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Heart and Body Reunited Forges Immortal EVIL! “Witchtrap” reviewed! (MVD Visual / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Get Caught in the “Witchtrap” on Blu-ray!

A motley crew of parapsychologists and private security are hired to investigate the haunted house of powerful warlock and accused serial killer Avery Lauter.  Before the graveyard side home can be turned into a themed Bed & Breakfast by Lauter’s inheriting next of kin, the team is brought in to eradicate the infamous house of any kind of malevolent spirits after the mysterious and gruesome death of a magician who agreed to stay at the house as a test run of the level of malignance.  When the investigators make contact with a confident and evil Lauter, the warlock tricks them by using the team’s physical medium to murder a far-too-inquisitive investigator one-by-one in order to finish a satanic ritual he started before his death that will make him immortal.  It’s up to non-believer, and wise-cracking, private detective Tony Vincente to make sense of the murders and put an end of Lauter’s reign of terror from beyond the grave before it’s too late.

A necromantically-charged slaughterhouse of a film, “Witchtrap” is the 1989 phantasmal thriller of the omnipresent, omni-powerful dead versus a group of clueless living always one-step behind in attempting to make sense of everything.  Also known as “The Haunted” or “The Presence,” the Kevin S. Tenney written-and-directed film succeeds the director’s cult classic “Night of the Demons” and Tenney’s debut film “Witchboard,” which is not a sequel to “Witchtrap” despite a similar title and the hiring of some of the same actors.  Shot in Fairfield, California on a 400K budget, the independence production showcases topnotch gore and pyro effects from makeup artist Judy Yonemoto (“Dance or Die,” “The Newlydeads”) and special effects supervisor Tassilo Baur (“House,” “DeepStar Six”) and is produced by Tenney alongside Daniel Duncan under Mentone Pictures; Duncan also produced Tenney’s “Brain Dead” later in the filmmaker’s career.  Cinema Plus, represented by executive producer Ryan Carroll, serves as the presenting company.

Tenney has been noted saying “Witchtrap” was a gift for the actors who have stuck with him over the years, playing pivotal parts in his student films that pole-vaulted his career into being a cult horror director.  “Witchtrap’s” leading man, James W. Quinn, has worked with Tenny since grade school and was cast in a principal role in “Witchboard” as well as in a minor role in “Night of the Demons.”  Quinn’s Tony Vincente is by far the best dialogue deliverer of the principal ensemble with a smartass ex-cop script that highlights Quinn to be the good guy but while being a complete jerk.  The rest of the cast is painfully flat, with little-to-no inflections, and a severe lack of dynamism or gesticulation that, despite how interesting their character backgrounds are, are just too dull with monotone script-reading.  “Night Visitor’s” Kathleen Bailey is likely the second best to liven up her character of Whitney O’Shea, the religious and reluctant physical medium with shark thrashing spams every time Avery Lauter channels her for to violently wipe out a parapsychologist team member, spearheaded by an eager ghost trapper Dr. Agnes Goldberg (Judy Tatum, “Witchboard”) and her mental medium husband Felix (Rob Zapple), and the accompanying private security forces that also include Vincente’s partner Levi Jackson (Clyde Talley II) and boss man Murphy (Jack W. Thompson).  Dangerous ambitions and irrational greed stir the pot between each of these groupings that side with personal stake over the safety of their existence that make for better character building underneath the rickety performance framing.  And, of course, we can’t neglect mentioning Linnea Quigley bringing up the rear with her rear as the bleached blonde, cropped seater topped A/V technician that can capture ghosts with her ectoplasm detecting gear.  Quigley, and also Judy Tatum, provide a bit of T&A, especially Quigley with an eye-popping full frontal in the prime of her career.  The remaining cast includes Hal Havins (“Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama”) as the creepy groundskeeper and J.P. Luebsen (“Witchboard”) as the cap-wearing and wild-eyed bearded warlock Avery Lauter. 

Oddly enough, what makes “Witchrap” entertainingly great, is Tenney’s attractive and amusing dialogue.  Between the quips, banters, diatribes, and the depth conversations, Tenney formulates a dialogue that can match or even surpass the outstanding special effects that course through the narrative.  Without Vincente’s brutal mockery of the entire paranormal research and investigation scheme as well as an unmercifully, nonstop degrading position toward his contentious boss, left with only the tedious prosaic to hear, “Witchtrap” would be one of those great-gore, dull-dialogue features that force your hand to fast-forward to the good parts in order to not pass out asleep from the in between drag.  Instead, “Witchtrap” is 80’s cult-horror treasure, comfortably embedded somewhere between the cinematic Earth’s lithosphere and asthenosphere layers just waiting for someone to unearth and dust off its sheening crimson colored cabochon.  Definitely not elevated horror that makes one think about the auteur intended message, the feature remains true to Tenney’s previous like-mad credits with an outlandish and mortally fair game theurgy that’s surface-level eye candy and audibly dulcet, despite the audio recording snafu that sent the entire dialogue track to the post-production recording studio.  Though producers and marketing attempted to cash-in on “Witchboard’s” moderate success with a similar, familiar title, “The Haunted” and “The Presence” are no more than generic designation fodder that lacked tremendous flavor; “Witchtrap’s” a kitschy and blunt title that works and literally estimates what audiences should and will expect although Avery Lauter is a Warlock and not necessarily a witch per se. 

A part of the Eric Wilkinson’s throwback video club and Rewind Collection series from MVD Visual, “Witchtrap” arrives a fully restored, high-definition Blu-ray, presented on an AVE encoded, 1080p, BD50 and in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  This transfer essentially mirrors the Vinegar Syndrome release a few years back that had reinstated many of the MPAA cuts the general public hasn’t laid eyes for nearly 30 years until 2016.  Picture quality retains a fresh, renewed look without compromising the natural characteristics, such as grain, of the 35 mm celluloid.  There are sporadic scenes that slip due to generational loss but, for the most part, a solid 2K scan restoration of the interpositive. The English LPCM 2.0 mono track is post-production concomitant due to an inexperienced sound mixer that resulted overbearing hum throughout the dialogue. ADR was introduced in post subsequently diminishing depth and creating an artificial sounding mix with a silver lining being a near perfect match for actor emotionality, inflections, and synchronization. Optional English subtitles are available. Bonus material includes a commentary track with director Kevin Tenney, producer Dan Duncan, Cinematographer Tom Jewett, and actor Hal Havins. Also included are interviews with Kevin Tenney, Linnea Quigley, Tom Jewett, and Tassilo Baur who more-or-less say a lot of the same retrospective accounts regarding “Witchtrap’s” sound issues, pranks on Kevin Tenny, cheap film hints outside of L.A., and how constrained the budget was. This release also comes with the edited VHS version at 92-minutes, same as the Blu-ray, a photo gallery, and the original trailer. Physical features include a sweet throwback cardboard O-Slipcover of the original poster compressed inside a 1-inch, matte red border that’s back and front. The O-slip covers a clear Blu-ray case that holds a reversible Rewind Collection cover art that’s roughly the same as slipcover poster art with cropped out credits for a vivid red filled, white-lined title. On the other side of the cover is alternative European cover art of a puffy white cloud merged with a demonic face hovering over a white picket fenced house, reminiscent of the MGM “Return of the Living Dead” or the original Columbia “Fright Night” DVD covers. Inside the case is a folded mini-poster of the factory-wrapped front cover. MVD’s release is rated R and comes region free. “Witchtrap” epitomizes restless ghost syndrome with a head coup de grace motif and is a seance that conjures potent witty dialogue to hoist Kevin Tenney’s third feature up to another plane of existence.

Get Caught in the “Witchtrap” on Blu-ray!

EVIL Surfs the Fresh Powder. “Shredder” reviewed! (Ronin Flix / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Shredder” on Blu-ray at Amazon.com

Mount Rocky Summit ski resort has been closed and abandoned for years because of the tragic death of a young skier at the hands of intoxicated snowboarders not following the resort’s rules.  Years later, a group of snowboarders sneak onto the resort property to snow surf the untouched slopes despite the local’s steep warnings of a haunted mountain and an easily influenced sheriff’s waning attempt to remove them from trespassing.  The snowboarding teens should have heeded the ominous warnings as a masked skier dressed all in black begins a massacre on the mountain, brutally killing the ignorant and reckless snowboarders one-by-one for defying the resort and lift safety guidelines and rules.  Before realizing what was happening, accusations and panic set in as trust and survival become key to surviving a total gnarly wipeout. 

“Shredder” – no, I’m not talking about master Oroku Saki aka The Shredder, high leader of the criminal ninja syndicate known as the Foot Clan and main antagonist for the Pizza-loving crimefighters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The “Shredder” that I’m referring is the unheeded 2001 slasher from writer-director Greg Huson and co-written by Craig Donald Carlson.  “Shredder” is every bit the essence of the late 90’s slasher-dash made in the early 2000s with a pop-punk soundtrack, radical attitudes, and an incorporated extreme sport built-in to stand out amongst the others in the genre with its snowboarder and skier themed horror model.  Filmed in and around the Silver Mountain Ski resort in Kellogg, Idaho and known as Jason Z and Ski Weekend in other parts of the world, “Shredder” comes during a slasher renaissance that began with Wes Craven’s game-changing “Scream” designed to plant the killer in plain sight and keep the audience guessing and analyzing who just might be the masked murderer blazing the bunny slope. Idahoans Rory Veal (“Lover’s Lane”) and Geof Smith (writer of “DeepStar Six”) produce the cult feature distributed direct-to-video by MGM.

