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Three Million and Staying One Step Head of the Cops is EVIL’s Masterplan! “The Cat” reviewed! (Radiance Films / Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Cat” Limited-Edition Blu-ray From Radiance Films Now Available!

Two ex-cons hold up a Düsseldorf bank for 3 million German marks.  Armed with handguns and brazen with their daytime theft, the two men hold hostage a handful of alarmed employees, rounded up before the bank opens for business, including the bank manager.  Going into the heist with a money figure in mind, the vault is discovered with only 200,000 inside, but that was to be expected as the arrival of the police surround the building adjacent to the towering Nikko Hotel where a third man, the mastermind, spies down from one of the upper floors, instructing the two armed men inside of his plan as well as spying on the police activity aimed to thwart the robbery.  Always one step ahead, police, bank employees, and even the bank manager’s wife are all a part of the organized crime for the riches, and maybe even exact a little retaliation in the process too. 

The 1988 released, German crime-thriller “Die Katze,” or “The Cat,” is an intense ruse engrained with deception, affairs, and a saturated with emotional weight.  Helmed by directed Dominik Graf (“The Invincibles”) put the Munich-born, drama-comedy filmmaker to the test with the Christoph Fromm script, adapted from the 1984 novel Uwe Erichsen, entitled Das Leben Einer Katze, aka The Life of a Cat.  “The Cat” would be Graf and Fromm’s second feature together who, four years previously, collaborated on the slice of life for carefree, bike friends suddenly finding themselves in the unemployment lane of “Treffer” and who would then go to after “The Cat” with the gambling comedy “Spieler” two years later.  “The Cat” is a production of Bavaria Film and Zweites Deutsches Fernshehen and is produced by George Feil and Günter Rohrbach (“Das Boot”), shot on location at the Hotel Nikko in Düsseldorf as well as in studios in Munich.

“The Cat” contains a hierarchy amongst the thieves with Britz (Ralf Richter, “Das Boot,” “Sky Sharks”) being at the bottom as a hot-headed hired gun, Jungheim (Heinz Hoenig, “Das Boot,” “Antibodies”) is next step up as the managerial ex-con looking to score big with reprisal, untamed purpose, and, lastly, the only man who can keep Jungheim from spiraling out of control and the spying eye from the tower radioing orders is the mastermind behind the heist plan with a calm as a cucumber demeanor and a cool cat, or katze, finesse and his name is Probek (Götz George, “The Blood of Fu Manchu,” “Scene of the Crime: A Tooth for a Tooth “).  But, as we all know and as the old proverb goes, there is no honor amongst thieves, yet Graf’s filmic adaptation does instill some counterbalance against that adage by keeping a sliver of diligence within their circle but there is an underlining truth well-hidden under-the-table, only informing those down the ladder what they need to know, when they need to know.  As tension ebb and flow from each personality type, throw into the mix an equivocal loyal woman (Gudrun Landgrebe, “Rosinni”), an intelligent officer in charge of hostage operation (Joachim Kemmer, “The Vampire Happening”), and a stubborn and quick to catch-on bank manager (Ulrich Gebauer) and the ensembles ensues an edge of your seat volatility elevated by the steadfast performances with the actors unhinged and let loose to exact their roles.  With lots of moving pieces to the characters’ actions, supporting parts are key to the success, adding flavor to their persona types and unravelling more about who they are and how audiences are supposed to perceive them as either friend or foe.  Sbine Kaack, Heinrich Schafmeister, Claus-Dieter Reents, Iris Disse, Water Gontermann, Bernd Hoffman, Uli Krohm, and Klaus Maas co-star. 

Hardboiled in a game of pursuit and evasion, Dominik Graf finds without difficulty the essence of Uwe Erichsen’s thrilling crime novel staying mostly in one location, evolving the story as the police try every trick in the book to thwart who they believe to be ordinary bank robbers and as the confidence, and perhaps a little brazen cockiness, slowly builds self-assured success. This constant stream of checks and balances between the hard focused, unobservant antitheft division of Germany’s finest and the cooperative crooks consisting of brawns following instructions of the brain keeping ahead of a fate less fortunate never lets down, never idles, and never diverts attention. “The Cat,” in a way, feels very much like 1988’s “Die Hard” from director John McTiernan, a steady source of one-upping the good guys peppered with moments of unvarnished, graphic violence and dark, unforeseen levity, minus a lone wolf John McClane hero behind enemy lines. The very opening scenes of Götz George and Gudrun Landgrebe engaged sexually are raw, sensuous, and sweaty but are under top a jaunty soundtrack that mismatch the heat of the moment in its cheerful, breezy Eric Burden and the Animal’s tune “Good Times,” a track with lyrics that speak of regrets of negating better moments with unsavory choices finds more of a potent meaning at the gun blazing finale where facing death is an inevitable outcome for one’s poor decisions.

