Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

Jackie Gleeson made his fair share of duds, but as he aged, he lost his star power, growing increasingly reliant on his established persona to connect with potential audiences. 1970's "How Do I Love Thee?" finds Gleeson navigating the changing tides of American society and entertainment interests, starring in a dramedy that's meant to play to both older and younger audiences, trying to build a bridge between the counterculture and senior citizens. It's a big time whiff from the icon, who looks lost (and quite inebriated) during his performance, unsure how seriously he should take a movie where Shelly Winters is cast as a sex object. "How Do I Love Thee?" is a brutal sit at times, with nobody in the production particularly confident in the film they want to make, going soft in every direction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Paul Verhoeven is known as a cinematic provocateur. He's a filmmaker with a defined taste for the extreme, using sex and violence as mere building blocks in his features, which typically amplify the human experience into big screen opera, making a mess of emotions and body parts. 1980's "Spetters" comes before Verhoeven's incredible American run of "RoboCop," "Total Recall," and "Basic Instinct," returning to a time when he was a burgeoning Dutch helmer with plenty of spunk to spray on audiences, funneling his enthusiasm for untamed characters into a story of youthful energy, tragedy, and bad behavior. Imagine if Verhoeven directed "Porky's," and that's close to the viewing experience of "Spetters," which highlights the youth of Rotterdam as they try to make their way in the world, landing on the worst possible personal decisions imaginable along the way. Overkill is a big deal to Verhoeven, and the feature tries to inflate common problems into major incidents of horror, retaining the unmistakable vision of a helmer who excels at creating screen danger, but often doesn't know when to quit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

"Josie" emerges from the mind of screenwriter Anthony Ragnone, who makes his feature-length debut with the movie. Apparently, the writing attracted a lot of attention on the screenplay scene a few years ago, even reaching the dubious "Black List," a self-congratulatory Hollywood system that's helped many projects reach the screen, while only a few of them have been as extraordinary as their reputations. "Josie" has the seductive curves of the picture that plays terrific on paper, but as a film, limitations are highlighted in a major way, with the plot more suited for a short story than a big screen endeavor, finding Ragnone working on a puzzle that's not particularly worth solving, while director Eric England doesn't provide much of a reason to remain with the unfolding drama, forgoing narrative drive to linger on lukewarm encounters between banal characters.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" is based on a 1973 book by Max Ehrlich (who also scripts), which became a best seller during a decade that freely experimented with the other side, with numerous productions trying to stimulate ticket sales by visiting the unknown, almost as a way to prove the unbelievable exists. While the movies are miles apart, it's hard to think that the massive success of "The Exorcist" didn't play a part in the feature's creation, as both tales concern a seemingly innocent person slowly exposed to something wicked that resides inside. "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" doesn't dance with the Devil, but it does investigate a certain level of evil, with director J. Lee Thompson ("The Guns of Navarone," "Happy Birthday to Me," "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes") committed to inspecting every square foot of the developing intrigue, even if it means bringing the picture to a full stop, which he does on multiple occasions.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There has been no shortage of media adaptations of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel, "Little Women," which has been brought to the stage, radio, and screens big and small. It's a timeless tale of sisterhood and maturity, and it makes sense that every few years there seems to be a production taking a stab at bringing Alcott's vivid characters to life in one way or another. There have been a few masterpieces along the way (the 1994 version starring Winona Ryder is a particular triumph), giving this take on "Little Women" from writer Heidi Thomas some sense of perspective as it strives to respect the source material but ultimately become its own thing, emerging as an inspection of empowerment and individual evolution while still sustaining Alcott's way with tragedies of all shapes and sizes. This BBC production ultimately paints itself into a corner, but the three episodes that make up the series (Run times: Ep #1 – 61:23, Ep #2 – 60:23, Ep #3 – 62:02) offers periodic clarity of spirit, giving Alcott's world a brightness of personality that carries the best of what the original book has to offer.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Rachel Israel has made a film about autism that's unlike many pictures about the subject. Instead of creating a mournful endeavor or a shallow quirkfest, she finds the heart and soul of everyday people trying to find their way in the big city. "Keep the Change" has its serious side, but it's mostly a comedy about building confidence and communication, featuring a cast of autistic people to secure authenticity and celebrate a unique perspective on traditionally neurotic characters. "Keep the Change" is also hilarious and warm, finding its own voice as Israel creates a special space for her cast to shine, preserving idiosyncrasies and timing to best reinforce the unusual atmosphere of pure personality on display. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

