EMELIE (2015) (Blu-ray Review)

EMELIE (2015)

Label: Dark Sky Films
Release Date: May 3rd 2016 
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 82 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1) 
Director: Michael 
Cast: Sarah Bolger, Joshua Rush, Carly Adams , Thomas Bair, Susan Pourfar, Chris Beetem

Synopsis: As their parents head out for a date in the city, the three young Thompson children – Jacob, Christopher, and Sally – immediately take to their new babysitter Anna (Sarah Bolger, Into the Badlands, Once Upon a Time), who seems like a dream come true: she’s sweet, fun, and lets them do things that break all of their parents’ rules. But as the night creeps along and Anna’s interactions with them take on a more sinister tone, the kids slowly realize that their caretaker may not be who she claims to be. Soon it’s up to big brother Jacob to protect his siblings from the increasingly nefarious intentions of a very disturbed woman whose weapon is trust, and whose target is innocence.

Husband and wife Joyce (Susan Pourfar) and Dan (Chris Beetem) are good parents who on the night of their anniversary set out to rekindle the romance with a dinner away from the kids, leaving their three young children at home with a new babysitter named Anna (Sarah Bolger), who they found in a pinch since their usual sitter had graduated from braces and is now a horny teen with a night life of her own. What we know right from the start is that the new sitter is not who she seems, her real name is Emelie and she has not ended up on this family's doorstep by accident this night, this is a babysitter with a dark and deadly secret. The three children are pre-teen Jacob (Joshua Rush), middle daughter Sally (Carly Adams) and the hyperactive youngest Christopher (Thomas Bair). Anna puts on a great show for the parents before they leave for the evening, setting them at ease with her charm and easy rapport with the kids, but once the parents are out of the home things begin to get weird, beginning with Jacob walking in on Anna in the bathroom where she is sitting on the toilet, asking the young boy to fetch her a tampon before inserting it in his presence, yeah, that's not right. 

That is just the beginning of the wrongness about to be unleashed upon this family over the course of a few hours, we still have some gun play, a night of amateur porn and kid abduction to deal with. The movie looks great, a stylishly shot thriller with a bold and enigmatic performance from Bolger as the bad babysitter who lights up the screen with her wrong ways. She at first wins over the kids with her anarchic to a degree, though she loses some faith when she encourages the kids to feed Sally's beloved pet hamster to Christopher's python, which is about the time the oldest of the children senses something is very off about the new babysitter, his new found strength is an annoyance to her and a cat and mouse game ensues as Christopher sets out to deprive the babysitter of what she is really after this night. 

The movie is creepy and tense with loads of atmosphere and a story that is well executed with no dead space, this is more thriller than horror movie but it is punctuated by some violence, for instance when the usual babysitter stops by and threatens to ruin things for the bad babysitter she is dispatched in a very violent way, which is good stuff. 

When you think about it there is not a lot new under the sun with Emelie (2015), we've seen similar stories in various iterations through the years but this won me over with style and performance, a solid cat and mouse babysitter thriller with a standout performance from Sarah Bolger that is both scary, seductive and intense, this one comes highly recommended. 4/5 

SUBMERGED (2015) (Blu-ray Review)

SUBMERGED (2015) 

Label: Scream Factory I IFC Midnight 
Release Date: May 3rd 2016
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 98 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Wscreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Steven C. MIiler
Cast: Giles Matthey, Caleb Hunt, Cody Christian, Denzel Whitaker, Rosa Salazar, Jonathan Bennett, Mario Van Peebles, Talulah Riley, Tim Daly, Willa Ford

Synopsis: In Submerged, Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls) stars as an ex-soldier turned bodyguard hired to protect a young woman. But while cruising with a group of friends one night, their stretch limo is run off the road and into the water by a gang of ruthless kidnappers — who then dive in to finish the job. Suddenly it’s sink or swim, as the bodyguard must fight to keep the vehicle from becoming a watery grave.

Steven C. Miller has been pumping out some decent horror-thrillers for a few years now after his debut feature film - the micro-budget high energy zombie movie Automaton Transfusion (2006), and this thriller might be his most accomplished entry to date, though I do love his remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night, a movie which comes up short when compared to the weird original, but is a fun slasher watch just the same. 

