Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

The sequel to 2015’s Dead Rising: Watchtower starts with
a short credits recap of the first one, but seemingly assumes you’ve either
seen the earlier film and paid attention to what happened or bought this for a
few pounds for an undemanding night’s entertainment and don’t really care about
further details.  It’s the continuing
adventures of reporter Chase Carter. 
He’s learned that the army are complicit in releasing and exacerbating a
zombie plague in the fictional city of East Mission. 

After surviving the city first time around, he lost
his friend to the conspiracy and is determined to reveal the truth to the
world.  This leads him back in and into
contact with an ex-employee of the company responsible for the virus, who wants
Chase’s help to stop the army murdering 1.5 million people who have chips in
them that slow the virus down.  Or
something. 

It doesn’t really matter.  This is modern zombie movie cliché
central.  Conspiracy blah blah zombies
blah blah let’s call them another name because that’s what people do these days
blah blah Z’s blah freaking blah. 
Characters explain the been-there-before plot to anyone that cares, and
then fight (zombies or other people) for a bit, then run around, rinse
repeat.   It rarely resembles the game
series that inspired it, but often resembles innumerable other films of its
ilk.

Dead Rising the computer game was generally a blast.  Inspired by classics from the genre and with
some pretty out there gameplay it was a good time.  This movie is not a good time.  Like most stuff these days it treats a fairly
ridiculous idea too seriously.  The
chances of zombies actually happening is so unlikely for so many perfectly good
reasons that make it impractical, you just wish once someone would go proper
Fulci on us again instead of this attempt at ‘realism’.  You know, flesh eating with a capital F for
fun.

Written by a committee and populated by actors like
That Woman from That Film and That Dude from That Film, there’s no one to
engage with or care about.  Billy Zane
pops up as a loony scientist for a few minutes. 
Dennis Haysbert is in it.  Ian
Tracey (so great in the CBC’s Intelligence some years back) is in
it.  Actors have to make a living though
too, so you can’t blame ‘em too much.

For what it is, there are many more badly made films
than Dead Rising: Endgame.  If you
just love any zombie movie, want some obvious CGI gore and aren’t too bothered
about anything else, go for it.  Fans of
the game won’t recognise much in this. 
For anyone else, there’s much more out there worth your time.

DEAD RISING: ENDGAME / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: PAT WILLIAMS / SCREENPLAY: TIM CARTER / STARRING: JESSE METCALFE, KEEGAN CONNOR TRACY, JESSICA HARMON, DENNIS HAYSBERT / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 31ST

Holy Back-to-the-Sixties! Adam West and Burt Ward – the definitive Batman and Robin, let’s face it – are back in this bold, silly, audacious new eighty-minute animation, which spectacularly and lovingly recreates the classic day-glo Batman TV series which burned so brightly for three seasons five decades ago. It’s not always easy to recreate a phenomenon from the mists of time, especially one so rooted in the hip’n’happening multicolour pop culture of the 1960s and The Return of the Caped Crusaders isn’t an unparalleled success; but by and large it’s a rather touching and heartfelt tribute to a TV series so many of us grew up with and which has entertained generations across the years in countless TV reruns and last year’s long-awaited DVD/Blu-Ray release of the entire series.

But we’re all older and wiser now and it’s hard not to feel a bit cynical and to wonder if this is really such a good idea. But once the credits kick in, beautifully evoking the style of the old Detective Comics covers, underscored by a strident re-recording of Neil Hefti’s classic TV series theme, you’ll most likely sit back with a big cheesy grin on your face and let the madness wash over you. For mad it most certainly is, the first half plunging us right into a story which wouldn’t have disgraced the TV show, before launching off into outrageous new directions in its second half as it recognises the darker edge Batman has acquired in his various incarnations since his days as a TV superstar and sets out to puncture their pomposity and lack of grace. Batman and Robin’s most fearsome villainous quartet – Joker, Riddler, Penguin and Catwoman are back together – and they’ve stolen a revolutionary Duplication Ray. After a battle with the Caped Crusaders the villains hi-jack a space-shot to an orbiting space station with the intention of duplicating the earth so they’ll each have a planet to dominate. Naturally our heroes thwart their devilish, if not ludicrous, scheme but it turns out there’s more to their plan than meets the eye, especially when Bruce Wayne/Batman, starts to behave disturbingly out of character…

