ORDER OF ONE -- DVD review by porfle

(NOTE: This review originally appeared at Bumscorner.com in 2006.  The movie has since been re-released under the title ORDER OF ONE: KUNG FU KILLING SPREE.)

Is it as much fun as THE MATRIX? Maybe. Is it as much fun as the MATRIX sequels? Hell, yeah.

ORDER OF ONE (2006) is the latest entry from Robomonkey Productions (in association with Braemar Entertainment), who two years ago gave us the outrageous SINNERS AND SAINTS. While ORDER OF ONE isn't nearly as outrageous, mind-bogging, or flabbergasting as SINNERS OR SAINTS (like, nobody goes to Hell or has decapitated heads giving them oral sex, or anything like that), it's still jam-packed with all the fights, car chases, shoot-outs, and other goodies that a low-budget enterprise such as this could possibly hope to offer the entertainment-starved viewer.

And, as always with movies such as this, it's way more interesting to see this kind of stuff done on a miniscule budget than to see a bunch of big-time Hollywood hacks knocking off some forgettable crap with unlimited funds and resources at their disposal.

The story begins in a roadside cafe' late at night, where ace newspaper reporter Ross Conroy (writer-director Kevin Woodhouse) comes across a guy with a story to tell, and the story involves his family's centuries-long search for The Sword, which was forged using a chunk of the one that pierced Christ's side on the cross. (This gives it extra-added specialness and all that, as you'd probably guess.)

He's got the sword, at long last, and is determined to return it to "The Order", who are the rightful owners of it for some reason that I never quite got but it doesn't really matter. But the uber-crime boss of the city, Mr. Park (Grand Master Hyung Chul Kim) wants the sword for himself, and he's sent a trio of lovely-but-deadly ladies known as "The Sirens" to get it.

But first, a couple of hungry cops show up with a convict named Sonny (Jason Cavalier) in tow. One look and we know he didn't really do whatever he's supposed to have done. They're transferring him to a maximum security prison for starting a riot (he had a good reason, but that didn't count), but The Sirens change all that by bursting into the cafe' with guns blazing and shooting up the place, including the cops and anyone else who is dumb enough to try and mess with them.

Sonny uses the melee' as a means to escape in Conroy's car, with Conroy (who now has The Sword after its caretaker has had his head ventilated) hanging out of the passenger window. One of The Sirens is killed, leaving Butterfly (production manager Danielle Dubois) and Dynamite (the voluptuous and multi-talented Melantha Blackthorne, who also served as editor, stuntwoman, and director of photography, and who is, by the way, totally awesome) to continue the chase.

Thus, ORDER OF ONE becomes a "buddy-slash-road picture", among other things, as Sonny and Roy head down the highway with The Sword, rushing headlong into a series of encounters with The Sirens, Mr. Park's murderous henchmen (including his #1 son Tommy, played by Harrison Chan), and whoever else Mr. Park has hired to assassinate them.

One confrontation concludes with Roy falling backward and shooting a guy right in his grenade, causing him to explode. A fight scene in a strip club called "Barker's Babes" is particularly exciting, especially due to the presence of some rather gorgeous semi-clad ladies (I've emailed my marriage proposal to "Lucille"--contact me at this address if you want to know how it turns out).

When The Sirens catch up to them, Sonny and Roy get dragged behind their car for awhile before Sonny gets loose and some really nice mayhem ensues. Sonny and Dynamite even have time for a brief love scene--Dynamite finds him interesting even though she's determined to kill him--which will later result in a really cool final scene between the two.

When our heroes finally reach Mr. Park's compound and go head-to-head with his goons, there's a guns-blazing martial arts free-for-all that will have action fans shouting "HOO-AHH!" Some of the good guys get killed, too, so get ready to shed some tears. (Okay, you won't, but it's still surprising.)

And just when you think it's over, there's more. In fact, the final ten minutes or so feature a feast of martial arts choreography that takes place in a single set, mostly with two guys going one-on-one, that matches anything I've seen in awhile. Jason Cavalier brings all his skills as an action director to bear during this sequence and it's a really intense piece of action entertainment.

All during the film we see certain fight moves labeled in graphic terms such as "PARALYSIS PALM!" and "SKULL DESTRUCTION FIST!" (a nice one).  During this final sequence I got to see my two favorites--"EYEBALL EXIT PUNCH!" and "HEART EXTRACTION FIST!" (These are particularly nice.)

Needless to say, there's a healthy dose of satirical comedy accompanying the action throughout the movie. It's all done in 70s style, right down to the paisely miniskirt and bellbottoms worn by The Sirens and the 70s TV cop show-type musical score by producer and castmember David Findlay.

When the movie's over, there's still a second disc chock full of bonus features such as deleted scenes, bloopers, and featurettes with behind-the-scenes stuff and a "how-to" on some of the more impressive stunts. It's fun to watch a group of people with such a zest for filmmaking using their talents and whatever resources are available on a low budget to put together a movie that is so entertaining.

What distinguishes this from most other low-budget fare is that every shot counts, every sequence propels the story and offers new thrills. This isn't "stick something in the can" or "sell 'em a load of clams" filmmaking, not by a long shot. Every one of the people behind this movie worked hard to give the viewer their money's worth. And when it was over, I felt as though I were stepping off a really fun carnival ride, and I didn't even feel like throwing up.

Buy it at Amazon.com

ORDER OF ONE -- DVD review by porfle

SINNERS AND SAINTS (2004) -- DVD review by porfle

(NOTE: This review originally appeared online in 2004.)

SINNERS AND SAINTS (2004) is proof that you don't need millions of dollars to produce an audacious, imaginative, entertaining film. It's not often you see a shot-on-video exploitation flick with this many elements -- horror, sex, sci-fi, kung fu, gunfights, swordfights, comedy -- coming at you at such a frantic pace.

There's so much going on in this movie, in fact, that in less skilled hands it could've been a mess. But director/star Melantha Blackthorne deftly manages to keep it all together with a droll wit and a keen sense of the absurd.

She stars as Necrotia, the Queen of Hell, who for some reason has taken an intense interest in a certain Father Drake (co-scripter Jason Cavalier), a combat-ready priest who is engaged in a never-ending battle against the forces of evil.

With Necrotia's help, he blasts, chops, slices, and kicks his way through a series of well-staged fight scenes against opponents both human and supernatural, with stunts and wirework that are on par with films like THE MATRIX (Cavalier also served as stunt coordinator).

There are several stunning action set-pieces throughout the film, my favorite being the eventual confrontation between Father Drake and Necrotia after he finds himself in Hell (for reasons I won't go into here since it would give away too much).

There's also an abundance of surreal, horrific imagery that is often both disturbing and funny, and definitely not for the squeamish. And did I mention the topless combat nun (Liz Faure's "Sister Merrick") who leaps into battle wearing a leather habit and Doc Martens?

But best of all, there's the beautiful Melantha Blackthorne, who is equally adept at looking gorgeous and kicking all kinds of bad-guy booty. She and Jason Cavalier (co-founders of Robomonkey Productions) make a good team both in front of and behind the camera, and here they've come up with a movie that looks much better than you'd expect for a low-budget, independent feature.

How this was accomplished is nicely demonstrated on the DVD's second disc, which is loaded with behind-the-scenes vignettes, bloopers, trailers, and music videos from some of the bands who contributed to the soundtrack.

If you're in the mood for some mind-boggling, no-punches-pulled entertainment that spin-kicks the crap out of most of what Hollywood is churning out these days, SINNERS AND SAINTS may be just what you're looking for. And it might even help to wipe away those unpleasant memories of the last Ben Affleck movie you watched.

Buy it at Amazon.com

SINNERS AND SAINTS (2004) -- DVD review by porfle

"RETURN TO NUKE 'EM HIGH, VOL. 1" DVD signing at Dark Delicacies on Sunday, March 30th!

Celebrate 40 years of Troma Entertainment with director/ co-writer Lloyd Kaufman and cast members of

RETURN TO NUKE ‘EM HIGH, VOL. 1 DVD signing at Dark Delicacies on Sunday, March 30th!

WHAT:                       Join legendary Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman and cast members of Troma’s latest opus as they sign Return to Nuke ‘Em High, Vol.1 DVDs at Burbank’s famed Dark Delicacies bookstore.

WHEN:                       Sunday, March 30th, 2:00pm

WHERE:                    Dark Delicacies Bookstore
                                      3512 W. Magnolia Blvd.
                                      Burbank, CA 91505
                                      (818) 556-6660

WHO:                          Director/Producer/Co-writer Lloyd Kaufman; Stars Gabriela Fuhr and Stefan Dezil

DETAILS:                  Fans must purchase RETURN TO NUKE ‘EM HIGH, VOL. 1 Blu-rays and DVDs at Dark Delicacies for signing. One additional item will be signed at celebrities’ discretion.

RETURN TO NUKE ‘EM HIGH, VOL. 1 is Lloyd Kaufman’s latest Tromasterpiece. Welcome to Tromaville High School where, unfortunately, the glee club was mutated into a vicious gang of Cretins. Chrissy and Lauren, two innocent lesbian lovers, must fight not only the Cretins, mutants and monsters, but also the evil Tromorganic Foodstuffs conglomerate. Can they and Kevin the Wonder Duck save Tromaville High School and the world?

READ OUR REVIEW OF THE MOVIE!

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"RETURN TO NUKE 'EM HIGH, VOL. 1" DVD signing at Dark Delicacies on Sunday, March 30th!

HBO Home Entertainment Announces "True Detective"

"Rich and absorbing...unlike almost anything else on TV" - Variety
"A tour de force for stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey" - Entertainment Weekly

Available on Blu-ray™ with Digital HD, DVD & Digital Download June 10, 2014 
Bonus Content Includes Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Interviews with A-list Cast & Crew

New York, N.Y., March 26, 2014 -Starring Academy Award® nominee and Emmy Award® winner Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games) and Academy Award® winner Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) as two detectives assigned to a grisly and cultish murder case in the Louisiana bayou country, True Detective has become one of the most critically-acclaimed new series of 2014.

This "breathtaking" (Time) crime drama, which was the most-watched first season of any HBO® original series since the legendary premiere of Six Feet Under® in 2001, makes its home entertainment debut on Blu-ray with Digital HD ($79.98), DVD ($59.99) and Digital Download on June 10, 2014, just in time for Father's Day.

Both sets of True Detective include the full eight-episode season, along with extensive bonus materials including exclusive interviews with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, a discussion between series creator Nic Pizzolatto and Academy Award®-winning composer T Bone Burnett about the development of the show and the pivotal role of the series' music, and never-before-seen footage from the series.

True Detective focuses on Martin Hart (Harrelson) and Rust Cohle (McConaughey), two detectives and former partners who worked in Louisiana's Criminal Investigation Division in the mid-1990s. At first glance, Hart and Cohle couldn't be more different. Hart, a native Louisianan, is an outgoing family man with two kids, whose marriage to wife Maggie (Michelle Monaghan, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol) is buckling under the stress of the job. Cohle, a former undercover narcotics detective from Texas, embraces isolation, articulating a pessimistic, even bleak, world view.

But they share an obsession with justice and a facility for violence that will inflict irreparable damage on both men. In 2012, the two are interviewed separately by investigators about their most notorious case: the macabre 1995 murder of a prostitute by a possible serial killer with disturbing occult leanings. As they look back on the case, Hart and Cohle's lives collide and entwine in unexpected, sometimes catastrophic ways, and their personal backstories and often-strained relationship become a major focal point of the investigation.

Alternating between 1995 and 2012, all eight episodes were written by series creator and showrunner Nic Pizzolattoand directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Jane Eyre), who executive produce along with Scott Stephens (HBO's Deadwood®), Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, and Steve Golin.

Also featured in True Detective are Kevin Dunn (HBO's Luck®) as Major Quesada, Hart and Cohle's boss; Tory Kittles (Sons of Anarchy) and Michael Potts (HBO's The Wire®) as detectives Papania and Gilbough, in charge of the 2012 investigation; Elizabeth Reaser (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) as Laurie; Shea Whigham (HBO's Boardwalk Empire®) as revivalist Joel Theriot; Clarke Peters (HBO's Treme®) as a rural minister; Jay O. Sanders (Person of Interest) as Billy Lee Tuttle; and Lili Simmons (Cinemax®'s BansheeSM) as Beth, a prostitute.

Special features for both the Blu-ray & DVD releases include:
    Making True Detective - A behind-the-scenes look at production on the hit series, featuring interviews with cast and crew and including never-before-seen footage from Episode 4.
    Up Close with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson - Exclusive interviews with the stars about filming the series.
    A Conversation with Nic Pizzolatto and T Bone Burnett - An in-depth discussion with the series writer/creator/executive producer and the legendary composer on both the series and the pivotal role music played in the show's development.
    Inside the Episode - Series creator/executive producer/writer Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Joji Fukunaga discuss character development and offer insights into each episode of the series.
    Two audio commentaries  -  Featuring  series creator/executive producer/writer Nic Pizzolatto, composer T Bone Burnett and Executive Producer Scott Stephens
    Deleted Scenes  -  Never-before-seen episodic footage from the series

True Detective
 Blu-ray with Digital HD, DVD & Digital Download
                     Street Date:     June 10, 2014
                     Order Date:      May 6, 2014
                     Rating:              V-MA
                     Runtime:           Approx. 480 minutes (excluding bonus features)             
                     Price:                $79.98 Blu-ray with Digital HD (3 BD discs; Digital HD)
                     Price:                $59.99 DVD (3 discs)
                                                                                             
About HBO Home Entertainment®  
HBO Home Entertainment develops, distributes and markets an extensive array of critically-acclaimed and groundbreaking programs in three formats: Blu-ray, DVD, and digitalthroughout the world.  Releases include the global hits Game of Thrones®, True Blood® and Girls®, favorites such as The Sopranos®, Sex and the City® and Entourage®, and multiple Emmy Award-winning mini-series The Pacific® and Band of Brothers®.  The company's catalog contains hundreds of titles including the Peabody Award-winning children's program Classical Baby, provocative programs from HBO Documentary Films including The Weight of the Nation, innovative movies from HBO Films including Game Change and Behind the Candelabra,and comedy specials featuring stand-up performers like George Lopez and Ricky Gervais.  Launched in 1984, HBO Home Entertainment has offices in New York, London and Toronto and the company's releases are sold in over 80 territories around the world.

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HBO Home Entertainment Announces "True Detective"

SCREAM PARK -- movie review by porfle

First-time writer/producer/director Cary Hill has done a workmanlike job with his debut feature, SCREAM PARK (2012).  Which would be enough, except that he's also managed to give his ultra-low-budget slasher flick enough extra zing to help distinguish it from the rest of the pack.

Not that it's any kind of classic, or even that much above average.  But compared to some of the utterly lackluster entries which tend to accumulate until this particular genre is bursting at the seams with boredom, it's downright invigorating.

The set-up is a simple one: a group of amusement park employees are about to be laid off and their workplace closed due to lack of interest, so they decide to stay after work one night and have one last boozy party.  Unbeknownst to them, however, their boss, Mr. Hyde (Douglas Bradley), has hired a couple of homicidal yokels to murder them all in hopes that the publicity will bring customers back to the park.

At least it's not another freakin' summer camp, right?  And this kind of setting is always interesting, especially when imbued with a last-gasp melancholy mixed with the inherent spookiness of a deserted fun park after dark.  Once the stalking starts, Hill takes good advantage of these surroundings with various action taking place on roller coasters, inside haunted houses, etc. along with behind-the-scenes facilities.

The characters are still pretty much the usual suspects but are somewhat more likable than the norm.  Wendy Wygant is Jennifer, a "final girl" finalist right off the bat because she's actually nice (we see her letting people win the ring-toss game she oversees).  Jennifer will later prove refreshingly brave and resourceful against the duo of demented goons bent on killing them all. 

Not only is Wygant a competent actress, but she also has a world-class behind, something I point out only because such things tend to enhance a film's production values.  Also adding to SCREAM PARK's sex appeal are the delightfully abundant chest of  ditzy spookhouse performer Carlee (Kailey Marie Harris) and the Goth-chick charms of Nicole Beattie as Missi.  Alicia Marie Marcucci is the film's resident blonde, Allison, another character who starts out one-dimensional but is given enough time to actually make us care about her.

As for the guys, Steve Rudzinski is Marty, the park's stick-in-the-mud manager who has a crush on Jennifer but will waver precariously between bravery and sheer cowardice when the funnel cakes hit the fan.  Dean Jacobs is Carlee's horny boyfriend Tony, who foreshadows the gore to come by running around with a fake blood-spurting wrist stump earlier in the story.

Tyler Kale is love-starved geek Rhodie, and Kyle Riordan is Allison's punky boyfriend Roy, who supplies the booze for the party and gives Marty headaches with his improper behavior.  The prominently-billed Douglas Bradley, not surprisingly, is an afterthought who appears only briefly in flashback, so if you're watching this simply because you're a fan of "Pinhead" from the HELLRAISER series you'll be disappointed.

The killers, thank goodness, are neither faceless forces of evil nor unkillable murder machines.  Both wear masks and do that Michael Myers thing where they let people get a chilling glimpse of them before ducking behind a tree or whatever.  Later, however, one of them loses the mask and reveals himself as Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy (as "Iggy"), a chatty, excitable psycho who's actually kind of interesting.  His partner (whose name, incidentally, is "Ogre") is the brawny, brainless type who's dumb enough to shrug off a butcher knife in the back and keep on comin'.

The opening titles kick off with a wonderfully robust, angular main title composition by Christian Kriegeskotte, done almost entirely with brass and woodwinds, which, if you're like me, you'll want to download from somewhere as soon as you hear it.  The opening montage of carnival shots lets us know right away that this is a very low-budget and thus very unpolished-looking film, something I can easily live with if there are talented hands at work guiding things. 

With the preliminary "getting to know the characters" scenes (which are actually rather entertaining) out of the way, Cary Hill starts to crank up the scares and suspense until  SCREAM PARK is firing on all cylinders. The gore effects are rudimentary by most standards, yet some of the kills are filmed in more imaginative style than your usual slasher flick.  And where many films of this kind tend to run out of steam as the running time runs down, this one keeps getting better and better until the last jarring shot.

I viewed a barebones screener so I can't comment on tech stuff or extras.  According to Wild Eye Releasing's press release, "the DVD release of Scream Park...will exclusively include a commentary with director Cary Hill, bloopers and trailers, available at major retailers nationwide including Best Buy and Walmart."

SCREAM PARK is a minor slasher flick done on the cheap--to say the least--so if you have a certain production-values standard that must be met before you'll watch a film, this one probably won't meet it.  Yet it's such an earnest effort, with occasional flashes of style, imagination, and even wit, that I couldn't help but find it both entertaining and a little endearing.

Buy it at Amazon.com

SCREAM PARK -- movie review by porfle

THE DINOSAUR EXPERIMENT (aka RAPTOR RANCH) -- movie review by porfle

(NOTE: I viewed a screener for this one so I can't comment on specs or bonus features on the final DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment.)

When Agent O'Reilly (Declan Joyce) suggests to his partner Agent Logan (Lorenzo Lamas) that the horrible death they're investigating in rural Texas may have been committed by drug runners, Logan responds:  "Drug runners...with six-inch teeth?  That EAT people?"

That's about the only part of THE DINOSAUR EXPERIMENT (2013) with Lorenzo Lamas in it that's anywhere near worth noting. The reason for this is that, as far as I can tell, Lamas' scenes were filmed later by another, less talented director in order to fill out the running time (the fact that two directors are credited on IMDb seems to bear this out).  And compared to the rest of the movie, those scenes really, really suck. 

But if you forget about that unfortunate part of the movie and concentrate on the rest of it, "Raptor Ranch" (the original, more fun-sounding title) is a straight-up hoot.  The last thing I was expecting from the somber box art and synopsis was a comedy, so it took me awhile to get on this movie's wacky, satirical wavelength.  Once I did, though,  everything pretty much started to click and then--whoopee!

Filmed for the SyFy Channel, it's the story of a small Texas town (which was actually filmed in Texas instead of Canada!) where mad scientist Dr. Cane (Jack Gould) is rumored to be raising some kind of exotic emus on his secluded ranch, when in fact he's raising dinosaurs. 

Abbi Whitecloud (singer Jana Mashonee in her acting debut) lost  her mother to one of them six months earlier, and is soon to be menaced by them herself during a night of flesh-rending terror.  Her boss, Billy Wayne (Cole Brown), who runs a gas station-diner where he secretly feeds his customers squirrel meat, is a fat, gloriously disgusting sexist slob who is just one of the many extremely stereotypical characters that grace this movie.  Abbi works as his waitress because she still owes him for the pickup he sold her,  and he makes her dress like a hooker (bless his heart). 

Which reminds me--one of the best things about "The Dinosaur Raptor Ranch Experiment" is simply girl-watching gorgeous Native American babe Jana Mashonee, whether dressed to thrill Billy Wayne's goggle-eyed patrons or dragging herself out of bed in her undies and doing archery on a picture of her boss (which happens to feed my girls-doing-archery fetish in a big way). 

Rapidly converging on her tiny hometown to join in the fun and get added to the raptor menu are three college kids on their way to Tahoe--nerdy Sheldon (Cody Vaughan), party animal Lucas (Donny Boaz),  and the Bluto-like Man Beast (Rowdy Arroyo). Also headed their way is a dilapidated tour bus containing washed-up funk singer Little Willie (Marcus M. Mauldin) and his ditzy backup singers Kolin (Lexy Hulme) and Josie (Kimberly Matula). 

Circumstances lead them all to Dr. Cane's ranch, where they're just in time for the big raptor breakout which is hilariously orchestrated and executed (by the good director) as well as being pretty suspenseful.  In fact, the extended chase sequence that this touches off gradually develops into a genuinely thrilling edge-of-your-seat series of close calls and narrow escapes that take the main characters from Raptor Ranch to Abbi's house (where we get to see Billy Wayne turned into raptor chow) and all the way back into town.

Lots of individual bits of business add to the comedy and excitement, some of them quite imaginative (the sex scene between Lucas and Josie in Little Willie's tour bus ends with one of the most riotously audacious visual gags I've ever seen).  Their breathless flight from the ravenous raptors just keeps getting more and more exciting as the body count among the main cast rises rapidly.

The characters, rather than growing progressively tiresome as happens in many films of this type, actually get funnier and more endearing as the action mounts, particularly Lexy Hulme's energetic performance as drug-addled Goth chick Kolin and Rowdy Arroyo as sweetly stupid Man Beast.  But all perform above and beyond the norm.

A big factor in how surprisingly good this all turned out to be is the more-than-passable level of SPFX--this would definitely rate as some of the best CGI I've seen in a SyFy Channel movie.  The full-sized animatronics aren't too shabby, either. 

Of course, there are the fakey parts, especially a bad CGI explosion during the finale and some shots where the dinosaurs aren't up to par.  But on the whole the effects are quite adequate, as are editing, camerawork, etc.  (Except, that is, for the sore-thumb sections with Lorenzo Lamas in them, which look like someone's home movies were edited into the rest of the picture.) 

Even if it had been as bad as I expected, THE DINOSAUR EXPERIMENT (I wish they'd kept the original title) would be worth watching solely for the eye-candy attributes of the delightfully hot Jana Mashonee wearing sexy clothes and doing archery.  But the fact that I expected so little and got such a surprisingly entertaining experience instead makes me like this silly little movie a lot.  It may just be a poor man's JURASSIC PARK, but then again, I'm a poor man.

Buy it at Amazon.com

THE DINOSAUR EXPERIMENT (aka RAPTOR RANCH) -- movie review by porfle

"Necronos: Tower of Doom" & "Dangerous Obsession" Now Available in the Troma Shop

"DANGEROUS OBSESSION" & "NECRONOS: TOWER OF DOOM" (with Explicit Cover Art) Now Available in the Troma Shop!

March 11, 2013, New York, NY - Troma Entertainment is pleased to announce it's first two new releases of 2014, "Dangerous Obsession" and "Necronos: Tower of Doom" are now available on DVD.

The seedy, cocaine-laced 1980's Manhattan Financial district is the setting for "Dangerous Obsession", a scandalous tale of murder directed by Yuri Sivio and guest starring Anthony LaPaglia ("Without a Trace.") When a crooked Televangelist is murdered in his high-rise apartment and someone doesn't want Detective Nathan Weinschenk to find out who pulled the trigger. "Dangerous Obsession" is a spiral of sex, seduction and sin.

In "Necronos: Tower of Doom," Necronos, one of the mightiest minions of the devil himself has come to Earth to create an army of the undead under the leadership of barbaric demons, called Berzerkers, in search of the chosen one - a virgin witch. Directed by Marc Rohnstock's "Necronos: Tower of Doom" is "...one of the goriest and bloodiest movies that have evolved from the German Underground..." - Bloody Disgusting. It makes Cannibal Holocaust look like Bambi! "Necronos: Tower of Doom" is available with Explicit Cover Art available EXCLUSIVELY through Troma.

Purchase your copy of "Dangerous Obsession" and "Necronos: Tower of Doom" at the Troma Shop today and for a limited time take advantage of the 30% Off Sale! 

Visit the Troma Shop for all of your new favorite Troma films

Watch the official "Necronos: Tower of Doom" teaser trailer

Established in 1974 by Yale friends Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, Troma Entertainment is one of the longest-running independent movie studios in United States history, and it's one of the best-known names in the industry. World famous for movie classics like Kaufman's "The Toxic Avenger", "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead", "Class of Nuke 'em High", "Mother's Day" and "Tromeo & Juliet", Troma's seminal films are now being remade as big-budget mainstream productions by the likes of Brett Ratner, Richard Saperstein, Akiva Goldsman and Steven Pink. Among today's luminaries whose early work can be found in Troma's 800+ film library are Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Jenna Fischer, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Costner, Fergie, Vincent D'Onofrio, Samuel L. Jackson, James Gunn and Eli Roth. Troma's latest productions are "Return to Nuke 'Em High: Volumes 1 & 2". Visit Troma at www.troma.com, www.lloydkaufman.com, www.twitter.com/lloydkaufman and www.tromapast.tumblr.com/.

"Necronos: Tower of Doom" & "Dangerous Obsession" Now Available in the Troma Shop

IN FEAR -- Blu-ray review by porfle

"Please don't be like EDEN LAKE...please don't be like EDEN LAKE..."  This was what I kept chanting to myself as Tom and Lucy, the young couple in the 2013 horror-suspense thriller IN FEAR, got themselves mired deeper and deeper into a metaphorical morass of confusion and dread.

Thank goodness this story didn't plumb the depths of profoundly depression-inducing nightmare territory as did the exercise in sheer suicidal grief that is EDEN LAKE.  But for awhile there, as the young lovers' predicament continued to escalate, I was preparing myself for the worst.

Having come to Ireland together to attend a festival with friends, Tom (Iain De Caestecker, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.") and Lucy (Alice Englert, BEAUTIFUL CREATURES)  first decide to celebrate their two-week anniversary as a couple by stealing away to a (very) secluded hotel Tom found on the internet. 

But as they drive deeper into the woods along narrow dirt roads, past forbidding-looking shacks with "Keep Out" signs, following direction signs to the hotel which seem to keep changing and causing them to wander around in circles, it gradually dawns on them (and us) that something is very wrong.

All we know is that something happened inside the pub they visited before setting off on their journey, which involved a group of rowdy locals whom Tom may have somehow offended.  But he isn't talking about what happened.  And now it looks as though those unbalanced individuals may be behind what's going on.  Just how mad did Tom make them, and how far will they go to get back at him and his girlfriend?  Or are they being stalked and menaced by someone else entirely? 

The scenario brings to mind all manner of similar ones from the past,, chief among them being THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (even places like Ireland have their dangerous backwoods yokels).  As the suspense becomes more and more gripping, it appears we'll have to endure some  painfully tense situations in order to find out how far in that direction this particular film is willing to take us. 

Before that, though, IN FEAR has already got us firmly in its grip, which keeps tightening as Tom and Lucy's initial good spirits become as waterlogged as the muddy roads they're traveling on, their fears darkening like the forbidding forests that close in more and more as minutes tick away.  Running lower on gas with every lost mile, their hopes of finding the hotel long dashed, their main concern finally becomes one of survival itself.

Little by little they encounter definite signs that there's someone else out there with them as their unseen stalkers make their eerie presence known.  Finally, the attacks become terrifyingly direct as a series of jump scares have us gasping in shock and lurching around in our seats.

IN FEAR is Jeremy Lovering's first credit as a feature director but you wouldn't know it by looking at this lush film which is so imaginatively, deliberately conceived and shot that much of it boasts the production values of an avant-garde car commercial.  Richly moody photography and an atmospheric New-Agey score immerse us in a growing sense of helpless dread while lending the film a real upper-class veneer, as do the excellent performances by the leads.

This eventually comes to include a third character, Max (Allen Leech, "Downton Abbey", "Rome"), whom Tom runs down with his car while fleeing in panic down a lonely road.  Max is a wild card--is he truly another potential victim running from the bad guys, or is he one of them? 

Either way, having him bleeding all over the back seat, in addition to giving Tom directions which still seem to lead nowhere, definitely adds to Tom and Lucy's paralyzingly immediate concerns.  And the stakes get even higher when they're forced to make some tough and ultimately heartrending decisions that could directly effect each other in very negative ways.

The Blu-ray from Anchor Bay is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  The sole extra is a behind-the-scenes featurette.

What happens to Tom and Lucy is the sort of situation that anyone can identify with, in which you suddenly and unknowingly cross a boundary between real life and the world of waking nightmares.  IN FEAR builds and builds, until the tension is almost sickening.  The fact that it doesn't pay off as strongly as I'd hoped--or, with EDEN LAKE in mind, as I'd dreaded--matters little when taking into consideration just how well-made and effective this film is. 

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Blu-Ray
DVD

IN FEAR -- Blu-ray review by porfle

HAZMAT -- movie review by porfle

If you're looking for an effective weapon to wield in the war against insomnia, you could do worse than the stalker-slasher snooze HAZMAT (2013).  Watching it may be slightly more fun than counting sheep,  but not much more exciting. 

It gets off to a good start with an amusing fakeout.  What we think is a flash-forward to the suspenseful conclusion--with two frantic young ladies in a showdown against the hulking killer who is pursuing them--turns out to be the final reveal of a reality-TV show based on Shannon Dougherty's "Scare Tactics" (here known as "Scary Antics"). 

If you've ever pondered how easily the actual show could go wrong, with unsuspecting people suddenly plunged into what they think are real-life terror situations by their so-called "friends", you'll find the initial premise of the story intriguing.  On-air host "Scary" Dave (Todd Bruno) gleefully sets up his latest prank within an abandoned chemical plant which, years before, was the scene of a horrible fire whose victims' ghosts are said to still haunt the labyrinthine hallways. 

So, what do you do if your best friend's dad was one of the 138 employees killed in the fire?  Simple--you set him up to be terrorized in those very corridors by a fiend in a hazmat suit, all courtesy of the good folks at "Scary Antics."  It seems the target of this hilarious "punk", Jacob (Norbert Velez), has allowed his father's death to make him a little too "weird" and "creepy" to suit friends Adam (Reggie Peters), Melanie (Gema Calero),  and Carla (Daniela Larez), so they're hoping the traumatic experience will prove theraputic. 

No way would it transform the tightly-wound Jacob into a crazed killer instead, right?  Wrong!  When Jake witnesses a hazmat-suited actor from the show pretending to kill Adam, it pushes him over the edge and he decides to add a new wrinkle or two to the scenario. 

Finding another hazmat suit in a locker and borrowing a nice big fire ax from its perch on the wall,  Jacob goes from zero-to-Jason so fast you'll wonder how this guy got so far in life without totally going berserk already.  In fact, it's so convenient to the story for him to go this quickly and overtly coo-coo that we don't buy it for a second.  One minute he's all jazzed about taking his "friends" on a tour of the crumbling ruin where his dad died, and the next minute he's suited up in his serial killer costume doing that distinctive Michael Myers head-tilt as he watches his victims die from gaping ax wounds to the chest. 

Meanwhile in the TV crew's office HQ, "Scary" Dave and his would-be love interest,  makeup lady Brenda (Aniela McGuinness),  witness the whole horrible situation transpire from behind a barricaded door and wonder how the hell they're going to get past Jacob and out of the building.  (It seems there must be at least twenty or thirty hidden cameras in addition to Jacob's helmet cam, which he stole from the show's own hazmat-suited guy.) 

Cowardly sound guy Gary (Giordan Diaz) becomes the character I most identify with since, well, he's a coward.  Unfortunately, the more the cast are called on to emote, the worse the acting level gets.  By this time the shaggy dog story has degenerated into them watching Jacob stalk the others on a monitor, and making the occasional unsuccessful escape attempts themselves. 

Producer-writer-director Lou Simon (THE AWAKENED), who looks like a movie star herself, is competent enough behind the camera to make a passable-looking low-budget horror flick, especially noteworthy since it takes place almost entirely inside a dreary old building.  Still, the best part of this one visually are the opening titles.  Even gorehounds will be disappointed by the half-hearted effects. 

 I watched a barebones screener so I can't comment on any extra features the final DVD from Uncork'd Entertainment may contain.  The film is in 16x9 widescreen with Dolby Digital surround sound.  The street date is April 1, 2014.

If you've seen countless other films in this genre which merely tread water without adding anything new or unique to the mix, then you know just how tedious and uninspired it can be to watch it all over again.   HAZMAT has practically no story, especially when the various twists and surprises you're predicting eventually fail to materialize and the whole thing just comes to a jarring halt without much interesting happening at all. 

Buy it at Amazon.com

HAZMAT -- movie review by porfle

OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION -- DVD review by porfle

As all movie fans know, there's nothing more kickass than a collection of movie trailers!  Unless, of course, it's a collection of trailers for rom-coms or Merchant Ivory films.  Those don't get described as "kickass" very often.  But you know what does?  Ozploitation flicks!!!  So you know what would be a really kickass trailer collection?  OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION!!!

This 2014 DVD from Intervision doesnt literally explode, of course, but there may be times when you'll think it is, or that your brain itself is exploding from the overload of pure, unadulterated exploitational trash-cinema goodness that you're subjecting it to. 

It's a delirium-inducing cornucopia of drive-in fodder that offers ample evidence that the Australian film industry was a beehive of activity back in the glorious 70s and 80s, with directors such as the great Simon Wincer ("Lonesome Dove", "Quigley Down Under"), actor and Rick Wakeman album narrator David Hemmings, the prolific Colin Eggleston, and even Peter Weir and Bruce Beresford manning the director's chair.  (If the production could afford a director's chair, that is.)

The three things that best transcend a low budget are sex, horror, and action, so these trailers fit snugly within those categories.  "Sexploitation and 'Ocker' Comedies" ("ocker" meaning "consisting of broad and uncultured Aussie stereotypes") gets the ball rolling with a string of low-class and often painfully corny flicks that are as twangy and hick-ified as "Hee Haw."

Barry Crocker and Barry Humphries give us the rowdy musical "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" (with a young Peter Cook) and its sequel, "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own", guest-starring none other than Donald Pleasence as Count Plasma the vampire.  Graeme Blundell, who went on to play Padme's father in deleted scenes from "Attack of the Clones", stars in a couple of "Alvin Purple" romps about the sexploits of a nerdy-looking chick magnet who is given this valuable business advice: "There are openings everywhere for the right man!"

