Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

Co-writer/director Alan Ormsby endeavors to create something wacky with 1974's "Murder on the Emerald Seas" (a.k.a. "The Great Masquerade"), and his approach to big screen comedy takes some getting used to. Clearly a fan of classic comedies, favoring the work found in silent cinema, Ormsby tries to master the same timing and tirelessness for "Murder on the Emerald Seas," which plays broadly and excitedly with familiar set-ups and punchlines. It's a whodunit, but providing a thorough mystery isn't part of the production's plan, as most energy is poured in generating silliness, which can only reach as far as the iffy screenplay allows. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1976's "The Muthers" is happy to participate in a multitude of subgenres, hoping to appeal to as many audiences as possible with a relatively simple product. The overall mood is rooted in Blaxploitation, focusing on tough black women and the nonsense they reject, but there are also cinematic avenues to explore that include martial art displays and women-in-prison entertainment. "The Muthers" isn't classy, trying very hard to follow filmmaking trends, but director Cirio H. Santiago launches an amusing assault, working to keep the endeavor on the go with action encounters and assorted survival challenges.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1969's "The Hang Up" offers no introductions, flinging viewers into a gender fluid bar where a young entertainer known as Suzette sits in the middle of the room, removes her top, and wills herself to orgasm. No characters are identified or motivations established, it's just pure sexploitation filler from writer/director John Hayes, who trusts the core demographic sitting down to watch the picture are far more interested in the baring of breasts than the morality play to come. "The Hang Up" eventually connects to a story, but it's hard to top such a bizarre opener, though the kinky melodrama that ensues is just kooky enough to pay attention to, though it helps to have the knowledge that Hayes never returns to salaciousness with the same verve he offers in the film's opening.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In the general DIY movement of horror cinema in the 1960s, perhaps spurred on by successes achieved by Hammer Films and Roger Corman, more than few oddball productions managed to sneak their way into release. 1962's "The Dungeon of Harrow" is one such picture, with co-writer/director Pay Boyette trying to create his own gothic nightmare with only a few passable ideas, struggling with budget issues and a strange imagination for evildoing inside a remote castle. "The Dungeon of Harrow" is painfully inert at times, but for those who have the patience for slow-drip suspense, the feature does have the advantage of an ending, with all the sluggishness, crude technical achievements, and labored performances actually leading somewhere for a change, though it takes an incredible amount of patience to get there.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Penitentiary" was no great drama, but the prison boxing film was dedicated to showcasing true grit and horrors behind bars, adding some light insanity to play up the material's B-movie potential, welcoming people into the viewing experience. Writer/director Jamaa Fanaka doesn't continue the steeliness for 1982's "Penitentiary II," taking the sequel down a bizarrely comedic path that's more about camp than concussions, perhaps fearful nobody would show up if he dared to play the continuation straight. The guilty pleasures of "Penitentiary" are mostly gone in the follow-up, finding Fanaka out of ideas when it comes to the next chapter of the Martel "Too Sweet" Gardone saga, stripping out the inherent hardness of the setting and the participants to create a near-parody of what's come before, only storytelling skills are severely slackened, performances are nuclear, and the central idea of pugilist redemption is now nothing more than an afterthought. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

1976's "Mary! Mary!" provides a simple premise: Ned (John Leslie) has erectile issues, offering to trade his soul to the Devil (a.k.a. "The Arranger") for a cream that solves all his sexual problems. And with this thin plot, director Bernard Morris attempt to liven up the proceedings with humor, horror, a car chase, and a sexual tryst that brings in salted meats to heat up the evening. It initially appears so benign, but once "Mary! Mary!" gets rolling, there's plenty of oddity to enjoy, along with the surprisingly active hardcore content of the movie. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Comparisons to 2013's "The Kings of Summer" are valid, but 2015's "Sleeping Giant" is really its own thing, heading to Canada to explore the savage hearts of teenage boys as they're set free for the season. Co-writer/director Andrew Cividino adapts his own 2014 short film, working hard to extend the behavioral investigation, filling the movie with small battles of conscience, love, and trust, all the while indulging all the verite inspiration he's absorbed over the years. "Sleeping Giant" gets mostly there, and while the stress to fill a feature shows throughout the effort, there are periodic moments of enlightenment and combativeness that demand full attention. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

