Tag Archives: The Prowler

Everything is Bigger, and EVILLER, in Texas! “Deep in the Heart” reviewed! (Fun City Editions / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Deep in the Heart” on a Fun City Edition Blu-ray! Here for Purchase.

Boston born Catholic Kathleen was raised in a good home by Irish immigrant parents.  Having moved from the liberal Northeast America to Dallas, Texas, Kathleen finds employment as an American history teacher at a local high school.  She meets born-and-raised Texan, attorney, and gun enthusiast Larry Keeler at a colleague’s outdoor barbeque and the two casually see each other off and on with Kathleen not interested in something more serious with the charming and handsome, budding attorney, but Larry believes Kathleen’s too uptight to see how madly desirable she makes him and rapes her at gunpoint when he can longer steady his urges, proclaiming her sexual hangups and rigidness as faults against her immense drawing of sensuality during post-coital.  Reporting her attack to law enforcement and her Catholic priest for prosecution and spiritual relief, both agencies fail to side with Kathleen’s trauma based on the facts of the case and God’s ever-tolerant forgiveness toward everyone.  The anger seething inside impels her to chop off her long, blond hair, dress more matronly, and join a handgun gun club after Larry continues to casually insert himself into her life like nothing ever happened and down the barrel’s site, Kathleen plots her vengeance. 

If there was an ever a more culturally relevant and timely film today produced and released decades ago, encapsulating the worst parts of American history, “Deep in the Heart,” aka “Handgun,” is that very film.  Through the perspective of the expatriate filmmaker Tony Garrett, having been born and raised in a country without an intense gun culture, “The Prostitute” English writer-and-director entrenches his outsider take on America’s unique, and unhealthy, gun fascination around an equally powerful systematic rape culture that ignores the severity of the transgression and assigns blame to the victim and, in turn, has the attacker come out unscathed due to being an upright citizen and a pillar of the community amongst his, also male, peers.  Filmed entirely location in Dallas in 1981 but not released in 1983, Tony Garrett co-produces the film with American producer David Streit (“The Prowler”) under United Kingdom production companies EMI and Kestrel Films where American distributors were eager to bank off the sexy rape-and-revenge thrillers of “Ms. 45” or “The Last House on the Left” but received a more thought provoking and provocative thriller that analyzed more of a problematic inward of U.S. culture and global societal toxicity. 

A daunting and difficult role for any actress to play, Karen Young had captured the epitome of a formulaic victimized women in an injustice system for her first major feature-length role.  Young, who went on to have roles in “Jaws:  The Revenge,” “Daylight,” and “The Orphan Killer,” embodies the American dream of the young, educated woman, Kathleen, from humble beginnings living away from home and having a career as a high school teacher in Dallas, Texas.  Kathleen’s American dream is crushed by the methodical mentality of Larry Keeler, representing America’s grasping of the past of taking what you want, even if that means by way of force.  Keeler is played by born-and-raised Texan Clayton Day (“Osa”) with a fast-talking, full of himself reproach to a debut performance that involve rape at gunpoint and being fully nude with your equally green costar.  Garrett’s able to convert the two inexperienced actors into raw talent, extracting their singular qualities into a combined effort of a sordid cultural subtext and cat-and-mouse rape-and-revenge suspenser.  Kathleen’s transitional arc from the shy and innocent Catholic outsider to the hate-filled, pro-gun, self-serving vigilante proved to be a dazzling gem of range and moxie pulled from the rough depths of untapped talent and getting to that point is a journey expressed vividly and thoroughly to build up both characters’ constitutions without a ton of exposition or visual insight.  Keelers intentions never slip but we understand through his conversations with Kathleen he’s a gun advocate and collector, he’s a good-time, good ol’ boy party animal at a colleague’s bachelor party at the Foxy Boxy – a Women’s see-through T-shirt boxing competition, and he has overt charm pasted thick with insincerity with out on dates with the high school teacher from Boston.  “Deep in the Heart” is centrically designed around these two principals with an already established built around gun-toting, fast-and-loose, and blinders on male dominated environment inhabited by smaller, yet key roles from the denizens of Dallas.

