Thursday 14 March 2024

Dark Water (2002)

 


Hideo Nakata's film of Koji Suzuki's novella gets a UHD upgrade from Arrow.



Yoshimi (Hitomi Kuroki) is getting divorced, and the big question is who is going to get custody of her six year old daughter Ikuko (Rio Kanno). For now it's Yoshimi, and the two of them move into an apartment in a refurbished but still rundown tower block.



Despite the flat having been redecorated, a bothersome damp patch persists on the bedroom ceiling, a patch which gets steadily larger and more drippy the longer they stay there. Then there's that blurred figure in a yellow raincoat, and the fact that apparently a little girl who lived in the block went missing a couple of years ago. And she lived in the flat above Yoshimi and Ikuko.



DARK WATER isn't as good as the team's previous RINGU (1999) and could probably have done with about 15 minutes trimming off its 101 minute runtime. It's still nicely atmospheric, though, and delivers at least one good ghostly scare.



Arrow's UHD transfer looks fantastic. DARK WATER has always looked rather muddy on disc but the image here is crystal clear. Extras include interviews from 2016 with Nakata (26 minutes), Suzuki (20 minutes) and DP Junichiro Hayashi (20 minutes). There's also an archival 2002 making of and interviews with actors Kuroki and Asami Mizukawa (who plays the grown up Ikuko) and Shikao Suga who wrote the song at the end.

You also get trailers, TV spots and a booklet with writing on the film from Michael Gingold and David Kalat. 


Hideo Nakata's DARK WATER is out on 4K UHD from Arrow on Monday 18th March 2024

Wednesday 13 March 2024

Possessor (2020)


Writer-director Brandon Cronenberg's second feature (after ANTIVIRAL but before INFINITY POOL) gets the Second Sight special treatment in a limited edition UHD & Blu-ray boxset, with individual releases for the different formats as well.



The very Cronenbergly-named Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough) is a hit-person employed by Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who has a special device that allows Tasya to take control of other people's bodies. Her newest assignment is to possess Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott, most recent seen in POOR THINGS) whose girlfriend Ava (Tuppence Middleton) is the daughter of Tasya's target John Parse (Sean Bean). But Tasya's brain is starting to get affected by all the mind-jumping she's been doing and that, coupled with the nature of her job, is beginning to induce murderous psychopathic tendencies.



POSSESSOR is a right old brain-banger of a film: Philip K Dick by way of Michael Reeves' THE SORCERERS (which director Brandon Cronenberg gives a nod to early on, allowing us film nerds to nod sagely). The film's plots is straightforward enough, allowing Cronenberg to use his not inconsiderable skills to scramble your brain with visuals that will leave you staggering. Gorgeously shot by Karim Hussein and with terrific performances from everyone involved, this isn't a film you can watch everyday, but it's definitely one to regularly revisit. And then have a nice lie down in a darkened room afterwards.



Second Sight's set comes with a stack of new extras including a commentary track from Cronenberg, Hussein, producer Rob Cotterill and SFX provider Dan Martin. There are also new interviews with Cronenberg, Cotterill and Hussein. Disassociating from Mind and Body is a new piece on the film from Zoe Rose Smith and there's an FX 'Show and Tell' with Dan Martin. You also get three archive featurettes, deleted scenes, and the short film Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You.



Finally, there's a 120 page book with new essays, six art cards and a lovely box to keep everything in.



Brandon Cronenberg's POSSESSOR is out in limited edition UHD & Blu-ray boxset, plus as individual UHD and Blu-ray discs, on Monday 18th March 2024

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Dogman (2024)


"Luc Besson's JOKER - With Dogs...(Sort Of)"


Writer-directot Luc Besson's latest feature gets a Blu-ray and digital release from Altitude Films.

Doug (Caleb Landry Jones) is stopped by the police after the abandoned school he calls home is found full of dead bodies. The van he is driving also happens to be full of very much living dogs, who he assures the police won't hurt them as long as the dogs don't feel Doug is under threat.



Confined to a police cell he is interviewed by psychologist Evelyn (Jojo T Gibbs). In flashback we see the story of his awful upbringing by his father and brother who kept fighting dogs and who imprisoned him in the dogs' cage. Befriended by the animals who became his loyal companions, the number of dogs Doug looked after only increased when he starting working for the local pound. Now he has a veritable canine army who are happy to do his bidding.



DOGMAN feels like JOKER by way of WILLARD, only with dogs instead of rats. It also feels like a film with a few too many ideas to form a satisfactory story. Doug is more or less paralysed from the waist down from a gunshot injury by his father, he sings at a nightclub in drag, and he has trained his dogs to steal from rich people's houses. 



