A great month of rare crackpot Blu-rays from around the globe- from offbeat Italian thrillers, strange Spanish mysteries, an impossible-to-see film from a pioneering American gay director, three film noirs starring Edward G. Robinson, an anti-Communist sci-fi film from the 1950s, a fun Italian gut-muncher, a great Mario Bava, a fantastic Warner Brothers trucker drama, a new film from an Argentine horror master and a great dark comedy from Gus Van Sant.
To Die For (Criterion) This jet-black, murderously funny 1995 comedy by Gus Van Sant stars Nicole Kidman as Suzanne Stone, a lacquer-haired, ambitious monster whose stint as a low-rent cable TV weathergirl is, to her, just a stepping stone to a fabulous career as an anchorwoman and celebrity. Suspecting that her hard-working hunk of a husband, Larry (Matt Dillon), is a millstone around her neck, Suzanne enlists the help of three teens to bump him off. She even seduces one of the kids, the dim-witted Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), to ensure the success of her plan. Buck Henry’s mordant and witty screenplay skewers both media manipulation and the blinding quest for fame at any cost. Kidman is brilliant. She’s funny and scary and perfect with her ghastly pastel outfits and blond helmet of hair. And Phoenix burns a hole in the screen with his shuffling, grunge, moonstruck manner. This is a director-approved 4K digital restoration.
Drifter (Kino Lorber) Pioneering gay director Pat Rocco was mainly known for his nudie homoerotic films, but he seriously covered LGBT liberation advances in documentaries and made this ambitious feature-length film about a bisexual hustler in 1975. The film barely was distributed and thought to have been lost but this is a gorgeous 2K restoration from the 16mm negative and looks great. Joed Adair (who Rocco used in several of his films) plays “Drift” who hitchhikes into L.A. and gets sexually pimped out by a sleazy gay and his female “agent” and shacks up with a gay guy who lives with a female cocktail waitress. Drift has sex with both of them but is more enamored by a sweet girl he meets that is new in town also. We see flashbacks of his ambivalently sexual beginnings and past complicated relationships. I wish I could say this was the revelation that a scrappy exploitation movie like The Meatrack (1970) was, but its heart is in the right place. The disc includes all these short, soft-core queer films by Pat Rocco that are great fun.
Burial Ground (Severin) It’s astonishing to see the clarity it this 4K UHD version of the outrageous 1980 Italian living dead splatter classic by Andrea Bianchi set at huge villa which soon becomes a fortress against hordes of intestine-chomping zombies. This one stands out because of the bizarre mother and son (Peter Bark) in the film. Bark was a small adult actor and is so damn creepy in the film. He also has the one macabre scene at the end that will make you spit out your drink. This is a two-disc set- one the stunning 4K UHD, the other a Blu-ray. The extras are amazing including Villa Parisi: Legacy of Terror, a tour of the Italian villa where many other horror films also have been filmed including Bay of Blood, Nightmare Castle and Blood for Dracula. There’s also a wonderful featurette of actor Peter Bark returning to the villa discussing the making of the film.
Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XVII (Kino Lorber) Three excellent dark dramas starring the legendary Edward G. Robinson, an actor so good he makes it seem effortless. But he infuses each character he plays with complexity and passion. Vice Squad (1953) is about the tense day of Captain Barney Barnaby (Robinson), who arrives at the station in the morning to hear that a policeman has been gunned down during the night. He also discovers that it might be linked to an upcoming bank heist. Paulette Goddard is a hoot as the brassy “madam” Mona Ross, who has a jovial relationship with the Captain and supplies him with information. Porter Hall is terrific as an ultra-nervous undertaker who is witness to the cop’s shooting but doesn’t want to give testimony for fear that his wife will find out about his blonde bimbo girlfriend. Sure, it’s a kind of low-rent Naked City, but it hurtles along and is a lot of fun. In Black Tuesday (1954), Robinson plays a ruthless killer and criminal czar- “King” Vincent Canelli, now on death row alongside a bank robber (Peter Graves) who refuses to reveal where the 200 grand he stole is hidden. Canelli’s girlfriend (Jean Parker) organizes a daring jailhouse breakout on the eve of his execution. Eventually the gang (and several hostages) are holed up in an abandoned warehouse. The priest confronts Canelli, “You can’t keep on killing and killing,” to which he replies, “No? Just watch me.” The cinematography is by the wonderful Stanley Cortez (The Night of the Hunter). Nightmare (1956) is the long-sought-after (on home media), sensational thriller based on a Cornell Woolrich (Rear Window) novella. Kevin McCarthy plays a New Orleans jazz musician plagued by a frightening dream. In the dream, there is a beautiful woman and he is fighting with a strange man who is choking him in a mirrored room. The woman hands him an ice pick and he stabs the man to death. He wakes in his hotel room to find marks on his neck, blood on his wrist and a torn button and a weird-shaped key in his pocket- all elements from his nightmare. He goes to see his brother-in-law, a detective (Robinson), who at first laughs it off. But then things get even weirder. It’s a great premise. Director Maxwell Shane actually filmed this Woolrich tale before as Fear in the Night (1946) starring DeForest Kelley and Paul Kelly but I prefer this version for the fact it’s set in New Orleans, the jazz angle, and Edward G. Robinson, who is always perfection.