Submerged (2015) starts with a high-tech limousine plunging into a deep canal, the driver Matt (Jonathan Bennett) is trapped in the front with a young woman named Jessica (Talulah Riley), who is the daughter of his wealthy employer and also Matt's love interest in the story. Trapped in the back of the limo are a group of Jessica's somewhat annoying friends who begin to panic and argue amongst themselves as the limo begins to take on water and the air begins to thin. 

The movie narrative flashes back throughout which gives us some back story prior to the plunge into the water, we find out that Matt is a former Army Ranger and a bad ass in hand to hand combat. The group were at a nightclub earlier in the night when they were engaged in a fight with some locals, Jessie's dad is a local businessman who just cut hundreds of job in the area, which puts a target on his his daughter's head. After leaving the club the group are attacked by two armed gunmen in a SUV and run off of a bridge which then plunges into a canal, where the limo sinks to the bottom and begins to take on water, all the while being slowly dragged out to the open ocean by the undercurrent of the tide. 

Miller's movie is tightly knit and well-spun, the claustrophobic panic and action keep things moving along at a brisk pace, the back story is kept to minimum and the underwater action takes a front seat, with only a few narrative flashbacks involving Matt's brother slowing down the pace. The drama and action in the limo is fun as the cast begin to panic and throw around accusations all the while they have to deal with the fact they they are trapped in a limo underwater being dragged out to sea and running out of air,, which is a scary scenario. Miller amps up the threat by sending down a team of scuba-diving assassins to further complicate things for the occupant. 

The cast does a fine job throughout capturing the panic of the situation, most are not of the likable variety in my opinion, and none are too developed, but they get the job done well enough. We also have appearances from Tim Daly of the TV show Wings as Jessie's father and Mario Van Peebles of Jaws: The Revenge (1987), who unfortunately does not have a Jamaican accent in the movie. Submerged is tightly woven, well-shot and a decent thriller> While it didn't truly wow me with action and suspense it was a good watch, a movie I could watch with my wife who hates horror and one that didn't bore me. 3/5

 

DANGEROUS MEN (2005) (Blu-ray Review)

DANGEROUS MEN (2005) 

Label: Drafthouse Films 
Release Date: April 22nd 2016 
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 80 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: John S. Rad
Cast: Melody Wiggins, Kelay Miller, Bryan Jenkins, Coti Cook, John Clure, Carlos Rivas, Lawrence McNeal III

Synopsis: After Mina witnesses her fiance's brutal murder by beach thugs, she sets out on a venomous spree to eradicate all human trash from Los Angeles. Armed with a knife, a gun, and an undying rage, she murders her way through the masculine half of the city's populace. A renegade cop is hot on her heels, a trail that also leads him to the subhuman criminal overlord known as Black Pepper. It's a pulse-pounding, heart-stopping, brain-devouring onslaught of '80s thunder, '90s lightning, and pure filmmaking daredevilry from another time and/or dimension. Blades flash, blood flows, bullets fly and synthesizers blare as the morgue overflows with the corpses of Dangerous Men.

Sweet Jesus, what did I just watch? Dangerous Men is a twenty-six years in the making L.A. crime thriller that defies expectations and logic at nearly every turn, the movie begins proper with two young lovers having a pleasant walk on the L.A. beach when they are accosted by two very bad bikers. The end result of the encounter is that the woman's lover and one of the the attackers lay dead and the beach, with the nearly-raped woman leaving with her new found biker friend - who keep in mind just murdered her fiance - to enjoy a meal at a restaurant before engaging in some awkward naval and knee kink back at a hotel room. Fear not though, this young woman has not fallen in love with said biker who murdered her lover, she is merely gaining his trust so that she can pull a knife out of from between her ass cheeks and stab him to death! 

Afterward she is picked-up by a businessman type who attempts to rape her, oops, bad move. She manages to turn the tables on the would-be rapist and before you know it she has a knife pressed up against his cock, leaving him stranded nude  in the desert while she drives off with his car. The camera lingers on him for way too long as he wanders nude through the barren landscape, speaking aloud to himself as he contemplates his poor life choices. This is the start of Dangerous Men, a weird movie made by a madman, a mind-melting shot on 35mm film that sort of recalls the ludicrous lo-fi cinema of shot-on-video schlock we saw in the '80s, chock full of uncomfortable nudity, plenty of stabbings, and strange tangential sub plots that come and go without rhyme or reason, this is just an oddball slice of cinema, one that at certain times just drops characters and follows others with little to no logic, sort of akin to Richard Linklater's Slacker. 

