PIECES (1983) Coming On Blu-ray March 1, 2016 from GRINDHOUSE RELEASING!

PIECES (1983) 

Label: Grindhouse Releasing
Release Date: March 1st 2016
Duration: 83 Minutes 
Region: Region-FREE
Video 10180p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Audio: English DTS-HDMA Mono with Optional Englisg Subtitles 
Director: Juan Piquer Simon
Cast: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Paul L. Smith, Edmund Purdom, Jack Taylor

YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO TO TEXAS FOR A CHAINSAW MASSACRE!

Grindhouse Releasing is proud to present the sickest and most violent of all the early '80s slasher movies. A psychopathic killer stalks a Boston campus, brutally slaughtering nubile young college co-eds, collecting body parts from each victim to create the likeness of his mother who he savagely murdered with an axe when he was ten years old! PIECES is a wild, unrated gorefest, with enough splatter and sleaze to shock the most jaded horror fan.

Bonus Features:
- TWO complete versions of this shocking gore classic:
PIECES (83 minutes) - the original, unrated U.S. theatrical version, presented in English
MIL GRITOS TIENE LA NOCHE (86 minutes) - the original uncensored director's cut, presented in Spanish with original score by Librado Pastor
- Spectacular new 4K transfers - scanned from the original camera negative
- Brand new audio commentary by star Jack Taylor
- Special 5.1 audio option - the Vine Theater Experience!
- In-depth interviews with director Juan Piquer Simon and genre superstar Paul L. Smith
- 42nd STREET MEMORIES - all-new feature-length documentary produced by Calum Waddell containing interviews with Sam Sherman, Bill Lustig, Larry Cohen, Frank Henenlotter, Buddy Giovinazzo, Jeff Lieberman, John Skipp, Lynn Lowry, Terry Levene, and many other exploitation icons
- Extensive gallery of stills and poster art
- Exhaustive filmographies
- Liner notes by legendary horror journalists Chas. Balun and Rick Sullivan
- BONUS CD - original soundtrack - newly remastered from the original studio tapes
- Beautiful embossed slipcover
- First 3000 units include an actual jigsaw puzzle! Strictly limited to 3000 units!
AND OTHER SURPRISES!

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIaOh2PHn24

THE CAR (1977) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

THE CAR (1977) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English, DTS-HD MA 5.1, DTS-HD 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Cast: Elizabeth Thompson, James Brolin, Doris Dowling, John Marley, John Rubinstein, Kathleen Lloyd, Kim Richards, Kyle Richards, R.G. Armstrong, Ronny Cox, Dennis Shryack

Synopsis: Fasten your seatbelts for the terrifying thrill ride that has become a cult classic! The peaceful tranquility of a small Western town is disturbed when a murderous car wreaks havoc by viciously mowing down innocent victims. The new sheriff, Wade Parent (James Brolin, The Amityville Horror), may be the only one who can stop this menace in its tracks. But what Wade Parent doesn't realize is that the driver of this indestructible vehicle is far more dangerous than any man... because it is driven by pure evil.

I have always loved this movie, a classic Jaws knock-off full of piss and vinegar, in it we have a souped up black car menacing a small desert town without any sort of rhyme or reason to it. It emerges from the desert with a plume of dust behind it, the first victims are young lovers on a bicycle ride whom are run off the road by the menacing black car. The next to taste it's wrath is a horn-playing hitchhiker who is viciously run over again and again. The local cops don't know what's happening but when the sheriff (John Marley, Deathdream) is run down in the street Deputy Wade Parent (James Brolin) is out for vengeance

While the titular car is not explained in anyway shape or form it does have a demonic presence about it, a nameless killer with no motive, no other explanation is necessary. Occasionally we get some yellow-tinted POV shots from inside the car through the windshield, it ominously blasts its nerve-shattering horn when it's on the prowl for victims. The 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III black coupe was modified by the legendary George Barris and it is a thing of menacing beauty, the exaggerated front bumpers and bumper forming an evil face and it sounds terrific when it revs up the engine and those open pipes let loose the fury, sweet stuff. 

There's not a great deal of deaths but they are set-up nicely, though most are bloodless affairs with no actual car to victim contact, you never do see the car hit anyone, shot with some clever editing it does the trick nicely. In one of the more memorable scenes the car actually tears straight through a house to tag one of the victims, and most will remember the scene of the car menacing a group of middle school band members who are chased into a cemetery, it's a bit on the corny side of things but it works fro me time and time again, I love it. 

