Divine Fury (2019/Well Go Blu-ray w/DVD)/47 Meters Below: Uncaged (2019/Lionsgate Blu-ray w/DVD)/The Kitchen (2019/Warner Blu-ray)/Suspiria 4K (1977/Argento/Synapse 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Set)/Two Evil Eyes (1990/Blue Underground Blu-ray w/DVD & CD)/Wax Mask (1997/Severin Blu-ray w/CD)

4K Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+ & C+/B- & C/B+/X/B+/B+ Sound: B & C+/B- & C+/B/B/B+/B+ Extras: B/C/C+/B/B+/B Films: B+/C/C/B/B/B

Now for a very interesting group of genre releases, including a classic and other films with notable things going for them including Dario Argento...

Yong-Hu Park lost his father at an early age and blamed God for it, giving up his Christian faith. Two decades years later, Yong-Hu Park is a haunted man, however he is 'gifted' with a mysterious wound on his hand. He meets a Priest who tells him that demons exist and he has been fighting them all his life. At first, Yong-Hu Park rejects and refuses to believe, but after following and seeing what the Priest does, he realizes he cannot deny the truth, but fate has more in store for Yong-Hu Park, a Dark Priest preys on the people of Korea and Yong-Hu Park and the Priest they are the only ones who can stop him in Kim Joo-hwan's The Divine Fury (2019).

When Yong-Hu Park's father died, his ghost left him a message to do good, help others and fight evil, but after loosing his father, Yong-Hu Park gave up his religion and twenty years later, is haunted by demons who want his growing powers. His right hand has a stigmata and the power to send demons back to hell. He seeks out a priest to help silence the voices and exorcise his demons, but then finds himself dragged into the world of the supernatural. However, the forces of evil are Legion and a Dark Priest is growing an army of demons. After witnessing the priest helping save the lives of others, Yong-Hu Park decides he wants to help, but can an unbeliever believe, fight the forces of darkness, much less turn the tide against evil?

This was a supernatural filled horror/action movie. A man who gave up on God and finds himself as a champion of the Light. He is teamed up with an old priest who helps teach and guides him towards his destiny. Well done.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer os a rich HD shoot that looks fine throughout, including in motion when the action kicks in and is fine, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes in Korean and dubbed English complement it well, though the English is not as convincing, as expected. The anamorphically enhanced DVD with lossy Dolby Digital 5,1 sound is not as good, but passable. Extras include making of the movie, behind the scenes and trailers.

Johannes Roberts' 47 Meters Below: Uncaged (2019) is a sequel to a film enough people apparently saw and paid to do so to get to this film. It shows that everyone still wants to make money on imitating Jaws, but the interest is still there after about 35 years. Shot in the U.K. in part (the use of the metric system in the title gives us a clue this is probably not a U.S. production), a bunch of teens who are not thinking once again find themselves under attack by a group of hungry digita... I mean sharks and can they survive the unexpected attacks? Can we survive the silliness of this sequel?

This is one of those releases that somehow got made because it is a package deal that might at least break even, but it is definitely a B-movie despite going out of the way to create some wacky set pieces. It is not the largest budgeted release of its kind we've seen recently, but has ideas of what to do with its money. The cast is good at yelling and hollering, but the acting is flat. The sharks continue to look fake.

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is an HD shoot that is a little soft, though some of that is from the style chosen, but that does not exp[lain all the softness, so expect detail limits and other flaws, while the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the DVD is much softer and much harder to watch. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless sound mix on the Blu-ray fares better and plays consistently enough, but I was never wowed by it either. The DVD's lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is weaker and lacks some of what actually did work in the DTS version.

Extras include Digital Copy, while the disc adds a feature length audio commentary track by Writer/Director Roberts, Producer James Harris (not the Kubrick producer) & Writer Ernest Rivera and the Diving Deeper featurette.

The comedy/drama The Kitchen (2019) has an interesting premise, but doesn't really go anywhere new or exciting. Starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish (The Last O.G.) Domihall Gleeson (Star Wars), and rising star Elizabeth Moss (upcoming Invisible Man reboot, Handmaid's Tale), the film is directed by screenwriter Andrea Berloff (World Trade Center), but not as slapstick as you might expect with McCarthy in the lead.

Set in the 1970s, three bad New York gangsters go to jail for assaulting police, leaving their housewives behind with no income. Desperate for a solution, they confront their husbands' employers and decide to take up the mob business themselves. Soon, they move up the rackets while their husbands are still in prison. While the ladies start to make a name for themselves, it doesn't take long for a hit to be put out on them.

The Kitchen has a ton of plot holes and scenes that are totally far fetched. The first ten minutes of the film is attention grabbing, but it's a downward slope from there as these women continually get away with murder to a laughable degree. Sounding like Widows, the British TV mini-series and recent feature film remake, this is based on a DC Comics release. I get that forensic science wasn't a thing back then, and I'm no expert in what you could or could not get away with in Hell's Kitchen at this time, but come on!

Presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and an English mix in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix. The film is well lit and photographed and has many shots with digital compositing work done to help sell the time period. Lighting and color is interesting, but not too over stylized. The film heavily uses '70s greatest hit tunes to help sell the period even more, but this both works for and against it depending on the scene. There's also a digital copy.

Special Features include:

Running Hell's Kitchen

Taking Over the Neighborhood

and Deleted Scene

Despite some decent performances by the three leads and nice cinematography at times, The Kitchen is nothing new or exciting and it's no surprise that it didn't perform well at the box office. If you want a good film about gangsters in Hell's Kitchen, try State Of Grace (1990, reviewed elsewhere on this site) instead.

Next we have the new 4K release of Dario Argento's classic thriller Suspiria (1977) from Synapse, part of a recent set of reissues and upgrades on the all-time classic thriller worldwide. That includes the Synapse Blu-ray set we recently reviewed at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15138/Man+From+Earth:+Holocine+(2017/MVD+Vi

And the impressive, slightly different import Blu-ray we reviewed from Umbrella Entertainment in Australia, their second Blu-ray of the film:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15601/Suspiria+(1977/restored/Umbrella+Import+Blu-ray

After covering several editions over the years, these were the best playback performers, yet the big difference is that Synapse was refined and balanced, yet Umbrella had color that was even more heightened in keeping from what you might expect from an Italian Technicolor print at the time of the film's first release. This was in addition to several other versions over the years, so I wrote a brief piece addressing this and since posting that, we finally have an update to go with our coverage.

On one end of the spectrum, we have transfers that are greenish (no explanation has veer been found as to why) or too dull for the film's own good, including the CDE 4K edition form overseas from the screen captures we have seen. On the other hand, we have versions that are slightly brighter bordering on slightly overexposed versus what the film should look like and these editions water down the intended color. That is as wrong and either comes form issues with the material, limits in the transfer equipment or those doing the transfers taking liberties or just not knowing what they are doing and/or understanding the film.

The latest Umbrella Blu-ray annihilated their older Blu-ray and had stunning color that was amazing to me and gave me new respect for the film, yet the new Synapse Blu-ray could more than compete with that disc in definition, depth and detail despite the color not quite being as wide-ranging as the Umbrella reissue. I thought Synapse was holding back, but now I can see maybe it was just a different approach.

With this new Synapse 4K Ultra HD 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition release, we get a new version that has the refinement of the previous Synapse Blu-ray, but color as accurate and wide-ranging as the Umbrella Blu-ray, now with more bit color range than any Blu-ray of the film ever had. Detail, depth, warmth and clarity are so shockingly good, it is a whole new film to me and I have seen so many versions, it is not even funny. Whomever is responsible for this transfer (a man named Don May Jr., from what we were just told) really did their homework and knew what they were doing because this now ties Apocalypse Now as the best use of anamorphic 35mm Technovision you can see on 4K disc (or any video format) at home.

