BREAKING IN (Unviersal Home Video Blu-ray Review)

Directed By: James McTeigue
Written By: Ryan Engle
Starring: Gabrielle Union, Billy Burke, Richard Cabral
Color/88 Minutes/PG-13
Region A
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD

The Film
After the recent death of her father a mother (Gabrielle Union) brings her kids to his sprawling estate to prepare it for sale but find that the house is already occupied by a group of criminals looking for the safe they believe is hidden and full of cash. With her family in mortal danger Union must fight back to save their lives.

Let's start with the good, shall we? Gabrielle Union is pretty decent here, capable of handling the physical and emotional sides of her character well. The on-location shooting at a real house gives a sense of realism to the film even if the house is an absolute mansion compound with state of the art of security that no normal person could ever dream of affording. Director James McTeigue makes good use of the location. Otherwise the film sets itself up to be a digestible slice of Hollywood despite being something unremarkable or particularly memorable and that is perfectly fine. Not every movie has to be groundbreaking or a new spin on a genre. BREAKING IN, for the first half of the film was on its way to being that.

And then the bottom dropped out.

The second half of BREAKING IN is a train wreck filled with plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon, editing that if I called it sloppy I'd be extremely kind and forgiving because it is really just plain awful, performances from the cast that are simply not good but to be fair that's really due in part to the writing at this point as well. The entire movie asks you to overlook so many inconsistencies for the sake of convenience for itself and the situations it wants to set up that it is downright insulting.

Cookie cutter isn't necessarily a bad thing. I like when my cookies are the same size and I know what to expect when I bite in to them. You won't win any fancy awards or be the next big thing making cookie cutter cookies but you can at least make a product that the party will enjoy. BREAKING IN is the equivalent to biting into a cookie and finding out that chocolate chip is actually a cockroach and nobody wants to eat a cockroach.

The Audio & Video
Universal's Blu-ray of BREAKING IN is gorgeous. The 1080p presentation looks stellar, with deep, inky black levels that show no signs of compression or blocking issues. Colors are vivid and lifelike while detail levels are very high including finer detail like facial hair and surface textures. The audio is crisp and clear with a strong mix across the 5.1 lossless audio mix. From a technical standpoint this release is top notch.

The Extras
There are several featurettes included in the release taking us behind the scenes to look at various aspects of the filmmaking including Gabrielle Union's performance and her role as a protective mother, James McTeigue's direction and use of the real life location the movie was produced in and the film's action scenes. Also included is an alternate opening and deleted and extended scenes each with optional commentary from the director and a full length audio commentary track from the director and writer.

The Bottom Line
BREAKING IN had the potential to be a standard but altogether successful home invasion thriller but it completely falls apart and descends into the type of movie that if you're not rolling your eyes at it you're simply staring wide-eyed at the screen in amazement of how ludicrous what you're watching is.

BREAKING IN is available HERE

FLORA (Mill Creek Blu-ray Review)

Canada/2016
Directed By: Sasha Louis Vukovic
Written By: Sasha Louis Vukovic
Starring: Teresa Marie Doran, Dan Lin, Sari Mercer
Color/100 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Blu-ray/Digital

The Film
Set in 1929, a team on an expedition to an uncharted forest to map the terrain and document the local plant life finds the team that arrived before them have gone missing. They realize that the native flora contain a deadly bacteria and that their lives depend on escaping the mysterious forest with limited supplies as they're being attacked by nature itself.

FLORA is an ambitious debut project for writer/director Sasha Louis Vukovic who was pretty freshly out of film school when this production went underway. Not only did he take on a period piece but he focused the film on an invisible antagonist which makes the audience focus entirely on the story and doesn't give himself any wall to hide behind as he could have with a more special effects driven horror movie. And to his credit I think Vukovic is largely successful. FLORA is a tense thriller, with fleshed out characters who have genuine intentions and purpose within the film. There are a few moments where the direction gets a bit too into itself and goes for flare over simple effectiveness. I chalk this up to a new director trying to show what he's capable of and I understand that but it's not always necessary. Sasha Vukovic is a young director and I think he'll be able to dial in his style and feel out when to reel it in a bit in the future.

The cast is comprised of a group with limited experience and like their director, there's more to praise than to critique. Instances of stilted performances are spread amongst a believable ensemble who are more than up to the task of not only a dramatic but at times a physical performance as well with plenty of sprinting and carrying heavy equipment through the actual Canadian forest this movie was shot in. A period piece is only as believable as the set dressing and wardrobe and that is tough to accomplish with millions of dollars let alone with the $120,000 (Canadian) budget that the film had according to IMDB and I never once questioned that this film was taking place in the late 1920s. I applaud the Vukovic's writing and costuming of Olivia Ball to make sure the characters spoke and wore the era.

FLORA isn't perfect but it is quite good. Sometimes less is more and in separate instances FLORA both adheres to that rule and breaks it. The script has questionable character decisions and potential plot bumps if not holes regarding this unseen organism but I found myself engaged, entertained and totally invested by this adventure in minimalist horror that reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening if The Happening if Shyamalan had written a script that was worth a damn. FLORA is a debut that avoids many of the stumbling blocks a young rookie director and writer fall victim of and is a promising start. I hope Sasha Vukovic works more in the horror and thriller genres in the coming years.

The Audio & Video
Mill Creek gives FLORA a home on Blu-ray and it looks very nice. The digital photography shines in the 2.00:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer with the lush greens of the forest popping and engulfing the screen. Skin tones look fleshy and natural with no signs of waxiness or pink coloring. There are no noticeable issues with black levels clumping up or becoming pixelated. The 5.1 DTS-HD audio mix sounds fantastic with the beautiful score shining through when it needs to be more in the foreground but blending nicely with the dialogue the rest of the time. The audio is crisp and clear with no distortion issues.

The Extras
Bonus features include a short behind the scenes featurette which provide a bit of insight into the development of the film and its production. Also included are deleted scenes and an audio commentary track with writer/director Sasha Louis Vukovic and stars Teresa Marie Doran and Dan Lin.

The Bottom Line
FLORA had success on the festival circuit and deservedly so. It now has a very respectable home on Blu-ray and I think it deserves a place on every horror fan's watch list.

FLORA is available HERE

ABOMINABLE (MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray Review)

USA/2005
Directed By: Ryan Schifrin
Written By: Ryan Schifrin
Starring: Matt McCoy, Haley Joel, Jeffrey Combs
Color/94 Minutes/R
Region Free
Release Date:
Blu-ray/DVD

The Film
After a climbing accident that has left him paralyzed and his wife dead, Preston Rogers returns home to his cabin and finds the girls partying at the neighboring cabin under attack by a Bigfoot. With phone lines down they must fend for themselves and fight for their lives against the giant mythological creature that is all too real.

