Basement of Ghoulish Decadence

Initial Impressions of Sony's BDP-S185 "Smart" Blu-ray player

2012-01-30T20:09:00.013-05:00

At just $80, Sony's BDP-S185 is an obvious attempt to pillage the wallet of any still Blu-ray reluctant Average Joes with the combo of a trusted brand and multitude of features at an extremely competitive price. What pulled me in was the tiny form factor. The width and length of the unit equals just a half a fingernail over two standard DVD cases set side-by-side. It fits perfectly on top of my standard ATX PC tower with room to spare...

But why would I set it on my PC? Long story short, my parent's already-repaired-once Samsung LCD kicked the bucket, again, so they threw up their hands and shuffled sets around. They ended up getting a larger set for a second room and were gracious enough to give me their 32" Sony LCD (KDL-32L5000) which I'm now looking at as a monitor. With HDMI inputs, I wanted to get a BD player just for this display to watch/spot check Blus and DVDs right at my desk with the push of a button. I could have just bought a BD-ROM drive, but you should already know I'm weird like that. After determining the easiest way to grab one was to join the People of Wal Mart, I found literally stacks of them on an endcap for $78.

The player is simple to set up. Just plug-in, connect with an HDMI cable (not supplied, visit Monoprice), and turn on. The boot-up is less than fifteen seconds and you'll be greeted with a simple version of Sony's XMB interface seen on the PS3. There's selectable icons for Set-up, Photo, Music, Video, and Network. Looking over the video and audio feature set, the S185 supports almost everything the Blu-ray format can currently muster. 1080p/24 playback, Deep Color modes (10/12/16-bit), BD-Live 2.0, and internal decoding and/or bitstreaming of lossless audio types via HDMI. Firmware updates are also a breeze. The only drawbacks are a lack of Blu-ray 3D support, no time display on the player's front, no Wi-fi capability, and the required use of at least a 1GB USB stick for BD-Live features. I personally couldn't care less about the lack of these aspects. The biggest issue might be no front read-out but that's helped by a on-screen display that can be called up with info like the current/total track time, audio track, resolution, chapter number, and video bitrate (again, like the PS3's display).

Disc load times are speedy, more-or-less matching the PS3. The responsiveness to commands like chapter skipping or audio track changes is instantaneous. Worldly DVD collectors will bemoan the fact that the unit won't play even region free PAL format titles, but I already have several other players that can do that so I'm not holding that against it. One tiny yet extremely important feature is the disc tray design. I can't tell you how annoying it is when you buy a player and the tray isn't user-friendly. Many brands have forgotten this, like LG's BD550 (review here), which drove me up the wall with its ultra-thin tray that took the fingers of an aged Chinese sweatshop assembly worker to simply remove the disc by the edges. This Sony's tray is more like a traditional CD-ROM, that opens all the way out, just deep enough for you to easily see that the disc is properly "seated" to avoid jamming the (quiet) drive. The sides of the disc are also clear of the tray for assured removal even by big hands. It might sound stupid, but this factor alone is a huge plus because I certainly don't want to fuck up my media with scratches and fingerprints from being forced to employ awkward handling to simply use them.

Outside of the solid Blu-ray and DVD performance, the S185 also offers a bunch of online services like Sony's own movie/music rental service, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Hulu, Pandora Radio, Slacker Radio, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Crackle. I don't have the pay services, so I can't say how their implementation fares here, but the free ones run pretty smoothly. YouTube is fleshed out with most of the options you'd find online, including access to your own account, and the ability to watch videos full screen. Pandora is kinda shitty with Slacker being better thought out. The only problem was Slacker locking up the player if I became too overzealous with hitting the remote. Just like the PS3, hold the power button down on the player to force a shutdown. Crackle works well and offers free streaming movies and television, like NOLD '90 above. There's a useful image noise reduction feature that can be used with the online video services. You can also hook up a keyboard via USB for faster searches. Sony appears intent to add more services in the future, like the "coming soon" CinemaNow. You can even get tips or something from Dr. Oz and Lance Armstrong through their services...yeah...

I'm an idiot when it comes to all these newfangled media file types available, but there were no problems with viewing images and playing .avis and mp3s on USB drives. The remote is a little too small for all its buttons but compliments other recent Sony remotes. As for odd little features, the audio can be delayed up to 120msecs on DVDs and BDs during playback if the sync with the video seems off. Also in the Audio Set-up there's an option to automatically convert mono or stereo tracks into processed DTS Neo6 Surround. A feature I've never seen a disc player have that's always reserved for A/V receivers or processors. Overall, so far, this plucky player seems like a very good deal at the price point and it shows how far Blu-ray decks have come. It's almost like a PS3 without the gaming feature for a fraction of the cost.

Some quick, unscientific snaps of the Squeeze LD of T2...

2012-01-28T19:47:00.001-05:00

(the picture is inherently and permanently "squeezed" vertically in 4:3, unlike DVD's 4:3 accommodation)

(when set to 16:9*, the picture is "unsqueezed", yielding greater vertical resolution, it does look quite good)

(between-frame funkiness that happens when photographing running video)

One of my most wanted LaserDiscs...

2012-01-28T01:05:00.001-05:00

...found its way into my mailbox today! Pioneer Japan's withdrawn, anamorphic LD of Terminator 2: Judgment Day with non-color corrected picture and original theatrical audio mix!

Night of the Living Dead (1990) - Nikkatsu Video VHS

2012-01-26T17:53:00.002-05:00

At the risk of getting my horror fan card ripped from my hands and thrown into a corpse bonfire, I actually saw the remake before the original thanks to '90s Turner Network Television (or TNT). You know, back when they actually aired horror movies along with the gone-but-not-forgotten MonsterVision. I even remember their TV spot for this flick featuring the cemetery zombie bursting through the car window toward the camera as its closing shot. It's hard to see why this Tom Savini-helmed update is so vehemently panned by some, but I'm biased since NOLD '90 is one of my seminal experiences with the genre.

As an attempt to recoup some of heavy losses taken by the original's copyright change debacle, it's an admirable attempt with admirable intentions, despite ultimately collapsing at the box office. Isn't it funny just how unbankable the walking dead were before their resurgence a few years ago? The biggest alteration is the character of Barbara being taken from catatonic shambles with female genitalia to strong, self-actualized woman reflective of the cultural shift in the years since the original. However, the greatest achievement is how the same situation plays out with nearly no change in how the living have to deal with their surroundings and others even with over twenty years since Romero's classic (before cell phones and Wi-fi, that is). It almost hurts to say this, but this one stands as a far more complementary and thoughtful off-shoot to the "...of the Dead" series than George's own Document and Survival.

This Japanese VHS is no different compared to the MPAA "R" version released everywhere. The contrast is noticeably darker, like many of the country's tapes, than Columbia's U.S. presentation. The only explaination I can think of for this phenomena is Japan's NTSC video standard being set at a different black level (0 IRE) than North America's NTSC (7.5 IRE). So if the equipment in Japan used in creating the video master and VHS duplication is set to this unique standard, maybe the picture appears darker when played back though American VCRs and TVs? At least that's my theory...

Made it easier to browse through the tapes I'm selling...

2012-01-21T06:59:00.000-05:00

Just friend yours truly and look in "Tapes for Sale!" under Photos!

(clicky)

Operation: Get Victor Corpus: The Rebel Soldier (1987) - 1987 Trigon Video VHS

2012-01-19T17:52:00.008-05:00

What the fuck?! At least that was my first thought as the credits began rolling. I wasn't particularly interested in the real story of Philippine military-deflector-turned-Communist-hero Victor Corpus of which this film details. After seeing and thinking the cover might be of interest, I found this entry over at Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys with comments from obscure cinehoundist Jack J. of En lejemorder ser tilbage telling of how rare Victor Corpus is on video. Doing some more research didn't prove too fruitful and I couldn't tell if this flick was more action set-piece or docudrama. Nonetheless, I was drawn to its obscurity, seeming to only be known on VHS in Greece and Germany until this U.S. tape was uncovered.

So what provoked my bewilderment? After an English-text disclaimer purporting the "true story" aspect, the film begins with a brazen raid of an armory with men dumping stacked armfuls of rifles into the trunks of cars. The opening credits roll written in English and we're treated to a roomful of rebels watching a newscast spoken in English. The next scene shows a roundtable of military brass discussing what should be done with Corpus and the rebel forces, in English, but suddenly switches in mid-dialogue to Filipino. No subtitles or anything. As the film progresses, more Filipino...with English inexplicably scattered throughout.

If that's not strange enough, the English doesn't sound spoken by a different actor or crudely inserted from a different source. Being so talky, I soon couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Just Filipino language, someone saying something like "orders are orders" or "it's not the uniform, but the people wearing it", and more Filipino in response. As you can see, the cover (and cassette labels) make no note of the language. As for the film, it seems like more of a docudrama with some gun battles sprinkled throughout. There is one semi-nasty scene of a hand-removal of a bullet to the leg in close-up. It would have been nice to have subtitles and maybe that's why this tape is so scarce being basically worthless to an English-speaking market. Weird!

Doin' Thangs...

2012-01-17T18:25:00.000-05:00

Well, what can I say, I've began selling tapes on Facebook and have been busy evenings making deals, boxing, going to the post office, and digging through piles to figure out what I could let go. I'm not planning on selling everything or halt collecting (or perhaps hoarding), but being all new to me, this endeavor has taken time away from clicking the keys here. Once things normalize I hope to get back to BoGD on a more regular basis!

Why can't more DVDs have picture quality this superlative?

2012-01-13T21:32:00.000-05:00

Make Them Die Slowly (Cannibal Ferox) (1981) - Ropponica/Nikkatsu Video VHS

2012-01-13T09:46:00.003-05:00

Sorry about not blabbering on here like I'm prone to over recent days. Not doing so really makes me feel like I'm letting my scant regular readers down. As usual for January, I'm currently slogging through a head cold.

So here's another cover scan of an offensive jungle flesheater epic that I love. As previously described concerning the rare French-Canadian VHS, a scan of the rare stateside tape is here, Umberto Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox is a "fruit roll-up of Italian cannibal delights." Like Zombie Holocaust, it belongs to a unique subgroup within a type of exploitation wholly crafted in Italy's grindhouse output. Instead of cannibalizing a trend spearheaded in the States, Lenzi latches onto Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust to create a "greatest hits" of its sick wonders. Lenzi forgoes any trace of nuance that Deodato accidentally ran into and throws the concept into an even lower part of the gutter. Awesome.

Awesome Vestron BURIAL GROUND Pen and Pad on eBay...

2012-01-10T20:22:00.002-05:00

Too rich for my blood, but this promotional item definitely rocks!

Castle of the Creeping Flesh (1968) - 1987 International Video Presentations Clamshell VHS

2012-01-10T18:55:00.003-05:00

Fresh from eBay, my first "domestic" online grab in awhile, love the color fidelity and clarity of this cover!

Nail Gun Massacre (1985) - TCC Video Japan VHS (w/ word of an upcoming VHS release)

2012-01-08T15:26:00.024-05:00

You know, despite seemingly everyone hating this no-budget Lone Star State garbage, I can't force myself to be included amongst these distractors. Sure, it's awfully acted, repetitive, stretches the believability of the lethality of roofing nails (catching one in the hand or shoulder proves fatal), and features an incessant score of woodblock slapping and maracas. Yet it's all never quite too much of any one of those aspects to get irritating. There's also never any condescension and everyone involved appears to get the shit their shoveling with an innocence that outshines all the negatives. I still need to pick up Synapse's disc, only have this one and this home-recorded tape.

EDIT: Huh, according to this on the film's "official" site, Nail Gun Massacre is coming back to VHS!

It seems hard to believe now...

2012-01-07T15:29:00.000-05:00

VHS even cost this much in-store!

Doctor Butcher M.D. (Zombie Holocaust) (1980) - Ropponica/Nikkatsu Video VHS

2012-01-05T17:56:00.000-05:00

Fright Night '11...or wow, that was shit... (spoilers)

2012-01-03T18:24:00.017-05:00

They decided to remake Fright Night...fuck the world.

At least that was my initial thought, but as usual, I came to realize such laziness on the part of Hollywood wasn't going to harm the original material in any meaningful way. It'll still continue to exist and hold a special place. Sure, some idiot kids might catch this remake and think it's the best thing since Platinum Dunes, but that's other people and their tastes which ultimately have no bearing. Instead of tarnishing my fondness, this well-intentioned modern update of Fright Night actually made me even more appreciative of the many qualities the mid-'80s classic still carries to this day. Literally everything that the 1985 film does so well is quite simply turned to shit here.

Like the majority of mainstream horror that manages to open wide theatrically, there's a real lack of subtlety and real emotion mixed into an onslaught of terribly-executed CGI. This makes the "stakes" so non-existent; one quickly couldn't care less if Jerry turned the whole damn neighborhood into a vampiric army much less root for Anton Yelchin's boring Charley Brewster and his Tinseltown cute girlfriend. Colin Farrell's Dandrige is so monotonous that it's as if he was told his motivation is "handsome new neighbor who's also a vampire." The problem is, unlike Chris Sarandon's increasingly regal and menacing performance, Farrell doesn't imbue Jerry with anything besides being the handsome neighbor who's also a vampire. There's no sense of his status or centuries as a creature of the night. The few times he turns into his true form are dominated by the digital gimmickry we've already seen in the Blade franchise. Same goes for the ashy, human black snake firework vamp flare-ups. Unfortunately, Snipes is still incarcerated sorting through his tax forms.

Christopher Mintz's Ed highlights a lack of emotional weight that Stephen Geoffreys eloquently shouldered. The shades of the original film carried over are shifted around in this remake, like Charley's blow-up with Ed and Ed's subsequent alleyway encounter with Dandrige. This occurs fifteen minutes into Fright Night '11 with their long friendship barely touched upon. Ed has also been tracking Jerry, knows of his secret, and the falling out with Charley happens when presenting him with this revelation. Without words, you can feel the years of quiet rejection and anguish that Geoffreys' Ed endured as a social outsider before submitting to Dandrige. The "death" of Mintz's Ed tries and utterly fails to do the same because we've only known the character for five minutes. What's even dumber is how Charley quickly realizes his friend was right, but doesn't try to seek him out until "Evil" Ed makes a typical surprise re-appearance later on.

