BY TODD GARBARINI

Lamberto Bava's Demons, which was released on Friday, May 30, 1986, is one of the most entertaining and unintentionally hilarious horror films that I have ever experienced. Set upon an unsuspecting public with an ad campaign similar to that of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), the film was distributed without a rating in selected markets and warned that no one under 17 would be admitted. It's interesting to note that although Demons is quite gory, most of the violence is fantastic in nature and is fairly tame when compared to the horror films of the last 10 to 15 years which have tended to be not only brutally violent but also gratuitous to an unnecessary degree. While a good number of audience members have a seemingly insatiable and unquenchable thirst for blood and guts, I prefer horror films that spend more time on character, story, and style. If gore is part of the equation, that's fine, but it doesn't really interest me if it's the only point of the film. In Demons, the gore is there and it's messy, but it's not over the top and is only used to accentuate the action.

Filmed during the summer of 1985 in then-West Berlin, Germany and at a long-gone derelict theater in Italy, Demons is most definitely an ‘80’s film. The hairstyles, the clothing, and the music pulsating on the soundtrack all point to a time that took place 30 years ago. The film poses the question as to what would happen if a group of randomly selected members of the public were given the opportunity to see a sneak preview of an untitled film in a theater and what would happen if they got stuck in that very theater with absolutely no way of getting out. This is a tried-and-true horror film plot, but it's pulled off extraordinarily well and has loads of quotable dialogue. Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) and Kathy (Paola Cozzo) are friends who are presumably in high school or college and decide to blow off class for the sneak preview. They've both been given complimentary tickets by a strange man wearing a metal mask over his face. Along with a group of other people, they make their way into the theater. The audience is comprised of a crazy cast of characters, most notably: Ken (Karl Zinny) and George (Urbano Barberini) who make sure that they sit next to Cheryl and Kathy; Frank and Ruth, a married couple who provide comic relief; and the uproarious Tony (the inimitable Bobby Rhodes), a snazzy pimp with his two whores Carmen (Fabiola Toldeo) and Rosemary (Geretta Giancarlo), who he often yells at. Tony and his ladies provide some of the funniest and most memorable dialogue in the film. While watching the movie within the movie, strange things begin to happen in the audience. A disease-like contagion breaks out and pretty soon the audience is fighting for their lives, attempting to make their way out of the theater as the exits are inexplicably blocked.

As if this motley crew wasn’t enough, a group of outsiders driving around in a car comprised of one woman and three men (two of whom are named Baby Pig and Ripper!) are a crazy lot who manage to make their way inside the theater. An all-out war between the infected audience in the form of demons and those who haven't been affected breaks out and threatens all of human kind.

The release of Demons on DVD and Blu-ray has been a long time coming. Don May’s excellent company, Synapse Films, has done a bang up job of re-furnishing the film and making it look bright and clear, as opposed to the old VHS and American laser disk pressings which were notoriously dark and full of contrast, making it very difficult to interpret the on-screen action. The special edition Blu-ray came out months ago, but for those of you interested in just the film, the DVD movie-only release fits the bill. It sports not only the original American mono audio, but also the much better sounding European stereo mix. The dubbing is entertainingly ludicrous and is done by different loopers on the respective sound tracks. Claudio Simonetti provides one of his best film scores which is interspersed with period music of the era.

The discs special features are as follows:

Anamorphic widescreen transfer from original vault materials in the 1.66:1 aspect ratio, featuring all-new color correction supervised by Synapse Films

Contains both the “International English” stereo language soundtrack, as well as the “U.S. Mono” English alternate dub soundtrack

Original U.S. theatrical trailer

Newly-translated English SDH subtitles provided for both English versions

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Steven Awalt – author interviewed by Todd Garbarini

“Well, it’s about time, Charlie!”

Dennis Weaver utters these words in my favorite Steven Spielberg film, Duel, a production that was originally commissioned by Universal Pictures as an MOW, industry shorthand for “movie of the week”, which aired on Saturday, November 13, 1971. The reviews were glowing; the film’s admirers greatly outweighed its detractors and it put Mr. Spielberg, arguably the most phenomenally successful director in the history of the medium, on a path to a career that would make any contemporary director green with envy. Followed by a spate of contractually obligated television outings, Duel would prove to be the springboard that would catapult Mr. Spielberg into the realm that he was shooting for since his youth: that of feature film directing. Duel would also land him in the court of Hollywood producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck and get him his first theatrical film under his belt, 1974’s The Sugarland Express. It would be the 1975 blockbuster smash success of his second film, Jaws, similar in theme to Duel in that a seemingly unstoppable monster is eventually put down following an inexorable chase of cat-and-mouse, which would make him a household name. Yes, Charlie, it is about time that this phenomenal film got its own book, one that is dedicated to the story’s origin and creation. Painstakingly researched by Spielberg scholar Steven Awalt, the aptly-titled Steven Spielberg and DUEL: The Making of a Film Career is an excellent book now available in hardcover, paperback and for the Kindle from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

The volume starts at the beginning with Duel’s author, the late Richard Matheson, the man responsible for some of the most interesting, frightening, and best short stories of the genre and some of the most memorable episodes of television’s The Twilight Zone (1959 – 1964) such as Third from the Sun, Nick of Time, The Invaders, Little Girl Lost, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, and Night Call. Author Awalt expertly describes the terrifying, dangerous and death-defying real-life incident that compelled Mr. Matheson to pen the story, and the fascinating journey it took until it was published in the April 1971 issue of Playboy Magazine which made its way into the hands of Steven Spielberg’s secretary. Through interviews with the remaining crew members who worked on Duel, Mr. Awalt covers every aspect of the film’s inception, creation (actual filming and subsequent editing into answer print form) and ultimate presentation. What is interesting to note is that although Duel originated as a TV-movie, the film’s success in the form of excellent critical reception and high Nielsen ratings resulted in the director being given additional capital to increase it from its standard 74-minute running time to the more acceptable 90-minute length it required for release in movie theaters, and it played briefly in select markets in the spring of 1983. It is this 90-minute version of the film that is known the world over.

Illustrated with publicity shots and storyboards created by the director, Steven Spielberg and DUEL is the last word on this terrific thriller that the director originally wanted to make without any dialogue (interestingly, the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders was originally conceived this way). Everything you ever wanted to know about how the film came about is covered in this exhaustively researched book. Best of all, Universal is releasing the Steven Spielberg Director’s Collection on Blu-ray, and one of the titles included in this collection is Duel.

I recently spoke with Mr. Awalt about his book and genuine love for all things Spielberg.

Todd Garbarini: Based on what I have read about you, it is my understanding that you became a fan of Steven Spielberg after your first viewing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Please tell me about that, as that is exactly the same way that I became familiar with his work.

Steven Awalt: Yes, that is correct. My family and I saw it in the early winter of 1978. I was five years-old at the time, and my parents had earlier taken me to see Star Wars in a drive-in during the summer before. So between those two films, they really had a huge impact on me. I was also familiar with the Walt Disney films, as well as Jim Henson's work, but Steven Spielberg was the first director who I saw as a real filmmaker. The story of the making of Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the one book that I really, really want to write.

TG: I had the exact same reaction you did. I saw Star Wars in the summer of 1977, not at a drive-in but at a two-screen movie theater. Five months later for my birthday my parents took me to see it again and this time the trailer for Close Encounters was presented before the film. I remember being frightened and finding certain images from the film to be very intense, like the interrogation scene between Richard Dreyfus, Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban. Like you, I had been used to seeing the Walt Disney cartoons. In a way, this was my introduction to more mature, adult filmmaking. I knew about Jaws in the summer of 1975 and knew some kids who had seen it. When it came to Close Encounters, I was just blown away by that film. It's one of the great cinematic experiences of my childhood. I almost feel that after having seen Star Wars and Close Encounters, I was kind of spoiled because I was expecting to see all the other directors making movies just as great as those films, especially when you consider that on the heels of that you had The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

SA: E.T. is actually my personal favorite Spielberg film. I have a really deep personal connection to the film.

TG: I can certainly understand that. He captures children in a way that I've never seen from anyone else, except maybe for Truffaut.

SA: Yes, I can't think of any other filmmakers who are as real and as honest with children. I think that Steven has always been that way, even if you look at Hook you see the way the children relate to each other.

Todd Garbarini: I first heard of Duel when Steven Spielberg appeared on The Dick Cavett Show in June 1981 while doing publicity for Raiders of the Lost Ark. He talked about Duel and a man being chased down by a large truck, and I wondered how I never heard of the film, not knowing that it was a TV-movie. About a year later, I was in my 7^th grade English class and we were required to read short story collections and write compositions on them. A collection caught my eye, and Duel was one of the stories. I read it and was hooked on Richard Matheson’s writing. In 1983 I begged my father to take me to New York to see Duel during a brief theatrical exhibition following the worldwide success of E.T. but it didn’t last long enough for us to get to see it. I finally saw it on VHS in 1988 and loved it. How did you come to see Duel and what was your reaction to it?

SA: I saw it on television with my dad, but I don't remember it to the extent that I remembered seeing Close Encounters in the theater. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, of course, and Poltergeist was also a big film for me. However, I don't recall what it was like seeing it for the first time. My father and I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark many times together. He introduced me to a lot of great movies, including 2001: A Space Odyssey. Jaws was also a movie that I saw on television, I think that was first on in 1980 on ABC, or was it NBC?

TG: It was on ABC, it premiered in November 1979. That took a full four years to come to network television.

SA: Oh, wow. Yeah, that was how our generation saw movies in the days before VHS.

TG: I know, remember that? When a big movie was premiering on television, it was an event that my friends and I really looked forward to. It didn't matter that it had commercials, because none of my friends, except for one, had cable television. Now, forget about it. You don't even have to own the movie; you can simply go to YouTube and watch almost anything that you want. I found Amblin (1968) on there. When The Warriors was released in 1979, there was a lot of controversy surrounding it, stories of gangs fighting in movie theaters. When it came to ABC in 1981, that is how I first saw it. I didn't see it on cable or on home video, I saw it on network television. I think that’s how a lot of us saw movies from the 1970s. The networks would sometimes air movies with alternate titles. That’s how I saw Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970), which aired as War Games and Escape to Athena (1979), which aired as The Golden Raiders, and Ffolkes (1979) which aired as Assault Force.

SA: Yeah, that's how I first saw 1941 (1979). I have a soft spot in my heart for that film. It's a bit of a mess, but it has really great work in it. The miniatures are really beautiful in that movie. Yeah, it was a whole different era. Young audiences today almost don't know what it's like to go see a movie like Star Wars in the drive-in. For people like you and I, you'd see a movie in the theaters, and that it would come to network television and would really be something to look forward to. Then there was the dawn of home video in the form of VHS in the late 70s and early 80s. I think that the first movie I saw on VHS was The Muppet Movie, that might've been in 1981. Then in 1982 I saw Time Bandits. What a different era it was back then, having time to watch those movies over and over again!

TG: I saw both of those films in the theater, but the first home video format that my family owned was the RCA Select-A-Vision Capacitance Electronic Disc system, or CED for short, which necessitated purchasing movies. The Muppet Movie and Time Bandits were two titles that I owned. Star Wars and Poltergeist with the first two movies I ever purchased and they were in that format. I just watched them over and over and over again, on a 13” color TV, no less. Most people don't even remember that system, they tend to confuse it with Pioneer’s laserdisc format. It's interesting, Jaws was the first movie released on laserdisc; it was through MCA's DiscoVision line. The movie was spread out the five sides! Can you imagine?

SA: Yeah, I actually have the letterboxed laserdisc special edition of Jaws, that thing cost $150.

TG: My favorite action film is The Road Warrior. The stunts and camerawork are groundbreaking, but there are a few shots where it almost looks like a Mack Sennett comedy in that the cameras were undercranked and the action moves too quickly. I never noticed that in Duel. To your knowledge, was Duel shot without any undercranking?

SA: There was one shot where that happens, but it actually helps. The frame rate was actually increased and the camera was overcranked. It's a long shot where the vantage point is that of Dennis Weaver's character, David Mann, and the truck is just plowing around the corner coming towards him.

TG: Was there any behind-the-scenes footage shot on this movie, or was it done on such a low-budget that that wasn't even a consideration?

SA: Yeah, it was very low-budget, even the amount of stills that were taken is very small. They didn't really have a dedicated on-the-set photographer.

TG: What is the biggest difference between the theatrical cut and the television cut?

SA: The biggest and most obvious difference between the two is the opening. The first few minutes where the camera begins in the garage, pulls back and drives through downtown traffic was all added later so that it could be released theatrically.

TG: Yes, I remember when first saw it I thought, You mean to tell me that they let him do this for a television movie? I was astonished. But I was completely wrong!

SA: Yeah, exactly. The television cut begins with Dennis Weaver's car driving from left to right in the frame as he is on his way to his business appointment. Of course, the scenes with him on the phone talking to his wife and his run-in with the school bus were also added later.

TG: Most of those streets look the same today. The last time I was in Los Angeles was November 2008 and I drove along most of those same roads. I made it a point to go to Milky Way, the restaurant owned and run by Leah Adler (Steven Spielberg's mother). She was there that day, and I sat and talked with her for a while about how much her son’s movies changed my life. It was great walking to the bathroom as the hallway is flanked with movie posters of his films. When did you first meet Mr. Spielberg?

SA: In 2006. I originally ran a website dedicated to his movies from 2001 until 2009. So, I had been writing for the website for a while. In February 2006, I received a FedEx package from DreamWorks. I figured it was stills from his films or something to that effect, because I had never even broached the subject of interviewing him. It turned out to be a letter from Steven Spielberg, and he told me how much he enjoyed my writing and really like the website. Eight months later he was being given a lifetime achievement award at the Chicago Film Festival and I met him on the red carpet and we talked for a while. I did a sort of mini-interview with him. The highlight of the evening, in addition to meeting him of course, was when he introduced me to Roy Scheider.

TG: I am experiencing major jealousy pangs right now! (laughs)

SA: (laughs)

TG: God, Roy Scheider. I would've loved to have met and spoken with both of them. The French Connection is my favorite film –

SA: Oh, my God, I love The French Connection.

TG: I was fortunate enough to meet most of the cast members of the film, such as Gene Hackman, Tony LoBianco, and even Sonny Grosso. The icing on the cake was meeting William Friedkin. I also met Chris Newman, who recorded the sound on the film. One of my biggest regrets, however, has not being able to meet Roy Scheider.

SA: Yeah, All That Jazz is a great film.

TG: Yes, in fact the Criterion Collection released that on Blu-ray. He was great in Marathon Man, Sorcerer, and The Seven-Ups from 1973, which is a film that a lot of people don't even know about.

SA: Yes, meeting Roy Scheider was a great life moment for me. And then I guess around 2011 I pitched the idea of the Duel book to Steven Spielberg's people and he said yes right away, he thought it was a great idea. He even invited me out to interview him before I even had a chance to ask him if I could interview him. I cannot say enough about him, he's just such a nice man and is so genuine. You hear the story all the time that when you're in conversation with him, and you think about all the things that he has going on in his life, he's just right there and he's 100% completely focused on what you're talking about as he's talking to you. Even in conversations, he's a really great storyteller, which really isn’t surprising! When I was out in L.A. interviewing him, he showed me a photo of himself standing next to Federico Fellini and he was talking about this memory that he had of meeting him in 1973 and there was such excitement in his voice about this memory that was nearly 40 years-old. He's got such a deep appreciation of film history and such excitement about it, and he's also one of the pinnacles of it!

TG: Well, he's just like us. He is first and foremost a movie fanatic. I could literally spend hours talking to him about not only his experiences on the sets of his own movies, and I would love to hear some stories that he has to tell about what went on behind the scenes of his films and so forth, but also his impressions of other directors and other movies that he has seen growing up and even the new films that are out now and what's still inspires him. He isn't just some hack who is out there trying to make money, he honestly and truly loves this stuff. Were you able to see his early work? I know that he's not a fan of Amblin, a film that I really like very much, especially the main theme song. Did you get to see Firelight or any of the short films that he did as a teenager?

SA: I've seen everything he's done with the exception of his episode of Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, nor could I find his two episodes of The Psychiatrist. I spoke to Sid Sheinberg about it, and he remarked that one of the episodes, called Par for the Course, was one of the most moving pieces of work he had ever seen. Spielberg was in his early twenties when he did it. The episode is about death, friendship, and losing a friend. But, like I said, that's one that I haven't been able to locate and I'm really interested in seeing it. You look at the The Sugarland Express, for example, and it's frustrating for me to look back now on even some of the good critical notices the film got. For example, Pauline Kael said that Spielberg was very good at moving the cars around. But, when you look at the movies, whether they involve cars, sharks, spaceships or whatever, even though those are brilliant and exciting cinematic creations, and even going back to his early television work pre-Duel, he was always about the characters. Their personalities and the situations that they get caught up in are always first and foremost the most important aspects of the story. I've always felt that he's been an incredibly humanistic director and I think that unfortunately that aspect of his career has been totally lost on a lot of critics. Getting back to Sugarland, I don't believe that the cars are the main focus or the main aspect of that story. The characters are really special, and the fact that a lot of the leading critics didn't see that at the time is almost mind-boggling. Still to this day he carries that reputation with him. It's really amazing to me that when people talk about his work, and I don't know if this is attributed to jealousy or snobbery or whatever, they just don't give him the credit that he deserves. I also think that a lot of the times the critics were comparing him to highly established directors who were in their fifties and sixties at the time. You have to look at it in perspective. Spielberg was a guy in his twenties. How many people have that kind of perspective into the human condition in their twenties? But for him to have that human angle even in a film like Duel is amazing. The intercutting between the car and truck - the film is ultimately about a man and his paranoia. So he has enormous insight into the psychology of the Dennis Weaver character. What an amazing young filmmaker to be able pull off something like that at his age.

TG: Would you say that his experience on Duel prepared him for the desert truck chase sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

SA: No, I wouldn't say that because the truck chase was done during principal photography and was shot by Mickey Moore. Steven conceived and storyboarded it, but Mickey Moore shot it with the second unit crew. I remember when I read that and thought, I really thought that Steven had been out there shooting that whole thing. But, despite the fact that he didn't, it works brilliantly in the film and actually got a lot of subsequent work for Mickey Moore. This is always a tough thing because I do believe…I don’t want to say auteur theory necessarily, as I think that's become a denigrated term now, but to deny authorship I think is ludicrous. Everything in a film is funneled through either a director’s filter or a very strong producer’s filter, so obviously when you look at a filmography like Steven’s or any other dominant and very personal director obviously authorship is something that should definitely be considered. I still think his fingerprints are all over it. Don't get me started on Poltergeist, by the way!

TG: (laughs) I saw that movie the weekend that it opened. My friend and I sat through it twice. It played next door to Kill Squad.

SA: Oh, I love Poltergeist, even to this day. The first time that I saw it was when I was playing with some friends and neighbors. The adults were inside watching it on television and I basically saw it through the screen door. I couldn’t hear it well at all, but I was so excited to see it.

TG: I have seen Poltergeist many, many times. It's one of my favorite movies ever. Thinking along those lines, and this kind of thing started for me with Star Wars, it was only in 1977 that I would go back to see a favorite movie multiple times. Prior seeing to seeing Star Wars, I don't ever remember doing that. There weren't any films that I had seen that made me want to go see them more than once, although I did sit through two screenings of Peter Pan during a 1976 rerelease in the summertime. Superman the Movie was another pivotal film for me. For one thing, these movies stayed in theaters for a very long time, and if friends of mine and I loved it, which we invariably did, we would always go see them on our birthdays. Our parents would wonder why in the world we would want to see the same movies over and over again instead of new movies. John Williams’ music, without taking anything away from the writers, producers, directors, and actors, the overall cast and crew of all of these films, I really believe is what makes those films what they are.

SA: I completely agree and I don't think that the filmmakers would disagree with that statement at all. I think that they would be right there with you.

TG: I've read that Mr. Spielberg even cuts to Mr. Williams’ music. The two of them have gone on to such an amazing collaboration, far more so than the one between Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann which, as you well know, was argumentative and often combative. However, Herrmann clearly enhanced Hitchcock's movies immeasurably. Imagine Psycho without those strings?

SA: I know!

TG: Billy Goldenberg wrote excellent music for Duel, in addition to several other shows directed by Mr. Spielberg. I have always felt that his music has been woefully underrepresented on soundtrack albums. Do you know if there are any plans to release his music from these Spielberg projects on CD?

SA: Not to my knowledge, no. He is very underrepresented on disc, it’s a real shame. A lot of the soundtrack album companies are doing a really terrific job in getting a lot of the scores out there in terms of getting them out of the vault. However, there really is still so much work to do for scores from that era. I really think that Billy’s scores need a release. And even John Williams’s score to Sugarland, this is the only score from his collaboration with Spielberg that has never been released. Now this is like the missing link. I have heard from soundtrack producers at Universal, at least previously anyway, they were very tight with what they allowed to come out of their vaults. I would love to see a score for Sugarland released, and also for Duel obviously.

TG: Well, with your excellent book on Duel and the new Blu-ray release of the film in the Steven Spielberg Director’s Collection, let’s hope that this leads to a soundtrack release.

SA: Sounds good to me!

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By Todd Garbarini

American Hustle, one of the best Martin Scorsese films not directed by Martin Scorsese (James Toback’s Fingers (1978) is another film that falls into this camp), opens with an amusing sequence in a hotel room wherein con artist Irving Rosenfeld (a nearly unrecognizable Christian Bale) is attempting to hide his male pattern baldness. It is April 1978 and confederates Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who is presenting herself as an English aristocrat named Lady Edith Greensly and Richard DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) are in the midst of trying to sting Carmen Polito (Jeremy Renner), the Mayor of Camden, NJ. Irving has to get it together and be convincing (what we don’t know at this point of the film is how conflicted he is about what he is doing regarding the mayor). He comes to blows with Richard, who eggs him on and ruffles his hair in a hilarious moment of awkwardness and discomfort, and we wonder if Irving will blow a gasket and go Joe Pesci on Richard or if he will simply attend to his ridiculous comb-over. The question of why they want to sting the mayor is eventually revealed as the story flashes back to when Irving and Sydney first meet and bond over their love and admiration of Duke Ellington. They realize they are kindred souls and their attraction to one another intensifies. As we come to learn, however, nothing is quite as it seems because as David Mamet showed us in both House of Games (1987) and The Spanish Prisoner (1997), everyone is potentially a mark and each mark is played for someone else’s gain. Irving is married and has a son but like professional thief Neil Mccauley (Robert De Niro) in Michael Mann’s Heat (1995) he is good at what he does, and in this case he knows how to not only conduct loan scams but forge fake paintings even when hiding behind a legitimate business of being a dry cleaner for tax purposes. Unfortunately, he and Sydney attempt to con Richard, who turns out to be an FBI agent who cuts them a deal: he forces them into aiding him entrap some other targets and promises that if their help results in four good arrests, they will both end up with tabula rasas, effectively avoiding jail time.

American Hustle, which opened theatrically in December 2013, is set within the framework of the Abscam scandal of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, which also provided the backdrop for the Al Pacino/Johnny Depp vehicle Donnie Brasco (1997). It was the first time in history that undercover FBI agents videotaped the taking of bribes by politicians. This factors into the film, which was directed by David O. Russell who also directed Flirting with Disaster (1996), I Heart Huckabees (2004), and Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Mr. Russell has meticulously recreated the 1970s to such a degree that you cannot help but marvel at all of the details, looking carefully to try and spot any obvious anachronisms. Amy Adams stars opposite Mr. Bale (who followed in Mr. De Niro’s thespian footsteps and gained some 40 pounds to play the role) and she gives a multi-layered performance as Sydney, impersonating a refined British woman. It becomes a game between Irving and Richard trying to tell which person they are talking to, Sydney or Lady Greensly. Jennifer Lawrence portrays Irving’s wife, Rosalyn, and proves why she is one of the best actresses working today. Rosalyn is a loose cannon. Like Sharon Stone’s impetuous Ginger McKenna in Casino, she has a big mouth and messes with dangerous people when she isn’t starting fires by microwaving metal or vacuuming her house while belting out the famous songs of the day. She hates Sydney and lets her know it, and underneath the hardened and tough veneer is a woman who is hurt by her husband’s betrayal.

Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995) are obvious stylistic influences here, ranging from effective use of period music to the inclusion of an uncredited Robert De Niro as a mobster, Victor Tellegio, who actually speaks Arabic! The scene where he attempt to communicate with a supposedly wealthy Arab sheikh (in reality a fraud who speaks Spanish and English) is both tense and funny. Jeremy Renner is his usual brilliant self as the Mayor of Camden, based upon Angelo J. Errichetti who in reality served three years in prison for his role in the Abscam scandal (in the film, which is highly fictionalized, he serves 18 months). Mr. Errichetti passed away seven months prior to the release of American Hustle at the age of 84.

The use of voiceover is also effective, a device that Mr. Scorsese also employed to great effect in his aforementioned gangster epics. The film runs a quick 138 minutes, but I have seen 90-minute movies much longer than this.

The Blu-ray is the way to go for this release as it comes with a DVD and digital copy. The extras are slim, which is unfortunate considering the high number of Oscar nominations and accolades the film received. They consist of a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film which runs 16 minutes, and an extended deleted scenes section that runs 22 minutes. The requisite theatrical trailer is also included. I would have loved a running commentary from the director as the film was obviously a labor of love. That being said, its exclusion should not detract from your enjoyment of watching this highly watchable recreation of a specific moment in time in New York and New Jersey’s history.

By Todd Garbarini

Scream Factory continues their winning streak of releasing horror film favorites with their double feature Blu-ray release of 1988’s Bad Dreams and 1982’s Visiting Hours. They originally released these films together on DVD in September 2011.

