STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN

stephen king on screen

by Joel Harley

From 1976’s Carrie onwards, the work of Stephen King has been as prolific on the screen as it is on the page. This documentary takes a look at the King’s contributions to television and film, lovingly curated by director and documentarian Daphné Baiwir.

Dedicated Constant Readers are unlikely to learn anything Earth-shattering here – did you know that King hated Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining? – but the documentary is well-illustrated with relevant clips and behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Frequent collaborators such as Mick Garris, Mike Flanagan, and Frank Darabont add their voices to a chorus of appreciation, alternating between the insightful and the already-knew-that.

Bookended by a corny yet charming fictional sequence in which Baiwir wanders through a land of King’s easter eggs, it’s a sweet appreciation of the author’s work but hardly an exhaustive one. With over 80 film and TV adaptations already out there in the wild, that’s far more than any 105-minute documentary could ever hope to cover – and so King on Screen skips over many of the bad or less remarkable ones in favour of a more rose-tinted approach.

A fairly surface-level exploration of the writer and his work in TV and film, but a pleasant journey regardless.

 

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STEPHEN KING ON SCREEN is out on Blu-ray on September 25th and is on digital platforms now. 

 

 

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

crimes of the future

by Robert Martin

“What do I think of the future? That I don’t have as much of it.”

As he approaches 80 years old, it’s apt that David Cronenberg returns to the screen after an 8-year gap with a film that feels like something of a return to his earlier work. As suggested in this quote from an interview with him on this special limited edition box set from Second Sight Films, time is running out. For him, and for all of us…

In a future where people no longer feel pain, where disease is gone and where humanity has adapted to a synthetic environment, surgery is the new sex. And in a place where people are cutting each other just to feel anything, one couple has turned the new sex into art performance. Saul Tenser and his partner Caprice are at the forefront of an underground radical art movement, performing extractions of the new organs Tensor is able to grow for slavering audiences. But why can Tensor grow new organs? What is the human body turning into as it adapts to a synthetic world? And why should both the National Organ Registry and a group of radical evolutionists take such an interest in him?

Apart from, perhaps, his own son, could there be any other filmmaker thank Cronenberg at the helm of a film with such a storyline? Crimes of the Future is Cronenberg through and through. It’s elegant, slow, ridiculous and provocative and occasionally, thanks mainly to Léa Seydoux, emotional. It’s also the best-looking Cronenberg film since Crash, and it has a beautiful Howard Shore score.

It doesn’t quite make it as classic Cronenberg, but there’s enough sly humour, icy cold dialogue, and literally stomach-turning gore erotica to make it well worth a watch.

This release is rammed with special features, all beautifully presented in a limited edition case with a 120-page booklet and collectors’ cards.  New audio commentary by the Canadian writer Caelum Vatnsdal (almost a Cronenberg character name, that one!) shows why he’s one of the foremost writers about the horror genre, and there are several interviews, most of which seem to have happened in Cannes on the morning of the film’s premiere. One with Cronenberg himself focusing on the film as a love story, one with Viggo Mortensen, with Seydoux and with Kristen Stewart, plus several others. A making-of and video essay examining Cronenberg’s fascination with the body are all interesting stuff. They’ve even thrown in The Death of David Cronenberg, a bizarre short in which the famed director comes face to face with his own death.

Overall, a package as good as the film. Which is good, if not brilliant.

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Crimes of the Future is available on 4K UHD Blu-ray and DVD from September 11th.

 

IT FOLLOWS (2014) [4K LIMITED EDITION]

by James “Magic” Perkins

Almost 10 years ago, Independent filmmaker David Robert Mitchell exploded onto the genre scene with his masterpiece, It Follows.

The story follows 19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe) who, after a chance sexual encounter, begins to be stalked by an unknown shapeshifting entity that will follow her and hunt her down, slowly but surely, unless she passes on the curse through sexual intercourse. This supernatural yet poignant horror tale blew audiences away with its clever and masterful blend of the real and unreal, with topical and social commentary on coming-of-age, sex, class divide, and human connection. It’s terrifying yet incredibly alluring to watch, with you watching every single inch of the screen looking for who or what could be ‘It’. Mitchell’s attention to detail with his writing and directing, coupled with a memorable and orgasmic score from Disasterpiece puts It Follows right up there as not only one of the best horror films in the last decade but one of the most impactful and unforgettable horrors of all time.

