SANTA FE STAMPEDE -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/14/21

 

Currently watching: SANTA FE STAMPEDE (1938), starring John Wayne, Max Terhune, and Ray "Crash" Corrigan as "The 3 Mesquiteers."

This horse opera is no better or worse than a lot of Duke's "B" westerns from the 30s, which means it's mildly enjoyable while also being wholly unremarkable.  

(I won't mention the fact that there aren't even any cattle in the movie, and thus no titular "stampede.")

 

The plot is the usual stuff about a town bigwig with a sinister plot to make a bundle of easy money at the expense of innocent townsfolk, with Duke getting wrongly accused of murder in the bargain.

The thing that sets it apart is that something happens midway through that's so shocking, and such a horrific downer, that it casts a pall of tragedy over the rest of the film from which it never recovers.

It's so bad, in fact, that seeing the main villain get punched unconscious by our hero at the end doesn't even begin to give us the vengeance we crave.

 

Nor does the traditional weak bit of comedy relief at the fadeout seem in any way appropriate for characters who should still be in a state of profound grief and outrage.

Probably the most noteworthy thing about it is that only a scant year later, John Wayne would finally become a major Hollywood star in John Ford's classic STAGECOACH.

But just as the horrific passenger plane crash in DIE HARD 2 lingered over that film's attempts at a feelgood ending, SANTA FE STAMPEDE's mid-film shocker plunges a hot branding iron through its modest enjoyment value.

SANTA FE STAMPEDE -- Movie Review by Porfle

THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/17/19

 

Imagine one of those ABC After School Specials in which the scripter slowly went insane during the process of writing it. If you can picture that, you'll have a pretty good idea of what it's like to watch the 1985 Canadian children's film THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION (Severin Kids).

Michael (Mathew Mackay, LITTLE MEN, THE BOOK OF EVE) is a normal kid who likes to play soccer, and his sister Suzie (Alison Podbrey, THE SUM OF ALL FEARS) is struggling to take over the "Mom" role in the family while their real mom is away. Meanwhile, their eccentric dad Billy (Michael Hogan) is a successful painter working in the attic studio of their home.

When a nearly abandoned house burns, killing some homeless people trapped inside, Michael and his friend Conrad "Connie" Wong (Siluk Saysanasy of "Degrassi High" in a wonderfully likable performance) decide to explore it.

But when Michael goes inside, he sees something so frightening that, after a close-up in which he resembles a pint-sized Yahoo Serious, he goes into shock and then loses all of his hair, turning completely bald. 

So far, this is just like any other kids' show you might've tuned in to watch after school back in the 80s, and it might've even had Scott Baio in it. But when the ghosts of two dead "winos" appear to Michael in the dead of night and share with him a secret formula for restoring his hair (one involving, as you might guess, peanut butter), then that's when we fear the writer has started going progressively coo-coo.

Actually, a group of writers worked on the script, which takes us through Michael's painful first day back at school as a "baldy", effectively portraying a kind of emotional turmoil that most kids can identify with. His family and faithful friend Connie are shown trying to comfort the stricken lad, each in his or her quirky way, but to no avail.

Then Michael becomes even more of a freakish outsider when, after using too much peanut butter in the solution, his hair begins to grow at an alarming rate--several feet per hour, in fact--which is depicted in such bizarre terms that the film begins to take on much the same feel as iconic surrealist Fernando Arrabal's only children's film, THE EMPEROR OF PERU.

(I'm not even going to mention that part where Connie tries out the hair-growing solution on his...err, never mind. Suffice it to say, it's something you don't expect in your standard kids' film.)

With six feet or so of hair trailing behind him, Michael can't even walk to school without the wind twisting his flowing mane around a nearby hedge. It's here that he is kidnapped by the villain of the story, taken to a hidden location where there are several other recently abducted children, and made part of an insidious plot that's like something out of Ian Fleming during a flush of fevered imagination.

The story by this time has made a determined foray right into mind-bending fantasy territory to such an extent that it should delight both children and likeminded adults.

This involves magical paintings that one can enter, rendered with magical paintbrushes made from human hair (guess whose), and is all presided over by Michel Maillot as the delightfully sinister Signor Sergio, a frustrated artist recently fired from his teaching position at Michael's school for being, well, too damn weird.

Mathew Mackay and Alison Podbrey do a fine job as a relatably normal brother and sister, while Siluk Saysanasy often steals the show as Connie. Connie's own little sister Mai Ling (cute-as-a-button Nadka Takahataki) shows up as one of the kidnapped children.  The adult members of the cast are equally good, with special honors going to Maillot as The Signor.

Severin Films' new kids label, Severin Kids, is well-served by this good-looking entry which is both subtitled and closed-captioned with mono English sound.  Severin's usual well-stocked bonus menu includes an extended U.S. theatrical release version with extra footage, an easygoing commentary with producer Rock Demers and actor Mathew Mackay, a seperate interview with Demers, an interview with Siluck Saysanasy, a look at Canadian kids' films, and both Canadian and U.S. trailers. The Blu-ray's cover art is reversible.

THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION is just the sort of kids' entertainment that places young viewers into a recognizable environment before taking a wondrously entrancing detour into the surreal.  I wish I'd been able to see it as a child, although my current inner child had a fantastic time.

Special Features:

    Extended U.S. Theatrical Release Version
    New Commentary with Producer Rock Demers and Actor Matthew MacKay, Moderated by Filmmaker Ara Ball
    Human Beings Are The Same All Over: An Interview with Producer Rock Demers
    Conrad’s Peanut Butter Solution: An Interview with Siluck Saysanasy
    Tales for All: Paul Corupe on Rock Demers and the Canadian Kids Film
    Canadian Trailer
    Original U.S. Trailer
    Reversible cover

Alternate cover art:

THE PEANUT BUTTER SOLUTION -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

AFTER.LIFE -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/10/10

 

After a promising start, AFTER.LIFE (2009) gradually starts to resemble its protagonist--you're never really sure if it's alive or dead.

Christina Ricci is ideally cast as a grade school teacher named Anna Taylor, whose unhappy past makes it hard for her to love or accept love from others.  This gums up her relationship with fiance' wannabe Paul (Justin Long), and after a senseless argument Anna drives off into the rain and has a bad crack-up.  But instead of waking up in a hospital, Anna finds herself lying on a slab in a funeral home, whose creepy director, Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) tells her she's dead and that he will now guide her into the afterlife.

This is director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's feature debut, and her film is beautifully photographed.  There's a formal composition in some shots that reminded me of Kubrick, and she creates a strong Gothic atmosphere inside that gloomy, spacious funeral home.  She also makes the most visually of her leading lady (whose "Wednesday Addams" vibe remains undiminished), framing and posing her with an artist's eye as the camera lingers over her fascinating face and often-nude form.

But what could've been a deliriously dark chiller along the lines of PHANTASM, with a dollop of DEAD AND BURIED's autumnal morbidness thrown in, never really establishes a compelling mood or manages the kind of scares that it tries so hard to deliver.  The mystery of whether or not Anna is really dead loses steam when the film begins to drag about halfway through and can't decide if her predicament is supernatural or merely part of the deranged Deacon's bizarre fantasy world.
 

Some of the curiously ineffective horror scenes end with a character waking up as though it were all a nightmare, while other unexplained occurrences, such as a bobble-head doll whose gaze seems to follow Paul and other inanimate objects behaving strangely, appear to be real.  In some films, depending on how it's handled, such ambiguity might actually be effective, but here, it feels indecisive and misleading. 

Ricci does her best to sell it all as no one else could and is both convincing and fun to watch.  (Seeing her naked for about a third of the film definitely doesn't hurt.)  Neeson is a bland boogeyman and is pretty much the same throughout the film, never developing into the figure of fright that he might have--in other words, he's no Angus Scrimm.  As the haunted boyfriend Paul, who's convinced that Anna's still alive although nobody believes him, Justin Long is just bland.  I like him in films such as GALAXY QUEST and LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, but here he seems miscast.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Extras include a director's commentary, a making-of featurette, and a trailer.  One curious thing about director Wojtowicz-Vosloo's comments on the film is her mention of various visual "clues" a la THE SIXTH SENSE, which is odd since the two films are nothing alike.  The latter has a clearly-defined game plan for the viewer to play by, while this one's pretty much all over the place.

Probably the most disturbing thing about AFTER.LIFE is Deacon's wall filled with Polaroids of the people he's ushered into the next world.  All are lying in coffins, but while some are clearly dead, others are wide-eyed, immobile, and aware.  Being buried alive is a potent fear for horror films to exploit, but this one doesn't seem real enough to make us feel as though it's actually happening.  By the time we've hashed over all the inconsistencies of the story and have sorta decided whether or not it's all just somebody's nightmare, it's too late to feel much about it.

AFTER.LIFE -- DVD review by porfle

SHARKTOPUS -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/3/11

 

"Dumb" has a new name, and that name is SHARKTOPUS (2010).  This highly-rated SyFy Original Movie, produced by legendary filmmaker Roger Corman and his wife Julie, will either make you giddy with bad-movie excitement or leave you utterly stupified.  Maybe even both.

