So Dark the Night (1946)

"Excellent Engrossing Rural Crime Thriller"

Director Joseph H Lewis' second film for Columbia (made after 1945's MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS) gets a Blu-ray release from Arrow and if anything it's even better than Lewis' stylish debut at that studio.

Renowned Parisian detective Inspector Henri Cassin (Steven Geray), exhausted by city police work, decides to take a holiday in the country. He ends up in a small village, where he and the local innkeeper's daughter, Nanette (Micheline Cheiral) fall in love. Unfortunately Nanette has been betrothed to local farmer Leon (Paul Marion) from an early age, and Leon doesn't take the news of their engagement well. 

Nanette runs after Leon to console him and the next day she can't be found. Until, that is, her body washes up on the bank of the nearby river. Inspector Cassin promises to solve the case himself but it proves trickier than he thinks as bodies start to pile up for seemingly no reason.

SO DARK THE NIGHT starts off so deceptively nice that you think you're going to watch a straightforward, and possibly a little bit insipid, thriller of the period, but once the film gets underway it couldn't be any more different. Definitely a forerunner of the twist-filled gialli of the 1970s, the film also has those movies' dime-store psychology as an explanation for what has been going on, so be prepared to forgive the movie that. 

Otherwise SO DARK THE NIGHT is a leap in quality from Lewis' already accomplished MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS, and by the end I was keen to watch it through again now that I knew what was going on.

Arrow's print looks very fine indeed, and is accompanied by a commentary track from NYT reviewer Glenn Kenny and blogger Farran Smith Nehme. There's a also a decent twenty minute analysis of the movie from Imogen Sara Smith, and I certainly agree with her that SO DARK IS THE NIGHT is an undiscovered gem. If you get the first pressing you'll also get a booklet featuring new writing on the film from David Cairns. Definitely worth picking up. 

Joseph H Lewis' SO DARK THE NIGHT is released on Blu-ray by Arrow Academy on Monday 18th February 2019

My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

"Well Made Entertaining B Movie Melodrama"

Director Joseph H Lewis' first film for Columbia (after working on poverty row quickies) gets a Blu-ray release form Arrow Academy.

Julia Ross (Nina Foch), living in London and in need of employment, is delighted when she passes a successful job interview to become the new secretary to Mrs Williamson Hughes (Dame May Witty). Unfortunately all is not as it seems, and before Julia has even had a chance to notice that Mrs Hughes' son Ralph (George Macready) has a habit of slashing up girls' nightdresses she's been drugged, kidnapped and finds herself waking up in a bed in Cornwall.

No sooner is poor old Julia awake than she finds she's being called Marion by the staff of the mansion in which she finds herself, and that she's now mad Ralph's wife. What's going on? Why do they want her there? And will she be able to get a letter to handsome Dennis (Roloand Varno) up in London before she meets a similar fate to that which presumably befell the real Marion?

The tried and trusted plot of beautiful girl who ends up a prisoner of a elderly woman and her deranged son is one beloved of pulp thrillers all the way from the Victorian era through to the Pan Book of Horror Stories and beyond. Here director Joseph H Lewis imbues the brisk proceedings (MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS clocks in at 65 minutes) with lashings of style and does wonders with the low budget. The three leads are all excellent, although some of the more minor character roles do come across as rather wooden, but you can't have everything for little money.

Arrow's Blu-ray boasts a splendid transfer. Extras include a commentary track by film historian Alan K Rode and there's a good twenty minute piece from The Nitrate Diva (Nora Fiore) that helps contextualise the movie historically.

Joseph H Lewis' MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS is out on Blu-ray from Arrow Academy on Monday 18th February 2019

Human Desire (1954)

"Film Noir That Stays Firmly On Track"

Fritz Lang's contemporary (for 1954) movie version of Emile Zola's 1890 novel of love, lust, betrayal and violence gets a dual format release from Eureka.

Jeff Warren (Glenn Ford) is just back from the war in Korea. He resumes his job as a train driver and rents a room at the house of fellow engineer Alec Simmons (Edgar Buchanan). Simmons' daughter Ellen (Kathleen Simmons very much looking as if she was the inspiration for Sherilyn Fenn's character Audrey in David Lynch's Twin Peaks) has the hots for him, but one night he bumps into Vicki (Gloria Grahame), the wife of Jeff's heavy drinking, insanely jealous superior Carl Buckley (Broderick Crawford).

What Jeff doesn't realise at the time is that Vicki is married, nor that she has just been an accessory to her husband murdering a man he suspected of being her lover. Jeff and Vicki begin an affair. Vicki tells Jeff Carl is blackmailing her. If only Carl was out of the way they could be together. Perhaps an accident on the railway...

Stylish and grim, Fritz Lang's noir is set almost entirely in and around the world of the railroad, giving it the kind of industrial, soot-stained, smoke-filled feel that would be utilised so well by David Lynch in his early features, which makes you wonder if that director was profoundly influenced by this very film. While the Simmons family are there to show us some 'good' characters, they barely get a look in as Lang concentrates on his three leads, whose parts are played as glorious examples of morally dubious humanity by Ford, Grahame and Crawford.

Eureka's Blu-ray offers us a 1080p presentation. As an extra you get Tony Rayns talking about the film for half an hour. There's also a 40 page booklet featuring new writing on the film from Travis Crawford, Richard Combs and Adam Batty. 

Stylish and brutally cynical, HUMAN DESIRE is apparently one of Fritz Lang's more underrated films. It's certainly worth catching up with as a fine example of small town noir. And it has trains in it. 

Fritz Lang's HUMAN DESIRE is out on dual format from Eureka on Monday 18th February 2019

Horror Express (1972)

"Full Steam Ahead For First Class Horror"

Everyone's favourite early 1970s English-Spanish coproduced science fiction horror picture set on a train gets a sparkling new 2K transfer courtesy of Arrow. 

China 1906. Geologist Sir Alexander Saxton (Christopher Lee), while exploring caves in Szechuan Province, comes across the frozen fossilised remains of what might be the missing link. Intending to take it back to England he crates it up and puts it on the Trans-Siberian Express. Where it thaws out, causing all kinds of trouble for both Saxton, his old chum / rival Dr Wells (Peter Cushing) and assorted EuroHorror character actors, as well as Telly Savalas who pops in for the final act.

One of the best, most creative and best written movies of the entire EuroHorror boom of the 1960s and 1970s, HORROR EXPRESS succeeds in practically every level despite its low budget. Justifiably loved and revered by fans and critics alike, if you've never seen it stop reading this now and go and obtain a copy. HORROR EXPRESS came out as a dual format release from Severin in the US a couple of years ago, and Arrow have just brought it out in a new transfer. 

So which is better?

First, the movie. Severin's version boasts only the Spanish opening credits whereas Arrow only has the English ones. A minor point but HORROR EXPRESS obsessives (of which I am one) will want to know as the credits are quite different. Secondly the transfer itself. Severin's transfer isn't quite as good. It's a little sharper and grainier and warmer, whereas the Arrow transfer looks cleaned up, softer and colours look more natural. 

Second, the extras. Nearly all the extras on the Severin disc (composer John Cacavas interview, director Eugenio Martin interview, producer Bernard Gordon's 'Notes From the Blacklist' and Chris Alexander introduction) have been ported over to the Arrow release. The only thing that's missing is the Peter Cusing audio interview from 1973 that the Severin disc runs as an additional 'commentary' track.

Where the Arrow disc wins is in the new extras, and best of these is an outstanding commentary track from Kim Newman and Stephen Jones which is engaging, enthusiastic, and packed with interesting pieces of information and genre commentary. It's truly excellent stuff and worth getting the new disc for. 

There's also a fascinating 15 minute piece from Ted Newsom on the career of HORROR EXPRESS producer Bernard Gordon, and an appreciation of the movie from filmmaker Steve Haberman. Purchasers of the first pressing also get a booklet with new writing on the film by Adam Scovell.

The genre classic that is HORROR EXPRESS is getting a Region B Blu-ray release from Arrow Films on Monday 11th February 2019

Crucible of the Vampire (2019)

Restrained, Surprisingly Coy British Vampire Movie

Oh yes, for a movie that belongs very much to the ‘sexy lady vampires running around an old British country house' subgenre, Iain Ross-McNamee’s new horror film may be a bit of a disappointment to those of us raised on the likes of Jose Larraz’s VAMPYRES (1974) or good old Hammer Films’ Karnstein trilogy. Not that it’s without items of interest, but for the connoisseur of this particular kind of film it’s probably worth stating that up front.

        The film starts with a black & white 17^th century prologue. Ezekiel (Brian Croucher aka the second Travis) is sitting beside a cauldron and tootling on his flute when he is beset by Matthew Hopkins associate John Sterne and some of his men. Ezekiel's accused of being a witch and is hanged, and the cauldron is split in half with the stroke of a big sword.

The present day. Half the cauldron is now in a museum and the other half has just been discovered in the basement of a Shropshire country house. Assistant curator Isabelle (Katie Goldfinch) is sent to assess the find and dig it out, which must be a bit of a first for her as her hands look as if they’re far more used to seeing a manicurist than scrabbling around in an archaeological dig.

The inhabitants of the mansion are eccentric to say the least. Before long Isabelle is experiencing weird hallucinations. The gardener (Neil Morrissey) has a story to tell her and there's the increasing sense that Isabelle is being prepared for...something.

CRUCIBLE OF THE VAMPIRE boasts a fantastic atmospheric location, some good, scary makeup (that perhaps could have done with being lit a little more subtly for maximum effect) and an admirable attempt at the kind of dream sequences we used to see in the old EuroGothics of the 1970s.

Where the film falls down is partly due to a fault of pacing - it's okay for your film to be slow but there are lengthy segments of CRUCIBLE OF THE VAMPIRE that feel both stilted and redundant. Some (but by no means all) of the acting adds to the slightly amateur feel as well. 

All of this could be forgiven (at least by me) if the film had decided to go for some full tilt lurid melodrama Norman J Warren style, or perhaps try for the lyrical eroticism of Jean Rollin. Unfortunately we get neither of these and as a result CRUCIBLE OF THE VAMPIRE ends up feeling less the art house euro gothic it could possibly have been and more something undemanding audiences can watch without fear of anything disturbing or offensive popping up.

CRUCIBLE OF THE VAMPIRE is out from Screenbound in cinemas from Friday 1st February, and on dual format DVD & Blu-ray and on digital platforms (Amazon, Sky, iTunes, Microsoft, Hoopla, Vubiquity and Indemand) on Monday 4th February 2019. 

Snake Outta Compton (2018)

"Massively Silly"

And I mean that in a good way, as Hank Braxton's charmingly daft hip-hop giant monster crossover comedy gets a DVD release courtesy of Altitude Film Entertainment.

A snake gets thrown out of a plane, and gets run over in the Compton district of Los Angeles. Teenaged nerd wannabe mad scientist Vurkel (Donte Essien) picks through the remains and finds an intact snake's egg. When it hatches he subjects it to a growth ray in his bedroom-cum-laboratory. 

Our hero

The now giant snake escapes to terrorise the neighbourhood, eating a well-spoken hobo ("I'm just going to defecate in public because restrooms are for customers only") and pursued by insane police officer Denz (Joston Theney) and his rookie sidekick Ethan (Jon Kondelik). But the only hope for the city lies with a hip-hop band on the verge of signing their first record deal in between finding the money they owe to white gangster Alley Jaws (Eric Paul Erikson) and attending a rap battle (featuring some of the worst I have ever heard) in a strip club.

A villain (note our hero on the ground)

SNAKE OUTTA COMPTON is very, very silly indeed. Its depiction of Compton and the characters who inhabit it feels like a TV show for the under fives. The CGI snake is ropey and the makeup effects for Vurkel as he slowly turns into a reptile himself are of Eddie Romero quality. In fact, so tatty and silly is the whole endeavour it feels like MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND meets an episode of RENTAGHOST. 

But if you think that means I didn't enjoy SNAKE OUTTA COMPTON that's not the case at all. In fact I found the whole thing quite charming and found myself laughing myself silly on a couple of occasions. 

If John Waters made a rap movie

If you do brave it, and have as good a time as I did, stay tuned during the closing credits for a couple of really silly superheroes, followed by a lunatic reappearance by Denz that rounds the whole thing off. And I haven't even mentioned that the script appears to be crammed with gags related to song lyrics as well as touching on popular cultural icons (the dream sequence featuring dead rappers is as bold as it is ridiculous). 

Snake's eye view (the PR pack contained no shots of the snake itself, which should be all you need to know)

Altitude's DVD doesn't have any extras, which is a shame as I would have liked to have at least had some outtakes. Even so, if you like silly films, SNAKE OUTTA COMPTON is much better than anything from the SHARKNADO series. The characters are engaging, the script has plenty of jokes and if there was a sequel to this I wouldn't think of missing it. 

Hank Braxton's SNAKE OUTTA COMPTON is out on UK DVD from Altitude Film Entertainment on Monday 28th January 2019

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

"B Movie Psycho Thriller - Robert Aldrich-Style"

Eureka continue their praiseworthy work of bringing us more Robert Aldrich films on Blu-ray with the release of the 1964 Southern Gothic he made just before THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (also available on Blu-ray from the same label).

It's 1927 and plantation owner 'Big" Sam Hollis (Victor Buono) is giving John Mayhew (Bruce Dern) a telling off, and with good reason. The already married Mayhew has been planning to run off with Sam's daughter Charlotte. Now he has to break it off or Sam will break him. John gives the news to a Charlotte that looks as if she's played by Bette Davis but lit with considerable chiaroscuro. 

Understandably upset, Charlotte runs off. The party at which all this is happening carries on and John gets meat cleavered to death by an unseen assailant in a manner soon to become beloved of Italian film-makers. Many years later, Charlotte (Bette Davis now without the chiaroscuro), considered to be responsible for the murder but not in prison due to 'Family Influence' lives in the now crumbling mansion pretty much by herself. And the council want to build a bypass. Instead of lying down in front of the bulldozer Arthur Dent-style she shoots at the workmen. But they're only going to stay away for so long, and when cousin Miriam (Olivia De Havilland) comes to visit Charlotte thinks it's the end of her worries. But the real horrors might just be starting. 

Clocking in at 133 minutes, HUSH...HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE is actually rather overlong for the story it wants to tell. Often spoken of in the same breath as Aldrich's superior WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962), HUSH...HUSH is actually more the kind of over the top psycho thriller that by 1964 both Hammer Films and William Castle (with the help of Jimmy Sangster and Robert Bloch) had proven themselves to be rather more adept at making. That's not to say HUSH...HUSH isn't worth watching - the photography and production design are memorable, and Frank deVol's music score doubtless influenced 'horror' composers like Ronald Stein. It's also fun to see Hollywood heavyweights like Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland and Joseph Cotton playing out this kind of lurid melodrama, just don't expect something with the depth of BABY JANE.

Eureka's Blu-ray comes with two commentary tracks, including a brand new one from Kat Ellinger and another from Glenn Erickson. I'm not going to steal their thunder but the shooting history of this one is almost as good a story as the one on screen, especially as the movie was intended to co-star Joan Crawford - and footage had been shot - before things began to go horribly wrong. There's also a 22 minute making of, a 13 minute talking head piece from Bruce Dern, and five minutes of behing the scenes archival footage narrated by Joseph Cotton. Finally, there's a trailer, TV spots and a booklet featuring a new essay by Lee Gambin. 

Robert Aldrich's HUSH...HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 21st January 2019