REVIEWS - ISSUE NUMBER 003 - 2001/10/31
499 Rose Avenue, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J 8J2, Canada
fringevideo@hotmail.com
INTRODUCTION
DVD technology is just crippling my bank account. Every time I turn around a hundred new discs are being released. New companies are sprouting up like wild weeds. In my basement, I have thousands of VHS tapes which are slowly becoming as useless as 8-track cassettes. Rare and lost videos I picked up, only months back are being re-released every day onto this new medium and sold through mass markets. I often find myself buying DVDs that I already have on VHS. It's very frustrating..., I pity those who invested in Lazer discs in the 1990's. If a new medium arose tomorrow I think I would just give up! I sincerely thank the companies that have donated discs for me to review in this zine. In return I will try to offer ad space free of charge, as well as mention on the web site. Please if you see a review here that sparks your interest, do try to seek out some of these harder to find discs, instead of just buying the latest Disney crap. You will be glad that you did. If you have any questions about a film or a company, just email me: fringevideo@hotmail.com and I will do my best to help you out... Until then, enjoy. - Tony Crosgrey.
BAD TASTE (1987)
d: Jackson, Peter; New Zealand; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: Unrated; Region: ALL; 0092 mins; [Picture]; Color; [Sound]; English.
Founded by grant money from the New Zealand government, this 16mm action / comedy / horror / sci-fi was the film that started Peter Jackson's road trip to hollywood success. A crude four year student splatter film about Alien fast-food manufacturers who come to New Zealand in hopes of harvesting all of humankind. A trio of heavily armed dimwitted government agents must stop the vomit drinking bastards before its too late! Roadrunner type cartoon gun action, gallons of blood, and dismembered aliens soon follow. Grotesquely exaggerated violence, heads are split apart, brains are eaten, and much more... The great looking alien FX costumes that where made in Peter Jackson's own oven, add to this cult horror film. Other confident directorial touches show why Jackson was the man for Lord of the Rings (2001). This stuff is so great, I hope he takes some of that money and throws one of these splatter films our way again. Jackson plays two of the leading roles and acts with himself in one of the scenes. For those upset that this Canadian disc is now out of print, don't worry Anchor Bay Entertainment should have a Limited Edition (50,000) 2-Disc Set out by the time you read this. It should also contain a documentary "Good Taste Made Bad Taste" with a 16 page booklet and special packaging just in time to cash in on Jackson's big success (Substance).
MEET THE FEEBLES (1989)
d: Jackson, Peter; New Zealand; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: Unrated; Region: ALL; 0092 mins; [Picture]; Color; [Sound]; English.
Imagine Jim Henson’s Muppet Show crashing head first into, a bus load of hippies, and sex perverts. Best discribed as puppets on Acid. Pot smoking, gun toting creatures known as the Feebles are producing a variety show for television. Like the Muppets these characters are a mixture of puppets, marionettes, and people in animal suits, who in a strong NewZealand accent tell "...a backstage story complete with sex, suicide, drugs, and body fluids". Made in 1989, the film was budgeted with money made from an earlier film Bad Taste (1987), some Japanese investors and from the New Zealand Film Commission. It is a really well done, X-rated musical that took only twelve weeks to make. The movie "relates the fateful events that lead to the infamous Feebles Variety Massacre - A day that rocked the puppet world!" A horny fox, a really gross looking rabbit with AIDS, and a junkie knife throwing frog. Also in the cast is the panty sniffing stagehand Dennis, having sex with Daisy the S&M cow in a porno directed by a drug dealing rat. Heidi the Hippo (similiar to Miss Piggy) suspects that her huge walrus husband is having an affair with a Siamese cat named Samantha, and don’t forget our star 'Wobert', a shy hedgehog trying to break into the entertainment business. The dysfunctional lives and personal problems of the cast threatens to put an end to the show just hours before air time. Could be compaired to Gerard [Deep Throat (1972) / Devil in Miss Jones (1973)] Damiano's Let My Puppets Come (1976) which features puppet fellatio, and penetration, or Henri Xhonneux' Marquis (1989), which has a muppet version of DeSadegoing mad in a prison cell (Substance).
DEAD-ALIVE / Braindead (1992)
Aka: Braindead; d: Jackson, Peter; m/a Balme, Timothy; f/a: Penalver, Diana; New Zealand; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: Unrated; Region: 0; 0097 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1; Color; [Sound]; English.