Made in 2005, ABOMINABLE had every possibility at being a worthless Z-grade piece of junk like many Bigfoot horror films are. Thankfully ABOMINABLE is better, much better, than many similar films. Writer/director Ryan Schifrin creates a simple yet time tested story that combines elements of Hitchcock's Rear Window and every killer-in-the-woods slasher film you've ever seen and crosses them with a man-in-a-suit Bigfoot monster. Add in doses of blood and gore, supporting roles from Lance Henriksen and Jeffrey Combs who is absolutely hilarious in his limited screen time and there's a recipe for success that nobody involved with the movie would allow themselves to mess up. The cast is capable if not good and the special effects are well done including the suit which doesn't look cheap or questionable and the face is menacing. The only iffy aspect of it are the eyes which have been digitally enhanced to fix them and it works out nicely.

There's back breaking, face eating, shotgunning and needle stabbing. Nudity and blood and soy milk hunting. ABOMINABLE doesn't try to be anything it's not and knows exactly what it is but doesn't take the cheap way out in going for the intentionally bad and overly stupid route. Ryan Schifrin plays the film straight but with a light hearted attitude. It's a fun movie and is better than most creature features or slashers that have come out since but doesn't sell itself short. ABOMINABLE is a freaking blast and is pretty well put together too. If every Bigfoot horror movie was this good I'd own a lot more of them. ABOMINABLE should be one of the Bigfoot movies that other Bigfoot movies are held to the standard of. '

The Audio & Video
ABOMINABLE has receiving its high definition debut courtesy of MVD Visual as part of their MVD Rewind Collection and features a brand new 2K scan from the original negative. The anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 transfer looks absolutely gorgeous. Colors are rich and vibrant, shining off the screen. Reds pop and black levels are deep and free of any blocking or compression issues. Detail is high and only gets better with tight shots. The audio is presented in an uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround mix that sounds crystal clear and has everything you'd ask for it in a mix and none of the damage, background noise or distracting issues in a lesser quality audio mix.

The Extras
As is usually the case for the MVD Rewind Collection, this release is jam packed with extras including a mini poster included in the case. On disc extras include:

-New Introduction From Director Ryan Schifrin
-Audio Commentary with Ryan Schifrin and stars Matt McCoy and Jeffrey Comb
-"Back To Genre: Making ABOMINABLE" - Making-of featurette
-Deleted and Extended Scenes
-Outtakes and Bloopers
-"Shadows" - Ryan Schifrin's student film from USC
-"Basil & Mobius: No Rest For The Wicked" - Short film by Ryan Schifrin
-Original 2005 Version of ABOMINABLE
-Theatrical Trailer
-Poster and Still Gallery
-Storyboard Gallery

The Bottom Line
ABOMINABLE is everything I hoped it would be; a highly entertaining Bigfoot romp that just plain gets it.

ABOMINABLE is available HERE

A TASTE OF PHOBIA (Artsploitation Films DVD Review)

UK, Italy/2017
Directed By: Various
Written By: Various
Starring: Various
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
A TASTE OF PHOBIA is a fourteen part anthology series with each chapter featuring a different filmmaker creating a horror short out of a different fear. Let's take a look at each short...

Chaetophobia: Fear Of Hair - An intense and visceral way to start things off. What better way to deal with hair than remove the source from which it grows? I wouldn't have picked this to start but I liked it very much.

Pharmacophobia: Fear Of Medication - An unfortunately dull attempt at psychological horror.

Parthenophobia: Fear Of Virgins - An attempt at surrealism and psychological horror that misses the mark.

Coprophobia: Fear Of Feces - Watching a grown man wrestle around the bathroom with a shit covered teddy bear is unintentionally hilarious. Otherwise this short relies on the gross out factor of poop and vomit for shocks. I'm sure I won't soon forget it even if it was short of remarkable.

Mysophobia: Fear Of Germs - Simplistic by design but executed very well. I don't think this works in a longer form but for a few minutes it features some intense self inflicted violence by a man who has reached a breaking point.

Mazeophobia: Fear Of Mazes - This has fuck all to do with mazes and everything to do with shitty American racism. It's not very good however.

Astrophobia: Fear Of Stars - This one is a bit of a head trip with a great central performance. I dig it.

Mageirocophobia: Fear Of Cooking - An interesting idea that was let down by bad CGI.

Gerascophobia: Fear Of Ageing - Simplistic but perhaps a glimpse into our future of what people will do to stay young, pretty and relevant.

Politicophobia: Fear Of Politics - I get and appreciate what they're trying to say and do here but my real fear is having to sit through that one again.

Somniphobia: Fear Of Sleep - I like the visuals and use of music. One of my favorite entries.

Oneirophobia: Fear Of Dreams - One of the best set ups that really deals with the actual fear of the and not just using the subject matter as a plot device for a horror short. Another good one.

Nyctophobia: Fear Of Dark - Almost everyone can remember being afraid fo the dark so it is very easy to relate with. Incredibly simplistic but relatable and well acted.

Hemophobia: Fear Of Blood - A gory way to wrap things up.

A TASTE OF PHOBIA is very hit and miss, as is the case with many of these collaborative types of anthology films. There was a small string toward the beginning that left me wondering if I was going to enjoy this at all but I think it gets stronger toward the end. I'm a fan of these types of anthology films because they showcase different styles, tones and voices and generally offer something for every taste. I wish more of the shorts made use of their segment to actually showcase the fear they're working with instead of using that as a plot device. Only a few actually deal with the fear of whatever it is they're dealing with otherwise this is a decent horror anthology.

The Audio & Video
Artsploitation Films brings A TASTE OF PHOBIA to home video via DVD and the overall A/V quality is very good. Of course a Blu-ray presentation would be better but the DVD features vibrant colors and good clarity with crisp audio free of any distortions. Each short was independently produced and feature different equipment used so there is some fluctuation in how each looks and sounds but the overall quality of the DVD is good.

The Extras
-Bonus Short - "Achluophobia" - Another short based on fear of the dark that perhaps best of all of the shorts shows the panic that a phobia can create. I see why this one wasn't in the main feature but it's not bad at all.
-Behind The Scenes of "Pharmacophobia"
-Behind The Scenes of "Somniphobia"
-Interviews
-Special FX of "Mageirocophobia"
-Special FX of "Parthenophobia"
-Trailer

The Bottom Line
With this many different shorts making up a project it is bound to have its ups and downs and A TASTE OF PHOBIA certainly has its highs and lows but overall it is a great concept to work around and features some really well done shorts. Recommended for horror anthology fans!

A TASTE OF PHOBIA is available HERE

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

USA/1972
Directed By: William F. Claxton
Written By: Don Holliday, Gene R. Kearney, Russell Braddon
Starring: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun
Color/88 Minutes/PG
Region A
Release Date: June 19, 2018

The Film
A small farming town is having trouble with their crops being devastated by the rabbit population. A pair of scientists are brought in to handle the problem without poisons that have dangerous side effects. The hormone they introduce into the population to slow the breeding cycle of the rabbits instead turns them into giant bloodthirsty beasts and the crops being eaten is the least of the town's problems!

