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FAIRY IN A CAGE-
Japan (1977)
Impulse
Pictures
Not Rated |
Color |
71 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released March 12, 2013
.........
A pinku
S&M "roughie" distinctive for its World War
II setting.
In wartime Japan, a corrupt, perverted judge (Minoru Okochi) lusts
after the comely Lady Kikushima (Naomi Tani), patron of the arts
and wife
of a respected businessman.
In
cahoots with the dreaded Kempeitai (military police, analogous
to Nazi Germany's Gestapo), Judge Murayama arranges for Lady Kikushima
to be arrested on trumped-up charges of antigovernment activity
and turned over to his personal custody. She is taken to his mansion
and imprisoned in an elaborate sex dungeon, where she and a gay
kabuki actor also falsely accused are subjected to degrading
sexual torture at the hands of the lecherous judge and his crazed,
nymphomaniacal concubine. The prisoners seem doomed to a harrowing
fate but the assignment of young NCO Taoka (Kazuo Satake)
to act as the judge's flunky offers at least a small flicker of
hope for our heroine. Still possessing remnants of a conscience,
Taoka secretly falls in love with Lady Kikushima and seethes at
her sadistic mistreatment and humiliation. He'll risk everything
to free her but to what ultimate end? ... A rope fetishist's
delight (the ol' judge is more skilled at tying elaborate knots
than Popeye the Sailor), Fairy in a Cage
is very much in the same vein as director Kτyϋ Ohara's earlier
work for Nikkatsu Studios: Transgressive sexploitation made with
a degree of artistry simply not seen in contemporary American
films of this ilk. Producers of low budget T&A flicks playing
U.S. grindhouses and drive-ins of the era could only dream of
such high production values and attention to craft. Ohara makes
excellent use of the wide frame, getting strong performances from
his actors (even in the most embarrassing of situations) while
telling a lean, compact story completely stripped of any extraneous
filler or padding. True to form, he's sure to include a kinky
urination scene — something I've come to expect after seeing
his True
Story of a Woman in Jail flicks. (What is it about Japanese
erotica and peeing? Just the way they roll, I guess...)
Impulse
Pictures' 2013 release (part of the label's ongoing Nikkatsu
Erotic Film Collection) presents Fairy
in a Cage in its proper 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio,
with a 16x9 transfer mastered from the original 35mm camera negative.
Results are thoroughly excellent there is no print damage worth
mentioning, colors are strong and image detail first-rate. A Japanese
Mono 2.0 audio track of good quality is complimented with removable,
well-written English subtitles. There isn't any on-disc bonus
material but a printed insert offers informative liner notes by
Asian film expert Jasper Sharp, who focuses on director Ohara
and buxom star/pinku eiga veteran Naomi Tani.
(This title has also been released on Blu-ray.)
-
B. Lindsey
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Film:
6 |
DVD: 7 |
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ENTER THE NINJA-
U.S.A. (1981)
MGM
Limited Edition Collection
R |
Color |
99 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD-R released October 18, 2011
.........
Django Ninja!
Even when dubbed by an American and conspicuously replaced by
a stunt double in most of the action scenes, Italian star Franco
Nero is still The Man
porn 'stache and all. He plays Cole, an ex-mercenary who has given
up the life of a soldier-for-hire to learn the way of ninjitsu,
the ancient Japanese martial art. (Although the ninja were assassins
in feudal times, the dojo Cole attends advocates using ninja skills
to aid the downtrodden and oppressed.) After passing the final
test and being declared a full-fledged ninja, he travels to the
Philippines to visit an old army buddy (Alex Courtney) whose plantation
just happens to be in the crosshairs of ruthless, stop-at-nothing
land developer Mr. Venarius (Christopher George). Buddy Frank
has really gone to seed, unfortunately, interested primarily in
booze and cockfighting, and unable to get it up for his sexy,
headstrong wife (Susan George). Cole unselfishly ministers to
the needs of both, bedding the wife (she makes the first move,
of course) and battling the parade of goons Venarius sends to
make trouble at the plantation. Venarius,
fed up with the hired muscle getting the snot kicked out of it,
eventually contracts his own ninja to even the odds. The situation
quickly turns lethal, culminating in a duel to the death between
Cole and his former dojo rival Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi, Rage
of Honor). Hasegawa hates Cole's guts, believing
that a non-Japanese can never, and should never, be a true ninja...
Now let's get right to the point: Enter
the Ninja fails as an action movie. As far as exploitation
elements are concerned it's not particularly gory nor does Susan
George (or anyone else) get naked. It's shot in a mostly perfunctory
TV-movie style and some of the music accompanying the fight scenes
would be appropriate for a Saturday morning kids' cartoon show.
