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V
FOR VENDETTA -
U.S.A. - Germany (2006)
Warner
Home Video
Rated R |
Color |
133 Min. |
R1 - NTSC |
2-Disc Set
DVD released August 1, 2006
.........
Upon finally
seeing it, it's little wonder why this film was condemned by many
in the conservative, pro-war punditocracy. Alan Moore's graphic
novel may have been written as a (not so) cloaked criticism of
Britain's right wing Thatcher government of the 1980s but there
can be absolutely no doubt that the film's script, adapted by
the Wachowski brothers of Matrix
fame, is aimed squarely at our current situation —
on the preeminence of intolerant, so-called "family values"
politics and the War on Terror being commanded from the Bush White
House. In the Bill O'Reilly-Rush Limbaugh worldview, the message
of V for Vendetta is anathema, if
not outright heresy. In the near future, a black-shirted cabal
of the Christian Right, led by a goateed, often apoplectic John
Hurt, has seized control of Britain, keeping a cowed population
compliant with a steady media diet of fear. Morality laws are
enforced, strict curfews imposed, homosexuals and non-Christians
persecuted; Big Brother surveillance is omnipresent. Leading a
one-man revolution against this neo-fascist regime is the mysterious
"V" (Lord of the Rings'
Hugo Weaving), a masked Phantom of the Opera-like figure who dynamites
London's Old Bailey, then publicly announces —
upon hacking into a national broadcast —
that he intends to destroy Parliament just as the ill-fated Guy
Fawkes attempted to do in 1605. V, our hero, is a terrorist
— a man who believes that "blowing
up a building can change the world." (That's pretty subversive
stuff in the age of Osama bin Laden.) He also methodically assassinates
a number of government-connected figures. Naturally, V has motivations
that are righteous. He's an avenger bringing justice to those
who murdered their way into power and are abusing the trust the
people have placed in them. In his portrayal of V, Weaving rises
to the challenge of breathing life into a character whose 'face'
is totally immobile, using only body language and voice, and is
successful in making him likable and worth rooting for despite
committing deeds that cross moral boundaries. The rest of the
cast, headlined by top-billed Natalie Portman, lends solid support.
(Her occasionally dodgy British accent isn't as bad as I'd been
led to believe.) Directed with considerable visual flair by James
McTeigue, the film looks like it cost two or three times its relatively
modest $55 Million budget. I know some people
groaned at the use of Matrix-style
"Bullet Time" in the film's signature action sequence,
but I think it rocks —
it's much cooler using knives instead of guns, and looks
exactly like something from a comic book.
(The source material is a graphic
novel, after all.) Alas,
the pacing seriously flags in the middle
section, which, bereft of any action scenes, is chiefly occupied
with filling in a significant amount of backstory via a series
of repetitive flashbacks. The film's message, too, is sometimes
delivered with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Still, I gotta hand it to 'em for not only making a blatantly
rebellious political movie about an effete, possibly insane superhero
that kills people, but also one in which the ending precludes
any possible chance of a sequel. And no Burger King tie-ins!
•
• • Since this is the DVD release
of a recent major studio film you can rest assured that it provides
state-of-the-art picture and audio. Disc 1 of the two-disc special
edition contains the film (2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen; 5.1 Surround)
and a 16-minute featurette, which is more or less of the HBO
First Look puff-piece variety. The extras on Disc 2 continue
in pretty much the same vein, although one of the featurettes
does provide clueless American viewers with the historical background
to Guy Fawkes and the infamous Gunpowder Plot.
- B. Lindsey
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Film:
7 |
DVD: 7 |
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SHOGUN ASSASSIN
-
Japan (1972) / U.S.A. (1980)
Animeigo
Rated R |
Color |
85 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released July 11, 2006
.........