In the montage that opens "Dolores," there are shots of triumph featuring the documentary's subject, Dolores Huerta, and a few shots of media types and other folk wondering just who Huerta is. Director Peter Bratt understands her lack of fame, at least in this day and age, creating a cinematic inspection of the labor leader and civil rights activist that's meant to be a celebration and something of an introduction. It's a smart way to approach Huerta's arc of defiance and organization, transforming "Dolores" into a valuable educational tool and an engrossing feature, supported by impressively varied footage of Huerta in action and a slew of interviewees who've come together to recount amazing resilience and focus during turbulent decades of injustice and prejudice for Mexican laborers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

If the famous computer game "The Oregon Trail" was based on the events depicted in 1967's "The Way West," there would be an entire generation forever scarred by the stark realities on life on the migratory trip west. A lot more than dysentery rises up to challenge the settlers gathered in Andrew V. McLaglen's picture, which takes a hard look at the mistakes made and sacrifices required to find a fresh start in Oregon. It certainly helps to have a talented cast along to boost the dramatic potential of the material, but the basics of betrayal and loss are communicated vividly in the movie, which maintains an epic widescreen posture but stays amazingly pitiless when to comes to the fates of many of the characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

The celebratory aspect of the "Blade of the Immortal" release is the picture's status as the 100th film from director Takeshi Miike, which is no small feat when considering the man began his career ascent in 1991. He's an extremely prolific creator of violent entertainment, hitting some potent cult movie highs over the years ("Ichi the Killer," "13 Assassins"), but he's always swinging at the first pitch, keeping himself busy behind the camera dreaming up new ways to brutalize human beings. "Blade of the Immortal" is not a significant creative departure for Miike, but it does utilize his gifts for blunt aggression and screen style well, adding touches of the unreal to a samurai extravaganza adapted from a popular manga, which permits the story to generally disregard Japanese history and charge ahead as a lengthy, funky bloodbath.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1996's "Boys" was probably never destined to be a quality movie. Writer/director Stacy Cochran takes on the impossible task of filling 87 minutes of screen time with her adaptation of a James Salter short story that was only eight pages long. In terms of screenwriting endeavors, that's a Hail Mary pass, and one Cochran is unable to complete despite her best intentions to taffy-pull anything from Salter's work to help beef up the dramatic potential of the project. "Boys" is the rare feature where nothing really happens during the run time, watching Cochran quickly lose interest in character arcs and mysteries, leaving the film to gradually fall asleep. There's a cast of young talent who seem eager to make something interesting out of all this filler, and while the effort is appreciated, the viewing experience is a complete drag. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

1992's "Crossing the Bridge" is a personal film for writer/director Mike Binder, collecting tales from his youth in Michigan to make a coming-of-age movie about the painful years that arrive post-high school, where the world opens up to some and swallows the rest. It's a nostalgia piece, but the helmer adds a suspense element to the screenplay to keep it focused, finding tension between moments of reflection. Binder's fingerprints are evident throughout the feature (he even narrates), and that special touch keeps "Crossing the Bridge" together when editorial slackness rises to ruin the effort, which suffers from a nasty case of repetition. It's not an especially warm endeavor, but Binder has an eye for emotional and period details, capturing uncertainty with care.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

After mining his youth for his directorial debut, 1992's "Crossing the Bridge," Mike Binder quickly returns to the creative well with 1993's "Indian Summer," which also details experiences from the helmer's formative years, only instead of drug-running troublemaking, the picture returns to summer camp. Binder stages a class reunion of sorts for his characters, who represent all types of thirtysomething blues, reawakening their spirits in the location that permitted them the most freedom in life and love. The director clearly has affection for his experience at Camp Tamakwa (a real camp, still in business today), and this enthusiasm helps to power "Indian Summer" though some iffy scripting, finding Binder excited about the stay in a woodsy paradise, but less interested in maintaining the cat's cradle of characterization the opening act of the movie promises to explore in full.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