The story is just a procession of one cliché after the
other. But don't let any of that dissuade you! With its risible
dialog and comic book plot, clumsily executed, this movie can
be a laugh riot. For
his part, Sho Kosugi fares better here as a stone-faced villain
than he ever did as a (stone-faced) hero.
Then there's Christopher George, who fiercely overacts throughout
the entire film in the hammiest way possible, getting one of the
most memorably goofy death scenes
see it here on YouTube
ever. I certainly can't recommend Enter
the Ninja for any thrilling action or riveting suspense
(there's none, really), but as a laugh out-loud unintentional
comedy it's pretty darn fun. And
it stars Franco Nero, who somehow always
comes
off as totally cool even when appearing in the crappiest movies.
A
cult favorite fully deserving of a regular DVD release, or even
Blu-ray (it's in semi-regular rotation on the MGM-HD channel,
so a hi-def master exists), Enter the Ninja
is instead given the DVD-R "Limited Edition" treatment...
Thus we get an overpriced albeit high quality "made on demand"
DVD-R. The uncut source print isn't exactly pristine, but the
anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer presents the film in a pleasingly colorful
and detailed manner that's head and shoulders above earlier home
video incarnations. Audio Dolby Digital 2.0, English only with
no available subtitles is likewise satisfactory. The disc's
only extra is the amusing U.S. theatrical trailer. ("Ninja...
Ninja... Ninja... Ninja... Ninja... Ninja... NINJAAAA!")
- B. Lindsey
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Film:
6 |
DVD: 4 |
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SINNER: THE SECRET DIARY OF A NYMPHOMANIAC-
France (1973)
Mondo
Macabro
Not Rated |
Color |
87 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released November 22, 2010
.........
An abused girl
(Montserrat Prous) looks to fill the void in her life by sex and
drugs... The early 1970s was likely the zenith of productivity
and creativity
for Spanish maverick Jess Franco. Between 1970 and 1974 he directed
no less than 35 films
many of which would be reedited and released in variant editions,
thus driving the final tally up to an even more absurd level!
Not surprisingly, none of these films are among the most polished
of his career
having made the best crafted of his pictures throughout the 1960s,
he would begin to embrace a more improvisational, technically
ragged aesthetic in the '70s, a factor no doubt encouraged by
the sheer speed with which he was filming. Sinner
emerged during this frantic period of creativity, and it is certainly
one of the more coherent and sober films of that timeframe. The
story, devised by the wife of producer Robert DeNesle, can be
read as a morality tale
but Franco's approach avoids conservative sermonizing. Instead,
Franco provides a sympathetic portrait of a used and abused protagonist
who attempts to kill the pain in her life by overloading on sensory
pleasures, namely sex and drugs. The film is loaded with softcore
sex and psychedelic imagery, but it comes off very well indeed
considering the chaotic production. It certainly helps that the
director was able to assemble three of his most fetching fetish
actresses, namely Montserrat Prous, Anne Libert and Kali Hansa.
All three would work with the director on other occasions, and
they all compare favorably to such better known performers as
Soledad Miranda and Lina Romay. Some of the sex is genuinely erotic,
but much of it is filtered through a melancholy sensibility. The
end result is genuinely engaging, and the film doesn't suffer
from the excessive padding that dogs much of his later, more explicit
work. The supporting cast includes Franco mainstay Howard Vernon
(The
Awful Dr. Orlof) as a sympathetic doctor and Franco himself
as a cynical police inspector. The excellent, funky soundtrack
includes some uncredited tracks by psychedelic rock group Blue
Phantom, culled from their album Distortions. Production
values are on the slim side, but they are perfectly serviceable,
just the same. The camerawork is generally controlled, as well,
with the directors propensity for wobbly zoom shots kept somewhat
in check. It may not reach quite the sublime level of, say, Venus
in Furs (1969) or Succubus
(1967), but Sinner is still in the
top tier of Franco's filmography.