Roddy McDowall makes David Tennant look like community theater regular. There's something really exciting seeing McDowall's Peter Vincent transform from screen to real vampire killer. A sort of self-actualization of the most unlikely order. The remake's change in the character to a Criss Angel-like "performance artist" heaves that possibility out the nearest window. There's some rumblings of the new Vincent being the victim of a childhood attack by Jerry; however, it's undersold and half-baked. In a reference to the original, Farrell's Jerry says "Welcome to fright night, for real" but that means jackshit here without the original Vincent's Fright Night horror flick double feature. And needless to say, McDowall's fearful sympathy toward the dying Ed single-handedly has more power than this entire popcorn re-imagining.

There's a lot of little irritating things in Fright Night '11. Right before Jerry "moves in" next door, the previous family suddenly disappears and no one questions anything. Upon not being allowed into Charley's house, Jerry proceeds to ignite the natural gas line and blow up the place. No cops, fire department, and none of the neighbors mere feet away show up or question anything. Not to mention an entire block probably being destroyed by doing such a thing. Immediately afterward, Charley, his girl, and his mom flee in their truck. His mom's reaction to what just happened is stupidly sedate and the angle of her not believing her son's claims of a vampiric Jerry are still played up despite their house being a burning husk. Huh? What the fuck is this thoroughly unfunny and heartless trash? Hopefully the box office revenue is all that's needed to stop another such waste. I'm done and need to watch the original ASAP.

Bruce Campbell yucking it up with Kim's Krypt...

2012-01-02T15:34:00.002-05:00

Short clip of Bruce Campbell in Kim's Krypt's mini-haunted attraction at Horrorfind Weekend 2001 at the BWI Marriott in Baltimore, MD. This is from that year's Kim's Krypt Haunted Attraction compilation VHS. The last ten or so minutes has Kim more-or-less bothering the celebrities that attended. Sorry about the quality, but it's neat to share since it's a scarce tape to those not living in the area...

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) - Thorn EMI/HBO Video VHS (Black Border Variant)

2012-01-01T00:59:00.002-05:00

I'm going to call this black-bordered clamshell version "very rare" since I've never seen it before. The "bigger explosion" cover below seems to be the one that became much more prominent. So much so I have five or six copies in fantastic shape and see it around more than any other Thorn EMI title. It wouldn't be surprising to hear this film was the biggest seller/renter in the distributor's history...with the latter design.

Both releases have matching catalog numbers (TVA 3002) and cassette labels. The only thing I can surmise is that the black cover was the initial release with the explosion cover being quickly favored by Thorn EMI and mass-produced over this disregarded first design. The second cover is more eye-catching and zooms in on the still of Stallone so it would make sense in terms of marketing appeal. What also helps support this assumption is how their clamshell of First Blood advertises the upcoming video debut of the sequel with similar artwork.

The White Buffalo (1977) - DEG/King Records Japan VHS

2011-12-31T17:38:00.008-05:00

It's easy to see why J. Lee Thompson's bit of historical revisionist fluff concerning Wild Bill Hickok, played by Charles Bronson, venturing after an enormous white buffalo that haunts his dreams failed to spark the interest of moviegoers and critics upon release. Not only was the Western genre in hibernation at the time, but the movie reeks of low production value with cheap wardrobe, "western town" studio backlot sets, and a barely above made-for-television atmosphere (remembering television features were pretty great back then). Although intended to take a mythological tone, the cumbersome animatronic buffalo is unconvincing as a real animal puffing and galloping along hidden rail tracks like part of a Disneyland attraction. Spielberg's Jaws shot the bar sky high for creature features like this, producer Dino De Laurentiis purposely wished to ape that classic here, and Lucas' maiden voyage telling past tales of a galaxy far away certainly didn't help.

But that doesn't mean The White Buffalo isn't entertaining in hindsight. Like many Bronson flicks, it's perfect over a reheated, greasy sub with extra hots at two in the morning as you try futilely to eat something to quell an impeding hangover. Charley is a bit limited, the screenplay doesn't get too deep into any real Wild Bill insight, but the portrayal does retain the gunfighter's rumored case of syphilis with the actor wearing dark sunglasses to ward off worsening light sensitivity. Will Sampson does what he was known for playing a disgraced Native American chief in search of redemption after the beast rampages through and kills many in his tribe. Jack Warden eventually joins in to assist Hickok in his quest but ultimately can't grow to trust the redman also after their prize. A host of familiar faces such as Clint Walker, Stuart Whitman, Ed Lauter, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, and even Martin Kove populate modest roles and walk-ons. I would mention Kim Novak, but the actress is barely in the film as an innkeeper Hickok has prior history with. Innocuous stuff that might actually be a good Bronson primer for little ones as there's only a few splashes of super bright blood mixed into the adventurous folklore.

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) - RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video Screener VHS

2011-12-29T18:00:00.003-05:00

I've always enjoyed Jeff Burr's contribution to this series, despite New Line's heavy hand in the production and a fair share of fan criticism thrown its way. Like Tobe Hooper's realization that everything his original is could never be tapped into again when approaching the second sequel, I always took Leatherface for what it is and never made comparisons to the 1974 classic. It's just hard not to like Ken Foree as a gun-totin' weekend warrior, Tom Everett being all mumbly and awesome as Alfredo, and Joe Unger saying stuff like "Technology is our friend." and "Go get the meat!". Not to mention Leatherface's increasing frustration in mistaking a clown as "FOOD" on his newly acquired electronic kid's learning game. A very early '90s feeling horror film that makes a great companion to New Line's F13 debut, Jason Goes to Hell (1993).

This screener isn't anything special representing the theatrical R-rated version. The full frame picture quality is sketchy with damage and reel cues with audible pops after these changes. Oddly enough the sparse on-screen "not for sale or rental" text usually appears around the time these burns occur. A video trailer appears before the film that begins like the regular trailer but then breaks into a quick montage of snippets, after Leatherface spins around with his saw, to the tune of Laaz Rockit's Leatherface from the official soundtrack.

(notice how Ken Foree is mistakenly credited has "Ken Force" on the back)

A Few Reasons Why You've Already Seen Wes Craven's My Soul to Take...

2011-12-27T14:58:00.001-05:00

Night Warning (Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker) (1983) - 1983 Thorn EMI Video Betamax

2011-12-26T16:48:00.000-05:00

Really going to have pull this one down and finally watch it! Also thank you everyone for 300k hits!

2011-12-25T17:59:00.000-05:00

Some quick thoughts on The Wax Mask (M.D.C. - Maschera di cera) (1997)

2011-12-24T18:43:00.005-05:00

Originally conceived as a comeback for a long ailing Lucio Fulci who passed shortly before production began, The Wax Mask is a twist on the tradition of House of Wax set at the dawn of the 20th century in Paris. A master wax sculptor (Robert Hossein) harboring a "mechanical" secret and his apprentice are adding to their public collection by way of kidnapping and brutal chemical treatments. A young, beautiful assistant (Romina Mondello) with troubling childhood experiences joins the duo and unwittingly becomes their prey. Her only hope rests in the hands of a reporter (Riccardo Longhi) both snooping around as death haunts the waxworks and courting the fare maiden.

At the risk of pissing off The Wax Mask's fans who deem it as proof gothic horror was still kicking in '97, the impression left from SFX artist Sergio Stivaletti's directorial debut was more period soap opera than Mario Bava. Before you heave your tomatoes and breadsticks understand that this prim and proper quality actually leads to an bittersweet observation in regards to the state of Italian horror.

By the time this dedication to Fulci debuted, the country's cinematic sea change from capitalistic to artistic had already taken hold and there's hints of this riddled throughout. There's almost no veteran genre holdovers inhabiting minor roles in a cast of near total Italian descent. International distribution probably wasn't a priority as the shooting language was obviously Italian with the English dub making little effort to match lips (think Godzilla). And in spite of being directed by a man capable of ample amounts of screen mayhem, the gore is sparse and placed aside in favor of a "purposeful" atmosphere and costumes reminiscent of Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). Just without the comedy, that is. The rich orchestral score by Maurizio Abeni also shuns any electronic doodling with a sound echoing Danny Elfman's work on Burton's two Batmans. Serious business, folks.

So while competently made, the mood begins to wane as the story lumbers along to its inevitable climax between the girl (strapped nude to a tortuous chair for "waxing"), her lover, and madman. It's a shame that this exercise in "restructuring" what it meant to be a horror film produced in Italy lost that vital something in translation (there's even a couple CG effects). Ultimately, The Wax Mask is an interesting curiosity but there's a reason Michele Soavi's 1994 Dellamorte Dellamore has become the official page break of the industry. Pony Canyon's Japanese LaserDisc looks and sounds very solid framed at 1.66:1 widescreen. The picture quality is actually nicer than Image's long out-of-print DVD which manages to have crispy edge enhancement and clumpy textures. I often forgot I was watching an LD...

The Cruelest Fate...

2011-12-24T15:34:00.000-05:00

Noticed this cover change stopping at Big Lots this morning. Not even mediocre DTV sequels deserve this...

Specters (Spettri) (1987) - Canadian Norstar Home Video, Inc. VHS

2011-12-23T19:06:00.005-05:00

Despite its slagged on reputation, there's nothing really wrong with Marcello Avallone's Specters (Spettri) outside of it being a quite slow and cookie-cutter affair. Donald Pleasence heads up a team of young archaeologists who uncover a crypt forewarning of evil, naturally the evil is set free, some bulky-looking green muscular demon begins dispatching those that dare poke around, and it comes down to a race against the clock to seal the tomb forever before it's too late (of course).

While Avallone avoids making the Italian production look overly cheap, there's very little meat and the English dubbing often times sounds extremely disinterested. The rubbery demon's kills are also very quick and I wouldn't be surprised to hear they were trimmed (apparently the Japanese tape is uncut). Norstar's VHS is identical to the stateside Imperial Entertainment release right down to carrying Imperial's opening logo.

Some quick thoughts on The Expendables (Director's Cut) (2011)

2011-12-21T17:40:00.005-05:00

Upon repeat viewings of Sly's geriatric twilight-life crisis, the single biggest problem, and the issue most likely alienating those looking for something other than big dumb action, is how The Expendables places the onus on the audience to have a general sense of the characters and story based on prior experiences with big dumb action flicks before witnessing a single frame. In other words, the viewer is dropped headlong into the proceedings without your traditional first installment set-up. The film is aware that most moviegoers have seen this all before with its conceit being while there's nothing new here, that's never been done with such a dream team of genre heavyweights/regulars.

Such "concept action" is both refreshing and frustrating. It's nice to skip the usual formalities to get to what you came, or paid, to see. To venture into another genre, this is one of the big quibbles I have with Freddy vs. Jason (2003). For such a horror fan wet dream come true, the film drags through the parts involving the living when most only care about is seeing two slasher titans tear each other asunder. While The Expendables lacks much of this bullshit, what's there that isn't exploding bodies or bricks feels like little more than vignettes for each big marquee name to chew away at. Statham gets the girl, Lundgren goes nuts, Stallone's eyes look fucking weird, Couture gets a speech, Rourke bares his lack of soul, and so on...

So when Stallone intros this new Director's Cut Blu-ray, in costume on the set of the sequel, stating this version is his intended, "more human" vision; I couldn't help groan just a little. Some character building would definitely help, but its brutal edge need not be dulled. Thankfully, or perhaps annoyingly, it's essentially the same film with so many predominately small alterations that it becomes tough to keep track. Not only has Stallone added new chunks, but also trimmed/deleted bits, re-ordered scenes, replaced specific shots with different angles, and changed certain dialogue passages. Most surprisingly, Lundgren's Gunnar Jensen is the most fleshed out of the characters in the DC adding more dimension to what was a flat performance in the theatrical version.

What's sorely lacking is any change to Jet Li's embarrassing Ying Yang. We still get his unexplained rambling about needing more money for his family and being shorter than the rest of the team. Li's English is painfully rusty yet there's a clear sense he'd rather be doing another historical mega-epic in his homeland than playing sixth fiddle in an ensemble cast. Given how quiet Li's involvement in the sequel has been, it's a good bet "Ying Yang" will be the one to meet the slab in the sequel. This would also make sense with the arc of Lundgren's character. Maybe Yang and Jensen are on a dangerous sidejob for extra cash in which Yang is mortally wounded with Jensen desperate to save him. Yang dies and despite being the man that almost killed him in the first film, Jensen now finds a reason to live and never betray the team again to avenge Yang's death. Queue the resurrection of Dolph Lundgren.

The two most obvious changes are the opening credits and final siege after the enormous palace denotation. The credits have a meditative tone as we watch quiet moments with each of the team members on the flight home after mutilating a dozen or so Somali pirates. The huge climatic battle now has Shinedown's Diamond Eyes playing in its entirety, and while that sounds potentially irritating, it actually greatly helps the manic energy of the sequence over the theatrical's choice of Brian Tyler's score.

So while this Director's Cut may not change the opinion of those that didn't like the prior cut, those that enjoyed it will find a better, leaner, and meaner version of a big dumb action flick that certainly doesn't escape that label even with the myriad of well-intended "human" changes. The sequel has the potential to make this film better if it manages to build off this one's unanswered questions. The only problem with this Blu-ray is how there's zero supplemental material covering the extensive work done to create this new version. Not even a new commentary. Boo.

Japanese LaserDisc for 1¢ (+ $6 shipping)

2011-12-19T18:10:00.004-05:00

Sorry about another entry about a Japanese LD for a second day in a row, but I'm still all giddy over what arrived today. This one was spotted last week on eBay without any mention of being the Japanese edition beside a picture of the cover. Amazingly, I won with the starting bid of one shiny penny and six bucks shipping. Perhaps even more amazing is that the seller came through and the LD traveled across the entire country via UPS Ground intact. Too awesome!