In truth, The Return of the Caped Crusaders is a game of two halves. The first thirty minutes or so are an absolute love-letter to the TV series and the script cleverly captures its wry larger-than-life humour whilst acknowledging – as it has to – that that was then and this is now. The voice work is astonishing. West and Ward are back on Batduties; the former sounds a bit breathless but that’s only to be expected of a man close to 90 years of age and Julie Newmar slips purrfectly back into the slinky tones of the voluptuous Catwoman. But it’s elsewhere that our socks were knocked clean off, as all the supporting baddies and players – Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Commissioner Gordon, Chief O’Hara, Alfred, Aunt Harriet – sound virtually identical to their TV originals who have all, terrifyingly, long since passed away. Joker and Penguin are especially outstanding and it’s hard to believe we’re not listening to Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin back in the saddle.

The second half of the movie loses its charm and pace a little though. Batman goes ‘dark’, affected by Catwoman’s poison, and the story’s focus drifts a bit as Batman replicates himself to create a Bat-army to control Gotham City. Batman slips on a knuckle duster to give Joker and co a proper beating – on-screen captions, perfectly-pitched in earlier well-animated fight sequences – now change from ‘SOCK’ and ‘OOF’ to ‘BLUDGEON’ and ‘FRACTURE.’ The Return of the Caped Crusaders is really at its best when its revisiting the style and tone of the legendary TV series (even with some stylistic changes to some of the show’s classic sequences, such as Bruce and Dick hurtling down the Batpoles and the Batmobile roaring out of the Batcave) and its acknowledgement of and attempts to deal with the fall-out of decades of Darker Dark Knights robs it of some of its charm and innocence.

But on a purely instinctual level, it’s genuinely great to have West and Ward back, even in animated form. You may have your doubts about this one going in – we certainly did – but it does, here and there, genuinely roll back the years and remind us of a time when superheroes were allowed to have fun. Chances are, you will too.

Special features: Villains featurette / Voice artists featurette

BATMAN – RETURN OF THE CAPED CRUSADERS / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: RICK MORALES / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL JELENIC, JAMES TUCKER / STARRING: ADAM WEST, BURT WARD, JULIE NEWMAR / RELEASE DATE: 7TH NOVEMBER

For those growing up in the 80s and early 90s the original Danger
Mouse cartoon was an omnipresent staple of kids’ TV programming.  Made by animation studio Cosgove Hall Films,
it was their biggest and most enduring success from a roster that included
other titles like Count Duckula. 
A remarkable 161 episodes of varying lengths were created over a
decade-long production cycle.  In 2015 it
was the subject of a now hugely popular revival for the CBBC channel and is
already up to another 50 episodes. 

Danger Mouse tells of the titular rodent, who is apparently the
world’s greatest secret agent and known to most as DM.  DM has a sidekick in the hamster Penfold who
helps him in a variety of different cases that threaten the world.  DM is given his assignments by his boss
Colonel K, a chinchilla.

Like any good superhero DM has an
archenemy in the toad Baron von Greenback. 
DM is a little overconfident and this occasionally exacerbates the
trouble he inevitably gets into. The ever-nervous Penfold apparently has some
kind of anxiety disorder linked with his love of jam sandwiches.  Other characters support both hero and
villain throughout as they seek to thwart each other.  This third DVD collection has the
Christmas-themed The Snowman Cometh episode (hence the title) as well as
another 6 from the series.  They involve
DM coming up against Greenback and a variety of other villains.

A respectful modern revival of the
original, this hasn’t actually strayed too far from the construction of the
earlier episodes.  It’s been updated to
display a more technological world so modern children would find it familiar,
but otherwise the basic premise remains the same.  DM and Penfold are given a job, make a bit of
a comical mess of it to begin with, and then get it right.  It’s fast, bright and colourful,
action-packed and likely to keep younger viewers’ attention throughout. 

