Tag Archives: Dick Maas

In the Canals, An EVIL Lurks! “Amsterdamned” reviewed! (Blue Underground / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

The Horror of “Amsterdamned” Canals Are Now Available at Home!

A killer emerges out of the depths of an Amsterdam canal and mercilessly kills a prostitute, dragging her into the water, and suspends her lifeless, stabbed-riddled corpse over one of the canal bridges.  Detective Eric Visser is baffled by the canal killer’s unusual technique but aims to track down the bravado murderer while living the single dad life with daughter Anneke.  When another couple of heinous killings takes place out in the middle of the water and the mutilated bodies wash ashore, panic begins to creep into administrative officials with the thought of a scuba diving maniac swimming in the hundreds of Amsterdam canals.  Investigating the underwater hobby leads Visser to meet Laura, a diving enthusiast and museum tour guide who sparks instantly with the ruggedly handsome detective, but as the Visser gets closer to the truth and the killer, Laura becomes emmeshed in a crime that’s deadlier than an embolism. 

If scuba diving wasn’t already deadly enough, the murky waters of canal rivulets become the hunting grounds of a deranged, underwater killer in Dick Maas’s 1988 Dutch crime thriller “Amsterdamned.”   The elevator horror filmmaker of “The Lift” Maas wrote and directed the red-running canal of carnage with a fast-paced, action-packed, hard-boiled, giallo film outside the conventional Italia-construction.  Shot mostly in the red-light district capital of the world of Amsterdam, shooting locations also include Utrecht to accommodate additional speedboat scenes, plus studio work in Leiden and Heemstede, Netherland.  Maas self produces the action-horror alongside Lauren Geels, a longtime collaborator with Maas who’ve worked previously on comedies “Voyeur” and “Flodders” and subsequent projects, such as the English-dialogued apocalyptic drama “The Last Island” helmed by provocative feminist filmmaker Marleen Gorris and Maas’s own American remake of “The Lift,” known as “The Shaft” or “Down.”  “Amsterdamned” is distributed theatrically by First Floor Pictures.

Huub Stapel (“The Cool Lakes of Death,” “The Lift”) stars as the world-weary, tough as nails cop Eric Visser.  Also, as a single dad raising a small preteen and nearly self-independent child Anneke (Tatum Dagelet, ”Stuk!”), the setup doesn’t automatically constitute the detective as a cynically hardboiled man of the law but evokes more of a seasoned and skeptical vigilant persona of a man who is willing to leave circumspection at the door when duty calls.  Stapel wonderfully fits the bill of Eric Visser’s rugged and assured good looks with a force in tune with being a father and a police investigator when the occasion calls for it.  Being a single father also invites the opportunity to spark an exciting love interest to later put into danger.  The infectious smile of Monique van de Ven (“Turkish Delight,” “A Woman Like Eve”) fills that void as Stapel and Ven engage in teetering flirtation that makes us wonder how astute is Visser now on a case that’s causing havoc on the streets of, or rather the waterways of, Amsterdam.  Luckily, fellow police partners Vermeer (Serge-Henri Valcke, “Sl8n8”) and John van Meegeren (Wim Zomer), the latter a professional scuba diver and once jealous rival lover of Visser, keep the detective mostly focused with investigative conversation, joint crime scene speculation, and the gruesome death of one of them when they get too close.  That ancient rivalry between Visser and Meegeren stays put in the re-introduction of their assembly with no hard feelings and bygones will be bygones attitude, missing the change for any exterior or addition tension outside the murderer’s reign of terror.  “Amsterdamned” rounds out the cast with Lou Landré, Tanneke Hartzuiker, and Hidde Maas.

The fascinating aspect of Dick Maas’s “Amsterdamned” is taking the idyllic, ingrained, and utilitarian that is a cultural and landmark staple of Amsterdam and turning into an unpleasant gateway of fear and anxiety.  Transferring soundbite cues and following a storyline that’s not terribly too dissimilar from that of Steven Speilberg’s iconic oceanic death-dealing “Jaws,” and toss in Dick Maas’s enthusiastic fervor for a heart-racing effervescence, and you have the singular crime-thriller “Amsterdamned” in a nutshell that’s doesn’t deliver trite and uninspired horror or thrills but rather spoils the innate grandeur of a worldclass city that’s soaked in splendor as well as carnal sin; a fact lost upon espionage thrillers who overuse “Amsterdam” as an assembly of salvo and high-speed chases.  Maas does add his own variation of high-speed chase with a lengthy and complex speedboat pursuit through the on-site in Amsterdam and Utrecht canals with gripping and well edited ramp jumps and fiery explosions that predate some of the more renowned speedboat chases of modern cinema.  What’s also interesting about “Amsterdamned” is the adversary that doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles to make a convoluted story stick; instead, the killer is rather simply pieced together but descriptively held at bay until the finale for maximum suspense on unveiling the identity. 