(notice how one of the chapters is named "Fuck you, asshole")

Prison (1988) - 1988 NEC Avenue Japan LaserDisc

2011-12-18T16:48:00.003-05:00

Very badass LaserDisc came in yesterday, Renny Harlin's contribution to the late '80s/early '90s mini-wave of lock up-themed horror, Prison, on the NEC Avenue label from Japan. There's nothing special about the presentation outside of the cover being so damn cool. The full frame picture is noticeably more colorful and sharper than the dark and greenish-tinted Japanese VHS. MGM owns the domestic rights to this film, so there's probably going be a Limited Edition DVD-R release eventually...

Ratman (Quella villa in fondo al parco) (1988) - 1998 Albatros Co., Ltd. Japan VHS

2011-12-17T19:48:00.005-05:00

My best guess is that Ratman's production company, Fulvia Film, figured it would be a solid investment to build a horror feature around one of the shortest people alive, Nelson de la Rosa, for merely exploitative marketing purposes. De la Rosa plays the titular "rat man" created by a loon scientist in the tropics that escapes from his birdcage to murderously reek havoc on anyone who crosses his path.

Veterans David Warbeck and Janet Agren literally fly in for a payday, and while still looking great, only inhabit maybe forty percent of the runtime. The rest is devoted to a photographer (Werner Pochath), his top model (the busty Eva Grimaldi), and said scientist running afoul of the vicious, rodent version of Shortround. Spaghetti western stalwart director Giuliano Carnimeo was probably dying inside a little more with each passing day on set with the realization of just what he's helming. Certainly not primo Italian trash, but its always welcoming to see either Warbeck, despite not being dubbed by himself, or the beautiful Agren in such bygone hokum cruelly exploiting an individual's natural circumstances in life.

Albatros' VHS benefits from being fairly recent and looks great considering the murky lighting. The picture is framed oddly with a large top bar and very slim bottom bar but nothing seems trimmed. The tape starts with this trailer for Deadly Ransom (1997) and one specifically made for Ratman's Japanese video release (seen here). Also I'd bet the three mutilated limbs seen on the front cover below are actually snipped from real death photos. No idea why the Ratman is donning a red smock since he never does in the film. Maybe Albatros was trying make a connection to the crazed butcher-knife wielding midget in Don't Look Now (1973)...?!

Good Mail Day...plus Full Moon Deals at Dollar General!

2011-12-15T17:28:00.000-05:00

I haven't confirmed this firsthand, but apparently Dollar General (and possibly also Family Dollar) have Full Moon's Subspecies Epic Collection and Puppet Master Collection box sets for only ten bucks a pop. That doesn't seem too great with Echo Bridge triple featuring these two series for $5 at Wal Mart; however, these ten buck sets were and are considerably more expensive online. It's still unclear which exact Puppet Master set they're selling, but it would be funny if it was the "complete" collection that at one time was commanding hundreds on eBay...until Full Moon mysteriously found more. Now it looks like the liquidators have come a knockin'...

...and hooray for mail!

Satan's Blade (1984) - 1985 Prism Entertainment & Galaxy (Trend Video) Canadian VHS

2011-12-14T18:42:00.000-05:00

Semi-hiatus...maybe...

2011-12-10T20:18:00.000-05:00

Some really bad pain began in my lower left jaw Thursday night and I'm fairly certain I've earned a cavity of undetermined severity. I can't get it taken care of until later this coming week, so understandably I'm not too keen on concentrating enough to write until a visit is paid to Dr. Alan Feinstone. I'll be periodically checking in here and lingering on the Facebook, but entries on both might be slim for the next week or so. Depends on how I feel. Stuff is still streaming in through the mailbox like the tapes below. Kim's Krypt 2001 was found at a thrift shop this morning. Rotting teeth will not stop the hunt...

Some quick thoughts on Interzone (1987)

2011-12-07T13:14:00.008-05:00

Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator) stars as the badass in this late Italian Mad Max emulator enlisted by temple monks to protect an area seemingly immune to radiation, dubbed the "Interzone", from a gang of bandit thugs led by female bodybuilder Teagan Clive. The monks send one of their own, Panasonic (Kiro Wehara), to assist Abbott's Swan with ever cute Beatrice Ring (Zombie 3) joining in. Eventually, Swan realizes the only way to stop the marauders is to befriend them and try to sabotage their ranks from within.

It's 1987. Not only is the old guard of the Italian filmmaking industry dead on its feet but the post-apocalyptic subgenre has long since been regulated to the scrapheap of passé celluloid. So what are writer/director Deran Sarafian and co-writer Claudio Fragasso trying to accomplish with Interzone? Surprisingly, there's a streak of incidental Monty Python-esque humor running through all the usual abuses of tight leather and lush Rome countryside doubling as dystopian rubble. This aspect is so refreshing considering most admittedly goofy post-nuke pasta rips desperately trying to be stoic in their delivery while absurdity blooms all around. I personally don't care for most of these subgenre efforts from Italy for this reason, but Interzone successfully presents a more light-hearted take to help savage what would otherwise be a total footnote.

With the cast in on the fun, the dumb quips and out-of-blue laughs (i.e. - the monk leader is named General Electric) are the sole reason to seek this one out. There's even a strong resemblance to the opening of Army of Darkness (1992) when a shotgun-toting Abbott is thrown into a boggy cavern to face off with one of the Pit Bitch's relatives. Fun crap worth keeping an eye out for if taken as more a comedy and not as another scorched earth actioner. The full frame presentation on Tohokushinsha's Japanese VHS is identical to the North American Trans World Entertainment VHS.

Some quick thoughts on Conjure (or Matt Busch: The Movie) (2006)

2011-12-05T17:35:00.010-05:00

From the IMDB: Finding his high profile illustration career to be less than meaningful, Matt Busch sets out to find a more rewarding personal project. Visiting a nearby graveyard, Matt stumbles upon an old photograph of a South-American castle. Obsessed with the photo, Matt begins to bring the castle to life with a vibrant full-color painting. At the same time, he creates sinister sketches of the tortured souls who he imagines inhabit the gothic dwelling. While Matt creates his cryptic world in his studio, his girlfriend Sarah is confronted with ghostly encounters throughout the rest of the home. Eventually the art becomes so real, that Matt and Sarah find themselves manifested in the actual castle and must confront the demonic spirits conjured from Matt's twisted nightmares...

Unbeknownst to me, writer/director/producer/star Matt Busch is an accomplished artist and self-proclaimed "rock star of illustration" of pop culture the likes of Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and a slew of other hot properties. With such a talent essentially playing himself, you'd think Conjure's premise would write itself, yet ultimately it's an exercise in vanity by Busch that's more interesting for what it's not.

The film trips into the usual problems that often plague extremely cheap, digital video horror. It takes far too long to do nothing and relies on nonsensical "fright" montages to push the story along as important details that could have instead filled the runtime are heaved to the wayside. An example being a random book Busch pulls from his art supply shelf containing aged, Tom Sullivan-like Necronomicon pages depicting strange symbols and terrifying female spectres. These ghosts eventually haunt Busch and his squeeze, but there's zero explaination of how the book, obviously drawn by the artist, came to be. It seems logical to instead have the manifestations increase in their spectral intensity as Busch draws each page as the story unfolds. Yet no, soon after the discovery of the ready-made tome, we're treated to a bunch of quick cutting imagery of the ghosts before Busch and girlfriend mysteriously end up in front of the very castle he's been driven to paint.

Another problem arises in the lack of chemistry between the couple. Even in the most dire circumstances, their reactions range from annoyance to wanting to get back home in time for the game. I guess having stroke-like symptoms in your studio while your girlfriend watches garners a snippy response from her. Or subsequently waking up in front of an abandoned "castle" in a South American jungle receiving something of an "aw shucks, let's explore" instead of complete and abject fucking terror, even after Busch admits he's had visions of the place before and there's no escape. In other words, the passion in his artwork definitely doesn't translate to the screen.

Conjure's main genre influence is blatantly The Evil Dead, which makes me question Busch's interest in horror, considering the trite and immature choice. No offense, but let's face it, Raimi's landmark of indie horror is the film every also-ran in indie horror desperately wants to emulate, so even tipping your hat to it is groan-inducing. Yes, Ashley and the Deadites are fucking awesome, we all know this, time to blaze your own trail. Guess what Busch has to do with the pages of the book to finally vanquish the demons?

With more finesse and less echoes of Carly Simon's 1972 mega-hit, Conjure could have proven something akin to a preemptive Paranormal Activity. As this one stands, Busch's heartless sell of his film in this interview over at The Blood Sprayer says it all: "It started off as an experiment, but Conjure was my very first feature length movie that I made myself. I play myself in the movie, and I draw all these really creepy tortured souls that come to life and try to kill me and my girlfriend. Eventually we get manifested into this painting of a South American castle. Survival horror ensues, and we need to find a way back. When it found distribution, the movie actually became the highest pre-selling horror movie of all time, according to Horror-Movies.com." Such (robotic) passion!

I've finally moved up in the world...of high end stereo 8-track

2011-12-03T17:52:00.000-05:00

...now I just need to find something other than the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack!

My first "carded" Japanese VHS!

2011-12-01T18:18:00.002-05:00

Many tapes from Japan come with info cards/pamphlets usually always lost with time, but not this one!

Unsane (Tenebrae) (U.S. Video Edit) (1982) - 1987 Fox Hills Video VHS

2011-11-30T18:24:00.000-05:00

So Two Evil Dead 2s walk into a bar...

2011-11-29T17:38:00.007-05:00

After casually checking several different sold out Wal Marts since its release, I finally found a (single) copy of Lionsgate's 25th Anniversary Evil Dead 2 Blu-ray and I'm pleased to report the six year long curse has been lifted. Yes, Anchor Bay's ruination of this sequel by way of godawful picture manipulation is as dead as decapitated Henrietta.

It all started with The Book of the Dead edition in 2005 when the video distributor saw fit to released its third EDII disc in a limited edition replica of the Necronomicon designed by Tom Sullivan. Despite this ambitious packaging and new featurette, something insidious was lurking on the disc. Chiefly an enormous amount of digital noise reduction that made a smeary mess of the film. In their stupidity, Anchor Bay apparently listened to fans who complained about the signs of grain on their prior, and still excellent, THX DVD. Not only was the picture wiped of any trace of standard def fine detail; but color, brightness, and contrast were thrown grossly off. Instead of the more neutral blue and deep blacks of the THX, the BoGD's yellow-leaning colors are best described as "pastel" with overly bright, gray black levels. This pig was only dressed up when Anchor Bay hastily released a Blu-ray in the early days of the format using the same trashed master.

I realized this immediately and refused to buy both discs out of principle (the Blu-ray ended up a gift). I can also vividly remember chatting with other fans with the process akin to talking to a brickwall whenever I voiced my correct opinion of the crap treatment Evil Dead 2 received. Thankfully, all that is old news, Lionsgate has nearly righted the ship with their new Blu-ray transfer supposedly taken from the original negative fot the first time ever. Interestingly, while Anchor Bay trashed the sequel, their recent Blu-ray of The Evil Dead is par excellence. We're talking in league as one of the top five transfers on the entire format worldwide. Needless to say such perfection has set the bar sky high for the rest of the series.

Does the new Blu-ray reached this superlative level? Not quite, about 95% there. The picture has been subjected to a little noise reduction, but not enough to produce smearing or destroy too much fine detail. The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer frequently has that expected dimensional pop, even in darker sequences, completely lacking in the previous Blu-ray. Color, brightness, and contrast has also been placed back to the proper levels we enjoyed before the Book of the Dead debacle. Eerie blue/gray hues and inky blacks dominate the transfer. It's not quite end-all reference Blu-ray quality; however, I'm not complaining since I along with most everyone figured we'd be stuck until Anchor Bay cleaned up their own trainwreck with another Blu-ray...maybe. The cheap asking price and excellent, format-exclusive 98 minute documentary from Red Shirt Pictures are only icing on the cake. I know this is already getting old for this series, but this one is definitely worth the upgrade considering the last two releases were unquestionably a step back. Evil Dead 2 is back, baby.

To THE DEVIL...a dollar...

2011-11-27T17:09:00.004-05:00

cut, crushed, and crinkled...beautiful.

Grabbed more tapes from the same yard sale detailed in last weekend's video with this beat-to-shit big box the crown jewel. This is the 1986 big box of The Devil (Xie mo) (1981) from Video City Productions played cool-as-a-cucumber when found for one dollar. One of the rarest and most desired big boxes released in North America probably because of its irresistibly crazy artwork. Unlike the widescreen Japanese VHS (experience the past drama here and here), this tape has been cropped to full screen, but shares the same English dub.

Check out the quick video below, this release appears to be uncut just like the Japanese tape upon first glance. Although I'm unsure whether or not the Japanese release is in its full 2.35:1 widescreen ratio when comparing it to this stateside tape. There doesn't seem to be the usual amount of heavy cropping from scope to full screen going on between the two. Or maybe the film's original aspect ratio wasn't that wide to begin with like the IMDB claims? Video City's tape looks to be from a different print as well, the Japanese release has none of the wild scratch damage seen in the opening scene below (the train shots are also much bluer).

Well, this simple LaserDisc player fix worked...again!

2011-11-26T16:57:00.003-05:00

Back in September I discovered this easy fix for my LaserDisc player's sluggish performance originally provided by LD aficionado Kurtis Bahr (thanks again!). After the repair my CLD-D503 was holding up but upon chance I found its "step-up", the CLD-D703, on eBay complete with original box, remote, and manual for just $120 two weeks ago.

I was antsy about the purchase, especially after a giant eBay screwjob on a severely damaged Betamax player several years ago, but it arrived last Tuesday packaged quite well and in excellent shape. Still the eternal pessimist, I figured it got heaved about so much during shipping that the tray or laser was knocked out of alignment. Amazingly, the unit spun up and played fine.

