RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 3/12/17

 

"My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc."

My review of the previous kung fu trailer collection from Severin Films, KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, began with this poignant moment of wistful nostalgia, and the same goes double for this new follow-up disc.

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, or "The Night the Kung Fu Trailers of Fury Came Home--Again", is more and more, and yet still more (35, to be exact)  gloriously goofy previews of all those cheapo kung fu flicks that were being churned out by the rickshaw-load in Hong Kong back in the 70s. 

 

Rest assured, this bursting-at-the-seams batch of fists 'n' feet potboilers contains no CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON-level epics.  It's all gloriously grade Z, as though Ed Wood himself had opened up a school for action directors in Hong Kong.

Often these condensed versions are better than the actual feature films, because they cut out all the boring exposition and lame character interplay and get right down to the pure, unadulterated chop-socky action. 

And that's what this non-stop parade of trailers is--just one furious clash after another, accompanied by some deathless dialogue and hilarious text exclamations such as "Intriguing story!" and "Good Actors From Many Nations Makes This Film Outstanding!"

 

The collection features about an equal ratio of contemporary urban dramas and historical tales with lots of flowing white hair and bushy eyebrows. Regardless of the technical quality of each individual film, the stuntwork and choreography are rarely short of amazing.

First up is THUNDERBOLT, and right off the bat there's some of that incredibly fake-looking wirework that we all love. YELLOW-FACED TIGER is yet another "new Bruce Lee" flick, this time offering Don Wong as the hero and none other than a young Chuck Norris as a formidable bad guy with an equally formidable moustache.

THE STORY OF CHINESE GODS, described as "China's first full-length color animation feature!" boasts a 3-eyed Bruce Lee character and some not-so-hot animated action.

 

Other titles include BRUCE AND THE IRON FINGER, SHAOLIN INVINCIBLE STICKS, INVISIBLE TERRORIST, REVENGE OF THE SHAOLIN KID, HELL’S WINDSTAFF, THUNDERING MANTIS, THE LEGENDARY STRIKE, KUNG FU KILLERS, CRAZY HORSE & INTELLIGENT MONKEY, THE AVENGING BOXER, and SNUFF-BOTTLE CONNECTION.  They add up to a full 134 minutes.

My favorite moment comes during the preview for a wacky comedy called KUNG FU MASTER NAMED DRUNKEN CAT, which, in addition to its distinct Benny Hill influence, makes this bold promise to potential viewers: "It's John Cheung vs. The Midget! Funny!"

It's interesting to see these trailers in Blu-ray since they're so wonderfully battered and scratched-up in the great grindhouse style.  Are we supposed to be happy that all the scratches and imperfections that make these old trailers so distinctive are now in high-def? 

Having grown up watching old movie prints in theaters and on late-night TV, I love that old beat-up look. These trailers have it in abundance, and it suits me just fine to see it so well-preserved here.  

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is widescreen with Dolby 2.0 sound and English subtitles.  The wall-to-wall commentary track is highly informative thanks to a panel of kung fu cinema experts including writer Ric Meyers ("Films of Fury"), Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival), Ric Stelow (Drunken Master Video), and martial arts instructor Greg Schiller. 

If you got a kick out of Severin's first volume of kung fu trailers, then RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY should strike your fancy as well.  It's solid entertainment for lovers of no-frills kung fu cinema. 

Buy it from Severin Films

RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/18/16

 

My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s.  The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc. 

For fans of Hong Kong chop-socky cinema, Severin Films' KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY doesn't disappoint.  I mean, how could they mess up something as simple as a collection of kick-ass martial arts movie trailers?

This baby is wall-to-wall chops, socks, kicks, flips, bad subtitles, insane wirework, and general weirdness of a kind that can only be found in the wildest and most creative examples of the martial arts genre. 

These newly-rediscovered trailers give us an overview of the early Hong Kong action films, whether contemporary crime dramas or the period mini-epics that mix fanciful Chinese historical atmosphere with furious kung fu action.

Many of them are part of the "Bruce-ploitation" wave of films that followed the death of superstar Bruce Lee, who helped popularize such films in the West, by cashing in on his image and offering a series of clone versions such as Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, and Bruce Leung.  

We also get to see Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris in some of their early screen moments, as well as the young Sammo Hung who played up his "weighty" stature in such films as ENTER THE FAT DRAGON. 

Since the majority of these films were churned out like sausage, they're cheap, quick, and usually a lot of bad-movie fun with some amazing martial arts on display.  Given the rushed schedules on these films, much of the fight choreography is amazing.   

Their frenetic trailers are an interesting montage of the evolution of the genre, how it became Hong Kong's equivalent of the matinee western, how it came to capture the imaginations first of a country and then an entire world, and how it was eventually refined into something of an art form in itself.

To keep us abreast of who's who during this dizzying parade of film highlights, the disc offers an informative commentary track by experts Ric Meyers (author of "Films of Fury"), Michael Worth (author of "The Bruceploitation Bible"), Martial Arts Instructor Greg Schiller, and Rick Stelow of Drunken Master Video.

