STRANGE INVADERS (Blu-ray Review) - Twilight Time

USA/1983
Directed By: Michael Laughlin
Written By: Bill Condon, Michael Laughlin, Walter Davis
Starring: Paul Le Mat, Nancy Allen, Diana Scarwid
Color/93 Minutes/PG
Region FREE
Release Date: October 13, 2015
Limited Edition: 3,000

The Film
In 1958 a race of aliens land in small town Centerville, Illinois and take control of the town, posing as normal human citizens. Fast forward to 1983 and a professor goes to Centerville looking for his ex-wife and discovers the town is stuck in 1958 and is home to some sort of beings not of this world. After narrowly escaping with his life the professor sees a photo of the aliens in a tabloid and he and the tabloid editor quickly become the target of these aliens and return to the town to find the truth.

STRANGE INVADERS is a love letter to the sci-fi invasion flicks of the 1950s by way of the special effects driven B-horror movies of the 80s. Clunky in its presentation, the film feels choppy in its editing. The story is a simple and effective one but suffers from a rather unsatisfying ending. Add in the wooden acting from everyone involved and STRANGE INVADERS really could be a total disaster but it has an endearing charm about it that helped me overlook many of its problems similar to those space invasion movie it is paying homage to.

The best part of STRANGE INVADERS is how well done the effects and art direction are. This movie is colorful with beautiful hues of pink, blue and purple all over the place and the makeup and special effects are expertly crafted. The design of the alien is memorable, fitting in with the color scheme perfectly and the numerous skin ripping scenes are eye popping and have just enough gross out factor to make it something special.

Unfortunately even the best parts of the movie are plagued by a puzzling decision in the cinematographers decision to use a foggy filter over the entire film which mutes the colors quite a bit. I guess the idea of filter is to add a dreamy quality or perhaps even a nostalgic touch but it isn't attractive and is frankly a bit annoying. STRANGE INVADERS isn't amazing, it relies on its effects and a very basic story to succeed and it does get a passing grade despite many missteps. It would fit nicely among a marathon including similar cheesy horror flicks from the 1980s such as Night Of The Creeps, Night Of The Comet and Invaders From Mars though I think all of those films are superior.

The Audio & Video
Twilight Time releases STRANGE INVADERS with its standard limited to 3,000 copies edition and features a full 1080p HD 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The Blu-ray features a natural film look with nice color reproduction but the film's photographic style dampens the colors affect and fine detail can get lost in wider shots that otherwise may have been there. Twilight Time's disc looks about as good as you could ask for given the film's natural look. The audio is handled with a DTS-HD mono Master Audio track that sounds pristine. There's no damage or background noise present and the dialogue and soundtrack are complimentary. This audio track is all about taking the original mix and making it sound as perfect as it can and not about trying to create fancy new multichannel mixes.

The Extras
-Audio Commentary with director Michael Laughlin and writer Bill Condon
-Isolated Score Track
-Original Theatrical Trailer
-Fully Illustrated Booklet

The Bottom Line
Not the piece of classic 80s B-movie cheese I was hoping for but STRANGE INVADERS is still entertaining enough and presented with enough care for me to recommend this limited edition release.

STRANGE INVADERS is available HERE

GET MEAN (Blu-ray Review) - Blue Underground

Italy/1975
Directed By: Ferdinando Baldi
Written By: Ferdinando Baldi, Lloyd Battista, Wolf Lowenthal
Starring: Tony Anthony, Diana Lorys, Lloyd Battista
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Limited Editon: 2,000

The Film
When a cowboy gets dragged by his horse into a deserted ghost town he meets a gypsy family that offers him a fortune to return a princess back home to Spain but upon getting to Spain he's immediately thrown head over heels (and heels over head!) into a war between barbarians, vikings, the Moors and must complete an epic quest to receive any of the money promised to him.

In one of the more bizarre and unexpected plots a movie has ever thrown at me, I'm not entirely sure what to make of GET MEAN. Tony Anthony reprises his role of The Stranger for the fourth time in a film that would get shelved for decades. There's no need to see the previous Stranger films to be able to perfectly follow along. Well, as much as you can follow this bizarre mish mash of spaghetti western, sword and sandal peplum film and Looney Tunes cartoon.

