Category Archives: action

Good for Mankind is also EVIL for Greed! “Mandroid” reviewed! (Full Moon Features / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Mandroid” Blu-ray Now Available!

Scientists Dr. Karl Zimmer and his colleague Ivan Drago work in Russia to invent and perfect a humanoid android that uses the converted energy, labeled as SuperCon, from a unique fungus, that has endless potential and possibilities, to power it while controlling the android through a cerebral VR dashboard.  While Zimmer has plans to help humanity with the SuperCon project, Drago has other greedy plans to sell to the highest bidder, in this case the U.S. Government for military grade weaponization.  When Drago steals the mechanized android, he doesn’t have the SuperCon formula to fully complete the sale.  A CIA operative, Zimmer and his daughter, and a U.S scientist sent to validate the SuperCon and android for US. Government use work together to stop Drago who has gone mad with greed and disfigured by the highly radioactive converted energy as nothing will stop him from obtaining the full mandroid package he helped to create. 

A Full Moon produced science fiction that really tones down the campiness to the point where the film doesn’t feel like a typical Charles Band production.  “Mandroid” is the 1993 mecha action-thriller from Swedish director Jack Ersgård (“The Visitors,) and penned by the Charles Band payrolled screenwriters Jack Cannon (“Robot Wars,” “Seedpeople”) and C. Courtney Joyner (“Trancers III,” “Puppet Master III:  Toulon’s Revenge”) under a pair of pennames, Jackson Barr and Earl Keaton.  “Madroid” would be the first of a two-film arc that uses secondary story elements of the “Mandroid” narrative to setup a parallel sequel or companion pieces entitled “Invisible:  The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight” that’s also directed by Ersgard and written by Joyner, creating a perfect double bill for Full Moon.  Charles Band has sole executive producer credit alongside the Romanian producers, a husband and wife team of Vlad and Oana Paunescu, at their studio and production umbrella of Castel Film, located in Romania and a frequent collaborator with the presenting Full Moon company credited with “Subspecies II and III” and “Trancers 4 and 5” to name a few titles.

“Mandroid” acting favors more of the no-nonsense and serious tone for as science-fiction VR-controlled super android thriller set in Russia.  Brian Cousins is credited as the lead playing Wade, an American scientist hired by the U.S. Government to validate the SuperCon project under Dr. Zimmer and Drago but I find Cousins’ character lacks the charisma and the screen time to be unrivaled, sharing, or better thought as being oppugn, the feature prominence with the villain Drago who overshadows him considerably with the wonderfully USSR-trite performance by the late “Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory” and “The Entity” actor Curt Lowens.  Lowens brings to Drago the quintessential bad guy charm with the quintessential bad guy scarred looks as he exploits opportunities for personal gain and even using fear to evoke a homeless, Soviet-enthusiast mute (Ion Haiduc, “Bloodstone:  Subspecies II”) to be his henchman.  Their flaws inherently make them villains against a team of scientist, consisting of Wade and Dr. Zimmer (Robert Symonds, “The Exorcist”), his daughter Zanna (Jane Caldwell), and assistant Benjamin (Michael Della Femina, “Invisible:  The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight”) working together to achieve greatness for mankind, the benevolent and noble act.  The last principal piece of the puzzle is CIA agent Joe who’s not very tech savvy and may have more dubious reasons for his representation of the U.S. Government.  Cladded in a leather/faux leather jacket and tan slacks, as well as sporting a rugged 5 o’clock shadow, director Jack Ersgård’s brother, Patrik Ersgård (“The Visitor”), does not look like your conventional CIA agent to add a layer of unresolved mystery around him and to make him dangerous to either side of the good vs evil spectrum, but one thing is for certain about Ersgård character is his cunningness and courage.   Costel Constantin, Mircea Albusecu, and Adrian Pintea provide the Romania support cast to flesh out “Mandroid’s” merciless cold attire.

Less carnivalesque, less campy, and light on the pint-sized killers than most Full Moon productions, “Mandroid” has the seriousness of an early Stuard Gordon x Full Moon collaboration, aesthetically backed with darker tones, infused practical bloody imagery with some compositional VFX, and delivered signed and sealed by distinct and solid performances.  The SuperCon plot device is early days  man-in-a-suit backed by radioactive mushrooms that sound trippy when described out loud but Jack Ersgård subverts the idea’s potential faults and creates an atmosphere of intensity that sees large explosions, plenty of period costuming (Cold War era reminiscent) and is even able to secure SWAT armored vehicles and plenty of interesting, dilapidated locations that, from at least the U.S. perspective, feel like Mother Russia.  Whether a progressive highlight or an expectational fault, depending on the kind of person you ask, “Mandroid” does not contain nudity that can be savored from most of Full Moon’s catalogue; sorry readers but super blonde Jane Caldwell is not only the sole woman in the story but she’s very much clothed all the way through without a smidgen of sexy promiscuity.  The whole quasi-biological, man-and-machine affair represents the actual entertaining and creative storytelling side of Band’s company that has veteran actors mixing it up with up-and-comers to square dance around a radiative weapon of mass destruction tale. 

