Synapse Blues (and a little Code Red...)

US based company Synapse are on a Dario Argento Blu-ray stint this year: They're releasing his Lamberto Bava-directed productions Demons and its sequel (but they'll have to go some to beat the Arrow releases of these).  They're also putting out Phenomena (again, Arrow's Blu-ray is already a winner so I'll most likely stick with that) and of more interest is Tenebrae - the UK Blu-ray of this film is troubled so I will be anxious to see how the new disc turns out.  Synapse are covering the dirtier side of Blu with Fairy in a Cage, on their Impulse label.

Meanwhile Code Red have announced (DVD only unfortunately) the first official disc release of the seventies horror black comedy The Folks at Red Wolf Inn, which I've always been interested in checking out.

Deep River Savages

1972, Italy/Thailand, Directed by Umberto Lenzi
Colour, Running Time: 86 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R2, Hardgore; Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: DD Mono

It seems that almost everybody has heard of Cannibal Holocaust, partly thanks to similarities portrayed in the more approachable Blair Witch Project, partly due simply to its brutal notoriety as one of the nastiest films of all time. The film was the most prominent component of a wider sequence that flourished to an extent throughout the seventies before quickly dying a death in the early eighties, probably as a result of lack of diversity - you can only do so much with this sort of material before people go off looking for other things to satisfy their primordial bloodlust, such as political dramas and romantic comedies... The 'third world cannibal movie' cycle often followed a predetermined narrative; ignorant westerners stumbling into jungles inhabited by evolutionary throwbacks in the shape of carnivorous natives with a taste for human limbs and organs. Along the way the westerners (and therefore, we the viewers) would witness horrific acts of barbarity that would push the boundaries of cinema to extremes, along with testing the limits of our constitution. Unfortunately these acts often utilised the ‘services’ of real animals and new depths in the exploration of entertainment and enterprise were reached. This latter point of course illustrates an indefensible staple of cannibal movies, at least from my point of view, but the continuation of productions throughout a decade or so must surely outline questions regarding the public search for entertainment. And indeed this links into the main moral focus that is dubiously raised time and again throughout the sub-genre, that there is at core little difference between us and the so-called savages portrayed as opposition to the westerners - we are endogenously barbaric ourselves. This is the real and oft forgotten reason that Cannibal Holocaust is the best of the bunch: it actually outlines that argument better than any of the others and almost seems to have some social relevance amidst its rape and mutilation, though its means is still to some degree unjustifiable.

So where does Deep River Savages fit into all of this? Well, this film could be considered the starting point for the whole thing. The tone slightly differs to what would commonly follow but many of the trappings are established here. After being deserted by his girlfriend in Thailand, a London photographer gets into a brawl in a bar that results in a Thai man’s death. Despite a potential argument for self defence he escapes into the night to disappear, not realising that that’s precisely what he will soon be doing… Heading off towards the wilderness until the whole thing has chance to blow over, he arranges a long and quiet guide-driven sail down the river, eventually into uncharted territory. After several uneventful days of photography and sleeping his guide is found murdered by the side of the boat and John is promptly captured by the local natives that killed the man. What follows is several weeks of punishment, humiliation, attempted escapes, and slavery as John becomes gradually accustomed to what appears to be his new life in the tribe’s village. Until Marayå, a woman he has caught the eye of, experiences increasing attraction to the western man culminating in John being accepted as part of the tribe and marrying Marayå. But the imminent danger of neighbouring tribes is never far from John's new reality…

