The
Double
(1971/Radiance Blu-ray*)/Murder
Is Easy
(2023/Agatha Christie/Fifth Season DVD**)/Red
Sun 4K
(1973/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray*)/Relentless
(1989/Blu-ray**)/Scream
7 4K
(2026/Paramount 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray/**all
Alliance)/Starbright
(2024/Blu-ray w/CD/*all MVD)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+/A- Picture: B-/C+/B/B-/B+/B- Sound:
C+/C+/C+/C+/A- & B+/B Extras: B/D/B-/D/B-/C- Main
Programs: B-/C+/C+/C/C+/C-
These
genre films are often missing genres, but results vary...
Romolo
Guerrieri's The
Double
(1971) is one of the more challenging thrillers that came out in the
wake of the French New Wave and includes films by Nicolas Roeg and
the likes of Boorman's Point
Blank
(1967) where the story is told out of order and you have to piece
together what is really happening. Young Giovanni (Jean Sorel) is
driving home in his fancy car when he sees someone in his garage and
when he parks, the old man pulls a gun and starts shooting him. Why?
We
spend the rest of the film trying to piece together who both men are,
why the shooting and what is really going on. Mostly coming from
Giovanni's memory, some of the segments we see are more about what he
desired to do than what he did and he is searching quickly through
his mind to figure out what to do next. Can we figure it out? Can
any answers save him or help stop this man from killing again? Is it
all too late?
Though
not as well known as it ought to be, this new way to have a mystery
would continue from other Roeg films and The
Last Of Sheila
to Nolan's Momento
and is the kind of filmmaking we do not see enough. Sometimes the
editing is a little limited (or limiting) and the nudity and violence
is not toned down much, making this even more realistic in the
context of how the film tells its story, but is a film all serious
film fans should see at least once. Nice its back, restored and with
expanded extras. Definitely recommended.
Extras
include
another exceptional, brand new, feature length audio commentary track
by Tim Lucas (2026)
Archival
interview with director Romolo Guerrieri and star Eva Aulin, newly
edited for this release (2026)
Appreciation
by author Stephen Thrower (2026)
Easter
egg (2 mins)
Reversible
sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
and
a limited edition (3,000 copies) booklet featuring new writing by
Nathaniel Thompson.
Murder
Is Easy
(2023) is a more
direct adaption of the 1939 story (also known as Easy
To Kill)
with Luke Fitzwilliam (well played by David Jonsson) when a an older
woman (named Miss Pinkerton!) who happens to join him in his train
room explains that people are being murdered where she is from and
thinks a few deaths are very much connected. He decides to
investigate.
Done
in two parts, we previously covered an adaption of the book as an
episode of the Julia McKenzie Miss Marple TV series in 2008 altered
to make Marple the one on the train who hears the news. That worked,
but was not as expansive as this, which also gives us an extended
subplot on Fitzwilliam's past that recalls the recent Branagh/Poirot
feature films.
Some
might find this longer than it needed to be and it can be a little
long, but I liked what they did here and mystery fans will want to
give it a look. Note the only other version was a 1982 Bill Bixby
telefilm with an amazing cast warner issued on DVD way back in 2006,
but has not been reissued since, for some odd reason.
There
are no extras.
Terence
Young was considered a solid journeyman filmmaker for years, then he
directed Dr.
No
(1962,) the first James Bond film, followed that with two of the next
three Bond films and was permanently
established as a director who was a formidable force. As a result,
he started making films that were considered events of one kind of
another. The
Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders,
The
Poppy Is Also A Flower,
Triple
Cross,
Wait
Until Dark
and Mayerling
were among those films, then came Red
Sun 4K
(1973.)
A
Western with a few twists, a group of men intend to rob a train, but
they are unaware than a major Japanese Ambassador and his crew are
aboard and carrying more wealth than they expected. The Ambassador's
bodyguard (Toshiro Mifune) comes face to face with a gun-toting pair
(Charles Bronson and Alain Delon) who only have money on their mind,
but things will not go as planned with unexpected twists and turns
none of them expect.
