Like the title of a Preston Sturges comedy, it’s Christmas in July when it comes to Blu-rays. Not only are there three starring the Technicolor goddess of Universal Studios in the 1940s- Maria Montez– there are also rare cult classics given impeccable restorations; Jess Franco digital upgrades; the first feature from Sophia Coppola; Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece- Raging Bull in 4K UHD; Season 2 of Rod Serling’s TV horror anthology Night Gallery and Italian master of the macabre Dario Argento’s brilliant “giallo” thriller Tenebrae in a stunning 4k UHD Blu-ray. I guess there is a God.
Maria Montez & Jon Hall Collection (Kino Lorber) Legendary underground filmmaker Jack Smith (Flaming Creatures) described actress Maria Montez, the “Queen of Technicolor,” this way: “At least in America, a Maria Montez could believe she was the Cobra Woman, the siren of Atlantis, Scheherezade, etc. She believed and thereby made the people who went to her movies believe. Those who could believe, did. Those who saw the World’s Worst Actress just couldn’t and they missed the magic. Too bad- their loss.” I so agree. And the splashy color adventures she made with handsome Jon Hall were the best. Here are three of the Dominican beauty’s fun ones. White Savage (1943), where Jon Hall plays a shark hunter who falls for Princess Tahia (Maria Montez), the ruler of a tropical island. Gypsy Wildcat (1944) an evil baron lusts after Carla, a tambourine-clanging gypsy dancer (Montez), but her heart is saved for a mysterious stranger on horseback (Jon Hall) who she spies pulling an arrow out of a dead man. The Baron is also nervous over a mysterious pendant around Carla’s neck.The wonderful Gale Sondergaard plays a fortune teller. (Be sure to listen to the terrific audio commentary by film historian David Del Valle). Sudan (1945) stars Montez as an Egyptian princess sold into slavery and hellbent on revenge for her father’s death. Jon Hall plays a pickpocket who comes to her rescue time and time again. Turhan Bey, Andy Devine and Sabu often co-starred in these loony color extravaganzas. I visited Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris and paid homage at the grave of this iconic, fabulous movie legend. It was, indeed, a holy experience.
Libido (Severin) A criminally unseen Italian 1965 black & white Freudian thriller and the first directorial effort by screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi, who would write some of the finest “gialli” like The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, Torso and All the Colors of the Dark. It’s also the first feature film of Giancarlo Giannini (Seven Beauties), who plays a tormented man, warily returning to the seaside villa where as a child he witnessed his sadistic father savagely kill a woman. He is there with his beautiful wife (Dominique Boschero); the villa caretaker (Luicano Pigozzi) and his sexy, trashy wife (Mara Maryl). Soon he is slowly driven mad by seeing weird things like a rocking chair seemingly moving on its own, a mysterious smoking pipe and visions of his late father wandering the mansion at night. In an incredible hour-long extra, Ernesto Gastaldi describes the miniscule budget (Giancarlo Giannini even crafted the Jiminy Cricket wind-up toy- with tipping top hat- that plays a central part of the story). But Gastaldi’s chronicle of his loving 60-year relationship with his wife Mara Maryl is incredibly moving. With fascinating audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger.
Raging Bull (Criterion) A 4K UHD & Blu-ray combo of a true masterpiece by Martin Scorsese about middleweight boxer Jake La Motta. Robert De Niro is electrifying as the volatile boxer from the Bronx and the film follows his career, his rages, his self-destructive relationships with his brother and manager (great Joe Pesci), and beautiful wife (beautifully played by Cathy Moriarty). A first-rate screenplay by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin; stunning black and white cinematography by Michael Chapman; and phenomenal editing by Thelma Schoonmaker. It all just knocks you out. Scorsese’s encyclopedic knowledge of the language of fight films- from Body and Soul to Golden Boy– is also filtered through his gritty, Mean Streets sensibility. De Niro gives such a physical and emotionally powerful performance it’s thrilling and scary to watch. This 4K UHD version is superb. The black & white cinematography comes vividly to life on your screen. This also comes with three audio commentaries, a making-of feature, interviews with Jake La Motta and a 1981 television interview with actress Cathy Moriarty and the real Vicki La Motta.
Macumba Sexual (Severin) As director Jess Franco said in an interview, “Ultimately, to make good films, you need two things. One is a camera…and the second is freedom.” Franco returned to Spain to shoot some of his most outlandish films under a deal with Golden Lion Films which gave him unlimited freedom. This is a great one. Lina Romay (Franco’s wife and muse) plays a woman on vacation with her writer husband on the Canary Islands. She is lured through dreams to a mysterious, seductive, 300-year-old voodoo priestess- played by statuesque transsexual Ajita Wilson (who walks across the desert with two nude slaves on leashes). The film is dreamy, erotic and nuts in the best way. Lina Romay riding on a camel is something to see. And as for Ajita Wilson, Franco said, “She had a very beautiful body. Operated or not.”