The movie was started in the '80s and that seems to be where the near-rape revenge story comes into play, this is the part that I enjoyed the most as our heroine goes on a one-woman murder spree, shooting and stabbing her way through a series of rapey-men. Melody Wiggins as Mina has a certain wide-eyed charm about her, she's not quite as wooden as many of the non-actors in the movie, but at about the 45-minute mark she disappears from the movie, in her place we follow her fiancee's brother who is investigating the death of his brother while attempting to clear Mina's name, her having been named as a suspect in the man-killing  murder-spree, which devolves into a crime-thriller revolving around an elusive criminal mastermind named Black Pepper - though White Pepper may have been more appropriate, the dude is a blond mullet headed dude in workout pants and a bandana, the guy screams '90s cheese from every pore.

Throw traditional narrative and movie making concepts out the door, this one is marching to an '80s and '90s beat all it's own, along the way there is more attempted rape with the expected repercussions, plenty of revenge, more bad bikers and enough awful-staged action to numb your mind to just how bad this movie is. Describing it is near impossible without sounding like a madman, theres a certain dream logic in the way the scenes flow into one another without any transitional material. One moment were following Mina, the next watching Black Pepper make-out with his girlfriend while they watch an exotic belly-dancer before heading to the bedroom where we are treated to more knee-kissing and some muff-diving, there's a brief chase and hen the whole thing comes to an abrupt freeze-frame end, and not one of those cool 70's shocker endings either, its more like waking up from a weird dream just before you get to the good part. it's just over, role credits, leaving you dazed and confused.

This temple of cinematic awful was directed by John S. Rad, a former Iranian architect who immigrated to the US after the Iranian Revolution in '79, soon after he set out to make his own L.A. based crime thriller and this fevered mess was the end result, an unintentionally hilarious revenger that was made over a period of nearly 30 years by a cast of unknowns who probably wish this movie would have never seen the light of day, particularly actress Melody Wiggins whom according to some of the interviews and commentaries does not wish to be associated with the movie in any way she never thought this would get an official release, clearly she underestimated the resolve of John S. Rad, who in 2005 finally got his slice of D.I.Y weirdness into a few theatres in in L.A., garnering a cult-following when a few choice taste-makers in the schlock community found it to their liking, and thus we have this Blu-ray release from cult connoisseurs Drafthouse Films. 

The movie arrives on Blu-ray from Drafthouse films framed in 1.85 aspect ratio with a nice layer of fine film grain and some decent fine detail, with only a smattering of grime, grit and minor print damage. It may not be the most eye-popping HD you've ever seen but for what this is the presentation looks fantastic, The only audio option is a Dolby Digital Stereo and that lossy option does just fine, dialogue and sound effects comes through clean, while the John S. Rad composed synth score, which is also delightfully awful, sounds cheese-tastic.  

Drafthouse have given this surreal revenge-thriller quite a gorgeous Blu-ray release, the disc comes housed in a Criterion style clear Blu-ray case with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring the Drafthouse artwork and the charmingly awful original theatrical poster artwork. There's a 16-page booklet with the only documented full-length interview with John S. Rad, plus a DRM-free HD Digital Copy of the movie, the code for which comes on a collectible insert card featuring a cartoon version of White Pepper. 

Extras on the disc include the mini-doc 'That's So John Rad' about the film and its original 2005 theatrical release, including an interview with the director's daughter who reveals some peculiar things about her auteur movie maker father, including that he threatened her with a gun for talking with a boy against his wishes and punishing her by taking her car, which she did not realize until years later he used in this movie, pushing it off a mountain in a scene. 

There's also an interview with director of photography Peter Palian who has actually directed a few movies I am familiar with, namely the Samurai Cop movies, he reveals details about the director style, how cheap he could be when it came to feeding the cast and crew, and his easy recipe for tomato juice. Additionally there's a fun audio commentary featuring Destroy All Movies authors Zack Carlson and Bryan Connelly who know a thing or two about trash cinema, and they're perfect for this commentary. The last of the extras a trailers for this movie and a selection of other Drafthouse Films releases. 