Although there were signs of the same problem. Upon "spinning up" the LD to play, a loud screech was heard and even after trying three different ways, the player simply refused to perform a "gamma turn" and flip the laser assembly over to play Side B. Instead of flipping, the disc would stop and the front panel would proclaim "End". At first I got miffed since the seller claimed the unit was 100% fully functional, but then I remembered the old fix.

This time the motor's rubber ring looked even worse than the 503 with something resembling caked white chalk filling in the textured surface before scrubbing. Breaking out the alcohol and Q-tips and performing the same operation much to my surprise resulted in success. The player didn't screech and didn't hesitant one bit to play Side B and then return to Side A when finished. It seems funny such a simple thing would hurt the player's functions so much.

The CLD-D703 is regarded as the second to best player Pioneer ever made outside of their ELITE series (it beats a good chunk of those though) and several esoteric Japanese players. It's only second to the CLD-704 which only additionally features a jack for Dolby Digital 5.1 audio through an external demodulator. I don't really care too much about that feature, LD Dolby wasn't very widespread being limited to the last several years of the format's existence. And you'd be lucky to find a demodulator for less than a hundred bucks.

I'm really after the stereo digital PCM tracks many LDs feature. The more basic 503 unit can play them, but only via stereo analog jacks, which means the digital audio is processed by the player and not my much more modern A/V receiver. The 703 has Optical Out and Coaxial jacks which send the raw PCM signal to a receiver for processing. The audio difference in terms of clarity and impact are very clear and I can finally understand why many old school LD owners say the format sounds better than DVD (True Lies sounds incredible!). Also LDs with uncompressed DTS audio can be sent through Optical to any DTS-decoding receiver just like DVD (don't have any DTS LDs yet).

Picture quality is also much improved over the 503 on all grounds. The image is sharper and cleaner, even when using the Zoom functions on my DLP. The video signal-to-noise ratio of the 703 is 51db and with each bump the picture quality increase is noticeable (the "best" best players reached 54db). I'd estimate the 503's ratio is around 48/49db (way fuzzier).

There's also "standard" and customizable "variable" DNR levels for both the luminance and chroma parts of the image. Noise reduction isn't such a bad thing with analog video like VHS or LD but I turned it off anyway. Regarding the construction of the 703, the mechanical end of the tray, laser assembly, gamma turn flip "cartridge", and entire outer case itself are identical to the 503. So if you have trouble in this respect it may pay off grabbing a cheap 503 off eBay and stripping it for parts. However the power, video, and audio boards are indeed different in comparison. Anyway, cool stuff!

HD DVD Player/Recorder Technical Spec Information

2011-11-24T13:38:00.000-05:00

(click for player specs)

Several years ago while the HD format war was waging, I compiled a comprehensive specification sheet on a forum detailing every HD DVD player and recorder made before Toshiba called it quits. Unfortunately that forum has long since closed, but I had this entry saved ever since. It's not 100% complete; however, I took great pains to make sure the information presented is correct. Missing information would be greatly appreciated (just comment on that post itself). I'm figuring it's a good idea to post this publicly since many of these little details have already or will eventually be forgotten with time. By clicking on the picture above, you'll be transported back to 2008, on the day Toshiba officially announced HD DVD's demise.

In lieu of actual content...

2011-11-23T18:23:00.001-05:00

Just ran across this great looking print of Nello Rossati's 1988 weird action/sci-fi/horror hybrid, Topline, starring Franco Nero and George Kennedy. This video looks way better than any version I've ever seen...

Some quick thoughts on The Boneyard (1991)

2011-11-22T14:15:00.003-05:00

A detective reaches out to medium with the ability to envision fragments of the another's past experiences from articles of clothing or belongings to help solve a unsolved case of three dead children. The only lead is a Chinese suspect babbling about his family harboring and guarding aganist a centuries old evil due to indiscretions of his ancestors. The medium, beleaguered by the emotional toll of her powers, begrudgingly accepts and an after hours visit to the morgue is made to help spur her visions from a lock of one of the victim's hair. After telepathically witnessing a ritualistic sacrifice, she soon comes to the realization the children aren't dead and are awakening. The three ghouls begin slaughtering the night staff and now those still alive have to find a way out.

Like other reviews of James Cummins' The Boneyard have pointed out, it's a film that doesn't quite know what it wants to be. The aspects you figure playing larger roles later on, the telepathy and Chinese mysticism angles, end up completely forgotten once the creatures begin reigning terror upon the living stuck in the facility's basement labs (dubbed "the boneyard"). That's fine since the programmer-grade screenplay and acting aren't up to snuff to make these interesting. For some reason, a crotchety Phyllis Diller (sans wig) and Three's Company's Norman Fell show up appearing game with Diller eventually gagging and barfing in a bathroom sink after force-fed a slimy chunk of zombie flesh. The IMDB states Alice Cooper and Clu Gulager were first sought for key roles and it's a safe bet an immediate improvement would have occurred if they would have signed on.

What saves this mish-mash from lingering boredom are the creatures. The three kid ghouls look fantastic being reminiscent of the thin beef jerky-skinned demons of Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight (1995). They're a genuinely terrifying bunch that seem impossible to shoot at a bad angle. Plus Diller transforms into a towering, bug-eyed monster version of herself with her poodle following suit. So if you find yourself struggling through a needless monologue about suicide or telepathy just wait five minutes until the next tango with the freak beasts.

The Boneyard's identity crisis was actually reflected on the VHS cover above. There was a rental sticker now removed in the corner that denoted "DRAMA" until someone crossed that out and wrote in "HORROR". The VHS was also available in two covers, the black "horror" version pictured and a yellow "comedy" variant with the zombified poodle (as seen on the DVD's cover). It's interesting to note Diller as she appears on the horror cover isn't seen as such in the movie.

Here comes fuckin' INTRUDER, walking down miles ahead of its release date...

2011-11-21T17:02:00.001-05:00

Synapse Films appears to be shipping their upcoming Blu-ray/DVD combo of Scott Spiegel's Intruder well ahead of its official December 13th release for those who pre-order via their site.

I ordered mine last Monday and received it today (even had to sign for the package). According to Don May over on Facebook there are still copies left that include a VHS-sourced DVD-R of the workprint, that's some eight minutes longer, and until sold out the pre-order's denotation of "+BONUS DISC" will reflect that. Kentai's Films also received their pre-order early and posted screenshots from the Blu-ray which look great. Wizard's prior DVD definitely can't compete.

From some old thoughts: "There's something quite zen about this low-budget, late era slasher from many of those responsible for The Evil Dead. Maybe it's the night shoot or the quiet grocery store locale. Whatever it is, even as the killings begin, the proceedings have a pleasant calming effect. It's like hack n' slash yogurt; sweet, to the point, and easily digestible for even the most ardent of non-slasher fans."

Video: This Weekend's Swap Meet Haul...

2011-11-20T19:48:00.001-05:00

The Incredible Melting Man (1977) - 1985 RCA/Columbia International Video Japan VHS

2011-11-19T19:08:00.002-05:00

It's funny how our tastes evolve and how sometimes mood and setting is vital to how one "takes in" trash such as this. For the longest time, even after repeated sit downs with Melting Man, I fucking flat out hated it. Oddly in hindsight I can't explained why; however, I've come to see its charms after becoming acclimated with similar crap. It's a little cult film that self-proclaimed cult flicks of today painfully style themselves after to achieve a new-found lattice of contemporary grindhouse (i.e. - sell more DVDs with crazy ad campaigns!).

For such a gratuitous premise of an gamma-struck astronaut returning to Earth only to actively body melt and murderously freak out, there's an innocuous sensibility to the film. This might be from the bittersweet perspective of the melting man who can't control his actions and increasingly becomes alienated (frankensteined?) from society. The Saturn sunburned freak roams the countryside after rampaging out of a hospital to attack bystanders, reflect on shattered memories, and look in a such a bad way that the toxic waste punk from Robocop would give pause.

Still, despite the wondrously multi-colored gore from Rick Baker, The Incredible Melting Man smacks of something you could actually watch with little ones of a certain age. There's little here that's played for genuine shock value, which sounds crazy considering there's a guy literally liquifying before our eyes. To put the movie into kid terms, it's akin to a playing with Gak slime or Trash Bag Bunch toys. It's stupid icky fun that could have only been made in an era long time past. This VHS's extremely amount of dirt, scratches, splice marks, and reel change blobs only help the experience. Love the cover art as well!

Commando Squad (1987) - 1987 Trans World Entertainment Betamax (Factory Sealed)

2011-11-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

Strangeland (Net Killer) (1998) - "Taiwanese Import" DVD

2011-11-16T17:01:00.006-05:00

As you probably already know, one of my utterly life-wasting pastimes is perpetually rooting around for flat-out weird releases of particular horror movies I've adopted as "pets". I figure years from now these oddball discs and tapes will be at least interesting curiosities for fans like myself. Dee Snider's mostly forgotten and somewhat groundbreaking Strangeland is one of the muses that I try to keep tabs on.

Back in the infancy of BoGD, I wrote this about the flick: "Snider's inaugural foray into silver screen horror both as star and writer is a commendable trainwreck. The rocker's heart seems in the right place as he constructs an individualized killer around himself....before the likes of Feardotcom and Cry Wolf, Snider seems to beat everyone at including naive teens facing grave consequences with the perils of the Internet in a straight horror film. Howdy uses an instant messaging program similar to AIM under a stolen account prowling "Teen Chat" for prey to invite to a party/dungeon basement with torturous hook and spike."

I still find merit in Snider's contribution to the genre, so finding this DVD last week for four bucks on eBay was a pleasant surprise. It's more-or-less pure bootleg masked as being from Hong Kong or as the seller thought Taiwan. This one typifies how disc bootleggers seemed to try harder in the past with factory pressed media and full color professional sleeves. Most "theater fresh" dupes I run across at swap meets nowadays are on shitty DVD-Rs with wonky cover cut-outs from a crap printer running out of ink.

The picture quality is what you'd expect; horrible, and has burnt Chinese subtitles over the bottom (don't think it's from a VCD though). The film appears to be the same 85 minute version found on Artisan's DVD aside from the title card replaced with "NET KILLER". The black front cover contrasts well with the white case the disc arrived in. BUTTMUNCH alone made it worth the price...

Silent Madness (1984) - 1987 Avatar/CIC Video Japan VHS

2011-11-13T17:35:00.004-05:00

Going back to some old thoughts: "A homicidal nutter is mistakenly released from an institution and a resident psychiatrist (Belinda Montgomery) seems to the only one with any concern. The maniac travels north to his old "stomping" ground to resume the young girl flesh terror. On one of her hunches, the psychiatrist poses as an ex-sorority sister in the hopes the missing patient will re-surface around a college he marked forever decades past. When he inevitably does, the good doctor finds that he isn't the only thing she has to worry about.

A great slasher in need of rediscovery. Montgomery is a strong female lead and the rest of the cast holds their end up well. Inventive kills including axings, impalements, and head crushing are all done by a believable mute psycho. There are a few dull moments, but I must say that I liked this more than My Bloody Valentine (1981) in last night's double featuire. Seek this one out before they remake it...?

A few notes about the VHS. It's terribly cropped. You can tell Nuchtern really used the entire 2.35:1 frame, as there are many instances of half faces and actors speaking to unseen others off screen. Simply awful, but the film is solid enough to endure this, especially if you're a slasher fanatic. Also the film was theatrically exhibited in 3-D and even though the VHS is "normalized" in 2-D, some shots still exhibit slight bluish hues around edges of things on-screen."

Revisting Silent Madness last night, this cheap yet brutal little slasher definitely held up, but there's some unfortunate news regarding this particular video release. Avatar/CIC Video released the film in the United Kingdom, featuring the same key art, and the BBFC saw fit to censor the film's killings (see official entry here). And sure enough, the presentation on this Japanese release is the same version with obvious omissions to the serial psycho's deeds. What makes it worse is that I should have trusted my initial instinct which said this might be the case.

The one little saving grace is that CIC's video trailer for the Bruno Mattei/Reb Brown supreme combo platter of crap action, Strike Commando (1987), plays before the feature. Everything above about the picture quality also holds true for this tape. It's painfully cropped to full screen and has scenes of strange color aberrations that essentially match the North American MEDIA VHS...only edited. Damn shame! This isn't the first case of "BBFC contamination" I've run across, the Japanese DVD of Death Warmed Up is similarly cursed.

Tom Holland's Fright Night Blu-ray Available for Pre-Order in Three Days...

2011-11-11T16:59:00.004-05:00

As a follow-up to this initial entry about this limited edition Blu-ray, Screen Archives Entertainment have announced the ability to pre-order through their website will go live on November 14th for release on December 13th. I'm still cold on this release, a film of the cult magnitude of the original Fright Night shouldn't be given a trumped up run of only 3,000 copies either through some soundtrack company or a major studio.

Also in all honesty, $30 is already too rich an asking price for a "old movie" Blu-ray nowadays with prices sinking like stones due to widespread sagging sales figures of catalog titles on the format. Sony, take note of Lionsgate's stacked Anniversary Edition Blu-ray of Evil Dead 2 coming this Tuesday for the kingly asking price of...about ten bucks. That's what Fright Night deserves, remake box office performance be damned...

For those still interested, I'm fairly certain it'll pop up as the first listing above Mysterious Island on this page on the pre-order date. It seems that because of the deal struck with Sony, this release can't have any new supplements beside an isolated score track (and trailers). Otherwise, SAE have announced a 1080p transfer with lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English subtitles. Yep, exactly what longtime fans have been waiting for...

The importance of collecting what you like...

2011-11-10T19:06:00.001-05:00

As teased at yesterday, Madera Cinevideo's incredibly awesome Alucarda clamshell arrived yesterday and it illustrates one of my core principles of VHS collecting (or when collecting anything, really). Simply that is to collect what you like. You see, many newcomers to tape collecting are too often wooed by the crazy prices too often seen on eBay or Amazon.

Many times, the truly rare are often stumbled upon purely by chance, knowledge helps in spotting them, and many professed "rare" tapes aren't that hard-to-find. From this, novices get sucked into either paying too much or waging nutty bidding wars over tapes that'll eventually re-appear, perhaps cheaper and in better condition. And it's also always good to remember that the vast majority of tapes are only worth what someone is willing to pay.

