EDGE OF SANITY (Arrow Blu Ray)

EDGE OF SANITY (Blu Ray from Arrow Video) -original release 1989 . color. 85 minutes. Arrow U.S.Blu Ray release June 21,2022 . NTSC Widescreen 1.85:1 Region A s.r.p. $ 39.95

During the 1970s and 1980s, Anthony Perkins gave amazing performances on film (FFOLKES, Universal,1980 ), television (LES MISERABLES, CBS,1979 ; THE GLORY BOYS ,Yorkshire TV,1984) and on stage  ( magnificent on Broadway as Dr Dysart in EQUUS,1975).

Yet, even with his wide body of work , he was still stalked by his own creation, that of the cinematic ideal of Norman Bates in Hitchcock’s masterpiece PSYCHO (Paramount) . So powerful and indelible was his portrayal that he could not escape it.

He accepted that was to be how people would see him and so he did two theatrical and one tv sequels, as was as spoofing himself on tv on Saturday Night Live to promote one of them. Thus, the remaining ten years of his life were mostly variants of his twitchy Norman Bates persona.

One of the better ones was in Ken Russell’s CRIMES OF PASSION (New World ,1984, , available on Blu Ray from Arrow ). Five years later, he added Norman to EDGE OF SANITY, adding it to a retelling of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & M Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson(1886) and a Jack The Ripper variant. In some territories, the film was known as DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE.

In EDGE OF SANITY , sex & cocaine are mixed into the formula of this 1880s set thriller. A young boy witnesses a couple having sex but is soon discovered & beaten for his voyeurism. During the beating , the young boy imagines the woman laughing  at him is covered in blood .  This is shown to be a dream memory , as an adult Dr Jekyll awakes in a sweat. His wife asks him if anything is wrong ,but he shrugs her away and, grabbing his cane, walks down to his laboratory.

 Dr Jekyll (Perkins) has been working on an experiment to explore the human personality. To that end , he mixes unknown chemicals with cocaine and ether . The experiment seems to work, as he becomes a twisted , stringy haired paler faced version of himself who calls himself Edward Hyde. This new persona is also stronger, & no longer needs his walking stick ,though he makes other uses for it during the film.

Freed of his inhibitions, he goes down to the Whitechapel area of London. Hyde enjoys the pleasures of the bars & brothels ,too much so .  His encounter with a prostitute result in him killing the woman. From then on, it is a sleazy mix of sex & violence.

Director Gerard Kikoine was better known for his soft porn & hardcore output . His work must have been stylish ( he did work with Radley Metzger, the auteur of soft & hardcore cinema ) since it caught the attention of Harry Alan Towers. Towers was a master of putting together international deals and getting recognizable names to appear in them. He collaborated again with the director & composer for the film BURIED ALIVE (21^st Century, 1989), a film notable as the last film that John Carradine directly worked upon.

Mixing Jekyll & Hyde with Jack the Ripper is not new. During the actual Ripper Murder spree ( April to November 1888). actor Richard Mansfield was portraying the dual role of Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde . He began the role in 1887 in his own adaptation of the story just 1 year after the story was published.

Mansfield in his adaptation made many of the changes still carried over into most adaptations since his play, including adding women to the piece, Dr Jekyll being a sympathetic character , and increasing the presence and importance of the law in the character of Inspector Newcomen. The show was a huge hit in its initial Boston & New York performances . Mansfield took his production to the Lyceum Théâtre in London. It too was well received ,at first. Then the Ripper killings began. Mansfield’s onstage transformation into the murderous Mr. Hyde had several of the more gullible convinced that he could not be able to portray such a character unless he himself was a dual personality, and possibly the Ripper himself! The terrible comments affected the box office & Mansfield closed the production. He did continue to play the roles on & off for almost two decades , including several Broadway revivals. He died on August 30,1907 at age 50.

Hammer Films mixed the two stories of Jack with Jekyll & Hyde while throwing in some Burke & Hare in their gender swapping Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (Hammer/AIP ,1971). This could have been a disaster or poor sex farce but the clever script by Brian (tv’s Avengers series)Clemens, skillful direction by Roy Ward Baker, beautiful top notch production design and cinematography, and the wonderful performers make this a sadly neglected Hammer gem.

EDGE OF SANITY was not as well crafted. It received mixed to negative reviews. It really did not find its audience until its release to home media , first by Virgin Video  then in ep speed by Video Treasures. Both were cropped & foggy looking, the latter with increased grain.

MGM released a much better print on DVD , which was cropped on one side of the disc, & widescreen on the other (did anyone ever watch the cropped copy on these DVDS willingly?).

Now , Arrow continues finding and restoring obscure films for rediscovery and reappraisal.

First , they went to the original 35mm (remember 35mm ?) camera negative , cleaned it up and gave it a brand new  Hi Def 1080p restoration. The difference is quite evident when watched in comparison to the MGM DVD. There seems to be more screen image on the side of the frames (1.85:1) , and the clarity, sharpness and colors really are superior to the older release.

The sound is also superior to the older prints. Perkins at times whispers his lines when not taking the crazy to eleven, and you ended up adjusting the levels throughout. Now, even his lower spoken lines are clear and audible. LPCM 2.0 stereo.

Just in case, there are easy to read SDH  English subtitles .

There is an informative running commentary by filmmakers David Flint & Seth Hogan .

Other extras on this disc include :

Over The Edge – new interview for this release with Stephen Thrower, author of NIGHTMARE USA (FAB PRESS,2007).

Jack, Jekyll, & Other Screen Psychos – a new interview for this release with Dr Clare Smith, who wrote JACK THE RIPPER IN FILM & CULTURE  ( Palgrave/MacMillan,2016)

Both interviews compliment each other, one covering the film , the other the fascination we have with Jack The Ripper.

TWO Interviews with the director

French Love- Gérard Kikoïne discusses his career

Staying Sane– the director focuses on EDGE OF SANITY

There is also an original theatrical trailer.

Not included with the review copy is the magnificent Graham Humphreys slipcover with reversible artwork.

Also not included with the review copy is film critic & film historian (Candyman (Auteur, 2018)) Jon Towlson’s illustrated collective booklet(included with first pressings only!)

I must admit watching this new release has given me a better appreciation of the film. For example, the score by Frederic Talgorn (it seems to have been his first) is lush and orchestral in a time when cheap synth scores were more the norm.  Ditto too the cinematography by Tony Spratling is sharp and makes effective use of color in a style which hints at Argento. The costumes are good , though one character who plays a pimp looks like he just stepped out of a Culture Club music video . The Bucharest locations make the film look like a much bigger production than it really was .

Perkins sadly would pass away September 12, 1992, at age 60 . Perkins himself led a dual existence, having to hide his real personality ,and undergoing psychoanalysis to “cure” himself. He married actress Berry Berenson, had two sons , & were happy , though he could not deny who he was.

In 1990 , the sleazy National Enquirer gained access to a blood sample that Perkins had given in an unrelated test , and they sprayed the news ‘Psycho Star Has AIDS’.  This is how the actor himself found out that he was infected. Before he passed , he issued this public statement :

“There are many who believe this disease is God’s vengeance. But I believe it was sent to teach people how to love and understand and have compassion for each other. I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding from people I have met in this great adventure in the world of AIDS, than I ever did in the cutthroat, competitive world in which I spent my life.”

Worth getting for fans of Anthony Perkins  or / and the works of producer of Harry Alan Towers and those interested in Jack the Ripper, Jekyll & Hyde , and eighties horror.

–Kevin G Shinnick–

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He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection . Arrow Video Blu-ray. Region Free

He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection [Blu-ray] Region Free
4 discs. 12 hours and 16 minutes. Color. 7 films (1966-1977) and a brand-new documentary (THEY CAME FROM THE SWAMP-THE FILMS OF WILLIAM GREFE produced by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures) plus lots of extras.
$99.95
https://www.amazon.com/He-Came-Swamp-William-Collection/dp/B08GVJLKZL

William Grefe does not have the cult following that a lot of independent filmmakers have. Indeed, my knowledge of him was limited to two of his earliest horror films and little else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9PniGbJEHw

This collection from Arrow is a great correction to that for me and other film buffs. In the set are 7 of the director’s works, along with another brilliant full-length documentary by Ballyhoo Motion Pictures on the  Grefé’s career.

Seven of his works from the beginning and the end of his career are not included, probably due to rights issues, or perhaps if this set is popular enough, that there will be a second collection?

Drive-in movie theatres have been around since around 1915, but officially began with the first dedicated site for that purpose in Camden, NJ in 1933. In the 1940s, after the way, cars became more of an American way of life, and drive ins began to truly take off. At the same time, the Paramount Act in 1948 caused studios to divest themselves of theatres in a landmark antitrust suit.

This opened the doors for many independents in the 1950s to begin producing films to supply drive ins, as those theatres were looked upon as secondary markets or at least the destination for a film that had run its course financially prior.

American Releasing Corp (which morphed into the more familiar American International Pictures) was one of those that benefitted, aiming for the newly mobile teenage audiences that made drive ins profitable.

Independents would deal with local sub distributors who would handle territories that the country had been broken into. Some of these sub distributors would even make their own ultra-low budget films like the Texas-lensed THE GIANT GILA MONSTER and THE KILLER SHREWS (McLendon-Radio Pictures Distributing Company, both 1959).

In the 1960’s, more maverick filmmakers started to shoot their low budget films around the country, many of them working in Florida. Among the first was H.G. Lewis and his BLOOD FEAST (Box Office Spectaculars, 1963).

William Shatner appeared in Grefe’s IMPULSE(1974)

Another was William  Grefé. A Florida native, he began making films in 1963 as well for the local drive- in film circuit. Two racing films (THE CHECKERED FLAG, Motion Picture Investors ,1963 and RACING FEVER, A.A.,1964, the second of which was built around an actual horrible boat accident caught by an amateur photographer) came and went. His third film (and the first in this collection) was a horror film set within the Everglades.

Disc One of this Arrow Blu Ray collection has STING OF DEATH and DEATH CURSE OF TARTU.

STING OF DEATH (Thunderbird,1966)) was an ultra-low budget color (all   Grefé’s films were in color, except for THE DEVIL’S SISTER, Thunderbird ,1966) that was intended for the drive-in market. For couples looking for an excuse to make out in the privacy of their cars, this film was a good reason to do so. A humanoid/ jellyfish hybrid (poor Bill Hobart, in a diving outfit slightly altered and a plastic bag over his head which in one scene almost caused him to suffocate to death!) is out killing people in Florida. A group of young people (including Deana Lund, prior to her stint on tv’s LAND OF THE GIANTS, Fox ,1968-70) draw the attention of Egon (John Vella), who is the evil genius who has a machine attached to an actual Portuguese Man of War that allows him to transform into the creature that is killing everyone. Oddly, the film seemed to inspire ZAAT (Clark, 1971) , another Florida lensed man into mutant aquatic monster hybrid film .

Zaat, a STING OF DEATH ripoff?

Needing a second feature,  Grefé wrote a quick script, got a team together, and filmed his co-feature in a week.

