This month of Blu-ray releases feel like a great big pile of deliriously deranged birthday party gifts. From Luchino Visconti’s wildly controversial The Damned; a pristine version of an early film by Francis Ford Coppola– Dementia 13; a fabulous box set of films by the great Melvin van Peebles; a seminal Japanese horror movie; several great Vincent Price films; another beautiful-looking Nick & Nora Charles mystery; an incredible 10 disc set of great soul performances from The Midnight Special. The fabulously trashy Walk on the Wild Side; transgressive cinema of Eloy de la Iglesia and a box set including one of the most gloriously stupid sci-fi movies of all time- The Giant Claw– now on Blu-ray. It doesn’t get better than this.
The Damned (Criterion) Controversial 1969 film by Luchino Visconti about an industrialist family doing business with the Nazi party in pre-War Germany. Helmet Burger plays the amoral heir to the throne of this decadent family. The cast is extraordinary- Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Charlotte Rampling, etc. And the evil machinations of the family members for power feels Shakespearean (or like a Wagner opera). Helmet Berger is amazing as the reptilian Martin von Essenback- his scene performing in Marlene Dietrich drag before his horrified family is sensational. And the wild homosexual orgy and the violent aftermath is unforgettable. Critically lambasted at the time I think it’s a great film by a true master of cinema. This is a 2K restoration and even comes with an alternate Italian-language soundtrack, archival interviews with the cast, and a short documentary about Visconti.
Dementia 13 (Vestron) Finally! After suffering for years with blurry, awful versions of this early horror film by Francis Ford Coppola (because it was a Public Domain title), this is finally from a pristine source and looks astonishing. This film is set in an Irish castle with a family cursed by the drowning death of daughter. The lady of the house is filled with superstition and dread and a greedy relative (the sublime Luana Anders) uses that to take advantage of the situation. That is until a series of axe murders derail everything. With William Campbell as a disturbed sculptor and wonderfully weird Patrick McGee as the family doctor. Visually it’s a real treat. Coppola (on a minuscule budget) did wonders with the film cinematically and the suspense sequences are scarily effective. This version is the director’s cut (director Jack Hill was brought in by producer Roger Corman to shoot more axe murders so those scenes with the hunter are included as an extra on the disc). I saw this on a double-bill with The Terror starring Boris Karloff and was so struck with Dementia 13 I went to see it 4 more times that week. This Blu-ray included the D-13 test- where a filmed “doctor” asks the audience questions to rule out those who are too insane to see the feature. It’s hilarious.
Alone in the Dark (Scream! Factory) There’s great wit and dark-humor in this 1982 thriller from director Jack Shoulder (The Hidden). 4 lunatics escape from an asylum for the criminally insane during a power blackout. Later some show up at the home of the new asylum psychiatrist’s house and terrorize his family. Some great loony performances from Martin Landau and Jack Palance as the escaped psychos, and a wonderfully hammy Donald Pleasence, sending-up his Halloween role. Special effects were by gore-master Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead). A 2K restoration of the film with scores of extras, like an interview with actress Carol Levy and the band The Sic F*cks, plus audio commentary by the director and another track with film historian Amanda Reyes.
Walk on the Wild Side (Sony Pictures) From the great opening credits by Saul Bass with a cat creeping down alleys to the Brook Benton-sung lead theme song you know you’re in for a twisted treat. Directed by Edward Dmytryk and loosely, and I mean loosely, based on a book by Nelson Algren, Laurence Harvey plays Texas hick Dove Linkhorn, hitching to Louisiana to find his lost love Hallie (Capucine). Unfortunately, Hallie works at a high-class bordello under the steely reign of Madam Jo (Barbara Stanwyck), a ruthless lesbian in love with her. Jane Fonda is delicious as the freewheeling vagrant Kitty Twist, who meets Dove on the road, and Anne Baxter is eye-rolling as the Italian owner of a diner on the road to New Orleans. It’s a melodramatic beef stew, overheated to be sure, but immensely enjoyable.
Bluebeard (Kino) Wry, dark comedy by Claude Chabrol about serial killer Landru (aka Bluebeard) (Charles Denner), married with 4 children and managing an antique business, but actually romancing and killing women he meets through lonely hearts advertisements in the newspaper. This is all set during World War I and Landru courts, woos and fleeces the females of their cash and then brings them to his country home where he disposes of them in his oven. The American neighbors are forever complaining about the ungodly smell coming from next door. An incredible array of great French actresses from Danielle Darriuex, Michele Morgan, Hildegarde Knef and a young, beautiful Stephane Audran, who director Chabrol soon married. The trial of Landru, which was a sensation at the time, is portrayed with plenty of droll wit.