Bloodmoon (Severin) The North American disc premiere of a little-known 1989 Australian slasher movie which includes a “Fright Break” stolen straight from William Castle’s Homicidal. Set in Cooper’s Bay, where on one side is an all boy school called Winchester and on the other side of the forest- St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Girl’s School. A killer (using a noose of barbed wire and knife) is slashing students on lover’s lane and burying their bodies. Can the sweet girl (with a movie star mother) date a cute townie boy without getting hacked up? Director Alec Mills (cinematographer on The Living Daylights and License to Kill) keeps this moving at a brisk pace to a whacky, bloody conclusion which even throws in a battered nun to the rescue.
Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (Severin) Director Jess Franco made 7 movies in 1971 and you can feel his delight with his new freedom (after working for several years under producer Harry Allan Towers) to create this surreal monster mash. Filled with all the gothic trappings- the fog-shrouded castle, the mad scientist (Dennis Price), the vampire (long-time Franco collaborator Howard Vernon). Even the Wolfman shows up at the end. But if you are looking for coherence or something along the lines of Universal’s House of Frankenstein, you are out of luck. Almost dialogue free, the film has a wonderfully strange vibe (you often aren’t sure what era you’re in). For those unfamiliar with Franco’s eccentricities this might be too confounding. But for the rest of us it’s delirious, wild fun. And a lot of this film has wonderful visual touches. Stephen Thrower, who wrote two spectacular books on Jess Franco, gives a fascinating dissection of the film in an interview extra: “Prisoner of Franco-Stein.”
Red Planet Mars (MGM) This crackpot sci-fi film from 1952 is a passionately anti-Commie, pro-Christian talk-fest about a scientist (Peter Graves) who makes radio contact with Mars. His paranoid wife (Andrea King) is sure this will end in doom. (She’s not wrong). The first missives discuss the longevity of Martian life and all sorts of other cost savings tips which causes the stock market to crash and chaos around the globe (which makes little sense at all). Then there are transmissions that suggest God is speaking from Mars. Meanwhile an ex-Nazi intercepts and monitors the broadcasts from the snowy mountains of Tibet for evil Communist agents. For kids seeking movies about tentacle-creatures from the Red Planet this must have been a huge letdown. I had read about this movie for years but this sneaky release from MGM is a true cockamamie treat- I was shaking my head in disbelief at every talky twist and turn.
When Evil Lurks (Image/Shudder) Argentine filmmaker Demian Rugna’s (Terrified) new nightmare is set in a remote rural countryside where two brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demian Salomon) hear gunshots in the dead of night at an adjoining property. They wander through the woods and find the bottom half of a body, cut in two, and end up at the shack-like home of a woman whose son is “rotten” (another term for possessed). His body is bloated, covered in oozing sores and begs to die, but there are rules to these things. You cannot shoot a possessed person without risking blowback in hideous ways. The brothers and a neighbor decide to load the corpulent, putrescent, possessed son onto the back of their truck intending to dump him off miles from where they live to stop the spread of the evil but things go spectacularly awry. They end up driving to the home of Mirtha (terrific Silvina Sabater), who has dealt with this kind of evil in the past but even she is unprepared for how far-reaching it has become. A sequence in a schoolhouse filled with demonic children is a dark highlight. It truly is an effective, incredibly chilling film and the howl of despair at the end will haunt your dreams for days afterwards.
Forgotten Gialli: Volume 6 (Vinegar Syndrome) Another terrific collection of lesser-known “giallo” Italian mystery films that flourished after Dario Argento’s Bird with the Crystal Plumage became an international hit. Death Carries a Cane (1973). While waiting for her boyfriend Alberto, Kitty, looking though a park telescope, witnesses a murder in a nearby building. The police brush her off until a body is indeed found. Unfortunately, they suspect Alberto, who has a lame leg (after witnesses agree the killer walks with a limp and carries a cane). All the usual tropes are here- the black-gloved killer, the red herrings, the nudity and creepy killings. Naked You Die (1969). Originally to be directed by Mario Bava, this was eventually helmed by Antonio Margheriti (The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock). Set in a ritzy all girl’s school, a sudden series of bizarre murders causes an intrepid amateur detective- Jill (Sally Smith) to search for clues on her own which puts her in the crosshairs of the killer. The alternate title was: “The Young, the Evil and the Savage.” With handsome Mark Damon (Black Sabbath) as a teacher romancing a student in secret. The Bloodstained Shadow (1978). Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) comes to Venice to visit his brother, a priest named Don Paolo (Craig Hill). One rainy night Don Paolo witnesses the strangling of a medium in the town square from his window, but is unable to identify the killer. Stefano investigates, which leads him to a group of wealthy, decadent people with secrets to keep hidden. The spooky romanticism of the city (the film was shot in Murano) help set the right mysterious mood for this twisty thriller. Gorgeous Stefania Casini (Suspiria/1900) plays Stefano’s love interest.