Bad Dreams opened on Friday, April 8, 1988 and is, in hindsight, eerily prescient of David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian religious sect who met a horrific end when the FBI closed in on him and his compound ignited into a conflagration on April 19, 1993 in Waco, TX. Jim Jones and the Jonestown deaths in 1978 also come to mind. In this film, the late Richard Lynch plays a cult leader named Harris who convinces a group of people that love and unity are the only ways to live, and he shows that love by dousing them all in gasoline and lighting them on fire. Jennifer Rubin plays Cynthia, a confused and reluctant holdout who knows that what he is doing is wrong and attempts to escape, barely getting out with her life. This presumably takes place in 1975 as she spends thirteen years in a coma and when she comes out of it, those around her try to get her up to speed on all things that are the Eighties. One of the women who attempts to befriend her is played by E.G. Daily whom genre fans will recall as the short, plump sorority sister from Tom McLoughlin’s One Dark Night (1982). I almost feel as though her role was cut short as she seems to be a much better drawn character than others around her who have more screen time. Naturally, Harris keeps appearing to Cynthia, both as the person she remembers and also in a horribly burned state. Genre fans will be able to figure out the plot fairly early on, and one cannot help but see more than a passing resemblance to Wes Craven’s masterful A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and its protagonist, Fred Krueger, and his history of being burned and invading people’s dreams. Mr. Lynch is a familiar villain to audiences. He was the bad guy opposite Bill Hickman in The Seven-Ups (1973); he tried to rape Al Pacino in Jerry Schatzberg’s Scarecrow (1973); and he was part of the team headed by Peter Fonda that hunted people in Peter Collinson’s Open Season (1974). Here he is creepy as he terrorizes Ms. Rubin who, interestingly, made her film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Warriors (1987), playing a similar role as a woman terrorized and forced to sit with others in a group therapy session trying to come to grips with her situation. The references to the aforementioned Elm Street films cannot be overlooked given the inclusion of actor Charles Fleischer, who also appeared in Mr. Craven’s brilliant original.

While the film elicits a creepy plot, the mood and texture fail to arouse the type of suspense that is needed for this type of story. This is an admirable attempt, but the film cannot help feel derivative as though it has borrowed from other similar movies in the hopes of riding the more successful outings’ coattails. Another film that dealt with the subject of a religious cult, albeit in a strictly dramatic way, is Ted Kotcheff’s 1982 film Split Image, which featured Peter Fonda as the man who shows everyone the way to enlightenment.

The extras include a feature-length commentary by the director; a featurette called Dream Cast; a look at the make-up effects; behind the scenes shots; the original ending; a promo; a trailer; and a photo gallery.

The second feature, Visiting Hours, was released on Friday, May 28, 1982. I recall the television spot for the film which was very effective and clever: it depicted a hospital building at night wherein all the lights in the rooms begin to go out until the only remaining illuminated rooms form the image of a skull. Unfortunately, the film itself is nowhere near as clever, as it resorts to textbook horror film clichés which may have seemed original and frightening 32 years ago, but to today’s jaded horror viewer eyes they are simply tired, despite a few truly jolting jumps.

Lee Grant, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Felicia in Hal Ashby’s 1975 comedy Shampoo, turns up here as Deborah Ballin, an activist who is also an opinionated feminist who speaks her mind on a television talk show. She unwittingly arouses the rage of Colt Hawker (Michael Ironside) who sees her on TV; he is just a few sandwiches short of a picnic and has his own set of baggage that rears its head with flashbacks of a violent past. Hawker stalks and eventually attacks Ballin, who is rushed to the hospital and is tended to by a nurse, Shelia (Linda Purl), who is on the same page as Ballin when it comes to women’s rights. Hawker makes his way to the hospital and murders an older patient and a nurse. While eavesdropping on Shelia, Hawker decides to stalk her and her children, following her home and making his way inside. On his off-hours, he finds time to hit up a young blonde named Lisa (Lenore Zann) who is into him until he becomes rough and angry, eventually taunting her with a knife and raping her. He then spends the rest of the film trying to get to Deborah through a series of creepy episodes.

Visiting Hours is a missed opportunity and that is part of what makes it so frustrating to watch. Beset by an almost complete lack of cinematic style and suspense, the film is obviously following in the footsteps of previous trend-setting films like Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13^th (1980). Visiting Hours is not the only slasher film to utilize sexual politics and women’s rights as a backdrop for misogyny and mayhem. Dario Argento’s Tenebre (1982), which was being filmed at the time that Visiting Hours was released, does a much better job of exploring the troubled landscape of male-female relationships, sexual desire, and revenge. It’s also highly cinematic, which should come as no surprise as its style was inspired by Andrzej Zulawski’s emotional rollercoaster ride Possession (1981), one of Mr. Argento’s favorite films. The film also sports character actor Michael Ironside in the role of a brutal killer who is after Ms. Grant. Mr. Ironside is excellent, as usual, and really deserves a better showcase. William Shatner of all people plays Ms. Grant’s boss – the film was released a week before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan!

Even though I am not a fan of the film, I would have appreciated the inclusion of a commentary track with the director. However, the extras that are here are fairly in-depth and enlightening. First up is an interview with writer Brian Taggert who speaks quite eloquently about his past and how he came to write the film. Next is an interview with Pierre David who has worked with fellow producer Victor Solnicki on David Cronenberg’s best work, including The Brood (1979), Scanners (1981), and Videodrome (1983). The last interview consists of a visit with actress Lenore Zann who is unrecognizable today. The blonde perm she wore in the film is now straight, dark brown and short. The rest of the extras contain the radio spots, the TV spots, a photo gallery and trailers for other Scream Factory releases.

If you are a fan of these films, Blu-ray is the way to go.

By Todd Garbarini

Mary Poppins (1964) was a first for me in two ways: one of the earliest movies I can remember seeing in a theater (I was five years old when it was reissued in 1973 and the Rialto Cinema in Westfield, New Jersey, the theater where I saw it, is actually one of the few remaining theaters from that era that is still in business) and one of the first movies I saw played back on a VCR (in 1980). I could hardly believe my eyes at age 5 and wondered just how in the world Mary Poppins (she is never, ever to be called just “Mary”), the chimney sweeper, and her two young charges managed to make their way into the sidewalk paintings with all of the colorful characters. 40 years later, I could pretty much figure it out for myself having seen many behind-the-scenes documentaries. And yet even though the man behind the curtain has been exposed, it still does not detract from the sheer magic that is this now 50-year-old film, and certainly one of the longest Disney outings at two hours and nineteen minutes. The songs are pure magic and there is not a dull one in the entire film, another rarity.

Julie Andrews is positively radiant as the titular heroine who comes to save the day when Jane and Michael Banks (Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber respectively, of course), the young children of the too-busy-for-children parents George Banks (David Tomlinson) and Winifred Banks (Glynis Johns), want a new nanny after they drive off their last one (Elsa Lanchester) in a fit of aggravation. Their ripped-up-by-their-father classified ad makes its way to Mary Poppins who appears to be just what the children ordered. She takes them on several adventures, the most colorful of which involves the aforementioned jaunt into the colorful sidewalk chalk drawings. Animation and live action match in this sequence to produce some truly remarkable sequences. The music is infectious and you cannot help but find yourself humming along with the characters.

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the long and short of it is that Mary Poppins, who successfully brings the children together with their parents, must leave after a job well-done. While it becomes apparent that the children now no longer need Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins indeed has needed the children…and it shows as she flies off.

The film is a great showcase for the considerable talents of Julie Andrews who was 28 when she made the film and also won an Oscar for Best Actress. Dick Van Dyke is a complete joy, bouncing around with reckless abandon. Karen Dotrice and the late Matthew Garber are very good as the children.

The sesquipedalian jawbreaker Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is perhaps the film’s most well-known song simply because of its ability to challenge even the most seasoned logophile. A Spoonful of Sugar and the Oscar-winning Chim Chim Cher-ee are additional delights.

Pamela Lyndon Travers, the author of the original Mary Poppins stories upon which this film is based, reportedly gave Walt Disney a hard time as he attempted to buy the book rights from her – he spent over roughly 20 years courting her. This story has come to light and is featured in the new Disney film, Saving Mr. Banks, and it is receiving a lot of publicity as it stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins’ creator.

Mary Poppins has been released on DVD for its 40^th and its 45^th anniversaries. The new release features a combination DVD/Blu-ray/Digital Copy and ports over all the previous extras (which are considerable, though they are only presented in standard definition) and adds two new ones in high definition: a 14-minute piece called Becoming Mr. Sherman which features Richard Sherman, one of the writers of the film’s music, speaking with actor Jason Schwartzman (who actually portrays Richard Sherman in the aforementioned Saving Mr. Banks)talking about the making of the film. The other extra is a Karaoke supplement.

The film looks gorgeous and sounds terrific on Blu-ray and is a must for Disney aficionados.

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by Todd Garbarini

Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) is one of the greatest American films ever made. It is also one of the most disturbing, and it is astonishing to look back and see that a major studio (Columbia Pictures) released it as is. Although nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert DeNiro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score (Bernard Herrmann, who also was nominated in the same year for his impressive score to Brian DePalma’s Obsession, albeit posthumously) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it won none. The top honor instead went to John Avildsen’s Rocky, the story of a streetwise debt collector in Philadelphia who gets the chance to become a boxing world superstar. Mr. Alvidsen also walked away with the statue for Best Director, and the fact that Mr. Scorsese was not even nominated in this category has long been considered to be one of the most, if not the most, egregious Oscar snub(s) in the Academy’s history, something the organization appears to have attempted to smooth over with what is generally considered to be his consolation prize - his Oscar for The Departed (2006), a good film but not in the same league as his greatest work (he lost out on directing Oscars for Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), and The Aviator (2004). )

Robert De Niro gives one of his greatest screen performances as Travis Bickle, a lonely cabdriver who deliberately works long hours because he cannot sleep. He befriends Iris (Jodie Foster), a 12-year-old prostitute whose pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) raffles off a menu of shocking sex acts (even by today’s barely-there standards) not heard outside of a porno film or a sound bite by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford that she and Travis can engage in for a price. Instead of taking up the offer, Travis uses his time with Iris to try and convince her to leave the profession that she is a part of. When she refuses, he arms himself to the teeth and kills her pimp, her John, and the lowlife who stands in the hall and collects the money in what was at that point in American cinema one of the most shocking and bloody sequences ever filmed. Today, you could probably show it on network television with few cuts, if any.

What makes Taxi Driver so memorable is the way that it captures New York City in the summer of 1975 when it was filmed. The city was a terribly depressing and dangerous place to be at that time, and cinematographer Michael Chapman manages to capture the Big Apple in a way that few cameramen have - Owen Roizman’s work on The French Connection (1971) and The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974) being two obvious exceptions. In the midst of all of this, photographer Steve Schapiro took innumerable publicity shots on the set of the film and captured the cast in their moments during camera set-ups, prior to and after shooting, and while taking a break. The images are a fascinating look at the ideas that both Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had about the city and the central character, the aforementioned Bickle, and how they wanted to get those ideas across to the audience. The city itself is also a character in Taxi Driver and this fact comes out quite strikingly in Mr. Schapiro’s on-set photographs which are now available for aficionados of this great film in the form of a new book by Taschen, the glorious publisher of such mammoth tomes on cinema greats like Kubrick, Fellini, Truffaut, Bergman, and others.

Simply titled Taxi Driver, this stunning, oversized book is a collection of beautiful photographs taken by Mr. Shapiro that depict much of the action of the film and candid, behind-the-scenes shots. It begins with a foreward by director Scorsese, written in 2010 while he was shooting Hugo (2011) in London, and it follows with an introduction which is a reprinting of Richard Thompson’s interview with Mr. Schrader from the March/April 1976 issue of cinema cognoscenti magazine fave Film Comment; Paul Garner’s “It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro” essay from New York magazine from May 16, 1977; Norma McLain Stoop’s essay “In the Middle of the Street in the Middle of the Night” from After Dark, May 1976; Judy Klemesrud’s essay “Jodie Foster’s Rise From Disney to Depravity” from the New York Times on March 7, 1976; Lawrence Grobel’s Playboy Interview with Robert De Niro from Playboy in January 1989; Richard Goldstein and Mark Jacobson’s interview “Martin Scorsese Tells All: Blood and Guts Turn Me On!” from The Village Voice, April 5, 1976; and Mr. Schrader’s interview with Mr. Scorsese from January 29, 1982, published in Cahiers du Cinema, during the editing of the eerily prescient The King of Comedy, its relation to Taxi Driver as a companion piece included for obvious reasons. The rest of the text is German and French translations of the aforementioned essays.

The most unsettling images are not of the film’s bloodshed at the end, though they are quite graphic and colorful and which friend Father Francis Principe told the director was a little too much “Good Friday” and not enough “Easter Sunday” when he viewed it at a private screening in 1976, but of the slow dancing sequence between Sport and Iris, depicted in the this book. Here is a twelve year-old girl being told by a man who uses her nascent sexuality for his own method of making money, that she’s his woman. It’s really quite revolting, and probably goes on today with all the multiple cases of sex trafficking in the world. Taxi Driver doubles as a cautionary tale, its religious themes also present.

When Taxi Driver was released to theaters in 1976, the ending was so bloody that in order to avoid receiving an X rating from the MPAA, the director was faced with cutting down the scenes, something he did not want to do. He opted instead to de-saturate, or lessen the amount of color, in the sequence so it would not look as graphic. This action was incorporated into the film artistically to represent what the murder scene might have looked like in the tabloids. On the film’s 35^th anniversary in 2011, the film was released on Blu-ray. Since times have changed, there was an effort afoot to re-saturate the film and make it look the way that it was intended to look prior to the color reduction process. Unfortunately, that color negative could not be located, and there is talk that it might not have survived. Mr. Shapiro’s photographs of this brutally violent sequence, replicated in this book, might be all that visually remains of this controversial sequence.

Taxi Driver is a stunning achievement from Tashen, and I personally want to thank Mr. Schapiro for having taken such amazing photographs of this incredible film. A must for any serious fan of American cinema.

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By Todd Garbarini

Amber Heard was nineteen when she played the title character in Jonathan Levine's slasher film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane; she can at least get away with playing a seventeen year-old. Mandy Lane, which debuts this month on Blu-ray, is better known for its reputation of having been shelved for seven years following its debut at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival for reasons best served by another article. Up to this point, Ms. Heard was already a veteran of four films and several television appearances; this is her first real starring role, as the film rests on her shoulders. She gives quite a remarkably natural performance and having seen her work since this 2005-lensed outing, I would attribute her onscreen “nervousness” as the object of affection by testosterone-driven wolves in her midst to her skill as a serious dramatic actress than to an inability to relax and just “be”.

Mandy Lane represents the epitome of the adolescent female sexual ideal, The Perfect High School Girl - the girl all the boys vie for; the girl all the girls want to be or want to destroy. The tone is set in the film’s opening shot as the camera focuses on Mandy Lane’s breasts, revealing the dumbfounded stares of the average-looking boys and girls in the hallway, and conveys their longing cinematically without being exploitative. She is friends with Emmett (Michael Welch), a nerdish boy whose desire for Mandy is as strong as all the other guys, but he tries to hide it. He just knows that she is out of his league. In some ways, the film seems like it plays like a modern day “horny teenager” flick, but that would be a cursory dismissal. While the 1980s will probably be remembered as the birth of the horny teenager horror film, which started in 1978 when Michael Myers bludgeoned his sister to death after “the sex act” in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), the films of the 2000s will no doubt be looked upon as the remake era, or most certainly the “influenced by” era. Sean Cunningham made Friday the 13^th a superstitious day to be reckoned with, and premarital sex was forever labeled as a crime punishable by death by deranged killers.  Still, young men with sex on their minds did all they could to get the girls of their dreams into bed.  He Knows You’re Alone (1980), My Bloody Valentine (1981), The Burning (1981), The Boogens (1981), Halloween II (1981), and countless other stalk-and-slash films repeated this formula with much less panache and cinematic style than Mr. Carpenter did in his watershed film, even prompting a send-up of horror films in the form of Student Bodies (1981), a comedy that ridiculed death as the inevitable outcome to teenage sex.

When Wes Craven's Scream (1996) reignited interest in horror in 1996 and proved that it was once again viable box office, so has there been resurgence in the teenage sex and death flick.  Unlike the gawky and under-confident teenagers of a quarter century ago who had to borrow their parents’ oversized cars to get some action, today's teens are muscular and sexy model types who seem to have stepped off of the pages of GQ and Playboy magazines.  Most of them appear to have money and their own set of wheels.  In Mandy Lane, director Jonathan Levine manages to take a very overdone and tired horror subgenre and make it different and interesting.  The obnoxious jock Dylan (Adam Powell) and his posse of over-stimulated friends, all expertly portrayed by Whitney Able (Chloe), Luke Grimes (Jake), Melissa Price (Marlin), Edwin Hodge (Bird), and Aaron Himelstein (Red), invite Mandy Lane to a party at his house.  Mandy agrees, and elects to bring her awkward friend Emmet along, much to Dylan's chagrin.  Once there, Dylan puts the moves on Mandy who nervously brushes off his advances.  This disgusts Emmet who tricks Dylan into a maneuver designed to impress Mandy but that effectively takes Dylan out of the game completely.   Nine months after Dylan's untimely demise, Red rounds up Chloe, Jake, Marlin, and Bird for a weekend at his father's mansion in Bastrop, TX. The locales should look familiar to Tobe Hooper fans.

A caretaker in the form of a much older Garth (Anson Mount) who lives in a shed in the back is there to oversee the teens and protect them, complete with a firearm at his side.  Mandy, whose parents died when she was young and is now being raised by her aunt, is invited and decides to go along.  Once there, the guys all descend upon The Perfect Blonde, making no bones about how much they want to jump hers.  Jake is especially aggressive and looks a bit like Robert Pattinson from the Twilight films.  Mandy is made the most uncomfortable by him, which makes one ponder why she would agree to spend the weekend with a group of people who all want the one thing from her that she is not willing to surrender.  That question is answered near the end in an interesting twist. 

Things begin to go wrong rather quickly and it does not take the high schoolers long to learn that there is a murderer in their midst.  Director Levine reveals the killer’s identity early on and yet despite that, the film remains interesting enough for the audience to want to see it through to the end.  He directs the film with a restrained hand, which is refreshing when most films like this tend to hit the audience over the head with quick cuts, loud music and sound effects in a desperate effort to be suspenseful.  The middle of the film drags a bit but not by too much, and perhaps Mandy Lane would benefit by some tighter editing. 

The females in the film are snotty and bitchy but not in an overly hateful fashion.  Unlike the shallow vamps in the Black Christmas remake in 2006 and many others of its ilk, Chloe and Marlin, just like the guys who are all pining after Mandy, are all real people.  Credit must go to the performers in this film.  They all talk and sound like real teenagers who are looking to find their place in the world, and are concerned with how others perceive them and are the types to surrender to peer pressure.  The script by Jacob Forman is, no pun intended, a cut above standard fare, providing archetypes that are familiar yet different.

The film also possesses a good use of existing music - try to watch the racetrack scene set to the Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed” without smirking at the subtle irony. The score by Mark Schultz is also very good.

The Anchor Bay Blu-ray, which provides a terrific visual and aural transfer, has a feature-length commentary with director Levine and judging from his comments it was recorded this year. Mr. Levine provides an interesting, engaging and very funny commentary seen from the standpoint of a director who made his first film some eight years ago (he has since directed three films since Mandy Lane). At times he complains that he wishes he had done a certain shot differently, but that is inevitable through the benefit of time and hindsight. The standard DVD also contains this commentary.

All in all, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is an above-average slasher film.

NOTE: If you have a region-free DVD or Blu-ray player, the French DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film both have a 28-minute interview with Ms. Heard, shot circa 2006, wherein she talks about the film. A 14-minute interview with the director can also be found on this edition. However, there is no running commentary on these versions, which also possess English-language soundtracks.

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By Todd Garbarini

William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), based upon the novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty, is one of the greatest and most powerful American motion pictures ever made. With an impressive cast that includes Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, Jason Miller, Lee J. Cobb, Jack MacGowran and newcomer Linda Blair, The Exorcist had its origins in a 1949 case involving the purported demonic possession of a young Evangelical Lutheran boy in Cottage City, MD who is still alive to this day, is retired from NASA, and claims to have no memory of the events that he experienced. Mr. Blatty, who read about the events at the time, thought about the story for years until he wrote the book circa 1969, some 20 years later, in the house of his ex-wife in Encino, CA.

Coming on the heels of my all-time favorite film, 1971’s Oscar-winning The French Connection, Mr. Friedkin never thought of The Exorcist as a horror film but rather as the serious exploration of the nature of faith and desperately wanted to direct the film. While watching The Exorcist, what is most striking about it is its unique ability to present the material as something that seemingly could absolutely happen. The idea of demonic possession has arguably never been so deftly handled and depicted as it is in this film. Other attempts by filmmakers to create convincing film explorations of the subject, mostly in the wake of this enormously successful venture, have largely been ineffective. With the release of the film on Blu-ray in 2010, the film was given a much-needed high definition upgrade and you can read Lee Pfeiffer’s review of that Blu-ray here. The new 40^th anniversary release is identical to the 2010 release in that all the material from discs one and two of the 2010 Blu-ray appears to be ported over on to one disc for the new release. A second Blu-ray includes a new documentary called Beyond Comprehension: William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (27:49) wherein Mr. Blatty revisits the Encino, CA house that he wrote the book in for the first time in over 40 years (now it a guest house that belongs to actress Angela Lansbury - do you think she knows that?). Mr. Blatty discusses his two aborted attempts to write the novel and that he was originally a comedy writer(!). Father Karras (the Jason Miller character in the film) is Mr. Blatty’s alter-ego, and like Karras, Blatty’s mother lived in a nursing home and passed away there. Perhaps the saddest revelation is the fact that he lost a son six years ago at the age of 19 due to heart inflammation.

The second documentary on the second Blu-ray is an interview with Father Eugene Gallagher (19:47) who was part of the Philodemic Debating Team and had a professional relationship with Mr. Blatty and discusses his experiences while Mr. Blatty was writing the novel.

Also included with this 40^th anniversary package is a small hardcover excerpt of the excellent autobiography by William Friedkin called The Friedkin Connection and it contains his passages about the making of The Exorcist which is truly a fascinating read.

If you already have the original Blu-ray from 2010, there is probably little reason to upgrade; get yourself The Friedkin Connection if you have not already.

For Exorcist completists.

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Lesleh Donaldson with Cinema Retro columnist Todd Garbarini.

By Todd Garbarini 

Richard Ciupka’s unfairly maligned 1983 horror film Curtains was screened recently as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Scary Movies 7 exhibition that also included screenings of Lucky McKee’s new film All Cheerleaders Die, Michele Soavi’s highly regarded Cemetery Man (1994), Eli Roth’s new film The Green Inferno, John D. Hancock’s ultra creepy Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), the New York premiere of Clive Barker’s 1990 film Nightbreed - the Cabal Cut, and Peter Carter’s brilliant Rituals (1977), better known as The Creeper, which stars Hal Holbrook and Lawrence Dane in a film that is clearly influenced by John Boorman’s Deliverance (1971) but easily stands on its own as a strong piece of independent filmmaking.

Appearing in person at the Curtains screening was actress Lesleh Donaldson who played Christie Burns, the ice skater in the film. Ms. Donaldson, who made her film debut as Michael Douglas’ teenage daughter in Steven H. Stern’s 1979 film Running, introduced the film and spoke at length following the screening with a question-and-answer session. Also at the screening were longtime Curtains aficionados Bryan Norton (he teaches filmmaking at the New York Film Academy and is the director of Penny Dreadful with Betsy Palmer and Jack Attack with Helen Rogers), actor Joe Zaso, film directors Bart Mastronardi, Alan Rowe Kelly, Howard Simon, and yours truly representing Cinema Retro.

Lesleh Donaldson

Exhibited from a rare 35mm print, Curtains is one of the most under-appreciated thrillers of the early 1980s. The Canadian production went before the cameras in November of 1980 and was beset by a multitude of problems which stretched over several years and included but were not limited to: creative differences between director Ciupka and the film’s producer, the late Peter R. Simpson, who directed much of the film; a last-minute change in casting of one of the supporting characters; and issues of money for the budget. This tale of director Jonathan Stryker (played by the late John Vernon) and his desire to bring the story of a woman, Audra, to the screen also features veteran actress Samantha Eggar as actress Samantha Sherwood having herself committed to a sanitarium to study mentally disturbed individuals only to find that Stryker, for reasons never explained, has secretly decided to leave her there and recast the film by auditioning other actresses at his house. Once she gets out, all hell breaks loose…

“Richard and Peter did not get along and they both had their own views of what this movie was going to be about,” Ms. Donaldson said after the screening. “Richard (Ciupka) was a cinematographer who had a very artistic view of what the film should look like. On the other hand, Peter Simpson, having done Prom Night prior to this, knew what worked. He just wanted your typical slasher movie. So, they were constantly battling and eventually Richard just left the project. They cast Celine Lomez in the Linda Thorson role (of Brooke Parsons) originally. I am not sure what happened, if she got another role or whatever, but she left.” When asked if she still has her fake head that appears in a toilet during a gruesome discovery, she admits that it was an artificial makeshift toilet and they used her real head for the scene. “The dinner scene and the bedroom scenes were all done by Richard,” Ms. Donaldson continued. “The ice skating rink scene and the chase through the prop house, that was all Peter. The other actresses and myself, we all got along fine. There were no fights of any sort. I liked all of the women, they were all really great. I didn't get to know Samantha Eggar very much but to be honest I think she kept herself away from everybody because that’s what the character called for. I became really good friends with Lynne Griffin (who played Patti O’Connor and also starred in Bob Clark’s Black Christmas) and she was very excited that they were screening the movie tonight. She couldn’t be here, unfortunately, but she really wanted to. Anne Ditchburn was also a very good friend as well. I did actually practice a skating routine and she helped me. I didn’t actually get to do my routine because I had practiced skating in an arena. When it came time to shoot my ice-skating scene in the movie, I literally took one glide out on to the icy pond and hit a bump. I fell face-first on to the ice. Looking at it on the big screen I can see the cut on my chin. Of course, I did it right behind Peter and Gerry Arbeid (production manager)! Gerry turned to Peter and said, ‘Didn’t we pay for her training?’ So, they had to use a double for my ice skating.”

Ms. Donaldson was nominated for a Genie Award for her performance in the 1980 horror film Funeral Home but lost out to Margot Kidder in Donald Shebib’s Heartaches (1981). Her other horror film outings include Happy Birthday to Me (1981) and Deadly Eyes (1982).

Released on VHS in 1983 and on DVD in 2007, Curtains is currently undergoing a long overdue digital film restoration from an interpositive under the auspices of Don May, Jr.’s company Synapse Films with a Blu-ray scheduled for release in 2014.

Audra herself couldn’t have done it better!

