Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

What happens when two young consenting adults engage in a sexual act? If it’s an ’80s slasher flick, they end up… dead! That’s just how 2011’s You’re Next begins. From that dramatic beginning, the film changes gears to a dysfunctional family gathering at a country house to celebrate the parents’ wedding anniversary. The families’ problems soon pale into insignificance when their country home becomes the target of brutal masked assailants.
While initially appearing to be a typical home invasion horror, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett cleverly subvert the subgenre’s conventions with a darkly comic approach. The family are so detestable that it’s hard to feel sympathy for them as they are violently and satisfyingly picked off one by one.
The film’s standout element is Erin (Sharni Vinson), the girlfriend of one family member. Raised in a survivalist commune, Erin’s hidden skills transform her from a mild-mannered guest into a formidable opponent against the intruders. What that woman can do with a wrench!
Barrett’s humorous screenplay ensures that the surprises and body count keep on coming. Vinson’s performance is particularly noteworthy, convincingly portraying Erin’s evolution from supportive girlfriend to resourceful survivor.
John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween are obvious comparisons. Likewise, the film also echoes elements of The Strangers (2008) and Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, but it’s by no means detrimental. Wingard takes the well-worn slasher/home-invasion tropes and has fun with them, expertly weaving them together.
Second Sight’s special features are always excellent and You’re Next is no exception. There are two commentaries: one with Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett and another with Wingard, Barrett, and stars Sharni Vinson and Barbara Crampton.
Also included are interviews with Wingard, Barrett, producers Keith Calder and Jess Wu Calder, as well as stars A.J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, and Production Designer Tom Hammock. A video essay by Tim Coleman, animated storyboards, and a vintage making-of documentary round of the proceedings.

Wall-to-wall action and comedy is the order of the day in these classic Burt Reynolds capers in which the loveable moustached-one plays fast-talking Trans-Am-driving Bandit. He’s tasked in the first of these three films to get a shipment of Coors beer to Atlanta. Acting as a blocker to Cledus, aka Snowman (Jerry Reed, who also provided the catchy country theme song), who drives the truck full of booze. When he picks up a bride (Sally Field) who has jilted the son of Texan Sheriff Buford T. Justice (the incomparable Jackie Gleeson), he tries to evade the law in more wheel-spinning fun than you can handle.

The original 1977 film is a genuine classic, which could never be better by the sequels. The second movie, released in 1980, reprises the concept with a different load but with just as much action. The third entry sees a retiring Buford take on a wager to transport a statue of a shark across the country. Cledus takes the role of Bandit here, and it’s clear the formula is wearing thin, but there are still a few thrills and smiles to be had.

For the bonus features, it’s the first film that boasts the most watchable extras. A feature-length behind-the-scenes special, The Bandit, opens with vintage footage of a cigar-chomping Reynolds walking a studio set before moving to Needham and explaining the role of a stuntman. It’s a fascinating look back at how the film came together, with plenty of talking head input from those who are still around (it was made before Burt passed), alongside archive footage of Hal. It’s an honest and frank look at what it took to make the film, how Burt became the superstar that he was, and, more importantly, what motivated Needham to want to become a director.

One of the other extras, Loaded Up and Truckin’, covers some of the same ground but is still a worthwhile watch and has a few new anecdotes. An amusing guide to CB lingo rounds out the film-specific extras on the first film. There’s only a commentary on each of the other two films, but they are newly recorded and informative, at least.

Via Vision’s box set includes the three films, six art prints, and a 3D lenticular-style slipcase, which makes Bandit’s car leap from the front. The films are great, if dumb, fun, and this set gives them the due they deserve.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT COLLECTION is available to import from Australia now.

This French adaptation of the 19th century short story by Aleksei Tolstoy (second cousin of War and Peace‘s Leo) captures the eerie half-light between the age of reason and medieval superstition that was at the heart of the 18th century vampire craze, as a French aristocrat finds himself stranded in the house of a less than simple Serbian family when their father (or is it…?) returns from battle.

Drawing heavily on the original story but condensing the time frame considerably, this adaptation loses some of the uncertainty over the Vourdalak’s identity but in return really ramps up the claustrophobia, which pays off in spades as emotions intensify in the final third of the film. Visually The Vourdalak is reminiscent of 1970s arthouse horror, with sometimes oddly stagey and off kilter scenes, possibly to represent the unsteady and decaying grasp of reason of the benighted family. It also features the brave but not always rewarding choice of using puppetry to create the Vourdalak itself, which generated some unsettling moments for this reviewer, but might equally generate unintended comedy for others.

