An American Werwolf In London 4K (1981/Universal/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray*)/Deadly Games (1982/Blu-ray/*both MVD/Arrow)/DeathCheaters (1976/Region Free**)/Fist Of Fury (1972/Region B/**both Umbrella Import Blu-ray)/Madame Blanc Mysteries: Series 1 (2021/Acorn DVDs)/Seobok: Project Clone (2021/Well Go Blu-ray)

4K Picture: A- Picture: X/B+/B/B/B+/C+ Sound: A-/B+/B-/B-/B+/C+ Extras: B+/C+/B/B-/C/C+ Main Programs: B+/C+/C+/B-/C+/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The DeathCheaters and Fist Of Fury Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia. Fury can only play on 4K and Blu-ray players that can handle Region B discs, while DeathCheaters will work on all such players. Both can be ordered from the link below.

Up next are restorations of two classics, two cult films and two new genre entries...

John Landis' masterwork An American Werwolf In London 4K (1981), finally gets the 4K UHD treatment that it deserves thanks to Arrow Video. This film has been released a million times on home video over the years on various formats, but this is the best it has ever looked. You may recall that Arrow released a similar looking edition of the film last year on Limited Edition Blu-ray, which was reviewed elsewhere on this site. Aside from the 4K presentation of the film and the Dolby Vision/HDR presentation, the other discs, lobby cards, and packaging are nearly identical to that release. Which, as a fan, I would rather have some variation on the outer packaging at least. That's a small gripe in this stacked and ultimate edition of this horror/comedy classic.

The film stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter.

The film centers around two American college students David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) who go for a hike near London, and end up stalked by a vicious werewolf. While Jack is brutally killed, David is scratched and ends up slowly becoming a 'wolf man.' As he awakens in a London hospital, he meets a beautiful nurse (Jenny Agutter) and starts to hit it off with her. But soon, she is in danger, as David must control the monster inside him...

After the Universal classic The Wolfman starring Lon Chaney Jr. (reviewed on its own 4K disc elsewhere on this site), An American Werewolf in London is a high contender for the greatest werewolf movie of all time. Featuring then groundbreaking (and still startling today) Oscar-winning special effects by the genius Rick Baker, this eccentric masterpiece is equal parts horror and comedy, with a heart pounding score and a great cast. If you haven't seen this or haven't seen this in a while, I can't stress how awesome this edition is!

An American Werewolf in London 4K is presented in 2160p HECV/H.265, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on 4K UHD disc and a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and lossless audio mixes (with pitch errors corrected from previous versions) are here in English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit). The restoration down by Arrow is quite impressive and even more detailed in this edition with eye popping visual upgrades that make the film even more intense and enjoyable than previous editions. We were even shocked by the improvements despite having seen the 4K transfer's reduction for that standard, Limited Edition Blu-ray recently.

Special Features:

Audio commentary by Beware the Moon filmmaker Paul Davis

Audio commentary by actors David Naughton and Griffin Dunne

Mark of The Beast: The Legacy of the Universal Werewolf, a feature-length documentary by filmmaker Daniel Griffith, featuring interviews with John Landis, David Naughton, Joe Dante and more

An American Filmmaker in London, an interview with John Landis in which he reflects on British cinema and his time working in Britain

I Think He's a Jew: The Werewolf's Secret, a video essay by filmmaker Jon Spira (Elstree 1976, reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) about how Landis' film explores Jewish identity

The Werewolf's Call, Corin Hardy, director of The Hallow and The Nun, chats with writer Simon Ward about their formative experiences with Landis' film

Wares of the Wolf, a featurette in which SFX artist Dan Martin and Tim Lawes of Prop Store look at some of the original costumes and special effects artifacts from the film

Beware the Moon, Paul Davis' acclaimed, feature-length exploration of Landis' film which boasts extensive cast and crew interviews

An American Werewolf in Bob's Basement and Causing a Disturbance: Piccadilly Revisited, two 2008 featurettes filmed by Paul Davis

Making An American Werewolf in London, a short archival featurette on the film's production

An Interview with John Landis, a lengthy archival interview with the director about the film