What is essentially the birth of the cannibal movie surprisingly transpires to be a grisly-exploitation-movie-cum-love-story. Much attention is placed on the progressing relationship between John (Ivan Rassimov, as seen elsewhere in many an Italian exploitation flick) and sexy native girl Marayå (actually Me Me Lai attempting to further her career after a stint in Sale of the Century). John’s former girlfriend is mysteriously banished from memory as he embarks upon a mission that will change his perspective on life forever. Believe it or not there are a couple of things to enjoy in Il Paese del Sesso Selvaggio (or Man From Deep River). Firstly the locations are attractive and make for striking travelogue-style imagery. Next is John’s voyage down the river, which actually musters a little bit of tension as the titular savages remain persistently unseen until he’s accosted. Finally there’s the omnipresent but underlying feeling of hopelessness as John’s repeated attempts to emancipate himself are thwarted before he’s dragged back to the village for more problems. This film initiated a trend for animal suffering that was to continue in the genre without any real justification, and this is where for once the BBFC’s intervention is merciful - they’ve removed almost all of it from this Hardgore disc. Lenzi was to make a name for himself in the cannibal cycle and went on to direct Eaten Alive (Mangiati Vivi!), a reasonable concoction of adventure and cannibalistic violence, and Cannibal Ferox, the man’s similarly horrific answer to …Holocaust. He was never going to be an Oscar winner of course but did manage to produce a couple of genuinely entertaining non-cannibal movies along the way, Nightmare City being my personal favourite.

Deep River Savages is almost palatable in its UK-approved censored version, exhibiting little animal violence (though there is one throat cutting of a goat that caught me off guard near the conclusion, so beware) and only snippets of fairly heavy gore here and there. It’s nowhere near as nihilistic as what would come later on and its delineation of taboo love adds something of value to the material. The influence apparently derived from the earlier western A Man Called Horse, to which Lenzi’s film bears more than a passing thematic resemblance, is also of historical interest to buffs. It’s never going to make any top ten lists but neither is it competing for any worst movie prizes either. The Hardgore DVD looks moderately appealing in its fully scoped glory but is missing around 4 minutes (perhaps more) of visceral imagery that most people would really rather not see anyway. Back in the seventies this film was rejected outright in Britain by the BBFC, it was then technically banned on video and briefly placed on the DPP list during the eighties. There was then the strange appearance of a reportedly uncut though terribly cropped disc (DVD Classics) years ago - I could only assume this to be a disc production error because there’s no way the board would allow this through uncut as long as they were awake when viewing. Media Blasters in the US have put out the best release hitherto, being a fully uncut DVD containing an Italian soundtrack alongside the English with optional subtitles. There’s also a ten minute interview on the SS disc. Despite that, more casual viewers who’d prefer not to see cruelty to innocent creatures could safely get by with the Hardgore DVD reviewed here.

Whistle And I'll Come To You

1968, UK, Directed by Jonathan Miller
Black & White, Running Time: 42 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R2, BFI; Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Dolby Digital Mono

Based on one of author M.R.James' (Montague Rhodes...) most famous stories, which was written around the turn of the twentieth century, Whistle And I'll Come To You as filmed in 1968 is a fairly simple tale: an elderly academic man goes to stay at a seaside hotel for a few days, taking rambles on the beach and generally absorbing the kind of air we're probably now allergic to in cities. On one of his walks he discovers a crumbling grave at the cliff's edge, the whole thing on the verge of going over the side with a couple of more years of coastal erosion. Rummaging through the dirt he pulls out a partially exhumed whistle which he takes back to the hotel to clean up. He finds an inscription on the side which suggests that some 'one' will come if the item is used, which the skeptical old man does. He's soon experiencing vivid and disturbing nightmares, feelings of being followed, and the apparent witnessing of an apparition's manifestation that pushes his mind into madness.