The
script give the film a chance to have Samurai cinema clash with
Westerns, which is interesting since a few Samurai films inspired
Westerns, but this is not done in a shallow or slap-dash way. The
film eventually goes off in a direction that leaves the narrative
behind a bit, though it keeps in mind that one of the Samurai swords
is meant as a gift for the President of the United States. The
actors sure get showcased well and two Dr.
No
alumni (Ursula Andress and Anthony Dawson) turn up along with
Capucine, so the star power by people who can act is a plus.
However,
the film comes up a little short with some later points not being as
exciting as they could have been and a few others a little
predictable. Still, another ambitious project from Young, who was
using his clout to get films made that otherwise probably would not
exist and The
Valachi Papers
would be next, one of the tougher gangster dramas in the wake of the
first Godfather.
All serious film fans need to see this one at least once.
Extras
include a
brand new audio commentary by critics C. Courtney Joyner and Henry
Parke
A
Global Western,
a brand new appreciation of the film by scholar Jose Arroyo
The
Ghosts of the Samurai,
a brand new visual essay by Daisuke Miyao
The
Man with the Gold Tooth,
a new appreciation of Alain Delon by Mark Gallagher
Pour
le Cinema,
an archival behind-the scenes look at the film
Un
Journal du Cinema,
an archival television interview with Terence Young and Toshiro
Mifune
Original
Theatrical trailer
Image
gallery
Collectors'
booklet featuring new writing by Paul Talbot and Moya Luckett
and
a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned art by
Robert Sammelin.
Judd
Nelson was a successful comic act who tried to branch out in William
Lustig's
Relentless
(1989,) a thriller where he is a disturbed killer. It may not have
totally worked out, but was more ambitious on his part than many
realized. He gets one of the best indie thriller writer/directors,
has a cast that includes Robert Loggia, Meg Foster, Angel Tompkins
and Leo Rossi, then holds nothing back. Lustig (Maniac,
Vigilante,
Maniac
Cop,
Uncle
Sam)
is even a little restrained for a more commercial effect and the
result is an interesting film that is watchable, even when it does
not work.
Released
by the smaller Cinetel Films at a time when we had more independent
sources and a better industry, it has more interesting moments than
you might expect, while also being a time capsule of the late analog
era as far as technology used is concerned. Some may find that
amusing and charming, even a sometimes time capsule, but Nelson can
be proud that he at least tried to do something more than some of his
contemporaries and that why at least thriller fans will want to give
this one a look.
There
are no extras.
Neve
Campbell returns in Scream
7
(2026), which is directed by franchise veteran screenwriter Kevin
Williamson. Behind-the-scenes drama prevented key Scream
5 and
Scream
VI
cast members Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega from returning, so Neve
Campbell and Courteney Cox lead the fight against two new Ghostface
killers. The seventh installment isn't horrible, but it doesn't do
much with the franchise that hasn't been done better before,
resulting in a passable but not particularly memorable entry.
Neve
Campbell, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown, McKenna
Grace, and Mason Gooding star in the film.
Sydney
Prescott (Campbell) is living in hiding in a new town far from
Woodsboro and has moved on with her life after years of being stalked
and terrorized. She now has a family of her own. While she has
enjoyed a period of peace following the events of Scream
5, a
new Ghostface killer emerges and begins threatening her. Soon, she
finds herself caught in another deadly game of cat and mouse as the
killer targets her teenage daughter and those closest to her.
Scream
7
lacks some of the personality found in the stronger entries of the
series and contains fewer movie references than its predecessors. I
also suspect the film was rewritten several times after some of the
key characters from the previous installment were removed from the
story. Some of the franchise's legacy characters, particularly
Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers, feel exhausted at this point, becoming
more one-dimensional than when Wes Craven first brought them to the
screen. The inclusion of past killers and the commentary on AI are
interesting ideas, but neither pays off in a particularly satisfying
way. Ultimately, the film feels overly predictable and fails to
measure up to the stronger entries in the franchise, though it is far
from terrible.