Make-up Artist Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London, the legendary make-up artist discusses his work on the film

I Walked with a Werewolf, an archival interview with Rick Baker about Universal horror and its legacy of Wolfman films

Casting of the Hand, archival footage from Rick Baker's workshop showing the casting of David Naughton's hand

Outtakes

Storyboards featurette

Original trailer and teaser plus TV and radio spots

Extensive image gallery featuring over 200 stills, posters and other ephemera

Reversible sleeve featuring original poster art and artwork by Graham Humphreys

Double-sided fold-out poster

Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproductions

and a Limited Edition 60-page, perfect-bound book featuring new writing by Craig Ian Mann and Simon Ward, archival articles and original reviews.

This 4K edition is really impressive and will be hard to top. Which is a comforting thought to those of us that have bought this film countless times over the years on various formats!

Arrow Video also brings the lost '80s slasher/thriller Deadly Games (1982) to disc for the first time ever. Written and directed by Scott Mansfield, the film centers on a sleepy town where a masked killer is running around killing women. After one of his victims escapes (Jo Ann Harris), she vows to figure out who the culprit is, with her eyes set on a policeman and a movie theater projectionist. The film has a great look it and has some good character development in its screening, however, the pacing is a bit slow.

The film stars Sam Groom, Steve Railsback, Denise Galik, Dick Butkus, and Colleen Camp,

Deadly Games is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio and an uncompressed PCM Mono 1.0 mix, both if which look and sound of a high quality for the format. The is a 2K restoration of the original camera negative, and the film definitely has an dark '80s feel to it that you see in other genre films of the time.

Special Features:

Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues

Sooty's a Sh*t: a brand new interview with actor Jere Rae-Mansfield

Practical Magic: a brand new interview with special effects and stunt co-ordinator John Eggett

Extensive image gallery featuring never-before-seen production photos and promotional material

Original Trailer

Original screenplay under the title Who Fell Asleep [BD-ROM content]

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Ralf Krause

and First Pressing Only: Fully-illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by film historian/author Amanda Reyes.

Brian Trenchard-Smith's DeathCheaters (1976) has been on Blu-ray before, but as a low-def bonus on an earlier Blu-ray of Trenchard-Smith's The Man From Hong Kong. An enjoyable Oz-Ploitation film in its own right, it is meant as a showcase for stuntman extraordinaire Grant Page: You can read more about it starting at this link, then in my coverage years ago in its now out-of-print DVD set at:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14591/The+Blob+(1988+remake/Sony/TriStar/Umbrella+i

Though the script's story is on the weak and obvious side, the film really kicks in (no pun intended) with its action sequences and that is the reason to see this, a film most people in the U.S. have not. I really enjoyed seeing the film better than ever and the higher fidelity restored presentation makes the stuntwork and action more impactful and vivid. The film deserves this top rate treatment and anyone seeing it will agree.

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film with a solid HD master that shows of the grain and girt that was always there, but also new details and definitely some very rich and consistent color, making this the only way to see the film outside of a mint film print.

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix has some moments too aged to ignore, but it has more than enough moments that the sound manages to kick in that it is better than any of the previous video editions and is as good as this film is likely to ever sound.

Extras are expanded from any previous editions and include (per the press release) NEW 16-PAGE COMIC BOOK ADAPTATION FROM DARK OZ that fits inside the Blu-ray case

• NEW EXTENDED NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD INTERVIEWS WITH BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH, GRANT PAGE AND JOHN SEALE

• NEW 'REMEMBERING DEATHCHEATERS' AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RICHARD BRENNAN

• NEW LINER NOTES FROM DIRECTOR BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH

• 2008 COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RICHARD BRENNAN AND CAST MEMBER MARGARET TRENCHARD-SMITH

• BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH TRAILER REEL

• THEATRICAL TRAILER

• and BONUS FEATURE: DANGERFREAKS - THE ULTIMATE STUNT DOCUMENTARY DIRECTED BY BRIAN TRENCHARD-SMITH

Lo Wei's Fist Of Fury (1972) is Bruce Lee's second big leading man feature film, following The Big Boss (1971) which we already reviewed from Umbrella Entertainment's new 'Films Of Fury' series that is promising to be most impressive. You can read about the first installment here:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16081/Big+Boss+(1971+aka+Chinese+Connection+aka+I

This time, a former teacher of his has been murdered, apparently by Japanese group of martial artists who despise the Chinese and now are even working with Russian killers, so he has no choice but to go into action to reap revenge. After a remarkable first action sequence, the stakes only increase and more action, revenge, violence and tension combine to make this a more than worth second classic Lee film. Sometimes also issued as Chinese Connection like the prior film, it is a totally new film and I had not seen it in a very long time. Great to have it back!

