Tag Archives: J.S. Cardone

EVILFormers: Robots in Disguise! “Crash and Burn” reviewed! (Full Moon Features / Remastered Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Crash and Burn” on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features!

In the year 2030, the global economy has collapsed and the most powerful organization on the planet, Unicom, controls most of the national markets with scrutinizing oversight.  What makes matters worse is years of pollution and nuclear naivety is dissipating the ozone layer, exposing the Earth and its denizens to altering ultraviolet rays that scorch the Earth with thermal storms, turning much of the terrain into wastelands. Out in the middle of nowhere in one of those barren lands, Unicom errand boy Tyson Keen delivers freon to an isolated Unicom television station fabricated from an old powerplant.  An impending thermal storm forces Keen to stay overnight with the motley crew of station personnel and televised guests.  When the thermal storm knocks out the power, they discover the station chief has been murdered, revealing the chief’s involvement with the Independent Liberty Union, a rebellion group against the mighty repressive Unicom, and secret plot involving Unicom’s illegal use of synthetic people to infiltrate the station to stop dissident behavior. 

2030.  That’s only five years away, folks!  Get ready for the global financial downfall and fallout when the ozone also says peace out after years of abuse.  Giant robots and subverting T-800s, I mean synthetic androids, are exploited for corporate gain and power over the few who resist.  Actually, if you think about it, the premise of 1990’s “Crash and Burn” might actually be happening now, today, five years earlier by the sound of it!  The Full Moon production, helmed by company founder Charles Band, (“Trancers,” “Doctor Morbid”) and written by J.S. Cardone (“Shadowzone,” “The Forsaken”), is seemingly ahead of its time with the exceptions of mecha robots and a vastly dusty wasteland of the Earth’s surface, complete with temperature rising thermal storms.  Unofficially considered a sequel to Stuart Gordon’s “Robot Jox,” another Full Moon production released the year prior, “Crash and Burn” is produced by “Nightmare Sister’s” David DeCoteau and John Schouweiler with Band and Debra Dion serving as executive producers.

The futuristic dystopian thriller plays out much like a slasher with a group of people hunkered down safely in shelter until one-by-one they’re picked off.  Paul Ganus (“The Monolith”) acts as the Unicom outsider Tyson Keen, a motorcycle-riding delivery boy just needing cash to get by in turbulent times, inside an established dynamic of a reclaimed power station used for Unicom television broadcasting where Ralph Waite dons the station chief shoes of Lathan Hooks, Megan Ward (“Arcade”) in the role of Lathan’s tech expert, teenage daughter Arren, Bill Moseley (“House of a 1000 Corpses”) as the station’s handyman Quinn, Eva LaRue (“Robocop 3”) educating the children over the TV waves as Parice, and Jack McGee (“Rumpelstiltskin”) in the blowhard and perverse egotistical TV host role Winston Wickett.  There are also two Winston Wickett guests, flesh and blood adult actresses who came back into the business after Unicom banned robot porn star and are being roasted by Wickett for their licentiousness, played by Elizabeth Maclellan (“Puppet Master II”) in the non-nude role of Sandra and Katherine Armstrong (“The Arrival”) in the topless required role of Christie.  Sandra and Christie are opaquer when it comes to their purpose as the two seemingly nomad women obviously need the money Wickett promises them to do the show to continue moving from place-to-place, but they put up with Wickett’s pompous and chauvinistic degrading being, even sleeping separately in the same quarters as the television host without wearing clothes.  There are dialogue moments between them that suggest there’s more to their relationship than what’s in exposition but never fleshes out; instead, Christie fleshes out in a shower scene with Bill Moseley’s Quinn for a brief cleansing.  The above cast of characters set the same for a “The Thing” similar mistrust when one of them is suspected to be a sabotaging, murderous robot in human skin, they even do a blood test too.  Solid performances all around with Moseley outshining most and Megan Ward’s innocence really comes through in her debut as a teenager while Ganus can be a suitable leading man but lacks the presence where it matters.  Jon Davis Chandler (“Carnosaur II”) and Kristopher Logan (“Puppet Master III:  Toulon’s Revenge”) round out the cast as two wasteland gas attendants close to the isolated power station.

“Crash and Burn” is an enjoyably campy, science-fiction horror that derivatively cherry-picks from other films in the genre.  From “The Thing” to “Aliens,” to even Full Moon’s own production “Robot Jox,” “Crash and Burn” puts other sci-fi cult films’ best elements together to form something new that instills a sense of isolating tension and heart-racing thrills from the man versus machine narrative.  Charlie Band adds his localized flavoring of beautiful women, sometimes teasing to bare it all, to zhuzh it up in a different light.  Like most of Full Moon’s earlier productions, and what separates the company’s catalogue from the modern features of today, is the practical effects.  Greg Cannom (Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula”) and his assistant Larry Odien’s make up effects, plus “Terminator 2’” Steve Burg’s robot design with the puppeteering, have longevity over the decades rather than today’s fly-by-the-seams visuals that often look cheap and mismatch against the live action with no tangibility and hardly anything the actors can work off against.  The under skin, robot skull exposure looks phenomenal for the era and budget with multiple layers peeling off in its prosthetic application and makeup arrangement. 

Full Moon continues to remaster their catalogue into high definition with their 1990 title “Crash and Burn” next on the docket. Remastered from the original 35mm negative, that was recently unearthed, the image has greatly improved from the flat colored transfers of previous positive prints, AVC encoded with 1080p high-definition resolution on a BD25. Full Moon’s remastering adds richness to the color pallet and a fine texture point that discrete objects the internal boiler room of the television station and, in contrast, the arid desert of Alabama Hills, California doubling as the futuristic wasteland. Skin textures are filled with stubble, ridges, imperfections, sweat, and robotic skin peels in every frame without the softening or smoothing over process to work quicker rather than precise. Full Moon offers two English Dolby Digital audio tracks, a Stereo 2.0 and a surround sound 5.1, which has been standard fair with the re-released remastered lineup. As fidelity reproduction goes, the layers perceive repressed for a bigger approach, especially one that has giant mecha action and a whipping thermal storm that causes a giant satellite crashing into a building. There’s nothing innately substandard about the Dolby mix, it’s perfectly adequate to handle the action, ambience, soundtrack, and the forefront dialogue and exact clear prominence without the lift in its intermediate range. English SDH are optionally available. Charles Band and actor Bill Moseley launches off the special features portion with a feature parallel audio commentary that’s entertaining between Moseley’s quips and Band’s stories in relation to the “Crash and Burn.” Also included is the making of the film, a blooper reel, the original trailer, and other trailers from Full Moon. Housed in a traditional Blu-ray Amaray, the original VHS art is reiterated, again, for the Blu-ray that’s more mecha oriented rather than stealthy robot assassins. There are no inserts inside or other physical features with the release that has a runtime of 85 minutes, is unrated, and is encoded as region free.

Last Rites: “Crash and Burn” does not do just that, crash and burn, but has real world dystopian concepts underscoring a Full Moon slasher reanimated by remastering for high-definition fanatics.

“Crash and Burn” on Blu-ray from Full Moon Features!

Sleep Studies Tap into an EVIL Dimension! “Shadowzone” reviewed! (Full Moon Features / Remastered Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Shadowzone” Available Now on Blu-ray!

The accidental death of a test subject during a highly immersive REM sleep project deep underground of abandoned nuclear fallout shelter resulted in the dispatch of a NASA investigator, Capt. Hickcock, to determine if the accident was a fluke or project negligence by the scientist staff.  The skeleton crew are eager to assist Capt. Hickcock with whatever he needs to wrap up his investigation and get back to the extreme deep sleep research aimed for NASA deep space pilots, but Hickcock is not so easily persuaded the research adds up, questioning the data that possibly lead to a volunteer’s brain to fatally hemorrhage.  A male and female volunteers rest in deep stasis sleep and while testing the lengths of the project’s capacity on the male subject, to sate Hickcock’s review, they inadvertently open a door to a parallel dimension through the unconscious mind and something has come through.  The facilities radioactive sensory system locks down the entire complex, trapping the captain, scientists, and staff with an unknown, and deadly, creature that will stop at nothing to return home. 

One of the few Full Moon productions to go outside their bread and butter of runt creatures and murderers, “Shadowzone” branches out with parallel dimensions and antagonistic alien creatures with molecular modifying capabilities in one hell of a star-studded, claustrophobic creature feature from the turn of the decade in 1990.  J.S. Cardone (“The Forsaken,” “8MM 2”) writes-and-directs cloistered camp of unseen terror that uses scientific research on REM, rapid eye movement, sleep research as the foundational base for breaking through the barrier of our existent and tap into another’s without cause or concern, until whatever comes out bites them.  Shot in and around the Griffith Park of Los Angeles, “Shadowzone” is produced by the master of dolls and everything small, Charles Band, as well as longtime collaborating producer Debra Dion and Cardone’s wife, Carol Kottenbrook, under the Full Moon Entertainment production company.