Though “Shredder” is a campy horror-comedy, the feature does take itself rather seriously and the actors soak themselves into their stoked, stoner, and sex-driven characters of a variety volitions. Scott Weinger, the voice actor whose claim to fame is being the original voice of Aladdin in Disney’s 1992 animated “Aladdin” and its various sequels and spinoffs, finds himself on the opposite side of the spectrum in a not-so-kid-friendly film about a skier who axes, beheads, hangs, and stabs inappropriate snowboarders to death. Weinger plays the lead principal character as the lead on a leash boyfriend, Cole, with a veil that keeps him from seeing his trollop rich girlfriend Kimberly Van Arx, played by Lindsey McKeon (“Indigenous”). Weinger and McKeon wear their roles well enough to feel Cole’s good guy mold, his hero of character, being cuckolded by Lindsey’s wondering eye and brazen attempts to sleep with the hot European hitchhiker Christophe (Brad Hawkins, “From the Dark”). Kimberly Van Arx isn’t the only lady sex cuckoo for Christophe as Kimberly’s friend Robyn (Holly Towne) slathers on the seduction by hanging out of her clothes for much of the interior scenes. Much of the flirtation and hanky-panky is fairly overboard to the point that even the imbedded amateur cam-recording videographer and virgin Skyler (Billy O’Sullivan but credited as Billy O) becomes involved and handsy with another trespassing skier outside of their group who takes a shine to him instantly. Now, you can’t have an early 2000s slasher film without the token druggie and that role Peter Riggs (“Roulette”) as Kirk, professional snowboarder testing out new boards to dislodge himself as number two snowboarder in the world. Individually, the characters a fine. Together, the cast creates a body of personalities to sympathize and hate and also not bog down what’s really a mediocre-made slasher with decent gore. “Shredder’s” cast rounds out with Juleah Weikel, Candace Moon, Ron Varela, and Seth Reston.

When I say mediocre-made, I mean script sets up characters to die arbitrarily. There’s no means to their ends and the majority of the kills are as quick as a snowboarder finishing a run down the slalom. That’s not to say that “Shredder” doesn’t bring the gore with an opening and an ending that’ll make you lose your head or just become shredded skier meat in a giant snow grinder truck that has entertainable yet questionable visual effects results. What’s admirable about “Shredder” is the production doesn’t skimp out on landscapes and ski equipment to sell the whole winter resort theme. This partly becomes why “Shredder” is a cult horror hit with skiers and snowboarders. Doesn’t hurt that the filmmakers were able to utilize the Silver Mountain Resort complete with ski lift and lots of fresh snow for the spliced in shots of snowboarding runs with character stand-ins. Alongside the postmodern human and the cliched tropes lies the mystery maniac just waiting to be exposed in a coda showdown with the final girl or boy, but the problem with “Shredder’s” obscurity is its very transparent. Designed by force to misdirect our attention to a potential person was poorly crafted and made Cole seem foolish when he struggles to make a case about the killer’s identity with no foundation to stand on. Instead, Huson and Carlson write in a minor role that quickly evolves into the unmasked major player but unlike “Shredder’s” predecessors, such as “Scream” or “Urban Legend,” picking out the killer is made-easy and takes the fun out narrowing out the suspects. There’s plenty to like about “Shredder” – motley crew of characters, solid kill scenes, and Holly Towne checking the nudity box – but the cult worthy film definitely deserved to go direct-to-video as an average archetype of the subgenre.

Hit the sanguinary slopes with “Shredder” now on a 1080p, high-definition Blu-ray from Ronin Flix, Scorpion Releasing, and distributed by MVD Visual. Presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the AVC encoded BD25 has softer details that are not amply delineated but are suitable as a lot of light bounces off the snow and washes away some of the depth. Far and near exterior landscapes are breathtakingly immersive in the scale and textures and the interior scenes are kept dark and claustrophobic with only dancing flashlights and fires to light the anxiety mood. I find fascinating that in early 2000s, 35mm celluloid film was still be used here and the transfer appears to have weathered any kind of wear or aging, granted we’re only talking about two decades worth of time passed. There’s light, natural grain with some white speckled moments here and there that don’t affect viewing and no real issues with compression on the lower storage disc that maintains bright color, blacks, and an overall stabilized picture. The Blu-ray comes with a single audio option, an English DTS-HD 2.0 master audio, that manages appropriately an ample amount of output through the dual channels. All tracks are rich and robust with dialogue clear, clean, and audible, a punk rock soundtrack that underscores and supports the exterior snowboarding runs with vitality, and a plentiful range of sound effects that might have been better suited with more defined depth. Optional English subtitles are available. Special features include a brand-new interview with actress Lindsey McKeon that chiefly and briefly goes through her career up until now, a brand-new audio commentary with director Greg Huson, outtakes aka deleted scenes, and the original theatrical trailer. The physical features include the traditional Blu-ray snapper case with illustrated artwork by Devon Whitehead with his trademark style of the main villain looming overhead a chaotic mixture of scene depictions. The 86-minute, region A encoded release is rated R for violence, gore, sexuality, language and some brief drug use. Not a downhill yard sale as one would expect and if you happen to be not a regular mountain adrenaline junkie, director Greg Huson does helm a fairly resilient and agreeable masked slasher with a winter avocational theme.

“Shredder” on Blu-ray at Amazon.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fosNmn6mHvA&t=1s