BY TODD GARBARINI

Does the world really need another documentary about George A. Romero’s watershed 1968 zombie film Night of the Living Dead? After having watched a new documentary directed by Rob Kuhns called Birth of the Living Dead, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” Horror films have arguably never been more popular than they are now. The Internet and compact digital devices such as iPads and cell phones have permitted people who normally would not be able to afford the type of equipment necessary to make a film the ability to do so. Consequently, “found footage” films and zombie epics like 28 Days Later (2002) prosper. Digital video and the explosion of computers and digital editing capability have become a filmmaker's best friend. This is a far cry from the conditions under which Mr. Romero and company made Night.

What Birth of the Living Dead does so well is pinpoint that exact moment in history, in this case October 1968, when Mr. Romero’s seminal film was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. Prior to this, Mr. Romero, who was born in the Bronx prior to moving to Pittsburgh, cut his teeth five years earlier by creating a company called the Latent Image and produced hundreds, if not thousands, of commercials. Sir Ridley Scott similarly produced some 3000 commercials prior to his film debut, 1977’s The Duelists. Mr. Romero comically mentions having shot footage for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and maintains even that wound up being frightening!

There are many ways in which film can be ruined and when shooting on celluloid, invariably footage can end up over or under exposed. In the case of some of the commercials that Mr. Romero worked on, a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into shooting footage that would end up plagued by mistakes made in the lab. This is simply a fact of life and similar problems of shooting digitally are rife with issues that plague filmmakers even today. USB devices get lost, hard drives crash, digital videotape is accidentally erased, etc. Mr. Romero has seen it all.

The average filmgoer probably believes that Night was Mr. Romero’s very first film. While this is true in terms of having a film released, he actually attempted to make an Ingmar Bergman-like drama prior to it. With money obtained and saved through making commercials, he purchased a 35mm Arriflex film camera and began work on a film entitled Whine of the Fawn, sort of a variation on Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring (which, ironically enough, influenced Wes Craven’s notorious Last House on the Left in 1972). The film proved to be difficult to make and seemed pretentious and was mercifully abandoned. While reading the novel I Am Legend by famed author Richard Matheson, Mr. Romero wrote his own story and screenplay about a zombie outbreak. It went before the cameras under the title of Night of the Flesh Eaters. This was 1967, the era of Vietnam, racism, civil rights movements, anger, and rioting. The country was exploding as a result of class differences and racial injustice. Mr. Romero’s film was seminal in that there was a new revolution at hand: the dead were coming back to life en masse. Rechristening the Latent Image as Image Ten, Night of the Flesh Eaters became Night of the Living Dead - without a copyright trademark which was left off due to an oversight, resulting in unknown amounts of money lost as the film became public domain. Mr. Romero shot and edited the film himself. The budget was so small that the cast and crew of Night pulled double duty behind and in front of the camera. This film is really the very definition of a team effort and at this time independent cinema was fairly new. In New York Martin Scorsese was just starting out; in Toronto, David Cronenberg was shooting his short films Transfer and From the Drain; John Carpenter was in film school at the University of Southern California; Wes Craven was teaching and trying to get his film career off the ground; Dario Argento was writing film criticism for a newspaper in Rome and preparing to shoot his first movie. It was an exciting era.

It is hard for contemporary audiences to imagine what it must have been like to see a film like Night in 1968. Birth gives us a graphic insight to those troubled times. Mr. Romero admits in Birth that most people on the crew didn’t even believe that the film would get finished. Birth offers the opinions of a whole host of people in the industry about their experiences having seen Night. One of them is Gale Anne Hurd, the producer of The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss, and who is now an executive producer on AMC’s extremely popular and successful series The Walking Dead. It is amazing to see that 45 years after the release of Night, it is obvious that Mr. Romero is responsible for the zombie genre.

Birth also very carefully examines the casting of the late African American actor Duane Jones as Ben, the hero of the film. Most people thought that Mr. Romero was making a statement about white and black relations by casting Mr. Jones. The truth is, he was the best person to audition for the role. Just as simple as that. There is no mention in Night nor is there any sort of reference to Ben’s color. It's basically a non-issue.

It is also interesting to point out that film criticism at the time wholeheartedly embraced Night. Many well-regarded publications such as Positif analyzed the film under a microscope and interpreted it from the standpoint of serious film theory. This gave the movie an air of prestige never imagined.

Overall, this is an excellent and insightful look at the effect that this low-budget American film had on the motion picture industry. Even if you are not a fan of horror or of Night, I would recommend that you see it to appreciate and be familiar with Night’s cultural significance. An excellent companion piece to this film is Ben Harvey’s BFI Film Classics book on Night which can be purchased here from Amazon.com.

Birth of the Living Dead begins its theatrical engagement at New York’s Independent Film Center (IFC) at 323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street on November 6, 2013. Fitting, as the IFC is the former Waverly Theater where Night premiered in 1968.

Who knew?

Click here for the film’s official website.

By Todd Garbarini

During the 1980s and 1990s I became disillusioned with television shows in general.  Most of the series airing at the time seemed derivative and predictable with little regard for the audience and more for the commercial breaks. All of that changed in 2001 when I began watching HBO’s The Sopranos on a free HBO weekend, the first show that I can confess to binge-viewing (the act of watching numerous episodes back to back with no break) and easily the best television series that I have seen thus far. What was remarkable about it was the ability of the writers to take their time and develop not only characters but significant plot points, all without the annoying constraints of network television and the need to get to the next conflict. This is not to infer that network television is completely without merit as that would be a gross and unfair oversimplification. Fox Network's 24, a show that I initially was at first reluctant to watch, sucked me in when its first season debuted on DVD. I have never been so addicted to a storyline before and could not wait for the next episode and then the next season. I have watched all eight seasons at least three times.

The Fox network has a sister network, Fox Extended or FX for short, and like most other cable networks it has its fair share of exclusive programming (and commercials, sigh), a maneuver that appears to be the norm for networks if they are to survive. Even Netflix has learned this with their highly acclaimed series House of Cards. FX’s most successful show, Sons of Anarchy, is now airing its penultimate and sixth season. The series has been heavily criticized for its use of brutality and profane language, though I’m not sure that a motorcycle gang would speak any other way (as of this writing you cannot drop “F” bombs, at least not yet, on this network). Despite these complaints, however, SOA, as it is known to its most zealous adherents, remains a rich dissection of the human condition and how people deal with problems and try to solve them. They aren’t necessarily people you would want to live next door to, but nefarious characters are infinitely more interesting than real life. For one thing, they make us think about how we would act if we found ourselves in their circumstances. In Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan's brilliant AMC series about high school science teacher Walter White (played stupendously by Bryan Cranston) who becomes a manufacturer of methamphetamine after he is diagnosed with lung cancer, people who normally otherwise would not resort to violence or murder end up making those choices when pushed to the brink and see no other options. In SOA, murder seems to be a way of life and there is the Shakespearean element at work, though it is covert; critics have cited Hamlet as an obvious influence. Each season of the show consists of 13 episodes, and season five is now newly available on DVD and Blu-ray.

In the fictional town of Charming, CA, the Teller-Morrow family heads up the original and founding chapter of the Sons of Anarchy Motorycle Club, Redwood Original (aka SAMCRO for short). At the end of season four, Jackson Teller (Charlie Hunnam) has become the president of the club, with his future wife Tara (Maggie Siff) at his side. Season five opens with the introduction of the father of a young woman accidentally killed by the recklessness of Tig (Kim Coates), one of the Sons’s members. Unfortunately for Tig, his victim’s father is a drug lord and the most dangerous gangster in Oakland, CA, who catches up with Tig and enacts the old “an eye for an eye” principle against one of Tig’s two daughters in one of the most harrowing and upsetting sequences in the show’s history. This action propels forward a plotline that ends up with Clay (former president of SAMCRO, played by Ron Perlman) in jail for a murder he didn’t commit in the final episode. Along the way, a major character dies in a brutal way, and the show follows the axiom that no one is safe when it comes to violent storylines. Jackson constantly has to make difficult choices for the sake of his family and the club he presides over while trying to placate his vice president Bobby (Mark Boone Junior). In some ways, he is like 24’s Jack Bauer as he is sucked into danger and has to use his wits to extricate himself and his club members. More often than not he is trying to convince his mother and Tara that things are going to be different and that everything will be all right; though noble, it doesn’t appear to be realistic.

Creator and executive producer Kurt Sutter, who pulls double duty playing “Big Otto” Delaney, has amassed a phenomenal cast. The performances are universally excellent. My personal favorite is Mr. Sutter’s real-life wife, Katey Sagal, who won a well-deserved Golden Globe Award in 2011 for her brilliant portrayal of Gemma, Jackson’s mom. I always liked Mrs. Sagal as Peg on Married…with Children, and her banter with Ed O'Neill, her slovenly husband Al. I never would have thought of her as a choice to play a character like Gemma, however she has blown me away with the depth of her characterization of this woman who will stop at nothing to keep her family intact.

The Blu-ray looks absolutely gorgeous in high definition and the sound is crystal clear. If you pump it through a stereo, be prepared to mistake some of the sound effects for real-life sounds: several times I thought my phone was ringing– and my phone vibrates, I don’t even use a ringtone!

There are also some nice extras to go around. Some of the episodes have some extended scenes. There are also deleted scenes and a few commentaries on select episodes. The best feature, in my humble opinion, is the ability to run the episodes continuously without having to go to the main menu and select the next one if you decide to watch more than one in a row. It actually encourages binge viewing!

Another winning release for fans of this terrific show.

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By Todd Garbarini

Julian Richards’s Shiver opens at a Cadillac Jack’s diner in Sunland, CA (in reality, this location is part of a movie set that includes an adjacent Pink Motel situated at 9457 San Fernando Road in Sun Valley, CA) amid electrical towers and pylons. A nerdish middle-aged man named Franklin Rood, played expertly by Aussie John Jarratt whom genre fans will remember from 2005’s stomach-turning Wolf Creek and its forthcoming sequel, stumbles nervously to the counter and cannot help but notice the waitress, Kathy (Nikita Sesco), who is clearly half his age. He fantasizes about having his way with her and shortly storms out after she quickly declines his offer to take her to a movie. His adolescent-minded feelings are shattered, and he doles out a head bashing in the parking lot after she locks up the diner for the night, leaving her dead.

Twelve years later in Portland, Oregon, the city is on edge due to a serial killer being on the loose. Wendy Alden (scream queen Danielle Harris) is pestered by her mother (Valerie Harper) to ask her boss for a raise since she can no longer help support her daughter. He friend Jeffrey (Shane Applegate) has more than a platonic interest in her and she doesn’t exactly push him away, either. It would be foolish of her to, considering someone is out there murdering young women. When Jeffrey takes the initially reluctant Wendy out to dinner and offers that she stay with him that night, she attempts to assure him that she will be fine. Any seasoned horror film fan will know right away that she is about to receive a visit from lunatic Franklin. When Franklin arrives in her home and surprises her, he reconsiders killing Wendy as she begins to behave in a way that he is not used to. She evinces a disposition that is different from all of the young women he has killed up to this point. Like most serial killers, Franklin suffered bullying and humiliation during his childhood and blames others for his failures. But Wendy seems different to him, and through his own delusional method of thinking, he believes that he can persuade her to love him. The rest of the film consists of the police and their failure to adequately protect Wendy (it features two of the dumbest police officers in recent movie memory, who are both mercifully offed by Franklin within a minute of each other; Casper Van Diem (from Starship Troopers) is the lead detective and Rae Dawn Chong appears as his partner, though she is given very little to do). In the midst of Wendy’s attempts to escape Franklin’s clutches he hatches a hair-brained scheme to get her to play house with him.

While I would not consider the film to be anywhere near as suspenseful as the ads would lead you to believe, it is always interesting, though were it not for the central performance by Mr. Jarratt as Franklin, it would have been no different than the recent horror outings such as Choose (2010) and ATM (2012). Shiver is a step above these films and keeps you focused until the final frame. There are moments that make you want to scream and reach through the screen to choke the characters in frustration over their actions, but for the most part the film succeeds in its quest to entertain. It does require a suspension of disbelief to succeed. Mr. Jarratt has a unique ability to play unrepentant psychopaths. His turn as Mick Taylor in Greg McClean’s aforementioned Wolf Creek brought to life one of the most frightening and vicious psychos that the cinema has seen in quite some time. Here he is also mean, but for different reasons. In Wolf Creek, he seemed bent on inflicting pain on others for his own pleasure. Here, his Franklin is a rejected and unhappy soul trying to connect with someone and goes about it in a terrible and bizarre fashion. Valerie Harper gives a feisty performance as Wendy’s mother, although she only appears in two scenes. I almost see her as a divorced Karen Hollis from Blame It on Rio (1984) some 30 years later, nagging her daughter. Danielle Harris is also quite good and proves a great nemesis for Franklin. The score is by Richard Band, brother of Charles Band and veteran of over 80 films. At times, the music is oddly reminiscent of Philip Glass’s score to Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line (1989), but it is effective for the most part. The location filming in Portland, Oregon is a nice change of pace and showcases Southeast Milwaukee Avenue, home to Franklin’s day job as a jeweler and the common denominator between all of his victims that the detectives notice and set them on his trail. The Moreland Theatre several doors down reads simply Harry Potter, as though they didn’t receive permission from Warner Brothers to put a full title on it.

The DVD itself is bare-bones and contains trailers for Aberration and The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh.  I would have liked some interviews and a commentary with Ms. Harris who is always so fun and bubbly when talking about her career and the onscreen action.  All in all, definitely worth seeing for Mr. Jarratt and Ms. Harris completists. 

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By Todd Garbarini 

Marc Hall (Israel Broussard) is a shy, introverted teenager who is transferred to Indian Hills High School in Calabasas, CA because he played hooky too many times at his previous school and needs to be set on the straight and narrow. After shuffling awkwardly from class to class, he becomes friends with Rebecca Ahn (Katie Chang), a peer who dresses well, pays him attention, and is obsessed with celebrities and who loves to party. When they aren't in school, Marc accompanies Rebecca as she looks through unlocked vehicles for cash and anything valuable that she can resell. Mark later happens to mention in passing that a friend of his is currently out of town; naturally, he and Rebecca gain entrance to the friend’s house and search through the belongings. Mark is visibly nervous and wants to leave. Rebecca pilfers the keys to a Porsche and they go joyriding. Her attitude towards this behavior is troubling in the carefree and apathetic way that she conducts herself. She seems to have absolutely no problem taking other people’s property, even in broad daylight, and using it for how own amusement and gain. Rebecca begins to get restless and more daring, and while she and her friends are out socializing at a famous club also attended by Paris Hilton and Kirsten Dunst, she gets the idea to rob Ms. Hilton's home. Using all social media and mapping websites to her advantage, she locates the real home addresses of her favorite celebrities and, with Marc and several friends in tow (one of whom is Nicki, played by Emma Watson), goes on a massive five-finger discount that includes purses, expensive shoes, jewelry, Rolex watches, and thousands of dollars in cash. What is all the more amazing is that despite Marc’s hesitance and obvious reluctance, no one even thinks for a minute that they are being watched by closed-circuit security cameras.

If this story sounds familiar, it should. Based upon Nancy Jo Sales’s article The Suspects Wore Louboutins that was published in the March 2010 issue of Vanity Fair magazine, The Bling Ring (2013) is director Sophia Coppola’s fifth feature film (a made-for-Lifetime movie of the same name and about the same subject aired in 2011). Loosely based upon the true story of a pack of young celebrity gawkers who go to extreme lengths to emulate the style and fashion sense of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Miranda Kerr and anybody else they deem worthy of adulation and emulation was highly publicized some years back. As depicted in the film, these young adults don't appear to be inherently bad people. They are simply caught up in the excitement of the 24-hour a day, seven-day-a-week celebrity reporting that is constantly aflutter on the Internet; they give in to their temptation to break the law. Why they do what they do is not so apparent. They seem to want to be famous, just like the people they look up to. Several of them foolishly take photos of themselves at the scenes of the crimes and post them on their walls on their Facebook pages. It never occurs to them that what they are doing is wrong. They all seem to have the idea that the people’s houses they are burglarizing are so rich that they won’t even notice that most of these lavish items are missing. By the end film, however, the house of cards comes crashing down when the police get involved and they are all arrested and given prison sentences.

In some ways, The Bling Ring is the flip side of Mrs. Coppola’s previous film, 2010’s Somewhere, which was an introspective look at the life of a very famous actor miserable in his existence of fame and fortune. Somewhere, and 2003’s Lost in Translation, both were eloquent studies in loneliness (the former in one’s own surroundings and the latter in a foreign environment) and a case can be made for Marc in The Bling Ring. He’s a teenager who feels like an outcast; he’s a nobody desperately trying to be a somebody.

Mrs. Coppola imbues the film with humor, too. The character of Nicki and her home life is not a fabrication. She is based upon Alexis Neiers, a young model and actress wannabe who was the subject of the “reality” series Pretty Wild, which lasted nine episodes and depicted her home life and relationship with her sisters and mother. Alexis’s mom, one-time Playboy model Andrea Arlington, does her best under the circumstances trying to raise these young women, however she seems to rely on Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret a little too much in scenes that induce interior smiles. Her mom During the course of filming the show, Alexis was arrested for her participation in the burglaries.

Mrs. Coppola continues to bifurcate audiences into the love it or hate it camps. Unlike Somewhere (my vote for her best film so far), which illustrates the director’s love of Michelangelo Antonioni’s work, The Bling Ring is a far more audience-friendly film.

The extras, all in high definition, on the disc contain:

Making The Bling Ring: On Set with Sofia, the Cast and Crew featurette (22:51) is exactly what the title entails. The filmmakers talk about how the project came about (Mrs. Coppola read the Vanity Fair article on a plane and assumed that it was already optioned for a film), how the film was cast (the ringleader was the most difficult to cast), and some of the actors weigh in with their views of the film.

Behind the Real Bling Ring (23:46) is a very interesting featurette that discusses the actual case and the real names of those involved in the 2008/2009 events.

Scene of the Crime with Paris Hilton (10:37) Ms. Hilton gives us a tour of her house where the film was shot and bemoans the fact that most of her stolen jewelry consisted of irreplaceable pieces handed down throughout the years in her family. A humorous bit includes a mini tour of her mini doghouse for her seven pooches.

The theatrical trailer is also included and runs just shy of two minutes.

My only complaint is the lack of an audio commentary, something that Mrs. Coppola perhaps does not have an interest in doing, a trend that I hope she reverses.

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By Todd Garbarini 

Not too long after The Little Mermaid was released on Friday, November 14, 1989, I saw it at the Guild Theater (aka the Guild 50^th) next door to Radio City Music Hall in New York. It was a decent-sized theater that showed films from 1938 until 1999 when it was gutted and replaced with a Nautica store (The Little Mermaid’s Ariel would have felt at home here), and it is now an Anthropologie branch for women. Thinking about the Guild Theater made me miss the single screen showcases of New York such as the Biograph, the Festival, the Carnegie Hall Cinema, the 8^th Street Playhouse, The Beekman, the Cinema I and Cinema II, and the 68^th Street Playhouse to name a few (the Paris on 57^th Street is one of the few remaining such theaters). They were decent-size auditoriums and you had a very good chance of seeing something special there in limited release.

The Little Mermaid is one such film. It had been years since I had seen a Disney film exhibited theatrically and, like most of us, had very little inkling that the studio would be releasing a whole new slate of inspired and financially successful animated features in the years to come (especially The Lion King, which I originally saw in the form of an unfinished workprint at the Walter Reade Theater in New York in early 1994). Originally published as Den lille havfrue (The Little Sea Lady) by Hans Christian Anderson on April 7, 1837 in Fairy Tales Told for Children, The Little Mermaid tells the story of Ariel, a sixteen year-old mermaid who, like human females of that age, becomes restless living under the watchful eye of her father, King Triton, who only has her best interests at heart. Ariel is cautioned about humans and sternly told not to mingle with them. Of course, this only compels her to seek them out. Along with her friends Flounder and Scuttle the Seagull, she surfaces and sees a handsome man named Prince Eric on a ship that enters a dangerous storm. She is instantly smitten, and saves Eric’s life, singing to him and disappearing just before he awakens. Having heard her voice, Eric wants to find Ariel who, in turn, wants to be a part of the human world.

King Triton is suspicious of Ariel and he drills Sebastian (the most memorable character in the film, though it is up for debate if he is a crab or a lobster) for information about his daughter’s sudden change in behavior. When it comes out that she is in love with a human, her father reacts in rage and loses his mind. At the urging of two eels (Flotsam and Jetsam), Ariel goes to see a sea witch named Ursula to find out how she can be with Eric. Ursula is not out to help Ariel out of kindness, mind you. She wants Ariel’s voice, and convinces Ariel to allow her to make her human for three days in exchange for her voice. The plan is to get Eric to kiss Ariel before the designated time runs out, or else she will become a mermaid again and have to answer to Ursula (notions of Cinderella spring to mind!).

All of this action is set to some truly enjoyable songs, the most recognizable and popular of which are arguably “Part of Your World”, “Under the Sea”, and “Kiss the Girl”. It’s hardly a surprise that “Under the Sea” won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, while the film also won both awards for Best Original Score. These are the kinds of songs that are very memorable, even to people who have just heard them and have not seen the film. Twenty-five years later, The Little Mermaid is one of the most well-known of the Walt Disney cartoons, gaining in popularity among young children thanks in no small part to its availability on home video. New generations of fans who were born years after the release of the film have sprung up and still dress up as the characters for Halloween, with Ariel and Sebastian being top favorites.

The new Blu-ray is comprised of an all-new, digitally restored picture. The image is a marked improvement over previous versions and just pops off the screen at you; this is clearly the best the film has looked on home video (I remember seeing it on VHS and most of the image’s detail was completely lost). While The Little Mermaid has been available on DVD in 1999 in a movie-only edition and in 2006 in a 2-disc Platinum Edition with a wealth of extras, those extras have been ported over to the Blu-ray in a special section called Classic DVD Bonus Features. In addition, the Blu-ray contains brand-new, exclusive extras shot in high definition and they are comprised of:

Part of Your World music video featuring Carly Rae Jepsen (3:39)

@Disneyanimation (10:45), a nice look at some of the many faces who have been working for years at Disney, such as John Musker and Ron Clements, in addition to more recently employed animators who were inspired by The Little Mermaid to follow animation as their career path. This is one featurette I would have liked to have seen last at least half an hour or more as I love hearing about what motivates these artists.

Deleted Character - Harold Merman (2:05) is a quick look at a character that was cut from the film. This segment is presented in sketch form.

Under the Scene - The Art of Live Action Reference (13:13) is a look at how the animators use real-life stand-ins who go through the motions of the main characters in the film, and then draw the movements of the performers to get the nuances of the animated characters. Animators John Musker and Ron Clements spoke to actress Kathryn Beaumont about her experiences acting out Alice in Alice in Wonderland and Wendy in Peter Pan to get an idea of how to draw the characters in The Little Mermaid. Ruben Aquino, the directing animator, talks about the challenges of making moving images into living and breathing characters that exude emotion. They also interview the real-life performers who acted out the lead animated roles for Eric and Ariel in footage shot in 1988.

Howard’s Lecture (16:27) is a look at the late Howard Ashman and his contribution to the film.

Part of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage to New Fantasyland (4:45) smacks a little of self-promotion, but it offers up an exuberant Jodi Benson taking us through Disney’s New Fantasyland which showcases many of the later Disney characters.

Crab-e-oke Sing-Along is a cleverly-titled section that allows you to sing along with a handful of the film’s best-known songs.

The aforementioned Classic DVD Bonus Features (in standard definition) is here, too and it includes: deleted scenes; backstage Disney; music and more; an audio commentary with John Musker, Ron Clements, and composer Alan Menken; Disneypedia: Life Under the Sea; Behind the Ride That Almost Wasn’t; and Under the Sea Adventure: A Virtual Ride Inspired by Disney Imagineers.

This 2-disc diamond edition contains a standard DVD of the film and a digital copy. The bonus features included are: Part of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage to New Fantasyland, classic deleted scenes, an alternate version of “Fathoms Below,” and a Fight with Ursula/alternate ending.

All in all, this is a great package of a now classic film, making the upgrade to Blu-ray well worth it. A great idea for Christmas!

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By Todd Garbarini

Horror film fans tend to have very memorable impressions of when they saw a thriller that impacted them strongly.  On Friday, May 9, 1980, I watched the John Guillermin 1976 version of King Kong on a rerun on NBC-TV and eagerly discussed it the following day with my Boy Scout troupe on our way into New York to visit the United Nations building. Walking through the New York streets was quite an education in many ways, not the least of which was our journey through the theater district along 42nd Street. On the way, we saw movie marquee displays for pornographic movies (yikes!!) and comedies such as Don Adams’ The Nude Bomb. Friday the 13th had just opened up the previous day, and a theater displayed lobby cards depicting images from the film. One of them contained an image of a woman screaming at a man who had been impaled on a wall with arrows. This was the first time I had seen such a graphic image and it really made me wonder what the rest of the movie consisted of. I remember being really disturbed by it. It would be another seven years before I would see Friday the 13^th on a local television station airing and I must admit that I found the film to be mediocre at best. John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), which I had seen five years earlier, was more my cup of tea. I found that film to be truly gripping and tense. Years later I caught up with the DVD release of Friday the 13th, however, my reaction was still the same. I suppose if I had seen the film when I was considerably younger it quite possibly would have terrified me. One person it did terrify was author David Grove, one of the world’s foremost authorities on this watershed horror film. He was just nine years-old when he caught a local television airing of the film. He hasn't been the same since!

On Location in Blairstown: The Making of Friday the 13^th is the excellent new book by Mr. Grove which should delight fans of the first in this now (in)famous horror film franchise. Illustrated with nearly 300 black and white photos and written with the cooperation of people both in front of and behind the camera, the book is an in-depth look at the making of a film that made horror fans out of young kids. What is remarkable is that they (like Yours Truly) are still horror film fans to this day. It appears to be a life-long love that doesn’t waver. If you have read the excellent behind-the-scenes look at Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) in JAWS: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard, this book is the product of the same labor of love.

Extremely well researched, the book takes the reader through the film's humble beginnings in 1979, from getting the cast and crew together, the script revisions to the final draft, to the start of filming the day after Labor Day in September. The author draws parallels between the film and the aforementioned predecessor, Halloween, and also points out the differences between the two.

