DEAD OF NIGHT 1945 On Blu-Ray From Kino

 

   On July 9 Kino Lorber studio Classics is releasing the classic British horror anthology DEAD OF NIGHT.

   Released in the fall of 1945, it was the first British horror film produced since 1936 when the BBFC began to actively discourage the production of horror film much as its U.S. counterpart the PCA had been doing. Produced by Ealing Studios it consists of five tales of the supernatural and a framing device and can be looked upon as a predecessor to the string of horror anthologies produced by Amicus during the 1960's and 70's. Two of the three segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti along with Charles Crichton (who would direct A FISH CALLED WANDA), Robert Hammer and Basil Deardon (who also directed the wrap-around segments).

    Like most anthologies some stories work better than others with the comedic ghost story featuring a pair of golfers being the outlier here. DEAD OF NIGHT does have a couple of corkers including one concerning a haunted mirror and the justifiably famous one with Michael Redgrave and a malevolent ventriloquist dummy. The original U.S. release had two the segments cut including the golfing and a Christmas themed one which brought the run time down to 77 min., but this release will contain the full 110 min. version. 

   Kino's release will be based on 4K restoration released by Studiocanal in the UK (I own this disc and it's a beauty) and the Kino disc will feature a commentary by Tim Lucas and an excellent 75 min. documentary carried over from the Studiocanal release. 

DARK OF THE SUN 1968 on Blu-Ray

       Based upon a book by African adventure specialist Wilbur Smith, 1968's DARK OF THE SUN is a balls-to-the-wall action film that barely pauses to catch its breath during its nail-bitingly intense 100 min. running time. Directed by Academy Award cinematographer Jack Cardiff (BLACK NARCISSUS) it features Rod Taylor as a mercenary Capt. Curry in the war-torn Congo of the 1960's. Curry who along with his buddy/comrade Sgt. Ruffo (Jim Brown) is hired to rescue a group of stranded Europeans who are caught behind the lines. Jacking up the tension considerably is the real motive behind the "rescue"- $50,000,000 worth of diamonds held in a bank there.
      Regulated to some late-night TV showings and a pan & scan VHS, this was mercifully rescued by Warner Archive for a DVD release a few years back and now we have a beautiful Blu -Ray that brings forth the sweaty violence in startling clarity.
     Gathering together a group of mercenaries including Peter Carsten dubbed by Paul Frees) as a sadistic ex-Nazi turned mercenary and in a very touching performance that could have easily gone the wrong way Kenneth Moore as an alcoholic doctor they travel by a heavily armed train their destination, picking up missionary Yvette Mimieux (reuniting with Taylor from THE TIME MACHINE) along the way. The plot gives us a nice lead-up, spending just enough time in preparation of and the train journey itself to let each character develop their own individuality. Mimieux at first seems hopelessly out-of-place in the midst of the mission, but she along with Jim Brown will become a conscience for Taylor and the audience.

     Thankfully a hinted at burgeoning romance between Mimieux and Taylor never materializes, leaving the plot free to move from one action sequence to another. Although the plot has politics as a basis for the recovery of the diamonds, the mercenaries for the most part are guided by money, greed or revenge (or sometimes all three) and once the train gets underway it's a non-stop adrenaline rush. Browns made out as the most sympathetic of the bunch and a couple of dialogue scenes with Taylor help flesh out both characters.
    Taylor has never been better here and it's one of those roles that once you seem him here, you'll never look at him the same way again. There's an excellent chemistry between himself and Brown with a real sense of longtime friendship and camaraderie between them. Taylor's revenge-driven transformation at the end all of film, as he turns into almost feral-like animal on the hunt for blood is an amazing piece of acting.
    The film's much heralded violence still packs a wallop to this day with several startling wince inducing images and sequences including a covert trip to a town to retrieve the diamonds that's like a trip to one of the outer circles of hell. If all this weren't enough, you also get fight with a chainsaw and Rod driving the literal piss out of a Land Rover.
     Extras on the disc include the theatrical trailer and a new commentary with Trailers From Hell Larry Karaszewski & Larry Olson along with Brian Saur & Elric Kane.

All above screen-caps are from the Warner Archive Blu-Ray

Lucio Fulci's CONQUEST 1983 Coming From Code Red

    Code Red is releasing Lucio Fulci's psychedelic, gauze-shrouded and gore filled fantasy on Blu-Ray. With a release date of "soon" this will be available exclusively from Ronin Flix and  Diabolik DVD. Previously released on DVD from Blue Underground, Fulci's take on the low budget Sword & Sorcery genre that flooded movie screens post-CONAN THE BARBARIAN is highly entertaining when viewed in the right spirit and features an excellent score by Claudio Simonetti from Goblin. 