"Plugg" offers the gorgeous Cheryl Rixon along with some really bad cop hijinks, while Susannah York and Trevor Howard find themselves ensconced in a dreary-looking period costume farce called "Eliza Fraser."  The trailers for "Fantasm" and "Fantasm Comes Again" feature a too-close-for-comfort view of John Holmes' trouser snake while giving us teasing glimpses of favorite 70s porn stars Candy Samples (as "Mary Gavin"), Uschi Digard, Roxanne Brewer,  Rene Bond, and Rainbow Smith. 

In addition to the slapdash and gleefully vulgar comedies are nudge-nudge wink-wink mockumentaries such as "The Love Epidemic", which exhorts viewers to have sex while warning them of V.D., and "The ABC of Love and Sex Australia Style", which we examined in detail here.  All serve as naughty looks at what was considered shocking in "Strine" society in those days and, like the comedies, are brimming with a multitude of boobies and great gobs of softcore sex. 

The ubiquitious Jack Thompson ("Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence") plays the no-nonsense, ultra-manly "Petersen", who takes no guff and tells people to "get stuffed."  Arthur Dignam of "Dead Kids" (aka "Strange Behavior") co-stars, but it's the welcome sight of a topless young Wendy Hughes who makes this trailer interesting.  Thompson turns up again (and again) in "Libido", which offers the usual sexual situations with a lurid and melodramatic leer. 

Much of this material seems to be the same kind of stuff that turned up as late-night filler on the Playboy Channel in the 80s.  Like most of OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION, I'm not sure I'd care to actually sit through some of these films yet their trailers provide non-stop entertainment in handy capsule form.

Moving on to "Horror and Thriller",  we get another staple of Aussie cinema that was either well-done or utterly gosh-awful in seemingly equal measures.  Roo-doo potboilers such as "Outback" and "Night of Fear" appear to represent the latter, while something called "Inn of the Damned" ("in the tradition of Hitchcock!") manages to boast none other than Dame Judith Anderson in what is known as "slumming" with a capital "S." 

Returning to sex-comedy territory is "The Night The Prowler", about a woman named Felicity who turns the tables on her nocturnal rapist and becomes a sex-starved prowler herself. "End Play" mixes two brothers, a secluded country house, and a pretty young hitchhiker to give us something that is, the announcer warns, "terribly, terribly wrong."

Reprenting the best of low-budget Australian horror cinema are the trailers for some familiar faves.  "Patrick" tells of a comatose man who may be causing chaos on a subconscious telekinetic level.  "Thirst" is a story of modern-day vampires, while "Dead Kids" is the richly compelling horror thriller by filmmaker Michael Laughlin which stars Michael Murphy, Louise Fletcher,  Fiona Lewis, Dan Shor,  Marc McClure, and Arthur Dignam. 

Peter Weir's "The Last Wave" stars Richard Chamberlain in a nightmare of supernatural evil.  Sigrid Thornton looks great topless in "Snapshot" while being menaced by Vincent Gill and propositioned by "Thirst" star Chantal Contouri.  "Nightmares" is as lurid a horror-slasher flick as they come.  A personal favorite of mine, "Roadgames" (1981), stars Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis as a truck driver and a hitchhiker on the trail of a highway serial killer. 

Of the three categories featured here, perhaps "Cars and Action" is the one the Australians do best.  Ever since "Mad Max" roared through American drive-ins and cable TVs there's been a string of imitations and outright clones of it and its superior follow-up, "The Road Warrior", which really set the standard for white-line mayhem. 

The same cast members keeping turning up too--not the least of which is probably the busiest man in Oz cinema, Bruce "Gyro Captain" Spence, who seems to be in damn near everything in this collection.  "Mad Max"'s ever-popular "Goose",  Steve Bisley,  heads sci-fi action-thriller "The Chain Reaction", which has its own incredible car chases, crashes, and stunts. 

More automotive vehicles are destroyed and stunt drivers endangered in the hair-raising "Stunt Rock", "Stone" (the guy flying off a cliff on a motorcycle is a stunner), "Fair Game" (another beleaguered woman turns the tables on her antagonists), and the mind-boggling "Midnight Spares" with, you guessed it, Bruce Spence. 

Judging by their trailers, these films are jam-packed with the kind of stuff that makes Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" look like a fender-bender.  I can only guess at how wide-open the stuntman trade must've been in Australia during that era.  Some of them seem to be risking life and limb with utter abandon. 

Elsewhere, Alan Arkin does a funny turn as a washed-up superhero in "The Return of Captain Invincible."  "Terminator" rip-off "The Time Guardian" stars Dean Stockwell and Carrie Fisher.  Jimmy Wang Yu goes up against erstwhile 007 George Lazenby in "The Man From Hong Kong." 

There are would-be spaghetti westerns such as "Raw Deal" and Dennis Hopper (in a series of horrible fake beards) as "Mad Dog Morgan."  Aerial thriller "Race for the Yankee Zephyr", with Ken Wahl, George Peppard, Lesley Ann Warren, and Donald Pleasence, is directed by David Hemmings ("Thirst") and features some of the most exhilarating helicopter photography I've ever seen. 

"Attack Force Z" is a mercenary shoot-em-up with Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, Olivia Hussey, and John Phillip Law.  Getting short shrift here is Nicole Kidman's teenage debut,  "BMX Bandits", whose brief trailer seems more like a TV spot.  Peter Weir's "The Cars that Ate Paris" (1974) is just as nutty and stunt-packed as it sounds, and yes, Bruce Spence is in it.

Among the other luminaries popping up here and there in this collection are Broderick Crawford, Judy Davis, Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, Tom Skerritt,  and James Mason, along with frequent Ocker faves such as Frank Thring and Briony Behets. 

The DVD from Intervision Picture Corp. is in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital mono sound.  No subtitles or extras.  The picture quality is about what you'd expect from a bunch of forty-year-old trailers (give or take a decade).  Running time is 165 minutes.  Many more trailers besides those mentioned here are included (65 in all).

If you're not in the mood for a sit-down meal but fancy a snack tray of sex, horror, and violence goodies, then Mama always said you should try OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION.  Because even though you never know what you're gonna get, you can be sure it'll be chock full of fine Strine cui-sine.

Buy it at Amazon.com

OZPLOITATION TRAILER EXPLOSION -- DVD review by porfle

"95ers: Time Runners" coming to DVD and VOD April 15

Inception Media Group Proudly Presents
95ers: Time Runners

In a Battle of Paradoxes Who Will Survive?

Sci-Fi Thriller Available on DVD & VOD April 15th

LOS ANGELES — April 1, 2014 — For Immediate Release — An FBI agent with time-bending powers must fight sinister forces from the future to save her loved ones in 95ers: Time Runners, coming to DVD and VOD April 15 from Inception Media Group.

FBI special agent Sally Biggs possesses the secret power to rewind time, allowing her to become a star at work investigating unsolved cases and control almost everything in her life.

But when paranormal apparitions begin to surround her, Sally suspects the mysteries may have something to do with the destabilization of time. And her worst fears are realized when her scientist husband inexplicably disappears.

