It’s become something of an unintentional tradition with this column through its various incarnations, that the Halloween installments end up posting after that spooktacular holiday has already come and gone. Sigh. Let’s just say that time management is not among my stronger skill sets.Well, it may be too late to make any of this week’s DVDs part of your Hallow’s Eve viewing, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t check them out anyway. After all, while Halloween may make a good excuse for spinning a scary movie, almost anytime is a good time for a quality fright flick.
INFESTATION 2009, First Look Studios
Recently released on DVD, Infestation is a fun little monster movie a cut or two above most of the usual direct-to-disc sci-fi and horror fare. Written and directed by Kyle Rankin with humor and some smarts, Infestation also sports solid performances from its cast, including Fanboys’ Chris Marquette, Brooke Nevin (Eli Stone) and the always entertaining Ray Wise (Twin Peaks, Reaper, 24).
The plot is simple: one day, there’s a flash of light and the population passes out, only to awaken (some of them, anyway) a short time later wrapped in huge cocoons. It turns out that giant alien bugs have inexplicably invaded the Earth – or at least Colorado. A small group of survivors band together and attempt to find safety from the ravenous insects.
As mentioned above, the script is witty, and director Rankin keeps things moving at a good pace. The cast is likable and handles both the humor and horror well. As usual, Ray Wise is a delight. The CGI effects are very well executed – but as I’ve said before, insects are particularly suited to computer animation.
First Look’s DVD presents Infestation in a pristine, full-frame transfer and 5.1 Digital Surround sound. Bonus features are limited to a commentary track by the director and a handful of previews for other First Look titles.
Infestation is a better-than-average sci-fi diversion with decent effects, good performances and a clever – if predictable – storyline. It’s worth checking out.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME1980, Anchor Bay
Anchor Bay adds another vintage Eighties slasher to its stable with the recent DVD re-release of 1980’s Happy Birthday To Me.
In her Senior year, pretty Virginia is proud that she has finally become part of the most popular clique that occurred a year earlier and resulted in her mother’s death. Now she’s about to turn 18 and the members of her clique are starting to die in horrible ways. Could it be her?
Another popular stalk n’slay that I missed back in my youth, I have to say that I liked Happy Birthday To Me better than I expected. Competently helmed by journeyman director J. Lee Thomspson, whose credits include everything from the original Cape Fear and The Guns of Navarone to Battle For The Planet of the Apes and Death Wish 4, and starring Little House on the Prairie's Melissa Sue Anderson (in an unsuccessful bid for feature film stardom), HBTM is a fairly effective little thriller that may not have much splattering of blood and viscera, but does have a moderately clever script that managed to keep me guessing until the end.
The "kills" are imaginative, though clearly trimmed to minimize gore and appease the ratings board, and the young cast acquits themselves well. Hollywood icon Glenn Ford even shows up in an important supporting role, bringing a little class and acting gravitas to the low budget Canadian production.
AB’s DVD features a remarkably fine for the vintage 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and a clear, 2.0 Dolby Stereo audio mix that restores the original music score missing from the out-of-print Columbia/Tristar DVD from a few years ago.
It's not a great movie, but it's not bad, either, and entertaining enough couple hours of formula fun.
IT’S ALIVE2008, First Look Studios
An ill-conceived (!) remake of the classic 1974 Larry Cohen low-budget shocker, It’s Alive features Bijou Phillips (Hostel Part 2, Venom) as the mother of… a monstrous killer baby.
That’s pretty much all the synopsis the film needs. But where Cohen’s original film worked as an effective, if technically crude, thriller, this entirely unnecessary remake falls down on almost every level. From bleak Bulgarian locations attempting unconvincingly to pass as the intended New Mexico setting, to a supporting cast of English and European actors with inconsistent accents, to an overall lack of tension or suspense, the remake fails to create the necessary suspension of disbelief essential for an effective horror film. The movie also fails to make its homicidal infant remotely scary – in the original, it was depicted as a demonic, fanged and clawed monster (courtesy of a young Rick Baker), where here it’s hardly shown at all, and when it is finally revealed, it is represented by decidedly sub-par CGI. Phillips actually manages a mostly decent performance for the first part of the film, but once her character starts to realize what her precious has been up to, the actress starts to overact to the point of unintentional comedy.
