The batch of new Blu-rays for January are a grab bag of cult favorites and ones definitely to discover. From zombie nuns; goofy-looking sea creatures; creepy cats; slimy mine monsters; vengeful Japanese gangsters, spider-baby cults; on-the-run androids, to unhinged restaurant workers serving up people as barbecue. Not to mention a gorgeous box set dedicated to Peter Cushing, a terrific Film Noir box set and a loony, later sex comedy by Ed Wood Jr. They give one hope for the new year.
The Convent (Synapse) A raucous and riotous 2000 horror comedy directed by Mike Mendez with a killer opening. Christine, a young girl in a school girl outfit and leather jacket, with sunglasses on and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth strides up to a convent carrying a knapsack and a can of gasoline. She barges into the chapel, lights some nuns on fire and pulls out a shotgun, all to the strains of Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.” 20 years later some college frat jocks and their girlfriends, and some devil worshiping wannabes, break into the boarded-up convent and cause the demonic nuns to rise again. It’s up to Christine (now played by an awesome Adrienne Barbeau) to rev up her motorcycle, gather her guns and head back to the convent to blast some demons back to hell. The film was a hit with audiences at the Sundance Film Festival but sadly never opened in theaters in America and was dumped on VHS and DVD years later. It’s really unfortunate because the movie deserved better. It’s a blast to watch with friends, and often really, really funny. This excellent 4k UHD Blu-ray set from Synapse is sweet revenge and hopefully will bring in new converts.
Mademoiselle (MGM) An endlessly fascinating 1966 film directed by Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) and written by Jean Genet (The Thief’s Journal, Our Lady of the Flowers). Filmed in gorgeous black & white, Jeanne Moreau plays a prim and well-liked substitute teacher in a small French farming village. Secretly she commits evil attacks on the town- opening a dam to flood the land; poisoning the farm animals; setting fire to barns. Only a young, poor boy in her classroom suspects her, while her repressed lust for his father, an Italian woodcutter (Ettore Manni), causes her to shift the blame for these insidious acts to him. A strange, haunting film with Moreau at her mysterious best, and rife with sexual imagery. This has always been one of my favorite films and the last incarnation on DVD was non-anamorphic and lacking the clarity to showcase the striking cinematography.
The Spider Labyrinth (Severin) Eight thumbs up for this 1988 Italian horror rarity directed by Gianfranco Giagni, thankfully saved from obscurity by Severin. Handsome Roland Wybenga plays Alan Whitmore, a Dallas professor who is sent to Budapest to discover what happened to Professor Ross, who had been analyzing ancient religions and their effect on the modern world and suddenly stopped communicating with colleagues. There Alan slips down the rabbit hole into a byzantine, paranoid nightmare involving a spider-God worshipping cult called the “Weavers.” The empty, winding streets of Hungary become a M.C. Escher maze. The hotel he is staying at, run by the mysterious Mrs. Kuhn (Stephane Audran), becomes a diabolical hotbed of cult activity. People start getting murdered by a demonic, fanged female figure. The film echoes scenes from Maria Bava to Dario Argento but in the end is pretty original and disturbing. The special effects from Italian master Sergio Stivaletti (Demons, Opera, Cemetery Man, The Church) really pop in the last 40 minutes and are often jaw-dropping and bizarre. It’s unfortunate that lead Roland Wybenga only did 3 films in his career because he is incredibly engaging here. This is such an unexpected horror treat.