“Deep in the Heart” is not the sexy, rapey, glorified femme fatale film every will think it is.  “Deep in the Heart” is what Tony Garrett understand and believe in from the interpretation of dark side, misguided American values and how those cultural thorns that prick into the side of the free world change the course of all that is good and pure in the foundational basis America is built upon.  Engrossingly tied to modern day hot topics, Garret had incredible foresight or, maybe, was just brazen enough to go against the grain being an foreign expat shocked by not only the legal system but by the backwards ideas and beliefs of everyday citizens in different regions of the country.  In not only the rape but the whole pre- and post-rape setup is surrounding Kathleen’s inquietude is noticeable and uncomfortable to watch.  Men and women alike should feel icky of the transpiring contexts of spirituality failure, justice system failure, and an overall human being failure that lets Kathleen suffer in silence without the hoopla of scandal and punishment.  Instead, Kathleen’s bottled anger works inward toward a radical, retribution fix, resurrecting her from downtrodden ashes like a phoenix carrying a six-shooting revolver poised to a point of no return in DIY selfcare. 

Fun City Editions understands the power from “Deep in the Heart” by showcasing a new, restored transfer for their Blu-ray release.  Restored in a 4K scan from the original 35mm camera negative, making its first Blu-ray appearance globally, “Deep in the Heart” is stored on an AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD50 and presented in an anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  Not a whisper of image infraction, “Deep in the Heart” has a gorgeously graded picture that sees hardly any signs of aging or wear and the Fun City Edition’s restoration keeps the elements in alignment with the feature’s period of a late 70’s to early 80’s harsh filmed layer.  Color hues are vibrant and bold without appearing washed, presenting near perfect textures on clothing, skin, and environment and darker scenes keep contours and some details present without being completely dense or lost in any compression banding and splotches.  A lossless English DTS-HD mono track is more than ample audio for a very tight knit thriller mostly for indoor acoustics.  Exteriors capture the and highlight the appropriate milieu ambience, managed well within the single layer monaural to keep dialogue front and center.  Dialogue does not go without some crackling and hissing but not enough to be a nuisance, just noticeable.  Mike Post’s soundtrack is eclectic between night club boogies and harrowing hangers.  English subtitles are optionally available.  Special features included are a newly recorded audio commentary by Erica Shuliz, co-host of the Texas-based Unsung Horrors podcast, and Irish filmmaker Chris O’Neill providing in-depth insight and analyst of Tony Garrett’s underappreciated film, a brief archive interview with directory Tony Garrett on his perspective route as an outsider looking at the celebration and de-celebration of guns in America, an image gallery, and the theatrical trailer.  Tactile elements and striking rigid slipcase art from graphic artist Tom Ralston makes this Fun City Edition highly desirable as the U.S. title “Deep in the Heart” graces one side and the U.K. title “Handgun” can be found on the back (or front depending on how you look at it).  Sheathed inside is a clear Blu-ray Amaray casing with reversible cover art of three different country posters from the U.S. (primary) and U.K. and Japan (on the inside).  Disc is pressed with more Ralston imagery while the opposite side insert is of a 10-page color booklet with a new essay from film critic and author, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas.  Rated R with a region A playback, “Deep in the Heart” has a runtime of 99 minutes. 

Last Rites:  “Deep in the Heart” is an important film.  For some, the rape-revenge thriller can be either be eye-opener and another reminder added to the long list that America is gun crazy and legally not perfect.  For others, those expecting the sleazy, sexy rape film followed by the subsequent gratuitous violence will quickly go limp by Tony Garrett’s call-it-as-he-sees-it narrative that, for an intensive purposes, coincides with the rest of the world’s perception. 

“Deep in the Heart” on a Fun City Edition Blu-ray! Here for Purchase.

EVIL Strikes at the Stroke of “Midnight” reviewed! (Blu-ray / Severin)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Teenager Nancy searches for forgiveness through reestablishing her faith in God after being dumped by her sexually active boyfriend.  When her alcoholic, police officer stepfather learns of the relationship’s abrupt ending, he moves in quickly to take advantage of Nancy while under the heavy influence of the bottle.  Escaping his grasp, she flles home and hitchhikes a ride with two men travelling South on a getaway from Pennsylvania to sunny Fort Lauderdale, but when facing trouble with small town local law enforcement after attempting to steal groceries, the three find themselves right in the middle of a Satanic cult’s sacrificial ritual that requires the killing of three women for eternal life, one a night at midnight for three days.  Held in a dog cage, Nancy anxiously awaits her turn at the bloodletting alter surrounded by the cloaked-cladded cult and their decomposing mother’s corpse  Praying to God to save her soul, little does Nancy know that her stepfather has tracked down her whereabouts, leading to a bloody showdown of one cop pitted against a family of satanic psychopaths. 

Based of his 1980 novel of the same title, “Midnight” is known to be John Russo’s heart-and-soul project that ended up suffering one mishap after another in the two years of its production and post-production until it’s final release in 1982.  Also known as “Backwoods Massacre,” the “Night of the Living Dead” co-writer Russo helms the low-budget occult slasher out from his usual stomping grounds in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  “Midnight” showcases a story themed with a depraved sense of race intolerance for African Americans and all varieties of religious convictions to be innately false in an atheistic Russo viewpoint amongst a glorified surface level of enrapturing inhumane violence seasoned by brainwashing.  This West Pennsylvanian born and bred grindhouse exploitation found producers in  Sam Sherman and Daniel Q. Kennis of “Blazing Stewardesses” and “Blood of Ghastly Horror”) along with Donald Redinger under the now defunct Independent-International Picture Corp.

In a sea of smaller fish of Pittsburgh actors in “Midnight’s” casting tow is a larger and rougher around the gills grouper embodied by the singular Lawrence Tierney (“Reservoir Dogs,” “The Prowler”) in the Officer Bert Johnson role. Tierney’s no stranger to the horror genre, flaunting his thick New York tough guy accent that typically typecasts the veteran actor into authoritative roles. In being no exception, “Midnight” has Tierney playing a sleazy, alcoholic, police officer who winds up more-or-less unearthing sense in his old age and utilizing his skills for good to fully satisfy his character’s arc, but Tierney alone is wonderful to behold and easy to be disgusted by as he solicits his underage teenage stepdaughter with a perverted proposition. That stepdaughter, Nancy (Melanie Verlin), is the face of “Midnight’s” protagonist whose attempting to get back on track with God after a sinful bedroom relationship with an ex-boyfriend, but her plans are slighted by a brood of young Satanists keen on keeping their now long deceased mother’s irreligious convictions intact. David Marchick, George Romero regular Ted Amplas (“Day of the Dead” 1978, “Martin”), Robin Walsh, and the face of “Midnight” on many of the posters, Greg Besnack, size up as the Satanic terrible and merciless foursome. The cast fills out with Charles Johnson, John Hall, Bob Johnson, Lachele Carl, Jackie Nicoll, Doris Hackney, and Ellie Wyler.

After the success of a collaborated run with George Romero on a handful of projects, John Russo ultimately branches off to do his own creative output after their production company, Latent Image, brought on newcomers’ and the shared ideas on the direction of their company didn’t sit well with Russo – an irk that Russo still harps upon to this day, according to the special features’ new interview from the latest Severin Film’s release.  Yet, I digress into the review of “Midnight” that has feral narrative with an irregular plotted blueprint of teenager exploitation, racial injustice, and backwoods barbarians.  Somehow, Russo’s able to juggle his jotted down on a budget scrambler with a threadbare satanic family baseline that unsettlingly feels snagged in a randomizing generator spitting out scenes to see if they cohesively connect into the next.  Nancy’s traversing into the thicket of terror story cuts into and undermines more of the sibling’s unholy ritual, which the title “Midnight” becomes an important piece to the ceremony, with a subplot of the teen running away from a handsy stepfather and into the Mystery Machine modeled van-driving hands of a pair of cavalier friends on a road trip and then find themselves in an endgame of rotten luck with bad company.  The whole lead up to the two groups running into each other is suddenly dropped like a bad habit, forgoing much of the racial tensions, the youthful subverts, and even the attempt at pedophilia when the main, overarching theme of cult mayhem and religion inadequacies come to the forefront.  “Midnight” inarguably a gargantuan piece of good ole American hicksville victimization with some underappreciated manic performances by John Amplas and Greg Besnak, but there’s difficulty in shaking “Midnight’s” stark story division that leaves much to be desired.