1975's "The Devil Within Her" was promoted as the next "Rosemary's Baby," but the production is actually more consumed with replicating "The Exorcist." However, the picture's competitive streak is a little odd, trying to dial back the horror of a possessed child from a little girl to a newborn, which is perhaps too much of a stretch when taking in a feature that showcases the baby terrorizing multiple adults. "The Devil Within Her" is a tremendously absurd endeavor, absolute catnip for B-movie fans, but for the casual viewer, such extremity when it comes to the conjuring of a teensy-weensy menace generally destroys whatever suspense director Peter Sasdy is hoping to achieve. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

There's going to be a generational divide when it comes to the audience for "Tragedy Girls." There will be those who understand, possibly even relate to the modern depiction of teenagedom, which is showcased here as a marathon of social media anxiety, bullying, and insincerity. Older audiences will likely spend the viewing experience being grateful they are no longer adolescents, forced to compete in a ferociously connected world. Thankfully, "Tragedy Girls" isn't a documentary, but a horror comedy, offering satiric touches and exaggerated performances to help viewers ease into the challenges of juvenile life, which, for this endeavor, include murder. Co-writer/director Tyler MacIntyre pulls off a bit of a miracle here, finding ways to connect to unpleasant characters, while the rest of the movie speeds ahead with macabre twists and turns, and shares a love for bloody mischief.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

A Hungarian production, "Kills on Wheels" makes an effort to depict the physically disabled in a unique way. Writer/director Attlia Till takes a creative route while showcasing a story of crime and emotional dysfunction, using the conventions of gangster cinema to shake up the norm when it comes to tales that feature wheelchair-bound characters. "Kills on Wheels" has its share of dark comedy, also highlighting blasts of violence, but there's an emotional foundation poured by Till that gives the material a little more to do than simply tend to formula, trying to form living, breathing characters to go with modest exploitation interests. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

It's hard to imagine director Greydon Clark didn't have Steven Spielberg's 1977 masterpiece, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," in mind when made 1980's "The Return." The film opens with a similar mood and visual style, watching a mysterious, glowing alien ship emerge from the sky to dazzle a few Earthlings before rocketing away. However, the production stops trying to manufacture awe soon after, switching to a more affordable invasion story, and one that favors chills over curiosity, with Clark more interested in breaking glass and shooting guns.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Shock value is easy, and it seems to work the best when there's thought put into it, with clever filmmakers managing to create a big screen mess and keep their effort somewhat approachable, either through dark comedy or dimensional characterization. "68 Kill" brings a cannon to a knife fight, with writer/director Trent Haaga trying his best to make the most repellent feature imaginable, focusing on pure ugliness as a way to achieve irreverence, making an exploitation movie for an age when such juvenile aggression is no longer a special event. Adapting a novel by Bryan Smith, Haaga is looking to master an atmosphere that showcases gruesome events and toxic behavior, yet somehow remains humorous enough for the endeavor to qualify as a comedy. "68 Kill" is specialized product for a certain type of genre fan, but boy howdy, does it ever test patience as Haaga stumbles blindly from one scene to the next.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1978, director Al Adamson was tasked with turning 1974's "Lucifer's Women" into a different picture, effectively burying the earlier production (directed by Paul Aratow), which, apparently, never saw the light of day. The restoration efforts of Vinegar Syndrome have returned "Lucifer's Women" to life, bringing the "lost" feature to Blu-ray along with Adamson's "Doctor Dracula," offering cult film fans their first opportunity to watch both incarnations of the Aratow endeavor, with the first pass more of a softcore satanic panic chiller, while the second pass goes goofball with a patchwork quilt of exposition and additional characters, with Adamson laboring to leave his fingerprints on another helmer's work. It's not exactly a thrilling cinematic discovery, but for those who live for B-movie archaeology, this is a suitably strange viewing experience.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Instead of taking the usual exploitation route, writer/director Jamaa Fanaka attempts something slightly different with 1979's "Penitentiary," using his screen time to orchestrate sporting and tough guy excitement and approach some interesting social and judicial problems, helping the feature achieve a bit more dramatic texture than the average slug-fest. "Penitentiary" has many issues with tone, taste, and fight choreography, but it's also commanding when it needs to be, with Fanaka conjuring interesting characters and a vividly hostile setting, getting the boxing picture all worked up when necessary to keep viewers interested in the fates of hard men locked inside a concrete cage. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com