Spring is here for home media loons (like me). One of my favorites- Strange Behavior (under its original title: Dead Kids) is coming, newly remastered, not to mention Jeff Lieberman’s paranoid shocker Blue Sunshine. A new Sisu movie will bitch slap your brain. Some fabulous Warner Archive restorations like the jungle melodrama- Mogambo and a real overlooked noirish gem- Stranger on the Third Floor. Then there’s another of the notorious Ilsa movies; a fabulous Jack Benny double bill, a surprisingly good reboot of Silent Night, Deadly Night and a restoration of Tobe Hooper’s creepy adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot.
Dead Kids (Indicator/Powerhouse) I flipped when I saw this insanely good 1981 thriller in a theater at the time (under the title Strange Behavior), and kept going back repeatedly the first week it played. It’s about a college that is doing weird experiments on teenagers by the mysterious Dr. Le Sang (Arthur Dignam) and stars the terrific Dan Shor (Wise Blood), who plays the son of the police chief (Michael Murphy), and who signs up for the sinister study.
Fiona Lewis is fiendishly fabulous as Dr. Le Sange’s villainous assistant. Louise Fletcher is warm and touching as Murphy’s caring girlfriend. Dey Young shines as Shor’s love interest.
And there is a memorable moment at a Halloween costume party where everyone breaks into this choreographed dance to Lou Christie’s Lightnin’ Strikes that just makes me berserk.
Meanwhile a killer wearing a Tor Johnson mask is stalking outside. Filmed in Auckland, New Zealand, this was skillfully directed by Michael Laughlin with a witty script by Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters).
It’s a creepy, fun, ingenious film. This new restoration in 4K UHD includes plenty of new extras.
Blue Sunshine (Synapse) 4K UHD of director Jeff Lieberman’s 1976 blazingly original chiller starring Zalman King (Red Shoe Diaries), about a homemade batch of LSD kids took back in college that causes weird chromosome damage 10 years late. Your hair falls out and you become a homicidal maniac. This is such a great paranoid thriller, and Lieberman’s attention to detail and skill as a filmmaker are really evident. I have always loved Lieberman’s movies- like the slithery freakiness of Squirm, or the backwoods slasher shocker Just before Dawn (which includes my favorite “final girl” kill ever put to film). But Blue Sunshine has to be his crowning achievement- it’s a witty, suspenseful, one-of-a-kind film. The 4K UHD is just sensational too. There so many great extras too. You’d have to be tripping to pass this up.
Sisu: Road to Revenge (Sony) The original Sisu (1922) was an action movie wet-dream. And with a simple premise- a Finnish man- Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila)- has to trek a load of prospected gold to get reimbursement during World War II. He is a staggering killing machine, laying waste to the Nazis who give him a hard time along the way. In this new film (also directed by Jalmari Helander), it is post-War and Russia has annexed a great deal of Finland, including Korpi’s home. He arrives to dismantle the house and bring the wood to Finland. Sadly, his wife and sons were brutally killed by the Russians- and the main killer (Stephen Lang) is rotting in a Siberian prison, but given his freedom if he will kill Korpi. Once again Korpi is forced to fight back the soldiers, planes, bombs and other assorted murderous Russkies put in his way. Stephen Lang makes a great nemesis and the wild, explosive ending (mostly aboard a moving train) will take your breath away. Brutal, violent and utterly satisfying.
Mogambo (Warner Archive) This 1953 (somewhat) remake of Red Dust with Clark Gable still the lead, now as Victor Marswell, a professional hunter (game catcher) in Africa. Directed by John Ford with a scene-stealing Ava Gardner as the world-weary playgirl Eloise “Honey Bear” Kelly, accidentally stranded in Kenya, who falls for Victor. An anthropologist Donald (Donald Sinden) and his oh-so-proper wife Linda (Grace Kelly) arrive wanting Victor to be take them deep into dangerous gorilla country in order to record the animals. Linda also falls for the great white hunter, much to the frustration of “Honey Bear” Kelly. The Technicolor splendors of Africa really pop on this stunning Blu-ray and Ava Gardner really dazzles as the tough-talking, but big-hearted Kelly. Shot on location in Tanganyika, Uganda and Kenya, the richness of the color cinematography really gets to shine here on Blu-ray.