Having only recently seen for the first time this short film made for BBC's Omnibus series, there was some expectation based on the reputation it has acquired over the years (indeed, this reputation warranted a remake of sorts in 2010). The film is starkly shot in black and white, the seaside actually looking cold, unaccomodating, and rather mundane. This of course is part of the point: James liked to feature relatively ordinary people (who generally resembled his scholarly self) in typical locations before something very much inexplicable occurs. I think herein lies much of the power - it's quite easy to identify with the character and place even if we haven't been there and are not like that personally, because it all seems so rooted in convention. The eccentric central character, Parkin, is a rather cumbersome, insular man of university background (the same as, I understand, the author of the story). Like most intellectuals (and most average people these days) he only seems to believe in whatever has a rational explanation, and nothing outside of that can possibly exist. Of course this is primarily why the story probably came into being - it's telling complacent individuals who think they know everything about this world that they actually don't. The film's dialogue makes poignant use of a Shakespearian quotation during a conversation between Parkin and someone else at the hotel when the gentleman reminds Parkin that there are 'more things in Heaven and Earth than dreamt of in your philosophy', a statement which the intellectually arrogant Parkin amusingly turns on its head during a retort. Parkin's discovery of the whistle is what points his life along a path to a kind of undesirable enlightenment. He becomes aware of a motionless figure seemingly watching him on the beach, and later begins experiencing lucid dreams that wake him repeatedly, building a sense of absolute impending dread that increments towards a blood-chilling conclusion. Aside from the sometimes irritating habits and incessant mumblings of Parkin the film certainly lives up to its reputation - the palpable sense of terror, fear of unknown and unexplainable things, encroaching forces invading the life of previously obvlivious human. Miller and his crew achieve all of this with what is clearly a negligible budget and a minimalist plot. He does this through perfect framing (i.e. often seeing only what he wants you to, suggesting that more - the unknown - lies outside of your/the camera's vision) precise editing, and the fine performances bringing a classic story to life. I think a lot of modern horror film-makers could learn something from studying this film. For example, there is a cliche in many horror films where the viewer is 'tricked' into thinking something terrible is happening only to find that a character is dreaming it - in this film Miller demonstrates what a nightmare is really like. The use of startling sound interspersed with long bouts of eerie silence, Parkin captured in extreme close-up as he sleeps/wakes/almost fears looking around him/drifts back off, imagery that doesn't seem to completely make sense - your blood goes cold! The final scene where the supernatural truly makes itself known is filmed slowly with a long camera pull-back that elicits an almost unbearable level of tension before you've even seen anything. This sort of terror is too uncommon in cinema, but then I guess if it was common it would possibly lose its effect in some way, hence Whistle And I'll Come To You is a gem as far as the horror film is concerned, and the experience has stayed with me for days afterwards.

Shot on 16mm and transferred in standard definition from what are described as the best remaining elements, BFI has produced a superb transfer despite only being available on DVD. The original aspect ratio is retained, the range of greys from deep black to bright white is digitally replicated nicely, there is a natural and pleasing grain factor present throughout, whereas print damage appear to have been largely eliminated. It was once available on DVD (and VHS tape) in 2001 (from BFI) before going out of print and selling for princely sums on ebay ,etc. I'm unsure if the transfer on this 2012 edition is new or just the same as the old disc - either way it looks brilliant. Sound is clear and undistorted (mono only, as recorded) and all of the old disc's exrtas are present - these include a quarter of an hour introduction/history lesson by horror author Ramsey Campbell, a half hour filmed reading of one of Campbell's own short stories (which technically looks and sounds a bit ugly due to unprofessional recording techniques), plus a forty minute audio recording (of better quality) of the James story by Neil Brand. On the new disc there is also a too-brief three minute interview section, plus it includes the fifty minute 2010 BBC version of the story with John Hurt taking the lead. The new DVD can be purchased separately or as part of a sumptuous boxed set going by the title of 'Ghost Stories For Christmas', which as a horror fan I was itching to pick up. It's quite expensive but very thoughtfully put together, consisting of five discs, eight hours of films, plentiful extras, and a fifty page booklet heaving with essays (in addition to another smaller booklet).

Arrow Blues...

A number of fantastic looking Mario Bava Blu-rays are on their way courtesy of UK distributors Arrow Films, including Black Sunday / Mask of Satan, Lisa and the Devil  / House of Exorcism, Baron Blood, and Black Sabbath.  Amazing stuff by the looks of it.

Black Sabbath (a classic 60s portmanteau film with Boris Karloff in one segment) features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; ‘I tre volti della paura’ – the European version with score by Roberto Nicolosi & ‘Black Sabbath’ – the re-edited and re-dubbed AIP version with Les Baxter score
• English SDH subtitles for English Audio and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
• Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
• Introduction to the film by Alan Jones
• A Life In Film – An Interview with star Mark Damon
• Three Faces of Black Sabbath, comparison of the different versions of the film
• Trailers and radio spots
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by David Cairns and an interview with AIP Producer Samuel Z. Arkoff on his experiences of working with Bava, conducted by Tim Lucas, illustrated throughout.