The result is a film that feels like a grungy super-villain origin story, but one that bumps along in too many fits and starts to satisfy the comic-book crowd. That said Jones is excellent in another quirky role, as are all the dogs, and any film directed by Luc Besson is worth checking out. DOGMAN is a far cry from his more recent glossy SF efforts like LUCY or VALERIAN and while it's nowhere near as good as NIKITA or LEON if you've ever been a fan of the director it's definitely worth checking out. Here's the trailer:



Luc Besson's DOGMAN is out on Blu-ray and Digital from Altitude Films on Monday 11th March 2024

Saturday 24 February 2024

Bad Biology (2008)


"Completely Nuts"


If a David Cronenberg film were to be given a frontal lobotomy and then have electrodes wired to its testicles, the result might be something like Frank Henenlotter's BAD BIOLOGY, now  getting a dual format UHD and Blu-ray release from Severin Films.



Jennifer (Charlee Danielson) was born with seven clitorises and is on a constant search for sexual satisfaction. If impregnated she brings to term, and gives birth to, a monstrous deformed baby within a matter of minutes. Meanwhile Batz (Anthony Sneed) was the victim of an unfortunate accident at birth where his penis was amputated. It was reattached but failed to function. Now, through the application of growth hormones, steroids, and erectile dysfunction medication, his penis is enormous and has developed a mind of its own. When the two get together, hilarity of a type only Henenlotter can realise ensues.



BAD BIOLOGY is very funny, but only if you're on Henenlotter's outrageous wavelength. Otherwise steer clear because many will find the subject matter offensive to the point of disgust or just plain silly to the point of ridiculousness. Suffice to say if you liked BASKET CASE or FRANKENHOOKER you'll want to check this out. In fact you've probably already seen it.

If you're a fan of BAD BIOLOGY you'll be pleased to know Severin's UHD transfer looks fabulous and is a step up from the Blu-ray that's also included in the package. Two commentary tracks (one archival with Henelotter and producer R A Thorburn, the other with Henelotter, Sneed and DP Nicholas Deeh) are on both discs with all the other extras on the Blu-ray.



These consist of 'Spook House - Interviews with the Crew and a Retired Detective' which is 30 minutes of chat about the allegedly haunted filming location with Henenlotter, Thorburn, Deeg and others. The retired detective is Frank's brother Dave who has also brought along Zeus the dog for his interview.



'In the Basement with Charlee Danielson and a Basketball' is four minutes of exactly what it says, while 'Swollen Agenda' gives us 12 minutes with Gabe Bartalos talking about his special effects for the film. Sneed and Deeg chat with each other about their careers and the film for a whopping 66 minutes. There's also 32 minutes of behind the scenes footage, Sneed's short film Suck, eight minutes of 'O' faces, a music video and still gallery.



 

Frank Henenlotter's BAD BIOLOGY is out in a dual disc UHD and Blu-ray set and a single Blu-ray edition from Severin Films on Monday 26th February 2024

Friday 23 February 2024

Nightmares in a Damaged Brain (1981)


Who would ever have thought it? One of the most infamous (for a number of reasons which are all gone into in the copious extras on this disc) of the video nasties gets a UK two disc dual format UHD and Blu-ray release from Severin Films.



Tatum (Baird Stafford) is released from his very low budget-looking psychiatric institution having undergone a revolutionary new therapy that we know is bound not to work. Still plagued by nightmares (aha!) he sets off to find his ex-wife Susan (Sharon Smith), bumping people off along the way. At the climax, we see via a blood-drenched flashback, the reason for Tatum's original incarceration.



Adopting an almost Pete Walker-style disdain for the ineffectiveness of psychiatric treatment that kind of makes NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN the sleazy grindhouse FRIGHTMARE of the 1980s, Romano Scavolini's film also goes so far as to suggest that the causative trauma of Tatum's psychosis may be repeated by his own demise. That's not the reason the film got into trouble, though. In the US Tom Savini's name featured prominently on the press materials and in the credits despite him have little to do with the film. In the UK the film was released by World of Video 2000 uncut despite BBFC instructions to the commentary, and they might have got away with it were it not for their accompanying round British 'Guess the weight of a human brain in a jar' competition used to publicise the film. 



Extras (which are on the Blu-ray) kick off with the superb 71 minute documentary 'Damaged' about the life and career of NIGHTMARE's original UK VHS distributor David Hamilton Grant. An infamous character whose life story would likely make a film even more controversial and 'likely to cause offence' than the film itself, this is probably the final word on the man unless he ever surfaces (or is found) to offer comment. Excellent stuff and, if you have any interest in the history of British exploitation cinema of the 1970s and 1980s, this alone is worth the price of the disc.



40 minutes of cast and crew interviews include star Baird Stafford, Simon Nuchtern (production supervisor), Ed French and Cleve Hall (makeup), and Arthur Schweitzer (head of 21st Century Distribution). Writer-Director Romano Scavolini talks for a whopping 71 minutes about his career and the film, while Tom Savini is interviewed to iron out the controversy concerning his alleged participation in the film (his credit is still present on the print presented here). There are also deleted scenes (only a minute or so), a still gallery, trailer, and two commentary tracks - one with Stafford and Cleve Hall, the other with producer William Paul. 



Romano Scavolini's NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN is out in a double-disc UHD and Blu-ray set and also as a single Blu-ray from Severin Films in the UK on Monday 26th February 2024

Friday 16 February 2024

The Wages of Fear (1953)


"In Which Four Men Drive Two Lorries Filled With 200 Gallons of Nitroglycerine Across A Lot Of Very Bumpy Roads"


After its 2017 DVD & Blu-ray release from the same label, Henri-Georges Clouzot's masterpiece gets a 4K UHD release from the BFI.



In a dead end village in South America, four men decide to risk their lives to try and earn enough money for them to escape. They are Mario (Yves Montand), Jo (Charles Vanel), Bimba (Peter van Eyck) and Luigi (Folco Lulli). When oil drilling by an American company ("Wherever there's oil there's Americans" says Luigi in one of the lines cut for the original US release of this one) results in an increasingly uncontrollable fire, the only thing that can put it out are multiple timed explosions to cap it. Unfortunately the nitro-glycerine needed to do this is some distance away, is unstable, and the only way to get it there is over treacherous rounds in two trucks with little suspension.



Clocking in at 153 minutes, the first hour of THE WAGES OF FEAR is given over to establishing the main characters and the town they have found themselves stuck in. William Friedkin's 1977 remake SORCERER spends some time going deeper into each man's backstory, but here we stay in the village and that works fine. Once the lorries are underway the film becomes superbly tense, with absolutely no let up until the final shot.



The BFI's UHD disc in 4K (2160p) in HDR compatible Dolby Vision. All the extras from the previous Blu-ray release have been carried over, including Adrian Martin commentary, interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff, Clouzit biographer Marc Godin and Professor Lucy Mazdon (68 minutes in all) and the Guardian Lecture with Yves Montand.



New to the UHD disc are a new 13 minute video essay by Nic Wassell, and 30 minutes of 'Treasures From the BFI National Archive'. These include THEY TAKE THE HIGH ROAD (24 minutes) about cement transport in Scotland in 1960. It's a beautifully preserved colour film featuring a number of classic lorries from the period including AECs, ERFs and Leylands. If you're into that then you'll also want to watch the five minute silent short about Thornycroft all-terrain six wheelers. Finally there's a snippet (32 seconds) of an oil fire checked by explosives from 1928.


Henri-Georges Clouzot's THE WAGES OF FEAR is out on 4K UHD from the BFI on Monday 19th February 2024


Thursday 15 February 2024

Deliver Us (2024)



"...From This?"


A group of Zoroastrians are slaughtered and skinned so that the intricate tattoos that foretell of the coming of both the Messiah and the Antichrist can be preserved. Meanwhile, in a remote Russian convent a statue of Mary weeps while a nun develops bloody stigmata.



It's barely got started and DELIVER US is already doing well in the 'no idea what's going on but this looks entertaining' stakes. Things get even better when we learn that the nun we saw is pregnant with twins who she claims talk to her and say they are the promised Messiah and Antichrist. Television broadcasts are issuing news bulletins about an impending solar eclipse and there is the suggestion that disease is spreading across the world. Can DELIVER US maintain this frenzied level of Eurotrashtastic fun?

Unfortunately, no it can't. (Booooo!)



Discount store Jared Leto-style hipster Catholic priest Father Fox (co-writer, co-producer, co-director and star Lee Roy Kunz, from which we shall infer nothing just yet) is despatched to the convent to find out what's going on. There he meets Cardinal Russo (Alexander Siddig who is the best thing in this but that's not hard) and one-eyed, leather apron-wearing pistol-packing Father Saul (Thomas Kretschmann) who turns out to be a villain. Yes that's right. Who would have guessed? 



Our two heroes have to save the nun from Father Saul. She gives birth on a train. They all hole up in a remote part of Estonia. The film gets slower. Father Fox's pregnant girlfriend turns up and says they are problems with the oil company she runs. The film gets slower. And sillier. And slower. Every now and then there are dream sequences to give the film a bit of a boost. It doesn't work. Eventually the film sputters to a halt by which time all the goodwill DELIVER US will have engendered amongst fans of this sort of thing in its opening act has been well and truly exhausted by some incredibly poor pacing. Oh, and a lot of the dialogue is so mumbled even the subtitling machine couldn't work out what was being said, but some of the poor thing's attempts were more entertaining than the action onscreen, so if you do end up watching this one try it for yourself. In fact I can already see the bad film fans itching to rent this one. In the meantime here's the trailer:





DELIVER US is out on Digital from Altitude Films on Monday 19th February 2024