UK label Radiance Films releases “The Cat” in the North American market for the first time with English subtitles in a limited-edition Blu-ray with a Dominic Graf approved high-definition transfer, newly graded by Radiance Film, onto an AVC encoded, 1080p, BD50. While the heist concept may be familiar conceptually to “Die Hard,” the look of the film also has that natural grading of “Die Hard” as well with Radiance infused punctuations on skin tones with a natural hardness. The print used was a digitized file, likely already spruced from an extracted print used by Euro Video in 2017, but Radiance retains the organic grittiness as well as the grain in their own sprucing up that sees a muted hues appear more intense. Presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, I’m curious to know if “Die Katze” was cropped in post to avoid nudity in the love scenes between George and Landgrebe that appear stretched with more pixelation and are oddly framed, as if portions were sliced off and positioning did not change. The German audio mixes include lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and a stereo 2.0. The surround mix lets loose and gives way to all to all of “The Cat’s” range in securing side and rear channels with ambient police activity, fireball explosion crackling, and the echoing of cavernous settings juxtaposed against more intimate and cozy locations. Dialogue renders clear, robust, and prominent with a seemingly errorfree, newly translated English subtitle synchronicity albeit the pacing being a little rapid. No signs of compression issues nor any print damage or unpleasant hissing or crackling. Special features include new German-languaged, English subtitled interviews with Dominik Graf, screenwriter Christoph Fromm, and producer George Feil, a scene-select commentary with Graf, and the film’s trailer. Like the rest of Radiance’s catalogue, “The Cat” comes with a clear Amaray with an OBI strip overtop the reversible cover art. The reverse side displays the original home video and poster art. A 19-page color picture booklet features an essay by freelance culture writer and film critic Brandon Streussnig All the Good Times That’s Been Wasted, plus cast and crew credits and transfer information and acknowledgements. The region A/B encoded playback release has a runtime 118 minutes, is not rated, and is limited to only 3000 copies.

Last Rite: A masterful crime thriller, “The Cat” claws away the fuss to unsheathe realism and Radiance Films delivers the Germanic, harrowing heister in all its glory with a Hi-Def release.

“The Cat” Limited-Edition Blu-ray From Radiance Films Now Available!

Tonight’s Next Guest is EVIL! “Late Night with the Devil!” reviewed! (Second Sight Films / Limited-Edition 4K UHD and Standard Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Check Out the Package on Second Sight’s Latest Limited Edition – “Late Night with the Devil!

In the golden age of late-night television shows, Jack Delroy was one of the hottest late-night comedians and talk show hosts of the early 1970s, only to be beaten out by inches by rival talk show host Johnny Carson every year.  By 1977, Delroy’s viewers and popularity on his show Night Owls was slipping after multiple failed attempts to revive the show’s viewership figures and to hit the number one spot for syndicated station UBL during sweeps week year after year.  That years Halloween episode, during the sweeps week, would promise to be one to be remembered when Delroy brings a medium, a magician-turned-magician promulgator, a paranormal psychologist, and her adopted subject, a young girl who was the last known survival of a Satanic cult.  While the lineup entertains the live audience and those viewers at home throughout the night as well as being excellent for the ratings game, Halloween thins the layer between the real world and the supernatural world and an awry demon summoning goes horribly wrong, caught on the station’s camera, and with Jack Delroy and his guests caught in the middle.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing “100 Bloody Acres,” the 2012, underrated Australian comedy-horror has a fine entertaining balance of black humor, gore, and suspense.  The directors behind the little-known venture, brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes, may not have moved the needle with their debut feature in Australia, nor globally for that matter, but their latest, a 1970s, found footage, period piece surrounding demonic catastrophe on live television entitled “Late Night with the Devil,” carries with it significance and growth, personally and globally.  Having also written the script, the Cairnes recreate a time period when television use to capture grotesque and jarring images to shock the masses in full, unbridled color through the whimsical lens of a late-night television show.  In a production company opening that seemingly would never end, “Late Night with the Devil” is a conglomerate effort from IFC Films, Shudder, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Spooky Pictures, Good Fiend Films, AGC Studios, VicScreen, and Future Pictures and produced by Adam White, Steven Schneider (“Trap”), John Mulloy (“Killing Ground”), Mat Govoni, Derek Dauchy (“Watcher”), and Roy Lee (“Barbarian”).

In order for “Late Night with the Devil” to work, the Carines brothers needed a principal lead to understand what it means to be a charismatic and funny host of 1970s late night television.  They found niche trait in “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” and James Gunn’s “Suicide Squad’s” David Dastmalchian who is an adamant man of horror himself from genre scripts, articles, and comic books to being a horror themed host himself as Dr. Fearless hosted by Dark Horse comics.  Dastmalchian plays a different sort of host for the film, a quick-wit, neat as a pin, and handsome Jack Delroy who has lofty goals of elevating his show to the number one spot in the domestic market.  Early success drives Delroy who will do anything to outscore late night king Johnny Carson but when his wife (Georgina Haig, “Road Train”) falls ill and dies early, the ratings battle slows for Delory’s show until his return to try and revive glory with kitschy content.  Halloween 1977, sweeps weeks, proves to be a chance for Delroy and his manager (Josh Quong Tart, “Little Monsters”) to spice things up with phantasmagoric guests in Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), an arrogant former magician turned cynic (Ian Bliss, “The Matrix Reloaded”), and a paranormal psychologist (Laura Gordon, “Saw V”) and her adopted subject Lilly, the debut feature-length film of Ingrid Torelli.  Aside from Chicago-born Dastmalchian, the rest of the Australian production is casted natively and do an impeccable vocal mimicry of an American accent while stunning and convincing in their respective roles, especially for Torelli whose piercing blue eyes, rounded check line, and gently raspy voice gives her an uneasy accompaniment to her off-putting innocence that works to the story’s advantage.  The cast rounds out with key principal Rhys Auteri playing Jack Delroy’s quirky sidekick host Gus McConnell whose story progression trajectory borders the voice of reason ironically enough and without McConnell and Auteri’s spot-on depiction of host announcer and comedic adjutant, there wouldn’t be steady fidelity for those who grew up on late night TV.