These admissions are going to sound insane, but for one I'm not particularly crazy over big boxes. I'm well aware that they're the bee's knees to many collectors; however, they just don't hold that special "something" to me. Even with my first memories of VHS as a child being stumbling over to Thriller Video's "Elvira Presents..." boxes in the video store. I haven't bought or even bid on a big box on eBay...ever. I never throw them on my Watch List because it's a near forgone conclusion they'll go way over the price that I'm willing to pay. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm going to pass up cheap BBs in the wild or online. They just aren't a priority, so if you become engaged in a sweeping auction battle over one, I'm likely not your competitor.

Same goes for horror and cult tapes from Mexico which have seemed to see a huge uptick in interest lately. I just don't get the allure chiefly because distributors had a way of making what's actually a tepid thriller or police procedural into looking like the craziest and goriest movie of all time if judged by the cover art. Many titles are also so obscure that's tough to do research in order to separate the wheat from the chaff.

So I don't have any, until now. This tape isn't necessarily from Mexico, Madera Cinevideo is based in California, but is geared towards Spanish speaking viewers. It's dubbed in Spanish with no subtitles. I couldn't care less though; this tape along with the film is fucking awesome. This wild brew of blood, boobs, bloody boobs, and slashed up nuns on fire also marks an important step in my history of collecting as Mondo Macabro's original British DVD was the first disc I ever imported. So while I've passed up a bunch of valuable big boxes and "Mexploitation" through the years, it's finding tapes like this Alucarda that make me not really care about perceived value and just bask purely in the thrill of collecting.

No substantive update today...

2011-11-09T21:13:00.000-05:00

...still in shock from the blinding epicness that lay in the mailbox today!

Plaga zombie (1997) - 1999 Argentinian Edición mega super ultra especial Farsa Home Video VHS (Second Release)

2011-11-08T17:47:00.000-05:00

You run across the strangest things from the most unexpected places on eBay. While throwing random horror titles into the search box last week, this very rare tape popped up and surprisingly I ended up being the only bidder at ten bucks. Some time ago I won the third (and last) VHS release of Plaga zombie in Argentina from a seller in Brazil for way more (seen here).

This second special edition tape was in some punk/alternative vinyl shop in New York City. No idea how an obscure PAL format VHS from South America was ended up in the Lower East Side, but I'm not complaining!

Information on this release from FARSA's official site:

"This was the second edition of Plaga zombie. It included a booklet on the making of the film, the original trailer, three short films from Farsa Productions and an autographed picture of one of the characters. The print run was much larger than the original 1997 VHS. This edition had a single problem because when converting film to video standard used in Argentina (PAL), it lost a bit of image quality and the sound was slightly out-of-sync with the image."

The autographed character photo included ended up being John West played by writer/producer Berta Muñiz. The b/w booklet is in Spanish but filled with production stills, sketches, and behind the scenes photos. There's also five slips that look like free passes or tickets of some sort. You read my wordy review of both Plaga zombie and its awesome sequel here and watch both movies subbed in English via FARSA's YouTube Channel. Latest word on the third sequel, Revolución Tóxica, is that it is complete and will be coming to DVD from Farsa in February 2012!

Cannibal Apocalypse (Apocalypse domani) (1980) - 1987 Mount Light / Pack-in-Video VHS

2011-11-06T17:29:00.006-05:00

Always thought this Antonio Margheriti cannibalistic horror/actioner seemed underrated and just a little ahead of its time. Director/writer Margheriti and writer Dardano Sacchetti craft a premise that tries to capitalize on the trending popularity of the cannibal and zombie subgenres by basically melding both into a flesh-eating infection cocktail. This combination is then dropped into a gritter urban setting that often times really feels like an Italian horror flick invading an American setting (being shot in suburban and downtown Atlanta). As always John Saxon holds his head high, it's great to see Giovanni Lombardo Radice given such a "meaty" role (going apeshit with a shotgun in an in-door flea market), and you can't help but respect how the story tries hard to wrap on an almost Shakespearean note for an Italo cheapie.

Mount Light's Japanese VHS isn't too rare being one of the more popular import tapes before the coming of digital disc and was the best option before Studio Canal remastered the film for several global DVD releases. The barely widescreen picture quality is solid despite flecks of prominent damage and some scenes "burning" with an overwhelming blue tint. The film is fully uncut outside of brief optical fogging in the "vagina bite" scene.

The Back of Lionsgate's upcoming Evil Dead 2 Blu-ray and word on the transfer...

2011-11-05T15:46:00.000-04:00

As a follow-up to this August entry, from Michael Felsher on Facebook, producer of the supplemental material for this 25th Anniversary Blu-ray coming November 15th: "I'll admit its hard for me to be objective in some ways, but having just viewed the new transfer of EVIL DEAD II for the first time, I have to say this lays to waste any version of the film you've ever seen before. Lionsgate really stepped up to the plate for this one. Deep rich colors, natural healthy film grain, sparing use of noise reduction, and practically blemish free. This is the first time the original negative was used to create a home video transfer for this title, and it shows!" Fingers crossed...

Candyman clawhands his way to Blu-ray abroad...

2011-11-03T18:59:00.001-04:00

Universal has just released Bernard Rose's classic Candyman, based on a short story by Clive Barker, to Blu-ray in the United Kingdom. The 1080p, VC-1 encoded transfer is in the film's correct 1.85:1 widescreen ratio with the original stereo mix in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio. Unfortunately, unlike the stateside Special Edition DVD, there are zero extras. Early word has it that the disc is region free (or at least A/B), so there should be no problems with playback in North American players.

The picture quality is said to be like many Universal catalog titles on the format; dated but passable and an improvement over the standard definition incarnations. Tri-Star falls under Sony's domain in North America, so the studio will most likely handle the inevitable U.S. BD. Because of this, I'm personally holding off, Sony's track record with older films in regards to image quality is vastly superior to that of Universal. Not to mention their SE DVD, despite featuring an ancient transfer from 1998, having a Rose commentary and several featurettes. If you're still interested, Amazon.uk now has Universal's Blu-ray for just under $20 shipped to America.

Mountaintop Motel (1983) - 1985 Media/Tohokushinsha Home Video Japan VHS

2011-11-02T19:13:00.007-04:00

After the accidental killing and subsequent cover up of her daughter, a formerly institutionalized elderly innkeeper steadily slides into psycho over the course of the following night. With patrons filling up the four dilapidated shacks of her secluded motel during a hellish thunderstorm (a fell tree blocks the only exit), the innkeeper begins cavorting about underfoot in an underground tunnel and entering their rooms armed with a sickle to appease the voices in her head.

Jim McCullough's Mountaintop Motel has several uncontrollable factors working to its detriment. First, this sleeper was woefully out-of-date by the trends of the very year of its inception. Michael had already stalked Haddonfield, Jason had been revealed as a sac-headed momma's boy, Canada's greatest export next to hockey was the slasher, and Freddy was preparing to exact revenge upon Elm Street's children. No wonder the film sat until New World Pictures picked it up for video distribution in 1986. These three years only widened the gap to the already extremely outmoded Mountaintop. Then New World affixed the word "Massacre" to the title which only alienated viewers expecting more slasher fare.

In truth, McCullough orchestrates a spooky yarn with a constant lingering score and catastrophic cinematography more at home with the hokum of the early '70s than its native hack n' slash decade. The acting varies and special attention must be paid to the first-and-only time performance of Major Brock. Brock plays Crewshaw, an old grizzled black handyman stopping in for the night. His character is immediately likeable and genuine to the point that when he describes what he does for a living, you have no choice but to believe his word as the honest truth. If one wanted to, Crewshaw could be described as a magical negro, but that seems crude. He has the most common sense and foresight of anyone in the situation; however, he's the only one you root for the survival of. The white protagonist, a slimeball posing as a record company exec trying to get into an aspiring female duet's pants, is attempted (and failed) to be made into the hero of the picture. Brock's also given all the funny quips, "Stay here and get my ass killed by some crazy old white woman?!"

I'm not going to say Mountaintop Motel is for everyone as it took two viewing attempts aborted by sleep to finally get through it. You need to be in the right mindset, but I'm unsure what mindset that would be. Certainly not the one I imagine many that cast the film off to the trash heap watched it under. If this one happens to end up in your VCR one night, you could do much worse (try pairing it up with Bob Clark's Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things) ...

Some quick thoughts on Legend of the Werewolf (1975)

2011-11-01T18:31:00.004-04:00

Electric Video's rare 1981 VHS

A feral boy raised by wolves, Etoile (David Rintoul), is taken in by a Paris carnie family and exploited in their traveling sideshow. Eventually, he discovers his transformative abilities as a young man and flees ending up in a small town working as an assistant to a zookeeper (Ron Moody). In between menial work and bonding with caged wolves, a young woman enters his life and he's soon smitten unknowing of her work at a local brothel. Upon discovering this, Etoile becomes enraged and cannot resist dispatching Johns that frequent the whorehouse in hairy and clawed form. As bodies begin stacking up, an inquisitive mortician (Peter Cushing) starts tracking the lycanthrope...

Despite having a host of Hammer Studios mainstays and regulars both on-screen and behind the scenes, Tyburn Entertainment's Legend of the Werewolf is one of the death knells of the storied era of British horror spearheaded by Hammer and its imitators. The above synopsis is much more reasoned than this painfully cheap and devoid of atmosphere Freddie Francis-directed feature. The core problem is how this horror film desperately feels not wanting to belong to the genre. As such we're subjected far too many scenes of Etoile's toil at the zoo and lady troubles which couldn't be less interesting until the film obligates itself to insert drips and drabs of what we came for (besides Cushing, of course).

Japanese Tohokushinsha Home Video VHS

When the clumsy werewolf action finally kicks up, the events are unconvincingly compressed into the last reel. For example; Etoile murders his first John, his body is wheeled into Cushing's morgue, a second maiming occurs, and then we see Cushing arriving at the theory of a wild animal with powerful jaws and menacing teeth being the culprit. That sounds like logical plot progression, but not when in sequential order in under five minutes. The attacks are especially weak being comprised of quick point-of-view shots of the victims leering and the werewolf snarling with bright bloody teeth.

Afterward the boredom returns with even Cushing's reliable auto-pilot rolled-up sleeve embalmer-turned-detective hardly warranting venturing any further. Confused werewolf mythology also runs rampant. The full moon can cause Etoile's uncontrollable bloodlust, yet apparently so can anger, along with standard ammunition inflicting mortal wounds upon the beast. While not worth sitting through to arrive at, the conclusion featuring a sympathetic portrait of Etoile preemptively echoes An American Werewolf in London. Just be glad Legend of the Werewolf wasn't the first or last word in wolfman terror...

Boobs on Halloween, or mislabeled eBay items rock!

2011-10-31T17:18:00.002-04:00

While digging around eBay last week this tape of Gary Graver's One Million Heels B.C. listed as "One Million Years B.C." was won and I proceeded to nearly shit a brick formed of rainbow-swirled happiness. I'm always poking around for items to feed my dangerous obsession with Michelle Bauer, the lingerie girl with the chainsaw down on the sidebar, so this was an awesome find for $4.98 shipped(!) that arrived today.

The tape seems to be from the United Kingdom on the "Hollywood Scream Queen" label. If it was a truly British release (the BBFC's database has no record of the film), the playback would be PAL format, but the tape is in NTSC. Maybe the Brit sleeve was simply reused for a U.S. cassette since most wouldn't notice or care anyway. Or the BBFC's 18 logo and markings were "borrowed" for the same reason. I'm suspecting this is probably self-released by the film's production company, American Independent Productions. The IMDB lists a 35 minute runtime instead of the hour long indication on the cover. I'll have to gladly investigate further...

(finally home next to Michelle's magnum opus, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers!)

Undead (2003) - 2002 Spierigfilm Screener (Bootleg?) VHS

2011-10-30T17:02:00.003-04:00

Peter and Michael Spierig's Undead is ultimately your typical exercise in amateur filmmakers embarking on their first feature that pays heavy-handed homage to well known cult influences. One should expect the usual gory odes to Romero, Raimi-like camera tricks, and nods to John Woo's hyper-stylized gunplay lovemaking. Hampering the fun is dragass dialogue mostly from characters that have little impact on the story and quickly end up as zombochow. Even then, any real development is slim while we wait for the next exploding head. The sci-fi twist that reveals itself later on is unique and the score is unexpectedly fantastic, but the 104 minute duration gets to be an endurance test too often.

Lionsgate's DVD actually has seven minutes of trims for pacing. I've heard complaints over this, like the assumption the studio figured American audiences would get bored with the story, although the omissions might help (much like the shorter 976-EVIL). I only have Australian disc so I can't say either way. This VHS was a cheap grab from eBay and probably didn't garner much attention since the printed cover and tape look dodgy. The strange thing is the tape starts with a splash screen that runs down the film's technical specs, then film leader, and timecode along the bottom the screen for the entire film. The picture and sound quality are quite good and the film appears to be in its completed form. It's hard to exactly say what the deal considering the cheapness of the cover and cassette. It's definitely not from a DVD though...

Captures from Lionsgate's British Ghoulies III DVD

2011-10-29T15:13:00.007-04:00

Originally written back in 09/09: During college prank week, a professor interested in the occult (Ragnar, Kevin McCarthy) confiscates a comic book, entitled Ghoulish Tales, from a student which has the power to summon the ghoulies once again. After a few false starts, Ragnar finally makes the pint-sized hellions flesh from the bowels of a custom ghoulie-etched toilet. Once learning of the pranks, the ghoulies begin dispensing their own brand of destructive hijinks (along with drinking 2,001 beers and Drain-O) which only escalates the war between the fraternities. Meanwhile, the leader of the frathouse, Skip (Evan MacKenzie), is having girl trouble with his former squeeze dating the leader of the preps. Ragnar just gets crazier-and-crazier as he discovers the power he wields being the ghoulies master. Soon Skip and girlfriend fall under the beady eyes of the slimy demons.

