Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Despite the gritty, committed performances of its triumvirate of stars – Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr (the latter two not quite drawn into Marvel’s all-encompassing web at this point) – David Fincher’s uncompromising 2007 exploration of the real-life 1960s serial killer case failed to make much on an impression at the box office.

Fortunately, the film has found a more appreciative audience in the years since. This new 4K release – so sharp and so clear it’s like being back in the 1960s in offices full of sweaty men in suits wreathed in a fug of cigarette smoke or knocking back booze in seedy bars – is likely to accrue even more admirers in those looking for the very best feature film presentation that physical media has to offer (the Blu-ray disc version includes commentaries and featurettes).

Based on two non-fiction books written by political cartoonist Robert Graysmith (portrayed with breathless, dogged determination by Gyllenhaal), Zodiac tells the story of the manhunt for the so-called ‘Zodiac killer’ who terrorised the San Francisco Bay area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters and cyphers mailed to newspapers.

It’s a cat-and-mouse story, with ‘Zodiac’ (he was never caught, but the authorities have a pretty good idea who he was, even though they were never able to pin him down at the time) almost toying with the police, Graysmith, the press, and even powerful celebrity lawyer/former actor Melvin Belli (Brian Cox), leaving clues and puzzles and even, horrifyingly, scraps of bloodstained clothing torn from his victims.

Zodiac is a heavily dialogue-driven affair with endless scenes of powerful men arguing in offices. Fincher brings it all to the screen with his trademark attention to detail and tireless quest for truth and verisimilitude – after the film’s release, the cast spoke of the fact that Fincher would often film 70 takes or more of a scene to make sure that he got exactly what he wanted from his performers. The handful of scenes that depict some of Zodiac’s kills actually look a little out-of-place, as if they belong in some Scream-style slasher movie, but they add a much-needed sense of urgency to a film that, while beautiful to look at and stunningly crafted, can feel a bit dry and heavy-going in places.

Ultimately it’s a film about three obsessed men; Graysmith takes his passion for the case to extremes by continuing his search for the truth long after Zodiac’s killing spree has ended, Mark Ruffalo gives police inspector Dave Toschi an exasperated, sometimes twinkling charm, and Robert Downey Jr is pretty much rehearsing for his defining role as Tony Stark as the cynical, rule-breaking, alcoholic journalist Paul Avery.

18 years on, it’s hard to imagine a film like Zodiac being made today. In many ways it’s a throwback to 1970s thrillers like All The President’s Men and Chinatown. While it isn’t a film that anyone’s likely to want to revisit regularly, it’s a reminder that, at its best, cinema needn’t really be all about franchises and sequels and reimaginings and that there should still be room for tough, torn-from-the-headlines films for adults that demand a bit more than the passive experience delivered by much of today’s cinema.  Zodiac, by its very nature, isn’t easy viewing, and that alone is enough to make this new release highly recommended for lovers of hard, powerful noir cinema.

ZODIAC is available now on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray.

When considering the success of the Monty Python movies and indeed the TV series that spawned them, it’s fascinating to realise that every single one of the main performers starred in comedy movies in their own right in the years that followed, with many still active to this day.

Movies like The Missionary (Michael Palin), Clockwise (John Cleese), Nuns on the Run (Eric Idle), and Erik the Viking (Terry Jones, who sadly passed away in 2020) were all popular, and we mustn’t forget the late great Graham Chapman. A year before taking on the titular role in 1979’s Life of Brian, Chapman had starred in Peter Medak’s beguiling dark comedy The Odd Job, which is due for release soon from Severin Films in an attractive Blu-ray package. It’s sure to delight audiences again for the first time in many years, as it’s a movie rarely shown on TV.

The gifted Chapman also co-wrote The Odd Job, in which he stars as Arthur Harris. To all intents and purposes, Harris is a happily married man, but that illusion is quickly shattered when his wife (Diana Quick) suddenly announces that she’s leaving him on their fifth wedding anniversary. Typically for a character portrayed by Chapman, Arthur decides that suicide is the only answer, but when trying to take his own life, he proves decidedly unsuccessful. When a strange individual (David Jason) offers to end Arthur’s life for him, all sorts of madness ensues, not least after Arthur’s wife returns to give their marriage another chance.