Full Moon Features remasters “Mandroid” from the original 35mm negative, scanned 2K with a high-definition, 1080p resolution, onto an AVC encoded BD25.  The end result is nothing far from an excellence reproduction that cleans up and clears out the inherent nuisances with standard definition DVD and VHS tape.  There’s a bit of a polished look upgrade that enhances great richness to shadows yet still picks up finer detail points that would have been missed through a lower resolution.  The overall detail is soft because of the nature of the lighting aesthetic that casts a soft glow of ethereal in a cold war era scenario while still maintaining an austere and raw sense of soviet times except with a red flare, “Mandroid” graded with blue.  “Mandroid” Blu-ray is presented in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio.  There are two English audio options available:  Dolby 2.0 Stereo and a Dolby Digital 5.1.  The lossy format is typical compression used by Full Moon and while it offers an adequate soundtrack, it does not boost up reproducing fidelity deserving for “Mandroid” explosive and highly active narrative with plenty of sound effects.  Dialogue is favored nicely and balanced with the action along with the atypical for Full Moon non-carnivalesque score by David Arkenstone (“Murdercycle”).  No compression or original audio track issues with little-to-no interference on the inlaid dialogue.  Special features include the original videozone advert, the original feature trailer, and other Full Moon original releases.  The standard Amaray Blu-ray case contains the original artwork and spined at number 88.  Full Moon’s “Mandroid” is rated R, has a runtime of 80 minutes, and is region free.

Last Rite: “Mandroid” is proof that Full Moon wasn’t always skirting by as they are today with cast, talent, and budget. For fans of Full Moon of yore, “Mandroid” is a serious title to be taken seriously, especially with a new Blu-ray release!

“Mandroid” Blu-ray Now Available!

A Father and an Assassin Fight Against EVIL Corruption! “On the Run” reviewed! (88 Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“On the Run” Now Available from 88 Films!

CID special operations police officer Hsiang Ming is going through a separation with his wife, who also works for the CID in the narcotics division.  As the two attempt to work out an amiable agreement with their young daughter before she moves to the U.S., his wife is brutally slain by a female assassin, a hired gun employed by corrupt cops involved in a large drug smuggling operation.  One of those cops is her new boyfriend, a high ranking CID officer.  Accused of murder, Ming is on the run with his youngest daughter and even tracks down his wife’s murderer, Miss Pai.  Extenuating circumstances leaves Ming at the mercy of Pai who didn’t know her target was a cop and has immense sympathy for Ming and his daughter, a problem she’s directly responsible for.  Outnumbered, outgunned, and friends quickly diminishing. Ming has no other option but to accept the deadeye Pai’s help and the two quickly form a bond that goes beyond just surviving insidious corruption.

In 1988, Bo Ho Film Company and Golden Harvest Productions released the Alfred Cheung-directed, Hong Kong heroic bloodshed flick “On The Run,” penned by Cheung alongside cowriter Keith Wong (“Her Fatal Ways” trilogy). “Mong ming yuen yeung,” aka “Fleeing Couple,” is the literal title which also included another alternate title, “Hong Kong Connection – On The Run,” in more broad English titles.  The fast-paced, action-packed fight or flight thriller told a narrative of ingrained corruption within the ranks of the law, bonded unlikely heroes with conflicting professionals and a sore point connection, and really pushed the exodus, or export, of emigration at the time because of the seedlings of British rule coming to an end with a handover of Hong Kong back to the Republic of China, an act that eventually took a decade to complete.  Anhtony Chan, Leonard Ho, and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung produced the film with Paragon Films and Mobile Film Production as associated studios.

“Picture of a Hymph” and “The Peacock King” martial arts action star Biao Yuen is a sorely underrated action star from the 1980s, overshadowed greatly by the versatile Jackie Chan and the quickly rising through the heroic bloodshed ranks Chow Yun-Fat.  Though immensely popular in Hong Kong for his contribution to the acrobatic style of fighting and palpable stunt work, Yuen should be a household name in the States with select films that carried over.  The only problem was Yuen was never really a part of those niche works unlike the aforementioned stars and amongst others, but Yuen never stopped working, starring in a co-principal production as Hsiang Ming, a CID officer whose special operations department is being phased out, mirror his own life as he is being phased out amicably by his emigrating wife (Idy Chan, “The Siamese Twins”) and child (Chan Cheuk-yan, “Bless This House”).  As Ming, going through a separation is already difficult enough and Yuen’s able to show the meek and reserved desperation that initially stunts him as a husband but breaks through that limitation when she’s shot in the head and he must step up to be the protective father for his young daughter.  The father -daughter aspect is a narrative opposite that strays from the typical damsel in distress device.  Instead, Patrica Ha (“Flaming Brothers”) embodies the strong protector as the assassin Miss Pa.  Quiet natured and a crack shot, we’re introduced to Ha’s unique solitude of naked contemplation and, later, her retro appearance of a woman plucked from the 1960s with the flick up hairstyle.  Ha’s portray adds a lot to Pai’s mysterious past and her cold nature but her character’s arc travels across a sympathetic bridge when Miss Pai’s target ends up being an law officer with a cute family being hunted by money greedy and morally corrupted officials in Lu played by Charlin Chin (“The Imp”) and his entourage of varied goonies (Lo Lieh, “The Untold Story III”) – Wah Yuen, “Mr. Vampire” and Phillip Ko, “Cannibal Curse”) who are so individualized they are worth more than just the general and broad charactered henchmen that tend to be forgettable.  Bowie Lam, Kam Kong Chow, Peter Pau, Lap Sal Lam, Yung Kwan, Cheuk Yan Chan, Shek-Yin Yau, Kwai-Bo Chun and Heung-Kam Lee costar. 