The ultimate
samurai gore saga pared down to its eviscerating essence, Shogun
Assassin contains more skull-splitting, artery-spraying,
limb-severing action than you can shake a katana at. This
is the 'Americanized' version of the first two "Lone Wolf
and Cub" films — Sword of Vengeance
and Baby Cart at the River Styx
— made in Japan during the early 1970s. Those movies
were edited together, discarding large chunks of the story (with
almost 90% of the retained footage coming from Baby
Cart); 'clarifying' narration
was then added along with a completely different, sythesizer-driven
music score. The basic story remains the same, though. A favorite
of the shogun, noble samurai Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama)
is framed for an offense against the shoganate by members of the
rival Yagyu clan, who also murder Itto's wife. Expected to commit
seppuku for his alleged crime, Itto instead vows revenge
and escapes from the shogun's castle after killing a bunch of
guards. He takes his young son, Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa), with
him on the road as he travels the countryside, earning gold as
a masterless warrior-for-hire. The shogun and the Yagyu send a
host of ninja assassins to kill Itto but the unmatched swordsman
hacks an incredibly bloody swath of destruction through
them all. And that's pretty much all there is to it. This isn't
a movie you watch for an involving story (and certainly not when
much of it has already been jettisoned); you watch it for the
kill scenes, pure and simple. Often bordering on the astounding,
they do not disappoint. (Don't expect 10-minute sword fighting
sequences as you'd see in a Chinese-made film; Itto's blade is
super-swift in its utter lethality.) Some of the new dialog
and dubbing does lend a whiff of cheesiness — that's comedienne
Sandra Bernhard (Reel Wild Cinema) voicing the female ninja
leader with the nutty laugh — and the new score, sounding almost
disco-like at times, doesn't exactly invoke feudal Japan. But
the source films from which Shogun Assassin
was assembled were too artfully crafted for even this Western
bastardization to be dismissed as mere exploitation trash.
•
• • The DVD showcases the U.S. "grindhouse"
cut, reconstructed from Japanese prints of Sword
Of Vengeance and Baby Cart,
with the original dubbed American soundtrack presented
in Dolby 2.0 stereo. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer
looks remarkably good, marred only by fleeting instances of print
damage that are really of no consequence. Audio isn't up to the
same level of quality, however, although more than satisfactory.
Production notes on the LW&C series and the restoration of
Shogun Assassin, plus four trailers
(the first two LW&C films, Lady Snowblood
and Demon Spies), comprise the extras.
- B. Lindsey
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MASTERS OF HORROR: SICK GIRL
-
U.S.A. (2005)
Anchor
Bay Home Entertainment
Not Rated |
Color |
59 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released June 27, 2006
.........
A lonely entomologist
(Angela Bettis) falls in love with a shy artist (Misty Mundae),
but their romantic idyll is disrupted by a rare, and deadly, insect...
Originally slated to be helmed by Roger Corman, the Masters
of Horror project Sick Girl
fell into the lap of Lucky McGee when the veteran bowed out due
to illness. While it would have been interesting to see what Corman
could have done with the material, the film as it stands is very
indicative of McKee's sense of humor and pathos —
the fact that there wasn't an adequate role for his favorite actress,
Angela Bettis, even prompted him to rewrite it as a lesbian love
story! The film fulfills the promise shown by McKee's debut, May
—
itself a quirky love story/horror film about a loner (again played
by Bettis) whose mental disintegration leads to shocking violence.
Yet while May struggled with its
horror trappings, everything feels very coherent and well-integrated
in this short film. The tone is light and humorous, occasionally
dipping into outright farce, but the film doesn’t shy away from
gross-out horror. The characters are well developed, with Bettis
giving her best performance to date as the hopelessly nerdy bug-nut,
and softcore porn queen Mundae (billed under her real name, Erin
Brown) proving surprisingly adept playing the different emotional
stages of her character. McKee handles the action with relish
— the score alternates between conventional
horror scoring and poppy songs, and the visual style is appropriately
artificial and over the top. In a series that has seen some of
its veteran directors struggle to deliver the goods (look no further
than Tobe Hooper’s lamentable Dance of the
Dead), it comes as a refreshing surprise to see a relative
newcomer so very much at home in the format. •
• • Anchor Bay’s release of Sick
Girl is first-rate. The 1.77/16x9 image is sharp and colorful,
and the 5.1 sound mix really shows off the music and sound effects
to their best advantage. Extras include a terrific commentary
track with McKee and Bettis, as well as an interview with McKee
that shows off some clips from his still-unreleased second feature,
The Woods. The chemistry between
him and Bettis is infectious, and he seems genuinely humbled to
be in the presence of some of his favorite filmmakers —
many of whom he managed to reference in the course of his episode.
