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Driven Mad with Revenge, The Doctor’s Wife has Wanton, EVIL plans for Those Responsible for his Death! “She Killed in Ecstasy” reviewed! (Severin Films / 4K UHD and Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Dr. Johnson is determined to save countless lives from diseases, including cancer, by experimenting his research on human embryos with great results.  However, the more conversative medical board deems his actions too inhumane and unethical for science, rejecting his research, expelling him from the medical board, and revoking his license to practice medicine.  Unable to cope with the loss, Dr. Johnson slowly slips into insanity with his former colleagues’ condemnations rolling through his thoughts to the point where he ultimately takes his own life with one slice of the wrist.  His beloving and dedicated wife reels over his death and swears to avenge him by luring each of the four into a seductive death trap.  Mrs. Johnson entices the respectable professionals one-by-one with her desirable femininity into sordid circumstances that leaves them vulnerable for vengeance but at what cost to her own sanity and the police hot on her trail.

Jesús Franco, aka Jess Franco, writes and directs, under the pseudonym of the Americanized Frank Hollman, a tit-for-tat revenger of European sleaze under the contextual themes of controversial medical research, revenge, and hypocritical moralities with a femme fatale kicker.  The film is called “She Killed in Ecstasy” and was released the same year as Franco’s auteur homoerotic “Vampyros Lesbo” of 1971 and as a pair, the two films see a 4K caliber upgrade from the established genre boutique label Severin with UHD Blu-rays that star sultry actress Soledad Miranda.  Filmed in Spain, more specifically in the Valenciana providence, and like his “Vampyros Lesbos,” “She Killed in Ecstasy” is also a German production produced under Artur Brauner (“The Devil Came from Akasava”) and Arturo Marcos (“Count Dracula”), both of whom worked with Franco on “Vampyros Lesbos,” with Karl Heinz Mannchen returning as well to serve as executive producer under the production banner of Tele-Cine Film und Fernesehproduktion in collaboration with Fénix Cooperativa Cinematográfica. 

If you thought Spanish actress sizzled as a sapphic bloodsucker in “Vampyros Lesbos,” seeing her manipulate those who’ve done her and her husband (“Fred Williams, “The Red Nights of the Gestapo”) wrong with weaponized sex is the naked, full-bodied zenith of her career as the vehemently vindictive Mrs. Johnson.  “She Killed in Ecstasy” offers Miranda more range of arc that takes her happiness, squashes it, and forces her to sex her way through destroying the lives of those who’ve destroyed her own relationship but with each kill slowly piecing away her soul and sanity.  It takes a woman’s touch to evoke the sordid true selves of the husband-damning medical board who are riddled with their own vices that stray not too far from Mr. Johnson’s unethical research.  Masochism, lesbianism, perversion – these are the sexualized traits of the medical board who fall into Mrs. Johnson’s snare to be snuffed out in the summit throes of sexual foreplay, distracted by her iconic figure, lush bush, and deep brown hair and eyes.  Primarily Swiss and Swedish actors makeup the medical board with Paul Muller (“Lady Frankenstein,” “Eugenie de Sade”) as the Dr. Franklin Houston, Howard Vernon (“Angel of Death,” “Zombie Lake”) as Prof. Johnathan Walker, and Ewa Strömberg (“The College Girl Murders”) returning to costar alongside Miranda from “Vampyros Lesbos” as the only woman in the group as Dr. Crawford while Jess Franco himself takes the last spot as Dr. Donen, integrating himself into the madness.  The last principal cast member is “The Horror of Blackwood Castle’s” Horst Tappert and the German actor plays the generic role of a police Inspector monitoring and tracking a killer unleashing knife-edge fury on specific medical professionals.  The Inspector is essentially a throwaway role with no real contribution to the narrative other than to be an aimless cat chasing it’s own tail with no real sleuth work; instead, the Inspector has the persona attributes and gaited grace of a cool, calm, and collected know-it-all except the killer’s identity and motive. 

Now, the premise itself is promising, like most revenge thriller that exploits sexual provocatively for a death strike, but Franco’s narrative is hindered on being formulaic without any kind of deviation from one kill to the next as Mrs. Johnson spins the same trap of being the promiscuous spider enticing the fly to its bed of web.  Mrs. Johnson does disguise herself differently for every scenario and opportunity to lure, attract, and feast upon her targeted prey, using mostly a melee knife from her garter to slit their throats and castrate them as if to say, you killed my husband, now I take your manhood!   Pure spite drives her until the unhinge of insanity takes the helm with each kill taking a little bit of her soul with each murder.  “She Killed in Ecstasy” fits into Franco’s framing and depth of shots by shooting with wide landscapes and incorporating actors as longshots to engulf them in the environment without it feeling isolating or an immense sense of doom.  Franco can also get intimate with closeups as the actors get intimate themselves, it’s as if Mrs. Johnsons is reeling in the unsuspecting lustful and condemning medical board from the wide, long shots through class panes and door frames to between the sheets that is tightly shot on faces, body parts, and the eventual fatal act. 