Baron Blood (recently released by Redemption but looking altogether more comprehensive here):

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of three versions of the film: ‘Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga’ with Italian opening and closing titles and ‘Baron Blood’ with English opening and closing titles and the European English export version audio, and for the first time on home video, the AIP version with alternate score by Les Baxter 
• Three audio versions: Optional Italian, European English and AIP English re-dub and re-score 
• English SDH subtitles for both English versions and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
• Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
• Bava’s 1972 film ‘Four Times That Night’ presented on Blu-ray and DVD
• Introduction to Baron Blood by Alan Jones
• Trailers and radio spots
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys 
• Booklet featuring new writing on the films by Oliver James and Pasquale Iannone, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Black Sunday, probably the ultimate Italian Gothic Horror, features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; The Mask of Satan – the European version with score by Roberto Nicolosi & Black Sunday – the re-edited and re-dubbed AIP version with Les Baxter score
• Three audio versions: Optional Italian, European English and AIP English re-dub and re-score
• English SDH subtitles for both English versions and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio (frankly, f**king awesome, at last!)
• Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
• Introduction to the film by Alan Jones
• Interview with Barbara Steele
• Deleted Scene from the Italian version with notes by Tim Lucas
• Trailers
• I Vampiri (1956), Italy’s first ever sound-era horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava
• Trailer reel – trailers of all the major works by Mario Bava
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Booklet featuring new writing on the films by Matt Bailey and Alan Jones, as well as a statement by Riccardo Freda on I Vampiri and Bava, translated from the original Italian for the first time, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

The ill received but now cult Lisa and the Devil features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of both versions of the film: Lisa and the Devil and The House of Exorcism producer’s cut
• Optional English and Italian audio on Lisa and the Devil
• English SDH subtitles on both features and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian Audio of Lisa and The Devil
• Audio Commentary on Lisa and The Devil by Tim Lucas
• Audio Commentary on The House of Exorcism by producer Alfredo Leone and star Elke Sommer
• Introductions to both films by Alan Jones
• The Exorcism of Lisa – Assistant Director Lamberto Bava, screenwriter Roberto Natale, Roy Bava and Alberto Pezzotta discuss the making of both versions of the film
• Deleted Scene
• Original trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, an interview with Bava from 1976, translated from the original Italian for the first time, illustrated with original stills and archive posters.

Redemption Blues...

Some great Blu-ray announcements from Redemption for the upcoming months (presumably through Olive Films).  They'd already mentioned that Grapes of Death (Jean Rollin's zombie film with the fetching Brigitte Lahaie), Oasis of the Zombies (Jess Franco) and Zombie Lake (one of Jean Rollin's lesser films) were coming to Blu-ray - those will be out on February 26th for the latter two and March for the former.  Zombie Lake actually looked very good on DVD I thought so the fact that this is being remastered from the original negative makes it a moderately interesting proposition (if only the film was better!).

Also, though, the sci-fi skinflick Zeta One (which featured the lovely Yutte Stensgaard in a small role) is on its way in March, the classic hallucinatory Nude For Satan (Luigi Batzella) also, and Jean Rollin's softcore flick Schoolgirl Hitchhikers - the latter did briefly appear on DVD but seemed to disappear almost as quickly, so I'm definitely picking that up (along with most of the others) on Blu.  Rollin's barren sci-fi orientated film Night of the Hunted is also likely to be out in March.  After a Pete Walker boxed set they are also putting out the films individually for those people who didn't want the whole set - these include The Comeback, Die Screaming Marianne, House of Whipcord, and Schizo.  Finally, Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine will also come to Blu in a few months.  I must say Redemption have launched an unprecedented all-out assault on the Blu-ray market over the last year, and put Synapse, Media Blasters, and Blue Underground's lazy output to shame!

The Ghost Galleon

1975, Spain, Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Colour, Running Time: 90 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R1, Blue Underground; Video: Anamorphic 1.82:1, Audio: Dolby Digital Mono

As part of a weird marketing strategy for a new boat two helpless young ladies are sent off to float around the middle of the ocean in the hope that they will be ‘accidentally’ found, the anticipated consequential publicity doubling for a sneaky advertisement for the boat which helped them through their ordeal by simply staying afloat. Of course the whole plan goes to sh… bits when the two models drift through a dense patch of fog and discover an old abandoned galleon adrift at sea. Despite warnings from base one of them foolishly decides to board the ship to have a look around: she’s never seen again. Deciding they’d better help out, the marketing guys get together with a crazy meteorologist and a couple of the girls’ acquaintances and set off on a voyage to bring back the lost females before their misjudged marketing campaign attracts attention for the wrong reasons. Passing through the same sphere of mist they too locate the medieval galleon. But soon, after boarding the ship, their own boat disappears leaving them stranded and the meteorologist surmises that they’ve actually passed into another dimension, a place where the dead are able to walk again…

The third film in Amando de Ossorio’s infamous Blind Dead series, this has a different feel compared to the preceding entries. All four films utilised different characters and settings (much in an equivalent way to what Romero has done for his Dead films) with the principle threat sourced from the same thing: the rotting, eyeless corpses of the Knights Templar returning to transient life to reap havoc on the living. Most of the action (and I use that term lightly) in The Ghost Galleon (AKA El Buque Maldito or Horror of the Zombies) takes place on the eponymous transportation unit and I think it was quite a stroke of imagination to have the Blind Dead discovered floating around on a supernatural vessel in the ocean as opposed to their usual terrestrial circumstances. Little exposition is offered for this and it lends a touch of mystique to the proceedings. As they do in the other three films, the dead awaken periodically to claim anything human that happens to be roaming within the vicinity but where it’s a nocturnal activity in the other parts, here it simply seems governed by some unspoken time lapse because the boundaries of night and day are blurred within the odd Twilight Zone that the ship inhabits. This was a difficult film to obtain for years and I’d always read that it was the most inferior of the series, but being a fan of the first two movies I was anxious to check out the final chapters when Blue Underground released the fanboy’s dream that was the complete DVD set years ago. Whilst I could understand some of the complaints people levelled at this film I found it to be quite a spooky little chiller once the flaws were acknowledged and pushed aside. The most obvious flaws are some of the special effects: the ship from a distance looks downright awful, almost inexcusably bad. Second to this is the setting up of the story, which is improbable to say the least. But given the central premise I think minor improbabilities can be overlooked (we do after all watch films as a means of escapism do we not?). The characters themselves are bad-movie caricatures in some respects but they bring some amusement to the screen, inadvertently. The meteorologist is perhaps my favourite of these, dropping his office status at the slightest manipulation to head out on a real mission and managing to arrive at scientifically perplexing conclusions concerning their alleged switch between dimensions. Regardless of the incredible delivery, this theory fits in with the director’s ideas about the Blind Dead generally who, he has said in interviews, exist in state of spatial/temporal distortion rather than being conventional walking cadavers. Back to the ship itself: whereas the longer distance shots of the vessel are terribly realised, the situation on board is very different; the place is a rotten, dilapidated, creaking entity that’s satisfyingly creepy - very much the ultimate haunted house albeit on a boat. The Blind Dead sleep below deck in boxes that resemble the coffins that would make a more natural home and the homicidal knights appear to be oblivious to their change of locale. Very often stated as the least favourite of fans, The Ghost Galleon does the trick for my idiosyncratic tastes and creates a strange and eerie world that makes for comfortably inebriated viewing on cold nights.