Sinner
makes its DVD debut thanks to Mondo Macabro. The first in a new
series of Franco DVDs from the company
Lorna
the Exorcist was scheduled to street first, but
it has been delayed due to technical issues
it is presented in a pristine 1.66/16x9 transfer. Previously available
only in substandard bootlegs, it can now be seen as originally
intended. The film was recut in the '70s to incorporate some hardcore
footage not filmed by Franco, but the version presented here is
the original director's cut. The print used is in surprisingly
good condition, with only some minor scratching in evidence. Colors
are vivid and detail is strong; there've been some complaints
online about compression artifacting and issues with the black
levels, but these issues did not jump out at me when I viewed
the disc. On closer inspection, there is definitely some artifacting
issues in the scenes that unfold in red lighting, but it is only
evident when sitting very close to the monitor and should not
be noticeable in an ideal A/V set-up. Audio options include the
French soundtrack (with English subtitles) as well as the inferior
English dub. Both tracks are clean and clear. Extras include an
interview with editor Gerard Kikoine, as well as two featurettes
with writer Stephen Thrower. Thrower is currently working on what
promises to be the definitive book on Franco's films, and he provides
some great insight into the director and his methods in both featurettes
the one provides a great overview of Franco's cinema as a whole,
while the other focuses exclusively on Sinner.
A preview gallery of Mondo Macabro releases rounds out the package.
- T. Howarth
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Film:
7 |
DVD: 8 |
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CRACK IN THE WORLD-
U.S.A. (1965)
Olive
Films
Not Rated |
Color |
96 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released July 27, 2010
.........
By exploding
an atomic warhead hundreds of miles underground, scientists of
the multinational endeavor Project Inner Space hope to harness
the unlimited energy of the molten rock at the earth's core. Such
an accomplishment would revolutionize and transform the world's
economic systems. Driving the project to completion
is its head, the brilliant Dr. Stephen Sorenson (Dana Andrews,
The
Frozen Dead, Hot
Rods To Hell).
Secretly dying of cancer, he dreams of making his mark on history
before succumbing to the disease. None of his staff, not even
his much younger scientist-wife Maggie (Janette Scott), knows
of his illness. With the detonation of the warhead approved by
world leaders, Sorenson and his colleagues prepare for the great
moment.
But Sorenson's one-time protégé and rival for Maggie's
affections, the handsome Dr. Rampion (Keiron Moore), tries to
convince authorities that there's an unacceptable chance of the
plan going wrong that the blast could instead trigger a series
of geological upheavals that could theoretically destroy the entire
planet. This dire warning comes too late, however, and the A-bomb
is exploded with what at first appears to be the intended effect.
Then an unprecedented wave of devastating earthquakes begins wracking
the globe... A solidly mounted sci-fi disaster movie, Crack
in the World has nice things to offer a suitably apocalyptic
scenario, a good main cast that does a fine job of selling its
more unbelievable aspects, and special effects (by Eugene Lourie,
Gorgo)
that hold up fairly well almost 50 years on. But the old-fashioned
soap opera love triangle between Andrews, Scott and Moore is simply
boring as all hell. More than half the film is consumed by it.
A genuine attempt to humanize the characters (giving them something
to say other than scientific mumbo jumbo) instead feels like excessive
padding. It's often deadly dull and ultimately sinks the movie.
Bottom line: Not enough crack!
Licensed
from Paramount, Crack in the World
is snatched from obscurity with this DVD edition from indie label
Olive Films. The anamorphic 1.85 transfer is quite pleasing. Colors
and contrast look great for such an old, forgotten movie and there's
surprisingly little in the way of print damage. The mono audio
track doesn't fare as well, unfortunately; there's conspicuous
hiss during some of the dialog scenes and loud rumblings and explosions
sometimes peg out. (The track is otherwise quite robust and clean.)
A total lack of extras not even a trailer is rather disappointing,
especially since the disc is priced in the $18 - $22 range (new).
- B. Lindsey
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DEATH RACE 2000-
U.S.A. (1975)
Shout!
Factory
R |
Color |
84 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released June 22, 2010
.........
One of the
better known cult drive-in pictures of the 1970s, the sci-fi action
satire Death Race 2000 is a prime
example of producer Roger Corman's notorious penny-pinching philosophy...
and the double-edged sword that philosophy could sometimes prove
to be. The film made for as little as $350,000 was a major
box-office success, justifying Corman's approach (at least to
the accountants), but the painfully cheap production design works
against it as a viewing experience. The clever dark humor and
prescient vision of a future dystopian America obsessed with violent
"reality" TV is often undermined by the cardboard and
plastic world it conjures. Action
scenes, too, suffer because of Corman's economy; since the rad-looking
race cars were actually built using Volkswagen chassis and engines
the film is often speeded-up to
make them appear to be going fast. (I was almost expecting to
hear the zany Benny Hill chase music at times.) This doesn't mean
the movie can't be a great deal of fun, though. David
Carradine is enigmatically cool as the black-clad antihero "Frankenstein",
Sylvester Stallone
(in one of his first screen roles) is quite funny as his loudmouth,
hotheaded rival, and some proto-Grrrrl Power is brought to the
table by Simone Griffeth, Roberta Collins and cult fave Mary Woronov.