Evil Dead Trap (Unearthed Classics) Genuinely creepy 1988 Japanese chiller about a female talk show host (Miyuki Ono) who receives what appears to be a snuff tape in the mail. She and her intrepid crew head out to find where it was shot and end up at an abandoned military base where a killer brutally stalks them. Director Toshiharu Ikeda’s film borrows heavily from Dario Argento and David Cronenberg, but it’s gory, unsettling and the end is really bizarre. The great-looking Blu-ray has commentary with the director; behind-the-scenes stills and an extra: Trappings of the Dead: Reflecting on a Japanese Cult Classic.
Shadow of the Thin Man (Warner Archive) The fourth in the popular Thin Man series starring William Powell as famed bon vivant detective Nick Charles and Myrna Loy as his wisecracking wife Nora. This has one of my favorite beginnings with Nick and young son and dog Asta in the park and in a penthouse Nora starts to shake a martini pitcher and instantly Nick has to leave the park and come home. It’s as if he can smell a drink on the wind. The killing of a jockey at the races is tied in to a gambling syndicate. Pretty Donna Reed plays a secretary of a racketeer, who feeds information to her boyfriend reporter- Paul (Barry Nelson). Nick is reluctantly brought in to help solve the mystery when Paul is implicated in a murder. It’s great that Warner Archive has been restoring these enjoyable mysteries on Blu-ray- they look spectacular. Included on this disc is an amazing short- The Tell-Tale Heart, a moody version of the Edgar Allan Poe story directed by Jules Dassin (Rififi).
The Frenchman’s Garden (Mondo Macabro) Spanish horror legend Paul Naschy (aka Jacinto Molina) wrote, directed and starred in this grisly tale based on a real serial killer in the late 1800s that’s basis for the phrase “leading someone down the garden path.” Naschy stars as Juan (“the Frenchman”), running a seedy pub that allows gambling and prostitution on the premises. He has a loving wife at home and many women on the side, including his two gorgeous housekeepers. When a woman shows up at his doorstep pregnant (from a trip he made out of town), he pretends she is his niece and plots how to get her an abortion. Meanwhile he lures men to their doom, smashing them over the head, robbing them and burying them in his “garden.” Naschy was more known for his werewolf movies but this rarity, impossible to see for years, plays out like a horror docudrama and was filmed practically where the actual crime happened. This terrific film is a 4k transfer from the negative and comes with interviews from the late Paul Naschy and great audio commentary by Troy Howarth, Rod Barnell and Troy Quinn.
Silip: Daughters of Eve (Mondo Macabro) Set in a primitive seaside village in the Philippines everything there is guided by lust or religious mania. Simon, the village stud rides astride a water buffalo and sleeps with all the wives. Virginal Tonya is the sexy schoolteacher who warns the kids about sin but secretly lusts for Simon. Who shows up but a slutty girl from the village named Selda (with her hot American boyfriend), who still has the hots for Simon.This is not going to end well. An outlandish 1985 sleaze-fest with a jaw-dropping finale. Included are interviews with the two lead actresses on their careers and this deranged film.
The Soul of the Midnight Special (Time Life) (DVD) Produced by Burt Sugarman, The Midnight Special was a late-night musical variety show on NBC from 1973 to 1981. And this incredible box set is 10 discs containing the best of their soul performers. What’s great is that these are live performances, not lip-synched fakes. You get an electrifying Al Green singing Tired of Being Alone, not to mention on another disc a sweaty, transcendent version of Let’s Stay Together There’s an exuberant Diana Ross singing Love Hangover, a wonderful duet with Ray Charles and Aretha Franklyn, a sexy, stylish Teddy Pendergrass, great choreographed moves by such harmonious groups as The Spinners, The Stylistics, The Whispers and The Manhattans. When we get into the disco era with the spangled outfits and high octane numbers by such favorites as Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer you can almost taste the bad coke. There’s the Pointer Sisters, Barry White, The Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, Isaac Hayes– and a special disc devoted to the legendary, impossibly beautiful Marvin Gaye at the Atlanta Stadium in 1974 where he shifts from a raucous version of Trouble Man to the brilliant and soulful Inner City Blues and Let’s Get It On. Then to a medley of his Motown years. Followed by the haunting Distant Lover, not to mention passionately singing the lead song of one of his truly great albums- What’s Going On. What the hell are you waiting for?