Stop: If you haven't seen this movie yet, go to your local video dealer and get it right now, and please avoid the R-rated version. This film single-handedly created the Splat-Stick genre with more on-screen gore than the original Evil Dead (1982), and it has become a treasured favorite in my collection. Originally released as Brain Dead (1992) in New Zealand, the title was changed in North America by Vestron to avoid confusion with Adam Simon's (1990) horror / thriller by the same name. Peter Jackson spent most of his $3 million dollar budget on Pork Fat, Latex, Sisal, Polyfoam, Human Hair, Ultra Slime, Hundreds of gallons of maple syrup, and managed to create an amazing comical, gore feast, zombie flick which sent him on his road to stardom. It is great to finally see this classic released in it's original uncut version on DVD. While Lionel [Tmothy Balme] visits the zoo, a legendary 'rat monkey' bites his mother. As days go on the deadly bite turns Lionel's mum into a walking corpse, who zombifies anyone who crosses her path. He hides his secret from the town and his new love by keeping his mother and her recent victims sedated with animal tranquilzers in the basement. When his Uncle Les throws a wild house party, all the guest are turned into zombies. Realizing that things are now getting out of hand, Lionel straps a lawn mower to his body, in a climatic scene censored from most versions carried by the major video chains, he cuts the zombies into pieces with his lethal lawn care equipment. 300 liters of blood were used in this scene alone. A must for lovers of splatter and gore (www.lionsgatefilms.com).
OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES (1983)
Aka: Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies; Aka: Tombs of the Living Dead; Aka: Treasure of the Living Dead; d: Franco, Jess; m/a Gelin, Manuel; f/a: Jordan, France; France / Spain; [Packaging]; Snap Case; Rating: Unrated; Region: 1; 0082 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1; 16x9; Color; [Sound]; English / French Mono.
Oasis of the Zombies was originally credited to be directed by A.M. Frank Much debate, to determine if this film had really been done by exploitation director Jess Franco. The man has recently confirmed this himself, and now admits to the rare act of filming the movie twice, both in French and Spanish. The two versions shared some footage but utilized different cast for minor characters. The Spanish version La Tumba de Los Muertos Vivientes / The Tombs of the Living Dead (1983) has not yet been released in North America but does play on Spanish television. This DVD is the French version, recently released by Image Entertainment's EuroShock Collection. Oasis is a slow paced movie about a group of young college kids using their holiday to search out Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's hidden treasure. A former SS soldier is also looking for the treasure, both find the gold guarded by flesh eating Nazi Zombies who rise from the dead and attack anyone who would attempt to steal their loot. Don't expect much splatter, apart from a scene where a girl gets her guts ripped out. Besides that scene, this low body count film would be best recomended for Jess Franco completists only. Similar to John Carpenter's The Fog (1980), or Ken Wiederhorn's Shock Waves (1977) the movie rarely obtains a good review, and complaints range from the lack of gore to the lame zombie make-up. Comparisons are usually made to another French / Spanish production Zombie Lake (1980) directed by erotic vampire master Jean Rollin, and written by Jess Franco. This often made comparison leads me to question if Rollin perhaps had helped with this film as well? Rumors abound on the internet that perhaps Oasis of the Zombies is somebody else's hack job on Franco's Spanish Tombs of the Living Dead? Extras could have included the Spanish version [or clips from it] for comparison between the two films (www.Image-entertainment.com).
BLACK SUNDAY (1960)
Aka: Mask of Satan; d: Bava, Mario; m/a Richardson, John; f/a: Steele, Barbara; Italy; [Packaging]; Snap Case; Rating: Unrated; Region: 1; 0087 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1; 16x9; B&W; [Sound]; English.
Barbara Steele plays an executed witch who has a spiked golden mask hammered onto her face. Many years later she is accidentally revived from her grave as a vampire and seeks revenge on the descendants of her enemies while attempting to possess a lookalike princess (also played by Steele). An excellent Universal studio’s type horror film, hauntingly photographed. Originally titled Mask of the Demon, and shown in the UK as Revenge of the Vampire, this debut film established Mario Bava as one of the great horror film stylists and made the unknown Steele a cult star. The movie achieved world-wide commercial and critical success under its better-known title of Black Sunday. When originally released in North America by American International, the film was hacked quite a bit. This version released by image entertainment restores the cut footage and contains a ‘very’ indepth and interesting commentary track by Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas, who points out many things that would be otherwise un-noticed or unknown (www.Image-entertainment.com).
