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Fangs of the Living Dead

1969, Spain / Italy, Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Colour, Running Time: 74 minutes
Review Source: Download; Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Mono

Receiving legal notification that she is in line to inherit a castle, Sylivia ('the most beautiful woman in Italy, according to her boyfriend's mate...) heads off to the foreign land of the building's location - two weeks before her wedding - to collect what's due to her, intending to be back with a fortune just in time to try on her dress. Jetting off she discovers a strangely antiquated land where superstitious locals fear the very mention of the castle that she's come to inherit. Arriving at the castle she learns that her ancestor was burned at the stake for alchemy - or 'necrobiology' as it's rather eloquently put in the English dub. Apparently the woman was attempting to prolong human life by unnatural means, and it would appear she succeeded: now the inhabitants of the castle are vampires! Furthermore, the residing count wants Sylvia to abandon her more conventional relationship in favour of remaining at the castle for the rest of eternity, or at least until the place is razed to make way for a new Tesco. Soon her boyfriend is also showing up, along with his perpetually present companion, to make sense of her letter to break the whole thing off.

Amando de Ossorio is of course the man famously responsible for the Blind Dead films, four cult horror/exploitation vehicles about the corpses of the Knights Templar returning to life to reap havoc on the living. Another nice piece by the writer/director was La Noche de los Brujos, or Night of the Sorcerers to the non-Spanish out there. Before any of those films he tried his hand at the Gothic Horror, an already successfully explored arena by the likes of Hammer and various Italians (notably Mario Bava of course), and gave the world Malenka, crudely retitled for American cinema and video releases as Fangs of the Living Dead. Somehow they roped in Anita Ekberg to play the title role(s), who had already established herself as Miss Sweden at the beginning of the fifties before embarking on a film career (probably little realising that she would one day end up wandering around a castle fending off bloodsuckers of the night with her breasts half exposed!). She actually strikes me here as an older, slightly more chiselled version of Milla Jovovich. Her character's adventure to a land almost lost in time is typical of 60s European Gothic cinema, and harks back to the days of some of the Universal monster movies. Similarly typical is the picturesque medieval castle populated by the undead. Part of the appeal of this Spanish example of the genre, I have to say, is the presence of a number of busty barmaids who serve at the local inn and vampire ladies wandering around the castle itself. Whilst the historic structure itself is an atmospheric delight, this injection of partially exposed female flesh makes the film all the more attractive to look at...

I get the impression that most people who have seen Malenka are nearly bored to the grave with its neanderthal stagger, but I think the film has been unfairly treated by its US distributors since the original theatrical screenings, a malignity that afflicted almost everything, exploitation-wise, that came out of Europe around the late fifties through to early seventies. For a start the film is severely cut, of around fifteen minutes - this can never help narrative coherence, character development, or aura-building. Secondly the conclusion of the film in this shorter, more widely seen cut, is silly and disjointed to the extreme - I understand this was also a change made to the original version. In addition, the image that I've seen on the various releases available, aside from lacking in fine detail, is always heavily cropped - it's impossible to assess and appreciate image composition in such severely compromised circumstances. The last main concern is, as always, to do with English dubbing. It is rather ridiculous and makes it almost impossible to take the film seriously (unless the viewer is able to look past that), although it does introduce a number of highly amusing moments: after clumsily reading out his fiancee's letter which quite simply states 'My dear niece, I am pleased to inform you that you've now the right to everything your mother has left you' Sylvia's baffled husband-to-be exclaims, 'Good Lord, we've got to decipher it' - classic stuff! There do seem to be quite a few humorous moments but it's difficult to say how much of this is down to the English interpretations made during the dubbing process, or whether de Ossorio actually intended odd moments of humour. Production restrictions were unfairly placed upon de Ossorio at the time, notably with budget (as de Ossorio himself once amusingly stated, the producer "was Jewish, very strict on money" [Dark Side Magazine September 1996 issue]), and when the producer decided to prematurely close down the shoot, forcing the writer/director to cut together what footage he had, changing drastically from his original story in places as a result - it's not a surprise that given the aforementioned American distribution issues, along with the production problems themselves, the results are not proficient and coherent. I understand that a DVDR ripped from a Dutch VHS contains the longer version of the film, though still dubbed in English, and such black market versions can be purchased from one or two sites that specialise in this kind of material - of course I don't condone such stuff but in the absence of anyone coming forward to release the film properly it's a temptation that lingers. I can only hope, most likely in vain, that someone unearths the correct version of Malenka for a legitimate disc one day, because I really don't think it's anywhere near as bad as general opinion might suggest.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

1956, US, Directed by Don Siegel
B&W, Running Time: 80 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region A, Olive Films; Video: 2.00:1 1080p 24fps, Audio: DTS HD MA

Based on a serialised story entitled The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney that appeared in the American-bred Collier's Magazine in 1954 (which was also subsequently published as a novel), Invasion of the Body Snatchers has become an undisputed classic of science fiction over the half century or so since. It wasn't especially perceived as anything over and above the crowd at the time, but the maturity of the production along with its immortal aura of fear has allowed it to stand the test of decades of progression whilst many other sci-fi movies of the fifties are generally considered by critics as disposable. Dr Miles Bennell returns to his home town amidst a general hysteria of residents feeling that people they know intimately have changed somehow, despite no visible difference in appearance. Bennell is initially ambivalent, unable to decide whether there's any validity in the claims, until he's called round to a friend's house where they've found a 'body' that appears to be an underdeveloped replica of his friend. The body disappears but later on the group discover a number of giant seeds that produce dormant versions of themselves before their eyes. Bennell destroys them and sets off to get out of town with his old flame, Becky Driscoll, realising that the escalating situation is seeing the population being taken over by emotionless imitators that have grown from the mysterious pods. Unable to get a phone line out to other locations, and now the target of a hostile populace, Bennell and Driscoll embark on an increasingly frantic race to avoid becoming one of the others as they fight to escape.

Probably more highly regarded than the Finney novel itself, Invasion... is a frightening tale of paranoia and loss of humanity/autonomy. Made during an era of uncertainty as very real invasion from malevolent international forces, a factor that most likely made the story flavour of the time with the American public, it has been considered to be a parable against communism but Siegel and Finney have both opposed this theory, preferring to uphold its non-political status as simply a science fiction thriller. Of course it's easy to see why viewers will see the proposed political allegory, as everyone effectively becomes the same as they find themselves a victim of the pods, in a world that would eventually be devoid of emotion. It was never really clear in the film how the legitimate bodies were extinguished as they're replaced by the pod-grown replicas, however, Finney's text is more explicit in revealing that they actually turn to dust - I can understand why this may have posed a problem cinematically, either because audiences were more easily shocked at the time or because the budget simply wouldn't allow it (I suspect it was more so the former, as the special effects that are on screen are actually quite impressive). After the part of Bennell was thought to be suitable for a number of other actors, Kevin McCarthy eventually got the job, giving an amiable performance that progresses to mounting panic as hope is gradually torn away. His partner's shoes - that of Becky Driscoll - were filled by the shapely, highly feminine Dana Wynter. Elsewhere it's surprising to see Sam Peckinpah (later to direct such violent tales as Straw Dogs and The Wild Bunch) in a bit role - apparently he worked as a dialogue coach on the film itself (as well as several other of Don Siegel's movies around the time), claiming to have had a large part in re-writing the screenplay, a matter hotly disputed by credited screen-writer Daniel Mainwaring. The dialogue is a product of its time, but the scenarios and overall concept are just as frightening as they ever were. Yet the promised world of the aliens is a superior one in their view - one that is devoid of emotion and therefore problems. It poses an interesting idea and question - is it the presence of emotion that makes humans distinct, and would the world be a better place without it? This very idea would form the basis of another science fiction film made in more recent times - Equilibrium, where emotion is essentially banned in society and children are brought up to acknowledge its lack of use. Of course the argument in Invasion..., presented by the two surviving characters who love each other, is that the removal of emotion via the transition of conventional human to pod-born human is not something that is desirable, despite those that have been converted boasting its advantages. Without wasting a minute Invasion... remains a powerfully gripping experience to this day, with an influence on the genre that has spawned admiration, and remakes of course - these seem to diminish in quality with each subsequent attempt strangely (one is particularly good, one reasonable, and the last is, well...). As usual, the original is the best.