-
T. Howarth
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Film:
8 |
DVD: 10 |
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MASTERS
OF HORROR: DEER WOMAN
-
U.S.A. (2005)
Anchor
Bay Home Entertainment
Not Rated |
Color |
58 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released June 27, 2006
.........
A
cop (Brian Benben) investigates a string of bizarre deaths somehow
connected to a Native American myth about a seductive “deer woman”...
Many horror buffs took issue with John Landis taking part in Showtime’s
Masters of Horror series, but their argument confuses quantity
with quality. True, Landis is best known for his rowdy comedies,
including Animal House and Trading
Places, but his few forays into the genre (notably 1981’s
An American Werewolf in London) show
him particularly skillful at mixing humor and horror —
not an easy balancing act for even the most prolific of fright
film directors. Compared to some of the directors involved in
this series who do have a long list of genre films to their
credit, Landis has also been more consistent — that’s not to say
that he doesn’t have a few turkeys to his credit (The
Stupids, anyone?), but his body of work is a pretty good
one on the whole. Carps about his status as a “master of horror”
to one side, Landis has nevertheless delivered one of the most
entertaining and completely satisfying entries in Showtime’s uneven
first season. The script by Landis and his 21-year old son Max
is imaginative, and apart from a few minor narrative hiccups,
the story progresses with good pacing. Benben, best known for
his role as Martin on the HBO series Dream On (executive
produced by Landis), is perfect as the cynical cop forced to confront
the supernatural, while newcomer Cynthia Moura is remarkably sexy
yet sweetly naïve as the titular character — it’s not a role that
requires much depth, but her photogenic qualities are undeniable.
Landis works in a funny nod to American
Werewolf (though he admits to finding it obnoxious and
wishes he had cut it out) and handles the action with tremendous
flair, making this one of the definite highlights of Season One.
•
• • Anchor Bay’s release of Deer
Woman is a winner. The 1.78/16x9 transfer looks very nice,
with sharp detail and no authoring defects to complain of. The
5.1 audio has a lot of punch, particularly in terms of sound effects,
and extras are plentiful. The standout is a lengthy interview
with the very funny and exuberant Landis, though one wishes he
would be willing to do commentaries, as well.
- T. Howarth
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Film:
8 |
DVD: 10 |
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BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
-
U.S.A. (1970)
20th-Century Fox Home Entertainment
Rated NC-17 |
Color |
109 Min. |
R1 - NTSC |
2-Disc Set
DVD released June 13, 2006
.........
This
DVD is happening and it freaks me out! Finally — finally
— the camp cult classic escapes from VHS oblivion in all it widescreen
glory. The first of only two Hollywood studio films directed by
legendary sexploitation auteur Russ Meyer (the
other being 1971's The Seven Minutes),
Dolls is a veritable showcase for
groovy fashions, groovier songs and a buxom bevy of shapely young
starlets. Its story, that of an all-girl rock trio making it big
on the L.A. music scene and their inevitable descent into drugs
and debauchery, is both a knowing send-up of classic soap opera
conventions and a near-completely clueless satire of West Coast
entertainment industry lifestyles. Somehow this bizarre dichotomy
works brilliantly when played totally straight by the enthusiastic
cast, which includes such hotties as Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers,
Erica Gavin (Vixen!) and Edy Williams.
Meyer's predilections for rapid-fire editing and ample-busomed
babes frequently shedding their clothes, married with critic-turned-screenwriter
Roger Ebert's deliberately over-the-top dialog, give the film
a sense of delirium rarely attained by major studio productions.