The movie is populated with some decent small town characters, we have a wonderfully moustached James Brolin (The Amityville Horror) bringing some nice intensity to his role as the determined Deputy. TV actress Kathleen Lloyd brings a lot of spunk to her role as Laura, the girlfriend of Brolin's character. She has some great energy and brings a palpable sense of fear to the movie, she's also a victim of one of the most memorable death scenes in the movie. Another familiar face is that of R. G. Armstrong (Evilspeak) as a curmudgeonly wife-beater, who might seem an unlikely hero but he's pretty handy with a stick of dynamite. 

TV director Elliot Silverstein does a great job ratcheting up the tension on this one with some fun gimmicks to enhance the mood of the movie, it's not a flashy production but it does the job nicely. Why this demonic-car chooses this sleepy desert town to  terrorize is never answered but the desert locations make for a great backdrop to the movie, it also isolates the characters to a degree, making this a fun watch.

Audio/Video: The Blu-ray from Scream Factory looks and sounds great, the 1080p HD transfer presents the movie in the proper scope aspect ratio. I have the Region B Blu-ray from Arrow Video and comparing the two they look like they may have been sourced from the same Universal HD source, they're very close in appearance, with the Scream Factory Blu looking a tad brighter in certain spots. The grain has been nicely managed offering a crisp and clean image with some nice depth and clarity, this look great. Audio options include the choice of English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 or DTS-HD Surround 5.1 with optional English subtitles. There's some good meaty depth to the surround sound, when the car revs the engine you can feel the bass kick in and that ominous horn from the car sounds menacing. 

Onto the special features we have new interviews with Producer/Director Elliot Silverstein and Actresses Geraldine Keams and Melody Thomas Scott. They're short but informative and loaded with some great info, director Silverstein seems overly apologetic about the movie, apparently not a fan of his own movie, pointing out numerous times that it was a Jaws knock-off. I grew up watching actress Melody Thomas Scott as the character Nikii Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, she is only in the movie for a few fleeting moments but I loved seeing her here, still a cutey! There's also a selection of trailers, TV and radio spots, plus a gallery of images from the movie. 

The Arrow Blu-ray has a leg up on this release in my opinion, with a very similar technical presentation, but they push it over the edge with a more robust set of a extras, beginning with an audio commentary with director Elliot Silverstein. They also have a half-hour interview with  Special Effects Artist William Alridge, a ten-minute interview with actor John Rubinstein who played the unfortunate hitchhiker, plus the Trailer From Hell commentary with John Landis, plus a hidden away Easter Egg, an interview with Elliot Silverstein. Arrow als offer a reversible sleeve of artwork plus a 40 page booklet with new writing on the film from Cullen Gallgher and an interview with co-writer Michael Butler. 

Scream Factory's new Blu-ray is great, but I will say that if you are a serious collector with a NEED for the most complete package available I do give the edge to the Arrow Blu-ray - which is Region B locked - but if you're just looking to chill with a fun movie and aren't concerned with extras the Scream Factory release has the marginally more pleasing A/V presentation and a fine set of extras.  

Special Features:
- NEW Mystery Of The Car – Interview With Producer/Director Elliot Silverstein (9 Mins) HD
- NEW The Navajo Connection – Interview With Actress Geraldine Keams (12 Mins) HD
- NEW Just Like Riding A Bike - Interview With Actress Melody Thomas Scott (12 Mins) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins)
- TV Spot (1 Mins)
- Radio Spots (3 Mins) HD
- Still Gallery (125 Images) HD

Often described as 'Jaws on land' the description is both apt and short shrift in my opinion, The Car is a wildly entertaining slice of '70s b-movie cinema. It may not get the accolades of Steven Spielberg's Duel (1971) or John Carpenter's Christine (1983) but it has made a mark on popular culture, if you need proof just watch the were-car episode of Futurama. 3.5/5

ONE EYED GIRL (2014) (Blu-ray Review)

ONE EYED GIRL (2014)

Label: Dark Sky Films

Region Code: A

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 103 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:) 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Nick Matthews
Cast: Steve Le Marquand, Sara West, Mark Leonard

Synopsis: On the brink of a nervous breakdown, young psychiatrist Travis meets Grace, a representative of a secret church that promises salvation to even the most troubled of its members. Intrigued, Travis joins the church and meets its leader, the charismatic Father Jay, who indoctrinates him into his sect’s sometimes radical practices. When a series of tragedies befalls Father Jay and his flock, Travis must decide if his loyalty truly lies with Father Jay, the ever-elusive Grace, or himself.