After the success of DINOSHARK, SyFy contacted Corman about doing this film as a follow-up.  As he relates in the commentary, he initially turned it down because, while "dinosharks" might conceivably have existed in prehistoric times, the idea of a half-shark, half-octopus just seemed a little too farfetched.  (Unlike, say, giant crab monsters.)  He eventually gave in, on the condition that the creature be a product of genetic engineering rather than a freak of nature. 

Thus, we have scientist Nathan Sands (Eric Roberts) and his daughter Nicole (Sara Malakul Lane), whom he affectionately refers to as "Pumpkin", creating the dreaded Sharktopus for the military.  Pumpkin naively hopes Sharktopus will be used for good, but her sneaky dad has designed it to be a ruthless killing machine, which it demonstrates when its electronic restraints are damaged during a test and it starts eating people all up and down the coast of scenic Puerto Vallarta.  With the Navy breathing down his back, Sands hires fun-loving aquatic mercenary Andy Flynn (Kerem Bursin) to reel the big fish in and bring it back alive.
 


With this set-up quickly established, the film now treats us to an endless series of Sharktopus attacks with lots of tourists getting snared by the creature's tentacles right there on the shore and dragged into its toothy maw.  Several of these kills begin with an establishing montage of festive beach images and ample footage of bikini-clad babes cavorting around like monster appetizers.  When Sharktopus suddenly appears, the various bit players must then hop around screaming as the SPFX guys wrap bad-CGI tentacles around them and make with the spewing digital blood. 

The big, cartoony shark head which pops out of the water to chow down on them is highly effective--at generating laughs.  Seeing the entire mismatched monstrosity perched on a guardrail or the roof of a bamboo hut in all its writhing, snarling glory, treating the fleeing humans like a sushi buffet, is a sight you won't soon forget.  Special mention goes to the bunjee-jumping scene, which Corman tells us got the biggest response from audiences and is one of the movie's few genuinely effective moments.  (Roger and Julie's daughter guest-stars as the bouncing bait.)



With few exceptions, the performances range from awful to not-really-trying.  Mostly the actors just seem anxious to knock off their scenes and get back to partying in Puerta Vallarta.  Blake Lindsey isn't bad as Pez, a fisherman who leads TV newswoman Stacy Everheart (Liv Boughn) and her dopey cameraman Bones (Héctor Jiménez, who played Lonnie Donaho in GENTLEMEN BRONCOS) to wherever Sharktopus is likely to appear next.  As a pirate radio DJ, Ralph Garman of "The Joe Schmo Show" seems to be having fun.  Bursin and Lane make a dull main couple as Flynn and Pumpkin and could probably use a few more acting lessons. 

As for Eric Roberts, he's one of my favorite actors and I'd watch him in anything, which is fitting since these days it looks like he'll show up in anything.   Going from THE DARK KNIGHT to this must've been like falling out of a yacht into a swamp.  (Look for Roger Corman himself in a cameo as a beach bum.)



On a technical level, SHARKTOPUS is slapdash at best.  Things like camerawork, editing, and scene transitions are a dizzying jumble of ineptitude, while the subpar direction makes it hard to believe Declan O'Brien is the same guy who did such a solid job with WRONG TURN 3: LEFT FOR DEAD. 

The script, which seems to have been written on a Big Chief tablet, obviously doesn't take itself very seriously, as when Flynn offers this warning to the patrons of an open-air restaurant by the beach: "Excuse me, everyone.  There's a killer shark-octopus hybrid headed this way.  Please leave the marina in a timely fashion."  The thing is, movies like this are funnier when they aren't trying to be, so the scenes that actually mean to shock or excite us invariably provoke the most giggles. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Extras include a commentary with Roger and Julie Corman plus the film's trailer. 

Any movie containing Eric Roberts, bikini babes, extras doing the imaginary-tentacle-tango, the guy who played Lonnie Donaho in GENTLEMEN BRONCOS, and one of the dumbest monsters in film history can't be all bad.  And SHARKTOPUS doesn't let up for a minute--it keeps assaulting us with undiluted stupid during its entire running time.  That's a claim some of this year's Best Picture nominees can't even make.

SHARKTOPUS -- DVD review by porfle

CIRCUS WORLD -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/12/21

 

 

Currently watching: CIRCUS WORLD (1964) with John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale, and Rita Hayworth. Also with Lloyd Nolan, Richard Conte, and John Smith of the TV western "Laramie."

 

Henry Hathaway (TRUE GRIT, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER) directed this departure from Duke's usual western adventures, although the rugged star still sports his trademark cowboy hat and inimitable swagger.

