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Two Van Damme’s Take on Twice the EVIL! “Double Impact” reviewed! (MVD Rewind Collection / 4K UHD and Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Double Impact” 4K UHD and Blu-ray Will Having You Seeing Double the Damme!

The assassination of their parents separates infant twins Chad and Alex from Hong Kong to different parts of the world, living very different lives.  Chad trains Karate and stretching while living the high, comfortable life in Los Angeles with this uncle while Alex, abandoned at a covenant orphanage, grows up to be a street-savvy importer of illegal and luxury goods.  They’re reunited in Hong Kong by Chad’s uncle, who’s not their uncle at all but their father’s former bodyguard and close friend, to bring down a criminal organization collaborating with their parent’s killer who orchestrated the hit with the Chinese triad.  Outmanned, outgunned, and at odds with each other’s different persona, Alex and Chad must find common ground to stand on to fix the wrong done them, to inflict payback for their murdered parents, and claim his stolen legacy, an underwater passage way between Hong Kong and mainland China, as their own in observance of their birthright from what they’re engineer father had built.

If one Jean-Claude Van Damme wasn’t enough to handle, try your hand at double the Van Damme!  “Double Impact” is the first film Van Damme gets to show his range inside the context of martial arts action film and to break, ever so delicately, the typecast he’s been filled repeatedly to perform by taking on converse brothers.  The 1991 action-thriller with comedic morsels was shot in Hong Kong, one of a handful of films the now 65-year Belgium native did in country, coming in between “Bloodsport” and “Knock Off,”  with years in between, and is written-and-directed by Sheldon Lettich with cowritten credits by Van Damme as well.  “Double Impact” is the sophomore collaboration between Lettich and Van Damme and the two have worked on a number of project since the film’s release, such as “Perfect Target” and “The Order.”  Van Damme also produces the film alongside Paul Michael Glaser, Ashok Amritraj, and the one and only Michael Douglas under his co-founded company Stone Group Pictures (“Flatliners”) in association with Vision International. 

“Bloodsport” Van Damme pulls double duty with ying-yang characters Chad and Alex.  Chad’s an easy-going, well-dressed, expensive-taste, slightly naïve, student of Karate who’s living comfortably in L.A. while brother Alex with slick back hair, leather attire, greasier-appearance and cynical attitude has him pegged as more Hong Kong street smart in his transgressor affairs as a illegal importer.  As far as exhibiting the desired range goal, Van Damme does provide the persona separation to make Chad and Alex individuals but he’s still playing characters he’s been in previous films and the only difference between Chad and Alex is their hair styles.  To ensure their differences, the story is woven for them to compete each other a little bit with evoking some jealous around Alex with the fear Chad may still his woman, Danielle, played by the tall and beautifully blonde “King of New York” actress Alonna Shaw.  Fueled by alcohol and a wild imagination, a wedge drives Alex to view his brother as more feminine than him and shows it with pejorative name calling and brotherly spat violence while in an intoxicated schoolyard tiff.  I will say that one the many glaring plot holes between the two characters is both have the same fighting style, which is Van Damme’s kick heavy Shotokan karate, and while that fits Chad’s backstory, it does not fit Alex who was too busy selling stolen cars rather than learning Karata in a studio.  Geoffrey Lewis (“Night of the Comet,” “The Devil’s Rejects”) dons the forced parental role as Chad and Alex’s former friend and bodyguard Frank who must reunite and rekindle the twins’ harmony with shared, common foe.  That foe, or rather foes, being corrupt businessman and British socialite Nigel Grifith (Alan Scarfe, “Murder by Phone”) and Hong Kong triad boss Raymond Zhang (Philip Chan, “Bloodsport”).  However, the real villains of the story are more interesting and standout with Bolo Yueng (“Bloodsport”) as the scarred face hitman and brute enforcer Moon and six-time Ms. Olympia Corinna Everson as a muscular henchwoman. 

Though Van Damme essentially plays the same person, I wouldn’t necessary dub “Double Impact” a replica of his previous work as it does mix up the narrative formula with dual roles with a one-half antihero theme and the scenes themselves where both Chad and Alex are in together, face unobstructed, present, and forward, are done exceptionally well for a late 90’s production with little-to-no seam and coloring imbalance or weird facing angles from Chad or Alex looking at one another – often times it’ll appear one character is looking at something totally offscreen instead of the appearance of looking at themselves.  The action is also palpable and fun to watch Van Damme go through the motions of making the opposition look foolish with his grunted elbows and roundhouse jumpkicks but there’s really no decent opposition for him in the choreographed mix.  Aside from Bolo Yeung, all the other major playing villains are no real equal match against Van Damme, not even Corinna Everson, who’s a physical and perceived threat, doesn’t provide the satisfactory fight in her brief combat interaction with the Muscles from Brussels.  The fight and action are also more grounded in reality unlike Van Damme’s last Hong Kong venture earlier in the decade in “Knock Off” that had an implausible cartoony design to it’s nonstop physicality.  There are no high-flying rope acts or escaping the inescapable devastation case by nano-explosives; instead, “Double Impact” is truly a fair 1v1 with gunplay and martial arts doing most of the heavy lifting and anything else that’s outrageous is left at the door. 

MVDVisual releases “Double Impact” on a new 4K and Blu-ray dual formatted release on their Rewind Collection sublabel.  As a part of the 4K LaserVision Collection, that emulates the mock trimmings of the antiquated but still celebrated LaserDisc video format, the MVD release 4K is HVEC encoded with 2160p ultra-high definition HDR – DolbyVision – onto a BD100 with the standard Blu-ray encoded with AVC with 1080p resolution onto a BD50.  Presented in it’s original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the new, director’s approved 4K scan and restoration comes from a 16-bit scan of the original camera negative and looks pretty flawless with image presentation, immersive depth, skin and fabric textures and tones, inky negative space, and a diffused color palette that’s mediumly saturated, slightly muted for a harder, gritty appearance.  Neither format shows areas of concern with compression artefacts in a clean transfer and decoding.  The main audio track is an uncompressed English 2.0 Stereo.  The dual channel audio has enough impact to provide a wide berth of action points with the kick and punch added hits, dialogue is clean and unobstructed even though Van Damme’s heavy Belgium accent which seems more egregious in this feature, and the soundtrack’s your staple culture blend of a Jan Hammer synth-pop rock and traditional notes of Hong Kong influence.  Depth is limited as well in stereo that front loads the action and dialogue with not a terribly immersive ambient track of a bustling Hong Kong city that would be the chief spatial and directional culprit for depth.  UHD special features are limited due to space and, in fact, the 4K disc is feature only.  All your extras are on the standard Blu-ray disc, including a near hour long Making-of featurette segmented in parts I and II that provides retrospective interviews from cast and crew, such as Jean-Claude Van Damme, director Sheldon Lettich, fight coordinator Peter Malota, producer Ashok Amritraj, and more.  The bonus content continues with director a short Sheldon Lettich interview Anatomy of a Scene, a behind-the-scenes featurette with Van Damme interviews archived from 1991, deleted and extended scenes, a raw footage B-roll with behind-the-scenes moments, television promotional clips, and an electronic press kit (EPK) that contains more interviews with Van Damme, Moshe Diamant, and Charles Layton.  The Rewind Collection always comes with a substantial exterior style that begins with the black background of a O-ring slipcover that mirrors the crinkled sleeve of a LaserDisc and has the original poster/home media art of the “brothers” Van Damme.  The black 4K UHD Amaray case has the same front cover image sans mock crinkles with the discs inside pressed with LaserDisc appearance imagery on the UHD and VHS texture imagery on the Blu-ray.  There’s also a folded mini-poster of the slipcover image tucked inside.  The 17th title on the Rewind Collection also has a reversible sleeve of the unwrinkled image.  Rated R for strong violence, sexuality, and langue, “Double Impact” has a runtime of 110 minutes and is region A locked.

Last Rites: You need double the media formats to enjoy double the Jean-Claude Van Damme in “Double Impact!” Double time it to get your copy in stores now!

“Double Impact” 4K UHD and Blu-ray Will Having You Seeing Double the Damme!