No One Heard the Scream (Severin) Another utterly fascinating film from Spanish director Eloy de la Iglesia (The Deputy/Cannibal Man), this time in the form of a “giallo” thriller (of sorts), but still with all his political digs and occasional queer eye. Elisa (Carmen Sevilla) decides not to make a date in London to see her sugar daddy. She catches her new neighbor Miguel (Vicente Parra, the star of Cannibal Man) throwing his dead wife’s body down the elevator shaft, and he holds her at gunpoint forcing her to be his accomplice in disposing of the body. But so many unexpected things happen afterwards I dare not ruin the surprises. Suffice to say Elisa is much more of a calculating survivor than Miquel imagines. The scenes with Elisa’s hunky blonde “nephew” Tony (Tony Isbert) are rife with perverse subtext. There’s a sensational short feature on Spanish “giallos.”
Eloy de la Iglesia’s Quinqui Collection (Severin) Controversial director Eloy de la Iglesia (Cannibal Man/The Deputy) set his sights on a series of films depicting the troubled youth of Spain in the 70s and 80s. These “Quinqui” (juvenile delinquent films) were wildly popular but became problematic for the director, who was like Pasolini in his Communist views and also gay, attracted to the tough street kids he examined in his movies. And while these films about delinquents touched on drug use, the director also became a heroin addict during the making of these movies which sidelined his career for many years. The first film in this invaluable trilogy is Navajeros (Thugs) stars Jose Luis Manzano as “El Jaro” a true infamous folk hero who with his underage punk posse snatch purses, cars, roll gays. break into store windows, rob people at cemeteries. He has a tattoo on his hand that means “death to the police and long live crime.” The director picked up the lead in a bar and moved him in with him and made him a star, but drugs got the better of both in real life. The other two films are El Pico, set in Bilbao, again starring Manzano as Paco the heroin-addict son of a Captain of the Civil Guard. (There’s something pretty disturbing watching these kids shoot up and knowing it’s for real). And El Pico 2 continues Paco’s sordid story, trying desperately to kick the habit again while a sleazy journalist is stirring up trouble. There’s a lengthy prison sequence in this that is outrageous. The homoeroticism that Eloy de la Iglesia brings to this exploitation genre stands these films apart. They are shocking, riveting films that need to be seen. Thank you Severin for bringing these amazing films into the light.
The Cat O’ Nine Tails (Arrow) A 4k UHD Limited Edition of Italian horror maestro Dario Argento’s follow-up to his smash hit The Bird with The Crystal Plumage. Karl Malden plays a blind man out walking in Rome one night with his young female ward who overhears a weird conversation with two people in a car. He makes contact with an ambitious newsman (James Franciscus) and their investigation leads them to the Terzi Institute for genetic research. When people there start dying horrible deaths both men realize that they have put themselves in the crosshairs of a psychopathic killer. This never got much love from critics or Argento fans but now with the 4K upgrade it deserves another look. Visually compelling, with a beautiful score by Ennio Morricone and filled some creepy set pieces, this was hacked by 20 minutes for American audiences when it was released, so this uncut, gorgeous print adds luster to its thriller status. It comes with both American and Italian language tracks. Audio commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman. A book with an essay by Dario Argento. Six re-produced lobby cards and a fold-out movie poster. And script pages for the lost original ending.
Theater of Blood (Kino) One of the high points in Vincent Price’s illustrious career- he plays a British Shakespearean acting legend, mocked by critics, who supposedly leapt to his death but was secretly rescued by homeless people. So, with his unwashed posse, he sets out for revenge- targeting each critic to die a horrible death from different Shakespearean texts. The beautiful Diana Rigg plays Price’s daughter and the critics include a hilarious Robert Morley and wonderfully caustic Coral Browne in this witty, tongue-in-cheek horror film, superbly directed by Douglas Hickox. There’s one audio commentary by screenwriter Alan Spencer, and another track with film historians David Del Valle and Nick Redman.
The Tomb of Ligeia (Kino) This was the last Edgar Allan Poe adaptation made by Roger Corman starring Vincent Price as the reclusive Verdon Fell who is courted by the headstrong Lady Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd). But Fells’ late wife, the diabolical Ligeia rises up from the grave to come between the lovers. With an offbeat screenplay by Robert Towne, Corman was tweaking his formula to have fun with the horror genre he created. Filmed on actual English locations instead of sets added another original component. Included are three separate audio commentaries. One by producer/director Roger Corman. One by actress Elizabeth Sheperd. And one by film scholar Tim Lucas.
