Eli
Roth's History Of Horror: Season 2
(2020/RLJ Blu-ray)/Malignant
(2021/Warner Blu-ray)/Never
Back Down: Revolt
(2021/Sony Blu-ray)/Snake
Girl and the Silver Haired Witch
(1968/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)/Stunt
Rock
(1978/Umbrella Region Free Import Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ (Rock:
B) Sound: B+ (Rock:
B-) Extras: C+/C/D/B/B+ Main Programs: B/C+/C/C+/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Stunt
Rock
Import Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can play on Blu-ray and 4K players and
can be ordered from the link below.
Horror,
suspense and action mix in these new releases...
Horror
Filmmaker Eli Roth (Hostel,
Cabin
Fever,
Green
Inferno)
hosts this documentary series for Shudder on The History of Horror,
which is presented here in Eli
Roth's History Of Horror: Season 2
(2020)
that spans two Blu-ray disc.
The
themes for this season include Houses
of Hell, Monsters, Body Horror, Witches, Chilling Children,
and Nine
Nightmares.
Interviewees
include Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino, Bill Hader, Greg Nicotero,
Piper Laurie, Rob Zombie, Slash, Jordan Peele, and more.
The
series is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an
MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and a lossless
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo mix, all of which look
and sound fine on Blu-ray disc and improve over the original
streaming broadcast on Shudder.
Special
Features:
CGI
vs Practical Effects
The
Chilling Children of Horror
and
Movies That Scared My Pants Off
There
have been many documentaries on horror movies in recent years with
the best still being the independently produced The History of Heavy
Metal and Horror, which is still making its rounds on the film
festival circuit and the In
Search of Darkness
series, which is very long and involved and goes through just about
every title you can think of.
What
this particular show / documentary has going for it are the names
they get in the interview chair, all of which are pretty impressive
and informative about the subject. Despite what your opinion on the
work of Mr. Eli Roth may be, which in this reviewer's opinion is a
mixed bag, his love for the genre is clear and he speaks about it
with enthusiasm and so that alone makes the show a bit more fun than
usual.
Filmmaker
James Wan has climbed the Hollywood ranks over recent years with his
Conjuring and Annabelle franchises, not to mention helming the
Aquaman
films. Here, Warner Brothers gives him a chance to make an original
if not bizarre horror movie, Malignant
(2021),
which has a strong first two acts and then gets downright silly in
the third. Despite its less realistic qualities, Malignant
is entertaining and commendable for its originality if nothing else.
The
film also stars Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White,
and Jean Louisa Kelly.
The
beautiful actress Annabelle Wallis (the Tom Cruise The
Mummy)
ends up haunted by visions of grisly murders and terrible things as
if she herself is experiencing them. With periods her life
forgotten, this terrified woman slowly unlocks the mystery to her
past that is shocking to say the least.
SPOILERS:...
Essentially,
she ends up realizing that an alternate personally goblin lives
inside the back of her head and ends up taking over her body while
she is asleep or unconscious. The build up to the reveal of the
creature is pretty cool, but once he starts fighting ninja style and
taking out a police station like Jackie Chan on bath salts; the
realism tends to go out the window. Had he made it maybe a bit more
subtle, this would have been more effective, but I feel the reveal is
so silly that for some people it will just end up to be a laugh fest
which isn't what Mr. Wan clearly had planned. For others, it might
work. The absurdity of the twist is what makes the film stand out,
but whether it works or not is dependent on the viewer really.
Malignant
is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1, and a lossless English DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix. The film was not released at
this time on the 4K UHD format, and so this is the best presentation
available for now. That being said, it is up to blu-ray standards,
but with a film with such an interesting choice of color and
darkness, the 4K update would/should produce a better image.
Special
Features include:
Malignant:
James Wan's Visions
featurette
Borrowing
a bit from campier films like Basket
Case
or Retribution
(now just
released on disc from Severin Films, reviewed elsewhere on this
site), Malignant
is an exercise in freedom on behalf of James Wan, but feels almost
like an R-rated episode of Goosebumps
or Creepshow
at times. It's worth a watch, but probably won't go down as a
classic.
Never
Back Down: Revolt
(2021) is
a martial arts sequel that isn't necessarily bad but painfully
average. The film centers around a fighter (Olivia Popica) who ends
up fighting in an elite underground fighting ring against her own
will.
The
original film came out (way back) in 2008 and is reviewed here:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7318/Never+Back+Down:+Extended+Beat+Down+Edition
The
film stars Michael Bisping, Nitu Chandra Srivasttava, Brooke
Johnston, Diana Hoyos, and James Faulkne.
Never
Back Down: Revolt
is presented in 1080p high definition with an MPEG-4 AVC codec and an
original aspect ratio of 2.00:1 with a lossless DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 mix. The HD transfer is up to Blu-ray standards and
doesn't have any visible flaws.
No
extras.
The
Snake Girl and the Silver Haired Witch
(1968)
gets a startling new restoration on disc thanks to Arrow in this
collectible new edition. The film is pretty interesting and would be
prime for a remake film in the same vein now.
A
little girl is reunited with her family after many years of being an
orphan, but her mother has changed and her father is deep into his
studies of snakes. When the little girl meets a new sister, she
suspects that she is a snake herself! The film is based on Umezu's
comics and from the director of the Gamera
series.
The
Snake Girl and the Silver Haired Witch
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1, and a lossless
Japanese DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Mono mix. The black and white
presentation overall looks and sounds fantastic.
Special
Features:
A
brand new feature-length audio commentary track by the great film
historian David Kalat
This
Charming Woman,
a newly filmed interview with manga and folklore scholar Zack
Davisson
Theatrical
trailer
Image
gallery
Reversible
sleeve featuring new and original artwork by Mike Lee-Graham
and
First
Pressing Only:
Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing by Raffael
Coronelli.
Last
but not least, we have a new upgrade of Brian Trenchard-Smith's Stunt
Rock
(1978) mixing heavy metal music, split screen, smart editing and
insane stunts by Australian stunt man and film legend Grant Page. A
one-of-a-kind piece, this partial documentary piece is worth a good
look and we originally covered it years ago on a now out-of-print DVD
import we reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9802/Stunt+Rock+(1978+aka+Sorcery+aka+Crash/Regio
Now
here restored in an impressive and notably improved 1080p 2.35 X 1
digital High Definition image transfer, you may get some more grain
(especially in optical printing of the split screen) but color,
depth, detail and clarity improve nicely throughout and males the
impact of the stunts much stronger and impresses just how dangerous
they were and are. Any viewer will be pleasantly surprised.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is also a nice
improvement, but a 4-track magnetic stereo version was mixed, but
apparently is lost or has not been recovered yet. Still, you can
hear everything much clearer that on the old DVD. Umbrella had
included a low def version as a bonus on their great Blu-ray of
Trenchard-Smith's wild The
Man From Hong Kong
(1975, reviewed elsewhere on this site) void of any of its extras.
Extras
from the older DVD are here, then new ones added, expanding the
offerings to include:
ALL
NEW: 16-PAGE COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION BY DARK OZ (LIMITED
TO 3,000 COPIES)
ALL
NEW: THE
ULTIMATE RUSH:
A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN AND MARGARET TRENCHARD-SMITH
EXTENDED
INTERVIEWS FROM NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD WITH DIRECTOR
BRIAN-TRENCHARD-SMITH AND ACTOR/STUNTMAN GRANT PAGE
2008
AUDIO COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH AND CAST
MEMBERS GRANT PAGE AND MARGARET TRENCHARD-SMITH
2008
AUDIO COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH, PRODUCER MARTY
FINK AND ACTOR RICHARD BLACKBURN
2009
INTRODUCTION TO THE FILM
2009
INTERVIEWS: BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH, SMOKEY HUFFS AND MARTY FINK
2009
AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH SORCERY DRUMMER PERRY MORRIS
BRIAN
TRENCHARD-SMITH'S ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE APPEARANCES
CANNES
PROMO REEL
ALL
NEW: BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH TRAILER REEL (40 minutes of promos for
his many other action films)
HD
THEATRICAL TRAILER
and
TRAILERS FROM HELL WITH COMMENTARY BY BRIAN TRENCHARD SMITH
To
order the
Umbrella Stunt
Rock
import Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Stunt)
and James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