Killer animals and nature run amok was a big theme for horror in the 70s and 80s and I love the subgenre from killer fish to giant bears and mutated this and that I do love seeing Mother Earth and her creations taking out asshole humans even if there's some collateral damage of losing some genuinely nice folks too. It's just plain entertaining watching giant or deadly versions of things we're familiar with getting down and dirty and perhaps the most unsuspecting killer beast in film history is the bunny rabbit. Yes, killer rabbits. Those cute and cuddlys that hump like crazy are usually not the cause of your nightmares unless you're named Elmer Fudd but in NIGHT OF THE LEPUS you're going to have to fight Bugs, Peter, Roger and hell, even the Velveteen Rabbit because they're out for blood.

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS is pretty much what you'd expect. It's a premise that has worked time and time again but would it work with rabbits? Sure it does. The action gets started quickly and never lets up. There's scene after scene of rabbits running around miniature farms that make them look 15 feet tall. Splash a little food coloring around their mouths and get some extreme closeups of those front teeth and you have a pretty menacing villain even if there's not much at all in the way of graphic violence. NIGHT OF THE LEPUS is campy but it is meant to scare even if it doesn't send chills down your spine it does have a message warning of the dangers of using poisons and hormones to manipulate the environment and local ecosystems and the havoc it can cause.

The film features a good cast with Rory Calhoun starring as the rancher in need of help from the scientists played by Stuart Whitman and Janet Leigh. There's a strong horror heritage in the cast with Janet Leigh starring in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Rory Calhoun going on to star as Farmer Vincent in Motel Hell several years later. NIGHT OF THE LEPUS wouldn't be Stuart Whitman's last time battling animals as he went on to portray the sheriff in Tobe Hooper's giant alligator movie Eaten Alive. The cast is good with their long Hollywood careers on display as they capably handle the campy material to make it believable. The children actors are a bit rougher around the edges as you would expect but aside from corny writing for them they're fine. Director William Claxton spent most of his time directing television episodes including many westerns which certainly bleeds over into NIGHT OF THE LEPUS from its dusty ranch town setting to many cowboy-esq characters and shootouts. He even uses the patrons of a drive-in theater to herd the rabbits towards the train tracks for the finale so there's plenty of cowboy culture on display in this and his direction is competent. He features the rabbits in a way that would make Roger Corman happy giving the audience a constant dose of action and thrills and does his best to keep them looking like a threat even if the thought that cuddling a 15 foot rabbit would just be 15 times more fun than cuddling a normal rabbit would be lingers in the back of your mind. That's a challenge for NIGHT OF THE LEPUS and everyone involved and they do a good enough job of making it all work.

Grizzlies, sharks, snakes and dogs all make for more terrifying and frankly believable natural monsters than a rabbit ever will but NIGHT OF THE LEPUS finds a way to make it work and is an entertaining slice of nature run amok cheese even if it isn't the most thrilling of the bunch.

The Audio & Video
Scream Factory gives NIGHT OF THE LEPUS its Blu-ray debut with a nice release featuring a new 2K scan from the interpositive. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer maintaining the film's original aspect ratio. Overall picture quality is strong with good detail, particularly in close-ups. Rabbit furs, skin textures and surfaces all show finer detail in the tight shots. Colors are natural and balanced while reds pop just enough. There's a healthy grain presence and no signs of waxiness. The audio is presented in a DTS-HD Master Audio mono mix and it sounds quite nice. The mix is simple but crisp and clear with no distortions or issues and balance is perfect.

The Extras
A pair of brand new audio commentary tracks with author Lee Gambin and pop culture historian Russell Dyball make up the meat and potatoes of the special features and they'e rounded out by a theatrical trailer, TV spot and still gallery.

The Bottom Line
Nature's revenge seems like a lost theme in horror movies even as we are dealing with many of the same environmental issues as we did decades ago and even though rabbits devastating ecosystems and farmlands isn't a big problem it's still a great and unexpected set up for a horror movie and it doesn't disappoint. NIGHT OF THE LEPUS is schlocky and fun with no downtime!

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS is available HERE

TOMB RAIDER (Warner Brothers Blu-ray Review)

UK, USA/2018
Directed By: Roar Uthaug
Written By: Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Alastair Siddons, Evan Daugherty
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walter Goggins
Color/118 Minutes/PG-13
Region A
Release Date: June 12, 2018
Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD

The Film
Lara Croft is the daughter of an archaeologist adventurer who went missing seven years ago and has been presumed dead. Refusing to accept his death Lara has not accepted her inheritance including his estate or companies despite barely making ends meet as a bike courier. Lara discovers a final puzzle left for her by her father and decides to leave her world behind and follow in her father's footsteps to a dangerous mythical island near Japan to find out what happened to her father.

TOMB RAIDER is based off of a successful video game franchise that debuted in 1996 and was adapted for the silver screen in 2001 with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and a sequel two years later both of which performed well at the box office but haven't aged particularly well in part because of dated special effects and a less than stellar performance from their star Angelina Jolie along with flat stories. This new entry into the series reboots it with a new lead (Alicia Vikander) and frankly it caught me off guard. I wasn't aware that it was being released until the advertising campaign started but I immediately thought it looked like a fun summer blockbuster in spite of its early March theatrical release. I 'm pleased to say that Roar Uthaug's TOMB RAIDER is pretty much just that- a fun summer movie.

It starts with Alicia Vikander who has become a household name in the last few years for roles in films such as Ex Machina and The Danish Girl which she won an Oscar for. While she won't be winning an Oscar for her performance in TOMB RAIDER she proves her versatility and that she can more than handle a physically demanding role such as this. Vikander is fit and beautiful but she doesn't rely on that to get her through the movie. While she could be bumbling around the jungle and arcane crypts and still look good doing it she handles the perils and pitfalls that any good adventure movie is plagued with. I make mention of this because fanboys of the Tomb Raider series have long sexualized the Lara Croft character and I wanted to make sure to point out that Alicia Vikander is not just a pretty face. Walter Goggins plays a rather vanilla villain in charge of an army of nameless workers and henchman trying to find the same tomb as Lara and her father before her. Goggins' character may not be the most original or exciting but he is good in the role and manages to be properly unlikeable. It is Dominic West in the role of Lara's father that may be the misstep in casting as I found him to be silly and inappropriately comedic at times that reminded me of Brendan Fraser's character in The Mummy franchise (which worked in those films but feels wildly out of place here).

Roar Uthaug's direction is competent without being overly flashy or relying on tired and annoying shortcuts like overly shaky camera work. He brings the screenplay to life with enough flair that I'm surprised the film didn't perform better in American box offices but this adventure of archeology and family takes more than a few pages from the Indiana Jones book and gives us the Cliff's Notes version of them. It's during the trials to enter the tomb and find the fabled queen who's crypt they are trying to reach where there's a bit of borrowing from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. I'm okay with that but it does lack the emotional punch that Last Crusade has and I feel that we never quite get the payoff we (or the film itself) deserves. I was really hoping for something epic and possibly not of this world to happen inside that crypt but the climax never hits that fever pitch where the film hits a real rolling boil of excitement. I feel that would have brought TOMB RAIDER from a good movie to something great.