The bulk of the book takes the reader to the actual physical locations where the film was shot. As a traveler who loves to go to the locations where my favorite horror movies were made, I only discovered roughly five years ago that this film had been shot in my home state of New Jersey! Yes, the Internet is a wonderful tool. Armed with screenshots from the film and directions from Google Maps, a friend of mine and I sought out as many of the locations that are covered in this book, with the exception of Camp NoBeBoSco, better known in the film as Camp Crystal Lake. Camp NoBeBoSco, where the bulk of the story takes place, is actually a Boy Scout camp, and I only got as far as the entrance. I have read about and heard from friends that the inhabitants of this camp do not appreciate outsiders trying to sneak in and have a look around, despite the film’s popularity. You would think that they would set it up so that people could pay to stay there; I would think that they would make a killing (pun most definitely intended). Then again, the camp would require an enormous amount of upkeep as a result of the inevitable visitors who would try to dismantle and take pieces of the remaining cabins as souvenirs!

Special makeup effects artist Tom Savini created what remains of Jason Voorhees, the poor soul who drowned at the hands of distracted camp sitters. He speaks at length of his experiences on the film. The book also nicely discusses where the cast ended up following the film’s wrap and subsequent release.

I may not be a fan of Friday the 13th, but I have to acknowledge its place in the history of the horror genre and give kudos to Mr. Grove for having written such an interesting, in-depth look at the making of this film. As a result of his tremendous efforts, I am going to revisit the film with a different point of view. My appreciation for Friday the 13^th and director Sean Cunningham’s inexorable quest to get it made has grown as a result of this book.

A must-have for Friday the 13^th completists and horror film fans alike.

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By Todd Garbarini

When George A. Romero's Day of the Dead premiered on Friday, July 19, 1985, it was released in the same fashion that his Dawn of the Dead was distributed seven years earlier, which is to say without an MPAA rating. The poster sported the caveat (or allure, depending on your point of view): “Due to scenes of violence, which may be considered shocking, no one under 17 admitted.” Widely considered as an independent maverick in the film industry, Mr. Romero once again decided not to submit his film to the ratings board knowing full well that they would demand extensive cuts, leaving most of Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero’s best work on the cutting room floor. One of the major problems with releasing a film unrated is that the perception is that it is, in fact, a self-imposed X-rating. An “X” generally means death at the box office, unless you’re Marlon Brando doing the tango in Paris. Also, most major newspapers refuse to carry ads for such fare. In addition, the film opened two weeks after Robert Zemeckis’s wildly successful Back to the Future, which was still doing incredibly well at the box office. As a horror fan four months shy of my 17th birthday, I was unable to see it theatrically. Like most of my contemporaries, I caught up with it on home video some years later. Having already seen Night of the Living Dead (1968) and it’s (in)famous sequel which takes place in a shopping mall, the aforementioned Dawn, I didn’t know what to expect from Day.

In some ways, it’s difficult to accept the fact that Dawn is sandwiched between Night and Day. Night, which was shot in black and white and tells the story from the lead character’s point of view by giving the characters information slowly just as the audience is taking in all of the dreadful occurrences that are happening to them, can also be viewed as a much more macabre version of an episode of The Twilight Zone. However, there is a grimness to Night that makes it one of the scariest movies ever made. Dawn, on the other hand, takes this same scenario of the zombies out for human flesh and adds a very humorous stance to it. There is even a sequence where a motorcycle gang throws pies in the faces of the slowly stumbling zombies. Day, on the other hand, is much more serious in tone and is clearly the most depressing of the three films. I must admit that at the time that I saw this film, I never would have guessed that over 20 years later The Walking Dead, a television series based upon a graphic novel wherein a select group of strangers band together against an unnamed contagion outbreak and are forced to fend for themselves, would go on to become one of television’s most gripping, entertaining, violent and popular shows. Audiences’s appetite for this type of horrific material only seems to be on the upswing.

I loved Day when I first saw it, and it is my second favorite after the classic Night. Most people choose Dawn as their favorite, however, probably because they saw it when they weren’t supposed to! Day introduces us to a completely different set of characters and actors. It begins with a brilliant sequence that jolts the audience out of complacency and puts them on edge for the rest of the film. Sarah (Lori Cardille), John (Terry Alexander), McDermott (Jarlath Conroy), and Miguel (Anthony Dileo Jr.) are part of an underground army compound in the Florida Everglades trying desperately to understand how to cure the contagion outbreak. They have limited resources and are being watched by Captain Henry Rhodes (Joe Pilato, in a performace that Siskel and Ebert labeled as shameless overacting, but he’s actually really terrific and has some of the most quotable dialogue in the film) and his lackeys Steele (Gary Howard Klar) and Rickels (Ralph Marrero). Meanwhile, Dr. Logan (the late Richard Liberty) is experimenting with live and dead zombies in an effort to understand them and control them so that they can become obedient. Dr. Fisher (John Amplas) is a scientist who also attempts to mediate between Dr. Logan and Capt. Rhodes, however communication between these parties begins to break down and supplies start to slowly run out. Mistakes are made, and Miguel is bitten by a zombie, leaving Sarah to amputate his arm and burn the wound to inhibit the spread of infection.

Dr. Logan continues his experiments, this time on a restrained zombie named “Bub” whose child-like behavior suggests that his memory works, at least partially. Sarah is disgusted to find that he is using body parts as food to reward Bub for correctly performing tasks; she plans to escape with her loyal confederates but is stopped by Capt. Rhodes who freaks out and kills Dr. Logan. All hell breaks loose and chaos ensues, resulting in some truly amazing makeup work by Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero.

Day of the Dead has been released in many different formats. The latest is a Blu-ray release this month from the fine folks at Scream Factory who never cease to amaze me with their tireless efforts on countless new Blu-rays of old horror favorites. Their transfer of the film in high definition is the best that Day has ever looked on home video. If you own the 2003 Divimax two-disc set from Anchor Bay, hold on to it because two of the extras from that fine set have not been carried over to the Blu-ray: the audio interview with Richard Liberty and the 39-minute original documentary The Many Days of Day of the Dead.

The Blu-ray contains:

Beautiful, exclusive and new cover art by artist Nathan Thomas Wilner and a flip-over cover which has the original one-sheet poster art.

World’s End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead (85:26), a brand-new high definition documentary that discusses the making of the film in Pennsylvania. Many of the people involved in the film’s production are interviewed here.

Audio commentary with George Romero, Tom Savini, Cletus Anderson (production designer) and Lori Cardille

(this is ported over from the Anchor Bay disc)

Audio commentary with film director Roger Avary, an admitted fan of the film (this is ported over from the Anchor Bay disc)

Day of the Dead: Behind the Scenes (30:42) – This is Tom Savini’s production footage that details his extensive makeup effects used during filming in late 1984 (this is ported over from the Anchor Bay disc, however the beginning is a little different). Shot in standard definition on either VHS, VHS-C or 8mm video.

Wampum Mine Promotional Video (08:12) is ported over from the Anchor Bay disc and was called Gateway Commerce Center Promo on that edition. It takes viewers on a tour of the underground location where Day was filmed. Presented in standard definition.

Underground: The Day of the Dead Mines (07:37) – Hosted by Ed Demko of Cult Magazine, this new, high definition look into the mines where Day was filmed makes one wonder how the cast and crew fared while shooting. Skip Docchio, a facility tech who worked in the mines for 32 years, was on hand during shooting and recounts his memories. Mr. Demko humorously recites some of the film’s dialogue.

Theatrical trailers (05:55) – There are four trailers provided here, and several of them seem like promotional items at film festivals.

TV Spots (01:35) – There are three spots here, all making a point to emphasize that the film has not been rated.

Stills Gallery – this consists of behind the scenes shots, locations where the film was shot, posters/lobby cards (remember when they made those?), and a miscellaneous section that includes images of past video releases.

This disc is highly recommended. It would be wonderful if Scream Factory could get their hands on Mr. Romero’s Creepshow. I have the Region 2 two-disc special edition DVD and the documentary is almost as long as the film itself. Creepshow needs a Blu-ray release and Scream Factory is the company to do it!

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By Todd Garbarini 

There are certain movies that you see on substandard formats such as VHS and you enjoy the film and think nothing of the technical prowess that went into making it. When you see that same film given the proper respect of being telecined, color-corrected from the original camera negative, properly framed in the original aspect ratio and displayed on a 1080P monitor/television, the difference is mind-boggling and literally makes you wonder how you managed to suffer through such mediocre viewings in years past. James Munro’s Street Trash (1987) is a colorful, vile, over-the-top contraption featuring dirty and reprehensible characters in Brooklyn, NY who dwell in an automobile graveyard and have fashioned stacks of tires, empty vehicles, and just about anything else that they can get their hands on into shelter and a way of life. They commit petty crimes, steal from one another, and in short do anything to ensure their own survival. To what end, it remains a mystery, however judging from their behavior their miserable existences are probably more preferable to them than the unknown of what lies in the great beyond. As the film opens, a bespectacled local liquor store owner, who looks a lot like the bespectacled bad guy chasing Louis DeFunes through much of Gerard Oury’s The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), finds a case of “Tenafly Viper” (presumably whiskey or bourbon) in his basement long after the concoction’s expiration date has passed and elects to sell it in his store for a dollar a bottle. The results are disastrous for those who consume the poisonous drink as they begin to slowly turn into defragmented, messy, colorful blobs that would make Rob Bottin, the effects master on John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), cringe. Fred (Mick Lackey, who also did special make-up effects on the film) owes money here and there and will steal from anyone to get it. Bronson (Vic Noto) is an imposing individual who appears to hold sway over everyone who lives in the junkyard and demands money (probably rent) from them. Shot in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, NY in 1986 long before gentrification of the neighborhood, the opening of the film sports a schizophrenic sequence of fast-moving Steadicam shots of Fred out-witting other bums for money. Names like Vandervoort Avenue, Meserole Avenue, Moultrie Street, Norman Avenue, and Humbolt Street populate the screen. Fred takes to the steps of the abandoned and graffiti-covered Greenpoint Hospital Outpatient Department on Maspeth Avenue (now the fully functioning Greenpoint Renaissance Center), and another bum, Paulie, bemoans the fact that his son is wasting his life on computers! If only he had a crystal ball…

Like David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977), Street Trash virtually defies description. That is part of the film’s charm, if a film like this can possess charm! There are some wildly hilarious moments, particularly in the opening scenes involving Fred and flatulence. Another scene involves a group of squeegee men (people who wash car windshields at red lights and demand payment under the threat of vandalism). Bronson takes this bit of intimidation to the extreme by extricating a stereotypically-dressed nerd, with glasses and bowtie, from his car and throwing him headfirst into the windshield as his girlfriend screams in horror. Bronson is unhinged from the get-go and it comes to light that he once fought in Vietnam. This point is driven home in a sequence wherein he has a flashback and is attacked by the Vietcong. Bronson no doubt inspired the character of Wynyard, the drug-addicted frog in Peter Jackson’s hilarious 1989 Muppets send-up Meet the Feebles (years ago, Anchor Bay promised a deluxe DVD of the Feebles, however it soon disappeared from their “future” list. It has been no doubt delayed due to Mr. Jackson’s involvement in getting his Tolkien fantasies shot, but this would be a perfect film for Synapse to release). Another funny sequence takes place in a supermarket wherein a panhandler stuffs nearly a quarter of the store’s inventory down his pants and is offended when the store manager calls him out on it. The film's craziest sequence, however, involves the removal of a bum’s private part as others use it to play a game of catch, tossing it amongst themselves. It looks like it’s paying homage to the tossed bone in the air in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). It’s humorous but it goes on a little too long. One fellow reviewer referred to this film as “the greatest movie Troma never made,” and he’s absolutely right. In fact, Troma has been making so many crazy, off-the-wall parodies of other movies for nearly four decades that I initially thought that films like Street Trash and Peter Jackson’s wildly entertaining Bad Taste (1986) were made by them. The pacing of the film is a bit off, and it might have worked better as an 80-minute film rather than its full 101 feature-length running time. The timing of the film’s release following Larry Cohen’s The Stuff (1985), about a company that packages industrial waste into the form of a snack, is either deliberate or entirely coincidental, as that film concerns people who, after ingesting The Stuff, have awful things happen to them. If you are a fan of Street Trash, this new Blu-ray from Don May, Jr.’s excellent Synapse Films is a no-brainer. The transfer is absolutely gorgeous.

The film has been released many times before on VHS and laserdisc (both here and in Japan). Synapse Films released it in the US in 2005 as a single DVD disc, then in 2006 as a special edition two-disc set the following year. It is that set that is replicated on the single Blu-ray with the following extras:

The Meltdown Memoirs (2:04:00) I love when DVDs and Blu-rays offer documentaries that are occasionally longer than the feature film that they are discussing. Laurent Bouzereau’s documentary on Steve Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) is a case in point. The documentary on Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners (1995) runs roughly four hours long, as does the one on the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, Never Sleep Again. The same is true of the documentary on Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) on Blu-ray. While some people may find this excessive, true diehard fans, including yours truly, love these added values. The Meltdown Memoirs is no exception. It runs just over two hours in length and is everything that a film documentary should be: entertaining, informative, and comprehensive. Just about everybody who appears in the film can be seen here as well. There is plenty of behind-the-scenes footage, discussions about the cast and financing the film, discussions about special effects, illustrations of conceptual art, the gloriously colorful cinematography and production design, etc. In short, this is just about everything that you need to know about this movie. The original cut of Street Trash ran nearly three hours (gulp!).

Audio commentary number one with writer/producer Roy Frumkes. It is a real pleasure to listen to Roy as he discusses many facets about the making of the film. Usually, special editions offer commentaries as well as interviews which tend to contain the exact same information just packaged differently. The idea behind this, I assume, is to give fans who like watching short interviews but do not like to listen to full-length commentaries the same information, however in truncated form. There is very little repetition in the way of what is mentioned in the audio commentary on this disc, as opposed to the documentary. This is really designed with the hardcore fan in mind, the person who’s going to watch and listen to every extra that the disc boasts.

Audio commentary number two with director James Munro. Director Munro speaks about this film from a technical standpoint which is helpful to people who work behind the camera. If you have already watched the two-hour documentary and listen to Mr. Frumkes, you can probably skip this track and not miss out too much. However, if you’re a completist, there are interesting anecdotes to be sure.

The original Street Trash 16mm short that inspired the feature-length film. This short runs approximately fifteen minutes in length and is interesting to see in contrast to the feature-length film.

The original Street Trash promotional teaser.

Deleted scenes and outtakes. Seven minutes of short scenes are featured here in a sequence that is exclusive to the Blu-ray.

Jane Arakawa interview. A nine-minute interview with one of the actresses from the film that is also exclusive to this Blu-ray.

Theatrical trailer. This runs about two minutes.

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By Todd Garbarini  

If the plot of Walt Disney’s animated film Oliver and Company (1988) feels or sounds familiar, it should.  It is loosely based upon Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist but this titular character is not a beggar sent to London.  This time around, he’s a cute little kitten set about the busy streets of New York City and tries his best to fit in and survive.  He is “befriended” by Dodger, an older dog who is streetwise and gets Oliver to aid him in scoring food while keeping the goods for himself.  Oliver is understandably miffed by this, but these are the mean streets of New York, after all.  He learns a valuable lesson about trusting others who appear to want to help him.  Dodger is owned by Fagin and is part of a gang comprised of Tito (a Chihuahua), Francis (a Bulldog), Einstein (a Great Dane), and Rita (a Saluki).  Fagin owes money to Sykes, a loan shark who intimidates him with two Doberman Pinschers to keep him in line, and is given three days to pay back the money he borrowed (which he certainly didn’t spend on accoutrements).  In an effort to score some quick cash to help Fagin, Oliver and Tito attempt to burglarize a limousine, only to be caught by a very young girl, Jenny Foxworth, and Winston her Butler.  Jenny epitomizes the Disney “lonely child” (think of Penny from “The Rescuers”) and takes Oliver home.  Jenny is the victim of rich parents who simply don’t have time for, as they are too busy gallivanting the world. She also has a poodle, Georgette, who truly is a stuck-up bitch and becomes extremely jealous of Oliver.  She wants him out of the house, and is only too happy to oblige when Dodger and his friends come to “rescue” Oliver who confesses that he was actually happy living with Penny and the comforts her home afforded him. Shocked and disappointed at this revelation, Dodger shrugs off Oliver and tells him to leave.  This, of course, leaves us with Fagin who gets wind of the fact that Oliver was with a rich family. His wheels begin to turn and he schemes to put out a ransom for Oliver in an effort to reimburse Sykes.  This sets up a series of misadventures and misunderstandings that culminate in the usual Disney happy ending.

Opening on Friday, November 18, 1988, Oliver and Company was met with a lukewarm response. I must admit to being taken aback by some of the lackluster critical notices towards this film. A lot have carped of the predictable nature of the story and that the songs don't measure up to previous Disney outings. While I will admit that the style of animation is much different than the Disney masterpieces (the reputable Nine Old Men who were responsible for the most well-known Disney cartoons of all-time were by this time retired), this is the first Disney cartoon to utilize computers for the background animation designs. If the movie seems predictable, it is due to the fact that it's based upon a well-known piece of literature that has been read and studied for decades. Besides, the film is geared towards children who are probably are at an age where they are completely unfamiliar with the story’s literary origins. It cannot help but feel familiar to adults and it should not be cast aside due to this fact. Most of the animals are appealing, and there is a humorous shot early on in the film where familiar dogs from past Disney cartoons, specifically Lady and the Tramp (1955), are seen on the streets of New York. Disney enthusiasts will pick this up right away.

All of the characters are nicely drawn. Children will love the interaction between animals. Georgia is an interesting creation, and her disposition mirrors that of the female dog in Friz Freleng’s 1942 cartoon Ding Dog Daddy who sarcastically shrugs off a goofy dog who asks her out, turning her nose up at him and walking off.

The film also sports a handful of musical numbers by Billy Joel, Bette Midler, and Huey Lewis.

Oliver and Company is now available in a DVD and Blu-ray combo. Needless to say, it looks splendid in high definition. The discs include trailers for the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray combo of The Little Mermaid which will be released in October 2013 in addition to an admonition against the smoking effects of secondhand smoke.

The discs are very light on the bonus features and they include:

The Making of Oliver and Company, a vintage featurette that runs 5:31 and is presented in standard definition. It spends much of its time discussing not only the cast involved in the creation of the characters and songs (such as Cheech Marin, Billy Joel and Bette Midler), but also takes a very interesting look at what was then state-of-the-art computerized animation. This is not animation in the original sense of the word, but rather using a computer to make changes in perspective within the confines of animation cells in the film frame. The hardware was very big and bulky at the time and the software looks extremely archaic to our eyes 25 years hence, but it got the job done.

Disney's Animated Animals runs 89 seconds in length and is a quick overview of the anthropomorphized animals that are featured in the film.

Lend a Paw is an animated short produced by Disney released theatrically by RKO Radio Pictures on October 3, 1941. It runs 8:08 and is included due to the fact that it is thematically similar to Oliver and Company.

Puss Café is a Disney cartoon that was released theatrically on June 9, 1950 and runs 7:11. It concerns similar themes in that Pluto is up against a group of cats who are attempting to steal food.

The discs also include both the television and theatrical trailers. 

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By Todd Garbarini 

Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone, which opened on Wednesday, December 25, 1963, may not be all that familiar to young viewers unless they grew up seeing it on VHS in the 1990s or on its maiden DVD release five years ago. I first saw it in January 1973 during a re-release and again in elementary school in the all-purpose room on 16mm in 1975, which was a real treat as it was rare to see a feature-length film in school (the obvious exception being Charlotte’s Web (1973) which was de rigueur for elementary school students.) Having just viewed the new 50^th anniversary Blu-ray, I was shocked to realize just how little of the film I had remembered other than the jousting sequence.

Based upon the 1938 novel by Terence Hanbury White, who passed away some 24 days after the film’s release, The Sword in the Stone concerns the death of King Pendragon, a British ruler whose demise has left his country reeling due to the lack of a successor. In London, the titular sword is buried partially in stone. Upon the sword is an inscription which states that whoever manages to remove the sword from the stone will be ordained the new king of England. Naturally, many overgrown brutes try their hand at it and fail to budge it. Sometime later, a young orphan by the name of Arthur (who is also referred to as Wart) joins his foster brother Kay on a hunting trip. Through a misadventure, he ends up in the home of a magician by the name of Merlin who takes Arthur under his cape, so to speak. When Arthur returns to his foster father, Sir Ector, he introduces him to Merlin. Sir Ector is more concerned with the upcoming annual jousting tournament which is to be held, conveniently enough, in London. Kay will be trained for the event and young Arthur will be his squire.

Merlin takes Arthur through a series of transformations in the hopes of giving the young lad an education. They temporarily become fish in a sequence that predates Finding Nemo by 40 years, and also become squirrels to comprehend the finer aspects of gravity and romantic love in a cute sequence. At this point, Archimedes, Merlin's owl, enters the picture. He is gruff and full of wisdom and takes a “tough love” attitude towards Arthur. The sequence where Merlin begins to wash dishes with his magic will delight children who have seen the Harry Potter films.

Arthur then learns how to fly by being turned into a sparrow and studies under Archimedes’ tutelage. Arthur makes his way down the chimney, the roof of the house shaped just like a witch’s hat – Harry Potter references again – and finds himself in the house of Madam Mim, who ends up in a duel with Merlin, the latter of whom stops the former by transforming himself into a germ and infecting her.

It is now time for the tournament and Sir Ector, Kay, Arthur, and Archimedes go to London. Naturally, Arthur has forgotten Kay's sword at the inn which turns out to be closed and he just happens to notice the sword in the stone. He extricate said with minimal effort and brings it to his father who was stunned when he reads the inscription on. Needing to see his son remove the sword from the stone with his very eyes, he replaces the sword in the stone. When Arthur removes it, it is obvious that he is the chosen King of England.

The Sword in the Stone contains a handful of entertaining songs and the lyrics are enough to baffle both Willy Wonka and Dr. Seuss: “Higitus Figitus” is a tongue-twister. The score was written by the Sherman Brothers, the most prolific songwriting team in the history of film. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Score - Adaptation or Treatment in 1963, but lost out to Irma La Douce.

The new Blu-ray, which also contains a standard definition DVD and a digital copy, is a revelation to behold. The picture can only be described as gorgeous and does not give a hint as to being over fifty years-old thanks to digital restoration. Colors are bright and sharp and look sterling on a large high definition display.

The extras on the disc consist of:

Alternate Opening - Where Wart Meets Merlin (4:02) – this is a look at how the film was originally going to open as seen through storyboards and voiceover.

Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers is an eight-minute featurette on the gentlemen who wrote the music. While is it interesting to watch, I would have liked to have seen much more of them!

All About Magic (Excerpt) – (7:19) is a neat feature in black and white of Walt Disney performing magic tricks. Some are obvious (like the “levitating” table that is being hoisted by strings) and some are a sight to see.

A Knight for a Day (7:06) is a color cartoon featuring Goofy which was released on March 8, 1946 and makes its appearance on this disc thanks to the jousting theme. There is a fair amount of dot crawl on the characters in certain shots as the cartoon has not been restored and appears to be transferred from a theatrical print.

Brave Little Tailor (9:01) is a color cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse that is set during the Middle Ages. It was released on September 29, 1938. Like A Knight for a Day, there is some dot crawl on the characters in certain shots as the cartoon has not been restored and also appears to be transferred from a theatrical print.

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By Todd Garbarini

From the first frame of Amir Shervan's 1989 film Samurai Cop, you know that you're in for a treat.  Cheesy 1980s artificial pop music that sounds like it was generated by a Casio keyboard, courtesy of Alen Dermarderossian, with white credits set against a black background (a surefire indicator that you're watching a low-budget film) give way to Okamura (Gerald Okamura) complaining that they are not an established gang, and as such, they should be very cautious to make friends with the Chinese and Japanese gangs. He grunts and groans and makes exclamations that aren't always decipherable.  Former porn star Krista Lane, who is part of the gang, says things like, “Here comes the boss!” or “The boss is coming.”  Robert Z’Dar, best known for the Maniac Cop films, is an imposing figure who does the boss’s dirty work.  Needless to say, they get into a fight with a gang they want to do business with after being rebuffed and several people are killed.  Enter black and white cop team Frank Washington (Mark Frazer) and Joe Marshall (Matt Hanon), the poor man’s answer to Roger Murtaugh and Martin Riggs from Lethal Weapon (1987).  Washington looks like Michael Winslow from the Police Academy series and Marshall is a samurai expert(?!) who looks like former model Fabio.  They spout some of the most quotable, ludicrously awful dialogue I’ve heard in a long time.  When they go out on assignment in a beaten up Chevrolet Caprice Classic, one of them says, “His boss was killed by the Katana Gang.  There’s the blue van over there.”  The other asks, “So, the van belongs to the Katana Gang?”  He must've been at the head of his graduating class.  They enlist the help of another cop, Peggy (Melissa Moore of 1990’s Sorority House Massacre II), in following the culprits and later on Marshall beds her in one of the genre’s most boring sex scenes. 

The cops have run-ins with the Katana Gang in a laugh-out-loud sequence in a restaurant where they threaten the boss and Marshall swoons over Jennifer, the young attractive owner of the joint. There’s a completely unnecessary scene involving a ridiculously effeminate waiter who looks like he fell out of an early Dario Argento thriller.

The film is a time capsule of music, wardrobe, and hairstyles from nearly a quarter-century ago. There is full frontal female nudity, three attempts at sex scenes, and one of the funniest, phoniest car chases I have ever seen (it makes you pine away for William Friedkin’s touch.) The late Dale Cummings plays their vociferous police captain, constantly yelling at the cops to bring him results. One of the funniest scenes takes place in his office (I won’t spoil it) as he threatens to send Marshall back to where he came from.

The film has absolutely no cinematic style despite the best efforts of cinematographer Peter Palian, who shoots much of the action in masters. There is very little intercutting and therefore no excitement is generated. Unbelievably, all of these drawbacks add considerably to the film's overall charm. I wish that the bulk of movies made today were one-tenth as entertaining Samurai Cop turns out to be.

The film has been transferred from the original 35mm film negative and the image is crystal clear. Some of the color timing appears to be off a little bit, however this is a minor quibble. This is unquestionably the best the film was ever going to look.

The extras that the disc comes with include:

An interview with actor Robert Z’Dar conducted over Skype which runs 25 minutes. The image quality is poor, however Douglas Dunning, the interviewer, and the actor are both understandable. Mr. Z’Dar talks about how he got into the business and came to meet the late director Amir Shervan with whom he made three films (Hollywood Cop (1987) and Killing American Style (1990) in addition to this one). Director Amir Shervan intended Samurai Cop to be a straightforward action film. It took three weeks to shoot on a budget of approximately $800,000.00.