The second act on a two part Jess Franco and Soledad Miranda film 4K UHD and Blu-ray release from Severin Films, “She Killed in Ecstasy” comes dual formatted with a HVEC encoded BD100 and a AVC ended BD50 and with their respective resolutions of 2160p ultra high-definition and 1080p high-definition.  The work Severin has done is impeccable with a well diffused, well saturated image containing natural and balanced film stock grain and has immersive details.  There’s not a ton of notable differences between the two formats with more of the darker shades or tenebrous areas on the UHD having a richer control in the decoding that has spot yet minor banding on the standard Blu-ray.  Skin tones and textures never break from normal tones and into splotchy territory; it’s quite an achievement to make the newly scanned 4K image from the original camera negative appear like a fresh film right off the digital scan.  The audio is not as complex with just a simple German language mono track with optional English subtitles that’s about as good as it would be sound on any system setup with coequal layers between dialogue, ambience, and soundtrack.  With an international cast, not all the cast speak German with the film’s dialogue, and ambient, layer produced through ADR with German voice actors.  The produced result is overall clean with minor interference static from the used equipment but does not impede verbal progression and dynamics between characters.  English subtitles appeared accurate and well-placed.  The UHD disc has little-to-no special features in what is essentially a feature-only disc that has an accompany German trailer for the film.  The Blu-ray has all the extra glory with a Jess Franco novel author Stephen Thrower interview Ecstasy in Rage,” a location visit In the Land of Franco Part 13, an archived interview with Jess Franco before his death Jess Killed in Ecstasy, an archive interview with actress Soledad Miranda Sublime Soledad, and an archive interview with actor Paul Muller.  The German trailer is also on the Blu-ray disc.  Much like ‘Vampyros Lesbos,” “She Killed in Ecstasy “ has a O-ring slipcover with commissioned graphic art that resembles the original poster art and the Shriek Show DVD cover with Soledad Miranda in one of her rememberable scenes of her character’s sanity crumbling in a upright fetal on a couch moment.  The backside of the slipcover offers up some of her character’s rage which is intense amongst the eyes and fascial expressions.  The black UHD Amaray case comes with a single sided sleeve with original film artwork and no tangible materials inserted inside.    The region free release for both formats provides all Franco and genre fans with a not rated film clocking in at 80 minutes. 

Last Rites: A must-see Jess Franco film for exploitational revenge and a must have physical release for Jess Franco fans, “She Kills in Ecstasy” is an alluring revenge-thriller that exposes thin morality hypocrisy as well as a deepening madness over grief and death.

EVIL’s Duality May Be More Than What Meets the Eye. “The Ugly” reviewed! (Unearthed Classics / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Ugly” Limited Edition Blu-ray Now Available!

A famed female psychologist is requested to work the possible acquittal case of a serial killer named Simon Cartwright and understand his possible motive for slashing his victim’s throats at seemingly random.  Unscrupulously tormented by a pair of odd orderlies, Simon Cartwright calmly carries himself as a humble, articulate, and friendly conversationalist and confessed killer with a darker side, an ugly side that drives him to kill at will.  Cartwright gives her the anecdotal trappings of his kills that prove to be unprovoked and unsystematic from a side of him he can’t ignore.  Confounded by this, the psychologist pushes him to brink for an exact reason, one Cartwright keeps buried deep inside his subconscious that may or may not be supernaturally driven.  As Cartwright’s past continues to haunt him and with the psychologist assertive herself into his psyche, the dangerous method of analyzing criminal behavior won’t stop a plagued killer from killing again as his next victim might just be sitting across from him in the cross-examination room.  

Themes of split personality, past abuse and trauma, and the limited authority of control course through “The Ugly’s” veins like acid, sweltering with tension and ready to burn a hole through the safety of custody and storytelling once the twisted truth is told.  New Zealand filmmaker Scott Reynolds debuted with his feature length film back in 1997. Reynolds also wrote the script that kept an intimate approach between killer and doctor, kept audiences guessing the supernatural aspect, and made taut the lead-up moments filled with human tenderness that went into subsequent violence that painted a portrait of a conflicted killer afflicted by derangement that might not be his own.  Shot in Auckland, New Zealand, “The Ugly” is a production of Essential Films with funds from the New Zealand Film Commission and is produced by “Jack be Nimble” producer Jonathan Dowling.

In a vague mirroring of Dr. Hannibal Lector and FBI Clarice Starling from “Silence of the Lambs,” there’s still the intention to understand the mind of a serial killer.  In the Clarice-like role is a civilian, a psychologist to be more precise, one that has received recognition to get the most dangerous criminals released from incarceration, is Dr. Karen Schumaker, played by Rebecca Hobbs (“Lost Souls”) that would be her biggest lead role in the New Zealand film market.  Opposite her, across the table mostly and chained to a chair, is Paolo Rotondo with a cold stare and a handsome face that doesn’t exactly say I’m a serial killer.  When graced with a prosthetic that makes half his face appear melted or scared in fleeting glimmers or reflections, scenes that often felt needed more attention or a longer say, that’s when Rotondo could exact his intimidation upon the viewer as the true monster, as Cartwright has referred to himself in more words.  Instead, Cartwright’s a clean shaven, well-dressed, and respectable Patrick Batman type without the three-piece suit and the Huey Lewis and the News obsession and not as King’s British and as quirky in his demeanor as Anthony Hopkins as Lector.  Both characters fall and fail hard to the supporting case of the two orderlies and their employing resident psychologist.  Sporting dreads and walking with confidence like a WWE wrestling being introduced, Paul Glover (“The Locals”) has more flavor in his mostly stoic intimidating orderly performance alongside his more animated and ragdoll movement buddy in Chris Graham (“Moby Dick”) as the two mistreat the Cartwright with disdain.  Their employer, Dr. Marlowe, has a snooty creepiness about him that’s akin to being a mad scientist-type that’s fits into the goon orderly dynamic with Roy Ward (“Perfect Creature”) at the helm.  Darien Takle and Vanessa Byrnes costar as chief supports. 

‘The Ugly” is certainly a child of the 1990s with that glossy gleam without it a lens flare spark of digital anamorphic.  The aesthetic matches the subject matter with dreary, cold, and gloomy nu metal nuisances, teetering on the edge of being also grungy.  Editor Wayne Cook’s transitions and cuts are indicative of the era in filmmaking with whooshing transitions and flashes of disorienting cuts, such as white outs or seamless segues.  This techniques also translates into Simon Cartwright’s headspace with acute and fleeting glimpses of his mental state visualized into the real word, or it’s the real world sheathed by a layer from beyond the grave, but either way his perspective quickly provides a glimpse into his reason for killing, his duplicitous degradation into insanity, and that it can be projected to others outside the exclusive rights of his person.  Most of the story is told anecdotally through Cartwright’s perspective and as storyteller, his events are muddled by his own struggle with killing that becomes more evident as the story progresses.  What’s most interesting about Reynold’s film is it’s reality bending to keep the audience engaged as he puts the psychologist character, Dr. Karen Schumaker for those who forgot, right into the frame of his story as a third party speaking directly to Cartwright and only Cartwright can see and hear, but she’s implemented naturally as if sitting at the table with the storied characters or being a part of a three-way conversation that but not truly.  Between these style characteristics and the narrative’s odd macabre, along with the deep black, sour crude oil shaded blood, “The Ugly” is grimly beautiful with visuals and stimulating to watch. 

Unearthed Films, under their Unearthed Classics sublabel, provide a new Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release to the table.  The AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition resolution, BD50 has stored on it a 4K restoration from the film’s original 35mm interpositive and looks neat as a pin presented in it’s 1.77:1 widescreen aspect ratio, rendered with a well-diffused color palette of a lighter blues and grays that contrast starkly with the deeper black blood in a semblance of a dystopian or alternate reality in circa late 90s to early 2000s films.  Saturation is copious with all colors and the details are sharp mostly in the peripheral setting with the focal objects having be defined nicely but there is some textural loss on the skin and clothing under its higher contrast.  The audio formats within are an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 Stereo of the original theatrical audio and a relatively uncommon 4.0 DTS-HD MA that caters to the side and back channels rather than a central output and a LFE subwoofer, so the track is not as deep and resonating and it discerns as such with more range and less punchy impact that encompasses at the dialogue, ambience, Foley, and soundtrack excellently considering.  Dialogue is clean and clear without obstruction or touchups to the original audio files.  English SHD and Subtitles are available for selection.  The collector’s edition contents include an isolated score from composer Victoria Kelly (“Black Sheep,” “The Locals”), a 1997 radio interview from New Zealand with writer-director Scott Reynolds, an audio commentary with chief principal actors Paolo Rotondo and Rebecca Hobbs, Reynolds’ early 90’s short films “A Game With No Rules” and “The M1nute,” “The Ugly Visual Essay” compares “The Ugly” to true crime serial killers of reality, a photo gallery, and the original theatrical trailer.  The physical presence of “The Ugly” is anything but with it’s beautiful packaged design, beginning with the commissioned Slipcover cover art that wholly embodies the essence of the story, rather than being an exploitative mislead, by Scott Jackson of Monsterman Graphic.  The clear Blu-ray Amaray case has a reversible sleeve with the same Jackson art with the reverse containing the film’s original one-sheet artwork.  Inside is a 6-page booklet a pair of essays by Jason Jenkins along with monochrome and colored stills.  The disc is also pressed with a tense hunting scene as well.  The 18th Blu-ray title for the Unearthed Films’ sublabel is region A locked, not rated, and has a runtime of 93 minutes.

Last Rites: As far as understanding the mind of a New Zealand serial killer, Scott Reynold’s “The Ugly” depth charges reality with not only a promising supernatural layer but also a strange world these characters live and act against that invigorates a rather talkative and anecdotal story with eccentric and uncomfortable personalities that rival the killer himself.

“The Ugly” Limited Edition Blu-ray Now Available!

It’s Not Freddy. This is a Different Kind of EVIL in Your Nightmares! “Dream Eater” reviewed! (The Horror Section / DVD-Bluray Combo)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Dream Eater” Will Watch You In Your Sleep! Check It Out Here on Blu-ray!