Certainly one for the inebriated. The ghoulies talk in this one, which was surprising with the growling and meowing of the two prior flicks. Their personalities mimic The Three Stooges with the green buff one being Moe, the hairy cat-like one Curly, and the hairy snoutted-one gets stuck with all the work like Larry. They also constantly spew a stream of mildly amusing quips and whack each other about their heads (complete with bonehead sound effects), but sometimes can be hard to understand as they talk over each other.

If that sounds overly comical--it is. Buechler thoroughly steeps his sequel in a more comic than horror tone. The few deaths are bloodless by goofball means such as plunger, stretched tongue, and toilet flush. One aspect noticeably pumped up, not that I mind, are the boobs and butts, even staging a panty raid night with plenty of topless babes bouncing around...or showering. It's always fun seeing Kevin McCarthy play the sweaty nutter and the cartoonish score eerily echoes Peter Dasent's work from Peter Jackson's Braindead (Dead Alive). Not that funny, but it's all innocuous enough to warrant at least one watch.

So much for that wishy-washy assessment because since then Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College has become a guilty pleasure. This third purely comical sequel has become my favorite of the series and somehow gets funnier each time. So far, it hasn't been released on DVD stateside, but has seen a long out-of-print disc in the United Kingdom that recently got reissued from Lionsgate as part of Saw rollercoaster theme park promotion. The bad news is the unmatted full frame transfer has nearly every issue possible being from a very poor, old video master with a sloppy transition to digital. The picture is also much darker than Vestron's domestic VHS, so I'd advise just to stuck to that tape if you already have it. This barebones DVD went for zany prices while OOP, but Amazon.uk currently has it for about $10 shipped to America for those region free. If anything, those with OCD and the other three on disc can finally complete the set.

(direct disc captures, saved as lossless .pngs)

Dear David Heavener...

2011-10-27T17:12:00.003-04:00

So over this past weekend I watched your movie, Evil Grave: Curse of the Maya from back in 2004. You know, the one you directed, wrote, produced, and co-starred in about a couple moving into a desert homestead only to be plagued by a zombie family under some unexplained curse that were murdered years ago.

The one with gradually spawning pink moons in the sky that no one seems to care about much less hardly notice? The one in which a character is inexplicably wearing a totally different shirt in what should be a continuous sequence? The one where Todd Bridges of Diff'rent Strokes fame embarrasses himself while insulting the mentally handicapped playing what's described in the movie as a "retard"? The one where a small pancake-sized blood stain represents the aftermath of a point blank shotgun killing of a child? The one re-titled Dawn of the Living Dead for DVD to obviously capitalize on the popularity of zombies flicks with a cover that's about 236% better than the content it represents? Damn, that cover is great...

And I'm not saying all this as a slight against the movie. It's honestly a terrible movie, but at least it's not terribly annoying or boring. There's more a "weird bad" vibe going on like how in the world even such a simplistic story got rambled through so confusingly. I'm not even going to ask what the hell that mindfuck of a drunken rape between the couple suddenly turning into a dream lovemaking scene with your character that turns out to to have actually occurred was. It all went flying over my head, dude. The scenery is nice and the gory effects are welcome, but really?

The most baffling aspect is Joe Estevez and his character's relationship with Amanda Bauman's female lead. I kept wondering whether he was her father, uncle, or doctor since she has psychological issues. Now, I understand Emilio's uncle gotta eat and maybe in reality he's a pimp, but he's her fiancée? As in they're engaged to be married...?! Age gap much...?

Fiend (1980) - 1983 Prism Entertainment VHS

2011-10-27T12:16:00.007-04:00

Don Dohler's second feature, Fiend, strikes the best balance of the positive attributes I've seen from the late regional Maryland filmmaker. His sci-fi/horror mash-ups were often high on ambition and low on budget with the latter obviously cramping the material. Ambition certainly isn't a negative, but instead the aspirations of this example are kept within the budgetary spectrum (around six grand) and the result is better for it.

The best way to describe Fiend is that it's an unmistakeably average B flick; however, there's no aspect that's "bad" or embarrassing in finding a watchable middle ground. The cast is serviceable with Don Leifert as the titular fiend with glowing red hands delivering a supremely arrogant, murderous performance. Dohler's skill at editing wards off boredom and his camera tinkers with interesting angles more than in his debut The Alien Factor. Due to the strangling and beating kill method of the resurrected vampiric thug who requires blood to stave off rot, the red stuff is kept to a minimum. Fiend was also released later on VHS as Deadly Neighbor (see here).

Speaking of Stagefright...

2011-10-26T18:58:00.000-04:00

For the sake of completeness, here's the Japanese DelaGold/Suncrown VHS release.

Stagefright: Aquarius (Deliria) (1987) - CIC Video/Pioneer Japan LaserDisc

2011-10-25T16:59:00.001-04:00

This beautiful Japanese Laser arrived today, but the mail decided to apparently use the package as a frisbee and ding a portion of the bottom edge. Although considering the price and hoops that the postal office presents with damage claims, it is what it is. Otherwise the cover, disc, and insert are in great condition. Michele Soavi's Euro-dipped slasher debut has an odd way of finding me. I probably have about ten different editions across various formats spanning the globe so far...

(notice the flow chart, many Japanese LD inserts break down the story this way!?)

Some quick thoughts on Last Flight to Hell (L'ultimo volo all'inferno) (1990)

2011-10-23T14:35:00.015-04:00

TDK's full frame Japanese VHS entitled "REGAIN"

Reb Brown stars as a combat-ready DEA agent contracted to capture a high-ranking druglord (Mike Monty) running narcotics through the green inferno of the Philippines. Even before the mission can commence, the wanted man is taken hostage by a rival Chinese group, which prompts his daughter (Michele Dehne) to start her own rescue. All the while, the man overseeing Reb's task (Chuck Connors) might be working both ends toward the middle as other shaky alliances are formed...

The career of the embodiment of one of those Chinese knock-off action figures, Reb Brown, can be likened to the fast fall of heavy metal's mainstream prominence to grunge in the early '90s. Starting out in the '70s, the actor received steady work throughout two decades only for the bottom to fall out of his specific niche almost immediately after the dawn of the '90s. Either by this factor or perhaps by choice, Last Flight to Hell marked his last leading role before stumbling around in a handful of minor work before running cold for over a decade after 1998. David A. Prior's next upcoming masterpiece, Night Claws, marks his long belated return. (see Dread Central article here)

The sedate atmosphere of this jungle hut exploder is perfectly reflective of this sea change. Everything is unusually quiet with the meager dollops of gunfire, brawling, and a few of the aforementioned huts blowing up into giant balls of light just barely acting to propel interest. Even the usually excitable and likeable Brown seems tired of this shit while mostly mumbling through the role. He's still in good shape looking the character and as evident in the previous year's Cage with Lou Ferrigno, his acting is fairly decent for the admittedly dumb material. But as his screen presence has improved, much of the unintentional hilarity that cake the walls of Strike Commando (1987), Space Mutiny (1988), and Robowar (1989) is significantly dampened. There are scant laughs to be had but they aren't coming from good ol' Reb.

Surprisingly Chuck Connors, just two years before his passing, is always and obviously 100% game. With his chiseled visage holding up and hair perfectly coiffed, the best way to describe his presence can be summed up in a comment on the trailer on YouTube, "Chuck Connors acts the shit outta that shit." The veteran never sees any action sequences, but like a pro never once seems above spitting out his trite lines with unexpected zeal. Mike Monty, who seemed to make an '80s dayjob out of jumping between every Italian/Filipino production imaginable, cashes his check and is naturally dependable. Another Bruno Mattei vet, David Brass, gets more than a walk-on as a member of Brown's extraction team.

The action (to the recycled tune of Strike Commando's music) is where you find it with a few gunfights, remote hut denotations, venomous viper stand-offs, and Brown making teeth find stomachs through force. Instead of his patented scream n' spray, Brown uses almost entirely controlled machine gun bursts with zero vocalization. The only time that he breaks out the rebel yell is in the climax and is immediately shot in the guts. Almost as if that little touch acts as a (probably) unintentional rejection of Brown's God-like panache for surviving even the most intense onslaughts untouched in prior features. Last Flight to Hell begins and ends on a whimper much like its star's career and the bygone industry that produced it. Still, I can't say I wasn't entertained despite my sides not hurting from laughter afterward.

(trailer uploaded by fellow awesome tapehead blog, The Scandy Factory)

Star Wars (1977) - 1982 20th Century Fox Video "Video Rental Library" VHS

2011-10-22T13:13:00.004-04:00

This was this morning's best find; the first ever video release of Star Wars in North America from 1982. Later that same year, Fox released a retail edition in their cardboard "book box" carton. This is a small hard clamshell like Thorn EMI's releases. This cover is "semi-sealed" within the case with the plastic film melted to the black case halfway along the top and bottom edges. I had to trash the clam since it looked all of its thirty years and the spine's plastic was totally flaked away. There are no studio video logos in the beginning; just 20th Century Fox's fanfare and the Lucasfilm Ltd. denotation.

Quick, someone call the fucking cops, I dared to open a used record at FYE...

2011-10-21T18:02:00.003-04:00

The following isn't to BOGD's norms, basically a big bitchfest, but I encountered such a ridiculous situation today that I have to share. I took the day off today to dig around thrift shops (I know, exciting, right?) and stop by the mall for a bite to eat. While there, I walked into a giant FYE to scope out any of their usually tepid Halloween horror title deals. After finding two discs I was on the fence about, I approached the vinyl rack and began flipping through the mostly overpriced and untouched selection.

I found this ratty original 1985 copy of AC/DC's overlooked drunken barroom masterpiece, Fly on the Wall, for $3.99. It was obviously resealed since the edges are all dog-earred and there's a small discount notch chopped out of the bottom left hand corner with no sign of damage to the shoddy plastic. The open edge was "sealed" by a two inch piece of clear tape which I easily slid open with my thumbnail in order to spot-check the condition of the LP and any other contents.

So while I'm holding the record to the light to see if there's any of the multitude of issues that can affect vinyl, I see out of the corner of my eye an employee douche unhinge his douche walkie and say "Frank, come in, a customer just opened a record." I immediately said that it was used to which he replied that it didn't matter and that he saw me open the damn thing. Now mind you, there's dozens of other used vinyl on the racks with no wrapping or sleeves whatsoever. Yet this giant ignorant asshole merely seemed to want to be a giant ignorant asshole for the sake of being a giant ignorant asshole. After having enough I shouted "I'll just buy the motherfucker for four bucks, happy?" After which I left the fourty-five bucks of DVD I was thinking about and bought the record, which is in excellent playing condition, with loud protest. Not to mention the times I've purchased "100% Guaranteed" used DVDs there only for them to look slathered in ointment and driven over by an 18-Wheeler. I'm definitely not trusting their assessment of condition.

I understand retailers are in a constant battle to curb deceit and theft, but when you're trying to sell used, decades old stuff to a small niche of interested people, it's best not to treat those customers doing reasonable things like dumbass criminals out to get you over the measly price of a McDonald's value meal. If they couldn't understand my clear reasons for "opening" a used previously opened twenty-six-year-old thing in which condition is absolutely integral to the value and performance of said thing then they're actually more thick-headed than the false notion of the customers they prejudge. Perhaps there's why they work there?

And it's not like it would be easy to steal a 12" platter without bags of any sort. Sure, I'm going to fold it up and stick it in my breast pocket, right? I feel like revisiting around Christmas, gathering a huge stack of used LPs, forcing the cashier to wait while I check each with a penlight, and then casting them all off as not worth the money as a long line impatiently waits. Or in other words: Hey FYE, fuck you and don't sell vinyl at all if you can't treat the customers that actually still give a damn about the medium with even a modicum of basic respect. Oh, and people would probably buy more if you turned down that goddamn music...

Demons 3 (La chiesa) (The Church) (1989) - Columbia Video Japan VHS

2011-10-20T23:09:00.001-04:00

Michele Soavi's sophomoric directorial effort is a like car you pass by on the side of the street that's for sale. It looks great from the road; however, as you walk up to it, you began to see all the little scratches, dings, and signs of body work. It's still a nice car, but not quite the hot shit or sweet deal it first appeared to be.

The story of a gothic cathedral resting over a mass grave of supposed devil-worshipers that's "awakened" with the opening of their crypt is ultimately muddled by the film's bevy of writers. Characters we figured were important at first are marginalized into nothingness, events occur that should have much more impact on the story inexplicably don't, and there's a general sense that many of the finer points not adding up if pondered for any longer than three seconds.

That doesn't mean it's not worth checking out. Soavi intended The Church to be more serious than the low Italian horror degenerated to by the late '80s and it shows in both execution and style. Striking visuals and earthy atmosphere are available in spades as Soavi continues to cut his teeth on his way to The Sect (1991) and his last horror effort to date, Dellamorte Dellamore (1994). Columbia's VHS is uncut and in 1.85:1 widescreen just like Anchor Bay's DVD (and Blue Underground's re-issue).

One Hell of a Painful Migraine: The "Zombie Diaries 2 Method" in seven steps...

2011-10-19T16:39:00.002-04:00

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) - 1984 K-Tel/Filmways VTC Australian VHS

2011-10-18T18:23:00.000-04:00

Another one of my most wanted bites the dust! I can remember seeing this cover years ago online and instantly falling in love. This is K-Tel's second video release of Hooper's backwoods trip to Texas in Australia after a nearly decade long ban of the film. I'm fairly certain this is also the cheaper sell-thru version compared to the first rental version with different and in my opinion inferior art (seen here).

The roadblock for me collecting the country's videos is the absolutely insane international shipping costs for tapes from Australia to America (always seems at least $20). So when I amazingly saw this one literally a zip code away a cobra strike was immediately launched. What's even funnier is that I found this Australian TCM bootleg last year about twenty miles away.

Well, since I didn't win last night...

2011-10-17T18:48:00.002-04:00

I was keeping this acquisition quiet until the outcome of this auction last night. That release is the "mate" to this tape, Asuku Video's 1994 Cannes Premiere version VHS of Dawn of the Dead (1978). Erroneously dubbed the "Director's Cut", this 139 minute cut was a still work-in-progress that debuted at the 1978 festival as Romero toiled in the editing room to finally craft his 127 minute theatrical director's cut.

The tape in that auction, which I ultimately didn't win, is Asuku's 117 minute European version helmed by Dario Argento (called the "Selected Version" in Japan). As you can see, the cover is inverted compared to the Cannes cut with a black foil background and silver lettering. Would have looked great together, but what can ya do? To be honest, I've never really cared for Argento's cut anyway. The missing chunks and score alterations always pull me out of the experience. Anywho, the awesome cover seems incredibly fragile. The foil side already has creasing along the spine and some minor wrinkling in spots that look almost like tinfoil. The edges are very delicate as well. The reverse cover is on non-glossy "flat" cardboard. I'm fairly certain these tapes were released in conjunction with Bandai/Emotion's '95 "PERFECT COLLECTION" LaserDisc set (seen here).

(w/ Victor's theatrical version VHS)

(reverse cover)

Football or Zombies? (required Walking Dead premiere entry)

2011-10-16T18:34:00.000-04:00

We'll all see how the Darabont-less voyage starts off tonight for better-or-worse...

Alien from the Deep (Alien degli abissi) (1989) - SPO Entertainment Japan VHS

2011-10-15T18:44:00.000-04:00

Just to recycle some old thoughts from '09 since they're still apt after revisiting this late Italian sci-fi/horror entry from Antonio Margheriti. This film exemplifies both what ultimately killed the country's cottage industry and what was so great about its waning days. It was easy to see why Italy's horror and exploitation was so successful during its glory days. Playing on taboos and imitating/emulating hot trends made financial sense.

But Alien from the Deep is so gloriously stupid because its very concept of a towering trash bag monster arising from Earth's molten depths is woefully out-of-date with the late '80s/early '90s. There's even "ominous" trumpeting straight out of an early Godzilla flick harkening the monster's arrival. No wonder this film and the surrounding industry sadly sunk into obscurity. All this and a pissed off Charles Napier. Awesome. I've actually watched this one five or six times already on Marketing Film's German DVD. Although I'm unsure I'd recommend paying the nutty $20+ price for U.S. One-7 Movies' DVD...

"Two environmental activists sneak onto a remote island owned by a huge chemical corporation to capture on video the plant's nefarious acts against nature. Getting help from local natives, the tree-huggers infiltrate the plant and witness the dumping of highly radioactive material into a volcanic cavern. Security becomes wise and takes chase; leading to the capture of one of them. The other activist is saved by an American snake wrangler and together they devise a rescue. The head of plant operations (Charles Napier) continues the hazardous dumping despite knowledge radioactivity is reaching radically unstable levels. Soon an enormous creature begins tunneling towards the plant from the sea and it's every man for himself to escape the monster and the flesh-eating fungi it harbors.

Enjoyable Italian sci-fi actioner that's completely mindless but moves at a brisk enough pace. Charles Napier is just how we like him; terse and stubborn-minded as he screams at subordinates and recklessly guides everything towards imminent destruction. Not much gore, but Margheriti does halt the chaos of the climax for a "decontamination" scene that's merely an excuse for the attractive blond protagonist to run around the rest of the film in a wet tanktop and panties. Thank you Antonio! Also the monster is a ridiculous tower of black hose and tires with crab claws...only in an '80s Italian sci-fi flick!"

(the whole damn movie!)

GPOY J-VHS: The Deuce...

2011-10-14T17:27:00.002-04:00

New arrivals, Antonio Margheriti's Alien from the Deep (Alien degli abissi) (1989) and Mario Caiano's Nazi Love Camp #27 (La svastica nel ventre) (1977). Big Thanks go to the ever-reliable terror-fantastic over at eBay and the great Japanese VHS Hell for the opportunity to snag these awesome tapes!

Ten Random Things Learned From Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

2011-10-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

CAGE (1989) - 2001 Sterling Entertainment vs. 2004 Trinity Home Entertainment DVDs

2011-10-12T17:51:00.002-04:00

Watching Lang Elliot's Cage again reminds me of a charge in one of the unsigned "letters of criticism" this blog received awhile ago. Apparently some take issue with the action genre sometimes sampled on this self-professed "horror flick blog". Heaven forbid, right? The last complaint called the usually trashy action covered here "stupid movies for lonely people."

In some ways, I can see their point. I hate to say this, but my main competition while out hunting for flicks such as Cage are old scuzzy dudes hobbling around alone looking for war pictures and John Wayne westerns. I can't tell you how many times it's just myself and one of these guys hovering over rows of tapes. I pick out the horror while they clutch the Seagal and Norris flicks I already own. Well, if enjoying and sprinkling in commentary about such movies on my own "horror flick blog" makes me stupid and lonely, then let me hitch up my loafers, fixodent my dentures, drive my Datsun fifteen miles under the speed limit, and finally get to the swap meet to find my special ointment, plain shredded wheat, and maybe a movie or two.

don't tempt Reb.

Being horrible by sensible standards and outmodded by UFC fighting on daytime television, Cage is still entertaining and perfect rainy day material. Seeing Lou Ferrigno valiantly attempt to emote a mental handicap from a headshot in Vietnam who's taken under the wing of Reb Brown is a sublime pairing. Big Lou is tricked into cage fighting to pay off the hefty debt of two mafioso with Reb on the chase with his patented scream in pursuit. The awesome is only compounded by cheeseball credit ballads and immediately recognizable character actors like James Shigeta, Al Leong, and Mike Moroff. It's a bit long at a hundred minutes, but like a Hungry Man TV dinner, it's best not to concentrate on the nutritional breakdown on the back. The '94 sequel, Cage II: The Arena of Death, teams Ferrigno and Brown back up but is much less fun.

So how do the DVDs fare? Each has their own share of problems. Both companies are el cheapo fly-by-nighters and these discs may or may not be in-print anymore. Both transfers are the same, notice the fine horizontal lines covering these captures, with the Sterling disc dimmer and greener compared to Trinity's brighter and bluish image. The Sterling has rapid dot crawl while the Trinity has poorer encoding with digital blocking showing up in motion. It's pretty much a wash between the two, a DVD player with good performance will be able to clean up both images well enough to equate to a LaserDisc-like presentation. No extras of any worth on either release. The Trinity disc seems easily found online but Orion Home Video's VHS wouldn't represent much of a downgrade from either disc.

Sterling - TOP | Trinity - BOTTOM

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) - VCI Entertainment VHS (Rosita Torosh Cover)

2011-10-10T16:55:00.002-04:00

Long day at work today (and tomorrow), so to keep it short here's one of VCI Entertainment's harder to find clamshells of Dario Argento's foundational giallo, L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo. For some unknown reason, VCI also issued a variant cover that doesn't feature Torosh on the front but continues the "kidney bean red" on both sides of the blade. I'm unsure which came first, no dates anywhere on the cover or cassette, but I've seen the Torosh-less cover more than this one.

This is the best condition-wise I've come across so far of either cover. Others I've seen are badly faded or damaged in some way. Also of note is how this cover is slightly smaller in both width and height compared to most clamshells. It's unique slightly smaller "puffy-style" case reflects this. It's one where you must have the original clam in order for it to "look right" on the shelf.

On a brighter note...

2011-10-08T20:00:00.001-04:00

While making my way through the swap meet earlier this beauty caught my attention while being propped up on box of POGs. Wizard Video's rare 1983 CED of I Spit on your Grave (Day of the Woman) (1978) distributed by Vestron Video. You could tell the seller was a "general" pop culture collector since he had an assortment of junk ranging from back issues of Heavy Metal magazines, sealed Power Ranger figures, Troll dolls, and manga graphic novels.

This disc seemed the only piece of cult film (or CED) "anything" at his table and he immediately exclaimed "Damn, I knew a horror fan would pick this up!" while pointing at my Friday the 13th t-shirt. He then went into a long spiel about wanting to get those behind the film to autograph it at a convention but never getting around to it. At that point, I was afraid to even ask a price with the big deal he made, but upon finally asking, the kingly sum of one whole dollar was reluctantly paid!

R.I.P. David Hess 1942-2011

2011-10-08T14:03:00.005-04:00

infamous screen maniac and folk mojo daddy David Hess left us last night...

"GPOY J-VHS"...or what I've been hoarding lately...

2011-10-07T19:23:00.002-04:00

I learned something new the other day while stalkin...errmmm, visiting the wonderful Day of the Woman. Apparently in the world of tumblr, "GPOY" means "Gratuitous Picture of Yourself". Well, today I'm going to coin new hipster terminology with "GPOYJ-VHS", or "Gratuitous Picture of Your Japanese VHS". I've been going on an admittedly wild tangent of acquiring tapes from the humble island as of late. The bug has bitten me hard and if I ever went to Japan and walked into a video stop I'd eventually fall into police custody over refusing to leave.

I've essentially eliminated other collection spending for the time being to go nuts with the almost always beautifully illustrated videos from the Land of the Rising Sun. Hence the reason for no firsthand updates on the recent Blu-rays I've prattled on about pre-release lately. Some of these were very hard-won!

*GO REB* Strike Commando (1987) / Last Flight to Hell (1991) *GO REB*

Demons 6: De Profundis (1989) / Zombie Holocaust (Dr. Butcher M.D.) (1980)

Primal Rage (1988) / Specters (1987)

The Rape After (Yin zhong) (1986) / The Church (Demons 3) (1989)

Sweet Home (1989) / Cyclops (1987)

Ringu (The Ring) (1999) / Erotic Journey (1993)

Act of Vengeance (Rape Squad) (1974) / Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986)

Dr. Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) - 1986 Magnum Entertainment Clamshell VHS

2011-10-06T19:09:00.001-04:00

Another dirt cheap weekend pick-up. Love the giant clamshell art!

Don't own an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, so...

2011-10-05T20:24:00.000-04:00

R.I.P. Charles Napier, 1936-2011

The Nightmare Never Ends really got around!

2011-10-04T18:30:00.001-04:00

Just received my third clamshell of the hypnotizing trainwreck The Nightmare Never Ends (Cataclysm/Satan's Supper) (1980). The strange thing is each is the "same" with slight differences and so far I've found these without purposefully looking for variants.

The first copy on the left is from Premiere Entertainment International Ltd. based in Vancouver with the company's information stamped in silver on the front/back. The second in the center is from the same distributor; however, the quality of the graphics is much poorer, Premiere's info is printed in white on the front/back, the cover outlined with a white border, and they're now based in Ontario.

The one to the right is the new acquisition in a completely sealed clamshell from "Night Flite Video". The cover is the sharpest looking of the three and the cassette's labels are in shiny silver foil. This release might be from the obscure Neon Video since the labels are similar in appearance. No dates on any of these, but I'm figuring pre-1986 since that's when Academy Home Entertainment released their own clam under the Satan's Supper title.

Hellraiser (1987) - The Irish Sun Horror Classics Promo DVD

2011-10-03T17:54:00.000-04:00

Found this on eBay last week for four bucks shipped; a free DVD included in an edition of Ireland's The Irish Sun tabloid of Clive Barker's Hellraiser. The 1.78:1 widescreen transfer is anamorphic yet interlaced (see capture #3 below) and sloppily encoded with globs of digital gremlins. No menu, chapters, or extras with the audio in simple Dolby Stereo. But what did you expect for free?

There's no studio logo on the slipsleeve, disc itself, or disc "in-play", but it's fairly obvious this R2/PAL disc was produced by Anchor Bay. The film is presented uncut and oddly the disc's file name is "EVIL_DEAD". It's safe to assume Raimi's classic was probably also one of the paper's promotional selections at one point. It was cheap enough to pick up out of curiosity...

(Anchor Bay UK Lament Configuration Set / Irish Sun)

(direct disc captures, saved as lossless .pngs)

Some quick thoughts on Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) on Sony's British DVD

2011-10-02T14:44:00.007-04:00

Through misconceptions and a series of badly-timed misunderstandings, a group of vacationing college kids believe they've ran afoul of a pair of backwoods hick killers. In actuality, the good-natured countryboys are just fixing up their ramshackle "vacation home" shack and, after saving one of them from drowning, begin to believe its the kids who're hunting them.

As the credits rolled, I couldn't shake the feeling that the core of Eli Craig's first feature sacrifices itself for the sake of being a feature film. The goods news is the "never judge a book by its cover" concept is played to the comedic hilt and literally every line is designed to garner at least a snicker.

The banter between Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk as the lovable titular duo is frequently hilarious while dancing a fine line between hillbilly stereotype and genuine. Katrina Bowden as Allison, the "victim" saved from a nasty fall off a rock while skinny dipping, also does an excellent job of adding an honesty that's rare in a horror comedy. The strength of the interplay and relationship between these three is the film's greatest asset; however, as the other college kids become more involved trying to stop the hillbillies and save their friend, this aspect begins to wane.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil boils down to being careful about pre-judging others and being overly judgmental toward one's self. Tucker is painfully modest and smitten with Allison yet doesn't believe he's good enough for her despite constant cajoling from Dale to go after what he wants. This is why its so strange the story devolves into relying on thematic devices that have existed since more-or-less the dawn of cinema. (spoilerish) Quite literally, it comes down to good guy vs. very "cinematic" bad guy in a face-off while a trapped damsel is in imminent danger of death inches away. The bad guy also has a big secret in his past straight out of a comic book.

It's as if Craig and co-writer Morgan Jurgenson concentrated too much on the original kernel of two foreign groups clashing with gory results to flesh out the rest. Remember how real things got in Shaun of the Dead when Shaun's mother dies and he's forced to leave Ed behind? The best Craig can muster is the fledgling relationship between Tucker and Allison without any palpable danger along the way. In a sense, the overly cartoonish Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, much like one of its characters' dilemma, suffers from ultimately failing to break from what's expected from the "horror/comedy" label it gave itself. Though that doesn't mean there aren't some laughs to be had...