An interview with actor and fight co-ordinator Gerald Okamura that runs 20 minutes. He discusses his time working with David Carradine on Kung-Fu and with John Carpenter on Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Escape From L.A. (1996), in addition to Samurai Cop.

An interview with cinematographer Peter Palian who talks extensively about his career in the business runs 27 minutes.

There are also stills galleries and an amusing fan trailer for the film.

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By Todd Garbarini 

Actor Victor Lundin, best known to film fans for his portrayal of Friday in Byron Haskin’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964), passed away on June 29, 2013 at age 83 after an undisclosed illness.  News of his passing first came to Cinema Retro via Cinema Epoch’s Director of Acquisitions Douglas Dunning, who was a personal friend of Mr. Lundin’s.  It was also confirmed by John Sempre, Jr.’s Facebook page (Mr. Sempre interviewed Mr. Lundin and this audio interview can be heard in part one and part two on Vimeo) as well as Zachary Lundin’s Facebook page (Victor’s son). 

In addition to this film, Mr. Lundin appeared in the 1966 film version of Beau Geste, and appeared on television in episodes on some of our favorite shows from the 1960’s, including The Time Tunnel, Get Smart, Star Trek, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Mannix, and Batman.

According to Mr. Sempre, Jr., one of Mr. Lundin’s last screen appearances will be in the former’s upcoming web miniseries, Creeporia, wherein he provided a brief cameo voice for an animated character (an evil wizard) in the first episode. Creeporia will be released via streaming video in October 2013. For more information, click on Creeporia’s website and Creeporia’s Facebook page.

By Todd Garbarini

Douglas Dunning the actor, producer, film authority, and Director of Acquisitions at Cinema Epoch, has just acquired the rights to the following titles for future release on DVD:

The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976) with Millie Perkins and directed by Matt Cimber

Butterfly (1982) with Pia Zadora, Stacy Keach and Orson Wells and directed by Matt Cimber

As previously reported, Mr. Dunning is the host of Prodigy Media Network’s “How Do You View”, an Internet radio show produced by Cinema Epoch president Gregory Hatanaka. The show is available for listening daily at 1:00 am, 5:30 am, 11:00 am & 5:00 pm Pacific Standard Time (4:00 am, 8:30 am, 2:00 pm, and 8:00 pm New York time). Click here to listen to “How Do You View” at the respective times.

Mr. Dunning is keeping busy. He is also currently co-starring in the film Barry Price, which is loosely based upon John Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1977). The film is being directed by Chris Boggs and it stars film legend John Wayne’s grandson, Brandon Wayne, in his first starring role. Mr. Dunning is also appearing in Master of the Grind, which is being directed by Jason Rutherford.

After recently being promoted to Head of Production at Cinema Epoch, Mr. Dunning will be producing the following new films, all to be directed by the aforementioned Mr. Hatanaka:

Hunter, a thriller due to begin filming on July 1, 2013

The Alpha Experiment, a sci-fi thriller due to start shooting in August 2013

Darling Nikki, a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland

Stay tuned to Cinema Retro.com for future updates!

By Todd Garbarini

Rarely has distributor exploitation been as blatant as in the case of Simon Wincer’s The Day After Halloween (1980), a ludicrously-named Australian outing originally optioned under the name of Centerfold, then changed to Snapshot after the producers were unable to secure that title, and was eventually released as One More Minute. It appeared on video shelves here in the U.S. on VHS both in 1983 from Catalina Home Video under the title of The Day After Halloween and in 1985 as The Night After Halloween on Magnum Home Entertainment. The film came on the heels of the John Carpenter-scripted Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) which was set against the milieu of the fashion industry. Filmed in 1978 and released in Australia the following year, The Day After Halloween has absolutely nothing to do with John Carpenter’s seminal holiday suspense yarn, and isn’t even a slasher film. It isn’t even a thriller. At best, it can be considered a mystery that concerns a young woman named Angela (Sigrid Thornton) who lives with her wretched, belittling mother and is trying to fend off the unwanted affections of her obsessed and emotionally unstable ex-boyfriend Daryl (Vincent Gil) who drives an ice cream truck (think Phantasm!). She’s late for work which earns her the condemnation of her hairstylist boss but garners the affections of Madeline (Chantal Contouri), a sophisticate who dresses like Joan Collins who encourages Angela to parlay her natural good looks into a modeling career which lands her topless in Cleo, the Australian equivalent of Cosmopolitan Magazine, in an ad for Bermuda Cool cologne. The ad proves lucrative but also draws the unsolicited attention of lots of tongue-wagging men twice her age in an effort to score with her. A photographer sets up a meeting with her and uses an innocent photo session as a ruse to get her drunk and undressed, but she bails, which leads to a frightening confrontation later on.

Given the cookie-cutter nature of films from this era, it isn’t difficult to realize who really idolizes Angela and wants her the most. The Bermuda Cool photographing sequence goes on much longer than it should (remember that long, wordless sequence in Play Misty for Me set to a Roberta Flack song? That was shorter!). Lacking a cinematic style, the film for the most part is shot in masters and throws lots of red herrings at the audience, but it makes for an entertaining film. The acting is impressive for this sort of story. The score is by the late Australian composer Brian May whose music to George Miller’s The Road Warrior (1981) is one of the best action film scores ever. Prior to this, Mr. May scored Patrick (1978) which was produced by Anthony Ginnane who also acts as producer on this film as well (if you have seen the Italian cut of Patrick, Mr. May’s score was replaced by Goblin’s). Director Wincer has gone on to director more notable and successful films: Phar Lap (1983), D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), Quigley Down Under (1990), Free Willy (1993), and The Phantom (1996).

The film has been released on Scorpion Releasing’s Katarina's Nightmare Theater line, hosted by Katarina Leigh Waters. Ms. Waters proves to be a charming and knowledgeable emcee and provides an amusing introduction to the film. She points out that this is the first time the film is being presented on home video in its original 2.35:1 anamorphic Panavision aspect ratio. The film is transferred from a theatrical print, but it is free of dirt and scratches. The sound is in mono and is passable.

The DVD contains the entire, uncut version of the film with Snapshot on the title card, however there is an extra that contains a portion of the opening credits with The Day After Halloween as the title (the fuzziness of the image and overall lack of quality appears to be sourced from VHS). There is also an extremely informative running commentary with producer Anthony Ginnane moderated by Ms. Waters. A veteran of over fifty films, Mr. Ginnane is a fountain of knowledge and remembers quite a bit about the making of this film which had a very tight production schedule on the order of three weeks shooting time. The DVD cover replicates the original American one-sheet which is a nicely-designed image but is completely misleading – it is simply the wrong cover for this movie.

Click here to order from Amazon 

By Todd Garbarini

On Saturday, April 23, 1988, I attended the Official Starlog Festival at the then-Penta Hotel in midtown Manhattan on Seventh Avenue. It was my first time meeting makeup artist Tom Savini and several cast members of Star Trek were also on hand. Film producer Frank Marshall, whom cineastes will know from The Warriors (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Poltergeist (1982), Back to the Future (1985), and most recently The Borne Legacy (2012), also showed up for a few hours to debut footage that director Robert Zemeckis shot for a new upcoming film entitled Who Framed Roger Rabbit? which was based upon the 1981 novel by Gary K. Wolf, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? The footage that we saw consisted of Bob Hoskins interacting with Roger and other animated characters and it looked pretty seemless. When the film opened two months later, I was delighted to see my favorite cartoon characters appear in one film.

The premise is fairly straight forward and owes a huge debt to the film noirs of the Thirties and Forties and there is more than a passing wink at Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) as Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) is hired by R.K. Maroon (the head of Maroon Cartoons) to investigate allegations that Jessica Rabbit, the wife of cartoon star Roger Rabbit (both of whom live in Toontown with other cartoon characters who act in movies for real people producers and directors), is having an affair. Eddie hates toons because his brother, Teddy, was killed by one some years earlier. Eddie shows Roger pictures that he took of Roger’s wife, Jessica, playing patty-cake with Marvin Acme. Roger interprets this as his wife cheating on him, and when Acme is killed the next day by a fallen piano, Roger moves to the head of the suspect list. Since toons are pretty much indestructible (they have to be in order for them to be “killed” in their cartoons!), an evil man named Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd), who presides over Toontown, knows that the only way to kill a toon should one of them step out of line is to submerge them into a vat of acid he calls “The Dip”. His minions are sent out to find Roger and bring him back for the murder of Marvin Acme. This leads to a series of action-packed misadventures that are executed in the tradition of most of the beloved Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies cartoons.

This is the film’s first foray on to Blu-ray, and its third go-round on DVD. It comes in a 2-disc set with one Blu-ray and one DVD. The Blu-ray contains the following extras:

Filmmaker’s running commentary (runs in tandem with the film)

The Roger Rabbit Shorts: Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit & Trail Mix-Up

Who Made Roger Rabbit (10:55)

Deleted Scene: The Pig Head Sequence (5:30)

Before and After (3:07)

Toon Stand-Ins (3:14)

Behind the Ears documentary (36:37)

On Set! behind-the-scenes (4:50)

The DVD contains these additional extras:

Valiant Files

Toontown Confidential, a feature that can be enabled while watching the film which has facts and trivia

What is missing, and this is something I have never seen on any home video release of the film be it VHS, laserdisc (does anyone remember the controversy surrounding this release?), or previous editions DVDs, is the CBS-TV special Roger Rabbit & the Secrets of Toon Town which aired on Tuesday, September 13, 1988. Its exclusion might be attributed to a rights issue. Fortunately, it can be seen here on Youtube. The quality is not stellar, however it is better than not having access to it at all.

All in all, this Blu-ray is a worthy upgrade to a fun film that has earned its place in movie history.

Click here to order from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

Pasha Roberts is the director of the new film Silver Circle.  He obtained his masters in financial engineering, which he describes as “hedge fund math,” roughly ten years ago.  His interest was in financial digitalization and how to apply modern computer graphics to high finance. His thesis subject consisted of applying a game-like graphics engine to doing equity trading in finance so that a reasonably intelligent 13-year-old gamer could use it to learn this type of trading.  Upon doing this, he realized that what was missing from financial communications was a way of describing complicated concepts from a Ph.D level and bringing it down to a Masters level, essentially reducing the complexity and making it accessible; he did this by working with banks, corporations and think tanks.

Beginning around 2006, he began moving towards more economic-type concepts, and felt that it was important to describe things on more of an economic level rather than a financial level. When the housing and financial crash occurred in 2008, he decided that Silver Circle should really be about a crash and the intrigue around that crash.

Todd Garbarini: Your animation company, Two Lanterns Media, produced a series entitled Save Sonny which concerns a young adult entering the workforce who becomes perturbed to find that some of his paycheck is being deducted by a mysterious entity known as FICA (laughs). Does Sonny personify the average young American in your mind?

Pasha Roberts: At that point, we kind of did that, yeah. That was kind of a South Park-level of humor, there are some farts jokes in there as well. The goal at the time was to take the subject and make it interesting and acceptable for somebody who, when they get their first job, suddenly realizes that they don't get all of their money. They want to know where it goes to, specifically FICA, and why. That was a whole, completely different other style and was not as serious as (our new film) Silver Circle, but kind of tongue-in-cheek and somewhat educational.

TG: The series reminds me of Schoolhouse Rock which endeavored to educate children on science, economics, history, etc. Do you see yourself as an educator for social change and personal financial responsibility through animation?

PR: Yeah, you could say it that way. We were focusing on the story first and therefore tried to make it fun and interesting without trying to be too pedantic about it. That's why Silver Circle isn't full of speeches, although it has one or two that are kind of mixed in. We were interested in working with people who wanted to make a movie with a backbone and a spine and ideas in it. The audience can certainly enjoy it on an intellectual level in that regard, but otherwise they can also enjoy themselves from the movie perspective as we do have some action sequences and a car chase.

TG: Silver Circle posits the financial collapse of the United States economic system roughly six years from now. It is animated in the style of a contemporary video game. Was this your decision from the get-go?

PR: We were actually looking at A Scanner Darkly, actually we did use Maya, we didn't really use cel shading for this but we did look a lot at that. We really wanted to make the characters look less realistic and keep them from looking kind of spooky, and even so I think we could have done more with that. It's kind of a crossover thing, you don't see a lot of animated movies that are not comedies or fantasies, so people aren’t used to seeing this type of animation with something serious.

TG: How long did the process of making the film take, from conception to final product?

PR: Four years. We basically started brainstorming about it the day after Lehman Brothers went down because it was such a big dramatic moment, and I thought this could be a real interesting theme. The screenwriting itself took about a year as there was a completely different concept at first and it took a little while to burn through a couple of screenwriters until we finally settled on Stephen (Schwartz). Then we spent three years on production. The overall budget was roughly $2M. One of the really interesting things about the movie is that the end credits contain the names of about ten core people who really worked on it, compared to an army of animators.

TG: In the film, the Federal Reserve has been tasked with stabilizing the economy, but all attempts have failed and the Rebels illegally mint silver coins hoping to stabilize the financial health of the country. How do you feel this mirrors the current economic situation in the U.S. today?

PR: I think that we are currently heading in the direction that is depicted in the film, although I don't think that it will be as bad. There were a couple of things that are in the movie and were even in the script but hadn't happened yet but actually came true as we progressed through making the movie. For example, there is a guy by the name of Bernard von Nothaus who is currently in prison for making money out of silver, and that’s his crime. His sentencing judge basically called him a domestic terrorist for trying to make money out of silver. So, that was not going on. Then, the Federal Reserve was actually talking about taking over neighborhoods and basically calling them “land banks,” which is of course essential part of Silver Circle’s plot. So, there are angles going on in that direction already and I do believe that marijuana is on its way to being legalized, and this also occurs in the movie. I hope that the movie obviously isn't prescient in terms of being completely true. We looked at a lot of the history of Argentina and Zimbabwe and what happens when a currency begins to die and how people behave as a result of that.

TG: What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?

PR: First off, I hope that they enjoy the story. Obviously, I want them to have a great time. I want it to be a fun, good story for the audience. After that, I hope that people are not only entertained, and but there are also a lot of embedded things in the movie for the so-called armchair economists and conspiracy theorists. I really do hope that it gets people to start to think about money and know that there is this thing out there called the Federal Reserve that is very real and they are not murderous bastards (laughs). I want the audience to not take the concepts of money for granted. Most other countries understand that and the changing of European currency and so on and so forth - things abroad do not appear to be as well-established or as stable as things appear to be here. So, hopefully the audience will think about that. The angle that we're taking is that we really can make an animated movie with a spine of ideas that people will actually appreciate instead of just offering up a whitewashed movie.

Silver Circle Theater Schedule:

4/05 Laemmle’s NoHo – Los Angeles, CA (Buy your tickets here)

4/11 Pollack Tempe Cinema – Tempe, AZ (Buy your tickets here)

4/12 Regal Cinema – Ballston – Arlington, VA (Tickets on sale soon)

4/18 Flix Brewhouse – Round Rock, TX (Buy your tickets here)

Silver Circle’s official website is here.

Click here to read Todd Garbarini's review of Silver Circle 

By Todd Garbarini 

Room 237 is the title of the excellent new documentary by director Rodney Ascher that takes the points of view of five off-screen individuals who do their best to unmask the purported hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s initially disappointing yet subsequently revered 1980 film version of Stephen King’s The Shining. In doing so, they are keeping in line with a motif derived straight from the novel in a sequence wherein Horace Derwent, a former owner of the Overlook Hotel, urges his costumed party-goers to unmask at a lavish celebration, thereby revealing their identities. The human face as a mask is also a common theme throughout all of Mr. Kubrick’s filmography, so it is only fitting that Room 237 takes the approach of removing layers to reveal what might be hidden beneath the surface in order to get at The Shining’s essence.

As a fan of Mr. Kubrick’s film for the past thirty years, I can honestly say that even though I have seen it easily more than fifty times I never noticed the props, visual references or subtexts that these five narrators diligently point out (granted this was difficult to do on archaic home video systems such as CED or VHS due to their significantly reduced image quality, to say nothing of the substandard televisions they were played back on, although the technically superior Blu-ray is a much better medium due to its high definition quality and lends itself ideal for this examination). Nor did I see the various continuity errors, judged as deliberate by Mr. Kubrick from the narrators’ perspectives, such as the carpet that changes direction in the hallway or the chair against the wall disappearing during Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) emotional outburst after his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) interrupts his writing. An argument can be made that Room 237 is less about the hidden meanings in The Shining than it is an explanation of five different people’s interpretations and experiences of seeing The Shining. There were times wherein the person speaking discussed in great length the strange layout of the Overlook Hotel and I must admit I could not see what they were getting at, however this is just one point that is made and there are numerous theories to go around on other subtexts of the film: the purported significance of the number 42; the architectural impossibility of the window in Mr. Ullman’s office; the ludicrous sexual reference in Mr. Ullman’s first handshake with Jack (this is a bit of a stretch – no pun intended, of course!); the Minotaur motif; the strange layout itself of the Overlook Hotel; the references to the genocide of Native Americans and even the Holocaust, the subject of which Mr. Kubrick later attempted to make a film about but eventually abandoned as he felt he could not do justice to the horror of this bleak period in history.

Director Ascher makes the interesting choice of not showing the faces of the narrators, and this maneuver works to the film’s advantage since so much of it is about pointing out what the narrators see. Cross-cutting between the narrators and the points they want to make would have either reduced the film’s running time (102 minutes, roughly the same as The French Connection (1970), my favorite film) or would have left most of the cogent points on the cutting room floor. I can only hope that the forthcoming DVD will offer up some nice extras in the way of deleted scenes. I am certain that there must have been some discussion about the significance of Jack telling Mr. Ullman that Wendy is a “confirmed ghost story and horror film addict,” yet her artistic escapes consist of reading The Catcher in the Rye and watching Summer of ’42 (there’s that number again!), two classics about the coming-of-age of a young male.

I especially liked Room 237’s framing device of using Lamberto Bava’s Demons (1985) and Demons 2: The Nightmare Continues (1986) as footage of an audience viewing The Shining in a theater and on television, respectively, to make certain points. Ideally, The Shining should be viewed in a movie theater, although realistically that is unfortunately not an option for most of us. The home video revolution saved many a film from inevitable obscurity and this is where the majority of Shining enthusiasts (myself included) had the opportunity to see it and thrill to it to our heart’s content.

The prerequisites for enjoying Room 237 include more than a passing interest in The Shining (it certainly helps to be a rabid fan of the film, thus having tremendous familiarity of it), patience, and certainly a sense of humor. Room 237 succeeds in imparting to the audience just how compelling and frightening The Shining can be to a first-time viewer. It is also a testament to the notion that film viewing is a solitary experience as no two people will see any one film with the same set of eyes. Perhaps, as is the case with The Shining, and many other Kubrick films, multiple viewings of Room 237 will clear up and even reveal more of what the narrators say they see. Whether you consider the film to be completely true or complete bollocks, one thing that can be said is that Room 237 is entertaining, thought-provoking, fascinating and enlightening. It’s my choice for Best Documentary at the 2014 Oscars.

Click here for the film’s official site.

By Todd Garbarini

Horror films are a hot commodity.  Some of the most well-known slasher films of the 1980’s have been re-issued on DVD and Blu-ray by companies looking to cash-in on audiences’ seemingly insatiable appetite for murder and mayhem while also introducing them to a whole new generation of fans with disposable income. Two titles that fans want on DVD and Blu-ray in the way of special editions are Paul Lynch’s Prom Night (1980) and Richard Ciupka’s Curtains (1983), both Canadian productions through Simcom, the former having fared far better on home video than the latter.

Prom Night was originally released theatrically by Avco Embassy Pictures in July 1980. It was distributed on VHS by MCA Home Video in 1981 and again by Virgin Vision, Inc. in 1988. MCA also released a laserdisc pan-and-scan version on their laser rot-prone DiscoVision line in 1981 (curiously, the film bypassed the RCA Select-A-Vision Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) stylus-based format of the early 1980’s, the direct competitor to laserdisc). The film fared better when a widescreen laserdisc sourced from a 35mm interpositive followed in 1997 courtesy of Elite Entertainment. In February 1998, Anchor Bay Entertainment released a widescreen DVD that included the original theatrical trailer (1.85:1 presentation is a must for this title as a boom mike is clearly visible in several shots in the full frame format). After the rights lapsed the film was picked up by Echo Bridge Entertainment and reissued in October 2007, this time dispensing with said trailer. Overall, Prom Night has been released on home video in three different formats no less than six times in the United States alone, not counting the international, non-Region 1 releases around the globe. All of these U.S. versions contain only the film without any additional extras that are practically a requirement to home video now: running commentaries, on-set interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, isolated musical scores, comments from contemporaries, stills galleries, etc.

Curtains, on the other hand, is a thriller that has suffered indignities far too numerous to list. Plagued from the outset by a problematic production, the financing ran out and put the cast and crew on hiatus for over one year. Much of the crew was replaced, and despite having been released theatrically in April 1983 to many respectable movie theaters by the long-defunct Jensen Farley Pictures, Curtains has only appeared on home video twice in the United States: in December 1983 Vestron Video released it on VHS, and in October 2010 Echo Bridge Entertainment released it as part of The Midnight Horror Collection: Bloody Slashers set which also includes Hoboken Hollow (2006), Secrets of the Clown (2007), and Room 33 (2009). In a maneuver regarded as perfunctory by those not in the know, Curtains appears to be lumped in with these three contemporary tales for no better reason than to “round out” the other titles – the original ad slick for Curtains was jettisoned and replaced with an image of a hand parting a curtain.

Curtains was also released in April 2007 on Region 2 DVD in the UK by Black Horse Entertainment. As with the Echo Bridge Entertainment release, the original poster artwork was not used. Again, an uninspired makeshift cover image that fails to represent the film in any way adorns the case. Curtains can be found at horror film conventions on DVD-R sporting its beautiful and atmospheric original one-sheet artwork, but the DVD transfer is sourced from the Vestron VHS cassette and is therefore in dire need of color correction; a 2K/4K high definition upgrade is long overdue.

Prom Night has a creepy score by Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer (he scored a handful of films for Bob Clark, including the classic 1974 film Black Christmas and was also a musical consultant on “Act II” of Curtains). Mr. Zaza also scored Curtains, which might have been a rejected score for Prom Night as several cues that appear in Prom Night also made their way into Curtains. Director Ciupka’s name was also removed from the credits to Curtains; whether or not this has any bearing on the lack of a DVD release is a mystery.

Fans can ponder why these titles are not available in full-blown special editions, and there are probably many legitimate reasons why the current DVDs turn up in Walmart discount bins. The original 35mm film negatives to each respective film may not be available as the whereabouts may be in question, or they may no longer even exist; management might feel that an insufficient number of fans willing to pay for the films exists and there is a fear of losing money on these titles; both films were made as Canadian tax shelter projects and this may also pose a problem. With the glut of far lesser quality horror thrillers available in beautifully designed special editions, the mind reels as to why these two films in particular have been marginalized and seem to be anathema to the royal treatment.

Echo Bridge Entertainment, a DVD company that uses the slogan “The Entertainment Alternative for What the World Wants to See” (not sure where that came from or what it is based upon), is now being approached by fans on an online petition website respectfully asking them to release the rights for these two films to Scream Factory, the Shout! Factory subsidiary that is making a name for itself with beautiful deluxe versions of genre favorites Terror Train (1980), The Funhouse (1981), Halloween II (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), and the upcoming Deadly Blessing (1981) to name a few. This company would be an ideal organization to release these films as their work thus far has proven that they will spend the time and provide just the proper amount of TLC that these films deserve.

As of this writing, the petition has 300 signatures and is looking for a total of 1200, which is not an impossible number to reach. Click here to sign the petition on Petition Buzz requesting licensing of Prom Night and Curtains.

By Todd Garbarini

James Cameron's The Terminator is a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling, conceived by Mr. Cameron while in Rome with a fever years earlier (the late director Robert Altman had a similar situation that led to the writing of my favorite film of his, Three Women, released in 1977). Shot in early 1984 for roughly $6M (the amount spent solely on the sound mix of the superb $90M sequel seven years later), this futuristic action powerhouse grabs the audience by the throat and takes us on a wild ride. Despite the inexorable pace – much like the titular villain’s nature – the film manages to come up for air and miraculously never feels over-the-top, long-winded or plodding.

The Terminator opened on Friday, October 26, 1984 and yours truly missed out on seeing it, electing to see the horror film greatest hits compilation Terror in the Aisles instead. I had to wait until the end of the school year eight months later to see the film in a classroom on VHS, the small-screen presentation diminishing none of the film’s raw emotional power to my teenage eyes, both of which were glued to the television. The film made Arnold Schwarzenegger a super star and was the surprise sleeper hit of the season, his depiction of a terrifying cyborg with a relentless mission it will stop at nothing to complete solidifying his place as an action icon. Two weeks later Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street was unleashed on unsuspecting moviegoers and cinema hasn't been the same since, introducing a child killer who invades teen-agers’ dreams in his attempts to murder them. The Terminator added “Come with me if you want to live.” and the oft-quoted “I’ll be back.” to the American lexicon and became as familiar as “May the Force be with you.” and “Go ahead. Make my day.” Nightmare, of course, contributed the creepy “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…” children’s song.

Linda Hamilton shines as Sarah Connor, a 28 year-old diner waitress who unwittingly is targeted for termination by the Terminator after it travels from the future, determined to kill her so that her unborn son cannot rise against the machines. Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn in a terrific and underrated performance) is the human counterpart sent to intercept and destroy the Terminator so that Sarah may live. What makes the film so brilliant is not only the ideas it presents but how it conveys them to the audience. For the first thirty-five minutes, we are just as in the dark as Sarah (not knowing she’s about to be on the run for her life) and Kyle (since the Terminator looks human on the outside, he has to wait until it moves in on Sarah before he can strike) and are only given little bits of information until Kyle and the Terminator meet face to face at the TechNoir dance club (the shootout in this ultra-Eighties club, followed by the escape, are beautifully edited set pieces that set the tone for the rest of the film).

The film may be low-budget, but it honestly does not feel like it. The story is enthralling and completely believable. Mr. Biehn gives a performance just as compelling as Donald Pleasence did in Halloween (1978). Without his history, conviction and attempts to make those around him believe that what he is saying is true, Kyle Reese, the soldier from the future who comes across time to father John Connor with Sarah, would fall under the weight of the film. There is a level of plausibility to the story that is lacking from other films about the future, heightened by Stan Winston’s special effects work. The flashback battle scenes of the war in 2019 recall Mad Max (1979) and Mad Max 2 (1981) (retitled The Road Warrior for its 1982 US release). The Terminator is the boiler plate for future films about, well. The future!