In spite of its occasional staginess and scenes that add little to the plot (although a fair bit to the sense of unease), the film keeps to a taut 90 minutes and the characters, though broadly drawn, are engaging enough for you to care about their fate, especially the initially unbearably foppish and silly lead (Kacey Mottet Klein) as he slowly discovers a spine. Sparse, tense, and claustrophobic, if you can get past the spooky puppet, The Vourdalak is a solid addition to cinema’s eternally bulging vampire canon.

THE VOURDALAK is coming to VOD in the UK and Ireland on September 16th

 

Aldo Lado’s brilliant giallo opens with the slaughter of a young child by a veiled woman (wearing black gloves, of course). This sets the tone perfectly for this twisted, Venice-set thriller.

One-time 007 George Lazenby is Franco, a sculptor working on a new exhibition while his daughter Roberta (familiar genre regular Nicoletta Elmi) is visiting. When she goes missing and turns up dead in the river, he attempts to find the killer. His estranged wife, Elizabeth (Anita Strindberg), is concerned that he’s getting himself too deeper than he can handle. Particularly when it appears, there’s much more to the case than he first thought.

Lado uses Venice almost as well as Nicolas Roeg did in Don’t Look Now (1973), which also covers the aftermath of the death of a child, with Lazenby running through the nooks and crannies of the city. As the conspiracy of silence builds, so does the body count. But who are they protecting? It might not be the most convoluted of mysteries, but it looks stunning – particularly on this new Blu-ray release from Shameless. Ennio Morricone’s score is sinisterly brooding and as infectious as ever, building sinisterly whenever the killer is in range.

Extras-wise, Shameless include several interviews, including two lengthy chats with the late director Aldo Lado (one conducted over Zoom for the Abertoir Horror Festival) that are very informative. Along with the interviews with producer Enzo Doria and writer Francisco Barilli, these are a healthy resource for anyone wanting to dig a little deeper into the film and Italian filmmaking.

WHO SAW HER DIE? is released on Blu-ray on August 26th. You can pre-order it here.

As other spin-offs in The Walking Dead franchise began to proliferate, the momentum around the long-anticipated Rick Grimes’ follow-up appeared to falter. Well-publicised plans for a linked series of big-screen movies focused on Grimes’ solo travels were quietly abandoned. After a few months on hiatus, the property’s showrunners revealed their intention to produce a six-episode mini-series that would follow the story of Michonne’s efforts to learn the truth of Rick’s fate after his disappearance in an explosive act of self-sacrifice.

Any concerns that the resulting show might have been weakened by its stop-start genesis were swept aside by the opening episode Years. The Ones Who Live immediately confirmed itself as a taut and intelligent thriller that recognised the importance of the love story at its core. The two protagonists are kept apart for the first two episodes before reuniting on the battlefield in a clash that almost ends in utter calamity. In an astute creative decision, the showrunners ensnare the pair in the conspiratorial plans of a dangerous armed cult rather than simply relying on endless waves of the undead to deliver the peril. Rick and Michonne must try to deceive and outwit rogue forces within the Civic Republic Military (CRM) in the hope of surviving long enough to return home to their friends and family.

Andrew Lincoln (Rick) and Danai Gurira (Michonne), who, as executive producers, had significant input into the series’ storylines, both seize the opportunity to revisit their well-crafted, sympathetic roles with complete commitment. Thoughtful and unformulaic scripts give both actors emotionally intelligent material to work with, while there’s enough budget to deliver spectacle, great visuals and meaningful jeopardy at a decent scale. The special features on both the Blu-ray and DVD versions are perfunctory, but the value here is in the main event. The high-stakes conflict with the CRM plays out well, but it’s the payoff to the romantic reunion of these two righteous warriors that truly satisfies.

Season one of THE WALKING DEAD: THE ONES WHO LIVE is released on Blu-ray and DVD by ACORN on August 19th.

This Golden Harvest action thriller produced by Raymond Chow makes its worldwide Blu–ray debut from a brand new 2K restoration, and it’s quite an exciting watch. But it’s not quite a martial arts movie in the true sense, as even though it contains a degree of foot and fist action the bouts are short and sweet and devoid of the long and protracted fights common in Hong Kong films from the post-Bruce Lee era.

Despite this, The Double Crossers is still recommended as it has quite a strong story with appealing characters portrayed by unfamiliar actors who are nevertheless effective in the roles they play. The story involves a young detective (Shin Il – Ryong), who’s out for revenge on the smuggling ring responsible for killing his parents. It helps that the movie is set in colourful Indonesian locations rather than the usual streets of Hong Kong and the various chases and shoot-outs benefit hugely from this.

The disc presents the movie in the original Mandarin language with newly translated English titles and also an English dubbed export version which was the version this reviewer chose as I personally grew up watching these movies this way and I am a sucker for the typical “Hey you, you killed my father” type dialogue which permeates such movies and which always provide several belly laughs to the proceedings.

