Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Released in the UK for the first time, this classic poliziottesco was co-written and directed by Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox). It introduces Tomas Milian’s humorous rogue Monnezza, aka Garbage Can, and is packed full of fun action and car chases galore.

Detective Antonio Sarti (Claudio Cassinelli) breaks Garbage Can out of prison to aid him in tracking down a group of kidnappers (led by Henry Silva), who have taken a young girl hostage. Unfortunately, she has kidney problems and will die if she doesn’t get her medical attention in time. Picking up other criminals to help along the way, the unlikely team race against time to rescue the girl, and try not to kill each other as they do.

Lenzi’s police films are always entertaining. Here, his influences are clearly The French Connection and Dirty Harry, and the character of Garbage Can adds some comic relief that doesn’t always succeed. Milian is fantastic as the jailbird with a bubble perm and boasts dark eyes that make him appear to be wearing eyeliner. The spectacular set pieces are fun and are very seventies and hardly ever let up.

Lenzi’s eye for action makes the film an enjoyable romp, the touches of humour still holding up today. Fractured Vision’s Blu-ray release presents the movie with the choice of watching the original Italian language version or dubbed. If you choose the latter, you’ll know what to expect. There are also a pair of interesting commentaries, including one from the producer of the rather splendid Euro Crime documentary, Mike Martinez. Several video interviews with various cast and crew are included, including one with the daughter of the late Umberto Lenzi. Like the company’s Silent Action, the limited edition release also comes with a slipcase and booklet with more info on the film and an interview with Lenzi.

If you’re a fan of Italian cinema from the era or just love the rough-and-tumble aesthetic of the poliziottesco (which shares a few tropes with the giallo, but is focused more on the police rather than the murders), then this is a welcome release.

Free Hand for a Tough Cop is released on Blu-ray on November 29th.

In the charming ‘making of’ feature accompanying this new fully-animated ‘missing’ Doctor Who serial (the first full reconstruction from the early William Hartnell years), superfan comedian/actor Toby Hadoke evinces the opinion that Galaxy 4 is a bit inconsequential and isn’t regarded with much affection by Doctor Who fans. He ain’t wrong. Sadly, this rather tepid new animated release really isn’t likely to change most people’s opinions of an extremely simplistic, stagey runaround that succeeds only in confirming many people’s preconceptions that some early Doctor Who is not only too clunky for its own good but also a tough watch for modern audiences – and possibly even those who remembered the serial from its original transmission who will find that memory does, indeed, cheat occasionally.

Episode 3 of Galaxy 4 was returned to the BBC in 2011 (a nicely scrubbed-up version is available on this new set) and, along with a couple of random clips already retained by the Corporation, already suggested that this wasn’t likely to be one of the show’s classics. To their credit, animation producers Big Finish have tried to give the serial a bit of life by broadening its visual scope and making it appear slightly less studio-bound; the planet-scape looks more cinematic, spaceship interiors are infinitely bigger than the pokey sets seen on TV and, presented here in colour (a monochrome version is also included), the story looks bright and flashy and dynamic. Unfortunately the script – the only contribution to the series by William Emms – has little to recommend it apart from its ‘twist’ that the beautiful Drahvins are the baddies and the ugly, repulsive Rills are the good guys. The animation is bigger and bolder than the TV version but it clearly doesn’t properly represent the TV serial and is really more of a ‘reimagining’ than we’ve ever seen before from the Doctor Who animation series. It’s also a significant step down in quality from the vibrant and atmospheric animation of Evil of the Daleks but then it’s hard to imagine exactly what could have turned this story into anything other than a slightly tedious time-filler.

The Doctor and his friends Steven (Peter Purves) and Vicki (Maureen O’Brien) land on what appears to be a desolate planet. But when they are approached by curious little robots that Vicki quickly dubs ‘Chumblies’ because of their peculiar mode of locomotion, they discover a struggle between two stranded species, the warlike cloned Drahvins (basically Sontarans in skirts) and the walrus-like Rills. They have both crashed on the planet after an encounter in space (animated here quite unexcitingly).  It’s refreshing to see Doctor Who presenting strong female characters this early in its life and the ‘twist’ is mildly and briefly diverting but otherwise, Galaxy 4 is four interminably dull episodes involving much to-ing and fro-ing between spaceships,  simplistic and unsophisticated dialogue and the Chumblies, clearly designed to be rivals to the Daleks but doomed to failure because they are rubbish. The discovery that the planet is due to explode for some unexplained reason (but sadly not soon enough) should give the narrative a bit of an imperative but it’s all so hokily written and blandly strung out it’s really hard to give much more than the most perfunctory of damns.

Half-hearted animation, ropey script, lifeless performances (apart from Stephanie Bidmead as Drahvin leader Maaga who manages to imbue her character with a bit of pseudo-Shakespearean gravitas) make Galaxy 4 a watch-once experience, a DVD/BluRay/Steelbook likely to be left on the shelf to gather dusk. Fortunately, the set also includes some decent special features with Hadoke’s ‘making of’ (which also includes a rare appearance from Maureen O’Brien) joined by a feature exploring how the episode was recovered and returned, commentaries and photo recons. More Galaxy Bore than Galaxy 4.

Although Dementia 13 is famously known as the debut feature for Francis Ford Coppola, it’s not as widely seen as his bigger, later movies. Now released in a director-approved cut in HD, it’s time to get acquainted with this overlooked gem.

In the film’s atmospheric opening scene, John Haloran (Peter Read) is out on a lake at night with his wife Louise (Luana Anders). He’s goading her that if he were to die before his mother, she’d inherit nothing when he has a heart attack. Although Louise attempts to help him (the silly old fool had brought his pills but the pack was empty), once he expires, she throws him overboard and concocts a story that he’s left for a business meeting. Hereon in, she masquerades as the loving wife around his family. The family gathering is to remember John’s younger sister, Kathleen, who drowned years earlier. Louise sees an opportunity to drive the mother (Eithne Dunne) to the grave too and so inherit John’s share of the family fortune before his bloated corpse is discovered. Unfortunately, a series of axe murders get in the way. The family physician (played by acting legend Patrick Magee)

Filmed with some cast and crew from Roger Corman’s The Young Racers, on which Coppola was working, Dementia 13 is a gloriously lurid entrance into filmmaking for the man who would treat the world to The Godfather just ten years later. While it isn’t a masterpiece ripe for rediscovery such as Carnival of Souls, it’s a solid thriller that deserves a wider audience. It’s been available for years as a public domain title, but seeing the restored Blu-ray is a revelation. Not only has the additional material helmed by Jack Hill been removed, but the image is nice and clear, allowing us to enjoy Coppola’s early vision as it should be. He takes a leaf out of Hitchcock’s Psycho playbook (which we won’t spoil), which gives the story a jolt and makes it all the more intriguing. Patrick Magee is fabulous, chewing the scenery in his own inimitable fashion, and giving the production some gravitas.

The Blu-ray release, as part of the Vestron Collector’s Series, is well worth a purchase for fans, as it boasts a commentary from Coppola himself, as well as the original ‘test’ that screened before the film to see if you would be psychologically scarred by the movie! The presentation of Dementia 13 is superb, and the picture itself is much more than a curio.

Sometimes films made in the eighties can only have come from that decade. The Wraith is one such film. Everything about it screams the eighties, and it’s all the more wonderful for it.

Packard (Nick Cassavetes) is a town bully who, alongside his punk-looking conies, hijack drivers, forcing them to race and taking their vehicles when they lose. He’s also very possessive of his reluctant girlfriend, Keri (Sherilyn Fenn). When a stranger, Jake (Charlie Sheen) comes to town, Packard has some competition. Not only for his girlfriend, but a mysterious, souped-up Dodge Interceptor is taking out his men in races; not winning the cars, but costing them their lives.

The Wraith is not only crammed full of fantastic (and extremely ell executed) car chases but it serves as a video jukebox for some of the best (and worst) of eighties pomp-rock. However, despite top billing, Charlie Sheen has very little to do other than pick Sherilyn Fenn up on his motorbike. When doubling as the Wraith, he’s head-to-toe in leather wearing a helmet so could be (and probably was) anyone. The villains are much more memorable. Nick Cassavettes makes his hateable character very watchable, and his minions (who include a brilliantly manic Clint Howard in their ranks) are a motley bunch who look like rejects from The Warriors.

Very little is mentioned about the extra-terrestrial origin of Sheen’s Wraith and we can only assume that an alien race enjoys sending their creatures down to Earth to avenge wrong-doings. In this case, the murder of the local burger-flipper’s brother at the hands of Packard and his men.

It’s breezily written and directed by Mike Marvin, and while it’s no classic in any sense, it’s a fun watch and, as mentioned, has impressive car chases. The Blu-ray release – as part of the Vestron Collector’s Series is packed full of decent extra features, too, with two commentaries and a whole bunch of informative interviews. It’s a film that doesn’t deserve such riches but will bring a smile to the face of many VHS fans.

The Wraith is released on Blu-ray on November 15th.

Just in time for Halloween comes another selection of macabre short films from the BFI archive. Like 2020’s Volume 1, this collection boasts entries from various decades and encompass a wide range of cinematic styles and genres.

Not content to play it safe with horror pictures, there are several shorts here that could easily fit into a compilation of safety films. 1946’s The Three Children pre-dates the more famous foreboding films that warned of talking to strangers or getting too close to a creepy brook. This one came from a Wanstead commission to cut down on traffic accidents involving children and features a suitably malevolent-looking man meant to be a representation of death, adds an extra layer of evil to proceedings and almost nudges it into stranger danger territory. Another non-narrative entry, Hangman (1985), was made to raise awareness of following the proper guidelines when working on a building site. It’s narrated on-screen by a burly chap in a hangman’s mask who chalks up the tally of misdemeanours that could lead to fatality.

If you like the interactive nature of Hangman, the earliest films in the set will be right up your street. These are a pair of Quiz Crime films from the early forties, which give you the chance to solve some crimes as if you were from Scotland Yard. These are great fun, if only for the accents! Another older film, Escape from Broadmoor (1948), is notable for several reasons. Not only does it star John Le Mesurier (as a brutal runaway convict, far removed from the sophisticated, humorous types he’d later play), but it was the directorial debut of John Gilling, who would later go on to helm several films for Hammer.

Face of Darkness (1976) is an impressive addition, even if it stretches most people’s definition of short, coming in not much under an hour. It’s worthy of being here, though, particularly in the current climate. It features a far-right MP (a pre-Only Fools and Horses Lennard Pearce) conspiring to cause public outrage to push through his private members’ bill that will bring back corporal punishment. In addition, there’s an in-depth interview with director Ian F.H. Lloyd, which complements the film brilliantly. Similarly, The Dumb Waiter (1979) director, Robert Bierman, gives a fascinating insight into his film. This is arguably the most well-known short in Volume 2 and is a compelling tale of a woman (Geraldine James) who a stalker threatens.

Also of note is Mark of Lilith (1986), the most recent film in the collection, which is a gritty feminist vampire piece with a distinctive feel. It screams ‘art school’ but is still ponderously entertaining. A real highlight is the early music video for Screaming Lord Sutch’s Jack the Ripper. Filmed in colour and presented in pristine condition, it’s a glorious exercise in bad taste. Rather than produced to screen on TV, this was made to play in Cinebox machines, which were video jukeboxes. They didn’t take off, unfortunately, but were way ahead of their time.

We’re always thrilled when there’s another release from BFI Flipside since the label always highlights British cinema that is otherwise ignored. This set is wholeheartedly recommended to fans of the obscure and offbeat.

Short Sharp Shocks Volume 2 is released on Blu-ray from the BFI on October 25th. Read our chat with the curators of the collection here. 

Classic sci-fi doesn’t come more significant than this. Despite being remade numerous times, this black and white original still packs a hell of a wallop and is the touchstone for ‘they walk among us’ conspiracy stories.

Dr Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is being held at a hospital by the police, who think he has lost his mind. Despite being in an agitated state, Miles is adamant that he isn’t insane. Then he starts to tell his story to the psychiatrist. After returning from a business trip, people in his small town of Santa Mira have begun to behave oddly. A child is convinced his mother isn’t really her. It’s a similar story he hears with several people. And what about the corpse that has turned up at this friend’s house that looks a little like him but has no fingerprints? Throughout the night, Miles and his girlfriend Sally (Dana Wynter) discover the sinister truth of what’s happening, as an alien race is taking over the town one person at a time.

Adapted from Jack Finney’s serialised story and directed by Don Siegel (who would helm such magnificent movies as Dirty Harry), Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the epitome of Cold War paranoia. The threat of losing ones’ self is a universal worry, and it’s depicted wonderfully here. Unfortunately, the scenes that bookend the story were imposed by the studio execs who were originally unhappy with Siegel’s original bleak climax. That said, and while it would be more impactful to end with McCarthy screaming at us through the camera, the intro throws us straight into the action, and it motors at a strong pace from there.

The BFI Blu-ray release retains some of the extras that have appeared on previous releases, which is always welcome (particularly since some of the contributors are no longer with us), but also includes an interesting new commentary from filmmaker and historian Jim Hemphill and a fantastic recording of a session Don Siegel did at the BFI in 1973 as Barry Norman interviews him. It’s a worthy set for a film that seems to get better with each viewing.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is released on Blu-ray by the BFI on October 25th. Read more about the film here. 

 

David Harrison and his family are invited to the town of Purgatory, a town that doesn’t seem to appear on any maps, to assist with the setting up of a plant that will synthesise blood. What David doesn’t know is that the town is a haven for vampires, run by Count Mardulak, who wants them to live off the fake plasma and live in harmony with humans.

At the same time, Robert Van Helsing, an ancestor of the vampire hunter, turns up in town to kill the Count, and Shane, who runs the plant, wants to win his old conquest back, who just happens to be David’s wife.

Another vampire, Jefferson, and Shane organise an insurrection, backed with wooden bullets to take over the town and return to the old ways and a final battle ensues between the vampires who like the new way of living and those who don’t.

Made in 1989, due to the collapse of Vestron, Sundown didn’t really get any kind of decent release and therefore struggled to find an audience, and it has remained an undiscovered movie for most. But with a fresh Blu-Ray release and some fun extras included, horror fans are now able to see Anthony Hickox’s follow-up to Waxwork.

It’s a horror-comedy-western that is more than happy to poke fun at itself – watching Bruce Campbell hamming it up as a Van Helsing ancestor is amusing – and at the lore in general, taking stabs at using sunblock to protect themselves from the sun, using wooden bullets, and a few other jabs here and there. The whole thing is very much fang-in-cheek and has an impressive cast, so if you missed this the first time around, or if you’ve never even heard of it, it’s an entertaining enough flick to catch up with, especially if you’re a fan of director Anthony Hickox’s other genre fare, including Waxwork and Hellraiser 3.

Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat is released on Blu-ray as part of the Vestron Collector’s Series on November 15th. You can read our interview with director Anthony Hickox here.