First Look Studios has brought It’s Alive to disc in an unrated edition, featuring an unexceptional 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and a 5.1 Digital Surround audio mix. There are no extras provided beyond a few previews of other First Look features.
Not recommended. Dig up the original instead.
NIGHT OF THE CREEPS1986, Columbia/Tristar
For a couple of years there, back in the mid-80's, Fred Dekker looked like he was going to be the next big name in genre films. He had writing credits on a few decent B-movies, and then wrote & directed two great cult classics in a row: Night of the Creeps and The Monster Squad. Both of them were smart, funny and full of obvious affection for the horror genre. Unfortunately, neither one really set the box office on fire (The Monster Squad, in particular, was badly handled by its distributor, and pretty much flopped), and when his next film, the disappointing sequel, RoboCop 3, died in theaters, his career pretty much died with it.
Both Creeps and Squad had strong fan followings, though, and their cults have only grown over the years, kept alive by aging VHS copies being endlessly replayed. A few years ago, Lionsgate released a beautiful, widescreen special edition DVD of The Monster Squad, and I guess it must have sold pretty well, because now its delightful predecessor has come to disc too, courtesy of Columbia.
A canister full of brain-eating space slugs crashes to Earth in 1958 near Corman University, coincidentally on the same night that an axe-murderer has escaped from a local insane asylum. Almost thirty years later, the legacy of that fateful night is unleashed, and only a small group of college students and a single hardbitten police detective (the always-awesome Tom Atkins) can save the world from frat boy zombies and alien-possessed household pets.
Tongue-in-cheek but not an outright spoof, Night of the Creeps deftly balances self-referential humor with teen horror thanks to a talented cast, surprisingly assured direction, and a smart, witty screenplay by Dekker. The special effects were state-of-the-art for ’86 and hold up remarkably well today. It really is a shame that Dekker’s career took such a professional dive after the Robocop sequel, because he really showed a lot of potential as a genre filmmaker.
Columbia/Tristar’s DVD features a rock-solid, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of the film, which restores the director’s originally intended ending. Audio is a crisp Dolby 5.1, and there are plenty of extra features. Dekker provides an informative commentary track, and there’s a second, fun commentary featuring the movie’s main cast. A five-part featurette covers the making of Creeps from conception to completion, and covers the growth of its fandom on VHS and cable TV. There’s a fascinating on-screen interview with actor Tom Atkins, covering his entire career, and a slew of deleted scenes. Topping it all off is the original theatrical preview and a handful of trailers for other Columbia/Sony genre DVDs.
If you’re already a fan of this fun flick, then you’ll absolutely want to pick up the DVD. If you have yet to discover its many charms, and think you’d enjoy a quick trip back to the Eighties, then definitely check it out. Highly recommended.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII – THE NEW BLOOD DELUXE EDITION1988, Paramount
Paramount completes their re-issue of the popular Friday the 13th franchise with the last two films produced by the studio (before selling the character to New Line) hitting store shelves just before Halloween. In The New Blood, the old formula gets stirred up a bit, as writers Manuel Fidello and Daryl Haney collaborate with director John Buechler to introduce a new type of opponent for the invincible Jason Vorhees.
Pretty Tina (Lar Park-Hilton) has problems. Aside from having powerful telekinetic abilities, she believes herself responsible for the drowning death of her father when she was a child – at Crystal Lake, of course. Now, as a young woman, her psychiatrist (Terry Kiser, Bernie of Weekend at Bernie’s infamy) has brought her back to that notorious body of water to confront her guilt. Of course, there’s a bunch of teenagers partying in the rental house next door, and when Tina’s attempts to raise her dead father from the lake dredge up Jason instead… well, we all know what happens, right?
The addition of the telekinetic teen (the director cheerfully admits to ripping off Carrie in the supplements) does inject a bit of new life into the franchise – for this installment, anyway – culminating in a very entertaining final battle between the girl and hockey-masked monster (portrayed here, for the first time, by fan-favorite Kane Hodder). Buechler, primarily a make-up effects artist, proves himself a capable director and keeps the movie moving at a good pace. The "kills" are varied and well-staged, and female nudity makes a welcome return to the series.
Paramount’s Deluxe Edition DVD sports a machete-sharp 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and both Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo audio mixes. Bonus features include a commentary track with Buechler, Park-Lincoln and Hodder, a behind-the-scenes documentary, deleted scenes, and a couple of featurettes.