I was going to watch the film first and then watch it again with the commentary, but soon realized that since I can't understand anything the actors are saying and it's all subtitled anyway, I might as well just put on the commentary track to begin with. 

This turned out great since Rick and company are fountains of knowledge and enthusiasm for these films and to hear them discuss the trailers as we watch gives a whole new level of appreciation for them.   (I especially enjoyed hearing about the first meeting between Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung.)

The Blu-ray from Severin Films also contains the featurettes "A Brief History of Kung Fu Cinema" with Meyers and fellow expert Frank Djeng, and "The Way of the Cube", the story of a UK cinema devoted to showing martial arts films (where the original 35mm trailers were rediscovered).

Some of the trailers included in this collection are: THE WAY OF THE DRAGON, FISTS OF BRUCE LEE, KUNG FU VS. YOGA, DEATH BLOW, TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN, DAGGERS 8, SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW, SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN, THE DAMNED, THE STORY OF DRUNKEN MASTER, ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, and BRUTAL BOXER.

While the Blu-ray's picture quality is fine, the trailers themselves still retain their aged "grindhouse" look, just the way you might've seen them on the big screen way back when.  For me, this is a nostalgic plus.

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY is non-stop kung fu action without plots or dialogue scenes to get in the way--just a potpourri of freaky, frenetic, and often dazzling kung fu filmmaking that's done on the cheap but with lots of skill and, more importantly, lots of heart.

KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THAT'S SEXPLOITATION! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 4/1/16

 

If you recognized the lovely face of 50s burlesque star Tempest Storm on the cover and it made you smile, then chances are Severin's new Blu-ray release of THAT'S SEXPLOITATION! (2013) will be right up your grindhouse aisle.

Host Frank Henenlotter, writer and director of the cult classic BASKET CASE, not only performs the same duties here but also gets his friend David F. Friedman to appear on-camera throughout. 

Friedman, as many will know, was the veteran producer/showman who gave us such films as BLOOD FEAST and was integral in supplying the roadshow crowd with many of their favorite nudie flicks over the years.

Sitting amidst his own personal gallery of priceless movie posters and memorabilia, Friedman's equally priceless recollections offer colorful firsthand accounts of the history of sexploitation films while we get to watch one great clip after another.

This history of naughty movies begins with those wonderfully ancient-looking silent loops from the 20s, which feature some very cute (and not-so-cute) young ladies cavoting in the forest as wood nymphs, skinny-dipping in someone's swimming pool, or taking part in a variety of other charming vignettes. 

There's full nudity but it's downright tasteful compared to what later years would bring.  These early nudie films were usually distributed in 16mm for private showings to adult (usually all-male) audiences before the advent of adult theaters.



The documentary takes us into the world of the sexploitation pictures of the 30s and 40s (such as HIGH SCHOOL GIRL and SEX MADNESS) which presented audiences with the most lurid tales of sex, drugs, abortion, and venereal disease under the guise of instructive cautionary screeds and "hygiene" films.

Then we get a pictorial tour of the nudist camp frolics of the 50s, with healthy, robust nudes reveling in the joys of sunshine and nature for our leering pleasure, courtesy of such directors as Herschel Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, Doris Wishman, and Francis Ford Coppola. 

There's also a sampling of the burlesque flicks which were basically filmed records of the typical burlesque shows of the era.  These feature such recognizable faces and bodies such as Tempest Storm, Bettie Page, and Blaze Starr in addition to numerous less-renowned dancers. 

Things really heat up with Friedman's favorite decade, the 60s, which he refers to as "the decade of innocent decadence."  In addition to the usual nudie loops there was the new mix of sex and violence known as "roughies" as well as an increasingly daring amount of full nudity and simulated sex. 

Meanwhile, homosexuality was explored mainly in the New York underground film scene, while the current culture of hippies, drugs, and rebellion provided experimental young directors with ample subject matter for their nude fantasies. 

The documentary ends on a melancholy note as the decade of the 70s heralds the gradual changeover from titillating exploitation to anything-goes hardcore.  As Friedman wistfully puts it, "The movies became explicit, and the fun stopped."

For those watching this disc, however, the fun's just beginning.  For the extras menu, Something Weird Video has opened up their vaults to offer us over three hours of rare nudie cuties, drive-in bumpers, "infomercials" for the sex manuals which were sold in theater lobbies, burlesque shorts, and longer features including a condensed (55 minutes) version of Joe Sarno's MOONLIGHTING WIVES and another about Mafia party girls entitled THE SIN SYNDICATE. 

The commentary track is a conversation between Frank Henlotter and Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci which is wonderfully informative, with lots of great anecdotes about the late David F. Friedman who passed away shortly after his participation in this film.  A trailer rounds out the bonus selection.

Anyone who ever ordered nudie films from the back of a girlie magazine and can still hear them clattering surreptiously through their home movie projector should experience a wave of nostalgia while watching THAT'S SEXPLOITATION!  And even if you don't remember those times, this exhilarating wallow in undiluted kitsch is a fun introduction to them. 