Composer Brad Fiedel has created a magnificently menacing score, robotic and simplistic like the Terminator. Dick Miller provides a great cameo as a gun store clerk (I just noticed the store’s address as 14329 and its similarity to 14239, the address of the first Sarah Connor the Terminator kills from the phonebook listing – and I have seen the film many times over! Oh, the clarity of high definition!).

The Blu-ray, which was released at least twice before (once in a special version containing a hardcover book), comes with the same extras ported over from the previous editions:

· Behind the scenes – runes about 13 minutes

· Terminator: A Retrospective – runs just over 20 minutes and contains interviews from 1986 and 1992

· A collection of deleted scenes

I wish that this time around the disc included a running commentary with the director at the very least. This is a watershed film that rewrote the book on science fiction action films and it is deserving of more extras than the studios have lavished on it thus far. If you have not yet picked up the film on Blu-ray, this edition will do quite nicely.

The film has been remastered and looks as good as it is going to in 1080P.

Click here to order discounted from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

Most big screen action films feel like video games made for the theatres. The over-the-top, psychotically-edited films of most of Michael Bay’s output of late, specifically the Transformer series, can attest to this fact. While the availability of inexpensive technology that was non-existent twenty years ago has brought tools to those who wish to push the envelope and find new and different ways to tell stories, there is virtually no limit to how filmmakers can realize their vision. We have reached a point in our intake of entertainment wherein movies influence video games and music videos and the lines between these disparate forms of enjoyment are becoming ever less defined.

Video games have experienced a surge in popularity in recent years thanks in part to high definition graphics, powerful home computers and gaming systems, and the ability to play against complete strangers several miles away or across the globe. One of the most profitable series is the Grand Theft Auto game from Rock Star Games, a company that has received flack for their violent and sexual content. The game literally puts the player (or perpetrator, depending upon your point of view) in the driver seat to navigate a dangerous city plagued by vagrants and social undesirables. Your mission is to commit as many crimes as possible as a means to an end. The graphics are high quality and the people are very realistic. It is this style of video game animation that has taken center stage in the terrific new film by Pasha Roberts called Silver Circle.

Set in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. in 2019, the same year as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982), Silver Circle concerns a world where inflation has run rampant following the financial collapse of the United States. A beer costs $90.00 and a gallon of gas averages $152.00, so $7.00 for a buzz and $3.59 for the precious juice no longer sounds like such a bad deal. But, it’s all relative. Pot has been legal since 2016 (apparently the war on drugs, a roughly $500 billion a year enterprise, is no longer a top priority), the same year that silver and gold was outlawed, and the Federal Reserve, referred to only as The Fed (much like Big Brother) is the country’s third attempt at a centralized banking system and it simply isn’t working. Desperate attempts by the aforementioned entity to stabilize the economy via printing worthless paper money with nothing to back it up except waning public trust is proving disastrous while managing home prices has similar effects.

Jay, an arson investigator, is brought in to determine the party responsible for the destruction of several homes in the Glenwood Homes subdivision which is the property of the Strategic Housing Reserve. He meets the lead realtor at the Cornwall Real Estate office and is intrigued by her assistant, Zoe, who agrees to meet with him later and give him some information off the record. Their meeting proves to be fortuitous as Jay is saved by Zoe when he is ambushed by henchmen looking to throw him off the case. Zoe gives chase in her mini-automobile that would make William Friedkin smile, effectively losing the bad guys. She clearly has some sort of expert training that the average realtor assistant would be oblivious to. It turns out that Zoe is a part of a group that call themselves The Rebels who illegally mint tangible, silver coins (hence the film’s title) in the hopes of stabilizing the financial health of the country.

While it might be easy to dismiss Silver Circle as just a story told through the unorthodox platform of video game animation, the film’s message is very real and serious and most certainly topical. Unlike contemporary action films that hit the audience over the head with cuts so fast that there is little time to process, Silver Circle moves at a much more visually manageable pace. It’s a film that has a message, and it manages to both entertain and inform the audience. The film’s greatest strength lies in getting the audience to think instead of just veg-out.

The film will begin touring the country starting in New York on Friday, March 22^nd. Click here on the film’s official website to see where it is playing and read more about the film, the characters, and the talented animators who brought Silver Circle to life.

By Todd Garbarini

Walt Disney Studios graciously provided me with the opportunity recently to discuss Peter Pan with two of the film’s stars: Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice of Wendy, and Paul Collins, who provided the voice of John Darling.

KATHRYN BEAUMONT

Todd Garbarini: Thank you for speaking with me about Peter Pan.

Kathryn Beaumont: Thank you, it’s my pleasure!

TG: I am a big fan of the Disney cartoons as I spent the better part of my childhood seeing them.

KB: I'm so glad! They really are special, aren't they? The Disney cartoons really stand the test of time.

TG: These are some of the earliest movies I ever saw in both movie theaters and drive-ins. I really miss the drive-ins. There are so few of them left.

KB: I know! I miss the drive-ins, too!

TG: I understand that you were born and lived in London. How did you come to enter show business?

KG: I was in On An Island with You (1948) and Challenge to Lassie (1949) and at that point MGM was scouting characters for their new ideas for British classic-like stories, and so they put me under contract and I started working for them. I was with MGM for a while, and as you know a lot of those ideas just never come into being and ended up being put on the shelf. They kept me under contract though and at that time that was when Walt Disney was looking for his Alice in Wonderland. The rest, as they say, is sort of history! Just about the time that my contract was due to be changed over for the next six months, that is a six-month option, at that point there was some sort of negotiation and I went over to Disney and started working on Alice in Wonderland.

TG: Were you familiar with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when you were asked to perform the voice of the titular heroine?

KB: (laughs) It reminds me of when I first met Walt. He greeted me at the door and walked me into the office where everybody was settled because we were going to be signing the contracts. The publicity department was there and all of that. He walked me over to the little table and chairs. He told me that it would be kind of nice for us to go over the original book. He asked if I was familiar with the story. I said, “Oh yes, yes of course, of course!” (laughs) I had had it read to me when I was very young. Everybody in England was familiar with it. Those were the absolute classics. I was familiar with the stories whether I had read them not and by that time I could read them myself. So yes, I was extremely familiar. So, we sat down and he was sort of trying to explain to me what his vision was for the film and how he was trying to bring a little bit of both Through the Looking Glass and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland into this new animated feature. So, it was very informative and we had a lot of fun looking through the books and sharing all the things that we knew about the stories.

TG: Like so many of the classic Disney films, Alice in Wonderland was animated by the Nine Old Men, the famous animators who worked on so many of these classics. I met two of them, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, in November 1987 at a local mall when they were promoting their book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. They were very nice to speak with. How did you get along with the animators on the set of the film?

KB: Oh, I was just so grateful to them while I was working there. They just made me feel so much at home. They had me involved in the entire process as they would invite me into their offices at the studio where they were working. They showed me the rough drawings that they had been working on. Later on, they allowed me to go into “Ink and Paint” and told me to walk around and see what was going on and how that process worked. It was from one department to another and so on and so forth. As a result, I really felt that I was a big part of this overall process and I really enjoyed it very, very much.

TG: When it came time to doing Peter Pan, did you act as a live action reference for the animators as the character of Wendy?

KB: Oh yes, I did, as I had had a wonderful experience doing this also on Alice in Wonderland. When I was nearly finished with Alice, the studio was really quite ready to move straight into production on Peter Pan. That was their next animated feature. And so I began right away with the scenes that Wendy was involved with, with the live-action recordings. Right after that was the live action. That process usually consisted of a day or two of rehearsal to sort of map things out to see what they were looking for and determine the motion of the characters. As result, we were very prepared for when the camera was there and so we went through the action. This was done of course to help out the artists who were trying to draw the human figures which were the most natural and also the most challenging part of the process.

TG: Peter Pan has a few short musical numbers, among them “Follow the Leader.” Did you provide any additional voices for any of these subordinate characters for the songs or did you stick strictly to Wendy?

KB: No, I wasn't involved with those. They used a lot of boys for those voices, and I was not involved with any of them. The character of Wendy, unlike Alice, was more of a supporting role and that was the only voice that I provided for the film.

TG: What did you like most about your experiences on Peter Pan?

KB: Well, I would say it was similar to my experiences on Alice in Wonderland and that it was just a wonderful time working with very talented people, people whom I admired so much, and people whom I came to know very well, such as Hans Conreid (who provided the voices of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook). Like myself, he was also asked to provide the live-action as well as the voiceover parts. That kind of experience is what, I think, stands out in my memory. It was such a lovely time for me as a youngster playing these important roles and being able to get to know these creative people involved in this wonderful process.

TG: What was your reaction when you heard your voice in these films?

KB: Oh, I suppose that I viewed the movies I thought, “Oh, that's me!” (laughs)

TG: You became a teacher just after your stint in Hollywood. What grade or grades did you teach?

KB: Well, as it goes as a new teacher you're not high up on the totem pole. You end up changing grade levels every year. So, I have a lot of experience in the upper grades as well as the lower grades. I really did enjoy second grade. I took every opportunity to make my desires known that I really liked second grade. So from that point on until the end of my career, I taught second grade.

TG: What do you think is behind the longevity of such classic films as the movies that you worked on?

KB: I believe that it's the timelessness of the stories, and the stories really have something to say to young children. It came down to Disney's expertise in storytelling and his wonderful team that he worked with. They made the characters so realistic in terms that even adults could identify with them and not just the children in the audience.

By Todd Garbarini

I remember the first time I saw Peter Pan (1953) on the big screen. It was the re-release in the summer of 1976 on a very hot day at the Cort Theatre on East Main St. in Somerville, New Jersey. Unlike The Outsiders’s Pony Boy Curtis, when I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie theatre, I had only one thing on my mind: food. My hunger for beautiful animation was satiated for the moment, but I was very hungry after spending nearly three hours in the theatre. My childhood was sprinkled with double features of Disney cartoons and live-action films. Until I saw the thrilling Superman: The Movie in 1978, Peter Pan really gave the seven-year-old I was the idea that I could actually fly – at least vicariously. The Sir James Matthew Barrie story of a boy who soars through the air and who doesn’t age has captivated the world for well over a century, easily crossing cultures with its love of childhood and its adventures in Neverland. There are several sequences that may raise a few eyebrows in today's politically correct environment, such as those of involving the depictions of Native Americans in a visibly racist fashion, however this film is a product of its time and Disney has wisely chosen not to alter it in any way. On that note, it is interesting that to this day we still cannot get a legitimate video version of 1946’s Song of the South, a film that I enjoyed immensely as a child but appears to be a sore spot with the company in how African-Americans are depicted in that film.

The action in Peter Pan begins in Bloomsbury in London wherein two brothers, John and Michael Darling, are playing pirates, based on stories that their older sister Wendy told them. Their father feels that Wendy should have her own room now and must stop telling silly stories to the young ones who keep the household in chaos. That night, Peter Pan and his little sidekick Tinkerbell show up and take the kids to Neverland, a place where Peter lives and has made the decision to never grow up, remaining instead a child. There are other people in Neverland, including the Lost Boys, a group of six youngsters who are all dressed in pajamas. There are also a group of pirates just off the coast headed by Captain Hook and Mr. Smee (Smee plays Otis to Hook’s Lex Luthor). It turns out that Tinkerbell is jealous of Wendy and aims to get her out of the picture! More adventures ensue, but this is a Disney film, and no great harm ever comes to the characters.

This is the first time that the film has been released on Blu-ray, and as is customary with the previous Disney releases, the film has undergone a major restoration. The results are spectacular. The nuances detailed in the images are sharp and sumptuous. If you haven't seen the film on Blu-ray, you really haven't seen it. I know it's a cliché but it's very true especially when it comes to films of this ilk.

The Blu-ray comes with a standard definition DVD as well as the requisite digital copy. In addition to the film, there is a wealth of extras: I’ve made no bones about the fact that I love audio commentaries, and thankfully one is included with this film. It is provided by Roy Disney, and also included are comments from the animators and some voice actors as well.

Backstage Disney – this extra is shot in standard definition and previously appeared on the original Platinum DVD released in 2007. There are five featurettes in this batch:

You Can Fly: The Making of Peter Pan

In Walt's Words: Why I Made Peter Pan,

The Peter Pan That Almost Was

Tinker Bell: A Fairy's Tale

The Peter Pan Story

Music & More – A collection of songs:

The Pirate Song

Never Land: The Lost Song

The Second Star to the Right

There is an introduction to the movie by Walt’s daughter, Diane Miller-Disney, shot in high definition.

Growing Up with Nine Old Men – this is a nice documentary that runs about forty minutes and is in high definition also. The nine old men in question consist of animators Les Clark, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Larson, John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Frank Thomas. Unfortunately, all of these gentlemen have since passed on. However, their children discuss their fathers’ work for Disney.

There is a short section on deleted songs and scenes which consist of storyboards and early artwork. There is also a Peter Pan sing-along which allows children to sing-along songs. This can be enabled by turning on the subtitle option.

Click here to order from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

Richard Klemensen’s Little Shoppe of Horrors is a stellar magazine. If you like Gary Svehla’s Midnight Marquee and similar publications that are well-written and polished, you’ll love the beautiful Little Shoppe of Horrors. In 2012 it entered its 40^th anniversary with the most current issue, number 29. Cinema Retro is a mere youngster by comparison! Subtitled “The Journal of Classic British Horror Films,” Little Shoppe of Horrors is chock full of exclusive images of the glory days of the Hammer horror films. It is obvious that Mr. Klemensen has a true love for these films. In this issue you’ll find a wonderful look back at the life and work of Vincent Price. The front and rear covers of the latest issue feature beautiful images by Jeff Preston and Mark Maddox, respectively, of Vincent Price, and the inside covers feature artwork by Dean Ormston and Paul Watts.

Issue #29 includes:

• · An exclusive interview with film and television director Frank Darabont and film director Tim Burton, whose love of Vincent Price can been seen through much of his work over the past thirty years, going back to the very beginnings of his career with his short film, Vincent, which is about a young boy who wants to be Vincent Price and can be seen here (it’s even narrated by Vincent Price!). Both directors talk specifically about The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

• · Justin Humphreys gives readers an in-depth look at the making of The Abominable Dr. Phibes in a nearly 30-page article (take that, Cinefantastique!) about the making of the film. He also profiles the late Dr. Phibes set designer Brian Eatwell.

• · David Taylor writes about the late model-turned-actress Virginia North who played Vulnavia in the film.

• · Author Denis Meikle provides an inside look on the set of The Abominable Dr. Phibes when he interviewed Vincent Price.

• · Sam Irwin and David Taylor create a chronological history of the treatments and script ideas related to what was to become a Dr. Phibes franchise, in addition to a look at how Dr. Phibes has lived on in novels and comic books.

And much, much more in its 108 pages.

Little Shoppe of Horrors has a beautifully designed and easily navigable website that permits readers to see what’s coming up in the next issue, in addition to ordering copies of back issues.

All in all, this is a beautiful-designed and printed publication, published first and foremost by the only people who should be publishing it – die-hard fans with a true love for the subject matter. A must for horror fans!

As an aside, there is also a wonderful audio interview that was recently conducted with Mr. Klemensen, and you can click here to listen to it. He explains how he was such a fan of these movies and how they differed from other horror films from the time in that they were in color and featured classically-trained actors such as Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing who both starred in innumerable roles for Hammer. He also talks about how he contacted people in the British film industry who were more than willing to talk to him about their work, and how he managed to visit Pinewood Studios in England.

By Todd Garbarini

The Definitive Document of the Dead is the latest incarnation of director Roy Frumkes’s insightful behind-the-scenes look at the making of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), a film that has achieved a level of adoration and cult status that is truly amazing given that it was released unrated at a time when such a maneuver was considered box office poison. No doubt increasing in popularity after its release on VHS (this is where Yours Truly first saw it in the summer of 1985), Dawn has become the zombie film by which all others are measured. What this 16mm documentary illustrates brilliantly is the creative process that a director must go through, and it conveys it extremely well to the average moviegoer who may not have the slightest idea as to how a movie is made. It looks at its subject from the standpoint of filmmaking as an art form, and at one point director Romero, with omnipresent cigarette in hand, even compares the process to painting, and how an artist uses watercolors and “accidents” in their final work. Dawn went into production in October 1977 at the Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pennsylvania and lasted approximately six months (if you believe the Internet Movie Database) and thankfully Mr. Frumkes actively sought and was given access to the mall set over a weekend in January of 1978 (my guess is that this was the third or fourth week of that month as the archival footage shows the entire exterior of the mall blanketed in snow; the entire Northeast had suffered a snowfall of one to nearly two feet at that time).

Most documentaries that appear on DVD and Blu-ray nowadays are nothing more than self-promotion pieces. The Definitive Document of the Dead, on the other hand, actually takes you behind the scenes of the film and enlightens the viewer on the creative process, specifically the teamwork and the collaborative nature of the people working on the film. Mr. Frumkes talks to Tom Savini, Michael Gornick, John Amplas, Richard Rubenstein, the cast of Dawn, and of course director Romero himself (it’s interesting to note that filming had to be suspended from Thanksgiving until just after Christmas as decorations populated the mall. Of course, nowadays Christmas starts being promoted as early as the end of August, something probably completely unheard of 35 years ago!). The documentary gives us a great look into Mr. Romero's creative methods of filmmaking; he is quite candid about how he makes movies and discusses how he feels about being compared to Alfred Hitchcock with his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. The comparison probably stems from the fact that the opening scenes look like a throwback to silent cinema storytelling, and that is an area that Night excels at, giving visual information to the audience and pulling us into the movie. There is mention of Howard Hawks’s film version of The Thing, released in 1951, as the movie that introduced Mr. Romero to horror and the idea of confined spaces made him want to make movies. Another pivotal film that is not touched upon in this documentary (but is mentioned on the newly-recorded commentary provided by Mr. Frumkes) is Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger's The Tales of Hoffmann, also from 1951, a film that was an enormous influence on Mr. Romero and aided in the creation of his own personal visual style. He also talks about how actor Duane Jones, the lead black actor in Night, was chosen simply because he was the best actor who auditioned for the role, squashing rumors that he was making a statement about the black man’s struggles in a white man’s world. Naturally, this draws comparisons to Ken Foree’s role in Dawn. Richard Rubenstein also weighs in and discusses the European style of producing, and how Dario Argento and his brother Claudio co-financed Dawn. Dawn was originally a much darker picture with a very down and bleak ending. As shooting progressed, the film took on a comic bookish feel and there is an obvious lightening up of mood. Whereas Mr. Romero had a crew of about eight people on Martin (1977), Dawn has a cast and crew in the hundreds. The most fascinating part of the documentary has Mr. Romero describing the rhythms created by editing and spatial design. Prior to his foray into feature filmmaking, Mr. Romero honed his editing skills by making many 30-second commercials (like Sir Ridley Scott who made roughly 3000(!) prior to The Duellists (1977) and Alien (1979).

After a discussion about the distribution of the film and leaving it unrated with a running time of just over two hours, the documentary switches gears to the 1989 summer filming of Two Evil Eyes (1991). Mr. Romero discusses how he wants a family atmosphere on the set without any of the political Hollywood nonsense. There is also a follow-up segment on Land of the Dead (2005) which focuses on Mr. Romero's daughter, Tina Romero, who discusses how she got involved in filmmaking. Be warned: there is a trailer for a hard-core sex parody of Night, and I'll let your imagination guess what the title of this film is! While this trailer does not contain any overt sex, there is much nudity.

There is also footage of the Chiller Theatre convention in 2005 which features a reunion of the cast of Day of the Dead, discussions with Greg Nicotero, Bill Lustig, and some of the cast and crew of Dawn. The final segments, all of which are shot on standard definition video, ends with Mr. Frumkes heading to the Toronto set of Diary of the Dead in the fall of 2006. While these last few segments are nowhere near as incisive as the footage shot for Dawn, they still are relevant, fun to watch and make The Definitive Document of the Dead a worthy addition to the libraries of Romero fans.

This documentary has been available on home video several times before. It first made the rounds in 1985, and I first time I saw it was four years later when it was released on VHS. It also appears on Dawn of the Dead: the Ultimate Edition, which was released on DVD in September 2004. Synapse Films then released it on DVD in 1999 with some nice extras, including a commentary with Mr. Frumkes and some cast and crew members. This latest version, The Definitive Document of the Dead, goes further than its previous incarnations. In addition to the extra footage that has been added, it begins with a slightly different beginning than its predecessors: a very humorous introduction by Mr. Romero for the audience at a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX and segues into a little bit of a discussion that he had in 2006 in Huntington, Long Island.

The documentary is available in two flavors: as a single, stand-alone standard definition DVD with a newly-recorded commentary provided by Mr. Frunkes running 102 minutes that covers Dawn up to Diary, and as a limited edition DVD/Blu-ray combo set that includes a standard definition DVD with the aforementioned extras, plus a Blu-ray of Mr. Frumkes’s original, 1978 documentary Document of the Dead, which runs 66 minutes and was scanned in high definition from the 16mm master. If you have a Blu-ray player, it is worth spending the extra cash to get the limited edition, which also contains a fold-out poster of Wes Benscoter’s beautiful new cover art for the DVD and Blu-ray. Have a look at this artist’s website. His work is brilliant.

NOTE: It has come to our attention that the Blu-ray edition of this title sold out immediately. The DVD edition is still available from Amazon. Click here to order

By Todd Garbarini

Frankenweenie (2012) is an animated big-screen expansion of Tim Burton's own 1984 live-action short film of the same name and utilizes the Frankenstein monster tale by Mary Shelley to tell a clever and ultimately moving story about a young boy, Victor Frankenstein, and how he copes with the loss of his beloved dog. This is a universal scenario that every child who grows up with a pet must face at some point. I have only seen a handful of films tackle this subject, and Don Coscarelli’s 1975 outing Kenny and Company is notable for its depiction of a young boy who must take his dog to the vet to be put to sleep.

Victor loves making 16mm movies with his dog, Sparky, in his hometown of New Holland, which is constructed to look like Everytown, USA. Sparky stars as the “Sparkysaurus.” After all, what young boy doesn't love dinosaurs? Mixing footage of Sparky with self-made animation, Victor's movie illustrates an imagination no doubt inspired by The Twilight Zone and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953). Victor, obviously an alter-ego for director Burton, is an awkward child who keeps a low profile from his classmates and his neighbor Mr. Burgermeister (a nice nod to Rankin and Bass) who brandishes a hedge clipper. During a baseball game, Victor hits a home run, but Sparky chases the ball into the street and is killed by a car. Devastated, Victor mopes through school until his science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski, a grotesque caricature of a man, shows the class how to use electricity to move a dead frog’s legs. Experiencing a “Eureka!” moment, Victor is filled with a new sense of purpose, and converts his parent’s attic into a makeshift laboratory. Following his teacher’s instructions, he reanimates Sparky with the help of lightning.

Victor does his best to keep Sparky’s reemergence a secret. A creepy, overzealous kid from the neighborhood, Edgar, wants to know how Victor did it. Word gets out about Sparky, and other children competing for a science project attempt similar experiments until things get out of control: a rat becomes a crazed monster; a turtle is made enormous and stomps among a town square carnival like a mixture of Godzilla and Gamera; sea monkeys run amok through the streets; a cute, next-door poodle who fancies Sparky is made to resemble Elsa Lanchester. (There are some cute inside jokes here: the name "Shelley" appears on a tombstone and Bambi is displayed on a local theatre marquee, perhaps as much a nod to the classic short film Bambi Meets Godzilla as it is an homage to the Disney film.) The climax is a loving homage to James Whale’s 1931 classic that started it all and fueled nightmares for years to come.

Thematically, Frankenweenie shares many similarities to Henry Selick's 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas (produced by Burton) in that a protagonist compelled to do a good deed ends up making a mess of things. Most of the characters, particularly the children, have predominantly large eyes, as if they stepped out of a Margaret Keane painting (it’s no wonder that she is the subject of the director’s next film, due for release later this year).

Filmed on Canon EOS 5D Mark II single lens reflux cameras and printed in black and white, Frankenweenie looks lovely and is easily one of the year’s best films. It should win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It would be nice to see black and white return to the screen as an art form as it truly looks beautiful. Danny Elfman provides yet another memorable score to a Tim Burton film.

There are a few nice extras included on the Blu-ray disc:

• · We get a short film starring Sparky called Captain Sparky vs. the Flying Saucers, the in-movie that appears at the start of the film and runs roughly two and a-half-minutes in length (no relation to Siskel and Ebert’s Sparky the Wonder Dog of PBS’s Sneak Previews from the early 1980s.).

• · Miniatures in Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie to Life is an excellent behind-the-scenes documentary featurette that runs about 23 minutes (I wish it was longer) and takes us to the massive 60,000 foot soundstage in London where the film was shot and contains comments from the many animators who worked on the individual scenes – they all averaged about two minutes per week of screen time! What is truly extraordinary about this piece is seeing the astonishing level of detail and attention that is made to even the smallest of items. You get a new appreciation of the film and all the hard work that went into making it. Absolutely nothing in this movie has been computer-generated. It was all designed, built, and manufactured for the film.

• · The Frankenweenie Touring Exhibit is enough to make one jealous if you don’t live in one of the cities that it comes to.

• · A music video

• · Tim Burton's original 1984 featurette, Frankenweenie, upon which this film is based. This wonderful live-action film was financed by Disney and the producers were reportedly shocked at how frightening it would be for children, so much so that they fired Burton and shelved the project. It runs 30 minutes and stars Barret Oliver (The Neverending Story) as Victor, the young son of Ben and Susan (Daniel Stern and Shelley Duvall). Sofia Coppola, inexplicably using the name Domino, appears as a friend of Victor’s.

It would have been nice to have a running commentary with Tim Burton or from the animators as I love commentaries and eagerly listen to them whenever they appear as extras. However, this is a minor quibble. The film looks absolutely amazing on Blu-ray and is a worthy addition to your collection.

Click here to order order 4 disc deluxe edition with DVD and digital copies included. 

By Todd Garbarini

It's hard to believe that Pixar Animation Studios’ Finding Nemo, which was released on Friday, May 30, 2003, is now ten years-old. One of the most popular animated films of all time, Finding Nemo is a delightful excursion into the world of undersea life with plenty of colorful characters to go around. Employing the voice talents of some of Hollywood's best-known and most respected performers, Finding Nemo aims to not only entertain us but educate us, as well. It succeeds extraordinarily well in doing both.