GET MEAN is entertaining in its absurd and comical presentation filled with oddball characters including a Shakespeare-reciting warlord and Indiana Jones esque adventures. It's a well made film from director Ferdinando Baldi who made his living skipping from genre to genre with the changing of fads in film. He directed another spaghetti western in the Blue Underground library, Texas Adios, along with the underrated Django, Prepare A Coffin. He would again collaborate with star Tony Anthony, who plays quite the opposite type of lead from Clint Eastwood or Franco Nero, in 1981's Comin' At Ya! and 83's Treasure Of The Four Crowns which were big parts of the 3D revival.

GET MEAN was a bit of an experiment hoping to be able to take a successful western hero out of his natural habitat that was at the end of its cycle and faced severely declining ticket sales, and put him in other exotic locations and adventures selling tickets solely on The Stranger name alone. Admittedly the idea failed and that was the end for The Stranger. At least now we're able to see the anything goes, more is more (except the budget, though you wouldn't know from watching) bizarre production that is GET MEAN.

The Audio & Video
Blue Underground delivers GET MEAN on Blu-ray with a full 1080p HD, 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. Overall picture quality is very good with a healthy grain structure giving the movie a natural film look. The picture is clean with little to no speckling noticeable. Detail level is good and at times great, while colors are natural without appearing too hot. The PQ can best be described as "natural". The English audio is delivered through a mono DTS-HD track that sounds great most of the time. Early on in the film there's a bit of damage to the audio likely from the source material and not from the work done on the Blu-ray. Otherwise the mix is great and levels are steady with a crisp and clear soundtrack throughout.

Please note - Screen grabs have been taken from the DVD version of the film and do not represent the  superior quality of the Blu-ray HD version of the film.

The Extras
-"Tony & I": An interview with director Ferdinando Baldi (8 Minutes) - Baldi briefly discusses his history with Tony Anthony and their friendship and love of cinema including how Anthony played a big role in reviving 3D in the 1980s.
-"The Story Of The Stranger": Interview with producer and star Tony Anthony (23 Minutes) - A new interview with Tony Anthony as he discusses GET MEAN for the first time ever in an interview along with other career anecdotes.
-"Looking For Richard": Interview with co-writer/star Lloyd Battista )(12 Minutes) - A lively sit down with Battista who delivers stories of his time making movies with his friend Tony Anthony and how the movies were made
-"Beating A Dead Horse": An interview with Executive Producer Ronald J. Schneider (10 Minutes) - Stories of trying to get GET MEAN financed after the spaghetti western market essentially crashed. This is especially interesting for those interested in the inner workings of getting a movie made from a financial standpoint.
-Deleted Scenes
-Theatrical Trailer
-French Trailer
-Radio Spots
-Poster and Still Gallery
-Booklet with essays on the Stranger film series by Howard Hughes
-DVD copy of the film

The Bottom Line
I'm not sure how they pulled it off but GET MEAN is one wild entertaining ride that could have easily been a total disaster. Credit is due to the cast and crew for making a crazy movie and to Blue Underground for rescuing this film from obscurity and securing its safe place in genre film history with a great BD presentation.

GET MEAN is available HERE

PAY THE GHOST (DVD Review) - Image/RLJ Entertainment

Canada/2015
Directed By: Uli Edel
Written By: Tim Lebbon, Dan Kay
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Veronica Ferres
Color/95 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: November 10, 2015

The Film
Mike Lawford (Nicolas Cage) and his wife Kristen (Sarah Wayne Callies) have had their lives and marriage fall apart over the last year when their son Charley went missing at a Halloween carnival near their home in New York City. As Halloween approaches again they begin to see ghostly images of Charley and reconnect in hopes of figuring out the strange occurrences and finally finding their son but they quickly find out that their journey is going to bring them head first into a centuries old Samhain curse.

PAY THE GHOST doesn't deviate too far from what you'd probably expect this movie to be. It's filled with Nicolas Cage making ridiculous facial expressions, some cliche horror movie moments often done with questionable CGI, a Nic Cage freak out, and a few moments that are really pretty good. The Halloween carnival scenes are short but really capture an dangerous and creepy atmosphere. The scenes with Nicolas Cage literally crossing over to the other side are beautiful in scope and look larger than life.

The third act becomes a less polished version of Insidious for better or worse. I've seen the first two Insidious films and am not at all a fan of them but the path PAY THE GHOST took didn't bother me with it's striking simularities to those films at times, perhaps because I don't think PAY THE GHOST could have been anything more than it already was and comparisons to a disappointing and vastly underwhelming hit franchise.