 

This time, however, his "Matt Masters" character is a circus owner whose dreams of touring Europe are dashed when the ship carrying his entire enterprise (animals, people, and equipment) all but capsizes in a Barcelona harbor.

 

 

After a slow start, this shockingly sudden sequence, which occurs early in the film, is both jarring and breathtakingly spectacular, using a full-scale ship mock-up that rivals the one constructed by James Cameron for "Titanic." 

 

Several minutes after this impressive spectacle gave way to Masters and his young partner Steve (John Smith) beginning the long, arduous task of putting another circus together, I was still breathless from that thrilling maritime disaster.

 

The middle part of the film is practically sedate in comparison, settling into an ensemble comedy/drama that focuses on young Claudia Cardinale's aspiring circus performer Toni, her budding romance with Steve, and a very serious subplot about her estranged mother Lili, played wonderfully by veteran actress Rita Hayworth.

 

 

 

The interplay between the various characters isn't as effortlessly light or involving as Howard Hawks managed in Duke's previous adventure "Hatari!", although the script, whose writers included Nicholas Ray, Ben Hecht, and James Edward Grant, mercifully avoids most of the usual circus story cliches. 

 

It's fun watching Duke and the gang rebuild their finances by working in a wild west show for European audiences, and seeing how he wrangles a circus as opposed to a cattle ranch or lawless town. 

 

Old standbys Nolan and Conte help keep things real while an appealing young Cardinale adds spark to her scenes four years before she would attain screen immortality as "Jill McBain" in Sergio Leone's classic western "Once Upon A Time In The West."

 

 

 

Best of all, though, is a more mature Rita Hayworth bringing her considerable presence to bear as her character reenters the performing world while desperately trying to mend the rift between her and her daughter Toni. 

 

But just as the film caught fire early on during the shipwreck sequence, an equally spectacular finale gives us nothing less than a raging inferno which threatens to burn down the entire bigtop and everything in it on the very day of the new circus' debut, and again an otherwise unremarkable film is transformed into a thrilling nailbiter that had me on the edge of my seat. 

 

It's these two bookend scenes that make CIRCUS WORLD a must-see for John Wayne fans. But while everything in-between comes off as relatively pedestrian, it's still a pleasure to spend time with these actors and their likable characters.

 

CIRCUS WORLD -- Movie Review by Porfle

INNERSPACE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/30/15

 

If you've ever seen FANTASTIC VOYAGE (1966), you know that piloting a tiny miniaturized submarine around inside a human body is serious business. Surprisingly, though, there can be a funny side to the whole thing as well, which director Joe Dante (GREMLINS, THE HOWLING) explores in his frenetic 1987 sci-fi comedy INNERSPACE.

It's not a raucous laugh riot exactly, and I only guffawed out loud a few times, but darn if it isn't just a lot of fun to watch. This is mainly because of a well-balanced blend of sci-fi action and excitement with the wild, improvisatory comedy stylings of funnyman Martin Short, he of the classic run of "SCTV" episodes on NBC-TV and Cinemax back in the 80s. (Two of his fellow SCTV alums, Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin, have a welcome cameo in one early scene.)

The story begins with military burn-out Lt. Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) messing up his relationships with both Uncle Sam and girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan during an especially cute phase in her life) in two fell swoops. Quaid is like a burn-out version of his cocky test pilot character in THE RIGHT STUFF, down on his luck and needing something drastic--like volunteering for a highly dangerous experimental project--to un-wreck his military career.

The project turns out to involve shrinking him and his tiny one-man sub to microscopic size and injecting him into the bloodstream a live rabbit, which seems entirely reasonable to Tuck until--following a cool shrinking sequence--the experiment is interrupted by a gang of industrial thieves which include sexy mean lady Fiona Lewis (DEAD KIDS, THE FURY) and Vernon Wells, the guy who played "Wez" in THE ROAD WARRIOR and is here a nattily-dressed hit man with a robot gun-hand (literally) and a sweet tooth for killin' folks.

Long story short, microscopic Tuck gets injected not into the rabbit but into the left butt cheek of neurotic Safeway checkout clerk Jack Putter (Martin Short), who's already so nervous that he's under doctor's orders to take a long, unexciting vacation. Suddenly, however, he's got a tiny guy named Tuck zipping around in his bloodstream and some very bad and violent people coming after him at every turn.

The result, as you might guess, is a succession of suspenseful chases, furious fights, and other close calls, with Tuck serving as Jack's "inner voice" and directing his actions while at the same time having his own difficulties navigating through Jack's overstimulated circulatory system and, in one scene, dangling precipitously over an ocean of roiling stomach acids.