Special Features:
- 16-page booklet featuring only documented full-length interview with John S. Rad
- Audio commentary featuring Destroy All Movies authors Zack Carlson and Bryan Connelly
- That's So John Rad - An original documentary about the film and its original 2005 theatrical release (27 Mins) HD 
- Rare footage of John S. Rad appearing on local access television (48 Mins) HD 
- Interview with director of photography Peter Palian (11 Mins) HD 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 Mins) 
- Dangerous Men Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins) HD 
- Dangerous Men Teaser (1 Mins) HD 
- Drafthouse Films Trailers: Miami Connection (2 Mins) HD, Ms. 45 (1 Mins) HD, Roar (2 Mins) HD, Trailer War (1 Mins) HD 
- DRM-free HD Digital Copy

Dangerous Men (2005) is a movie custom made for trash cinema connoisseurs and bad movie lovers, if I did not know that this movie was an actual relic from the past I might have assumed it was a contemporary movie that was riffing on cheesy, so-bad-they're-good cinema from the '80s, but in my opinion you cannot craft something this weird by design, it's too weird to be planned, this is the sort of stuff that just happens in a vacuum outside of the mainstream. This release from Drafthouse is top-notch, made with love, and a fine tribute to the demented John S. Rad and his dream of making a movie in America. 

DESTROYER (1988) / EDGE OF SANITY (1989) (Blu-ray Review)

DESTROYER (1988) / EDGE OF SANITY (1989) 

DESTROYER 

Label: Scream Factory:
Region: A
Rating: R 
Duration: 94 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Option English SDH
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Director: Robert Kirk 
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Clayton Rohner, Deborah Foreman, Lyle Alzado

The late-80's were a fertile time for prison-bound horror movies, in just '88 and '89 alone saw the release of Prison (1988), The Horror Show (1989) and Wes Craven's Shocker (1989). Scream Factory have seemingly cornered the market on late eighties prison-set horror movies having released all three on Blu-ray, and they've added Destroyer (1989) to the docket, yet another jail house supernatural thriller featuring a hulking killer sent to the electric chair for his crimes, who has now come back to continue his murder spree. 

Serial killer Ivan Moser (former NFL star Lyle Alzado) is a convicted serial killer, having raped and murdered twenty-four men, woman and children before being apprehended, the last of his victims was a popular game show hostess, along the lines of Vanna White. While sitting on the chair waiting to be fried for his crimes he obsesses over a nearby TV screen showing a rerun of the game show, which is a nice perverse touch. The roided-out Alzado is a frighting hulk of a man bursting at the seems, with his muscular and veiny physique the guy as if he is about to pop like a muscular zit, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets, the guy looks like he is amped-up on steroids and a steady diet of that reportedly tasty '80s cocaine. While the big guy is being zapped by millions of volts on the chair there's a power outage, in the ensuing panic Moser rises up from the dead, an ensuing prison riot closes the prison down for good, and it is assumed that Moser died during the murderous riots, though no body has ever been recovered. 

Eighteen months later we have a b-movie director (Perkins) making a sleazy a women-in-prison movie at the now closed down penitentiary along with he screenwriter David Harris (Clayton Rohner) and his stunt-woman girlfriend Susan (Deborah Foreman, April Fool's Day), plus a cast of jailhouse background actors, including the leading lady who is a big-haired no-talent. Also among the crew is a nerdy special effects guy named Rewire (Jim Turner) who does the electrical and special effects work on-set, he seems to be the comic relief with a mix of nerdiness and stoner antics.

In the media the screenwriter mouths off about the riot at he prison, placing blame for the tragedy on the former prison warden named Kirsh (Pat Mooney), prompting an angry set-visit from the former warden, who becomes the first in a series of grisly murders perpetrated by the thought-dead Moser who burns the warden with an acetylene torch while he drops a turd in the toilet. 