MACABRE (1997)
Aka: Frozen Terror; aka: Macabro: Macabre; d: Bava, Lamberto; m/a: Molnar, Stanko; f/a: Stegers, Bernice; Italy; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: Unrated; Region: 1; 0090 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1; (16 x 9); [Sound]; Dolby Digital Mono; English.
Son of Italy’s much loved Mario Bava, Lamberto [Bay of Blood (1971); A Blade In the Dark (1983)] Bava debut’s his career with this necro-character study of a woman named Jane. A slow pounding piece that has many of the characters in the film doing nothing but living there own lives. Nobody seems too concerned that Jane is spending so much time sneaking off leaving her children un-attended, besides her little girl who decides to drown her brother in the bathtub for some much needed attention. When she learns of the tragedy Jane and her boyfriend rush home only to get into a violent car accident before reaching their destination. The boyfriends head is decapitated. Jane is later released from a mental home, and we follow her decent into madness. She moves into her ex’s apartment and seems to have found a new lover. “Has she found a ghastly new way to satisfy her lust, or is sexual depravity all in the head?” While watching this one, you can see the obvious influences of his father. A bizarre and stylish thriller that gives the viewer a confined feeling of imprisonment. Bava continuously shows us the ice box creating an unnerving suspense. Even though the viewer knows what is in the fridge, the shocks still abound in the last few minutes, but there is very little splatter and gore, and much cheese FX. Worth the purchase for those interested in Italian horror cinema only. Others beware. Disc includes: Theatrical Trailer and ‘Ahead for Horror: Lamberto Bava on Macabre’ (www.anchorbayentertainment.com).
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 4: The Next Generation (1997)
Aka: Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre; d: Henkel, Kim; m/a: McConaughey, Matthew; f/a: Zellweger, Renee; USA; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: R; Region: 1; 0093 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1; [Sound]; Dolby 2.0;
The film was surrounded by controversy from day one. After waiting for Renee Zellweger’s hit film Jerry Maguire (1996) to finish its theatrical release, Matthew McConaughey’s agents [Creative artists Agency] then began pressuring Columbia / Tri-Star to put the movie on hold. I don’t know how true all this is, but I do know that I originally had to get my copy bootlegged from a Japanese Laser Disc just to see the film in North America. If horror films are too embarrassing to your career, then don’t act in them, and if they are not worth marketing, then stay away, we don’t want to give you our money anyways. Are you listening Universal [House of 1,000 Corpses (2001)] Pictures? Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Next Generation was a remake not a sequel. Emotionally damaging for the bruised and beaten actors, director Kim Henkel, who wrote the original finally got to tell the story the way he wanted it told. I thought the added secret society plot was brilliant, yet the film doesn’t have that grimmy, dirty feeling that the original gives you. Perhaps it was a backlash against the peace loving sixties, which made the films of the 1970’s very dark and depressing, unfortunately this remake doesn’t seem to capture that mood (www.lionsgatefilms.com).
AWAKENING OF THE BEAST (1969)
d: Mojica Marins, Jose ; m/a: Unknown; f/a: Unknown; Brazil; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: NR; Region: 1; 0100 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1; [Sound]; Dolby 2.0 Mono; Portuguese w/ Eng. Subtitles.
For those who don’t know Jose Mojica Marins, (also known by his more famous Aka: Coffin Joe), he is probably one of Brazil’s most interesting exports. He is an Elvira type character who always wears his trademark top hat, black cape and long ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not’ type fingernails. After Coffin Joe witnessed a pregnant prostitute being beaten by the police, he envisioned a film about drugs and their effect on his homeland. The film both in color and b&w is a harder edged Reefer Madness (1938), with psychedelic scenes showing the perversion among the youth of the Brazilian nation. Everything from finger-sniffing hippies to a movie producer (played by a real-life policeman who came to the set with the intent to arrest Coffin Joe), seducing a young actress. Coffin Joe appears in the movie as himself, grabs some of these hippies and has them take part in his own L.S.D. Experiments, were it is realized that it is him (Coffin Joe) who is the real cause of the psychedelic turmoil on the streets. The film was so controversial upon its release it was banned by Brazil’s military dictatorship for nearly 20 years, and is considered by many to be Mojica’s masterpiece. In 1986, after the end of military control in Brazil the film was finally shown at a film festival, but this DVD marks it’s first official release. Disc contains a trailer, and an interview with Coffin Joe about the making of the film. Also comes with a 37 page comic book seen in the film. I look forward to seeing more discs from this company (www.fantoma.com).