Alex suffers from parasomnia, a sleep disorder condition that causes him to sleepwalk, talk and act erratically, and even produces violent behavior while seemingly conscious during his sleep cycle.  When one particularly violent bad episode nearly kills him, his girlfriend Mallory, a documentarian, rents a snowy, isolated cabin for a little rest and relaxation while also video documenting Alex awake and asleep per medical request from his doctors.  Over the course of a week, Alex parasomnia events become more frequent and even more strange when Alex refers to a man trying to get into the house but has no recollection of events when awake next morning.  As Mallory digs deeper into the conversations of his dreams, her investigation leads her beyond scientific explanation as there lies an evil influence possessing Alex family line, one where Alex was left orphaned and adopted as a child.  Alex’s uncovered past is key to his sleepwalking terrors that are insidiously taking him over. 

Trio collaborating filmmakers Jay Drakulic, Alex Lee Williams, and Mallory Drumm independently controls the market when it came to their script for “Dream Eater,” a modest cosmic horror that took the elements of the unknown and other terrifying Lovecraftian lore and put them into a found footage terrifier themed surrounding sleep disorders and how the science is not exact nor is it taken seriously to a fault within its frighteningly fantastical context.  The trio not only wrote-and-directed the 2025 released film but they also played key roles because of the real physical scenes involving snow and ice enveloping the isolated cabin.  The Canadian production was filmed in late winter of the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec to achieve the helpless sensation of being trapped with no signs of civilization to help.  Blind Luck Picture serves as the production studio with Drakulic, Williams, and Drumm in the executive producer roles under the company alongside “Godsend” actor Thomas Chambers as co-producer. 

Alex Lee Williams and Mallory Drumm spreadhead all the major areas of production, including acting as the parasomnia inflicted Alex and his worried documentarian girlfriend Mallory.  Yes, their character names didn’t stray at all away from their actual names, likely to be as natural as possible while character conversing, and because they’re already familiar with each other, the on-screen relationship doesn’t stick out and into the sides of our viewing pleasure as an odd couple; instead, Alex and Mallory, the characters, project examples of engrained compassion, fear, and loyalty.  However, I do feel Alex and Mallory, as a couple, also has an artificial aspect as they’re only boyfriend and girlfriend when they’re interplay more plays to the tune of a married couple that, in a way, feels like a one-sided relationship with little-to-no intimacy between them other than a couple of pecking kisses.  Mallory has the patience of a saint and it’s not because of Alex’s continual night walks and terrors that are getting more and more erratic each day, it’s more of Alex during the day that doesn’t express much love and care for Mallory’s endurance during this tough time.  Alex is quite endurable, insufferable, and aimless as a person with no ambition, job, or adoration for much of anything.  So, instead of an easiness of the presence that beleaguers them, much of the anxiety is created interpersonally that’s perhaps an intentional play by the filmmakers to metaphorically materialize troubling inner demons into an actual demon-like creature.  Brief supporting roles from Kelly Williams, Dainty Smith, David Richard, and Robin Akimbo fill in the gaps with video calls and photographical sequences while the third director Jay Drakulic implements his voice talents as a 911 operator in the prologued turmoil of Alex’s frantic self-harm during one of parasomnia episodes.

“Dream Eater” is one of those small but might films that has a larger-than-life concept beyond our realm and existence but contained to only a handful few.  Yet, the impacting result, by not only the story but also the Michael Caterina cinematography, has extensive reach to be massive and full of impending doom.  It’s “Dream Eater’s” cosmic horror that draws and builds as the reality hasn’t set in on the exact root cause for Alex’s increasing nightly episodes.  Once that corner has turned and there’s something more sinister, unnatural, at play, “Dream Eater” hooks securely with the enticing bait that reels in a timeless malevolent being on the precipice of all hell breaking loose as it slips into reality using susceptible Alex as the meaty vessel.  Viewers will know it’s coming but they won’t be prepared for it and that’s a welcome kink to work and chew on as Alex slowly becomes inhabited, or possessed, or manipulated by some thing. The found footage format doesn’t waste digital reel seizes the jump scare moments with max force, especially when Williams’s is grinning ear-to-ear and wildly abrupt in chase lurking just off frame to suddenly pop into view on cue.  The aesthetic of a snowy bleak setting adds to rise of calamity and ominous come forth and even the cabin as an austere interior without the comforts of modern security and technology in its mostly wooden veneered structure, rustic shed, and industrial-metal play equipment outside.  Where “Dream Eater” cheapens out is the finale scene that has a forced feel about it as if the Williams, Drumm, and Drakulic didn’t quite no how to end the story on any type of note and rushed a crude fate separated from the trunk of snow, cabin, and isolation.   