The movie has some cheap prison atmosphere about it but lacks much if any charisma, certainly the venerable Anthony Perkins lends some credibility to his role as the director but this is a small change role for the guy, the eighties were not kind to the actor and most of his roles were not up to par with his talents. NFL-er Lyle Alzondo is a big guy with menacing physique but the character is devoid of any depth, his physicality is imposing and I wouldn't want the guy to get me in a headlock, but he's just a big muscular body with no character aside from an annoying and maniacal laugh, at least Horace Pinker from Shocker was fun.. 

Even by late-'80s standards the gore is pretty tame and won't do much for horror fans, a charred body is about as gory as you're gonna get, not even the presence of '80s scream queen Deborah Foreman (Waxwork, April Fool's Day) could give this one any juice, not an awful movie but just a lacklustre '80s slasher. 

Destroyer arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a new HD transfer derived from the only known surviving elements, which were not the original negative. The image is pretty solid with some decent fine detail, but the image doesn't have a lot of depth to it. The grain can be heavy at times, but all things considered the image looks good. The English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo audio sounds good, clean and well-balanced, optional English subtitles are provided, the only extra for the movie is a standard-def trailer. 

Special Features: Trailer (1 Mins) 

EDGE OF SANITY (1989) 

Label: Scream Factory:
Region: A
Rating: R
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo with Option English SDH 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Gérard Kikoïne
Cast: Ben Cole, David Lodge. Sarah Maur-Thorp, Anthony Perkins, Glynis Barber

The second half of this Anthony Perkins double feature is the more intriguing Edge of Sanity starring Perkins in a kinky version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Perkins starring as Dr. Jekyll, a man of science with good intentions who's alter ego is unleashed after a lab accident.  At the top of the movie we are treated to a nightmare sequence which reveals how Jekyll was traumatized as a young boy after catching his father in the barn with a whore, the experience has had long lasting psychological affects on the boy which have haunted him on through to adulthood. 

Jekyll's most recent experiments are based around the medicinal use of cocaine as an anesthetic, one night a lab monkey knocks over the cocaine into another chemical and the ensuing vaporous cloud has a transformative affect on the doc, transforming him into his the crack-smoking lecherous murderer Mr. Hyde who roams opium dens and whorehouses of Victorian London in search of sexual kicks before embarking on an erotic murder-spree. 

Perkins was already infected with HIV at the time of the movie and his transformation into Hyde shows a bit of the emaciated facial features I associate with the disease, the transformation is rather upsetting in a way on that level. However, it was great to see Perkins in a meatier role after his appearance in the sub-par slasher movie Destroyer, showcasing his talents as he transforms from a well-mannered man of science to an immoral killer, some of the psycho sexual scenes are very uncomfortable to watch. It may not be a rape-revenge movie but the scenes of nudity are uncomfortable to watch, with Mr. Hyde seducing, torturing and then murdering each of his victims, usually slashing their throats. 

The story of Jekyll and Hyde is one of the most told stories on the silver screen, but this version was something unique. I found Perkins depraved and creepy as the sinister alter-ego unleashed, the way they weave in elements of Jack the Ripper is also a treat. The movie is set in Victorian era London but I have to say this is the most '80s looking Victorian movies I have ever seen, but it worked for me, the stylish cinematography is rich with lush visuals and good atmospherics, including the fog-drenched streets of London you would expect of a Ripper story.

The 91-minute R-rated uncut version of Edge of Sanity arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory looking awesome on Blu-ray, there's a nice layer of fine film grain, plenty of fine detail and the colors are strong, with the vivid reds and blues really popping off the screen. The English DTS-HD MA 2,0 stereo audio sounds great. As with Destroyer the only extra is a trailer for the movie. 

Special Features: Trailer (1 Mins) 

I love the Scream Factory double features, they may not all be venerated cult-classics but they're always fun for us lovers of b-movie cinema, who can even appreciate the modest charms of something like Destroyer, which scrapes the bottom of the '80s slasher barrel. Edge of Sanity is an awkwardly kinky take on Jekyll and Hyde with a standout performance from Anthony Perkins and is worth the price of purchase alone on my opinion, I only wish we had some new bonus features to go along with it. 3/5 

 

SSSSSSS (1973) (Blu-ray Review)

SSSSSSS (1973)

Label: Scream Factory 
Release Date: April 26th 2016 
Region Code: A
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA  Stereo 2.0 with Optional English SDH 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Bernard Kowalski 
Cast: Heather Menzies, Reb Brown, Richard B. Shull, Strother Martin, Tim O'Connor, Dirk Benedict

Synopsis: Strother Martin (Cool Hand Luke) and Dirk Benedict (Battlestar Galactica) star in this eerie tale of a respected snake expert who masks a frightening desire to transmute a man into a king cobra. Realizing that his new lab assistant, David (Benedict), is the perfect specimen, the demented doctor begins administering injections of "immunization serum." Soon, David begins experiencing strange side effects: his skin is shedding while his body shape is changing. But before he realizes the horrible truth, the metamorphosis from human to serpent has begun. This thriller, directed by Bernard L. Kowalski (Attack of the Giant Leeches), also stars Heather Menzies (Piranha) and Reb Brown (Howling II and TVs Captain America).

I do seem to love these absurd horror films from the '70s, with Sssssss from 1973 we here we have herpetologist Dr. Carl Stoner (Strother Martin) and his daughter Kristina (Heather Menzies) running a snake snake research lab out in a rural area, the doc takes on a research assistant from the local college, a dopey but good natured guy named David Blake (Dirk Benedict, The A-Team) who is unaware that the good doc is actually a mad scientist of sorts obsessed with the transforming man into some creepy cobra-hybrid, what he believes to be the next step of human evolution. The plot makes no sense whatsoever but that does not detract from the pure entertainment value of this '70s cult-classic. 

Longtime TV veteran Strother Martin turns in a rather good performance as the kindly nut of a doctor, sure he is a mad scientist who has wild ideas but he comes off as a nice old man, just, you know,  a little crazy. His daughter Kristina is a bookworm-ish cutey and she and the ill-fated David strike up a flirtation which becomes something more, much to the dismay of Doc Stoner, you see his daughter doesn't know about his diabolic plans to mutate young David. The whole process begins as the doc gives David a sot in the arm with a hypodermic, what he calls a necessary venom inoculations, and soon enough David begins to show signs of change, beginning with the shedding his skin, and then his facial features slowly begin to evolve ever so slightly. 

The movie begins with the doc selling off one of his failed hybrid experiments to a crooked carnival owner who parades the guy - the doc's former assistant - at a the carnival freak show. Reb Brown who played Captain America in the cheesy 70's live action TV show appears as a college football jerk-jock who makes the fatal mistake of killing one the doc's prized snakes, in revenge the doc sneaks into the jocks college apartment and unleashes a deadly mamba into the shower, what follows is a nice scene of '70s slow-motion of the creep stepping on the venomous serpent in the shower.  There's also a fun appearance from Richard B. Shull (Spring Break) as Doc Stoner's colleague and nemesis at the college, the two have a few fun scenes together sparring over much needed grant funds the doc needs to continue his work, which Shull's character holds over is head with relish.

I love these silly '70s horror movies, I love how weird and absurd they are, and this one is up there when it comes to pure absurdity, but everyone plays it straight without any winking, it is so damned earnest about everything and I love that. It does have some pacing issues, the love story really drags it down a few notches, as does the skinny dipping scene with the leaves which are hilariously super imposed over the naughty parts, but the final oddball few moments are worth the watch. We have poor David transforming into a King Cobra through a process of time lapse photography and some cool make-up special effects, but the final transformation is a bit of a letdown as we don't get the promised human-snake hybrid,

Extras on the disc begin with a brand-new interview with star Dirk Benedict, an animated guy with tons of great stories about the cast and director, remembering "Bernie" as a director who got things done without much fuss, someone who enjoyed other's misery and had a wicked cackle of a laugh. Remembering how Strother Martin was scared to death of snakes, and how Kowalski managed to get him to allow a snake to bite him for the movie, but not before egging him on to the point that he pulled down his pants on the Universal back lot! This was a fun one, I am sure many like myself remember Benedict as the vain "Face" from 80's TV show The A-Team. 

The second interview on the disc is with actress Heather Menzies who speaks about her own fear of snakes and working with the cast and crew, Other extras include a handful of trailers for the movie, radio spots, a gallery of behind-the-scenes images and a sleeve of reversible artwork with the minor Sssssnake variant. 

Special Features: 
- NEW My Reptilian Past – An Interview With Actor Dirk Benedict (18 Mins) HD 
- NEW The Herpetologist's Daughter – An Interview With Heather Menzies (18 Mins) HD 
- Photo Gallery (4 Mins) HD 
- Radio Spots (2 Mins) HD 
- Theatrical Trailers (4 Mins) 

Sssssss (1973) is a solid slice of '70s cinema schlock, if you're a fan of sort of b-movies this is something you just might need to own on Blu-ray. Scream Factory offer up a solid HD A/V presentation with a few choice extras. 3/5 

 

DOLEMITE (1975) on Blu-ray April 26th from Vinegar Syndrome

Special ‘Blaxploitation’ Blu-ray/DVD Series

Launches With Dolemite, April 26th

From the World’s Most-Renowned Distributor of Cult and Underground Films

DOLEMITE (1975) 

Label: Vinegar Syndrome
Rated: R
Format: Region-Free Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack
Running Time: Approx. 90 Minutes (Plus Special Features)

As the premiere release in a special series of six fully restored “Blaxploitation” cult classics, Dolemite hustles onto a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, April 26 from Vinegar Syndrome (VS). Emerging in the U.S. in the early 1970s, Blaxploitation films – the first to regularly feature soundtracks of funk and soul music and primarily African-American casts – were originally made specifically for a Black, urban audience. However, the genre’s appeal soon broadened across racial and ethnic lines. The term was coined by the head of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, ex film publicist Junius Griffin.

Dolemite, an outrageously funny and action-packed classic released theatrically in 1975, stars acclaimed, African-American comedian and filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore – who also co-wrote the film and its soundtrack – and was directed by D’Urville Martin, who also stars. Making its worldwide Blu-ray debut, the film has been fully restored in 2k from a recently discovered, long-lost 35mm negative and is loaded with extras.

About the Film: Dolemite (Moore), the baddest pimp in town, has just been released from prison, ready to take revenge on notorious gangster Willie Green (Martin), who set him up on a phony drug charge and stole his club, The Total Experience. With the help of his friend Queen Bee (Lady Reed) and their bank of Kung Fu fighting vixens, Dolemite takes on every “rat soup eatin’ mother#%$*er” in South Central.

Special Features: 
I, Dolemite making-of documentary by Elijah Drenner (American Grindhouse); Lady Reed Uncut featurette; Locations: Then & Now featurette; historical commentary track from Moore’s biographer Mark Jason Murray, featuring interviews with Moore as well as co-stars Jerry Jones, Lady Reed and John Kerry and cinematographer Nick Von Sternberg; original theatrical trailers; original cover artwork by Jay Shaw; reversible cover artwork; and English SDH subtitles.

Look for four more Blu-ray/DVD combo releases in the Vinegar Syndrome Blaxploitation series, coming soon, including: Moore’s The Human Tornado (1976), the sequel to Dolemite, being released May 31; Petey Wheatstraw (1977), out June 28; and, finally, his absurdist classic, Disco Godfather (1979), available July 26. Also, a don’t-miss double-feature (together in one release) with Matt Cimber’s The Candy Tangerine Man (1975), reportedly Samuel L. Jackson’s all-time favorite Blaxploitation film, and Lady Cocoa (1975), out June 28.

Dolemite is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (with an alternate, full-frame boom mic”version) and DTS-HD MA mono sound.

About Vinegar Syndrome
Vinegar Syndrome was founded in 2012 by film archivists Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson to preserve and release genre films, independent features and cult classics. In just over four years, VS has restored hundreds of feature films on Blu-ray and DVD and has won international praise for their restorations of lost and forgotten works of genre cinema. Visit us online at www.vinegarsyndrome.com

CODE 7, VICTIM 5 (1964) & MOZAMBIQUE (1964) (Blu-ray Review)

CODE 7, VICTIM 5 (1964) / MOZAMBIQUE (1964)

Blu-ray Double Feature

Label: Blue Underground 
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 88I89 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD Mono with Optional English SDH 
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Robert Lynn
Cast: Lex Barker, Ann Smyrner, Ronald Fraser, Veronique Vendell I Steve Cochran, Hildegard Knef, Paul Hubschmid

CODE 7, VICTIM 5 (1967) 
Synopsis: The first victim is the butler of South African millionaire Wexler, who hires hard-hitting private eye Steve Martin for protection. Once at Wexler's palatial Cape Town estate, Martin meets the patriarch's family, close associates - and possible suspects. When it's discovered that the key to the killing may lie in an old war photograph, Martin sets out on a mission to unravel the identities of the men in the picture before they become target two through VICTIM 5. 

MOZAMBIQUE (1967) 
Synopsis: Following a deadly plane crash, an out-of-work American pilot accepts a mysterious job offer flying cargo between Lisbon and Mozambique, only to find himself embroiled in a deadly world of drug smuggling, kidnapping, and murder. Can he survive long enough to discover the criminal mastermind's identity and escape with a sultry lounge singer from MOZAMBIQUE? 

Blue Underground bring us a 007-styled double feature from the notorious writer/producer Harry Alan Towers, a man who at various times was reported to be a provider of vice, a pimp and even a suspected Soviet spy! Back in the '64 though he was a writer/producer cashing in on the wave of Bond Mania following the box office juggernaut success of Dr. No and From Russia with Love with two African-set sort-of spy thrillers. First up we have the snazzy titled Code 7, Victim 5 starred the impeccably tanned blond hunk Lex Barker as Steve Martin, a NYC based P.I. summoned to Cape Town South Africa by mineral magnate Wexler (Walter Rilla) to investigate the death of Wexler's butler during a parade procession at the start of the movie, in a very nicely set-up murder sequence.

Among the could-be culprits are Wexler's cute Secretary Helga Swenson (Ann Smyrner), his adopted and horny daughter Gina (Veronique Vendell), her boyfriend Dr. Paul Bison (Dietmar Schonherr) and some other assorted might-be murderers. The movie has a certain low-rent charm about it, Towers assembled a good cast of characters and a decent spy-thriller type script, plus shooting in south Africa lent some serious production value to the cash-strapped movie, including the oddly-set ostrich farm and a fun cavern escapade. There's also a pretty great underwater spear-fishing scene gone awry, and Towers of course could not resist a lion mauling at one point, they are in south Africa after all.

No sooner has the P.I arrived and departed from the airport when someone attempts to run the guy off a winding road, ending in a brutal death for the would-be assassins, and this is where we get our first Bond-worthy quip from Barker who looks over the roadside cliff and observes "bad brakes", which is just good stuff for a knock-off of a Bond movie, this gets things off to a fun start right from the word go. 

The movie plays on like this for sometime, a fun private-eye movie dressed up as a spy-thriller set to an African landscape that looks great on film. Baxter strikes quite a figure, I loved his interactions with round-faced Police Inspector Lean (Ronald Fraser), a peculiarly small-mouthed man who loves the ladies and doesn't manage to do much inspecting, which is pretty much par for the course.

The other half of the double-bill comes by way of Mozambique, a noir-thriller set in east Africa also directed by Ronald Fraser, which again opens with a pre-credit murder sequence that ends with a knifing. Enter a disgraced American commercial pilot named Brad Webster (Steve Cochran) who is brought into the picture to work for the mysterious Colonel Valdez. Webster's back story has him as the lone survivor of a commercial airline disaster in which he was the pilot! Right from the start he's aboard a plane bound for Lisbon, East Africa, nervously seated next to lounge singer named Christina (Vivi Bach) who we find out is also employed by Valdez. Once Webster arrives he discovers that Valdez had been murdered, and gets caught up in a seedy smuggling ring that puts both he and Christina in imminent danger, with her being kidnapped at the hands of crooked Sheik! Honestly, this one was not as fun for me as Code 7, Victim 5 for a few reasons. while the locations again look great I found that the action set pieces were fewer are far between, on top of that the cast seems decidedly under skilled, and Steve Cochran pales in comparison to Lex Barker. 

Both movies arrive together on a single-disc Blu-ray from Blue Underground framed in the scope 2.35 aspect ratio sourced from the original camera negative, both looking abundantly grainy and a bit on the bright side, but very nice. The only extra on the disc are two 2 minute HD trailers for the movies, what this needed is a mini doc on producer Harry Alan Towers who by all accounts was quite a character. I do believe this is the first time that either movie has appeared on any home video format, so if you dig cheap '60s Bond knock-off there's a lot here to enjoy, have at it.