Mother’s Day (Vinegar Syndrome) A deluxe 4K UHD of the outrageous, darkly funny 1980 horror film, directed by Charles Kaufman, which was shot on the same lake in New Jersey at the same time another crew was making Friday the 13th. (The two crews and cast would meet up at a local diner at night). It’s about a deranged family living out in the woods in a ramshackle house filled with broken, blaring TVs, graffiti and lots of kitsch. The residents are: Mother (Rose Ross), always wearing her neck brace, and her half-witted hillbilly psycho sons: Ike (Holden McGuire), tall with hideous teeth and one bad eye, and Addley (Billy Ray McQuade), short and stocky, always reading muscle magazines. Three college roommates- Abbey (Nancy Hendrickson), Jackie (Deborah Luce) and Trina (Tiana Pierce) get together every year for a reunion at some oddball place. This year they camp out near a lake and are ambushed by the psychotic sons and brought back to their house where Mom makes them put on little shows in the backyard where they terrorize and sexually attack the women. But these women refuse to be victims and escape and exact savage revenge (which involves Drano, a car aerial, an old TV and an electric carving knife). It’s a witty and sardonic script (by Warren Leight and Charles Kaufman), with a surprising lot of social relevance slipped in. Looking amazing on Blu-ray, there are endless extras with cast members that are still alive, production designers, editors and a tour of the locations used in the movie. Plus, director Eli Roth discusses how much the film means to him and how it heavily influenced his work.
They Drive by Night (Warner Archive) A truly great 1940 Warner Brothers melodrama about two independent truck-driving brothers- Joe (George Raft) and Paul (Humphrey Bogart). After one of the brothers (Joe) loses his arm in an accident, the owner of trucking company- Ed Carlsen (Alan Hale) offers Joe a job so he can earn money. But when Carlsen is murdered, Joe is accused of the crime. Ann Sheridan is a delight playing the tart-tongued waitress and Ida Lupino gives a staggering performance as Ed Carlsen’s unstable wife. Director Raoul Walsh has a way of elevating these kinds of pedestrian stories into dynamic dramas that really deliver a punch.
Spanish Blood Bath (Vinegar Syndrome) While Italy was turning out “giallo” thrillers after the unexpected International hit of Dario Argento’s Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Spain was executing their own spin on the genre. Here are three rare entries, beautifully restored, with interesting extras. Night of the Skull (1974). Prolific director Jess Franco goes back to his gothic roots for a film about a wealthy patriarch of a greedy family who is buried alive by a mysterious figure in a hooded cape and a skull mask. The reading of the will brings the fractured family together and one by one they die according to this curse; “Earth to bury us. Gale to destroy us. Water to drown us. Fire to incinerate us.” Gloomy mansions with endless hallways, stormy nights, and period costumes give this just the right gothic feel. Franco’s muse- Lina Romay plays an illegitimate heir. Violent Blood Bath (1974) stars the great Fernando Rey as a ruthless Parisian district attorney, in Spain on vacation with his beautiful wife Patricia (Marissa Mell). Suddenly a series of murders begin that are identical to crimes he tried in court and sent their killers to the guillotine for. Espartaco Santoni plays Wilson Vargas, a journalist (and former lover of Patricia) who disapproves of the death penalty in this oddball thriller that isn’t quite sure what kind of a movie it wants to be. Directed by Jorge Grau (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie). The Fish with the Eyes of Gold (1974) Set in beautiful beach town of Costa Bravo, a maniacal killer is targeting women. Handsome, blonde Derek (Wal Davis) gets picked up by a pretty girl while hitchhiking and groggily wakes up in a hotel room with the woman stabbed to death beside him. He becomes suspect number one in the eyes of the no-nonsense Comisario (Barta Barri). It isn’t every day you watch a movie which constantly reminds the audience: “The killer seems obsessed with fish!”
The Whip and the Body (Kino Lorber) One of my favorites by the Italian master of the macabre Mario Bava. When the Blu-ray was released years ago they really screwed up with the color, which was a shame since Bava was such a perfectionist with mood, lighting and composition. This is the excellent 4K scan and 2K restoration by 88 Films in 2023 which fixed that problem. The colors finally pop now. Christopher Lee stars as Kurt, the sadistic brute who returns home to the family castle and finds out his brother has married Nevenka (Daliah Lavi), who he has had an intense sadomasochistic relationship with. Everyone in the castle despises him including his own father. The maid keeps on display the dagger her daughter used to kill herself (because of Kurt). Kurt immediately begins to torment Nevenka, whipping her savagely any chance he gets. But even death can’t keep Kurt from haunting the castle and everyone in it. The art direction is amazing, with eerily lit halls, cobwebbed stairs to the basement crypt. Shadowy figures roam the castle at night, always accompanied by the screaming wind from the sea battering the stone walls. The film is in full gothic overload- dreamy, creepily atmospheric and perversely beautiful.
Good God man! When do you have time to eat? A great, interesting collection! Thanks Dennis.