Faceless (Severin) Stunning 4k Ultra HD version of director Jess Franco’s sardonic, sublimely sleazy shocker starring Helmut Berger as Dr. Flamand, running a clinic specializing in making women look younger. He is also attempting to provide his acid-scarred sister with a new face and uses his gorgeous, blonde seductress clinic manager Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie) to seduce top models like Barbara (Caroline Monroe) with coke only to drug and imprison them. Their faces are to be peeled off to restore the doctor’s sister’s beauty. It’s all very sordid and gory but with the garish look and wildly ironic tone of a softcore sex film from the 1980s. Howard Vernon reprises his role as Dr. Orloff; Telly Savalas plays Barbara’s concerned father who hires a gum-chewing private eye (Chris Mitchum) to find his missing daughter; Anton Diffring shows up as an ex-Nazi surgeon, and the wonderful Stephane Audran (from many Claude Chabrol films) gets a hypodermic needle in the eye. I just love this cracked thriller to death and it looks spectacular on this 2-disc Blu-ray set. It also comes with many terrific extras- an interview with Brigitte Lahaie and Caroline Monroe, and archival interviews with a delightful Chris Mitchum, Helmut Berger and Telly Savalas. Not to mention an informative, fun interview with Stephen Thrower who wrote two seminal books on the films of Jess Franco.
Mansion of the Living Dead (Severin) Jess Franco’s oddball 1982 chiller is sort-of based on the Templar Knights legend from Tombs of the Blind Dead. Lina Romay and her three stripper girlfriends head to a Spanish seaside resort which is mysteriously empty when they get there. They are talking about hooking up with tourists but when they get alone in their hotels rooms the women begin making out wildly. Meanwhile the desk clerk has a woman chained up nude in a room and weird white-robed skeletal-faced dead rape and sacrifice the guests in this whacked-out film. There are so many wonderfully deranged exchanges in the film, it begins to feel like a Harold Pinter play on ecstasy. And the women are constantly walking stark naked in the hallways of the empty hotel for some reason.
Night Gallery (Season 2) (Kino Lorber) Rod Serling’s horror omnibus show’s Season 2 had one of my favorite creepy TV episodes- The Caterpillar, starring Laurence Harvey as a British expatriate in Borneo at the beginning of the 20th Century, obsessed with the wife of his friend, who plots to use a deadly earwig, which, once in the ear canal of its victim causes excruciating pain and then death. Rod Serling expertly adapted this screenplay from a story by Oscar Cook, and it gave me nightmares after I first saw it. This also includes lost tales from Season 2- Die Now, Pay Later/Room for One Less/Witches’ Feast/Little Girl Lost. Many audio commentaries, TV spots and DVD Easter Eggs.
The She-Creature (Shout! Factory) Dr. Carlo Lombardi (Chester Morris) performs on the carnival midway touting himself as “Author-Lecturer- Hypnotist Extraordinary.” But he is experimenting with his pretty assistant (Marla English), putting her in a deep hypnotic trance and reverting her through the ages to the prehistoric era, causing a she-creature to appear out of the ocean that commits violent murders. This 1956 American International Pictures horror film is mostly remembered for the fabulous monster creation by Paul Blaisdell. In fact, the creature reappeared again in The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow and the head was used during the color sequence at the end of How to Make a Monster. This is another surprise limited edition release from Shout! Factory that thrills me to my core. The Blu-ray includes the hilarious Mystery Science Theater 3000 jokey take on the film.
The Virgin Suicides (Criterion) Sofia Coppola’s sensation directorial debut is based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel. Set in the stifling suburbs of the 70s, a rot has infected the elm trees, not to mention the teenage lives of the five Lisbon sisters (Therese, Mary Bonnie, Lux and Cecilia), growing up in the strict household of their parents (James Woods and a poignantly severe Kathleen Turner). When young Cecilia (Hannah Hall) commits suicide, the girls become legends in their town. After a disastrous prom date between Lux (played fabulously by Kirsten Dunst) and the class hunk (Josh Hartnett), the girls find themselves even more isolated. Suicides is filmed in little-girl pastels- you can almost taste the pale pinks. This is a 4k restoration and comes with interviews with Coppola, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett and author Jeffrey Eugenides. It also includes a making-of feature and a short film by Sofia Coppola– Lick the Stars.