Late night TV essence is beautifully captured with mock production set of a 70s television studio, acquired era garbs, costumes, and accessories, and performances that provide a real flavor for programming of that time, and I would know as I would obsessively glue my attention to Johnny Carson reruns at a young age in the 1980s to early 90s.  The Cairnes and director of photography Matthew Temple deploy a studio reproduction of a three-way camera system to unfold the carnage; yet the forementioned behind-the-scenes moments in between live-air tapings feels forced, unnecessary, and artificial to the story with a lack of explanation to who and why these in-betweens are being done.  The black-and-white scenes vary in cameraperson positions from behind the coffee and snack table, behind fake floral, or just right in their face that steals from the live-tape realism.  What then ensues when the demonic light beams from one of the guest’s split open head does redirect attention to the psychokinesis death and destruction and this removes those behind-the-scenes fabrications with a replaced personal, interdimensional Hell for Delroy, shot in a more conventional style outside the confines of found footage under omnipotent means.  Cameron and Colin’s part-documentary, part-found footage, and part-conventional efforts prologue the story with an out, one that sets up connections to link violence on a single character lightning rod with maximum collateral damage, and that lead up of information almost seems trivial but works to the advantage on not only the character’s background but also generates a real spark of juicy, full-circle, nearly imperceptible greed that comes with a cost. 

Second Sight Films knows a good movie when they see one and quickly snatches up the rights to release “Late Night with the Devil” on a limited-edition, dual-format collector’s set.  The UK distributor’s 4K UHD and Standard Blu-ray combo box comes with an HVEC encoded, HDR with Dolby Vision 2160p, BD66  and an AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD50, both formats decoding at a refresh rate around 24 frames per second and presented in the three aspect ratios to reproduce 70’s era television ratios with a 1.33:1 and European ratio 1.66:1 as well as seldomly switching to a 2.39:1 widescreen for more down the rabbit hole sequences.  Much like the variety of aspect ratios, an intentional ebb and flow design between color and black-and-white draws demarcating lines from the colorful live tapings to the monochromic backstage footage after the live cameras stop broadcasting.  To help lift the period piece, three-way studio cameras film within a broadcast simulated fuzzy aberration, interlacing or analog abnormalities, and color reduction used to flatten out the vibrancy some, just enough to be perceptible, until the transcendental camera takes hold and the color because richer, glossier in a moment of unclear clarity.  Textures are often lost in the fuzziness but emerge better out of the backstage footage and the eye-in-the-sky scenes.  The lossless English language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 adds an eclectic charge to the mostly grounded television broadcast, rooted by a single set nearly most of the duration.  In frame band elements and instrumentation adds that upbeat and jazzier score denoting late night introductions and commercial breaks.  Vocals are often muffled when viewing the show on a screen and in depth but becomes more robust and clearer when switched to camera angle; this goes hand-in-hand with the dialogue which is clear and acute when needed.  The demonic presence can come off as artificial but still manages to work within the construct.  The range is impressive for a single setting that sees audience’s reactions and loop tracks, the hustle and bustle of backstage when off air, spontaneous combustion, sickening wrangling of bodies, and, naturally of course, a blazing beam of light.  English subtitles are optionally available for the hearing impaired.  With Second Sight’s limited-edition contents, you know you’re getting your money’s worth in exclusives.  Both formats include bonus features, which is surprising considering the UHD takes up a lot of space.  These features include a new audio commentary by film critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson, a new interview with The Cairnes brothers Bringing Their ‘A’ Game, an interview with actor Ian Bliss Mind if I Smoke?, an interview with actress Ingrid Torelli We’re Gonna Make a Horror Movie, an interview with actor Rhys Auteri Extremely Lucky, a video essay entitled Cult Hits by Second Sight content creating regular Zoë “Zobo With A Shotgun” Rose Smith, behind-the-scenes, the making-of the Night Owls brassy band music, the SXSW 2023 Q&A panel with star David Dastmalchian and directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes.  Limited-edition contents come with a rigid, black slipcase of minimalistic but effective artistic work of Jack Delroy and the devil’s pitchfork complete with pentagram on the backside.  Inside the slipcase is a tall, media jewel case to hold both discs on each side, each represented with a story character in front of black backdrop.  A 120-page color book provides new essays by Kat Hughes, James Rose, Rebecca Sayce, Graham Skipper, Juliann Stipids, and Emma Westwood, plus storyboards, costume designs, and a behind-the-scenes gallery.  Lastly, there are six 5 ½’ by 7” character collector cards.  Second Sight’s Blu-ray release is hard encoded region B playback only but the 4K is region free with both formats clocking in with a runtime of 93 minutes and are UK certified 15 for strong horror, violence, gore, and language.