Special
Features:
Scar
Tissue: The Making Of Scream 7
Building
Tension: Production Design
Dance
Of Death: Stunts
Music
Video: Ice Nine Kills Presents "Twisting
The Knife"
Featuring Mckenna Grace.
and
6 Deleted Scenes.
Due
to the franchise's continued financial success and pop-culture
relevance, Scream
will likely be around until all of the original legacy actors finally
decide to stop answering that ringing phone. I feel like the
franchise will always have to lean on its legacy characters to keep
the studio happy. As the failed Scream
MTV produced series proved, the Scream
IP
simply doesn't pack the same punch without those characters, no
matter how many young stars are thrown into the mix. Not unlike how
the Halloween
franchise feels a little off without Jamie Lee Curtis' involvement,
Scream seems intrinsically tied to its core cast. Time will tell,
but for now, let's hope Ghostface gives us all a couple of years'
break before the killer, or killers, emerge once again.
For
more on the previous films, here is our Blu-ray coverage of the first
three films:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10932/The+Scream+Trilogy+(1996/1997/2000/Lionsgate+Blu-
And
on Scream
4:
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16826/Dead+Alive+(1992/Lionsgate+Blu-ray)/Mimic+(1997/Li
Francesco
Lucente's
Starbright
(2024) is a film that is all over the place, genre-wise and
otherwise, when a young lady (Alexandra Dowling) wishes on a falling
star. Before she knows it, an archangel (John Rhys-Davies) visits
her, a bad guy shows up, weird things start happening and she is
given some power to fight it, but is that enough?
From
there, it could have followed the usual quest formula ands been a
fantasy film at best, but it also gets a bit violent, turns into an
action film, has a Hollywood Musical moments and keeps this up to
the point it cannot hold itself together. Talk about throwing in
everything but the kitchen sink!
This
might become a curio or cult item at some point, but had the makers
not gone overboard so often, this might have worked on some level.
Diego Boneta and Ted Levine lead the supporting cast.
Extras
include a bonus CD soundtrack, while the Blu-ray adds Starbright
- In The Making
Documentary
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Red
Sun 4K
has fine color and is the best I have seen it look in eons, the kind
of new scan the film needed badly. The 1080p Blu-ray is also good,
but does not have the warmth, color and density of the 4K disc. The
PCM 1.0 Mono on both versions show the sound's age and has some sonic
limits, but is about as good as it will ever sound, though a 2.0 Mono
track might have been better.
Scream
7 4K
is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra
HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image, a widescreen
aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an audio track in lossless Dolby
Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) and
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit). Also included is a 1080p
high definition on regular Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a
widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and an English DTS-HD Master Audio
5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit). The film looks and sounds great on the 4K UHD
format and significantly better than the Blu-ray by a long shot.
More detail is evident in HDR and the night scenes have great detail
in them.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on The
Double
Blu-ray looks good, a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera
negative that really delivers a solid, consistent picture. The
Italian PCM 1.0 Mono shows its age and has its sonic limits, but is
about as good as it will ever sound, though a 2.0 Mono track might
have been better.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the
Relentless
Blu-ray looks decent, with the usual semi-raw style all Lustig films
are shot in and edited like, not spectacular here, but not bad. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix is a little weaker
than expected, but is at least consistent.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the
Starbright
Blu-ray looks decent and is consistent, but more than a few shots
have too much digital visual work for their own good, while the
lossless Dolby
Atmos (aka Dolby TrueHD 7.1) fares a bit better than the DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes, but not by that
much. The combination is competent, but without much memorable about
it. The CD soundtrack also sounds very good.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Murder
Is Easy
has some good and interesting color grading, but intended softness is
joined by softness that comes from the limits of the DVD format. The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds a bit better than the also-included,
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, but expect limits from the old
codec.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Scream)
https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/