This sort of plot is the very stuff of British farce, and when performed by actors of this calibre, cannot help but entertain. Supporting cast members such as Carolyn Seymour, Simon Williams, Bill Paterson, and the legendary Richard O’Brien all perform admirably, but this film belongs to Graham Chapman, who gives it his all – it’s a fine memorial to his particular quirky talents.

The film runs for a concise 88 minutes and the Blu-ray comes with a raft of extras including an introduction and audio interview with the prolific director Peter Medak, plus interviews with many of those who worked behind or in front of the cameras of this terrific and somewhat unsung movie, the sort of comedy which we sadly don’t see much of anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ODD JOB is available on Severin Blu-ray from August 25th and can be pre-ordered now.

 

 

First aired on the BBC in 1953, Nigel Kneale’s The Quatermass Experiment can rightly lay claim to being the first original science-fiction serial on British television. Hammer’s quickly commissioned feature film version can equally lay claim to being the film that changed the fortunes and, indeed, the direction of Hammer’s future output, as the studio quickly skewed towards genre fare,  becoming the prime British go-to for lurid gore-drenched horror films, reinventing the Universal rogues’ gallery of monsters for a new generation for well over a decade.

The retitled Quatermass Xperiment (known as The Creeping Unknown in the USA) and its sequel Quatermass II are sci-fi outliers for Hammer, but both films have their roots in the horror genre, especially this first film and its depiction of an extra-terrestrial intelligence that turns human flesh into living vegetable matter. This impressive and comprehensive new 5-disc box set presents the black-and-white film in a crisp, vibrant 4K transfer, along with a Blu-ray disc, complete with the surviving episodes from the original BBC serial and a wealth of supporting material, both old and new.

The Quatermass Xperiment is a simple story of grisly first contact. Bernard Quatermass of the British Rocket Group (here played by surly American actor Brian Donlevy – much to creator Kneale’s chagrin – rather than Reginald Tate, who played the role on TV) and his team rush to the scene when a spaceship launched by the Group with a crew of three astronauts crashes back down to Earth.

Two of the astronauts are missing, but their spacesuits are intact. Victor Carroon, the third astronaut (played with cadaverous unearthliness by Richard Wordsworth, great-great-grandson of poet William), is delirious and feverish. It soon becomes apparent that Quatermass’s rocket has brought something alien and potentially unstoppable back with it when Carroon escapes confinement and starts to become distinctly inhuman. The creature engulfing his humanity needs to feed on the life-force of anyone who gets in its way as it tries to find sanctuary so it can germinate and spread its spores across the world.

The script (written by Richard Landau and director Val Guest, as Kneale was precluded from contributing due to his contract with the BBC) nimbly truncates the TV serial’s six half-hours into a punchier 82 minutes. The story is still powerful and chilling, even if much of Kneale’s original subtlety and nuance is lost and the production inevitably looks like a product of its time.

Donlevy’s gruff and surly Quatermass must reluctantly work alongside Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner, already looking a good ten years beyond retirement age here, two years before he began a 21-year residency in the BBC’s Dixon of Dock Green). Both men wander through the film welded into their overcoats, Lomax initially sceptical about the threat posed by Carroon whilst Quatermass struggles to understand exactly what has become of the ailing astronaut and the danger he might pose to the human race.

There are some moments that chill even now – Carroon’s victims are turned into lifeless husks, and a scene where he causes carnage at London Zoo still has the potential to disturb animal lovers. The film retains the serial’s memorable Westminster Abbey climax, where the creature, now a mass of thrashing tentacles, lurks in the building’s rafters and scaffolding, but it abandons the more cerebral ending of the TV version by electrocuting the creature to death. Quatermass himself strides off into the night, promising to start his experiments again…

A masterpiece of low budget British sci-fi/horror, The Quatermass Xperiment is handsomely directed – Val Guest gives it his typical sense of realism, with characters often talking over one another or interrupting each other, and a generous amount of location filming in and around London. It’s almost as much a landmark of UK genre cinema as the original version was for TV sci-fi.

The lead characters are a little stodgy and Donlevy is about as far away from the modern idea of a film hero as it’s possible to get, but this is still a gritty, surprisingly creepy and graphic story that has itself influenced so many other TV series, writers and storytellers across the decades.