Of course we all know that during the course of this high-spirited adventure Tuck will perform valiantly and get his old "mojo" back, and that Short's nerdly character will come through it all a hero as well and maybe even win over his fellow Safeway employee Wendy (Wendy Schaal) for whom he has the unrequited hots. And also that Tuck will get back together with Lydia after she helps him and Jack defeat the bad guys.

Unless, that is, you think there's a chance that they'll all get killed and the bad guys will win, and that INNERSPACE will have one of those horrible downer endings like THE PARALLAX VIEW or EDEN LAKE or something, in which case I guess it will be even more suspenseful for you because you really won't know what's going to happen next, so I guess that's okay.

At any rate, there are two levels of action here--what's going on with Quaid in "innerspace", and how nebbishy Short is handling his sudden plunge into danger and intrigue in the regular-sized world. Both are exciting enough while maintaining the right amount of comedy, especially with Short's seemingly limitless skills in that area. This is true even though he's downplaying much of his usual manic intensity here in order to keep his "normal guy" character on a semi-believable level. (Although he does get to do something resembling his celebrated "Ed Grimley" dance.)

Short, as many of us know, ushered in SCTV's greatest era as a comedy troup with his awesome (and woefully underappreciated) talents, and probably did much the same for SNL except I had stopped watching the show by that time. (The one-two punch of Joe Piscopo and Billy Crystal sorta killed it for me.) Given a good opportunity to do his magic, Short is a brilliant comic performer and proves it here yet again.

Visually, INNERSPACE is a wonderfully nostalgic look at how SPFX artists used to handle stuff like this before they could simply whip it all up digitally. Which means, for me, that all the shots of Quaid's craft zipping through Short's internal organs and circulatory system look way more interesting than they would if this were a CGI fest. Credit for this belongs, for the most part, to such familiar names as Dennis Muren, Rob Bottin, and the gang at Industrial Light and Magic.

Further nostalgia comes from a wonderful cast filled with B-movie greats, cult stars, and other recognizable faces that may have some viewers agog the whole time. Kenneth Tobey has a funny line during a men's room scene with Short. Rance Howard and Looney Tunes superstar Chuck Jones are in the periphery during a tense scene in Safeway between Short and the legendary Kathleen Freeman. Dick Miller, William Schallert, Orson Bean, Henry Gibson, Kevin Hooks, and Archie Hahn also turn up here and there.

In more substantial roles are Robert Picardo (THE HOWLING, "Star Trek: Voyager") as international stolen goods dealer "The Cowboy" and beloved INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS star Kevin McCarthy in a hilarious turn as Victor Eugene Scrimshaw, the eccentric millionaire who wants the secret of the shrinking machine for himself.

The Blu-ray from Warner Home Video is in 16x9 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 English audio and 2.0 French and Spanish audio. Subtitles are in English, French, and Spanish. Extras consist of a trailer and an entertaining commentary track with director Joe Dante, producer Michael Finnell, costars Kevin McCarthy and Robert Picardo and visual FX supervisor Dennis Muren.

INNERSPACE is that rare sci-fi comedy where both the comedy and the sci-fi are well-served. It's also the ultimate "buddy" flick. But mainly, it's a case of director Joe Dante and his marvelous cast seemingly having a ball making a movie, and it's infectious.

Buy it at the WBShop.com
Street date: Aug. 4, 2015
Stills used are not taken from Blu-ray

INNERSPACE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 7/22/20

 

(SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE is part of the "Lenzi/Baker 4-Volume Blu-ray Collection" which also includes ORGASMO, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, and KNIFE OF ICE.)


Another sumptuous entry in the late 60s 4-film collaboration between Italian director Umberto Lenzi (EATEN ALIVE) and exalted Hollywood actress Carroll Baker, SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE (Severin Films, 1969) takes us to Paris for a giallo tale of dangerous romance and deadly revenge that lives up to its title.

The first half of the story is standard romantic intrigue of the kind that gives the rich and famous something exciting to occupy their time. Wealthy businessman Jean (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a man's man but endures a loveless marriage with cold fish Danielle (Erika Blanc) until he's driven into the arms of the beautiful but haunted Nicole (Carroll Baker), who just moved into the penthouse suite above their Victorian apartment building.

It's the stuff of naughty pulp romance fiction, as unhappily-married Jean's dalliance with alluring Nicole plays out amidst lavish playgrounds of the wealthy even as her constant fear of violent stalker Klaus (Horst Frank) remains forever between them.

The plot kicks into gear when Jean discovers that Klaus has actually been hired to kill him by person(s) unknown, with Nicole as the unwilling bait in the trap.

Now it's a matter of Jean and Nicole working together to foil the murder plot while finding out who's behind it. Is it Danielle, or is it someone we've yet to meet or suspect?