The self-funded film catches the eye of Eli Roth (“Cabin Fever,” “The Green Inferno”) and his media outlet The Horror Section as the one of three films produced by Roth’s company, sandwiched between “Bliss” director Joe Begos’” body horror “Jimmy and Stiggs” and the upcoming remake of the Clint Howard cult film, “Ice Cream Man,” helmed by Roth.  In association with Alliance Entertainment, the company releases a 2-disc, dual format set with DVD and Blu-ray.  The Blu-ray is AVC encoded BD50 with 1080p resolution and the DVD is MPEG2 encoded DVD9 with 720p resolution to upscaled resolution on the right system.  Both films are presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The found footage image is what it is, or rather what its supposed to be, a hectic and erratic camera shuffle of ungraded film produced in lowlight and not a lot of contrast and that in itself can be a character of the story within the found footage trappings.  There’s no feigned rupture or distortion of the image because it’s set in more modern times with recent video capture tech.  The same descriptive qualities can be said about the audio where there’s no crackling, popping, or cuts in the formatted English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio that produces a clean sound with measured depth and a diffusion of atmospheric directionals from around the surround sound.  Dialogue has clarity under less than a full-bodied of potential with uncured found footage and some of the nondiegetic dialogue can sound more omnipresent and asynchronously afloat from any point of origin but does hit the side and back channels nicely for directional awareness. The environment sound has a delicate but effective touch with the swirling wind and snow and the motif sound cues that provide direction and rising tension, such as the door open announcement.  The DVD comes with a lossy Dolby 5.1 Sound Sound mix not reviewed in this coverage.  English subtitles are available.  Special features include director’s commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette with Eli Roth presenting as more of sales pitcher of the project, a behind-the-scenes still gallery, and the trailer.  Underneath the video screen blue and white designed cardboard O-ring slipcover of William’s maniacally crazed screaming face is a traditional Blu-ray Amaray housing the DVD and Blu-ray on each of the case’s interior sides.  The one-sided sleeve art is exactly what I’ve described above about smallness felt amongst a larger impending setting with a near stark white cover and Alex’s silhouette standing small bottom-center.  There is a mini folded poster inside between the slipcover and the case that fits nice enough between the discs when you need to store it more securely.  The 89-minute film comes unrated and though unlisted, both Blu-ray and DVD are region locked in A and 1. 

Last Rites: As a micro cosmic horror with its Lovecraftian influence and fear of the unknown, “Dream Eater” is the perfect nightmare, a found footage of atmosphere fear and sanity dysphoria with an impending doom kicker.

“Dream Eater” Will Watch You In Your Sleep! Check It Out Here on Blu-ray!

When EVIL Messes with a Family of Blue, There’s No Other Choice Than Street Justice. “She Shoots Straight” reviewed! (88 Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“She Shoots Straights” and She Never Misses! On Blu-ray Today!

A widowed mother has four daughters and one son whom all work for the Honk Kong national police, more specifically called the CID, Criminal Investigation Division.  Her only son, Huang Tsung-pao, marries another cop, a promising officer named Mina Kao who is quickly rising up the ranks between her supervisor husband and the superintendent.  One could say the Huang family bleeds a brotherhood and sisterhood of blue, but none of Tsung Pao’s sisters approve of Mina despite her being a colleague in arms with the belief she’s stealing their brother away from them and receiving special treatment and recognition from a flirting superintendent who has eyes for her.  When the investigation team tracks down a dangerous, transgressing gang of Vietnamese refugees planning on robbing a night club at gunpoint, Tsung Pao is tragically killed in the one of the tussles, leaving Tsung-pao’s sisters, wife, and mother to seek revenge-seeking justice before the killers flee the country.

If you thought female-driven action films weren’t prevalent enough in the 1990s, 皇家女将,aka “She Shoots Straight,” aimed to prove that theory incorrect.  The Hong Kong production by “Yes, Madam!”) director Corey Yuen is nothing but women-in-action in this gun-fu actioner penned by Yuen, Kai-Chi Yuen (“Once Upon a Time in China”) and Barry Wong (“Mr. Vampire,” “Hard Boiled”).  The action dares with high wire acts that are kept grounded in reality but there’s plenty of intense hand-to-hand skirmishes made to be not only appear feasible on screen but awesomely cool while doing it.  Sunt coordinator and filmmaker Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, who we just covered as the stunt coordinator and second unit director in our review of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “Knock Off,” produces the 1990 released venture to ensure palpable contact fighting with Pui-Wah Chan serving as co-producer and Leonard Ho serving as executive producer under the Sammo Kam-Bo Hung and Leonard Ho studio, Bo Ho Film Company.