While Magnolia Home Entertainment is set to debut the stateside DVD/Blu-ray on November 29th, Sony has already released their own DVD and region free Blu-ray in the United Kingdom. Surprisingly, Sony's anamorphic, progressive 2.35:1 widescreen transfer isn't particularly great. The picture is aggressively soft, has odd vertical aliasing along edges, and even exhibits some bad MPEG-2 artifacts. Colors are never true, but that's probably by design from color grading in post production. I'm unsure why such a major studio would release such a poor presentation, but the DVD format is definitely capable of much better results.

I imagine their Blu-ray looks better (perhaps that's why this disc looks this way?) and Magnolia's eventual DVD would make for an interesting comparison. Otherwise, the Dolby 5.1 is fine and the only substantive extra is a fluffy twelve-minute making-of along with the theatrical trailer and small photo gallery. If you're interested, I'd wait to see how the U.S. releases fare, they're at least bound to have more supplements if not superior transfers. As a sidenote, it looks like Sony has all foreign territory distribution rights judging by copyright screens in what seems like twenty different languages on this disc.

(direct disc captures with matte bars removed)

Un gatto nel cervello (Nightmare Concert) (A Cat in the Brain) (1990) - 1990 Empire Italian VHS

2011-10-01T17:49:00.000-04:00

Braindead (Dead Alive) (Uncut) (1992) - 1993 Shochiku Home Video Japanese VHS

2011-09-30T16:43:00.001-04:00

Cruising through VHS Wasteland's daily cover selections yesterday, these scans of the front and reverse cover of SHV's Braindead caught my eye. Not only because they're awesome, but because they're of the exact copy I snagged from another collector recently with the same minor damage and sale sticker on the back of the nurse/baby cover (which was cleanly removed). I don't believe he made the scans, so the origin of these is a mystery!

This makes for a good example of how Japanese tapes have a way of circulating within a niche of collectors over time. Also see that small circular holographic sticker on the nurse/baby spine? Don't remove them! They're Japan Video Morality Association stickers and are regularly seen on Japanese videos (kinda like the U.K.'s BBFC ratings). They don't peel off well, usually ripping the cover which naturally sucks and hurts resell value.

Unrated Version of Buddy Cooper's The Mutilator (1985) available on YouTube

2011-09-29T17:39:00.002-04:00

I don't usually advocate full flicks being on YouTube, but after finally watching this splendidly gory slasher last night (Vestron's unrated VHS), it's worth seeing for any self-respecting fan of the subgenre. The kills to the tune of crashing steel drums by a sweaty maniac are leeringly gruesome and the bubblegum saxophone-laded theme wraps a queasy sense of '80s happiness around an over-the-top teen slaughterfest effects showcase. It's already mine if this ever comes to DVD and deserves more than a measly 4.7 IMDB rating.

The First Horror Film on Home Video...?

2011-09-28T18:24:00.002-04:00

This is a very special tape that arrived today due to its 1978 release year. I'm fairly certain Magnetic's release of Henry Cass's Blood of the Vampire is the first horror title ever released on home video. Although there's two caveats, an earlier format and Damien...

The two formats most associate with home video's birth, VHS and Betamax, weren't technically the first to market. Cartivision, an analog video format introduced in 1972 and built into specialized televisions, was the first to offer movies in the home, but only as one-time viewing rentals. The format died off after only a year and I can't find a title catalog so there's no way of verifying if Cartivision had any horror films.

In 1977, Magnetic Video Corporation was launched and became the first distributor releasing titles for both sale and rental on VHS and Beta (and soon after DiscoVision). MVC initially offered fifty titles with none falling into the horror genre. The only other title that might pre-date or match the video release year of Blood of the Vampire (1958) is Magnetic's The Omen (1976). I still need to confirm this. Although other notable early horror videos like Night Watch (1973), Blood Rose (1969), The Sorcerers (1967), Welcome to Arrow Beach (1974) and Carrie (1976) all arrived in 1979. Needless to say, this tape is extraordinarily rare like all of MVC's earliest releases.

Impressions and Captures of Tango Entertainment's rare Mind Ripper (1995) DVD

2011-09-27T17:56:00.013-04:00

An irritated Lance Henriksen semi-stars as an irritated father and scientist on the verge of a family vacation is instead called upon to calm a mishap at a top secret mountainside biological research outpost where he once worked. A human guinea pig has went on a rampage, killed some of the researchers, and is now loose somewhere in the facility. Naturally, he's not told of these details; so his daughter, her boyfriend, and slacker son (Giovanni Ribisi in his first feature role) tag along into unknown danger. After several failed attempts to contact those inside, Lance and familia unwittingly walk into the mutant's dark and dreary stalking ground.

Even if you haven't technically seen Mind Ripper (The Outpost), you've probably already been bored by something similar in the past. It's one of those lukewarm '90s sci-fi/horror programmers where most of the cast wear identical uniforms while running about in extremely dark and generic industrial sets in a trite predator/prey plot that all serve to keep the production's costs as low as possible.

It's been done better before and there's no real reason to grant a recommendation. Director Joe Gayton, who recently co-wrote the fun Dwayne Johnson vehicle Faster with his brother, simply points and shoots trying to mask blatant limitations. The "monster" amounts to some pissed buff dude brainsucker with slow transmutations who conveniently keeps his cranial feasting PG-13. Henriksen's brooding performance screams wanting to get the fuck outta there and Ribisi is merely passing time waiting to become a millionaire. Claire Stansfield fits the bill of a strong, unremarkable attractive lead actress that seems destined for television nicely. If you must, pair this one with the similar Legion (1998) or ditch both and seek out Bruno Mattei's ridiculous terminator rip-off run amok in a factory Shocking Dark (1990).

Even if you've seen Mind Ripper, you've probably never ran across Tango Entertainment's DVD. I never even knew this flick was released stateside on DVD before finding this disc over the weekend. After buying it simply because of that, it turned out this release appears to be out-of-print and quite scarce. Tango's intended full frame interlaced transfer is serviceable with no noticeable compression problems. In contrast, Anchor Bay's British disc is matted to 1.85:1 widescreen. The source seems to be a video master broken into six chapters with no scene selection menu.

Audio comes in Dolby Stereo, but it's clear and matrixes well into surround. The only extra is Mind Ripper's trailer and an assortment of non-horror trailers from Tango's catalog. This release certainly isn't worth the high prices seen on Amazon or eBay, but it's a nicely modest disc with nothing shouting budget title (even going through the trouble of making an animated intro to the main menu). At least if you find it cheap, mine was $3, you could eventually flip it just out of rarity.

Manson (1973) - 1984 United Home Video Clamshell VHS

2011-09-26T17:40:00.006-04:00

Here's United's rare clam of Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick's great, albeit salacious and opportunistic documentary chronicling Charles Manson and his murderous sheeple. This film was supposedly banned during the legal fallout from Squeaky Fromme's assassination attempt of Gerald Ford, but has been released at least three times on video by World Wide Video (as a big box), United Home Video, and VEC (in Canada).

Defunct grey-marketers Beverly Wilshire were actually sued and folded over their unauthorized DVD about a decade ago (it was like Christmas finding one at a yard sale years ago). Though the "cultish" hype surrounding the documentary is still being milked with a self-released DVD from Hendrickson. Word has it the $40 disc is a poorly authored DVD-R with an equally poor presentation. For that price range, you might as well track down one of the valuable and just plain cooler VHS releases instead...

Unsure what to think about this...?!? (calling all Hong Kong VHS experts)

2011-09-25T14:42:00.006-04:00

Last week I was sorting through eBay and scored these "Mecapro" tapes of Wilson Yip's Bio Zombie. The VHS, which ended up being split on two cassettes, arrived yesterday and I'm baffled by what the deal is upon opening the package.

The whole double VHS set thing isn't the issue. For some unexplained reason, many North American-based distributors of Hong Kong films released titles that would easily fit onto just one tape spread across two tapes instead. This zombie horror/comedy only runs 94 minutes but that didn't stop Mecapro from breaking the film onto two T-60 cassettes. My only guess is that these outfits transferred films from LaserDiscs and opted to not join the two sides (@ one hour per side) considering the LD format's limitations onto one VHS.

What's the big deal? First, the seller used scotch tape to attached the two covers to "naked" hard clamshells that didn't have plastic covering. I had to very carefully "unpeel" the covers and grab two empty replacement cases. Second, the second half's cover is a PC-printed scan of the first tape's real cover (slight imperfections match). What the hell, man?!?

The catch is both cassettes definitely look official with "professional" face and spine labels. There's also no part one or two indication anywhere on the cover. So I'm hesitant to go fly off the handle at the seller. It isn't clear if the second tape's original cover was damaged or if it had a cover at all. Since the set was cheap and the VHS authentic (played perfectly as well), I'm keeping them, but it would be nice to confirm what's going on here...?

Dug out my working CED player for this quick clip...

2011-09-24T21:04:00.000-04:00

Found another CED player...that doesn't work...

2011-09-24T18:41:00.001-04:00

I tell ya, I got a knack for finding CEDs and their players. I have no idea what it is about my area, but I'll be damned if I don't run across this stuff on a semi-regular basis during my swap meet and yard sale escapades. This morning I grabbed another RCA Selectavision SFT100, the first model introduced in 1981, and a few select horror titles for $12. The one pictured is my working SFT100 found in July 2009 for $25. Both very decent prices along with a few other cheap dud players that were salvaged of their removable needle cartridges for reserve purposes (good to keep this in mind, these styli can go for nutty prices on eBay)

CED, or Capacitance Electronic Disc, was an analog video format introduced in 1981 by RCA that utilized a needle stylus and dense vinyl platters for video/audio playback. Basically, the format was the absolute limit of analog medium innovation before the widespread prevalence and obvious advantages of the laser revolutionized both home video and audio forever. The CED format was meant to be cheaper in end consumer cost in comparison to the others, so maybe my ease at finding this stuff reflects my region being populated by bums. Well, at least that's one possibility...

Sadly, the player either has a worn out belt that drives the servo arm along the disc for playback, think a record player's tonearm except motorized, or the arm motor itself has gotten goofy. The belt seems to have extreme difficultly with initially gripping the motor's spinning road but when it finally does the arm mechanism speeds along as if the fast forward button is engaged during what should be standard "Play" mode. I tried to "punch" and jiggle at the FF button to disengage it if that's the issue but there's no change. The rotating platter seems to have no problem spinning up to speed and otherwise the player appears to function properly.

Where I am going with this? Nowhere in in particular. I'm a talkative dork that just loves to overly explain things far past the point of anyone else caring. Plus this might help with this problem eventually and be useful reference in the future. I'm keeping the player for eventual repair or at least parts. The outward comestic condition matches my working deck.

Below are pictures of the odd CED loading system with Halloween II bought with the player. The vertical bar running across the top back of the machine is the servo arm with the white plastic gears and bits on right side (incorrectly) controlling it. The slender black "pull button" with the writing sticker around it on the arm is the stylus holder. You pull that black tab to the right and a latch door opens giving you access to a cream-colored plastic box of the thing containing the needle you can pull out and replace (or plastic bag for safe keeping). Be sure to check to see if it's in there before buying one. Most players have top access door on the cabinet, like this SFT100, that have be popped open without tools to check it.

cover off, no disc

cartridge fully inserted

cartridge pulled out with disc left in machine ready to play

cartidge re-inserted to retrieve disc after playback

Companeros (Vamos a matar, compañeros) (1970) - Lettuce Entertain You Canadian VHS

2011-09-24T07:50:00.002-04:00

Not a good presentation of this great Sergio Corbucci western (full screen, super hot colors), but this clamshell is hard to find and in such good shape. Lettuce's cheap covers were very "papery" and prone to easy damage.

Rabid (1977) - 1983 Warner Home Video Clamshell Beta

2011-09-23T15:40:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, the first time I saw this film was on television as a kid and only revisited it last night. Sure to be garner criticism from his legion, let me first say that I'm not the biggest fan of Cronenberg's early work and Rabid proved no different. The filmmaker is still finding his footing in his sophomore feature that's essentially Montreal's own rendition of George Romero's 1973 maniac outbreak film, The Crazies.

There's sparks of Cronenberg's body horror fancy and Chambers turns out the best performance (stale male lead Frank Moore delivers lines like Christopher Walken with a severe concussion), but plenty of dull moments and dodgy acting fill the duration when the controversial porn star isn't on-screen.

That's another forced aspect, again Chambers is surprisingly solid yet the couple topless scenes and the seductress finding a crimson dinner in a seedy adult theater just scream of producer pressure to milk that certain angle of Rabid's star. Funny how, despite the back repeatedly stating "horror film", Warner decided to peg the film as an "ADULT DRAMA" on this cover. That actually might work better when viewing Rabid as a deadly addiction metaphor rather than most synopsizes trying to make this out to be a zombie flick.

Trap Them and Kill Them (Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali) (1977) - 1985 Twilight Video Beta

2011-09-22T17:55:00.001-04:00

I've been battling a worsening head cold for the past few days, so in place of a ramble of words, here's another wondrous cover scan of a recent purchase from a fellow tape fiend. To my knowledge, Twilight Video only released two features on home video and I can't recall the other one right this second (anyone know?). Though Joe D'Amato's Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals is the better and more desirable of the pair.

Being distributed by the prolific Trans World Entertainment, I can only assume this branch might have represented an ill-fated attempt to capitalize on I.V.E.'s successful Thriller Video series of big box horror of the same period. This clamshell doesn't seem too hard to find popping up on eBay with regular frequency. I have three of these; two VHS copies and this Betamax. The first was a five buck swap meet find years before I ever began collecting and the second was dug out of a trash bag last year. This Betamax is in the best condition of 'em all...

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986) - Mei Ah Video Hong Kong VHS

2011-09-20T20:29:00.001-04:00

Dropped in the mailbox today, instantly one of my favorite tapes in my collection!

(w/ MGM/UA's South Korean VHS)

Dorian Gray (Il dio chiamato Dorian) (1970) - 1983 NTA Home Entertainment VHS

2011-09-19T20:44:00.001-04:00

Cleaned up wonderfully, love the artwork!