For a Full Moon production in the 90’s, “Shadowzone” had some unexpected star power between James Hong, the prolific Hong Kong-American actor who was a household name in the cult realm having been villainous black magician Lo Pan in John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China” as well as having roles in “Blade Runner,” “Revenge of the Nerds II,” and “Tango & Cash,” and Louise Fletcher, an equally prolific actress and a best actress Academy Award winner for her detestable Nurse Ratchet role in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a wicked performance that suited Fletcher very well in her career with natural way to express a sarcastic tone.  Hong and Fletcher are not necessarily portraying bad guys in “Shadowzone” but they’re no heroes either as scientists eager to explore the unknown by ripping a hole in the plane of existence and both veterans of the trade give their best in this low run but highly thrilling Full Moon creature feature.  Hong and Fletcher are joined by an eclectically charged cast that while don’t have the recognizable charisma of established names, they each contribute a valued service in the parts portrayed, especially with David Beecroft (“Creepshow 2”) in the protagonist lead of the outsider Captain Hickock, investigating in toward the unknown.  Beecroft plays a suitable military-esque high ranking officer with a semi-relaxed demeanor that goes against the grain of the stereotypical stern and regimented leader you usually see in low-budget horror and sci-fi.  “Shadowzone” fills out the cast with bodies for the interdimensional meatgrinder with performances from Shawn Weatherly (“Amityville 1992:  It’s About Time”), Lu Leonard (“Circuitry Man”), Frederick Flynn (“The Forsaken”), Robbie Rives, Maureen Flaherty (“Bikini Traffic School”) and the always underscored, underrated, and understated horror supporting actor, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. (“Friday the 13th Part V,” “Return of the Living Dead”).

Where does “Shadowzone” fit into the grand Full Moon scheme?  Before the company solidified itself in the mid-1990s with miniature maniacs invading the majority of projects and their respective fast-tracked sequels, Charles Band took chances on other tales of titillating terror from all sides of the complex cinematic prism.  Sci-fi oddities, like “Trancers” and “Robot Jox,” of the legacy company Empire, took footing on beyond dystopian while more classical horror centric productions, like “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “Re-Animator,” provided a wider berth of subgenres under the phantasmagoria.  “Shadowzone” takes a little bit from both the horror and the science fiction tropes, coupling the scientific research of new age technology that rips a hole in the fabric of space and time to introduce an unimaginable, supernatural creature that virtually goes unseen as it morphs into the subconscious fears of the people it hunts down one-by-one.  What audiences will enjoy is the medley of figures this particularly nasty being can warp into when going for the kill.  What audiences will not enjoy is the sorely underutilized creature potential that’s left more to the imagination than to screentime.  All but one kill is off camera and in two of those instances, the creature isn’t even in frame as a burst of blood splatter becomes the demising indicator.  This shortchanging affects “Shadowzone’s” longevity for repeat viewings with no outstanding or satisfying purge of fated characters in an otherwise underground and dark corridor deathtrap of otherworldly proportions.

Full Moon Features continues to toot their own catalogue with remastered, high-definition releases of their older features with “Shadowzone” being one of the latest and greatest to be remastered onto a new Blu-ray.  The AVC encoded, 1080p, single-layer BD25 offers a soft, metallic palette to a harsh subterranean laboratory where shadows run thick, and lighting is keyed on exact spaces and people for effect. I quite enjoy the softness of stark industrial that does not even relieve primary color as this remastered version sees no color correction, but rather color reduction retainment of a sunless, cavernous crypt.  Healthy grain against the details brings more attention to the textures, especially when we do get the see the true form of the being in a bone-chilling scene of its final war cry moment, a scene that will often haunt me because solely of its A/V compositional construction.  The matted visual effects don’t hold true to original first look during its brilliancy dissimilarity when compared to the rest of the film’s cold tone.  The English language LPCM 5.1 and 2.0 disperses through the multiple channels to convey echo location of the front and back while the 2.0 does the job to channel audio layers through with a balance for differential treatment, especially separating Richard Band’s less than jaunty score that’s replaced with more common composition of intensifier notes.  Nothing overtakes the dialogue layer that runs clear and prominent without any hissing or crackling.  English subtitles are optional available.  Other than the original theatrical trailer, the only other special feature is Full Moon feature trailers.  If it’s not a Jess Franco sexploitation special, these remastered releases of originally Full Moon produced titles receive a touched-up version of the VHS cover art and, fortunately, “Shadowzone” already had an eye-catching art, gorgeously illustrated to the point of what to expect.  Like usual, there are no inserts or other tangible bonus materials included.  The disc is pressed with almost a lenticular look of the toothy creature in a scientist coat.  The 63rd title to be released from Empire has a new Blu-ray that comes rated R, has region free playback, and a runtime of 88 minutes.

Last Rites: “Shadowzone” definitely has the feeling of a little film that could, and for a better part it it did with fantastic casting, an isolating atmospheric tomb, and a transmogrifying creature of our personal stress inducers. The Remastered Blu-ray caps off the success with high definition not from this world.

“Shadowzone” Blu-ray is Here to Stay and Is Coming For You!