“Midnight” is the particular video nasty that’s surpassing all of it’s other formatted counterparts with a Severin Film’s 4K scanned Blu-ray of the full uncut negative.  The 1080p Full High Definition, region free BD50 is presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a respectable color correction, but the correction sees unstable moments regressing near the cuts revealing the lifeless yellow tinge of unmastered quality. A right amount of grain, a great amount of detail, and hardly any damage to the thought-lost uncut negative proves Severin found buried treasure of the John Russo shocker. Two audio options grace the release with an English language DTS-HD 5.1 surround and an English 2.0 Stereo. While the 5.1 offers a more robust audio option of funneling individual tracks through their respective channels, I wouldn’t necessarily say “Midnight” has an overwhelming yield for audiophiles. Soundtrack comes across just enough to know it’s there, the dialogue is clean and unimpeded, but what unfolds out of clarity is the wonky foley ambience that just render solemn scenes silly. Severin offers up a new interviews under “Midnight’s” mediocre cult status with director John Russo – Making Midnight – as top bill in a lengthy discussion about his long career, his acquaintances including George Romero, and, of course, his recollections about “Midnight.” Other interviews include producer Samuel Sherman – Producing Midnight, actor John Amplas – The Midnight Killer, and special makeup effects artist Tom Savini – Small Favors – who barely remembers working very little on this film by providing pre-fabricated headshots and sliced throat prosthetics. An isolated score selection with audio interview with Mike Mazzei, an alternate title card for “Backwoods Massacre,” the trailer, and radio spot round out the bonus content inside the blackout snapcase. Prolific as John Russo may be in horror literature, filmmaking, and in legendary regards with his work alongside Romero, “Midnight” reflects poorly on his cinematic vocation and while many problems plagued production and post-production, Russo somehow managed to root out a passable working cut of crazed satanic panic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zmkYVWC3sM

“MIDNIGHT” available on Blu-ray from Severin!

Evil Thoughts. The Baby (1973) and The Prowler (1981)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Tonight I thought I would discuss two very different kind of horror films.  Trying to dissect and compare horror films to each other can be enlightening to others; to help them explore new territories in horror.  Also, this idea gives me to chat to be a blabber mouth about obscure, retro movies that most of the younger generations don’t know about.  Hell, I’m almost 30 and I probably still need more horror movie schooling.

babyFirst I want to talk about Ted Post’s 1973 exploitation film The Baby.  A social worker seeks out and becomes hired by the Wadsworth family to oversee the mentally ill child of the family who goes by the name of just Baby.  Besides the retardation, Baby is an average boy who plays with toys, sucks on a bottle and cries when his diaper is wet with the exception that Baby is a 20-year-old man.  The social worker plans for Baby seem genuine  – to try to progress Baby’s ability to walk and talk like everybody else.  However, the Wadworth family holds a dark secret that if anybody gets to close to that person ends up disappearing, but little does the Wadworth family know, that the social worker has alternate means for Baby than what she cares to divulge.

The Baby is a unique exploitation for me.  I’ve never seen anything like it before.  The fact that the mentally ill, a man, and the mind of a child are being exploited beyond rational means.  When you (in this case when I) think of the exploitation genre, I imagine women being used for their body or just a person being exploited for violence.  In The Baby, the man and the mentally ill is being abused for his body and the man and the mentally ill is being exploited for violence.  During the duration, there is no grasp on who might be the hero and who might be the villain.  The roles are a virtually reversed between the Wadworths family and the social worker and even at the end of the movie, you still don’t know how to process the information and end up second guessing the hero and the villain.  The Baby will imprint in your mind and sear into your brain making The Baby a well executed film just by script alone.  Director Ted Post and The Baby David Mooney do a remarkable job even if the 70s film does come off outdated and corny.  Gerald Fried’s score is also pretty amazing and that is worth listening to as well.

 

 

Second comes The Prowler.  A maniacal killer runs rampant on Avalon Bay, NJ dressed in WW II fatigues carrying aprowler pitchfork, bayonet and a handheld shotgun.  The killer reminisces about Rosemary, the love of his lift who gives him a Dear John letter for his time in military service.  His longing forces him to kill.

 

 

Tom Savini has mentioned that his work on 1981 The Prowler was his best work ever.  I don’t know if I could agree with Mr. Savini or not on that as his effects for The Burning are superb, but anything Savini touches is gold so The Prowler is a shining example of his gruesome work.  The problem or problems rather with The Prowler is the entire storyline as it was far too choppy and incoherent.  I pieced the story all together sans the movie and I get that the audience sometimes has to make their own interpretation, but come on!  I feel as if The Prowler character just didn’t have enough back story like Jason Voorhees who had a tragedy as a child seeing his mother beheading and seeks revenge on the free-spirited, sex crazed teenage campers and consolers.

Two very different movies.  Two different styles.  All with in the realm of thrills and chills.  Exploitation and slasher genres have gained knowledge from these two prime examples, yet we still build and build upon each genre.  We don’t see them too much in theaters anymore which is a shame since both genres really put you in the center of the worlds most delicate issues of the world.  People kill people.  People exploit people.  These issues will never go away but they will never been renowned as popular because the subjects frighten us way too much.