All
Hallow's Eve (2013/Image
DVD)/Bounty Killer
(2012/Arc Blu-ray)/Byzantium
(2012/MPI/IFC Blu-ray)/The
Eyes Of Charles Sand
(1972 Telefilm)/The George
Sanders Saint Movies Collection
(1939 - 1941/RKO/Warner Archive DVDs)/The
Snow Queen (2005/BBC DVD)
Picture:
C/B-/B-/C+/C/C Sound: C+/B-/B-/C+/C/B- Extras: C-/C-/C/D/D/C
Films: D/C-/C/C+/B-/C-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Eyes Of Charles Sand
and George
Sanders Saint
DVDs are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the links below.
Here's
another group of genre releases for you to consider for Halloween
2013...
Damien
Leone's All Hallow's Eve
(2013) is yet another lame killer clown horror spree, or what happens
in low budget bad horror when the makers cannot (or are too lazy) to
be original and go the Savini/Nicotero route and go for cheap clown
make-up. The script is worse and you land up rooting for the killer
for a split second until you realize he deserves an early, gruesome
death more than any mime could possibly be asking for.
To
say this is repetitive is an understatement, but the cast of unknowns
look bored, but not as bored as you will be when the young gal here
plays a VHS tape (the fact the machine works and the tape still plays
might mean they are haunted, but the writers never suggest anything
so original) and the recording has a bunch of tales of murder that
might be true. In the script, they are. In real life, their too
stupid to work. Maybe they should retitle this dud All
Hollowed Eve because it
is as empty as a boring echo. Yawn!!!
A
feature length audio commentary track where the makers try to explain
what they did here and don't realize how bad this is is the only
extras.
Almost
as horrid is Henry Saine's Bounty
Killer (2012) which
starts with the concept of a collapsed world where the title
characters (there are more than one) hunt down corporate criminals
for big money. The problem is that the script is all lip service as
the writing and production cop out early on this idea, throw in every
cliched action genre idea we’ve seen hundreds of times and then use
the language of the reactionary 1980s to be anti-corporate,
guaranteeing total failure.
Using
something interesting as the most sloppy use of a MacGuffin we've
seen in years, this quickly becomes ultraviolent, bloody, graphic,
dumb and pointless as well as more pro-corporate than they either
don't know or worse, do. Kristanna Loken (Terminator
3) and Beverly D'Angelo
are very badly wasted here and Gary Busey shows up playing up type as
another wacked out goof.
Arc
Entertainment is a small; new production company trying to build a
catalog and make some name for themselves and this is the first time
we have covered them. So far, their reputation for picture, sound
and content has been consistently hideous and now I can see why. Are
they just a set up for tax write-offs? After this, you might think.
The cast was having fun in the bloopers, which is what happens when
you get bored sometimes instead of making something worth watching.
A
short featurette is the only extras that, combined with this mess,
shows the makers may claim to be fans of the films they are ripping
off, but they are virtually clueless in how to get around any of the
genres they tackle. Clue: looking like the films is far from
sufficient.
Neil
Jordan returns to vampire territory as Francis Coppola recently did
with Twixt
(see the review elsewhere on this site) but Byzantium
(2012) can only imitate some of the look of Interview
With The Vampire and even
rips off parts of Coppola's equally overrated Dracula
(also reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) coming up with what
is simply a lesbian answer to his previous fang outing.
Gemma
Arterton heads the decent cast of mostly unknowns, but this is all
quickly forgotten in the usual been-there-done-that way and is
surprisingly uninspired and unoriginal down to the title which refers
to two locales: an ancient one of the past and a sleazy hotel. We
get plenty of blood and gore, but they have no real story to be part
of. Another dud!
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and interviews.
On
January 1972, ABC shocked the TV and entertainment industry when they
broadcast a horror telefilm called The
Night Stalker (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) and 75 million people tuned in. No one
thought there was that biog a TV audience, let alone for the new TV
movie format, but that is what happened so expectations for the Big
Three networks was that it might happen again. Within weeks, ABC
happened to have another supernatural telefilm in the wings, this
time made with Warner Television and it was hoped it could serve as a
pilot for a TV series. Reza Badiyi's The
Eyes Of Charles Sand
(1972) was from a story by Henry Farrell, whose cycle of creepy
family psychosis thrillers began with Whatever
Happened To Baby Jane?
(1962, reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) in addition to
Hush... Hush, Sweet
Charlotte (1964), How
Awful About Allan (1970)
and What's The Matter With
Helen? (1971).
Collaborating
with Stanford Whitmore (The
Movie Murder, The
Dark) on the teleplay,
the tale involves a man (Peter Haskell, known lastly for the first
three Child's Play
films) who has inherited psychic powers when an older relative dies.
Though never full explained, we get a big book about it. Them he
starts to see bloody images that haunt him and coincided with murders
and disappearances of people.
After
consulting with his family and a medical friend (Adam West), he
starts to investigate on his own when a distraught woman (Sharon
Farrell of Larry Cohen's It's
Alive (reviewed elsewhere
on this site) among other horror appearances) comes to him and hands
him a valuable piece of jewelry that gives him more visions. This
leads to talking to her relatives (Barbara Rush, Bradford Dillman)
that only brings more visions.
Running
74 minutes, it has its moments and can be creepy, plus has a decent
look, but cannot decide if it is a supernatural tale or a crime
thriller. Peter Haskell more than holds his own and many thought
this could have led to a hit show. Five years later, his appearance
as Payton Jones in the Biofeedback
episode of The Bionic
Woman with Lindsay Wagner
was intended as another pilot for another series that never happened
playing another man with extraordinary powers. Like The
Norliss Tapes, it just
never happened.
Director
of Photography Ben Colman (The
Norliss Tapes, the Dan
Curtis-produced The
Picture Of Dorian Gray,
Camelot,
the Cher film Chastity)
creates a consistent look that works and it adds to the effectiveness
of what works here. The director actually created the credits
sequences and had a big career making the same for classic TV shows.
Joan Bennett and Don Barry also star.
There
are sadly no extras.
Leslie
Charteris' Simon Templar had big success on TV with Roger Moore (and
some say enough with Ian Ogilvy to matter) and on radio, especially
with Vincent Price, but big screen feature film success has always
eluded the character, though RKO Pictures tried a series of films
from 1938 to 1953. Three actors would play Templar and in five of
them, it was george Sanders. The
George Sanders Saint Movies Collection
(1939 – 1941) collects all five of his films and they are not bad,
if not consistent. They include:
The
Saint Strikes Back (1939)
goes to San Francisco and barely saves the daughter of a disgraced
police officer, then finds more twisted things going on. This is a
good entry with the first use of The Saint whistle theme and the cast
includes Wendy Barrie looking good and a pre-Batman
Neil Hamilton.
The
Saint In London
(1939) has Simon dealing with a card shark, but soon involved a
counterfeiting plot intended to do major damage to the U.K. in a
decent entry that has some good energy and a good supporting cast
putting the character back on his home turf where it was actually
filmed.
The
Saint's Double Trouble
(1940) is one of the weak entries as Simon happens to be a twin of a
sadistic gangster (both played with mixed results by Sanders) in a
tale about robbing ancient Egyptian treasure. This never adapts well
to film, but it does have Bela Lugosi, so that helps save it a bit
but he is not on screen enough.
The
Saint Takes Over
(1940) a gang of 5 criminals frame Inspector Fernack (Jonathan Hale)
or a crime he did not commit, so Simon has to solve the crime to free
him. Wendy barrie shows up as a different, glamourous woman and
future Dick Tracy Morgan Conway also shows up.
and
The Saint In Palm
Springs
(1941) has Inspector Fernack have Simon keep an eye on a friend
transporting $200,000 in rare stamps, but the man is killed and
everyone wants those three stamps. Sounds like the plot to Stanley
Donen's Charade
(1963, reviewed on Blu-ray, et al, elsewhere on this site) and may
not be as good, but this is still a decent entry, but the series
never hit the commercial heights of the Charlie Chan films and
Sanders soon parted. Still, they tried and it far outdoes the horrid
Jonathan Demme Charade
remake.
