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The EVIL of the Land Before Time Is Awake and Hungry! “Saurians” reviewed! (Visual Vengeance / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Saurians” on Visual Vengeance Collector’s Edition!

A controlled construction site blast along the area of what is known as Fossil Valley, an idyllic area where bone relics of dinosaurs can be unearthed, inadvertently opens up a rock gas-oxygenated pocket that kept preserved two slumbering prehistoric dinosaurs – one herbivore and one carnivore.  Caught in the middle is a group of paleontology students on assignment to find, study, and record their discoveries.  Also caught in the middle are the unlucky ones the carnivore has for a long-awaited meal.  Informing their professor of their extraordinary findings of living, breathing, and full of teeth fossils, the students believe help is on the way but what confronts them is a black-market hunter hired by the professors for monetary gain for their primeval trophy heads.  The students are under the forced direction of a hunter to lead the way but the hunter’s arrogance leaves him ill-equipped to tackle larger-than-life creatures from another time. 

One of the earlier films of “Church of the Damned” and “Splatter Farm” indie-filmmaker Mark Polonia from 1994, “Saurians” is a stop-motion, puppet-staging, super 8-filmed creature feature with Jurassic-sized aspirations to be the “Jurassic Park” of the micro market.  Polonia not only directed but the Pennsylvania-born auteur also wrote the script, produced the film, edited the reel, and had a starring role that secured him his first dino-disaster picture and be a foundation to his prolific, latter career that doesn’t seem to be slowing down one bit.  “Saurians” is filmed local to Polonia in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, an area he’s filmed many of his budget projects, and doubles as underlying theme on the naturalistic dangers and disasters of fracking and blasting as the hills of Wellsboro does contain man-made modernized vision of unearthing for profit margins, which greed is also ingrained into the narrative as well.  Along with Mark Polonia producing the film was his late, twin brother John and the siblings’ Polonia Brothers Entertainment” company was the studio on the film.

As noted, Mark Polonia stars as the nerdy fossilist student Alan who scours the low water level riverbeds for ancient animal relics in Fossil Valley with a pair of colleagues on assignment.  With him are the foretold love interest Lynette, played by Maria Davis (“How to Slay a Vampire”) who would become Polonia’s wife, and the more blitheful to the assignment Charlie, played by Matthew Satterly (“Church of the Damned”).  With a bowl cut, large, framed glasses, and a caterpillar mustache overtop his slender physique, Polonia’s appearance, along with his Lewis Skolnick button down collar shirt and church slacks, screams studious student of archeology compared to the others in more relaxed attire and trendy physical fads.   Their acts contrive adequate concern but still often feel stiff with hesitation, especially with large man-eating dinosaurs attending the all-you-can-eat human buffet.  The personality award goes to the fourth and final principal actor Todd Carpenter (“Bad Magic”) as the hired hunter to track down and kill the dinosaurs like African game, dressed ironically in a bright orange reflector and even more ironically wielding a gunslinger revolver to hunt carnivores, elephant-sized reptilians.  With a theatrical and condescending melodrama in his voice, Carpenter’s caricature villain bites off more than he can chew as his arrogance will get the best of him, or rather the Allosaur type dino.  When the two groups meet, there is no denying their distinction of roles and play into the tension of a prehistoric terror.  The remaining cast round out with victims of the primeval times come to clash with modern times; these roles are played by supporting cast members Dustin Davis, Chris Jones, Josh Nagy, Courtney Marie, Paula Nobles and Todd Rimatti.

Back in the early to mid-1990s, Dinosaurs landing in modern times, wreaking havoc amongst mankind, was all the rage with the height of success of “Jurassic Park,” many thanks toward director Steven Spielberg.  Even dinosploitaiton flicks that released before “Jurassic Park,” such as “Carnosaur” a few months earlier, saw post-release success because on how influential the Spielberg blockbuster was that gave extinct predators a new lease on life.  “Saurians” is no Hollywood mega blockbuster and is extremely lo-fi in all areas from special effects to A/V but there’s no difference of ambition between Spielberg and Mark Polonia who set out to make an adventurous thriller of prehistoric proportions to the extent and limits of their given budget.  The “Saurians” tale is about as routine of a dormant-now-awake monster movie as it comes without involving scientific and technical mumbo-jumbo to exposition a reason for the revival of dinosaurs but still follows core plot devices and themes that parallel bigger productions, such as the unearthing of said creatures, whether be a lifeform preserving pocket of rock gas or a fossilized mosquito in tree sap, and the subject of sin where greed comes into play with the hunter and the turncoat professor try to bank off dino hide by selling it on the black market. 

Visual Vengeance’s 2K scan of the original tape elements keeps the standard definition and early triacetate celluloid Imperfections.  Now, you may say to yourself, “Tape elements?  Didn’t you say Mark Polonia used Super 8 film?”  Yes, I certainly did, but since the film was edited on and for tape, Visual Vengeance scan is from the tape material, which was also approved by director Mark Polonia.  Presented in 1.33:1 full screen aspect ratio, there’s miniscule improvement onto Blu-ray to keep the a 8mm reproduction for the final product with a yellowish tint form emulsion fluid, plenty of cell light leaks, and a grainy textures that retains its naturality.  If you’re looking for quality excellence, don’t expect it here from this release or any Visual Vengeance release that tries to keep the original aesthetic and rightfully so or else loses it’s dated charm.  The English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is scanned from the second dubbing that was produced years after the release.  There’s obvious separation between visual and audio, but the overall clarity is clean and discernible with the dinosaur roars have a stock quality and recycle about it but retains a consistent volume range and condition. Depth doesn’t work with the ADR that keeps all the action near the forefront.    English subtitles are optionally available on the papier-mâché-like motion menu.  A bountiful of special features include a new commentary by Mark Polonia that’s moderated by the Visual Vengeance team, outtakes of the “Saurians” stop-motion effects, the super 8 raw footage, an Rae Don, never-before-seen alternate version of the film, Mark Polonia’s commentary track for the Rae Don version, a bonus Polonia film “The Dinosaur Chronicles” from 2004, a commentary track for the bonus film, the making-of “The Dinosaur Chronicles,” the “Saurians” Visual Vengeance trailer, the Visual Vengeance trailer for “The Dinosaur Chronicles,” the “Saurians 2” trailer, and other Visual Vengeance trailers for their at-home releases.  The Blu-ray release starts with an Andy Warhol inspired cover art with menacing dinosaur heads swallowing tailored-garbed human legs with an pop art orange background and blood splatter.  Inside the clear Amaray, the primary Blu-ray art has more Godzilla destructiveness with a cityscape under a fiery bedlam and two roaring T-Rexes wreaking havoc with the reverse side containing the original VHS art.  Tangible items inside are a mini-folded poster that’s Jurassic Park inspired, a single-page advert for “The Dinosaur Chronicles,” a dime bag with “Saurian’s Attack” mini-slip with 1 piece of the actual Super 8 mm cell, and the usual retro sticker sheet that comes with Visual Vengeance releases.  The 83-minute film is unrated and encoded to play for all regions. 

Last Rites: “Saurians” is no “Jurassic Park” but has the feral heart of the creature feature subgenre brought back from extinction for a new transfer and package of carnivorism.

“Saurians” on Visual Vengeance Collector’s Edition!

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!

The Real EVILS of Ice Road Truckers! “Black Snow” reviewed! (Rising Sun Media / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Black Snow” Available on Blu-ray at Amazon.com!

A Siberian truck driver named Gosha delivers knockoffs booze and other materials to the remote towns across the frozen tundra.  Though not recommended to drive alone on the remote truck routes, Gosha travels eventually bring him back home where he unloads cases of cheap vodka and where he can lay his head down to rest for a short period of time before heading back on the road.  While his sister is overenjoyed with his return, Gosha receives a cold shoulder from his father due to Gosha’s unscrupulous and dishonest deliveries of counterfeit products to earn a living.   He’s ready to depart on a multi-day journey with a new load of deer meat, traded for extra cases of Vodka to the local drunkards many from the town blame Gosha in supplying their rabid alcoholism.  On his journey, his truck breaks down in the remote with a flat tire with no signs of civilization for miles.  When he attempts to change the tire, the jack gives way and the truck’s brake drum on the axle falls on his hand, trapping it painfully underneath. 

Yakutian films are a little known, independent cinema industry from the Northeast of Russian Siberia, the land also known to the Yakutian people, known as Sakha, as the Republic of Sakha.  “Black Snow” is one of those obscure films that flies way under the cinematic radar for most.  The 2020 drama-thriller is helmed by writer-director Stepan Burnashev who followed the film after a four-year stint of horror, producing a pair of horror films with the wooded folklore of “Evil Spirits” and a nomadic, zombie-through-the-woods with “Republic Z.”  Burnashev retains the darker, mysterious tones but keeps the narrative grounded in reality with a practice day-in-a-life of a real-life Ice Road Trucker and the suffer in silence after a traumatic accident while coinciding with earning a living that makes one do irritational, unsafe decisions.  Burnashev also self-produces the film under executive producer Saidem Baryl’s productions. 

If you’re ever considering a career change as a stubborn, immoveable truck driver carrying cargo in Siberia, then this is your warning urging you against it.  “Black Snow” follows around Gosha (Fedot Lvov), introduced through a candid conversation between other truckers going over the job’s dos and don’ts at a truck stop and dip into Gosha’s troubled past with a previous partner that led him to drive solo.  His story brings him home where he unloads contraband vodka for the smalltown residents and either is embraced by family and friends, such as his sister (Ekaterina Khoyutanova after a long time away or hit a roadblock with those within the same groups that either goes unchanged or causing strife with families of drunkard supplied by Gosha’s return.  Eventually, all that negative energy Gosha puts out into the world, or mostly in his home village, brings with it bad karma when he breaks down in the middle of nowhere and subsequently crushes his hand under part of an axle while changing a tire.  Ivan Popov, Vladislav Portnyagin, and Alexandra Sofroneeva costar as characters who bring more aggravation to Gosha’s already dispirited existence and further pushing him away to do the wrong thing. 

With that negative character push, the blame isn’t entirely all on external factors that shape and mold his stern standoff-ish but Gosha is too part to blame as the stuck-in-his-way truck driver has no zero desire to compromise, doesn’t do the job for less, and doesn’t back down.  We see this when a friend of his sister’s asks him to bring a handbag to the city to handoff to someone and since he was already headed that way anyway, the task would be no big deal, but Gosha profusely refuses as carrying a handbag just to hand off to someone else is beneath him and not worth his time without a price.  All the aloof stubbornness and arrogant indifference Gosha dishes out, radiating like a radioactive glow, in reaction to the environment around him has full blown karma attached to it that comes in the form of his own truck, his means of livelihood, betraying him and, in an instant, drains him of all that he possess as it comes crashing down onto his hand, ironically bringing his time as a truck driver to an end as he can no longer steer a wheel or take care of it’s maintenance.  The third act takes a drastic turn of events that flees from melodramatics of family dysfunction and lands into a fight for survival in one of the coldest of territories on Earth and while Burnashev manages to make compelling scenes of body injury and life struggle, the steps that follow leave audiences hanging, wanting more, in Gosha’s snowy survival escape as his story strangely trails off with unfinished business of Gosha’s fate. 

Rising Sun Media releases “Black Snow” on a high-definition Blu-ray home video through FilmFest Distribution.  The AVC encoded BD-R 50 is presented in 1080p and in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio.  With a writable Blu-ray disc with the purple underbelly and despite the large disc capacity, the codec isn’t perfect and shows signs of decoding misfires with the details not being as sharp as possible but the issues are kept down to a minor blockiness, and the delineation is good and color saturation is good as it’ll exact a drab color scheme of white, black, and brown for a sense of cold bleakness as well as show off the snowy, isolated terrain that provides little contrasts.  The film’s graded naturally and the digital image does a fine job reproducing an organic quality.  Although the Yakutian people are Asian descent, the culture speaks in a mixture of Russian-Yakutian that’s presented in LPCM stereo with a tense and folkloric orchestrated score by Andrey Guryanov.  Dialogue comes over clear and prominent and carries with it levels of depth.  English subtitles are available and synch fine with no signs of spelling errors or incorrect syntax structures.  Extras include a commentary track with Soho Cinema Club, including Miles Flanagan, Sean Sardi, and Jared Carlson.  Also include is a making-of featurette and the international feature trailer.  The traditional Blu-ray Amaray case houses shoddy photoshop art that conveys the right film narrative problem and on the inside is an advert card for another Stepan Burashev film, the Yakut horror of “Cursed Land.  Fate.”   The not rated release has a runtime of 84 minutes and has region A encoding for playback. 

Last Rites: My first go-around with Yakutian cinema doesn’t disappoint nor does it leave a satisfying, lasting taste for more but “Black Snow” has all the seedlings of a solid drama-survival thriller, it just needs to truck it down the icy path a little bit more.

“Black Snow” Available on Blu-ray at Amazon.com!

EVIL Likes to Bite the Butt! “Vampire Time Travelers” reviewed! (Visual Vengeance / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Vampire Time Travelers” Now Available on Blu-ray!

Sue Anne Marie hopes to live up to her big sister’s time as a sorority sister of Alpha Omega but first she must go through an initiation with three other pledges, a test of revenge, key, fulfillment, and overcoming conducted by gothic-cladded sister Vaughn who provides strange, cryptic hints that befuddle the pledges.  Simultaneously, Lorilei also pledges but this awakened vampire, imprisoned inside a coffin for years, pledges a more vindictive path, seeking retribution for the death of her big sister Natalia at the hand of Buffy, Sue Anne’s big sister.  Weak from her captivity, the only way to become strong enough against the blood of a vampire killer is to drink the blood others but her feeble state can’t withstand a neck bite.  Instead, Lorilei must fang the softest parts of the butt to turn Sue Anne’s fellow pledges into doing her vampiric bidding.  As Sue Anne unravels the mystery surrounding her initiation test, she must evade her fellow pledges, Lorilei, a secret order of werewolves and evoke a time alternating spell in order to becomes an Alpha Omega sister! 

What a romp of the night!  “Vampire Time Travelers” is as zany as it sounds!  The SOV horror-comedy from 1998 with “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” gags and a spoof material is absurd, frenzied fun from writer-director Les Sekely (“I Know What You Did in English Class,” “The No-So-Grim Reaper”) and was originally intended to be a direct sequel to another 1998 vampire comedy, the discounted “Sorority House Vampire” by director Geoffrey De Valois.  Instead, Sekely took the reigns and steered in another direction in an attempt for a more standalone narrative that only brings back a couple of characters in mostly a spirit sense, fashioning a tale that retains the “Sorority House Vampire” plot but blossoms a follow up to be its own entity in Sekely’s own style and comedic tastes.  “Sorority House Vampire” producers Raymond Storti and Steve Jarvis develop the not-so-sequel under the coproduction of Scarborough Films and Secret’s Out Productions. 

Considering miniscule budget, the inexperienced director, and the unheard-of cast, for the final product to be this cheeky-fun and hilariously bizarre is criminal.  “Vampire Time Travelers” is that type of film, although through farce means, that caters to the hot, cheerleader girl vampire slayer narrative made popular by the 1992 film with Kristy Swanson, Rutger Hauer, Donald Sutherland and Paul Reubens and then revamped for television in 1997 with Sarah Michelle Gellar.  By 1998, “Vampire Time Travelers” piggybacks onto the gravy train with J.J. Rodgers (“Sisters of Sin”) in the blonde babe role who’s thrusted into danger and has battle dark forces to survive.  As a pledge looking to get in by legacy, surrounding the urban legend of her sister Buffy, nonetheless, who destroyed a vampire coven attacking the Alpha Omegas, she’s joined by three co-pledges who are well defined characters in their own personality right with individualized stereotypes in the nerdy (Ali Elk, “I Know What You Did in English Class”), the aspiring musician Zoe (Kat Facchino, “Vampire Night”), and the beautiful but aggressive lesbian Michele (Lori Morrissey, “Emmanuelle in Space”).  Vaughn (Lynn Baker) has a sinister mien about her while also being darkly beautiful as the Sorority’s pledge task master, popping in and out of each character’s provided pledge undertaking with ambiguous and mysterious hints to test them.  Another darkly beautiful character, but more bumbling in nature, is the vindictive vampire Lorilei (Jillien Weisz) as she tries to figure out how to be a vampire again before pursuing vengeance on Buffy.  “Vampire Time Travelers” rounds out the cast with hilarious characters with JC Grigg (“The Not-So-Grim Reaper”) as the man in the closet, J. Adam Young (“Legal Briefs”) as the Lord of Darkness who instructs Lorilei to bite the butt, and Jimmy Jerman (“Merchants of Death”) as 90’s porn-esque repair man known as The Light Man.

Any film with a music video titled Bite Her in the Butt in the middle of story should find its way on on a must-see list for everybody with a broad sense of humor.  There’s nothing quite like Les Sekely’s film with it’s fast-pace editing and pacing, cross-cutting with character concordant interactions, and plenty of gags to be had inside tributing horror tropes.  With a story revolving around college girls versus sexy female vampires and remarks about Biting her in the Butt are essentially the film’s prominent tagline, one would think this partly horror, mostly comedy romp would be laced with nudity galore and sexual themes up the wazoo but the nudity is zero and the sexual themes are reduced to a tasteful moment to keep the film more of a comedy than a sidebar of distraction, a sexploitation with fangs.  Yet, nudity isn’t required for “Vampire Time Travelers’” story, though there’s suggestion there may have been nudity with evidence in the film and has been censored or omitted from the final cut, as the story is entertaining, mischievous, and light at times while Sekely’s niche humor is bred out of dad jokes and are from the parodical storage locker of “Nake Gun’s” David Zucker. 

Visual Vengeance releases a new, director approved SD master from the original tape elements for a new Blu-ray with an AVC encoded BD50 displaying a1080p resolution that makes this interlacing SOV picture look the best it’s ever been.  Presented in a pillar box 1.33:1 aspect ratio, there are all the hallmarks for a SOV video, such as interlacing lines and warm color coding and magnetic tape oxidation, and exhibits in a 480i detail that’s about as enhanced as it can be.  It’s rumored that Visual Vengeance copy is actually censored with nudity removed and replaced with crude sketches and while I can’t confirm if there is an uncensored release, I will say there are scenes involving the possibility of nudity that look blown up in order to edit out the private skin.  There’s plenty of complicated edits markers without visual effects that make this film really impressive to behold, especially with director of photography Dennis Devines’ swift camera movements mixed with odd angles.  The English dual channel stereo offers distinct dialgoue and ambient/action tracks.  Dialogue’s not as robust but meets the standard of being perceived and has plenty of clarity without concern.  The ambient/action meet the same standard with on cue and in synchresis quality, never disjointed.  Optional English subtitles are available.  There is no shortage of special features with any Visual Vengeance release and “Vampire Time Travelers” contains commentary with director Les Sekely, a director interview with Sekely, an interview with actress JJ Rodgers, an interview with Angelia Scott, interviews with director of photography Dennis Devine and assistant director Steve Jarvis, Sekely short film “No-So-Grim Reaper,” and bonus Sekely feature film “I Know What You Did In English Class” from 2000 which comes with it’s own set of special features, including a Les Sekely commentary track, a Sekely interview, cinematographer Russ Lindsay interview, direct of photography and assistant director interview with Dennis Devine and Steve Jarvis, actor interview with Russell Towne, and trailers for each feature plus other Visual Vengeance release previews.  Joylon Yates gloriously sexy illustration of two half naked women showcasing the Bite the Butt mantra turns up the thirst volume on this release.  Primary sleeve art on the clear Amaray case also features additional Yates artwork that’s more fun it’s in cosmic composition.  The reverse side has new artwork for the second feature “I Know What You Did in English Class.”  A one-sided mini folded poster and retro sticker sheet are stuck in the interior insert.  The region free, 70-minute horror-comedy is unrated.

Last Rites: “Vampire Time Travelers” is a tongue-and-cheeky horror too good to pass up. Visual Vengeance sweetens the deal with a superb, bonus-laden Blu-ray release. There’s no way to lose with this total package.

“Vampire Time Travelers” Now Available on Blu-ray!

There’s Nothing More EVIL than a Brother’s Revenge. “Dead Man’s Shoes” reviewed! (Second Sight / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Richard, a former special forces soldier, returns to his hometown to exact revenge on a gang of townie drug dealers who teased and tormented his younger, simpleton brother Anthony.  Unawre of Richard’s return, the local drug runners find vandalization of their property and even of their person as they slept through the night, a playful jest of threats send pointing fingers at each other rather than an outsider looking in to destroy them.  When some drugs go missing and one of them recognizes Richard as Anthony’s brother, the recollection of what happened to Anthony sends them into an anxious state that Richard may want retribution for his little brother’s pain and suffering.  Pranks and thefts are only a prelude to the pain and suffering Richard seeks to unload onto them with plans of snuffing them out one-by-one but beating them at their own game of fooling around but with the intent to kill.  How far will Richard go before he succumbs to the level of those who fed into his wrath? 

“Dead Man’s Shoes” is a very meat and potatoes, independent revenge thriller from cowriter and director Shane Meadows that features the dangers of the bullying against those not able to withstand the mental capacity to absorb such unprovoked abuse and brutality as their unable to process and comprehend what that looks like. The story is also a relatable to the siblings having experienced a brother or sister at the receiving end of the abuse and wanting to do something extreme about it, and those who have done something extreme about it, with the retribution acts swallowing the soul. Paddy Considine debuts as cowriter on the UK production under the Warp Films, Big Arty Productions, and Film4 collaboration. Mark Herbert and Louise Meadows coproduce the film in the rolling hills and low agricultural landscape of Derbyshire that feature small English towns and skeletal abbeys.

Cowriter Paddy Considine stars as Richard, the former soldier and older brother deadest on avenging his brother’s honor.  Considine has that 1000-yard stare with a stoic, emotionless expression of a man who masks his hurt with murderous action that speaks louder than words.  Garbed in a long green, military fatigue-like coat, a short, boxed beard, and his military duffle, Considine set himself to take on rinky-dink drug operation of a smalltown in the English countryside.  Richard control leaves gang leader Sonny (Gary Stretch, “Mega Shark Vs Crocosaurus”) at a disadvantage by dropping in unexpectedly with erratic behavior and not hint a plan against his crew made up of mostly bumbling and bickering buffoons, played by Stuart Wolfenden (“The Eschartrilogy:  Book of the Dead”), Neil Bell (“Dune Part I and II”), Paul Sadot, Seamus O’Neill (“Attack of the Adult Babies”), Paul Hurstfield (“The Spell”), and George Newton (“Creatures of the Night”).  However, one of the men are not like the others, carrying a different vibe from the rest of the hyena-rowdy drug pushers that puts Richard in a predicamental position of with how rapidly h’s succumbed to violence to the likes of those he’s toying with and dispatching that makes him reflect and be more contemplative with his brother.  We don’t get much time with little brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell, “RocknRolla”) who mentally handicap and follows his brother around to point out who wronged him back when, being exploited for the amusement of Sonny and his men, but Anthony puts into question older brother Richard’s sanity and motivational drive that continues a downward spiral of apathetic derangement.  “Prevenge’s” Jo Hartley and “Butterfly Kiss’s” Emily Aston are the only two female actresses in the film but the story’s nearly completely male centric that leave Hartley and Aston’s characters in the dust of minor support rather than significantly operating in the narrative. 

For a revenge thriller, Shane Meadows doesn’t dress up the violence. There are no extravagant shootouts, prolonged chases, explosions, surviving by the skin of your teeth, or anything of that nail-biting, edge-sitting, hair-raising tension to raise the stakes and create the anxiety of a live or die moment.  Instead, “Dead Man Shoes” carries out like any premediated murder would with an unexpected calmness in handing down wrath with a touch of class.  The bells and whistles are saves for the cast to portray a raw sliver of life in crime and the shared blood between two brothers with nothing in common and on opposite ends of the spectrum. Anthony was a deep shame from within Richard and that shame converts to violence in an afterthought of atonement for his own feelings about his brother.  He must run through a slew of bad guys who abused him to see his own faults in their relationship. As Richard and Anthony walk through the countryside on their way to town, there’s hardly a word or two between them but their proximity to each other is relaxed, comfortable, and without sibling difficulty that initially will have audiences believe a strong bond but the twist ending sheds a different, more problematic connection of poignant regret and disgrace that puts a good soldier on a downward path.  While the rest of the cast, mostly the gang, are petty shallows of people with no depth of character, only one other character rivals Richard’s complexity and it’s the one who’s left standing after Richard’s steamrolling, yet quiet as a church mouse, dysfunctional onslaught. 

“Dead Man’s Shoes” receive new life with a Second Sight Films Blu-ray release.”  Second Sight’s Blu-ray is AVC encoded with high-definition, 1080p resolution onto a dual-layer BD50.  Shot on Super 16mm film and then blown up to 35mm for theatrical exhibition prints, Meadows’ film doesn’t look like a Super 16mm shot production with the appears of more a 35mm detail.  The natural grading doesn’t add any pizazz but that was not Meadow’s goal with heavily stylization.  Details are still touch and go, mostly leaning toward the lesser defined aspects of texture as some aspects of the Midlands are lost in the background and in the rolling foliage Richard treks, but delineation and contour check out okay.  No blatant or obvious issues of compression pains.  Second Sight presents the film in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio.  The UK English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is more firepower than it needs but definitely is a solid sound design that levels the three major aspects:  dialogue, soundtrack, and ambience.  Dialogue is clean, clear, and prominent while the environment and action subside to fit with exact dynamics to scene.  The various indie-folk soundtrack wanders with Richard and Anthony across the land, also providing a prologue and epilogue bookend of resonation that connects with the tale tattering themes of loss of one’s physical and mental self.  There are English subtitles available for selection.  Second Sight provides plenty of special features with a raw, bare, indie production with a new audio commentary by director Shane Meadows and producer Mark Herbert, a second audio commentary by Andrew Graves and Jon Towlson, and a third audio commentary with director Meadows, lead actor Paddy Considine, and producer Herbert.  Also included is a new interview with Meadows and Herbert Quite a Journey, a new interview with actor Toby Kebbell A Very Fine Line, a new interview with Gary Stretch The Right Horse, an interview with director of photography Danny Cohen Made an Impact, deleted scenes, extended scenes, the short film “In Shane’s Shoes,” the short film “Northern Soul,” and the music video from Danger Mouse and Jemini.  The release comes in a smokey gray Amaray Blu-ray case with an uncredited new artwork on the single sided sleeve.  There are no other tangible features included.  The UK certified 18 film contains strong language, strong revenge violence, and hard drug use.  The region B encoded Blu-ray has a 90-minute runtime shelf life. 

Last Rites: “Dead Man’s Shoes” is quaint, hyper-local, and simply vengeance. The Second Sight Films Blu-ray is a great celebration of Shane Meadow’s tiny but tenacious thriller.