The Audio & Video
RLJ Entertainment deliver PAY THE GHOST on DVD with a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that features an intentionally cold color palette heavy in greys and washed out hues adding to the style and feeling of the film. Picture quality is good with just a few trace moments of blocking during the scenes with heavy black levels. The English audio comes in with a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that sounds fine. There's not an awful lot going on to give your sound system a workout but the dialogue and soundtrack are always mixed very well and levels are steady.

The Extras
Someone didn't pay the ghost enough to get special features.

The Bottom Line
Decent acting, a signature Nic Cage spazz out, a couple striking visuals are the high points for an otherwise middle of the road horror thriller that may have overachieved in even being that.

PAY THE GHOST is available HERE

DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW (DVD Review) - Wild Eye Releasing

USA/2013
Directed By: Libby McDermott
Written By: John Taylor
Starring: Charles Dawson, Mel Heflin, Sarah Snyder
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: June 23, 2015

The Film
DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW doesn't waste any time bringing the viewer crashing down into a cold and brutal world as a bruised and bloody woman walks naked down a series of train tracks until she is found. We then get to watch the rest of the film in which a man hunts and kills a pair of girls on the Appalachian Trail when he discovers they're lesbian lovers. The local sheriff begins to piece together clues from other unsolved disappearances on the trail in an attempt to discover the identity of the killer before anymore lives are lost.

There's some spotty moments in the script and weak acting but in spite of that DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW still worked for me as a tense horror thriller based on a true crime. The photography is one of my favorite things about the film as it is harsh and generates an instant feeling the viewer can relate to, or has to relate to.

I only wish the script had been reworked with another writer to make the film less stilted and forced as I think a stronger and more natural script would have organically elevated the performances and in turn raised DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW up a notch. Regardless, this is a solid indie horror thriller well worth a viewing.

The Audio & Video
Wild Eye Releasing gives us another one of their signature rock solid DVDs. The anamorphic widescreen transfer has good color reproduction and solid black levels. The picture is clean and crisp. The English audio is handled with a 2.0 stereo track that is free of any background noise or distortions and has a clear and stable mix.

The Extras
Wild Eye Releasing previews

The Bottom Line
Flawed but worthwhile.

DEAD WOMAN'S HOLLOW is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Days 25-27

Day 25 had no viewings. I think this is the first day since I started doing this annual challenge for 100 horror viewings during the month that I didn't watch a single thing. Weird.

Day 26 we got back on track with a couple of viewings starting with the classic Halloween 3. It's a must watch this time of year and it makes me happy to see it gain a little more popularity each year as time goes by and people discover what a masterpiece it is.

The Man And The Monster was next, a Mexican production of Gothic horror which sort of combines Jekyll and Hyde with the Phantom of the Opera as a man has made a deal with the devil to make him the most talented pianist in the world. The catch is that he turns into this hideous beast man whenever he plays the piece of music that the devil gave him to make him famous. It's a classic gothic style tale mashed up with 50s monster movie schlock (just look at the monster makeup!) and makes for a good time.

Moving on to day 27, we start out with Madmae O, a late 60s slice of Japanese revenge. Seiko plays a well off doctor who uses her medical status to take revenge on men as she was raped at 16 and left pregnant and infected with Syphyllus. After settling down with a man she's finally able to love her penchant for revenge returns after she finds out he's planning on killing her to inherit her wealth. The director switches between color and black and white photography but I didn't see any real need for it. A well written script and good acting make this one worth while even if we've seen the ending countless times.

Then came a psychadelic slice of gothic and Lovecraftian horror in Curse Of The Crimson Altar which features Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff and Barbara Steele. How about that cast? Brilliant. Strange local customs feed into the paranoia and terror of a man looking for his brother who he believes is being held in this strange little town that is celebrating the anniversary of a witch burning and believes he could also be in trouble. Not every character is as they seem in this one that features stunning interior sets and costume design along with great performances and a bit of trippy directing style.

An overdue trip to the theater was in order to finally catch Goosebumps, a movie my inner child (and outer adult) was pretty excited for ever since seeing the trailer a few months back. I was a big fan and avid reader of the R. L. Stine books and I think the movie accurately captured the spirit and feel of the books making for a family friendly fantasy horror adventure film with enough scares for the kids and it is made well enough to keep older viewers engaged as well. It wasn't everything I was hoping for as only a few monsters from the book series were featured characters while the rest were relegated to background duty and the scare factor could have been ramped up a bit and still kept kid friendly but it was entertaining nevertheless.