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film from the original 35mm anamorphic Dyaliscope camera materials. These lenses were not always the sharpest, clearest or best, but they were more than good enough for these films and help them have their distinct visual character. Color is very consistent too.

We get six soundtrack options (!!!) overall in a amusing-as-expect English dub of the time, plus Cantonese and Mandarin DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes, all also here in simple stereo, but not any lossless format, but lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that just are too weak to bother with. That leaves the very different Cantonese and Mandarin 5.1 mixes, of which the former is quieter, has less music, less sound effects and has some sound elements that are too weak or compressed-sounding. The Mandarin has more music, is strong and might be more over the top for some, but I liked it best by a narrow margin over the Cantonese, but both are important mixes and it is worth trying the film with both.

Extras include (per the press release) Feature documentary: Bruce Lee, the Legend

• Interview with Yuen Wah

• Interview Jun Natsumura, Nora Miao, Riki Hashimoto

• Alternate Openings

• Alternate Ending

• Stills gallery

• and Original Theatrical Trailers: Re-edit 4K Trailer, Cantonese Trailer, English Trailer, and Mandarin Trailer

Our one TV entry, Madame Blanc Mysteries: Series 1 (2021) is yet another British mystery series with the title character (Sally Lindsay) dealing with her husband dying, but before she can go to France and sell their antiques place, new details start to turn up that he may have been killed! Thus, she must investigate and then other mysteries start to surface.

We get six episodes in all and they are not bad, but they are also not great, a little too mixed overall and not that very memorable. Additionally, the show hopes to coast on the appeal of the casted actors and they are not bad, but they cannot overcome predictability and that we have seen one to many of these 'in a nice town with murders' shows that remain popular despite being so very cliched by now. See it if you are really interested. Others might want to pass.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on the episodes are HD-shot and not bad for that format or this older one with some softness and motion blur here and there, but color is consistent, while the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound on each show is a little weak, but not as low or poor as many resent such Dvd releases from several companies we've encountered lately.

Extras include a Script To Screen (49 minutes) featurette and Antiques & You (5 minutes) featurette clip.

Finally, if you are a fan of cloning gone awry movies then Lee Yong-ju's Seobok: Project Clone (2021) will surely satisfy your appetite. I still think that one of the more clever cloning films was Schwarzenegger's The 6th Day (2000), but this film doesn't take things quite as far as that one.

In this film, there's one human clone that causes a lot of trouble. In fact, even though he looks and sounds like a normal human, he's really a genetic clone that has higher brain wave function than your normal person. Which means he can do some really cool telekinetic type stuff. The film centers on a strung-out detective of sorts who visits a huge cargo ship that is housing a cloning lab. After he feels soft for the poor clone guy being all locked up and experimented on, he ends up helping him escape and all hell breaks loose. The film isn't anything we haven't seen before, but is still pretty entertaining. It's interesting to me to see foreign films kind of mimic American films and this one certainly falls under that category.

Seobok: Project Clone stars Park Bo-Gum, Gong Yoo, and Jang Young-Nam.

The film 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 an original Korean DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 with optional English subtitles and English dubbed DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) lossless mixes that round out a nice HD transfer that's up to standards. The film has a lot of sound effects and the action sequence blaze out of the surround pretty well. The film feels pretty big budget and the sound and image on this disc are fine.

Special Features: International and American Trailers.

To order the DeathCheaters and/or Fist Of Fury Umbrella import Blu-rays, go to this link for them and many other hard to find releases at:

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

- Nicholas Sheffo (Acorn, Umbrella) and James Lockhart

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