With its heavy doses of sex (both straight and gay), drugs and
rock 'n' roll it's easy to see why Dolls
was considered so shocking in its time, ultimately slapped with
an X rating by the MPAA. (Later to be reclassified NC-17.) The
sudden lurch from satirical musical/softcore sex comedy to violent,
gory horror three-quarters the way through is still a major
mindbender. (And jawdropper.) Among the terrific songs are "Find
It" and "Gentle People". Highly recommended! •
• • Fox's double-DVD set will likely make a number of
"Best of 2006" lists. Disc One contains the feature
film (a fantastic-looking 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, upgunned
with a new stereo mix in addition to the original mono) supplemented
by two audio commentaries — the first with various cast members,
the second featuring a solo Ebert. Disc Two is packed with five
slickly-produced VH1-style featurettes, two original casting sessions,
six image galleries (totalling some 300+ photos!), theatrical
trailers and an introduction by John "Z-Man" La Zar. An absolutely
superb DVD package that was well worth the wait.
-
B. Lindsey
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FRANKENSTEIN
MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER
-
U.S.A. (1965)
Dark
Sky Films
Not Rated |
B&W |
77 Min. |
R0 - NTSC
DVD released May 30, 2006
.........
In Puerto Rico,
bald, pointy-eared extraterrestrial invaders are kidnapping bikini
babes for breeding stock. Only a scarred, crash-damaged NASA cyborg
named Frank is in any position to stop them. But first he must
confront Mull, the monstrous creature the aliens have brought
with them... Confession: I have yet to watch this film without
being under the influence of some kind of recreational substance.
You might wish to take that under consideration when weighing
the merit of my analysis. You see, I actually like Frankenstein
Meets the Space Monster.
Yes, it stinks.
Badly. It's cheap, stupid and silly. 70% of the film is pure padding,
for the most part cobbled together from stock footage (much of
it military). The scenes of Frank's scientist-creator (James Karen
of Return
of the Living Dead) and his shapely female assistant tooling
around San Juan on a moped will test the patience of even diehard
trash film freaks. Nonetheless I find this cheese log tasty, especially
when I have the... ahem... munchies. It makes me laugh. There's
some great stuff here for a "Do It Yourself" MST3K party.
The
aliens —
among them a young Bruce Glover (Black
Gunn) —
run around in motorcycle helmets brandishing plastic ray guns.
Mull, the titular space monster (also played by Glover), is both
laughable and cool-looking at the same time.
The music is very groovy, too; the infectiously catchy song "That's
the Way It's Got to Be" (by The Poets) somehow goes great with
NASA stock footage. Then there's the goofy alien second-in-command,
Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell), whom I like to refer to as 'Smirky McBat-ears'.
He's simply hilarious. ("And now... maximum
energy!") Recommendation: See this movie stoned. Because that's
the way it's got to be. •
• •
The print used for Dark Sky's anamorphic
1:85:1 transfer is not in as good a shape as their previous high-quality
releases. There's some damage here and there, notably in the form
of missing frames. Even so, this is the best version of the film
we're ever likely to see, as the print is otherwise quite clean
and sharp. (All that stock footage is naturally going to look
grainy.) The Dolby 2.0 Mono audio track exhibits a few crackles
and pops but is otherwise quite good. The trailer, a small image
gallery and a booklet of liner notes are included as extras.
- B. Lindsey
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Film:
6 |
DVD: 5 |
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42ND
ST. PETE'S 8MM MADNESS
-
U.S.A. (2006)
E.I./After Hours Cinema
Not Rated |
Color, B&W |
240 Min. |
R1 - NTSC |
2-Disc Set
DVD released April 4, 2006
.........
21 hardcore
'70s
sex loops salvaged from utter oblivion by "42nd St. Pete",
self-styled connoisseur of "classic" porn — back when
smut was sold under the counter and possession of these films
could land you in the slammer. Typically, since loops were only
five or ten minutes in duration, the uncredited performers waste
no time whatsoever gettin' right down to bidness. There is no
sound, hence no dialog, although the occasional subtitle will
pop up amusingly. ("Ohhhhhh, yes! Deeper!", etc.)