It all sounds rather predictable, but director Lenzi isn't done yet because there are better and more shocking plot twists to come. This makes the film increasingly involving and suspenseful as it strings us along, not knowing what's going on or who to trust, and at times even unsure who's dead and who's alive.

Dynamic direction and editing create a pleasing visual flow that makes Lenzi's films easy to watch.  As with his previous Baker starrer ORGASMO, production values are fairly lavish and there are some great found locations including that beautiful old apartment building with its cast-iron elevator and winding stairs. Other locations such as the sun-blanched French seaside and the bustling Parisian cityscapes are eye-pleasing.

Jean-Louis Trintignant (THE GREAT SILENCE) makes a likable hero as Jean, while the redoubtable Carroll Baker as Nicole can't help but captivate even in a role that doesn't really stretch her considerable talents all that much.

Needless to say, she attracts attention every moment she's on the screen, especially during her brief nude scenes. Horst Frank as the vile Klaus and Erika Blanc as pathetic Danielle also acquit themselves well.

The 2-disc Blu-ray from Severin Films features a fine-looking print that's fully restored in a new 2k scan from the original negative. Audio is in both Italian and English mono, with English subtitles.

The 2nd disc is a CD containing the musical scores of this and another Lenzi film, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, as well as the main theme for another of his giallo films KNIFE OF ICE. The usual generous bonus menu contains extras listed below.

More of a dark romantic thriller than the typical bloody, knife-edged giallo (only one stabbing and it's off-camera), SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE keeps us interested thanks to a fine cast and engaging plot that pulls a few nasty but nice surprises on us. And as always, any chance to watch the divine Carroll Baker in action is its own reward.



Disc Specs for So Sweet… So Perverse:

    Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
    Audio: Italian mono DTS, English mono DTS
    Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
    Region FREE

Special Features for So Sweet… So Perverse:

    Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, Author of ‘All The Colors Of Sergio Martino’
    Lenzi’s Lenses: Backstage Chat with the Director at The 1999 Nocturno Film Festival
    Equilateral Triangle: Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi on Lenzi
    Trailers
    Alternate Credit Sequence
    BONUS CD: So Sweet… So Perverse & A Quiet Place To Kill Remastered Soundtracks Plus Bonus Track: Knife Of Ice (Main Title Theme)

SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

A QUIET PLACE TO KILL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/23/20

 

(A QUIET PLACE TO KILL is part of Severin's "Lenzi/Baker 4-Volume Blu-ray Collection" which also includes ORGASMO, SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE, and KNIFE OF ICE.)

You know you've hitched a ride on a fun movie when A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, aka "Paranoia" (Severin Films, 1970) opens with a scene as cool as Hollywood legend Carroll Baker (BABY DOLL, THE CARPETBAGGERS, HARLOW) casually donning a crash helmet and hopping into her souped-up racecar for a few high octane laps around the track.

Director Umberto Lenzi, who also directed Carroll in ORGASMO, SO SWEET...SO PERVERSE, and KNIFE OF ICE, seems to be having fun himself at the helm of this light, colorful giallo that breezes through some of the most outlandish plot twists that a decadent cast of wealthy sophisticates could get themselves into on the scenic seacoast of Spain.

The divine Miss Baker plays Helen, whose unfortunate racecar crack-up lands her in the hospital. There, she gets an invitation to convalesce at her ex-husband Maurice's oceanfront villa.

Despite the fact that she tried to kill the handsome but difficult young cad before their divorce, Helen motors her way there only to discover that Maurice has since gotten remarried to Constance, who was, in fact, the one who sent Helen the invitation.

Why, you may ask, would the current wife of Helen's ex-husband extend such an invitation to a woman for whom he most likely still harbors feelings of love, or, at least, lust?

Well--and this is the only big surprise I'm giving away because it happens fairly early and because I have to have something to talk about--it's because Constance wants to pay the cash-strapped Helen to help her murder Maurice.

While that would be enough story material for most movies to pad out till the fadeout, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL is just bursting out of the gate with this giddy revelation.

What follows is a veritable funhouse of plot twists, double-crosses, and other surprises, all involving Maurice and Constance's inquisitive friends as well as Constance's suspicious young stepdaughter, Susan, who returns home from school at the most inopportune time.

The film's original title, "Paranoia", is especially apt when the web of suspicion begins to weave itself inexorably around the guilty parties.

Lenzi's talent for setting such intrigue against beautiful and opulent backdrops is on full display here as watching the film feels a bit like a vicarious vacation in Spain.

It's a sharp contrast to the deadly events portrayed, although as a giallo this is still much less visceral than we would see in the coming decade.