The Audio & Video
Warner Brothers brings TOMB RAIDER to home video with an expectedly gorgeous Blu-ray release. The anamorphic widescreen transfer looks stunning with a lush and vivid color palette that really takes off once we arrive on the Island. Otherwise detail level is quite strong, skin tones are naturally healthy with no signs of excessive DNR and there's no issues with compression or blocking even in the darkest scenes. The audio on the disc is presented with a few different options including Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks that are booming. The mix across the channels is steady and the levels are appropriately mixed. There are scenes that will definitely give your system a bit of a workout and could leave pictures rattling on the walls. Audio quality is crisp and very clear with no hiss or distortions even at its craziest. French, Spanish and Portuguese audio options and subtitles are also available.

The Extras
Four featurettes make up the special features section of the disc and they include:

-"Lara Croft: Evolution Of An Icon" - This featurette takes a look at the Lara Croft character from her original video game origins to the most recent film adaptation
-"Croft Training" - A look at the workouts and training Alicia Vikander did to prepare for her role as Lara Croft
-"Tomb Raider Uncovered"- A cast and crew look at bringing the video game to life on the big screen
-"Breaking Down The Rapids"- A look at the one of the film's most exciting and memorable action scenes.

The Bottom Line
TOMB RAIDER is what I hoped it would be- An updated take on a dated adventure film with a far more capable lead. This is a perfectly enjoyable summertime popcorn flick in the tradition of Indiana Jones.

TOMB RAIDER is available HERE

THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING (MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray Review)

USA/1989
Directed By: Jim Wynorski
Written By: Neil Cuthbert, Grant Morris
Starring: Louis Jourdan, Heather Locklear, Dick Durock
Color/88 Minutes/PG-13
Region Free
Release Date: May 15, 2018
Blu-ray/DVD

The Film
In 1982 director Wes Craven brought us the first screen adaptation of the comic book from writer Len Wein and legendary artist Bernie Wrightson. Their tale of a scientist who mutated with the swamp vegetation after a mishap and now protects people and the environment from various threats has become a classic for DC Comics and has regularly been voted as one of the best comic book characters of all time. Craven's film was a mostly serious sci-fi film with horror and action elements. Some of it was campy but it served as a solid screen debut for the character. Seven years later the reigns were turned over to Jim Wynorski, a genre film director not known for his subtlety and we were blessed with a special gift simply called THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING.

Before the X-Men franchise ushered in the modern wave of comic book films with huge budgets, big name actors and more CGI effects than you can shake a stick at and before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was seemingly breaking records with each new movie this is what comic book movies looked like and were relegated to be. These were low budget affairs with stars that were either passed their prime or hadn't hit it yet. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING was reportedly made on a budget of four million dollars, a far cry from the hundreds of millions pumped into the newest Avengers film but the explosion was still over a decade away and comic book culture and mainstream pop culture were rarely spoken in the same breath. There was no such thing as the big budget blockbuster comic book film in 1989 but frankly I think what Jim Wynorski gave us was even better.

Heather Locklear stars as Abby Arcane who is going to meet her stepfather, the evil scientist Dr. Anton Arcance, after the death of her mother. She finds that Dr. Arcane is trying to find the source of immortality by splicing human genes with those of swamp creatures and has created a mini army of monstrous beasts who suffer endlessly from being human guinea pigs to Dr. Arcane's experiments. Abby is in trouble when Dr. Arcane plans to use her for one his newest experiments but Abby is protected by her new friend Swamp Thing who has a history with Anton Arcane and will fight to protect Abby with his life.

I have a lot of nostalgia for Swamp Thing. The big green plant man might be the first comic book character I was a fan of. I can remember playing with the action figures as a young kid growing up in the very early 90s and vividly remember moving across several states in 1991 and getting to ride in the U-Haul truck with my grandad and having a couple of toys to play with, one being a Swamp Thing that had a fist that shot out from his arm and was attached by a string. The string wound up with a knot in it so it wouldn't retract properly but that was okay by me as it just meant Swamp Thing had something to choke out the other toys with. Yeah, I was probably messed up as a kid but I've always loved the character of Swamp Thing and this is the way I remember him. We get classic Jim Wynorski here with a campy, over the top action movie chock full of all of the standard tropes; endless hordes of henchment, explosions (including a domino effect car explosion), kiddie sidekicks who are actually endearing and funny and don't make you want to smash your face into a wall, a diabolical villain and the most ludicrous love story this side of Tom Hanks and the volleyball.

The film doesn't rely on that nostalgia however and doesn't need it to be a wildly entertaining film. And to my surprise the movie is actually pretty well made. Aside from the obvious ham and cheese factor of being a loud comic book action movie that embodies everything a loud action movie from 1989 has to offer it has some really great sets, decent performances (and some not so decent performances) and really fantastic special effects makeup. Each and every creature, from our titular hero himself to the cockroach man and the weird squid face enemy that fights Swamp Thing a few times, all have been created with great skill. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING is action packed, filled with laughs and holds up almost thirty years later and I can definitely say that I'd gladly take more movies like THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING over the current comic book movies nine times out of ten.

The Audio & Video
With spine #5 in the MVD Rewind Collection MVD Visual has given THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING its high definition debut and the transfer blew me away. Colors are vivid and rich and skin tones are fleshy and natural with no signs of DNR. There is a natural film look to the transfer and the detail level is exceptional. The creatures in the film absolutely shine in this transfer especially the main man himself. His dripping, gooey, body made of bits of everything you'd find in a bog looks incredible. I don't think I can oversell how impressed I am with this transfer. The audio features two options, a DTS-HD 5.1 surround mix and a LPCM 2.0 mix. They both have the highest quality with the surround mix giving more punch and pop to the action scenes and use of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born On The Bayou" but the lossless 2.0 mix is a fine straight forward mix as well with no issues at all.

Plesae Note: Screenshots have been taken from the DVD version of the film.

The Extras
Do you want interviews? 'Cuz we got interviews! The special features include individual interview with director Jim Wynorski, editor Leslie Rosenthal, composer Chuck Cirino, and executive Arnie Holland.

Also included:
-Brand new audio commentary track with Jim Wynorski, Chuck Cirino and Leslie Rosenthal
-Audio commentary track with Jim Wynorski from 2003
-Original theatrical trailer
-TV spots
-Promo Reel
-Public Service Announcements
-Photo Gallery
-Mini Poster

The Bottom Line
I hadn't seen this movie in over twenty years but this is the Swamp Thing I remember loving as a kid growing up in the early 90s. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING is tasty slice of 80s cheese and now finds itself as one of my favorite comic book movies. Now excuse me while I go hunt down that action figure on eBay.

THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING is available HERE

MOON CHILD (Cult Epics Blu-ray Review)

Spain/1989
Directed By: Agusti Villaronga
Written By: Agusti Villaronga
Starring: Enrique Saldana, Maribel Martin, Lisa Gerrard
Color/120 Minutes/Not Rated
Region Free
Release Date: April 24, 2018
Blu-ray/DVD

The Film
In 1986 Spanish director Agusti Villaronga stormed onto the scene with his film In A Glass Cage, a masterpiece of a horror thriller that is sure to ruin your day and put you in a terrible mood. I mean this in the best possible way. It is difficult to follow up a masterful debut as expectations will inevitably be high and Villaronga challenged himself with a much less straight forward story in MOON CHILD which is based on the Aleister Crowley book of the same name and a much bigger production as well.

MOON CHILD stars Enrique Saldana as David, a 12 year old boy who has been adopted by a scientific cult who has stockpiled children with psychic abilities in their compound. David has psychic abilities and has been told by an elder at the orphanage that he is the Moon Child, a prophesized God to an African tribe. The cult intends to use the children they have adopted to find the perfect genetic pairing to bear a child who they have impregnated with the power of the moon to create their own Moon Child. David escapes with the two selected to be the parents including Georgina (Lisa Gerrard) who David believes to be his mother and enter a transcontinental journey to escape the cult enduring love, loss, death and spiritual awakenings along the way.

Agusti Villaronga spectacularly weaves us through a kaleidoscope of mind bending images, locations full of and devoid of emotion and life, moody music from Dead Can Dance and ideas that will give your mind a workout. Villaronga is obviously more concerned with creating a journey for the viewer's subconcious than he is creating a neatly packaged narrative that gives us a beginning, middle and end despite there being a clear beginning, middle and end. The story is clear cut but it's more about the ideas, both the basic terrestrial ideas and the proposition of metaphysical ones that drive MOON CHILD to be something special. While most films would have us immediately concerned about David's escape from the cult the viewer is instead pondering the idea of his destiny as the El Nino De La Luna and what it means to be a god, worship a god and what powers the stars may hold over us.

MOON CHILD works because it the cast is quite good to go along with the deeper artistic ideas and expressions from Villaronga. Villaronga also gets the absolute most out of his locations from the seemingly endless pale white walls of the cult compound to the beautiful sands and rock caves of the African lands. MOON CHILD certainly feels like a bigger production than it may have been. Therein lies its slight downfall as well. I think the scope and breadth of the film and the concepts contained within made the simple emotional connection that I felt with the characters in In A Glass Cage fall by the way side. In A Glass Cage is a masterpiece because of how it can move the viewer emotionally as I stated before, completely ruin your day. MOON CHILD would never have that same reaction but it could have a similar impact on the viewer substituting sorrow and disgust for something more contemplative but I never quite got that emotional connection with David or any of the other characters at least not to the point that would elevate MOON CHILD from something quite good to something truly exceptional. Maybe I cursed myself by comparing MOON CHILD to In A Glass Cage, something I eluded to happening previously but I couldn't help myself as this was the first Agusti Villaronga film I have seen besides his debut film. It will be interesting to see how MOON CHILD fares after I've seen more of the director's work but for now it may not be another masterpiece but it is a very worthwhile piece of surrealist cinema.

The Audio & Video
Cult Epics has brought MOON CHILD to Blu-ray with a new HD transfer from the original 35mm negatives and the picture quality matches the impressive photography of the film. There's a healthy grain structure that maintains a natural film look. Colors are vivid and vibrant when needed such as the stark whites of the cult's headquarters and black levels are properly deep with no signs of compression issues or blocking. Detail levels are strong as well. The Spanish audio is presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital mix with optional English subtitles. The audio is crisp and gives way to a perfect mix between the moody and perhaps overlooked soundtrack and the dialogue. There's no signs of background noise, popping, crackling or other distortions. Cult Epics has done right by MOON CHILD.

Please note: The images in this review have been taken from the DVD version of the film and do not represent the picture quality of the Blu-ray.

The Extras
The extras include an interview with writer/director Agusti Villaronga that is brand new for 2018 and covers everything from Villaronga's career to more specific topics about MOON CHILD and even what he and Guillermo Del Toro think of each other. It even includes a still picture of Villaronga signing the Blu-ray artwork which will serve as proper evidence for those that purchase the limited edition autographed version.

Also included is a still gallery featuring a number of lobby cards and the isolated soundtrack by Dead Can Dance.

The Bottom Line
MOON CHILD is a feast for the sense and a treat for the mind. For anyone looking for something that channels the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky or Fernando Arrabal look no further than this excellent release from Cult Epics.

MOON CHILD is available HERE

THE ORCHARD END MURDER (Redemption Films Blu-ray Review)

UK/1981
Directed By: Christian Marnham
Written By: Christian Marnham
Starring: Tracy Hyde, David Wilkinson, Mark Hardy
Color/49 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: March 6, 2018


The Film
A young woman (Tracy Hyde) visits a rural village to watch her boyfriend play cricket and make love with him in the woods between his turns at bat. When his number is called to take the field she goes off exploring the village and finds a little cottage with a gnome garden and is invited in for tea by the hunchbacked man that lives there and runs the train station for the town. While having tea she's scared by the man's brutish friend who brings a rabbit into the house and kills it by slamming it on the table before bringing it outside to skin. Soon after she agrees to take a tour of the orchard with the brutish man which leads to the man attempting to rape and eventually murdering the girl and burying her in a pile of apples. When the police begin their hunt for the missing girl the two men devise a plan to bring the body home and bury it in a place the authorities have already searched.

THE ORCHARD END MURDER has all the ingredients for a memorable and well executed exploitation film- Capable filmmaking, acting that is better than average, eye-catching sets and locations, nasty situations (in this case attempted rape and murder), and a couple of interesting characters. It's all there so why don't I love it? Well at only 49 minutes it doesn't give the movie any time to breathe which we need here. We're immediately thrown from girl being murdered to body being moved and buried. The film feels as if there's chunks missing linking scenes together fluidly so we're left with a choppy, jumpy movie. An additional half hour or forty five minutes would not only allow the film to breathe a bit and give time to those scenes that keep the film flowing smoothly but it would have allowed plenty of time to make this movie something more. What that more is could go a number of ways. It could have allowed for more killings and violence, it could have spent time building more suspense and tension around our killer and his accomplice as the suspicion grows or it could have given us the big payoff of her boyfriend getting some revenge on his lover's killer. Perhaps with a cricket bat to link the beginning and ending scenarios. That would have been great. Instead we're left with a film that's mostly all there but still feels incomplete.

It's not that what we get is bad because it isn't. I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw but the film left me unsatisfied. I didn't want more I needed it. The film needs more from substance to simple scenes linking events to keep it from being jarring. I'm puzzled by THE ORCHARD END MURDER because there's plenty I want to praise but there's just as much that I simply wish existed.