As previously mentioned the film was not easy to come by until a few years ago. Redemption had released the first two in the series on video cassette here in the UK but stopped there so it was quite an anticipated event when BU announced they’d managed to acquire the rights to remaster and release all four of them uncut. This third entry then made it across to the UK on DVD (with the other three) thanks to Anchor Bay, albeit missing the Spanish language soundtrack, which was a real shame. The BU DVD contains Spanish and English audio with optional subtitles. I’ve listened to both tracks in their entirety and they’re both very good, clear representations of how the original might have sounded without any intrusive hiss. The English track in fact is dubbed fairly well and, given the sometimes less than sane nature of the material, it doesn’t suit the film badly at all. Image is presented in a roughly accurate ratio with nice levels of detail and an apparently appropriate colour scheme, overall looking better than the final entry in the series (which suffered from grain and extremely soft focus nocturnal shots), although there is a murkiness to the onboard scenes due to the omnipresent fog. This presentation of a once obscure but charmingly uncanny film is appreciated and I’ve already had my money’s worth out of the disc along with the rest of the amazing and comprehensive set.

Snow White and The Huntsman

2012, US, Directed by Rupert Sanders
Colour, Running Time: 131 minutes
Review Source: Blu-ray, Region B, Universal; Video: 2.39:1 1080p 24fps, Audio: DTS HD MA

Obviously taking its cue from the Brothers Grimm story, this contemporary special-effects-laden adaptation has more in common with Lord of the Rings than it does Disney's beautiful animated ground-breaker. Probably everybody in the western world has seen the Disney film even if they haven't read the story, but this new live action epic roughly follows an outline that goes like this: Magnus, King of Tabor loses his wife to illness but later the grief-stricken, cloudy minded man becomes enamoured with Ravenna, an apparent slave girl of great beauty. As soon as he marries her, however, she reveals her true colours, brings about the King's premature demise, and takes over the kingdom. Her subsequent sphere of evil influence even spreads to nature where everything rots in the vicinity of the castle. Snow White, the King's daughter who has been kept imprisoned in the years since his murder, manages to escape the castle and heads out towards the marshes. The previously reassured Queen discovers that she is no longer the most beautiful female in the land (now that White has matured) via the subjective opinion of a being that occupies a mystical mirror and thus sends out a team, led by a rebellious hunter, to end Snow White's existence - some people just won't accept second best it seems! The hunter, having been tricked by the Queen's promise of resurrecting his dead wife, eventually comes to his senses - he despatches of the other assassins and teams up with Snow White to embark on a journey towards the good duke's nearby domain with the eventual aim of launching an assault on the Queen's castle in order to reclaim the kingdom warranted by Snow White's rightful bloodline.

Prepare yourself as you begin to watch because this story is expanded to near epic proportions, exceeding two hours and encompassing a quest that would not seem out of place had it been undertaken by Tolkien's Fellowship. The biggest problem with Snow White... in my opinion is the absence of any evidence of an auteur's touch. Whilst it is striking to look at throughout, it doesn't have much personality of its own other than highly imaginative special effects and sumptuous set design. This is compounded by the fact that the titular female is embellished with little character by actress Kristen Stewart, who has made her name with Twilight fans (probably a motivational factor in casting her here). In fact, she comes across as not much more than a miserable teenager whose transition from daddy's girl to army-leading warrioress is scarcely believable, even in a fairytale context. She brings nothing to the role as far as I can tell, not even an occasional change of facial expression. Not only that, but she's arguably less attractive than Charlize Theron from my point of view, which makes a bit of a mockery of the 'fairest of them all' issue that perpetually rubs the Queen up the wrong way. Elsewhere, the huntsman is more charismatically played by Thor, sorry, Chris Hemsworth, doing a Scottish accent - at least he has a little personality even if it is interchangeable with that of the Thunder God. Thankfully Theron really does take the crown as Queen Ravenna, injecting venom as well as a dose of underlying sorrow that is essential in fleshing out her character. There has to be something wrong with this woman if she is perennially obsessed with the reassurance of her own beauty and power, and the viewer may sense an air of tragedy in light of Theron's performance. Snow White does, if you were wondering, meet a posse of dwarves (it's quite fun to spot some of the actors playing these, as they are not instantly recognisable) who tag along for the adventure. What I find odd is the fact that a first-time director would be entrusted with what is essentially a large production - the budget for this film was absolutely huge. My theory is that they didn't want to risk such an investment with someone like Terry Gilliam taking charge, where such an auteur basically goes off on their own creative journey, usually to the studio's chagrin. So they hired a puppet, as harsh as it may sound. Watching Sanders speak to the camera in the interviews reveals that he may have as little personality as what this film has had injected into it, or perhaps he just doesn't come across well when the camera's on him. It seems, at least in commercial terms, this strategy paid off, as the film raked in a reasonable amount of money and, ridiculously (given the ancient literary foundations), a sequel has been announced as a possibility. What does stand out in this production is the visual aspect - the landscapes, villages, castles, and in particular the Dark Forest; all of these come together to create a stunning fairy tale that has come to life, and the special effects work is wonderful to watch in action. It's a pity that some of that life didn't seep through to Stewart and the director, as a pretty watchable film could have began taking shape as a modern classic.