Cushing Curiosities (Severin) An astonishing 6-disc & book set of lesser known films starring the elegant Prince of horror- Peter Cushing, Beloved for his work with Hammer Studios, his steely intelligence, crisp diction and gentleman-like deportment saved many a movie. The extraordinary book included in this box set is everything you need to know about Peter Cushing (and more). Beautifully written by Jonathan Rigby and filled with many photos and stills from his extensive career- it’s a great tribute to the wonderful actor. The films include Cushing’s French film- Tender Dracula (1974), about two bumbling screenwriters who are sent to convince a famous actor of horror movies (Cushing) to do a romantic film. They are accompanied by two sexy actresses- one the beautiful Miou-Miou (Going Places)- and are met at the actor’s castle with Cushing in full Dracula drag including cape and fangs. His wife is played by the legendary Alida Valli (Eyes Without a Face). There is nudity and weirdness and some surreal moments like the dismembered bottom half of a nude woman chasing one of the screenwriters down the stairs. Truly bizarre. In Blood Suckers (1971), Cushing has a smaller role as the provost of Lancaster College in Oxford. His protégé, Richard (Patrick Mower), engaged to his daughter, has gone off to Greece and gotten involved in a druggy jet-set cult, reveling in sex, pills and ritualistic murder. A group goes off to rescue Richard and we even get a perverse vampire angle mixed in. This film never got much love from cult fans, but this is the restored longest version available and deserves to be re-evaluated. Peter Cushing played the famed detective Sherlock Holmes in Terence Fisher’s excellent The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) for Hammer. In 1968, Peter Cushing played Holmes for the BBC in 16 episodes. Sadly, most were later taped over but these remaining 6 great color episodes remain. Nigel Stock plays Dr. Watson and the mysteries include A Study in Scarlet, a two-part The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Blue Carbuncle, The Bascombe Valley Mystery and The Sign of Four. Other movies included in this great set- Suspect (1960), where Cushing plays a biochemist in an espionage thriller; Cone of Silence (1960), where Cushing surprisingly plays a villain in this film about the investigation into a jet airliner crash; The Man Who Finally Died (1963) about a jazz musician (Stanley Baker) who travels to a small town in Germany to investigate the mysterious circumstances of his father’s death. Cushing plays the supposed best friend of his dead dad in this moody mystery. An added treat is Curse of the Demon actor Niall MacGinnis suspiciously lurking in the background. All have been given 2K restorations and look absolutely extraordinary.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XVI (Kino Lorber) Another terrific box set of three lesser known Film Noir treats. This includes The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942), based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story and starring Cobra Woman herself Maria Montez. Set in Paris in 1889, Montez plays a popular musical star who goes missing for 10 days. They fish a faceless corpse out of the river but Marie Roget shows up very much alive. Patric Knowles plays the police scientist Pierre Dupin, who solved “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” And Maria Ouspenskaya (famous for playing gypsy hags in The Wolfman) plays Marie’s wealthy grandmother who keeps a pet leopard in her home. She asks Dupin to accompany her other granddaughter- Camille (Nell O’Day)- to a party, fearing Marie is plotting to murder her. There’s even a rousing nighttime chase over the Parisian rooftops at the end of this moody mystery. Chicago Deadline (1949) is a sensational surprise. Alan Ladd plays Ed Adams, a Chicago newspaper man who stumbles on a dead woman in a rooming house. He palms her address book and tries to find out information about this “Rosita” and anytime he calls someone in the book and mentions her name they freak out. One hood even threatens him, “Drop it. Forget it- she’s poison.” Ed tracks down Rosita’s brother (Arthur Kennedy) and we flashback to Rosita’s hard-luck back story. She’s played by the lovely Donna Reed, who brings real pathos to the world-weary beauty. Suddenly people who knew Rosita start getting mysteriously bumped off and Ed stares at her address book and wonders, “54 names each with a different picture of her. A dame, a saint, a gangster’s girl and a sister who remembers birthdays.” Expertly directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited) this one is begging to be rediscovered. Iron Man (1951) stars Jeff Chandler as Coke Mason, a miner in Pennsylvania, who discovers he can be a real vicious beast in a boxing ring when pushed to the limit. His shady promotor brother (Stephen McNally) eggs him on along with his girlfriend (Evelyn Keyes) who sees dollar signs in her eyes and a way out of Coaltown. The unique twist is that Coke becomes a consistent winner but is hated by the crowd- they come in droves hoping to see him get killed in the ring. A young Rock Hudson plays Tommy “Speed” O’Keefe, a fellow miner who becomes Coke’s biggest cheerleader and even becomes a successful boxer himself. Two sexy gals take one look at Tommy at a restaurant and say, “You are divine,” only to have him sheepishly reply, “I know, but I’m in training.”