Despite the years of science that I've accumulated under my belt by way of elementary, intermediate, and high school, I must plead ignorance and admit to never having heard of a clownfish (scientifically known as Amphiprion ocellaris) prior to Finding Nemo. Director Andrew Stanton reportedly saw these water dwellers in an aquarium in Florida and their vibrant look helped provide inspiration for the film. The aptly-named Marlin and Coral are two such fish, parents just starting a family. Unfortunately, a barracuda attack leaves Marlin alone except for one remaining fish egg out of roughly one hundred which he decides to name Nemo, a name that his wife Coral liked prior to her untimely demise. As a result of this attack, Nemo suffers from a malformed right fin, making him the runt of the litter, so to speak. Due to this perceived limitation, Marlin becomes just a tad overprotective and overbearing and follows Nemo wherever he goes, looking out for him. When Nemo goes off to school to learn the ways of underwater sea life, his father finds it very difficult to let him go off on his own. This frustration leads Nemo to rush off into unchartered waters where he is swooped up by humans, possibly to never see his father again. Marlin sets out to rescue him, and is befriended by Dory, a well-intentioned regal blue tang who suffers from short-term memory loss. They join forces to locate Nemo after a clue that reveals he is in Sydney, Australia. Along the way they encounter some crazy characters, such as a shark who is swearing off eating fish; a group of jellyfish; a group of sea turtles caught up in the East Australian Current; and a pelican who is trying to help Nemo. Added to this mix are a few human characters, specifically a dentist whose fish tank is home to a motley crew of sea life all trying to help Nemo (who is now a prisoner in the tank) get home. One of his patients is his niece, Darla, a pre-prepubescent nightmare sporting metal braces and is the film’s answer to Toy Story’s Sid, the kid down the block who loves to destroy toys.

The film is beautifully animated. Pixar has certainly come a long way from its early days; more money, of course, means better technology and the underwater world of Finding Nemo really comes to life here in a way that 1989’s The Little Mermaid only hinted at. The nuances in the plant life are exquisite, and the banter between the characters is laugh-out-loud funny. The underrated Albert Brooks, whom I liked so much in Taxi Driver (1976), Broadcast News (1987), and Drive (2011), voices Marlin with a fatherly exuberance and concern. Ellen DeGeneres is his equal as Dory, the forgetful fish. Also on hand are Willem Dafoe, Allison Janney, Austin Pendleton, Geoffrey Rush, and Elizabeth Perkins. In the same way that Jaws (1975) made oceanographers and marine biologists out of wide-eyed children in the audience fascinated by the Carcharodon carcharias, Finding Nemo his more than likely inspired more than a few future Jacques Cousteaus.

As to be expected, the Blu-ray is a revelation, and Finding Nemo has never looked better on home video. There is a clarity, sharpness and depth that truly amazing to see. The film comes in two flavors on disc: a three-disc set and a five-disc set (this contains a 3D version of the film). The first Blu-ray disc extras contains the following extras in high definition: a cute, three and-a-half minute short from 1989 called Knick Knack; a five-minute loop called “Aquarium” that allows you to run continuously on the monitor; “CineExplore,” a feature that allows you to view the complete film while hearing comments from the filmmakers with superimposed storyboards on the screen; “Finding Nemo: A Roundtable Discussion” is a seventeen-minute discussion among the filmmakers reminiscing ten years after the film’s release; “Reinventing the Submarine Voyage” at Disneyland, runs roughly fifteen minutes and looks at the underwater sea rides; alternate opening (three minutes); and “A Lesson in Flashbacks” which runs eight minutes wherein the director recalls how the film was originally conceived. The second Blu-ray contains the following extras all ported over from the original 2004 DVD release, which are all in standard definition with the exception of “Aquariums” and “Art Review” (an eight-minute discussion of concept design); “Making Nemo” is a 25-minute documentary on the making of the film; “Exploring the Reef” is exactly what the title entails; “Studio Tour” which takes the audience behind the doors of Pixar for five minutes; several outtakes, deleted scenes, and publicity pieces; and “Mr. Ray’s Enclyclopedia.”

It is interesting to note that Pixar was more focused on The Incredibles (2004) during the making Finding Nemo, believing that the former would be the huge hit and the latter would do minimal business. Universal Pictures did the same thing in 1974 when they were making The Hindenburg and gave the green light to Jaws, thinking that the star-studded disaster film by Robert Wise Allen would be the box office champ while the film about a Great White Shark was their “little picture.”

Finding Nemo is a big picture of the little clownfish that could.

Click here to order Blu-ray 5-disc set  from Amazon

By Todd Garbarini

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: From Concept to Classic is a 30^th anniversary paperback reprint of the book that was originally published in hardcover for the film’s 20^th anniversary in 2002 that accompanied the special edition DVD Ultimate Gift Set of Steven Spielberg’s classic story of a young boy, the product of a divorced home, who befriends an extra-terrestrial who is mistakenly left behind by his spaceship following a hasty exit from earth. If you own the 2002 edition, the new book is identical except for the fact that it is paperback and its dimensions measure 9” x 0.4” x 10.8”, a little larger than its predecessor. The introduction to the new printing by Steven Spielberg is also updated and does not retain his introduction to the 2002 edition.

The book is essentially separated into three sections. Section one covers the origins and the overall development of the film from concept (as a story called Night Skies which was originally very malevolent in tone) to the first draft which was penned by Melissa Mathison, whose work on Carroll Ballard’s 1979 film The Black Stallion impressed Mr. Spielberg so much that he hand-picked her to write the script. Mr. Spielberg’s idea for E.T., which originated while on location in the summer of 1980 during the shooting of Raiders of the Lost Ark, came from his thoughts about the alien at the end of his own Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and what it would be like for him if he were to be inadvertently stranded on earth. There are also comments from producer Kathleen Kennedy (now the president of Lucasfilm), E.T. designer and creator Carlo Rambaldi, actor Henry Thomas, actress Drew Barrymore, actor Robert MacNaughton, actor Peter Coyote, actress Dee Wallace-Stone, composer John Williams, cinematographer Allen Daviau, editor Carol Littleton, sound designer Ben Burtt, visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, and production designer James D. Bissell.

Section two contains the film’s complete screenplay, which was the first draft that Mrs. Mathison wrote and was so good that the director decided to shoot it as-is with very little, if any, changes. The screenplay is complemented by illustrations by Ed Verraux and production notes the give further insight into the original ideas that the crew had in mind but had to be abandoned or altered due to time constraints or logistics. It also includes the sequence with the school principal (played by Harrison Ford) that was cut from the film, in addition to other shots/scenes that were cut.

Section three concerns itself with the film’s post-production (the models of the children on their bikes, E.T.’s spaceship) and its impact on the movie-going public (the E.T. phenomenon and merchandising), and the 2002 restoration.

It is interesting to note that E.T., which was originally entitled A Boy’s Life, was conceived of as a small, personal film. Although the director was by this time a household name due to the success of Jaws and the aforementioned Close Encounters and Raiders, no one could have expected the film to do the sort of business that it ended up doing, easily propelling it to the top spot as the year’s most financially successful film. This book does an excellent job of giving the reader great insight into not only the making of the film but into the thoughts of those involved in its creation. What is most evident is that everyone on the set (cast and crew alike) treated the creature of E.T. with dignity and respect as if he was a real, live creature. Itself the brainchild of designer and creator Carlo Rambaldi, who also created the aliens in Close Encounters, the mechanical head effects of the alien in Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), and the entacled creature in Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981) to name a few, E.T. rarely looks like an animatronic puppet even in the behind-the-scenes shots. You would really swear that he was a real creature. Mr. Rambaldi passed away in August of this year at the age of 86, and E.T. stands as one of his greatest (and certainly most emotional) achievements.

For fans of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, this book is a must-have.

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By Todd Garbarini

One of the strangest G-rated “family films” that I have ever seen is Al Adamson’s 1982 effort Carnival Magic, released by HD Cinema Classics by way of Film Chest Media Group. As a fan of the best genre efforts that were afforded by what is arguably the last truly great summer for movies in the United States, 1982 gave us Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, The Thing, The Beastmaster and The Road Warrior. I must admit that I was stunned to learn of this film as I had not heard of it prior to its 2010 release on home video.

Filmed over three weeks in Gaffney, South Carolina and Shelby, North Carolina, Carnival Magic is, in the words of producer Elvin Feltner, “the story of a magician and a traveling carnival and his pet monkey, who just happens to be a talking monkey.” It is also a film that cannot make up its mind if it wants to be a slapstick comedy or a family film with dramatic adult themes. Starring a cluster of soap opera actors and actresses, producer Feltner does what any good producer does when faced with the rising costs of a film budget. He thinks outside the box and delivers a film that can easily be categorized as a cult favorite.

The carnival’s magician, Markov (played nicely by Don Stewart), can read people’s thoughts and levitate objects. Armed with his talking chimp Alex, they are the top crowd pleaser, easily making the wild animal trainer second banana and very jealous in the process. Hoping to regain his former glory, the trainer attempts to kidnap the chimp and give him to a medical laboratory for experimentation in the hopes of displacing his competition and making a good deal of money. Among this plot are a bevy of carnival beauties who dance, and a young adult romance that blossoms innocently.

I couldn’t help but think of Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse (1981) while watching this film, as the carnival atmosphere always intrigued me since I saw the “Levitation” episode of Tales from the Darkside in May 1985.

The video transfer of the film is done from a recently unearthed 35mm theatrical print discovered lying in a warehouse (the original negative apparently was not among the finds unfortunately), but HD Cinema, a terrific company in their own right, has done a wonderful job of cleaning up the print with their restoration transfer. I honestly cannot wait to see what this company has up its sleeve in the months to come. If they can get their hands on low-budget, independently made films and do high definition transfers of them for new audiences, their future is surely bright.

There are a host of extras in this collection. A running audio commentary with cult film historian Joel Rubin and producer Feltner reveals a great deal of information regarding the making of the film. Although Carnival Magic was copyrighted in 1982, most people did not see the film until roughly a year later in select screenings, as it was difficult to find theaters willing to book the film. Mr. Feltner makes mention that the film was shot in 1981 in the video interview introduction, however historian Reuben points out that according to lab documents it was filmed in the previous year. When Mr. Feltner mentions that it was shot in 1982 on the audio commentary and become fairly adamant, it leads the audience to wondering why the discussion is up for debate when such information is easily verifiable. The subject is eventually put to bed when the outtakes that appear in the supplementary section clearly reveal the date of July 1980 on the film slate.

The remaining extras consist of twenty minutes of outtakes sans audio and a short “ before” and “after” restoration demo. What is most interesting is the inclusion of both the original television trailer and the theatrical trailer, wherein the former presents the film as a non-stop riot and the latter gives one the impression that they should expect something along the lines of Smokey and the Bandit. Rounding out the extras is an interesting slideshow which consists of newspaper clippings illustrating when the movie came to the respective filming locations, looking for extras to appear in the carnival scenes.

Regardless of one's opinion of the film's narrative, the movie stands as a time capsule of a more innocent era in American life, of small-town folks enjoying the summer with family and friends. The carnival sequences almost serve as a documentary of what life was like in 1980 for these people.

HD Cinema Classics gets it right by releasing this as a DVD and Blu-ray combo package, something that too few companies are doing even now. They are to be commended for offering the film in both formats, though Blu-ray is really the way to go due to the increased sharpness and definition. The colors really pop out in this format.

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By Todd Garbarini

The Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass production team are best known to millions of television audiences as Rankin & Bass for their unforgettable holiday-themed, stop-motion animation outings such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970), Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971), and The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974). Christmas and Easter would not be the same without a viewing of these specials on either television or home video. Though the bulk of their work is comprised of television movies and specials, they also collaborated on theatrically-released films like The Daydreamer (1966), Mad Monster Party? (1967), Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967), and The Last Unicorn (1982). This prolific producing and directing team assembled a crew of talented sculptors, writers, editors, photographers and musicians to create some of the most memorable family entertainment.

Warner Archive is continuing their extraordinary work in bringing more of the Rankin & Bass catalog to their burn-on-demand library. Thus far they have released a double feature of Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977) & The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985) and the long-desired, beloved made-for-TV movie The Bermuda Depths (1978). Just prior to the latter, Rankin & Bass made The Last Dinosaur (1977), a low-budget film that was originally intended for theatrical release, but was shortened by eleven minutes to a 95-minute running time and aired on ABC television instead on February 11, 1977, which is good because the film has a TV-movie feel to it. Warner Archive has recently released the full, uncut 106-minute theatrical cut on DVD-R. Written by William Overgard, scored by Maury Laws, and directed by Tsugunobu Kotani (listed in the credits as Tom Kotani) who all repeated their roles for The Bermuda Depths (also released theatrically in Europe), The Last Dinosaur is a fun movie for the twelve year-old set and under, though I am sure that Rankin and Bass completists will find much to enjoy here. Mason Thrust, Jr. (Richard Boone) is a cantankerous and misogynistic safarist who meets the sole survivor of an expedition who witnessed the existence of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Intrigued, Thrust puts together a team that includes the sole survivor, some experts, and, against his wishes, photographer Francesca Banks (Joan Van Ark), just because she’s a woman. They travel to the jungle locale and have a few close encounters with beasts that should have been dead millions of years ago, one of which is the T-Rex who roars a little like Godzilla. Along the way, they run into some Neanderthal dwellers, one of whom resembles Nova from Planet of the Apes (1968) who runs off with Francesca’s purse. It’s a fairly straightforward tale involving the usual Rankin & Bass special effects which, at times, look just like that. The cheesiness is part of the film’s charm, though it is slow-moving by today’s standards. The nighttime scenes are all shot day-for-night, and the film begins and ends with the Nancy Wilson tune “The Last Dinosaur.”

Previous Warner Archive titles featured non-descript DVD covers that were comprised of a publicity shot from a particular film superimposed over a blue background. The company’s subsequent success has allowed Warner Archive to invest in providing a film’s original artwork on the DVD-R cover, and The Last Dinosaur boasts the exciting painting that was originally intended for the film’s theatrical one-sheet; this image also appeared on the French poster when the film was distributed theatrically as Le Derniere Dinosaure.

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By Todd Garbarini

One of the most iconic of all monster movie images is most certainly Universal Pictures’ Creature from the Black Lagoon, as depicted by numerous actors in the film of the same name. Although Universal’s previous monsters – the Frankenstein monster, Dracula, The Wolf Man and The Mummy – all had their genesis in the world of literature, the Gill Man, as the Creature is alternatively known, is largely a cinematic concoction and his story is no doubt patterned after the King himself, Kong. While the similarities between the largest inhabitant of Skull Island and the Gill Man are undeniable, the method of bringing these two nightmare-inducing monsters to the screen is not. While the former was a combination of stop-motion animation and large-scale mechanics, the latter is the cinema’s first depiction of a monster in a beautifully-designed, full-body suit inhabited by an actor, most notably swimmer Ricou Browning in the underwater scenes of not only the original film, but in two sequels.

In 1954, Dragon Books in the United Kingdom published the novelization, or movie “tie-in,” of Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), written by John Russell Fearn under the pseudonym of Vargo Statten. It featured colorful cover art by artist John Richards and is very rare, commanding between $1K and $6K dollars depending upon its condition. Now, DreamHaven Books has reprinted this tie-in here in the United States with a beautiful cover by Bob Eggleton. What you will find in this beautifully designed new book, in addition to the novelization, is an excellent introduction by David J. Schow, himself a Creature historian. He provides not only a valuable look into the making of the film, but also the procedures that were in place at Universal Pictures and the team of artists who were tasked with designing, creating and building a suit that would look like a living, breathing creature, under the supervision of make-up head Bud Westmore. The more that I read about this, the more I wished that Creature had been filmed in color; unfortunately, Universal wouldn’t spend the additional $100K required to do that. This is a shame as the Gill Man is a truly beautiful creation.

Mr. Schow also illustrates the finer points of writing a movie tie-in, and how authors of such materials were generally hired on a contractual, per-project basis, and were based upon drafts of the script that were often changed later on thereby making the novelization radically different than its usually far superior cinematic counterpart. Such books were produced within a quick timeframe, and one can only imagine the possibilities today of utilizing a dictation software package to bang out a few of these books on a laptop in a matter of months, technology only dreamed of fifty years ago.

The novelization of Creature goes a few steps further than the film by not only introducing further dialog into the mix to pad out the story and flesh out the characters, but also brings the reader inside the Gill Man’s head and gets inside his thoughts, especially in his captivation of Kay Lawrence, portrayed in the film by Julie Adams, and his desire to win her over. There are also 57 beautiful behind-the-scenes shots of the making of the film and, as a bonus each, of the book’s nine chapters is prefaced with a publicity still.

The book is rounded out with a terrific afterword about author Fearn, written by Philip Harbottle, chronicling Mr. Fearn’s early life in the cotton business, which he abandoned after two years to pursue writing. It also covers his stint as a motion picture theatre projectionist.

This is a must-have for Creature fans and is highly recommended for horror fans who want to broaden their knowledge of this fascinating progenitor of many subsequent man-in-the-suit horrors, Dan O’Bannon’s titular Alien being the most obvious and arguably the most frightening in the cinema.

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By Todd Garbarini

Poor Pretty Eddie is a bizarre concoction, the sort of movie that they just don't make anymore, and certainly not in the way in which this politically incorrect creation from 1974 was made. Released on DVD in 2006 with a fairly lousy and dark transfer, the film has been issued in a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack by the fine folks at HD Cinema Classics. Remastered in high definition by Film Chest, Inc. from a 35mm theatrical print, Poor Pretty Eddie concerns an African-American singer, Liz Weatherly (Leslie Uggams), who ends up stranded in the woods after her car breaks down and encounters a bizarre group of characters. Where is a cell phone when you need one? Due to the presence of the newly-built interstate (have you ever noticed how all of these characters’ ills are attributed to government highways?), the remote southern town that she stumbles across is on its last legs. It would be impossible to discuss this film without making a mention of John Boorman’s Deliverance made two years prior to it, and all of the backwoods redneck jokes that probably popped into the audiences’ minds while viewing the film.

Weatherly takes a room at an inn that is home to a group of show business wannabes, most notably Bertha (the always reliable nutcase Shelley Winters, fresh from her turns as Mrs. Armstrong, Auntie Roo and Helen Hill), Bertha’s lover Eddie (Michael Christian) who has patterned himself after Elvis and sees Bertha as his ticket to fame, Keno (Ted Cassidy) the handyman, and Sheriff Orville (Slim Pickens). Dub Taylor even shows up! The Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge in Athens, GA doubles as the inn (it was closed in early 2004) where 90% of the action was filmed. The film appears to have a look and feel that seems to almost be drug-induced, with a strange array of characters and big colors as part of the set design. It is an unpredictable hodgepodge of weirdness and must be seen to be believed.

Cinematographer David Worth provides a very interesting and entertaining commentary along with cult film historian Joe Rubin. Mr. Worth’s loquacity is matched only by his erudition of the film business, and for a film made nearly 40 years ago he speaks with tremendous flair and great recollection, despite his claims to the contrary. In the early 1970s, aspiring editors and directors generally cut their teeth in what was then known as the porn industry (now called the “adult film industry” – it has become more respectable I suppose!). They rarely had their names appear in the credits of such fair. Poor Pretty Eddie was no stranger to controversy, as it contains a rape scene involving Eddie and Liz; the scene juxtaposes images of dogs mating in slow motion. Make of that what you will!

The transfer is in high definition, although the print is not completely free of lines and scratches, particularly just after the head of the reel changes. This is a minor complaint, however.

In addition to the feature audio commentary, the package contains the following extras:

• - Theatrical Trailer
• - Production Stills
• - A historical essay
• - A neat postcard featuring the original poster art
• - A restoration demonstration

I personally love HD Cinema Classics. They package their films as a combo pak, which gives the viewer the opportunity to see that Blu-ray is definitely the way to go.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER POOR PRETTY EDDIE FROM AMAZON.COM

 By Todd Garbarini

One of the great joys of going to the movies as a child was seeing Walt Disney films in a movie theater. I saw many of the live-action variety, but there were instances of Disney's classic cartoons being reissued on double bills with other Disney fare. One such film was 1950’s Cinderella, a movie that my mother had seen when she was about ten. I recall, even as a child, having a deep appreciation for the art of animation and, in the early 1990s, a woman who attended one of my classes in college was buying up the Disney films on VHS. I remember thinking how much better the films fared on laserdisc, but I never said anything for fear of sounding like a snob. All of those previous analog technologies, which were passable at the time, pale in comparison to the new Blu-ray of Cinderella. Disney has been doing an extraordinary job with their animated features in terms of high definition, sparing no expense at bringing their classic library one film at a time to home video. If you don’t see Cinderella on Blu-ray, I can honestly say that you really haven’t seen it, nor is it possible to fully appreciate the artistry that went into the making of this classic film. Nuances that were never before seen in analog format (even the high-end laserdisc editions) are now breathtakingly clear, colorful and robust. All of this has been made possible thanks to the folks who have given Cinderella a much-needed digital facelift and overhaul.

By now, the story of Cinderella is so familiar that it would be difficult indeed to find anyone unfamiliar with it. The story of a young girl forced to work as a maid for her evil stepmother and two wicked stepsisters and her turn at the ball have become so much a part of our lexicon and culture that even those who have not read the story or seen the film knows exactly what one is talking about merely through reference. If you’re one of those who have not seen the film yet, there is no better way to get acquainted with the story than with the new Blu-ray.

The extras include:

Tangled Ever After animated short which is a lead-in to the film (also on the DVD)

Never-Before-Seen Alternate Opening Sequence in storybook form

Personalized Digital Storybook: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-You – “Disney Second Screen” technology which permits viewers to experience a virtual storybook addendum to the film on an electronic device such as a computer, an iPod Touch, or an iPad.

Behind the Magic: A New Disney princess Fantasyland (about 8 minutes and also on the DVD)

The Real Fairy Godmother – a 12-minute tribute to Walt Disney’s wife

The film is available in several different flavors:

a 2-disc set which is comprised of one Blu-ray and one DVD

a 3-disc set which is comprised of one Blu-ray and two DVDs

a 6-disc set which includes Cinderella (1950), and the made-for-video productions Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (2002) and Cinderella III: Twist in Time (2007) on Blu-ray, DVD, and a Digital Copy of Cinderella. All six discs reside in a Cinderella Picture Storybook that sits inside a jewelry box.

The sound is also much improved and a far cry from the low-fidelity, hiss-y sound that was so prevalent on the VHS version of the film.

Cinderella has never looked like this before. This Blu-ray is a must-own.

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By Todd Garbarini

The 1970s were an unorthodox time in American cinema. It was an era in which an actress like Jodie Foster could play a 12-year-old prostitute one year and appear in a family comedy about switching bodies with her mother the following year. I can honestly say that's not something you would ever see today.

In early 1978 my parents took me to see Disney's Pete's Dragon (1977). Before the movie started, the trailer for the R-rated Straight Time starring Dustin Hoffman was shown. I distinctly recall the scene of Hoffman doing an embarrassing number on M. Emmet Walsh and stranding him on the highway. Crazy! The experience did not detract from the fact that Pete’s Dragon, a live-action film mixed with animation and the most expensive that Disney made up to that point (roughly $8M, which is about $32M today), is a charming family film that arrives on Blu-ray with a beautiful transfer. The story of a young orphan named Pete (Sean Marshal who has since left acting for other pursuits) and his inarticulate, grunting sidekick Elliott (an animated and sometimes invisible dragon) set in the 1920s features Shelley Winters as Pete’s abusive adoptive mother trying to get him back; Mickey Rooney as Lampie, a drunken lighthouse keeper who sees Elliott and tries to convince his doubters; Helen Reddy as Nora (Lampie’s daughter) who thinks that Elliott is just an imaginary friend; Jim Dale as Doc Terminus, a snake oil salesman and his sidekick Hoagy (Red Buttons); and Jim Backus as the Mayor. The action is punctuated by a good number of musical interludes, and the film was nominated for Best Original Song (“Candle on the Water”) and Best Original Score. It won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn.

The mixture of animation and live action cannot rival that of today’s computer technology, but it doesn’t detract from the film, either. The performances and the musical numbers are what really propel the story and make it a fun-filled viewing until the end when it gets a tad elegiac as Elliott must move on.

The set design is also fairly spectacular, including a full-blown lighthouse that was built (and subsequently torn down) for the film in San Luis Obispo, CA which doubles as the tongue-twisting Passamaquoddy, Maine.

Disney is really getting it right by releasing combo DVD and Blu-ray sets. I wish that more studios would adopt a similar method of releasing films. Judging by the side-by-side comparison, it is obvious that Blu-ray is the best method to watch the film. The clarity is far better than standard DVD, and the sound is a lot richer than the previous VHS and DVD releases. I am hoping for a Blu-ray of One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing (1975), which I saw at a drive-in when I was seven.

The Blu-ray features the following extras:

Brazzle Dazzle Effects: Behind Disney’s Movie Magic which illustrates the history of Disney’s mix of live-action and animation. Narrated by Sean Marshall (Pete), the featurette runs just over 25 minutes and has a lot of nice behind-the-scenes footage during the film’s production in 1976. It also compares the technology of then to the computers of today.

Deleted Storyboard Sequence: “Terminus & Hoagy Hunt Elliott” which presents a rare, demo dialogue track set to visual storyboard sketches and runs two and-a-half minutes.

Original Song Concept: “Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You, Too)” which is a first demo recording from 1976, with early story sketches of Pete singing to Elliott and runs two and-a-half minutes (this is included on the DVD).