This Australian psychological thriller is a dark journey, a slow-burn of a watch that touches on themes of loss, anger and redemption. We have a young psychiatrist named Travis (Mark Leonard Winter) who has experienced the death of one of his own patients, a young woman with whom he was emotionally attached, apparently beyond any proper ethical way. As the movie moves forward we find that he was either unable or maybe even unwilling to save her, in the aftermath of her death he spirals out of control, doubting his own ability to help others he now finds himself on the verge of a nervous breakdown, abusing drugs to numb the pain. He quits his job as a therapist and launches into a series of self-destructive behaviors. Now at his darkest hour he meets a young woman named Grace (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), who brings him into a group therapy session run by the charismatic Jay (Steve Le Marquand) who uses radical therapies to inspire change in people with deep seated problems and drug addiction. 

At one of the meetings Travis is invited to attend further group therapy at a rural farmhouse run by Jay, whom is referred to as Father by his flock of followers, which seems a little culty. At first Travis fights against the therapy sessions, which go against his own experience as a psychiatrist, but slowly over time he comes to accept the therapies and begins to respond to them, fighting off the anger and fog of the drug withdrawl and making some headway into his own head space, facing his fears head-on. However, when Travis begins to see a few unseemly events transpire around the farmhouse the illusion and promise of the therapies begin to erode, leading to betrayal and a violent finale. 

The structure of the story is a bit disjointed by design with flashbacks to the events that brought Travis to where he finds himself at the beginning of the story, I found the narrative not hard to follow but not quite satisfying either. I think an analog to this film might be We Need to Talk about Kevin but without the gut-punch of a finale, there are moments but they are not sustained, it feels like its leading to something potent, but I think it goes out with a bit of a whimper, which some might call it a quiet intensity, but I'll just say it left me unfulfilled. 2.5/5

ZOMBIE HIGH (1987) (Blu-ray Review)

ZOMBIE HIGH (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory 

Region Code: A

Rating: R

Duration: 91 Minutes

Audio: DTS-HD Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Ron Link

Cast: Clare Carey, James Wilder, Richard Cox, Kay E. Kuter, Paul Feig, Scott Coffey, Sherilyn Fenn, Virginia Madsen

Synopsis: Virginia Madsen (Candyman, Sideways) and Richard Cox (Cruising) star in this humorous thriller about the bizarre happenings that occur in a prestigious boarding school. It seems to Andrea Miller (Madsen) that the upperclassmen act like robots. They're the perfect students – dedicated, involved and loyal. Their clothes are perfectly pressed and their hair is perfectly styled. It seems that the teachers have something to do with this ingratiating behavior. And when Andrea, the new kid at school, sees her friends turning into clones, she starts to suspect the worst.

Zombie High (1987) had a few things going for it from the start, for one it features the very attractive Sherilyn Fenn from Twin Peaks and Boxing Helena, plus it also stars Virginia Madsen (Candyman). The movie is a variation on The Stepford Wives taking place at the prestigious Ettinger Academy where Andrea Miller (Madsen) has won a paid scholarship. Adrea's excited about the opportunity but her clingy jock-boyfriend doesn't want her to attend the school, fearing she will fall for one of the silver-spooned preppies, but he's so wrong, she actually falls for the moody biology professor Dr. Louis Philo (Richard Cox).

Anyway, it turns out that the school is a strange place all the way around once you get past the ivy league exterior. Any students who shows a lack of proper study habits or counter-culture influence winds up transformed overnight into straight-A study nerds in blue blazers. At the heart of the transformative weirdness is the elderly Dr. Beauregard Eisner (Kay E. Kuter) and his quest for immortality, a byproduct of which leaves the students mindless study-drones, with the faculty and staff harvesting brain-serum which prolong their own lives.

Honestly, by the end of the movie I felt as if I was becoming a mindless drone myself, this is the worst kind of low-budget b-movie, a boring one. Madsen is decent in the role, she's a capable actress but she cannot save the movie alone, the script is awful and there is zero atmosphere to be found, the movie might have gotten by on a weird sense of creepiness if it had any.  The precious few interesting aspects of the story are never fleshed out decently and the whole affair screams amateur hour from start to finish. If you can imagine a hybrid of the superior The Stepford Wives (1975) by way of the Australian movie Strange Behavior (1980) and you might have an idea of what maybe this could have been with a little inspiration, but this movie has none to offer. 

The Blu-ray from Scream Factory prents the movie in 1080p HD widescreen and is sourced from a clean print, the image lacks depth or fine detail but looks acceptable, looking soft and anemic at times. The English DTS-H MA Mono 2.0 comes through clean, optional subtitles are provided. The only extras is a trailer for the movie, leaving me to surmise that no one involved wants to discuss this blemish on their filmography. On one hand I applaud Scream Factory for rescuing this one from the vault obscurity, on the other hand I will never watch this movie again, there are too many other better movies out there to discover, this is not one of them, I love bad movies, just not the boring ones. 2/5

WOMEN'S PRISON MASSACRE (1983) (Blu-ray Review)

WOMEN'S PRISON MASSACRE (1983)

Label: Scream Factory 
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 89 Minutes
Audio: Englis DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Bruno Mattei
Cast: Lorraine De Selle, Maria Romano, Laura Gemser, Ursula Flores, Carlo De Mejo, Gabriele Tinti

Italian schlock/hack director Bruno Mattei's aptly titled women-in-prison movie Women's Prison Massacre (1983) is the final entry in the Black Emanuelle movies starring Indonesian sex-kitten Laura Gemser, this playing a nosey investigative reporter framed for drug possession by a corrupt politician. Inside the big house she makes enemies of the tight-bunned prison warden (Lorraine de Selle, Cannibal Ferox) and a violent, pale-skinned prisoner named Albina, who is played with campy over-the-top delight by actress Ursula Flores, who I didn't recognize from anything else. Mattei plays up the depraved WIP tropes we've come to expect from the genre to the hilt with plenty of nudity and sex, a knife fight and some awesome trashy dialogue, with one prisoner threatening to bite off Albina's nipples! 

Throw into the mix four male death row inmates who invade the women's prison and you have all the makings of a trashy and fun WIP classic. The death row inmates are lead by Crazy Boy Henderson (Gabriel Tinti, Mario Bava's Lisa and the Devil), they take the women hostage, and have their way with them for a short time before the tables are turned. These guys don't seem to realize just how bloodthirsty these women prisoners are, with one distraught woman going so far as to place a razor blade in her vagina which leads to a bloody cock-shredding sex-scene topped off with some strangulation. 

Gesmer turns is a strong performance, she's always an attractive presence onscreen and with some decent acting chops. Ursula Flores makes for a wonderful villain as the campy bitch, a perfectly trashy performance with fun teeth-gritted English over-dubbing. Gabriel Tinti as Crazy Boy Henderson also makes for a menacing figure, a cut-throat scumbag capable of anything. There's a fun scene of Russian roulette as he eggs on one of the prisoner's to pull the trigger, which ends with his character with a mouthful of someone elses brains and blood, which cracked me up. I loved how everything about the movie is over-the-top, you cannot take any of it too seriously, it's played for camp and it worked for me. 

While Mattei was most certainly a hack director he absolutely knew how to make an entertaining movie and this WIP entry is no exception, it's fun stuff through and through. Women's Prison Massacre is also enhanced by a surprisingly fun synthesizer score from composer Luigi Ceccarelli (Rats - Night of Terror) which adds yet another dimension to the crazed depravity happening onscreen, Lovers of exploitation cinema are in for a treat with this one, a deliriously sleazy and warped women-in-prison movie from the master of Italian schlock. 

Women's Prison Massacre arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen. The image is flat with over aggressive digital noise reduction, leaving facial features a bit on the waxy side, which is unfortunate. Colors are decent if a bit soft from time to time, with poor contrast levels that diminish the darker scenes. Audio is handled by an an English-dubbed DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 track with the usual sync issues you would expect from a dubbed Italian production. Fidelity is good with no distortion, the Luigi Ceccarelli score sounds great, and there are optional English subtitles provided. This is a bare-bones release with no extras of any kind, not even a trailer. 

As WIP fare goes this is entertaining stuff with copious amounts of nudity, sex and rape and plenty of low-budget violence to keep you glued to the screen, and the dubbed dialogue is another value-added benefit with lines like  "I'll put a stop to your arrogance, your haughty hotten tart!". If you're a fan of Bruno Mattei's brand of cheap exploitation cinema this is worth a watch. 2.5/5

 

THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE (1987) (Blu-ray Review)

THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Rod Amateau
Cast: MacKenzie Astin, Anthony Newley, Katie Barberi, Phil Fondacaro, Debbie Lee Carrington

Your favorite grime bandits come to life with all the farts, snot and vomit you can take in this hilarious film full of "gross-out humor" (The New York Times). Based on the wildly popular and irreverent trading cards, The Garbage Pail Kids® Movie stars Mackenzie Astin (Iron Will, Wyatt Earp) as a perfectly nice teenager who discovers the Kids...to his great disgust!

When Dodger (Astin) accidentally releases the Kids from their magical trash can prison, all smell breaks loose. Despite their offensive personal habits – and attitude problems – Dodger soon becomes fond of the Kids. But when Messy Tessie, Foul Phil, Valerie Vomit and the whole misfit crew join his fight against thuggish bullies, their efforts just might land them behind bars at the State Home for the Ugly!

I admit that sometimes I watch a '80s cheesy horror movie and it slides by with a nod of approval based solely on some form of nostalgia I have for it. Maybe because I saw it at a formative age on a sleepover or for some other ephemeral reason that keeps these movie, not all of them good, close to my heart, and I know it is the same way for many other movie watchers. I mean we all know that Wes Craven's Deadly Friend is not a good movie by any standard, but I'll be damned if I don't watch it once a year and love every corny minute of it. When this movie came to the cinema back in '87 I was fourteen and the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards craze had passed me by as I pursued harder horror movies and the attention of teen women... sadly, I found plenty of hard-edged horror and not so much of the other. Now in my early forties I find myself watching The Garbage ail Kids Movie for the first time with the new Blu-ray release from Scream Factory, it's time to find out now if I missed out or ad just delayed the agony. 

First thing first, this damn movie doesn't make a whole lot of sense but such as it is we have a young boy named Dodger (Mackenzie Astin, the younger brother of the more famous Sean Astin) who works for an antiques dealer named Captain Manzini (singer/songwriter Anthony Newley), a guy who seemed pretty creepy to me, and not someone who I would let my kids work for, but as with most '80s movie the kids parents are nowhere to be found. Dodger is being harassed throughout the movie by a local thug named Juice (Ron MacLachlan) who seems to exist solely to make life miserable for young Dodger. Why this street tough and possible drug pusher has it out for the pint-sized Dodger I could not tell you, but he definitely had a chip on his shoulder for the kid.  Maybe it because his fashion-obsessed girlfriend Tangerine (Katie Barberi) has a thing for Dodger, what ensues is a bit of a rote '80s love story between Tangerine and Dodger, though it doesn't have the charm of Mikey and Andrea from the beloved Goonies, but the movie does have some strange Amblin-type charms about it. 

The actual Garbage Pail Kids come into play when Dodger accidentally knocks over a trash can at Captain Manzini's curiosity shoppe, releasing seven ugly kids into the world, who turn out to be... from outer space?  We have the leather jacketed Greaser Greg, the snot-nosed Messy Tessie, the gaseous Windy Winston, the vomitous Valerie Vomit, the foul-breathed Foul Phil, zit-faced Nat Nerd who pisses his pants a lot and half girl, half alligator Ali Gator. After which for some reason dodger has these pint-sized weirdos down in the basement sewing '80s fashions for his sweetheart Tangerine to sell, this is some sort of weird ugly-kid sweat shop arrangement they have going on here. The gross kids are a fun with a lot of oozing snot, piss and flatulence happening while trying to do good in the world. They try anyway, in between committing grand theft auto, brawling at the toughest bar in the world and designing killer '80s fashions, it's very convoluted, I wanted to see more gross-out humor, and while there is a bit of it, the artificially attempt to sweeten the uglies up for the kiddies, which is a misstep in my opinion. 

There's also a bizarre thread about the State Home for the Ugly where the unattractive members of society are brought to before they're crushed in a car compactor, which is just one in a long line of strange messages to throw into a kids movie, even for the eighties this was strange. The movie is not a very good, I found it a drag to sit through while I periodically checked my messages, but I will say that I liked the Garbage Pail Kids designs created by makeup effects designer John Carl Buechler (Troll, Dolls, Ghoulies) who did a great job bringing these foul kids to the big screen. The gross-out humor is fun but the tone is so so uneven and the story is just a head-scratcher, it seems the writers had no idea who they were writing for, is this for young kids or teens, the movie bombed at the box office either way, which is not surprising. I remember at the time there was some uproar with parents groups pushing to ban the movie from theaters altogether, but the movie is such a mess that it came and went with little notice, garnering a cult movie following through the years afterward. 

It just feels like a cash grab, the story is awful, the writing is lame-brained, the performances are decent, but the special effects work is a lot of fun if you're into such things, but the movie is a strange and bizarre entry of '80s kiddie-cinema. If I had to figure what keeps fans coming back to this it would be a few choice lines of dialogue from the meat-headed character Juice, who when questioned by Tangerine why he is so awful to Dodger responds "it's a matter of principle!", which is probably the most quoted line in the movie, and with good reason, it's all in the delivery. 