Finally the day ended with Curse Of The Crying Woman, another Mexican horror film and perhaps the best one I've seen this month. This is pure gothic vampire and ghost lure with thick foggy exterior shots in the woods and a foreboding castle with brilliantly and perhaps overbearingly designed interiors. Wonderfully spooky special effects and some downright scary characters and moments make this one a must see.

Today's Rundown
Halloween 3 - 9/10
The Man And The Monster - 7/10
Madame O - 7/10
Curse Of The Crimson Alatar - 7.5/10
Goosebumps - 7/10
Curse Of The Crying Woman - 8/10

THE EXORCISM OF MOLLY HARTLEY (Blu-ray Review) - 20th Century Fox

USA/2015
Directed By: Steven R. Monroe
Written By: Matt Venne
Starring: Sarah Lind, Devon Sawa, Gina Holden
Color/96 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: October 20, 2015

The Film
On her 18th birthday Molly Hartley became possessed by a demon. After seemingly overcoming her literal demons Molly has led a normal and successful life. After graduating college she has become a partner in her company the demons have returned as she is charged with murdering two of her friends  on the night of her 24th birthday and has been confined to a mental hospital where a defrocked priest hopes to redeem himself and save the young woman.

Seven years after the original film that failed to impress me at all we're given a sequel starring Sarah Lind and Devon Sawa as the priest looking for redemption. There's little chance for the cast to shine as the screenplay is as basic as they come. Every exorcism themed horror movie cliche is shown, from cursing religious themed obscenities, to vomiting (usually green as it is here), special effects makeup to show that, yes, the girl is indeed possessed and so on.

And with the cliches comes absolutely none of the suspense or sheer urgency in trying to cure the victim. The film has no heart to it. It's a paint by numbers picture with every label neatly marked. There's nothing to see here unless you feel like you need to see every exorcism themed horror film and I assure you you don't.

The Audio & Video
20th Century Fox delivers a very attractive 1080p HD presentation of the film in a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Colors are vibrant and lively while flesh tones are naturally fleshy without any waxiness. Textures and surfaces show great detail and there's no issues with black levels blocking up. The English DTS-HD master audio is handled in a 5.1 surround mix that is well done. Levels are steady and feature a nice mix between dialogue and score. The sound quality is crystal clear and quite crisp with no background noise or damage.

The Extras
-"Exorcism: Beyond One Truth" featurette
-Clovesdale Institute: Security cam footage featurette
-Director diaries

The Bottom Line
There's not an awful lot that hasn't already been done in exorcism movies but THE EXORCISM OF MOLLY HARTLEY doesn't even try.

THE EXORCISM OF MOLLY HARTLEY is available HERE

October Horror Challenge 2015 - Day 24

Day 24 was filled with catching up on episodes of Masters of Horror that I'd never seen so let's get to it -

The V Word is a vampire story from Ernest Dickerson that doesn't take long to get started but quickly loses steam and becomes a waiting game for anything interesting to happen in the 2nd half. The make up and effects are good but this isn't one of the better episodes.

The acting in Brad Anderson's Sounds Like may be among the best in the series, especially from the lead Chris Bauer who carries the film as a man dealing with the tragic death of his young son and suffering from a condition that drastically amplifies his hearing levels. As his marriage falls apart it is easy to predict the complete and total mental breakdown and all of the horrors that come with it. If the rest of the episode was as good the end this would be a classic episode. Unfrotunately it is a bit too slow going and aside from Bauer there's not a single interesting character.

Tobe Hooper's season 2 entry was The Damned Thing and much like his entry in season 1, Dance of the Dead, I'm not a fan. The Damned Thing starts out with a bang and builds immediate interest in the story. There are a few incredibly violent and gory moments but the story just isn't strong enough. 

Lastly there was Dream Cruise from director Norio Tsuruta which was the extended episode of the season clocking in at around 87 minutes which helped this one a bit but unfortunately it's still mediocre. This is a love triangle that turns murderous with a very mid-2000s ghost story thrown on top of it set in the middle of the ocean on a yacht. Some chilling scenes and an okay story makes it worth a watch. 

Today's Rundown

The V Word - 4/10

Sounds Like - 5/10

The Damned Thing - 4/10

Dream Cruise - 5/10