THAT'S SEXPLOITATION! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE CHANGELING -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 8/2/18

 

One of the last of the "pure" ghost stories to appear on the big screen, 1980's THE CHANGELING (Severin Films) is noteworthy for its intent to send chills up and down our spines without resorting to any graphic violence or gore, and with hardly a jump scare to be found.  

The premise, reportedly based on actual events, is simple: composer and music teacher John Russell (George C. Scott), deeply grieving the tragic loss of his wife and daughter, moves into a massive old mansion that turns out to be haunted.

His raw emotional state seems to attract a troubled spirit within the house, which reaches out to him.  As frightening paranormal events continue to frazzle his nerves and ours, John and a sympathetic lady friend, Claire (Scott's real-life wife Trish Van Devere), endeavor to solve the mystery behind whoever may have died violently in the house and is now a restless and potentially dangerous supernatural entity.

There's a vaguely Argento quality to this setup (DEEP RED comes to mind), but director Peter Medak (ROMEO IS BLEEDING, THE KRAYS) intends to scare us using only images and situations rather than shocking violence or gouts of blood.  It's like a campfire tale that's effective because of evocative storytelling alone.

Still, the visuals are key, especially the huge, three-storey mansion that's so full of deep shadows, long passageways, endless stairways, and one of those hidden rooms accidentally discovered by our hero which is creepy, cobwebby, and stocked with disturbing clues including a child's ancient wheelchair. (A couple of ghostly manifestations are also highly effective.)

George C. Scott, of course, is about as good in the role as anyone could be, revealing the occasional insight into John Russell's unending grief while giving the impression that he's much too rational and in control to let a little thing like a haunted house scare him away.

Indeed, it's the intrigue of the murder mystery he's stumbled upon that keeps him there--when most of us would be out the door at the first errant creak--along with a growing sympathy for the ghostly, unknown victim of whatever terrible crime occurred there.

To this end, Russell and Claire enlist the aid of a female medium and her husband/assistant for a late night seance which proves to be one of the film's eeriest sequences.

Further clues in the mystery later lead them to tear up the floorboards of a nearby house where they discover an abandoned well which may hide a horrible secret. This is dark stuff from which director Medak derives every possible shivery scare.

Medak's visual style is mostly low-key and formal, with very little use of handheld camera and, at times, a bit of the coldness of Cronenberg's early work.  The influence on later ghost stories such as THE OTHERS is clear, as both films show a reliance on the supernatural as well as a bleak, shadow-strewn setting in evoking fear the old-fashioned way.

The film does herald an unfortunate future trend in ghost stories, which is the use of loud noises and sometimes raucous visuals in order to elevate the fear factor.  One of the eeriest scenes in the film uses neither--John is sitting at his piano, unaware that a door behind him is slowly opening. We expect the maid or handyman to be standing there when it swings open wide, but there's no one there at all.

THE CHANGELING resorts to sound and fury mostly during the finale, adding wind and fire effects and slow-motion for no apparent reason except to give us something to occupy our attention after the mystery has already been resolved and the actual scare factor pretty much faded out.

In fact, it has always been this final segment of the film that I found most unsatisfying ever since my first viewing during its initial theatrical run in 1980. But one or two people in the group I saw it with found it deeply frightening throughout.

This indicates that some, such as myself, will find THE CHANGELING a mostly, if not completely, effective old-fashioned ghost story with more than its share of chills but a not-quite-effective conclusion.  And others will sit in rapt, fearful, goose-pimpled thrall, holding their breath till the last flickering frame. 


Buy it from Severin Films

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Special Features:
Audio Commentary With Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel B. Michaels Moderated By Severin Films’ David Gregory
The House On Cheesman Park: The Haunting True Story Of The Changeling
The Music Of The Changeling: Interview With Music Arranger Kenneth Wannberg
Building The House Of Horror: Interview With Art Director Reuben Freed
The Psychotronic Tourist: The Changeling
Master of Horror Mick Garris On The Changeling
Poster & Still Gallery
Trailer
TV Spot

THE CHANGELING -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

CRUCIBLE OF TERROR -- DVD review by porfle

 Originally posted on 10/7/2010

 

When psycho artist Victor Clare says he wants to "immortalize" you, run!  Chances are he wants to introduce you to his CRUCIBLE OF TERROR (1971) and turn you into a bronze statue, as he does the lovely Chi-San (Me Me Lay) in the opening scene of this passable but pedestrian British horror film. 

Victor's drink-addled son Mike (Ronald Lacey) swipes some of Dad's artworks and plans to sell them through his cash-strapped friend John (James Bolam), who runs an art gallery.  Chi-San's bronze likeness is coveted by a mesmerized patron who meets a smothery end when he breaks into the gallery later to try and steal it.  The next day, John and Mike, along with their wives Millie (Mary Maude) and Jane (Beth Morris), set off for Victor's remote villa in hopes of persuading him to let them sell more of his work. 

