinema Blu-rays well-worth your hard earned bucks. OWN IT! 

DVD Review: MCBAIN (1991)

MCBAIN (1991)

Label: ArrowDrome
Release Date: September 19th 2011
Region Code: 0 PAL
Rating: 15 Certificate
Duration: 99 mins
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo
Director: James Glickenhaus
Cast: Christopher Walken, Michael Ironside, Maria Conchita Alonso, Victor Argo
Tagline: War is Addictive!

I've said it a few times on the blog that action films were never really my thing. I've always been more of a horror, comedy, thriller and arthouse kinda guy at heart but occasionally a sweaty testosterone fueled action flick would find it's way to my TV screen. More often that not in the guise of an cop-action-comedy or a sci-fi-actioner along the lines of DIE HARD, STARSHIP TROOPERS or THE MATRIX. This may sound slightly pretentious coming from someone who thoroughly enjoys a silly slasher but the action genre always seemed kind of big and dumb to me which is kind of exactly why I dig this early 90's action flick from James Glickenhaus, the director of the revenge-actioner THE EXTERMINATOR. It's an absurdly action-packed flick that's low on brains but chock full o' testosterone and explosions galore.

Much like THE EXTERMINATOR the film opens with a sweet 'Nam sequence. The war in Vietnam has quite literally just ceased and a helicopter of soldiers are being withdrawn from the jungle when they spot a bamboo dome structure they believe to be holding American POW's. Landing nearby they assault the camp in a flurry of knifings, gunfire and explosions and sure enough the dome is a MAD BEYOND BEYOND THUNDERDOME style death arena pitting American POW's against their Viet Cong captors in a fight to the death. As the soldiers move in POW Robert McBain (Christopher Walken, DEAD ZONE) faces off against a brick wall sized VC soldier when his life is saved by US soldier Robertro Santo (Chick Vennera, NIGHT EYES). Santo tears a $100 dollar bill in half and a vow is made that should the two halves of the torn currency ever be reunited that McBain will repay his debt to Santo.

Eighteen years later McBain is a steelworker living in NYC and while throwing back a beer in the neighborhood bar witnesses the now Colombian rebel Santo executed on live television after a failed attempt to overthrow 'El Presidente', a despot Colombian general played by venerable character actor Victor Argo (BAD LIEUTENANT). A few days later Santo's sister Christina (Maria Conchita Alonso, THE RUNNING MAN) makes the pilrimage from Colombia to NYC tracking McBain to the very top of the Brooklyn Bridge where he's welding. Offering him the torn $100 bill she enlists him to help liberate Central America from it's corrupt drug trade fueled dictatorship.

McBain brings his 'Nam aging buds back together to assist with the coup. We have an embittered Detective Gil (T.G. Waites, THE THING), Eastland (Steve James, THE EXTERMINATOR), Dr. Carl Dalton (Jay Patterson, DEATH OF A PRESIDENT) and a reluctant Frank Bruce (Michael Ironside, VISITING HOURS) who has apparently struck it rich post-'Nam offering "What, you miss the smell of napalm in the morning?" to which McBain counters "When I come to see you.. you're sitting in a chair like an old man, staring at the ocean, you having fun yet?".

Bruce refuses to join the coup (though he later joins the fun, of course) but offers the use of a plane which comes with a hefty pricetag. In an attempt to raise the cash the mercs decimate the crew of a low-level narcotics peddler named Papo (Luis Guzman, BOOGIE NIGHTS) who indignantly tells them after they wipe the floor with his gang in a shit-storm of gunfire that "if you guys want money why don't you go after whats his face, John Gambotti, he's got the money, all I got is table drippings" and so they do. They ambush Gambotti (Dick Boccecelli, THE EXTERMINATOR) outside the the Old Homestead restaurant which will be familiar to those who've seen Glickdenhaus's THE EXTERMINATOR as Dick Boccelli again appears as a mafioso suspended from chains, this time from a skyscraper instead of a meat grinder and squeezed for millions to be wired into the mercs account who pose as Israeli agents.

With the cash wired to their account they charter Bruce's turbo-prop private plane and head to Columbia to free the poor and repressed people of that country. At this point all logic and sanity are abandoned as the twin-prop tries to evades two Colombian jet fighters with the help of Bruce's SAT-link briefcase computer. When one of the jet pilots orders the plane to land McBain fires a single shot from a handgun through the cockpit window killing the pilot and crashing the jet. Mind you there's no decompression, the window doesn't shatter and no one is stricken deaf from the close proximity shot. It's outrageously implausible but highly entertaining and so it goes for the remainder of the film as we see one of the most casual rebel coups ever slapped on the silver screen. The Hawaiian shirted mercenaries land unscathed in Bogata during a raging ground war, pose for vacational photos and walk through a hornets nests of gunfire only to walk away unscathed and victorious, 'natch.

It's a nutty, non-sensical action film featuring Christopher Walken is at his most badass Walken-ish delivering deliciously awful dialogue with nuanced pregnant pauses as only he (and William Shatner) can, it's whacky stuff. As where THE EXTERMINATOR took a few narrative shortcuts leaving your mind to fill in the gaps this Glickenhaus action-fest numbs the brain to such a degree that it would prove detrimental should your brain enter into the fray. That said the final third of the film definitely loses some steam despite it's explosive arsenal of badassery.

Sweat 80's Action lady

Glickenhaus and crew filmed the Colombian scenes in the Philippines which I guess would qualify this as a late-era Filipino exploitation film. It was fun to see Walken strut his stuff. Sadly, the usually badass Michael Ironside is atypically subdued, definitely a missed opportunity. The film's worst performance must be from the consummate 80's action-lady Maria Conchita Alonso who really hams it up in an overly dramatic performance as Santo's rebel sister Christina, pure 80's awfulness. MCBAIN is an early 90's film but the cheese is vintage 80's no doubt about it.

DVD: This is one of the first titles from Arrow Video's fledgling ArrowDrome imprint, a budget line of cult horror and exploitation films for the cinema fromage connoisseur. It's presented in anamoprhic 1.85:1 widescreen and the transfer is very good with few instances of print damage, there's good color saturation and decent black levels. The stereo audio track is clear and balanced with the dialogue, score and effects coming through nice and clean, it's not the most dynamic track but handles the film without distortion.   

The ArrowDrome titles are  budget-minded so don't expect a ton of bonus content, the lone extra feature here is Blast 'Em Up: The Making of McBain (13:56) a video interview with director James Glickenhaus who discusses the film's origins, the futility of the war on drugs, working with Walken and how he considers all his films to be comedies of the absurd despite a few moments during the interview when he seems to take the film a bit more seriously that one might expect. The High Rising Productions produced featurette is short but appreciated with clips of the film intercut with the video interview. The ArrowDrome screener I received was a check disc and did not include final the artwork with reversible sleeve or the booklet with writings from Calum Waddell. Nice presentation and a short but sweet feature, not too shabby.  

Special Features:
- Introduction by Director James Glickenhaus
- Reagan Flexes Some Muscle: McBain and the Golden Age of the American Action Film Collector's Booklet by Calum Waddell
- Blast 'Em Up - The Making of McBain (13:56) 16:9


Verdict: I won't lie to you McBAIN is just not a good film, in fact it's pretty bad cinema, a guilty pleasure of an absurd actioner overflowing with nonsensical machismo mayhem. My advice to you is to turn off your brain and board this testosterone fueled twin-prop plane to a napalm fueled fever dream of non-stop action and unintentional hilarity. **1/2 (2.5 outta 5)  

Say CHEESE!

DVD Review: THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE (2010)

THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE (2010)

Distributor: MVD Entertainment Group
Label: Dustin Mills Product
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Rating:Unrated
Duration: 70 mins
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo
Director: Dustin Mills
Cast: Ethan Holey, Jessica Daiels, Steve Rimpso, Dustin Mills, Bart Flynn, Erica Kisseberth

In Dustin Mills' DIY horror-comedy THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE a
group of five teens receive letters challenging them to spend a night in a creepy old mansion on the edge of town, yeah sure why not, right? At stake is one-million dollars for anyone brave enough to remain in the mansion for the duration of the night. It's a classic horror premise right outta William Castle's THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959). What they don't realize is that mansion is owned by a former Nazi scientist Dr. Wolfgang Wagner (Steve Rimpici) who has bio-engineered a carnivorous creature that he plans to unleash upon 'em as soon as the door closes behind them. That's the very simple set-up to the film, now throw in some kinky Muppet-styled hand puppet fornication, copious amounts of splatter, 400 soldiers battling a Godzilla sized creature and what you get is a splatteriffic horror-comedy that's a great watch.

There's a small cast of fun  characters here which perfectly suit the film's 80's inspired cartoonish carnage and splattery mayhem. Our main character is an Jesse Eisenberg type wimpy kid by the name of Charlie Hawkins (Ethan Holey) who is joined in the scary mansion challenge by his best-friend Gwen, a Brit-punker named Iggy (Bart Flynn), his girlfriend Mona (Erica Kisseberth) and an awesomely pervy horror nerd appropriately named Raimi (Dustin Mills) named of course after EVIL DEAD 2 (1987) director Sam Raimi. It's perhaps a sad reflection upon myself  that Raimi was definitely the character I could most relate to here. Also thrown into the mix is Charlie's ultra-ornery WWII vet Gramps (also voiced by Flynn), he's the second most quotable character after Raimi. Our antagonists are the aforementioned Nazi scientist Dr. Wagner, his evil-penguin sidekick Squiggums and the flesh-crazed toothy creature.

The director keeps it fairly simple with a pretty well familiar set 'em up and knock 'em down creature feature/slasher narrative. The unwitting teens arrive at the mansion, meet the mysterious Dr. Wolfgang Wagner and the bio-engineered creature quickly begins slaughtering puppets one by one right from the get-go, it's inspired in it's simplicity. The kills are not only surprisingly bloody but very well executed as puppet massacres go anyway, it's pretty crazy fun stuff.

I love the medium Mills has chosen to work with, it seems a completely novel and gimmicky conceit to use hand puppets set against 3D digital backgrounds and some South Park style animation flashbacks to WWII but it mostly works. The potential for disaster here would seem overwhelming, there are so many shitty DIY horror films and a hand-puppet splatterfest doesn't immediately spring to mind as horror-comedy gold but the film is well-written with some snappy dialogue and well executed right down to some great atmospheric lighting and shadowplay.


Like some of the best 80's horror film's this is deeply infused with a strong comedy element but it's character driven and not too absurd, it's really spot on. Probably not the best parenting decision I've ever made but I watched some of this with my 11 year old and we were both in hysterics, like we were watching The Three Stooges, there's no small amount of fart humor here but it complements the film's sensibilities as well as my own.

The major drawback to the film for me was that I just didn't care for the films main protagonist Charlie, he was very weak character in my opinion and my man Raimi was slighted to early on in the film, I just wanted more of the pervy horror nerd.
 At only 70 minutes the film flies by in a flurry of fuzzy carnage, it's the perfect length, not too short and not long enough to wear out it's welcome. Mills obviously poured his 80's horror loving soul into this project and it oozes awesomeness at every turn.

DVD: THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen and looks mighty good upscaled to 1080p on my screen. Colors are vibrant, black levels are strong and overall it's a very slick looking feature that one wouldn't assume cost $3500 to make. The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track suffices, it's not fantastic or particularly dynamic but it's clean and the dialogue sounds crisp.

The disc's special features include two scrapped ideas for the creature design presented in short video clips, what Mills decided to go with in the end is definitely the right choice for the film. There are also two commentaries, one with the director and another with both director and assistant direct Brandon Salkil. I only listened to the director's commentary thus far but it was quite informative with lots of talk about his love of 80's horror, making the film, the voice actors, creating the puppets and even critiquing the film a bit.

