ROBOCOP 2 (1990) (Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

ROBOCOP 2 (1990) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 117 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 
Director: Irvin Kershner
Cast: Gabriel Damon, Belinda Bauer, Dan O'Herlihy, Nancy Allen, Peter Weller, Tom Noonan

Synopsis: RoboCop 2 pits two unstoppable cyborgs against each other in a battle to the death! When Detroit's descent into chaos is further compounded by a police department strike and a new designer drug called "Nuke," only RoboCopTM can stop the mayhem. But in his way are an evil corporation that profits from Motor City crime and a bigger and tougher cyborg with a deadly directive: Take out RoboCop. Containing the latest gadgetry and weaponry as well as the mind of the madman who designed "Nuke," this new cyborg isn't just more sophisticated than his predecessor... he's psychotic and out of control! And it's going to take everything RoboCop has – maybe even his life – to save Detroit from complete and utter anarchy.

Thinking back on this one I realized it is the only Robocop film I caught first run in the cinema, I don't have the best memory of loving it at the time, and the movie has sort of languished in the back of my mind as a less than stellar sequel to an amazing, dark and violently satirical first film. Director Paul Verhoeven did not return for this sequel, he was making Total Recall (1990) with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the time, so the producers brought in director Irvin Kershner, the guy who directed, in my opinion, the best sequels of all-time, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), but let's be real, he also directed one of the worst, the non-cannon 007 flick Never Say Never Again (1983), but he also directed The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), which I have a soft spot for. Producers also brought in comics writer Frank Miller (The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City) as screenwriter, which again is both good and bad, I like a lot of Miller's work, but I don't think the he quite captured the satirical stuff I loved about the first Robocop for the sequel, his tone is dark, but different.

Again we have Robocop (Peter Weller, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) in Detroit battling the evils of the inner-city, Omni Consumer Products (OCP)are still trying to create a new Robocop, literally calling their creation Robocop 2! OCP are also out to build the city of the future, something called Delta City, and to that end they are out to force the city to default on their payments to OCP, which would somehow force them surrender control of the city to OCP. The Old Man (Dan O'Herlihy, Halloween III) returns as the OCP CEO, and he's turned into quite a corporate bastard since the first film, wherein he seemed alright, for a corporate guy. The idea of Detroit declaring bankruptcy probably seemed like such a oddly dystopian idea back in '90, but not these days, haha.

As OCP own the cops they make things worse for Detroit by cutting wages and pension plans for cops, causing a city wide police strike, leaving Robocop and his partner Anne Lewis (Nancy Allen, Carrie) as the only cops out on the streets, so as you can imagine the whole damn city is thick with crime. The movie opens with a fun neon-lit montage of a thief robbing a bag lady only to be roughed-up by some violent prostitutes, so it does have a bit of the Verhoeven satire to it, mixed in with some of Frank Miller's darkness, you see a lot of his vision bleeding through, including the commercials, one of which features actor John Glover (Gremlins 2) selling a lethal form of car alarm, it's good stuff but not on par with the first film, which was more biting. Sadly we do not get any of the infamous "Id buy that for a dollar!" lines peppered throughout. 

One of the villains of this movie is a drug dealer named Cain (Tom Noonan, Manhunter)who peddles a new designer drug called Nuke. Cain is a weird cult-leader new age spiritualist, Noonan is nicely creepy in the role, but we don't get enough of him in my opinion. His right hand man is actually a young kid named Hobs (Gabriel Damon), a pint-sized killer with a shit attitude, and Cain's girlfriend Angie (Galyn Görg). Also working against Robocop are the corporate baddies at OCP who are looking to replace goodie-goodie Robocop with a new successor, after the failure of good old ED-209 from the first film. 

OCP are still using fallen officers to create cyborg robocops, but the problem they're having is that their creations tend to go insane, shooting up the lab techs before committing suicide. Enter psycho-psychologist Dr. Juliette Faxx (Belinda Bauer) who aligns herself with The Old Man to create a new Robocop, unwisely using the criminal Cain as the brain inside the new armored Robocop 2! Great idea, what could go wrong? Perhaps the idea that you now have a drug addicted Robocop might pose a bit of a problem, which of course it does.

Faults aside I have to say the movie holds up better way than I remembered, which is not usually the case usually i remember older movie far more fondly than they deserve, but that is not the case with this one. Sure, it's not on par with the original (so few are), but the violence is good and strong, Miller does channel some of the same darkness and satire that Verhoeven brought, but it is toned down, and that was a huge part of what I loved about the first movie. It also touches on an area I thought could have given the character of Murphy/Robocop a bit of new life, like when we catch him stalking his ex wife, keeping tabs on her, but that tasty tidbit of a subplot evaporates before it can even begin to boil. Nancy Allen returns here as officer Lewis but she is awful, more fairly, she doesn't have a whole lot to do, and the character is poorly written. I love Allen in De Palma's movies, but watching her in this, the next sequel and Poltergeist III (1988) recently, she can be a bad actress when not given some proper direction, real bad.

What the sequel does right is keep the action coming, this is a violent movie, the gore is toned way down, but I love the stop-motion animation between Robocop and Robocop 2 at the end of the movie. With Cain's brain inside the armored R2 we sadly do not get enough of Noonan as Cain, who is relegated to a Lawnmower Man esque digital face on a TV screen once inside the steel-machine, so as much as I loved the R2 design, I wish somehow we would have had more of Noonan incorporated into it.

This would be the last time we would see Weller in the role of Murphy/Robocop, and already it's a case of diminishing returns, honestly they just don't explore his humanity enough to keep the personal story interesting, it's dropped in there but just disappears, wrapped up way to fast for my tastes. I will say I love the new Robocop suit this time out, it has a pearly blue/purple tone to it that looks great on film, and Weller is iconic in his own way, giving some distinct line readings, which will be sorely missed in the bland sequel to this one. 

Robocop 2 is a fun watch, it's a lesser film but still maintains just enough of what I loved about the first to keep me plugged in right till the end credits. There's plenty of action, some watered down satire, Miller's dark humor and some bloody violence, unlike R3 this one maintains an R-rating and isn't aimed at the kiddies. 

Audio/Video: Robocop 2 (1990) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory with a brand new 2K scan from the interpositive with a new color correction. The results are very pleasing, I own the MGM Trilogy Blu-ray set and this is a nice upgrade. Grain is nicely managed, the colors are more impressive, black levels are good and deep. The image is sharp, nicely detailed with some good depth, this is good stuff. 

Audio on the disc includes English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1, the surround offers some good use of the surrounds when the action amps up, a solid surround track. The stereo track is also solid with good stereo separation. Optional english subtitles are included. 

Extras on the disc are plentiful and nicely in-depth, beginning with the 32-minute making of doc  with new and vintage interviews with director Irvin Kershner, producer Jon Davidson, cast members Tom Noonan, Nancy Allen, Galyn Görg, executive producer Patrick Crowley, associate producer Phil Tippett, cinematographer Mark Irwin and author/CG supervision Paul M. Sammon. A nice, honest, remembrance of the making of, including producer Jon Davidson speaking about the convoluted process of making the movie, the original story ideas including a Robocop love story! 

There'a also a 32-min FX featurette with Phil Tippett, Peter Kuran, Craig Hayes, Jim Aupperle, Kirk Thatcher, Paul Gentry, Don Waller, Justin Kohn, Randal Dutra and Kevin Kutchaver, an 9-min interview with RoboCop armor fabricator James Belohovek, a 6-min interview with comic book writer Steven Grant on adapting Frank Millers screenplay for Robocop 2, plus 46-min of archival production and behind-the-scenes videos including interviews with director Irvin Kershner, actors Peter Weller, Dan O’Herlihy  and a look at the filming of some deleted scene. Additionally we have trailers and a series of image galleries rounding out the extras. Almost forgot to mention the 3-min deleted scene gallery, which sadly is not actual deleted scenes but descriptions of some significant story elements that were left on the cutting room floor, I think if Scream had been able to unearth the actual deleted footage that would have certainly made this a much more sought after release, but as it stands this is a damn fine release. 

The single disc release comes housed in a standard blue keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, featuring a new illustration by Paul Shipper, which sadly looks like a painted version of the usual floating head photoshop stuff, which I hated. The reverse side features the original one-sheet poster, which isn't much better< sadly, this is one of the ugliest packaging artworks I've seen from Scream Factory. There's also a slipcase (o-ring) featuring the Shipper artwork, groan.   

Special Features:
- NEW 2K scan of the inter-positive
- NEW Audio Commentary with author/CG supervisor Paul M. Sammon
- NEW Audio Commentary with the makers of “RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop” documentary – Gary Smart, Chris Griffiths and Eastwood Allen
- NEW Corporate Wars: The Making of ROBOCOP 2 – featuring new and vintage interviews with director Irvin Kershner, producer Jon Davidson, cast members Tom Noonan, Nancy Allen, Galyn Görg, executive producer Patrick Crowley, associate producer Phil Tippett, cinematographer Mark Irwin and author/CG supervision Paul M. Sammon (32 min)HD 
- NEW Machine Parts: The FX of ROBOCOP 2 – featuring Phil Tippett, Peter Kuran, Craig Hayes, Jim Aupperle, Kirk Thatcher, Paul Gentry, Don Waller, Justin Kohn, Randal Dutra and Kevin Kutchaver (32 min)HD
- NEW Robo-Fabricator – an interview with RoboCop armor fabricator James Belohovek (9 min)HD
- NEW Adapting Frank Miller’s ROBOCOP 2 – an interview with comic book writer Steven Grant (6 min)HD
- NEW OCP Declassified – a collection of rare archival production and behind-the-scenes videos including interviews with director Irvin Kershner, actors Peter Weller, Dan O’Herlihy  and a look at the filming of some deleted scene (46 min) HD
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 
- Teaser Trailers (2 min) HD 
- TV Spots (1 min) HD 
- Deleted Scenes (2 min) HD 
- Still Gallery (1 min) HD 
- Still Galleries (behind-the-scenes photos, stills, posters and lobby cards)(9 min) 

I was surprised how much I enjoyed re watching this sequel, it holds up surprisingly well, way better than I remembered. Sure, it's got a few parts that are less than stellar, and the satire and humor aren't up to the standards of Verhoeven's original, but this is a fun watch and loaded with plenty of Robocop action. The new transfer looks top notch and the extras are fantastic. 3/5 

ROBOCOP 3 (1993) (Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review)

ROBOCOP 3 (1993) 
Collector's Edition
  

Label: Scream Factory

Region Code: A

Rating: PG-13

Duration: 105 Minutes 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 

Director: Fred Dekker

Cast: Robert John Burke, Nancy Allen, CCH Pounder, Daniel von Bargen, Rip Torn, Stephen Root

In Robocop 3 91993) we lose Peter Weller (Naked Lunch) as Murphy/Robocop, the actor had moved onto greener pastures making David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch (1993), though Nancy Allen returns, as did screenwriter Frank Miller (Sin City). Directing this time is kid-friendly director Fred Dekker (Night of the Creeps), who I love, I think Monster squad and Night of the Creeps are a blast. In Weller's place we have actor Robert John Burke (21 Guns), who is mighty weak sauce when stacked-up against Weller. He really makes it aggressively clear what Weller brought to the role, he has no presence whatsoever in the metallic-suit. Also hampering this production was the edict from the studio that this was to be a kiddie friendly PG-13 movie, something to cash-in on toy merchandising and an already established Saturday morning cartoon and video games, it was bad idea, and we haven't even gotten to the awful storyline yet - this thing was doomed!

The story, such as it is, OCP (Omni Consumer Products) are still out
to build their futuristic Delta City, but they're on the brink of bankruptcy themselves. They're on a timeline and have to move things along quickly, to that end they create a military force known as the Urban Rehabilitators, lead by fascist Commander Paul McDaggett (John Castle, the Rehabs are said to be helping police nab violent criminals in Detroit, but in reality they're forcibly removing residents and relocating, or just straight-up killing, those who stand in the way of OCP's urban redevelopment project.

Sadly, this time out we don't have the character of The Old Man (played by Dan O'Herlihy), in his place we have Rip Torn (Men In Black)as the CEO, who has aligned himself with Kanemitsu (Mako), CEO of the Kanemitsu Corporation, who are in part funding the development of the Delta City development.

Fighting against the Urban Rehabilitators are a group of resistance fighters lead by Bertha (C.C.H. Pounder, Demon Knight), whose group includes a 12-year old hacker prodigy named Nikko (Remy Ryan), if you recall the last film had a 12-year old drug dealer/murderer named Hobs, so this time out we have a 12-year old fighting for good, but she's annoying, a kid-hacker, ugh, it's as awful as it sounds.

So we have all these characters in play, where the heck is Robocop? He's here, not much though, but he's a pale shadow of his former metallic badass self, he's been neutered. His sidekick Officer Lewis (Nancy Allen, Carrie) who shows up just long enough to be killed by McDaggett (Castle), her death serves to reinvigorate Robocop into action, having been re programmed once again with a new series of emo-inducing directives by the baddies at OCP, which he must overcome, with the help of the resistance and the 12-year old hacker kid, oh boy.

What a mess of a movie, and them we have the samurai robot warriors
Otomo! Yes, screenwriter Frank Miller finally got to cram in some ninjas (one of his favorites) into the Robocop series, and while I think it's an awful addition, the action scenes are crap, there is a creepy visual with one of them who takes a shot to the face from Robocop, his fractured visage is nightmare fuel. Oh yeah, and Robocop has a new gun accessory and a jetpack, yup, he's flying around at the end of the movie, and it is awful, real awful! Things I liked about this one are few and far between, Robocop look decent, and they bring back ED-209 for a stint, but that's about it, the biting satire and dark humor are gone, this is an insult to the franchise.

I don't place all the blame on this tragic sequel on the shoulders of Fred Dekker, the poor guys career as a director was ruined by this flop, but he was working with a flawed script from Frank Miller and with an unfortunate edict to make it a kid-friendly sequel, and Robocop was never meant to be kid friendly, it should be a darkly funny violent slice of cinema, it was not meant for this, the damn thing was doomed from the beginning.

Audio/Video: Robocop 3 arrives on Blu-ray for a second time, having been previously issued by MGM on the Robocop Trilogy Blu-ray set, but unlike Scream Factory's Robocop 2, this is not being advertised as a new 2 scan of the film. I am assuming after comparison that this is the same HD transfer from the trilogy set, it's not a revelation on Blu-ray, this is your basic catalog title HD upgrade.
Audio include both English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround and DTS-HD MA stereo 2.0 with Optional English subtitles. The audio has some nice depth to it, a nice clean presentation with some nice use of the surrounds during the action sequences, a strong audio presentation.

Extras include two brand new commentaries,  the first a very honest commentary with director Fred Dekker moderated by Michael Felsher, and a second with the makers of “RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop” documentary. There's also a 38-minute making of doc with director Fred Dekker, actors Nancy Allen, Bruce Locke, producer Patrick Crowley, cinematographer Gary Kibbe and production designer Hilda Stark. A make-no excuses look back at the making of the PG-13 flop, Dekker has always been very honest about the film, why it's flawed, he owns it, and it makes for a good watch that goes into pre-production, casting the movie, locations, set design and lots more.

There's also a 12-minute FX featurette with Peter Kuran, Phil
Tippett, Craig Hayes, Kevin Kutchaver and Paul Gentry. It's a good look back at the FX of the movie, some of which don't hold up spectacularly well now. There's discussion of the early digital effects work on the movie, the difficulty of shooting a silver-suited Robocop on blue screen,  the construction and design of the jet-pack.

Actor Felton Perry shows up for a 12-minute interview, his ass-kissing corporate ladder-climber character shows up in all three films, he goes into a surprising amount of detail about his character and his motivations. Actor Bruce Locke, who played the Otomo samurai robots, and martial arts trainer Bill Ryusaki appear in an 8-minute conversation about the character of the otomos and creating the fighting styles used in the movie.

James Belohovek returns again on the extras for Robocop 3 to discuss his work on the second sequel, working for Rob Bottin. This time not fabricating the armor for Robocop, but creating new props, namely the new gun attachment and the jetpack, which were based on parts of a miniature tape recorder and part of a beard shaver of all things. The last of the extras are a trailer and a still gallery.

The extras, produced by Red shirt Pictures, get to the heart of the story behind-the-scenes, while fans who might be expecting some sort of an apology from Dekker for this awful sequel won't get one the behind-the-scenes stuff about how the film came together are eye-opening, while they don't make the movie any better they do offer some keen and biting insights into how we ended up with Robocop 3.

The release comes housed in a standard blue keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, with a new illustration by Paul Shipper, which like Robocop 2 artwork looks like a painted version of the usual floating head photoshop stuff, which I hated. The reverse side features the original one-sheet poster. There's also a slipcase (o-ring) featuring the new artwork.

Special Features:

- NEW Audio Commentary with director Fred Dekker

- NEW Audio Commentary with the makers of “RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop” documentary – Gary Smart, Chris Griffiths and Eastwood Allen

- NEW Delta City Shuffle: The Making of ROBOCOP 3 featuring director Fred Dekker, actors Nancy Allen, Bruce Locke, producer Patrick Crowley, cinematographer Gary Kibbe and production designer Hilda Stark (38 min) HD 

- NEW Robo-Vision: The FX of ROBOCOP 3 featuring Peter Kuran, Phil Tippett, Craig Hayes, Kevin Kutchaver and Paul Gentry (12 minutes)

- NEW The Corporate Ladder – an interview with actor Felton Perry (12 min) HD 

- NEW Training Otomo – an interview with actor Bruce Locke and martial arts trainer Bill Ryusaki (8 min) HD 

- NEW War Machine – an interview with RoboCop gun fabricator James Belohovek (9 min) HD 

- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- Still Gallery (7 min) HD

Robocop 3 (1993) is still a neutered PG-13 stinker, it didn't get better with time, it only gets worse, which is a shame. I love Fred Dekker's previous movies Night of the Creeps (1986) and Monster Squad (1987), but he was wasn't the right guy to direct a Robocop sequel, furthermore it should never have been a PG-13 Robocop sequel in the first place, this thing was doomed to fail, and fail bigly. However, if there is a silver lining, at least the Blu-ray is loaded with some cool extras, while it doesn't improve the movie, they make for a great watch about a doomed sequel. 2/5

THE EPITAPH VOL. 25: MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN (2019)- NO MERCY (1986) - DEADLY MANOR (1990)- ROBOCOP (1987) - THE RINGU COLLECTION - MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (1957)- HITCHHIKE TO HELL (1977)

THE EPITAPH VOL. 25 

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN (2019)- NO MERCY (1986) - DEADLY MANOR (1990)- ROBOCOP (1987) - THE RINGU COLLECTION - MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (1957)- HITCHHIKE TO HELL (1977)

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN (2019) 

Fans of neo-noir and hard-boiled mystery should check out Motherless Brooklyn directed by Edward Norton (Fight Club). Set in 1950's New York City the film has more than a whiff of Roman Polanski's Chinatown, at the center of the film lays a corruption plot involving the city officials and the public works. Norton plays a detective with tourettes investigating the death of his mentor and friend (Bruce Willis, 12 Monkeys), with a great supporting cast including Gugu Mbatha-Raw as the daughter of a jazz club owner (The Cloverfield Paradox) and Alec Baldwin (Beetlejuice) as the political heavy. It's a solid film, but it runs nearly three-hours long and has a few too many tangents that are never quite tied-up, but if you're into a good gritty mystery this is well-worth at least a rental. The Blu-ray from WB looks and sounds fantastic, plus we get a couple of nifty featurettes, deleted scenes, and an in-depth commentary from Norton. (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)   

NO MERCY (1986)

Eighties cop-thriller No Mercy (1986) stars Richard Gere (Pretty Woman) as renegade Chicago cop Eddie Jillette who is on the hunt for his partner's murderer, the culprit is a pony-tailed drug lord named Losado. Jillette tracks him to the Louisiana , with the cop ending up handcuffed to the killer's Cajun girlfriend (Kim Bassinger, Batman), and the pair find themselves being hunted down through the swamps by the drug lord's thugs. I was never a big fan of Gere or Bassinger in the 80's (or ever), but I remember watching this on cable and digging it a bit. Watching it now it doesn't hold up all that well, it's riddled with 80's cop-film cliche after cliche, which was sort of irritating, but I know this film has it's fans. It arrives on Blu-ray from MCE in 1080p HD widescreen with DTS-HD MA stereo audio, no extras, but it does come in one of those retro-VHS slipcover.

DEADLY MANOR (1990) 

Arrow continue the love for filmmaker José Ramón Larraz (Whirlpool) with what I believe was his last horror film, the slasher Deadly Manor (1990). It's a fairly generic slasher that strands a group of teens in an abandoned mansion and bad stuff happens. The film lacks the originality and atmosphere Larraz's earlier works but for cheap slasher chock full o' tropes it's not awful, still having some cool kills and a memorable sex scene. It's a step down from his previous slasher Edge of the Axe (1988), but if you're into tearing through some lesser known slashers Arrow have got you covered with a fantastic looking release with plenty of extras, including an excellent deep dive commentary from Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan, and a candid interview with actress Jennifer Delora. 
(Arrow Video)

ROBOCOP (1987) 

Director Paul Veerhoven's Robocop (1987) needs no introduction from the likes me I hope, it's game-changing and future predicting slice of dytopia starring Peter Weller as a good cop gunned down in the line of duty, who is then re-animated as a crime-fighting cyborg cop to fight crime kingpins and corrupt politicians in the near apocalyptic city of Detroit. This 2-disc release offers both the R-rated and unrated director's cut of this film on separate discs. From what I can tell Arrow carry-over all the previous extras from past releases and then stuff it like Oreo with plenty more goodies for the die-hard fans. You might not think you need to upgrade if you already own the previous MGM Blu-ray, as this is the same 4K restoration as that release, but Arrow looks to have a slightly better encoded, and it's absolutely dripping with extras. This is definitive and final word on the films - at least until we get a 4K Ultra HD  - and even then I can guarantee it won't have all these extras, unless Arrow themselves decide to do a UHD, which would be all sorts of awesome. So, if you see this sweet looking 2-disc release on the shelf at your local video store the one and only thought you should have is "Dead or alive, you're coming with me!". (Arrow Video) 

THE RINGU COLLECTION

Arrow Video give this Japanese video viral-curse series some serious love with the Ringu Collection, congaing Ringu, Ring 2, Spiral and Ring 0: Birthday. The first film is a j-horror classic, but the two sequels Ring 2 and Spiral, while interesting, have always left me unimpressed. However, I was very impressed with Ring 0, a more visually pleasing film that tells the origin story of the vengeful ghost Sadako, turning out to be my favorite film in the series. The films arrives on a 3-disc Blu-ray set with audio commentaries for each film except the unofficial sequel Spiral, with plenty of interviews and a video essay, plus we get a selection of deleted scenes, and trailers. If you're into j-horror or just the Ring series in particular this is a fantastic set, I definitely have more of an appreciation for the series after pouring through it, and it's still creepy stuff. (Arrow Video) 

MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (1957) 

The Hollywood biopic of silent film mega-star Lon Chaney starred screen legend James Cagney in an affectionate and telling of Chaney's life, from his early days working in Vaudeville to his iconic  film work on The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), right up till his death. Sure, there's some creative licenses being taken with the story, but Cagney is absolutely fantastic as the silent-film star, giving the screen legend some serious pathos, examining his difficult marriage, his upbringing by mute patents, and his relationship with his estranged son Creighton Chaney, a.k.a. on Lon Chaney Jr., The Wolfman). Honestly, I had never even heard of this film till Arrow announced it, and I thought it was fantastic, even if some of the recreations of some of Chaney's most iconic work fails to measure up to the original, but how could they not? The film is black and white and looks wonderful in lush 1080p HD with lossless audio. Extras include a wonderful Tim Lucas commentary plus a 21-min conversation with Kim Newman about Chaney's legacy, we also get a trailer and image gallery for the film. This is a serious gem of a film that I think anybody who is into cinema history and Hollywood biopics would be very pleased with. I also loved seeing Jim Backus, Mr. Howell from Gilligan's Island show up as Chaney's agent. (Arrow Video) 

HITCHHIKE TO HELL (1977) 

When I was a kid I was warned not to ever hitchhike unless I wanted to end up murdered with my throat slit in some field at the hands of a stranger, and this is the sort of scuzzy film that drives home that point home rather nicely. The story of a sad little loser with migraines that picks up teenage hitchhikers off the side of the road and kills them. It's a sleazy bit of grindhouse that covers all the bases with some nudity, violence and a deranged killer. As an added bonus the lawman on the killer's trail is none other that Russell Johnson, the Professor from Gilligan's Island! The film should appeal to fans of culty 70s exploitation, the Blu-ray has some decent extras too, including an appreciation of the director by Stephen Thrower, a video essay, plus an interview with actress Nancy Adams, trailers and an alternate opening sequence.

THE MONSTER COLLECTION (Doppelgänger Releasing Blu-ray Review)

THE MONSTER COLLECTION (2021) 

3-Disc Blu-ray 

 

Label: Doppelgänger Releasing
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 107 Minutes, 83 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:`1)
Directors: Gilles Penso, Alexandre Poncet
Cast: Phil Tippett, Joe Dante, Paul Verhoeven, Jon Davison, Rick Baker, Guillermo del Toro, Kevin Smith, Greg Nicotero, John Landis

Synopsis: A creature double-feature from the depths of the drive-in, The Monster Collection features two impressively comprehensive documentaries by Alexandre Poncet and Gilles Penso, Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters, a portrait of the man behind some of the most recognizable movie creatures of the modern era, and The Frankenstein Complex, profiling the workaday wizards who turn rubber, latex, and resin into cinema’s most memorable and terrifying creations. 

Phil Tippet - Mad Dreams and Monsters (2019) (83 min) 

A wonderful doc from French filmmakers Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet that documents the life and career of the Oscar-winning stop-motion monster maker Phil Tippett, a man who sadly is a bit under sung in the pop culture vernacular today, but is well known to industry insiders and monster-kids who grew up on a steady diet of his fantastical robot and monster creations. Tippett was a bit of loner kid who fell in love with fantasy and horror at an early age after seeing a screening of Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation work in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, from that point on he dedicated his life to becoming an animator. He began making his own animation films in his bedroom on a super 8mm camera, before eventually breaking into feature films with the super-fun b-movie The Crater Lake Monster, and then onto working on the Star Wars franchise, and loads of other Hollywood blockbusters. 

The film features Tippet himself as well as his collaborators like director Joe Dante (Piranha), George Lucas (Star Wars), Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park), Paul Verhoeven (Robocop), and Industrial Light and Magic legend Dennis Muren (The Abyss) talking about his wild imagination, artisan craftsmanship and how no one did it quite like Tippett did it. 

Tippett worked for years as a master of his craft, but it was while working on Spielberg's Jurassic Park that he saw the dawning of the age of CGI special effects, and saw the writing on the wall. Not content to go the way of the dinosaur he adapted to the new format, but with the eye and heart of a stop-motion animator that made his work unique. We also get to meet his wife and business partner Jules Roman, the CEO of Tippett Studios, who runs the business side of things, allowing him his freedom to explore his art while she holds down the business end, which he has very little interest in. 

The doc is a bit short at 83-minutes but it's all good stuff with no fluff, they cram it full of wonderful appreciations of Tippett's career, his eccentricities and, and his long and fascinating career that has inspired the imagination of monster kids of all ages for decades. 

The Frankenstein Complex (2015) (107 min) 

The Frankenstein Complex is an earlier doc from French filmmaking duo Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet, it's a love letter to practical special effects beginning with the work of Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff and Jack Pierce on through to the golden age of special effects in the 80's and beyond.  Lots of talking heads here, we have Kevin Smith (Tusk), Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy), Steve Johnson (The Abyss), Phil Tippett (RoboCop), Rick Baker (American Werewolf in London), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Stan Winston’s son Matt Winston, Joe Dante (The Howling), and Alec Gillis (Starship Troopers) talk quite candidly about their greatest creations, their biggest disappointments, the difficulty achieving their creations onscreen, and tons of great behind-the-scenes anecdotes. You get to hear Steve Johnston talk about how effects guys were sort of like rockstars, and how working with James Cameron on The Abyss was a grueling and how his contribution was largely overshadowed by the CGI water-tentacle seen in the film, foreshadowing Spielberg's groundbreaking Jurassic Park which melded practical and CGI and blew open the gates for digital effects work from that point on.  

We also get a ton of talk about stuff like Gremlins and John Carpenter's The Thing, but sadly Rob Bottin of The Howling and The Thing chose not to participate in the doc, but thankfully there's still plenty of love for these film from the participants.  

Seeing all these guys in shorter featurettes on special edition Blu-ray has always been a highlight for me, but seeing them on a full-length doc digging into the nitty gritty of making these films was almost sensory overload I loved it so much. Digging up dirt on each other, exposing the challenges of making these iconic creatures and effects, and the struggles of adapting from practical to digital, and how the blend of both schools makes for the best effects today, even commenting on how Underworld was way too heavy on digital, in the words of Rick Baker, “just because you can have a hundred werewolves running across the ceiling, doesn’t mean you should", 'nufff said. 

Audio/Video: Both docs arrive on Blu-ray from Doppelgänger Releasing, each housed on their own Blu-ray disc, framed in 1.78:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. Sources can vary and the image quality waxes and wanes with the vintage and archival footage, but overall both films are handsome, well-edited and well-shot docs, but you can tell there's some lower resolution stuff throughout. That said, there's plenty of fine detail in the image most of the time with good clarity and color throughout. 

Audio on both discs comes by way of both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles. Some of the dialogue slips into French momentarily, but the majority of what we are hearing is English and sounds terrific with no issues. It's a doc so don't expect a robust 5.1 sound design, but the score from co-director Alexandre Poncet sounds great.  A nice touch is that both score are available as isolated tracks in uncompressed DTS-HD MA 2.0. 

As entertaining as the docs are the feast of extras, with each of the docs get their own array of extras on their respective discs. The Phil Tippet doc gets an audio commentary with Tippett and the directors, but there is commentary on The Frankenstein Complex. Each disc also offers a making-of documentary about the documentary, which are both fun and well done. There are also 12-18 minutes of deleted scenes for each films, galleries and a trailer for the film, plus the option to view the film with the previously mentioned isolated score track in uncompressed DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo. 

Just those extras would have been fantastic, but no sir, we get a third disc which is dedicated to even more extras for both films, plus a collection of Phil Tippet shorts and stop-motion animation, and a virtual tour of Phil Tippett sculpture creation spanning from Star Wars on through to Dragonslayer, Coneheads, Cloverfield and Hellboy!

The extended interviews and conversations on this bonus disc, combined with the the short stop-motion animation films and virtual gallery make this worthy of a purchase all on it's own. Some og the goodies include a 23-minute master class with Guillermo del Toro; an hour-long xxtended conversation with John Landis and Joe Dante, plus a half hour extended interview with Mick Garris, another half hour with Steve Johnson and John Vulich. These guys are all luminaries of genre filmmaking, and these interviews are a goldmine as they lay on the love for those who inspired them and talk about their own creations.  

My favorite nuggets here are the stop-motion animated Phil Tippett shorts, we get both the 10-minute Prehistoric Beasts (1985)  and the 3-minute MutantLand (2010), plus 15-minutes of early animation tests he made in his bedroom on super 8mm as a kid!  Extras are capped off with  a 22-minute virtual tout showcasing 360-degree videos of some of his iconic movie sculptures. 

The three-disc set arrives in a four-panel fold-out digipack adorned with gorgeous illustrated artwork on all sides with some beautiful illustrations of iconic horror and fantasy creations from Pan's Labyrinth, Star Wars, Gremlins, An American Werewolf in London, Frankenstein, Robocop and many more. The discs, also adorned with attractive imagery, slip into a cardboard pockets, which I am not a huge fan of, and I am not a fan of digipacks in general, while they do offer plenty of space for artwork they do tend to wear with use rather quickly,, and my copy is already showing dog-eared signs of wear. Also, the cardboard stock is a bit flimsy itself, and a slipcover of some sort would have afforded bit more protection to the digipack. 

Special Features:

Disc One: Phil Tippet: Mad Dreams and Monsters Extras

- Feature Commentary with Phil Tippett and Directors Alexandre Poncet and Gilles Penso-

- Isolated Score Track (DTS-HD MA 2.0) 

- Making the Monsters (101 min) HD 

- Deleted and Alternate Scenes (12 min) HD 

 -Photo Gallery (10 min) HD 

- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 

Disc Two: The Frankenstein Complex

The Frankenstein Odyssey (57 min) HD 

Deleted and Alternate Scenes (18 min) HD 

Digital Craftsmanship (15 min) HD 

Photo Gallery (88 min) HD )

Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD 

The Frankenstein Complex Musical Score (DTS-HD MA 2.0) 

Disc Three: Bonus Disc 

Frankenstein Complex Conversations and Interviews

- Master Class with Guillermo del Toro (HD; 23:22)

- Extended Conversation with John Landis and Joe Dante (59 min) HD 

- Extended Conversation with Mick Garris (27 min) HD 

- Extended Conversation with Steve Johnson and John Vulich (29 min) HD 

- Q & A with Joe Dante, Alexandre Poncet and Gilles Penso (20 min) HD 

- The Lair of Rick Baker (9 min) HD 

- The Lair of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. (14 min) HD 

- Paper Monsters: The Art of Charles Chiodo (13 min) HD 

- Living With Monsters: The Art of Kevin Yagher (15 min) HD 

- Sympathy for the Devil: Interview with Bernard Rose (10 min) HD 

- The Gremlins Pool: Interview with Sacha Feiner (11 min) HD 

- From Latex to Pixels: The Art of Gino Acevedo (9 min) HD 

- The Beauty and the Beasts: The Art of Ve Neill (14 min) HD

Mad Dreams and Monsters Interviews

- Joy of Working with Phil: Interview with Paul Verhoeven (6 min) HD 

- Phil Will Fix This!: Interview with Joe Johnston (15 min) HD 

- Animating with Phil: Interview with Tom St. Amand (6 min) HD 

- Phil's Vision: Interview with Chris Walas (9 min) HD 

- Friendship, Robots, and Dinosaurs: Interview with Dennis Muren (14 min) HD 

- From Stop-Motion to CGI: Interview with Craig Hayes (5 min) HD 

- Memories and Archives with Phil Tippett (12 min) HD 

- Dinosaur Supervisor with Phil Tippett (5 min) HD 

- Starship Troopers 2 with Phil Tippett and Jon Davison (3 min) HD 

- "Dinosaur!" with Paul Verhoeven and Jon Davison (5 min) HD 

- Mutant Fish with Joe Dante (4 min) HD 

- Modern Craftsmanship with Alec Gillis (8 min) HD 

- Robot Design with Craig Hayes (16 min) HD 

- Musical Storytelling with Alexandre Poncet (15 min) HD 

Phil Tippett Short Films

- Prehistoric Beasts (1985) with optional commentary by Phil Tippett (10 min) HD 

- MutantLand (2010) with optional commentary by Phil Tippett (3 min) HD 

- Phil Tippett's Early Animation Tests (14 min) HD 

Virtual Museum of Phil Tippett's Creations

Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back (1 min) HD 

Dragonslayer (1 min) HD 

Golden Child (29 sec) HD 

Howard the Duck (1 min) HD 

Robocop (2:40) HD

Willow (1 min) HD 

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1 min) HD 

Pinocchio & Gargoyles (1 min) HD 

Coneheads (1 min) HD 

Jurassic Park (1 min) HD 

Dragonheart (2 min) HD 

Starship Troopers (2 min) HD 

Evolution (2 min) HD 

Blade 2 (1 min) HD 

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (1 min) HD 

Hellboy (1 min) HD

Cloverfield (1 min) HD 

If you're a monster-kid or a horror fan and love hearing about the behind-the-scenes magic and mayhem of genre filmmaking this is a must-own set. Three discs of wall-to-wall love for old school practical effects from the mouths of the directors and rockstar special effects guys that made the magic happen, a warts and all tell-all. These are the guys that gave you nightmares and supercharged your imagination as a kid, and the story of how they brought those iconic images to life is a story worth hearing over and over again. I love this three-disc set, it's a handsome and comprehensive package from Doppelgänger Releasing, highly recommended, and essential movie-magic sets of docs and extras. 

WOLFMAN'S GOT NARDS (2018) (Gravitas Ventures Blu-ray Review)

WOLFMAN'S GOT NARDS (2018) 

Label: Gravitas Ventures, LLC.

Region Code: A

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 88 Minutes 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)

Director: Andre Gower

Cast: Shane Black, Fred Dekker, Seth Green, Ryan Lambert, Ashley Bank, Tom Woodruff, Seth Green, Adam F. Goldberg, Adam Green, Joe Lynch, Jackson Stewart, John Rosengrant, Shane Mahan, Steve Wang, Stephen Macht

The Wolfman's Got Nards (2018) documentary explores the the cult-fandom of The Monster Squad (1987), the doc is directed by Andre Gower who played lead protagonist, Sean in The Monster Squad. It features candid input from the film's director Fred Dekker (Night of the Creeps, Robocop III) and screenwriter Shane Black, as well as Gower's co-stars Ryan Lambert (who played bad-ass Rudy) and Ashley Bank (the film's heart Phoebe), plus Duncan Regehr (who played Dracula), Stephen Macht who played Sean's dad, and Tom Woodruff (who played the Gill Man), plus numerous fans, including super-fans like Seth Green (Ticks), Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs)  directors Adam Green (Frozen) and Joe Lynch (Knights of Badassdom), Jackson Stewart (Beyond the Gates), plus special effects and make-up guys John Rosengrant, Shane Mahan, and Steve Wang, who talk about the amazing opportunity to re-imagine the Universal Monsters early on in the careers. 

The doc does great work not so much getting tot he nitty-gritty about the making-of the film so much as it explores the film's cult status, how it tanked at the box office, which stunted director Fred Dekker's career before Robocop III tanked it but good - which he is quite candid about in his interviews here which also addresses the film's mishandled ad campaign, but how it went on to become a belove cult-classics thanks to VHS and cable, and how a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse lead to it's pop-culture resurgence, DVD, Blu-ray and now 4K release. Love is also given to the late Brent Chalem who played "fat kid" Horace in the film, and sadly passed away in '97 before the film's pop-culture resurgence, but who has several of the best lines in the films. 

Not all the core cast are present, I do wish we would have had some input from actor Michael Faustino who played Eugene, Jason Hervey who played bully CJ, and Tom Noonan who was of course Frankenstein's Monster, but shit happens and they're not here, but I hope they are doing well. There are also loads of fan interviews who show off not just their deep love for this 80's touchstone, but their excellent collections of memorabilia, artwork, tattoos and ephemera, it's quite a warm celebration of the film, but it also does not gloss over the fact that Dekker is still pretty irate and affected by just how big of a bomb it initially was.  

Audio/Video: Wolfman's Got Nards (2018) arrives on MOD Blu-ray from Gravitas Pictures in 1.78:1 widescreen with both 2.0 and 5.1 audio optional English subtitles. The only extras is a Trailer for the doc. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork.

Special Features:

- Trailer (1:23) 

But it from www.MovieZyng here: https://www.moviezyng.com/wolfmans-got-nards-bd-blu-ray-shane-black/810047232131

Buy it from Amazon.com here: https://amzn.to/3vufjt7

TERMINUS (1987) MVD Rewind Collector's Edition Blu-ray Screenshots

TERMINUS (1987) 

Collector's Edition 

Label: MVD Rewind Collection

Region Code: Region-Free 

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 83 Minutes 44 Seconds (U.S. Version), 105 Minutes 33 Seconds (French Version) 

Audio: English PCM 2.0 (U.S. Version), French PCM 2.O (French Version) with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: U.S. Version - 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1), - Extended French Version- 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)  

Director: Pierre-William Glenn

Cast: Karen Allen, Jürgen Prochnow, Johnny Hallyday, Gabriel Damon, Julie Glenn

In the year 2037, the future is in the hands of a genetically engineered boy: Mati (Gabriel Damon, RoboCop 2) a child-genius with a brain programmed by a brilliant and evil doctor (Jürgen Prochnow, Dune... in three deliciously crazy roles). Mati is the master of a sadistic cross-country rally (with a 100 million dollar prize that no one has ever won), controlling "Monster", a gigantic A.I. operated storm truck that rumbles across the continent, while being pursued by a squad of rebels determined to stop "Monster" before it reaches the "End of the Line".

Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Julie Glenn (Betty Fisher) and the legendary Johnny Hallyday (the French rock-n-roll singer famously known as the "French Elvis") are all along for the ride in this fast-paced, action-packed "Mad Max" inspired futuristic adventure!

Audio/Video: REVIEW COMING SOON! 

Special Features:

- US version of the “Terminus” (83 mins) presented in 1080p HD in 1.78:1 aspect ratio with English LPCM 2.0 Stereo Audio and optional English Subtitles

- Extended French version of “Terminus” (115 mins) presented in 1080p HD in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with French 2.0 Stereo Audio and Optional English Subtitles

- NEW! Interview with star Jürgen Prochnow (HD, 15:55)

- NEW! “We All Descend – The Making of Terminus ” (incl. interviews w/ Vincent Glenn (son of director Pierre-William Glenn), star Julie Glenn (daughter of Pierre-William Glenn) & archival interviews w/ Pierre-William Glenn (HD, 49:30) (In French w/ Eng Subs

- Photo Gallery (3:04)

 - MVD Teailers: Tunnel Vision (2:57), Terminus (1:14), One Tough Cop  (2:29), Nemesis (2:26)  Swamp Thing (1:31), Knock Off (1:54), 

- Reversible Artwork

- Collectible Mini-Poster

- Original Theatrical Trailer

Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)

Sales Points

- First time ever on home video in North America on Blu-ray & DVD! (and never released on VHS!)

- OFFICIAL SELECTION – 1987 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival

Features the original song 'End of the Line' written and sung by Wall of Voodoo's Stan Ridgway during the end credits

- Recommended to fans of the ‘Max Max’ franchise, ‘Waterworld’, ‘Snowpiercer’, ‘The Road’, ‘Turbo Kid’ and ‘Death Race 2000’

- Johnny Hallyday (famously known as the “French Elvis”) is credited with bringing rock-n-roll to France. - During his 57 year career, he released 79 LPs & sold more than 110 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists in the world.

- Stars Johnny Hallyday (The Pink Panther 2), Jürgen Prochnow (The English Patient), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Gabriel Damon (Robocop 2)

Directed by Pierre-William Glenn (legendary cinematographer for François Truffaut’s “Day for Night” & “Small Change”)

Press Quotes

One of the campiest classics you're ever likely to come across... the filmmakers put in a great deal of effort and it shows...the visual effects are spectacular and the movie is just pure fun.

     —Zebradelic, Blogspot.com

I'm delighted that I got to see Terminus... Terminus is so 1980's sci-fi it hurts... a hilariously bad - but nonetheless enjoyable in its awfulness - movie. I'm still deliriously happy to have it now in my collection.

     —HeropressTwo, Blogspot.com

            Screenshots from the MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray: 

Extras: 

Buy it!

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