It is now as much of a total representation of a dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor version of the film anyone could expect, meaning it also does not look as old as it actually is. Again originating on Eastman Color Kodak 35mm negative film (5247, which is a daylight stock and take a huge amount of light to register, so think of what Argento and company did since most of the film takes place indoors), so Synapse simply did the best reduction they could of this 4K transfer. The regular Blu-ray (not included in this set) simply cannot handle the amazingly excellent results here in real 4K with plenty of demo shots. It makes it a better film and even now reminds me of another film made the same year with an even larger budget also emulating real Technicolor: Martin Scorsese's New York, New York.

Then we have the sound. A brand new English Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 for older systems) mix has been made for this 4K edition and it is amazing, even if it is a dub version. The disc also retains the Italian DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix (the best that will probably sound as all Italian movie sound post-WWII until very recently is always dubbed in post-production, so even having anything in that period in 5.1 is remarkable) and the English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 4.0 96/24 lossless mix has been carried over from the regular Blu-ray, but the Atmos mix has the best sound, sound effects, clarity, and I have never heard the music (or any music by) Goblin ever sound this good in my life and that says something.

The extras are repeated form the recent Blu-ray set including the exact second disc from that set and audio commentary options on the 4K disc. Easily, this is the definitive version of Suspiria to get and one of the best back catalog releases of any film this year overall in a year that has had many. Don't miss it!

Legendary filmmakers Dario Argento (Suspiria, Deep Red) and George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead series) gave a one two punch with the fantastic horror anthology film, Two Evil Eyes (1990), which is a love letter to Edgar Allan Poe. Two one hour films are cut together with an interesting linker in this super fun film that's been given the deluxe treatment thanks to Blue Underground. Remastered in 4K from the original uncensored negative, this is the definitive way to see this movie.

Two Evil Eyes stars Adrienne Barbeau, Ramy Zada, Bingo O'Malley, Jeff Howell, and E.G. Marshall. The film also features brilliant special effects work by Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) and the late John Vulich (The X-Files).

The first segment of Two Evil Eyes is Romero's The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, a woman (Adrienne Barbeau) is tired of dealing with her dying husband (the late Bingo O'Malley) and wants to benefit financially from his death. So she and her lover use hypnotism on him to embezzle his fortune. However, things don't go as planned when the husband's soul refuses to die! This story reminded me a lot of the Amicus film, Asylum (available on Blu-ray from Severin Films), where a similar undead corpse of a rich man haunted his estranged wife and her lover. It's interesting to see the two films back and back and explore the similarities. It is also the weaker film of the two here, with Romero revisiting some of his favorite narrative tropes seen in some of his other films, including Creepshow.

Then in Argento's The Black Cat, a deranged crime scene photographer (Harvey Keitel) and his girlfriend live in Pittsburgh, only the man soon is driven to brutal acts of madness and murder thanks to his girlfriend's black cat. It's not too long until authorities pick up on this and even more bizarre things start to happen. The best part about this segment is Keitel's off the wall performance and the stunning climactic scene where a corpse is uncovered... I won't say anything else about it to avoid spoilers, but the scene is still pretty shocking even today. This is undoubtedly some of Argento's most interesting work in my opinion outside of his classics.

There's a brilliant new 4K transfer captured here on 1080p Blu-ray with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and really shines through on this releases and bests the studio's previous release of the film on Blu-ray from a few years back. Audio tracks on the disc include English (7.1 DTS-HD, 2.0 DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless tracks) and French (1.0 Dolby Digital) mixes. The colors and overall look of the film is more detailed and vibrant and definitely takes advantage of 1080p in the best way it can. Let's hope an eventual 4K UHD release will happen with this and other titles from Blue Underground.

This brilliant new package comes with a Blu-ray, standard definition DVD, and the CD soundtrack of the score by Pino Donaggio (known for all his great work with Brian De Palma). There's also a very fun lenticular cover that's similar to Blue Underground other new releases of Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) and William Lustig's Maniac (1980) and continues in this new tradition. Hats off to Blue Underground for cleaning up these films even more and really cramming in on the extras.