Deanna Lund

DEATH CURSE OF TARTU (Thunderbird ,1966) was an ultra-low budget color (all  Grefé’s films were in color, except for THE DEVIL’S SISTER, Thunderbird ,1966) horror film that got a decent release upon the drive-in circuits, as well as some spots on late night movie channels in syndication. I recall first seeing a black and White picture of Tartu (Bill Hobart, who designed his own makeup, and became one of  Grefé’s stock company behind and in front of the camera.) in an early issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS and becoming intrigued by it.

An explorer (Brad Grinter, later to direct Veronica Lake’s sad swan song FLESH FEAST, Viking,1970 & the bizarre killer turkey flick BLOOD FREAK, Sampson ,1972) uncovers a crypt wherein he is confronted by Tartu and killed. A short time later, Sam (Frank Weed, who also handled all the exotic animals that appeared in Grefe’s films) and a group including a Professor, his wife and their students exploring old Indian sites soon are the next to become involved with the Death Curse.

Tartu can transform himself and pops up as various swamp creatures to pick of various members of the party, including a shark (!) before the final showdown.  Grefé claimed that he dashed the script out very quickly and it shows. Lots of long passages of nature shots where nothing happens, followed by some brief dialogue then back to padding before something happens for a few seconds. Still, the film had a long life, as director Frank Henenlotter recalled it still playing in the 42nd Street Grindhouses as late as 1976, but how much of receipts reached  Grefé is unknown. Actress Mayra Gomez moved to Spain, where she became a bit of staple of Spanish tv in the 1970s.

These two films have quite a cult following, having gotten released on video and DVD by Something Weird video in prints that had gone through the projectors quite a few times, with faded color and scratches.

The Arrow releases have presented the films in such sharpness as to make them look brand new. The colors are vibrant, and the overall pictures are quite sharp. The studio has gone to the original film elements and given us new 2K scans. it is astonishing the care that went into their restoration.

Extras include new intros by the director, as well as running commentaries by Grefe and Henenlotter (the commentaries ported over from the original Something Weird DVD releases). Find out how Neil Sedaka ended up contributing the song “Do the Jellyfish “to STING OF DEATH .

Do the Jellyfish

A new mini doc by filmmaker C Courtney Joyner called BEYOND THE MOVIE-MONSTERS A GO GO! which examines rock n roll monster movies from the 1950s onward, including the AIP Beach Blanket films that added horror stars like Karloff and Price in cameos.

Doug Hobart talks about his experience with running his own spook show in the fascinating THE CURIOUS CASE OF DR. TRABOH: SPOOK SHOW EXTRAORDINAIRE. For those like myself too young to have experienced these, this is a fascinating piece of movie /theatre history and is true ballyhoo (the extras on these discs are all by the film history doc specialists, Daniel Griffith ‘s BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES, who consistently make some of the best DVD/BLU RAY extras).

Not Dr . Traboh ,but…

Also, on disc one is the some of the original theatrical trailers for STING OF DEATH and DEATH CURSE OF TARTU.

Disc 2 has Grefe’s reaction to the Swinging’ Sixties, THE HOOKED GENERATION (A.A.,1968) and THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST (Allied International ,1971).

THE HOOKED GENERATION has three low lifes who want to break into the big time of drug dealing and go full Scarface by killing a bunch of Cubans for their boatload of drugs (it seems while drugs were crimes in Cuba, they had no problem making money off selling them to the Americans), then killing members of the Coast Guard, before having to turn and flee for a final show down between them in the swamps and the police. It is a gritty film with truly unlikeable characters (a rape scene thankfully is not shown).

THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST (original title: Electric Shades of Gray) is an interesting film.  Grefé on the commentary tells us that producer Stewart (Terry) Merrill wanted to make a film about a priest in the Height Ashbury drug scene. The only problem is he had nothing beyond that idea.  Grefé found that it was not a problem, and, with money in hand, began to improvise his film with actor John Darrell (who IMDB seems to feel moved to England and later appeared in several episodes of the Shakespearean series THE WAR OF THE ROSES, BBC 1990-91 !) and mostly a cast pulled off the streets and campuses.

Someone slipped him a Doctor Pepper??

Father John (Darrell) is seen talking to several college students about pot smoking and drugs. They offer him a soda, with him unaware that it is spiked with L.S.D. He goes back to church where he has a bad trip, convincing him to drop out (becoming the embodiment of Timothy Leary’s famous 1966 phrase “Turn on, tune in, drop out”). He decides to take a car and travel the open road, wherein he picks up a young hitchhiker who travels awhile with him. He rebukes her admission of love, which is followed by her death. John also witnesses a racial murder perpetrated by some small-town sheriffs, causing John to spiral downwards into harder drugs.

In the final act, he finds his faith again before the end credits crawl, making one think of those religious scare films so “popular “in the 1960s ,70s and 80s. For example: here is a clip from Rock: It’s Your Decision (1982), wherein a young man finds being denied access to rock n’ roll saves him from…. SATAN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_aHgKWwAy0 .

However, after finishing the film, producer Merrill got into a fight with the distributor, and so the film ended up shelved for decades, until it was saved by Something Weird Video in 2001.

Both films have been remastered from the best elements available and given a 2K scanning. That said, the films could only be improved so much, especially the 16mm PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST.

Extras include

new introductions to each film by the director

Mike Vraney & Lisa Petrucci

Running commentaries by  Grefé and Henenlotter wisely carried over from their old Something Weird releases (the late Mike Varney and his wife Lisa Petrucci saved more films from vanishing forever that they deserve a special Oscar for film preservation, though the movies they preserved would not be nominated for Academy Awards, playing instead in grind houses, drive ins and even in porn theatres).

A new mini documentary by film historian Chris Poggiali called BEYOND THE MOVIE: THAT’S DRUGSPLOITATION! that explores films that would be called counterculture.

Another new mini doc, again by Poggiali, called BEYOND THE MOVIE: THE ULTIMATE ROAD TRIP-which gives you the history behind THE PSYCHEDELIC PRIEST.

BEHIND THE SCENES footage from THE HOOKED GENERATION.

A still gallery from THE HOOKED GENERATION.

DISC 3

• THE NAKED ZOO (1971) This was  Grefé’s attempt to cash into the WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (WB,1962) style of thriller (also known as “Hag Horror”, a cruel comment about films where aging Stars and Actresses were forced into material they once may have turned up their noses at). This SUNSET BOULEVARD (Paramount ,1950) type film has Rita Hayworth (GILDA, Columbia, 1946) as Mrs. Golden, who is taking care of her wheelchair bound husband (Ford Rainey, a reliable character actor who appeared on television in various series from 1951 up to 2017!). When a young writer Terry Shaw (Steve Oliver, who appeared the following year in WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS, Fanfare,1971) shows up, the love starved woman’s infatuation leads to seductions and murder. The lovely Fay Spain (HERCULES CONQUERS ATLANTIS, SpA Cinematografica,1961, who died way too young from cancer in 1983) adds a bit of sex appeal.

Fay Spain

Poor Hayworth looks older than her 52 years in this film, due no doubt from a lifetime of abuse both mental, physical, emotional, and financial from her husbands, driving her into alcoholism as well as possibly the first stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. Indeed, 2 years later, her scenes in WRATH OF GOD (MGM,1972) had to be shot one line at a time.

MAKO: JAWS OF DEATH (Cannon, 1976) -having had a hit with STANLEY (Crown Int, 1972)  Grefé wanted to do another nature gone wild film. He had an idea to use a shark as the main creature but at the time, no one would foot the bill for such a film. Then JAWS (Universal,1975) shattered all box office records, and suddenly everyone wanted a film featuring the finned terrors.  Grefé obliged with this film.

Richard Jaeckel (who won an Oscar nom for his role in SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, Universal,1971) is Sonny Stein. During the Vietnam War, he was saved from the enemy by a Mako Shark. Now working as a marine salvager, a shaman gives him a charm to help him have a psychic link between the sharks and himself. Oddly , none of the sharks shown in the film are Mako sharks.

Seeing how people around him treat the sharks, he uses them to extract revenge, including killing an underwater dancer (an attraction totally unique to Florida) when a shark is introduced into her tank.

Also in the film is Harold “Odd Job” Sakata, who had almost really died while filming Grefe’s IMPULSE (Camelot,1974). Here he ends up on the wrong end of a fishhook.

Once again, ARROW gives us a 2K restoration of both films from original film elements.
Also new to these releases are brand new audio commentaries by director  Grefé.

New intros for each film by  Grefé.

An interesting offering is a 92-minute DIRECTOR’S CUT of THE NAKED ZOO, as well as the version released theatrically and altered by the distributors, who added a performance by Canned Heat as well as some nude insert shots, so I guess the Non-Director cut.

A retitled -reissue of THE NAKED ZOO

A new mini doc BEYOND THE MOVIE: THAT’S SHARKSPLOITATION! By film historian Michael Gingold about the spawn of JAWS, including piranhas and alligators.

New to this release: THE AQUAMAID SPEAKS! – An audio interview with Jennifer Bishop, the hapless actress almost bitten by a shark for real in MAKO.

Jennifer Bishop

Another new audio interview: SHARKS, STALKERS, AND SASQUATCH, with Mako writer Robert Morgan, who has spent decades talking about Bigfoot, whom he claims he first saw in 1957.

MAKO-The Super 8 Digest version. For you kiddies, before vcrs, streaming, the internet, this was often the only way to get your hands on a film.

Original trailers

Still and Promo Galleries

DISC 4
WHISKEY MOUNTAIN (1977) is an action thriller film set in the backwoods. A group of young people go into the mountains looking for a stash of old Confederate gear, only to come across a bunch of hillbilly drug dealers who do not take kindly to interlopers. Fast paced with lots of stunts, starring Christopher George (tv’s RAT PATROL, U.A. 1966-68) as well as the indie ecological horror film GRIZZLY (Film Ventures,1976).

THEY CAME FROM THE SWAMP: THE FILMS OF WILLIAM GREFE (2016) -this for me was the highlight of the collection. Daniel Griffith, of Ballyhoo Motion Pictures, has done this 127-minute tribute to William  Grefé, highlighting the take any risk but get it on film style of the filmmaker, and indeed, of many indie cinema makers. This is an extended version of this documentary tribute that had been previously been released in a special two-disc DVD edition (the second disc featured WHISKEY MOUNTAIN).

Interviews with  Grefé, and many of the surviving cast and crew of his films, as well as filmmakers like Frank Henenlotter (BASKET CASE, Analysis, 1982) and Fred Olen Ray (THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, American Independent Productions 1988). Besides his own films,  Grefé worked as a second unit director on major films shot in Florida like LIVE & LET DIE (U.A.,1973) as well as promotional shorts for various companies. It is a fascinating look at D.I.Y. guerilla filmmaking.

Extras on this disc include

2K restoration of WHISKEY MOUNTAIN from original film elements.

Christopher George

New audio commentary by  Grefé on WHISKEY MOUNTAIN.

New intro to WHISKEY MOUNTAIN by  Grefé.

THE CROWN JEWELS– A new mini documentary about Crown International, who released several of  Grefé’s films, like STANLEY (1972).

ON LOCATION: GREFE IN MIAMI– a new archival tour of various locations used by  Grefé.

BACARDI AND COKE BONANZA (1981) a short film shot by  Grefé about how-well – Bacardi & Coke go together.

WHISKEY MOUNTAIN trailer.

Bonus Exploitation trailer Gallery.

Each of the discs has reversible disc cover sleeves with original artwork

Collectors Booklet with an interview with the director.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDRa_KWgVdU&feature=emb_logo


Arrow once again has gone all out with amazing restorations that put many major studio releases to shame.

Recommended for fans of  Grefé’s work, Regional Filmmakers, Indie Movies.

-Kevin G Shinnick

BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES: https://ballyhoomotionpictures.com

ARROW VIDEO: https://www.arrowvideo.com

The films not in the collection by the way are for the Grefe completists
THE CHECKERED FLAG (1963), RACING FEVER (1964), DEVIL’S SISTERS (1966), WILD REBELS (1967), STANLEY (1972), IMPULSE (1974), THE GODMOTHERS (1975).

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CRUISING (Arrow Video Blu Ray)

CRUISING (Arrow Video Blu Ray) – released August 20,2019 Color. 102 min.
$39.95 U.S. REGION A/1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aezm39HOBY

Original Theatrical Release February ,1980 Lorimar /U.A. (production cost estimate: $11 million .domestic gross – $19,784,223) Rated R.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cruising-Special-Blu-ray-Al-Pacino/dp/B07SJHGNVZ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2PYFLLZV3FOGR&keywords=cruising+blu+ray&qid=1566827996&s=gateway&sprefix=cruisin%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyT0JVN1pUNjlJT1g2JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUExMDQyNDQ5MjhXRlJQTjZXMTNXNiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzMxMzA0MzlGOU1BWUZIUDVUSyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

Ten years after directing THE BOYS IN THE BAND (National General ,1970), director William Friedkin took on another controversial gay themed subject, CRUISING. In the years since THE BOYS IN THE BAND, Friedkin had established himself as a director of thrilling films, such as THE FRENCH CONNECTION (Fox,1971) and the box office mega-hit THE EXORCIST (WB,1973).

 

At first, when producer Philip D’Antoni (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) broached the idea of a film based upon reporter Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel, CRUISING (Stein & Day, hardback), the director was not interested. D’Antoni then tried to interest an upcoming new director called Stephen Spielberg, but who finally also gave the project a pass.

The novel deals with an undercover cop named John Lynch (renamed Steve Burns in the later movie adaptation). Lynch is asked to go undercover into the leather bar s&m scene of the gay bars in Greenwich Village. We learn that a serial killer who cruises the leather bars has already killed four men. A straight male who is repulsed by the gay lifestyle, he sees the assignment as one that can help him advance in his career quickly, so he accepts.

The Stonewall Riots were less than a year old at the time, and before then, homosexuality had been treated as a perversion, with police regularly rounding up homosexuals . Indeed, it wasn’t until 1980 that the NY Court of Appeals abolished laws against private consenting homosexual conduct between adults (New York v. Onofre). That this was the same year as CRUISING was released probably added to the tension/controversy of the film but more of that later.

Lynch has a relationship with a woman, but while he is undercover, he starts to develop feelings for one of his gay neighbors. Will he be able to solve the murders and prevent further killings, while he deals with his own personal confusion?

As a mystery, CRUISING the novel let’s us know who the killer is early on so it is just a matter of when Lynch will cross the murderer’s path. Also, Lynch seems to be a bit of an Archie Bunker, with a lot of stereotypical comment by our “hero” against Gays (“fags”), Puerto Ricans, blacks, etc. The picture it paints of New York City seems to be the same one that Travis Bickle would cruise in his vehicle years later in TAXI DRIVER (Columbia ,1976).

Indeed, New York had begun a decline that it took several decades to climb slowly back out from. Drugs, murders, homelessness, prostitution, rape, and urban flight caused the city that never sleeps to become what many viewed as Hell On Earth, an image not helped by films like DEATH WISH (Paramount ,1974).

 

The rights next went to agent turned producer Jerry Weintraub (NASHVILLE, Paramount, 1975) who approached Friedkin with the work. This time, the director was more receptive to a cinematic re-imagining of the novel.

In the intervening years, a series of murders of homosexual men had occurred in New York that were chronicled in The Village Voice by reporter Arthur Bell.

Friedkin was acquainted with undercover police detective Randy Jurgenson (who acted as a consultant on THE FRENCH CONNECTION). Jurgenson, a purple heart awarded veteran who had fought in the battle of Pork Chop Hill in 1953, told the director that he had served uncover investigating the gay culture of New York.

Another odd co-incidence was that Paul Bateson, a doctor’s assistant who appears in THE EXORCIST (the hospital exam scene, which many find more frightening than the more supernatural occurrences) was charged in the murder of Variety Reporter Addison Verrill.

Friedkin worked upon the screen adaptation himself in consultation with Jurgenson and Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso (whose exploits with Eddie Egan inspired THE FRENCH CONNECTION, on which they also provided consultation). Both detectives  took small roles in the film . The writer-director, along with several of his team, made several trips to the various notorious hardcore gay clubs ,such as the Mineshaft and the Anvil, both located in the meatpacking district of the city. It was known as that as during the day that is where beef and other meats were delivered, while at night it became an area that most people stayed far away from. The clubs were closed during the height of the AIDS crisis in the Mid- Eighties, and now the district is gentrified and high priced shops, restaurants and hotels.

  The Liberty Inn now occupies the space of the infamous Anvil. 

 

 

Friedkin says all the details was accurate, no matter how far fetched they may have seemed. Friedkin gave camera operator James A. Contner (THE BRINKS JOB) his first chance to be Director of Photography. Contner wanted to shoot the film in black and white but drained the color down in most of the scenes in the clubs while shooting at night nearly accomplished the same effect.

Friedkin also brought on editor Bud S Smith (with whom he worked on SORCERER (Universal/Paramount ,1977 and THE BRINKS JOB (DeLaurentiis /Universal, 1978). An under acknowledged part of filmmaking is casting. Friedkin turned to Louis Di Giaimo who had worked with the director in the past. He presented the director with a short list of actors who he felt would be right for the roles, and Friedkin seemed to agree with the choices of mostly stage trained New York performers for the featured speaking roles. The people who are members of the club scenes are actual people who frequented the clubs, and as Friedkin said, they realized the filmmaker was not being judgmental but merely working almost as a documentarian in those scenes. The sex scenes were to give the MPAA and the filmmakers major headaches when it came to a rating.

The filmmakers had originally wanted Richard Gere for the lead role, probably due to his role in the 1979 Broadway production of BENT, wherein Gere had portrayed a gay man in a concentration camp. Al Pacino expressed interest and finally won the part. This would lead to some problems for the filmmaker, as he felt that Pacino came to set unprepared. It might have been that Pacino wanted to approach each scene like the character, surprised by what he experienced.

Filming was often disrupted by protests. Arthur Bell, whose articles had somewhat shaped the events within the screen play, somehow got a copy of the script and he urged the gay community to protest. To this end , production was disrupted by loud noises, requiring massive ADR work (dubbing). This may have worked to the film’s advantage, as several suspects and characters were dubbed by the same actor, helping to throw off audiences guesses as to who the killer was. Also, the sounds of keys and leather were amplified, both items of importance in this sub section of gay culture.

 

Several times there was need of police protection and escort for the actors to get to and from locations. Luckily, though there were a few arrests, there is no record of any violence or injury to anyone involved.

 

The plot involves several body parts found floating in the Hudson River. Fingerprints from one of the hands found leads them to discover that the killings are of several gay men. The police decide to send an officer deep undercover to see who is killing these men. Officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino) an ambitious officer sees this as a chance for advancement when he is picked for the assignment.

He moves down to the Village, and sets up a false persona, becoming friends with his next door neighbor, Ted (Don Scardino, SQUIRM, AIP ,1976).One of the people that Burns suspects of being a suspect gets brutalized by the police. Burns almost quits, but his captain (Paul Sorvino, THE BRINKS JOB). convinces him to stay and chastises all who harassed the hapless falsely accused man.

What Burns discovers during his investigations starts to play games with his mental well being ,as well as hurting his relationship with his girlfriend ,Nancy (Karen Allen, who would leap to international recognition for her starring role alongside Harrison Ford in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK ,Paramount ,1981).to whom he cannot tell what his assignment is or what it entails.

The film drops a lot of suspects and clues, but many find that the ending is a cop-out, leaving many frustrated as to who indeed is the killer. Revisiting the film again ,I now find that the ending is a perfect finish for this unique production

The cast includes a fine selection of character actors, including Joe Spinell (the same year he would also make New York extra creepy as a psychopath killer in MANIAC (Analysis,1980),appearing here as a cop who abuses the transvestites ; Ed O’Neill (tv’s long running MODERN FAMILY, ABC,2009- still running as of this writing) ,here as a detective, James Remar ( Dexter’s father on the long running tv series DEXTER ,Showtime, 2006-2013), portraying Ted’s abuser lover ; and Powers Booth (SIN CITY, Miramax ,2005) as a store owner who explains the significance of certain handkerchiefs and how they are worn in the gay world. Except for Karen Allen, women hardly exist in this society.

The attacks upon the film didn’t end with the end of production, as the MPAA kept slapping the film with an X, a kiss of death at the box office. Friedkin submitted about 40 minutes of graphic sex that he knew the MPAA would want cut, so he cut keep the majority of what he wanted as a compromise. There are subliminal flashes of gay sex during the murder sequences, with the idea of sex and the knife melded into one (two forms of penetration).

 

The critics also for the most part savaged the film, with few exceptions ,so it is surprising that the film, that cost nearly $11 million to make, nearly doubled its cost, making it, if not a hit, at least not a money loser.

It is also interesting that 1980 was also the year that Brian DePalma mixed sex and violence in his DRESSED TO KILL(Filmways/Orion). While there were protests about the combination in this film, audiences were more willing to be titillated by heterosexual love mixed with slashing, becoming an international hit, making about 5 times it’s budget.

By the way , did anyone ever notice that the 1982 Paramount film PARTNERS , written by Frances Verber, who created the original LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (French ,U,A,,1978) seems to be a buddy picture reworking of the plot of CRUISING?  In PARTNERS ,Ryan O’Neal is a straight cop assigned to go undercover to find a killer targeting homosexual men , only here he is paired with an actual gay officer ,played by John Hurt channeling Kenneth Williams.

 

Over the years, opinions have changed upon how the film is viewed, with many feeling it is among Friedkin’s best works.

It was released to VHS and seen widely at video stores, first released in a large box, and then a small box when it was reissued.

 

It became perhaps viewed when it was released to HBO cable, showing at midnight or later.

Finally, in 2007, it was released on DVD by Warner Brothers (who had acquired Lorimar) in a special edition version with extras like
• Commentary by director William Friedkin
• The History of Cruising
• Exorcising Cruising
• Theatrical trailer

and then later a burn on demand without extras from Warner Archives in 2013.

 

Arrow Video has now given us what may be the definitive version of this film.

First off, this is a Director Approved Special Edition with a 4K Scan H9 Def (1080p) Blu-ray of the original camera negative, supervised and approved by William Friedkin .

 

The sound has also been given a newly remastered 5.1. DTS-HD Master Audio track again supervised by Friedkin.

 

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. This follows the dialog and indicates sounds quite accurately for those wishing to use this captioning.

A new audio commentary with Friedkin and film critic Mark Kermode. Friedkin is very frank about the film, talking about how the opening title card has been removed for this release, since it was only put on as a sop for those who might have been squeamish or offended by the film. Kermode knows the director’s body of work pretty well, and prompts quietly the conversation, often commenting on actions on screen while diverting effortlessly of the behind the scenes problems and joys of the production.

Friedkin mentions that he felt Pacino would arrive seemingly unprepared for the day’s set ups, while talking about how he tried to keep the actors unbalanced and on their toes. It could be that Pacino, method actor that he was, wanted to go into the scenes with the same wide-eyed innocence that his character would feel walking into the strange new world that has such people in it.

Also original to this release is an enclosed booklet with an excellent overview by film historian F.X. Feeney, who talks about seeing the film on it’s opening day.

Reversible Blu Ray cover

Ported over from the 2007 DVD release are

An archival audio commentary by William Friedkin. It is interesting to compare the two commentaries. The original is fact filled but a bit dry, while the newer one as stated the director seems a lot more engaged and relaxed. Both are definitely worth listening to, so kudos for Arrow for making the extra effort.

The History of CRUISING -interviews with several of the people involved in the film such as Friedkin, Grosso, and many others.

Exorcising CRUISING -examines the controversy and aftermath of the film’s release. Many of the same people from the previous featurette appear, as well as actors like actor Richard Cox.

 

Original Theatrical Trailer- the trailer tries to avoid mentioning the homosexual aspects of the film, which makes the film seem more like a generic police procedural (though with lots of leather!).

CRUISING is not a film for everyone. It is a challenging film on a subject that many people will not wish to explore. The film’s ending is not an easy clear cut one, open to debate as to its meaning .

Those reason though also make the film Highly Recommended to those who appreciate films that challenge you and your perceptions .

In an age of superhero franchises, CRUISING is a film that no major studio would even consider creating, making it all the more unique and worth seeking out.

Another Arrow Video must buy release.

For fans of
AL PACINO
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN
POLICE PROCEEDURALS
NY BASED THRILLERS
ORIGINAL,THOUGHT PROVOKING FILMS

-Kevin G Shinnick

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HUSSY (Twilight Time Blu Ray)

 

HUSSY (TWILIGHT TIME Blu Ray,2019) original theatrical release UK-Watchgrove Films,1980. Color. Rated R. 95 min. 1080p High Definition / 1.85:1 English 1.0 DTS-HD MA.\No subtitles. REGION FREE. Extras -Original Theatrical Trailer. $29.95  https://www.twilighttimemovies.com/hussy-blu-ray/

 

In the 1970s, Joan Collins starred in two low budget soft core porn films, THE STUD (Brett Walker,1978) and THE BITCH (Brett Walker,1979). Both were low budget films, but based upon steamy novels by Joan’s sister Jackie, and done with style and enough sex scenes provided by Ms. Collins, the films were enormously profitable, especially when they were some of the first films licensed for the brand-new home video market.

 

Other producers looked at the profits and tried to come up with films of a similar nature. HUSSY seems to be a film that came into being with that idea, but the producers got a film with a lot more depth than they expected.

Writer /Director Matthew Chapman is the great great grandson of Charles Darwin, and who has written extensively on the creation-evolution debate, and in 2007 co-founded ScienceDebate.org, which has been trying to get Presidential Figures to discuss scientific issues (something the current occupant would fail dreadfully).

What he created for his first film was more of gritty drama than a seedy sex romp. Then 35-year-old
Helen Mirren, a naturalist at heart, had no problem with nudity, have appeared in the controversial 1979 Penthouse film CALIGULA. She also brought her usual intelligence and lots of character shading to her part of Beaty, the “hussy “of the title.

 

Actor John Shea (WINDY CITY, Fox,1984) had appeared on Broadway in YENTL opposite Tovah Feldshuh. HUSSY was his film debut, portraying Emory, a member of stage crew at the cabaret where Beaty works, and where he falls in love with her.

Basically, Beaty (Mirren) works as a call girl in this seedy club, where she falls in love for Emory (Shea). Complicating matters is that Beaty has a young son as well as a psycho strong arm pimp /ex-lover Alex (Paul Angelis, who in 1968, provided the voices of Ringo and the chief Blue Meanie in United Artists’ animated YELLOW SUBMARINE!), who is fresh out of prison. Meanwhile Emory’s friend Max (Murray Salem , who later wrote the screenplay for KINDERGARTEN COP ,Universal ,1990,died of AIDS complication at only age 47. ) wants Emory to join him on an upcoming drug deal.

Paul Angelis

 

Alex finds out about the deal and muscles his way in, further endangering Emory and Beaty’s future and safety. The result will end up in murder, but of whom?

 previous DVD release 2006

HUSSY had been released on DVD in 2006 in a rather dull flat print. This new Blu Ray from TWILIGHT TIME has given the film a 1080p High Definition clean up, with colors and images being much sharper, showing cinematographer Keith Goddard ‘s work to good advantage (this film seems to have been his biggest credit).

The 1.0 DTS-HD MA (English only) sound is clear, with dialogue and sound clear and free from pops and hiss. The score by George Fenton (DANGEROUS BEAUTY, WB,1998), his second theatrical soundtrack, is a mixture of club music and songs, as well as disco influence, very much a product of it’s time.

There are no subtitle options.

The only extra is the original theatrical trailer.

Limited to ONLY 2,000 copies,
This Blu Ray is recommended to
Those who like
British Noir and
Helen Mirren fans

 

 

 

Kevin G Shinnick

 

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THE NEW YORK RIPPER (Blue Underground Blu-Ray ,June 2019 release)

      THE NEW YORK RIPPER (Blue Underground) June ,2019

                                 original Theatrical release: 1982, Vidmark.

                                        Color. 93 mins. Unrated REGION FREE

         NEW YORK RIPPER, THE

(3-Disc Ltd Ed/4K REM)
1-BD + 1-DVD + 1-CD $49.95

http://www.blue-underground.com/product.php?product=294

 

When a film exists to shock, and succeeds beyond expectations, is it a good film ?

Surely there are many controversial films that do this –CALIGULA (Penthouse,1979) for one. THE NEW YORK RIPPER takes the Giallo archetype and extends it to a point where the misogyny of so many in that genre is multiplied and multiplied again. However, if that is what the killer’s mind set is and the film captures it, is it not then delivering upon its subject matter?

 

Lucio Fulci (1927-1996) was a director who seemed to invite controversy. Though he began as a writer director of documentary shorts in 1948 ,he got into full length features in 1959, working in all genres, from comedy (I LANDRI, ICM,1959) ,musicals RAGAZZI DEL JUKE-BOX (ERA,1959), and westerns (THE BRUTE & THE BEAST ,Mega,1968) with little notice.

 

In 1969, he made his first Giallo, Una sull’altra (ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER, Empire ,1969) shooting some of the film in California), and he had found his niche in the mystery /horror genre. These films proved successful and with each successful one he increased the gore and often the sexual content. His Gates of Hell horror trilogy (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, Dania ,1980; his masterpiece, THE BEYOND Fulvia,1981 and HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, Fulvia,1981) put him on the horror /thriller map as a director to watch.

For good or bad, he became known as a Master of Splatter, and he delivered by the gooey bucketful. Shooting parts of his films within different regions of the U.S. probably set his films apart from a lot of other Italian productions of the time, and I am sure were used to sell the films as American movies to certain markets.

 

THE NEW YORK RIPPER (Lo squartatore di New York, Fulvia, 1982) continued his streak of lensing his films, at least good portions of them in the United States, here, of course, the title city. New York City thrillers were popular with the success of films like DEATH WISH (Paramount, 1974) due to the urban decay that the metropolis had declined into and remained in throughout the 70s,80s, and early 90s.

The world viewed the place as a petri dish where unimaginable crimes could happen almost anywhere, a belief that was solidified by events like the Son Of Sam shootings in 1976-7.

MANIAC (Analysis,1980) (also available in a beautiful Blu Ray Edition from BLUE UNDERGROUND http://www.blue-underground.com/product.php?product=291 ) amped up the ultra-violence (and yes, the objectification of women as victims ) in a powerful thriller .

THE NEW YORK RIPPER cranks it up to 11 with the sex and violence combo .

 

A dog out for a walk with its master finds a rotting human hand, later identified as having come from a local hooker. The lead Detective, Lt Fred Williams (British actor Jack Hadley, who had to take his stage name since there already was a famous Jack Hawkins, starred in the BBC series COLDITZ ,1972-4) begins interviewing people who may have known the unfortunate woman. In his search, he finds out that she had gotten a call from a person who spoke with an odd quacking sound and high-pitched voice.

Another young woman is murdered upon the Staten island Ferry by a knife welding unseen stranger, using the bizarre voice. The police suspect that there is a pattern to the crimes, tying into another murder that had happened previously. They realize that they are dealing with a serial murderer.

The Chief of Police (Lucio Fulci himself!) tells Williams to stop having press conferences that might panic the public (as indeed happened during the Son of Sam spree). Right after, Williams finds out that someone: sounding like a duck” called wanting to talk to him, like the taunts that Jack the Ripper gave the Police and Press.

Another victim is a live sex show performer, brutally murdered by a broken bottle into her genitals. That same night, another prostitute, Kitty (Daniela Doria, who was one of the victims Fulci’s THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY) receives a call from the quacking killer.

Several more vicious killings occur by the mad person dubbed “The New York Ripper”, often involving seedy locations or sexual situations. The film has a rather grim as well as downbeat ending which is one more kick to the gut that the film delivers before the titles roll.

 

Fulci had felt the film was a tribute to Hitchcock, though it owes a great deal more to Dario Argento with its graphic gore.

 

The combination of sex and violence got the film banned in the U.K. until 2002, while in the U.S. it was barely released, getting most of it’s following from its 1987 Vidmark VHS release in an edited version.

BLUE UNDERGROUND had released THE NEW YORK RIPPER uncut since 2008 on DVD (out of print) as well as Blu Ray since 2009.

 

This new (June 25th,2019) Limited Edition is a must have for fans of the film. For one, this print is a 4K scan from an ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE. The image sharpness is amazing, and probably looks better than any version prior, including its limited theatrical run. The film makes good use of color ,thanks to cinematographer Luigi Kuveiller (FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN , BLOOD OF DRACULA (Bryanston 1973,1974; Dario Argento’s DEEP RED, Mahler ,1976 ) that show off the makeup effects of Germano Natali (DEEP RED; SUSPIRIA ,International Classics,1977) in all their gory glory .

 

The audio is available in English 7.1 and Mono DTS-HD, as well as French, Italian and Spanish. I sampled the other tracks, and all seem fine, probably closer to the original theatrical sound but the 7.0 is the way to go. The background city sounds give the film a richer bigger budget feel, with dialogue usually clear and hiss free. I had to turn down the speakers a few times with the screams, that seem to get a bit loud, but let’s face it, that is to be expected in this sort of film.

There are also optional subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

 

 

The film is given an incredible number of extras (which we have come to expect and treasure in these marvelous Blue Underground special 4K releases like MANIAC.)