Cheung’s “On the Run” is not only fast-paced, hard-boiled, and well-executed, the story is also dark and unforgiving.  No one is safe from the ingrained corruption even when lives are already upended through a natural course of hardships between sentient people making conscious choices that best suites them, such as Ming and his wife’s separation involving a small child.  Good guys are bad, bad guys are good, “On the Run” doesn’t define and cement the roles of the players as cops turn out to be corrupted drug smugglers and ruthless killers and an assassin for hire becomes a life savior for a father and his daughter with immense sympathy.  Each one of them are looking to escape one way or another:  Ming’s wife wants to move to America, Miss Pai wants to go back to Thailand, Lu’s looking to get away with murder and money, and Ming is open to explore the possibility of either moving to American before all the chaos ensued or flee to Thailand with his wife’s assassin in attempt to not only be out of the reach of Lu and his men as a witness to their treachery and victimizing transgressions but also to escape from his accusations of murder as well as be with his new found affection for his wife’s killer.  This speaks to the current Hong Kong climate of the looming power change and the state of affairs that drive denizens to abscond an unwanted change in rule with Lu and his men likely representing Chinese corruption of a communism power.  The film’s neo-noir veneer capitalizes suspense and danger around every corner and the level of trust certainly wavers in a directional wind that gives a scent of deceit.  “On the Run” is not gun-fu nor is it straight up martial arts; instead, the conflict basis is strictly melee and projectile based without the heavily influenced martial arts action of Hong Kong historical cinema, grounding “On the Run” with more realism in it’s darkest, grittiest narrative that makes the Andrew Cheung thriller more intense.   

88 Films releases “On the Run” onto a new Blu-ray home video that’s AVC encoded with Full HD 1080p high-definition resolution on a BD50 capacity disc.  The new 2K transfer from the original film elements has no qualms about it with a clean picture quality underneath it’s naturally healthy grain and diffused color palate that’s designs around shadows, neon lighting, and low-key lighting.  The negative spaces are often pleasantly inky without any decoding blotches or issues to divide into a couple of shades of black.  Skin and fabric textures are nicely highlighted with full perspective of the grime that builds up on the characters put through the violent wringer.  Patrica Ha is stunning with her character’s introductory getup much to the thanks of the transfer’s refined detail from her retro hairdo to the equally attributed outfit ensemble that’s plain, but she wears plain in a cool, sexy fashion.  The film is presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The uncompressed Cantonese LPCM mono track funnels right, left, and center audio through a singular speaker so there’s an unfortunate lack of spatial direction, but this cleanly presented ADR track still offers strong, robust audio in its action and in its unobstructed dialogue albeit some low buzzing interference from the studio recording.  This strength of quality also extends to the action that has powerful measure despite being held in a crowded, single audio design.  The new remastered, optional English subtitles are of the UK lexicon with 88 Films being a UK label.  Special features include an audio commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Phil Gillion from their Podcast on Fire Network, a second audio commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, an interview with director Alfred Cheung Running Away, an interview with David West Predicting the Future, an alternate ending that cuts shaves off scenes on the tail end, and the Hong Kong trailer of the feature.  Graphic artist Sean Langmore continues to supply 88 Films with tremendously detailed slipcover and primary sleeve art compositions of characters and memorable moments meshed into a single image.  The reversible sleeve inside the green Blu-ray Amaray case houses the original Hong Kong poster art, which is more simplistic and not as busy as Langmore’s.  The region A/B encoded Blu-ray is not rated and has a runtime of 89 minutes.

Last Rites: Hong Kong heroic bloodshed and noir is defined by many filmic entries but “On the Run” has paradoxical attractiveness about it that separates it from the rest as it treads a gloomy disposition and an expat dream.

“On the Run” Now Available from 88 Films!

A Daniel Falick Double Feature of EVIL is a Must Not Miss! (Chemical Burn Entertainment / 2-Disc DVD Mondo Collector’s Set)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Don’t Skip Your Double Dose of Daniel Falick in “Exorcist Vs Vampires!”

Unorthodox exorcist and hobby writer Richard Vanuk lives a depressing and humble life full of endless booze and filthy altruism. Driven by the need for alcohol and an underline desire to help possessed strangers for a small fee, Vanuk barely maintains his own sustainability. With each challenging case of demonic inhabitance, the poor full time exorcist, and part time writer, expels demons from their misfortunate hosts into his own wretched soul, draining his self-respecting humanity out of him one demon-expulsion job at a time. The deeper Vanuk spirals downward into nihilism and the deeper he goes into severe debt, the choice to withdrawal from the toll of exorcising demons becomes no longer an option, but a fruitlessly fateful venture to just surviving in a world that’s scarce of good people.

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My second undertaking into a Daniel Falicki horror film has the “Awaken The Devil” director batting a solid hundred percent on the ever honest critique block, going a strong two-for-two with his latest film, 2016’s “Accidental Exorcist,” that’s drenched with a despair atmosphere that swallows the intentionally pathetic character who is granted only a glimmer of unattainable hope for a good life. The writer-director has a keen eye for developing horror in various comedic, dramatic, and absurdly berserk formatted segments, delicately defining details to capture memorable moments. Falicki also stars as his own character, Richard Vanuk, and Falicki charms the audience by creating a likable anti-protagonist whose cavalier about demonic possessions and begrudged by a “corporate” employer who pays very little for the precision of demon banishment; this same company performs a stigmata on him after every exhausting job, discarding his limp, unconscious body in a different snow covered park afterwards.