Victor, as we already know from the first scene, is sort of a poor man's Christopher Lee and actor Mike Raven speaks with a lisp which is either natural or an attempt to sound like Boris Karloff.  Tiring of his current model-slash-lover Marcia (Judy Matheson), Victor aims his hopped-up hormones first at daughter-in-law Jane and then at the lovely Millie, with whom he becomes rabidly obsessed.  We figure Millie will eventually end up in Victor's lair beneath the abandoned tinworks next door, where he keeps his crucible stoked and ready.  But first, his houseguests begin to get murdered one by one and we're never really sure who's doing it.


While somewhat bloody, the murders are few and far between and not that excitingly staged.  The rest of the film consists of much dialogue dotted with some occasional suspense, and moves at a snail's pace.  You really have to settle into this one and learn to like the characters and their melodramatic interactions to keep from nodding off.  I managed to enjoy it well enough thanks to a few fairly good performances, some nice-looking babes, and the mystery of who the killer was.  But if THE TERROR was too slow for you, this will really put you into a coma.

Production values are on the chintzy side, with tiny interior sets that make everything look cramped--even John's art gallery seems to be located in someone's garage.  Exteriors, however, are another story, with director Ted Hooker taking full advantage of some remote English locations that are quite atmospheric.  Direction and photography are dry as a bone save for a few garish touches now and then.  While lively compared to the rest of the film, the big action-suspense finale is rather haphazardly staged and is sillier than it is scary. 

As Victor, Mike Raven (described on the DVD box as a "popular Pirate Radio DJ and known occultist" making a vain attempt at horror stardom) comes off as more of a pushy lothario than a figure of fear.  Ronald Lacey, later to gain fame as Nazi villian Toht in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, is amusing as Victor's drunk, ne'er-do-well son Mike, whose fed-up wife Jane tells him, "Respect?  I'll respect you when you stop making me sick!"  Mary Maude, who resembles Barbara Hershey, doesn't make much of an impression as Millie; more interesting are Beth Morris as sassy Jane and Judy Matheson as devious Marcia.


In the role of art gallery owner John, James Bolam is about as interesting as a dish of asparagus.  HORROR OF DRACULA's Melissa Stribling appears briefly as one of his wealthy patrons.  Best of all, perhaps, is Betty Alberge as Victor's neglected wife Dorothy, who's not only too old to ring his ding-a-ling any longer but is totally out of her gourd as well, creeping around the house dressed like a little girl and muttering to her dolls.  Trying to figure out which one of these characters is the mysterious killer will probably keep you guessing.

The DVD from Severin Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital English mono.  Picture quality is good.  There are no extras.

I can't say I was terribly bored by this film, since it maintained my interest reasonably well all the way to the end and does have a certain shabby charm.  But I didn't find it particularly exciting, either.  A brief flash of nudity in the opening scene fails to be repeated later on, which may disappoint some viewers, and the actual horror content is relatively sparse.  One thing I did learn from it, though--if anyone ever offers to "immortalize" you, make darn sure they don't have a CRUCIBLE OF TERROR bubbling away in their basement.

CRUCIBLE OF TERROR -- DVD review by porfle

PSYCHOMANIA -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 10/7/2010
 

Here's an odd little artifact from the early 70s--a horror movie with no real horror or scares, a biker movie without a single "real" biker, and what appears to be an exploitation flick that's as tame as an extended episode of an old TV series.  In fact, director Don Sharp (CURSE OF THE FLY) helmed a few episodes of "The Avengers" and brings the same competent but rather dry style to PSYCHOMANIA, aka "The Death Wheelers" (1973), turning it into a pleasantly diverting yet ultimately bland experience. 

Still, this seems to be a fondly-remembered flick for a lot of people (including Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, who gushes about it during his five-minute introduction), especially those who look back on it through that nostalgic VHS-bargain-bin haze of their youth.  I can imagine enjoying it a lot more on a drive-in screen or some obscure late-night TV slot.  Seeing it now for the first time on DVD, it doesn't quite conjure up that magical feeling I still get from so many other guilty-pleasure films of that era.  Yet it's definitely an enjoyable little piece of goofball cinema. 

The main characters are a group of post-mod juvenile delinquent boys and girls who call themselves "The Living Dead" and ride around on wimpy bikes terrorizing the proper English citizenry.  Their leader, Tom (Nicky Henson, WITCHFINDER GENERAL), is a handsome sociopath whose mother (Beryl Reid, THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE) practices the occult arts.  From her, he learns that if one willingly commits suicide with the firm intention of returning from the dead, it will happen.  In one of the film's best scenes, Tom--buried by his friends in a sitting position on his beloved motorcycle--comes roaring up out of the grave in a shower of dirt.
 

After amazing the rest of the gang with his unexpected return, they can't wait to go out and start offing themselves in amusing ways.  These include some nice stunt scenes with them lunging off bridges and buildings, skydiving without parachutes, and (my favorite) crashing their motorcycles through the back end of a moving truck.  Now undead and unstoppable, the lethal pranksters go on a rampage which consists mainly of running motorists off the road and trashing a supermarket.  The latter scene features another cool stunt with bad girl Jane (Ann Michelle) gleefully running over a baby carriage and then crashing into a glass display case.