This Little Pit Stop of EVIL Doesn’t Have Gumdrops and Lollipops. “Candy Land” reviewed! (MVD Visual / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Visit “Candy Land” On Blu-ray. Purchase Here!

Candy Land is the bestowed designation of a truck stop at one of the last exits through Bible Belt country.  The monikered hotspot is home to four prostitutes, Sadie, Riley, Levi, and Liv, who work for ends meet, servicing all the needs of commercial truckers, those passing through, and even the local sheriff as long as they can cough up the cash.  The only ones not seeking pitstop sex worker services at Candy Land is a religious cult trying to spread the world of the lord around the same stretch of space.  When one of the members, a young and naïve Remy, shows up ostracized from the zealot sect, the sex workers take her in, treat her with kindness, and convince her to be worked into their profession.  Shortly after, gruesomely murdered bodies are found in and around the truck stop turning the once desired Candy Land into a life-threatening place to work, and enlightening the lot lizards that Candy Land is more seedy than once believed.

Shot in the foreground of the scenic Montana mountains, John Swab’s “Candy Land” is a lewd offering that screams the ugly part of something beautiful.  The 2022 USA horror-thriller is a written-and-directed by the “Run with the Hunted” and “Body Brokers” filmmaker Swab in the director’s first go at fringe horror that involves sex work, crazy cults, and hidden knife sheathed inside a large wooden cross.  Swab’s script takes a path less trodden perspective to most similar narratives and pulls inspiration heavily from the 70’s grindhouse era with lots of skin and lots of blood.  Swab produces his own film alongside fellow “Run with the Hunted” and “Body Brokers” producer Jeremy Rosen (“I Am Fear”), with Robert Ogden Barnum (“31”) and Michael Reiser (“Abandoned”) as executive producers, under the production banner of Roxwell Films.

The ensemble cast is comprised of Hollywood veterans, up-and-coming actors, and even a famous last name.  The latter would be then 29-year-old Eden Brolin, daughter of Josh Brolin (“No Country for Old Men”) and granddaughter of James Brolin (“The Amityville Horror”), who is quickly paving her own path having landed as a season regular on the widely popular modern western series “Yellowstone.”  The “Blood Bound” actress is joined by equally young and hungry talent of Sam Quartin, a multi-time John Swab collaborator with roles in “Run with the Hunted” and “Body Brokers,” Virginia Rand (“I Am Fear”), and Owen Campbell (“X”) who are definitely not shy showing of their bodies, simulating explicit sex acts, and step into a compromising prostitute’s shoes as “Candy Land’s” unashamed lot lizards, or that’s what they portray for their characters on screen.  Together, a bond is formed between the working stiffs of sex workers, leaning on each other for support while seemingly living a free and uninhibited life with a good chunk of change in their pocket, but their profession is no walk in the truck lot as taxing moments in sidestepped affairs of the main plot show the darker side of prostitution, mostly involving Owen Campbell’s Levi as a straight man willing to anything for cash in a male dominated over-the-road trucking industry.  Their chimera’s end of the beginning is when Remy strolls into their lives like a lost puppy.  “It Follows’” Olivia Luccardi plays the meek and underestimated cult girl turning tricks as a way get a foot-in the door to cleanse damned souls to send to Gods’ pearly gates in Heaven and while Luccardi has the substantial feign madness well set in her eyes and actions, her story slips below that of the original four truck stop hookers as much of Luccardi’s backstory or even her perpetual motion through her perspective loses to the arbitrary wanes of killing for the sake of killing when the chance is at hand.  Cast rounds out with Guinevere Turner (“American Psycho”), Brad Carter (“The Devil to Pay”), Bruce Davis (“Agnes”), Billy Blair (“What Josiah Saw”), Mark Ward, and another famous last name from William Baldwin (“Flatliners”) as the daunting, downlow Sheriff Rex who has a strong, affectionate thing for Levi. 