The script offers some sharp, scintillating dialogue and situations--I love the scene where Helen sits between Maurice and Constance at dinner and they're both playing footsie with her--as well as vivid performances and a suspenseful story whose abrupt twists and turns are exhilarating.

The fact that the beautiful Carroll Baker spends much of her screen time in various states of undress doesn't hurt at all, nor do the fine performances from her and the rest of the cast, especially Jean Sorel (BELLE DU JOUR, A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN) as Maurice, Anna Proclemer (ILLUSTRIOUS CORPSES) as Constance, and Marina Coffa (Joe Namath's THE LAST REBEL) as wild card Susan.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is scanned from the original camera negative for the first time in America. Sound is Italian and English mono with English subtitles. The bonus menu, whose contents are listed below, provides added fun (don't forget to hunt for the Easter egg).

While guessing which characters are secretly in cahoots with each other, which ones aren't at all what they seem to be, and who's trying to kill who, it's best to just hang on to A QUIET PLACE TO KILL and go along for the ride. Fans of Umberto Lenzi, early giallo, and the great Carroll Baker should find it a trip worth taking.




Disc Specs for A Quiet Place to Kill:

    Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
    Audio: Italian mono DTS, English mono DTS
    Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
    Region FREE

Special Features for A Quiet Place to Kill:

    Audio Commentary with Author & Critic Samm Deighan
    Sex and Conspiracy: Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
    Alternate Credit Sequence
    Alternate Clothed Scene
    Short Deleted Scene

A QUIET PLACE TO KILL -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

KNIFE OF ICE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/24/20

 

(KNIFE OF ICE is part of the "Lenzi/Baker 4-Volume Blu-ray Collection which also includes ORGASMO, SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE, and A QUIET PLACE TO KILL.)


The final entry in the four-movie collaboration between director Umberto Lenzi and Hollywood superstar Carroll Baker, KNIFE OF ICE (Severin Films, 1972), moves into territory which, perhaps more than the previous three tales, typifies the popular image of the Italian "giallo" film genre during the 70s.

Rather than being an edgy but picturesque erotic/romantic thriller with minimal horror elements, this tense and sometimes shocking murder mystery is replete with foggy streets, a dark, shadowy mansion next to a cemetery, murder victims with faces frozen in wide-eyed terror, and a black-gloved homicidal maniac stalking a beautiful woman while the police are baffled by multiple suspects, some much more obvious than others.

There's also a possible supernatural element this time, since the murders seem tied to a local Satanic cult whose followers tend to have alarmingly grotesque eyes and hostile dispositions.

We'll see a lot of the main suspect, cult member Mason (Mario Pardo), a feral type who's seen emerging out of the dense fog (which this small Spanish village seems to have piped in from London) or peering from the bushes at a victim's funeral when not actually creeping around the leading lady's villa at night.

The lady in question, of course, is the divine Carroll Baker as Martha Caldwell, who lives with her uncle and his servants and has been mute ever since witnessing the death of her parents in a horrific train crash. 

Baker is fascinating to watch as always, and even more so here as she must emote using only body movements and facial expressions. Even without dialogue, she manages to create a sympathetic character we can care for.

Director Lenzi switches with easy aplomb from the opulent world of wealthy jet-setters to the more simple setting of rural Spain with its lush countryside and Old World architecture as well as simpler folk whose quiet lives are turned upside-down by the brutal murders suddenly taking place in their midst.

Poor Martha seems to be the epicenter of it all, suffering the tragic loss of friends and loved ones before becoming the killer's main target herself. Naturally, just about everyone she knows and trusts becomes a suspect, as an abundance of possible clues and red herrings present themselves to us.

The capable supporting cast includes Evelyn Stewart (THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH) as Martha's visiting cousin Jenny, Alan Scott as trusted friend Dr. Laurent, Eduardo Fajardo (NIGHTMARE CITY) as strangely secretive family chauffeur Marcos, George Rigaud (HORROR EXPRESS, EYEBALL) as Uncle Ralph, and Silvia Monelli (YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW) as stern housekeeper Mrs. Britton, whose possible love affair with Dr. Laurent may have something to do with the murders.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is scanned in 2K from the original negative and looks great. Sound is in both Italian and English mono, with English subtitles. The bonus menu consists of an interview with Umberto Lenzi himself, an interview with author Stephen Thrower ("Nightmare USA") entitled "Carroll and Umberto’s Final Stab", the film's trailer, and an alternate credit sequence.

Lenzi himself states in the bonus interview that he had tired of making films about the glamorous lives of the rich and wanted to do something more down-to-earth in his final giallo with Carroll Baker. With KNIFE OF ICE he succeeded in creating just the kind of old-fashioned woman-in-peril murder mystery he set out to do, ending his collaboration with the "incredible" (Lenzi's word) Miss Baker with an immensely satisfying twist ending you'll not soon forget.