The special features included in this fabulous 4K release are worth the re-purchase price alone. The new audio commentaries from a collection of lecturers and journalists offer some fascinating insight into a deeper contextual analysis of the film and its themes; interviews with actors Keir Gilchrist and Olivia Luccardi give their perception on working under David Robert Mitchell; and our personal favourite, an interview with composer Rich Vreeland (Disasterpiece), in which he discusses making a truly unique and definitive horror score. Alongside those eye-opening special features, we are also gifted with interviews with the producer and production designer, topped off nicely with a thought-provoking video essay entitled It Follows: The Architecture of Loneliness in which Joseph Wallace explores the narrative weaving of the film’s themes and the location of Detroit and how and why they work so well hand in hand.

This 4K release is worth every penny, whether you are already a fan of the film or an intrepid new viewer – this is one to add to your collection.

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The 4K Collectors Edition of It Follows is available to buy now on 4K Blu-ray from Second Sight’s Online Store and Amazon.

 

SAKRA

Sakra

by Jacob Walker

Donnie Yen produces only his second film as a director (after 1997’s Legend of The Wolf) in what is an enjoyable but cookie-cutter wuxia film designed to entertain but not enthral you.

Based on the famous Chinese novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils by Jin Yong, Sakra stars Donnie as orphan Qiao Feng, whose role as leader of the Beggars Sect (the equivalent of Robin Hood’s Merry Men) is thrown into question when he is framed for the murder of a prominent member and then his adopted parents. He saves master-of-disguise Azhu (Chen Yuqi) when she is injured in battle, and the two develop a relationship while he tries to find the real perpetrators. As is traditional in such stories, Qiao Feng is extraordinarily powerful and heroic. We know this as his name is repeated multiple times, and he can perform superhuman feats, as well as defeating countless enemies at once. The film’s strength lies within Yen keeping things grounded when he can, utilising loads of great martial arts techniques to counterbalance the wire work and CG. The disc only features a very short ‘making of feature’, in which Donnie explains this was a conscious choice, which is interesting.

Unlike the best films within this genre, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the film isn’t interesting to look at, opting for computer-generated backgrounds rather than real locations. It is directed competently but with no flair or style (unsurprising given Donnie Yen’s inexperience in the chair) and does commit cinema sin by having to tie up loose ends after the end credits have rolled. Despite this, the characters are fun, the action decent, and the plot serviceable. A standard but pleasant foray into the ‘martial world’.

 

DIRECTED BY SIDNEY J. FURIE (1970-1978)

Directed by… Sidney J. Furie

Imprint’s latest box set collects five of the best movies of the seventies from under-sung auteur Sidney J. Furie, packed to the rafters with informative and entertaining extras. Furie went from making films like Doctor Blood’s Coffin (1961) and The Ipcress File (1965) to The Entity (1982) and errr… Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). His compositions became legendary in the industry, and it’s great to see these mid-period pictures getting a decent release.

The Lawyer (1970) kicks off the set in style. It’s a courtroom drama that led to the TV series Petricelli and features that titular attorney (played, as he was in the series, by Barry Newman) defending a doctor against a murder charge that has already been proved in the court of public opinion. It’s a grittier representation of the character than the show was and features moments the networks would never allow (like nudity) but still shows elements of humour.

Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970) sees Robert Redford’s play against type as a grifting dirt bike rider who hooks up with a more naïve Fauss to collect prize money on the race circuit. Wouldn’t you know, it’s a woman (Lauren Hutton) who comes between them as the womanising Halsy gets his way with her. It’s a gritty character study that features a standout turn from Lucille Benson (Halloween II) as Mom Fauss. The fantastic acting is equalled by the spectacular race sequences (including many a spill).