The Audio & Video
Redemption Films and Kino deliver a Blu-ray that some might say is more than a short feature intended as the B side of double feature bills deserves but I think it's just Redemption keeping up their typically high standards. The anamorphic widescreen transfer boasts strong detail and a healthy color palette. Skin tones are natural as well. There is some speckling and light imperfections as no extensive restoration work to the source material has been done but that doesn't stop the transfer from looking quite nice. The audio is presented in an uncompressed 2.0 stereo track and sounds crystal clear. The sound is crisp and pleasing with a proper mix across both channels and between the dialogue and score.

The Extras
-Interview with director Christian Marnham
-Interview with star Tracy Hyde
-Interview with star David Wilkinson
-"The Showman" - 25 minute documentary short film by Christian Marnham
-Christian Marnham on "The Showman"

The Bottom Line
THE ORCHARD END MURDER could probably be best described as something for exploitation junkies to seek out as something new that they haven't seen before and realize how close it comes to being something much bigger and better.

THE ORCHARD END MURDER is available HERE

THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE (VCI Blu-ray Review)

Phillippines, USA/1972
Directed By: Eddie Romero
Written By: Jerome Small, Eddie Romero
Starring: John Ashley, Pat Woodell, Jan Merlin
Color/81 Minutes/PG
Region Free
Release Date: March 13, 2018

The Film
The Island Of Dr. Moreau had been adapted a number of times before Filipino film royalty Eddie Romero tried his hand in 1972 and while it may not be most polished adaptation I've ever seen it definitely leaves its mark as a worthwhile entry into the lure of Dr. Moreau.

John Ashley stars as Matt Farrell, a man who is kidnapped by Neva while diving and taken to the island compound of her father Dr. Gordon who is experimenting in creating a master race by combining human and animal genetics. Neva has problems with some of her father's methods and after a failed experiment she begins to fall in love with Matt and frees him and the other animal people which leads to Dr. Gordon and his security to hunting them through the island forest.

THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE is pretty evenly broken up in to two halves, the laboratory and the jungle hunt. The first half offers a bit of science fiction and mad scientist type fun but the second half of the film is really where the movie picks up the pace and becomes a minor cult classic. The animal people get more of the spotlight in the second half as they're lead through the wilderness by Neva and have to fight for survival while being hunted and also fight their own animal instincts to not hurt each other or Matt and Neva. The first half of the movie is slow and really could use a bit more action. It's very talky and boring in stretches. I think the movie could have been a true cult classic had the movie been more evenly distributed and not so loaded in the back end.

The film is solid even with sluggish pacing which is no surprise with Eddie Romero directing as even when the movies were cheap (and they usually were) he made entertaining genre films. The special effects makeup are one of the highlights of film seeing all of the various human-animal hybrids and getting to see Pam Grier as the Panther Woman was a nice treat. THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE is flawed but fun, and at only 81 minutes once you really settle in you're just about to the best parts anyways so sit back and enjoy the Moreau madness.

The Audio & Video
VCI delivers THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE to Blu-ray with a new 2K restoration that has its ups and downs. Detail can be quite good with excellent clarity and definition in skin lines, hair and other textures. Coloring has a wide range from naturally lush and vivid to a bit washed out and at times having a strong yellow hue over the picture. More often than not the color is decent though. There are some scratches and speckling and various imperfections that keep the film from looking amazing but for a film such as THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE I think the good outweighs the bad and the imperfections didn't hamper my enjoyment of watching the movie. The audio on the disc is presented in a mono PCM track that sounds good for a simple mix. The audio never becomes distorted or unpleasant to listen to while the levels are mixed well between the music and dialogue.

The Extras
The big extra is an interview with Eddie Romero that runs nearly an hour long. This is a priceless clip for exploitation fans filled with all sorts of great stories and recollections from the king of Filipino exploitation. This addition to the disc makes it a must own for anyone that is interested in filmmaking history.

Also included is an audio commentary track with film historian David Del Valle and filmmaker David DeCouteau along with TV spots and a theatrical trailer.

The Bottom Line
TWILIGHT PEOPLE is an entertaining jungle romp that stands tall in a sea of adaptations of The Island Of Dr. Moreau.

THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE is available HERE

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

UK/1971
Directed By: Peter Duffell
Written By: Robert Bloch
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Ingrid Pitt
Color/102 Minutes/PG
Region Free
Release Date: May 8, 2018

THE FILM
Ahh Amicus Productions, because Hammer wasn't enough we were blessed with Amicus who, if Hammer was the star of the show, Amicus would be his leading lady. Amicus may not have been quite as good or renowned as Hammer but they were and still are a beloved part of horror history and put out some great films including plenty with Hammer's own poster boys Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Not the least of which was 1971's THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, an anthology film from writer Robert Bloch (Psycho, Torture Garden) and directed by Peter Duffell who spent most of his directorial career making TV shows which may have lended a hand to the success of this anthology film that features a handful of short stories revolving around a sinister home whose tenants fate's usually end in misery.

In the film's wraparound segment John Bryan portrays A.J. Stoker, a real estate agent who has been contacted by Scotland Yard after a the house's most recent tenant, a famous actor, has mysteriously disappeared and he tells the detective of the sinister history surrounding the house which leads to four tales adapted from short stories that had previously been published in magazines such as Weird Tales and Unknown dating back as early as 1939. The stories feature Peter Cushing in a story of a macabre waxwork museum that features the statue of a woman he once knew and Christopher Lee as the single father of a young daughter that may not be the sweet innocent child she seems to be. The other stories include a tale of murder and betrayal when a writer and his wife move into the home only for the man to be tormented by a character he wrote in his new story and a famous horror movie actor that may turn in to a real vampire when he dons his newly acquired antique cape only for his co-star (played by the legendary Ingrid Pitt) to discover. As the film's tagline states, "Terror waits for you in every room in THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD!"

Funnily enough there's not a single drop of blood in the film. The film's PG rating is quite appropriate as it doesn't rely on blood or sex to sell the picture. It takes a capable cast a few tried and true stories and turns it into an entertaining anthology film perfect for a Saturday afternoon. THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD doesn't feature the most original story but it's put together competently and produced with the sort of familiar and comforting form that fans of gothic horror and Amicus specifically can curl up with on the couch and enjoy. THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD is campy at times and creepy in others the perfect balance that will allow long time fans to enjoy time and time again while also being a good stepping stone for younger fans to dip their toes into more serious horror fare that doesn't get to explicit with nudity or violence. Don't let that fool you or turn you off if you haven't seen the film before because I equate THE HOUSE THE DRIPPED BLOOD to a bowl of macaroni and cheese; it's not the newest or most exciting creation but it's something that you keep coming back to over and over again year after year and it's perfect to share with someone.

That's the perfect analogy I think. When you get tired of the big, loud and typically dumb new creations at the latest hipster filled gastropub THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD is a bowl of mac and cheese, it brings you back to your roots.