The Blu-ray from Scream Factory is a mixed bag, the image is presented in 1080p HD widescreen (1.865:1) but is a little murky and overly grainy during the darker scenes, colors are a bit muted. Not having watched the previous standard definition presentation I can only assume this is a step-up from that, but this is not exactly eye-popping HD. The English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 is solid and clean, it may not be dynamic but it had some minor depth to it and it does the job, optional subtitles are provided. 

Scream Factory have gone above and beyond with the extras with brand new Red Short Pictures prodiced interviews with Special Makeup Effects Creator John Carl Buechler And Makeup Effects Artist Gino Crognale, First Assistant Director Thomas A. Irvine, and actor Mackenzie Astin,  Arturo Gil and Kevin Thompson, plus a theatrical trailer.  John Carl Buechler and Gino Crognale ive a good accounting of coming onto the project and creating the characters based on the trading card designs, these two have appeared in many Scream Factory extras and are always a blast to watch. they've done some truly excellent work through the years, and while this is far from their best work it probably the part of the movie I loved the most. First Assistant Director Thomas A. Irvine doesn't seem to remember much fine detail about making the movie thirty years ago, but he does give some perspective, stating that the movie seemed to make more sense when they were making it, ha ha. Garbage Pail Kids Actors Arturo Gil (Windy Winston) and Kevin Thompson (Ali Gator) on the other hand remember quite a lot and go into detail about the making of the movie from their perspective, going into how well they were treated on-set and working with John Carl Buechler and his effects team. 

The most substantial interview is a twenty-seven minute interview with star Mackenzie Astin who is fully aware of the movie's cult-status and how the movie was received at the time it tanked in theatres. He recalls everything in detail, speaking about working with each of the cast and crew, dropping that at the start of the movie he was dating co-star Katie Barberi, who despite looking significantly older than him at the time was only a year or two older. he's fun and animated, making this the crown-jewel of the bonus features. There's also a trailer for the movie, a sleeve of reversible artwork and a slipcover with new artwork from Scream illustrator Nathan Millner. 

Special Features: 
- NEW The Effects Of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie – Interviews With Special Makeup Effects Creator John Carl Buechler And Makeup Effects Artist Gino Crognale (12 Mins) HD 
- NEW On The Set – An Interview With First Assistant Director Thomas A. Irvine (6 Mins) HD 
- NEW The Artful Dodger – An Interview With Actor Mackenzie Astin (27 Mins) HD 
- NEW The Kids Aren't All Right – Interviews With Garbage Pail Kids Actors Arturo Gil (Windy Winston) And Kevin Thompson (Ali Gator) (21 Mins) HD 
- Theatrical Traile3 (2 Mins) HD 

Not a good movie but a very curious slice of kiddie-cinema from the eighties that will certainly entertain you for all the wrong reasons, if you're fan of trashy b-movie cinema you're in for a treat, a kids movie with pissy pants, black magic and genocide. The new bonus features from Scream Factory go far and above anything the movie could possibly deserve, and that's why we love them, like Dodger they love the ugly kids too. 2/5

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BLOOD RAGE (1987) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

BLOOD RAGE (1983) 

Label: Arrow Video
Rating: Certificate 18
Duration: 82 Minutes
Region: Region Free
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Uncompressed PCM 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles 

Director: John Grissmer 

Cast: Louise Lasser, Mark Soper, Marianne Kanter, Julie Gordon, Jayne Bentzen 

Synopsis: Twins Todd and Terry seem like sweet boys that is, until one of them takes an axe to face of a fellow patron at the local drive-in. Todd is blamed for the bloody crime and institutionalised, whilst twin brother Terry goes free. Ten years later and, as the family gathers around the table for a Thanksgiving meal, the news comes in that Todd has escaped. But has the real killer in fact been in their midst all along? One thing’s for sure, there will be blood and rage!

