June 8, 2005

I've been getting a lot of horror DVDs of late, from various studios, big and small. Some of these thrillers live up to the name, and do a pretty decent job of raising the hairs on the back of my neck, while others are barely worth slipping in the Sony. But I love me my scary movies, and I know a lot of you do, too, so I've been steeling my nerve and stealing some time to immerse myself in some of the best and worst around.

Let's begin with one of the better ones...

Buy this DVD

Ida Lupino. Tom Skerrit. John Travolta. William Shatner. Eddie Albert. Ernest Bognine. Only one Seventies Satanism screamer can claim all of those worthies in its cast, and that's the perennial drive-in and late night TV classic, THE DEVIL'S RAIN (1975) – the only devil-worship shocker with real-life Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey as technical advisor!

Directed by Robert Fuest (THE ABOMINABLE DR. FIBES), RAIN is an entertaining, old-fashioned horror thriller, light on logic, but full of cool imagery and PG chills. Hollywood legend Lupino is the matriarch of a family that possesses a book coveted by a Satan-worshipping coven led by Borgnine. When Lupino, her eldest son (Shatner) and the book all go missing, little brother Tom Skerrit heads for a desert ghost town in search of them. There he finds a cult of robed, eyeless devil worshippers (including a very young Travolta) hanging out in a de-consecrated church and a big jug full of stolen souls. With the aid of college professor Eddie Albert, Skerrit attempts to free the souls and rescue his family from the cult.

It's a lot of fun, if a bit tame by today's standards. The desert settings are appropriately eerie, the visual and make-up effects are pretty good (especially for the time), and the ending still packs a punch. The performances range from good to outrageously over-the-top, which should be no surprise, considering the actors involved.

VCI's disc is very nice, with a sharp, well balanced non-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. The Dolby Digital soundtrack is clear and clean, with no audible background hiss or distortion. Extras are limited to a photo gallery, but the picture quality makes this disc worthwhile. After years of dark, muddy, panned-and-scanned TV prints, the widescreen presentation is eye opening.

Buy this DVD

ei Independent Cinema's Shock-O-Rama label continues to be a mixed bag, quality wise, but I have to admit I rather enjoyed Jon Keeyes' low-key horror/black comedy, SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE (2004).

Shot on video, with a cast of about a half-dozen and taking place entirely in one location, the production makes no attempt to disguise its microscopic budget. In fact, the filmmakers endeavor nobly to make that low budget into an asset, by exploiting their limited resources to create a claustrophobic, tension-filled scenario.

The plot, such as it is, is simple: a husband and wife (who happen to be cannibalistic serial killers) decide, one fateful evening, that the romance is gone and it's time to end their marriage…in the best way they know how. That's it. A few other characters wander in and out during the course of the evening's festivities, but that's really all there is to the story. Fortunately, stars Trent Haaga and Brandy Little were able to keep my interest as they worked through their marital difficulties. A current of dark humor runs through the proceedings, and there's a halfway decent surprise or two in the course of events. Not a classic, but it's not bad, either. You may find it worth a rental.

ei's disc presents a full-frame transfer of the shot-on-tape feature, with a commentary track from director Keeyes, and the film's editor. The disc includes several behind-the-scenes featurettes, the usual slew of ei/Seduction Cinema/Shock-O-Rama trailers and fun Easter Egg that reveals some of the on-set shenanigans involving a large, black… well, you can check it out for yourself.

Buy this DVD

The shot-on-video BLOOD RELIC (2005) from MTI Home Video and director J. Christian Ingvordsen (BOG CREATURES) features cadaverous Billy Drago (Frank Nitti in DePalma's THE UNTOUCHABLES) as the proprietor of a New England air/space museum with a dark history.

It seems that back in the 80's, while the museum was an active Air Force base, an officer was possessed by an evil artifact and went on a killing spree. Now, twenty years later, that officer is out of the asylum and prowling around the museum looking for his talisman. There's also someone dressed in an airman's outfit, helmet and air mask stalking the grounds, killing off the museum's young volunteer staff.

BLOOD RELIC is a bland, straightforward slasher film, completely devoid of anything resembling suspense or atmosphere. It hews to the formula pretty religiously, which means the requisite breasts and bloodletting are there, but there are also no surprises. Acting wise, B-movie vet Debbie Rochon gives a decent performance, but everyone else is either bad or unmemorable.
Well, to be fair, it's got a strip poker scene, so it's got that going for it.

My screener disc includes just a solid full-frame transfer, although the version that will be hitting the streets this week will allegedly include a commentary by director Ingvordsen and actress Rochon, Rochon's video diary, and trailers for other MTI releases. I can only recommend this one if you're a diehard fan of B-horror and boobies and are looking for an undemanding evening's rental.

Buy this DVD

Herman Cohen was the exploitation genius behind American International Pictures "teenage monster" hits, such as I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957) and I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN (also 1957). After unleashing those minor masterpieces on the drive-in crowd, he moved to England, where he produced the delightfully macabre HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959).

Directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring the startlingly sinister Michael Gough ("Alfred" in the Burton and Schumacher BATMAN films), this low-key thriller may be light on gore, but it's heavy on subtle black humor and macabre chills. It also features a great performance by Gough, who plays a pompous author and amateur criminologist named Edmond Bancroft (a role originally intended for Vincent Price, whose shoes Gough very ably fills).

Bancroft is obsessed with violent crime, writing popular books and articles on the subject, as well as a newspaper column which routinely criticizes Scotland Yard's handling of London's murders. He's so obsessed that he's built a "Black Museum" of weapons and wax tableaus depicting violent murders in his basement. And, when London's crime scene gives him little to write about, he's not adverse to committing (or sending his young assistant to commit) a gruesome murder or two.

Modern audiences may find HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM slow going, but fans of classic horror will enjoy VCI's presentation. The widescreen transfer is good, although not perfect, with soft, slightly shifting colors – but it's the uncut European version, which has never before been available in the U.S., and that more than makes up for any minor problems in the transfer. The disc is loaded with extras, including the famed "Hypno-Vista" opening sequence with real-life hypnotist Emil Franchel, which was attached to the front of the feature during its original theatrical run.

The disc also includes a video tribute to producer Herman Cohen, English and French language tracks, the original U.S. and European theatrical trailers, a commentary by Cohen pieced together from archival recordings, a commentary by musical composer Gerard Schurmann and film historian David De Valle, a photo gallery, biographies, a small reproduction of the film's poster and trailers for other VCI horror releases.

Highly recommended for fans of classic 50's horror.

Buy this DVD

You know, it used to be that Sam Raimi's name on a horror movie meant that there was a potentially gruesome, but definitely entertaining roller coaster ride on the way. But, when I sat down to watch the Raimi-produced THE GRUDGE – UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT (2005), all I felt was mildly bored.

THE GRUDGE is a remake of the Japanese film JU-ON, and I have to give producer Raimi some credit. He did bring in the original director, Takashi Shimizu, to helm the Americanized remake, and he allowed the filmmaker to keep the original Japanese setting, albeit with a new, nearly all-Western cast. The result is a remake that I assume is truer to its source (I haven't seen JU-ON), but I'm disappointed to say that I just didn't find it scary.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, SCOOBY DOO) is an American exchange student living in Japan with her boyfriend. Between classes, she volunteers with an agency that provides aid to the elderly (run by Ted Raimi, Sam's brother). One day she's sent to a new location to care for bedridden Grace Zabriskie (TWIN PEAKS), and what she sees in that house changes her life and makes her the target of a malevolent supernatural entity.

While filled with creepy imagery, I found the performances – especially Gellar's – to be so low key as to be uninteresting, and the pacing to be flat. And it didn't help that I don't particularly find Japanese kids or women with long hair to be scary. It's a very well made movie, though, with great cinematography and high production values, and while it didn't grab me, it might work for you.

Sony's "Unrated Extended Director's Cut" is a nice package, with a crystal clear anamorphic widescreen transfer. There's an audio commentary by the director, producer Taka Ichise and actress Takakao Fuji, 15 deleted scenes with optional director commentary and video diaries with Gellar and co-star KaDee Strickland. There's a behind-the-scenes featurette, storyboards and a production designer's sketchbook. The most interesting extras are two short films by the director that explore the same theme as the feature, "In a Corner" and "4444444444." Strangely, I thought both of these shorts were more effective than the feature.

If you're a fan of the theatrical cut of the movie, you'll probably enjoy this version, too. It's not a bad movie, by any means – it just didn't scare me. The disc is great though, and if you've been thinking about picking it up, I'd suggest doing so.

Buy this DVD

"Sci-Fi Pictures Presents." Have any other four words ever promised so little? Well, Sony Pictures' CHUPACABRA TERROR (2004) possesses all the ingredients we've come to expect from such a production: A genre-familiar presence in a lead role (in this case, Welsh actor John Rys-Davies, of LORD OF THE RINGS, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and SLIDERS)? Check. A pretty girl (freckled Lindsey Lohan lookalike Chelan Simmons)? Check. A pretty guy (Dylan Neal)? Check. Lots of ultra-cheap CGI? Yep. A rubber monster suit? Oh yeah. The standard competent-but-uninspired direction, in this case by John Shepphird? Uh huh.

Yet, I'll admit that while the movie (which aired on Sci-Fi with less gore as CHUPACABRA: DARK SEAS) may not have been original, it at least kept my interest all the way through. But then, I'm a fan of rubber monster suits.

A crazed cryptozoologist captures a chupacabra (a legendary Central American creature also known as a "goat sucker") on a Caribbean Island and smuggles it aboard a commercial cruise ship heading back to the States. Before long, the hungry beastie is loose, preying upon crewmembers, passengers, Navy SEALS and little doggies.

