The Ambulance (1990)

"Larry Cohen Strikes Again!"

Independent cult director (and hugely prolific screenwriter) Larry Cohen's THE AMBULANCE is getting a limited edition (2000 copies) Blu-ray release from Eureka that features on 'O' card slipcase and a booklet with new writing on the film.

Marvel comics illustrator Josh (Eric Roberts) has designs on Cheryl (Janine Turner) who he sees on his way to work every day. When he finally gets to talk to her in a busy New York plaza their conversation gets interrupted when she suddenly feels ill and collapses. An ambulance appears almost straight away and whisks her off. Despite Josh's best efforts, she seems to have vanished into thin air.

In fact she's been taken back to evil doctor Eric Braeden's evil hospital where, when he's not selling off his abductees for other people to experiment on, he's trying to cure diabetes (it turns out all his abductees are diabetics). Will Josh find Cheryl in time? With or without the hindrance of the police who include Lieutenant Frank Spencer (yes really) played by James Earl Jones?

The screenplay for THE AMBULANCE, while filled with interesting ideas and witty dialogue, does very much feel as if it was written very quickly, possibly all in one go and without much revising. There's a lot of treading water instead of moving the plot forward and while quite a bit of it is fun (an appearance by Red Buttons is particularly entertaining) there is the sense of stuff being there just to add to the run time. Eric Roberts is absolutely fine as the lead although as we get to the end he seems to be either quite tired or possibly under the influence of something.

Eureka's disc comes with two commentaries. The first is new and from Steve Mitchell who made the excellent documentary KING COHEN while the second is archival and features both Mitchell and Larry Cohen himself. There's a lot of excellent stuff in here - filming in New York, Cohen's other pictures, and what it was like to work for Marvel - but be prepared for some repetition between the two pieces.

Other extras include an interview with Larry Cohen and stunt coordinator Spiros Razatos shot for KING COHEN but not previously seen (20 minutes), Larry Cohen book author Michael Doyle on the film-maker, tantalising us with some of Larry's unmade projects (22 minutes) and Murray Leeder talking about how THE AMBULANCE fits into the history of medical horror films (17 minutes).

Larry Cohen's THE AMBULANCE is out on Blu-ray from Eureka in a limited edition of 2000 on Monday 13th October 2025