Based on the book by Gail Parent, Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (1975) is a dark comedy-drama starring Jeannie Berlin as the Jewish girl moving to the Big Apple to escape her overbearing mother and find a husband. She meets a doctor (played by Roy Scheider), who claims to be a confirmed bachelor and, throughout the story, is constantly frustrated by his womanising but can’t resist him. It’s an often touching movie, and even though it moves at a pedestrian pace and features one ‘disco’ song that repeated so often it’d drive you crazy (it’s literally the only thing played throughout a house party), it keeps the interest and boasts some fantastic framing.

Something different comes with 1973’s Hit! It’s set in France, so boasts some subtitled sections, giving it a European feel. Billy Dee Williams is a cop who seeks to avenge his daughter’s death by heroin overdose. He rounds up a couple of ex-hitmen (well, an ageing husband and wife), a detective, and a bereaved husband (Richard Pryer) to take down the cartel that is swamping the US with drugs. With a soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin (Dirty Harry), it’s a gritty action drama in the style of The French Connection.

The Boys in Company C (1978) follows a group of recruits to the Marines who are trained up to head to Vietnam. It’s a raw, visceral look at boot camp and life on the frontline of the ill-fated war. The training sequences influenced Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, right down to the use of the always formidable R. Lee Ermey as the drill instructor (in his debut film role). The main five (led by Stan Shaw) perfectly represent the naivety of youth and the tragedy of war. Using the conceit of a journal being written by one of the team brings more humanity than many of the Vietnam-themed movies of the time. It’s quite rightly considered one of the greatest Vietnam films ever made.

Imprint’s box set also contains some fascinating extra features and a well-written book. Our particular favourite of the myriad featurettes is one that focuses on the dreaded ‘pan and scan’ days of films on TV. If you’re not old enough to remember only seeing films on a 4:3 CRT screen on broadcast tele, it’ll certainly open your eyes to how butchered the movies we watched were. Likewise, it’s a great piece to show people who complain about the ‘black bars’ on DVDs. There’s also input from plenty of talent involved with the films, which gives great insight into Furie’s style and what it was like to work with him. The director also appears on several of the newly recorded commentary tracks.

If you’re new to these films, this is a fantastic chance to encounter some varied but genuinely unsung gems of the seventies.

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Directed by… Sidney J. Furie is out now from the Australian label Imprint.

 

THE SKYHAWK (1974) [Eureka Classics Blu-ray]

by Jacob Walker

The Skyhawk is a great chance for Kung Fu enthusiasts to fill a hole in their collection, it features a fresh-faced Sammo Hung finding his feet and Kwan Tak-Hing as the legendary Wong Fei Hung – most of his Guinness record-breaking 68 films, featuring the character have been lost to the ravages of time. For the casual viewer however, there is very little to recommend, in what is a lacklustre effort.

Sammo co-stars as Fatty (he started his self-depreciation early), student to Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung (referred to in the English dub as Skyhawk, strange as he is such a key figure in Chinese culture). After inviting the wrath of a long-haired Hapkido master, a young Carter Wong is taken in as Wong’s new student. Soon they are the target of a ruthless crime boss, who has hired the Hapkido master as his enforcer. Unusually for a film of this period the whole thing is shot on location in Thailand, some of it looking contemporary, some not. The action handled by Sammo is just okay; we get multiple punches into the camera, whereas the end battle has some more exciting movements. It’s interesting to see how his action has evolved since; it would only be 3 years before he would deliver his true style with Iron Fisted Monk. Kwan Tak-Hing doesn’t really do any teaching or healing, and it’s not clear why he came to Thailand in the first place.

Eureka presents a nice but sparse package, as well as the usual commentaries there is an interview with the brilliantly named Blade Po, a martial arts cinema scholar who talks over sections of the film. The best accompaniment is a booklet written by James Oliver that explains the history of Wong Fei Hung on film. It’s certainly an interesting addition for a collector – some films are timeless and unforgettable, but The Skyhawk is not.

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FOUR ROOMS (1995)

four rooms

by Martin Unsworth

A cast of A-list stars and a quartet of then-hot, high-profile directors? What could possibly go wrong? Well, when it comes to Four Rooms, it seems quite a lot.