Considering its highly rated standing, a commendable disc release has been a painfully long time coming. I did own this on video cassette in the nineties but as my understanding of composition progressed I became frustrated with the ugly cropped fullframe transfer, and stopped watching it in the hope/expectation that a special edition of some sort would eventually materialise. None of the DVDs really lived up to that - they were either cropped, colourised, or widescreen but with substandard picture quality (Universal treated their UK fans with usual contempt as they put out a couple of can't-be-bothered DVDs that were inadequate), while stateside Republic put out the best DVD which contained both fullframe (useful only really for comparison and for argument against cropping) and fairly accurately framed widescreen versions in one pack, alongside an interview with McCarthy and liner notes - image was not up to much though. Thankfully Olive Films have arrived to correct one of home cinema's great wrongs - their US Blu-ray basically demolishes all releases as far as the transfer is concerned. Reportedly shot in a fairly standard 1.85:1 spherical frame it was projected (supposedly against the director's wishes) in the experimental 'Superscope' ratio of 2.00:1 - that's how it's framed here, and it feels very comfortable (particularly if you've seen the film cropped to 1.33:1, which routinely loses characters on either edge of the screen - ridiculous). The black and white photography can finally be appreciated for the proficient art that it was, detail is sharp throughout, and the gray tones look wonderful. Audio is presented via the respected DTS HD Master Audio format - mono naturally, but very clear. Alas there are no extras, which is a shame (there's room for a historian based commentary here, or a retrospective documentary perhaps). Having said that, if the production of extras compromised the efforts that went into the transfer, then I'd take the improved AV presentation over bonus material every time. The Blu-ray is packaged in an attractive cover, all housed inside a slipcase. An amazing film finally looks and sounds stellar in HD, and there shouldn't be much thought going into whether to buy this if you already like the movie.

Resident Evil: Afterlife

2010, US / Germany / France, Directed by Paul W S Anderson
Colour, Running Time: 97 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region B, Sony; Video: 2.39:1 1080p 24fps 3D, Audio: DTS HD MA

Infilitrating a huge scientific laboratory, Alice massacres her way through to locate Wesker, one of the people at the top of the nefarious Umbrella Corporation.  The ensuing battle results in a mass of bodies and the nuclear destruction of place, just before she hitches on an escaping jet containing Wesker.  Her assassination attempt fails, however, and in the brief struggle she is injected with a cell 'normalisation' serum by the now-superhuman Wesker.  The jet crashes (as Wesker rather foolishly takes his attention away from the non-automated controls to beat up Alice!) as they conclude their combat and Alice is left to roam a barren landscape in search of uninfected humans and a final solution to the organisation responsible for the worldwide mess.  Eventually locating a small aeroplane, along with an unwilling partner, she sets off on an airbound mission in search of a reportedly safe 'town' called Arcadia.  Closing in on her objective she sees a group of people stranded atop a building surrounded by infected, and particularly hungry, crowds.  Crash landing the plane on top of the building Alice and the group have to find a way off the place in order to reach Arcadia, which they can see via binoculars just a few miles away.

Crossing back and forth over genre borders, Afterlife is as much a superhero action movie as it is zombie horror.  The plot outline above could also be summarised as 'Alice and a group of survivors have to find a way from point A to point B in the hope of discovering safety', and the sequences prior to Alice's arrival on top of the building may have formed the opening set up of an RE console game, just before your take control of Alice to find a way out of the place.  But that's really the tradition of this series.  Emotionally as empty as anything the Resident Evil cinematic cycle has to offer, the film is nevertheless a slickly moving pounder of the senses,becoming a constant stimulus for eyesight and ears as it shows off cutting edge film-making technology and highly tuned technical/artistic flair.  It could at many points topple into the category of 'pop/rock video' if not careful but somehow manages to carry its slim plot and lack of emotional enagegment on its visual achievments and sensory pummelling.  Somewhat inspired - consiously or otherwise - by The Matrix, Wesker is modelled embarrassingly closely on the principal 'Agent' of that film, actor Shawn Roberts doing his utmost to out-Hugo Mr Weaving, while elsewhere flo-mo has been perfected and Alice drifts almost serenely through showers of bullets with near balletic poetry.  In fact, slow motion is used so much during the meticulously designed action sequences the film would probably lose ten minutes or so if everything had been played at normal speed!  Strikingly designed Milla Jovovich appears to be quite comfortable in the role of Alice, while everyone else (including the pretty hot Ali Larter from House on Haunted Hill, the first couple of Final Destination films, and Resident Evil: Extinction) function as they should, probably cognizant of the fact that they are never going to be the stars of the show in any Resident Evil film... Speaking of the stars of the show (aside from Alice), the Dead are there in their millions, as is to be expected, and the gore is quite plentiful, though largely of the digital variety as far as I can tell (and all the less offensive for it unfortunately).  By its conclusion you will be aware that this would not fail to lead up to another sequel, which you may actually be tempted to watch, Afterlife essentially being the guilty pleasure that it can be if you switch off your powers of reason.

Complementing the astute visual imaginations of the film-makers themselves, Afterlife was shot in 3D, specifically using the same PACE Fusion cameras that made the equally emotionally void Avatar so powerful an impact upon the eyes.  The Blu-ray is very sharp and near flawless throughout, with a vast palette of colours and plenty of opportunity to marvel at what you're looking at, whether there's anything else to engage the brain or not (thankfully Anderson avoids the use of annoying shaky cam in this film, something that would probably result in any 3D film becoming unwatchable).  The world is enveloping, compounded by the pounding rock soundtrack along with gunfire, explosions, and anything else the DTS HD track wants to throw at you from varying directions.  The BD can be watched in either 3D or 2D so this is the disc to get (rather than the standard 2D Blu-ray), because even if you don't own 3D viewing equipment yet, you should - and when you do you're gonna wanna watch this on it!  A moderately enjoyable film + a stunning AV presentation = a thoroughly fun experience.

Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye

1973, Italy, Directed by Antonio Margheriti
Colour, Running Time: 95 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R1, Blue Underground; Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: Dolby Digital Mono

Following a mysterious opening sequence where a body is seen dumped in a cellar and horrifically disfigured by hungry rats we jump forward to meet convent girl Corringa, who is paying a visit to her old family home, a gothic castle in rural Scotland. She’s confronted with all manner of unhinged activity: people are - regardless of traditional gender matching in some cases - having illicit affairs with one another (which she inevitably becomes drawn into herself), there are arguments about the family wealth, and quickly the lady of the house is brutally murdered. This is followed by more killings as the police are brought in to find out who’s behind the bloody mess, Corringa probably wondering what sort of domestic madness she has stumbled upon.

The title, production period, country of origin, and the initial impression of La Morte Negli Occhi Del Gatto may indicate we’re in store for a classic giallo but that’s only partly accurate: the film has a lot in common with the gothic Italian horror stories that proliferated throughout the sixties, a couple of which director Margheriti himself was responsible for (notably Castle of Blood/Danza Macabra and Virgin of Nuremberg). To throw a spanner into the works as far as our preconceptions about genre are concerned, once the killings are under way one of the characters hints at the possibility of vampiric activity (an undead vision at one point supporting this theory), while another blames everything on the poor cat that consistently hangs around doing no harm to anyone - the title seems to be tenuously designed to allude to the possibility that the cat itself witnesses the killings. There’s even a gorilla (!) repeatedly spotted spying on several of the castle’s inhabitants and may be responsible for the deaths as part of some sort of anti-human vendetta. Hence there is a schizophrenic, slightly chaotic edge to the story outline that is not altogether outside the realms of commonality when it comes to seventies Italian genre output, and it certainly takes the ideas of any viewers who think they may be able to fathom out what’s going on and buries those ideas in the castle crypt, right alongside the coffin that’s discovered smashed open from the inside. Having said that, this imaginative approach to crafting an insane plot goes frustratingly astray by the film’s conclusion, which is rather conventional in comparison to what’s preceded it. The journey up until this conclusion is fun nonetheless. Margheriti (here credited with his usual anglicised pseudonym Anthony Dawson) generally seemed like a capable director who pumped out fairly large volumes of work without apparent detriment to quality, though his films aren’t A-class to be honest. Without going overboard on the sex and bloodshed he managed to construct fittingly atmospheric movies that were both raunchy and periodically violent, particularly for their respective eras - see for example the horrific rat face-eating sequence in Virgin of Nuremberg, a film made in 1963! Incidentally the prologue to Seven Deaths… reminds me of that earlier film, featuring as it does a horde of rats devouring some poor sod’s face. Riz Ortolani, one of my favourite Italian composers (e.g. Zeder), provides the score though it’s not especially emphasised and not as notable as some of his other works. The cast function reasonably well, English girl Jane Birkin taking centre stage as the sensual Corringa as she’s surrounded by an assortment of oddballs whose relational issues keep the viewer's eyes focussed generally on the screen. The stereotype police inspector who materialises on the scene the moment a corpse appears, complete with Scottish (dubbed) accent, is an amusing touch. Regarding the soap-opera shenanigans, it’s sometimes hard to follow just what’s going on with who on occasions, but I found this can easily take a back seat to the homicidal nature of the proceedings if one so wishes to mentally disengage. The production design stands out along the way, lending an apparent finesse to the project. Successfully consolidating elements of the giallo and gothic sub-genres Margheriti again proves himself to be a director who delivers pretty much exactly what’s needed with this one.