Disc Specs for Knife of Ice:

    Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
    Audio: Italian mono DTS, English mono DTS
    Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
    Region A

Special Features for Knife of Ice:

    Carroll and Umberto’s Final Stab: Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of ‘Nightmare USA’
    Until the Silence Screams: Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
    Trailer
    Alternate Credit Sequence

KNIFE OF ICE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

ORGASMO -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/22/20

 

(ORGASMO is part of Severin Films' "Lenzi/Baker 4-Volume Blu-ray Collection" which also includes SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL, and KNIFE OF ICE.)


Carroll Baker has been one of my top ten favorite actresses ever since the moment I realized that her performance in BABY DOLL was one of the best in the entire history of cinema. I find her fascinating to watch.

Needless to say, this greatly increased my enjoyment of Italian director Umberto Lenzi's 1969 giallo thriller ORGASMO (Severin Films), in which she stars as the widow of a deceased billionaire who now secludes herself in a lonely mansion in Italy until a handsome young free spirit named Peter (Lou Castel, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL) suddenly enters her life and teaches her how to live again.

But even without the presence of the divine Carroll (BABY DOLL, GIANT, THE CARPETBAGGERS, HARLOW, CHEYENNE AUTUMN), this edgy exploitation tale would suffice quite nicely as lavish soap-opera trash of the kind that we can wallow in as if guiltily indulging in a Jacqueline Susann novel, with all the colorful ambience with which Italian exploitation cinema of the era can imbue such a story.

Bereft of happiness in her life save that which she derives from her devoted attorney and friend Brian (Tino Carraro, CAT O’ NINE TAILS), Kathryn responds eagerly to the spirited, almost satyr-like Peter, who moves into her mansion after his car breaks down right at her main gate. 

The lonely, repressed widow is easy prey to this charming, handsome, and, to her, irresistibly sexy young bohemian who so effortlessly insinuates himself into every aspect of her life and has her yearning for him even as his flippant, presumptuous attitude often infuriates her.

And when his beautiful young "sister" Eva (Colette Descombes, MONIKA) shows up, she's everything that Peter is but with the added guilty attraction of forbidden and maddeningly seductive lesbian desire.

It isn't long before the rich, spoiled, but emotionally vulnerable Kathryn finds herself as addicted to this intoxicating threesome as she is to the pills that Eva keeps giving her ("this will make you stop being tired") or slipping into her drink.

Where the story goes from there is what finally turns ORGASMO into the full-blooded giallo thriller that we've been expecting, complete with sudden violence (Paul and Eva aren't as devoted to "peace and love" as they pretend to be), blackmail, and other shocking developments that I won't go into, especially since the spoiler-y poster art itself is a strong indication of what poor Kathryn is in for.

Writer/director Lenzi (EATEN ALIVE) does some superlative work here (in what would be one of four collaborations with Baker), capturing a genuine mod 60s ambience in the threesome's wild nights of abandon and contrasting it with Kathryn's formerly staid, repressed existence within the walls of her mansion.

It's all deliciously cinematic, combining formal camera shots with a more free-form visual style that lets Lenzi's imagination run free. While the entire cast is fine, Baker in particular is a constant fascination and a joy to watch for a devotee such as myself, thanks in large part to several teasing glimpses of her in the nude.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is scanned from the internegative of Lenzi’s Director’s Cut for the first time on Blu-ray. Audio is in both English and Italian mono with English subtitles. In addition to a bonus CD of the remastered musical score, the bonus menu is nicely stocked with choice features that are listed below in their entirety.

Lovers of Italian exploitation cinema and especially the wildly unpredictable giallo genre should have a great time delving into this frantic tale of a troubled woman trapped in a big shadowy mansion with frenzied tormentors inside and a mysterious club-footed stranger prowling around outside. ORGASMO gives us all that and Carroll Baker too, and it's freaky fun from start to finish.





Disc Specs for Orgasmo:

    Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
    Audio: Italian mono on Italian cut, English mono on English cut
    Subtitles: Subtitles for Italian audio / SDH for English audio
    Region A


 
Special Features for Orgasmo:

    Director’s Cut
    Audio Commentary with Film Critic, Author & Academic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
    US X Rated Version + SDH subtitles
    Audio Commentary with Mondo-Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson & Troy Howarth, Author of ‘So Deadly So Perverse: 50 Years Of Italian Giallo Films’
    Giallo Fever: Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
    US Trailer
    BONUS CD SOUNDTRACK: Orgasmo Remastered Soundtrack

ORGASMO -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle