Dawn of the Dead (1978)

 

"An Amazing Achievement. The Ultimate DAWN OF THE DEAD set"

Oh yes, Second Sight have outdone themselves with this, an immense, affectionate and one could say almost obsessive tribute to one of the most famous horror films ever made, being released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD no less. George A Romero changed the landscape of horror with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1969, but it was 1978's DAWN OF THE DEAD that popularised the frequently colourful, often splatter-filled, usually nihilistic, over the top, doom laden subgenre that to this day is what fans everywhere think of when the term 'zombie movie' is mentioned.

So where to start? The plot: the zombie apocalypse has just begun, and we're only just slightly further on in timeline terms from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Four individuals - Fran (Gaylen Ross), her boyfriend Stephen (David Emge), and two state troopers Roger (Scott H Reiniger) and Peter (Ken Foree) escape the city and end up in an enormous shopping mall which they convert into somewhere they can live. But the dead are massing outside and there are threats in the form of other human beings, too.

George Romero was one of a group of innovative directors who created work that was a dream for horror fans. While never skimping on the splatter (and employing makeup maestros like Tom Savini to ensure the effects looked as real as possible) Romero's work was intelligent, informed, satirical and political - the perfect answer to the absurd claims still prevalent at the time that the horror genre was a waste of time. How many of us pointed those critics to DAWN OF THE DEAD back in the day? They wouldn't have watched it but it didn't matter. George was our hero and he still is.

And he didn't make DAWN OF THE DEAD alone. Another key genre figure and genius movie director, Dario Argento, provided a major contribution and rock band Goblin to provide the music score, with Argento retaining rights to cutting the film for European distribution while Romero did the edit for the US. Which begins to explain why there are so many discs in this set. Let's take a look at what we get (along with the extras, shall we?)

Disc 1

This is George Romero's theatrical cut, (127 minutes) meaning it's the version US audiences will have seen under the title DAWN OF THE DEAD when the film was released in US cinemas unrated (you can do that sort of thing in the US, or at least you could) back in 1978. UK audiences didn't see this version because it had to be cut for an 'X' and it went out under the title ZOMBIES, and was also the version Alpha Video put out on UK VHS in the 1980s. The film uses its Goblin score only sparsely, with much greater use made of library music tracks. The sound mix on this disc is something special, with Mono, Stereo and 5.1 options. Second Sight have given us a 4K scan and  restoration of the negative supervised and approved by DP Michael Gornick. 
        Extras include a Romero, Savini, and Christine Forrest commentary track ported over from the old DVD release, plus a new commentary from Travis Crawford.

Disc 2

Romero's cut still had stuff he took out that he would have preferred left in, though, and so we get what is known as the 'Cannes' cut which is ten minutes longer (137 minutes). Second Sight's disc is a 4K scan in HDR10+ with mono soundtrack. This one has a ported over commentary from producer Richard P Rubinstein.

Disc 3

The Argento cut! And the one the UK censor wasn't happy to pass because all the violence 'lacked justification'. So everywhere else in Europe got to see this one except the UK, which got a cut version of what's on Disc 1. Anyway, the Argento cut is a bit shorter (by seven minutes) but feels a lot tighter and more action-packed, thanks in part to a lot more use of the Goblin score. Somedays it's actually my preferred version and if you're always ignored it on previous DAWN sets give it a go as it really does feel like a different film to the Romero version. Sound options are mono, stereo and 5.1 surround so let 'The Goblins' pulse through those speakers. The commentary track on here is from the four leads.

Disc 4

The extras! Fans will have seen Roy Frumkes' extensive and detailed DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD before, and there's also the The Dead Will Walk documentary from 2014.

But there's loads of new stuff including an hour with Zombies and Bikers (including Savini and a host of familiar Romero names and faces), a half hour tour of the Monroeville Mall, 13 minutes with Tom Savini on the effects, a new interview with actor Richard France (Dummies! Dummies!), a new piece on the logistics of the production, a previously unreleased 20 minute archival Romero interview and 13 minutes of Super 8 footage of the mall shot by one of the zombie extras at the time. You also get trailers, TV and radio spots.

But you also get...

Three CDS! The first is the Goblin soundtrack, bumped up to 17 tracks (the previous Varese CD only had 10) with extra and alternate cuts. The other two are library tracks from the DeWolfe music library. Trunk Records previously released a single CD of library music in the UK but obviously these expand on that.

And..

The novelisation for those who haven't kept their Sphere paperback (UK) from 1978!

A new 160 page hardback book with 17 new essays and a whole bunch of marketing materials and behind the scenes stills!

A great big box to keep it all in!

So - three different versions of the film all in 4K with different sound options. Three soundtrack CDs, a disc packed with extras and books and goodies as well. Second Sight have set the standard by which all future box sets dedicated to a single film will be measured. It's an amazing piece of work and fans are going to be absolutely delighted. If you're still not convinced here's the trailer for the set:

George A Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD is out from Second Sight in 4K UHD and Blu-ray in the most amazing sets ever dedicated to a single film from Monday 16th November 2020

Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)

The reboot of the TREMORS series continues with this, officially the seventh film to bear the name (and one cast member from the original, as well as a couple of familiar faces) and getting a Digital, DVD & Blu-ray release from Universal on 16th November 2020.

Before we go into detail about this latest instalment there are bound to be readers thinking TREMORS 7? I didn't even know there was a TREMORS 2! So just for you, here is a quick summary. The first four films are as follows:

TREMORS (1990)

TREMORS 2: AFTERSHOCKS (1996)

TREMORS 3: BACK TO PERFECTION (2001)

TREMORS 4: THE LEGEND BEGINS (2004)

The first was directed by Ron Underwood and all had the involvement of that film's screenwriters, Brent Maddock and SS Wilson. After this we get:

TREMORS 5: BLOODLINES (2015)

TREMORS 6: A COLD DAY IN HELL (2018)

TREMORS 7: SHRIEKER ISLAND (2020)

These last three represent a reboot of the series without Maddock and Wilson and all directed by Don Michael Paul. So what's this one about?

Evil entrepreneur Bill (Richard Brake) has abducted four of the giant earthworm graboids (the phrase coined for them by Victor Wong in the first film), genetically altered them (because we are still in the era of JURASSIC PARK) and dropped them onto an island to be hunted for sport. Of course he has reckoned without their ability to mutate further, and soon perennial graboid hunter Burt Gummer (Michael Gross, the unlikely star of the entire franchise) is called out of retirement by ex-girlfriend Jas (UK TV regular Caroline Langrishe who was also in HOLOCAUST 2000 and Bertrand Tavernier's DEATHWATCH) to blow them all up with the aid of Jon Heder and his gang of island researchers.

You know if you want to see this by now, don't you? I'm sure you can also guess that while it's not a patch on the original film TREMORS: SHRIEKER ISLAND provides 100 minutes of monster-bashing fun, this time amongst some gorgeous Thai scenery. 

Universal's Blu-ray comes with extras that were not provide for review but include The TREMORS Top 30 Moments, The Monsters of TREMORS and The Legend of Burt Gummer. After appearing in seven of these there's not a doubt that he is.

TREMORS: SHRIEKER ISLAND is out on Digital, DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 16th November 2020

Play For Today Volume One (1970 - 1977)

 

"Fantastic. Let's Have More"

Play For Today, late and very much lamented by many, was a series of original single dramas made and shown by the BBC from 1970 to 1984. Around 300 of them were made over this time, and they covered a wide range of social and political issues using a wide variety of storytelling styles. Play for Today could be angry and biting one week, gentle and wistful another, and hilariously funny another. You never knew what you were going to get, which for many was part of its appeal. Peppered into the mix time to time was horror like John Bowen's Robin Redbreast (reviewed elsewhere on here) or A Photograph (included in this set) or Vampires (hopefully to be included on a future release).

The BFI are releasing seven Play For Todays in a box set, along with original scripts and an excellent detailed book with essays on each story that gives added context in terms of the socio-cultural attitudes of the time (for those who aren't old enough to have been there!). So without any further ado, here's what you get:

Disc 1

The Lie (1970)

Written by Ingmar Bergman (translated by Paul Britten Austin) and directed by Alan Bridges, best known to readers here for 1966 low budget British SF classic INVASION, The Lie tells the story of a disintegrating marriage. Gemma Jones (wearing a wig that only John Waters' regular makeup man Van Smith could possibly love) and Frank Finlay play the professional couple who sleep in separate beds, lead separate lives and even have separate lovers, with everything coming crashing down about their ears during a climax that has Finlay hacking through a door with an axe to get at his faithless wife. Did Stanley Kubrick see this? Probably. 

Despite its UK setting there's a very European feel to the locations, and especially to the kinds of houses people live in. Posh dinner parties are held with guests standing talking on balconies more suited to the Mediterranean than the obviously awful freezing weather.

It's a typically Bergmanesque tale of gloom and misery with a fascinating cast of familiar faces including Richard O'Sullivan, Jennifer Daniel, John Carson and Joss Ackland. If those eerie violins in the soundtrack seem familiar that's because it's by BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW's Marc Wilkinson. 

Shakespeare or Bust (1972)

Three miners (Brian Glover, Ray Mort and Douglas Livingstone) from Leeds go on a pilgrimage to Stratford on Avon with the intention of seeing Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra, travelling by canal barge to get there. On the way they meet a variety of colourful characters, pursue a gorgeous woman they spot on another boat (Katya Wyeth familiar to readers here from Hammer Films and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) and getting involved in a number of shenanigans before finally reaching their destination, which comes complete with guest appearances by Richard Johnson (best known here for ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) and Janet Suzman. Utterly charming, this was one of three plays to feature the same three characters and it makes one hope the BFI release 'The Fishing Party' and 'Three for the Fancy' in future sets. 

Disc 2

Back of Beyond (1974)

Desmond Davis (CLASH OF THE TITANS) directs this tale of lonely Olwen (Rachel Roberts) living an hermetic lifestyle in her tumbledown farm in Wales. She makes an unlikely friend in the form of teenaged Rachel (Lynne Jones) whose parents would prefer if she didn't bother with the 'old woman'. 

A fascinating time capsule of a time now long gone, with beautiful location photography in and around Hay-on-Wye and boasting an excellent, melancholy and slightly sinister music score from John Addison, Julia Jones' Back of Beyond (the fourth and last of her Play For Todays) is an unexpected delight. Filmed at what looks like the height of summer the story constantly feels as if it's about to develop into kind of folk horror tale that ITV children's show Shadows was doing so well at around the same time. It never quite does, even though people refer to Olwen as a witch and it's obvious she wants to pass on what she owns to Rachel, whose parents seem to have their own mysterious reasons for shunning the woman. 

A Passage to England (1975)

Anand (Tariq Yunus) lives in Amsterdam with his sick uncle (Renu Setna) and his cousin Pramila (Emily Bolton). He needs to get his uncle to the UK for treatment but they have no passports. He asks Onslow (Colin Welland) if Onslow and his small crew will take them on Onslow's boat. In exchange Anand will sell Onslow one of the gold bars his uncle has converted his savings into for a knock down price in cash. As Onslow remortages his boat, a plan starts to form that maybe he could keep the gold and the money and get in with the immigration authorities in England. But who is double crossing whom?

This one's written by Leon Griffiths (Minder) and directed by John MacKenzie (THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY and APACHES) who gives this caper a slightly gritty edge that helps build the suspense as to what is actually going to happen. Frequent Pete Walker collaborator Stanley Myers provides the score. 

Disc 3

Your Man From Six Counties (1976)

This one's written by Colin Welland and set in contemporary Ireland. Young Jimmy (Joseph Reynolds) witnesses his father blown up in a Belfast pub bombing and moves to Ireland to live with his Uncle Danny (Donal McCann) and Aunt Mollie (a pre-Oscar-winning Brenda Fricker). But the tensions Jimmy left behind in Northern Ireland are still very much present in the tiny village he finds himself living in, and he ends up becoming the focus of many of them. 

Like Back of Beyond, Your Man From Six Counties has beautiful scenery as the backdrop to its considerably more political story. Carl Davis provides the melancholy music score for this one. 

Our Flesh and Blood (1977)

Jan (Alison Steadman from Abigail's Party and a vast amount of other TV) is expecting a baby with husband Bernard (Bernard Hill, best known to one generation for Boys From the Blackstuff and another for LORD OF THE RINGS). Jan wants a 'natural birth' (still a novel concept in 1977) and Bernard wants to support her, despite his boss and colleague treating Jan's pregnancy as a mistake on Bernard's part, refusing to reschedule interviews and suggesting a sports car might be a better investment than a child. Richard Briers (best known to one generation for The Good Life and another, rather wonderfully, for COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES) is the icy head of the maternity ward, embodying what were perceived as the attitudes and principles of late 1970s medicine, urging Jan to take the drugs and wanting Bernard to leave because 'fathers just get in the way'. 

Disc 4

A Photograph (1977)

Michael (John Stride), a media personality "for the intelligentsia" who reviews the arts for the BBC is sent a photograph of two girls sitting outside a caravan. His wife Gillian (Stephanie Turner) is convinced he is having an affair and there's the implication that it isn't the first. There's the suggestion he is up to something he shouldn't be, and it's obvious all is not too happy at home. To placate his wife Michael goes on a search for the caravan but only horror waits him at the end of his journey.

Written by John Bowen (Robin Redbreast and The Ice House amongst others), A Photograph builds slowly and almost imperceptibly to a full-on horror climax that feels as if Pete Walker might have directed it. To say any more would be to spoil the surprises but this is a splendid 72 minutes of television that gradually tightens the knot on its lead character with plenty for the viewer to think about afterwards. 

    As mentioned above, extras on the discs are limited to the scripts but the real bonus here is the detailed book that accompanies the set and provides detailed essays on each film. Thank you BFI. Let's have some more of these. 

PLAY FOR TODAY Volume One is out on Blu-ray in a four disc set from the BFI on Monday 16th November 2020

Waxworks (1924)

 

One of the earliest anthology movies (in fact it's probably the second ever made) gets a Blu-ray release as Eureka brings Paul Leni's expressionist masterpiece to disc, scanned in 4K resolution and then restored in 2K.

William Dieterle, probably best known to readers here for directing Charles Laughton in 1939's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and for 1941's THE DEVIL & DANIEL WEBSTER, plays a poet who answers an ad in the paper to provide stories for some of the figures in a fairground waxworks. Dieterle also features in the stories as different characters.

The first story is about Caliph Harun al-Rashid (Emil Jannings, whose OTHELLO you get to see at the beginning of 1973's THEATRE OF BLOOD) who leaves a wax double of himself in bed while he prowls the city in search of the local baker's wife. 
The second has Conrad Veidt (CABINET OF DR CALIGARI, THE THIEF OF BAGDAD et al) as Ivan the Terrible, convinced he is going to be the taget of an assassination, stealing another man's bride and ending his days insane and convinced upending an hourglass will stop him from dying.

The final story is barely a story at all, as Werner Krauss (DR CALIGARI himself!) plays Jack the Ripper and pursues our hero around the waxworks before a rather abrupt ending. 

A title card inserted before the film begins states that over twenty minutes of footage of WAXWORKS has been lost, which explains why the film does seem to be over rather quickly. Still, this is a lovely print of a tinted transfer which comes with two new music scores - traditional piano from Richard Siedhoff and rather more avant-garde chamber work from Ensemble Musikfabrik, and much fun can be had flicking between the two depending on the mood of the scene (and the viewer).

Eureka's disc also comes with a commentary track from critic Adrian Martin, a talking head piece from Kim Newman, an interview with Julia Wallmuller about the search for WAXWORKS and Paul Leni's REBUS-FILM Nos 1-8 - a collection of short film crossword puzzles shown to accompany main features back in the day.

There's also a collector's booklet with new writing on the film, and the first 2000 come with a limited edition 'O' card.

Paul Leni's WAXWORKS is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 9th November 2020

The Sheltering Sky (1990)

 

Bernardo Bertolucci's adaptation of Paul Bowles' novel gets a UK Blu-ray release in a 1080p HD presentation courtesy of Arrow Films.

Algeria in the late 1940s. Kit Moresby (Debra Winger) and her husband Port (John Malkovich) arrive with the intention of travelling, rather than being tourists. The latter is thinking of home as soon as they arrive, Kit says, whereas the former may never go home.

As they journey from town to town and eventually into the desert, it becomes clear that something has happened back at home that has left deep scars, but exactly what is never explained. They encounter others who may be escaping something, too -  an English woman (Jill Bennett) and her creepy son Eric (Timothy Spall). Eventually tragedy strikes and it becomes obvious that things can never again return to what the Powers seem to be desperately seeking.

Stunningly photographed by Vittorio Storaro and with sensitive acting and directing, THE SHELTERING SKY is never less than a feast for the eyes while all the time the viewer is wondering exactly what's going on, or rather what has been going on for this strange couple to have come all this way to embark on what feels like aimless wandering. The film bears comparison to another literary adaptation from 1990, Paul Schrader's film of Ian McEwan's THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS, both in its 'strange posh people abroad' plot and the sense of mounting dread that ensues. But there's also elements of the 'Up the Creek Without a Paddle' subgenre here too. As the Moresby's move further into the desert you get the feeling they're getting closer to their own Heart of Darkness. As well as this being reminiscent of Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW, all the luggage they insist on bringing with them to their (possible) doom is evocative of Herzog's AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD. 

Arrow's disc comes with a ported over commentary track from Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas and screenwriter Mark Peploe and there's a 47 minute archival featurette on the making of the film plus ten minutes of archival cast interviews. New materials include a video essay by David Cairns and Fiona Watson and a new interview with art director Andrew Sanders. You also get an image gallery, trailer and reversible sleeve. The first pressing comes with a booklet with new writing on the film from Kat Ellinger.

Bernardo Bertolucci's THE SHELTERING SKY is on on Blu-ray from Arrow Films on Monday 2nd November 2020

The Grudge 2 (2006)

 

The sixth film in the GRUDGE universe is getting a new Blu-ray and DVD release courtesy of Fabulous Films. Yes that's right I said the sixth. As of this writing there are thirteen films in the various Japanese and US franchises and if you want the list then it's all in my review to the 13th film called unhelpfully, THE GRUDGE.

But back to THE GRUDGE 2, which is the US sequel to the 2004 THE GRUDGE and not the 2020 THE GRUDGE or any of the Japanese films. A summary of the story so far will probably be more helpful.

The source of all the ghostly goings-on in these films is Kayako (Takako Fuji), who was murdered by her husband for having designs on another man. Her husband also murdered her only child and the family cat. Because of the violence of the murder and because (it turns out in this one) as a child Kayako was some kind of repository for evil spirits exorcised by her mother from other people, the house where she was killed now has a curse on it. Anyone who enters dies a horrible ghostly death. 

In the previous film, Sarah Michelle Gellar became involved after being sent to the house to look after an elderly woman whose usual social worker had disappeared (yes it was Kayako) after her son and his wife also disappeared (Kayako again). Miss Gellar eventually burned the house down.

Now it's sequel time! Amber Tamblyn, previously seen messing around with the cursed videotape in Gore Verbinski's remake of RINGU as THE RING (you'd think she'd have learned by now) plays Gellar's sister who travels to Japan and finds herself in a world of creaky-voiced creepy crawly horrors, uncovering more of Kayako's past (see above). Meanwhile in the US, why are Jennifer Beals and her family suddenly the subject of hauntings in what must be the most drab-looking apartment to grace a mid 2000s American horror film?

Blu-ray extras include ten minutes on Ms Fuji, whose sixth and final film this was playing Kayako as well as featurettes on story development, adapting the films for a Western audience and director of all six films Takashi Shimizu talking about his creation and how he hoped he would get to direct THE GRUDGE 3 (he didn't) and cast Ms Fuji again (that didn't happen either). Altogether you get 50 minutes of behind the scenes material that touches on all the previous films including the Japanese ones. There are also deleted scenes, an alternate ending and an additional epilogue that was cut from the original release. 

Takashi Shimizu's THE GRUDGE 2 is out on Blu-ray and DVD from Fabulous Films on Monday 2nd November 2020

Tales From the Hood I & II (1995 & 2018)

 

 "Excellent Package of Anthology Horror Movies"

      The BFI are releasing the first two TALES FROM THE HOOD films (the third one has just been released) in a two disc Blu-ray set with a host of extras.

         TALES FROM THE HOOD is a genuine surprise. A mid-1990s horror film that embraces the narrative style and comic book setups of previous anthology movies (especially those made by Amicus) while at the same time skilfully employing contemporary African American cultural themes at their core. 

Three hoodlums arrive at a mortuary with the promise of a drug deal. They meet the mysterious Mr Simms (Clarence White III) who, with his 1970s-style dress sense, proves to be something of a Dolemite-style cryptkeeper, telling the boys four tales based on the mortuary's current 'residents'.

Violence from white cops, domestic violence, the massacre of slaves, and gang warfare form the basis of the stories, which considering the seriousness of the subject matter are far more entertaining and EC-style than you might expect both in terms of their style of execution and the horrible ends which the perpetrators of the atrocities end up suffering. If you've seen pretty much any Amicus film you'll have guessed the ending, which is still extremely satisfying and embellished with some excellent makeup effects. Director Rusty Cundieff absolutely knows how to film this kind of horror, co-writer and co-producer Darin Scott was one of the team responsible for the superior Vincent Price-starring horror anthology FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM and we get a music score from accomplished genre composer Christopher Young. It's therefore a pleasure to watch each tale unfold knowing you're in safe hands (especially as the stories' protagonists very much aren't). 

Extras for TALES FROM THE HOOD include Shout Factory's making of documentary from 2017 featuring interviews with Cundieff and Scott as well as stars Corbin Bernsen, Wings Hauser and Anthony Griffith amongst others. There's also a commentary track from Rusty Cundieff, also from 2017.

It wasn't until 2018 that a sequel emerged, this time written and directed by both Rusty Cundieff and Darin Scott. This time Keith David is our storyteller (which he does superbly) and the stories on the whole are rather lighter in touch, at least to begin with. The first, about a human-sized gollywog that goes on the rampage, dangerously skirts the line of being too ridiculous but just about gets away with it if you're forgiving. In the second a gang try to discover where some money has been stashed by a man they've tortured to death, employing a white medium to channel the dead man's spirit. The third is about a date-rape night that goes horribly wrong for the perpetrators. None of these comic book-style stories will prepare you for the fourth segment 'The Sacrifice' which is powerful and affecting, all the more so because of what has gone before. It would not have been out of place in Jordan Peele's new Twilight Zone series and in fact is better than many of the stories in that. 

Extras for the second movie include an 18 minute interview with Darin Scott and a substantial 68 minute interview with Rusty Cundieff which looks like it was conducted by Zoom and covers both films in detail. 

TALES FROM THE HOOD is an excellent anthology. What's surprising is how good TALES FROM THE HOOD II is, so don't go under the misapprehension that it's been packaged with the first as an 'extra'. Considering that most sequels are terrible, especially ones made over 20 years after their original, and in a decade where we've seen plenty of truly terrible anthology movies it's very much worth watching. An excellent package from the BFI. 

TALES FROM THE HOOD I & II is out on Blu-ray from the BFI in a two disc set on Monday 2nd November 2020