STENDHAL SYNDROME (1996)
d: Argento, Dario; m/a: Kretschmann, Thomas; f/a: Argento, Asia; Italy; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: Uncut; Region: 0; 000? mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1; [Sound]; Dolby 2.0; English.
Stendhal Syndrome was a film that I picked up a couple issues back and was going to review then, but when I went to watch it, I found no disc inside the keep case. You wouldn’t believe the looks you get when you take a DVD back to the store with no disc inside. I’ve heard stories that many of the Troma Team commentaries are recorded when they are drunk. I sometimes wonder about the packaging department as well? After re-ordering again through HMV, it finally arrives. Luckily I managed to see it play on Bravo in the meantime. Thanks to the fine people at Troma, we can now see the film as Argento intended us to see it. There are not too many companies that would have the balls to touch it! After his disappointing last film Trauma (1992) this film was a much unexpected surprise. Famous composer Ennio Morricone works again with Argento, for the first time since the early 1970’s. The special effects by longtime helper Sergio Stivaletti are amazing. One memorable scene includes Asia Argento [the director’s daughter who is best known for a role in Abel Ferrar’s New Rose Hotel (1998)], playing a killer chasing police detective (Anna Manni) who literally falls into the painting “The Fall of Icarus” by Breugel. Thus the title of the film Stendhal Syndrome “...a psychological reaction to artwork that makes the viewer fall unconscious, vulnerable to the terror she is tracking...” Another amazing scene, includes a computer effect [one of the first used in an Italian film] that follows a bullet passing through a woman’s check, through her mouth and out the other side in graphic detail. The extreme violence directed towards the female characters in this movie is very hard to stomach. Even more disturbing is the fact that a brutal almost un-watchable rape scene in the Stendhal Syndrome was directed by the actresses own father. Weird. As always, this Troma disc comes jam packed with extras including: an interview with Argento, and for some reason they have also added a bit by Ruggero Deodato remembering Cannibal Holocaust (1979) (www.troma.com).
CUBE (1998)
d: Natali, Vincenzo; m/a: Hewlett, David; f/a: DeBoer, Nicole; Canada; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: R / 18-A; Region: 0; 0090 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1; [Sound]; Dolby 2.0; English. (Subtitled in French / Spanish).
An amazing 5-star existentialist Twilight Zone type adventure. The plot: Six people wake up, inside a maze of interlocking cubes. Doors on all six sides, Some lead the way out, other doors have deadly traps behind them. Each of the six people have a skill that will help them solve puzzles and unlock doors. If seems a bit too preachy, but somehow believable that they must all work together if they are to survive. I’ve watched this film a couple of times now and each time a watch it I find it hard to believe that the whole movie was filmed using only two cubes in a warehouse in Toronto. The idea of the giant cube is more then visualized, due to scripting, editing, directing and most of all acting. The film’s only downfall is that those involved didn’t have more money to spend on FX. Commentary track on the disc is informative and entertaining. Also includes: comparative and alternative story-boards; deleted scenes; set design; artwork and more. A must have disc. (www.trimarkpictures.com).
TRADER HORNEE (1960)
d: Lucas, Jonathan; p: Friedman, David F.; m/a: Pantsari, Buddy; f/a: Monica, Elizabeth; USA; [Packaging]; Snap Case; Rating: NR; Region: 1; 0084 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1; [Sound]; Dolby Mono; English.
Over-the-top sex comedy from producer David F. Friedman It’s the film that breaks the law of the jungle! A film that makes you ask: What’s a nice white goddess like you doing in a picture like this? After Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis parted ways, David F. Friedman went on to produce a whole bunch of softcore sexploitation films such as: Space Thing (1968); Starlet (1969), Thar She Blows (1969), and this film Trader Hornee (1970), which isn’t all that softcore (having sex without taking off clothes?), But it is still a fun picture with comedy, sex and sight gags. Full of cheese jungle themes galore, such as singing cannibals, and witch-doctor with a large people boiling pot.