The best version to seek out is still undoubtedly Blue Underground’s DVD, placed on shelves several years ago. The image is soft, possibly a symptom of its source, while colours are strong, possibly a touch too saturated - overall a satisfying widescreen transfer. Audio is provided in English dub only which is marginally disappointing as I would have liked an Italian track at least for comparison. A couple of scenes seem to have missed English dubbing as they’re present in this cut but with Italian dialogue only (subtitled), however it’s not too jarring and commendation is due thanks to this version being complete. Given the British setting the English dialogue is not out of place, so I can happily live with what’s here despite griping a little. An interview with Giovanni Simonelli rounds out an acceptable DVD release that could admittedly have been improved but is nevertheless welcome due to the film’s preceding obscurity.

Monster House

2006, US, Directed by Gil Kenan
Animation, Running Time: 87 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region B, Sony; Video: 2.39:1 1080p 24fps (3D), Audio: DTS HD MA

In an American suburb the local kids are terrorized by a bitter old man whenever they step on his property or let their toys fall on to his lawn, causing a real stink on Halloween when kids like to go trick-or-treating (AKA making a complete nuisance). One boy in particular, DJ, is suspicious of what goes on in the old man’s spooky house, setting up a telescope in his bedroom and generally becoming obsessed. As his parents shoot off for holiday - er, sorry: vacation - and the old man himself is taken away by ambulance after a screaming fit leaves him with a heart attack, DJ enlists the help of his fat friend and the local babe (if you’re 13 or under of course) as they begin to realise that the house itself seems to have a mind of its own, apparently ‘eating’ anything that strays too close. The police understandably don’t believe a word of it, so the youngsters decide to take the matter into their own digits - they start formulating a plan to break in.

Presenting itself as a modern mix of The ‘burbs and The Goonies, Monster House is a fairly creative CGI movie showcasing advances in technology to quite astounding effect. The story itself is not ground-breaking but the characters’ behavioural patterns and facial expressions are a joy to watch. The script is executed at a slower pace than expected by the usual roundup of ’stars’ who do an adequate job with the material, though I wasn’t especially keen on Steve Buscemi’s vocal performance as the old man. There is a tragic element to the story (referring to the old man's wife)that's kind of in the background most of the time whilst being ultimately a conceptual driving factor for the entire escapade - I guess it does add some emotional weight but it was something that I felt a little uncomfortable with.  Rendering has reached such heights that the visuals could almost pass for stop-motion photography if the character movements themselves were not so smooth, which almost makes one wonder if the film could just have been shot as live-action utilising CG special effects (especially considering the extensive use of motion capture, which is not true animation). Made using an innovative 3D process for its original theatrical screenings, the technique has stimulated plenty of inventive virtual camera work that helps draw the viewer into the action. There seems to have been a little influence from Tim Burton here also, the score itself coming across as a Danny Elfman imitation on occasions. An acceptably delightful film; kind of an animated horror for children, with a few scenes that may frighten younger viewers.

Have previously seen this a couple of times on DVD, the direct digital transfer was not as sharp as expected but was otherwise very attractive, for standard definition…However, the 3D Blu-ray transfer is another matter. It’s an absolute stunner – there is no softness, only pixel-perfect sharpness to a point where even characters at a distance are neatly defined - the images created by the Sony team are often quite stunning. Colours and contrast are absolutely vibrant and the addition of the third dimension is a thrill from beginning (where a leaf calmly drifts down from a tree top to the ground as we follow it) to the climactic end sequence as DJ is tossed around on the end of a crane hook – be prepared for vertigo! The surround mix is equally absorbing making the Blu-ray an awesome demonstration piece for your system, whether you enjoy the film or not. Monster House is quite a fun ride, a factor multiplied by a hundred if you watch this in 3D.

Salem's Lot

1979, US, Directed by Tobe Hooper
Colour, Running Time: 106 minutes
Review Source: VHS, PAL, Warner Home Video; Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Mono

Returning to the town of his upbringing, author Ben Mears intends to write a book about a solitary house that sits on the outskirts of town, a place that has intrigued him since breaking into it for a dare as a child and witnessing apparitions of some kind. Due to what he thinks he saw inside Mears has come to believe that the Marsten house is inherently evil and therefore attracts evil people; complying with his theory it has recently been purchased by the apparently malevolent Mr Straker, an outsider who is opening up an antiques shop in town. After a study session one night two schoolboys are walking home via a short cut through the woods. Becoming separated one of them manages to reach home but not before something has happened to him to result in hospitalisation. During his stay his missing brother makes a nocturnal visit to his room window where, upon entering, the deathly child bites his brother’s neck draining him of blood and life. Soon the town is in the grip of a vampire curse which begins multiplying and Mears reasons that it has something to do with Straker and his associate, Mr Barlow, a ominous man nobody has actually seen.

This is the theatrical cut of the original three hour made-for-TV version of Stephen King’s novel. They basically took the full version, removed a large portion of material (notably the vials that glow in the vicinity of the undead), inserted a couple of gorier shots and sent it out to cinemas. I always felt it was a tight and concise edit though the rapid pace of character introduction and development early on betrays the fact that footage has been excised - fans of the novel may be disappointed. 70s pop and TV icon David Soul (most famously Starsky & Hutch of course) plays the obsessive lead role well and the articulate presence of James Mason brings a touch of class. The vampires are suitably inhuman and remain a near definitive rendition of cinema’s extensively-used bloodsuckers, in particular Barlow himself, who might just be the most repulsive and frightening vampire on celluloid. All traces of the romanticism that often pervade the sub-genre have been eliminated resulting in creatures that are uncanny and unnerving because of their utter lack of humanity - rotting shells devoid of souls. Harry Sukman's brooding score is reminiscent of an earlier era and aptly supports the material; Salem’s Lot is innately an old-fashioned chiller that relies on atmosphere rather than shocks (although there are a few) and outright bloodshed (of which there is hardly any on screen). The fact that it was made for TV possibly worked in its favour - nowadays, because film-makers can show everything, they often do, sometimes forgetting about what else might make a horror project effective in the process. One of the better King adaptations, this is also one of Tobe Hooper’s finest hours, a man who perennially seems unable to repeat the success of his groundbreaking first movie (Texas Chainsaw Massacre). Surprisingly there was a ’sequel’ in 1987, A Return to Salem’s Lot: it’s elusive nowadays and, whilst obviously a cash-in, it wasn’t too bad if my memory serves me well.

Why hold on to this ailing video cassette? Well, Warner have been kind enough to digitally grant us with the full length TV version but there is no sign that the theatrical edit will ever make it to DVD or Blu. The ideal disc package would obviously contain both. While people often want the longest version of a film possible I believe that in this case the shorter version provides a satisfying way to experience the film. There was also ostensibly a European cut that incorporated a couple of slight differences. Full-frame picture quality on the UK tape leaves a lot to be desired as does the muffled sound, but until this becomes available on disc (whether it be SD or HD) I’ll be holding on to this tape.

Dead & Buried

1981, US, Directed by Gary Sherman
Colour, Running Time: 94 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region A, Blue Underground; Video: 1.78:1 1080p 24fps, Audio: DTS HD MA

If you haven’t seen the film before I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll summarise as follows: a prologue introduces a short-lived photographer as he captures images on a beach prior to being beguiled by an attractive female who's all too happy to expose her body for the camera.  The situation not quite panning out as he might have liked, he finds himself surrounded by goons, tied up, and burned alive. The place is a small town called Potter’s Bluff, and the man on the case, Sheriff Gills, is becoming increasingly concerned about the sudden rise in homicidal activity, as people are killed in an almost religiously brutal fashion. One thing that bores me slightly watching certain films is the plot being occupied by excesive periods of police investigation (with a few exceptions – Se7en being a notable one), and Gary Sherman’s dark chiller almost crosses the border into that kind of territory. What breaks it apart from the average policeman-hunting-killer(s) scenario is the fact that this does have a supernatural element behind the concept, but to explain it here would possibly be to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. The other factor is that the deaths are rather nasty – indeed it earned a place on the DPP (banned in Britain) list in the early eighties. Probably the most grotesque death is that of the burned man in hospital – somebody wants him dead and because his eye is the only thing really exposed (due to the bandages), she jams a hypodermic needle into it! Dead & Buried was somewhat mis-marketed in my opinion – because the screenplay here was written by Ronald Shusett and Dan O’ Bannon, who also wrote the story for Alien, the marketers felt the need or desire to try to rope in the crowd who’d already seen that – ‘The Creators of ALIEN bring a new terror to Earth’ proclaimed the posters. Of course this implies extra-terrestrial presence in the film but there is nothing of the sort, and no doubt some viewers have been disappointed over the years if they’ve just watched it on the strength of the promotional material alone (which some will). Aside from possibly lacking in the excitement stakes, the movie is, however, a reasonably effective chiller with a nefarious edge to it along with some pretty nifty characters (the mortician/undertaker, wickedly played by Jack Albertson, being the number one on that list).

I first viewed this on UK videocassette after it was released years following the banning – fullscreen and censored. I didn’t particularly appreciate it, but later on gave the 2 disc DVD by Anchor Bay a shot. Slipcased, this was a nice release presenting the film uncut for the first time in Britain since the banning, widescreen, and with a variety of audio options (DD2.0, DD5.1, and DTS 5.1) and extras. It was also released around the same time by Blue Underground on a similar DVD set. More recently Blue Underground have remastered the film for this Blu-ray release. The image quality is much sharper than before, although grain is very prevalent in many shots, and the variety of cinematographic techniques can be fully appreciated at last. Audio is served up as lossy DD5.1 EX, and lossless Dolby True HD 7.1 plus DTS HD Master Audio 7.1. It’s questionable whether a film such as this will ever benefit from such overblown sound formats, the likes of which are very suited to modern day cinema’s more extreme, layered, and better quality soundtracks, but one shouldn’t knock Blue Underground for putting in this kind of effort. What is slightly disappointing is that they saw fit to drop the original mono track, which was accounted for on the former BU DVD. Given the similarity between the surround tracks available I think it would have made more sense to include the mono and drop one of those, but not to worry – downmixing to stereo via your equipment provides a fairly satisfying listen. A surprising quantity of extras is still a big bonus – three audio commentaries, an interesting featurette with effects master Stan Winston, a Robert Englund interview (who has a small part in the film prior to his explosion of fame as Freddy), plus a Dan O’ Bannon piece too (there are also a couple of trailers). This gives you around five hours of listening/viewing material, which is stellar considering the fact that this is hardly a massive film. The big sell for the Blu-ray though is the great image, although that itself will alienate some because it’s hardly a thing of beauty! But that isn’t the point – we can view Dead & Buried in a manner closely aping what it probably originally screened like, and the film is something that has held up over time.

Leviathan

1989, US/Italy, Directed by George P. Cosmatos
Colour, Running Time: 94 minutes
Review Source: VHS, PAL, CBS/Fox; Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Stereo

A deep sea mining expedition is thrown slightly off schedule on the discovery of a sunken Russian ship that is reportedly still floating around the ocean as part of a larger fleet - it looks to the crew like it was torpedoed. A remote investigation results in the crew bringing back a stash of items, including a frantic Russian captain's final log (luckily the rig's doctor speaks fluent Russian...) and some alcohol. After sneakily taking a few sips of the quickly confiscated drink a couple of the crew fall ill with skin rashes and nausea, soon after one of them dying in a rather gruesome fashion. Then his corpse begins to mutate before the team leader decides to get the body off board before any infection spreads - but whilst they do manage this, they don't initially realise that a prehensile organism remains on the rig, and it's continuing to mutate at an alarming pace.

Clearly Leviathan was inspired by the likes of Alien and Aliens, throwing in elements of The Thing and Forbidden World just in case anything was missed. In this respect it's not remotely original - the plot is structured in order to lead to anything that was good about those other films, the characters are cut and paste jobs from any Hollywood action film of the period (with nicknames like 'SixPack' and hip - for the 80s - dialogue such as 'go suck on a squid', or something like that), and it features a disgustingly forced 'surprise' climax where you thought it was all over but, hey, it's really not! Aside from all that it's fairly easy to watch, with some lovely effects work from one of the 80s masters of prosthetics, Stan Winston - very gooey and disgusting despite the final monster not quite coming off so well. There are a number of name actors on board - post-Robocop Peter Weller doing a very good job as the skipper, Amanda Pays there to look good (though strangely her character takes showers with her bra and panties on... well at least it saves on washing!), the freaky looking Meg Foster as the bitch who actually gets her comeuppance, Daniel Stern as the prerequisite overly sexed stereotype male - but this is really a B movie at heart, and should only be viewed as such. Jerry Goldsmith is also there to give some credibility to the whole show, although his score is strangely generic. Coincidentally he also scored Alien but the material here invokes no emotion whatsoever - for a man who composed such stunning scores as those for The Omen and Total Recall this is a shame. Still, for monster movie fans this is a sci-fi horror (whose director was best known for Rambo: First Blood Part 2) that will pass some time relatively painlessly, if you don't pay too much attention to its shortcomings.

Re-watching this old video cassette makes one appreciate DVD and Blu-ray again!  The picture is horrifically cropped (from a J-D-C Scope ratio) to 1.33:1, sometimes requiring visible scanning to get essential visual information into view. Colours are washed out and detail vague. What colours are there tend to bleed, especially during the end credits. Audio is servicable. There have been a couple of DVDs released of the film over the years in the US and Europe, however it's surprising to note that there has never been a UK release (to my knowledge). I suspect this film would fare a little better presented properly, though it will never be considered essential.

Black Magic

1975, Hong Kong, Directed by Meng Hua Ho
Colour, Running Time: 96 minutes
Review Source: Download; Video: 2.35:1, Audio: Mono

A jaded woman visits a daemonic practitioner of the dark arts in the hope that he can despatch her cheating husband along with his lover (bit extreme - she could have just divorced him, but I guess at least this method avoids lining the pockets of rich lawyers...). Making payment in gold, the two lovers are put to death in the midst of their pleasure, as the magician uses a series of voodoo techniques to end their hedonistic existence. Elsewhere building site worker Xu Nuo is perpetually chased by a horny little nymph by the name of Luo - his boss, no less - despite the fact that he's clearly happily associated with a more conventional partner, Wang. Spurning her advances he's unaware that the selfish woman has deliberately left 'evidence' in his car, specifically for his real girlfriend to discover. Meanwhile the angry Luo smashes an admirer's car when she returns home to find the unwelcome guest. Liang drives off in his battered car to meet a friend where the shady fellow convinces him that he can have Luo by use of black magic, courtesy of ancient sorcerer Sha Jianmai, who lives in a forest outside the city. Heading off on a journey through the forest (more like a jungle actually) our man eventually locates Sha Jianmai in a hut where he is accumulating substances for his work, including milking (quite literally!) a naked woman. The magician demands payment in gold the size of a skull, which the penniless Liang promises in the hope of acquiring it from the very woman he wishes to love - once they are an item and he has his share of her bank balance. The magician needs two things for the spell - a lock of hair for the woman, and footprints in the mud, which Liang dutifully obtains. He then has to dangle a clay model of himself in Luo's house, plus pour the newly devised potion into her drink. Once consumed she's all over him - his plan comes together! At least until the clay model breaks the next morning, this also ending the hold over Luo. She threatens him with her dog 'Terry', demanding to know how he got her into bed. Confessing everything results in Luo coming up with her own plan to ensare her love interest, Xu Nuo. The magician meets Luo and promises she can have Xu Nuo for a whole year if she can supply hair from his head, drops of his blood, and her breast milk, whilst placing some rotting body parts under his bed (hell, she could just try being nice!). During another botched attempt to seduce Xu Nuo at his apartment, she manages to fulfill the requirements of the spell and, after a bizarre graveyard ritual, Liang is dead (for not paying his bill) and Xu Nuo is later bewitched - much to the annoyance of his real partner, Wang, who he has just married! The newly-wed wife won't leave it alone though, so Luo employs the magician to put a death spell on her! However, this ever spiralling situation of complexity is not quite as straightforward as Luo would like it to be, as it seems Sha Jianmai has fallen for her... Wang's friends, concerned that she is descending towards doom as the death spell takes hold, carry her to another magician by the name of Furong, who is then employed to attempt to restore right with the magic-twisted world, resulting in the two sorcerers enagaging in necromantical battle.

Shaw Brothers were known for their quality output of epic action and martial arts films, but occasionally produced something more horror-orientated, such as this film, Jiang tou as it's known in its native land. Strikingly shot from the outset, Black Magic is a love polygon ruled by magic, or the inability of the various characters to obtain the object of their desires via conventional means. Having said that, black magic itself seems to be widely accepted without question by the populating people of this world and the use of it does not seem to be a grave consideration (until it all goes wrong). Ploddingly paced there is still plenty of amusement to be had as one character after another either falls victim to the magician's handy work or actively utilises his services to influence the natural order of things. As is often the case with Hong Kong cinema, there is humour spattered frequently, as well as an offbeat way of telling the story at hand. Performances are often very good, in particular Ni Tien, who plays Luo with style and is foxy throughout (though obviously being doubled for the nude shots of the character's torso...), making an appealing lady of vague morals - indeed, it's difficult to understand why Xu Nuo is more interested in the comparatively mundane Wang than he could easily have the more energetic and sexy Luo, but there's no accounting for taste I guess... The film's horror elements are somewhat overshadowed by the convoluted love tangle, but I would suggest this stems from the Hong Kong tendency of freeform interweaving of genres as they seem less restrained than western counterparts. Nevertheless, there are some effective sequences, notably the short nightmare that Wang has of oddly bouncing ghosts, a lovely head decomposition sequence, and the routinely morbid nature of Sha Jianmai's spell-casting. Not a bad piece of work all round, this can be bought cheaply in the US as a DVD from Image Entertainment, featuring a fully scoped transfer, a surround Mandarin track, plus mono Mandarin and English tracks (I would suggest avoiding the latter but there are some viewers that don't like reading subtitles, so its presence is valid). There was also a region 3 disc released in 2004 by Celestial, fronted by an ugly cover it actually featured a superior transfer, albeit accompanied by just the mono Mandarin track (English subtitles were present on both discs).

The Devil's Rejects

2005, US, Directed by Rob Zombie
Colour, Running Time: 106 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R2, Momentum; Video: Anamorphic 1.78:1, Audio: DTS

The second feature length outing for the multi-talented metal-star-cum-movie-director follows House of 1000 Corpses almost as a sequel: it doesn’t specifically take up the same story but rather focuses on some of the principal antagonists, nasty murderous backwoods dwellers that creator Rob has clearly taken a liking to. Revealing the date to be around the end of the seventies (two years after House…) a group of cops lay siege to a house where a small posse of killers dubbed after the film’s title are hiding. A mass shootout ensues resulting in the loss of several lives, but the surviving Rejects, Baby Firefly and Otis, escape and hijack some old woman’s car to head out on their own strange little road trip. Warning their father (?) Captain Spaulding (the clown from House…) by telephone that the police may be heading his way he dumps his beached-whale missus and dilapidated home to meet them at a mutually convenient motel. When Spaulding arrives he finds they’ve wasted almost no time in capturing a couple of unnecessary hostages to torment, the sort of treatment he’s only too willing to participate in. The sheriff meanwhile has his own personal reasons for tracking down and destroying the Rejects - they were responsible for his brother’s death in the previous instalment. Soon his obsessive desire for vengeance brings him to a full-blooded showdown with the group as they’re hiding out with a friend who’s forced to betray their security.

For those who were interested in such things around the time, House of 1000 Corpses had extreme difficulty finding a distributor due to its proclivity for excess violence. I believe it was Lions Gate Films who eventually gathered together enough bottle to put it on public display (though shorn prior to that of some of its more visceral moments, footage that may now be lost forever), before others followed in picking it up for a more global distribution. Ironic then that after the film makes a few million dollars the sequel should have no trouble at all being produced, despite some of the most extreme violence and torment seen this side of the Video Recordings Act. The opening shot makes it clear to the audience that they’re not in for an easy journey - Tiny (played by supremely tall Matthew McGrory, who unfortunately died just days after the UK opening of …Devil’s) is seen dragging the naked corpse of a girl through the woods by her hair. The shootout after this fails to elicit any sympathy from the audience due to us not particularly caring about any of the characters at that point (in fact, by the film’s end you may even despise them), however, as the story progresses and we’re dragged along the same expedition as the titular characters it’s possible to find ourselves strangely fixated with their horrific antics. You may wince as a head is beaten, innocent victims are psychologically tortured, a girl is splattered across the highway, but you may also find yourself strangely compelled to continue viewing (unless you’re really squeamish of course). Of the number of directors in recent years who’ve laid claim at attempting to recreate the seventies gritty horror atmosphere of flicks like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hills Have Eyes, Death Trap, et al., Rob Z is the one who really seems to understand the era. Whether it’s art of any value or not is really down to viewer opinion but he seems to unpretentiously pay homage to a period of film-making clearly admired by him, and he successfully recreates his own scenarios almost as if they could chronologically slot nicely between the aforementioned semi-classics, despite the frequent injection of a more modern approach to editing and style. His astute choice of music reflects his talents for writing it (though I’m not the greatest fan of his music, he’s often displayed flair and creativity with White Zombie and his solo output), from Midnight Rider (Allman Bros.) to Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, in the latter’s epic case a significant portion is implemented too believe it or not. I was surprised to find the soundtrack containing none of his own tracks (unlike the preceding movie) - perhaps he wanted to keep the story’s mood firmly rooted in its reflected era. The film reaches a logical conclusion that almost makes you’ve feel like you’ve satisfyingly accompanied a team of anti-heroes on their final road trip rather than tagged along to involuntarily witness the brutal exploits of despicable serial murderers - Rob Z effectively turns our disgust right on its head with his potent, skilfully constructed, and oddly likeable concoction of seventies grindhouse cinema, spaghetti westerns, and contemporary technique. I should point out also that it’s a movie that works better second time around so repeat viewings are recommended.

Despite having a lower budget than House… the movie looks and feels bigger than its predecessor thanks to smart decision-making and necessarily creative thinking, something that’s reflected by this stupendous transfer - colourful, bold, heavily detailed and with a rocking DTS track to boot. You wouldn’t have been short-changed by picking up the two discer either, with a monolithic 2 hour 20 minute documentary overseeing every practical aspect of pre-production onwards (Rob Z looks intense without his sunglasses but comes across as articulate and very logical in his approach to movie making). The shooting and ultimate omission of a Doctor Satan sequence (one of the characters from the first film) is also discussed, and the fact that it was left out seems like a wise choice despite the deformed man-thing being a fan favourite. For those prepared to be mentally smitten The Devil’s Rejects should offer a hypnotic ride through Hell. That’s a good thing by the way.

Code Red Stuff...

Code Red have announced a few titles for 2013 on DVD, some of them looking like they're gonna wind their way towards my shelves: one of Lucio Fulci's latter day, and lesser liked (but not that bad in retrospect I suppose) flicks, Voices From Beyond, the Italian sex comedy from the 70s Love By Appointment (or Holiday Hookers or Natale in Casa d'appuntamento) which was directed in the seventies by prolific cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi, Mark Lester's TV adventure film Gold of the Amazon Women (with Anita Ekberg and Donald Pleasence), Vengeance by Anthony Dawson (Antonio Margheriti of course), and an obscure Italian comedy called John Travolto... Da un Insolito Destino (AKA John Travolto, The Face With Two Left Feet...!).

They've also alluded to the possibility of a release of Vampire's Night Orgy, one of my favourite Spanish vampire films from the 70s, which was directed by Leon Klimovsky.  Hopefully this will be the full version and a better transfer than what we've had to endure in the past (although I've been thankful to see it on DVD at all).  There is also an early eighties slasher by the name of Trick or Treats, which looks like an inferior Halloween clone, but if you're into slashers you've gotta have 'em all, regardless... Then there's the teens vs demons genre covered with Curse of the Blue Lights (1988), and Death Wish-esque revenge thriller The Mad Bomber (Bert Gordon, 1973) uncut on home video for the first time.

Most surprisingly of all, Code Red are dipping one bloody toe into Blu-ray waters with a couple of announcements: the mid-seventies murder mystery The Electric Chair in a director's cut - prepare yourself because it looks like Maria Kanellis will be 'gracing' this one with her presence.  And possibly of greater interest is the debut of the notoriously gritty Nail Gun Massacre on Blu via a new HD master, presented in both widescreen and fullscreen.  I wouldn't go expecting Night of the Demon on Blu any time soon though...

Finally, there is a new HD transfer being undertaken of the semi-classic slasher Just Before Dawn which will be competing with Shriek Show's now out of print two disc edition as well as an uncut, out of print UK release from Odeon; i.e. this will be most welcome whether it's coming out on DVD or Blu-ray (preferably the latter of course, or perhaps a dual edition?).  I'm certainly glad Code Red have stuck with it through tough times.

The New York Ripper

1982, Italy, Directed by Lucio Fulci
Colour, Running Time: 93 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region A, Blue Underground; Video: 2.40:1 1080p 24fps, Audio: DTS HD MA

Already steeped in streets of sleaze, New York City is hit by a plague of brutal murders by a psychopath with an apparent dislike of women. Tough but jaded, detective Williams is saddled with the case and chases up various leads to track down the increasingly sadistic killer. Following on from a string of well received fantasy horrors Fulci took on a more real world approach to the genre, effectively stepping back into the realms of the giallo (an area he'd previously experimented with a decade or so prior). The gruesomeness of the films he'd made in the few years preceding New York Ripper is present and accounted for here, although the method here reeks of nihilism and hopelessness. The semi-frequent deaths are clearly as horrific as Fulci could make them at the time, and very well executed they are in terms of editing and framing, being only occasionally let down by the budgetary limitations of the effects themselves (Lord knows how horrible this would have been with more realistic special effects). Still, these death scenes will not be appealing to most viewers. Fulci's characters are victims of the sleazy world in which they've been cultivated from birth, with sexually frustrated rich wives intermingling with moral-free Hispanic immigrants, roamers of streets lined with porn shops/shows, subway travellers almost oblivious to the graffiti-wrecked transport on which they travel, cops who sleep with prostitutes, etc. None of the characters are especially likable, and the cynical nature of the film is summed up by the final scene where a terminally ill, amputee child cries for her dead, homicidal parent. It's nice to see Fulci regular bit part victim Daniela Doria here, more attractive than ever but as always graphically put to an end in arguably the film's most shocking sequence (she was the same lass who coughed up her guts in City of the Living Dead and had a knife put through the back of her skull in House By The Cemetery). I think this one must have put her off acting altogether - it was her last role on film sadly.

I've previously watched this a few times on VHS, and a couple of times on DVD, so how does the Blue Underground Blu-ray compare? Wow! It actually looks amazing, with a bright, clear, sumptuous image throughout, without a doubt stamping on all previous releases. In fact the BD reveals just how well photographed this film is, offering further evidence in my opinion that Fulci was no trash director, even though the subject matter of this particular movie is quite deliberately trash. The increase in detail and clarity almost make this a joy to watch, as much as that may be possible in a case such as New York Ripper. Audio (English only) is served with a 7.1 lossless track alongside the original mono (the former being much quieter, something I've noticed with a lot of DTS HD MA tracks). Extras are minimal, consisting of an interview with Zora Kerova, the girl who takes part in a live sex show before being butchered very nastily by the ripper. I never actually realised before but this is the same actress who plays the unfortunate victim who gets hung up by the boobs in Cannibal Ferox, an experience she describes here as quite painful! She was also in Terror Express and the notorious former-nasty Anthropophagus. Kerova's not looking too bad for her age, speaking quite enthusiastically about the film and Fulci as a colleague. The other extra (apart from the trailer) is a short featurette demonstrating how New York has changed and been 'cleaned up' over the years, with comparison shots between the film and the same locations today. The lack of extras is not for great lamentation when one considers how incredible the film looks - no amount of extras can compensate for a bad transfer in my book. For fans of the film, they have to get this disc.

UK Blues...

Of possible interest, and in some cases marching on their way from the very depths of Hell itself, are the following Blu-ray Discs:
Killer Joe with some romcom pretty boy supposedly giving a chilling performance...
Dark Knight Rises wrapping up Nolan's trilogy, along with a boxed set of all three natch;
Amazing Spider-Man in various permutations, including an enticing looking 3D Blu;
A 30th anniversary box of Blade Runner, which should contain some discs of interest to UK fans who missed the stunning 5 disc Blu-ray set that was released in the States a few years ago;
Resident Evil: Retribution on 2D and 3D, the series that knows now end, even when the world has...
A nice looking digibook edition of the King Kong remake - whilst this is all very welcome I'd still rather the studios put out some of their AWOL titles rather than multiple editions of just their bigger money earners;
David Cronenberg's latest, Cosmopolis, in November;
A Christopher Nolan collection containing the three Batman films of his, Memento, and Inception - pity it couldn't have been genuinely complete and included Insomnia and his vaguely interesting first feature Following;
A 3D Blu of Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder - it was of course originally shot/projected in 3D so it will be great to see this film via a transfer that approximates its theatrical appearance;
Paranorman in both 2D and 3D, which looks like a great film;
V/H/S and House at the End of the Street;
The Japanese classic Onibaba courtesy of the Masters of Cinema series;
A really promising looking Black Sunday (Mario Bava) from Arrow in January;
Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing, again from Arrow;
Hot on the heels of Redemption's Lisa & The Devil is Arrow's own release;
Crawl and Grave Encounters II;
Plus a couple of Radley Metzger films from Arrow - The Score and Lickerish Quartet
Intruder from 88 Films!  Nice to see the UK getting a release;
And nice to see something else making its UK HD debut: Django from Argent Films in January;
And just in time for Christmas, The Snowman on Blu for its 30th anniversary!

A couple of things arriving on DVD that I wish were coming out on Blu, but look quite 'ownable' nonetheless:
Vampire Ecstacy from a company called MediumRare, which I'm hoping is the full (or possibly even both) version of The Devil's Plaything - if so, and the price is low (I won't pay much for a DVD nowadays) I will pick it up;
House of 1000 Dolls with Vincent Price, again from MediumRare;
House with Laughing Windows - one of my favourites from Shameless, but why can't they put this out on Blu?  I doubt if I will buy it again on DVD but anxiously await a HD presentation.  Still, for those that don't own it, this one should really be on your shelves, being one of the best 70s Italian chillers in my opinion.

UK Blues...

Of interest to many horror/exploitation fans is the upcoming Zombie Flesh Eaters Blu-ray (or Zombie to American fans, or Zombi 2 in its purest sense) from Arrow Video in the UK in December (the date has been put back slightly).  This is reportedly a transfer being produced from original negatives, and featuring branched versions of the film so you can watch with any set of pre/post credits to suit the title/tongue you prefer/know best.  Choice of languages is either English or Italian, with English subtitles available, and a mountain of extras.  You can pick up the film as a limited steelbook, a dual Blu-ray/DVD, or one of Arrow's more standard slipcase sets with a choice of cover artwork.  I think the set and artwork looks great personally, and highly promising.  Everyone of course is already aware of the fact that Blue Underground have put out single and double BD editions of the film stateside, with positive results, so one can only hope that this edition is even better.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

1993, US, Directed by Henry Selick
Colour, Running Time: 76 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region B, Disney; Video: 1080p 24fps 1.66:1 (2D)/1.78:1 (3D), Audio: Dolby TrueHD

Jack Skellington is an influential force in Halloween Town: the inhabitants look up to him to orchestrate the arrangements of each Halloween night, the primary purpose being to annually frighten the residents of the human world above and then spend the rest of the year preparing the following festival. But from Jack’s point of view the whole routine is becoming meaningless. As with most reasonably intelligent individuals he’s beginning to question the point of it all and yearns for something to break the mould. One night wandering through an unexplored part of the woods he stumbles across a doorway to Christmas Town. Exploring the place his enthusiasm is re-ignited as he decides to take over the Christmas celebrations of the human world and add his own personal spin on things. Authorising the kidnapping of ‘Sandy Claws’ to keep the big man out of the way, Jack utilises the help of Halloween Town’s infinitely macabre residents to prepare some new ways of celebrating. But being a little misguided Jack manages to make a bit of a mess of things when he angers humanity with his strange gifts (severed heads, snakes, etc.), putting his own life in peril in the process.

Derived from a story and accompanying sketches produced by Burton several years previous, Disney (the film was eventually released under their more ‘adult’ subsidiary, Touchstone Pictures) bravely permitted the project to be realised using stop motion animation, an incredibly time consuming and arduous technique that involves meticulously moving hand crafted models frame by frame, each shot usually accommodating either 1/12th or 1/24th of a second depending on the level of sophistication required. It’s worth remembering that CGI was in its relative infancy at the time and the first fully computer animated feature (Toy Story) was still a couple of years away so at this point traditional 2D (generally drawn) was the method of choice for the majority of full length animated films. To take on a feature project using the laborious stop motion process was close to madness but thankfully it’s something that appears to have paid off over the years, both critically and commercially - the movie’s subsequent success easily returned profits on the original investment of (approximately) eighteen million dollars.

The magnitude of this technical achievement, however, would have been nothing were it not for the abundance of incredibly imaginative ideas on display: every single shot oozes dark beauty both in the designs and character movements. Each hand-created model, from ornaments and buildings to trees and entire towns, is almost a work of art in its own right, the pinnacle being the characters themselves: accurately reflecting Burton’s original sketches these statuettes are brought to life so exquisitely they could fool you into thinking they’re autonomous entities in their own right. Jack Skellington himself makes a charismatic lead, someone with both entertaining personality and the deeper flaws that almost bring about his downfall as he desperately tries to understand and emulate a cultural tradition that he’s completely unfamiliar with. Though the results of his actions bring about despair upon humankind he’s not specifically an evil person, more so misguided and misunderstood (and from a different cultural background), hence there is a complexity there not as common as it should be in feature films, both live-action and animated. His stubborn attempts to bring meaning to his own life through recreating the Christmas spirit are counter-balanced by Sally, someone who can see clearly what’s going wrong but can’t quite get her point across. Of course she has her own problems in the form of scientist and captor, the gorgeously realised Dr Finkelstein. The efforts of the artists don’t stop at the primary characters though - even bit parts (especially the fantastic human children) are great to watch, ensuring there are things going on that you’ll be noticing afresh for viewings to come.