Surfacing just beneath the depths is a 2K restoration from the original 35mm negative, approved by Dick Maas, from Blue Underground; however, these Blu-ray specs mirror the 2017 Blu-ray and DVD combo set and is more than likely the same transfer but for this standard edition, also labeled special edition, release.  The single disc, AVC encoded, BD50 is presented in high-definition 1080p and in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  Color saturation stands out here with a specified density that results in a pop of color and a diffusion of light that’s brilliant and revealing in the day without a bleeding wash and cold, wet, and with a noir-like steeliness at night, accentuated by inky solid shadows.  The original 35mm print has flawless approach into the restoration that makes the 2K scan candid and, perhaps, a walk in the park for another Blue Underground upgrade to high-definition in their established genre catalogue.  The original Dutch soundtrack is presented in a 5.1 DTS-HD, greatly tightened around the milieu and dialogue to isolate each track for separation and clarity.  Dick Maas, a filmmaker of many talents, scores his own feature with an unintrusive and dynamic soundtrack that ebbs and flows with the trepidation terror and tension-riddled action.  Dialogue is clean and clear but does have that ADR artificiality to it.  English subtitles render over promptly and error free.  Two other soundtrack mixes are available on the dual layer disc:  a lossless hybrid English-Dutch 2.0 DTS-HD and a French dubbed and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.  English SHD and Spanish subtitles are also optionally available.  Extras are pulled from the previous Blue Underground release and are an audio commentary from writer/director/composer Dick Maas and editor Hans van Dungen, a making of “Amsterdamned,” an interview with star Huub Stapel Tales from the Canal, an interview with stunt coordinator Dickey Beer Damned Stuntwork, the Dutch and US trailer, the Lois Lane music video directed by Dick Maas, and poster and still galleries.  Behind the wild ride illustrated composition of the Blu-ray front cover, the reverse cover lists the encoded scene chapters on top of one of Huub Stapel’s stunt work performances. The disc is pressed with the masked scuba diver head holding a gleaming diver’s knife cover art from Blue Underground’s limited-edition Blu-ray and DVD combo set of 2017. The all region encoded disc holds a 113-minute feature and is rated R.

Last Rites: If looking to save a buck against purchasing the limited edition, dual format combo set, the standard special edition Blu-ray of “Amsterdamned” is worth it, especially since the film has been absent from U.S. home markets up until 2017. Dick Maas is a premier Dutch horror filmmaker with the ability to keep us engaged as well as on edge.

The Horror of “Amsterdamned” Canals Are Now Available at Home!

Five Men. Two Women. What EVILs Could Be Committed? “The Last Island” reviewed! (Cult Epics / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Last Island” is Man’s Last Hope!  Now on Blu-ray!

The horrible, mangled wreckage of a commercial plane crash on a deserted tropical island only leaves seven survives – five men and two women.  Burning what’s left of the remaining passengers, salvaging through baggage, and setting forth a plan of survival until their hopefully imminent rescue,  the survivors lean on each other and on hope for only temporary residence on the idyllic island.  With a working radio only picking up static on every channel, a mysterious boat carrying a charred body to shore, and other clues that suggest the world may have just gone through a nuclear disaster, the possibility of never leaving the island seems very real despite their best efforts to the contrary.  Fear of being the last humans on Earth takes hold and for the species to survive, the idea of procreation insidiously warps their already traumatized principles.  Two women survived the crash but with one being an old woman, the younger fair of the sex becomes the object of necessity between the men of varying sexual orientation, beliefs, and ethics. 

Director Marleen Gorris helms another powerfully provoking and feminist perspective, gender divisive drama, but her 1990 released third feature, “The Last Island,” is quite different from her previous two films that have established her with such labels as a feminist filmmaker and the more preposterously perception of being a man-hater.  The differences are stark within the Netherland born Gorris’s penned script and directorial.  Unlike “A Question of Silence” and “Broken Mirrors,” “The Last Island” isn’t casted with frequent Netherland actresses of previous collaborations with this particular film seeing more native English speakers from the U.K. and Canada.  A large scale production also distances the previous handful of dressed interiors with exterior foliage, day-glow lighting, and a giant plane prop that elevate the tensions of exposition.  “Amsterdamned” and “The Lift” director Dick Maas along with colleague Laurens Geels produce “The Last Island” under Maas and Geels cofounded Dutch production company First Floor Features as one of their many English-run films. 

“The Last Island” had a cast that brimmed with over-spilling success having just come off acclaimed features within the last decade.  Paul Freeman was the first villainous face against one of America’s most beloved archeological heroes as Belloq in “The Raiders of the Lost Ark,”  Freeman pivots nearly a decade later in another strong, affluent role but as an older gay man with a taste for grooming younger men.  Freeman plays the Scottish born Sean, a seemingly ally to the one child-bearing able woman on the island but his own gender is turned against him with his need to live and his need to be in power to sustain the human race.  Opposite Freeman, and eyed as more of the principal character, is the lesser known Shelagh McLeod (“The Sleep of Death”) who is given a voice of reason, voice of choice, and voice of justifiable resistance against a crumbling male majority.  McLeod completely stands rivaling against a formidable Freeman without the backstory of ethical waning and as the well-rounded Joanna, she finds herself in opposition of other eclectic group of men with extreme strengths and flaws.  Pierre (Mark Berman, “Tom et Lola”) is a brilliant scientist but a craven coward, Nick (Kenneth Colley, “Star Wars:  Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back”) has military arms training for hunting but is a bigoted, pious fanatic, Frank (Mark Hembrow, “Out of Body”) is strong and compassionate but indecisive and insecure, and Jack (Ian Tracey, “The Keeper”) is the epitome of youth but is arrogant and motivated by sex.   Morris is able to turn each of the salient men seem small and insignificant beside Joanna steadfast candor.  Then there’s Mrs. Godame, the seemingly most insignificant character who is actually the most complex out of them all.  Age is just a number but the way Morris writes the old woman makes subtle suggestion that she might be more of a higher power than what she appears to be on the surface.  One suggest is hidden in plain sight right in the old woman’s name, Godame, and if you split the syllables, God and Dame equals Woman God.  “Willow’s” Patricia Hayes dons a charitable, mother-like performance providing hints of being the abstention Almighty by ending many sentences to the others with my child, knowledgeable in wisdom and in parable, trying to guide with conversation and compassion, and we’re even introduced to Mrs. Godame lying on the beach, arms stretched, and perceived from a top view as if in a crucifix position.

Religious imagery and metaphors run beyond the subtext of Mrs. Godame.  The world has seemingly destroyed itself from what is suspected to be a nuclear war and thrusts a reasonable suggestion that the age of apocalypse is nigh.  Man and woman are stranded on an island that’s been referenced as paradise on more than one occasion and Eden, a garden where the first man and woman lived, was known for its abundance of natural beauty and paradisal qualities.  Other aspects from the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are also present, such as the forbidden (poisonous) fruit and the snake that bites one of survivors.  Joanna can be said to be the forbidden fruit as well in a reversal of the theological tale where man is tempted by the forbidden fruit, tries to take a bite, and is cursed by removal innocence and bliss and replaced with sin, misery, and, eventually, death, more specifically, death of the human race.  Morris blends these elements smoothly into the conspicuous concept, leaving a very few mysterious metaphors left unresolved by the natural consequence of the characters, and ending on a note of ambiguousness hopelessness because is Joanna pregnant or not – we’re neither informed by the story or Mrs. Godame herself with another imparting and inconclusive turn of phrase that bestows a classic curtain fall on the unforeseeable future of the survivors. 