A detective is hired to find the long lost Algona, heiress to her father’s fortune. Joining him are a sex starved gang, including a lesbian journalist, and two of Algona’s greedy S&M loving relatives. As well, some scientists are along for the journey, trying to find a legendary white gorilla rumored to be living in the same jungle. Algona is found, and she turns out to be a blonde she-goddess worshiped by the ‘Meshpokas’, the most feared humans in all Africa, while the white ape turns out to be an escaped Nazi war criminal. Weird stuff as usual from Something Weird Video (www.somethingweird.com).
CREMAINS (2001)
d: Sessions, Steve; m/a: Williams, Chris; f/a: Plimmer, Wanda; USA; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: NR; Region: 1; 00? mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1; [Sound]; Stereo; English.
An amazing anthology of horror shorts similar to Creepshow (1982) or Tales of the Crypt (1989). A funeral director accused by unseen investigators of mixing the ashes of cremated bodies, tells them many tales of horror that he has collected while in the death business. The shorts include: A women chosen for sacrifice while driving through a small rural town, and my favorite piece about a killer of depressed teenagers, who have all called the suicide help hotline. Writer / director Steve Sessions should be congratulated for such excellent story ideas. Looking forward to seeing more from him. “...Horrifying stories feature demented serial killers, lesbian vampires, brutal bondage murders, town sacrifices, and a resurrection gone unspeakably wrong (www.VideoOutlaw.com).
DEMON LUST (1997)
Aka: Eyes Are Upon You; d: Goldberg, David A.; m/a: Savini, Tom; f/a: Stevens, Brinke; USA; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating; 18A; Region: 1; 160 mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1; [Sound]; Stereo; English.
Two small time thugs desperately try to raise funds to pay back the money that they owe to the mob, while hit-man Eddie ‘The Goose’ Rao (well acted by fx expert Tom [Dawn of the Dead (1978) / From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Savini), keeps them a little scared with some Yo-Yo torture? Afraid, the would be crooks here about a new women in town (played by beautiful Scream Queen Brinke Haunting Fear (1990) / Bad Girls From Mars (1991) / Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity (1987) Stevens) whom they plan on robbing for the money they so desperately need. The erotic she demon transforms into a grinch looking monster. She ends up killing the mob bosses family associate with only the thugs left to be blamed. “...The mob might be hot on their tail, but a bloodthirsty demon of blackest evil will make them suffer a fate worse than death.” A creative, uncommercial and unsafe little project which falls somewhere between a horror and an action picture. Too, short on gore, considering Savini had some involvement, Xtras on the disc include a short by Ward Boult and Brian Wilson entitled: Demon Familiars (2001) which also features Brinke Stevens in an Irving Klaw bedroom bondage type transgression film, much like the works of Richard Kern, or Nick Zedd (www.VideoOutlaw.com).
NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY (2001)
d: Burton, Jeff; m/a: Stump, John; f/a: Richards, Tiffany; USA; [Packaging]; Keep Case; Rating: NR; Region: 1; 00? mins; [Picture]; Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1; [Sound]; Stereo; English.
...Fear the dark and pray for dawn. A not so original story about a group of collage kids camping in the woods, while a dangerous psychopathic killer is on the loose. Like we haven’t heard that one before huh? “...A night of partying and storytelling brightens their mood, but it can’t stop an escalating sense of dread that something is out there in the dark.”The dreadfully slow paced plot has the college kids one by one getting lost in the woods, only to have their buddies look for them and also getting lost in the woods. Occasionally someone is killed, however the characters concern for the lost school chum is everything from “Let’s get the hell out of here”... To “Oh maybe they will be back”, all at once, and left me confused to which way the plot was heading? This film seemed to be caught somewhere between a slasher film with very little gore, and a Blair Witch Project (1999) rip-off. Some interesting camera ideas show promise, although faster editing, should tighten future projects. I did however like the two bonus shorts included on the disc: 911 is the twisting story of women who calls the emergency number while being attacked, “...will a young woman’s emergency phone call in the dead of night save her from a brutal killer?”, when the police arrive the victim is accused of being the killer. Very interesting turn of events Another short entitled The Initiation: is about a college sorority who take initiation just a little too far. “...Three friends discover the terrifying secret behind a college sorority.” Both shorts have great B-type cheesy ideas that the feature was lacking (www.VideoOutlaw.com).