Men certainly take a backseat to “She Shoot Straight’s” policewomen with a vendetta, removing all the substantial and good out of the few male roles assigned, and spearheading the task to Joyce Godenzi.  “The Ghost Snatchers” actress finds herself lead aggrieved party, the widow Mina, in grief and out for revenge her way.  She’s joined by her late husband’s closest sister Huang Chia-Ling whose character arc began loathing Mina’s acute entry into their large law enforcement family.  Played by “2046’s” Carina Lau, the two women compliment their initial oppositions while solidifying their bond over a tragic commonality that shows being an officer is more than just a pageantry rise to the top, it’s, as Dominic Terretto would say in “Fast and the Furious,” family.  Even the on the villain side of characters, the main Vietnamese agitator and all-around bad guy Nguyan Hwa (Wah Yuen, “Kungfu Hustle”) is overshadowed by his sister Nguyen Ying, a peak physical specimen of physical strength, courage, and loyalty to her brothers.  Agnes Aurelio is a pure picture of strength as Ying who is not only a presence on screen with her muscular look and large curly hair, she also takes the final one-versus-one showdown with Mina in a dusty exhibition of martial arts skill but it’s Hwa’s sister who also breaks him out of refugee camp, sets up his escape plan, and gives more a fight with physicality than her gun-reliant brother.  The other male parts are equally as overshadowed with the superintendent (Chi-Wing Lau, “Police Story”) a horndog for the married Mina, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung in perhaps the least as the dismissed Huang relative on the force who’s continued to be mocked for his in-law status, and even Mina’s husband (Tony Ka Fai Leung, “Flying Dagger”) is killed in the most transfixing way right in front of Mina and Chia-Ling to harden their character story’s broken relationship.  Pik-Wan Tang rounds out the chief cast as the respected matriarch Mother Huang honors her late husband with five children who follow his footsteps and as a mother hyper aware of her family dynamic-suspended micro drama between the women.  Anglie Leung (“Vampire Buster”), Lai-Yui Lee (“School on Fire”) and Sandra Ng (“Ghostly Vixen”) found out the sister siblings. 

This Yuen entry of heroic bloodshed has deeper shades of comedy that wade around the waters of slapstick rather than be an abyss of tenebrous noir.  While the comedy is apparent and can be considered outrageous in the action-comedy framework, there’s an underlining serious tone with the demonstration of violence with blood squibs and even a body being impaled multiple times.  There’s no skirting around the violence that shows little result from the martial arts portion of the action, leaving flying projectiles to be the ill-fitting, carnage-laden lifetaker.  Yet, the sibling squabbling, the flirtatious foreplay, and the snarky remarks tone down the severity, cleaving the intensity in two for the film’s bifold persona that makes “She Shoots Straight” an interesting little film aside from the strong heroine aspect in a male dominated era of martial art films that began to incline with the likes of Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, and Cynthia Khan to name a few.  Joyce Godenzi’s name is definitely on that list with her performance in “She Shoot Straights” that deliveries a diversity of fast and hard moves with a beauty and grace in tandem.  The story’s lose approach with the unlawful Vietnamese refugees keeps plot pliable to change on a moment’s notice, such as an undercover operation turning into a deadly consequence that pivots from the lighthearted antics with slivers of action to a grittier payback overreaching the law with vigilantism, that results and retains a positive and fresh narrative progression.

“She Shoots Straight” has a brand new 2K restoration Blu-ray from UK label 88 Films for the North America market.  The AVC encoded, 1080p high definition transfer is scanned from the original 35mm negative and stored on a BD50.  In a nutshell, 88 Film’s transfer is impeccable and flawless to present the naturally graded cinematography.  Colors are balanced in a diffused saturation, details are highly visible and charted with precision for the best-looking image, and the print restoration is one of the better products I’ve seen lately from a pristine original print from the Fortune Star Asian film archive.  The freshened image could even rival most shot-on-film movies of today, if not exceed it. The film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen.  The language ADR track is the original Cantonese mono with English subtitles.  The post-production audio hits all the necessary markers between action, environment, and dialogue, capturing with balance a crisp and clean dialogue that syncs very well with the subtitle pacing and is error free in t’s King’s English.  The fight hits have palpable impact with low muffled effects rather than the traditional chop-socky slappy whacks that all sounds alike in kicks and punches.  There’s never a time the action doesn’t synch with the audio and this create an authentic product rather than an evident post-production track that can be off-putting and feel disingenuous for viewers.  If subtitles are not your thing, there is an English dub available in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and a LPCM 2.0 mono.  Special features include an in tandem commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng, an interview with scriptwriter Yuen Kai-Chi, alternate English credits, an image gallery, and the original Hong Kong trailer.  An impressive characteristic of the 88 Films’ Blu-ray is their ever color, ever stylized, and ever showcasing slipcover with a rigid O-ring that has some great artwork by graphic artist Sean Langmore that is also as the primary art on the reversible inner sleeve of the Amaray case.  The reverse side has the original Hong Kong compositional design that shows off more of Agnes Aurelio muscular definition and badassery.  The not rated film is region A locked, which is surprising only the North American rights are acquired because it’s a UK-based company, and clocks in at 92-minutes.

Last Rites: 88 Film’s 2K restoration of “She Shoots Straight” looks astonishing that elevates this police action comedy with a violent edge from Hong Kong. With a perfect blend of humor, gun-fu, and emotional weight, director Corey Yuen’s fortunately legacy lives on, now in Hi-Def, for future generation moviegoers.

“She Shoots Straights” and She Never Misses! On Blu-ray Today!

One’s Cool, One’s Crazy, Both Are Chasing EVIL. “Cutter’s Way” reviewed! (4K UHD and Blu-ray Combo / Radiance Films)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Cutter’s Way” 4K UHD and Blu-ray Now Availble!

Cruising through life and women without much purpose, Richard Bone finds himself the prime suspect of a young woman’s murder.  Realizing he may have witnessed and seen the killer deposing of the body in a back alley where his car broke down on a raining night, he confides in his longtime best friend Alex Cutter, a crazed and paranoid disabled Vietnam veteran with a drinking problem.  Alex sinks his teeth into the case to exonerate his friend’s good name when Richard possibly recognizes the killer, a powerful oil tycoon revered by society and an employer to many and won’t let up on proving to Richard his suspected guilt by pieces the clues together.  Richard’s amuses Alex’s obsession, stemmed possibly from his trauma delusions, alcoholism, or his passive aggressiveness toward Richard’s infatuation with his wife Mo, but when Alex’s evidence becomes more and more convincing, Richard can no longer ignore his lunatic friend’s fixation as just a waste of time and conjecture. 

Based off the novel “Cutter and Bone” by novelist Newton Thornburg, the 1981 comedic-whodunit-drama “Cutter’s Way” is an unorthodox buddy gumshoe mystery with themes of the pitiful and nearly forgotten veterans of Vietnam War, the magnate power of whitewash and concealment, and to have purpose in life before life is taken away from you.  The late Ivan Passer, director of crime dramas “Law and Disorder” and “Crime and Passion,” focuses paper-to-screen transgressional energy to the pen-to-paper script by Jeffrey Alan Fiskin in the screenwriter’s sophomore feature film following the 70’s biker-exploitation and revenge caper “Angel Unchained.”   “Revenge’s” Fiskin tones down the ruffian violence, trading it for another type of irrational behavior in the form of the half-bodied war veteran drowning what’s left of himself at the bottom of a bottle while his best friend, a full-bodied, red-blooded, ladies man, ironically enough wants the one unavailable woman the vet married  and could keep in his possession despite her own form alcoholism and depression.  Once titled “Cutter and Bone,” changed to “Cutter’s Way” to appear less like a medical horror production, the film is produced by Paul R. Gurian (“The Seventh Sign”) under his namesake production company, Gurian Entertainment, shot in Santa Barbara, California.

“Big Lebowski’s” Jeff Bridges has the story’s focal point being Richard Bone, the happenstance victim becoming a murder suspect while trying to coast through life by walking away from hard problems and not taking the steps to advance.  The Bridges of 1981 is certainly a different breed than of grizzlier Bridges of more than four decades later, and even nearly two decades later around “Big Lebowski’s release, with a slender cut and tall physique, baby-smooth shaved skin, and a head full of dirty blonde hair that certainly makes him the ladies’ man as shown in the opening scene of him dressing himself after a bedroom romp with a slightly older woman.  Bridges embodies both Bone’s lackadaisical commit to himself, his friends, to woman he loves, and even to the conspiracy surrounding the real suspect concocted and presented by his friend, Alex Cutter, but when the tone starts to shift more toward the evidence of a coverup and all the dots begin to connect to Cutter’s alcoholic rantings and ravings that could be construed as convincing conjecture, you see the Bone begin to care more than he’s ever allowed himself to.  Bridges’ Bone is actually not the most interesting, complex character as that accolade goes to John Heard as Alex Cutter.  The “Home Alone” actor deserved to be praised for his performance as the untamable and wildly convincing Veteran horribly disfigured by his service in Vietnam that fuels his drinking problem, causing a seemingly impenetrable yet sociable wall between him and his wife, and always seems to put tolerable Bone in the middle of his trouble, such as his use of the derogatory N-word in a joke at a bar where we first meet his uncouth, drunken, yet surprisingly together state.  Heard’s intensity has range and emotional standing in the character’s cocky hop-a-log swagger that gives the big ability middle finger to his disability that doesn’t stop his motivational obsessions.  Caught in the middle is Mo, played by Lisa Eichorn who would later costar with Jeff Bridges over 20-years later in the mystery-thriller “The Vanishing” alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock.  Also an alcoholic in a less look-at-me kind of way, Mo has the heart of both Bone and Cutter as Bone walked away from their romance years earlier and she marries pre-war Alex, but Bone and Mo’s spark lingers, teases, and eventually comes to fruition as the damn breaks with Cutter’s behavior that leaves Mo isolated and lonely in a pit of depression.  One character that has girth in the first two acts is the murder victim’s sister Valerie from the girl who yelled SHARK! In “Jaws 2” in Ann Dusenberry and while Dusenberry has a sizable part as part of Cutter’s investigating team, almost like an instigator to his whims, Valerie ultimately disappears in near the tale end of act two and completely from act three, making this one of the biggest mysteries alongside the possible murder suspect itself.  “Cutter’s Way” rounds out the cast with Stephen Elliott (“Death Wish”), Arthur Rosenberg (“Cujo”), Nina van Pallandt (“The Sword and the Sorcerer”), and Patricia Donahue (“Paper Tiger”). 