Stranger on the Third Floor (Warner Archive) Attributed to be the first “Film Noir” this crackling 64-minute 1940 RKO thriller stars John McGuire as Michael, an aspiring newspaper reporter, whose testimony about seeing a man (Elisha Cook Jr.) standing over the dead body of a coffee shop owner sends the man to death row. Michael’s girlfriend Jane (Margaret Tallichet) is haunted by the verdict, wondering if they got the wrong man. Then Michael himself becomes the suspect in his next-door neighbor’s killing and he tries to convince the police about the possible guilt of a strange little man (Peter Lorre) with a white scarf he saw skulking the hallways that night. Jane scours the neighborhood for clues and frighteningly comes face to face with the psychopathic killer. There’s a fabulous long nightmare sequence reminiscent of German Expressionist cinema, and Lorre is spectacularly spooky in his relatively short screen time. Directed with economy and inspiration by Boris Ingster (who did many TV productions and screenplays) and who worked with Sergei Eisenstein. Unfortunately, he only directed 3 films. This looks just spectacular on Blu-ray.
Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (Kino Lorber) The third of the notorious Ilsa films, this time directed by Jean LaFleur, with the beautiful and buxom Dyanne Thorne returning as the sadistic, hyper-sexed, Comrade Colonel of a Siberian Gulag in 1953 Russia. Here she tortures unruly prisoners by feeding them to a tiger or dunking their bodies upside down in the freezing water or letting them arm wrestle over chainsaws. Her latest prisoner is a “political thinker” Andrei Chikurin (Michel Morin), who she tries to deprogram with electric shock therapy. Meanwhile after dark she cavorts naked with her soldiers, who fight to see who will be her bed partner for the night. (Dyanne Thorne’s real husband Howard Maurer plays one of her many lovers). When Stalin is killed, she hightails out of there and we flash forward to 1976 Montreal where she runs a whorehouse. Chikurin fatefully accompanies his horny Olympic athletes to the bordello where he is kidnapped by Ilsa, who, “doesn’t like loose ends.” There are some wild kills in the Canadian section including death by snow plow and one with an exploding waterbed. This 4K UHD Blu-ray looks terrific and includes more TV friendly alternate footage and audio commentary by Jason Pichonsky & Paul Corupe. A proposed fourth Ilsa films: “Ilsa Meets Bruce Lee in the Bermuda Triangle,” sadly never came to be.
Retribution (Severin) Dennis Lipscomb plays sad sack, depressed artist, George Miller, who chooses Halloween to throw himself off the roof of his L.A. hotel. He doesn’t die, and after months of rehabilitation and many sessions with a caring psychiatrist (Leslie Wing), he is able to return to his hotel filled with all sorts of charming oddballs who care about him. But the night of his suicide the entity of a murdered gangster possessed him and when George falls asleep it emerges from his body to take revenge on all those responsible for his death. Directed by Guy Magar, this 1987 film was heavily cut for an R rating but this 4K UHD Blu-ray includes the unrated and rated versions, all from the recently discovered negative- so it looks just astonishing. The murders themselves take place in an exploding kitchen, a possessed meat processing plant and a haunted garage and are all pretty wild. Included on the 2-disc set is audio commentary with the director and short interviews with some of the cast like Leslie Wing (the psychiatrist) and Suzanne Snyder who plays Angel, the hooker with the big heart.
Man About Town/Artists and Models (Kino Lorber) Two sparkling musical comedies starring Jack Benny (and other stars) from the 1930s. Artists and Models (1937) stars Jack Benny as Mac Brewster, the head of a struggling advertising agency who is hoping to land the Townsend Silver account by choosing someone to be queen of the Artists & Models Ball. Mac wants his model girlfriend Paula (a young Ida Lupino) to be queen, but bigwig Alan Townsend (Richard Arlen) wants a high society type. Paula heads to Florida and pretends to be from the privileged set to trick Townsend, but unfortunately really falls for Alan at the same time. With wild musical numbers. Like the goofy vocalizing of Judy Canova, songbird Connee Boswell singing “Whispers in the Dark,” comic Ben Blue dancing on stage with puppet showgirls, and the loony “Public Melody Number 1” musical number set in Harlem with Louis Armstrong and Martha Raye. And, did I mention this is directed by Raoul Walsh (High Sierra)? Man About Town (1939) Jack Benny plays Bob Temple, producing a musical revue in London with his wisecracking manservant (sublime Eddie “Rochester” Anderson). He’s smitten with the leading lady (lovely Dorothy Lamour) but she has eyes for the leading man (Phil Harris). So, he tries to make her jealous but squiring around Lady Arlington (Binnie Barnes), the neglected wife of a wealthy businessman (Edward Arnold). Lamour sings a song about a “Sentimental Sandwich,” and a young Betty Grable plays a showgirl who does a number entitled “Fidgety Joe.” A delight.
The Stewardesses (Kino Lorber) Ludicrous 1969 soft-core sex comedy about some groovy flight attendants and their swinging lifestyle. This was a giant exploitation hit at the time and looks sensational here in 3-D (also including 3-D glasses when you watch it in Anaglyph 3-D). But the gem of this Blu-ray is a bizarre and hilarious half hour short “Experiments of Love,” where two partially clothed women play with a 3-D camera throwing things at the lens. It’s everything you could possibly want in a 3-D film, plus copious nudity.
Silent Night, Deadly Night (Cineverse) I was at first wary of the reboot of the infamous 1984 Silent Night, Deadly Night. The original movie really isn’t all that great to begin with- it was the controversy the movie created when parents flipped out after the movie trailer debuted on TV. But this re-imagining is directed by Mike P. Nelson, who did a great job with the Wrong Turn retread. In this film, there is the same beginning- little Billy watched his parents killed on Christmas Eve by a loon in a Santa outfit. We fast-forward to an older Billy (Rohan Campbell, who was pretty terrific in Halloween Ends) keeping a personal advent kill calendar, while a voice in his head (a la Venom) points out all the “naughty” people that need killing. He gets a job at a Christmas gift store and becomes smitten with the owner’s daughter Pam (Ruby Modine), who has a short fuse of her own. The town is also plagued by many mysterious child abductions, which comes into play during the action-packed finale. The film pays homage to the original film and even throws in the “It’s garbage day,” gag from the notorious Silent Night, Deadly Night Pt. 2. But it’s a real gory treat and has fantastic sequences- especially the one where Billy stumbles into a neo-Nazi gathering with people dressed in Santa and Elves costumes who are rejoicing with a “I’m dreaming of a white power Christmas” party. You can bet Billy is going to grab his trusty axe and bring bloody tidings of comfort and joy.
Salem’s Lot (Arrow) This stunning 4K Ultra HD restoration of both versions (the two-part TV mini-series and theatrical cut) of director Tobe Hooper’s (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) superb adaptation of one of Stephen King’s best (and scariest) books. David Soul plays novelist Ben Mears, reluctantly returning to his hometown of Salem’s Lot after 25 years to write about a nightmare from his youth- the creepy old Marsten House. Also, arriving in town is a stranger- Richard Straker (James Mason), planning to open an antique store. He has recently bought the old Marsten House with his mysterious, unseen partner Mr. Barlow (Reggie Nalder), and soon a series of deaths plague the town. Lance Kerwin plays Mark Petrie, a young boy (and major horror fan) who suspects that the new visitors at Marsten House are beginning a wave of vampire attacks, spreading the undead throughout town. There are memorably creepy moments- especially the child vampire scratching at Mark’s window at night begging to come in. The mini-series was able to expand characterization and build the sense of dread and horror. While there have been later versions of this book, Tobe Hooper’s is by far the best rendition of Stephen King’s truly frightening book.