The very first opening scene and montage of a sandy-blond Sadie going truck-to-school bus-to-bathroom stall to give a sense of what to expect and the down-and-dirty daily workload for our principal prostitutes sets the tone of Swab’s lickerish thriller with grindhouse endowments.  “Candy Land” is more than just a nutso cult film with all the hallmarks of sordidness as the interpretation received from the story is this temporariness in these characters’ lives.  From the transient paying clients of a truck stop, to living in the impermanence of a hotel room, to even the things they ingest, such as the smoke of incessant drags of cigarettes as a brief coping mechanism and the food they eat with the Hostess Snowballs that have fleeting substance in them to stave off hunger for a little while and only provide negligible nutrition, the temporarily speaks volumes toward the plot of a killer under the influence of a radicalized cleansed ideology wasting away those in provisional moments.  Swab finely sets up character quirks, an unsavory, realistic world, and distinct dynamics to enmesh the characters in a life they attempt to put a pretty face on only that pretty face is a pig wearing lipstick, forcing them into uncertainty and wearing them down to a point they can’t face what’s important and dangerous right in front of them – a young, confused girl led astray and looking for answers.  Instead, that girl, teetering on the edge of purity and dissolution having nowhere to call home, is not safeguarded and is folded into their own licentious lives and, like a Trojan horse, she ultimately become their downfall. 

For “Candy Land’s” inaugural home video release, VMI Distribution and MVD Visual releases the John Swab horror onto Blu-ray.  The AVC encoded, high definition 1080p, BD25 conscripts not a single compression issue in the breathtaking, mountainous landscapes of Montana, affixing great distance between Candy Land and the rest of the world to describe the troubled brief getaway from reality without actually saying it. Presented in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio, details are greatly appreciated here with the graphic and vulgar markings inside the restrooms, skin tones fair a natural coloring, and a good amount of the whole film is lit naturally with the occasional greenish-yellow gel work to enhance the dinginess of a seedy truck stop. The English language, lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track settles the best fidelity that it can muster, reining in unbridled tracks for a more subdued approach that befits more the lowkey motel suspenser than a fueled high-rise stimulator. Dialogue is clean and clear enough; a few instances cause for mumbling concern but quickly pass and that link is quickly made in the off word that’s missed. Soundtrack contains well-blended, well-intermingled snippets of classic rock, alternative and R&B from the 90s, and a quaint Christmas selection. Yes, “Candy Land” could be considered a Christmas movie! English subtitles are optionally available. Special features are limited by the disc capacity that houses only John Swab’s commentary track and retroesque, in-character stills of a digital zine. The standard Blu-ray Amaray snapper case for this limited-edition release is nothing short of pedestrian with a homage cover art that, I must admit, made me suspect Candy Land” was more a vampire film than a cultist’ coup of truck stop sex workers because of my lack of doing any kind of film prep for any of the screeners I receive – keeps me objectively aligned. You’ll find the same image pressed on the disc itself with no insert accompanying. Not rated and locked on a region A playback, this release has the film clocked in at 93 minutes.

Last Rites: “Candy Land’s” sweetness derives from its in-your-face sexual audacity that rings a certain truth inside the unsavory cash-making aspects of the oldest profession and Swab takes us out from the game’s usual vivarium of the darkened streets and the dingy underpasses into the brightly lit and very populated desert with a different breed of the species. The instilled cult angle feels more slapdash in comparison that sunders the acts more acutely and without a clear reason, leaving the finale unsatisfactory like a $20 handy.

Visit “Candy Land” On Blu-ray. Purchase Here!

Evil I Wish to Forget! “Memory Lane” review!

