Another incredible month of dazzlingly demented Blu-rays. From the long-awaited Blu-rays of Lost Highway and Hedwig And The Angry Inch. To Gaspar Noe’s disturbing Climax. Also fiendishly fun sci-fi classics and Universal horrors starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in 2K high definition. Not to mention ultra-sleaze like Emanuelle In America and The New York Ripper with brand new 4k restorations. Even the late, great Doris Day is represented with her 1960 suspense film Midnight Lace. Plus, the eagerly awaited American Horror Project Volume 2, celebrating offbeat regional horror movies from the 1970s.
Lost Highway (Kino) A menacing cloud hangs over David Lynch’s brilliant, nightmarish creepfest. What begins as the story of a jazz musician (Bill Pullman) and his wife (Patricia Arquette)- who receive mysterious videotapes showing static shots of the outside of their house- suddenly escalates into violence, murder and madness. It has the crazed logic of a bad dream, though, hopefully none you’ve ever had: characters reappear in different bodies, a man in a prison cell becomes someone else, and a grinning chalk-faced Robert Blake keeps popping up like a demented gnome. The Lynchian universe, with its muted walls, pale girls with black fingernails and extraordinary sound design, is unique and unnerving. Watching the film is like pressing a seashell to your ear while someone holds a gun to your head. Just the simple sight of Bill Pullman receding into the shadows of his bedroom can fill you with inexplicable dread.
Climax (Lions Gate) Gaspar Noe’s harrowing, hallucinatory horror film about a rave that goes disastrously wrong. A French dance company rehearses their new piece in a remote warehouse. Their dance movements are thrilling to watch- the eclectic group of multi-ethnic kids hurl their bodies into motion with spectacular abandon and style. There’s an after-party, with a DJ and bowls of sangria. Unfortunately, someone has spiked the wine with LSD and things quickly spin out of control. Noe said he always wanted to do a “disaster” movie like The Towering Inferno. Here, the end credits run at the beginning, the camera dizzyingly follows behind dancers as they freak out, and the camera often tilts upsides down. But these devices work spectacularly well- they really dramatize the vertiginous, scary, surreal elements of a bad trip.
The Uncanny (Severin) Horror omnibus film about murderous cats, with Peter Cushing as a panicky, paranoid author trying to warn the world about the fiendish power of felines. Ray Milland plays his skeptical publisher. A story set in London in 1912 is about a wealthy dowager (throaty, purr-voiced Joan Greenwood) with a house full of killer kitties. The second story is about an orphaned girl and her pet pussy who uses witchcraft to get revenge on her new family. The last story is about a horror actor (Donald Pleasence) in Hollywood, his new leading lady (Samantha Eggar), and his late wife’s vengeful cat. A charming short extra on actress Susan Penhaligon, who relates the joys and problems with working with her feline co-stars.
Night Of The Creeps (Shout! Factory) Inspired horror comedy by Fred Dekker (and a throwback to the sci-fi movies of the 1950s). A meteor falls from the sky and unleashes these slimy slug-like creatures who attack their host and turn them into the walking-dead. All this takes place during a university prom and from the point-of-view of two misfit college boys (Jason Lively & Steve Marshall– both wonderful). Tom Atkins is hilarious as the boozy, cynical, trench coat-wearing detective who delivers one of the classic lines in the movie to a bunch of sorority girls: “The good news is your dates are here. The bad news is….they’re dead.” This Collector’s Edition 2-disc Blu-ray comes with the original theatrical version (which I prefer) plus the director’s cut, deleted scenes and plenty of extras, audio commentaries and new interviews with cast members. Just the best!
Emanuelle In America (Mondo Macabro) Jaw-dropping 1977 exploitation film by Joe D’Amato stars beautiful Laura Gemser as the sexy photo-journalist Emanuelle, who investigates slave harems, snuff films, deviant Venetian counts and a very randy horse named Pedro. This is the full uncut version of this outrageous cult classic with a 4K restoration. Will wonders ever cease?
Saint Bernard (Severin) Defiantly surreal head-trip of a film directed by make-up genius Gabe Bartalos. It’s about a deranged musical conductor Bernard (Jason Dugre) who wanders through a weird landscape in a dirty white tuxedo, lugging around a dog’s severed head. The set design is kind of amazing- weird wood structures studded with metal and plenty of keys. A trip to the police, where Bernard trudges through a hallway filled with empty wine bottles is memorably whacked-out. A truly unique, one-of-a-kind, experience
Trapped Alive (Arrow) Two women on their way to a Christmas party are car-jacked by some escaped convicts. Their holiday spirits are further tested when their car plunges down a mine shaft and they come under attack by a cannibal cave dweller. This Wisconsin-made film was shot in 1988 under the title “Forever Mine” but not released until 1993. Cameron Mitchell (who did quite a few of these genre films) co-stars in this bizarre rarity, given a 2K restoration from Arrow with new commentary by director Leszek Burzynski and a making-of documentary.
The Entity (Shout! Factory) Underrated 1981 chiller based on a true story, about a stressed-out single mother (Barbara Hershey), sexually assaulted by an unseen presence in her home. Vaguely based on the true case of Doris Bither, there is something truly disturbing about the movie and Hershey is just terrific. There are wonderful new interviews with Hershey and David Labiosa– who played her teenage son in the film, describing their experiences making the movie. Martin Scorsese listed this as one of his 11 favorite scary films.
Frankenstein Created Woman (Shout! Factory) The 4th film of Hammer Studio’s mad doctor series is one of the weirdest and best. Directed by the wonderful Terence Fisher, Peter Cushing returns as Victor Frankenstein, who attempts to transfer a soul into another body. His subject is a young man unfairly executed- Hans (Robert Morris) who is injected into the lifeless body of his disfigured girlfriend- Christine (Susan Denberg). When Christina is returned to life by the crazed scientist she takes murderous revenge, controlled by the spirit of Hans. Yes, it’s that weird. These digitally-restored Hammer Films from Shout! Factory are a wet dream for horror fans. The colors pop and the clarity is extraordinary on this terrific Blu-ray.
Jeffrey (Shout! Factory) Handsome Steven Weber plays Jeffrey, the lead in Christopher Ashley’s funny film adaptation of Paul Rudnick’s hit play. He plays a gay man in NY who has turned his back on relationships. He is suddenly paralyzed with fear (and lust) when he meets the handsome, HIV+ Steve (nicely played by Michael T. Weiss). The landmines of 90s gay life- self-help groups, therapy, gyms, are all fodder for Rudnick to unleash his lacerating wit with dizzy abandon. A wonderful fantasy exchange between Jeffrey and his mother (Debra Monk) has her cheerily asking her son if he is “a top or a bottom?”
I’ll Take Your Dead (Shout! Factory) A father- William (Aidan Devine) and his young daughter Gloria (Ava Preston) live in a remote farmhouse in the country. People drop by with dead bodies in their trunks for William to dispose of. He takes their cash and cuts up their bodies in the basement dissolving the sections in a bathtub filled with acid. When one of the “bodies” (Jess Salgueiro) turns out to be alive, William and the daughter nurse her to health, but her killers- finding out she is not dead- head to the farmhouse armed and angry. Ari Millen is a stand-out as an unbearably sleazy criminal. Director Chad Archibald’s film has a nice creepy atmosphere for this macabre, rather original, chiller.
Swing Time (Criterion) This divine 1938 musical comedy starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers has one of my favorite dance numbers- “Never Gonna Dance,” with music by Jerome Kern and choreography by Hermes Pan. Astaire plays “Lucky,” a dancer and gambler, who is bet that he won’t get married. His resolve is weakened when he meets a beautiful dance school instructor (Ginger Rogers). All these RKO films are similar in keeping these star-crossed lovers from romance until the last reel. (It’s the only frustrating part of watching these films). Well-directed by George Stevens (Giant), it’s truly one of their very best. I defy you not to hum “The Way You Look Tonight” for weeks afterwards. This indispensable Criterion edition is a 2K-restoration of the movie and includes archival interviews with Rogers and Astaire and a new interview with George Stevens Jr.
The Girl Most Likely To… (Kino) Pitch-dark comedy, written by Joan Rivers and shown first on ABC’s Movie-Of-The-Week, about Miriam (Stockard Channing), a bullied, unattractive college girl, who gets plastic surgery and returns for revenge on all those who made her life a living hell. The murders in the film are outrageously funny. Ed Asner plays a detective with a connection to the “old” Miriam in this twisted comedy. I remember catching this on TV at the time and roaring with laughter.
The Monolith Monsters (Shout! Factory) A fascinating 1957 sci-fi movie about a meteorite that crashes outside a California desert town. It replicates and grows at an alarming rate when exposed to water. Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man) plays a geologist that tries to warn authorities of the impending catastrophic danger. The criminally under-used Lola Albright (A Cold Wind In August) plays the geologist’s teacher girlfriend. While massive marauding rocks initially seems like a dumb idea, there’s a surprising intelligence to this underrated sci-fi treat. Perhaps I have rocks in my head, but I love this stupid movie.
Universal Horror Collection Vol. 1 (Shout! Factory) Excellent set of Universal horror films (looking spectacular on Blu-ray), pairing Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. The Raven is an exquisite 1935 film starring Bela Lugosi as a mad surgeon obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. He invites people to his electronically operated home, complete with his own pit and the pendulum. Boris Karloff pays his disfigured, criminal henchman. Karloff and Lugosi are teamed up for the first time in The Black Cat, a visually spectacular 1934 film by Edgar G. Ulmer about a devil cult leader (Karloff) who lives in an Art Deco-nightmare house built over a graveyard. Bela plays a war veteran/psychiatrist with “an intense and all-consuming horror of cats.” The Invisible Ray has Boris Karloff as a scientist going bonkers (and glowing in the dark) after being exposed to Radium X. Black Friday has Boris as a doctor who transplants a gangster’s brain into the body of his professor friend, but there are dangerous repercussions. The generous extras include a 4-part documentary of Lugosi & Karloff at Universal Studios.
Hedwig & The Angry Inch (Criterion) Blazingly original rock opera written/directed and starring John Cameron Mitchell as the “internationally ignored” transsexual glam rock star Hedwig. The movie charts his rise as a young boy named Hansel forced to listen to music in his mother’s stove, to his botched sex-change operation to please an American G.I. It also covers his infatuation with a closeted rock and roller named Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt). Adapted by Mitchell and lyricist and composer Stephen Trask from their smash off-Broadway hit it’s a terrific transition onto film with its eye-popping visuals and costumes and head-banging score.
Midnight Lace (Kino) A glossy melodramatic thriller from producer Ross Hunter and starring the late, sublime Doris Day as a wealthy married woman in London who is terrorized by a mysterious stalker. Rex Harrison plays Day’s skeptical husband. Handsome John Gavin plays a contractor working next door who comes to her rescue. Scenes with Doris frightened in the fog by a creepy-voiced predator are memorably effective. Along with Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and the fabulously ludicrous Julie, this was one of the rare suspense films for Day. It’s still hard for me to fathom a world without Doris Day.
Monster On The Campus (Shout! Factory) Arthur Franz plays a college science professor whose life is tragically altered when a student (Troy Donahue) brings him a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Accidentally scratching his hand on the teeth of the million-year-old “coelacanth,” the professor retrogresses into a Neanderthal creature which terrorizes the campus. My favorite part of this 1958 Jack Arnold-directed sci-fi film is the dragonfly, which lands on the fish, and grows into a frightening flying monster.
The New York Ripper (Blue Underground) Luci Fulci’s grisly 1982 thriller about a psycho-killer targeting women in a crime-ridden Manhattan. A burned-out cop (Jack Hedley) investigates. The perverse twist is that the fiend has a Donald Duck-like cackle when he kills. The excessive violence (even for Fulci) kept this warped wonder censored all over the globe. Even Fulci fans were appalled. But time has been kinder to the film. The director’s dark humor shines through all the misogyny and sleaze. This 3-disc set includes a 4K restoration of this notorious shocker and the film’s soundtrack by Francesco De Masi.
Green Inferno (Shout! Factory) Horror maestro Eli Roth’s (Hostel) enjoyably bloodthirsty tribute to the Italian cannibal movies of the 1980s. Justine (a terrific Lorenza Izzo) plays a New York college student who joins up with an eco-protest group who travel to Peru to prevent construction crews from tearing down the rain forest. Unfortunately, their plane crashes and they are captured by a ferocious tribe of cannibals. Roth appreciates the genre and brings a post-modern spin and keeps the roller-coaster ride of a film on track. With scores of extras, deleted scenes and commentaries.
The Golden Arrow (Warner Archive) Silly but fun 1962 Italian Arabian Nights-tale starring a boyishly handsome Tab Hunter (with a butch dubbed voice) as the prince of thieves, who kidnaps the beautiful Princess of Damascus (Helen Of Troy’s Rossana Podesta). He lets her go free and goes on a magical journey to win her back, retrieve a golden arrow and take his rightful place on the throne. There are flying carpets, three magical genies (with their own goofy soundtrack), flaming rock men and other assorted villains. Directed by Antonio Margheriti– better known for his atmospheric horror films like Castle Of Blood. The glorious-looking Blu-ray showcases the wonderful Italian craftsmanship on the sets and costumes.
The Believers (Olive Films) there’s a nice sense of urban paranoia in John Schlesinger’s only horror film (if you don’t count Honky Tonk Freeway). Martin Sheen plays Cal, a police psychiatrist, recent widower and single dad in Manhattan who treats a crazed undercover cop (Jimmy Smits) and unwittingly involves himself (and those around him) in an evil Santaria/Devil-worshipping cult of child killers. Sure, there’s a heavy Rosemary’s Baby vibe, but also some creepy touches- particularly a scene where Cal’s new girlfriend (Helen Shaver) has a giant boil grow on the side of her face (caused by a voodoo spell). When it pops, all these creepy spiders crawl out. This film is better than I remembered it, actually.
The Illusionist (MVD) Marvelously cunning cinematic sleight of hand from director Neil Burger. Set in 1900 Vienna, a mysterious magician named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) arrives in town, and his ability to conjure the near-impossible out of thin air on stage brings him to the attention of the ruthless Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) and his beautiful fiancé Sophie (Jessica Biel). Sophie recognizes Eisenheim as someone from her past who she cared deeply about and Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) steps in, at the request of the Prince, to keep these two apart. Murder, apparitions, and magic ensue. The joy of watching a great magician or a great movie is being mystified and awestruck by their stunt. This is so much fun- from the superb casting, gorgeous score by Philip Glass, and supremely satisfying conclusion.
American Horror Project Volume 2 (Arrow) In Stephen Thrower’s seminal book Nightmare USA, he champions many regional low budget American horror movies from the 1970s. These box sets from Arrow include fascinating examples of these rare genre films. Dream No Evil is a somber and weird 1970 film about a disturbed young woman- Grace (Brooke Mills), raised as a child in an orphanage and fixated that her father was coming for her. Adopted into a family of traveling faith healers her “daddy” delusions increase until she believes she is living with him (Edmond O’Brien) at an abandoned ranch and begins killing unwanted strangers. The movie doesn’t seem to ever operate on a sane level- in one sequence, Grace, working her revival racket ascends a giant ladder in a bathing suit to dive into a pile of old clothes for the appreciative crowds. The Child (1977) is another lulu, about Alicianne (Laurel Barnett) who travels to a remote house in the woods to be a nanny for a precocious young girl Rosalie (Rosalie Cole) who spends her nights roaming in the nearby cemetery raising the dead to do her evil bidding. Dark August (1976) is a slow-burn supernatural tale, filmed in Stowe, Vermont, starring Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire) as a white witch who tries to defuse the spell cast by a vengeful grandfather (William Robertson) against a man (J.J. Barry) who accidentally killed his granddaughter. All these films are 2K restorations and come with fascinating introductions by Stephen Thrower and scores of extras.
The Monolith Monsters! HAHA! I forgot about that one! This certainly is a bat shit list! 🙂