For parents or older viewers (and
as with the original) there’s still a narrator who frequently breaks the 4th
wall and enough arch, knowing silliness in the episodes.  You’ll likely also enjoy the talented voice
cast involved, including Alexander Armstrong, Kevin Eldon, Shauna Macdonald and
Stephen Fry as regulars and guests such as Kayvan Novak and Richard Ayoade. So
if you have young ones to entertain this makes it relatively pain free.

As noted, it only includes 7
episodes so isn’t a full series but the low price-point surely reflects
this.  Achieving a delicate balance
between entertaining the intended audience but giving enough of a nod to those
along for the ride, it’s solid stuff.

DANGERMOUSE: MERRY CHRISTMOUSE / CERT:
U / DIRECTOR: ROBERT CULLEN / STARRING: ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG, KEVIN ELDON,
STEPHEN FRY, ED GAUGHAN, SHAUNA MACDONALD, DAVE LAMB / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER
24TH
 

Ten
short films, eleven directors, and possibly the largest group of genre stars
ever to grace a single project: Tales of
Halloween is a beautiful thing to behold. Created by Axelle Corolyn, the
project is a deservedly-hyped trip on a carnival ghost train with a good dose
of nostalgia and a savvy approach to its scares.

After some pop-up opening credits, the
dread kicks off with Dave Parker’s ‘Sweet Tooth’ a nasty monster story with its
eyes on gross gore and campfire stories, finished with a touch of candy porn on
the side. Remedying the nastiness is Darren Lynn Bousman’s ‘The Night Billy
Raised Hell’ a boisterous show-case of what Trick or Treat can really mean, and
it’s a total hoot. Barry Bostwick (of Rocky
Horror fame) camps it up, backed by comic sound effects, to deliver the
most memorable performance in the film. His turn is perhaps only matched by
Pollyanna McIntosh’s deranged child-hungry turn in ‘Ding Dong’. The Lucky
Mckee-helmed segment is characteristically inconsistent like much of the icon’s
work, but does manage to, like The Woman,
give McIntosh ample opportunity to horrify.

Where the ABC’s of Death and V/H/S
films are grossly inconsistent and generally quite experimental, Tales of Halloween shows an impressive self-control
and consistency. Carolyn makes a wise move taking a page from Michael
Dougherty’s tasting board of terror Trick’r’Treat.
Overarching plot isn’t required, but cohesiveness is, and by letting characters
spill out over the multiple segments it achieves just that.

Paul Solet, the director of Grace, delivers a good old fashioned
revenge story in The Weak and the Wicked but it would have been nice to see
more gore from its well-conceived monster. That’s especially apparent when Adam
Gierasch’s’ Trick’ achieves solid shock factor without a jot of the
supernatural. Axelle Carolyn’s ‘Grim Grinning Ghost’ is a classic ghost story
bolstered by Stuart Gordon, Barbara Crampton, Mick Garris, Lisa Marie and Lin
Shaye cameos. It’s essentially a glorified excuse for some ace cameos, but it
works. This is an innately honest anthology with its heart on its sleeve and
its references proudly flaunted for everyone to see. The people involved love
what they do and it shows in each short. That’s why it gets away with being
downright silly sometimes.

That’s why Mike Mendez gets away with
confronting a make-shift Jason Voorhees with a UFO experience in ‘Friday the 31^st‘.
That’s also why the B-Movie brilliance of Neil Marshall-directed ‘Bad Seed’s
giant gore-hound killer pumpkin pulls off perfectly. There’s plenty other
tricks and surprises up this film’s sleeve but you should just go check it out.

Hard-core horror fans might despair at the
lack of true scares, but it’s hard not to have a good time with Tales of Halloween when it’s such an
unashamedly exciting ride.

TALES OF HALLOWEEN / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR
& SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: ADRIENNE BARBEAU, HUNTER SMIT, BARRY
BOSTWICK, JOHN F. BEACH, ALEX ESSOE, MARC SENTER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 

Crazed, somewhere in the mists of time also known as Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce, is truly the Ronseal of films. Pitched somewhere between sustained mania and it’s-too-late-we’ve-tipped-over-into-the-abyss, it’s crazed indeed. There is a ‘plot’ on which to hinge the insanity – in a brutal city, once good cop Ronan Pierce has turned himself into a vigilante, little concerned with the law.

Following the earlier murder of his daughter and the recent abduction of his wife, Ronan will stop at nothing to bring down the Luna Cartel. His former army colleague Logan (who has a serious vendetta of his own against Pierce) is now part of the cartel and is the man behind his wife’s kidnapping. Plus the cartel is responsible not just for enslaving innumerable women into drugs and prostitution but also having a neat sideline in harvesting body organs from victims of various crimes. As Ronan hunts for answers the bodies and carnage piles up. He does this by generally being the worst detective ever. Hint: if someone leaves a hand-delivered DVD of your kidnapped wife at your door every day and you’re seeking clues to where she is, maybe start by asking them?

Kevin McCarthy directs and his brother Michael McCarthy stars, with both sharing the writing duties. It’s very much inspired by comic books (Sin City), movies (Sin City…uh…yep, that’s it) and video games. Everything is dialed up to a Spinal Tap-esque 11 – the industrial soundtrack, the visuals (including comic book panels, CGI and the like) and the acting, pitch and tone. The McCarthy brothers are seeking to entertain through familiar influences and at this prom, no obvious trope is left lonely and unloved at the side of the dancehall.

Laying the stall out clearly as a piece of hyper-styled nonsense early on is helpful, ensuring you know in the first five minutes what the film is aiming for. It’s not original by any stretch and the short answer to whether it’s any good is no. A riot of steroidal macho cop movie and comic book clichés, it’s what you’d expect if someone like rubbish pop buffoons LMFAO were given money and asked to remake Stallone’s Cobra without ever having watched it.

Honestly, you’ve seen it all before and done much better. It’s juvenile, seedy, violent, and exploitative but without the wit, innovation or charm of something like classic grindhouse flicks. If you demand little more than a tiresome mix of noise, violence, skin, blood and an abundance of swearing for a good night in, this ticks all those boxes. Ruthlessly unoriginal and unpleasant, it aims low and succeeds in that.

CRAZED / CERT: TBC / DIRECTORS: KEVIN A. MCCARTHY, EDWARD PAYSON / SCREENPLAY: KEVIN A. MCCARTHY, MICHAEL MCCARTHY / STARRING: MICHAEL MCCARTHY, KANE HODDER, JORDAN ELIZABETH / RELEASE DATE: US: OUT NOW (VOD), UK RELEASE TBC

If they had taken advantage of all the opportunities afforded creatively, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus would be up there with the Weinstein’s in terms of output covering art-house, commercial and indie. 

The visions are both similar, but that is where the comparison ends, which is how it did unfortunately for the Cannon Group as the 1980s ended.

Arrow Video continue to spread the Cannon gospel in good faith with the latest in their Blu-Ray special releases, John Frankenheimer’s 1986 noir thriller 52 Pick-Up, which belongs to the exclusive club of decent Cannon movies, alongside Runaway Train and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. One hopes that Arrow may even consider the little-seen, underrated Christopher Reeve journalism drama, Street Smart, made and released in 1987, that secured Morgan Freeman his first Academy Award nomination as a ruthless pimp, who takes exception to a fabricated story by Reeve’s ambitious journalist.

Made a decade before the likes of Get Shorty and Jackie Brown (adapted from Leonard’s novel ‘Rum Punch’), 52 pick-up was released on the back end of Burt Reynolds’ ill-fated 1985 adaptation of the Leonard novel ‘Stick’ and co-scripted from his own novel by Leonard with John Steppling. 

With the interim release of the above examples, it is a fine opportunity to assess this version of a Leonard novel and given the passage of time, the film does emerge with some credibility and some of the overall tone and atmosphere intact. This is partly thanks to the solid performance of Roy Scheider as Harry Mitchell, a steelyard businessman who has an affair behind the back of his wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) with a model-come-dancer called Cini (Kelly Preston), Barbara is supervising the political campaign of Mark Arveson (Doug McClure in an interesting city suit role – a far cry from his late ‘70s British fantasies Warlords Of Atlantis and At The Earth’s Core), who is aiming to become LA’s latest District Attorney.

However, things go south when a trio of blackmailers, led by sleazy video maker Alan Raimy (Jon Glover, at his scornful best!) corner Mitchell and show him a tape of him with Cini, demanding $105,000. After refusing to pay on the advice of his lawyer, the stakes are raised when they kill the mistress, framing Mitchell, then demanding $105,000 per year from Mitchell for the remainder of his life…. 

John Frankenheimer was at his strongest utilising material like this for the big-screen with previous works like The Manchurian Candidate and Black Sunday amongst the notable examples and this Blu-Ray edition heightens the dark and sleazy world, which was photographed by Paul Verhoeven’s cinematographer Jost Vacano (Robocop, Total Recall and Showgirls amongst them – another reason to check this film out). 

Again, it is another sad example of the Cannon Group back in the day not understanding the potential at the time of the material they had in their midst. In one of the more famous examples of premature optimism from Golan and Globus, Dustin Hoffman was down as a lead in an adaptation of another Leonard novel, La Brava, but pulled out when he had been announced in the press as starring, when no contract or deal had been made. 

Cannon clearly, in the grand scheme of things, were hoping that the success of their umpteen Bronson, Norris or Lemon Popsicle movies would help float the financial boat and lead them to critical and box-office acclaim.

It’s a shame also that 52 Pick-Up didn’t get the wider release and at the time, a lot of Cannon films were often relegated to a week (certainly in the UK) in a Cannon Cinema, which is where a generation of cinema-goers who saw these on their initial release in the late 1980s would go (Runaway Train was one such example that would only get screened in a smaller screen in a four-screen venue). It is another harsh reality of a cinema empire that didn’t utilize the very facilities to enable the product to be seen at it’s best.

So, pray thanks to Arrow Video for giving this little-seen gem the gold-dust treatment on Blu-Ray. It captures the style and essence of a proper noir. 

52 PICK-UP (1986) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JOHN FRANKENHEIMER / SCREENPLAY: JOHN STEPPLING, ELMORE LEONARD / STARRING: ROY SCHNEIDER, ANN-MARGRET, VANITY, JOHN GLOVER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

In 1998 Hideo Nakata released Ring (or Ringu) and in doing so created one of the most terrifying horror characters ever seen on screen. Vengeful spirit Sadako is so distinctive as be part of modern culture itself, and Nakata became the poster boy for the rise in the popularity of Japanese horror – or J Horror – at the turn of the millennium. He followed Ring with a direct sequel, and a couple of dark thrillers before releasing Dark Water in 2002. Focussing on another malevolent ghost, Dark Water centres on young mother Yoshimi moving into a rundown apartment block with her 6-year old daughter. The thing is, Dark Water isn’t actually that scary. So is it really a horror film?

It’s fair to say that anyone expecting Ring-like scares from Dark Water will be hugely disappointed. This is a film full of brooding menace rather than jumps and frights. There is very little “ghostly” action for the first two acts, with Nakata instead choosing to concentrate on the mother-daughter relationship at the film’s heart, and the lack of one for child spirit Mitsuko. Abandonment is an important theme for Nakata, and one that runs right through to a finale that is as powerful as it is deftly handled.

Instead of “real” horror, Dark Water as a film emulates the dark presence of its protagonist. There is barely a scene that is not awkward or uncomfortable, creating an oppressive atmosphere that clings to you like a dense fog. Every surface, every inch of this world feels grimy and unwelcoming, with the seemingly perpetual rain failing to wash away any of the inherent sadness. This is a film that creeps slowly around behind you, uncomfortably caressing your shoulders rather than jumping up and screaming in your face. It is a film that chills you without really scaring you, and is a work of brilliance.

Suspense and subtle chills are major themes throughout Japanese horror literature and film and Nakata exemplifies that more with Dark Water than with any other film he made. It’s interesting that, in a fascinating new interview commissioned purely for this new Arrow release, Nakata states that the film’s writers didn’t like the finished film; they thought it not scary, and not in keeping with what they wrote.

It seems in many ways they were missing the point. To make Dark Water more frightening would have meant simply repeating much of what Nakata achieved in Ring and its sequel. This is a different film, with different themes, and as such should be appreciated for that distinction. This is an uncomfortably beautiful, grim and horrific film; just don’t expect too many scares.

DARK WATER (2002) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: HIDEO NAKATA / SCREENPLAY: YOSHIHIRO NAKAMURA, KENICHI SUZUKI / STARRING: HITOMI KUROKI, RIO KANNO, MIREI OOGUCHI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 

Digimon is among a number of anime series that for some reason never saw a DVD release in the UK, despite seeing releases in Japan, and the US. That has changed with the release of Digimon: Digital Monsters Season 1 this month. Digimon is an anime about seven children who are transported to another world (called the digital world), and find themselves befriending strange monsters (named Digimon) who can change into more powerful forms. Together they must team up, not only to save this world, but their own.

Digimon is a product of the nineties and it is evident most in the show’s humour. The jokes are cheesy, and sprinkled with (at the time) topical references (think Aladdin). This ranges from being a sign of its age, to being oddly charming. It ultimately pulls this off thanks to a consistent tone, and likeable characters.

Each of the characters has a core trait that both serves to characterise them, and to act as the focus of their friendship with their digimon. The show spends time developing these traits and exploring them, so that they never feel like arbitrary designations. For instance Tai’s trait is courage, and we see him learn from his mistakes, and show real courage when it counts. Each of the characters does have an arc like this but as with many an anime this isn’t done with equal attention to the entire cast. Tai and Matt undergo the most growth between them, but Joe’s arc, for example, feels comparatively underdeveloped. We see the pressure he is under to live up to the expectations of his father, but we never truly see him confront those expectations.

Digimon was dubbed by animation company 4Kids and it is tempting to blame some of its failings at their feet. When the jokes don’t work it is typically because they feel shoe horned in to what the characters are saying. When characters occasionally make grand speeches the dialogue just comes across as stilted.

Digimon feels like a series of contradictions, with little flaws that stop it from being great rather than any one significant failing. The humour can be cringe worthy, and yet it is what makes it endearing. Important character growth has a tendency to be brushed aside, but there are episodes devoted to giving the characters believable, and relatable personal journeys. When all of these elements are brought together Digimon proves to be greater than the sum of its parts. It is a lot of fun, and well worth checking out.

Special Features: Original Japanese Opening / Original Japanese credits 

DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS SEASON 1 / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: HIROYUKI KAKUDO/SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: STEVE BLUM, MONA MARSHALL, TIFANIE CHRISTUN, DEREK STEPHEN PRINCE, PHILECE SAMPLER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW 

A young family and their ageing Aunt rent a large old house for the summer, its rent being so unexpectedly low. It’s falling apart and the owners, an elderly brother and sister, emphasise the need to get the right people to love their home, which comes complete with their old mother who stays upstairs in the attic rooms. But as the summer progresses, the house starts to take a strange hold on the family, feeding off their pain or sadness to rejuvenate itself, with a force close to possession. 

Made in 1976, Burnt Offerings falls somewhere between a fascinating slice of American gothic cinema and a made for TV movie. Writer/director Dan Curtis had made Dark Shadows for TV as well as the classic Trilogy Of Terror, and his foray into big screen features sometimes belies his TV background. Early scenes show little cinematic flair and the cinematography is flat, giving it that TV movie of the week feel. But it starts to become more adventurous as the house takes hold of its guests, and this is helped no end by a fantastic cast.

Nobody does odd quite like Karen Black and here, after her manic collaboration with Curtis in Trilogy of Terror, a film which traumatised many a youngster of this reviewer’s generation, she is fascinating as the devoted wife and mother torn between her family and the overwhelming pull of the force of the house. She’s creepy. All at once her eyes can be both loving and murderous and her descent into a kind of madness is a perfect role for her. As her husband, Oliver Reed is both sympathetic, battling to save his family, and threatening – there’s a scene in a pool where he tries to drown his son that is pretty horrible, Reed’s physical strength showing a real menace. There’s a nice natural bond between him and his onscreen son, convincingly played by Lee Montgomery. And in a relatively minor role, Bette Davies is quite brilliant as the old Aunt who knows something’s up. She’s so convincing at having a heart attack it’s truly uncomfortable to watch. 

The atmosphere builds slowly and carefully. Each negative incident for a character has a positive impact on the house – a bloodied knee sees dead plants reviving, for example – and it soon becomes clear that the house is hungry, deliberately laying traps psychical and mental for the people inside. Towards the climax it stumbles into familiar horror cliché but the end is genuinely chilling. 

Ultimately what makes it less than the more cinematic horror efforts of the period and gives it that TV movie feel is the fact that it’s just not that scary. This comes three years after The Exorcist and is from the same year which brought us The Omen, both of which still have the power to terrify. But when someone dying of a heart attack results in a greenhouse full of lovely flowers, it’s a clever idea but not a particularly frightening image. For this, Burnt Offerings could have done with a bit more fire.

BURNT OFFERINGS / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: DAN CURTIS / SCREENPLAY: DAN CURTIS, WILLIAM F. NOLAN / STARRING: OLIVER REED, KAREN BLACK, LEE MONTGOMERY, BETTE DAVIS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW 

Robert Wise was often held up as and considered the antithesis to other contemporary directors of his time regarded as auteurs like Kubrick, Hitchcock et al. The theory goes that Wise was a journeyman filmmaker, who left no imprint of his own on any film he made.

Nevertheless, here we have an Oscar-winning director who was seemingly comfortable in any genre and his credits include such varied (and undisputed) classics as The Body Snatcher, The Set-Up, West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Haunting amongst many, many others.

Odds Against Tomorrow is one of his less well-known titles but it’s one packed with talent.  From stars Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan to screenwriters Nelson Gidding and Abraham Polonsky (an Oscar-nominated writer and director blacklisted at the time of this film’s release) and a soundtrack by jazz pioneer John Lewis, it’s shot through with class.

It tells the tale of embittered former policeman Ed Begley who puts together a small crew to help him rob an upstate New York bank. Sadly for Ed, he chooses reluctant, debt-ridden nightclub entertainer Belafonte and the no-good ex-con Ryan to assist him. This turns out to be a big problem for Begley as Belafonte’s Johnny Ingram is black and Ryan’s Earl Slater is a massive racist. As the film builds toward the heist, tensions between Ingram and Slater build and when the robbery happens and – as they inevitably do – goes tragically wrong, there’s no happy ending.

Made in 1959 at the end of the classic noir period, Odds Against Tomorrow was filmed mostly on location in traditional stark black and white. A tough, hard film, its concerns with themes of racism and social divides were timely then. It would be great if we could believe these problems consigned to a less enlightened past but they’re sadly still as relevant as ever. Those unfamiliar with thrillers of the time might be surprised at how emotionally and thematically brutal these films could be, and such is the case here. Odds Against Tomorrow is a very fine film, and comes highly recommended.

The BFI have put together a commendable package for this release. A fine transfer of the movie is supported by substantial extras – a 50-minute Q&A with Belafonte on the film from 2009, a 74-minute NFT interview with Wise from 1995 covering his entire career, an audio only NFT interview with Ryan from 1969, a newly filmed appreciation by critic Adrian Wootton and a booklet from writer Tega Okiti. Fans of classic thrillers should consider picking this one up, and if you’re a fan of the film the extras make it essential.

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959) / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: ROBERT WISE / SCREENPLAY: ABRAHAM POLONSKY, NELSON GIDDING / STARRING: HARRY BELAFONTE, ROBERT RYAN, ED BEGLEY, GLORIA GRAHAME / RELEASE DATE: 24TH OCTOBER