What's great about 1983's "Of Unknown Origin" is its simplicity. It's a story about a man's battle with the rat that's infiltrated his house, and rarely does the picture stray from the central conflict. It's a B-movie with slightly higher thematic aspirations, and director George P. Cosmatos keeps his eyes on the prize with the feature, which delivers a fair amount of thrills and grotesqueries, staying true to the domestic war as it escalates from something seemingly harmless to a full-body psychological breakdown. "Of Unknown Origin" doesn't contain many surprises, it retains speed, delivering an entertaining, intentionally repulsive viewing experience guided well by star Peter Weller (in his first lead role). Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

It's never a smart move to believe marketing efforts from Troma Films. They're not a studio known for their integrity, frequently using any means necessary to squeeze a few bucks out of potential viewers. 1987's "Deadly Daphne's Revenge" (actually shot in 1979 and titled "The Hunting Season" on the Blu-ray) is notable for featuring very little Deadly Daphne during its run time. Sure, she's seeking revenge, but the emphasis of the title and the horror come-on of the cover art suggests a thorough genre exercise to come. Instead, "Deadly Daphne's Revenge" is more of a legal program from the 1970s, offering only a single scene pertaining to the titular villain's personal war. It's a big time switcheroo, used to help a tepid drama sneak through horror hound interest filters, promising them carnage, but delivering mostly banal conversations.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The cover art for 1973's "Pets" displays the lead actress, Candace Rialson, with a dog collar around her neck, chained up inside a cage while a malevolent hand grips a bullwhip behind her, as though punishment was about to commence. It's a provocative image, and one that's mirrored briefly in the picture's opening. However, the movie isn't that precise in its repellent exploitation interests, saving all the human bondage material for the last reel. The journey there is slightly sunnier, with co-writer/director Raphael Nussbaum creating an odyssey of innocence corrupted for "Pets," which plays like a folk song about a troubled girl and all the predators she encounters along the way. There's definitely unsavory business to tend to in the feature, but the marketing oversells the viewing experience, which is much more melodramatic than it seems, helping to make it an interesting effort.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1971's "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" is largely credited as the film that inspired the Blaxploitation movement of the 1970s. However, it's not a particularly exploitive movie itself, with writer/director/star Melvin Van Peebles pulling the material from his gut, working to craft a piece of art that exists in a near surreal haze of edits and angles, also trying to speak to a specifically black audience about the state of individual empowerment. It's a crazy feature, but one with defined purpose, with Van Peebles endeavoring to rattle the world with his picture, pouring blood, sweat, and tears into the work. The effort shows, even when "Sweet Sweetback" periodically gets lost in its own cinematic loops.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Her Name Was Lisa" is notable is some circles due to its director, Roger Watkins, who previously created the vicious "Last House on Dead End Street." This awareness of helming intensity is important to retain while watching "Her Name Was Lisa," which, unlike many adult movies, has no interest in titillation. It's anti-erotica in many ways, and while it features all manner of sexual activity, the film is surprisingly grim, striving more to be a dramatic effort than an X-rated one.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1984's "Blood Suckers from Outer Space" (or "Bloodsuckers," with two spellings of the title acceptable it seems — not even the production has a definitive answer) is intended to be a satire of drive-in sci-fi/horror pictures from the 1950s and '60s. It has all the ingredients to work, delivering a tale of mysterious events occurring in a small Texas town, and one populated with all types of oddballs and freaks. The action is contained to a few locations, and make-up achievements are enjoyably exaggerated. Writer/director Glen Coburn has the right idea, and he almost connects with the feature, which offers intermittent delights while it tries to generate significant silliness without the benefit of refined screenwriting or professional actors. "Blood Suckers from Outer Space" has its appealing limitations, and Coburn is clearly reaching for a specific tone with the work, keeping the whole production cheery and loopy enough to pass. Bellylaughs are nonexistent, but chuckles are triggered along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

I'm sure someone, somewhere holds 1976's "Mastermind" in high esteem. Everyone has their guilty pleasures, and there's certainly a fanbase for star Zero Mostel. However, I believe most people sitting down to watch the feature will experience a distinct urge to shut it off five minutes into the viewing. Actually shot in 1969 (before being shelved for the next seven years), "Mastermind" is one of those "really?" movies that makes one wonder how certain projects actually make it all the way to production without anyone raising objections over content and a general lack of funny business. It's a horrible comedy, carrying on without awareness of its insensitivity (granted, it was a different time, but still) and lack of punchlines, solely reliant on Mostel to come up with bits of physical comedy to save the day. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

While 1985's "The Razor's Edge" is largely credited as the time Bill Murray finally decided to go dramatic, dialing down his habitually goofball ways to try out more introspective work, 1980's "Where the Buffalo Roam" is perhaps a more accurate starting position for the actor's career expansion. Building his name on "Saturday Night Live" and finding mainstream success with 1979's "Meatballs," Murray tries to go incognito for his portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson, the famed "outlaw journalist" who craved excess, using wild experiences and relationships to fuel his writing career. Endeavoring to become Thompson, Murray loses himself in an interesting way, but the movie doesn't reward his method intentions, with director Art Linson trying to herd cats with this adaptation of Thompson's stories. Linson wants to make a comedy. Murray wants to create a tribute. The film craves any scrap of structure it can find.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

The career of Dario Argento has seen its ups and downs, with the helmer recently struggling to maintain his vision while dealing with changing industry attitudes and audience expectations. But there was a time when he could do no wrong, with 1977's "Suspiria" his crowning achievement, gifted a setting and story where he could go hog wild with directorial interests, including immersion into the strangeness of the occult. Blasted with colors, quaking with sound, and teeming with nightmarish encounters, the production reaches deep into the unknown to locate a special feel for unnerving filmmaking, openly trying to disturb viewers with carefully controlled audio and visual elements, while the unexplained passes for mystery, making Argento one of the few helmers in history to pull off this a high-wire act. "Suspiria" carries such incredible menace and beauty, offering a curious balance of horror and art that tends to smother other offerings, but comes up gold here, guiding in great part by Argento's cinematic perfectionism and comfort with operatic torment, coming up with a dynamic offering that's terrifying and unforgettable.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Inspired by Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo," Sergio Leone elected to bring his special sensibility to the western genre, with 1964's "A Fistful of Dollars" his introductory work. Instead of creating a throwaway cowboy film, he reinvented the genre, delivering extraordinary tension and cinematographic intensity, finding special stylistic magic with his first effort in the future "Dollars Trilogy," which turned Leone into a legend and star Clint Eastwood into an icon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Nearing the end of his lengthy career as a Hollywood hero and cowboy legend, Roy Rogers elected to make one for the horses with 1950's "Trigger, Jr." While Rogers remains the lead actor, keeping up his end of the bargain with sharp western swagger, songs, and fast fists, the rest of the picture remains with the titular horse and his unexpected adventure in the American southwest. Being a Rogers endeavor, "Trigger, Jr." isn't big on surprises, keeping close to comfort food formula as bad guys square off against the good guys, and the horses end up in big trouble, inspiring a fresh round of chases and mild shenanigans, sweetened with a few songs to settle the mood. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Seeing Phyllis Diller credited as part of the cast of 1991's "The Boneyard" inspires certain expectations for the film. However, while she is portraying a woman named Ms. Poopinplatz, Diller is actually quite game to go wherever writer/director James Cummins leads, including a rare screen appearance without her famous fright wig, showing up here with her naturally thinning hair, adding to the characterization. "The Boneyard" is an odd mix of camp and emotional sincerity, but Diller certainly helps the cause, adding enough energy to her corner of the movie to help boost the appeal of the overall work, finding Cummins struggling with pacing issues in the first half of the effort. It's a wild movie, but only when it finally reaches a point of explosion, and that's a long journey to a proper screen release.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The quest to bring the works of author H.P. Lovecraft to the screen has never been easy, demanding inventive filmmakers willing to work overtime to preserve the writer's artful appreciation for the macabre. Director Dan O'Bannon tries his luck with "The Resurrected," which adapts Lovecraft's 1941 novella, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," bringing a smaller period mystery to a more modern age via noir-ish intentions, transforming horror into a detective tale courtesy of screenwriter Brent V. Friedman. O'Bannon has a vision for "The Resurrected," which is teeming with atmospheric changes and cinematic tributes, but it lacks a defined pace, often sluggishly doling out gruesome imagery and sleuthing discoveries, most of which fail to charge up the viewing experience despite the production's interest in bizarre events and encounters.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There's the surface appeal of "A Pyromaniac's Love Story," and there's the more interesting tale of William Baldwin, with the 1995 picture coming at a crucial time in his then-burgeoning career. He was positioned as a Hollywood heartthrob, successfully navigating a few roles, such as 1990's "Flatliners," and won a massive break as the lead in 1991's "Backdraft," where he did a fine job portraying a conflicted firefighter suddenly thrust into a role of familial and professional responsibility. He seemed poised to take off, but along came 1993's "Sliver," a botched (but not entirely uninteresting) erotic thriller that asked too much of him, caught on a sinking ship as the movie bombed, which didn't simply throttle his career, but cooled his heat in full. 1995's "A Pyromaniac's Love Story" delivers a different side of Baldwin, who tries to be a comedian in the romantic film, channeling Jim Carrey with a wild-eyed performance that's ambitious and completely out of his range. Baldwin's acting dream dimmed in 1995 (coupled with the disastrous "Fair Game"), and there's a good reason for that, finding his take on an unhinged fire-starter with a pronounced limp wholly unpleasant, making his turn the most unlikable addition to an already joyless and aggressively quirky creation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com