The Devil’s Partner/Creature from the Haunted Sea (Film Masters) Two amazing restorations of this 50s double-bill from Roger Corman’s “Filmgroup” production company. The Devil’s Partner stars Ed Nelson as the nephew of a deceased, weird old coot (also played by Nelson) who practiced black magic. He shows up in town and begins to practice his own black arts to cause death, destruction and deviltry. Nelson was making one of the costumes for the monsters from Attack of the Giant Leeches when he got the call for the lead in this Faustian horror film. The second movie- Creature from the Haunted Sea is another dark comedy from Roger Corman (shot in Puerto Rico) about the stealing of Cuban cash by a gang of criminals who plan to bump off the soldiers guarding the loot by blaming their deaths on a sea monster. Trouble is, there really is a sea monster- who looks like a large Muppet with ping pong balls for eyes. It’s all very tongue-in-cheek and another off-beat gem from screenwriter Charles B. Griffith (Little Shop of Horrors/A Bucket of Blood). This has always looked just horrible on home video because of its “public domain” status, but this restoration from a 35mm print looks incredible. It also includes the longer TV prints where you get to see Betsy Jones-Moreland sing the theme: “Creature from the Haunted Sea.”
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka (Shout! Factory) Prolific, crackpot Japanese director Takashi Miike’s outrageous 2002 gangster film stars familiar scowling action great Riki Takeuchi as Rekka, who becomes unhinged when his father/criminal boss is murdered by a rival gang. The gangs attempt a treaty between the clans to prevent further mayhem but Rekka is having none of it and cuts a bloody path of revenge across the city. There are so many loony wonderful moments. Like when the killer of the boss cannot get the victim’s hands off his neck after he kills him and is later seen eating on a couch with the dismembered hands still clutching his neck. This was another pleasant unexpected surprise release by Shout! Factory and looks terrific.
Suspect Zero (Kino Lorber) A defiantly weird, 2004 take on the serial killer genre by director E. Elias Merhige (Shadow of the Vampire). Aaron Eckhart stars as a F.B.I. agent demoted to an Albuquerque agency after a rogue action who begins to investigate a series of bizarre killings where symbols, numerology and lidless victims are left behind. He even receives personal messages from the perpetrator. But is this just a serial killer or someone hunting down serial killers? Ben Kingsley plays the disturbed vigilante who seems to have some psychic connection with the agent. Expert cinematography by Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver/Raging Bull), the film certainly has a look, but the storytelling is more fractured than most films so you’ll either go with it or get exasperated. I actually had never seen it before so this great looking Blu-ray was a twisted surprise. It comes with an alternative ending and a making-of featurette.
The Untold Story 2 (Vinegar Syndrome) A sort-of-but-not-really sequel to the infamous 1992 The Untold Story starring Anthony Wong. Untold Story 2 (1996) is a wonderfully warped treat, and now, scanned from the negative looks astonishing on Blu-ray. A henpecked restaurant owner (Emotion Cheung) gets more than he bargained for from visiting relative Fung (Paulyn Suen) of mainland China, who’s severely unhinged (she sets fire to a woman who annoys her at the airport). Fung quickly murders the owner’s promiscuous wife, cuts her up in the bathtub and serves her as barbecue. “I am your final girl,” she warns the husband putting up fake wedding photos of the two of them all over the apartment. Anthony Wong, so frighteningly memorable from The Untold Story, is really hilarious as an oddball cop nicknamed “Officer Lazyboots.”
