Ghost Stories For Christmas Volume One (1968 - 1973)

The BBC's original Ghost Stories for Christmas series has been available on DVD for sometime, and the 'new' Mark Gatiss-directed shows have recently been released on DVD as well. Now, finally, the BBC are releasing these old shows on Blu-ray, with the first volume out now. Because they are old shows, the question remains, is this set worth the upgrade? Well let's have a look. The first box set consists of three discs, with content as follows:

Disc One: Whistle & I'll Come To You

The very first BBC 'Ghost Story for Christmas' wasn't actually broadcast at Christmas (instead it was on 7.5.68) and was part of Omnibus, a documentary series that occasionally did adaptations (Schalken the Painter is another). Jonathan Miller's film starring Michael Hordern is a classic of TV horror, and the first thing you notice on playing the BBC's new Blu-ray is how much improved the picture quality is. 

There's a new commentary track by Jon Dear which is nice and clear and presents plenty of information both about the story and the adaptation. Extras from the old DVD include Ramsey Campbell (plus recommended alcohol one presumes to accompany his extras!) talking about MR James for 15 minutes before reading his own story The Guide. In another archival extra Neil Brand reads the original MR James 'Oh Whistle..." as an accompanying third audio track to the main feature. Finally, we get the 2010 adaptation of the story (starring John Hurt), which some people don't think much of but which I think is a very good, very bold attempt at doing something a bit different with the story. Full marks for disc one.

Disc Two: The Stalls of Barchester (1971) and A Warning to the Curious (1972)

Ghost Stories for Christmas proper got under way in 1971, continuing at the rate of one story per year for almost the next decade. Both stories here again benefit from the upgrade to Blu-ray, with the transfers feeling a little warmer than disc or TV ever made them feel. 

Kim Newman and Sean Hogan provide commentary duties for 'Stalls' and as always they prove extremely listenable to. Jon Dear returns for the commentary on 'Curious' and a good job he does, too.

Archival 'extras' include introductions to the two stories from writer-director Lawrence Gordon Clark, and we also get the fireside readings of the two tales by Christopher Lee that formed part of a series broadcast in 2000 and also previously available on DVD. All excellent stuff.

Disc Three: Lost Hearts (1973)

While disc two gives us two 50 minute stories, disc three feels a little sparse by comparison, with only the 30 minute Lost Hearts as the main feature. Again, though, this 16mm-shot film looks better and feels warmer for the Blu-ray upgrade and comes very much recommended. We get another Kim Newman and Sean Hogan commentary and an archival introduction by Lawrence Gordon Clark.

Finally, the set comes with a booklet with essays by Reggie Oliver, Ramsey Campbell, Jon Dear, Jonathan Rigby and Adam Easterbrook.

The bottom line: Fans of classic TV horror, and MR James and the Ghost Stories for Christmas series will snap this up. If you've yet to discover these classics, or want to introduce a friend to them, these are the best transfers that exist and there are plenty of extras to keep you entertained. When's volume two out, then? Oh, I see from the press release it's next December, so that's something to add to next year's Christmas list. 

Ghost Stories For Christmas Volume 1 is out in a three disc Blu-ray set from the BFI now.

Silent Running (1972)

The film that possibly caused more kids who watched it to cry than Steven Spielberg's ET did ten years later gets the whistles and bells treatment from Arrow in a new 4K UHD & Blu-ray set.

In the future, the population explosion has meant there's no room left on earth for wildlife, and the remaining flora and fauna have been housed in a great glass domes and transported into space. The domes require minimum maintenance and so only a crew of four is needed at any time. But soon a crew won't be needed at all, because the message comes through from earth that the domes are no longer needed, that they can be destroyed, and that the men can return home. But ecologist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) isn't prepared to let what's left of earth's wildlife be blown up. He manages to save one dome at the expenses of his co-workers' lives, and thus begins his lonely trip into outer space with only three little robots whom he names Huey, Dewey and Louie for company.

Despite some scripting bits that really don't stand up to scrutiny, SILENT RUNNING is rightfully remembered with tremendous affection by those who saw it on its initial release or on TV re-reruns. It was one of only two feature films to be directed by visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull (the other was 1983's BRAINSTORM) and was made during a period when science fiction cinema was exploring ecological issues. The result was movies like Richard Fleischer's SOYLENT GREEN (1973), and Saul Bass' PHASE IV (1974) and Trumbull's picture, all of which remain vital and sadly relevant pieces of cinema today.

Arrow's new release of SILENT RUNNING is a new 4K restoration. Both UHD and Blu-ray discs are included in the set, with the UHD presented in HDR10 compatible DolbyVision. But if you prefer the original lossless mono audio that's included, too, along with an isolated music and effects track.

Extras kick off with a new audio commentary from Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw which is extremely listenable to and pointed out quite a few things I'd never really considered about the film before. For example, I can't say I ever thought of Dern's character as anything other than someone who wants to save the forest, but then that's what these tracks are for. Other new material includes No Turning Back in which film music historian Jeff Bond talks us about the film's score and its composer Peter Schickele aka PDQ Bach (apparently); and First Run, a visual essay about how the original pre-Steve Bochco screenplay complete with script pages. 