THE AUDIO & VIDEO
Scream Factory has finally given us the long overdue Blu-ray debut of THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD and while they don't give any insight into the transfer work done to the film it looks excellent and seems to be a pretty recent master and not one that is a decade old. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer features a warm filmic look with excellent detail and color reproduction which are vivid and lively. Black levels are deep and inky with no signs of compression or blocking. Skin tones are natural and healthy with no waxiness. There's no signs of edge enhancement or excessive DNR. The English audio is presented in a DTS-HD mono mix and sounds magnificent. The quality is pleasing the to the ear with no distortions or background noise and the mix is perfect with steady levels and no fluctuations in volume that will have you trying to find the remote over and over.

THE EXTRAS
-New audio commentary with author Troy Howarth
-Audio commentary with director Peter Duffell
-New interview with Second Assistant Director Mike Higgins
-"A-Rated Horror Film" - Featurette with interviews with director Peter Duffell and actors Geoffrey Bayldon, Ingrid Pitt and Chloe Franks
-Theatrical Trailers
-Radio Spots
-Still Gallery

THE BOTTOM LINE
THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD is a classic of Amicus and I'm thrilled to finally have this chiller on Blu-ray and in such a nice edition. Highly recommended!

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD is available HERE

VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON (Severin Films Blu-ray Review)

Italy/1982
Directed By: Bruno Mattei
Written By: Ambrogio Malteni, Claudio Fragasso
Starring: Laura Gemser, Gabriele Tinti, Maria Romano
Color/99 Minutes/Not Rated
Region Free
Release Date: May 8, 2018

The Film
I love women-in-prison films and I love the Emanuelle films. Laura Gemser is a goddess and a legend of exploitation film. Add in that Bruno Mattei signature flair for trash and we have a winner.

Larua Gemser stars yet again as Emanuelle, a character she would portray well over a dozen times either officially or unofficially in her career, a reporter who has taken it upon herself to get the inside scoop on a prison notorious for abuse, torture and corruption but quickly becomes subjected to the sexual and physical abuses. After a nasty encounter with a horde of rats while in solitary confinement Emanuelle and the prison's doctor (Gabriele Tinti) begin to fall for each other with each confiding in the other. We learn that the doctor has been forced to work at the prison as a result of being convicted for murdering his wife when he euthanized her to end her suffering from cancer. The duo make a pact  to escape and expose the prison for all of its wrongdoings but the head warden (Lorraine De Salle) has no plans to let that happen.

Bruno Mattei has made some of the sleaziest and cheesiest exploitation and horror films to ever come out of Italy but there's nothing cheesy about VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON. The film does feature some properly placed and timed comedy but it's very lightly sprinkled in on an otherwise cold and extremely unwelcoming stint in prison hell. From the sexual degradation to rape and big, biting rats this prison offers nothing in the way of fun, not even for a gay man in the men's section of the facility. This character offers up something a bit unexpected and definitely a character to sympathize with but his character's full circle is an interesting one as he is usually victimized by meaner and badder men but when the men turn their attention to a woman putting on a show for them from her cell's window he takes offense and is upset that he's no longer the center of their attention. This turns into a cruel beating before the guards break it up. This character shows the darkest side of prison but how it can be personally rationalized as a yearning for attention and companionship in even the most despicable conditions.

The cast of the film is quite good on the whole. Gemser and Tinti turn in their typically solid performance and their real life relationship translates into easy and organic chemistry on screen. They're a duo the audience will genuinely care about and cheer for against the nasty warden, who is brilliantly portrayed by Lorraine De Salle as a true bitch who uses her power for her own gain including drugs and pleasures of the flesh. It's not an easy road to complete with torture and death around every corner and seeing the lovely Laura Gemser covered in nasty rat bites is heart breaking and makes me want to stomp out every dirty sewer rat I ever come across just in case their uncle or cousin was one of the little fuckers that caused such pain and sickness on her but getting to the end proves to be not only entertaining but altogether satisfying.

VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON is packed with corruption, rape, lesbianism, violence and plain old sleaze. Bruno Mattei was at the top of his game with this one and created one of my favorite  women-in-prison films.

The Audio & Video
Severin Films has restored VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON with a new 2K scan from the original interpositive with great results. The Blu-ray has great overall clarity and definition despite some light scratches and speckling. The colors are true to life and vivid when they should be and skin tones are natural and fleshy with no signs of waxiness or excessive DNR. Black levels are properly deep and free of compression or blocking issues. This movie has definitely never looked better on home video.

The film's audio is presented in an English HD mono track that has a bit of background noise but never gets distracting or annoying and otherwise sounds crisp and mixed perfectly so that the dialogue and music compliment each other.

PLEASE NOTE: The screenshots included in this review DO NOT represent the Blu-ray quality and are included only for reference.

The Extras
-"Brawl In Women's Block" - Interview with Co-writers Claudio Fragasso and Rosella Drudi - This half hour interview with the duo covers everything from their rather hilarious meeting at a cinema club to their marriage and time spent working on this film and others including plenty of work with Bruno Mattie. It's a lively, funny and really informative interview giving good background insight into not only this film but their careers and time in the Italian film industry as a whole.

The Bottom Line
You want the bottom line? VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON is one of the nastiest and most entertaining women-in-prison films around and this release is fucking awesome. That's the bottom line.

VIOLENCE IN A WOMEN'S PRISON is available HERE

ROBOT WARS (Full Moon Blu-ray Review)

USA/1993
Directed By: Albert Band
Written By: Jackson Barr
Starring: Don Michael Paul, Barbara Crampton, James Staley
Color/72 Minutes/R
Region Free
Release Date: January 2, 2018

The Film
In a dystopian future America is split into two blocs with opposing views and they're both the target of a band of pirates. Though peace between the blocs has reigned and the mega robots once used for war are now mere tourist attractions and public transportation and the once heroic pilots are now little more than chauffeurs, a diplomat has secret plans to wage war with the robots and take control of the world. It's up to Barbara Crampton who co-stars as a journalist to uncover the secret plans and warn everyone in time for Drake (Don Michael Paul) to prove he's still the tough pilot he claims to be.

ROBOT WARS was the first Full Moon release of 1993 and may have got lost a bit in the shuffle of a strong year for the studio because I don't hear it talked about too often in Full Moon discussions and that's a shame because it really is an entertaining film. Albert Band directs this stop motion sci-fi romp that stars Don Michael Paul and Barbara Crampton. It is Crampton, who should be no stranger to Full Moon fans as she appeared in Trancers 2 and would go on to star in Castle Freak, among others, that carries the film and really brings a veteran prowess to the screen. It is also her character that really advances the movie along. Albert Band rarely gives us anything especially stylish from a directorial standpoint but he does competently capture the action and give us a good view of the world they've created and interesting set pieces.