“Cutter’s Way’s” powerhouse duo of Jeff Bridges and John Heard couldn’t be more perfect with two contrasting walks of life that somehow fit and work, drawn together like strong magnets despite their odd shaped and conflicting personas.  At some points during Cutter’s insane theories and aggressive, uncivilized touting, you would think a calm demeanor and conservatively rational Bone would distant himself from Cutter, or even try to stop his stare-induced antics but Cutter’s shenanigans fuel something in Bone that makes this relationship hobble along without any sign of slowing down and that likely is largely in part to Mo being the connective tissue.  There’s perhaps some guilt residing in Bone who escaped the draft whereas Cutter did not, resulting in losing eye, limp, and leg for a country he obviously has contempt for by going against societal norms.  Cutter convincingly lays the framework of suspicion against the big time oil tycoon with intrinsic connections to not only society by to Bone and Cutter’s friends that makes their meaningless existence in comparison to the oil man’s own feels diminutive and impossible to rise up and action against with the evidence toward a police department that already has Bone in their sights because his car was nearby.  However, the investigation follow-up, as well as the acute disappearance of the victim’s sister Valerie, stamp the story with difficulties of resolve and being a well-rounded narrative. These poofs of key parts differ from the death of main character that goes without explanation, or rather has too many explanations that mold in speculation, that adds to story’s deep misgivings of who was there that dark and stormy night of the murder and culminating to a dramatic finish that impresses a linger skepticism and perhaps even a little bit of cynicism between all left involved. 

“Cutter’s Way” has sorely fell under the radar amongst aficionados of cult classics and UK distributor Radiance Films is looking to expand the Ivan Passer directed adaptation to a broader audience of not only to fans of Jeff Bridges and John Heard but to the fans of thought provoking and open-ended features that get the rusted mind gears turning once again for storytelling and not glaze over with immense computer generated special effects.  Radiance Film’s new restored limited edition 4K UHD and Standard Blu-ray set is pretty deluxe with a 4K restoration presented in HDR/DolbyVision.  The 4K is HVEC encoded with 2160p on a BD100 and the Blu-ray is AVC encoded at 1080p on a BD50.  The ample space allows the restoration to fly without constraint with a vibrant and nicely diffused picture through the dynamic coloring with a slight contrast on its essential organic grading that dips into a bluish tone and low light noir here and there when the moment calls for it.  Impressive detail measurement along the texturing as John Heard looks every bit as grizzly as his character entails with a course, unkept beard, long straggly hair, and ill-fitting military-esque attire whereas Bridges has primary color pristine and neat lines about him.  The Panavision spherical lens used creates a natural concise look, often flat but not unnatural, as it doesn’t try to squeeze the framing.  There were no damage spots to note on a well looked after 35mm print.  The English DTS-HD Master Audio mono track is too flat with frontal space only for the enriched dialogue of the script between mostly Bone and Cutter.  The suitability of track doesn’t change despite a lesser vigorous mix that has competent job performance and is adequate to the type of contemporary noir.  Jack Nitzsche’s soundtrack too makes the film more alluring with a blend of Latino influences and an oxymoronic harmonic dissonance of a musical saw and harmonica that plays into the noir undertones.  English subtitles are optionally available.  On the 4K special features coverage there is an introduction by Jeff Bridges and three audio commentaries with novelist Matthew Specktor, assistant director Larry Franco and Production Manager Barrie Osborne, and an archived conversation between film writer Julie Kirgo and late producer Nick Redman.  There’s an isolated soundtrack from Jack Nitzsche formatted in a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 compared to the feature’s mono track.  The Blu-ray houses a little more bonus content with all of the above on the UHD and continues with an analyst featurette Piety, Patriotism, and Violence:  The Legacy of Cutter and Bone by film writers Megan Abbott, Jordan Harper, and George Pelecanos, an Ivan Passer interview from 2015, a Lisa Eichorn interview from the Fun City release, an interview with producer Paul Gurian from the Australian Imprint release, an audio only interview with former United Artist exec Ira Deutchman, Cut to the Bone:  Inside the Score is a featurette that interviews music editor Curt Sobel, Bertrand Tavernier is a Sidonis Calysta’s interview of admiration from the French film director, a still gallery, the trailer, and an alternative title sequence with the original “Cutter and Bone” title sequence.  Radiance Film’s physical presence is substance with this limited-edition release held all together in a rigid slipbox with new commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow on both sides and comes with an obi strip with credit and technical information.  Inside is a clear Scanova Blu-ray case with reversible artwork with the primary art a split still image, one image for either side from the feature, with the reverse containing new artwork as well.  The overlapping stored discs are pressed with a blood red tint.  A 78-page mini book is inserted alongside the Scanova with cast and crew acknowledgements, transfer notes and release credits, and essays from Nick Pinkerton, Christina Newland, and Travis Roberts with an Ivan Passer Q&A by Jerry Roberts.  The book also contains color images as well as composition artwork on the bookends.  The region A locked release doesn’t have a rating listed, assuming not rated, and has a 109 minute runtime. 

Last Rites: Jeff Bridges and John Heard are the dysfunctional detective duo you never thought you needed. “Cutter’s Way” is a cathartic comedy and crime thriller refreshed and renewed for ultra-high definition from the fan’s favorite boutique labels, Radiance Films.

“Cutter’s Way” 4K UHD and Blu-ray Now Availble!