All the prime exploitation elements are present and accounted
for
action, humor, naked babes and a smidgen of gore.
Had Corman spent just two or three times more than he did to make
this thing it'd likely be remembered as a classic science fiction
film and not just a classic indie B picture.
Shout!
Factory's is the third official DVD release of Death
Race 2000 (following the 1999 New Concorde and 2005 Buena
Vista editions) and far and away the best version of the film
ever on home video. The 1.85 anamorphic transfer looks fantastic
in comparison to previous VHS/DVD incarnations; instances of damage,
dirt and excessive grain are relatively quite minor. Colors and
contrast look spot-on. Audio is strictly no frills, but if the
mono track won't exactly fire up your sound system at least it's
clean and distortion-free. Extras: Fully loaded, bro! A portion
of these bonus materials are ported over from the '99 and '05
releases but the majority of them are brand new. The carry-overs
are an interview of Corman conducted by Leonard Maltin (6 min.),
the featurette Playing the Game: Looking Back at Death Race
2000 (11 min.), and a lively audio commentary with Corman
and Mary Woronov. New to the Shout! Factory edition are no less
than five featurettes (totaling some 51 minutes) and a newly-recorded
commentary. These featurettes cover various aspects of the film's
production, including design, costumes, scoring, and the fabrication
of the race cars; David Carradine talks about the film in a brief
2008 interview and author Ib Melchior even weighs in on the vast
differences between the movie and its original inspiration, his
1950s short story The Racer. In the new commentary track
assistant director Lewis Teague and Editor Tina Hirsh further
discuss the numerous challenges encountered while making the film.
An extensive image gallery, TV/radio spots, trailers (one featuring
audio commentary by John Landis), and a 12-page booklet of illustrated
liner notes just add more chrome to the package. The DVD case
even comes with groovy reversible cover art. (Also available from
Shout! Factory in a topnotch Blu-ray
edition.)
- B. Lindsey
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CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (Special Edition)-
Italy (1980)
Blue
Underground
Not Rated |
Color |
93 Min. |
R0 - NTSC
DVD released May 25, 2010
.........
Well, I'm still
not enamored of this gory Lucio Fulci shocker... even after watching
it via the excellent new Special Edition released by Blue Underground.
(My problems with the film are laid out in my review of the 2007
BU edition, which you can read here.)
This doesn't change the fact that City of
the Living Dead (AKA The Gates of Hell) is revered
by a sizable majority of Euro-Cult fandom and viewed by some as
a bona fide horror classic. These folks will definitely want to
get their hands on the 2010 remastered edition, which is absolutely
worth the upgrade. Utilizing
the original uncut camera negative for its anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer,
Blue Underground's 2010 Special Edition of City
is
truly a thing to behold
pristinely clean, the film looks
fantastic in every respect. The heavy grain present in every other
home video incarnation is significantly minimized, but without
resorting to the kind of drastic digital manipulation that ultimately
robs the image of detail (and for which some botched hi-def releases,
such as the Blu-ray of Patton, are
infamous). English-language audio tracks are offered in 5.1 Surround,
6.1 DTS and the original mono; the former two greatly enhance
one's enjoyment of Fabio Frizzi's minimalist, stripped-down score
and add tangible punch to the sound effects. Bonus features consist
of both the American and (subtitled) Italian theatrical trailers,
an image gallery accompanied by two U.S. radio spots, and a 32-minute
featurette, The Making of City of the Living Dead. In the
featurette actors Catriona MacColl and Michele Soavi plus a variety
of behind-the-scenes craftspeople (cinematography, design, makeup
and special effects) are interviewed about working on the project
some 30 years later, interspersed with film clips and home movie
footage shot during production. This should prove quite enjoyable
to City's legion of fans and anyone
interested in just how some of its notorious gore set-pieces
such as the "Devil's Spew" and the head-drilling scene
were achieved. (Also available from Blue Underground in a terrific
Blu-ray
edition containing additional bonus material.)
- B. Lindsey
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Film:
4 |
DVD: 10 |
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JOE SARNO DOUBLE FEATURE
- U.S.A. (1975)
Retro-Seduction
Cinema
Not Rated |
Color |
199 Min. |
R1 - NTSC | 2-Disc Set
DVD released March 23, 2010
.........
The two films
included in this double-disc set have previously been reviewed
on this website: Abigail
Lesley Is Back In Town and Laura's
Toys (both 1975; for some reason the title of the former
has been changed from "Leslie" to "Lesley".)