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Falicki drowns Vanuk in vices and addictions. Aside from the obvious alcohol and constant inebriation, Vanuk needs the pain of performing exorcisms as much as he loathes the process and the people who employs him. The character can’t reform, can’t function properly in normality, as witnessed when his successful brother offers Richard a once-in-a-lifetime position at his mundane company of pigmentation for sports equipment. When the exorcism well runs dry, Vanuk goes into full blown, borderline psychotic detox as he’s cut off from his, one and only, natural born skill and the ceasing of his per diem position sends him into frantically gulping down bottles of cold medicine to get a soothing fix. Falicki punishes the audience beloved, unconventional exorcist by having Vanuk fall to the bottom by not being unlucky or plotted against, but by simply self destruction and having God turn his back on his loyal servant when the promise, or a test, of a favorable outlook reveals itself.

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The casting couldn’t be much more perfect with a cast of talented b-movie stars such as Jason Roth (“Awaken The Devil”), Chris Kotcher, and Jeffrey Goodrich to quickly name a few. Falicki owns Richard Vanuk, embodying the character so brilliantly that I would have a hard time relinquishing Richard Vanuk from Daniel Falicki’s face. Falicki pulls out all the stops by putting every once of degradation the director can muster into the downtrodden exorcist with a performance that sells his hapless nature and spew-filled gigs. Every client Vanuk attends to is portrayed honestly and earnestly from Sherryl Despress’s role of a desperate mother turned possessed super sewer to Patrick Hendren’s blind and levitating demonic being who goes on to have a heart-to-heart with Vanuk after an exorcism recovery.

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“Accidental Exorcist” is unapologetic and shameless; a real nasty bitch to love unconditionally. The fun soars above the summit and the ingrained heart bursts beyond the restrictive seams of the reel. The film is nothing I’ve ever scene before; yet, still manages to homage legendary films that “Accidental Exorcist” built it’s bones upon. Similarities to, of course, the iconic William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” are apparent throughout with the almost beautifully grim and isolated atmospheric exterior scenes of foreboding destiny. Falicki’s film contains special effects so convincing by leaps and bounds when compared to other modern independent horror, portraying Vanuk so well within the confines of his dank and dejected existence that it’s as if he’s sharing his grime and his loneliness with us that’ll result with a quick shower when the credits roll.

Fleeing from brilliant explosions cascading down from the sky upon the city, Catherine ducks into a seemingly innocuous vacant building to escape the bombardment.  As the ceiling crumbles down, she’s trapped inside a room amongst the rubble and metallic debris, but she’s not alone.  With her are corpses of military soldiers struck down by the falling cement and rebar.  Also with her, a metallic sarcophagus lies in the center amongst the corpses and the wreckage.  Inside, a creature emerges, one that’s ancient as it is predatory, and comes face-to-face with a disordered Catherine still shaken by the apocalyptic conditions she just escaped, but the creature shows signs of dying by coughing up blood and unable to move with ease.  However, the creature’s thirst for blood is still strong as it debates the philosophy of existence and species history in order to gain favor for the last of his kind as Catherine champions for the human right to live, breath, and love from the soul. 

Before writing, directing, and starring as the drunkard exorcists who can absorb other people’s demons, Michigan born filmmaker Dan Falicki was “The Last Vampyre on Earth” in 2013.  Also known as “Aeon:  The Last Vampyre on Earth,” the feature-length film is one Falicki did not write, penned by Warren Croyle (“From Jennifer”) and Ryan Lieske (“Awaken the Devil”), and was shot in Falicki’s home state of Michigan, Grand Rapids to me more exact.  “The Last Vampyre on Earth” aims to examine themes surrounding the right to exist, a Darwinist approach to predator and prey, truth and lies, good vs evil, otherworldly watchers, and the human soul in what’s not your traditional gothic and enchanting vampire thriller.  Instead, Falicki’s vampire tale is futuristic and conversional with impacting moments of bloody spew, declining decay, and projectile violence.  Falicki’s iron-man approach to filmmaking, taking on multiple hats in most of his productions, is cultivated through his independent production company Rotomation Pictures, partnering up with another Michigan based studio Sector 5 Films, under the sister label of Chemical Burn Entertainment.  Falicki produced the film with Warren Coyle, Anthony E. Griffin (“Devils in the Darkness”), and Frank Stabile.

Like “Accidental Exorcist,” Falicki’s if-you-want-to-do-it-right, you-do-it-yourself approach to filmmaking has certainly served him well in both features, though I’m sure a better reason for Falicki to take on principal roles is to keep costs low.  However, the roles involved, especially in “The Last Vampyre on Earth,” are extremely physical and taxing.  Playing Aeon, or The Last as credited on IMDB.com, Falicki is constantly feigning vomiting fake blood and other bodily fluid, hacking up a lung in constant coughing fits, moving in spasm and in spurts, and all doing it while under multiple grades of degrading derma layers progressing through the story.  There’s no holding Falicki back being everything ounce a vampire on death’s door while still clawing to get that little ounce of blood before all hell breaks loose from above.  Aeon’s counterpart is human, a woman named Catherine, who has a background in philosophy and when you put a woman with a philosophy degree in with a creature with long history, questionings and experiences formulated from views and fact begin to intertwine as long as Aeon has no strength in his body.  April Basile as Catherine holds her own enough against Falicki’s physical performance but does fail to compare as an equal, often reserved in performance to convince audiences Catherine is strong from the moment she steps into that building for cover.  Definitely stale with her character’s arc, Basile shifts gears without ever touching the shifter, keeping in the same gear as from which she started and that can be a bit grinding on the sympathetic system that allows us to feel for the protagonist and antagonist.  The cast rounds out with peripheral, non-dialogued bodies of death and delusion with Chris Eddy, Sara Jean Anderson and Joseph McIntosh going fully need for the cause and Ryan Lieske and Jason Roth as dead soldiers. 

“The Last Vampyre on Earth” knows its limitations as an independent film.  With a supposed investment of around one million dollars, the feature puts majority favor on the special practical effects and the maybe even it’s actors to solidify at least a visual story that’s hefty on the dialogue, literally and figuratively.  Popcorn moviegoers will struggle to see past the verbose debating and write off the film within the first 20 minutes that shows no promise of action or bloody horror but if you’re in the minority that can see past the diatribes and debates, Falicki and team are master of contrasts, gels, shadows, editing, and performance art as Falicki has an eye for engrossing visuals, much the same with “Accidental Exorcist” and “Awaken the Devil” that have been implied with a comic book like noir to both films and “The Last Vampyre on Earth” very much hints toward that succeeding aesthetic.  I do wish the Croyle and Lieske dialogue between Aeon and Catherine was a little less redundant and had a little more animated bite as the topics become circular and the characters never really moved from their stationary mark.  This results in scenes to stagnate as eyelids start to close and the issues at hand fade into nothing more than a yawn but there was always the cliffhanger of ambiguous bombardment of Earth outside and, interestingly enough, Aeon’s species is never mentioned, only flirted around as if saying vampire was too taboo in another subtle theme of metaphorical prejudice against those that are different but well equipped to survive, imprisoned to study for the best parts to be integrated into the captor’s race. 

The Daniel Falicki double feature “Accidental Exorcist” and “The Last Vampyre on Earth” arrive on a 2-disc, Chemical Burn distributed, DVD set, both are MPEG2 encoded DVD5s with 720p standard resolution.  This reissue set doesn’t up the picture quality game of the original releases that are often eclectic because of the cinematography and technical style by Falicki and cinematographer Scott Baisden (“Accidental Exorcist”) and Anthony E. Griffin (“The Last Vampyre on Earth”) who roughly have the same layout with odd angles, tint work, and key lighting with much of their differences lying in contrast saturation between overexposure and dark shadows.  Distinct details are not greatly evident, but the overall detail is middle of the road with texture smoothed over by the format and an unnatural palette workup.  “Accidental Exorcist” is presented in a 2.40:1 that offers tighter closeups and a broader stretch of his apartment during drama mid-shots while “The Last Vampyre on Earth” includes a 1.78:1 presentation.  Both features are noted to have a LPCM 5.1 surround sound mix, uncompressed and in the English language.  “Accident Exorcist” has the better of the two tracks with a clear dialogue and action sound design with some overlapping between the dialogue and the soundtrack that tries to muck up the dialogue.  We see this muck up more with “The Last Vampyre on Earth” as Falicki’s growling and gurgling, cough-riddled rants, raves, and diatribes are victims of being unintelligible at times during more low-tone dramatic soundtrack pieces in what’s mostly a low mechanical hum piece in between the crumbling building and character skirmish scenes.  Action Foley and soundbites are crisp without sound distant and isolated, integrated nicely into progressive mise-en-scenes.  There are no subtitle options for either disc.  What’s also lacking are special features that has this set pegged as a film-only release.  The re-issue DVD is a welcome mondo-inspired collector’s set with uncredited detailed illustrated artwork that meshes vampires and the possessed in a hellish collage.  The sleeve art is single-sided.  My only gripe with the set is the titles are not listed anywhere on the front or back so potential buyers will find themselves in a blind bag purchase.  The DVD Amaray holds no other tangible product inside.  The unrated features have a total runtime of 200 minutes and have region free capabilities. 

Last Rites: Don’t lose sight of deep independent films. Often times indie productions can be a challenge to sit through but Daniel Falicki’s “Accidental Exorcist” and “The Last Vampyre on Earth” are the exception, better than most, with interesting stories, complex characters, a crisis of existence, and a show of surreal aesthetic and vehemence to sweeten the pot for these two films under the obscuring larger production veil.

Don’t Skip Your Double Dose of Daniel Falick in “Exorcist Vs Vampires!”

A Trio of EVIL of Italian-Inspired Violence. “Gialli, Guns, and Gore!: The Brutal Films of Darren Ward” reviewed! (Treasured Films / 3-Disc Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

The Brutal Films of Darren Ward Are a Must See! Buy the Set Here!

Walker, a former SAS turned hitman mercenary, accepts a job by a white-collar narcotics kingpin to snuff out a rival organization for control over cocaine distribution territories only to be betrayed by his employee, targeted himself for elimination.  Going into hiding to recover after narrowly escape with injuries, Walker’s best and only friend is caught, tortured, and slaughtered to draw him out.  There’s nothing left for Walker to do other than to mercilessly wipe them off the face of the Earth.  In another thrilling tale, low-level hoodlum Mitchell steals 100K from another low-level hoodlum holding the money for a mob boss.  Planning to use the money to fund his daughter’s return from a comatose state, Mitchell must first outrun and outsmart the mob who are hunting him down, but nothing will get in the way of saving his little girl.  Lastly, Walker returns to the fold having retired permanently from the mercenary life and is now living the married life with a child on the way.  When a group of lowlife henchmen decide to joyride murder and posthumously rape his wife and leave him for dead, all Walker wants is thoughtless vengeance and he must go through an entire crime syndicate to get to those responsible for destroying all that he loves.  Unfortunately, the underlings of a ruthless Russian mob boss, who is trying to tie up loose ends before the police and investigators come after him, are protected by a small arsenal.

From 1997 to 2019, British filmmaker Darren Ward produced the Fury Trilogy, a 3-film series of violent crime thrillers that harked back to the days of the Italian poliziotteschi subgenre, a brutally violent series of crime thrillers released between 1960 and 1980 that saw themes of cruel hearted antagonists, a justifiable hero hellbent on revenge, and the up-close-and-personal violence and, often times, gore.  “Sudden Fury” (1997), “A Day of Violence” (2010), and “Beyond Fury” (2019) are the titles and while not all three wholeheartedly connect in the series and in story, they share the cruel characteristics and the visceral animosity that has lurked in the Italian shadows for way too long.  From Italy to the United Kingdom, Ward resurrects the short-lived classic exploitation subgenre having written-and-directed all three years over the course of 20 years, and maybe even before that as Ward wrote-and-directed the 1994 short film “Bitter Vengeance” that preluded the Fury Trilogy with a foundational base concept for subsequent feature films.  Ward produces the films under his company Giallo Films.

The 1997 “Sudden Fury” is a showcase of mid-90’s nostalgia propped up by vast, electric, and eccentric cast and characters that spin a web of complexity between two gangs, one hitman, and a whole lot of vengeful vendettas.  Nick Rendell plays the sought after former SAS soldier turned mercenary hitman Walker with full zeal for the 80’s action star by carrying a reputation that proceeds the character.  Rendell’s portrayal is often aloof as Walker stands in between two gangs and their lack of integrity as they squabble over the cocaine dominion, but when the last standing gang tries to hunt him down, killing his one and only friend in the process, Walker takes the fight to them guns blazing.  Rendell also carries over his performance to the 2010 film, the unconnected “A Day of Violence,” but in different shoes as Mitchell, a father, husband, and hoodlum in desperation mode and doing whatever he can to live and breathe inside the context of mob land complexity for a large sum of money.  Rendell goes form lone wolf to a man with dependent in a totally different side of character in Mitchell when compared to Walker when considering how the compassion attribute.  Now, Walker returns for “Beyond Fury” but Nick Rendell does not return to the role as the 2019 film sees Nick Roberts filling the mercenary shoes.  Also, this time around, Walker is given compassion, compassion for revenge!  In his retirement, his family is murdered arbitrarily – as if ill-fated living a previous life of violence and death – and vows revenge at his own expense to harm taking on an entire organized criminal organization, ran by the unforgiving “City of the Living Dead” and “Cannibal Ferox” actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice.  Radice is also one of the only other connective tissues between the last two films but in different roles with opposing significance with more prominence as the chief villain in “Beyond Fury” as well as Victor D. Thorn in various capacities in each three films.  Other notable cast members from across all three films include David Warbeck (“The Beyond”) in “Sudden Fury” and Dani Thompson (“Axe to Grind”) with Andy Ranger, Paul Murphy, Christopher Fosh, Steve Humprhies, Tina Barnes, Helena Martin, Tina Barnes, Joanna Finata, Harold Gasnier, Gary Baxter, Dan van Husen, Glenn Salvage.

Darren Ward’s Fury Trilogy is roughly the same model copied over one another at roughly a decade and half apart, yet each individual storyline evokes a different impression as each has unique attributes.  “Sudden Fury” surrounds itself in sociopathy, drug trade, and gang war.  “A Day of Violence” has themes of devotion, parenthood, and blinding greed.  “Beyond Fury” spores retribution, justice, and loyalty.  Other than the reprisal of the Walker character in the first 1997 and last 2019 film, the real only aspects that connect the series together is the unflinching and visceral violence fueled one major motif in all of Ward’s movies, organized crime syndicates versus the single willed warrior.  Ward has no qualms with showing violence front and center in the most graphic way possible and without it being overly gratuitous or at least blending the excessive blood and gore action into the moment that it hides in plain sight.  The effects on all three films go hard under Alastair Vardy who did the SFX work on all three films.  Vardy is a major effects artist as of today, having worked on such films as “World War Z,” “Kick-Ass 2,” and last years “28 Years Later” and that speaks volumes to his dedication toward director Darren Ward and his three films produced on a lesser budget with mostly genre and cult actors.  Ward’s scripts are heavily dynamic and can become complex with betrayals, twists, and a fair amount of unpredictability in the grand schemes of either drug wars, money disputes, and damage control.  “Sudden Fury” and “Beyond Fury” has an easy, 2-part character arc for Walker but there often feels like a missing piece to his character backstory, especially when his stories are over 20 years apart and Ward doesn’t profoundly piece those missing years together with much effort.  Yet, through Ward’s camera cleverness and storytelling, there is plenty to like and easily digest through multiple camera angles of a scene, interesting shot setups, and the close and personal nature of strong violence.

UK distributor Treasured Films rolls out the bloody red carpet for Darren Ward’s Fury Trilogy with a brand new 3-Disc Blu-ray set entitled the “Gialli, Guns and Gore” set that is region free for all to enjoy the carnage.  The limited-edition boxset comes with newly remastered and graded scans for its grand worldwide Blu-ray debut on “Sudden Fury” and UK Blu-ray debut for “A Day of Violence” and “Beyond Fury.”  “Sudden Fury” is scanned from the original SOV material and into a 720HD, leaving a lot of room for unfortunate and unable improvement but this transfer is pretty damn good that retains that shot-on-video, interlacing aesthetic and muted colors.  There are no evident issues of overly heated color tones or tracking lines from magnetic tape deterioration and presents the best possible image with soft details in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, though the back cover states all features are in a widescreen.  “A Day of Violence” and “Beyond Fury,” having been digitally filmed over 13-years later, are in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio with cleaner image resolution that looks neat a pin with granular details surrounding skin and textures, a slight slate color grading with hues being diffused and saturated in balance, and offers a focal depth to enhance quality.  The English language audio format is an uncompressed DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 that packs a wallop front and center.  The Fury Trilogy has immense range of gunfire, fisticuffs, explosions, and car races that run the onomatopoeia length of an action bundle with clear dialogue that’s more vital in the last two films with isolating features and more muted in the first with more integration around surrounding elements and electronic interference from the implemented equipment.  There’s not a ton of depth in either film that relies heavily on making an impact with the ultraviolence and caffeinated action in the front role of a dual channel that does have a decent separation and isolation of dialogue and action.  English subtitles are available on all three releases.  “Sudden Fury” special features include an audio commentary by Darren Ward and star Nick Rendell, a retrospective documentary Sudden Fury:  12 years On, a retrospective making-of interview with Darren Ward The Crime Trilogy:  Part 1:  Sudden Fury, deleted scenes and outtakes, a BTS special effects make-up reel, Ward’s 1994 precursing short films “Bitter Vengeance,” 1993’s “Blue Fear,” and 1992’s “Paura Il Diavolo,” an image gallery, and archived trailers.  On “A Day of Violence,” a feature length documentary of Making-Of a Day of Violence, an interview with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice, an audio commentary with Ward and star Nick Rendell, the second Darren ward retrospective documentary on the making-of The Crime Trilogy Part 2:  A Day of Violence, The Crime Trilogy:  The In-Between Years looks at Darren Ward’s short film “Nightmares” from 2004, deleted scenes and outtakes, the hardcore trailer, a no-so-hardcore soft trailer, a Soprano trailer, short film “Nightmares,” an audio commentary for ”Nightmares” with Ward, and an image gallery fill out the special features for the second feature.  The third feature’s special features conclude with another audio commentary with Darren Ward and Nick Rendell, The Crime Trilogy Part 3:  Beyond Fury retrospective documentary of the making-of the film, Chainsaw Fun featurette, the Gasworks Visual Effects reel, The Crime Trilogy props used in the film tour, the Ward 2025 short film “Passion,” an audio commentary for “Passion,” trailers, and an image gallery for that short film.  While the encoded special features are impressive, the physical presence of the Treasured Films release is equally as eye-catching with a rigid slipbox containing frontal artwork by Uncle Frank Productions, three clear Blu-ray Amaray cases, each with new, reversible sleeve art for all three titles, and snug inside the slipbox with them is a 31-page booklet with color stills, release acknowledgements, and essay by Tom Lee Rutter – Furious:  The Story of the John Woo of Southampton..  All films are UK certified 18 for strong bloody violence, gore, sexual violence, very strong language, and strong sex.  The runs are as followed:  “Sudden Fury” 103 minutes, “A Day of Violence” 116 minutes, and “Beyond Fury” 117 minutes. 

Last Rites: The “Gialli, Guns, and Gore” set is Darren Ward’s unflinching frenetic violence now glorified in a beautifully curated Treasured Films package!

The Brutal Films of Darren Ward Are a Must See! Buy the Set Here!

C-Cups, D-Cups, and EVIL-Cups All Must Pay! “Big Boobs Buster” reviewed! (Whole Grain Pictures / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Own “Big Boobs Buster” on Blu-ray Home Video!

Masako is well-liked amongst her high school peers, has an above average grades, and is a cyclist athlete with a killer body.  The one thing Masako doesn’t have but desperate wants is the popular boy Bando to be her boyfriend.  When Masako asks Bando to be his girlfriend, Bando rejects her requests on the account of her washboard chest.  Assigning blame to all her well-endowed classmates beyond a B-cup, Masako transforms into the chesty vigilante, Big Boobs Buster, by subduing targets from a pervert’s stolen list of girls with large breasts and making spray casts of their chests to blackmail them with exposure if they ever date Bando or any other boys on campus.  When she’s finally caught and discovered by a track and field competitor with big boobs, one who also might like girls more than boys, Masako is ironically herself blackmailed into being a substitute in a sprint competition her competitive blackmailer can’t compete in due to injury. During vigorous train, Masako begins to develop friendship feelings and questions the reasons for her body image crusade.

For all you flat chested women out there, don’t fear!  “Big Boobs Buster” is here!  Hailing from Japan, the adult-oriented comedic has a superhero Marvel has yet to call to the frontline!  Director Hisashi Watanabe embraces his debut directorial with burlesque eroticism that touches upon the breast of society’s biggest problems – body shaming and body positivity.  Watanabe pens the script based off a Manga by Kôichirô Yasunaga of the same title with the film adaptation and its sequel, “Big Boobs Buster 2,” released the same year, 1990 directly onto home video, or what’s called in Japan, V-Cinema.  Released by the Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, the company behind the anime-turned-live-action film “Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl” and produced a feature film out of the Android Kikaider series with  Mechanical Violator Hakaider, as well as being a part of video game series, such as Sonic and Final Fantasy, the producing team consists of “Appleseed’s” Tarô Maki and “Wild Zero’s” Katsuaki Takemoto.

The live-action OAV, aka Live Action Original Animated Video, has a game cast of lesser-known actor and Japanese AV idols that really perk up the story.  Harumi Kai leads the charge as the titular character, and the “Oona Rambo” actresses pulls off the sugar-and-spice Masako by being an all-around good schoolgirl scorned by a superficial boy named Bando (Masakazu Arai, “Shigatsu kaidan”) who moonlights is in a tight outfit and disguise being a shakedown artist against girls a C-cup or larger.  In the process of snaring them and spray casting a mold of their chest, she inadvertently turns them on denoting a bit of homoeroticism between the women that continues when she meets field and track star Kyoko Mitoizumi who calls her bluff and becomes uncomfortably touchy-feely with Masako.  Played by Uran Hirosaki, Kyoto is a form of positivity and no fear that puts Masako in a corner of uncertainty but the two eventually become friends with quid pro quo arrangements both will benefit from.  The rest of the case, which in this case are the big-chested highschoolers Masako seeks to humiliate because of her own insecurities, are comprised of Japanese AV idols with Mariko Itsuki (“Groper Train:  Push It Deep!”), Marina Matsumoto (“Stepmother Slave”), and Natsuko Kayama (“Big Boobs Sisters:  The Yellow Panties of Happiness”) as well as a few AV actors in the sought after and large breast-loving role with Masakazu Arai and Tôru Minegishi (“Godzilla vs. Biollante”) and Aya Katsuragi (“Evil Dead Trap”) as Masako’s parents who have this unexplained odd relationship in the peripheral that doesn’t contribute much, or anything at all, to the core elements. 

With a title like “Big Boobs Buster,” audiences can expect an outrageous comedy that lives up to live-action anime standards with an off-the-cuff superheroine on a crusade against one of the most arbitrary and non-threatening to society foci that only affects a flat-chested girl’s ego – big boobs.  Having never read Kôichirô Yasunaga’s manga and with only director Hisashi Watanabe’s film to provide my Johnny-Five Alive input data center, “Big Boobs Buster” is intoxicated with Masako’s character arc of self-deprivation toward body positivity through a minefield of scorn-driven retribution against the wrong and innocently lot of larger than C-cups.  Through this zany premise, that’s about as innocently wanton as cold be, director Watanabe and cinematographer Jun Abe spruce and polish this knob with mood abstracting backlighting and vivify scenes with power poses and interesting framing to closely resemble manga panel moments and the editing by Shigeru Okuhara (“Orgasm:  Mariko”) is multifaceted to tell a quick action narrative with ease of scene cuts and transitions that make “Big Boobs Buster” a breeze to digest it’s melon-sized mania.  The story doesn’t glide through with a single flightpath of the superheroine picking off well-endowed girls one-at-a-time only to be discovered to enact a plot point problem with the antagonist; instead, the story takes a 180 degree turn toward a whole new level of thematic dilemma in trying to win a sprint race for an enemy-turned-friend.  Summarized with a montage of tough exercises that culminate toward Masako being a beast at sprinting strength, the “Big Boobs Buster”  campaign goes into hibernation until the race is done, a subplot that insidiously takes over as the main plot, cleaving the already less than a full-length feature film in half. 

Catalogued at number four on the Whole Grain Pictures label, “Big Boobs Buster” is one large cup size of comedic body positivity done in the style of live action anime.  The new 4K remaster is pulled stems from the original camera 5mm negative and AVC encoded on a single-layered BD25, decoding at approx. 30Mbps.  Presented in high-definition, 1080ps, and in an European aspect ratio of 1.77:1 widescreen, “Big Boobs Hunter” is like being motorboated from your television screen with the rich look of a converted celluloid transfer that elevates Jun Abe’s luminous fogged night scenes, a glowing arura around the titular titillating heroine, and a contrasting shots of day time that offer warmer, slightly yellowis-tan tinted tones.  Skin textures and tones are reflected within the same softer glow but the rigid-contouring, around what can be delineated when shooting close up on a pair of breasts, do define a nice bulging image.  There are scenes, mostly a result of the cinematographer, that look flat between the foreground and background, suggesting possibly an aspherical lens that provides less curvature and less compressed, stretched image.  The release comes with two lossless DTS-HD 2.0 tracks with the original Japan mix and an English dub.  Clarity and a solid amount of punchiness come through nicely enough on the Japanese track that’s review covered but there’s not a ton of depth here with mostly frontloaded dialogue and action and nothing to note in the background or any environmental ambience.  Special features include a blooper reel that doubles as a behind-the-scenes featurette done in a traditional pop culture Japanese style with a gameshow announcer overlay track and translucent title cards in Japanese.  Also included are the original Japanese DVD trailers.  What catches the eye is the very pinku film and retro stylized cover with an in-your-face panty-covered butt overtop thigh high boots set in the foreground framing a scared schoolgirl between the legs.  Who wouldn’t want to watch this based solely off the cover!?  The reverse side of the sleeve contains an enlarged image still of another character and the backside acts humorously like “nutritional facts guide” superimposed onto the back cover.  The release comes in a standard Blu-ray Amaray.  With a runtime of 45 minutes, “Big Boobs Buster” is a breezy microfeature for a region free encoded Blu-ray that is not rated. 

Last Rites: Busting out with body positivity and sexual orientation themes, “Big Boobs Buster” brings out the big guns on a new Blu-ray release, animating manga to life on the big screen to experience Japan’s wildest cinema at its finest.

Own “Big Boobs Buster” on Blu-ray Home Video!