Danny Elfman must have loved this project, composing a near constant score as well as writing the lyrics throughout and providing the singing voice for Jack. Not being a fan of musicals I admittedly didn’t warm to the soundtrack until after perhaps two or three viewings; nowadays it’s impossible to imagine this film sounding any other way. Of course Burton himself didn’t actually direct this film - his name over the title reflects the fact that it’s based on his story, visuals and concepts. While he stood in as producer (along with, at that point, regular collaborator Denise Di Novi) Henry Selick was offered directorial duties, something that requires a certain degree of awareness outside of the norm due to the extremely slow nature of filming. It may be fair to say that Selick’s contribution was initially less acknowledged than it should have been, what with Burton’s creative shadow somewhat obscuring recognition of the lesser known man’s presence. What’s almost as bad is the fact that he then went on to direct James and the Giant Peach, a Roald Dahl story that Burton obviously had not created, and the producers added Dahl’s name above the title! The talented guy just doesn’t seem to be destined for fame somehow, though more recently the exquisite Coraline should have rectified that. Aside from the fact that Nightmare Before Christmas has very little competition as far as stop motion feature films are concerned, it’s nevertheless an amazing film both artistically and technically, one that revels in visual beauty from the opening seconds onwards and a moment of real creative integrity for Hollywood, something that‘s way too uncommon in a world where cinema has been hijacked by business people.

Seeing this film for years on DVD brought about a familiarity that really gave birth to unprecedented appreciation when I watched the Blu-ray Disc - the transfer (finally framed at its correct ratio) brings the film to life in a manner I simply didn’t expect. Model work is truly granted justice as every crevice now seems to be visible, while the colour is so vivid a direct comparison to the previously released DVDs makes them look like you've going back to VHS. Similarly there were sounds in the Dolby TrueHD track that I’m sure I’d never heard before, such is the clarity of the audio. The set can be picked up as standard Blu-ray, or a 2 Blu set that contains the 3D conversion on a separate disc (retaining all of the original content and 2D version on the first disc).  The 3D version is quite a joy to watch, though the results are not consistently superb - some shots have a little depth, whilst many look quite amazing with the delectable model work taking on further life of its own.  The inherent jerkiness of some of the stop motion animation doesn't lend itself well to the faster moving shots when rendered in three dimensions, but the overall result was pleasing, particularly as this conversion was undertaken a few years ago.  The ratio is also slightly cropped at 1.78:1 (no doubt the desire to use the entire frame of a widescreen set is desirable with 3D content). The standard disc is rammed with extras with Burton’s old films Vincent and Frankenweenie being retained (though not looking as good as the feature obviously). The latter has now also being turned into a stop motion feature and recent clips suggest this should be something to check out without fail. Nightmare Before Christmas is a sumptuously characterised, true gem of a film and justifiably blessed with a BD that should be owned by all film-lovers.

Sony KDL46HX853 Review

Sitting down here in the cellar with many hours to spare as twilight arrives you need a decent viewing device to spend your time enslaving yourself within other worlds, hence I recently began looking for a new television to add some modernity to the dark walls of the cellar.  Sony have always had a great name for televisions, a fact that's been eroded in the last two or three years by a series of lacklustre sets from the electronics giant. Admittedly most of the sets I've bought over the years have been manufactured by Sony, because generally I've found them to be reliable, and good performers. After reading a few positive reviews I decided to finally go for this one to replace my last set. I actually watch most films on a HC6000 Mitsubishi projector but a TV for occasional viewing of stuff is what I wanted in another room. Firstly the neatly packed TV is surprisingly light - around 19Kg for a 46" set with a speaker base is pretty good and a nice contrast to the memory of lugging a 50Kg 28" CRT set up the stairs to my bedroom! Setting it up takes 40 minutes or so and once unpacked involves bolting it to the sound base (unless you plan on attaching it to the wall - there are holes for this but you'll need to buy the bracket separately). The hardest bit here is laying it carefully face down (on something soft!) and then lifting it on to the base that you've just got ready - easier with two people but I did manage it alone. It must be said that the set looks fantastic and really stands out as a modern piece of kit in your living room (or cellar in my case) - the black glass screen looks lovely even switched off! While the slightly tilted angle serves to give it a contemporary edge as well as facilitating the viewing angle of the average sofa-seated human. I'd say it actually looks nicer in the flesh than it does in the publicity photographs you may see on line. The remote is neatly laid out and easy to use (it will also operate other equipment, such as a Sony Blu-ray player), and round the back of the set you'll find plenty of connections including several HDMI sockets, a Scart for your old video machine, audio outputs, USB, etc.

Switching on, initialisation is quick and you can be ready to go in minutes. The menus are attractive and intuitive, plus you'll find that you can connect to the internet to easily browse material there (albeit in lower resolutions).  There are many, many personalisation sliders for image and sound control, from the basics of brightness/contrast/colour through to gamma, 'reality-enhancer', noise reduction controls, etc etc. There are some pre-defined modes for those who don't want to mess, though some of them look awful. Make sure you set the audio to come through the sound base rather than the TV speakers - there's a noticeable improvement in quality and contrary to many flat screen sets, it actually sounds rather good. Of course it's no match for a proper 5.1 or 7.1 set-up but the audio quality surprised me nonetheless. One small gripe is that the more advanced side of the manual is actually on the TV itself, making it more difficult to read about settings whilst changing them - there is a basic hard copy manual to get you started, however, I can understand the ecological reasons behind the decision so I think it can be forgiven. Image quality with Blu-ray Discs is wonderful - extremely sharp, colourful, and vivid, whilst black levels are excellent (this is a LED set with local rather than edge dimming, and this blows away older LCD sets). Quite surprising though is the apparent detail of upscaled DVDs - I've never actually seen DVDs look this good and I found it a pleasure re-watching a few of my old discs as they looked better than ever. Of course one of the main selling points of this set is the fact that it's 3D capable, specifically the active shutter variety (i.e. you get a full 1080p image fired at each eye, rather than the half resolution of the passive format). It doesn't come with any spectacles (the price point of the set is already very good and I guess it helped keep the cost down if it shipped with specs) so I also picked up the TDGBR750 (I'm assuming you know that you will also need a 3D Blu-ray player - which are quite cheap nowadays - and a HDMI cable to connect the player to the set). Having watched a couple of 3D discs now I'm really impressed - you may need to give your eyes a minute or two to adjust to the effect but, once settled, the depth (depending on the film) is gripping and addictive to watch. Evident is occasional cross-talk (where one eye picks up the image intended for the other) but overall the impact is not a million miles off what you'd expect at a 3D cinema projection. In fact as soon as I'd watched one 3D Blu-ray I immediately went on line and ordered two more! It's incredible that we've got this kind of technology available in our homes these days.  There is a 2D-3D conversion mode for standard discs but, whilst there is the illusion of some depth I generally think modes such as this are a waste of time.

£1200 may seem a lot to pay for a TV but you're going to be living with it for a few years and probably getting a couple of hours viewing out of it each day on average, so I think it's worth paying when you get performance this strong. It's pretty much the best TV I've ever watched anything on, and to get a hike in quality beyond this you're probably looking at spending two or three grand on a set. Given the best balance of price versus performance, I think the KDL46HX853 is something you seriously need to consider if you're buying a new set.  It looks awesome, whether you're watching anything on it or not :)

*Update* It's worth noting that the LED control is switched off by default - switching this one (via the advanced picture menu) substantially enhances contrast and black levels. Also be aware that the settings for each input can be customised, but if the plugged-in Blu-ray player to a particular HDMI input also outputs a 3D signal then there are two batches of settings for the same input - one for 2D, one for 3D. Essentially if you've set everything up based on a 2D blu-ray disc then you will also need to customize the default settings for a 3D disc separately. You only need to do this once (i.e. not every time you switch on the equipment) and the TV chooses automatically, but thought I would point this out because altering the set-up for 3D separately is easily overlooked, but does yield significantly improved results if indulged.

Tu Nu Blu(s)...

In connection with the recent Piranha (2010) review, the wonderfully promising Second Sight Films are putting out the original on UK Blu-ray in January.  Of course the film has been available for some time in the US from the equally fantastic Shout Factory, but this will open up the film for collection in HD to whole new batch of eager fans.  It will feature an audio commentary, several featurettes, out-takes, and more.  Also on its way in 2013 from the aforementioned Shout (more specifically, their subsidiary, Scream Factory) is the supernatural horror movie Prison - I rented this out on video cassette nearly twenty years ago and remember it being pretty good, so I may be checking this surprising Blu-ray out further when it appears next year.

Piranha

2010, US, Directed by Alexandre Aja
Colour, Running Time: 88 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region B, EIV; Video: 2.39:1 1080p 24fps 3D, Audio: DTS HD

An earth tremor releases from beneath the ocean thousands of prehistoric piranha with a particularly ferocious carnivorous attitude towards humanity, just as Lake Victoria, situated nearby, is entering into its party season as hundreds of promiscuous American teens with great bodies consume alcohol and abandon all respect for peace (and themselves). Aja's second remake of a classic seventies American B movie (the first being the rather brutal Hills Have Eyes), Piranha has its tongue in cheek and is spattered with homage to exploitation cinema - both in its contemporary form and the glory days - from the outset, including Richard Dreyfuss murmuring the tune he sung in Jaws (before being stripped of all flesh in the prologue), a cameo from Hostel director Eli Roth, and mountains of extreme (but fun) gore interspersed, surprisingly, with copious nudity. The film is not subtle, nor is it original, nor does remotely attempt to apologise for any of this. It does apparently boast remarkably high production values considering it's aiming itself firmly at the primordial instincts of its intended audience, with a great look, underwater sequences, soundly executed action set pieces, lots of digital and prosthetic effects (not all of which are entirely convincing, but that doesn't seem to matter in the context), some decent actors (amongst them, Ving Rhames, Christopher Lloyd and Elizabeth Shue - notice I haven't included Kelly Brook in that list!), and of course the fact that it was shot/mastered in 3D, which isn't cheap. There is a touch of anchoring the narrative on a main man, this being TV star Steven R. McQueen as Jake (here reminding me a little of the uptight Lee Montgomery character in Mutant), the nerdy boy who's inevitably going to become some sort of unlikely hero by the close credits. Despite this the film spends as much time as possible on everything else, namely fish ripping people apart and hordes of chiselled human bodies with little or no clothes covering them. And, boy, do these people deserve what they get! I am a bit sick of remakes nowadays but this one cooks up loads of enjoyment, from thrills to laughs, and I think you'd have to be in a pretty miserable mood not to have a nice time.

The Blu-ray serves up every conceivable viewing option, from conventional 2D, anaglyph 3D and Real 3D, the latter requiring appropriate 3D equipment of course (this being a 3D TV/projector, a 3D Blu-ray player, and a v1.4 HDMI cable). The anaglyph version can be viewed on conventional Blu-ray equipment, but it's really not worth it - whilst there is a 3D effect evident, the technical nature of the process (i.e. red'blue cardboard glasses, of which EIV have kindly supplied several pairs!) renders the natural colour scheme of the film a complete mess. I've viewed the 2D version in its entirety and the visuals look wonderful from start to finish, of particular note being the unbelievably vivid colours and immense detail. Having now acquired the aforementioned 3D equipment I've finally got the opportunity to watch the 'proper' 3D version. Thankfully the aforementioned vivid nature of the 2D presentation is retained, but the added third dimension really makes this dazzle! There is the odd flaw (for example, cross-talk, where one eye mistakenly picks up the image intended for the other eye, plus some fast moving material that's difficult to perceive properly) but generally this is a powerful experience, enhancing the somewhat limited essence of the source material. Two English audio tracks offer surround DTS-HD Master Audio to lift you out of your chair if you have a 5.1 or 7.1 set-up, or two channel Dolby Digital, which sounds unexpectedly good on a reasonable sounding TVset (I've listened to each track on a decent surround kit and a TV respectively). A stupendous showcase for Blu-ray overall, and a film that's not taking itself entirely seriously in its efforts to roll you along its kinetic rollercoaster ride. Hell, looking at the poster attached, even the German's seemed to get it!

Upcoming...

Nucleus Films (UK) have surprisingly got Night of the Bloody Apes through uncut for the first time ever in England - maybe the BBFC have finally realised this ridiculous ex-nasty is unlikely to mess with the minds of today's youth, given the fact that society's already gone to pot and all that...  Presented in anamorphic widescreen with either English or Spanish audio options (plus subtitles), the DVD also features a few trailers for other Nucleus material, trailers for this film, a still gallery, and a clip of 'feminist' Patricia MacCormack from their Nasty's Guide (not sure why this self-righteous narcissist has to keep tarnishing our genre with her existence, and even less sure why people pay her for it!).  I've got the Something Weird disc (doubled with Feast of Flesh); I may have considered the Nucleus version for the Spanish audio track alone, if it were not for the presence of MacCormack...  Anyway, this is otherwise quite welcome as the full stop to this rather bad film's notoriety in the UK.  DVD released yesterday.

Night of the Demon

1980, US, Directed by James Wasson
Colour, Running Time: 92 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R1, Code Red; Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Mono

Notorious probably mostly because it made the infamous 'banned' list in Britain back in the early 80s, Night of the Demon has over the years become a symbol of the bad film as amusement. So, does the 'brainchild' of Jim Ball (who appears to have done absolutely nothing before or since, at least in the film world) deserve such an... accolade, or should it have been forgotten the moment they lost the original negatives. One of the few films to take on the legend of the bigfoot, or sasquatch (the big ape-like creature we've only ever seen footprints or blurry photographs of), the story is told in retrospect by a heavily bandaged professor in a hospital who recounts his trip into the backwoods with a bunch of college students in an effort to get to the bottom of the mystery, where several people have been found mutilated in various ways. Of course the fools find that the legends are gruesomely true, and not only that but the big hairy mutha has a taste for the human female (go find one of your own kind!). Climaxing at a woodland cabin the last few teens begin to wish they'd spent their holidays at summer camp being slaughtered by Jason, as the place is attacked by the monster and their blood becomes decoration across the rotten wooden walls.

Eschewing any kind of careful thought from the outset, the film (with a story that somewhat foreshadows elements of The Blair Witch Project) portrays an odd series of flashbacks within a flashback, many of which couldn't possibly have been witnessed to the circumstantial degree which they're retold by the know-it-all young professor. The frequent deaths are, however, rather entertaining (though I'm sure Mary Whitehouse's grandchildren and The Daily Star would beg to differ), one of my favourites being the camping guy who gets picked up in his sleeping bag and swung round the beast's head five or six times before flying through the air to end up impaled on a branch. Then there are the wondering pair of girl guides who are forced to get up close and personal with one another. Oh and there's the scene in the van with the lovers, one of whom ends up a bloody mess on the windscreen while the woman sits there unproductively screaming her head off. The list goes on, and I think it's all this crazy disregard for human life that has kept the film alive over the years. I honestly don't think this mad shit could ever corrupt anybody! Hence looking back at the BBFC's decision in the 80s (and in the 90s - it was eventually released then quite heavily cut) arouses some measure of bewilderment (though this is likely due to some of the really nasty stuff that has gotten past the board in more recent years). One thing I will say though is that, despite the monster here often being derided I actually think it's rather effective. Yes, the hairless chest on an otherwise hirsute ape-man is rather odd, but the uncanny neanderthal appearance is I would say pretty nightmarish, and I think the show-stopping finale in the cabin evinces an aura of terror and doom, the wonderfully deranged sound design playing a part here. So, far from demonstration material at the London Film School, it's something you're unlikely to become too bored watching.

I think the bigfoot legend has been something that's lurked around my own imagination for a long time, probably because of the effective take on it in The Six Million Dollar Man back in the 70s, where the creature (which turns out to be a robot) scared the pants off me as a child. Therefore I was intrigued when I saw a few clips of Night of the Demon in my late teens, and later picked up a dupe cassette of the film (it was not readily available at the time due to the ban). There has since been a legitimate sell-through VHS tape and subsequent DVD of this film released by Vipco in the UK, but you may as well forget about those. Code Red put out their own disc in the US in 2011. Unable to locate a film source they turned to a videotape master struck by VCI (there is some overlaying text betraying this fact at the beginning of the film but thankfully this soon disappears). Code Red apologise for the quality but it's not too bad, though detail-wise it is average in the grand scheme of things. They came under flak, however, due to the overbearing appearance of Maria Kanellis, some ex-wrestling star who's decided she wants to blemish the horror world with her presence. I do agree that this (consisting of an introduction and, yetch, a generic music video!) is completely unnecessary but I don't really understand why such a move should give birth to the hostility that it does. It's the same as the Arrow syndrome, where so called 'fans' scream bloody murder because they don't like the cover art or something, despite Arrow providing four cover options for your choice! Personally I'm glad just to have these films available at all (though preferably on Blu-ray, something which would for once have been pointless in this case). Sound is Dolby Digital-ly encoded mono, and extras of more relevance include several trailers. Code Red seem to court controversy (and I do think some of this could be avoided), which is sort of odd considering their discs then go on to fetch rather a lot of money once they go out of print, but they've put out some interesting releases for the collections of genuine enthusiasts. This being one of them.