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By Todd Garbarini

Bye Bye Birdie (1963) is an exuberant, squeaky clean musical comedy from Columbia Pictures that is based upon the 1960 Broadway musical of the same name. It is also extremely dated by today’s standards and flat-out corny at times. Overall, however, it is a fun ride that sports a good number of memorable musical interludes, the title song easily giving the viewer a severe case of earworm. Director George Sidney was no stranger to musicals as he was also responsible for Ziegfeld Follies (1945), The Harvey Girls (1946), Holiday in Mexico (1946), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Showboat (1951) and Scaramouche (1952). Here, he brings to the screen the story of Kim MacAfee (twenty-two year-old Ann-Margret in her breakout performance) as a high school girl who becomes the envy of her peers when she is given the opportunity to kiss teen rock idol Conrad Birdie on the Ed Sullivan Show in front of the whole nation- a development that leads to a rift with her boyfriend Hugo ( real-life teen idol Bobby Rydell in a passable performance). Inspired by the military drafting of Elvis Presley in December 1957 (he went on to co-star opposite Ann-Margret in 1964’s Viva Las Vegas, also directed by George Sidney), Bye Bye Birdie possesses an infectious energy with its smile-inducing attempts to curtail the ever overflowing zeal of female fans who cannot get enough of the titular singer (Jesse Pearson). That fervor for Elvis would soon be eclipsed by something even more radical: Beatlemania. Why girls would be expected to swoon over the less-than-stellar looks of Birdie is anyone’s guess but in this film fantasy we are also expected to believe Paul Lynde could have fathered Ann-Margret. Lynde is actually very funny in his role (with his quirks and mannerisms that made him literally the center of attention on Hollywood Squares), especially in his rendition of “Kids,” a song about annoying offspring.

The film opens with a tantalizing rendition of the title song by Ann-Margret set against a bright blue screen, and this illustrates that this is primarily a star-making showcase for her. Although she appeared previously in smaller roles in Pocketful of Miracles (1961) and State Fair (1962), the vivacious actress shines in this film. The aforementioned sequence is a powerful and memorable enough showcase to have influenced an entire episode of AMC’s fine series Mad Men and reportedly was shot after filming wrapped specifically to promote her. Ann-Margret’s singing bookends the film as Albert Peterson (Dick Van Dyke, as his usual and likeable self) tries to write a song that Birdie will sing on the TV show. Albert’s girlfriend Rosie DeLeon (Janet Leigh, in a musical performance I would never have expected from her) wants his domineering mother (Maureen Stapleton) to butt out of his business and marry Albert. As a Hollywood musical, everything turns out for the best in the end, but not before the lead characters belt out a few songs of their own.

Bye Bye Birdie was the first movie that I ever rented from West Coast Video in the fall of 1987 on VHS. The Columbia Home Video tape was even produced in the old oversized clamshell box and the picture quality was absolutely horrendous. Twilight Time’s brand-new Blu-ray blows all previous home video incarnations of this film out of the water. Retaining the film's original anamorphic 2.35:1 Panavision aspect ratio, the image is head and shoulders above the Pioneer special widescreen laserdisc edition from the 1990’s and the DVD from 1999. The Blu-ray contains an isolated music and sound effects track and has been pressed in a limited number of 3,000 copies, so click here to pick one up from Screen Archives Entertainment. They also offer the infectious soundtrack album which can be purchased here.

By Todd Garbarini

Mad Monster Party is a relatively obscure stop-motion animated musical treat from 1967 that many non-genre fans are unaware of. Aimed at children, it is the creation of Rankin and Bass, the production team responsible for so many holiday television specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, The Little Drummer Boy, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. Unlike these specials, however, Mad Monster Party made the rounds to movie theaters as a feature-length film for Saturday and Sunday matinees. It’s the obvious inspiration for Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), boasting an infectious musical score that sticks in your head long after the movie is over.

Baron Boris von Frankenstein, the lead character who is voiced by Boris Karloff in one of his last roles, decides to hang up his lab coat and hand his castle and duties over to his less-than-capable nephew Felix Flankin (Allen Swift) who can’t seem to do anything right. He plans to make this announcement at a gathering of monsters that includes a dim-witted monster of his own creation, the monster's mate (voiced by Phyllis Diller), his lab assistant Francesca (Gale Garnett), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Dracula, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the Mummy, a King Kong-like ape, and a creepy-looking Peter Lorre look-alike. Naturally, Felix goofs up everything, which causes the monsters to conspire to eliminate him and find out the secret that Baron Frankenstein his unearthed.

Mad Monster Party was originally released on Embassy Home Entertainment in the mid-1980s and was sourced from a dark 16mm print, much like its rare television airings. The opening credits referred to the availability of a soundtrack album, however one was never released at the time. It took nearly 20 years for a now-defunct record company, Percepto Records, to finally issue the music on compact disc, which is now long out of print but can be found if you look hard enough on eBay. Unfortunately, the film's original camera negative was reportedly water-damaged many years ago, rendering it unusable. Whether or not it still exists is anybody's guess, but fortunately a pristine 35mm print, which possesses a minimal amount of dirt and scratches at the head and tail of each reel, has survived and was used for the new Blu-ray/DVD combo release which is now available from Lionsgate. The Blu-ray is a revelation and the film has never looked this good before. It is framed in the 4 x 3 (1.33:1) ratio, but on widescreen monitors and televisions the image can easily be expanded to 16 x 9 (1.78:1) without looking contorted.

Both the Blu-ray and the DVD have the following extras that have been ported over from the Lionsgate DVD-only release from 2009:

"Mad Monster Party: Making of a Cult Classic" featurette (14:47)

"It's Sheer Animagic! Secrets of Stop-Motion Animation" featurette with Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh (9:35)

"Groovy Ghouls: The Music of Mad Monster Party" featurette with Maury Laws (3:45)

Two bonus sing-along tracks for kids of all ages: "Our Time to Shine” and "One Step Ahead"

Trailer (1:29)

The new Blu-ray is a worthy step up from the standard DVD and worth the purchase. This will make a great addition to one’s collection, especially for Halloween.

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By Todd Garbarini

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) opened on Friday, June 11, 1982 and was considered to be a small and personal film by director Steven Spielberg. It was also the first movie that I recall being released on multiple screens at the same theater simultaneously and this widespread exhibition of the film, in addition to word-of-mouth, was no doubt partially responsible for making E.T. the top-grossing film of the year.

Filmed under the original title of A Boy’s Life in late 1981, E.T. was written by screenwriter Melissa Matheson of The Black Stallion (1979) fame, and the fact that the title was changed illustrates the switching of focus from Elliott (Henry Thomas) to the little alien creature whose plight captured the world. A beautifully crafted story about childhood, loneliness and growing up was brought to life by perhaps the only filmmaker who could have done it justice. Mr. Spielberg had been fascinated by outer space since the night he and his father looked up at the stars in his backyard. As a teenager, he made an ambitious, 140-minute film called Firelight (1964) about UFOs. Years later, his own Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) acted as a sort of follow-up to it, and E.T. was inspired by the idea of one of the aliens at the end of this film being left behind. The product of divorced parents, Mr. Spielberg has claimed that E.T. is the only script he has read and wanted to make immediately without major changes.

The performances by everyone involved are wonderful. Mr. Spielberg always manages to get authentic reactions from his child actors. Who can forget Barry Guiler’s (Cary Guffey) look of wonder (accomplished by Mr. Spielberg dressing up as a rabbit off-screen) in Close Encounters when aliens raid his mom’s kitchen? Here, the director really shines, especially with Elliott’s little sister Gertie, played by six year old Drew Barrymore.

E.T. has not lost any of its original charm or wonder, nor does the film feel dated in any way. In 2002, the director made significant changes to the original version by adding an additional scene with E.T. in the bathtub by way of computer-generated imagery. He also removed the guns from the hands of the men seen near the film’s end who take over Elliott's house. He replaced the guns with walkie-talkies, thus outraging purists. Fortunately, the Blu-ray is the original 1982 version without these changes.

The film would not have made the impact that it had were it not for John Williams’ wonderful score. He has created a main theme for E.T. that simply makes the onscreen action soar. The special effects team is to be commended as well for their ability to take a rubber and mechanical puppet and turn it into a living, breathing creature with emotions.

If there is a drawback to the Blu-ray set, it is the exclusion of Harrison Ford's role as Elliott's school principal. The director had shot a scene where Elliott is sent to the principal’s office following the frog dissection fiasco sequence, and Elliott’s principal (Ford) asks him why he behaved the way he did. Since E.T. is a film about children and how they see the world, adults (with the exception of Dee Wallace as Elliott’s mother) are seen in synecdoche, their faces obscured. The principal was filmed this way, but the director cut the scene feeling it was extraneous. The only time this footage ever surfaced to my knowledge was in the deluxe CAV laser disc edition that was produced in limited quantities in 1996. As far as I know, no VHS, DVD, or any other video format has ever offered up this footage, but you can see a low resolution transfer of it here on Youtube.

The Blu-ray comes with a standard DVD and a digital copy of the film in addition to these extras:

Steven Spielberg & E.T. (HD, 13 minutes)

The E.T. Journals (HD, 54 minutes)

Deleted Scenes (HD, 4 minutes)

A Look Back (SD, 38 minutes)

The Evolution and Creation of E.T. (SD, 50 minutes)

The E.T. Reunion (SD, 18 minutes)

The 20th Anniversary Premiere (SD, 18 minutes)

The Music of E.T. (SD, 10 minutes)

Designs, Photographs and Marketing (SD, 45 minutes)

Special Olympics TV Spot (SD, 1 minute)

Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes)

This is clearly one of the best Blu-ray releases this year, as the carefully orchestrated color palette of Allen Daviau, the film’s Director of Photography, has never looked better on home video.

Click here to order from Amazon.com.

By Todd Garbarini

As Rush is now on tour in support of their Clockwork Angels album, I thought it would be fitting to have another look at their latest DVD and Blu-ray concert release, Rush: Time Machine Tour 2011 – Live in Cleveland, in addition to some truly nifty releases of their back catalog.    

Rush has always been a band that never took themselves seriously, despite what their most ardent detractors have vehemently suggested.  In retrospect, I still cannot understand what the music critics have been griping about all these years when it comes to Rush’s unique sound, which itself has gone through so many changes from one album to the next.  As far as playing live is concerned, Rush is truly mystifying to watch as I can never quite figure out how just three people are making this music which sounds so epic and grand in scope.  Yes, they have an entire group of behind-the-scenes experts making sure that the show goes smoothly, but the band sounds as though there are six people playing instead of just three.   

I recall seeing Rush’s first concert video released to the masses, Exit…Stage Left, on video in 1983 and being completely wowed by the boys.  Subsequent concert videos followed, but they never included the full concerts that they showcased, which was always frustrating as the tracks I really wanted to hear were invariably dropped.  Thankfully, that practice has gone by the wayside, and now Rush’s concert videos are always presented in their complete form (except for the initial release of R30, which was re-issued in toto on Blu-ray).   

I always wanted Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart, the triumvirate that comprises Rush, to come out on stage prior to a concert’s start and have them all go to the wrong instruments by “accident” and attempt to play them, only to correct themselves and start off in their respective positions.  The closest that we have gotten to seeing this happen is in the videos that appear on their most recent tour in which they do just that.  Whether you watch Rush’s Time Machine Tour 2011 – Live in Cleveland on DVD or Blu-ray, you can appreciate the hard work that goes into making a show.  What is really nice about this release is that this is the first time that a concert video is featuring Rush playing on U.S. soil, and they chose Cleveland as this was the city that really put them on the map in terms of radio airplay thanks to then-disc jockey Donna Halper, author of 2001’s Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting.  

By Todd Garbarini

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a strange concoction that never seemed to get a fair shake at the box office during its original release.  It's kind of like the unwanted offspring of the Halloween films and was originally projected to be the first in a series of yearly horror yarns released every October that dealt with different stories surrounding the titular holiday.  The film is among the least successful of the series, so any future franchise plans were abandoned, which is a shame because Halloween III is a fun little movie in its own right. In addition to being marketed incorrectly, it has not been represented properly even on home video.  DVD certainly hasn't been kind to it, having seen no less than three incarnations in “movie only” editions released in 1998 by Good Times Home Video, and in 2003 and 2007 by Universal Home Video. This is about to change, however, thanks to the fine folks at Shout! Factory.  Their new “Scream Factory” line is releasing a widescreen, feature-rich DVD in September (along with Halloween II from 1981) that should satisfy any passing or diehard fan of this film.  Having been erroneously promoted as the third installment of the popular horror series at the time, it is the only film having absolutely nothing to do with the manifestation of pure evil, Michael Myers.  Halloween III is more of a science fiction/horror film in the tradition of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the film the director obviously admires greatly.    

Released on Friday, October 22, 1982, Halloween III was co-written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace whose future credits would go on to include episodes of the of the mid-1980's revival TV series The Twilight Zone and the 1990 made-for-TV movie adaptation of It by Stephen King. Halloween III features Tom Atkins, who worked with John Carpenter on The Fog (1980) and Escape From New York (1981) and with George A. Romero in Creepshow (1982). He is also known for Fred Dekker's Night of the Creeps (1986) and Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon (1987). Mr. Atkins always delivers a terrific performance regardless of the subject matter of the films that he appears in, and Halloween III is no exception. Here he plays Dr. Dan Challis, who looks no more like a doctor than yours truly, and ends up playing doctor with Ellie Grimbridge (Stacey Nelkin), the twenty-two year-old grand-daughter of a man who died in his care (actress Nelkin is reportedly the woman Woody Allen had an affair with in the mid-1970s and inspired Mariel Hemingway’s character of Tracy in his 1979 film Manhattan). It turns out that a company producing Halloween masks (courtesy of Don Post Studios) is actually a front for an evil man named Conal Cochran (Dan O'Herlihy) who has produced a legion of androids in the form of well-dressed men, and is the monster behind the television commercials for Silver Shamrock Novelties which are geared towards children. Cochran’s plan is to kill children who wear his masks on Halloween night by activating a microchip in their masks which contain a fragment of Stonehenge. He wants to resurrect the festival of Samhain which he relates to witchcraft.

The story has elements of science fiction and reminds one of the aforementioned granddaddy of social paranoia flicks. The well-dressed men remind me of the soulless crew members of the Cygnus in The Black Hole (1979). Some critics even claimed that the film is a social commentary about the pitfalls of consumerism and the power of large corporations. To paraphrase Sigmund, sometimes a thriller is just a thriller!

Halloween III has become one of those films rescued from obscurity thanks to the availability of home video. Were it not for the ancillary markets of cable television and video playback devices, it is highly unlikely that so many genre gems would have ever retained any sense of life and made it into the homes of fans around the world. While obviously it is better to see such films on the big screen, particularly movies such as Halloween III which was shot in the 2.35:1 anamorphic aspect ratio, for many of us, this was the only way to see these films at all. Network TV airings were hit or miss.

John Carpenter and Alan Howarth provide a nifty synthesizer-driven film score which aids in giving the film a spooky and alien feel to it. The Silver Shamrock theme is a variation of the public domain children’s song “London Bridge is Falling Down.”

I love going to the locations where movies are shot, and Sean Clark of Horror's Hallowed Grounds does another excellent job of taking us on a tour of the locations for Halloween III. However, I must say that this is about as close as you would want to get to the town of Loleta, CA where the bulk of the film takes place. While it looks industrial and low-key in the film, 30 years have not been kind to this location. The motel where the aforementioned tryst occurs is dilapidated and home to people you don’t want to know.

If you're going to own Halloween III, this is the edition to get. This special DVD comes with the following extras:

- Audio commentary with director Tommy Lee Wallace, Sean Clark of Horror's Hallowed Grounds and Rob Galluzzo of Icons of Fright

- Audio commentary with actor Tom Atkins

- Stand Alone: The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch featuring Tommy Lee Wallace, Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin, Dick Warlock, Dean Cundey and more...

- Horror's Hallowed Grounds - Revisiting the original shooting locations

- Still Gallery

- Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots

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By Todd Garbarini

Poor Pretty Eddie is a bizarre concoction, the sort of movie that they just don't make anymore, and certainly not in the way in which this politically incorrect creation from 1974 was made. Released on DVD in 2006 with a fairly lousy and dark transfer, the film has been issued in a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack by the fine folks at HD Cinema Classics. Remastered in high definition by Film Chest, Inc. from a 35mm theatrical print, Poor Pretty Eddie concerns an African-American singer, Liz Weatherly (Leslie Uggams), who ends up stranded in the woods after her car breaks down and encounters a bizarre group of characters. Where is a cell phone when you need one? Due to the presence of the newly-built interstate (have you ever noticed how all of these characters’ ills are attributed to government highways?), the remote southern town that she stumbles across is on its last legs. It would be impossible to discuss this film without making a mention of John Boorman’s Deliverance made two years prior to it, and all of the backwoods redneck jokes that probably popped into the audiences’ minds while viewing the film.

Weatherly takes a room at an inn that is home to a group of show business wannabes, most notably Bertha (the always reliable nutcase Shelley Winters, fresh from her turns as Mrs. Armstrong, Auntie Roo and Helen Hill), Bertha’s lover Eddie (Michael Christian) who has patterned himself after Elvis and sees Bertha as his ticket to fame, Keno (Ted Cassidy) the handyman, and Sheriff Orville (Slim Pickens). Dub Taylor even shows up! The Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge in Athens, GA doubles as the inn (it was closed in early 2004) where 90% of the action was filmed. The film appears to have a look and feel that seems to almost be drug-induced, with a strange array of characters and big colors as part of the set design. It is an unpredictable hodgepodge of weirdness and must be seen to be believed.

Cinematographer David Worth provides a very interesting and entertaining commentary along with cult film historian Joe Rubin. Mr. Worth’s loquacity is matched only by his erudition of the film business, and for a film made nearly 40 years ago he speaks with tremendous flair and great recollection, despite his claims to the contrary. In the early 1970s, aspiring editors and directors generally cut their teeth in what was then known as the porn industry (now called the “adult film industry” – it has become more respectable I suppose!). They rarely had their names appear in the credits of such fair. Poor Pretty Eddie was no stranger to controversy, as it contains a rape scene involving Eddie and Liz; the scene juxtaposes images of dogs mating in slow motion. Make of that what you will!

The transfer is in high definition, although the print is not completely free of lines and scratches, particularly just after the head of the reel changes. This is a minor complaint, however.

In addition to the feature audio commentary, the package contains the following extras:

- Theatrical Trailer

- Production Stills

- A historical essay

- A neat postcard featuring the original poster art

- A restoration demonstration

I personally love HD Cinema Classics. They package their films with both a DVD and a Blu-ray, which gives the viewer the opportunity to see that Blu-ray is definitely the way to go.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER POOR PRETTY EDDIE FROM AMAZON.COM

By Todd Garbarini 

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is one of the funniest movies ever made.  It's listed at number 56 on the American Film Institute's list of top 100 comedies.  I personally feel that this ranking is unfair, as it should instead be in the top ten.  No matter how many times I've seen it, it never fails to make me laugh out loud.  Jerry Garcia of the band The Grateful Dead declared it as his favorite movie and it is held equally in high regard among Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's most die-hard fans.  Filmed in February and March of 1948, the film was released on Tuesday, June 15, 1948.  They really banged out films quickly in those days.  The budget was just under $800,000.  Even though it stars one of Hollywood's greatest comedy duos who succeeded in just about every entertainment arena there was at the time - on stage, on radio, on motion picture theater screens, and on television - there are moments in the film that can be very frightening to young children who are unaware of the film’s satirical tone.  I was roughly six years-old when I first saw it and it gave me nightmares.  As I got older and realized that it was just a movie, I really grew to love it.  Sunday mornings were a struggle for me as my family dragged us off to church and I would nervously check my wristwatch during the sermon in the hopes that we would get home in time for me to see the Sunday Morning Movie at 11:30 AM on WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City.  They showed one of eighteen Abbott and Costello films that they made for Universal International in the 1940s and 1950s in constant rotation. Some were terrific and some weren't, but Sunday mornings weren't the same without Abbott and Costello when they followed F-Troop.

The premise of the film works perfectly because the duo and the monsters play the material straight. Lon Chaney, Jr. sells the movie in his portrayal of Larry Talbot, a man who knows all about the Frankenstein monster and Dracula since he himself is the Wolf Man. He attempts to stop the shipment of the exhibits of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster to McDougal's House of Horrors fully knowing them to be real monsters. Naturally, his attempts to convince Chick Young (Bud Abbott) do not go according to plan. However, Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) begins to believe him. Wilbur's girlfriend Sandra (Lenore Aubert) initially appears innocent, though she proves to be in on the plot to replace the Frankenstein's monster's brain with a dim-witted one, namely Wilbur's. This sets into motion some of the funniest antics that Abbott and Costello have ever performed on screen.

When reading about the history of the making of this film, one comes to learn that the original script was entitled The Brain of Frankenstein. Lou Costello was not a fan of this script, and even commented that his five-year-old daughter could have written better. Learning this fact later on truly astonished me. The title of the film was also changed to avoid confusion to the audience who might have assumed that was a legitimate Universal monster movie.

Boris Karloff was approached to play the monster but declined, his reasoning being that he didn’t feel that the monsters should be mocked. He reluctantly agreed to be featured in a promotional ad campaign for the film as long as he didn't actually have to see the film!

The opening credits, created by animator Walter Lantz of Woody Woodpecker fame, are among the film's highlights.

The film has been released on home video many times: multiple times on VHS, three times on laserdisc, and three times thus far on DVD. Now, as part of Universal Films' 100th anniversary, there is a new Blu-ray edition which comes with a DVD which replicates the 2000 DVD release, and a digital copy of the film. If you're wondering about the presence of the Realart Pictures logo title card that found its way onto the second DVD release (the film was re-released in 1956 by Realart on a double bill with 1949’s Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff), the answer is no. These discs contain the Universal International title cards, and I can honestly say that the Blu-ray is definitely worth the upgrade. The picture is much clearer and sharper as one would expect from such an upgrade. The extras from the previous editions have been ported over to the Blu-ray and give insight into the making of this classic film.

A huge highlight of the movie is Frank Skinner's brilliant and sinister score, which is rumored to be up for a re-recording and released as an upcoming soundtrack CD.

There are two new and interesting bonus features available on the Blu-ray include two short promos. The first is called 100 Years of Universal: The Lot which features sound bites from Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Ron Howard, John Landis, Dan Aykroyd and others talking about their love of making films at Universal on the famed back lot. This promo runs just under ten minutes. The second is called 100 Years of Universal: Unforgettable Characters that covers the gamut of the classic monsters, Al Pacino's turn as SCARFACE, and BACK TO THE FUTURE to name just a few. This runs just over eight minutes.

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By Todd Garbarini

Ever since I saw Rick Rosenthal's Halloween II (1981) on home video in 1983 I cannot help but associate it with The Chordette’s 1954 hit “Mr. Sandman” which plays briefly during the opening and over the end credits. Stanley Kubrick managed to completely alter our images and impressions of Singin’ in the Rain with A Clockwork Orange. What use of pre-existing music!

Halloween II is one of my favorite horror film sequels, which is saying a lot as most of them are silly or unnecessary. It was one of the earliest movies that I ever owned on home video on the RCA Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) system which was an analog video disc unit in which video and audio was played back using a stylus cartridge and a high-density groove system similar to phonograph records. Unlike DVD or Blu-ray today, CED presented viewers only the movie. There were no special editions, no running commentaries, no trailers, and no additional interviews. If you were looking for added value, you had to go to the far more expensive laser disc format that was in full swing some ten years later which usually included a letterboxed version of the film in addition to the aforementioned goodies. This double-disc standard DVD set will make a terrific addition to your collection as the transfer is very crisp and clear; plus, there are a multitude of extras that puts the original Halloween II DVDs from Goodtimes Home Video in 1998 and Universal Home Video in 2001 to shame. Those versions provided no extras and somewhat noisy transfers.

While it is not as cinematically polished as John Carpenter's extraordinary original, which was referred to as "an absolutely merciless thriller" by Roger Ebert, Halloween II picks up the same night that Halloween left off (October 31, 1978). It breaks the unwritten rule of sequels by using footage from Mr. Carpenter's film as a segue into the new movie, but it doesn’t hurt the film as much as one might think. Psycho II and Poltergeist II were both guilty of this (the former was a very good follow-up to Alfred Hitchcock’s masterful original whereas the latter was a poor simulacrum of the spectacular funhouse of the Freeling’s first go-round with the alternate universe). Donald Pleasence reprises his role as the indefatigable Dr. Loomis, spouting some of the film's best lines, such as "You don't know what death is!" and "I shot him six times!" He actually shot Meyers seven times if you count the gunshots. Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode, however I am not sure that I completely buy the plot point that she is Michael Meyers's sister. This development was written into the script and since Halloween was being premiered on NBC on Friday, October 30, 1981 (the same night that Halloween II was premiering theatrically), several additional scenes were filmed and added to the Halloween network premiere to drive this point home as well as to pad out the film's running time. Thus begins Michael Myers's reign of terror on Haddonfield after miraculously surviving the point-blank blasts of Dr. Loomis’s handgun. There are some genuinely scary moments in Halloween II which don’t really hold up now as they have been mimicked to death and have become in and of themselves clichés, seen in literally hundreds of slasher films made over the past thirty years.

Lance Guest, who played the lead in 1984’s The Last Starfighter, is very likeable as an EMT who looks after Laurie. Leo Rossi is his usual sleazy self as his partner. Comedian Dana Carvey is seen briefly and is listed in the credits as "Assistant." He appears twenty-two minutes into the film wearing a blue sleeveless jacket and a blue cap. He is pointed out on the commentary by director Rosenthal.

Michael Myers was primarily portrayed by Nick Castle in the original, and close-ups were done by Tony Moran. Here, he is portrayed by Dick Warlock, and his gait is obviously different, slightly less menacing than the previous actors.

The extras that appear on this set consist of the following bonus features:

The theatrical version and the television cut with added footage not seen in the theatrical version

Audio commentary with director Rick Rosenthal and actor Leo Rossi

Audio commentary with stunt co-ordinator/actor Dick Warlock

The Nightmare Isn't Over: The Making Of Halloween II featuring interviews with director Rick Rosenthal, actor & stunt coordinator Dick Warlock, actors Lance Guest, Leo Rossi, Nancy Stephens, Ana Alicia, Tawny Moyer, executive producer Irwin Yablans, director of photography Dean Cundey, co-composer Alan Howarth, costume supervisor Jane Ruhm, co-editor Skip Schoolnik, and filmmaker Tommy Lee Wallace

Horror's Hallowed Grounds: The Locations of Halloween II – Host Sean Clark revisits the original shooting locations of the film

Deleted scenes with optional audio commentary from director Rick Rosenthal

Alternate ending with optional audio commentary from director Rick Rosenthal

Theatrical trailer

TV and radio spots

Stills gallery

All in all, this is the version of Halloween II to own. Released by Shout! Factory under their Scream Factory line, they are proving themselves as a force to be reckoned with, releasing genre favorites in deluxe special editions with lots of lavished extras, including new cover artwork, with the original artwork viewable in the form of a reversible sleeve.

Click here to order the film from Amazon.com.