I picked up the steelbook Blu-ray edition of this: the packaging is limited but attractively designed nonetheless. It goes without saying that the HD image, though not overly sharp, is great to look at, boasting a fantastic colour palette that is often muted (at source) but subtley stimulating. The 7.1 lossless audio track (downmixed to 5.1 in my case) will give any reference audio system or otherwise an invigorating workout. The disc contains the original theatrical version, or an extended version (presumably branched - I noticed no issues here), but there's only a few minutes between them and only having seen the latter I can't say what the difference is - I suspect it's minimal. Also on the disc there's a chance to pan some of the photographed locations by 360 degrees using remote key presses - nice but didn't work as fluidly as I'd hoped. There's also a number of other featurettes on the production, effects, etc, along with an audio commentary rounding out a strongly stocked package.

Possession

1981, France/Germany, Directed by Andrzej Zulawski
Colour, Running Time: 123 minutes
Review Source: DVD, R1, Anchor Bay; Video: Anamorphic 1.66:1, Audio: Dolby Digital Mono

Genre amalgamations go back a long way, whether it be the obvious mixing of science fiction and horror abundant during the fifties, or gangster/vampire combinations such as From Dusk Till Dawn, etc. From what could easily have been the uninspiring and unproductive event of marital break-up in the life of Zulawski was borne Possession (not the one with Gwyneth Paltrow in it!) - something that might be described as an odd collision between social drama and visceral horror. Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani play Mark and Anna, a couple in the midst of a marital crisis where permanent split seems like the only viable outcome. Aside from having a young child to consider, Mark appears to be unable to live without Anna but has difficulty communicating what he’s feeling without descending into maniacal, emotionally charged babbling, often turning to manifested aggression in frustration. His psychological state spirals downward while Anna seems ambivalent about what she truly wants, often portraying a need to terminate the relationship between them whilst possibly still exhibiting some feelings that are positive towards her husband, amidst the obvious torrent of confusion. Mark finds out that she’s been having an affair with someone and naturally this does the situation no favours. Finding out who it is he goes to see the man, presumably without intention to discuss the problem diplomatically - the strangely androgynous Heinrich beats Mark up during the ensuing conflict. Arranging to have his wife followed it’s revealed that Anna is frequently retreating to a derelict area of the city (Berlin) where in a run-down apartment she’s mating with some sort of hideous multi-limbed monster.