Now I fancy myself something of a slasher movie connoisseur but this is one movie that had evaded me until it was announced by Arrow Video for release, so there's some amount of obscurity to it. Shot in 1983 but not released until 1987, Blood Rage is a gruesome and fun slasher movie, with an offbeat tone and a wicked vein of mean spiritedness. It begins innocently enough at a drive-in movie theater in the year 1974 during a presentation of the b-movie chiller The House that Cried Murder. Horny single mother Maddy (Louise Lasser - Frankenhooker) is on a date with her boyfriend, her adolescent twin boys Terry and Todd are asleep in the back of the car> When Maddy and her boyfriend start groping each other the boys awaken and leave the car through the back without the notice of their irresponsible mother. They wander the drive-in and along the way Terry finds a hatchet in the back of a pick-up truck. When the boys come upon a car with a pair of young lovers screwing in the backseat Terry murders the teen with an ax to the face, it's a wonderfully gruesome scene. As the young woman runs away from car nude, screaming for help, Terry smears blood on Todd's face and paces the murder weapon in his hand, blaming him for the murder. In the aftermath Todd is sent away to an asylum in a catatonic state, unable to speak the truth about his innocence.

Now ten years later Todd is beginning to speak to his doctor Dr. Berman (Marianne Kanter) at the asylum, and he now says that it was his twin Terry who committed the heinous ax murder a decade ago at the drive-in. When Todd's mother comes for a Thanksgiving visit to the asylum to see her son the doc informs her of what Todd has said, but Maddy refuses to accept any of it. That night Todd escapes the asylum and returns home to the Shadow Woods apartments, followed by a string of bloody murders. 

I love the set-up of this movie, it's not original in that it apes John Carpenter's Halloween to a certain degree with a child-murderer sent away to the asylum, only to escape on a holiday and return home years later. This time around it's Thanksgiving, even though turkey day is give short shrift with only a few nods to the day of feasting, though we do get a memorable turkey carving scene. The addition of a twin-thread is a nice move but is wasted, we know that Todd is innocent and Terry is the demented killer from the very start, so there is never a chance to build any sort of suspense or intrigue around the whodunit. It seems to me they could have milked that for a bit more than they did, which is a bit of a waste.

As for the cast we have the raspy voiced Louise Lasser from Frankenhooker as yet another slightly demented mom, she plays it straight and over dramatic to great effect. Actor Mark Soper plays the dual-role of the twins, you might remember him as the teen who gets his cock bitten off in The World According to Garp. He plays Terry as outgoing and cocky, his murder-spree at time reminded me of eric Freeman from Silent Night, Deadly Night Pt. 2, very bizarre. Soper's version of "it's Garbage Day!" comes by way of "It's NOT cranberry sauce". Terry's virginal girlfriend Karen (Jayne Bentzen) proves to be the final girl and looks a bit like Amy Steele from Friday the 13th Pt. 2, which doesn't hurt. 

Most of the fun happens in and around the Shadow Woods apartment complex, or the nature walk in the woods nearby, it's a cheap setting and the sets are rather dull honestly. The wooded area nearby proves more atmospheric but for some reason is over lit and not that scary a place, the movie seems too bright in general for a slasher. Where the movie excels is in the gore gag department, courtesy of special make-up effects creator Ed French who cut his teeth on early '80s horror movies like Sleepaway Camp, Breeders, C.H.U.D. and The Stuff. He creates some fun, creative gore, though some of the seams do shows through with this new HD presentation. The torso cut in half, a head split in two exposing a halved brain, the ax to the face, a decapitation, slashed throats and deep knife wounds will keep the gore hounds happy. There's also multiple scenes of nudity from Andrea (Lisa Randall) and others that will keep the pervs properly aroused, nothing too sleazy, a few shots of horny lovers and a prerequisite shower scene. 

The movie has some issues that might dampen your fun,as stated before the apartment is a dull setting, the pace lags from time to time, and the cast ranges from bad to just offbeat, but Mark Soper and Louise Lasser do offbeat to great effect. Particularly Lasser who plays the loony mom to the hilt, stuffing her face with Thanksgiving leftovers while slumped on the floor in a fit of hysterics, some good stuff from her throughout as she takes it over-the-top. 

Blood Rage is certainly not a top-tier '80s slasher and that's okay by me, it's still a gruesome and mean-spirited slice of slasher cinema that I would put alongside the holiday themed slasher New Year's Evil, not truly awful but entertaining for not quite the right reasons. 

Audio/Video: Slasher obscurity Blood Rage arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video in a rather deluxe 3-disc presentation featuring three cuts of the movie. The main course is a brand-new 2K restoration of the “hard” home video version featuring all the gore bits you slasher nuts are gonna want. Framed in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) the HD image looks surprisingly nice, with an over abundance of grain the image can be a bit thick and scrappy at times, if you know anything about me you know I don't mind a some film grain in my movies. I prefer it to the excessive digital scrubbing that wipes away fine detail and tone. Colors are nicely saturated and the black levels and shadow detail are good, though I will say that the brightness level seems a tad high, this might be the brightest slasher since Dario Argento's Tenebre, the woodland nature walk scenes look like they were shot on a football field at night with the lighting cranked-up to max. it certainly takes away from the tone and atmosphere of the movie. 

Audio chores are capably handled by an uncompressed English PCM Stereo 2.0 with some good oomph to it, everything comes through well balanced with good fidelity. I love the synth score from composer Richard Einhorn (Shock Waves, The Prowler) with the perfect amount of synth tinged menace and '80s cheese, the recurring main title theme is a knock-out in my opinion. Optional English subtitles are provided for hard of hearing and hearing impaired, or if you just live with loud kids who make it near impossible to watch a movie ...not that I am speaking from experience.  

Onto the extras this is where Arrow Video have gone above and beyond. Let start with the fact that we have three-versions of the movie beginning with the aforementioned 2K restoration of the “hard” home video version, transferred from the camera negative and featuring the original "Slasher" title card, which is my preferred version. We have all that great gore from special make-up effects creator Ed French. Then we have the Nightmare at Shadow Woods version, a shorter theatrical re-cut featuring footage not seen in the Blood Rage home video version, but minus a lot of the great gore, which has either been omitted or cut down significantly.  The third and final version is the longer alternate Composite Cut of the movie combining footage from the home video and theatrical versions, sourced from various elements the quality fluctuates a bit from scene to scene, but it is an interesting watch, though at the end of the day the "hard" restored home video version is the one to go with in my opinion. 

There's also an audio commentary from director John Grissmer and movie rights-holder John Daly moderated by Ewan Cant from Arrow Video. I have not had a chance to pour through the commentary just yet given I watched all three versions of the movie, I anticipate a commentary viewing in the coming days. 

Arrow Video have teamed-up with Red Short Pictures to bring us a series of brand-new interviews with actors Mark Soper and Louise Lasser, plus Ted Raimi who made his first onscreen appearance with Blood Rage as a condom-selling dweeb at a drive-in. There's also a great interview with producer/actress Marianne Kanter who speaks about the challenges raising money or and the making the movie, plus special make-up effects creator Ed French speaks about his time on the movie creating the gruesome special effects. 

There's also featurette revisiting the original locations in Jacksonville, Florida with film historian Ed Tucker, an alternate VHS opening titles sequence featuring the "Blood Rage" title card, plus an image gallery featuring some cool behind-the-scenes shots of the make-up effects being created and applied, courtesy of Ed French. 

This release also includes a collector's booklet with writing on the movie by Joseph A. Ziemba, author of BLEEDING SKULL! A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey, plus a sleeve of reversible artwork. Arrow Video have truly gone above and beyond for this release, they are deserving of the Criterion of Horror honor that is so often thrown their way. Maybe Criterion should be called the Arrow of non-horror...

Special Features:

- Brand new 2K restoration of the “hard” home video version, transferred from the camera negative and featuring the original title card Slasher
- Audio commentary with director John Grissmer
- Both Sides of the Camera – an interview with producer/actress Marianne Kanter (10 Mins) HD
- Double Jeopardy – an interview with actor Mark Soper (11 Mins) HD
- Jeez, Louise! – an interview with actress Louise Lasser(10 Mins) HD
- Man Behind the Mayhem – an interview with special make-up effects creator Ed French (13 Mins) HD
- Three Minutes with Ted Raimi – an interview with actor Ted Raimi (3 Mins) HD
- Return to Shadow Woods – featurette revisiting the original locations in Jacksonville, Florida with film historian Ed Tucker (6 Mins) HD
- Alternate VHS Opening Titles with the "Blood Rage" Title Card (5 Mins)
- Motion still gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes make-up photos (5 Mins) HD 

- Nightmare at Shadow Woods – the re-edited 1987 theatrical re-cut featuring footage not seen in the Blood Rage home video version (79 Mins) HD
- Alternate composite cut of the feature combining footage from the home video and theatrical versions (82 Mins) HD
- Never-before-seen outtakes (27 Mins) HD 

- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Marc Schoenbach

- Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Joseph A. Ziemba, author of BLEEDING SKULL! A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey

Blood Rage is a cheesy eighties slasher, there's not a lot of originality about it, the acting is offbeat to say the least, but it does manage to pass the time nicely.  For me it's the loony performances of Louise Lasser as the loving mother and the dual-role from Mark Soper, plus the creative gore from Ed French that will keep me coming back to this one. On top of that we have a solid A/V presentation with loads of awesome extras, this anemic '80s slasher had received one mighty fine release from Arrow Video.