Special Features include:

DISC ONE:

NEW Audio Commentary with Troy Howarth, Author of Murder By Design: The Un-sane Cinema of Dario Argento

Theatrical Trailer

Poster & Still Gallery

DISC TWO:

NEW Before I Wake - Interview with Star Ramy Zada

NEW Behind The Wall - Interview with Star Madeleine Potter

NEW One Maestro And Two Masters - Interview with Composer Pino Donaggio

NEW Rewriting Poe - Interview with Co-Writer Franco Ferrini

NEW The Cat Who Wouldn't Die - Interview with Assistant Director Luigi Cozzi

NEW Two Evil Brothers - Interview with Special Make-Up Assistant Everett Burrell

NEW Working With George - Interview with Costume Designer Barbara Anderson

Two Masters' Eyes - Interviews with Directors Dario Argento & George Romero, Special Make

Up Effects Supervisor Tom Savini, Executive Producer Claudio Argento, and Asia Argento

Savini's EFX - A Behind-the-Scenes look at the film's Special Make-Up Effects

At Home With Tom Savini - A personal tour of Tom Savini's home

Adrienne Barbeau on George Romero

DISC THREE/SOUNDTRACK CD:

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Pino Donaggio

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

Collectible Booklet with new essay by Michael Gingold

and Reversible Sleeve and a 3D lenticular slipcover (First Pressing Only)

This film is notable in the libraries of horror movie history for many reasons. The first obviously being the collaboration of Argento and the late Romero and two, their unique twist on the Edgar Allan Poe material with the aided help of Tom Savini and his then super talented FX crew. Shot in Pittsburgh, this was a big deal production at the time and is certainly recaptured here in all its glory in this new set from Blue Underground that isn't to be missed!

And finally, Dario Argento is here again, as he produced this highly underrated film, Wax Mask (1997) which is also known as M.D.C. Maschera di cera, that has much of the same flavor as a Guillermo Del Toro film, and has been remastered in this great new release from Severin Films. While the film has been released before on disc, this is the first respectable release of it and is certainly welcome in its new 4K restoration that has it looking better than ever.

Wax Mask was supposed to be Lucio Fulci's last film, however he died during pre-production, and Argento replaced him with The Church's Sergio Stivaletti, who is no stranger the world of special effects. While if he had been well enough to make the film it certainly would have been much different, what ultimately came to fruition under the direction of Stivaletti is surprisingly good and an entertaining mix of period piece and fantasy.

Set in 1900s Paris, the film follows a brutal string of murders to a wax museum, where the statues on display are looking more and more real by the day. As the museum grows in popularity and controversy. Sonia Lafont (Romina Mondello) who works there uncovers a sinister scheme that’s linked to her own grisly past. The film also stars Robert Hossein, Gabriella Giorgelli, Gianni Franco, and Aldo Massasso to name a few.

Wax Mask has been restored in 4K from the original camera negative under the supervision and approval of Mr. Stivaletti and is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and an English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit) lossless soundtrack that doesn't disappoint. Also on the disc are tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless. There's a lot of style and color going on in this film and it's beautifully captured here.

Special Features include:

Audio Commentary with Director/Special Effects Artist Sergio Stivaletti and Michelangelo Stivaletti

Beyond Fulci: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng, Actress Gabriella Giorgelli and Filmmaker Claudio Fragasso

The Chamber of Horrors: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo, Production Designer Massimo Geleng and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli

Living Dolls: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti, Producer Giuseppe Columbo and Actress Gabriella Giorgelli

The Mysteries of the Wax Museum: Interview with SFX Artist Sergio Stivaletti

The Waxworks Symphony: Interview with Soundtrack Composer Maurizio Abeni

The Grand Opening: Interviews with Producer Dario Argento, Director Sergio Stivaletti and Producer Giuseppe Columbo

Wax Unmasked: Interview with Film Writer Alan Jones

Vintage Featurettes: Behind the Scenes, Special Effects, On Set with Dario Argento

and a CD soundtrack of the score by Maurizio Abeni.

Wax Mask looks better than ever here thanks to Severin and is definitely worth checking out in this new release!

- Nicholas Sheffo (Suspiria 4K, Meters), Ricky Chiang (Fury) and James Lockhart

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/