The archival commentary with Trumbull and Dern, available on the previous Eureka release, has been carried over, as has the 50 minute making of, the two Trumbull archival interviews, and the archival Dern interview. There's also a trailer and a behind the scenes gallery. Finally you get a reversible sleeve and a booklet with writing on the film from Barry Forshaw and Peter Tonguette.

Douglas Trumbull's SILENT RUNNING is out in a double disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray set from Arrow on Monday 12th December 2022. There's also an exclusive limited edition Zavvi Steelbook out the same day with stills and a poster:

Nocebo (2022)

The new film from the team behind 2019's VIVARIUM - writer Garret Shanley and director Lorcan Finnegan - gets a cinema release from Vertigo.

Christine (Eva Green) is a successful designer of children's clothes. At a fashion show she receives a phone call giving her news of a devastating disaster. Almost immediately she is confronted by a diseased dog, its body covered with boils and dripping with ticks (and yes it's a really great, scary image to start the film off with). The hound seems to be a hallucination but nevertheless, after seemingly being bitten by one of the ticks Christine collapses.

Several months later Christine is a wreck, still tortured by the guilt of the news she heard over the phone. She's trying to rebuild her life with her husband Felix (Mark Strong) and daughter Roberta (Billie Gadsdon) but has become dependent on a bagful of medication and she needs a breathing apparatus to sleep.

Then one day Diana (Chao Fonacier) arrives, claiming that Christine has employed her to take care of both Christine and the family. Christine's regular blackouts mean she can't remember if she has asked Diana to work for them or not and soon Diana is the live-in help. But she's not actually there to help. At all.

At the Mayhem Film Festival in 2019 screenwriter Garret Shanley said VIVARIUM was influences by the old ITV series Sapphire and Steel. In this case, NOCEBO feels very much like the team's attempt at a (very good) episode of Hammer House of Horror. We have a successful middle class family for whom horror arrives and it's not until close to the end that we realise what and why everything is happening. It's not exactly an original idea (in fact it was popular in both pulp paperback fiction and in a few films of the 1960s and 1970s) but we haven't seen it done for a while and for a modern audience it provides an excellent updating of a particular genre trope. NOCEBO also manages to be scary, repellant and horrifying when it needs to be, making it one of this year's horrors that definitely worth catching. Here's the trailer:

NOCEBO is out in UK cinemas from Friday 9th December 2022

Twelve Monkeys (2015 - 2018)

Who knew there was a TV show based on Terry Gilliam's 1995 film TWELVE MONKEYS? Apart from the SyFy Channel, obviously, who made it, and those who watched it on its initial broadcast, but the idea that there was a four season series was news to me. But now, for anyone curious (and, perhaps surprisingly, it's worth it, believe me) Fabulous Films are releasing the entire run on DVD and Blu-ray.

The show follows the same basic storyline as the film. James Cole (Aaron Stanford in the Bruce Willis role) is sent back in time from the year 2043, where a plague has destroyed most human life, to find and kill the person responsible for setting the disaster in motion. He makes contact with Dr Cassie Reilly (Amanda Schull in the Madeline Stowe role, although Stowe herself appears later on in the TV show playing someone else) and together they have to work out how the plague was caused. This is complicated by Cole 'splintering' back and forth in time and by the presence of the sinister 'Pallid Man' (Tom Noonan at his most sinister) who has his own reasons for wanting the pandemic to go ahead.

TWELVE MONKEYS the TV show is surprisingly good. Production values are high, acting is good and the writing is clever. Even the gender swapping of the Brad Pitt movie role to Emily Hampshire (see above) works well. The original film was based on Chris Marker's 1962 short La Jetée and both he and the Gilliam film's screenwriters, David & Janet Peoples gave the production team their blessing and support with the project. All of them get namechecks in the story.

Fabulous Films' Blu-ray set spreads each season over two discs each, so you get eight discs for the (in total) 47 episodes which oddly enough run around 47 minutes each. The DVD spreads the show over 14 discs. Extras are also spread over the discs and include deleted scenes, gag reels,. commentary tracks, a making of, audition footage, podcasts and other bits and pieces. There's so much around for the SF fan to watch these days and TWELVE MONKEYS - THE SERIES is certainly one to add to the 'worth watching' list.

TWELVE MONKEYS - THE COMPLETE SERIES is out in an eight disc Blu-ray set and a fourteen disc DVD set on Monday 5th December 2022

The Leech (2022)

After its UK premiere at this year's Frightfest THE LEECH, writer-director Eric Pennycoff's follow up to his 2018 SADISTIC INTENTIONS, gets a Blu-ray release from Arrow Films.

It's Christmas, and Father David (Graham Skipper) takes pity on homeless Terry (Jeremy Gardner) and allows Terry and his girlfriend Lexi (Taylor Zaudtke) to stay with him over the festive period. There's the suspicion Lexi might be pregnant but as the two turn out to be the guests from hell David begins to seriously reconsider the Christian values he has been preaching to his pitifully small flock in his very large church, as well as having to cope with demons rising from his past.

If Dennis Potter had been commissioned to write an episode of My Name Is Earl we might have ended up with something a bit like THE LEECH, which will probably turn out to be the most deliciously cynical Christmas movie we'll see this year. What begins as a potential comedy, THE LEECH becomes more disturbing as it goes along, escalating wildly into blood-soaked hysteria by the end. Pennycoff manages a nice line in subtext, with this one working on a number of levels for the viewer to either read into if they want or just enjoy what is an entertaining, tightly written thrill ride.

As always with Arrow's releases of modern films, the disc comes packed with extras. Pennycoff and producer Scott Smith provide a commentary track, and there's a second 'live' commentary from the Chatanooga Film Festival, from which we also get a Q&A with Pennycoff and the cast. Frightfest's introduction and Q&A is also included. Anton Bitel provides a visual essay on the director's two features and the disc also includes three of Pennycoff's early short films. Add in a music video, interviews with Pennycoff and Skipper, a Making Of, trailer and reversible sleeve and the whole package will make an excellent gift for the Christmas cynic in your life.

Eric Pennycoff's THE LEECH is out on Blu-ray on Monday 5th December 2022

Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (2021)

"Dreamy EuroGothic"

One of my favourite films from Frightfest 2021, Kevin Kopacka's trippy hymn to 1970s EuroHorror is getting a cinema release (now) and a digital release (next February) from Fractured Visions.

We open with a smartly dressed, couple exploring the rotting country house they have inherited. There's the suggestion of a Sadean relationship between the two, both in dialogue and in the use of a whip (shades of Franco?) while every now and then we are shown some seemingly unrelated and far more lyrical imagery à la Jean Rollin. 

Half an hour in and there's what I can only describe as 'an Umberto Lenzi moment' (you'll know what it is) and then we learn that we have been watching the making of a movie. The film crew exhibit a distinctive 1970s vibe as they descend into an orgiastic, drug-fuelled party (shades of Martino's ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK but also Franco's SUCCUBUS). As the evening progresses it turns out that the lead players in this particular tragedy may well be the director and his screenwriter girlfriend, doomed to wander the gloomy mansion forever - or are they?

A number of films in recent years have claimed 1970s EuroHorrors for their inspiration but few, if any, have managed to nail the style and substance and overall feel as well as DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES. As well as the directors already mentioned, it's a film that's reminiscent of the work of Renato Polselli and Luigi Batzella although I can fully understand why their names aren't being used in the publicity. 

Suffice to say, if you love early 1970s EuroGothic as much as I do you'll definitely want to catch this one, possibly a couple of times to appreciate the clues in the plotting. Here's the trailer:

Kevin Kopaka's DAWN BREAKS BEHIND THE EYES is on general release at selected cinemas from Friday 3rd December 2022 and will be on digital in February 2023

Nightmare at Noon (1988)

Arrow's latest Blu-ray release from the Nico Mastorakis back catalogue is NIGHTMARE AT NOON, a film that encapsulates many of the elements designed to appealed to the home video rental generation back in the day.

Evil albino Brion James discharges a canister of green liquid into the water supply of the small Utah town of Canyonlands using his swooshy gun. A beardy farmer pulls up in his truck while this is going on and is despatched by Brion's gang using the usual 1980s stealth method of multiple hails of machine gun bullets. For one farmer. 

The next day. An annoying lawyer who doesn't like soggy croissants (Wings Hauser) and his wife who survived FRIDAY THE 13TH THE FINAL CHAPTER (Kimberly Beck) pick up Bo Hopkins, Hauser's co-star from John Bud Cardos' 1984 MUTANT which this film resembles albeit in an inferior way. Scarcely are they in town than a different beardy farmer in dungarees goes mad and suddenly develops the ability to deliver kung fu kicks and become a stunt car driver, a skill he demonstrates by stealing the sheriff's car and running over a lady in curlers who swears a lot.

By the time our heroes, including George Kennedy, have worked out 'it's the water', enough cars have exploded to keep a young Michael Bay glued to the screen and with good reason because in a bit it's going to be helicopters as well.

NIGHTMARE AT NOON could never be described as being particularly good, but it boasts some superb Utah location work and it is a lot of fun, especially if you're of the generation who might have had a wild time with this one at a festival or just used it to cheer up a rainy Saturday afternoon. It's silly but the action never stops, and we even get a score from frequent Mastorakis collaborators Stanley Myers (HOUSE OF WHIPCORD and THE DEER HUNTER) and Hans Zimmer (you know his stuff or you wouldn't be here).

Arrow's extras include The Films of Nico Mastorakis Part III, in which the director himself provides voiceover narration to the making of the film in this 33 minute piece. You also get another 49 minutes of behind the scenes footage as well as a total of 50 minutes of interviews with Hauser, Kennedy, Hopkins, Beck, Kennedy and James all filmed at the time of shooting, as well as a trailer and an image gallery accompanied by 12 minutes of the score. 

Nico Mastorakis' NIGHTMARE AT NOON is out on Blu-ray from Arrow Films on Monday 5th December 2022