Contamination
(1980/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray w/DVD)/Run
Of The Arrow
(1957/RKO/Warner Archive DVD)
Picture:
B & C+/C Sound: B- & C/C+ Extras: C+/D Films:
C+/C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Run
Of The Arrow
is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive
series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here
are two genre films that may not always work, but you should know
about them...
Luigi
Cozzi's Contamination
(1980) is one of those amusing Italian knock-offs of a big Hollywood
hit. In this case, it joins the obvious Alien
2
(also reviewed on this site) as a major takeoff of Ridley Scott's
Alien
(1979, also on several sections of this site) combined with the first
two Invasion
Of The Body Snatchers,
the original RKO The
Thing
with touches of John Carpenter, Dario Argento and George Romero in
this sometimes effective amalgamation of their elements with a mix if
good scenes and one too many campy ones. To its credit, it can be
suspenseful and contextually graphic.
A
cargo ship arrives in New York City with its crew brutally decimated,
but how? A scientific crew immediately investigates, discovering the
body exploded in parts as if from miniature grenades, but the real
source soon turns out to be the gooey insides of mysterious,
sometimes glowing pods no one has ever seen before. Thus the
scientists have to use the best technology of the day (which looked a
bit dated even then) to solve the mystery and stop the killing before
its too late.
Unfortunately,
the film gets crazy with its latex effects, storyline and gets slap
happy silly in the end, ruining any chance for greatness or for this
to play to its best strengths and really work. It is still worth a
look for what works
and Arrow does a great job of restoring it and bringing together a
great extras package on it for Blu-ray. Ian McCulloch and Marlene
Marleau lead the cast.
Extras
include a reversible sleeve featuring original, newly commissioned
artwork by Gary Pullin & a collector's booklet featuring new
writing on the film by filmmaker, Fangoria
Magazine
editor & Contamination
super-fan Chris Alexander, illustrated with original archive stills
and posters, while the discs add a feature-length audio commentary by
Alexander that by his own admission does not stick with the film,
then we get Luigi Cozzi on the Creation of Contamination - an archive
documentary hosted by the director and including behind-the-scenes
footage, 2014 Q&A with Cozzi and star Ian McCulloch, Sound
of the Cyclops:
Goblin's Maurizio Guarini on the music of Contamination;
the Goblin keyboardist discusses Contamination's
dark, progressive rock score and a lifetime of making music for
Italian terror, the well done Imitation
Is The Sincerest Form of Flattery
- a critical analysis of the Italian ''Mockbusters'' trend of
filmmaking which sought to capitalize on the success of Hollywood
blockbusters and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Sam
Fuller's Run
Of The Arrow
(1957) has Rod Steiger so disgusted the South lost the Civil War that
he heads West, only to get nabbed by the Sioux Native American tribe
(more realistic here compared to most Westerns of the time, if still
obviously dated) and forced through the title endurance ritual.
Stereotypes still abound despite some grittiness and thoughtfulness
on Fuller's part and Steiger steals just about every scene he's in.
RKO
made this one in their waining years before being sold and like
Tennessee's
Partners,
Underwater
and Sightly
Scarlet
proves the studio could still produce films that were, interesting,
different and ambitious, even if not as consistently as in their
heyday. Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker and Charles Bronson also star in
this curio that has some scenes and moments that work.
Unfortunately, it has not aged well.
There
are no extras.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on
Contamination
comes from the original 35mm camera negative, is a new 2K transfer
and has been restored very well, though the age of the materials used
can show in spots. Otherwise, this is pretty impressive throughout
and shows the film had a smart use of color like so many Italian
horror films. The
anamorphically enhanced DVD is not bad, but cannot handle the better
definition or color.
Run
was shot in a 1.33 X 1 frame, then cropped and issued in 35mm
anamorphic widescreen in what was briefly known as RKO Scope, the
studio's attempt to come up with a successor to their SuperScope
format (a precursor to Super 35 which faked scope by not using
squeeze lenses, but cutting a small scope frame out of a 35mm
square). This was one of only 3 films to be dubbed as being in the
format, the second one and the second of two to cheat with coming
from a 1.33 X 1 shoot. This
DVD version gives us an anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image that
has detail issues and color issues, which is a shame because the RKO
Scope prints were (compromised as they may have been) in 35mm,
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints. This never look that
good, can be muddy and has detail issues, as well as fading in parts
and should be redone in 1.33 X 1 for Blu-ray.
The
PCM 1.0 Mono Italian track on the Contamination
Blu-ray is a bit better than the English PCM 1.0 track, both coming
from original magnetic soundmasters, then restored. The Goblin score
is a highlight and sounds good here too, while it ids the same story
for both language tracks in lossy Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono on the DVD
version of the film. However, it is much weaker in both cases.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Run
actually falls between the two, sounding good for its age and a
candidate for a lossless sound restoration.
To
order the Run
Of The Arrow
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
