Bermuda
Depths
(1978/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Hercules
and the Captive Women
(1963/Film Detective Blu-ray)/Monster
Hunter 4K
(2020/Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Mortuary
Collection
(2019*)/Reckoning
(2021/*both RLJ Blu-rays)/Shogun's
Joy Of Torture
(1968/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: B+/B-/B+/B+/B+/B+ Sound:
B+/C+/A-/B+/B+/B+ Extras: C+/B/C+/B/C/C Films: C/C+/B/B/B/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Bermuda Depths
Blu-ray can only be ordered from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
a wild new group of genre releases...
First,
if you're looking for some odd nostalgia involving The Bermuda
Triangle then you may want to check out The
Bermuda Depths
(1978), which is a sort of love story involving a giant aquatic
turtle and a pair of young lovers. Gorgeously photographed but a bit
dated and weird at times, The
Bermuda Depths
has a new 4K remaster here in this limited Warner Archive Collection
release.
The
telefilm (on TV in the U.S., theatrically issued overseas) features
Leig McCloskey, Carl Weathers (the Rocky
films), Connie Sellecca (later of TV's Greatest
American Hero),
Burt Ives, and Julie Woodson with direction by Tsugunobu Kotani.
The
Bermuda Depths
is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio
of 1.85:1 and an English: DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono (48kHz,
24-bit). Originally presented on television as a movie of the week,
there is also that alternate version of the film on here as well.
Special
Features:
Both
the 1.33 X 1 US Broadcast Television Version and the 1.85:1
International Theatrical Version
and
a New Feature-Length Audio Commentary by Author / Film Historian
Amanda Reyes (Are
You in the House Alone? A TV Movie Compendium: 1964 - 1999)
and Kindertrauma co-founder Lance Vaughan.
Vittorio
Cottafavi's Hercules
and the Captive Women
(1963, aka Hercules
Conquers Atlantis,
1961) arrived during the peak of sword and sandals films coming from
Italy (et al) and has actor Reg Park replacing iconic Steve Reeves as
the title hero for the first time in this big debut production that
is one of the extremely rare such films to be shot in a large-frame
format. Technirama (aka Super Technirama 70) was used on films like
Spartacus,
the original Pink
Panther,
Zulu
and El
Cid.
An
evil queen with conquest plans, shape-shifting creature, lustful
seductions, death traps and other sometimes surreal surprises await
the strongest man (or is that god?) in this romp that has a little
more to it than most such films, but is still a formulaic
continuation of the series. Guess the idea was to launch Park as
well as possible under the circumstances, but I never thought he was
as convincing in the role as Reeves. He tries to show more humor and
reactions, but less is more for these kinds of films and he never
really, totally looks the part despite having a build at the time
that was far more uncommon than it is today (he later was an advocate
for the bodybuilding boom of the 1970s that led to so many getting
ripped today. He is not awful in the action sequences, but he has
his fans and this is a must-see from this original big-screen series
of Hercules films from the same makers. That they got to use
The
1080p 2.20 X 1 digital High Definition image has some good detail and
depth, but the 4K scan from the original camera negative shows that
the negative is missing some frames and the color has faded a bit,
which the people remastering the film for this release try to fix and
avoid as much as possible. However, being shot in the Technirama
format, created by Technicolor, it would be released in the
dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor process. The color here is not always on
that level, plus the image has a few other minor flaws. Under better
circumstances, this could have been the best looking film here, but
it is only occasionally so.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless soundmix is dubbed (and
redubbed?) showing flaws and sonic limits, but this was typical of
most Italian films of the time. At least the elements are in good
shape for what they are.
Extras
include an illustrated booklet with a nice essay by C. Courtney
Joyce, while the disc adds the 1992 edited, non-widescreen,
unrestored version as spoofed on Mystery
Science Theater 3000,
an intro on this by MST3K
co-star Frank Conniff, feature-length audio commentary track by Tim
Lucas and the fine documentary Hercules
and the Conquest of Cinema.
Monster
Hunter 4K
(2020)
came out around the time movie theaters were beginning to reopen
during the pandemic and was kind of lost in the shuffle of things.
Now available on the 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats, the film is based on
a hit video game and stars action superstar Milla Jovovich and
directed by her husband Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident
Evil
series, Event
Horizon).
The film is a perfect fit for the pair, and offers a fun and
brainless adventure with plenty of action, imagination, and cool
looking creatures.
Also
in the film is the great Ron Pearlman, Tony Jaa, (the now
blacklisted) T.I., and Meagan Good.
Lt.
Artemis (Jovovich) is transported to another world along with her
military team by way of a freak storm. In this new and very
different world, large monsters are king and ships that look like
they would be piloted by pirates surf sand dunes and not the sea. As
her team dwindles and the fight for survival begins, Lt. Artemis must
train with a Warrior (Jaa) in order to become a Monster Hunter and
take down the incoming monstrous threats common to this new world.
The
film is presented in 2160p ultra high definition with an HEVC / H.265
presentation with HDR, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and audio
mixes in lossless English Dolby Atmos and English Dolby TrueHD 7.1
(48kHz, 24-bit) for older systems. This film is full of loud action
and spectacle and so its a nice disc to test out a home entertainment
system on. Also included is a 1080p high definition Blu-ray version
that looks fine for the format and has similar sound specs, however
in the image department falls short of the 4K.
