Targets (1968)

After a bit of a delay, the BFI's Blu-ray release of Peter Bogdanovich's remarkable directorial feature debut is finally with us.

Aging Hollywood horror star Byron Orlock (Boris Karloff) decides he has had enough of the business and announces his retirement following a preview screening of his latest movie (actually clips from another Roger Corman production, the infamously cobbled together THE TERROR). His film-making associates are horrified at the prospect, especially Sammy Michaels (Bogdanovich himself) who has written Orlok's next script. 

While he and others are doing their best to convince their star to keep working, we are also being shown scenes in the seemingly unrelated life of ex Vietnam veteran Bobby Thompson (Tim O'Kelly). Bobby lives with his wife and his parents, has a large gun collection, and is convinced there is something wrong with him. His attempts to talk to his wife prove fruitless and the next day he kills her and his mother and anyone else who happens to be around before driving off on a killing spree. That spree reaches its culmination at a showing of THE TERROR where Orlok is due to make a personal appearance.

Boris Karloff was the only star of horror's golden age to truly breach the gap between the old gothic horrors of the 1930s and what was then emerging as a more extreme US cinematic movement grounded in reality and evolving partly in response to the Kennedy assassination and very much in response to America's involvement in Vietnam. To emphasise that we are in the 'real' world, Bogdanovich is careful to ensure that the only music we hear is either on the radio or during the clips of THE TERROR that we see. Bobby's murder of his family is all the more shockingly effective for being played out in such a mundane, non-melodramatic manner, and the climax at the drive-in is an unforgettable juxtaposition of real vs reel horror.

The BFI's Blu-ray is of a new restoration supervised by Bogdanovich and looks excellent. A previously available director introduction and commentary (both from 2003) are included, as well as a new commentary track from critic Peter Tonguette. Other extras concentrate mainly on Karloff with a 40 minute featurette of Sara Karloff talking about her father, a 17 minute piece from Stephen Jacobs about Karloff's career in the 1960s, with Vic Pratt also providing a short eight minute video essay about the star. 

Two Guardian interviews are also included - Roger Corman from 1970 and Bogdanovich from 1972, and Joe Dante provides a commentary on the trailer as one of the Trailers From Hell. You also get a booklet with a set of essays and there's an image gallery, too. For anyone who might be wondering, this is a lot more extras than the US Criterion disc has that was released earlier this year, so the BFI disc is definitely the one to get.

Peter Bogdanovich's TARGETS is out on Blu-ray from the BFI on Monday 25th September 2023