Rather than being a story of demonic infiltration à la The Exorcist, this movie investigates the results of the ‘possession’ of one human being by another, something that generally occurs in intimate relationships and is suggested here to ultimately have a destructive effect on its closest participants. The film distributors, particularly in America, didn’t really know how to market this project and in all fairness that’s quite understandable, especially in an era when films of a fantastically disturbing nature were good box office business - not only is the trailer a superficially ambiguous advertisement for what could easily be just another monster movie in its audience’s eyes, but the film itself had forty minutes or so removed by a studio who didn’t understand the content. Similarly here in the UK it was placed on the banned list by the Director of Public Prosecutions and effectively condemned as a ‘video nasty’ (something that ironically probably helped gather a small cult reputation for the film). The film has since been restored in the US and permitted an uncut release in the UK under thankfully revised opinion. Controversies aside, what remains now though is something that’s difficult to understand with its apparent symbolism and personal meaning to the director. It’s clearly a response to the despair produced by the disintegration of his own relationship with his spouse but there is much here to decipher, and that’s where many viewers will drop off (to sleep in some cases). However, there are rewards to be had should you be able to mentally focus on what’s going on - the intricacy of Mark and Anna’s relationship is disturbingly realised and the physical product of their interpersonal deterioration is quite fascinating; that is, the terrifyingly passionate hatred between them seems to create the very monster that Anna ends up mating with (thereby producing more offspring). The creature itself is not seen too much but what’s visible is hideous, a bedridden octopus-like monstrosity that conceals something distortedly human in its nature. Anna’s occasional dismissal of her real husband hints at the possibility that she (i.e. the female) sees him purely as the machine that will impregnate her when required. The fact that she’d rather mate with something so horrific (than her husband) in order to produce more offspring possibly offers support to this idea. While Neill does a good job Adjani is simply astounding as Anna. The extremity of emotions she displays is worryingly realistic (indeed she won a couple of awards for this role), most notably in the train tunnel sequence where she goes into prolonged violent spasms before a disgusting miscarriage - this scene must be one of the most disturbing ever committed to celluloid, surely something very few actresses could have achieved, and it pretty much elicited outrage in some people. Its impact is profound and underlines the state of Zulawski at that time. As far as the film as a whole is concerned it's more likely to be a painful experience rather than a specifically enjoyable one, but the latter was hardly the director’s intention.  Plus I would suggest that it is excessively long at two hours. However, films don’t come a great deal more challenging than this and its imagery and overall impact is quite unique.

Released a couple of times in the US by Anchor Bay Possession was restored to its full running time and Zulawski’s original vision, plus it was presented correctly at 1.66:1, anamorphically enhanced in a pillar-box fashion and generally pretty good looking for its time. The DVD also came with director commentary and interesting text notes on his work. The second disc release was identical apart from the fact that it was coupled with Mario Bava’s final film Shock as a double-bill.  Possession was finally passed uncut for home viewing in 1999 by the BBFC here in the UK for a Visual Film Entertainment VHS, and Second Sight have since (in 2010) put out the film on DVD - this UK DVD is the best edition of Possession available at time of writing, presenting the film uncut in the correct aspect ratio (as did the Anchor Bay DVD but with a much more comprehensive selection of extras, albeit missing the AB commentary). More recently US company Mondo Vision have been preparing their own special edition DVD of the film, reportedly with around four hours of extras in addition to being available in either standard SE or limited SE sets, but I suspect the cream of all releases will come from Second Sight this year, who are putting together a Blu-ray consisting of a director-approved HD transfer and host of newly commissioned bonus materials as well as the ported over extras from their 2010 DVD.

UK Blues: Drac is Back

Very nice news that the Hammer restoration team has been working on the 1958 Terence Fisher version of Dracula (Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, et al).  It's one of the studio's most admired films and the team have been aiming to restore it with AWOL footage that was decades ago excised by censors and found more recently in Japan (making this release the most complete ever), as well as presenting it in 1.66:1, which looks like the most likely intended aspect ratio (though no doubt there will be some fans finding something to moan about as they always do nowadays).  There has been a question mark over the ratio in the past, but they have conducted investigations and comparisons, as well as showing a few sample shots to illustrate over at their blog - 1.66:1 is a nice balance between Academy (1.37:1) and 'scope ratios, and my personal favourite, plus it was more widely used around the period, particularly in Europe, so I'm certainly happy with that decision.

I was never particularly enamoured with the film myself, disliking they manner in which the opening narrative set-up deviated significantly from the book.  However, that was back in the nineties and after also having viewed it on video cassette a few times - the new HD version is cause for re-evaluation so I will be picking this up on Blu-ray.  It will be released on 18th March in a pack consisting of 1 Blu-ray and 2 DVDs (i.e. everyone is catered for with one purchase, though there are no serious film fans who still buy everything on DVD in my opinion...) which will include a commentary plus new featurettes.  Probably region-locked, this is a good one for UK Blu-ray fans (and non-region B fans with multi-region players!).