Batshit Blu-rays of the Month- 11 for September

            This month’s treasure trove of Blu-ray treats includes- a psycho Johnny Cash; a rude, hilarious Todd Solondz dark comedy; a rare Italian-TV thriller starring the stunning Edwige Fenech; a haunting Andrew Haig film starring Andrew Scott (Ripley); an incendiary Peter Brook-directed film adaptation of Marat/Sade; Oz Perkins’ ultra-disturbing Longlegs; a fabulous 1962 British supernatural thriller- Burn, Witch Burn; a loony Bob Hope spy comedy; Joe Dallesandro in a twisted Italian crime film; a neglected, suspenseful chiller about a killer orangutan and more offbeat film noir treats that deserve to be unearthed and enjoyed.

            Door to Door Maniac/Right Hand of the Devil (Film Masters) A new 4K transfer from original 35mm archival elements of this 1961 thriller (also known as Five Minutes to Live). Country–and-western singing legend Johnny Cash plays mad-dog cop killer Johnny Cabot who poses as a guitar-toting traveling salesman in order to weasel his way into the house of a banker’s wife (Cay Forester) as part of a plot to extort money. “Are you an entertainer?” she asks. “No, Mrs. Wilson- I’m a killer.” With Vic Tayback (Mel from TV’s Alice) as Cabot’s partner in crime, and future director Ronnie Howard as a cute little kid who pretends to take a bullet to throw off the killer. A surprisingly nasty little film. Plus, the ultra-rare Right Hand of the Devil (1963), a vanity production written, produced and starring Turkish-born Aram Katcher as a criminal mastermind who gathers a ragtag crew together for the heist of a sports arena. He even romances the middle-aged head cashier for the keys to the kingdom. Hilariously inept but with a great ironic twist ending. Aram’s back story is a doozy- he ran a popular hair salon in L.A. and played bit parts in movies- he even played Napoleon- twice. After filming his scenes as Fidel Castro’s brother in Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz, another actor was brought in and the scenes were re-shot without his knowledge- he only discovered this when he was about to do publicity for the film.

            Happiness (Criterion) There are movies, and then there is Happiness, Todd Solondz’s nightmare comedy. Never has a title dripped with such irony, for there is little joy in the lives of the Jordan sisters: Joy (Jane Adams), a 30-year-old sad-sack aspiring musician; Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), a dissatisfied best-selling author; and Trish (Cynthia Stevenson), who feels she is living the perfect suburban married life, unaware that her psychiatrist husband (Dylan Baker) is a serial pedophile. Solondz’s sardonic vision is filtered through the lens of some cracked 50’s sitcom, featuring bright, cheery colors and a jaunty score- it’s like watching an episode of Leave it to Beaver in which Ward drugs and fucks one of the Beav’s friends. Other sensational supporting players in this neurotic Nashville include Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jared Harris, Elizabeth Ashley, Ben Gazarra, Louise Lasser and the wonderful Camryn Manheim. I think it’s a truly great film, but it’s one in which you catch your breath in horrified laughter after every scene.

            Film Noir the Dark Side of Cinema XX (Kino Lorber) Three bristling new film noir treats. Appointment with Danger (1951). The strangling of a Postal Inspector causes dogged cop Al Goddard (Alan Ladd) to track down every lead in identifying the killers (ironically played by Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, who would eventually make a career on TV playing good cops on Dragnet). Ladd plays Al Goddard as a gruff, cynical, unpleasant piece of work. “You’re a good cop,” a colleague remarks, “That’s about all you are.” Goddard’s trying to track down a nun (Phyllis Calvert) who might be a witness to the identity of the criminals. Jan Sterling does an amusing turn as a be-bop loving gangster’s moll. Nicely directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited). Make Haste to Live (1954). Moody thriller starring Dorothy McGuire as a mother of an 18-year-old living in New Mexico with a terrible secret. She was once married to a fearsome gangster (Stephen McNally) who has just been released from prison and has come gunning for her. Captain Carey U.S.A. (1950). Alan Ladd plays a former OSS officer dropped behind enemy lines during the War. He returns to Italy to root out the person who betrayed him and cost many villagers to be shot by the Germans. To his shock, he finds the woman he loved (Wanda Hendrix) was not murdered during the German raid but is now married to a sinister Baron. A young Russ Tamblyn plays Pietro, whose father was falsely accused as a traitor and hanged in the town square. Directed by Mitchell Leisen (Death Takes a Holiday).