Arabesque (Kino) Gregory Peck plays David, a visiting professor of ancient language at Oxford University. He is coerced by a ruthless millionaire to decipher a stolen Egyptian hieroglyphic code at the home of a mysterious beauty- Yasmine (Sophia Loren, all dolled-up in eye-popping Christian Dior gowns). David and Yasmine go on the run pursued by all sorts of criminals searching for the code’s riddle in this 1966 Stanley Donen film that tries to ape the success of his earlier film- Charade. Op art credits; a lush score by Henry Mancini and the lovely chemistry between Peck and Loren may not be at the level of the previous film but it’s still a lot of fun. They don’t make these kind of espionage romantic thrillers anymore. There’s a great audio commentary by Nathaniel Thompson, Howard S. Berger and Steve Mitchell, and a featurette on Henry Mancini.
Silver Screams Cinema (Imprint) Six poverty row horror films from the 40s and 50s (and a surprise extra feature) are given a beautiful Blu-ray release from the Australian company Imprint. Ignore what it says on Amazon about them being a region B- they are region free and play fine on American players. Valley of the Zombies is about a plucky doctor and his nurse girlfriend trying to find the madman killing and embalming people and stealing blood to stay alive. Return of the Ape Man starts Bela Lugosi and John Carradine working on cryogenics and reanimation who discover an ancient man/beast (George Zucco) frozen in the arctic and stupidly bring it back to life. The Vampire’s Curse is set in Africa, where a series of strange murders occur, the victims drained of blood. It leads to the mysterious owner of a local bar (John Abbott) who is secretly a vampire. Barely an hour long, but filled with atmosphere and odd touches. The Phantom Speaks is about a psychic scientist who brings back the vengeful spirit of an executed murderer. Whoops. She Devil is about a scientist who creates a serum from fruit flies to help cure illnesses. They test their serum on a woman with terminal tuberculosis and she is cured- but is altered into an indestructible, cunning killer who can change her hair color at will. (Remember to never slap a “she devil”). The biggest treat for me is The Unknown Terror, now in widescreen “Regalscope,” about some explorers searching for a colleague who disappeared off the shores of the Caribbean in the deadly “cave of the dead.” They discover a mad scientist, a growing fungus and mutant natives in this movie that most have seen in terrible TV prints. The bonus feature is The Lady and the Monster, starring Erich von Stroheim, which is another version of Donovan’s Brain. A millionaire’s brain is kept alive in a lab in the Arizona desert and whose mind reaches out to possess others.
Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films (Criterion) A welcome addition to the Criterion canon is this box set of films by a true trailblazer- Melvin Van Peebles. You can’t imagine how exciting it was to be in a movie theater showing Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song at the time it was released. Inner city audiences were finally seeing a movie portraying a black man on screen without the usual bullshit. Produced, directed, filmed, scored, edited and starring Van Peebles who plays a man who goes on the run when racist cops try to frame him for a crime he didn’t commit. It’s an angry, experimental and incendiary work, which for better, or worse, ushered in the Blaxploitation era of movies. Included in this set is Van Peebles’ Hollywood film Watermelon Man starring Godfrey Cambridge as a bigoted white salesman who wakes up to find himself transformed into a black man. A blistering satire ahead of its time. Story of a Three-Day-Pass about an African American soldier who travels to Paris on his three-day-leave and fall for a white woman. This was one of the films Van Peebles made in France when he was unable to find work in America. Don’t Play Us Cheap was his adaptation of his Tony-nominated play, with a sensational cast including Esther Rolle, Avon Long and Mabel King.
Cold War Creatures: Four Films from Sam Katzman (Arrow Films) Here are 4 schlock classics I have been dying for on Blu-ray. The Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) An ex-Nazi uses radio waves to control his stitched-up, robotic, zombie army. The zombies are sent out by a vengeful gangster to kill mob rivals. Zombies of Mora Tau (1957). A young woman returns to her grandmother’s African estate only to find lifeless zombies patrolling the grounds. A group diving for treasure come under attack from the living dead in this howler. The Werewolf (1956) Shot in Big Bear Lake, California, this is about a man (Steven Ritch), suffering amnesia, who shows up in a snowy, mountainous town. After he is attacked in an alley by a mugger, he transforms into a hairy, snarling beast and heads deep into the woods, chased by cops. What’s so sympathetic and pitiable is that he was just an ordinary husband and father who got in a car accident and was experimented on by two unscrupulous scientists. The Giant Claw (1957) This laugh riot is about a giant bird from outer space attacking New York and stars Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth) who relates in an interview with film historian Tom Weaver that he only got to see the finished monster (a Sesame Street Big Bird look-a-like marionette) at the premiere and sunk in his seat mortified. But the rest of us squealed with glee.