In the distant future, millions have died in a brutal war being fought using time machines as ultimate weapons—ensuring victory by manipulating the past. When those in possession of this terrifying technology discover Sally’s secret, they want her dead … Bringing the battle to her present realm.

Now, hunted by assassins while her own timeline is unraveling, her only hope is to follow her husband’s ghost to discover the truth before the fabric of her being and the ones she loves are erased from existence forever.

Winner of Best Action Film and Best CGI at the 2013 Louisville Fright Night Fest and an official selection of the 2013 Shriek Fest, 95ers: Time Runners is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 16 x 9 (1.78:1) and 5.1 digital surround sound.

About Inception Media Group
Inception Media Group, LLC is based in Los Angeles and is a diversified media company specializing in the production, acquisition and distribution of motion pictures and other filmed entertainment across all media platforms and channels of distribution. Inception Media Group's management team has extensive relationships with exhibitors, retailers, distributors and technology companies, enabling the Company to maximize the services performed on behalf of its content partners. The company boasts a catalog of approximately 100 filmed entertainment properties and over 2,500 hours of digital content encompassing feature films, episodic television series, documentaries and special interest programming. More information is available at www.inceptionmediagroup.com

95ers: Time Runners
Inception Media Group
Genre:  Sci-fi/Fantasy/Thriller
Not Rated
Format:  DVD & VOD
Running Time:  Approx. 96 Minutes
Suggested Retail Price:  $26.98
Pre-Order Date:  March 11, 2014
Street Date:  April 15, 2014
Catalog #:  IMG1289DVD
UPC Code:  #815300012185

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"95ers: Time Runners" coming to DVD and VOD April 15

Sidney Lumet's classic "THE PAWNBROKER" starring Rod Steiger -- Coming to Blu-ray and DVD April 22nd from Olive Films

OLIVE FILMS RELEASES
THE GROUND-BREAKING DRAMA
THE PAWNBROKER

ON BLU-RAY™ AND DVD APRIL 22, 2014
Newly Remastered in HD and on Blu-ray™ for the First Time!

CHICAGO, IL – Olive Films releases one of the landmarks of American cinema, The Pawnbroker on Blu-ray™ and DVD April 22nd.  Directed by Academy-Award®-winner (Honorary Award 2005) Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon) and released in 1964, it was the first cinematic exploration of the darkest memories and feelings of a Holocaust survivor.

Filmed in stark black and white, it was also the first film approved by the Production Code that contained nudity. Newly remastered in HD for this release, The Pawnbroker is also being honored with a special screening as part of the 2014 TCM Film Festival. SRP is $29.95 for the Blu-ray™, and $19.95 for the DVD.

Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) earned a 1965 Best Actor Oscar® nomination for his stunning performance as Sol Nazerman, a survivor of a WWII Nazi death camp where his wife, parents and children were murdered. His soul robbed of hope, he takes refuge in misery and a bitter condemnation of humanity while managing a Harlem pawnshop subjected to an endless parade of prostitutes, pimps and thieves.

Jamie Sanchez (The Wild Bunch) plays Ortiz, Sol’s underprivileged and idealistic assistant who dreams of a better life. The Pawnbroker features evocative black-and-white cinematography by the great Boris Kaufman (On the Waterfront), a memorable jazz-influenced score by the legendary composer/producer Quincy Jones and a stellar supporting cast also including Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights), Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird), Raymond St. Jacques (Cotton Comes to Harlem) as well as the debut of a very young Morgan Freeman.     

Steiger received rave reviews for his performance as the cynical Nazerman and the actor would cite that role as a stand-out among his impressive body of work. The film went on to be selected in 2008 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Fifty years after its initial release, The Pawnbroker still stands as a truly historic piece of filmmaking whose influence and compassion is still felt today.

About Olive Films
Olive Films was founded in 2003 by Farhad Arshad as a boutique theatrical and distribution label. Currently located in Chicago, Illinois, its catalog boasts over 500 titles cultivated from the libraries of Paramount, Republic, Warner and HBO and includes such Hollywood classics as the Oscar® winners High Noon starring Gary Cooper and John Ford’s The Quiet Man starring John Wayne, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring Kevin McCarthy, Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 starring Robert DeNiro, the John Wayne classics Rio Grande, McLintock! and Sands of Iwo Jima, along with such contemporary classics as Stephen King’s Cujo, the Wachowski’s Bound, The Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ironweed starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.

The Pawnbroker Blu-ray™
Street Date:                 April 22, 2014
Pre-book:                     March 18, 2014
Cat. #:                         OF764
UPC:                           887090076401
Run Time:                   116 Minutes
Rating:                        N/A
SRP:                            $29.95
Format:                        (16x9) 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio:                         DTS-HD English Master Audio mono

The Pawnbroker DVD
Street Date:                 April 22, 2014
Pre-book:                     March 18, 2014
Cat. #:                         OF763
UPC:                           887090076302
Run Time:                   116 Minutes
Rating:                        N/A
SRP:                            $19.95
Format:                        (16x9) 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio:                         English Dolby Digital mono

Buy it at Amazon.com
DVD
Blu-Ray

Sidney Lumet's classic "THE PAWNBROKER" starring Rod Steiger -- Coming to Blu-ray and DVD April 22nd from Olive Films

Restoration of 'THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE' Planned For 40th Anniversary Theatrical Re-Release

MPI/Dark Sky Films To Release The Restored Version of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
In Celebration Of The 40th Anniversary of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 American Classic

March 6th, 2014 (Chicago, IL) – MPI/Dark Sky Films, one of the leading distributors of independent and genre films, announced today they will be releasing a restored version The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic.  The re-release comes in celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary, with the restoration having its unveiling at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas next week.

In 1973, Tobe Hooper, a cast of unknown actors, and a crew of Austin film students and recent graduates headed to Round Rock, Texas in the middle of July. For the next 32 days they worked around the clock in 100 degree weather to make The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.  The movie became a huge hit on the drive-in circuit and eventually grossed $30 million.  It was invited to the 1975 Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnight, and was acquired as part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. 

Since then, it has become the eighth highest-grossing horror franchise of all time. In 2012, Sight & Sound magazine named it one of the 250 most important movies ever made.

The new version of the film will be released in theaters this summer with a brand new 4K transfer, roughly four times the resolution of today’s more commonly used 2K for cinema.   This is the only transfer of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to go back to the original 16mm A/B rolls, the actual film that rolled through the cameras.

The restoration of the film, overseen by Todd Wieneke of Dark Sky Films, took place at NOLO Digital Film in Chicago with the use of an ARRISCAN Film Scanner.

Taking 5 months of 40-hour workweeks to complete the color grading and the restoration, NOLO engineer Boris Seagraves stated, “This film probably needed the most restoration of any project we’ve done.”

Having been shot on less expensive 16mm film stock and cheaper, tougher “reversal” stock, (which means there is no negative), the restoration started by taking the original 16mm film that rolled through the cameras and transferred all 120,960 frames to a 4K scan.

Scratches, film stains, chemical stains, dirt, torn perforations, rips in the film image and glue splices had to go through a pain-staking correction process frame by frame.  “There were hundreds, if not thousands, of instances where you’d find a splice mark cooked into the middle of a frame.  Some frames would have close to two hundred dirt events on them. We also spent a lot of time stabilizing the image.

