What a golden batch of Blu-rays this month, from remastered Mario Bava, a Bette Davis classic, rare “Giallos,” an offbeat John Huston film, to a blood-drinking fetus in the French cult fave Baby Blood.
Hercules In The Haunted World (Kino) A haunting 1961 fantasy film from director Mario Bava starring musclebound Reg Park as Hercules who has to descend into the underworld with his beefy blonde buddy Theseus (George Ardisson) to retrieve a magic stone that will bring Hercules’ love Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) out of a haunted state. Christopher Lee is the dastardly Lico, a vampiric villain who has usurped the throne and is counting on his evil forces to defeat our beefy hero. Bava’s wildly imaginative use of lighting (blue, green, red) and rolling fog on a series of fantastic sets help create a surreal alternate universe on a shoestring. The horror elements include the veiled undead rising and flying from their crypts at the end- it’s just amazing. This two disc set is a 2k transfer from the negative and includes the American version but, importantly, the Italian version- which has a completely different (and better) beginning. I saw this film in a theater at 11 and was spellbound.
The Devil Rides Out (Shout! Factory) Superior 1968 British chiller about a devil cult, based on the book by Dennis Wheatley and expertly directed by Terence Fisher. Christopher Lee, in a change of pace, plays a decent man tracking down his friend’s son who has fallen in with a sect of Satanists. They rescue the young man but the cult leader (an ominous Charles Gray) comes after them. There’s a loony sequence at the end where a group seal themselves within a protecting circle while giant spiders and other demonic creatures appear. The screenplay by Richard Matheson is smart and quite suspenseful.
Baby Blood (Kino) Legendary 1990 French pre-natal horror film starring Emmanuelle Escourrou as Yanka, a former lion tamer’s assistant at a seedy circus who gets impregnated by a demonic creature and is given orders from the growing fetus to kill. The unborn baby needs blood in order to be born, and Yanka flees to Paris and takes a series of odd jobs- from bus girl to taxi driver- in order to feed her unborn monster. A pretty outrageous and mordantly funny gore/shocker- when you watch the movie look for the movie poster for Baby Blood 2. Directed by Alain Robak, who provides the unborn baby’s raspy, demanding voice.
Haxan (Criterion) Also knows as Witchcraft Through The Ages, this astonishing-looking Danish film directed by Benjamin Christensen was released as a silent movie in 1922 and then re-released in 1968, re-edited and with a voice-over by William Burroughs. The visuals are incredibly and this is a brand-new digital restoration from Criterion. If you’ve never seen this surreal classic you’re in for a real nightmarish treat.
Toys Are Not For Children (Arrow) A real sick puppy of a film about an emotionally crippled child/woman named Jamie (Marcia Forbes) whose marriage is doomed because of her unhealthy “Daddy” issues- she would rather play with toys than be a real wife to anyone. The plot only careens in a more twisted trajectory with Jamie becoming a New York prostitute catering to perverts who like to play “Daddy” in the sack. Directed by Stanley H. Brassloff, who helmed another exploitation lulu- Two Girls For A Madman. I used to have a friend who owned a 16mm print of this and we would watch it often in horrified amazement.
And Soon The Darkness (Kino) Two young British medical students- Jane (Pamela Franklin) and Cathy (Michelle Dotrice)- set out on a leisurely bike tour of France. On a lonely section of road, the two friends argue and briefly separate. Cathy goes missing and while Jane investigates her friend’s disappearance her encounters with police, sinister villagers and a mysterious stranger on a moped leave her not knowing who to trust. A sleek, well-crafted thriller directed by Robert Fuest that really captures the “stranger in a strange land” sense of isolation, paranoia and fear.
Killer Nun (Arrow) Anita Ekberg plays Sister Gertrude, a sadistic, morphine-addicted nun who prostitutes herself to support her habit. Murder, lesbianism and Joe Dallesandro as a psychiatrist (!), fill out this 1979 Italian oddity directed by Giulio Berutti. This is a 2K restoration from the original 35mm negative and includes the Italian soundtrack which has to be an improvement over the awful dubbed English track. This also includes a new video essay on Nunsploitation “Beyond Convent Walls” by critic Kat Ellinger.
Parasite 3-D (Kino) This 1982 3D sci-fi film directed by Charles Band was an early acting vehicle for Demi Moore. It was set in an apocalyptic future where the government unwittingly unleashes a mutant parasite on the world. Robert Glaudini plays a doctor on the run trying desperately to study the creature in order to destroy it. He has a critter growing in his stomach. Demi plays a pretty lemon grower who sides with him to combat the threat. The creature looks like a gnarly fish-like worm with teeth. The wonderful Vivian Blaine (Guys And Dolls) runs a rooming house. It’s exciting that this Blu-ray includes the 3-D version (if you have the TV and Blu-ray player to go with it.) This should be an improvement over the shitty red & green cardboard glasses I used to see this movie on Times Square when it opened (which gave me a headache).