Set on New Year’s Eve, bellhop Ted (Tim Roth) is left alone to deal with the hotel and its motley array of guests. Four separate stories pan out over the night, with Ted at the centre. He has to deal with a coven of witches who want his semen, become an unwitting accomplice to a couple’s bizarre torture fantasy, babysit a pair of mischievous kids, and aid a twisted bet posed by a Hollywood star.

The four directors involved are Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging), Alexandre Rockwell (In the Soup), Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn), and Quentin Tarantino (well, you know…), who are all capable of much better than this. One of the major problems comes, surprisingly, from Tim Roth. He mugs his way through the scenes as if he were Jerry Lewis. This isn’t the kind of comedy Roth is best at. Steve Buscemi would have aced it. Of the stories, the opener, The Missing Ingredient, is perhaps the strongest. Featuring Madonna as the head witch, it sets a good tone that unfortunately doesn’t flow to the following entries. Rodriguez’s The Misbehavers is another standout, if only because the two children (Danny Verduzzo and Lana McKissack) are genuinely fabulous. The less said about Tarantino’s effort (based, as credited in the dialogue itself on an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents), the better.

It’s something when the best part of a film is its opening title sequence (animated by the legendary Chuck Jones) in which one of Tarantino’s A Band Apart figures breaks from the logo for hijinks. It’s a Pink Panther-esque moment that is sadly never bettered by anything that follows. It’s an interesting experiment to combine several indie directors together for an anthology, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t work.

Australian company Via Vision has released Four Rooms on Blu-ray, and it looks great. The only extras are contemporary 4:3 featurettes that are interesting, but a little repetitive. If you’re a Tarantino completest, it’s worth picking up, but you’ll likely not watch it often!

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Four Rooms is out now on Blu-ray from Via Vision. 

 

 

BRUCE LEE AT GOLDEN HARVEST

by Alan Mount

Arrow Video have established themselves as purveyors of the cream of the crop when it comes to quality releases of cult cinema from a variety of genres, and this weighty 10-disc 4K collection of the classic martial arts movies the legendary Bruce Lee made for Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest studios in the ’70s should be quickly recognised as their most impressive achievement yet and rightly so. The films included are The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, and the uncompleted Game of Death, the film Lee was working on at the time of his tragic death in 1973. A slew of extras accompanies each film, many of them new and exclusive to Arrow. Lee’s most famous film, Enter the Dragon, is also included here as an additional Blu-ray release from Warner Brothers, who are releasing their own 4K version of this most iconic of movies later in the year. Two feature-length archive documentaries about Lee are also included.

These movies have been available for years, having been repackaged ad infinitum, but they have never been so impressively presented as they are here in glorious 4K; they’re uncut and can be viewed in their original Mandarin language with subtitles or dubbed into English or indeed with audio commentaries from experts in HK cinema and Lee in particular.

This mighty collection will be treasured by martial arts fans young and old, but it’s most likely to be cherished by fans who discovered Lee back in their younger days when these movies were first released and who, watching these beloved films in such pristine condition now, will feel the decades slipping away and remind them of how and why they became enamoured with this giant of action cinema in the first place.

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Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest is available now from Arrow Video.

 

THE BLACK DEMON

black demon

by Jack Bottomley

It is always nice to give a killer shark movie a try. Nicer still, one that swims its way onto the cinema schedule. Nicest of all, one that doesn’t populate the screen with spring breaker characters you can’t actually wait to see get brutally maimed. The Black Demon may look like The Meg with a smaller budget and a lead with hair, but despite starring a mighty fearsome Megalodon, it is a far different and surprisingly more thoughtful beast altogether.

Inspired by the real Mexican legend of El Demonio Negro, a supposed 50-foot shark that swims the waters of the Gulf of California, The Black Demon is actually a nature attacks concoction of Deepwater Horizon, Jaws, and Tobe Hooper’s Crocodile.

