Belzebuth (2017/RLJ DVD)/Gundala: Rise Of A Hero (2019/Well Go Blu-ray)/Pacific Liner (1939/RKO/Warner Archive DVD)/Perfect Nanny (2019/Icarus DVD)/Revenge Of The Living Dead Girls (1986/Severin Blu-ray)/What The Waters Left Behind (2017/Unearthed Blu-ray)

Picture: B-/B/C/B-/B/B+ Sound: B-/B/C/B-/C+/B+ Extras: D/C/D/C-/C+/C+ Films: C+/C/C+/C/C+/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Pacific Liner DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

Here are some new genre films, some of which are creepier than usual...

Tobin Bell (SAW) stars in Belzebuth (2017), which has been given new life thanks to the streaming service Shudder and RLJE Entertainment. The English/Spanish film is directed by Emilio Portes and is an intense supernatural possession feature that isn't for the faint of heart.

Agent Emmanuel Ritter isn't afraid to get his hands bloody in the name of demonology and the occult. He investigates a series of homicides on the border between Mexico and the United States while facing internal and external forces of evil. The film starts with a violent bang as a room full of babies are assassinated by a distressed nurse before she offs herself. Other similar crimes pop up in grotesque places... could it have to do with the anti-christ?

Belzebuth is presented in anamorphically enhanced, standard definition on DVD with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital audio mix. The disc also features subtitles in Spanish to English or English to Spanish. The other all look of the film isn't terrible but has compression issues evident in the format.

The film also stars Joaquin Cosio, Tate Ellington, Jose Sefami, and Aurora Gil.

No extras.

Joko Anwar's Gundala: Rise Of A Hero (2019) is the latest forgettable adaptation of a superhero from the Bumi Langit line that might be popular overseas and/or in its home territory, but has hardly made it anywhere else. From Indonesia, we get an oppressed orphan who eventually learns martial arts (because you can always kick your way out of oppression and poverty?) and eventually (after over half the long two hours) becomes the title hero, who looks like a current version of DC's The Flash on a low budget.

When we finally get to those moments, they are few and far between with poor fighting that is badly shot and edited (especially versus the passable earlier fight scenes) and then this is set up in the worst way for a sequel or series, if that ever happens. I guess the makers felt they could throw together anything and fans would like it, but it lands up looking like bad 1970s superhero TV movies with some more violence and dirt. You've been warned.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is an HD shoot with a mixed look, more dark shots than it needed and consistent, if not impressive color. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is a mix of talking, some sound effects and music here and there, with the combination not being too memorable.

Extras include Behind The Scenes clips in sections, a Teaser, Original Theatrical Trailer and previews for other Well Go releases.

Lew Lander's Pacific Liner (1939) could be seen as just another British drama, but its racial side and plot seem unusually timely and today, could have easily been an exploitation film. Instead, it is a short, watchable drama with some funny (sometimes unintentionally) moments as a ship leaving from Shanghai to San Francisco lands up having a cholera outbreak because of a Chinese stowaway!

A doctor (Chester Morris, later known as amateur detective Boston Blackie on radio and in a film series) does what he can to help and help save lives, but a pompous chief engineer (Victor McLaglen) hates his science and wants to limit his power, no matter who gets sick or dies, made worse by the fact that they both like the same woman: Wendie Barrie as a nurse.

Alan Hale (spelled with two 'L's for some reason) and Barry Fitzgerald are part of the solid supporting cast and it is not bad for being 76 minutes, an efficient work issued by RKO. I was glad to see it again and it even has some visually interesting things going for it. See it if interested.

The 1.33 X 1 black & white image transfer can show the age of the materials used, but it is watchable, though the film needs and deserves a restoration. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also a little weak and some more work would help, but it is audible, though be careful of volume switching and high playback levels. There are no extras.

The Perfect Nanny (2019) is a French thriller that is a far cry from Mary Poppins! Karin Viard stars as a Nanny who is hired by a young couple who have two children that are a handful. At first, it seems that this new Nanny is going to be a good fit for the family, but soon she starts to show her true colors... and develops an unhealthy obsession over the children.

The film also stars Leila Bekhti, Antoine Reinartz, Assya Da Silva, Rehab Mehal, and Calypso Peretjatko to name a few with direction by Lucie Borleteau (Fidelio: Alice's Odyssey).

The Perfect Nanny is adapted from a novel by Leila Slimani and winner of the Goncourt prize and based on a true story!

The film is is presented in standard definition on DVD with an anamorphically enhanced, widescreen aspect ratio of 1:78:1 and a lossy 5.1 French Dolby Digital track with English subtitles. This is eloquently shot and made and has a quite stylized look to it despite being set in modern day France. Compression issues are still evident because of the format, but this isn't a bad presentation by any means.

Special Features: Trailers for other Icarus / Distrib Films

The Perfect Nanny is a cautionary tale for parents to be sure they can trust who they leave their kids with. The chilling ending to this film is all too real and will definitely leave you with an unnerving feeling as the ending credits roll.

Peter B. Harsone's Revenge Of The Living Dead Girls (1986) is an interesting zombie entry where contaminated milk (you have to see the film to see how that works) gets three women sick and they come back as killer zombies. The murders tend to happen around sex and nudity (the makers came from French XXX films) and the results are amusing, sometimes creepy, effectively atmospheric (sex and horror overlap in the look of the film well) all as the zombie infection continues to spread like the murders. It is done with suspense, an interesting use of color, light and shadow and is better than expected, if not great.

It is not to say I would have liked it more before the glut, but as far as films early in the genre are concerned (George Romero finished his first Dead trilogy at this time) it is one of the smarter entries in the genre (by default at this point, sadly) and deserves to be rediscovered because it is far superior to 90% of what the genre has offered since then. The make-up might seem dated in some ways, but I liked its look and style, so it is a plus as far as I was concerned. Fans, especially those who claim to be zombie film diehards, need to see this one ASAP.

The 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer might show the age of the materials used, but this looks very good, is clean, has an intentional soft look at times and is unique in the now highly glutted world of zombie films because it is one of the only ones ever totally shot on Fuji 35mm color negative film. Most zombie films are shot in HD, digital or on Kodak film, plus Fuji no longer is making movie film, so it is something the film has going for it that gives it a look and feel no one will ever have again and this has some good style to begin with.

The French PCM 2.0 Mono is as good as it can be of the film's age and budget, also sounding much better than the English dub in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 that is not well done and sounds much weaker with more compression.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer, plus three Making Of featurettes: The Revenge interview with Director Pierre B. Reinhard, plus two with make-up/effects artist Benoit Lestang with Writer Jean-Claude Roy (Revisiting The Revenge) and one solo (Inside Studio Lestang).

Finally, What The Waters Left Behind (2017), which is also known as Los Olvidados, is an intense horror film from Argentina with an interesting premise. A town named Epecuen is flooded and a documentary film crew goes in to investigate the ruins. They get plenty of warnings but are destined to make their film, soon becoming prey to several cruel creatures lurking about.

The film stars Victoria Maurette, Mirta Busnelli, Damian Dreizik, and Agustin Pardella with direction by the Onetti Brothers.

What The Waters Left Behind is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and a nice sounding Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, both of which are fine for the format. The film has some interesting photography and a gritty style to the filmmaking that adds to the intensity of the content.

Special Features include

Film Footage

Photo Gallery and Trailers

What The Waters Left Behind plays out like a foreign Rob Zombie style film and will certainly appeal to gore hounds.

To order the Warner Archive DVD Pacific Liner, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

http://www.wbshop.com/

- Nicholas Sheffo (Gundala, Liner, Dead) and James Lockhart

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