Although The Double Crossers can hardly be described as a classic of the genre, Eureka once again must be applauded for making such rare movies available, and this provides an appetizer to the Jimmy Wang Yu classic  A Man Called Tiger shortly due to be available to fight-happy fans. Extras are sparse on The Double Crossers, but there is a fact-filled audio commentary by East Asian film experts plus a limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film. All in all another pleasing package!

 

THE DOUBLE CROSSERS is available now from Eureka Entertainment

 

As a director who is probably most famous for a movie he didn’t make – Dune – Alejandro Jodorowsky is a filmmaker who will be a revelation for those new to his work. 

There’s no better introduction than Santa Sangre, considered by some to be his most accessible film. However, even here, the plot is secondary to surrealist images, characters, settings, and ideas.

In Mexico, a young man, Fenix, escapes from an asylum, reuniting with his mother. As a child, he was part of a circus, a rag-tag affair where his alcoholic, womanising father ran the troupe while his acrobatic mother was the star attraction. She, the leader of a religious cult, the Church of Santa Sangre, becomes enraged with jealousy one night, seeing her husband having sex with the circus’s newest recruit – a tattoed lady with perhaps the most flexible hips in cinema. Mother’s reaction, witnessed by Fenix, sets the course of his adult life where he becomes the arms of his now adult mother (don’t ask, just watch it), to exact bloody murderous revenge in her name.

Watching Santa Sangre is a curious, engrossing sensation. In fact, sensational is the exact word to describe this descent into exploitation, depravity, insanity, love and revenge – one with circus clowns, an elephant’s funeral, and some truly grisly mutilations thrown in too.

Like a cross between Psycho and some of Dario Argento’s most depraved output, Santa Sangre is a gripping, sometimes horrifying, sometimes humorous and always captivating film.

In fact, it’s produced by Claudio Argento, Dario’s brother, so Santa Sangre certainly has a touch of the giallo about it – the characters and situations are over-the-top, and so is the gore. But amongst the psychological and physical horrors, there’s a moral sincerity running through it that makes Fenix’s journey – from little boy lost through to insane murderer to self-realisation both a moving and compelling one.

You don’t often come away from a film thinking that there’s not much else that’s quite like, but you just might come away from Santa Sangre with that feeling, which makes it all the more upsetting that we never did get to see what Jodorowsky had in store for his version of Dune.

This Severin Blu-ray edition shines in a beautiful 4K scan supervised by Jodorowsky himself. It looks as clean as the day it was made. He also provides a commentary. There’s a documentary that’s only 20 minutes shorter than the actual film, interviews galore, and more than enough to make sure that, if you are indeed new to Jodorowsky’s films, you’d gladly walk a flaming tightrope to see his others!

SANTA SANGRE is out now in a new 4K UHD / Blu-ray Combi set from Severin

Click cover to visit www.severinfilms.com

Having spent the previous two decades plying his trade in war films and Yakuza thrillers, Kinji Fukusaku seemed an odd choice to lens a phantasmagorical trip beyond the stars. With Message from Space, however, the Japanese director successfully melds the themes and characters of his previous work, ultimately composing an exciting adventure across the Andromeda galaxy. Message from Space offers a familiar tale of underdog rebels tasked with liberating a benevolent planet from its warmongering captors. A spritely princess, a daredevil aristocrat, a burned-out Earth General, and a vengeful swordsman are among the party of misfits fated by some Magical Glowing Walnuts to confront the ruthless Gavanas Empire – outgunned, outmatched, and outnumbered.

Message From Space was Japan’s most expensive production to date, with a budgetary equivalent of six million dollars. Despite this, Fukusaku’s film has an undeniable chintzyness to its aesthetic – all wobbly spaceships, cardboard robot suits, and egg carton cockpits. However, for those willing to embrace these limitations rather than reject them, Message from Space is an infectiously stirring tale of bravery and redemption, daubed in a charming visual style that radiates nostalgia. Great cinematography and a vibrant colour palette embolden the design, resulting in dazzling laser battles; cute robot sidekicks; quaint costuming; and the obligatory flying Galleon. The experience is that of a cosmic serial, married to a higher budget, but maintaining creativity and cultural pride. A live-action Star Fleet.

Most importantly, however, Message from Space is great fun – carried wholly by its sweet characters, rousing themes, creative design, and time-tested, (if admittedly dizzying), tale of Good vs. Evil. Though some may scoff at its cheaper elements, this energetic opera is delightful sci-fi cinema, and a must-watch for anyone who ever painted a washing up bottle as a rocket, before embarking upon their own bedroom-based space odyssey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MESSAGE FROM SPACE is out now on Eureka’s Masters of Cinema label.

Click cover to order a copy through Amazon.co.uk