They were directed by the late Joseph W. "Joe" Sarno,
who passed away on April 26th, 2010 at the age of 89. His was
a different kind of erotic cinema, certainly for its day... Female
characters were not merely T&A adornments to be ogled, but
placed at center stage; their desires and insecurities drove the
stories. The psychology of relationships positive and negative
were as important to his sex films as good-looking people getting
naked, and while superficially they may appear to be erotic soap
operas there's usually something deeper and more meaningful going
on beneath the surface. Abigail Lesley
and Laura's Toys are prime exemplars
of this approach, as well as Sarno's ability to coax sincere characterizations
from his performers (in and out of bed), even inexperienced ones.
(For more details and screenshots from these two films please
see the review links above.)
The
recent reissue of Abigail Lesley
and Laura's Toys in a double-DVD
package is an excellent deal for those who don't already own the
single-disc editions. They port over all the original extras (except
the audio commentary for Abigail Lesley)
while adding substantial new bonus features to the mix. Chief
among these is a recently-recorded replacement commentary for
Abigail Lesley, featuring Sarno,
E.I./POP Cinema honcho Michael Raso and film historian/Sarno biographer
Michael Bowen. Since the track for its 2006 release was something
of a technical botch, not to mention that this new one represents
Sarno's final commentary, it's nice to have. Three new interview
featurettes are also included, with actors Rebecca Brooke (AKA
Mary Mendum), Jennifer Jordan, and Jamie Gillis
the latter representing another final appearance. (Gillis died
shortly thereafter.) The 24-minute featurette Joe Sarno is
Back in Town follows the amiable octogenarian during a car
trip to his old stomping (and filming) grounds of Amityville,
New York, with Michael Bowen doing the driving and asking the
questions. An illustrated booklet of liner notes by Bowen reflects
on the production of the two films and the man behind them.
- B. Lindsey
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Abigail
Lesley Is Back In Town: 6
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Laura's Toys:
5 |
DVD: 9 |
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BAD BIOLOGY -
U.S.A. (2008)
Shriek
Show
Not Rated |
Color |
84 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released January 26, 2010
.........
I'm not sure
how to even begin to describe this film, but here it goes: There's
this girl, see. Her name's Jennifer (Charlee Danielson) and she's
got this
thing. All right, it's a deformed vagina. Well
it's not really deformed but it has about 8 or so clitorises (or
clitori). Anyway, when she has sex, she kills the man she sleeps
with and then, because she has a high metabolism, gives birth
to a deformed baby and then leaves it to be picked up by anyone
that comes across it. Her rationale: "I could always take the
usual precautions, but although I don't want any children
I love
the feeling of something alive and kicking and pushing its way
out of me. Sometimes it's even better than coming." Okaaaay.
Now, there's this guy. His name is Batz (Anthony Sneed) and he's
got a real problem: He has a 12 to 14 inch penis. You'd think
that would be a benefit, but no. This penis has a mind of its
own and desires constant stimulation or it starts attacking its
owner. When he brings over a hooker to satisfy his urges, she
is so overwhelmed by his member that she has an everlasting orgasm
and moans nonstop. Now, here's the question: How long do you think
it will take before these two freaks of nature get together? Hint:
It's shorter than this film's running time (84 minutes). This
is an ugly and stupid film. It has no heart, brain, or any other
vital organs. The acting by the two leads is false and painfully
wooden and the writing doesn't even begin to develop what might
be a fun so-bad-it's-good premise. There's even a publicist played
by Connie Renda who overlooks Jennifer's photo shoot of other
girls wearing "vagina" masks, criticizing its lack of artistic
merit as "pornography." She is meant to represent critics like
me who doesn't understand what true art is. Well, if I don't know
what true art is, I certainly know crap when I see it, and this
is it. The
DVD is surprisingly good for such a shoddy film. The 1.78 anamorphic
widescreen transfer from a 35mm print is sharp and clear. The
audio comes with a choice of 5.1 or 2.0 surround sound in English.
The commentary by director Frank Henenlotter and "RA The
Rugged Man" is light-hearted and charming in a messed-up
kind of way. The featurette, Fuck Face: Behind the Lens,
is surprisingly funny and entertaining. However, a music video
by the producer, "I Should'a Never
", is ten-times more shock-filled
than the main feature and none the better for it. Shock for its
own sake, without any imagination or invention, is just schlock.
That's why it's spelled like that.
- N. Coccellato
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Film:
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DVD: 7 |
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