Posted by Steven Lewis on

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PTSD war veteran Nick returns home and meets the love of his life, an eccentric young woman named Kayla. When Nick thinks things are going good, he discovers Kayla in the bathtub with slit wrists and no pulse. Nick’s world is turned upside and the pain of a life without Kayla is too severe and when Nick tries to kill himself by electrocution, he travels to a moment in his and Kayla’s life where words and meaning become clearer. Nick’s friends bring him back to life just in time and Nick realizes that her suicide might actually not be a suicide at all, but a murder. Now Nick must kill himself over and over and be brought back over and over to uncover the truth about Kayla’s fate.
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“Memory Lane” has a premise that sounds like an ambitious and captivating suspenseful thriller; a synopsis that urges you to watch and a synopsis that is compared to the likes of “Memento” and “Primer.” In reality, “Memory Lane” is more like “Flatliners,” as also compared, but the execution, pun intended, by first time director Shawn Holmes doesn’t quite come out right. Forsaken by too many plot holes, convoluted editing, and a series of heart stopping methods that seem kind of hokey put a damper on the film’s integrity. Kayla’s death, explained at the end of act three, fairs to be the best portion in the film because the foreshadowing of events leading up to her death are so minor and well-kept from public perspective resulting in a not expecting moment.
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I’m not too sold on all the actors either except for Meg Braden as Kayla. Her wild eyes, unique chin, and hot bod make her striking physically, but Braden plays a consistent internally struggled and troubled young woman very well. Michael Guy Allen as the PTSD-plagued Nick character could have perfected his struggles with his war time past; Nick, seamlessly and without hardship, eases his way back into the normal life and without any effort scores big with a hottie like Kayla. Seems too perfect without any real challenge or conquering on Nick’s part.
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The Wild Eye Releasing DVD has some audio inconsistencies. The dialogue drowns out at times and background noise overtakes a few of the beginning scenes. The video also noises at random scenes as well. “Memory Lane” is a $300 low key Sci-Fi thriller that surely shows being low key in result. I’m a huge fan of Wild Eye Releasing, but “Memory Lane” just doesn’t seem to fit the bill for the company.

Kevin Bacon and the Evil Cult! The Following (TV Series – Ep. 1 Review)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

The-followingFox usually has some pretty entertaining shows.  I was a religions Hugh Laurie House M.D. follower and Tim Roth’s Lie To Me really had me going until the show was canceled for some, most likely, idiotic reason.  After that those two shows were no longer running new episodes, I occasionally watched Family Guy, The Simpsons and Football whenever the Detroit Lions were playing.  This new crime/horror thriller show called The Following had aired January 21st and I can’t say I was eager to turn away from Monday night’s The Biggest Loser that airs at the same time that The Following airs.  I’m not ashamed to say that my wife and I caught The Following on On Demand and I’m impressed.  What a great first episode to set up all the characters and their stories and now I am eager enough to start being a religious follower; however, I will not turn away from watching obese people sweat to death and curse at their trainers for a killer’s killer cult.  Something about big people struggling to lose weight has more of an appeal, but thank you On Demand for being so convenient in helping me catching up on my shows (Dexter, American Horror Story: Asylum)!

The Following is about a charismatic and powerfully persuasive English professor Joe Carroll who is also a murderer of young college women to capture the essence of Edgar Alan Poe’s literary work.  FBI agent Ryan Hardy tracks down Carroll and single handedly arrests him despite being stabbed in the heart.  Years later, Carroll escapes just a week before his execution and now the ex-FBI agent Ryan Hardy has to once again track him down.  Before Hardy is able to apprehend once again, Carroll sets forth a plan that involves his loyal followers doing his murderous bidding for him which will tie up loose ends and most certainly involved the wash up agent Hardy.

Kevin Bacon in the first episode had a good first impression, but I didn’t empathize with him.  This is not to say that his character will develop more into something more in depth and I can’t wait.  My third eye tells me that there will be more to his character and his story.  Bacon isn’t a stranger to horror (Tremors, Stir of Echos, Flatliners, Friday the 13th) and his performances usually stands out.  I believe in the Bacon.  Plus, with being the brain child of Scream series screenwriter Kevin Williamson, I have no doubt that we’ll get some great thrills.  Episode one delivered some fantastic and dark scenes, especially with Joe Carroll’s potential serial killer prodigy and his dog experiments.  The cast is well rounded out with Shawn Ashmore (Lord of the Rings, Frozen), James Purefoy (Resident Evil) and Natalie Zea.

What I seriously hope to be a brutal series, I kind of have my doubts that this will be anything like American Horror Story.  Unlike it’s more edgier little brother F/X, FOX seems to be a tamer, more conservative counterpart and FOX, much like ABC and NBC, have had too many shows that are a hit and a miss and are canceled before you can say seven degrees of Kevin Bacon.  I see The Following lasting beyond the first season and I see my ass in bed turning in a couple of days after the airing to catch up!  Keep your eye on this one from FOX.