Tag Archives: Ray Wise

DCU Can’t Handle this EVIL! “Swamp Thing” reviewed! (MVD Visual / 4K & Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Swamp Thing” on 4k / Blu-ray Combo!  Now Available on Amazon.com!

A top-secret government project in the Louisiana swamps concern the combination of aggressive animal genes into plant DNA to result in creating super food for the potential famine and overpopulated future.  Agent Alice Cable becomes assigned to the project when her predecessor is unexpectedly devoured by a gator and becomes acquainted with the passionate head scientist, Dr. Alec Holland.  However, the government isn’t the only interested party in obtaining a formula when a faction of cutthroat mercenaries invade the swampy compound in the name of Arcane, a mastermind sociopath looking to hold the fate of the world in his hands.  Storming the compound with force, all the government agents are slaughtered except for Cable who managed to escape while Dr. Holland suffers a tragic accident of combusting with his volatile formula during the attack.  Believed to be dead, Dr. Holland returns transformed into a half-man, half-vegetal thing with superhuman abilities.  Now, Arcane is after him with Cable trapped in the middle. 

Having success in the grisly rape-revengers and mutant-cannibals section of his career in the 1970s, Wes Craven tussled with creating and securing another hit film to pay the ever mounting bills.  Before “A Nightmare on the Elm Street,” one of two biggest titles that have gone synonymous with the director’s name, the other being “Scream,” Craven dived into a DC Universe project before the DC Universe ever existed as such with the script adaptation and the helming of “Swamp Thing,” a vegetational anthropomorphic superhero inhabiting elemental powers, such as regrowth and superhuman strength.  What Craven originally scripted may not have been the same as the finished product on screen but the 1982 captured audiences attention and created lifelong fans of an underappreciated hero still germane to what is now a large universe of revitalized superheroes films and television shows.  Film in and around Charleston, South Carolina in the Cypress Gardens doubling as deep South everglades, “Swamp Thing” is produced by long time DC films coproducers Benjamin Meiniker and Michael E. Uslan as their first DC superhero venture as a Melinker-Uslan production and distributed by Embassy Pictures and United Artists.

The question of who would bring this monolithic human-hydrangea?  Answer:  Dick Durock.  The 6’5” former Marine Durock was not afraid to jump into character skin, no matter how hairy, tight, or otherwise uncomfortable it might have been.  Durock may not have been the face of Dr. Alec Holland, played by genre cult actor Ray Wise (“Robocop,” “Twin Peaks”) before succumbing to transformational injury and rebirth, but the Indiana born actor certainly became the face of “Swamp Thing” throughout a decade with the sequel and the subsequent television show.  Durock captures not only the strength but also the humanity of the superhero in this origin story, a feat hard to accomplish for a man in a skin-clinging green and bulky suit.  Not to diminish Ray Wise’s performance by any means as the charismatic Wise is charming, passionate, and invested into making his Dr. Jekyll jive with the soon permanent Mr. Hyde to come, but as titular principal, Durock becomes the face of foliage on steroids.  Before solidifying herself as a scream queen, a young Adrienne Barbeau would have more difficulty in her Alice Cable role reflected in having some kind of feelings for essentially the same character in two versions played by different actors.  Yet, Barbeau beats the buggy Carolina heat as well as the differentiate obstacles by being a kickass government agent able to handle herself around the frighteningly new swamp creature and Arcane’s goon squad.  Before he was a James Bond villain in “Octopussy,” Louise Jordan donned the arrogancy of a tyrannical thinker yearning for the unique powers of others.  Jordan’s quite pretentious as the unrelentless Arcane and that makes the actor be the quintessential antagonist but I would not say his performance places his character in complete rivalry as “Swamp Thing’s” archnemesis.  Something is missing from their dynamics within their broad encounters that make the struggle appear impersonal and distant.  Even when Arcane ingests the formula and turns into a werewolf-like beast and the two superpowers clash, I wouldn’t label their conflict personally intertwined.  Perhaps Alec Holland and Alice Cable’s pre-mutation passion wasn’t strong enough or Swamp Thing’s deep-seeded desire for Alice wasn’t rooted well that makes Arcane just whither like a sun-beaten plant without water.  Another character that’s beaten into the ground is Ferret played by David Hess (“The Last House on the Left”) as head mercenary without any real power or absolute authority over his men, turning Hess more into like Tracey Walter in Tim Burton’s “Batman” but not as cool or as likeable.  “Swamp Thing” cast rounds out with Nicholas Worth (“Darkman”), Don Knight (“Death in Space”), Nannette Brown (“My Boyfriend’s Back”), Al Ruban (“1,000 Shapes of a Female”), Mimi Craven (“Last Gasp”), Karen Price, and Reggie Batts as the unlikely best child character in all of the film as an interesting and lone gas station attendant with hilarious, deadpan wisecracks. 

“Swamp Thing” may not be the first comic book superhero to be pulled from the DC lined colorfully illustrated and action-packed pages and adapted to the big screen but what separates the mucky-dwelling plant hero from the other is he’s cape-less, without ray guns and jetpacks, and appears as a monstrous humanoid rather than a regarded normal looking servant of justice as with Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman.  “Swamp Thing” intrigues viewers with their own internal conflict stemmed from a foundationally laid idea that mutant creatures or unnatural monsters are inherently bad guys.  “Swamp Thing” becomes a part of that trailblazing group of grotesque good guys with hearts of gold.  Yes, the 1982 feature hasn’t held up over time with some of the low on the totem pole creatures suits and makeup I’ve seen, even with the agreeable Swamp Thing suit showing the rubbery creases and fold overs when Dirk Durock has to hold an object; however, to balance out the cut-rate features, special features picks up the tab with stunt boat chases, invisible pull wires, and a man set on fire that’s intense.  With a slashed budget, Wes Craven scripts on the fly to churn out a watered down but still flavorful cinematic origin story that’s full of heart and humanity and partly carried by the sweat and endurances of an eclectic cast and a handful of popcorn action patches.

“Swamp Thing” emerges from out of the muck yet again and onto a 2-Disc 4K/Blu-ray combo set from MVD Visual’s Rewind Collection label, specially marked as the first release on the LaserVision Collection.  The restored 4K UHD Dolby Vision is presented in 2160p and in a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio on a BD100 while the Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with the same aspect ratio on a BD50.  Each format presents two cuts of the film – a PG version and an international Unrated version – both of which have collated from various cuts of the film, resulting in some impressively rich grading that offers refreshed saturation levels of a lusher swamp environment.  More of that richness is conveyed through the UHD with providing deeper tones to make the swamps isolate and swallow characters while also have a sense of being alive amongst the hazy, knee-high fog, opaque waters, and thick vegetation.  Black levels look fine with the amount of grain that can vary from scene-to-scene but not compression issues to talk about on both spectacular approached formats.  The 4K offers a remastered DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono, which is same as on the Blu-ray, that unjustly limits “Swamp Thing’s” audible potential.  Dialogue has some deficiency projecting with all the tracks transmitting through a single channel that’ll force the up arrow on the volume setting or require a punchy soundbar or headphones to get to a clearer understanding of what characters are conversing.  The intrinsic ambience would have been better suited for multi-channel network to extract everything the swampy milieu had to offer, plus punchier fights, but if not an audiophile, these tracks will ultimately sate a viewer’s goal.  Range decently enough limps through despite the surround sound as we receive enough explosions and barrages of bullets to check that box, but depth struggles through the audio layers.  Both formats also include a Spanish language mono track and optional English subtitles.  Special features vary across the two releases with the UHD having limited extras due to storage but what is included is the PG version, the Unrated International version that includes Adrienne Barbeau’s topless scenes, an archive commentary with writer-director Wes Craven moderated by commentary director Sean Clark on both versions of the film, commentary with makeup artist William Munns moderated by Michael Felsher of the commentary/documentary conducting Red Shirt Pictures, also on both versions.  The Blu-ray contains the same extras above plus another Red Shirt Pictures’ interview with Adrienne Barbeau Tales from the Swamp, an interview with Reggie Batts Hey Jude, a discussion with Len Wein, the creator of “Swamp Thing,” the featurette Swamp Screen:  Designing DC’s Main Monster, the featurette From Krug to Comics:  How the Mainstream Shaped a Radical Genre Voice, photo galleries, and theatrical trailer. This must-own set, that caters to paying homage to the Laserdisc, comes retail green 4K Ultra HD snapper that in holds the 4K and Blu-ray on each side of the interior wall. The exterior features an illustrated encirclement of the main players – Dirk Durock and Andrienne Barbeau in comic character – on a single-sided front cover, sheathed inside a cardboard O-slip cover with the same cover art. Both disc presses also represent the original Laserdisc art. The insert contains a folded mini poster of the slipcover design. Two version, one release headline both the 91-minute PG and 93-minute Unrated version of the film with the entire package region locked in A. I may have finally watched Wes Craven’s “Swamp Thing,” but I won’t be the last as I highly recommend this stellar launch into ultra high-definition territory with the original quagmire superhero.

“Swamp Thing” on 4k / Blu-ray Combo!  Now Available on Amazon.com!

EVIL Presses the Reset Button For Killer Results! “To Your Last Death” reviewed! (Quiver Distribution / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Miriam DeKalb has just survived a bloodbath inside her tycoon father’s high-rise, walking out shaken, bloodied, and carrying an axe.  When the police detain her in the hospital, construing a case against her for the death of her siblings and father based off her previously unhinged mental state inside a psychiatric institute, Miriam is visited by an otherworldly being known as the Gamemaster.  Miriam is given two choices:  stay at the hospital to be pursued as the murderous villain in her harrowing escape from near death or restart her traumatizing experience to save her siblings in an intergalactic wager by infinite being gamblers eager for amusement, blood, and a clear winner.  Miriam’s foreknowledge of how the events play out should give her an edge in saving her family, but the restart is the Gamemaster’s game with the Gamemaster’s rules as timelines and outcomes are determined limitless. 

“To Your Last Death” is a science fictional brawl of Darwinism in this eviscerating adult animated survival horror from director Jason Axinn.  Originally titled as “The Malevolent” during the crowd-funded Indiegogo campaign, which raised 114% above film’s budget, “To Your Last Death” is Axinn’s first full length feature from a script co-written by Jim Cirile (writer of horror-comedy “Banned”) and is the first credited work of Tanya C. Klein, both who’ve previously collaborated on the superhero short “Liberator” in 2016 starring the original Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno  With an animated direction similar to that of FX’s “Archer,” Cartoon Network’s “Metalocalypse,” or an even slightly more advanced version of “Space Ghost Coast to Coast,” but, in fact, the hand-drawn, puppetry style animation is the first ever 2-D animated horror under the meticulous art direction of Carl Frank along with lead artists Luca Romano and Vicente Saldivar, who interned on “Metalocalypse,” that keeps in tune with the adult themed animation trend, but levels up the explicit nature that kisses the sordid substance of “Heavy Metal” with strong bloody violence and some nudity.  “To Your Last Death” is the first feature film of Jim Cirile and Tanya C. Klien’s Coverage Ink Films, a subsidiary of the screenplay analysis and development service group, Coverage Ink, and Quiver Distribution (“Becky”) with Cindi Rice, Paige Barnett and Jason Axinn taking on a producer role. 

The voice work is comprised of some of the most distinguishable voices in genre land; voices that carry the unparalleled weight in intensity, tenor, and madness to their darkly depicted illustrated characters.  You can almost feel the veins throbbing out of Ray Wise’s neck when spewing the murderous insanity of warfare kingpin and diabolical businessman, Cyrus DeKalb.  The “Dead End” and “Jeepers Creepers 2” actor’s inhumane avatar, who looks just like him, devises a plan to solidify his company’s legacy by eliminating his four children who, if banding together, can derail his egomaniacal runaway train.  His children are distinct individuals themselves, beginning with the BDS&M buff and death metal rocker, Ethan (Damein C. Haas), a pill-popping wrist cutter, Kelsy (Florence Hartigan “Phoenix Forgotten”), and a mirror-image disappointment and homosexual, Collin (Benjamin Siemon “Thankskilling 3”).  The fourth child, Miriam, is the principle lead.  Voiced with perpetual mixed reactions by Dani Lennon, a regular from the videogame-themed horror comedy and zombie apocalypse television series, “Bite Me,” Miriam’s complexities stem from a web of junctures that lead her to being a control freak amongst her siblings, an obsessive activist against her father, and a certified schizophrenic, but Miriam is also pragmatic with the strongest will to see through and survive her maniacal father’s abhorrence.  While everyone’s voice work is solid, Steve Geiger’s Eastern European accent replicated for the sadistic, warmongering henchman, Jurek, imprints a nightmare man unabashed by his decadent desires.  You wouldn’t think just be reading this review, but Bill Moseley (“Devil’s Rejects”) and William Shatner (“Star Trek” franchise) also have voice roles that are more cameo resembling as Moseley voices a short lived, facially disfigured hired gun and Shatner is the narrating voice in between the void as the Overseer, filling in with cryptic exposition of the Gamemaster’s existence, much like his narrative work on the reboot of the children’s show, “The Clangers.”   Mark Whitten, Bill Mishap, Rom Lommel, Paige Barnnet, Jim Cirile, Tanya C. Klein, Ruairi Douglas, Jason Axinn, and “Deadpool’s” Morena Baccarin as the Gamemaster round out the cast.

The way “To Your Last Death’s” story is structured runs along the same quivering line that’s equal to pure madness and this narrative path of unstoppable carnage is purposefully trekked to dislodge any judgements about what we, the viewer, think we know about the Gamemaster’s macabre game for galactic gambling.  Is the whole “Saw”-like designed bloodbath really a part of Cyrus DeKalb’s hatred and vindictiveness toward his children or is the lucid experience just a figment of Miriam’s break from reality?  Remember, Miriam was depicted to an ex-committed, living with and within the pressures of her father’s ever present, looming shadow. Miriam finds herself repeating moments but blueprinted differently than before or is manipulated by the Gamemaster’s gamer’s high for the adrenaline voyeurs betting on the outcome. The story’s effervescently fluid in pivots, tactics, and style; yet, the constant modify and rebuild was, perhaps, done one or two many times as staleness begins to set in and I eventually find himself anxious for a more linear goal for Miriam and her siblings to be out of limbo, out of being hacked to pieces on the fourth or fifth go-around, and reach the final stage, the final boss, to not be jerked back (or jerked around) to the beginning or midpoint like in unendurable game of chutes and ladders. Soon after that sensation of being uninterested in another rewind, the feeling immediately washes away as the story finally did progress, climax, finish, end, close, and put to sleep a rotunda of violence engendered by cosmic sadists that is “To Your Last Death.”

Like some warped version of “Clash of the Titans,” the insouciant Gods in “To Your Last Death” are not generous or kind in their gamble of human entertainment on this Blu-ray release distributed by Quiver Distribution. The feature is presented in a windscreen 1.78:1 aspect ratio with rich colors through but favor toward scenes splotched of dark red or saturated in full tints of blue. The animation can be a little jagged at times but tolerable and only one scenes stood out compromised with two character stuck still for a few seconds too long and color banding rear its little ugly head on their animated faces. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound renders equally gratifying that includes a pulsating and terror riddled soundtrack by Rene G. Boscio. Typical with animation, ambience is generally underused as the filmmakers control much of what’s in the frame and the same can be said with this film, but with the much of action stationary inside the building, the confinement fills in the auditory gaps in conjunction with lucrative and well timed effects, such as a ripping roar of gas guzzling chainsaw, the squirting sounds of blood sprays, and even with the lossless details of minor necessities, such as Jurek whistling, to build upon character development. Dialogue is prominent, clear, and syncs okay with the marionette animation. The Blu-ray case is sheathed in a cardboard slipcover, both arranged with the same front and back cover image and layout. The bonus features are lack as the bare bones release only comes with a high definition trailer of the film. “To Your Last Death” is this year’s cinematic graphic novel to knock back and lap up, loaded with transcendent selfish twists and second-chance carnage with dysfunctional family issues spot lit on center stage.

 

Pre-Order “To Your Last Death” for a October 6th release!