The film centres on Paul Sturges (Josh Lucas), who travels with his family to inspect an oil rig in Baja, only to find that not only is the small community around the rig in ruin but that something deadly is patrolling the murky waters below the beaten up rig, a monster with an eye on vengeance.

Far from just being another big shark movie, The Black Demon is a breath of fresh air in the genre, which tells an environmentally active story of mother nature out for revenge and mankind’s lies and greed poisoning the earth and oceans. The monster of the movie is the shark by definition, but thematically it is a far different story that uses its central predator as a metaphor for the wrath of the gods. In this case, Tlãloc, the god of rain, as the film links its oil-laden water-dwelling Megalodon to ancient Mexican heritage and beliefs, really quite admirably. In fact, there is set to be a tie-in comic series exploring the mythos behind the legend depicted here.

The Black Demon could so easily have settled for loads of crap CGI and silly action to make a quick buck, but Rambo: Last Blood director Adrian Grunberg, and writers Carlos Cisco and Boise Esquerra, take a risk and actually keep their deep sea terror very concealed by the black waters of man-made disaster (which gives the title a whole new meaning). Relying instead on story-driven thrill, the characters are trapped in the claustrophobic crumbling rig setting, with no help from a betrayed outside world to rely on and the shark waiting below.

True, some lines of dialogue are a bit hamfisted, and some plot elements don’t hang together neatly, but this film does so much right that you can forgive some of its missteps. The effects also sometimes show up, but Grunberg knows when to go for a money shot and when instead to rely on swift movements and Antonio Riestra’s cinematography that balances the dark with the light. A trick many could learn from in this field (or should that be pool?).

Lucas gives Paul a flawed humanity in the lead role, and the character develops well across the run time, while his wife Ines is played passionately by Fernanda Urrejola, and Julio Cesar Cedillo stands out among the supporting cast as the enlightened rig worker Chato. Bonus points, too, for giving dog lovers a breather in little survivor Toro!

The Black Demon is an entertaining and timely shark thriller with lots of meat on the bone… and plenty of teeth to chew it!

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THE BLACK DEMON drops on DVD and Blu-ray July 17th from Signature Entertainment

 

SATAN’S LITTLE HELPER (2004)

satans little helper

by Martin Unsworth

A return to off-the-wall form for cult director Jeff Lieberman (Squirm, Blue Sunshine), Satan’s Little Helper gets a long-deserved UK Blu-ray release from newcomers Treasured Films.

It’s Halloween, and young Doug (Alexander Brickel) is determined to go trick-or-treating as an assistant to Satan, as he’s obsessed with a hand-held video game named Satan’s Little Helper. Doug has a questionable fixation with his sister, Jenna (Katheryn Winnick), and is a little put out that her new boyfriend, Alex (Stephen Graham) has appeared on the scene. While wandering the streets, Doug comes across a bloke dressed in a Satan costume, arranging a gory display outside a house. Blinkered to what is really happening, Doug befriends ‘Satan’, who is actually a twisted serial killer hiding in plain sight.

As Satan’s rein of slaughter continues in the neighbourhood – including offing all the small island’s police force, there is plenty of fun, gory moments. Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction) is a standout as Doug’s mum, and it’s a pleasure to see that young actor Brickel is not completely obnoxious. His naïve, wonderment of meeting Satan and being oblivious to the deadly consequences of his actions should open up a conversation about the influence of violent video games. Even with the gore, the film gives an air of nostalgia. Kids roam on bikes like in E.T., and despite the electronic advancement of the hand-held game (the visual depiction is very rudimental), the family dynamic is akin to the classic sitcoms of the seventies and eighties.

This new Blu-ray release presents the film looking fantastic, giving audiences who perhaps haven’t experienced the movie before the best possible chance to enjoy it. The extras also make the release worthwhile. A video essay and interview with the director, both provided by Jon Towlson, are very interesting and informative, and the chat with Lieberman (conducted over Zoom) is particularly entertaining.

Satan’s Little Helper already had a cult following, and hopefully, this release will increase that fan base.

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Satan’s Little Helper is available on Blu-ray from Treasured Films and is on general release from July 17th.