            Private Crimes (Severin) Sergio Martino had directed actress Edwige Fenech is several films, including two sensational “giallo” thrillers- The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971) and Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972). They reteamed in 1993 for this 4-part mystery series for Italian television which was a giant ratings-hit. Thanks to Severin, we finally get to experience this rare thriller and it’s a real treat. Filmed in picturesque Lucca, with a terrific cast including the always-great Ray Lovelock (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie), and other screen greats like Alida Valli (The Third Man) and Annie Girardot (The Ape Woman). The town is rocked by two murders. One, a wealthy married man who enjoyed love affairs with very young girls and the other is the tragic killing of the beautiful and talented young daughter of a reporter (Edwige Fenech– giving a superb performance as the grieving mother). Handsome Ray Lovelock plays the Commissario, sorting through the endless suspects- from lovesick ex-boyfriends, to voyeuristic professors, while mysterious typed letters are mailed to the suspects. The mystery plays out with wonderful visual flourishes and nice unexpected twists. The two-disc Blu-ray includes an enjoyable interview with Sergio Martino “Giallo in Lucca.” And a lengthy interview with the still gorgeous Edwige Fenech, who produced this series and brought director Martino to the project.  

            Longlegs (Decal Releasing) This subversively disturbing chiller by Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter) is about Lee Harker, a haunted, rookie FBI agent (sensational Maika Monroe), with possible psychic abilities, on the hunt for a frightening serial killer who calls himself “Longlegs.” The fiend remotely causes suburban fathers to violently annihilate their families and delights in leaving authorities cryptic, encoded, Zodiac Killer-like notes behind. Nicolas Cage is almost unrecognizable as a mysterious, long-haired, deathly pale, lumpy-faced, maker of life-sized dolls. He also is a lover of the 60s English rock group T Rex and Satan (maybe not in that order). Blair Underwood plays seasoned Agent Carter, Harker’s FBI partner. It’s wonderful to see Underwood again- I’ve been a fan of his ever since he played “Bobby Blue” on One Life to Live. Alicia Witt is just phenomenal as Lee Harker’s incredibly weird, deeply damaged, mother. Perkins has a way of framing a simple shot- like the outside of a house, or looking out through a car windshield, or even the inside of a barn adorned with crosses- and filling you with unexplained dread. This film feels of one piece and it keeps whittling away at your nerves throughout. I swear I haven’t been this creeped out since Ari Aster’s Hereditary. Not that they are similar- they’re not. But they are beautifully crafted, insidiously constructed and both pure nightmare fuel.

            Marat/Sade (Sandpiper Pictures) 1967 British film adaptation of the brilliant, revolutionary, Peter Brook production (with the Royal Shakespeare Company) of the Peter Weiss play “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade.”  Set in an asylum, the transgressive libertine and controversial author the Marquis de Sade (Patrick McGee) stages a play based on the murder of Marat using the inmates as actors. Ian Richardson plays Jean-Paul Marat and the luminous Glenda Jackson plays killer Charlotte Corday. The performance (and disturbed cast) eventually spins scarily out of control in front of the distinguished audience. This has not been easy to see for many years so I am thrilled this visionary theatrical experience is making it to Blu-ray. 

            Burn Witch Burn (Kino Lorber) A new, improved, special edition of this exceptional 1962 British chiller based on Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife. Peter Wyngarde plays a psychology professor lecturing about superstition. He is disturbed to discover his wife (Janet Blair) has been practicing “obea” or “conjure magic” that she learned in Jamaica. He is determined to force his wife to end her protective spells on him because he doesn’t believe in any of it. But soon, to his horror, he discovers there are evil forces at the college working to destroy him. There are some memorable chilling moments in the film in synch with the original title “Night of the Eagle.” A great screenplay by Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson elevates this to its deserved cult status. Even the New York Times praised the film as “the most effective supernatural thriller since Village of the Damned.” And, “The climax is a nightmarish hair-curler…” 

            All of Us Strangers (Criterion) One of my favorite films from last year was this melancholy, incredibly moving, film directed by Andrew Haigh (Weekend) starring Andrew Scott as Adam, a lonely screenwriter living in a mostly uninhabited new skyscraper where he is able to stare out at the London skyline from his window. A drunken neighbor, Harry (Paul Mescal), knocks on his door with an invitation to spend the night together. In a panic, Adam sends him away but is filled with longing and regret. He meets him later at a gay club and drunkenly confesses his sadness of losing his parents in a car accident. Adam decides to exorcise his pain by returning to where he grew up and he does, taking the train to the suburbs near Croyden, only to find his mother and father there, living in his old house. Adam keeps returning by train and pouring out his heart to the ghostly apparitions. Jamie Bell and Claire Foy are mesmerizing as his dead parents. The film casts a spell on the viewer and the end is devastating, heartbreaking and intensely beautiful.

            My Favorite Spy (Kino Lorber) Breezy 1951 spy spoof starring Bob Hope as burlesque comic Peanuts White who is recruited by the US Government because he is the spitting image of a fearsome double agent named Augustine in order to retrieve some microfilm. He is given a whirlwind training and sent to Tangier where he meets femme fatale chanteuse Lily Dalbray (gorgeous Hedy Lamarr) and a host of nefarious villains. Directed by Norman Z McLeod (who directed several Marx Brothers films not to mention my favorite W. C. Fields film- It’s a Gift). There’s a wild chase scene at the end with Hedy driving a firetruck and Bob Hope hanging precariously from an upraised ladder. Loony fun. Excellent and informative audio commentary by film historian Julie Kirgo and filmmaker Peter Hankoff.

            Madness (Raro/Kino Lorber) Sex, sleaze and Joe Dallesandro. What more can you want from a movie? Directed by Fernando Di Leo, an accomplished screenwriter who directed many crime films and the unforgettable shocker To Be Twenty. Dallesandro plays Joe, an escaped criminal who steals a car (after bashing a farmer with a rock and impaling another with a pitchfork). He heads to a remote cabin where he has money hidden in the fireplace. But before he is able to access it, the weekenders vacationing there arrive. A husband Sergio (Gianni Macchia) and wife Liliana (Patrizia Behn) and the wife’s slutty sister Paola (Lorraine De Selle) who is also sleeping with Sergio. Joe holds them all hostage, turning them against one another. (There are weird movie star posters on the walls of the cabin- Marlon Brando, James Dean and John Travolta). Sexy Lorraine De Selle spends most of the movie practically nude and is a veteran of other notorious cult favorites like House on the Edge of the Park and Cannibal Ferox. Di Leo was a gun-for-hire director on this and doesn’t hold the film in high regard but it’s actually delightfully depraved. Audio commentary by Film historian Troy Howarth, who was written many excellent books on Italian genre films.

            Link (Kino Lorber) Criminally underrated 1986 thriller by Richard Franklin (Road Games) starring an incandescent Elisabeth Shue as a college student in London who accepts a job as assistant to a revered zoology professor (Terence Stamp) at his remote seaside mansion. He lives with a clever chimp named Imp and an orangutan named Link, dressed in a butler outfit, fond of smoking cigars. Soon she finds herself marooned there without a phone and with a very psychopathic primate. This 4K UHD Blu-ray is glorious-looking (it also comes with a regular Blu-ray with a fun audio interview with director Franklin and deleted workprint scenes). Incredibly suspenseful and sharply directed.

            Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XXI (Kino Lorber) Three offbeat film noir treats. Shack Out on 101 (1955). Why isn’t this movie better known? It’s about Commie spies operating out of a hash house on the California coast highway and it’s a howler. The dialogue is pitched so wildly over-the-top (everyone is practically yelling at one another) and filled with jaw-dropping wisecracks and moments of sheer lunacy. Lee Marvin is “Slob,” the uncouth fry cook making life hell for the sexy waitress (Terry Moore), who is dating a secretive scientist (Frank Lovejoy) and studying for her Civil Servant exam. A high point is her reciting the different branches of government while making out with Lovejoy. The owner of the diner (Keenan Wynn) works out religiously with weights and plans on an Acapulco vacation with an old army buddy (Whitt Bissell), who has a pathological fear of blood. Wynn and Marvin are always rolling up their pants and arguing who has the best legs. Directed by Edward Dein (The Leech Woman). The excellent black & white cinematography is by Floyd Crosby (who economically and expertly shot many early Roger Corman films, not to mention the acclaimed High Noon). This is a new 4K restoration. Short Cut to Hell (1957). James Cagney (who directed this film) makes an introduction praising the two acting newcomers Robert Ivers and Georgann Johnson in this taut thriller based on a novel “This Gun for Hire” by Graham Green. Robert Ivers plays Kyle, a hired killer who is double-crossed when he is paid for his hit with stolen (traceable) bankroll money. He comes to L.A. looking for the “fat man who loves Peppermint Patties” who hired him to get even. Along the way on a train to Los Angeles he meets a lounge singer Glory (Georgann Johnson), a detective’s girlfriend, and he abducts her off the train for protection. She takes pity on him, especially when she witnesses how kind he is to stray cats, but he keeps warning her about himself, “I’m not a person- I’m a gun.”  Just terrific, with wonderful Yvette Vickers as the sexpot hotel maid.  Cloak and Dagger (1946) A Fritz Lang anti-Nazi thriller set at the end of World War II where a Midwestern nuclear scientist (Gary Cooper) is recruited by the OSS to stop the Germans from creating an atomic bomb. Lilli Palmer is dynamic as an Italian resistance fighter in this tense and suspenseful wartime drama.