Tom, meanwhile, is having the time of his afterlife until he discovers that his girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin), a nice girl at heart, isn't keen on dying.  This takes some of the fun out of spree-killing for poor Tom, who gives Abby an ultimatum--either die, or he will kill her.  Tough choice!  Disturbed by her son's evil ways, Mom takes steps to stop him with the help of her devoted servant, Shadwell, who is played by none other than top-billed George Sanders.  If Sanders looks a little bored in the role, which must've been a disheartening end to his distinguished film career, it's because he was soon to commit suicide with boredom being specified as one of the reasons in his farewell note.  However, his presence along with Reid's does help to class the movie up a little.


The actors portraying the "Living Dead" gang do an okay job, with Ann Michelle as Jane and Denis Gilmore (who reminds me a bit of Michael J. Pollard) as "Hatchet" making the biggest impression.  As a biker gang, though, these dweebs are a mixed-up bunch who kill for fun one minute and sit around singing folk songs and making floral wreaths the next.  Tom burial is accompanied by an ear-bending acoustic guitar ballad lip-synched by Miles Greenwood (as "Chopped Meat") while the corpse sits upright, mounted on his motorcycle, in the open grave.  In a film surprisingly devoid of the droll humor one might expect, this is definitely the most stupefyingly hilarious image.

The DVD from Severin Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen and Dolby Digital mono.  Taken from the best available print as the original negative is deemed lost, the image quality is good.  Extras include the lovingly-rendered 25-minute documentary "Return of the Living Dead", which features a charming Nicky Henson along with several other original castmembers.  "The Sound of Psychomania" offers composer John Cameron's recollections of creating the film's score.  In addition to Chris Alexander's introduction to the film and the original trailer, singer Harvey Andrews recalls recording the vocals to the awful folk song "Riding Free" which is heard during Tom's burial scene. 

With the emphasis on stunts and some really exciting car and bike chase sequences (but very little actual violence), PSYCHOMANIA's supernatural aspect is treated so lightly and matter-of-factly that it hardly registers.  Dying and coming back just seems to make these young smarties a little snarkier.  After an early scene in which Tom ventures into a mysterious locked room in search of some occult epiphany (his vision of a floating bullfrog shrouded in mist doesn't quite terrify), there's no attempt to scare viewers in any way until the slightly creepy ending.  What makes the film watchable is that it's lively, quirky, endearingly retro, and enjoyably dumb.

PSYCHOMANIA -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE KILLING OF AMERICA -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 11/7/2016

You start to notice a difference right away between this and the usual "Mondo Cane"-type shockumentary that you might be expecting when you first start watching it.  THE KILLING OF AMERICA (1981) isn't just about showing us violence in order to satisfy our more prurient interests, but to help us come to grips with it and, hopefully, begin to understand it.

Not that there's really anything to understand, because violence like this is mostly as far removed from reason and rationality as it can be.  The scariest thing about what we see, in fact, is the randomness, unpredictability, and total incomprehensibility of it all, particularly in the case of spree-killers, serial killers, and glazed-eyed zealots.

The documentary begins in the early 60s, when director Sheldon Renan and co-writer Leonard Schrader (whose brother Paul wrote TAXI DRIVER) believe that America's psyche was forever altered by the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  From that point and into the 80s, as Renan remarks in his commentary, "the weirdness of the killing, the numbers of people killed, and the craziness of the violence just continued to escalate."

Renan's film concentrates at length on the 60s with extensive footage, photographs, and testimony concerning the subsequent assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the latter sparking bloody race riots throughout the country.  The televised murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby and the attempted killing of presidential candidate George Wallace (and later President Ronald Reagan) further illustrate how drastically an armed assassin can change the course of history.

As the decade dragged on, more and more of its (extreme) violence was being filmed or videotaped for posterity.  This allows us to witness much in the way of Viet Nam war protests and widespread campus unrest which led to the Kent State killings. 

After that, THE KILLING OF AMERICA begins to narrow its focus to such spree killers as Texas sniper Charles Whitman, the Manson family, the infamous "I Don't Like Mondays" girl who opened fire on school children walking past her house, and other, lesser-known psychos seeking infamy via mass murder. Some are seen enjoying the spotlight while in custody as does a smirking David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, while others prefer to commit suicide or go out in a hail of cops' bullets. 

We witness the senseless shooting of a store clerk via security footage and endure a tense hostage situation in which a disgruntled man rages against injustice while clutching a shotgun that's taped to a loan officer's neck.  Graphic images of the infamous Jonestown massacre continue to shock, as does a montage depicting suicide's aftermath. 

Most disturbing, perhaps, is the section on serial killers such as Charles Kemper, John Wayne Gacy, Dean Corll, and Ted Bundy.  Actual scenes from Bundy's trial, during which he defended himself, show the deceptively normal-looking young man teetering on the brink of insanity, while Corll's then-teenaged accomplice tells the chilling story of luring several of his friends into Corll's evil clutches before he himself finally found himself an intended victim. 

Kemper, meanwhile, is interviewed up-close and personal in prison by Renan, and this imposing (6'8", 280 lbs.) killer's calm accounts of multiple murders, mutilations, and beheadings (including his mother) conjure mental images as disturbing as any picture.

All along the way, the squeamish will be kept squeaming by endlessly morbid stuff including a tour of the overcrowded Los Angeles city morgue during which a number of autopsies are being performed.  Again, this isn't "Faces of Death"-style exploitation for its own sake, but be warned that no punches are pulled. This is grimly matter-of-fact material and it's intended to make a visceral impact.

Narrator Chuck Riley lends the same solemn vocal authority here that he did in the haunting 1979 documentary "Whodunit? The Greatest Unsolved Mysteries" which you might've caught on HBO back in the 80s.  Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders co-wrote the score. 

The Blu-ray from Severin Films is widescreen (new 2k scan from original negative) with English and Japanese 2.0 audio English subtitles.  In addition to the exhaustive director's commentary and the film's trailer, extras include featurettes "The Madness is Real: Interview with Director Sheldon Renan", "Cutting the Killing: Interview with Editor Lee Percy", and "Interview with Mondo Movie Historian Nick Pinkerton."

There's some editorializing, of course, but for the most part we're left to form our own conclusions from what we're shown. After a few New York showings in 1982, THE KILLING OF AMERICA disappeared from American screens (while being a big hit in such places as Japan and Australia) until now.  Needless to say, it's just as relevant as ever.

THE KILLING OF AMERICA -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 2/21/19

 

Bad movie fans love to wander through that magical, dreamlike territory created when a low-budget, made-on-a-shoestring horror movie transcends its badness to become an almost blissfully immersive experience in "so bad it's good"-ness.

One movie that easily transports willing viewers to that wacky wonderland of the twisted mind is INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (Severin Films, 1972).  This makeshift affair was filmed on three weekends with actors paid mostly with six packs of beer (the highest-paid thespian in the cast received a whopping $25) on rural locations in upstate New York.

Director and co-writer (with Ed Kelleher) Ed Adlum, who also produced and co-wrote SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED, planned for this to be an alien invasion movie, but economy forced him to make it about druids who are kidnapping people and draining them of their blood in an isolated farmhouse, hoping to find the right blood type that will reanimate their sleeping Queen Onhorrid and please the underworld gods that they worship.

It's an uneasy juxtaposition of MOTEL HELL (these druid-drones are some real backwood hick-types), complete with a torture barn where screaming victims are chained up and horrifically power-drained of their blood with what appears to be a cow-milking machine, and some diabolical Gothic-tinged scenes with an effeminate cult leader, Creton (Paul Craig Jennings), and his capo who both appear to have studied at the Bunny Breckinridge School of Acting.

Meanwhile, blissfully square med student Don Tucker (Bruce Detrick) is engaged to waiflike Jenny (Tanna Hunter) while assisting her scientist father Dr. Anderson (Norman Kelley) in studying a sample of druid-victim blood that is constantly increasing in volume.

Little do they realize that Dr. Anderson's friend and consultant on the case is Creton's right-hand man, who conspires to sabotage his research and kidnap Jenny as a potential blood donor for the druids' slumbering queen.

Add to that a gang of comical ne'er-do-wells down at the local bar, including a drunken police deputy who refers to the bar as a "police annex", and we have a cast of characters whose Ed Wood-level acting and dialogue are a constant delight, especially during the more dramatic scenes which just can't help but turn out delightfully funny.

Writer-director Adlum himself confirms that there was no intentional humor in the film (save for one reference to Bloody Marys) and that things just sort of turned out that way while they were earnestly trying to get the film done with the rushed schedule and meager resources available.  As it is, the film's technical qualities vary wildly with different people behind the camera and some occasionally rough editing, among other things.

Yet it all comes together to create a strangely satisfying and pleasingly odd horror film experience that reminded me somewhat of EQUINOX (without the SPFX) by way of TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and garnished with the sort of florid Goth touches found in old horror comics.  All of which is juxtaposed with that hokey Hicksville ambience that seems rife for an invasion by evil blood farming druids.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films features a very nice-looking print taken from the original negative.  English subtitles are available.  The bonus menu includes a commentary track with Ed Adlum and actress Ortrum Tippel, moderated by Kier-La Janisse (author of "House of Psychotic Women"). There's also a very interesting and engaging interview with Adlum, an interview with actor Jack Neubeck (who played druid-drone Egon), an interview with cinematographer Frederick Elmes, and the film's trailer.

INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS is one of those delightful bad-movie romps that just can't help being consistently entertaining in one way or another. The big finale, shot mostly in one take, is just too oddly off-kilter for words.  And even the happy ending left me agog.  It's the sort of blandly bizarre narrative one might dream after being hit over the head with a blunt instrument. 