This chunky box set includes the film under its UK and US titles and a bounty of supporting material, including the first part of the Nigel Kneale story presented by lifelong superfan Toby Hadoke, a ‘making of’ documentary, new commentaries and archive material, as well as a colourful poster, an engrossing 180-page booklet, an examination of the life and career of Richard Wordsworth, art cards, and a reprint of the old House of Hammer comic strip adaptation which hasn’t seen the light of day since the 1970s. The shelves of no serious fan of sci-fi/horror – and Hammer in particular – is complete without this gorgeous limited edition release. A similar set for Quatermass II is imminent.

THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT is out now from Hammer Films.

In a departure from his usual cosmic horror, director Stuart Gordon directs the screen version of the cult Charlie Higson novel (the writer also provides the screenplay).

Earning a living doing odd jobs he’s not particularly qualified for, Sean Crawley (Chris McKenna) meets Duke (George Wendt), who suggests working for shady businessman Ray Matthews (Daniel Baldwin). Tasked with following a local government official, Eric Gatley (Ron Livingston), Sean becomes obsessed with his wife (Kari Wuhrer). But when Matthews suggests killing Eric during a drunken conversation and Crawley carries out the deed, things take a turn for the sinister. Crawley finds himself abducted and tortured, his captors looking for an important document.

Best known for his outstanding Lovecraft adaptations, Gordon takes a gritty crime drama and blows it into a delightfully twisted and brutal Coen-esque nightmare. Fans of Gordon’s particular brand of body horror won’t be disappointed with the outlandish and disturbing fever dreams Crawley suffers while being beaten to a pulp. The smouldering LA landscape and the motley collection of characters – all played fantastically by the cast – propel the neo-noir story along. Mad Max star Vernon Wells plays against type as a hard man with a conscience, and the sadly recently departed Wendt is in top form as the friend who perhaps shouldn’t have been trusted (and gets his comeuppance in spectacular fashion!). The final act shifts to a revenge angle, with Crawley settling in with the wife of his victim; despite being rather unlikely, it does serve the downfall of all involved.

Treasured Films’ packed Blu-ray presents the film looking great and the supplementary material is entertaining and enlightening. Among the newly produced features is a great making-of documentary that boasts input from Higson, McKenna, Wendt, and producer David Michael Latt (head honcho of the pre-Sharknado and mockbuster studio, The Asylum). A brilliant presentation of an underseen movie.

KING OF THE ANTS is out now on Blu-ray from Treasured Films.

If the current era of action movies makes you feel too old for this shit, then the 4K re-release of Lethal Weapon might be more your style. The first of four movies starring Mel Gibson as the trigger-happy cop Riggs – the titular one-man army – and Danny Glover as his everyman partner Murtaugh, Lethal Weapon came at the height of the ’80s action craze from Superman director Richard Donner and debut screenwriter Shane Black.

It’s a plot featuring many of the tropes that would come to characterise Black’s later work; one Christmas period in LA, two wildly differing detectives team up to investigate the death of a sex worker, which leads them to uncover a far-reaching conspiracy. Which is the same plot as Black’s underrated 2016 movie The Nice Guys.

But Lethal Weapon stands out as the epitome of 1980s shoot-’em-ups, set in a bygone Hollywood fantasy world where cops and guns are great and an action star like Gibson flexing his pecs and martial arts skills would fill up cinemas. It’s not difficult to see why it’s considered a classic – the action is bloody fun and the buddy cop chemistry strong. Plus, the trauma underpinning the near-suicidal Riggs, and Murtaugh’s grounded attempts to appeal to the humanity in his loose-wire partner, add a depth that didn’t transfer throughout Lethal Weapon’s sequels.

While Black has arguably made a better, more modern version of this story with The Nice Guys, for fans of the era, Lethal Weapon remains iconic. And it’s never looked better than in this new 4K remaster, with the bright colours of ’80s LA really popping compared to drabber previous versions. The set includes both the 110-minute theatrical cut and the 117-minute “director’s cut” (which wasn’t actually done by the director and simply adds in a few unnecessary deleted scenes – we recommend you stick to the theatrical).

The extras are rather limited, comprising two new featurettes which are short and self-congratulatory, though it’s nice to see cast and crew fondly remembering Donner, who died in 2021. The steelbook packaging is lovely and the collector’s edition comes complete with poster and photo cards.