Cult Epics releases “The Last Island” on an AVC encoded, high-definition 1080p, BD50 presenting the new 2K transfer and restoration scan from the original 35mm print in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1. An opening preface notes that the restoration done was done on the only working English-language 35mm print known available, accompanied by evident dirt and scratch imperfections. Comprehensively, the restored print is beautifully vibrant with popping tropical frondescence and a deep blue sky. Much of the imperfections come early on, during the aftermath of the crash, where faint but evident scratches are noticeable, dust specks can be visible but insubstantial, and with the only real blight being a rip-split frame that flashes a horizontal tear across the screen. Details are sharper than expected with a nice delineation in the space between, skin textures, amongst other tactile elements such as trees, the plane, and the sandy setting, don’t wash out under the brilliant sun that lights up everything, and black levels keep inky inside the naturally adequate grain. Though a Dutch production, the dialogue track is all in English with a DTS-HD 2.0 master audio. Also available is a LPCM 2.0 stereo. Even-keeled throughout the picture’s entirely, never did the levels intertwine or lose strength in what’s a satisfactory arranged overlayed soundtrack in suitable company with Boudewijn Tarenskeen’s grave dramatic score. Optional English subtitles are available. Special features include an audio commentary by film historian Peter Verstraten who returns for another Cult Epics release, an audio-less, raw footage behind-the-scenes of certain production creations such as the plane setting and certain dynamic scenes mantled with diverse song tracks, an archive interview with Politica columnist Annemarie Grewel, the original theatrical trailer, promotional still gallery, and trailers. Also include but not in special features is a Dick Mass audio-only introduction at the play film selection. The clear Blu-ray amary case sports the original composition “The Last Island” one-sheet of wrecked plane and stranded survivors. On the cover’s reverse side is a full spread of the cast in one of the more memorable, heartbreaking scenes. There is no insert included inside and the disc art has the same rendered front cover art. Clocking in at 101 minutes, this Blu-ray has region free playback and is not rated. Gorris’s eye for upending men rationales to use against them tears into the very fabric of their misguided intentions as the prospect of end of the world comes down to one, single-minded thought – to procreate when facing extinction and the only way to do that is a man’s way.

“The Last Island” is Man’s Last Hope!  Now on Blu-ray!

Sometimes, The Choice Itself is EVIL. “A Woman Like Eve” reviewed! (Cult Epics / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on



Eve is a stay at home mother of two who ensures the house is in tiptop shape and that dinner is promptly on the table for her working husband, Ad.  When Eve has a break down at the Mother’s Day family dinner table, Ad purchases her a train ticket to enjoy France’s sun and sand with her best friend, Sonja.  There she meets an alluring woman, Liliane, living freely and humbly in a commune.  An attraction flourishes between them after Eve returns to home to the Netherlands and can’t stop thinking of her time with Liliane.  Soon, they become romantically involved with Liliane travelling back and forth from France and that sets the stage for conflict as Ad discovers his wife’s yearning desires for Liliane to horrid and confusing for their young children not to mention also their marriage.  Eve is caught in the middle between the woman she desperately wants to be with who still lives in the commune and her children she can’t deal to part from in a tug-a-war of emotions wrought by a failing marriage, society perceptions on lesbianism, and damaging court room battles for children custody.

When thinking about the history of LGBTQ+ films and the filmmakers behind them, director Nouchka van Brakel’s “A Woman Like Eve” should be at the top of any film aficionado’s list despite flying, unjustifiably, under the radar for decades as the Dutch film makes a profound statement with, at the time, unmapped gender fluidity of the 1970’s timeframe that included the women liberation movement that sought to free domesticated women from the limitations of household responsibilities, it cracked the barriers on what constitutes as healthy union between two people, and dove into the intricate internal struggles of a keystone person being pulled between two very different lives of family dynamics.   Co-written alongside Judith Herzberg, the 1979 romance drama, natively titled “Een vrouw als Eva,” has a very different kind of evil than the werewolves, vampires, zombies, serial killers, and ghosts typically showcased in our reviews and that is those narrow-mindedly frighteningly submerged in antiquated traditions peered through the perspective of a feminist director in Brakel.  Matthijs van Heijningen, who produced Dick Maas’s elevator-horror “The Lift” and also Brakel’s prior work on “The Debut” and later work on “The Cool Lakes of Death,” produces the Dutch tale under his indie banner, Sigma Pictures.”

“A Woman Like Eve” would not have been as provocative with thickly layered nonconformist and spirited topics without the compelling performance of the film’s two leading ladies in Monique van de Ven (Paul Verhoeven’s “Turkish Delight”) as Eve and  Maria Schneider (“Last Tango in Paris” costarring Marlon Brando).  Van de Ven captures a woman tormented by not only what “proper” society, society being her friends and family, tells her to be, but also distresses going against the grain of her innate guilt and nurture for her two small children during a time of emotional transition that impels her to pursue a relationship with not just any other person but another woman.  That other woman being Liliane, an established outlier of what’s considered normal as a lesbian living how she wants in an outskirts commune, and while Schneider’s performance treads lightly through what should be mountains of emotions, especially in a role that has a foundation of someone been out of closet, doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and has tethered a line of security to her soul fulfillment center, Liliane still maintains as the steady constant that never wavers from who she is and what she wants.  Toss in the German born and “A Bridge Too Far” actor, Peter Faber, and you can see the gunpowder burn for miles in tense and uncomfortable discourse when Eve confides into Faber’s character, Eve’s husband Ad, about her proclaimed love for another woman and then we witness Ad patronize her with what he calls an epidemic of woman independence and shrugs her true feelings like scraping foods scraps from a dinner plate and into the trash. Faber can get downright ugly with the homophobic bigotry that begins to carousel Eve’s ebb and flow of having any kind relationship with her separated husband until justice system proceedings for children custody. Marijke Merckens, Renée Soutendijk, Anna Knaup, Truus Dekker, and Mike Bendig round out as the support characters caught is the web of Eve’s love affairs and legal issues.