Buy it from Severin Films

Release date: 2/26/19

Special Features:
Audio Commentary with Director Ed Adlum and Actress Ortrum Tippel, Moderated by Kier-La Janisse, Author of House of Psychotic Women
Nothing You’d Show Your Mom: Eddie Adlum’s Journey through Exploitation, Coin-Op & Rock n’ Roll
Harvesting the Dead: Interview with Actor Jack Neubeck
Painful Memories: An Interview with Cinematographer Frederick Elmes
Trailer

INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

COMBAT SHOCK, aka "American Nightmares" -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 7/21/2018

 

Sometimes you discover a film by an indie first-timer that's so earnestly conceived and fiercely original that it transcends its rock-bottom budget to become something fascinating. The PTSD nightmare COMBAT SHOCK, aka "American Nightmares" (Severin Films, 1984), is one of those movies, capable of keeping us transfixed whether we like it or not.

Not that this story of a Viet Nam vet named Frankie (Rick Giovinazzo), still haunted by the jungles of Southeast Asia while trying to fit back into the urban jungle of New York, isn't derivative, because even the writer director Buddy Giovinazzo (Rick's brother) admits he was heavily influenced by both "Taxi Driver" and "Eraserhead."

The "Taxi Driver" influence is most pronounced in the depiction of the city's most rancid, sordid underside, a hideous ruin filled with drooling junkies, cruel pushers and loan sharks, violent pimps, and other lowlifes.

This is the world through which Frankie trudges in his neverending search for a job or some other means of paying off his crushing debts to keep from being evicted or having his legs broken, or both.
His home life is no better, with a claustrophobic's nightmare of a filthy apartment that should be in the dictionary under "squalor."  His wife Cathy (Veronica Stork) nags incessantly, but I don't blame her because her life is a living hell as well.

This is especially true since she's stuck taking care of their mutant year-old baby, an Agent Orange casualty that looks like an infant Cropsy from "The Burning" only worse and is constantly screeching in an otherworldly voice.  (The puppetry used to create this eye-curdling monstrosity is a marvel.)  Taken as a whole, Frankie's home life makes "Eraserhead" look like a musical comedy.

Frankie's also haunted by war flashbacks involving some horrific massacre of villagers which he was powerless to stop, as well as being hunted until captured and then subjected to agonizing prolonged torture.

In his state of mind, the past and present keep overlapping until he sometimes doesn't know where he is, or when. Coupled with his incredible bad luck, this takes a toll on his sanity that eventually has him acting in dangerously irrational ways.

The film is impressively directed for someone who was pretty much a neophyte, always capably transcending its extremely meager budget and often showing flashes of brilliance.  Yet the overwhelming squalor is unrelenting, almost soul-crushing, not just for Frankie but also the desperate junkies and other hard luck cases we see begging for dope, begging for food or a second chance to repay a debt, or dying like starving rats on the street.

Buddy G. pulls no punches here, and the film is graphically gory and violent as well as brimming with disturbing images (people eating from garbage cans, little girls being sold as prostitutes, staggering inhumanity and despair, and, always, that utterly repellant baby).  As he states himself, he made the film with no regard for its commercial appeal, instead simply following his artistic instincts wherever they might lead.

They lead, finally, to a shocking (an understatement, to be sure) conclusion in which Frankie's burgeoning psychosis inevitably reaches full fruition. The last segment of the film enters a realm of dementia that's rendered in such twisted visual terms that it might have you questioning the sanity of the filmmakers themselves.

Filmed in dribs and drabs over a long period of time with uncertain finances and mostly amateur talent, COMBAT SHOCK is almost better than it has a right to be.  The cast is mostly unpolished but intense and filled with conviction.

The chintzy sets and sometimes unconvincing exteriors (Staten Island fills in for Viet Nam) create a world of their own which is augmented by several great authentic locations.  Rick Giovinazzo contributes a terrific original musical score.

The 2-disc Blu-ray edition from Severin Films contains this score on a CD as well as the uncensored, fully remastered director's cut on another disc which is also brimming with special features (listed below) including an engaging commentary from the Giovinazzo brothers and special makeup FX artist Ed Varuolo.

The version I reviewed is a special limited edition of 2000 that's autographed by Buddy Giovinazzo and comes with a fully illustrated book containing the daily shooting diary, shooting script with notations, and publicity materials, plus a piece of film from the movie itself.  

I once thought "Taxi Driver" was a downer, but compared to COMBAT SHOCK it's a Miyazaki film.  It's as though some celebrated auteur suddenly went insane and made a movie using whatever cash he had in his pockets at the time, and watching it is an experience which is both stunningly nightmarish and utterly freaky-deaky.