Last Rites: Once again, Second Sight Films clearly has their eyes on the prize and contributes to dishing out the best possible transfers and exclusives when considering physical media. Their latest, “Late Night with the Devil,” is no longer the host but the hosted with a tricked out limited-edition set best watched from under the sheets late at night and thoroughly enjoyed within its special features after the film credits roll.

Check Out the Package on Second Sight’s Latest Limited Edition – “Late Night with the Devil!

A Boy’s Imagination Can Conjure Up EVIL Death and Sex. “Viva La Muerte” reviewed! (Radiance Films / Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Viva la Muerte” Limited Edition Won’t Be Around Long. Grab Your Copy Here!

At the peak low of the Spanish Civil War, naïve adolescent boy Fando doesn’t understand what is happening between the Catholic-blessed fascist takeover of his country nor exactly why his father was arrested and what has since happened to him.  He stumbles upon letters written by his mother suggesting that she had something to do with his sudden arrest because of his parents’ rival principles paralleling their nation’s bloody conflict of dividing beliefs.  Fando asks his remaining family questions, especially pelting his mother with detailed inquiries, about his father, death, and the fascist opposition, and while he’s lives under the draconian rule of a fascism reality and his family who abides it closely, the inquisitive boy intersperses his new, complex reality with his own way of comprehending, filling in the blanks with his vivid imagination of childish macabre, oedipal maturing, and an uninhibited interpretation of the evolving revolution surrounding him.   

“Viva la Muerte,” aka “Long Live Death,” is the 1971 surrealistic war horror from then debut filmmaker Fernando Arrabal.  Arrabal, who went on to modest yet esteemed career with such arthouse films such as “I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse,” “Car Cemetery” and another Spanish Civil War set drama “L’arbre de Guernia,” also wrote the film that cemented his contributions to the surrealistic performance art movement known as the Panic Movement.  Though Arrabal was born in Spain and tells the story of the Spanish Civil War, the filmmaker had lived in France where the movement’s genesis began solely as street shock performances alongside fellow filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (“El Topo”) and writer/actor Roland Topor, the latter had penned the novel of inspiration for what would be Roman Polanski’s “The Tenant.”  Eventually, the Panic Movement slid into cinemas and the French production/language “Viva la Muerte” was designed to not only exhibit chaotic, childlike account of the Spanish Civil War but also shock audiences with bizarre imagery.  Isabelle Films and S.A.T.P.E.C. fund the film under the producing credits of Hassene Daldoul and Jean Velter.

What better way to express an arthouse film than with arthouse performances from a blend of European actors and actresses from the French and Spanish territories.  “Viva la Muerte” couriers a perception through the eyes of a preteen child, a young boy of approx. 10 years of age, in Fando played with infatuation innocence and a model of child-to-adult growth in Mahdi Chaouch.  Fando’s virtue through the Spanish Civil War becomes shaped by not only the sudden loss of his father but also the quick onset of maturity being left and lifted as the man of the house.  Fando slips into a mix of fantasy and disdain for his mother, played by Spanish actress Núria Espert, surrounded and shaped by a political conflict climate as he interprets every statement she makes regarding his father’s irresolute fate between imprisonment and execution and every desirably suggested aspect of her action that drives him to internally create visuals of sex and death.  In the effect of one’s different self is the subtle infusion of the aunt whom Fando lives with for a while, a role by French actress Anouk Ferjac (“Hallucinations sadiques”) and mirrors the mother in appearances and in the same taboo risking amorous ways that creates thick, nearly line-crossing, sexual tension between adult woman and male child, especially topped by its incestuous nature.  Unknowns Jazia Klibi, Jean-Louis Chassigneux, Suzanne Comte, and Ivan Henriques as Fando’s dissident father round out the cast with a sense of authenticity for real world conflict. 

Arrabal’s “Viva la Muerte” becomes a beaconing example of merging stern reality with liberal imagination.  Though starkly apposition in film styles and surreal contrasts against the backdrop of a new world and bleak order of a fascism regime, reality and fantasy do blend to a degree as Arrabal sought to have one and the other bleed into one another to evoke questions of motives and symbolize with child caricaturizing the authoritarian oppression.  The overtly sexual fantasies of a naked mother and aunt in the presence of the boy can be egregiously sensed outside the dreamlike context with paused moments of starring and awkward touching.  Same can be said about Fando’s father’s demise as the boy goes through an array of grotesquely creative possibilities regarding father’s fate with most often being death and while Fando is spoon-fed lesser punitive measures by his mother, the chances of the father being alive after being arrested are likely zero based off earlier graveside executions of military firing squads for those with strong ideology opposition.  Fando’s mother plays a hefty role in his deadly, warped thoughts and just not sexually either as her role in his colorfully constructed explanations pin her as the chief executioner after reading her letters to the church about his dissident behavior.  Catholicism, or rather the Church, plays a huge role in shaping young Fando’s personal arc.  Religious imagery of his mother as the virgin Mary, a priest blessing fascist swords before battle, and also the same priest having his manhood violently removed and fed to him represents a way to explain how Catholicism has essentially failed stand against the violence to which, later exhibited in the story, molds Fando as a trouble instigator or rebel in his Catholic nun run school for the Church’s complicity in his father’s death.  Fando’s rejection of the Church confirms his character’s growth from the story’s beginning of his extreme self-penancing and opposition to such aberrant thoughts; thoughts that are not just sexual in nature but also incline themselves to be dirty, literally, with skin-covering mud and scat in playful mirth to signify enjoyment equates to being sinful and filthy.  Arrabal really does give you lots to unravel and the panic really starts to set in, hence his Panic Movement.

Limited to 3000 copies, “Viva la Muerte” arrives to the U.S. on its first Blu-ray release here in the States from Radiance Films.  The beautiful, new 4K restoration scan, with the collaboration of director Fernando Arrabal, pulled from the best elements of the original 35mm negative, 35mm French sound negative, and 35mm interpositive negative fathoms a rich spectrum of a diffused color palette on the AVC encoded, dual layer, BD50, presented in a high-definition 1080p and in the original European aspect ratio of 1.66:1.  Reality scenes are grounded by natural lighting, brighter contrast of the mountainous desert landscape, and a thorough macro-examination of the details and textures that pop the imagery between the grandfather’s bloodletting scene on the shaved portion of his fibrous head to the wet-slick and soapy naked Fando as he stands to get scrubbed down in the bath.  Blacks are solid without signs of a weaker compression encoding.  The surreal imagery switches gears, harshly, from 35mm film to an interlaced videotape, changing and reducing the quality down significantly but with the tape image is heavily colored in mostly primary colors to denote an artful way of imaginary explanations in Fando’s head.  No other issues arise from the video portion, retaining Radiance Films’ attention to detail and respect intact for their culturally valuable and extensive catalogue.  The French language uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mono track fairs well from a virtually damage free preservation.  A slight background hiss or hum can be found as the only audio blemish to note.  ADR dialogue is clean and clear throughout and with usually any post dialogue recordings there’s a bit of enclosed reverberations that don’t synch well with the scene that should sound airier.  Optional English subtitles synch fine and are error free with seemingly proper translational grammar.  Special features include an audio discussion between Projection Booth podcast’s Mike White, esoteric and horror film writer and former Video Watchdog contributor Heather Drain, and filmmaker-writer Jess Byard whom provide commentary overtop of the feature but not in synch with watching feature, a feature-length documentary on Arrabal by French novelist Xavier Pasturel Barron that contains interviews with friends, family, and fans of the director, an exclusive interview with cinema historian David Archibald, a new cut trailer from Radiance, and an image gallery.  Radiance continues to impress with the encoded special features and, not to be outshined, the physical features are also a bright light that reflects the essence of the Panic Movement with a clear, a millimeter thicker Amaray presenting the yellow and red background with provocative character imagery at the center that speaks the sex and death motif.  The reverse side has the same color scheme mixed up with an illustration of one of the characters displayed infamously in the film.  The insert contains a 35-page color booklet, bounded end-to-end with the strange and uneasy drawings of Fernando Arrabal, with a 1976 Arrabal interview by film critic and historians Peter Brunette and Gerald Peary and an exclusive essay from Sabina Stent.  Transfer notes as well as a complete cast and crew acknowledgement bookends the booklet’s main courses.  The disc is pressed in a solid, canary yellow with black lettering for the title.  Radiance’s 66th title comes region free release has a runtime of 88 minutes and is not rated. 

Last Rites: War is hell. For Fernando Arrabal, war is ambiguous and surreal. Radiance spotlights every ambivalent corner of Arrabal’s “Viva la Muerte” to light up its anti-nondescript digestion of one boy’s survival of his own maturity during a post-war fascist scrub, a task none too simple to undertake much like Arrabal’s storytelling.

“Viva la Muerte” Limited Edition Won’t Be Around Long. Grab Your Copy Here!

One Out of 7 Most Freaky, if not EVIL, Places on the Planet! “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” reviewed! (Second Sight / Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Become Engulfed by the “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” on Second Sight’s LE Blu-ray!

Horror Times, a web series dedicated to horror and hits, travels to the Gwangju providence for their next big event, a special episode aimed to rake in 1 million views worldwide as they explore the supposedly haunted, deserted, and derelict Gonjiam psychiatric asylum after midnight on its anniversary date of its closing.  Already buzzing with historical disappearances of those curious and brave enough to investigate the dilapidated corridors and rooms, Horror Times brings in four guests to join his three-man crew to record every second of what CNN labels one of the seven freakiest places on the planet.  Setup with wall-mounted motion activated cameras, harnessed with individual GoPros, and given a multi-layered script to follow on each of Gonjiam’s four floors, all is going as planned broadcasting live the strange atmospherics that slowly see climbing views from the director’s camped base outside the structure, pulling some fabricated strings to not only heighten his viewer pool but also get genuine frightened reactions from his guest team, but when the team and the cameras unexplainable paranormal occurrences, how far will a director go to reach his milestone goal.