But for all of the comments we can make on acting and set design what we really care about is the robot action. After all, this movie is called ROBOT WARS and the artwork promises a giant humanoid robot fighting a giant scorpion robot with lasers and explosions. Well at only 72 minutes ROBOT WARS is a quick one and though one of my main gripes with the film is that most of the time we see the robots they are relegated to taxicab status as they transport tourists around, they did manage to fit in a few really great stop motion animation fight sequences and those are obviously the best parts of the film. David Allen made a name for himself doing special effects work from the 70s through his death in 1999 and collaborated with Charles Band for the first time on 1978's Laserblast but some of his best stop motion sequences can be found right here in ROBOT WARS. The fight scenes are very well done and the robots themselves look great. How awesome are the scorpion and mastodon bots? Bad. Ass. I would have loved for this movie to give us another 15 minutes of robot fighting but budgetary constraints made that impossible. I understand the disappointment some viewers may have that there isn't more robot action, I'm right there with ya but what we get is fantastic and the rest of the movie serves up some good laughs so it's not like it's a waiting game to get to the good stuff.

The Audio & Video
Full Moon restores yet another of their video store era classics with a new full HD anamorphic widescreen transfer which gives way to a very nice looking picture and certainly the best you've seen it look in your living room. There is some speckling and very minor dirt/debris but the picture is very sharp. Detail is high in all aspects but especially in closeups of faces and set dressing which at times does reveal it to be a bit cheap in its construction - A lovable detail for sure. Colors are vibrant and skin tones are natural and fleshy with no signs of waxiness from excessive DNR. The Blu-ray is presented with 5.1 digital surround sound and it sounds very nice. The mix is solid and steady with no volume fluctuation and the score and dialogue are mixed nicely. There's no background noise or distortions to speak of.

The Extras
-The Wizard Of Wars: Remembering David Allen - 11 minute featurette with Charles Band in honor of special effects artist David Allen who did the stop motion animation on ROBOT WARS.
-Vintage 1997 Full Moon Promo
-Original Videozone featurette - A half hour behind the scenes feature straight from the VHS days of Full moon

The Bottom Line
ROBOT WARS is the exact type of movie to bring you back to your childhood of roaming the video store shelves and picking out a movie based solely on its cover. ROBOT WARS delivers exactly what's on the cover. And just take a look at that cover.

ROBOT WARS is available HERE

THE DRAGON MISSILE (88 FILMS BLU-RAY REVIEW)

China/1976
Directed By: Meng Hua Ho
Written By: Kuang Ni
Starring: Lieh Lo, Tony Liu, Nancy Yen
Color/82 Minutes/
Region B
Release Date: March 26, 2018

The Film
The nasty Lord Chin has tasked his longtime loyal guard Szema Chun to make the cross country trek obtain a rare medicine and return in time to cure him of the deadly skin cancer, or as described in the film's native language an evil boil called "One Hundred Birds Worshipping The Phoenix" - a much more colorful description -  afflicting him. Worried that Chun will turn his back on him Lord Chin has also hired a small gang to ride with him and kill him as soon as he obtains the medicine to return it themselves. When the crisscrossing becomes known to each other the chase begins and head's fly.

The plot may be thin in THE DRAGON MISSILE but the action is thick and production values are high. Martial arts movies with a decapitation theme were all the rage at this point with the titular Dragon Missile being a pair of boomerang blades that lop heads clean off (in a mostly bloodless fashion oddly enough) and the film itself rivaling the Flying Guillotine films and its various knockoffs. Many of these films have a bloodier outcome than the Dragon Missiles do, though there are a few select moments of the signature bright red Shaw Bros bloodshed.

While it may not have the blood factor THE DRAGON MISSILE certainly has the higher quality production than many similar movies that were coming out from companies other than Shaw Bros. There was no real competition for Shaw Bros studios when it came to production value of martial arts films and this film proves it. The sets are, many of which are interiors that shows off their deep pockets as many other similar productions would stick to exteriors as much as possible to save on lighting, set design and other associated costs and in THE DRAGON MISSILE they're lavishly decorated giving way to some exquisitely designed fight scenes. Imagine having a Kung-Fu fight in penthouse suite of the Four Seasons but in old China. The costumes are also brilliant and have that iconic Kung-fu look to them. There's nothing cheap about this production and the cast and crew certainly hold up their end of the bargain as well.

Director Meng Hua Ho (The Flying Guillotine, The Mighty Peking Man) will be a recognizable name to any seasoned martial arts film fan as he directed some very notable films for Shaw Bros during the 1970s with his career having began with extensive work in the 1960s and running all the way through the early 90s. His work here is showy and stylish as the best martial arts films are. He beautifully captures the brilliant fight choreography and the editing keeps it smooth and flowing without feeling cut up and jumpy. The ensemble cast is a veritable who's who of Shaw Bros and Hong Kong cinema with just about every face popping being one you've seen before and will undoubtedly see again with just about everyone in the cast seemingly having 100 or more screen credits. Lieh Lo is no hero but he's a very capable lead and someone we still end up cheering for because he's so badass and has such cool weapons. He shares some memorable scenes with Tony Liu my favorite of which being the ring fight scene. The cast is made of character actor after character actor and each one brings their own personality to the table so things are always fresh and that ensures that THE DRAGON MISSILE is always entertaining and fun despite being little more than an 80 minute chase scene.

Martial arts films have given us some of the most memorable fight scenes, weapon designs, and thrills in all of cinema and the Dragon Missile might be some of the coolest weapons I've seen yet. The film will probably never be considered a true classic of the genre but I do think it is an exciting adventure movie and damn did I have a lot of fun watching it.

The Audio & Video
The film has been restored from an HD master in the film's original 2.35:1 Scope aspect ratio by 88 Films and boy does it look nice. The production features a wide array of colors from the lush greens to bright blues and reds and they all look vibrant and beautiful. The colors pop just enough without burning too hot and black levels are deep and free of any compression issues. The detail level gives the silk costumes and stunning interiors extra life and depth as it allows us to see the quality in each and every piece. The film is presented in its native Chinese with a LPCM uncompressed audio track or with the English dub and English subtitles. I chose to watch the film with the English dub and it sounded crisp, clear and absolutely pleasing to the ear. There was no distortions or damage to speak of.

The Extras
-Audio Commentary with Hong Kong cinema expert David West - This track features Mr. West giving a well paced and scripted commentary filled with historical facts and tidbits on the production of the film and its place in the Shaw Bros library along with extensive notes on the filmography and biography of just about every cast member that graces the screen as more than an extra. This is basically an audio encyclopedia on the film and is a really pleasing listen that even gives us some humorous moments.

-Audio Commentary with Asian cinema expert Bey Logan - Well if I didn't think the David West track could be topped I was wrong. Bey Logan is energetic and has facts and anecdotes firing fast and furious and gives a more in depth view of the production and locations. He covers some similar information as David West did on his track but I think he even adds more.

Reversible artwork is also included.

The Bottom Line
There's nobody I wouldn't recommend 88 Films' Blu-ray release of THE DRAGON MISSILE to. It's an action packed piece of martial arts goodness and for anyone that might say something crazy like "I don't like martial arts movies" well they're just plain wrong.

THE DRAGON MISSILE is available HERE