 

–A running Audio Commentary by Troy Howarth. Really one would be hard pressed to find a better commentator than Troy, who began writing for Fangoria, and is an expert on Italian Horror, having published at least three books that deal with the subject, including one on Fulci. That knowledge flows effortlessly in a conversational relaxed manner as he drops an amazing amount of info about the film’s production ,cast & crew  as well as the various censorship and release problems that it encountered .

–NYC LOCATIONS THEN & NOW – a personal favorite, as I am a life-long denizen of the city, the too short featurette examines how the city looked then and now (well ,2009). With all the chain stores and Starbucks as well as aimless tourists nowadays, I am unsure which is preferable.

 

–PAINT ME BLOOD RED– an interview with Poster Artist Enzo Sciotti, who has painted over 3,000 Italian film posters, including this film. To see some of his work: https://www.cvltnation.com/demons-death-color-art-enzo-sciotti/

 

–THE ART OF KILLING -An interview with Co-Writer Dardano Sacchetti (in Italian, subtitled), who worked with Fulci on several of his films, including HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY and MANHATTAN BABY (Fulvia ,1982) and has worked with Mario Bava and Dario Argento.

 

–THREE FINGERS OF VIOLENCE– Interview with actor Howard Ross.

– ‘THE BROKEN BOTTLE MURDER– Interview with actress Zora Kerova, who was on the receiving end of one of the most controversial “murders” in the film.

– ‘I’M AN ACTRESS!” – A 2009 interview with the Hungarian born Zora Kerova.

–THE BEAUTY KILLER –Stephen Thrower, author of BEYOND TERROR: THE FILMS OF LUCIO FULCI, give a little more background on the director and the film. Between Thrower and Howarth’s comments, I feel I need to revisit Fulci’s films to better appreciate them.

–The Original Theatrical Trailer – bizarre and violent.

–Poster & Still Gallery

-A DVD version of THE NEW YORK RIPPER (should you find yourself wanting to watch on your laptop sans a Blu Ray Player).

 

-One of the biggest extras is the OST CD for THE NEW YORK RIPPER by Francesco De Masi. An eclectic mix, the score has lots of electronic guitar, some jazz horn, a bit of disco funk sound, lots of tambourine (what no cow bell? )- yet the score works well with the film that it accompanied. The limited-edition vinyl soundtrack that was available was going for about $25 in some areas, so this Bonus CD is a great addition to this release.

 

– Finally , A twenty-page booklet with essay by Travis Crawford from Indiewire with more information about the flick.

THE NEW YORK RIPPER admittedly is not for everyone’s tastes. However, for fans of
Lucio Fulci,

Italian horror/slasher films,

New York City set sleaze,

gore,

this BLUE UNDERGROUND belongs within your collection.

-KEVIN G SHINNICK

Also from BLUE UNDERGROUND mentioned in the article

MANIAC (ltd edition Blu Ray) https://www.amazon.com/Maniac-Blu-ray-Joe-Spinell/dp/B07FQ3RPND/

 

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY https://www.amazon.com/House-Cemetery-Special-Catriona-MacColl/dp/B0057O6IMS/

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD https://www.amazon.com/City-Living-Special-Christopher-George/dp/B0036R92US/

BOUND (Olive Signature Blu Ray)

 

BOUND (Olive Signature Blu Ray) 1996, Gramercy, color. 108 min Theatrical & 109 min unrated. 1:85:1 aspect ratio. 1080p Resolution. DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo .1-disc $39.95 Limited edition 3500 pressing only. Region A. August 28,2018 release.

https://olivefilms.com/product/bound-olive-signature-blu-ray/

 

Back in 1996, a new and exciting film noir thriller opened to nearly universal raves. It reminded one of the excitement from 12 years earlier, when BLOOD SIMPLE (1984, Circle Films) won the praise of critics due to its clever plot and style.

 

Like BLOOD SIMPLE, this film was also the work of a dynamic brother writer/ director duo.

BLOOD SIMPLE was our introduction to the dazzling Coen Brothers Joel & Ethan while BOUND was the brainchild of Andrew (now Lilly) and Laurence (now Lana) Wachowski.

While BOUND was a critical darling, it failed to make back it’s $4,500,000 estimated production budget. However, when it was released to video by Republic video, the film was a major seller and was discovered on cable by an even larger audience.

 

The video remained popular, being released by Republic in 2001 on DVD. This release was the uncut version that had trailers, a behind the scene featurette, a commentary with the brothers, Tilly, Gershon, Pantoliano, film editor Zach Staenberg and tech advisor Susie Bright. However, the print was not the best, with a rather flat look that did not do the movie justice.

 

Paramount bought the Republic library and they licensed OLIVE FILMS to release a DVD and Blu Ray of the title in 2012. Unlike the previous releases, the Olive Film version was released in an anamorphic print that showed off the superb cinematography of Bill Pope (who would dazzle people with his work on the MATRIX trilogy for the Wachowskis for Warner Brothers) along with an improved picture along with the choice of viewing either the theatrical or unrated cuts (really, only 14 seconds difference). The extras were dropped in favor of offering the two versions. There were complaints at the time by some tech fans that the Olive Films release was only Dolby Digital 2.0, while oversea versions had an DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track.

 

These people will be disappointed,then, as this release is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. However, I found nothing to complain about with the sound, as it was clear and clean, and a wide range (so much so that I had to turn the sound down during one of the more violent sequences). Indeed, I had no complaints with the audio or indeed anything about this presentation.

 

Both versions of the film are presented in a beautiful 1080p transfer in the film’s original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with optional easy to read white English SDH subtitles.

BOUND tells the story of Corky (a superbly confident performance by Gina Gershon), an “out” lesbian (whom we first see IN a closet!)  an ex-con now doing repair work in a mob owned apartment building. When she meets Violet (Jennifer Tilly, an often-underrated actresses), the girlfriend of mobster Caesar (the always marvelous Joe Pantoliano), they begin a torrid affair. Violet wants out of her 5-year-old relationship with Caesar, who launders money for the mob.

Shelly (Barry Kivel) is caught and tortured for stealing money from the mob, and then killed by Johnnie (Christopher Meloni), son of Mob Boss Gino (Richard C Sarafian). Caesar returns to the apartment with a bag full of bloody bills and will now have to literally launder the money!

Violet hatches a plan to steal the $2 million and leave Caesar to face the wrath of the mob, but of course, like all good noir stories, things spin out of control, with a lot of people being brutalized and murdered.

The film was praised (as well as condemned by conservatives) for its lesbian romance, wherein the characters enjoyed their relationship (indeed sex consultant Susie Bright loved the characters. And had high praise for the main sex scene that was shot in a single take).

This plot point made it difficult for studios to back the film (all wanted it if they changed Corky to a man), but the Wachowskis stuck to their guns, being saved when Dino DeLaurentiis backed the project. The 38-day shoot was carefully planned, even though their original cinematographer quit feeling he could not do the film in the time allotted. Bill Pope stepped in and indeed helped plan some of the films visual look.

The film is a superb example of style serving the story. The colors often reminded me of a Dario Argento film, and often the camera often takes a god like view looking down on the action.

 

The original leads were Linda Hamilton as Violet and Tilly as Corky, but when Hamilton had to step out, Tilly switched roles and Gina Gershon was cast as Corky. Gershon then recommended Joe Pantoliano. The rest of the cast is top notch with Christopher Meloni as the not too bright but violent Johnnie stealing every scene he is in. No easy feat, when you consider marvelous performers as John P. Ryan (as mobster Mickey Malnato) are also in the cast.

As noted earlier, the previous OLIVE FILMS release had no extras. This Limited Edition goes out of its way to correct that.

 

Besides the Hi-Def digital restoration the original Republic audio commentary has been restored. One of my favorite things is hearing how the creatives behind a project feel about their finished work and the enthusiasm runs throughout this commentary.

Ported over from the 2014 Arrow U.K. Blu Ray /DVD release by Red Shirt Pictures in conjunction with Arrow :

• “Here’s Johnny!” – with Christopher Meloni– “My character had poor impulse control” is the first thing Meloni says about his character, which must be a major understatement in this new video interview with the actor and how he gives major credit to Joe Pantoliano for his career and how he infused humor into his character.
•
• “Femme Fatales” – with Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly -new interviews with the two leads on how they got cast and their work process. 

•

• “Modern Noir: The Sights & Sounds of Bound” – with cinematographer Bill Pope, editor Zach Staenberg, and composer Don Davis) the crew speak with great pride of their involvement with the project, and how they became attached to it. . Pope, for example, got hired due to his work on ARMY OF DARKNESS (Universal,1992) and he worked cheap!

New for this release:
• “Part and Parcel” – with titles designer Patti Podesta – a (2017) video interview with the  designer on how she created the noirish titles in the era before CGI took over.

•
• “The Difference Between You and Me” – with B. Ruby Rich (Prof of Film/Digital Media U, C, Santa Cruz) and Jen Moorman (Prof of Film Studies & Gender Studies, Loyola Marymount U., L.A.) discuss BOUND and its importance in Neo -Noir ,as well as an examination of Film Noir.
•

• Theatrical Trailer-the original Gramercy Theatrical trailer which makes it look like a RESERVOIR DOGS (Live,1992) rip-off.

•
• Essay by Guinevere Turner -an interesting 4 page read as to why this film is so important to LGBTQ cinema, and especially for its portrayal of lesbians.

 

 

 

 

This is a MUST HAVE for anyone who loves classic thrillers, well-made cinema done with style and dark humor, superbly acted and directed in an engrossing story.

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!

-Kevin G Shinnick

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BAT PUSSY(Blu ray) AGFA/SOMETHING WEIRD

BAT PUSSY (1970?) (AGFA/SOMETHING WEIRD BLU RAY) Color 50 minutes plus second feature ROBOT LOVE SLAVES (54 Minutes ,1971, color) $21.99 S.R.P http://www.diabolikdvd.com/product/bat-pussy-agfa-blu-ray/

Many years ago, I recall a book on the newsstand called HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PORNOGRAPHIC MOVIE. It was a how to do it yourself instruction book about editing, sound, camerawork- a basic how to make film book, only about x rated filmmaking.

Watching BAT PUSSY, I felt that the nameless creators of this film had the book on hand, but were missing several pages. This may have been the first porn parody of Batman, though it is far from a good one.

Anyone who tells you that Ed Wood was the world’s worst filmmaker needs to apologize after they see this film.

That is not to say the film is without interest. Quite the contrary. You stare but cannot look away. It is perhaps the most unsexy sex film ever made, and certainly one of the weirdest.

 

It is as if two characters from a local production of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF decided to carry on their haranguing from the stage to the bedroom. Only here, they are not George and Martha, but Buddy (who looks like an out of shape Bo Hopkins) and Sam (a freckled redhead with a bouffant that would make the B -52’s envious).

(reading? Nahh,just lookin’ at the pictures! )

 

Buddy is reading SCREW (the issue is from 1970, so that is a possible date for when this film was shot over the course of an afternoon.) as Sam lays upon their bed. Buddy decides that they should try some of the stuff he sees in the paper, and so they go at it. Poorly. Buddy is someone for whom Viagra would come in handy some twenty odd years later. No matter what, his Little Buddy refuses to awaken.

 (The Burton & Taylor of BAT PUSSY )

 

The un-erotic oral and fingering sex session leads to a lot of swearing and insults to and about each other. You wonder for whom was this film meant to appeal? Just when we feel that we are trapped in a cell of Hell forever with these two, we cut to another location (it’s almost a shock that we escape, however briefly.).

 

A nightie clad woman lays in a dingy cellar that a scrawled BAT PUSSY HEADQUARTERS on ruled line paper identifies as -well, Bat Pussy’s headquarters! The bored woman senses sex is happening elsewhere and decides she must get there. Every expense is spared on this one take wonder, and on the table in front of her is a paper cup, a can of soda, and some furniture polish spray left upon the table. That’s as far as they go with set dressing.

 

She gets up and whips off her nightie (getting it caught around her head while trying to pull it up) and finds a makeshift costume, transforming herself into BAT PUSSY!

Quick, to the Hopper Ball!

What?

 

Yep, she climbs aboard one of those big rubber bouncy balls with a handle and bounces her way across the screen, along a highway, into a field by a creek (stopping to pee. All that bouncing you know) and into a park where she stops long enough to sock a guy harassing a woman. Then back to her original sojourn. The two in the park are never identified but must have been just friends of whomever shot this flick. Most of this journey is shot in long shot so we feel and experience how slow it is to bounce to an event rather than running or even walking.

 

Finally, Bat Pussy shows up at Buddy and Sam’s , where she is quickly grabbed, undressed, and becomes part of a most unerotic ménage à trois. Finally, it seems Bat Pussy gets bored (or angry at Buddy getting her name wrong, calling her Bat WOMAN), grabs her clothes and leaves. The end. That’s it.

 

 

Did they run out of film? Did they just get tired of each other’s company? Did they have to get the Hopper Ball back to the kids? Who knows? All you will know is that you have experienced something quite weird. Tommy Wiseau all that this film is missing.

 

It is fitting then that SOMETHING WEIRD is the company that “saved” this film from disappearing. Back in the 1990s, Mike Vraney bought a bunch of 16mm films that were abandoned and rediscovered in a Memphis Tennessee theatre, among them was the film that Mike himself christened “Bat Pussy”. There were no title cards, no way to identify who the performers or “filmmakers” were.

 

“Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent” to quote Ed Wood. That at present is not possible, though the good people at Something Weird certainly tried, along with many others. No one has stepped forward to acknowledge of their involvement in BAT PUSSY.

 

It is thought that this was made for an indie porn theater for local consumption. Seeing how much the distributors made on these films, the local theater owner must have decided that he wanted 100% of the profits.

So, what if the boom mike drops into the shot? No one is coming to see these films for their technical quality. It’s for the trench coat crowd. Look it’s in color and has sound. Yes, the colors were ugly and yes, the sound is dialogue that sounds like Angry trolls possessed by Don Rickles with Tourette’s are talking. It was cheap and ran long enough to live up to the claim it was a feature.

 

It is thought to have been made in Arkansas, due to the accents as well as an Arkansas Razorback tattoo on Buddy’s unattractive posterior. We are told (via the commentary track, more on that later) that this was just a blur in the old prints but thanks (?) to hi-def, we can see this and other little details that once viewed cannot be erased from your mind.

 

 

Back to the restoration (sorry, this film plays tricks with your sense of continuity). The film was from a 16mm print, which may] and almost certainly the only copy still in existence. Like most 16mm films shown constantly, it had wear and tear upon it as well as faded color.

 

Enter American Genre Film Archives (and hopefully not riding in on their own hopper balls). Along with Lisa Petrucci and Tim Lewis of Something Weird, the film was scanned to a 2K  1080p transfer in 1.33:1 ratio. The images are more likely the sharpest that they have been in 40 plus years.

 

That of course is not saying much. No one would confuse the camera work here with that of Geoffrey Unsworth and the “director” is no Kubrick. Set the camera and let it run, and the locked off camera makes me wonder if Buddy, Sam, or Bat Pussy herself were the person who pushed the button and let the camera run, and dashed into the scene, letting the machine run until the film ran out.

AGFA has sharpened the image, but left a lot of the blemishes and scratches to retain its grindhouse feel. The DTS-HD MA English 2.0 mono track does nothing to make the dialogue any clearer and indeed subtitles would have been helpful, though it is interesting to try and understand some of what is mumbled. Does Buddy say he is going to “fuck someone in the nose “?

 

Like most SOMETHING WEIRD releases, this disc has a collection of interesting and eclectic extras:

A theater intro about a minute long warns that the film about to be presented is sexual in nature and if you cannot deal with such things to leave the building. Was that made for legal reasons at the time? Or had someone possibly wandered into the theater thinking this was legitimate Batman tie in feature? I kept waiting for William Castle to warn of Emergo, which would be of a completely different nature in a film like this.

A running audio commentary by is supplied by Something Weird’s Lisa Petrucci and Tim Lewis, Bleeding Skull’s (http://bleedingskull.com) Annie Choi, and AGFA’s Joe Ziemba (also from Bleeding Skull) and Sebastian del Castillo. The team are enthusiastic and laugh along at the nonsense on screen, which would probably be the reaction if you popped it on for other like-minded fans of schlock to view at a party. They also supply as much info as they can on the project, especially on its discovery and rebirth into video and now Blu Ray.

 

THE SHOPLIFTER (Highway Safety Foundation,1964,20 minutes, color) is supposed to be a warning to store workers, but is a how to as well to become a shoplifter!

 

DATING DO’s & DON’T’s (Coronet,1949,13 minutes, color) is one of those sincere but laughably date films that were brought out for high schoolers when teacher needed to rest.

A TRIP TO THE STOREFRONT THEATER (no info ,1970s,2 minutes) has a happy couple go the said theatre and see a guy in a werewolf mask have sex with some bored woman, the couple leaving after viewing this, smiling! Is there a lycanthropic fetish?

CRIME SMUT TRAILERS: a collection of Black & White and color “cumming attractions “from such wonders as THE BLACK ALLEY CATS (1973) and 7 others. A lot of unattractive men ogle and sometimes grind upon some women who probably thought that this was a good career move when they did these flicks.

Speaking of unattractive men pawing prettier young women, we are given another full-length feature, ROBOT LOVE SLAVES (also known as TOO MUCH LOVING, no releasing company info ,1971 ,54 minutes). A soft-core film that at one point had hard core inserts (some of which only remain in its trailer, not on this disc), it is another film where attractive women are once again paired with gangly and just plain ugly guys. I am sure that they looked like the trench coated crowd who went to these films but if these guys were the only choices for the females in real life, the race would quickly go into extinction.

Clark (uncredited) is a geeky, glasses wearing looking nerd (though that could also describe yours truly!) who’s wife (also uncredited) nags her husband for attention (a theme for the two features- Nagging Sex Flicks!).

 

Clark has been busy in the basement creating naked robot female love slaves, beating WESTWORLD (HBO,2016) by a few years. These robots exist for one purpose, pleasure, be it with Clark, his neighbor Harry, Harry’s wife (Candy Samples, who probably is best known as Chief Nellie in FLESH GORDON, Mammoth Films,1974. This may have been one of if not her first film, having begun nude modeling at age 40 sometime in 1968-69), and finally Clark’s wife.

I assume that the filmmakers felt that no one would admit to seeing this film, as they seem to use some famous songs in instrumental versions.I mean,who would admit they went to such a film in the theater ?

The print of this is from a well worn 16 mm copy, with scratches and splices, but it does add to the grind-house feel.

(Something Weird’s DVD-1 )
The final cool extra is a booklet by Mike McCarthy called “I Saved Bat Pussy”.

Having worked in a film storage house, I saw first hand how easily films could be mislabeled and lost ,so I have great  respect for Lisa Petrucci and team continuing the work of Mike Vraney .

 

Lately, SOMETHING WEIRD has been experiencing an odd sort of censorship. Credit card companies for months were refusing to deal with the company, due to S.W. carrying pornographic films! This, from credit card companies that make fortunes due to letting people download porn in hotel rooms, buy in adult stores, etc. It seems that they were targeting an independent company for no good reason, as their argument does survive even a cursory scrutiny.

 

 

By removing one or two titles from their site, Credit Card companies are grateful to once again make money on both purchasers and Something Weird.

 

 

Amazon has decided that the title  BAT PUSSY is too pornographic for their consumers (while carrying kindle porn like “After The Ball Game: Annie Plays With Coaches Bat”-look it up) so it is great that companies like DIABOLIK have stepped up to carry the film.

 

Show your support of these indie companies that support films beyond the mainstream.

 

AGFA & SOMETHING WEIRD have also released (so far )THE ZODIAC KILLER (reviewed by SCARLET https://scarletthefilmmagazine.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/the-zodiac-killer-agfa-something-wierd-blu-ray-released-july-252017-another-son-of-sam-34-95/ https://scarletthefilmmagazine.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/the-zodiac-killer-agfa-something-wierd-blu-ray-released-july-252017-another-son-of-sam-34-95/ ) , and the Ed Wood written THE VIOLENT YEARS (https://www.amazon.com/Violent-Years-Blu-ray-Jean-Moorhead/dp/B073ZWJWQ8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1512571396&sr=1-1&keywords=VIOLENT+YEARS+blu+ray ).

 

AGFA has also released the long-neglected EFFECTS, created by several people, including Tom Savini, who worked with George Romero. (https://www.amazon.com/Effects-Blu-ray-Tom-Savini/dp/B06ZYRPZH8/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1502209114&sr=1-1&keywords=effects+blu+ray )

Keep up the great work, AGFA ( https://www.americangenrefilm.com/ ) and SOMETHING WEIRD (https://www.somethingweird.com/).

 

RIDE THE HIPPITY HOP!
–Kevin G Shinnick

By the way, if you want to read more, there is even a Wikipedia page about the film. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Pussy

DE LIFT/THE LIFT and DOWN(THE SHAFT) Blu Ray/DVD Combo packs from Blue Underground

THE LIFT/DE LIFT 1983(Ltd Ed Blu Ray/DVD combo)Blue Underground $39.98 region 0
Color / 99 min. Dutch /English

https://www.amazon.com/Lift-Limited-Combo-Blu-ray-Stapel/dp/B074BNZP7G/

DOWN -2001 (Ltd Edition Blu Ray /DVD combo ) Blue Underground $39.98 region 0
Color /111 minutes English
https://www.amazon.com/Down-Shaft-Limited-Combo-Blu-ray/dp/B074BNB14B/

Back in 1982, ‘Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring was a music video in constant rotation on the new channel MTV. The catchy tune  referenced the
popular TV.series as a suspected spy is caught and interrogated . Several music video directors went on to make popular fantasy films ,such as David Fincher ,Russell Mulcahy, and Alex Proyas.

Also among them was Dutch director,writer,producer, and musician Dick Maas. Since then he has given us many Dutch thrillers and horror films like AMSTERDAMNED(1988,also available from BLUE UNDERGROUND https://www.amazon.com/Amsterdamned-Limited-Combo-Blu-ray-Stapel/dp/B071GW2L2Z/ ), SINT (SAINT) 2010,up to 2016’s PROII (PREY). His films are marked by their style as well as dark humor that permeates them.

His first film that drew him to international attention was DE LIFT . In a modern apartment building in Amsterdam, strange things are happening ,most of which seem to involve the bank of elevators . The company who are responsible for the maintenance of the three conveyers (or lift of the title ) send Felix Adelaar (Huub Stapel ,later to star in Maas’ AMSTERDAMNED )to check out the systems.

While working, he runs into reporter Mieke de Boer (Willeke van Ammelrooy, star of the art house hit and Oscar winning ANTONIA’s LINE ,1996)who is investigating the strange events.

Among the occurrences are two drunken couples who are trapped in an elevator while the heat increases to dangerous levels , a blind man who falls into an empty shaft (and which the building owners declare is a suicide) ,and the gruesome decapitation of a security guard .

The more the Felix & Mieke investigate, the more strange things become. Is the company RISING SUN,who provides microprocessors for the system ,somehow involved with the strange things?

 

Their detection leads to Adelaar’s wife leaving him and taking the children, thinking that he is having an affair with the journalist. His boss also suspends him. Felix has nothing to lose as he goes to building one final time to find out what is happening and confront the evil within.

DE LIFT seemed to have done well in Europe, but it was not as well received in the United States.

Released to a limited number of theaters in July ,1985 , critics were indifferent to the foreign title ( “Mr. Maas leaves the elevator’s potential fiendishness largely unexploited.”-NY Times,July 4,1985)and 6 year old distributor Island Alive folded shortly after .)

Luckily ,video stores were booming and Media Home Entertainment released it on VHS in 1986 in a dubbed version, and in 1988 through their foreign film division Cinematheque Collection in a Dutch language subtitled print.

Maas continued to create wonderfully off kilter films through his First Floor Features .He creates three popular Dutch comedies and a T.V. series (FLODDER)as well as the marvelous already mentioned AMSTERDAMNED (1988) and even an episode of the THE YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES (‘Transylvania Transmission”).

It seems that for years people kept after Maas to do a sequel or a remake to DE LIFT. Finally in 2000, Maas raised sufficient funds (fifteen million Euros) for a larger version that expands on several of the ideas from the original film, and hires American actors as the leads as well as several marvelous character roles.

While set in New York City , the majority of the film was shot in Holland on some of the biggest sets ever built for a Dutch film .Some street scenes and aerial photography were the bulk of the American footage. The blending is for the most part flawless, and even the Dutch actors blend in convincingly in this English language film.

In DOWN (also known as THE SHAFT ,which makes one expect it to be a film about Richard Roundtree ), the setting is in a modern NYC skyscraper. In the Millennium Building, one of the elevators malfunctions and traps a group of pregnant women ,overheating the air and several of them give birth !

The building managers call in the Meteor company that maintains the elevators, who send Jeff (Eric Thal ,Sam Nevins in Buena Vista’s adaptation of Robert Heinlein’s THE PUPPET MASTERS,1994 ) and his new young assistant Mark Newman (James Marshall ,who is best known for portraying James Hurley in the original and revival of TWIN PEAKS )to check them out. Newman wants to do a more in depth review of the systems ,but his partner feels that will be too much of an inconvenience to the building, and expensive. Mr Milligan (Edward Herrmann, LOST BOYS ,W.B. 1987),the building owner, agrees.

Not long after that , a blind man and his seeing eye dog fall (literally) victim to the killer machines. One of the security guards who finds the corpses hanging in the shaft gets his head caught in the door and decapitated when the elevator descends .

Reporter Jennifer Evans (Naomi Watts, later to star in Peter Jackson’s epic KING KONG ,Universal,2005) starts to investigate, and she interviews Newman ,quoting him in her article as saying “ 9 out of 10 people make it out of an elevator alive.”

Newman is chewed out by his boss ,Mitchell (the always wonderful Ron Perlman, HELLBOY,Columbia,2004). Shortly thereafter, another bizarre death happens ,when a skateboarder is pulled supernaturally into an elevator and within seconds hurled up to the 86th floor, and then flung out violently ,through a glass partition and off to the ground below .

A press conference is held by Milligan and Police Lt McBain (Dan Hedaya,THE USUAL SUSPECTS, MGM,1996). The official statement is that the skateboarder committed suicide, and that it had nothing to with the previous accidents .

Evans does not believe it ,and she visits Newman’s home .She has gotten several surveillance tapes, and it shows the skater’s death. Most mysterious, the elevator trip, which should take at least 40 seconds, is accomplished in less than two!

Jeff refuses to believe them ,and so they go to Evan’s newspaper office . Their research keeps bringing up the name of a researcher named Gunther Steinberg (Michael Ironside, forever typecast as a villain thanks to his brilliant work in SCANNERS,Avco Embassy ,1981). Gunther ,who had worked with the army on mixing dolphin brain mass with electronic circuits ,was hired by the elevator company to develop microchips .

The next morning Milligan is horrified when he has the body of Jeff drop through the ceiling of the elevator he was occupying. Jeff had probably been checking the elevators but Milligan and company use his death as a means of scapegoating. At the conference, they call Jeff deranged and say that he had been responsible for all the events, and probably died trying to set up another incident.

The story is believed and the building conducts business as usual. That is ,however, until one elevator speeds upward, the bottom dropping out and passengers, including a small child, fly helplessly downward to their doom . Those who hang on are not safe, as the container hurls at extreme speed through the roof ,stopping with a crushing Impact.

The President of The United States holds a White House press conference ,where he announces he feels that the events are due to terrorists and a terrorist team is sent to protect and prevent any further incidents.

Evans and Mitchell continue to investigate the bizarre history of the building, and the experiments of Steinberg .

Since the Army let him go, it seems that he has continued,only now their may be human DNA ,and the chips have become sentient, and evil.

Can they get in the building, pass the militia and Steinberg to stop the evil ? The film ends like a supernatural DIE HARD (Fox,1988)

DOWN was given a token release by Buena Vista International on May 20,2001. It seems to have come and gone quickly ,and the home video rights were acquired by Artisan . It seemed to have also made little impact on the dwindling video store market ,and with fandom .

Now BLUE UNDERGROUND has done stellar work on finding the best material possible on these two films, and put them on Blu Ray.

THE LIFT is a 1080p HD resolution print 2 K restoration from the original negative , presented in 1:66:1 wide-screen.The film is available in it’s original Dutch Language (5.1 DTS-HD or 2.0 DTS-HD) or English (2.0 DTS-HD). The sound is very clean and clear, with sound effects and original music jumping out at certain points.

Dick Maas also composed the score , and it is one of those now dated sounding synth scores as well as electronic whooshes and sounds .

The English track uses terms like “lift” (a direct translation of the title)rather the more common American usage.

The subtitles seem to be based upon a direct translation of the Dutch dialogue ,as it does not always match the English language dialogue. They are clear and easy to read. There are also English SDH and Spanish subtitles as well.

Other extras are :

-A running commentary by director Dick Maas and editor Hans van Dongen who talk about the difficulties of making this film on a 350,000 Euros budget.

-”Going Up” an interview with star Huub Stapel

-”Long Distance”-a short 4 minute short that has the feel of a Twilight Zone episode ,wherein a father who has had a car accident, calls his home and speaks to his daughter . Beautifully filmed and acted.

-Trailers from the U.S. and Holland

-A poster and still gallery .

-a nice newly written essay booklet by by writer /filmmaker Chris Alexander . He nicely covers the film ,plus discusses the more relaxed mores of European filmmakers about sex and nudity as well as comparisons to Stephen King works about machines gone wrong. He prefers the original film to the 2001 remake.

For DOWN , the film is also a brand new 2K restoration from the original negative, 1080p HD Resolution , presented in a 2.35.1 wide-screen all region print .

The audio is available in the original English as well as French in both 5.1 DTS-HD or Dolby Digital Stereo .

The sound is more mixed for multi speaker presentation (due no doubt to it’s larger budget ),with sounds being very crisp and clean.

The Yellow Subtitles are easy to read, though whomever wrote them , they need to learn the difference between “Your “ and “You’re” .

Spanish subtitles are also available.

Other extras include :

A running audio commentary with Maas and stunt coordinator Willem de Beukelaer . Maas at times seems to have forgotten how certain scenes were done ,but is reminded by de Beukelaer (an example is the opening shot that moves from C.G.I.  and model shots to the live action.On the extras ,we see how the shot was accomplished.More on that later.). It is fascinating to hear the two say how they have worked together since AMSTERDAMMED ,and the difficulties of doing a film like this. The recreations of New York interiors is perfect ,and it seems the diner was actual functional (too bad they didn’t move it to an actual building.I am sure it would have been a hit with tourists to have an American diner in Amsterdam!).

The same director of photography (Marc Felperlaan )worked on both films ,and they recreate some shots ,while using a little C.G.I. to blend between the real actors and effects(such as the beheading in the elevator).

The director seemed to have had disagreement with Marshall on the exact tone of the film, but it does not come across in the finished production.

Director Maas mentions that the film opened the weekend before 9/11, but he is referring to the European opening. It seems it opened well, but after the events, the film did no business.

It is easy to see why. A New York Skyscraper ,people falling to their death, the President referring to terrorists (dialogue was actually copied from President Bill Clinton referencing the Feb 26,1993 bomb attack on the Twin Towers). It is quite creepy ,and not in the way the film intended. Needless the film ended up being a financial failure.

The use of Aerosmith’s “Love In An Elevator” was a big expense but is a nice button to the film.

Other extras are

–The Making of Down : a behind the scene look at the making of the film, including the construction of the huge sets, and the mix of CGI and live action,as well as the various stunts.

–The Blu Ray exclusive is a more detailed behind the scenes documentary.

-There is also the American teaser and theatrical trailers.

-A poster and still Gallery

– A Collectible booklet with a new essay by Michael Gingold.

 

Both films have much to recommend them . The original has a nice gritty quality to it , though oddly, I lean more to the slicker American remake. It is probably because of the expanded story-line plus the dark humor comes more to the fore . The remake does seem to fluctuate as to whether there is a supernatural element or is it a sci fi A.I. story (or both) , but it doesn’t take away from the film.

Maas handles possessed machinery better than Stephen King film adaptations like MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986,D.E.P.). It also predated supernatural skyscraper films like the little seen  DARK TOWER (Sandy Howard, 1987 ;directed by Freddie Francis (as Ken Barnett), Ken Wiederhorn  (as Ken Barnett)(!!) starring Jenny Agutter and Michael Moriarty) and elevator terror films like DEVIL (Universal,2010) or ELEVATOR ( Inception ,2011) .

 

I would definitely recommend both films ,especially if you wish to see an example where a foreign director remakes his film in English and doesn’t mess it up (a la THE VANISHING (Argos Films,1988  and  Fox,1993).

Both Recommended.
.
-Kevin G Shinnick

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The Jester’s Supper (DVD)

SCARLET THE FILM MAGAZINE DVD REVIEW
THE JESTER’S SUPPER (La Cena delle Beffe) 1942 Italy 82 minutes B&W –Historical Drama – $19.95 from CAV Distributing Corp / One 7 Movies. Region 0 DVD available through http://www.oldies.com/product-view/83234O.html as well as Amazon and others.

 

 
Thanks to Turner Classics, I have been on a foreign film binge of late so the arrival of this DVD could not have been better timed.

 

 

 
The film THE JESTER’S SUPPER (la Cena delle Beffe) was an extremely popular costume drama produced during WWII. For those who think Italian Cinema began with the neo- realists after the war, this film will come as something of a revelation. With the output from Hollywood cut off, the Italian populace truly embraced their home grown productions. The Fascist government, under son, Vittorio, realized the power of film, sponsor movies (even constructing Cinecittà studios) but their films were mostly of a propaganda nature. However, they also produced comedies and historical dramas that rivaled American productions with their artistry and skills.

 
THE JESTER’S SUPPER is based upon a popular play by the Italian writer Sem Benelli, which was first staged in Italy in 1909. In 1919 the play was put on in New York City . The play was the basis for an opera La cena delle beffe composed by Umberto Giordano with a libretto written by Benelli himself. It premiered at La Scala Opera House in 1924.

 

 

 

The film was shot at Cinecitta using leftover sets from a previous big budget epic from 1941 La corona di ferro (The Iron Crown). Set in Renaissance era, two aristocratic brothers, Neri (Amadeo Nazzari) & Gabriello (Alfredo Varelli ) Chiaramantesi, have been abusing the people of Florence with impunity due to their power and station. Things begin to change when Neri dares to ravage Ginevera (Clara Calamai) in front of her lover Giannetto Malespini (Giannetto Malespini) then toss him into the river. He survives, and what happens next is a tale of revenge best served Italian style.

 

 
Amadeo Nazzari, usually a hero, was cast against type and played the lecherous villain here. He usually sported a mustache and I could see why .Even clean shaven, here he resembles Errol Flynn. Amazingly, he turned down Mussolini’s request to join the Fascist Party and yet continued to have a successful career during the War years. He played a movie star (!) in Fellini’s classic Le notti di Cabiria/ NIGHTS OF CABRIA (1957).

 
Valentina Cortese, then 19, appearing as Lisabetta, is perhaps best remembered (she is still alive at this writing, age 94!) for her Oscar nominated turn in Truffaut’s La Nuit américaine /DAY FOR NIGHT (1973).

 

THE JESTER’s SUPPER boasts one of Italian Cinema’s first topless nudity scenes, when actress Clara Calamai has her top torn from her by the lustful Neri. In interviews, Calamai had not wanted to do the scene, but felt compelled to by the director. That quick flash of nudity is a reason that people went to see the film again and again. Though often cited as the first bit of nudity in an Italian sound film, Vittoria Carpi showed a bare breast for a moment in THE IRON CROWN/La corona di ferro  (1941)   which was also directed by Blasetti. Horror fans may recall Calamai from Dario Argento’s Profondo rosso /DEEP RED (1975) coming out of retirement to portray the eccentric matriarch, Marta.

A kissing scene and the topless scene both appear in the final montage of CINEMA PARADISO (1988).( http://www.filmsite.org/cinemaparadisokisses.html )
Some of the performers did not live long after WWII. Due to their Fascists leanings, both Osvaldo Valenti and his pregnant mistress Luisa Ferida, who appeared in several movies together, were executed without trail on the streets by partisans.

Director Alessandro Blasetti was called the father of Italian Cinema because he led to the revival of Italian Cinema in the 1930s and becoming one of the leading figures during the Fascist era. He is also known as one of the first directors of what became Italian neorealism with his 1942 film Quattro passi Fra le nuvole /FOUR STEPS IN THE CLOUDS. Amazingly, even though he seemed to have strong ties with the Fascists government, it does not seem to have affected his career, as he is listed as having made films after the War from 1946 to 1969.

 

 
The print used by ONE7 MOVIES is incredibly sharp, with just a little digital artifacting appearing on certain shots. The subtitles (which have an on/off option) are quite easy to read .The sound is clear and the score by Giuseppe Becce sounds rich even in its original mono sound. The only extra is a brief photo gallery that appears to be frame blow ups.

 

 

 
Raccomandato (recommended!).
-Kevin G Shinnick

(originally published on SCARLET THE FILM MAGAZINE REVIEWS FACEBOOK PAGE,May 18, 2015. Updated May 7,2017)

WAX MASK (blu ray)

THE WAX MASK(aka M.D.C. – Maschera di cera ,Italian 1997) (Blu Ray) release date Jan 31st,,2017 by One 7 Movies .$29.95 .color 94 minutes.      https://www.amazon.com/Wax-Mask-Blu-ray-Robert-Hossein/dp/B01N40CACQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1485396004&sr=1-1&keywords=wax+mask

THE WAX MASK is a wonderful throwback to the Italian Gothic Horrors of the 1960s, mixed in with considerably more graphic gore and nudity as was more permissible in 1997 when this film was made.

                       DARIO ARGENTO

Dario Argento, the reigning king of Euro Horror ,had tried for a year to raise funds to produce a film to be directed by Lucio Fulci. Fulci , who had his own niche in gory Italian horror (ZOMBI 2, aka ZOMBIE ,1979) ,had fallen out favor ,due to lending his name to projects that he was not involved with ,as well as Fulci being ill at various times from the early 1980s .

 

At first, they had thought of an update of THE MUMMY (Universal,1932) before deciding on a semi remake of HOUSE OF WAX(WB,1953, itself a remake of the 1933 WB classic MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM) .Fulci wrote a screenplay ,but more delays occurred due to Argento’s THE STENDAHL SYNDROME (1996.)

 Mystery Of The Wax Museum (WB ,1933)
Fulci passed away March 13,1996 from diabetes . Argento had the script reworked by Daniele Stroppa (who had worked on the screenplays for two of Fulci’s later films ,HOUSE OF CLOCKS(1989) and VOICE FROM BEYOND (1991) .How much the scripts  vary is unknown by this reviewer .
However ,to quote an interview with Massimo F Lavagnini (printed in DRACULINA # 24)
Fulci said:

 

…. I think we start shooting in September. About the story, I can say it isn’t a carbon copy of the original HOUSE OF WAX, which obviously inspired us. Our story is settled in 1915 in Torino. The protagonist is a frustrated artist who kills and becomes a monster, because of the faults of society. …………..We have seven or eight ultra-violent scenes . *

 

 

 

Sergio Stivaletti, who had handled effects for Argento on PHENOMENA(1985,aka Creepers) ,OPERA(1987) and THE STENDAHL SYNDROME, as well as DEMONS(1985) and CEMETERY MAN (1994),stepped into the director’s chair . Having directed second unit for Argento, Bava, and Soavi, he had picked up a few pointers on how to director horror with style. Supposedly, Stivaletti, who had been preparing the films effects, had only two weeks’ prep time. If so, it makes the film even more impressive.

The film opens December 31,1900 in Paris (why does every room in Paris seem to look out upon the Eiffel Tower in movies?). However, the new year brings the discovery of a gruesome double homicide, and the police find that the only witness is a frightened 12 year old girl.

 

The film then jumps 12 years ahead to Rome. At a brothel, Luca (Daniele Auber, who also works in effects, later winning an Emmy in 2002 for Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Prosthetic)) bets others there that he can spend the night in a newly opened Wax Museum which recreates some of history’s most notorious killings. The idea of spending the night in a spooky place seems to be lifted from CASTLE OF BLOOD(DANZA MACABRA,1964),showing that the filmmakers know their classic horror films. Sadly, it does not end well for Luca,who supposedly dies frightened to death.

Museum owner Boris Volkoff (the name a nod to Boris Karloff?)(portrayed by French actor Robert Hossein (THE BURGLARS/Le Casse,Columbia 1971)plans a series of new exhibits to exploit the press that the unfortunate death brings to the museum .

Volkoff, however, has a dark secret -he and his assistant Alex (Umberto Balli,who seems to have only done one other film)are creating their lifelike figures by capturing people and then injecting them to keep them alive and immobile under the wax!

Volkoff hires Sonia (Romina Mondello, later in Harry Alan Towers’ DEATH, DECEIT, & DESTINY ABOARD THE ORIENT EXPRESS (2001)) to create costumes for the figures. Sonia however, happens to be young girl from the film’s opening, and the violent tableaux’s bring buried memories of her parents murder back. Luckily , Inspector Lavin (Aldo Massasso,later in Argento’s PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1998) and SLEEPLESS( Non ho sonno ,2001))who had investigated the murders of Sonia’s parents is in Rome . With the help of Andrea( Riccardo Serventi Longhi,who appeared in the t.v. film CAVE OF THE GOLDEN ROSE 4 aka Fantaghio 4,1994,for Lamberto Bava) they start to see if they can uncover the mystery of the wax museum .

The ending is wildly delirious, and lurches into TERMINATOR (Hemdale,1984) territory. Up to then ,however, it is a gory tribute to older horror films with some marvelous effects (though the early CGI, in particular, the fire effects ,were not effective even when the film first came out).

 

Reviews were for the most part positive  like this one :

(Variety April 20, 1997 )
Gothic horror is alive and kicking in “Wax Mask,” a luridly entertaining return to the style of Britain’s Hammer productions of the ’60s)

 

and the film appears to have done decent business throughout most of the world, but only garnering a token home video release via Image Entertainment a few years later.
The French-Italian co-production looks stunning. From costumes to set designs, the film looks so much more expensive than it’s reported $1.25 million budget (though some estimates put it as high as $3 million). Adding to the sweep and grandeur is the magnificent orchestral score( with choir ) by Maurizio Abeni (who would also compose for Stivaletti’s THE THREE FACES OF TERROR (I tre volti del terrore,2004 ) . The English dubbing is good ,though some of the dialogue is a bit clunky.

 

The original VHS/DVD releases back in 2000 had very muddy colors and a dark print ,and though Dolby mixed the sound was very flat .

Now One 7 Movies (whose DVD release of JESTER’S SUPPER we reviewed back in 2015 https://www.facebook.com/SCARLETreviews/posts/1584658468439774 ) have released WAX MASK in a glorious 1080p version in 1.85.1 (original aspect ratio) blu ray .The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound really lets the score fill your room ,and the sound effects are quite effective. Most impressive are the truly vibrant and rich colors and the clean almost three dimensional photography by Sergio Salvati (who shot many of Fulci’s as well as many Empire films produced by Charles Band). I cannot say how marvelous the transfer is and it puts many a major studios release to shame.
Extras on the disc include
–Backstage Scenes– some raw video behind the scene footage shot during the making of the film . It is a fun look at the cast and crew working and relaxing during the production. In Italian.

–Special Effects Scenes– the effects team working on the practical on set effects used throughout the film .At one point they get a package from Tom Savini ,and look through his makeup book GRAND ILLUSIONS(Imagine,1983).Producer Argento watches fascinated as they test a mechanical robot arm . In Italian .

If you are a fan of Italian Horror, this is a must get disc for you. Many fans may have head of the film but up to now may never have seen it. Now is your chance to scoop this film up.
Recommended!

-Kevin G Shinnick

*- DRACULINA issue 24 appears to be sold out but you can always see if some valuable issues turn up by visiting http://www.draculina.com/draculina2.html