Based off the actual CNN listicle of the top 7 freakiest places on the planet, “Gonjiam:  Haunted Asylum” was a real brick-and-mortar edifice committed to the committedly insane and one of the most suspected haunted places in South Korea until it’s demolishment shortly after the 2018 film’s release.  “Epitaph” writer-director Jung Bum-shik joins the ranks of the South Korean supernatural spookies, accompanying notable entries such as “The Tale of Two Sisters,” “Phone,” and “Cinderella.”  Cowritten by Sang-min Park, Gonjiam:  Haunted Asylum” refreshens the ramshackle mental institutionalized horror subgenre with a dash of social media influence and found footage that entangles grudging ghosts with cyber terror.  Historical thriller and drama producer Won-guk Kim spearheads the project under Hive Media productions and distributed globally by Showbox Films. 

Like a cable-aired, modern-day version of “Ghost Hunters” or “Kindred Spirits,” the vessel Horror Times exploits people’s spirituality beliefs by mingling the exploration of urban legends with gimmicky ploys to keep eyes glued to the show, run up viewership, and earn the root of all evil, money.  The Mystery Incorporated meddling kids might not have a talking Great Dane, but the Gonjiam ghost hunters are a dynamically doomed blend of greed and curiosity, helmed by their captain Ha-joon (Wi Ha-joon, Squid Game) and his on-the-ground, string-pulling marionettes Seung-wook (Lee Seung-wook) and Je-yoon (Yoo Je-Yoon) to conjure up not spirits but pranks under the guise of Gonjiam ghosts.  The unsuspecting portion of the team react as expected, believing the unexplainable as genuine articles of a haunted asylum, until the jokes bleed into the reality of the structure’s incensed force.  Other than Charlotte (Mun Ye-won), a Korean American who travels to Gonjiam to add the location to her lists of CNN’s freakiest places on the planet, there isn’t another mise-en-place character.  Perhaps the others’ backstories are lost in translation but Sung-hoon (Park Sung-hoon, “Hail to Hell”), Ji-hyun (Park Ji-hyun, “The Divine Fury”), and Ah-yeon (Oh Ah-yeon) lose sympathy points for just being there for the sake of being there.  If you haven’t caught on already, the characters and actors name match to add to the faux realism of found footage. 

Veritably surrounded by the actual notoriety of the former Gonjiam psychiatric hospital, the story adds to the established frightening folklore of the rundown building and though the filmmakers were not allowed to shoot inside or on the grounds of the restricted abandoned building, Gonjiam blueprints were used to reconstruction the grimy, trash-laden hallways and various rooms inside a high school.  The effect works like charm used to teleport audiences, along with the help of social media GoPros, selfie sticks, and the like, right into the crumbling ruins; you can almost smell the mold and stank of beyond putrid chemicals and filth.  Yoon Byung-Ho’s cinematography plays with the signal disruption touch, often deploying randomized and intentional interference to convey signal disruptions or, perhaps even, the foreshadowing with the wraithy wrath of spirits; yet “Gonjiam” never truly feels like a found footage film due to its radical differences in video media being implemented and there’s often the unexplainable, no camera-in-use angle that dilutes the subgenre medium.  “Gonjiam” falls into this unquantifiable realm of storytelling that’s hard to digest.  The chaos that ensures in the third act is more palpable, geared toward developing a heavily reliant, hard and fast tension and trembling fear without needing bloodshed for the crowd-pleasing shock factor.

Second Sight sees through the dense barrage of found footage films and spots the pearl amongst the muck with “Gonjiam:  Haunted Asylum,” curating a limited edition, big box, Blu-ray release.  The AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD50, presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, nears 24 FPS and has flawless technical recording in its digital capturing.  Blacks are dense and rich to create that unknown void apprehension, the neglected belongings of a forlorn hospital have palpable consistency that’s grimy and rusty, and skin textures appropriate lose definition but maintain quality to the extent of equipment limits with GoPros, cell phones, and camcorders in low and hazy key lighting, onboard camera lighting, and some night vision for authentic found footage grip.  There’s not much in the way of diverse color for what is a graded tone of tenebrous obscurity throughout.  I’ve already touched upon Byung-Ho’s purposeful transmissive trouble that impresses more of an annoyance than an integrated factor of fear.  The Korean DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 delivers on the need-to-hear atmospherics that shudders in echoes and the frantic churn of survival.  What there is not a ton of, and gratefully kept to a minimum, was the eerie wails of the dead as their moments are kept mostly visual in a virtually scoreless runtime that focuses on the surrounding milieu rather than building tension artificially through minor key notes.  Dialogue comes through clearly and clean, especially when muzzled by video camera audio band transmissions.  English subtitles are translated well and synch fine enough with the rapid procession.  Special features include an feature-length audio commentary by Mary Beth McAndrews (Dread Central editor-in-chief) and Terry Mesnard (Gayly Dreadful editor-in-chief), UK’s Zoë Rose Smith’s Fear the Unknown visual-essay on the Gonjiam’s origin, history, and what makes the Korean film scary, and archived featurettes with interviews, including with director Jung Bum-shik amongst various crew, that explore the rumored beginnings of Gonjiam’s notoriety that fuels the production into recreating Gonjiam nearly identically, live recordings of the film’s sheer eeriness told through the images captured by the camera harnesses and phone footage, the new faces of fear that circles around the cast and behind-the-scenes table reads, The Sanctum of Horror that aims to explore the connection between the actual freaky locations and their cinematized yarn to create a legacy of folklore for the now demolished Gonjiam hospital, The Truth of the Ghostlore explores Gonjiam’s history and urban myth and how that forms the ghosts in the film, Korean press conference film launch, and the film’s trailers.  As much as we love Second Sight’s authored special features, which from films of the East are rarely produce, there also plenty to be excited about with the physical attributes of the limited edition set, including a rigid and thick sleeve box with a Luke Headland designed Gonjiam building in red and black.  The inside contents include a 6 collector’s art cards in the same red and black color scheme, a 70-page book with new essays from Sarah Appleton (“The J-Horror Virus”), James Marsh (“Wisconsin Death Trip”), film critic Meagan Navarro, and horror content creator Amber T, and finished off with the film itself, encased in a green-colored Amaray with the same front cover artwork as the rigid slip box.  There are no inserts, and the disc is pressed simply with the title, English and Korean, splashed in red on a black background.  The LE set is hardcoded with a region B playback, has a runtime of 94 minutes, and is UK certified 15 for Strong Supernatural Threat and Language.

Last Rites: “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” is not just another shaky cam of paranormal activity. The film incorporates a component of reality, embellishing more on top an already suspected haunted building by giving the story teeth, and released with cultural purpose that binds fact and fiction with a terrorizing outcome of some really pissed off spirits.

Become Engulfed by the “Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum” on Second Sight’s LE Blu-ray!

Happy, EVIL Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Happy, EVIL Halloween, Silver Shamrock! “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” reviewed! (Via Vision / Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” Available on Limited Edition Blu-ray from Via Vision!

Just days before Halloween, a man stumbles hurt and delusional rantings into the hospital of Dr. Daniel Challis.  Clutching a Halloween mask to his chest, Challis figures the man to be crazy before stabilizing his vitals for rest but when the man is heinously murdered in his hospital room and the murderer burns himself alive in the hospital parking lot, Dr. Challis doesn’t know now what to make of the man’s rantings about something or someone is going to kill us all.  In walks Ellie Grimbridge, the man’s daughter, who has been investigating her father’s mysterious death.  Intrigued not only by the case, but also by the lovely Ellie, Dr. Challis and Ellie’s investigative work leads them to the Silver Shamrock mask factory in Santa Mira, the same mask factory that created the mask Ellie’s father was clutching before he died.  What they uncover is a plot of sacrifice on Halloween night, spearheaded by an Irish toy maker in Conal Cochran.

With a novel concept in the hands of one of horror’s most promising filmmakers, John Carpenter, a script penned by an uncredited yet famed British science fiction writer in Nigel Kneale and touched up by Carpenter, and a young Carpenter protégé, Tommy Lee Wallace, at the helm, “Halloween III” attempted to be an off-the-beaten path of success new story for what would have an annual Halloween-themed anthology going forward.  Unfortunately, and regrettable, “Halloween III:  Season of the Witch” failed to connect with an audiences and Michael Myer fanboys too stubborn to let go of The Shape.  It wasn’t until years later that the 1982 feature, released on the coattails of 1981’s part II of the original Michael Myers saga, found footing with fans who now appreciate the unique story, its practical effects, and the bold, yet defunct, vision Carpenter and crew once envisioned.  Carpenter and Debra Hill returned to produce, alongside Joseph Wolf, Irwin Yablans, and Barry Bernadi, with Universal Pictures as the backing studio. 

Now, “Season of the Witch” just didn’t star a bunch of nobodies in this offshoot of a newly branded “Halloween” concept.  Before playing the quasi-alcoholic, deadbeat father Dr. Challis, Tom Atkins was already a rising star in the land of John Carpenter films with “The Fog” and “Escape from New York” In 1980 and 1981.  Atkins’s usual confident and charming qualities underneath the rugged good looks and trimmed mustache serve him the better part of man doing his bit part in a not-his-business investigation of a man’s death to please a good-looking woman that happens to be the dead man’s daughter.  That good-looking woman is Ellie Grimbridge, embodied by the Mad Magazine Production’s “Up the Academy’s” Stacey Nelkin, and if you blink, you might miss Atkin’s Dr. Challis being perhaps the worst father ever to his two children and ex-wife.  The subplot is so subtle and overshadowed by the Silver Shamrock Halloween plot that being invested in the crumbling family dynamics doesn’t even hold substantial weight and it truly works to subvert the subconscious and plant a destructive pipe bomb smartly into your moral compass because if you think Dr. Challis is the hero of the story, which in many perspectives he is, he’s also doesn’t keep up with his own children interests or current events, numerously bails on their planned care, runs off and sleeps with a much younger woman he hardly knows, is an active alcoholic, and is quite the handsy philanderer at that when he grabs his much older nurse’s bottom in a playful moment.  No, Dr. Challis is every ounce an antihero hidden in plain sight and in the guise of a potential savior of the children, the world, as he takes on Silver Shamrock and its founder, an Irish toymaker named Conal Cochran with tremendous evil genius and mastermind appeal by Dan O’Herlihy (“The Last Starfighter”).  “Halloween III:  Season of the Witch” rounds out the cast with Ralph Strait, Jadeen Barbor, Al Berry, Michael Currie, Garn Stephens and Essex Smith in key support roles.

Lots of previous opinionated chatter surrounding “Halloween III” collectively concludes to if the filmmakers decided to title the film anything else, maybe just the tagline of “Season of the Witch,” then the film would have won over audiences with a fresh take of science fictional horror and would not have been wrongfully panned by critics and moviegoers.  I call BS on this take.  The original intention was to deliver a new, Halloween-themed horror film year-after-year with John Carpenter attached in some way, shape, or form of bringing novelty terror to our eyeballs and brain.  Instead, public persuasion and studio submissiveness rendered the concept powerless and as a result, and no disrespect to any Michael Myers films that followed, was the departure of John Carpenter and Debra Hill and a string of mediocre and wacky Michael Myer sequels that went deep off the far end.  “Season of Witch” is not a teeny bit at all slasheresque, separating itself far from Michael Myers as much as possible by unconfining itself from location concentration by expanding the threat domestically, if not globally, with a parlor trick plot that involves special, laser-shooting masks that make kids’ heads melt into glop of crickets, snakes, and other creepy-crawly sui generis of the animal kingdom.  While strange in the cause and effect, the practical effects and superimposed visuals work to convey some taught gore and prosthetic knots that can be unraveled, even retrospectively critiquing them by today’s standards.  Wallace masters the film while, at the same time, hitting the ground running on his debut feature that has a look and feel of a graduate from the film of the John Carpenter. 

Halloween season may be months away, but Christmas comes early with Via Vision’s limited-edition Blu-ray set of “Halloween III: Season of the Witch.” The AVC encoded, high-definition 1080p, BD50 presents the film in a widescreen aspect ratio 2.35:1. Much like the Via Vision’s companion release with “Halloween II,” “Season of the Witch” mirrors the same resolution picture quality and stellar package presentation. Dean Cundey’s delivers another smoky noir realism that definably hard-edged and hard-lit that while isn’t the most colorful contrast it does create an abundance of inky shadow to lost in and sink into. A cleaner picture does bring with a reveal of how obsolete some of the composite matte effects but, simultaneously, revives what once was, nostalgia and a more tactile truth in movie magic. Details come through within contour delineation and textural elements. The English language DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 has dual channel balance and strength with lossless fidelity. Dialogue retains saliency throughout from a rather middle-of-the-road strength ambience albeit a wide range of effects from explosions to laser beam bursts and its constructed, catchy Silver Shamrock jingle, often muted through the television programming, and John Carpenter’s and Alan Howath’s synth collaboration that’s tonally reminiscent of previous “Halloween” films but stands by itself in distinct measure to garner new-sound tension. English subtitles are optionally available. Also, like Via Vision’s “Halloween II” Blu-ray release, a 2024 commentary is recorded and encoded with film critic/historian Lee Gambin and a special appearance by “The Howling” director Joe Dante. Archival commentaries from Tommy Lee Wallace and Tom Atkins are also on the disc with all three commentaries in the setup menu. Special features content includes 2012 Scream Factory-Red Shirt productions with Stand Alone: The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch documentary surrounding a Micheal Myers-less picture, it’s critical shockwave, and its ultimate cult following and Horror’s Hallowed Grounds: Revisiting the Original Shooting Locations hosted by Sean Clark visiting a few of the locations used for the film. A still gallery, theatrical trailer, and television spots round out the rest. Of course, my favorite part is the lenticular cover on the limited-edition and numbered cardboard sleeve case of the three, silhouetted little trick-or-treaters with a crone-ish face coming down from above the fire red dusk sky. The slightly thicker Blu-ray Amaray case cover art is stark still image from the movie with another, different image on the reverse side. The black background disc has the skull mask and title across from each other in nice compositional juxtaposition. Next to the Amary case is an envelope with 6 art (picture) cards taken from the film. The Via Vision release is rated M for Mature for moderate violence and moderate coarse language, has a runtime of 109 minutes, and has region B playback only.

Last Rites: Who knew being the outcast looked so damn good. “Halloween III: Season of the Witch” deserved better and received the best on this Australian, limited-edition, lenticular Blu-ray set that’ll leave you whistling the Silver Shamrock jingle and fearing Halloween masks more than ever.

“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” Available on Limited Edition Blu-ray from Via Vision!