Doctor Vampire (1990)

"If the CARRY ON team ever made a vampire picture..."

That sounds crazy, doesn't it? But it doesn't take too much of a stretch of the imagination to see how those two 'genres' collide in Jamie Luk's raving mad, extremely silly vampire sex comedy that's getting a UK Blu-ray release courtesy of Eureka.

Dr Chiang Ta-Tsung (Bowie Lam from John Woo's HARD BOILED) is on holiday in the UK when his Volkswagen Polo breaks down in the middle of nowhere. He comes across a castle, and when he goes in it appears to be a fully functioning British pub complete with fruit machines. There also happen to be gorgeous girls busy draining men of blood. Our hero doesn't spot this, though, until he's seduced by a lady vampire who bites him on the penis.

Back in Hong Kong amidst the hilarity of being a doctor in a sex comedy hospital, Chiang's girlfriend spots bitemark-style spots of blood on his underpants and Chiang himself develops a need for dark glasses. The head of the vampires (Peter Kjaer) decides to come to Hong Kong because apparently the doctor's blood is the best he has ever tasted. Meanwhile the foundations of a new hospital block are about to be purged of any possible ghosts by a Buddhist ceremony. Could all of this collide in a supremely wacky climax?

Imagine Jim Dale as the hero, Charles Hawtrey as the vampire count, and Kenneth Williams as the head of the hospital and you'll quickly see how this could be a Carry On film. For slightly younger viewers, the word 'Troma' will likely pop into your head during the final act where the doctor and his friends get transformed into...well, I'm still not sure. What I am sure of is that DOCTOR VAMPIRE is exceptionally silly, but if gags like a hospital patient turned into a hopping vampire with a permanent erection make you chuckle (and I'll admit it did raise a smile here) then you may well have a good time with this.

Extras include two commentary tracks, both of which are new. One has East Asian film experts Frank Djeng and John Charles while the other has Hong Kong cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Stacey Abbott (author of Celluloid Vampires) gives us a 20 minute piece contextualising the film in terms of other vampire nmovies around at the time, while Mary Going provides a 22 minute essay on all the ways a vampire has been slain throughout cinema history. Finally, you get a collector's booklet with new writing on Hong Kong vampire films from MR VAMPIRE to DOCTOR VAMPIRE by Katarzyna Ancuta.

DOCTOR VAMPIRE is out on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment on Monday 24th February 2025

Project Silence (2025)

The TRAIN TO BUSAN of Animal Attack Movies?

Well it's perhaps not quite that, but PROJECT SILENCE, which is getting a DVD, Blu-ray and (for those who like things sparkling and shiny) a 4K UHD release that looks excellent, is a rip-roaring Korean killer dogs on the loose picture that also handles the human element well. 

There's a huge pile-up on a suspension bridge during terrible fog and pretty soon the lanes both ways are closed. The main problem, however, is the subjects of Project Silence, a military research project gone wrong that has involved training big black bully breed dogs to attack assigned targets, those targets having been programmed into them via the chips inserted into their brains.

The lorry carrying them is in the crash. The dogs escape. Everything would still be okay but after the animals have been herded back into their container the helicopter crew sent in to lift it out (in terrible weather) find that one of the dogs has lost her chip and she attacks them. The cage is dropped back onto the road, the helicopter crashes, and the all the dogs end up viewing everyone on the bridge as targets. Oh, and the bridge is collapsing and at one end there's a tanker of poison gas that's leaking.

PROJECT SILENCE moves at a clip (it's only 95 minutes long) and handles its scenes of action, suspense, and catastrophic disaster well. Characters are well drawn and interact believably. Finally there are the dogs. Some reviews have complained that they look too CGI, but actually if you're a dog lover the effects sufficiently divorce you from thinking of them as real dogs that you can enjoy it too.

Altitude's disc release contains no extras, but you do get the option of either a Korean or English language track, with subtitles if you need them. 

PROJECT SILENCE is out on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD, and 4K UHD steelbook now

Red Dawn (1984)

Altitude Films have just released director John Milius' RED DAWN on 4K UHD and Blu-ray in both regular and steelbook editions.

"I'd be happy to go on directing Conan films until the day I die," said John Milius on the set of 1982's CONAN THE BARBARIAN, after which he never made another one. Instead, his next project was RED DAWN, based on a script called TEN SOLDIERS by future Kevin Costner associate Kevin Reynolds which was brought to the director because the producers felt he was the only man to depict a Russian invasion of America.

Which is what RED DAWN is all about. One bright morning Russian soldiers parachute into a small American town and start blazing away, rounding people up and sending all those who don't want to comply with the new communist regime to special camps. A group of teenagers (played by Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, C Thomas Howell, Jennifer Grey and Lea Thompson among others) escape and form a resistance faction called the Wolverines. Aided by a downed airforce pilot (Powers Boothe) they start to strike back at their oppressors.

Easily construed as jingoistic tub-thumping nonsense, the real main problem with RED DAWN is its lack of focus. We never get to learn much about any of the characters and there's never a viewpoint to focus on. It's also never adequately explained why Russian forces would hit a small town first (or even that particular small town) nor why they would feel the need to have regular tank displays and marches through the middle of it. Are we expected to believe they would do this everywhere?

We are also rarely party to the rebellion's plans with the result that the second and third acts of the film become a rather meandering series of attacks on the Russians before the film staggers to its end. A year later, George P Cosmatos would make the jingoism more palatable (or slightly more ignorable) in his well-executed comic book action opus RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II but here John Milius' desire to make a movie with a message rather comes undone with its own obsession to repeatedly show conflict to the point where it threatens to lose the attention. Perhaps that was part of the point.

"Forget politics, let's shoot some Russians" says Charlie Sheen, pretty much echoing what might be the philosophy of the film, in the archival 23 minute making of from 2007 that can be found on Altitude's second disc. The featurette also includes interview with Milius, Thompson, Swayze and Howell, all of whom turn up to varying degrees in the other extras which include 10 minutes on how they were trained to use the weapons, 10 minutes on the construction of the army (and where they got the tanks from) and 14 minutes on the locations (mainly Las Vegas New Mexico). There are no new extras.

John Milius' RED DAWN is out now from Altitude Films in double disc 4K UHD and Blu-ray sets (extras on the Blu-ray) and in a 4KUHD and Blu-ray steelbook

Dr Sander's Sleep Cure (2025)

"Quirky and Creative Anthology Movie That's Set a New Guinness World Record"

Here's something a bit different from Estonia. DR SANDER'S SLEEP CURE has just been released on digital in the United States, with a UK release date currently awaited, and it has indeed broken a Guinness world record, about which more in a bit.

The brainchild of writer-director and star Mart Sander, the film uses the anthology format, telling eight weird stories and using the framework of a man (Sander in one of many roles) who suffers from insomnia trying to get to sleep with the aid of a cassette tape that is the 'cure' of the title.

The stories themselves range from excellent (the first) to slight, with one story, the fourth, being a ghost tale told entirely in German with no subtitles. However, apart from the acting being a little flat and a couple of the stories not quite hitting the mark this is actually quite the achievement for a low budget independent film. Sets and costumes are excellent (there's a fair bit of green screen as well) and Sander knows how to set up and move the camera well to tell his tales.

As for the tales themselves, they all tale place in the realm of the fantastical. Some tend more towards horror, at least one is comedy (and so is the framework), and there's even some very peculiar science fiction in there as well. Despite the film being quite a ragbag of ideas Sander's style pulls everything together nicely and the entire endeavour both looks gorgeous and is graced with a well chosen soundtrack of library music. 

As for the Guinness World Record that the film has already achieved? That's actually addressed by the film itself at the end and is for the most roles played by a single actor in a film. The previous record was 45. Sander manages a few more than that in a film that's well worth checking out if you fancy something a little bit different. Here's the trailer:

Mart Sander's DR SANDER'S SLEEP CURE is distributed by Octane Multimedia and is streaming from all major VOD retailers in the US right now, with UK dates to be announced later.

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

 

Arrow Films are releasing Renny Harlin's genetically modified sharks on the rampage movie in a brand new 4K restoration supervised by the director on both UHD and Blu-ray formats.

It's a film that has the benefits of a decent budget and some decent actors, Thomas Jane, Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L Jackson among them. It also had a promising original idea by screenwriter Duncan Kennedy, whose inspiration for the script was apparently a recurring nightmare of being trapped in a passageway and being pursued by sharks who could read his mind. This came to him after he witnessed the remains of a shark attack victim washed up on the beach near his home. 

However, the finished film that is DEEP BLUE SEA translates that idea to the screen with mad scientist Saffron Burrows attempting to cure Alzheimer's disease by using a protein harvested from shark brains, and then slapping a bit of illegal genetic engineering in there for good measure. Of course what she's up to wouldn't be so bad except that a storm and an exploding helicopter turn the marine research facility where all this is happening into a disaster area, and the film becomes a bit like The Poseidon Adventure With Sharks before we get to the climax. 

LL Cool J is in this as a chef, apparently because Jackson's agent quite reasonably said that the role wasn't good enough for Mr Jackson, who then had another part specially created for him. Sadly he doesn't get to say that he's had enough of these motherfucking sharks in this motherfucking research facility but that's okay because anyone who watches the film these days will likely fill that in for him. It's also good to see at least one good old-fashioned exploitation film principal being exercised here, namely old-time producer Harry Alan Towers' rule that you must kill off the most expensive actors first.

Arrow's disc contains two new commentary tracks, one from screenwriter Kennedy and another, very enthusiastic, one from film writer Rebekah McKendry who discusses all things shark movie related. The 1999 archival commentary with Renny Harlin and Samuel L Jackson (recorded separately it sounds like) has also been ported over.

Other extras include a 25 minute interview with production designer William Sandell, and a 20 minute visual essay by Trace Thompson that does go rather over the top in its praise for the film and also gets rather too bogged down in theories of 'the monstrous feminine' for a film that's essentially just a bit of big budget daftness. 

Archival extras include a making of (15 minutes), a piece on the animatronic sharks (8 minutes) and eight minutes of deleted scenes with optional director commentary. As usual there's a trailer and an image gallery, and Arrow's limited edition set comes with a 60 page book featuring new writing on the film, a poster and some postcards. 

Renny Harlin's DEEP BLUE SEA is out from Arrow Films on 4KUHD and Blu-ray on Monday 17th March 2025

Cara (2024)

 

"Nightmares in a Damaged British Brain?"

After its premiere at last year's London Frightfest, writer-director Hayden Hewitt's CARA is getting a digital release from Reel 2 Reel. It's a film that, despite an obviously low budget, has quite a bit going for it, but you need to stick with the film to the end to truly appreciate it, and some viewers may find that to be more than they can handle.

Cara (Elle O'Hara) has a history of abuse, is on antipsychotics, and regularly attends group therapy sessions to help her cope with the world. In her spare time she lives with her flatmate Ashley (Michaela Longden) and works out of her bedroom as a cam girl providing internet porn to customers, at least one of whom she is an abusive real life relationship with.

But her main problem is that the antipsychotics aren't working. Every now and then she slips into a delusional state, signified by the screen turning blue and whoever she happens to be engaged in conversation with suggesting she do terrible things to friends and family and even herself. As she gets worse she begins to turn those suggestions into reality.

CARA is a grim piece of work which some will find tough going. Pacing, acting and dialogue are all relentlessly one-note, to the extent that you begin to wonder if it's a failing on the part of the director to provide nuance. Only when you get to the end, which is as extreme a climax in a British horror film as any out there, that one appreciates (or at least one hopes) that the tone of the rest of the film has been deliberate, a way of illustrating Cara's poverty of affect and flattening of mood. If that's the case then well done to Hayden Hewitt, who also exhibits a fine sense for nightmarish imagery, scenes of which punch the narrative throughout, but which really comes to the fore in a kind of 'Ben Wheatley goes to hell' way at the end. 

The only slight quibble is that it's sometimes a little difficult to work out Cara's relationship to those around her, but again that may have been intentional. Either way CARA is grim and depressing stuff, with a climax that will definitely satisfy anyone looking for a fix of intense extreme horror. Here's the trailer:

Hayden Hewitt's CARA is out on Digital from Reel 2 Reel on Monday 17th February 2025

Lifeforce (1985)

 

Arrow Films are releasing Tobe Hooper's deliriously entertaining LIFEFORCE in a brand new 4K restoration of not just the full and proper 116 minute cut but also the mucked about with yet fondly remembered by those of us who saw it at the cinema 1985 cut as well, and God bless them for it.

There are many who love LIFEFORCE - a number that has increased substantially since its original release - and those who don't. Much like the horror genre itself, it's almost impossible to explain to those who don't get its appeal just how wonderful it is, but let's have a go anyway.

LIFEFORCE is a film that, for seasoned aficionados of all things horror and British, always has something going on. Every minute has something to love, whether it's Henry Mancini's score (an odd and yet ultimately perfect choice of composer), the amazing special effects (that still hold up beautifully), or the sight of well-loved British character actors (Frank Finlay, Peter Firth, Michael Gothard, Aubrey Morris, Patrick Stewart, John Hallam, Jerome Willis, Nicholas Ball, John Woodnutt, John Forbes-Robertson) appearing in a horror film that cost nearly three times as much to make as STAR WARS. Have I mentioned Mathilda May? I don't really need to, do I?

The last 30 minutes is an absolute triumph of special effects, film editing and musical scoring as we see the London Underground, double decker buses and even St Paul's filled with zombies and all blown to bits. If you've watched this with an audience you'll know to cheer along with the perfunctory to occasionally downright odd dialogue because that's just all part of the fun. 

So what do we get in Arrow's two disc UHD set? Well for a start all the extras on Arrow's two disc 2013 Blu-ray release have been ported over, so we get all three commentary tracks (Tobe Hooper, FX artist Douglas Smith, Make Up FX artist Nick Maley, also of INSEMINOID fame) on disc one, plus the 70 minute making of which is essential viewing, in fact if you've not seen the film before it might be a good place to start. There are also interviews with Hooper (10 minutes), star Steve Railsback (7 minutes) and Mathilda May (15 minutes). You also get textless opening and closing credits and a trailer.

Disc two gives us the 101 minute version released to UK cinemas which, importantly, is worth watching if for nothing else the Michael Kamen score that was used to paper over the cracks of the edits. Extras on this disc are the new additions, and include 45 minutes of interview footage from Mark Hartley's documentary ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS, including Tobe Hooper, screenwriter Michael Armstrong, editor John Grover and sound designer Vernon Messenger. Also new is a scene by scene comparison between LIFEFORCE proper and its frankly bizarre US TV edit which was only 93 minutes long and spent too much time on Mathilda May's zoomed in face. Watch and chuckle.

Finally, there's a collector's booklet on the film with new writing by Frank Collins (not supplied for review so I have no idea if the original booklet material from the Blu-ray release has been retained or not).

Tobe Hooper's magnificent (because Oh Yes It Is) LIFEFORCE is out on 4K UHD in a two disc set on Monday 17th February 2025