Horror High/Stanley (Vinegar Syndrome) A great “Drive-in Double Feature” which includes Horror High (1973), a cult (and personal) favorite about nerdy, teen, science geek Vernon Potts (Pat Cardi), who is relentlessly bullied at school by fellow students and teachers. One night a cruel janitor makes him swallow a mysterious vial in the chemistry lab which transforms Vernon into a hulking monster. Handsome Austin Stoker (Assault on Precinct 13) plays a cop hot on his trail. Vernon gets to stomp to death a gym coach and use a paper cutter to dismember a hateful teacher. When this played on TV as Twisted Brain most of the gore was cut out and the movie was padded with boring sequences about Vernon’s absentee father. This is newly scanned from the only known uncut 16mm lab print and contains several seconds of violence we’ve never seen before. There are new and archival interviews with the film’s star Pat Cardi. The other film is William Grefe’s slithery Stanley (1972) starring Chris Robinson (Dr. Rick on General Hospital) as Tim Ochopee, a brooding Vietnam vet and Seminole Indian, who lives deep in the Florida everglades with many snakes which he collects for a doctor at Miami Medical Center to milk for life-saving serums. His philosophy is, “I think the only beauty in this world is when man isn’t there.” Unfortunately, villainous poachers (Alex Rocco & Steve Alaimo) are capturing snakes for “some fag fashion designer in Paris…who publically said animal skins are in now.” And his father’s old girlfriend is doing a burlesque act biting off the heads of snakes at the end. So, he must punish them all using his snakes as weapons. Yes, it’s Willard with scales, but so what? Grefe’s films are the best. This comes with fun interviews with William Grefe, Chris Robinson and screenwriter Gary Crutcher (who also played the doctor in the film).
Midnight (Dread) Squid Game’s Wi Ha-Joon plays a psychopathic serial killer in this supremely suspenseful South Korean thriller expertly directed by Oh-Seung Kwon. He is caught abducting another would-be victim- a policeman’s sister- by a deaf-mute witness (Ki-joo Jin). And spends the rest of the long night coming after her and her deaf mother. It’s a terrifying cat-and-mouse game when you realize the killer could be standing right behind you smiling maniacally and you wouldn’t be aware of it. The incredible good-looking Wi Ha-Joon makes a frightening villain- he oozes evil and is able to talk his way out of situations looking totally innocent to authorities. Which makes the blood-soaked finale so damn satisfying.
Dog Soldiers (Shout! Factory) Finally! A 4k restoration of a great werewolf movie. This sensational 2002 action/horror film directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent) is about a squad of six British soldiers in the Scottish Highlands who come under attack by werewolves. What they don’t know is that their mission is really to capture a live creature so it can be studied by the military and used as a weapon. Ferocious and suspenseful. This never looked all that great on home video- even the last Blu-ray of it was underwhelming. But this 2-disc set is a restoration from the camera negative and comes with a host of features including audio commentary by the director, a making-of featurette, a look at the production design and director Marshall’s short film Combat.
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (Kino Classics) (DVD only) A fascinating documentary by Mark Rappaport (Rock Hudson’s Home Movies) about gay subtext in movies. Not another Celluloid Closet retread, Rappaport’s work uses a dazzling array of film clips from unlikely subjects (Walter Brennan, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Randolph Scott) to test his theory on homoerotic undercurrents in mainstream cinema. Be sure to check out in the extras one of my favorite short films by Rappaport: The Vanity Tables of Douglas Sirk (2014)- it’s just terrific.
Tenebrae (Synapse/Arrow) A 4k restoration of a great Dario Argento thriller. Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) is an American mystery writer who arrives in Rome for a book tour only to find that a killer has been jamming pages of his books down his victim’s throats. Argento’s film has incredible visual flourishes. In one elongated sequence (accompanied by a pounding rock score), a roving camera sweeps over the top of a house and down along the side to watch the killer breaking in. It’s pointless, yet breathtaking at the same time. The violence is also outrageous and almost operatic. This 3-disc set includes a collectors’ book, a poster, postcard-sized lobby cards, archival interviews with Dario Argento, an interview with Maitland McDonagh (whose wrote a groundbreaking book on Argento: Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds), and the heavily cut and re-edited American release version Unsane.
Planet of the Vampires (Kino Lorber) A new restored color version of Italian director Mario Bava’s 1965 influential sci-fi chiller about astronauts (let by Barry Sullivan) who land on a volcanic planet and find the ruins of a spaceship. The crash victims’ vampiric spirits take over the crew. Bava’s minimalistic approach, using lighting and mood to create a sense of dread is exceptional. And the costumes of the astronauts are sleek, black and cool-looking. The cavernous, giant and creepy insides of the spaceship were definitely appropriated by Ridley Scott for Alien.
Always the highlight of my month! Thanks again for the great tips. But, my poor wallet…