Not the best Friday, but certainly one of the better ones.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII – JASON TAKES MANHATTAN DELUXE EDITION1989, Paramount
Unfortunately, the following year’s installment, Jason Takes Manhattan, is one of the worst in the series, with an even more nonsensical than usual script, no wit, no evident imagination, and plodding direction.
This one’s a head-scratcher. Once again, Jason (Kane Hodder) emerges from Crystal Lake to kill, this time catching a ride on an old cruise ship (!) that is carrying a bunch of college? high school? Students to New York City. So, now Crystal Lake (which is surrounded by lovely – and Canadian – mountains in this one) is connected somehow to the Atlantic Ocean? Anyway, Jason kills a bunch of uninteresting characters with uninteresting backstories for a while until the ship blows up. The few survivors manage to make it to Manhattan in a lifeboat, only to find that master Vorhees has followed them, and continues to stalk them through the city’s dirty alleys and sewers.
Okay. The franchise is clearly running on fumes at this point, with the tired formula being twisted into idiotic knots in an apparent attempt to keep things fresh. Ultimately, though, Part Eight is just tired and stupid, and even Jason’s apparent new ability to teleport doesn’t liven things up. It’s no surprise that Paramount finally pulled the plug on the series after this chapter; it was actually a bit of a mercy killing.
The DVD is nice, though. Like the rest of the Deluxe Editions, the 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer is very sharp, and the 5.1 and 2.0 audio options are Crystal Lake clear (groan). A commentary with several cast members is provided, along with the obligatory "Making Of" documentary and some "slashed" deleted scenes. There is also a gag reel, which is at least shorter than the feature, if not much funnier.
Completists will want to pick this up, but everyone else should avoid.
STAN HELSING BLU-RAY2009, Anchor Bay
The packaging for Stan Helsing proudly proclaims that its makers were responsible for the Scary Movie and Soul Plane films. That should be all the information you need to decide whether or not it’s the sort of film you’ll enjoy. Me, it was a flashing neon warning sign, because I don’t find those kinds of alleged comedies even slightly amusing.
But it’s my job to watch these discs, so I gave Stan Helsing my best shot.
On Halloween night, slacker video clerk Stan Helsing (Steve Howey), accompanied by his sexy ex-girlfriend (Diora Baird), best friend (Kenan Thompson) and an exotic dancer/massage therapist (Desi Lydic), are on their way to a costume party. But, they’re forced to take a detour into a town cursed by lame rip-offs 80’s horror icons, including Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy, Friday the 13th’s Jason , Hellraiser’s Pinhead , Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface, Chucky from Child’s Play, & Halloween’s Michael Myers. Hijinks ensue.
I don’t know how to review this. These sorts of "parodies" don’t appeal to me in the slightest. Because they’re supposed to be hysterical simply because they irreverently reference familiar pop culture, things like wit, imagination, acting and production values don’t appear to be considered necessary. The whole movie looks like it was shot for about a hundred bucks on daddy’s camcorder, and the jokes – if that’s what they are – are obvious and flacid. Oh, and Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun, Spy Hard) shows up in a cameo, just to make clear the filmmaker’s intentions.
Still, people keep making these movies and other people keep going to see and rent them, so I’m probably just not the intended audience for this flick.
Anchor Bay has gone all-out with the DVD, beginning with a sharp 1.85:1 1080p widescreen transfer, 5.1 Dolby Surround sound, and a slew of supplements. These include a audio commentary track by director Bo Zenga and cast members Thompson and Lydic, a "Making Of" featurette, extended and deleted scenes, outtakes, the theatrical trailer and storyboards.
I didn’t like it. But if you dig these kinds of "parody films" (and I’m not judging you), you might want to give it a rental.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: A cybernetic killer stalks and slays in the 1990 sci-fi thriller Hardware on Blu, Dolph Lundgren rocks and rolls some terrorists in First Look’s Command Performance, and heroes and villains swing swords and sling sorcery in The Legend of the Seeker, The Complete First Season. Plus whatever else comes my way, in the next Late Show. If you’re a PR person or represent a studio and want me to review your DVD or Blu-Ray discs, drop me a line at dvdlateshow@atomicpulp.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment