Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

Charlton Heston portraying an aging NFL quarterback is pretty fantastic casting, with the intense actor a perfect fit for a hotheaded character getting too old for the game. Heston is terrific in 1969's "Number One," which offers him an interesting dramatic challenge, tasked with bringing to life a fairly unpleasant human being going through a universal psychological experience, portraying a football hero facing the end of his career, his marriage, and possibly his male appeal. The screenplay (by David Moessinger) tries to work into the folds of such self-esteem issues, and director Tom Gries doesn't avoid a few painful behavioral realities involved in this position of doubt. "Number One" could use a tighter edit, but it offers some interesting ideas on denial and fear, with Heston trying to give the part some real grittiness while fighting a few melodramatic elements in the material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director William Malone was ordered to create a knock-off of "Alien" with 1985's "Creature," and that's exactly what he delivers with the horror picture. However, he's not permitted a sizable budget, going the Roger Corman route of tight spaces and limited locations with the endeavor. Malone doesn't have the resources to generate something extraordinary, but he manages to manufacture a reasonably compelling monster movie with "Creature," which provides impressive set design and performances for such a small-scale production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dario Argento delivered fantastic horror and mystery movies in the 1970s and '80s, but the 1990s were tough on the director. 1993's "Trauma" is arguably where his creative decline began, trying to get something disturbing going with a chiller concerning a black gloved killer using a garroting machine to help collect heads for a mysterious reason, co-writing a screenplay that's searching for ways to be an odd whodunit. There's a large number of ideas and different tones swirling around "Trauma," but Argento's instincts aren't sharp this time around, coming off unsure with what he wants to do with the endeavor, which has the capacity to be unspeakably brutal or uncomfortably romantic, but remains mostly muddled. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1991's "Steel and Lace" hopes to offer a more dramatic side to exploitation entertainment, mixing some serious emotion with the pure thrill of revenge cinema. It's an uneven blend of the real and unreal, but director Ernest Farino doesn't blink when it comes to the wilder aspects of the journey, making sure scenes of comeuppance register with full bloodshed. "Steel and Lace" deals with some intense situations concerning sexual assault and the failure of the justice system, offering just enough texture to help the production get past cheap thrills, elevating the material beyond simplistic acts of bodily harm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Billy Blanks is perhaps best known as the creator of Tae Bo, a workout program that became a staple of infomercial programming throughout the 1990s. Blanks made a fortune in the business, but he also wanted to be a movie star, offering his martial arts skills to writer/director T.J. Scott. The result was 1993's "TC 2000," which positioned Blanks as the big new thing on the action cinema scene, using his physical presence to keep up with Scott's refreshingly berserk pacing, which has some form of fighting or chasing happening every few minutes in the film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The story of "New York Ninja" is remarkable. Director/star John Liu elected to bring his martial arts mastery to America in 1984, looking to capitalize on the growing hunger for ninja product during the decade. He was handed a small budget and a limited crew, setting out to create an action bonanza in the big city. However, things didn't go as planned, and cash ran out, leaving the mostly shot feature on a shelf for decades, abandoned by its creator. In 2020, Vinegar Syndrome got their hands on film cans, launching a mission to make sense of silent footage shot 36 years ago. Instead of trying to decode Liu's original vision (an impossible task), the company decided to create an updated version of "New York Ninja" using dubbing and editorial puzzling, emerging with a celebration of Liu's cinematic enthusiasm, reviving 1984 butt-kicking for 2021 audiences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Brett Leonard elected to transform a Stephen King short story about unholy lawn service into a study of virtual reality, creating a minor hit for New Line Cinema with 1992's "The Lawnmower Man." It was R-rated entertainment that offered an exotic look at impossible technology for multiplex audiences, luring them in with strange CGI creations and mild thriller elements. Leonard was trying to make something distinctly sci-fi yet somewhat prescient, tapping into the rise of the "cyberpunk" subculture that would eventually become a Hollywood obsession for a good chunk of the 1990s. "The Lawnmower Man" surprised everyone by making money, and New Line wasn't about to give up on a potential franchise. Of course, they didn't stick with Leonard, instead putting their box office hopes into the hands of writer/director Farhad Mann, who helmed the pilot episode of "Max Headroom" and, well, "Return to Two Moon Junction." Leonard isn't much of a moviemaker, but Mann completely botches the world-building of the first effort, delivering "Lawnmower Man 2: Jobe's War" (also titled "Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace"), which transforms the dangers and desires of the original picture into terrible kiddie entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1992's "Death Ring" is a fairly routine riff on the "The Most Dangerous Game" premise, but for those who grew up during the age of the video store, the picture has a certain notoriety, participating in the practice of misleading marketing to help attract some attention to bottom shelf viewing options. The cover art blasted actor billing in bold: "NORRIS. MCQUEEN. SWAYZE." Such last names conjured dreams of a pre-"Expendables" romp with a few of cinema's most sandpapery leading men. Alas, it was merely a ruse to secure a rental, with unsuspecting folks soon forced to watch a film starring Chad MCQUEEN, Mike NORRIS, and Don SWAYZE. It's a significant comedown from the real deal, but the sons and brother manage to deliver some entertainment with "Death Ring," which is really The Mike Norris Show, taking a story credit and the leading man role to showcase his presence as an actor hero, kicking and punching his way through a basic but diverting B-movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Ticks" is a 1993 production looking to restore a little old-fashioned fun into the killer bug subgenre, taking the already dangerous ways of the miniature arachnids and boosting the fear factor by making them oversized and out for more than just blood. Director Tony Randel ("Hellbound: Hellraiser II") has a simple job, tasked with creating a suitable screen nightmare with a potentially goofy premise, and he gets halfway there, overseeing some truly impressive special effects and stop-motion animation for a low-budget endeavor. Screenwriter Brent V. Friedman doesn't share the same enthusiasm, conjuring a tepid story about wayward youth and the guardians trying to care for them, also adding some "Deliverance"-lite touches with cartoonish rural enemies, which doesn't make much room for the central menace. "Ticks" is enjoyable, but it's also frustrating to watch, with the material working hard on a dramatic approach when the film itself is begging for more straightforward killer tick action. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There have been several attempts to explore the experience of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple throughout many forms of media. 1979's "Guyana: Cult of the Damned" is one of the first offerings of dramatic exploration, entering theaters less than a year after the mass suicide event in Jonestown. Speed appears to be the goal of the production, with noted B-movie manufacturer Rene Cardona Jr. trying to cash-in on a horrific situation with his endeavor, aiming to provide a horror show for those curious about the ghastly situation involving Jones and the creation of his cult, which he worked to build up, ultimately leading them to their deaths in 1978. However, instead of pushing extra hard to generate a satisfying understanding of manipulation and mental deterioration, Cardona Jr. generates tepid exploitation instead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1985's "Devil Story" entered production with a best of intentions, but director Bernard Launois was quickly overwhelmed by the demands of low- budget filmmaking. His attempt at something resembling a ghost story evolved (or stumbled) into an offering of dream logic, with the finished movie heading everywhere at once, becoming the French equivalent of an Ed Wood movie, but with a higher concentration on weirdness. "Devil Story" is bizarre work, with Launois almost proud of his nonsensical ways, delivering a nutso celebration of genre events, repetition, and gore, laboring to find some way to make audiences submit to his half-baked tale of death and animal agitation. And there's a mummy in here for some reason. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

We haven't had a slasher film that deals with panic inside a movie theater in some time, making "The Last Matinee" a treat for those who miss such a setting for all kinds of hellraising. A South American production, the picture aims to revive an Italian feel for screen hostility and dark comedy, with co- writer/director Maximiliano Contenti trying to summon the great gods of giallo cinema to help inspire this wonderfully nasty horror offering, which isn't afraid to spill blood and, well, do a lot more bodily harm during the run time. Contenti doesn't have much money to create an epic, but he does exceptionally well with a simple chiller concerning a bad night for curious moviegoers in Uruguay. Genre fans should get a kick out of the effort's grisliness and love for the exhibition business, working with the location to deliver a compelling nightmare. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The helming team of Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell is known as RKSS, and a few years ago, they reached into the past to inspire their post-apocalyptic adventure "Turbo Kid." A cheeky ode to VHS entertainment from the 1980s, video games, and teen cinema, "Turbo Kid" presented a valentine and a lampoon, building an enchanting low-budget world with exaggerated retro flair. RKSS returns to their childhood with "Summer of 84," with this round skipping silliness to delve into a murder mystery of sorts, staying in the warm bath of adolescent entanglements, but pushing the mood into something more threatening. There's a lot of sleuthing going in "Summer of 84," and while the title suggests a nostalgic romp around one of the best moviegoing seasons of the 1980s, RKSS actually dials down cutesiness for something darker and slower. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Blithe Spirit" is a filmed version of a highly successful 1941 play by Noel Coward, which inspired a 1945 David Lean big screen adaptation, starring Rex Harrison, Constance Cummings, and Kay Hammond. A beloved light comedy from a sharp wit, Coward's imagination is resurrected by screenwriters Piers Ashworth, Meg Leonard, and Nick Moorcroft, who try to do something with the material for another interpretation. The trio get a little angrier this time around, offering a slightly heavier take on Coward's vision while still attempting to maintain comic rhythms with a game cast who seem genuinely delighted to be participating in this project. "Blithe Spirit" has select moments of enjoyable insanity, but the farcical aspects of the work don't come through with any distinction in the new version. Director Edward Hall (a television veteran) makes a pretty picture, but one that doesn't sustain enough energy to the end, giving viewers less and less as the feature tries to bring Coward to a new audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After suffering through a strong of box office disappointments, director Jonathan Kaplan took refuge in television movies, spending the early 1980s managing a handful of network offerings for mass audiences. 1983's "Death Ride to Osaka" (a.k.a. "Girls of the White Orchid") is perhaps the most aggressive of the bunch, with Kaplan in charge of providing exploitation fare for NBC, creating a cautionary tale about human trafficking that's careful to linger on violence and uneasy sexuality. "Death Ride to Osaka" isn't hard-hitting stuff, but Kaplan finds a certain level of potency with the rougher edges of the teleplay (credited to Carole and Michael Raschella), also exploring cultural confusion during the run time, aiming to deliver something unsettling while still remaining an accessible night of T.V. for adult audiences. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While made-for-T.V. movies generally play to the broadest audience for broadcast dominance, 1982's "Dreams Don't Die" offers slightly edgier fare for younger viewers, exploring the troubles of a street artist in New York City as he deals with reality of his future. Director Roger Young oversees a compelling understanding of maturation and dangerous evening activities, while writer Garry Michael White secures vivid characterization, creating a gripping look at the pressures of oncoming adulthood. "Dreams Don't Die" gets a little lost in its final act, but there's an hour of rich dramatic events and defined personalities to savor, while the setting and subculture are respectfully tended to, adding a lived-in sense of life to the endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1981's "Freedom," screenwriter Barbara Turner gifts herself an opportunity to rework the struggles of her life. The picture is based on her daughter's experiences as a wayward youth, trying to make sense of everything while maintaining distance from her mother's presence. Part of this hard-fought maturity involves employment at a traveling carnival, where the teenager was surrounded by other outcasts who understood her, but Turner represents herself as the parent who can't quite get past her child's defenses, watching her figure things out on her own. "Freedom" is very much a traditional television movie, dealing with intimate matters of heart and home, and Turner writes with passion, endeavoring to dial back the clock and manage her daughter's frustrations and denials with a bit more grace. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1972's "Fritz the Cat" was something of an experiment, with director Ralph Bakshi using inspiration from Robert Crumb's comic creation to launch an animated experience for adult audiences, picking up an X rating for his troubles. Against all odds, the feature was a massive hit, making millions for producer Steve Krantz. Naturally, he wanted a sequel, and quickly too, but Bakshi moved on to other projects, trying to capitalize on the profitability of "Fritz the Cat." Unwilling to take a creative risk with a follow-up, Krantz turns to Robert Taylor, a helmer who's tasked with matching the raunchy mischief from the first picture, and that's the extent of his job. 1974's "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat" is nothing more than a rehash of the original endeavor, only this time there's a bit more money to spend on animation efforts, creating a slicker version of the Crumb character, but not a dramatically evolved one. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Fritz the Cat" was originally created by Robert Crumb in 1965, serving as a way for the artist to release some creative wiggles with decidedly raunchy work that couldn't find a place in the mainstream. For the 1972 film adaptation, Crumb's vision finds a proper guardian in director Ralph Bakshi, another artist interested in challenging audiences, using Crumb's universe to launch what would become an interestingly unwieldy directorial career. With "Fritz the Cat," Bakshi searches for a way to bring adult activities to animation, looking to shake the kiddie reputation of the medium with an X- rated adventure around New York City, following the eponymous feline as he indulges his obsessions with sex, drugs, and troublemaking during the counterculture years of the 1960s. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Pig" isn't an easy film to sell to the public, and marketing materials have tried to push the feature as a revenge picture, with a "John Wick"-esque concept of a reclusive man returning to a world he left behind for the love of an animal. In this case, it's a truffle pig, with Nicolas Cage tasked with portrayed a deadened man on the hunt for his best pal. Writer/director Michael Sarnoski doesn't deliver a high-octane offering of action cinema with the movie. He goes deeply dramatic instead, ignoring the potential absurdity of the premise to take the whole mission as seriously as possible, digging into troubled characters carrying their own body weight in grief. "Pig" is an odd picture, but that's the idea, with Sarnoski trying to approach human emotions from different angles, finding fresh ways to deal with primal hurt, with the endeavor more of a "Ratatouille" riff than a vicious Keanu Reeves bruiser. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com