Special Features:
- Scrapped Monster 1 (0:10) 16:9
- Scrapped Monster 2 (0:30) 16:9
- Audio Commentary with Director Dustin Mills
- Audio Commentary with Director Dustin Mills and Assistant Director Brandon Salkil

Verdict: THE PUPPET MONSTER MASSACRE is pure 80's splatter inspired puppet carnage with some fun kaiju elements. If you dig TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE, Peter Jackson's MEET THE FEEBLES or Bill Zebub's DOLLA MORTE there's definitely something here for you to enjoy, worth a rental at the very least, recommended.
 

 http://www.puppetmonstermassacre.com/

Blu-ray Review: DEAD MAN (1995)

DEAD MAN (1995)

Label: Echo Bridge Entertainment
Region Code: Region A
Rating: R
Duration: 121 mins
Video: 1080p 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Johhny Depp, Gary Framer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Euegen Byrd, Mili Aviatal, Crispin Glover, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Jared Harris, Gabriel Byrne, Robert Mitchum, John Hurt, Alfred Molina

In Jim Jarmucsh's black and white acid-western DEAD MAN Johnny Depp (THE NINTH GATE) portrays William Blake, a young accountant from Cleveland who packs his bags and embarks on a journey to start life anew in the Western frontier town of Machine where he has been offered a job at the Dickinson Metal Works. On the train ride from to Machine the soft-handed city rube sticks out like a sore thumb among the Western frontier folk and rugged buffalo hunters who shoot buffalo from the train. The ride gets weirder when the trains soot covered coal shoveler (Crispin Glover, RIVER'S EDGE) enters the car and sits across from Blake offering a cryptic foretelling of doom.

Arriving in Machine young Blake walks into the metal works where he is informed by the business manager (John Hurt, ALIEN) that he's a month late and the position is no longer available. Blake demands to talk with the Mr.  Dickinson (Robert Mitchum, CAPE FEAR) who promptly drives him off the property at the business end of a double-barrel shotgun. With no job prospects and dwindling funds Blake wanders the grim streets of Machine until he comes to a saloon where he makes the acquaintance of young prostitute named Thel (Mili Avital) who take him home to her bed where her jealous ex-lover Charlie (Gabriel Byrne, MILLER'S CROSSING) bursts into the room and fires upon Blake but Thel throws herself in front of the bullet which kills her and strikes Blake in the chest. Blake grabs the woman's gun and kills Charlie, wounded and dazed he escapes through a window and leaves town on the back of a stolen pony. As it turns out Charlie was the son of Mr. Dickinson and the wealthy factory owner places a large bounty on the head of Blake for the murder of his son and even lays the death of Thel on him, too. Three cold-blooded killers are hired to hunt down Blake; Conway Twill (Michael Wincott, CURTAINS) and Johnny "The Kid" Pickett (Eugene Byrd, TV's BONES) and a cannibalistic psychopath named Cole Wilson (Lance Henriksen, ALIENS).

Blake awakens the next day to the sight of an American Indian calling himself Nobody (Gary Farmer, GHOST DOG) performing surgery on his chest wound but he tells Blake that the bullet is too close to his heart and that death is a certainty. Nobody believes that Blake is the reincarnation of the poet William Blake and that he will accompany him to the Pacific Ocean so that he can return his spirit to it's proper place in the spirit world. The Native American outcast acts as Blake's guide to the cleansing waters of the West. The duo amass quite a bodycount in their wake as they encounter many would-be bounty hunters and scoundrels on their path.

The film is certainly a strange beast and has a surreal disconnect that lends an existential quality to Blake's doomed journey through what I would call  purgatory. The setting is pure authentic Western and evokes the scent of sawdust and woodsmoke. The film boasts a stellar supporting actors that includes screen legend Robert Mitchum in his final performance plus a cast of gristle-faced characters whose craggy features drink up Robby Muller's (TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A., REPO MAN)  black and white cinematography. There are also notable appearance from rocker Iggy Pop (HARDWARE) as the deranged bible-thumping transvestite leader of a trio of fur traders that includes a pre-SLING BLADE Billy Bob Thornton, and speaking of craggy faces there's also a came from Gibby Haines of the Butthole Surfers, it's quite a cast of characters we have here.

The film operates on several levels ranging from the existential to referential, particularly the the poems of William Blake in much the same way that the Coen Brother's O, BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? mined Ulysses' The Odyssey but I really just enjoy it as a trippy western that tends to defy expectations at every turn. I tend not to read too much into it I just enjoy it but the subtext is there for those of who looking for something deeper.The film was a major disappointment at the box office in '95 when it was released, returning only a ninth of it's budget, apparently 1995 wasn't a great time for a black and white western revival but this is a film that a lot of folks missed the first time around and I say it's well worth a watch whether you be a fan of Depp, Jarmusch or just really awesome Westerns.   

Blu-ray: Echo Bridge's 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen AVC encoded HD transfer does the film proper justice. The black and white imagery looks great in 1080p with a nice retention of the film's natural grain structure without the disservice of DNR scrubbing, it looks pretty great. The transfer offers good contrast, decent black levels and fine detail; facial hair, clothing and other textures are nicely resolved. A definite improvement over the previous DVD edition. The DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 sounds quite good, too. Dialogue is crisp and there are no distortions that I could discern plus Neil Young's amazing score soars throughout the film. I will say that a more atmospheric 5.1 surround mix could have gone a long way but what we have here is very nice. Special features are few but are at least present, the previous Miramax titles from Echo Bridge have been mostly bereft of bonus content and this is a most welcome exception. What we get are a selection of standard definition letterboxed deleted scenes and a Neil Young music video featuring in-studio footage of him performing the song with a montage of clips from the film overlayed with Johnny Depp narrating William Blake's poetry. I believe that the only feature not carried over from the previous Miramax edition is a theatrical trailer.

Special Features:
- Deleted Scenes (15:54)
- Neil Young Music Video (3:31)

Verdict: DEAD MAN is a film just not mentioned enough when discussing the careers of Johnny Depp, Jim Jarmusch or just kick ass Westerns in general. The mid-nineties weren't exactly a golden age of cinema so don't let this one sink into obscurity, if you haven't seen it you are missing out on what I would call a must-see, strange and offbeat western that stands aside GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI as one of my favorite Jim Jarmusch films.

DVD Review: SALVAGE (2010)

SALVAGE (2010)

Label: Revolver Entertainment
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 76 mins
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Director: Lawrence Hough
Cast: Neve McIntosh, Shaun Dooley, Linzey Cocker
Tagline: Fear Cannot Be Contained
 
In this British horror-thriller set in a quiet cul-de-sac it's Christmas Eve and a young girl named Jodie (Linzey Cocker) is rather unwilling dropped off at her estranged mother's doorstep by her father. It's not quite a happy homecoming scenario and it's made worse when Jodie lets herself into mum's place only to catch mom Beth (Neve McIntosh) amidst a rather steamy  one-night stand with Kieran (Shaun Dooley, EDEN LAKE) a man she met just the night before. A barely dressed Beth chases after her perturbed daughter into the streets where there's a brief confrontation ending in Jodie tossing her mother's house keys at her quite hard and fleeing to a neighbors home. 

Beth is definitely a flawed mother character, a lot of their issues stem from Beth abandoning her marriage and daughter to further her career, and the tension between the two is thick with animosity and regret. Beth returns home and dresses a bit more appropriately and attempts to recover her daughter from the neighbors only to have the door shut in her face. Standing in shock outside the door her attention is drawn towards a helicopter overhead just as a neighbor emerges from his home covered in blood and carrying a large knife. Just then Beth is tackled by a military soldier who commands her at gunpoint to return to her home as the neighbor is gunned down after refusing to comply. As the military infiltrate the cul-de-sac Beth is left inside her home with a man she's only just met, near strangers who must come together to deal with an unknown threat that has descended upon the usually quiet neighborhood.

The nature of the threat is unknown at first but the film plays up fears of terrorism, particularly Kieran who's obsessed with the notion that the gunned down neighbor must have been part of a terrorist cell. Adding to the mystery are reports of a shipping container washed ashore in the nearby river Thames that seems to be the epicenter of the carnage that's overtaken the neighborhood. Trapped in the house together the two argue, panic and give in to varying degrees of paranoia and anxiety, it's not over-the-top hysterics and plays quite realistically into what I would assume one would experience during such an event.

As gunshots ring out in the neighborhood the panic worsens as does Beth's concern for her daughter's well being. She sets out to rescue her only to find the neighbor's house in shambles, blood is everywhere but there are no signs of her daughter. Discovering an injured soldier outside the house they bring him inside and are able to piece together what's the military is there to contain and it's far worse than they could have imagined. At the 53 minute mark the tense paranoiac thriller turns into a mutated creature horror fest and while the pace picks up it perhaps loses a bit of it's punch but is still quite a fine film.

SALVAGE is a great case of economical low-budget horror filmmaking, it's tense, atmospheric and nail-bitingly good. The acting is fantastic from start to finish, particularly Dooley and McIntosh, and wisely the creatures are kept mostly in shadow and not over exposed. The film's a nice combination of THE CRAZIES violent infected and terrorist paranoia thriller RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR.

DVD:The disc from Revolver Entertainment presents the film in 16x9 enhanced 1.78:1 widescreen and looks very good with nice black levels and a generally subdued color tone. The DVD boasts an impressively immersive Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track that accents the tension quite well, very good sound design and a tense score. Dialogue sounds crisp and clear, no subtitles are included.

Special features include a commentary track with Director Lawrence Gough plus writer Colin O’Donell, associate producer Alan Pattison and star Shaun Dooley who discuss the genesis of the film from a short subject film to it's development as a feature length production. It's a decent listen if a bit dry at times. There's also nearly 45 minutes of cast and crew interviews and a behind-the-scenes making of featurette. Not too shabby, but don't talk about the short film and not feature it on the DVD, c'mon guys. It had better be on YouTube or the film's website, seriously.

Special Features:
- Behind the Scenes Making Of (10:08) 16:9
- Cast and Crew Interviews (44:34) 16:9
- Commentary from Director Lawrence Gough, writer Colin O’Donell, associate producer Alan Pattison and star Shaun Dooley

Verdict: Having just watched British film TONY (2009) and then straight away watching this it's hard not to reflect upon the great many number of kick ass British horror films in recent years, it's very promising indeed. I'm a bit pist that I somehow managed to miss this one which was actually released last summer on DVD, better late to the party than never right?  Not a hugely original film but very well executed, tense and bloody, well recommended.

www.salvagethefilm.com/

DVD Review: TONY (2009)

TONY (2009)

Label: Revolver Entertainment

Region Code: 1 NTSC

Rating: Unrated

Video: 16:9 Widescreen

Audiio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Director: Gerard Johnson

Cast: Peter Ferdinando, Ricky Grover, George Russo, Frances Pope

Tagline: It's Aways the Quiet Ones

This is a film that will have you second guessing that weird nut on the bus that sits next you that mumbles to himself a bit and occasionally yelps or elicits some other random verbal outburst or perhaps the strange guy that frequents your magazine shop every so often, till now you've suspected they were a bit "off" but mostly harmless otherwise. We have one where I work we call "Fake Business Man", a dapper dressed fellow who carries with him a briefcase at all times, we often wonder what's inside, some say a knife others claim to have seen a lone sleeve of saltines, but it definitely has garnered a legend of it's own not dissimilar to the suite case from PULP FICTION. One day he came in bought a bottle of Peligrino water and crawled on his hands and knees from the register to the end of the counter where he arose stating "I don't think they saw me this time" and then off he went, I doubt he's a serial killer or a threat but after seeing this film I may be a bit more guarded next visit just to play it safe.

Gerard Johnson's feature film debut TONY (2010) follows the exploits of the titular Londoner played by actor Peter Ferdinand.  He's stricken with a severe case of awkwardness, he's gaunt, wears thick glasses, has a bad haircut and a truly awful mustache. His daily routine consists of not much more than feeding his appetite for 80's action films on VHS over a bowl of cereal and beating off to porn on the shitter, sounds like a pretty typical blogger or podcaster if you ask me, trust me, I know. His daily ventures out into the surrounding working class neighborhood is frought with awkward interactions with addicts, prostitutes and drug peddlers. Most pay him no heed but occasionally one ends up back at his place for whatever reason and more often than not they end up cut into tiny pieces, wrapped in newspaper and placed in a blue plastic grocery bags and dropped in the Thames during a nice gingerly stroll.

TONY is a quietly intense portrait of a modern day serial killer, a deeply disturbed individual who appears troubled but is not someone you'd peg as a killer on sight. Tony doesn't set out to kill but instead is looking for that elusive human connection but he's so introverted that he's virtually incapable of interacting with others on any kind of meaningful level and as a result he is easily dismissed and his attempts to make friends just end badly, his particular way of dealing with it just happens to be to simply kill them. As we view Tony's daily routines i feels almost documentary style, it's voyeuristic and creepy, not much happens but when it does it's hair raising. Despite being a psychotic killer he's not a unsympathetic character, unlike nearly all his victims, but he's just so creepy that even low-rent prostitutes shun him, he's the guy in the neighborhood that everyone knows as the weirdo, not even the guy selling bootleg DVD's is willing to carry on a conversation with him. He resorts to consorting with drug addicts whom he scores smack with and takes back to his place, suffocating one with a plastic bag while he's strung out and imprisoning the other and then releasing him, apparently because he was nicer while the other was an asshole. A night out at the gay bar ends with him waking up next to a corpse whom he offers tea to while tucking it all nice and comfy into the bed, perhaps there's some necrophilia implied but it's not explicit. All this goes on under the noses of the neighborhood who seems not to suspect shenanigans despite a constant funky smell emanating from his flat until a young boy goes missing and the boy's father fingers the neighborhood nut as a suspect which puts the police at his front doorstep.

Don't come into the film expecting a gore fest or even a blood bath, while there's a foot in the sink and some entrails being packed into bags and what not this is more a chilling study of a deranged nutcase than a blood n' guts splatterfest. This is worse, this is the weirdo next door to you. 

Despite being a low-budget production the film looks great and was shot on film, not digital, and you can tell. Its gloomy with long languid camera shots, it's fascinating stuff and is anchored by Peter Ferdinand's stunning lead performance, and the film's eerie atmosphere is further complimented by a melancholy score from THE THE.

DVD: The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 surround sound mixes with optional English subtitles as well as a audio description audio track for the vision impaired. Special features include an informative audio commentary from director Gerard Johnson, producer Dan McCullock and actor Peter Ferindando. There are also two short films from the director; MUG (2004) follows the daily routine of a street mugger and it's a depressing bit of film and the short film that preceded the feature film TONY (2005) also starring Ferdinando in the lead role and featuring a few scenes that are fleshed out in the feature length production.

Special Features:

- Feature Commentary from Gerard Johnson, Peter Ferdinando, Dan McCulloch

- TONY (2005) Short Film (14:07) 16:9

- MUG (2004) Short Film (10:45) 4:3 Letterboxed


Verdict: A film that recalls some of the cinema's finest serial killer character studies like HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER and MANIAC. I give this a high recommend, it's a skin crawling film that will stay with you for some time afterwards, so watch out for the weirdos and pick this one up ASAP.

http://www.tonythemovie.com/