Feminist filmmaker Nouchka van Brakel depicts tremendous themes of a woman’s status in what could have been a universal position for women all over the globe. Seen as only housekeepers, dinner makers, and children bearers or caretakers, women were placed at a standstill after suffragists fought for the right vote at the turn of the 20th century but that fire inside them stayed lit and you can see that with Eve in the opening scenes as she’s longing and looking for something more than to be a house wife. She eventually obtains something more with love for Liliane, the second theme Brakel implements extends upon unfettering women is with lesbianism. Lesbianism is shown to bring down shame upon family, friends, and even just society in general as Eve was offered no solace from those she had a prior relationship with after coming out, a choice seen as a radical and an integration part of that women’s independence movement. Brakel wanted to explore uncharted passion between woman and woman and, in doing so, lifted the curtain on on various foremost concepts that are still…still being talked about today where inequality in the workplace through sexism and salaries still wage a battle of the sexes and homosexuality is still too taboo for even the modern day system. “A Woman Like Eve” has surely inspired and been of homage in more modern pieces, such as “Blue is the Warmest Color,” and should be exhibited more educationally on it’s abundance of relatable themes and not just be another work of unseen cult fiction but be rather a praised film of realism based on nonfiction.

To watch Eve toil in her new life is like climbing Mount Everest; it’s a long, arduous journey with challenging, sometimes spirit crushing, obstacles to overcome in order to reach the top, but once above the cloud, the tooth and nail fight for what’s finally yours and yours alone can be worth it. Unfortunately for Eve, her cumulus glass ceiling is poignant. “A Woman Like Eve” importance is shamefully overlooked and that’s why I’m grateful Cult Epics has brought Brakel’s film, for the first time, on DVD and Blu-ray in North America. Basing this review off the Blu-ray release, clocking in with a 103 minute runtime, the newly restored high definition transfer from the original 35mm print, shown in 1.66:1 aspect ratio, looks respectable from a moderately preserved transfer. An occasion scratch and some real delineation issues with night scenes factor in only little impact when the story is shot mostly in bright daylight and is well light all around with lots of natural grain. No cropping, compression artefacts, or enhancing was detected and the coloring appears very natural without any overcorrecting or mistakes in the primary or secondary hues. The new Dutch/English/French language DTS-HD master audio 2.0 renders dialogue clearly and positioned as the foremost track with a solid sync with the error-free English captioning. There’s a slight lower key hum throughout and some crackling and popping but none of those are a hinderance to the viewing. As far as bonus material, the region free, unrated release contains a 2020 interview between Brakel and film journalist Floortje Smit at the Eye Filmmuseum, a poster and still gallery, and the theatrical trailer on a dual-layered disc. The limited edition package includes new and original cover art on a reversible case sleeve. Probably seen as antiquated celluloid, I see Nouchka van Brakel’s LGBTQ proud and woman empowering film, “A Woman Like Eve,” as historical treasure dug up by Cult Epics, carefully spit-shine restored, and encapsulated forever on physical media for all to enjoy.

Purchase “A Woman Like Eve” on Blu-ray or DVD

Don’t Let Evil Give You The Shaft! “Down” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on


One of New York City’s popular skyscrapers, the Millennial Building, is a modern marvel with 102 floors sought to be visited by national and international tourists, looking to reach the zenith and take a once-in-a-lifetime, awe inspiring gander across the Big Apple’s urban jungle landscape or seeking to be a working stiff inside the immaculate bones of the building’s historical foundation. Every day, thousands of visitors and employees ride the Millennial Building’s 73 elevators, assuming the safest ride possible to the touch the bottom of the sky, but when a deranged scientist implements a controversial biomedical computer into the building’s elevator vascular network, one tragic accident after another compiles fatal consequences within the vertical box that draws negative national attention. Elevator mechanic Mark Newman teams up with a rebellious newspaper reporter Jennifer Evans to investigate and uncover the a larger-than-life conspiracy behind a killer elevator organism.