Buy It From Severin Films
 

Special Features:
American Nightmares Director’s Cut (new 4k scan from 35mm Inter-negative with 2k inserts from the Director’s personal 16mm answer print. Mono audio remaster from original mag tracks. New color correction supervised by Director Buddy Giovinazzo)
Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer/Director Buddy Giovinazzo, Actor/Composer Rick Giovinazzo and Special Makeup Effects Artist Ed Varuolo
The Brothers G: Interview with Buddy & Rick Giovinazzo
Nightmare Effects: Interview with Special Makeup Effects Artist Ed Varuolo
Combat Shots: Interview with Director of Photography Stella Varveris
Playing Paco: Interview with Actor Mitch Maglio
Mike the Junkie Memories: Interview with Actor Michael Tierno
American Deep Red: Interview with Artist/Critic Stephen Bissette
Shock Xpression: Interview with International Film Journalist Alan Jones
Outtakes and Tests
Post Traumatic: An American Nightmare Featurette
Hellscapes: Locations Then and Now
Buddy Giovinazzo and Jörg Buttgereit at 2009 Berlin Film Festival
Combat Shock Trailer
16mm Short Films:
Mr. Robbie: Maniac II Promo (New 2k scan from Answer Print)
Audio Commentary with Director Buddy Giovinazzo and Composer Rick Giovinazzo
Outtakes
Jonathan of the Night Promo (New 2k Scan from Workprint)
The Lobotomy (16mm Version)
A Christmas Album
Leave This World (Music Video) [New 2k scan from Workprint)
8mm Short Films:
The Lobotomy (8mm Version)
More Than a Mouthful
Paranoiac
Maniac Drummer
The Combat Shock Limited Edition Blu-ray Package also includes:
FIRST EVER CD Soundtrack of the film
American Nightmares Scrapbook:  96-page booklet with Director’s Diary, Shooting Script, Rare Photos, Storyboards, & More
Individual Actual Frames of the Director’s Workprint
Limited Edition Numbered Slipcover Autographed by Director Buddy Giovinazzo

COMBAT SHOCK, aka "American Nightmares" -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

DOLEMITE -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/26/16

 

If the 70s were heroin, DOLEMITE (1975) would be an O.D.  This is one of the quintessential Blaxploitation flicks of the decade, and it revels in the era's day-glo tackiness with an avalanche of pure kitsch.

Rudy Ray Moore takes his popular comedy act to the screen with the character of super bad-ass pimp Dolemite, serving a bum rap in prison but released in order to redeem himself by bringing the real criminals terrorizing his neighborhood to justice.

This includes current pimp lord Willie Green (D'Urville Martin, ROSEMARY'S BABY, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, SHEBA BABY, BLACK CAESAR), who framed Dolemite and took over his nightclub, The Total Experience.  When Dolemite and Willie go at it head to head, the whole hood erupts in intermittent bursts of shooting, pummeling, extreme profanity ("You rat-soup-eatin' mutha****er!"), and really unconvincing martial arts choreography.

The film is chockful of gloriously bad acting, with the occasional good performance (Hy Pyke, who played "Taffey Lewis" in 1982's BLADE RUNNER is a crooked mayor) standing out like a sore thumb.  Moore and his co-star Lady Reed as madam Queen Bee are unpolished to say the least, but thoroughly earnest and into their roles. 

Along with the standard black crime boss come the requisite bad honkeys, who are, unsurprisingly, crooked cops representing The Man.  They're led by another capable actor, John Kerry (no, not THAT John Kerry), as the vile Detective Mitchell.  Scripter Jerry Jones is good black cop Blakely, while Vainus Rackstraw steals his scenes as a drug-addled informant known as "The Hamburger Pimp."

The script veers easily from drama to comedy and back.  After we hear the tragic story of how Dolemite's nephew was gunned down in the street and the whole neighborhood's going to hell, Dolemite's "ladies" bring him his colorful pimp clothes at the prison gate and he changes into them while the guards and inmates look on with mouths agape.

Minutes later he cheerfully ventilates some bad guys who were tailing his car with a machine gun, making the last one dance ("Girls, this muthaf***er's got rhythm, hasn't he!") before blowing him away.

Of course, Moore gets to perform some of his rhyming comedy routines during the film, as when he reopens his nightclub with a big event that quickly degenerates into all-out war with Dolemite and his kung-fu ho's (they've been studying martial arts while he was away) taking on Willie Green's pistol-packing thugs.

The film is loaded with vulgar sexuality and plenty of violence, although we're spared the sight of what appears to be Dolemite plunging his hand into someone's chest by a crude edit.  Production values are conspicuously low.  First-time director D'Urville Martin reportedly didn't take the project very seriously and it shows.  The overall look of the film is delightfully garish, with Moore himself credited as set designer.

The Blu-ray/DVD set from Vinegar Syndrome offers the feature film, which is restored from a newly-discovered 35mm negative, in both 1.85:1 matted widescreen and unmatted full screen (called the "Boom Mike" version for obvious reasons). An informative commentary by Rudy Ray Moore biographer Mark Jason Murray also includes comments from Moore and actor-writer Jerry Jones. 

Extras also include the making-of doc "I, Dolemite", raw footage from an interview with Lady Reed, a "Locations: Then & Now" featurette, and trailers for this and the sequel, "The Human Tornado." The DVD's cover artwork is reversible.

Back before home video and cable made such things commonplace even for kids, an "R" rating before a movie made us feel like we were really going to see something.  In achingly, blazingly 70s style, the unabashedly irreverent DOLEMITE delivers on that promise.

DOLEMITE -- Blu-ray/DVD Review by Porfle