Lethal Weapon is available now on 4K UHD disc.

Eureka Classics have treated us once again to an absolutely exemplary Limited Edition Blu-ray of a classic Golden Harvest movie from the early 1970s. The Tattooed Dragon stars Jimmy Wang Yu, who, before the arrival of Bruce Lee, was Hong Kong’s most celebrated martial arts star, with a string of hits to his name. This release is a typical example of his work from the period.

Made in 1973 – the year of Lee’s death – this movie was designed to introduce Wang Yu to a kung fu-crazy global audience hungry for more of the action-heavy content that only Hong Kong could initially provide – and was only too ready to provide, but with varying degrees of success, as the 70s progressed. What The Tattooed Dragon had in its favour was not just the presence of a charismatic star but also the fact that it was directed by Lo Wei, the man who had helmed Lee’s first two successes, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury.

However, with the release of numerous similar movies worldwide at this time, many would have likely been overlooked by audiences, especially since they were often given new titles and faced censorship demands in various territories, which weakened their impact. They needed to hit hard and fast, and many missed the target.

In this particular movie, Wang Yu portrays the titular Tattooed Dragon, who is badly injured in an explosive opening fight scene with the henchmen of a local gangster (James Tien, also known for his appearances in Bruce Lee movies). Our wounded hero is hidden and helped by a local farmer and his girlfriend; when their village is taken over and an illegal casino is opened by Tien and his gang, the seed is set for a barrage of vengeance from Wang Yu. Peace is eventually restored, but not before some innocent lives are lost in the process

All this spectacular carnage is captured on camera beautifully, and this movie can never have been better presented than it looks here. As ever from Eureka, the film is accompanied by some informative featurettes and commentaries from Hong Kong movie specialists such as Frank Djeng and Michael Worth, who impress as always with their wealth of knowledge. The Tattooed Dragon is a prime example of martial arts cinema as it was in the early days of worldwide acceptance and comes highly recommended. Eureka promises much more to come, and that’s an enticing prospect.

THE TATTOOED DRAGON is released on Blu-ray by Eureka Classics on 21st July.

Recently released in a great-looking Blu-ray box set from Old Gold Media, this 13-episode, 5-disc collection of the first series of legendary British TV cop show The Sweeney is an essential purchase for all fans of fast-moving police thrillers from an era long gone and much missed. The series has been expertly remastered and frankly has never looked better than it does here.

For those unfamiliar with the show, the Sweeney (Sweeney Todd) is Cockney rhyming slang for the Flying Squad. This forceful London-based anti-crime unit uses all means necessary to bring down vicious gangsters who have escaped investigation and arrest by more sedate policing methods. The series focuses mainly on Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman), who leave no stone unturned when it comes to tackling the most dangerous criminals head-on.

Thaw is superb as Regan, a no-nonsense old school copper, not afraid to bump heads with those in authority who find his methods too bombastic for their tastes. Waterman’s even better as Carter; indeed this was the show that established his on-screen persona for the rest of his long career – a hard punching, beer-guzzling, quick-witted cop with a taste for the ladies and a fondness for a pint or several at the end of the working day.

The show was filmed on a variety of colourful (and largely long-gone) London locations and featured a plethora of tyre-screeching car chases, bruising punch-ups and shoot-outs which thrilled TV audiences of the time and left them begging for more. The dialogue too is a joy – colourful, bawdy and witty and a fine example of how people actually expressed themselves in streets and workplaces back in the days before shows like this became frowned upon, making TV more anodyne and inoffensive to viewers of a meeker disposition.

This box set is enhanced by some excellent bonus material, including an archive interview with Sweeney creator Ian Kennedy Martin, and a particularly interesting feature on the restoration process, which is detailed and informative. Some episodes have commentaries and introductions from some of the guest artists who appeared in this seminal police show, which is a delight to watch and can’t be recommended enough. The original TV movie, Regan, is also included on Disc One, a film that really sets the tone for things to come. If you haven’t encountered this show before, then settle down and remember one thing… they’re the Sweeney and they haven’t had their dinner!

THE SWEENEY – SERIES ONE 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION is available now on Blu-ray from Old Gold Media. You can enter our competition to win a copy now.