Over three decades ago, Dutch filmmaker Dick Maas wrote, directed, and released the killer elevator film, simply titled “De Lift,” in the Netherlands. About 18 years later after his commercial success for “De Lift,” Mass spawned an American remake of the film entitled “Down,” also known as “The Shaft,” that transformed into the forgotten bastard when compared to Maas’ 1983 feature. To be frankly, “Down’s” terror-comedy knack with spunky characters and zany deaths put the 2001 remake right smack dab at the top of the repeat value charts and despite the lack of rigorous plausibility, the refreshingly no-holds barred, fun zone horror film doesn’t think twice, charging forward with gun blazing in an elevator ride to cinematic hell that shows no mercy and gives not one single care with each surpassing floor level. Be damned the backstory with meager exposition! Be damned the underdeveloped characters who are pivotal to the plot! Be damned the complexities of how the biomedical elevator system is able to live, breath, and reproduce through murder and mayhem! “Down” has a black and white, up and down glory that’s considered b-horror good that’s very reminiscent of the early films of Peter Jackson.

If you’re going to remake a killer elevator film, go big with the cast and Mass surely pulled through by signing cult genre stars of the time. Naomi Watts was just coming into the mainstream scene as she tackled well-received projects around that same time frame between David Lynch’s “Mulholland Dr.” and “The Ring” a year later, but the “Tank Girl” actress showed more than just her aesthetic assets, more than just shrieking horrific screams, and more than just displaying her big guns. In “Down,” she proved to be a gung-ho, rough-it-with-the-boys portrayer of a feisty reporter whose hot on the trail of a conspiracy helmed by surreptitious characters played Michael Ironside, who did not lose an arm in this film like he does in “Total Recall,” “Starship Troopers,” and “The Machinist,” and Ron Pearlman (“Hellboy,” “Cronos”). However, James Marshall, in the lead as the elevator mechanic, couldn’t ratchet tight a performance that called for concern and durability; instead, Marshall, known for playing James Hurley in “Twin Peaks,” schlepped clumsily on screen compared to the aggressively hungry Watts. Eric Thal (“The Puppet Masters”), Dan Hedaya (“Alien: Resurrection”), Edward Herrmann (“The Lost Boys”), and Kathryn Meisle (“Basket Case 2”) round out the remaining cast.

“Down’s” commercial success was plunging disaster. Reasons ranging from a flimsy premise to being an unconventional horror to the genre were, more than likely, not the major players in “Down’s” inability to elevate an audience. More so, the reasons stem solely between one or two factors, if not both. For one, Maas writes New Yorkers as belligerent morons, cocky, greedy, and deranged. Many of the characters are like this and if there was any that embodied any sliver of rationality or humanitarian attributes, there screen time was quick and fruitless. Secondly, though “Down” released in the spring of 2001, a film set in a New York City high rise with multiple mentions of terrorists and even verbally conveying a foiled plot to take down the twin towers probably hurt the film’s home entertainment value to the point where a DVD release didn’t surface until a good two years after the theatrical premiere.

Aside from all the delays, harsh reviews, and a shoddily cropped Artisan DVD release, Blue Underground delivers a godsend presenting “Down” on Blu-ray/DVD combo. The 1080 HD on a BD 50 dual layer disc has a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio and radiates with clarity; so clear, that I had a hard time placing the year as the image certainly outshines most turn of the century products. An immense amount of detail just exemplifies the extraordinary content without appearing as a discount deal for special effects. Audio options include an English and French 5.1 DTS-HD and an English and French Dolby Digital stereo with both including optional English SDH subtitles and Spanish subtitles. The amount of range is leaps and bounds beyond the Artisan’s par quality with the 5.1 channelling maximized quality and clarity. Dialogue track is clear and free from obstructions with the only stain being the horrendously dubbed diner jerk that punches James Marshall in the face, but that’s not necessary a make or break blemish. Bonus materials include audio commentary with writer-director Dick Maas and stunt coordinator Willem de Beukelaer, the making of “Down,” behind-the-scenes footage that’s exclusive to the Blu-ray, theatrical trailer, poster and still gallery, and teaser trailers of upcoming releases. The casing itself harnesses a collectible booklet with new essays by Michael Gingold. “Down” finally shines through with a stellar release from Blue Underground, a leader in restoring and releasing cult films. If in the mood for a story without much thought while desiring to choke on out of this world terror-comedy then “Down” is a must on the upcoming marquee!

Own “Down” on Blu-ray!