The Letter (Warner Archive) Bette Davis is extraordinary as Leslie, the wife of a Malayan rubber plantation owner (Herbert Marshall), who, one night, shoots a man multiple times in front of her home claiming he sexually attacked her. The truth is far from that, and a letter exists that threatens to expose Leslie as a liar. It is offered at a price by the hands of the dead man’s vengeful Eurasian widow (an unforgettable Gale Sondergaard). Expertly directed by William Wyler, this one of those great Davis performances- she’s like a calculating, coiled cobra on screen. The opening sequence- slowly tracking across the sleepy rubber plantation on a moonlit night until the camera arrives on a house where a man stumbles out of the door and Davis coolly, and repeatedly, fires her gun at him- is just incredible.
Phobia (Kino) John Huston directed this peculiar 1980 thriller thanks to Canada’s tax-shelter status at the time. It stars Paul Michael Glaser as a psychiatrist with a rather confrontational choice of therapy to cure his patients of their phobias. But suddenly a series of mysterious deaths suggest someone is out to kill him. Huston’s later films like Wise Blood, Fat City, Prizzi’s Honor and The Dead show a director in peak form. This film is not in that league but it’s damned odd and has had such a spotty release history it’s wonderful to see it on Blu-ray looking so good and including interviews with some of the cast. There’s a great anecdote where an actress who was miffed she had to do a nude scene went up to Huston and asked: “Would Katharine Hepburn do a nude scene?” to which he slyly replied, “She would for me.”
The Blob (Shout! Factory) A surprisingly terrific 1988 remake of the Steve McQueen-starring sci-fi classic. Directed with great style by Chuck Russell with a mullet-haired Kevin Dillon as the town bad boy (on a motorcycle) who unsuccessfully tries to warn people about a creeping gelatinous growing mass from outer space that has escaped into the sewer system, rising up from drains to devour and liquefy its victims. Furiously-paced with grotesquely good special effects this Collector’s Edition comes with new audio commentary by the director and a ton of extras.
The Bloody Brood (Kino) “Your shocked eyes will see it…your stunned mind won’t believe it…Never before has vice and violence struck with such frightening force!’ screams the ads for this 1959 film with a young Peter Falk as a beatnik/philosopher named Nico who decides to kill people for kicks. “Death- the last great challenge to the creative mind,” he states to his hipster friends. He even feeds a messenger boy a hamburger with ground glass in it. This Canadian production was directed by Julian Hoffman, who did the 1961 3-D cult classic The Mask. (“Put the Mask on now!”)
Ringu (Arrow) The influential 1998 Japanese horror film directed by Hideo Nakata, concerning a killer video tape and the curse of it that spreads to all who view it. The movie spawned countless sequels, remakes in South Korea and America and I must admit after I saw it I had nightmares of small Asian girls with long black hair climbing out of my damn TV. This is a 4K restoration and comes with copious commentaries on the film’s influence and the director.
Watch Me When I Kill (Synapse) Stylish 1977 Italian “giallo” by director Antonio Bido (Bloodstained Shadow) that heavily borrows from Dario Argento but is still not without its dark charms. The plot is about a nightclub dancer (Paola Tesdesco) who witnesses a murder and becomes a target of a shadowy black-gloved killer. Some of the murders are creatively deranged. This is a 4k transfer from the original negative and comes with the English or Italian soundtrack and expert audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson.
American Horror Story: Apocalypse (20th Century Fox) (DVD only) Truly one of the better seasons of Ryan Murphy & Brad Falchuk’s inspired horror series, which combines end-of-the-world fears with a malevolent anti-Christ (Cody Fern), and superbly weaving in elements of past seasons- including the Murder House, the diabolical Cortez Hotel and the fabulous witches of New Orleans. Familiar cast members Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Kathy Bates play multiple roles and a roster of wonderful actors like Billy Porter, Cheyenne Jackson, Adina Porter, Frances Conroy, Lily Rabe, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd and a hilariously arch Joan Collins rock the small screen. Even the sublime Jessica Lange returns to conclude her story-line in the Murder House as “mother” of the diabolical Michael Langdon.
Killer Crocodile (Severin) Enjoyably trashy Italian exploitation flick by director Fabrizio De Angelis about a group of environmentalists investigating industrial pollution who come against a mutated giant crocodile. Starring Richard Crenna’s son- Richard Anthony Crenna– as one of the ecologists and a weary looking Van Johnson as a corrupt judge. This is another of the zillion Jaws-rip-offs that Italy turned out, but not without its goofy, crackpot charm. Scanned in 2K from the negative there are hilarious extras with cast and crew recalling the fast-and-furious shoot in Santo Domingo.