Nothing new here, and nothing worth getting excited about, but it's an inoffensive time waster, with a crystal sharp widescreen transfer, a commentary track by the writer and director, a behind-the-scenes featurette and trailers for other Sony/Columbia/Tri-Star horror flicks.

Buy this DVD

Also covering the cryptozoological angle is SASQUATCH HUNTERS (2005), which returns Bigfoot to bloodthirsty monster status after that whole HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS image makeover.

In some ways a throwback to those old Seventies "nature gone wild movies," the simple plot has two scientists, their buxom assistant and a cadre of forest rangers trekking into the mountains looking for a Bigfoot burial site. Of course, they find it, and that only pisses the hairy bastard off.

Frankly, SAQUATCH HUNTERS lacks even the meager entertainment value of CHUPACABRA TERROR, with a completely uninteresting and unmemorable cast and interminable scenes of people hiking through the woods, climbing in and out of tents, running around at night with flashlights, etc. The big guy himself is 90% fuzzy CGI and 10% guy in hairy gorilla suit, and while the design is pretty good, it looks about as real as a Playstation cutscene. Director Fred Tepper tries hard, but he's got nothing to work with. The cast is so bland that it really made me long for the days of B-movie stars like Bradford Dillman, Doug McClure, David Carradine, Christopher George… guys who knew how to make something out of these kinds of roles. Hell, even the forest was dull. I don't know where they shot this, but the woods behind my house are more photogenic and menacing.

Sony Pictures' DVD is an appropriately bare-bones affair, with a sharp letterboxed transfer and a few trailers for other Sony monster movie releases.

Buy this DVD

Not strictly a horror film, although with definite horror elements, and by far the best of this week's batch, is the new two-disc collector's edition of 1983's forgotten animated classic, ROCK & RULE, which streets this week.

This animated rock musical from Canada's Nelvana Studios (the studio behind the Saturday morning DROIDS, EWOKS, and BEETLEJUICE cartoons), was part of the short-lived trend towards adult animated features in the late Seventies and early Eighties that included films like WIZARDS, HEAVY METAL, and FIRE & ICE. Unfortunately, when ROCK & RULE was turned over to MGM for distribution, it was badly mishandled and never reached its intended audience. Cable airings on HBO and Cinemax in the mid-Eighties garnered it a small cult following, but this new DVD from Unearthed Films should bring it to the attention of classic animation and music fans everywhere.

In a post-Apocalyptic future where animals have mutated to replace humanity, a legendary rock & roll artist named Mok (who looks like a Satanic cross between Mick Jagger and David Bowie) is searching for the unique voice that will enable him to open a gate to a hell dimension and release a demon. He finds that voice in small-time singer Angel, and abducts her, taking her to his home in Nuke York while promising her fame and fortune. The rest of her band goes after her, led by frontman Omar (voiced by Paul LeMat), and eventually everybody winds up at Mok's end of the world concert, where our heroes must face down the forces of evil.

With original songs by Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, Lou Reed and Earth, Wind & Fire, the movie is loosely based on an earlier Nelvana TV production, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL MOUSE. But the hand-drawn animation here is incredible – wholly original in design and execution, with no resemblance whatsoever to Disney, Bluth or Japanese anime. The character designs are appealing and believable, the backgrounds elaborate and strikingly ominous, and the movement fluid and smooth. Voice performances are excellent, too (especially Don Francks as Mok), and the songs – most of which have never appeared on any album – are perfectly integrated into the film story.

Unearthed Films has pulled out all the stops on this 2 disc Collector's Edition. On Disc One, we have a brand-new, anamorphic widescreen transfer of the feature, a presentation that blows away the old MGM VHS tape, with it's perfect color balance and clarity. There's a bit of grain inherent in the source material, and some very minor dirt and speckles here and there, but overall, it's a remarkable presentation for a 22-year old film. Unearthed provides a new 5.1 Surround sound mix, as well as the original stereo track. There's also a vintage "Making of" documentary that originally aired on Nickelodeon back in the day, an extensive sketch gallery, and an informative commentary track by director Clive Smith.

But wait, there's more.

On Disc Two, there's a full-screen alternate version of ROCK & RULE that played on Canadian television. The picture quality's not as great as the version on Disc One (it is, in fact, rather fuzzy), but there are some different voices, some editing differences and a slightly altered ending. It's a great extra, and worth watching for comparison's sake. There's also the entire DEVIL AND DANIEL MOUSE television film, clocking in at 27 minutes. This is a more kid-friendly take on the same basic story, and it's a lot of fun. This is followed with a "Making of DANIEL MOUSE" featurette, more sketches, the original ROCK & RULE theatrical trailer, a 15 minute clip of the workprint version of R&R, a ten-page booklet with extensive liner notes… and a bunch of stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting.

It's a Rolls Royce treatment all the way, and in this case the movie's worth it. ROCK & RULE is a minor gem – flawed but dazzling in its own right. Unearthed Films should be complimented on remembering the movie and making such a great effort to present it for a new audience. Highly recommended.

Return Home

Return to Index