Since
all these films were made, stamp prices collapsed in the 1980s, but
the stamps here would still be desirable. Wendy Barrie shows up
again, but as a third different glamours woman!
There
are no extras, but a Louis
Hayward Saint double
feature is available from Warner Archive and you can read more about
the TV versions of the character at these links:
Roger
Moore Early Years
Black & White Set One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1927/The+Saint+-+The+Early+Years+(1962)+-+Set+One
Set
Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2583/The+Saint+-+The+Early+Years+(1963)+-+Set+Two
Moore
Color Episodes MegaSet
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/372/Saint+MegaSet+(Full-color+shows/A&E+DVD+Set)
NOTE:
The above U.S. A&E DVD sets are out of print, included here for
reference and available in out of print copies and in-print overseas
copies if you have a multi-region player
Return
Of The Saint Ian Ogilvy
Complete Series Australian PAL DVD import set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6250/Return+Of+The+Saint+%E2%80%93+25th+Anniver
Simon
Dutton 1989 Saint
telefilm revival Australian PAL DVD import set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7217/The+Saint+%E2%80%93+Simon+Dutton+Telefilm+
and
retro-ACTION! 3
Blu-ray import (Region B) with Return
Of The Saint episode
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10900/retro-ACTION!+3:+The+Cool+Age+Of+TV+In+Hig
Finally
we have The Snow Queen
(2005), based on Hans Christian Andersen's story of a mother and
daughter who take in a poor girl from the streets, only for her to
take herself and the daughter to another world. Julian Gibbs'
adaption only runs under an hour and for the few Andersen works we
have seen adapted, this is the first time we've seen this one.
However, he shoots it in a way to loose fame and jitter the image to
make everything
look like it is a stop-motion animation TV special and instead, makes
this look lek a defective DVD.
I
as not impressed with the approach, execution, acting and the digital
work is too much and too phony. To say this is an acquired taste is
being kind and fans of the books are likely to have very mixed
reactions, be beware this is not a normal adaptation. I would just
pass unless you are a huge fan or very, very curious.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by the director
trying to explain this one, a Making Of featurette and Blue
Peter episode on
Andersen.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Eve and
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Snow should be the
best two DVD performers here, but the former is a very rough sloppy
shoot, while the latter is soft on top of its obnoxious
cinematography explained above, so the worn, soft 1.33 X 1 black and
white transfer on all five Saint films look no better or
worse. That means the 1.33 X 1 color image on Eyes is the
second-place winner, shot on 35mm film with a slight softness
intentionally to equate the naturalistic look of cinematography at
the time.
Though
sadly not that much better, the 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High
Definition image transfer on Hunter
and 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Byzantium
are the visual champs by default, HD shoots with flaws, limited and
style choices throughout that help neither look great. They both
also sport DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless sound mixes, but they both have
location audio limits, uneven soundfields and remarkably, the lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Snow
is actually its equal and the default highlight (only highlight) of
that release. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Eve is not as well
recorded or engaging, barely making its ratings grade.
That
leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Eyes
not sounding bad for its age (this includes recycling select tracks
from the classic score by Henry Mancini of Wait
Until Dark
(1967, he sued and won) and Ron Grainier's The
Omega Man
(1971, based on I
Am Legend)
in odd ways) and the five Saint
films, which are audible for their age, but have more noise,
background hiss and a lower volume than they should. With two
episodes of the original Roger Moore TV show (one black and white,
the other color) and one of Return
of The Saint
with Ian Ogilvy already out in HD on a U.K. Blu-ray sampler series
(see Retro-action elsewhere on this site), Warner is going to need to
go back and upgrade all 9 RKO Saint films for HD because they are too
important not to.
To
order The
Eyes Of Charles Sand
and the George
Sanders Saint
on Warner Archive DVDs, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
