Attic
Expeditions
(2000*)/Castle
Of The Creeping Flesh
(1968*)/Elysium
4K
(2013/Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/First
Snow
(2006/MVD Blu-ray)/Happy
Times
(2020/Artsploitation Blu-ray)/Plague
Town
(2008/*all Severin Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B-/B-/B/B+/B+/B- Sound:
C+/B-/A- & B+/B/B+/B- Extras: C/C+/B/C+/D/C+ Films:
C/C+/B-/C+/C+/C
Our
next group of genre films include a few upgrades and some odd
stories...
We
start with Jeremy Casten's The
Attic Expeditions
(2000) is a sort of throwback to a cycle of thrillers that came out
of the likes of Hitchcock's Psycho
(1960) and melodramas that tried to deal with mental illness and the
institutions that do and do not help. Here, Andreas Jones plays the
victim and though the film does not always work and may go overboard,
a young Seth Green is here, joined by Jeffrey Combs, Ted Raimi and
rock music icon Alice Cooper (whose theatrics always evoked the
Horror genre) turn up in the supporting cast. That in itself makes
the madness part just credible enough.
Unfortunately,
the screenplay is all over the place and even with Green's extensive
presence, the film does not know what to do with him or its ideas, so
this does not go where it could have in its 100 minutes. Still, the
cast is provocative and meant to make it an instant curio and it is
more so that now. All the more reason I wished it was more
memorable. Still, fans interested should check it out in this new
edition.
Extras
include a piece on the film by scholar Adam Rockoff, Alice Cooper and
Jeffrey Combs reunited and talking about the film via Internet and
the Cast & Crew 20 year pandemic reunion and Story of The Making
of the film.
Percy
G. Parker's Castle
Of The Creeping Flesh
(1968) is a German production with an elaborate enough title, though
the film landed up getting retitled for other markets and reissues,
it is noteworthy for being another film by the director of Mark
Of The Devil
(rated 'V' for violent, though no such rating existed, they gave out
barf bags to customers paying to see it in theaters) and this film
has its graphic moments. It may not be as gross, but it does not
necessarily hold back, especially in this uncut version, scanned from
the original 35mm camera negative.
A
group of wild euro-swingers go out to have a good time and decide to
try out a castle known for its infamy and association with the Earl
of Saxon. Turns out all kinds of bizarre things are taking place
there, including plenty of sex, violence, gross experimentation and
more, so the party is over for the visitors as the realities of the
hidden nightmares going on there take over.
Though
the script is smart enough to not just jump into everything happening
here, which gives us some suspense with some erotic moments that
actually work for a change and are not dumb, throwaway bits. In this
case, they are not able to sustain everything they set to do. Still,
this is ambitious and I actually saw a very edited and English-dubbed
version of this eons ago, which I started to remember as I watched.
This version certainly works better and I am glad to finally catch up
with it. It is worth a good look to those interested and cheers to
everyone involved for saving it in its original form as much as
possible. The cast has several Jess Franco regulars, so they are up
to the challenge of the production.
Extras
include a locations featurette, trailers under the Appointment
With Lust
title in German and English, opening credits sequences in German &
without any text, Mark
Of The Devil
Q&A with the Hoven Family at the Australian Pulp Film Festival
and an archival interview with Joyce Hoven and Percy Hoven entitled
Adrian
In The Castle Of Bloody Lust.
Neil
Blomkamp's Elysium
4K
(2013) is one of the more recent films of its genre actually worth
seeing issued in the new Ultra HD format. A moderate hit that
deserves and even larger audience, we reviewed the film on Blu-ray,
and with a separately sold book on its making, at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12511/Elysium+(2013/Sony+Blu-ray+w/DVD)+++Elysium
The
Matt Damon film holds up surprisingly well, a working guy struck in a
tough job on earth, now wrecked while the most wealthy and powerful
live in a space station above, does deal with class division and is
as relevant now as it was upon its release, but the film has more to
say, has aged well the way the director's District
9
(also now in 4K, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and the rest of the
cast (including Jodie Foster in one of her most interesting turns)
makes it a pleasure to visit and revisit. I am happy this turned out
as well and even better than expected.
Extras
repeat the older Blu-ray edition, but five new featurettes have been
added to this new 4K release including Exoskeletons,
Explosions, and Action Choreography in Elysium,
The Hero, The Psychopath, and The Characters of Elysium,
The Art Of The Elysium miniatures,
Bugatti 2154 and Theatrical Trailers. We also get Digital Copy via
Movies Anywhere.
Guy
Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner, and J.K. Simmons star in
First
Snow
(2006), a film which is getting a new life on disc thanks to the MVD
Rewind series. A thriller from the writers of Iron
Man
and Children
of Men,
the film is a pretty fun thriller with a unique script that isn't too
predictable. The cast makes it more of a curio than ever.
Wound
tight and cocky, Jimmy Starks (Pearce) is a smooth-talking salesman
certain he's on the verge of a big break. He has a beautiful
girlfriend (Perabo), and everything in life seems to be going his
way. Until his car stalls in the middle of nowhere and he decides to
get his fortune read by a roadside soothsayer (Simmons). The man
assures him that danger is on its way upon the first snow. After he
leaves, Jimmy should be happy when his boss suddenly agrees to
financially back his business venture, he starts to become paranoid
instead. From there, the world around him begins to unravel... and
not for the better.
Special
Feature include...
Final
Omen featurette
Behind
the Scenes featurette
Interview
with actor J.K. Simmons, Guy Pearce, and Piper Perabo
Trailer
and
Reversible Artwork.
Directed
by Michael Mayer, Happy
Times
(2020) is a dinner party turned amuck type of horror feature. Set in
the Hollywood Hills with a mostly Israeli cast, and delivers a
gripping and horrifyingly real story. The film starts out normal
enough and even a bit sexy in certain scenes, but quickly things turn
up on their heads and blood starts to fly...
The
film stars Shani Atias, Iris Bahr, Michael Aloni, and Stefi Celma.
No
extras.
Happy
Times
is a dark, sexy, and twisted film which is what we come to expect
from the folks over at Artsploitation Films!
And
finally, David Gregory's very mixed bag, Plague
Town
(2008) is now a curio to some extent, now that we actually and sadly
have a pandemic, though this is confined to an Irish village, yet the
disease affects only one age group. Some people like this one, but
our previous reviewer despited the film and I just thought it was a
web of missed opportunities and the makers saying and showing some
things only they knew the meaning of outside of the obvious gore.
They
stick with an acting style that is consistent, but not memorable and
at least they did try to do something different here. Now you can
see for yourself.
Extras
repeat the feature length audio commentary track and two Making Of
featurettes the earlier Blu-ray offered, then an Original Theatrical
Trailer, short film entitled Scathed,
Til Death and
third Making Of piece, making this the edition to see if you must see
one.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p, 2.35 X 1, HEVC/H.265, HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Elysium
4K is
one of the better upgrades of a film with hundreds of
digitally-generated visuals that could look awful and could be
exposed by the superior format, but the designs and effects here are
among a small handful of such films in the last 20 years that are not
just sloppy, thrown together and look cheap. Instead, depth, detail
and color range surpass the older 1080p Blu-ray (included here) that
is much more like what I saw when it opened theatrically and fans
will be pleased. This is easily the best way to see the film, though
expect some minor detail issues on par with digital CGI of the time.
The
same can be said for the nice, smooth, often impressive sound upgrade
to 12-track, lossless Dolby Atmos sound, which says something because
the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless sound on the older Blu-ray
was very state of the art in its time. Music is smoother too and
when combined with the great image, you get some fine demo moments as
well.
The
1080p digital High Definition image on
all three Severin Blu-ray releases look good, but they also all have
some flaws, whether it be age, slight issues with some of the frames
or just a shoot with some not-so-hot shots. Color is as good as good
as can be expected (I liked the color on Creeping
Flesh
(1.66 X 1) in particular) and the label has done their best to make
the presentations look accurate. Attic
(1.78 X 1) and Plague
(1.85 X 1) both offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo
lossless mixes, but Attic
is just not that well recorded to begin with, while Plague
has location audio issues and a few flaws, so only expect so much
sonically. Creeping
Flesh
has two DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes, one in a
not so good English dub, the other in a much better, original German
track, which sounded better than either Attic
track.
First
Snow
is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec and a
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix, both of which translate well to disc.
The film has a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and a very nice
color spectrum, which could translate nicer on the 4K UHD format.
And
finally, Happy
Times
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) lossless mix in English and Hebrew with English
subtitles. The film is nicely shot considering its low budget and
feels like a bigger production than it likely was.
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Severin, 4K) and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