"When doing a digital scan of a conformed 16mm print with a splice at every cut, it can be tough to achieve the high standards we all aspire to in the era of digital cinema. What might have passed as acceptable in the 70's looks jarring now. So we worked hard to smooth out the tremors that almost inevitably occur when scanning this type of film element. There were tears in the film that we had to digitally rebuild from adjacent frames. There were tens of thousands of things we were dealing with”, said Seagraves.

Estimating that he spent about 50 hours on the color correction alone, NOLO Colorist Michael Matusek used a previous transfer of the film that had been supervised by Tobe Hooper as his guide to a rough color correction. Tobe Hooper then gave notes on this roughly timed version, and the process of adjusting the color began.

Hooper, who helped score the film and did the sound design, was also deeply involved with the audio restoration.

Todd Wieneke stated, “I’ve seen the film literally frame-by-frame and I’m still hearing and seeing things I never noticed before…it just adds a whole different level”.  Matusek added, “This 4K scan delivers such an intense reality that it feels like you’re really seeing through the film to the actual world behind it.

Tobe Hooper stated, "I haven't seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on the big screen for many, many years.  This 40th anniversary restoration is absolutely the best the film has ever looked.  The color and clarity is spectacular, displaying visual details in the film that were never before perceptible.  The newly remastered 7.1 soundtrack breathes new life and energy into the film.  I am very much looking forward to audiences experiencing this film as they never have before".

Now, 40 years after it’s initial release and coming back home, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s new transfer can be seen with a fresh pair of eyes having its world premiere at SXSW, Monday, March 10th at 9:30pm at the Topfer Theatre.

Details regarding the film’s theatrical re-release this summer will be announced in the coming months.

About Dark Sky Films
Dark Sky Films is dedicated to the discovery, preservation and production of new and classic horror, sci-fi and cult films from around the world. Based in Chicago, Dark Sky Films is a wholly owned subsidiary of The MPI Media Group - one of the largest independent entertainment companies producing and distributing a compelling slate of the world’s most respected cinema, documentaries, performances and television programs. Recent Dark Sky Films productions include: Ti West''s The House of Devil, Stake Land, The Hatchet II & III series, Here Comes The Devil and the upcoming Starry Eyes, Late Phases and XX.

Restoration of 'THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE' Planned For 40th Anniversary Theatrical Re-Release

THE GRANDMASTER -- Blu-ray review by porfle

 

Continuing to provide rich fodder for martial arts films and their fans is the life of Ip Man, who not only trained superstar Bruce Lee but, as we continue to discover, had a fascinating life which seems made to order for the movies.  Not the least of these is director Wong Kar Wai's exceptional and often downright exhilarating THE GRANDMASTER (2013).

Not as fanciful as 2010's THE LEGEND IS BORN: IP MAN with Dennis To in the title role, this latest Ip Man biography stars perrenial faveTony Leung (RED CLIFF, INFERNAL AFFAIRS, HARD BOILED) as a fortunate son whose first forty years are a bed roses until his hometown in China is ravaged by the Japanese invasion of the late 30s.  He'll later be separated from his wife and family and forced to live in Hong Kong, where he quietly endures his unrequited love for a martial arts master's daughter and, come the 1950s, takes on the young Bruce Lee as a student.

But before that, the film opens in spectacular style as the aging Northern master Gong Yutian, seeking to bring China's warring factions together, measures Southern fighter Ip Man's worth as an ally by siccing about twenty guys on him in the middle of a pouring rainstorm.  This introduces us to the director's penchant for surprisingly unconventional camera angles and rapid-fire imagery which, in conjunction with the dazzling fight choreography of the legendary Yuen Woo Ping (THE MATRIX, KILL BILL), creates dizzyingly sensational action sequences brimming with imaginative visuals.

Those expecting a constant succession of such action setpieces, however, will be disappointed when THE GRANDMASTER settles into its rather sedate and at times emotionally distant love story.  Gong Yutian's daughter Gong Er, wonderfully played by the lovely Zhang Ziyi (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS), becomes the forbidden fixation of family man Ip after they have a friendly exchange of martial arts moves (in yet another stunning action sequence which is played somewhat like a courting ritual).  But circumstances--that is, the invading Japanese--conspire to keep their chaste and ultimately stillborn love affair from reaching first base. 

Thanks to some gorgeous cinematography, everything has a burnished, almost gilded look, and the film is practically engorged with lush production design.  Director Wong Kar Wai lingers over every aspect of Ip's idyllic family life, secret romantic yearnings, and,  later, his lonely exile from everything he holds dear, with leisurely montages made of lush, poetic imagery that's beautiful to look at but not always all that gripping. 

Things heat up when young Ma San (Zhang Jin),  whom Gong Yutian introduces as his Northern successor, gives us a taste of his invincibility by effortlessly defeating a gaggle of foes ("Let's keep this simple--I'll take you all on," he quips), then killing his master and taking over his house.  This doesn't set well with daugher Gong Er, who not only swears to get revenge but, to Ip Man's dismay, also vows never to get married, have children, or have sex of any kind with anybody, anywhere. 

What makes THE GRANDMASTER tend to drag in its latter half is the lack of any kind of emotional intensity in the film's tragic love story.  When Ip Man encounters Gong Er years later in Hong Kong where she's now working as a doctor, this potentially interesting development is sidetracked by a lengthy flashback that takes us ten years earlier to her eventual clash with the vile Ma San.  In what is probably the film's best sequence and one of the most visually arresting fight scenes I've ever seen, the two mortal enemies go for each other's throats in a snow-streaked train station at night as a train thunders past them.

As in the other martial arts battles that occur sporadically throughout the film,  the spectacular train station sequence's  compositions, direction, and choreography are composed in dazzling  bursts of imagination and invention and feature rapid-fire editing (you may wonder how Wong Kar Wai managed so many camera set-ups) that is both exciting and comprehensible even when many shots are practically subliminal. 

It's such a visual indulgence, it could almost be described as "cinema porn", much like the unadulterated eye candy that made Korean director Park Chan-wook's LADY VENGEANCE so much fun to look at.  Even in the slower passages, everything has a burnished, almost gilded look, and the film is practically engorged with lush production design.  The Gold Pavillion brothel set alone took a year to construct, and is a marvel to behold as it becomes the backdrop for some of the film's mostscintillating demonstrations of fighting skill. 

The Blu-ray from Anchor Bay is in 2.35:1 widescreen with 5.1 sound.  Viewers can choose between hearing it in Mandarin with English or Spanish subtitles, or dubbed into English.  Extras include "The Grandmaster: From Ip Man to Bruce Lee", an interesting conversation with Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon, Wu Tang Clan's RZA waxing eloquent on the subject of this and other martial arts films, and an interesting collection of behind-the-scenes featurettes that total almost an hour.

When all is said and done, not much happens story-wise in this entry in the Ip Man saga,  and the whole thing doesn't come to a climax as much as it simply drifts away.  But  Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi are a treat to watch in the lead roles, the script is intelligent, and it boasts not only some of the most spectacular fights ever filmed but also some of the most stunning direction and cinematography I've seen in a long time, period.  So, while not totally fulfilling, THE GRANDMASTER is definitely one to watch. 

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THE GRANDMASTER -- Blu-ray review by porfle