Monster
Hunter
is a fun popcorn muncher of a movie and is a pretty fine adaptation
of a video game if you ask me. The 4K UHD presentation is crisp and
noteworthy and the film itself is certainly worth checking out if
you're a genre cinema fan.
Clancy
Brown stars in the Shudder original film, The
Mortuary Collection
(2019), which has jumped from streaming and onto Blu-ray disc. The
anthology horror film has a bunch of different horror flavors and
centers around a Mortician (Brown) who tells a young woman (Caitlin
Custer) various stories centering around cause and effect moral
tales.
The
film also stars Christine Kilmer, Jacob Elordi, and Ema Horvath. It
is written and directed by Ryan Spindell (50
Stages of Fright).
Some
of the stories of The
Mortuary Collection
include a beautiful woman whose also a thief gets eats by a monster
hiding behind a mirror, a young handsome frat boy ends up hooking up
with a college girl and refuses to use protection, getting himself
pregnant in the process, a husband and him mentally absent wife must
choose whether to feed her pills that will grant her forever sleep,
and a slasher of sorts where a babysitter murderer stalks. The film
tends to be a bit too long at points and kind of drags, but the
production design, effects, and acting are pretty top notch. The
ending you kind of see coming but its appropriate given the story
arc.
The
most effective story of the bunch is likely the one centered on the
Frat Boy getting pregnant, the special effects are pretty impressive,
and it’s a nice short in and of itself.
The
Mortuary Collection
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an MPEG-4 AVC codec with a
strong audio mix in a lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 mix. The
film is quite colorful and is very crafted and creatively shot. The
presentation on disc here is fine with nothing that sticks out as an
issue.
Special
Features:
Director's
Audio Commentary
14
Extensive Behind-the-Scenes Segments
Featuring
the Cinematography, Costumes, Art Department, Locations, Props, Hair
& Make-Up, Special Effects, Sound, Stunts, and Visual Effects of
THE MORTUARY COLLECTION
In-Depth
Conversations with Director and Writer Ryan Spindell, the Actors, and
Crew of THE MORTUARY COLLECTION
and
Deleted Scenes
The
Mortuary Collection
is worth a watch and has colorful cinematography and decent
performances all around. Clancy Brown plays a character akin to The
Tall Man in the Phantasm
series that keep the story going. Some moments drag, but the horror
filmmaking technique here is strong.
Neil
Marshall (Game
of Thrones,
Hellboy,
The
Descent)
directs this interesting dark witchy tale The
Reckoning
(2021), which is produced by Shudder. The stylistic film takes place
in the plague in 1600s England, where a young new mother (Charlotte
Kirk) is forced to bury her husband who has hung himself due to
(accidentally) getting ill from the plague. Upon his death, a Squire
comes to collect the rent and tries to entrap the young lady and her
baby daughter. When the woman doesn't comply with his sexist
demands, he calls her a witch, and she is apprehended and her baby
taken from her. Once imprisoned, she must face the demons of her
past under torture and confront a Witchfinder in an attempt to get
her daughter back from the evil Squire and not die from the plague in
the process. Luckily, she's a bit tougher than she seems.
The
Reckoning
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an audio mixes in lossless
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1. The film is beautifully photographed
and it comes across nicely here on Blu-ray. The image is clear and
as detailed as Blu-ray allows, and yet a definite improvement over
the streaming option.
The
only extra are Deleted Scenes.
Neil
Marshall isn't a bad filmmaker and it is admirable that he took on
different roles behind the scenes to tell this tale. The sets and
overall production design here is pretty impressive and come across
nicely on disc. Overall, I'd recommend this film.
And
finally, from
the twisted mind of director Teruo Ishii (Orgies
of Edo,
Horrors
of Malformed Men)
comes another sick Japanese torture film that isn't for the faint of
heart. Shogun's
Joy of Torture
(1968) which is an anthology film of sorts with three stories that
are based on true documented cases set against the backdrop of the
Tokugawa shogunate. This film is a great example of Japanese
exploitation and how elaborate and messed up the minds of some can
be.
The
film stars Teruo Yoshida, Yukie Kagawa, Naomi Shiraishi, and Fumio
Watanabe.
Shogun's
Joy of Torture
is presented in 1080p high definition with an MPEG-4 AVC codec and a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35 X 1 and an original uncompressed
mono PCM audio mix audio mix in Japanese with optional English
subtitles. The film has been nicely restored here and features a new
high definition presentation that bests previous versions.
Special
Features:
Audio
commentary by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes
Teruo
Ishii: Erotic-Grotesque Maestro
- an exclusively newly filmed interview with the author Patrick
Macias
Bind,
Torture, Thrill
- author and critic Jasper Sharp discusses the history of torture in
Japanese exploitation cinema
Original
Theatrical Trailer
Image
gallery
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jacob
Phillips
and
FIRST
PRESSING ONLY:
Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by
Mark Schilling.
You
can order The
Bermuda Depths
Warner Archive Blu-ray by going to this link for them and many more
great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Hercules)
and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