Oral, anal, interracial, lesbian, group, toys, S&M, even a
brief moment of golden showers (eeeew!) —
pretty much all the bases are covered as Pete endeavors to include
a little something for everyone. He provides a jokey introduction
before each loop; these are preceded by an historical overview
of the very seedy world of proto-home video porn. As both purveyor
and purchaser of this stuff back in the day, Pete explains how
people went about buying loops, how they were marketed and what
the going prices were... Sometimes up to 100 bucks in 1970s dollars
for a 10-minute reel of film! Quite frankly, the majority of the
loops included in 8MM Madness are
pretty skanky (and a couple of 'em downright revolting); this
is porn at its absolute grungiest. A few "name" porn
stars show up (obviously before they started making the good money
when hardcore became more mainstream); John Holmes, Jamie Gillis,
Arcadia Lake (Babylon
Pink) and Rhonda Jo Petty will be familiar faces
— or other body parts — to fans of '70s smut. Out of the 21 offered,
my choice as the best two are strictly concerned with all-girl
action: Arcadia & Friend (featuring the tanned, svelte
Lake) and Shower Lust (a trio of sexy cuties, each of a
distinct body type, share a stimulating massage and much more).
• • • Naturally, almost all of
these loops are beat to holy hell — it's a miracle they've survived
to begin with. (This DVD is a fuckin' time
capsule... literally.)
Arcadia & Friend
is perhaps the best-looking of the bunch. The rest are heavily
damaged and/or littered with dirt and debris. As for audio, well,
that's certainly not a problem since, as mentioned above, loops
don't have any. Cleverly, After Hours Cinema has added the sound
of an 8mm film projector whirring in the background as a sort-of
'you are there, back in the '70s' soundtrack. 42nd St. Pete's
on-camera segments are clean and clear. For extras, there's an
extensive trailer vault of Nick Philips titles (for such hardcore
pics as Les
Chic and Gunilla)
and a booklet of liner notes by Pete. -
B. Lindsey
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Film:
N/A
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MASTERS
OF HORROR: CIGARETTE BURNS
- U.S.A.
(2005)
Anchor
Bay Home Entertainment
Not Rated |
Color |
59 Min. |
R1 - NTSC
DVD released March 28, 2006
.........
A
theater owner (Norman Reedus) is hired by an eccentric millionaire
(Udo Kier) to track down a lost film reported to have a malevolent
effect on those who view it... For his contribution to the Masters
of Horror series, John Carpenter selected the debut script
from Scott Swann and AICN’s Drew McWeeney. The story bears some
resemblance to the director’s earlier Lovecraft homage, In
the Mouth of Madness, and can be said to reflect such
disparate works of literature and film as Ramsey Campbell’s Ancient
Images and the Asian horror hit The
Ring (not to mention its watered down U.S. remake), but
Carpenter attacks the material with admirable enthusiasm. The
notion of a film of demonic origin having a fatal impact on the
viewer is a dicey one to bring to life, but the director succeeds
by stressing the personal demons of the characters. Reedus’ cynical
anti-hero is a typical Carpenter lead (some might say, stand-in)
but the script allows him a back story that plays into the way
the film affects him. Kier’s obsessive cineaste can be read as
an arch parody of an extreme film fanatic, but the fact that his
obsession is exclusively linked to extreme horror films (“I’m
not interested in something that will make a school girl dizzy…
I’m talking about real power.”) places the film firmly in the
self-reflexive —
as a critique of the horror genre, it displays wit and affection
for its subject matter. The end result is the best thing Carpenter
has done in years —
and one of the strongest films of his career as a whole. Within
the confines of a low budget, a rushed shooting schedule and shooting
for TV, thus depriving him of his favored Panavision aspect ratio,
Carpenter displays all his customary trademarks (artful framing,
judicious editing, old school craftsmanship, an emphasis on flawed
anti-heroes and a generally cynical sense of humor) and is therefore
one of the few directors in the series to really succeed in putting
his own personal stamp on the material. •
• • Anchor Bay’s release of Cigarette
Burns is another winner. The 1.78/16x9
image looks flawless, and the 5.1 soundtrack does a nice job of
showing off haunting
soundtrack
of composer Cody Carpenter (John’s son).
Extras are again plentiful, with the standouts being a lengthy
interview with Carpenter, as well as a commentary track with the
director. He again proves himself one of the most interesting
filmmakers to listen to, playfully mocking his own shortcomings
and succinctly dismissing the idea of horror films being a negative
societal influence as “bullshit.”
- T. Howarth
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Film:
9 |
DVD: 10 |
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