The Cat Creeps (Vinegar Syndrome) One of the last gasps from Universal horror films of the late 1940s, this is directed by Erle C. Kenton (House of Dracula) and is a fun, old-dark-house mystery about an intrepid reporter (Frederick Brady) and his photographer (Noah Beery Jr.) who travel to a spooky island in search of hidden stolen money and a way to clear the name of a politician (Jonathan Hale), whose daughter (Lois Collier) the newsman is dating. There’s a weird old woman with a cat living there and before long the boat they came in is set on fire and the guests start getting killed by a mysterious assailant. It’s got all the tropes of the genre but it’s fast and furious and enjoyable. This 1946 film is a neglected treasure from the Universal vault and this gorgeous-looking Blu-ray is a Godsend for horror fans.
The Questor Tapes (Kino Lorber) A 1974 made-for-TV movie conceived by Gene Roddenberry (Star Trek) about an android named “Questor” (Robert Foxworth) that escapes from a lab and the scientist (Mash’s Mike Farrell) who helps him while they are chased by shady government agents. Many of Roddenberry’s tropes are in place. The stilted way the android talks and the philosophical conversations he has are very Spock (Leonard Nimoy was originally considered for the part of “Questor “). The plot is that “Questor” is searching for the mysterious (supposedly dead) scientist who really created him. Intellectually questioning the meaning of one’s existence seems to be a running theme for Roddenberry. This was supposed to be the pilot for a series. 13 episodes were slated to begin shooting for a Friday night time slot on NBC, but Roddenberry clashed with Universal and walked away from it.
Run and Kill (Error 4444) This 1993 Hong Kong shocker, directed by Billy Tang, is one the most ferociously nasty of the Category III films, such as Dr. Lamb and Red to Kill, but one of my favorites. Poor Fatty (Kent Cheng) catches his wife in bed with another man and then drunkenly orders a hit on her at a bar. After Vietnamese thugs murder her they demand their money, which he can’t pay. Simon Yam plays a deranged war vet who sets Fatty’s young daughter on fire and then mockingly holds the charred remains in front of him and says, “Daddy. I am so dark. Can you still recognize me?” A ghastly treat.
The Boogens (Kino Lorber) While I was sitting on 42nd street watching The Boogens, (a strangely enjoyable 1981 movie about slimy creatures coming up out of the ground at a mountain cabin), a 300-lb. man stood up, kept shaking his head, and addressed all of us in the audience as if we were his friends. “I don’t know why they make this shit to frighten folks so,” he stated, and then he sat back down and watched the rest of the movie. It was just so odd. But it made me love the movie all the more. Directed by James L. Conway, it’s a scrappy indie horror about the opening of an old silver mine, which causes the creatures to climb out and kill. The filmmakers are careful to not reveal the toothy, scaly monsters as much as possible. The fact that this is given the 4K UHD treatment on Blu-ray warms my dark soul to the core.
Take it Out in Trade (AGFA/Something Weird) Known for the notorious Plan 9 from Outer Space, director Edward D. Wood Jr.’s later film career was a series of nudie cuties and tawdry spectacles with him often in drag. This film was thought to be lost and this Blu-ray is the 1970 movie’s permiere. It’s about a sleazy private detective called to the house of a wealthy couple desperate to find what happened to their daughter Shirley. Shirley however is happily working as a prostitute in a bordello and the detective pads his expensive account with travel to other countries (supposedly hunting for Shirley). Wood shoots planes departing at airports and then intercuts shots of travel posters for this effect. He also repeatedly shows the prostitutes nude descending a staircase (perhaps as a nod to Marcel Duchamp, but probably not). The private eye goes to a transvestite named Alecia (played by Wood himself) for information about Shirley. That scene alone is worth watching this sleazy comedy. Also on the disc is an added bonus film The Love Feast (1969) where Wood plays a cheesecake photographer and later in the film you get to watch Wood rolling around a bed filled with naked girls while wearing saggy women’s underwear. Trust me, you can never un-see this. A hilarious and informative audio commentary by director Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case), Rudolph Grey (author of the biography on Wood– Nightmare of Ecstasy) and Joe Ziemba (AGFA).