   Starring Jorge Rivero (RIO LOBO), Sabrina Siani (2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS) and Andrea Occhipinti (BLADE IN THE DARK) it features some imaginative creatures, cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa (THE DEVIL'S HONEY) and Fulci even gets to work in some zombies. 

THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT 4K Blu From Kino

      

  

     Kino Lorber have recently announced Michael Cimino's 1974 THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT for a new release later this year. Previously a limited release from Twilight Time this will be a fresh 4K scan of the original camera negative along with a new batch of extras.
    After the upheavals of the 60's American cinema hit the road in the 70's, while often such as here traveling through the vast open spaces of the west. Featuring near career best performances by Clint Eastwood and an Oscar nominated Jeff Bridges along with some surprisingly lean and tight direction, helped along by some doubtless backseat directing courtesy of Clint, from a pre- DEER HUNTER & HEAVEN'S GATE Cimino working from his own screenplay. This combination road/heist film is at its core a very moving story of friendship, loneliness & male bonding shot through Frank Stanley's (MAGNUM FORCE) gorgeous cinematography in a breathtakingly beautiful Montana landscape.
    Along with some endlessly debated subtexts there's also some scene stealing work by George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis, plus a host of familiar character faces including several members of the Sam Peckinpah stock company. Catherine Bach (DUKES OF HAZARD) shows up in her first acting credit and plus you get a wonderfully demented performance by the great Bill McKinney.

FRANKENSTEIN 1970 on Blu-Ray 1958

   

      Old, infirm and short of money the last surviving member of the Frankenstein family (Boris Karloff) rents out the family castle to a group of filmmakers who are making a movie about the family and its monster(s). Working on a secret experiment in a hidden dungeon (a premise which should be immediately guessed just by the film's title alone) and with a now handy source of spare parts the doctor looks to continue his family's legacy... 
     Released by Allied Artists this attempt to meld 1930's golden era of Universal Gothic horror with 1950's atomic-age horror doesn't do either entirely successfully but is not without merits (the 1st being Karloff). It also has B&W CinemaScope photography (always a plus!) on some impressive sets left over from Errol Flynn's TOO MUCH, TOO SOON and both films also share the cinematographer Carl Guthrie (who was hired presumably because he already knew how to light it).
    Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination (the monster looks like a mummy with a wastepaper basket for a head), it's also not as bottomed rung as its reputation would have it. It's interesting to see Karloff playing an actual Frankenstein namesake instead of the creation and he as usual rises above the material even at one point giving a touching soliloquy which is reminiscent of Lugosi's in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. The film opens with a terrific sequence in which a young woman is chased through the countryside and ends up floundering if a river while being chased by a huge hulking figure only seen by his shadow. The shot then then pulls back, and we discover that we've been watching a movie being made all of which leads to a bit of a disappointment as the actual film doesn't quite live up to this.

    Originally planned as FRANKENSTEIN 1960 the title pushed forward 12 years into the future but there's no indication given as to why, as the film is planted squarely in the late 50's. Karloff who had been suffering from increased pain and back problems ever since the original FRANKENSTEIN in 1930 here plays the elderly Frankenstein whose been tortured by the Nazis during WWII (although they're never mention by name) and also carries a long scar and damaged eye-lid (the stills of which popped up constantly in Famous Monsters magazine). There're also vague references to "no longer being a man" that's one of several adult themes the film hints at in its script, but never brings to the surface.

      Lurking in the cast is character actor Don "Red" Berry from countless TV westerns and look for a quick cameo by the Maltese Falcon lurking in the background as set design.
    Warner Archives Blu of FRANKENSTEIN 1970 is beautiful and a massive upgrade over the previous DVD included in the Karloff/Lugosi package. Sporting a brand new 2019 1080p HD master that almost shimmers with eye-popping detail and a nice DTS 2.0 audio. The commentary, a nice balance of both fun & facts, by Historians Charlotte Austin, Bob Burns, and Tom Weaver is carried over from the DVD.

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK 1972 Restoration & Blu-Ray

   

     Pamula Pierce Barcelou has been working in conjunction with The George Eastman House on a restoration of her father Charles B. Pierce's classic THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. She has a YouTube page where she has put up a sampling of the restored footage along with some outtakes and they look breathtaking to say the least.
    She regained the rights to her late father's movie after a protracted legal battle and this release will banish forever to the garbage bins those bootleg eyesores we've endured through the years. Limited theatrical showings will begin in June followed by a physical release later.
    THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK kicked off the Bigfoot genre cinema craze and along with 1967's famous Patterson-Gimlin footage made the Sasquatch legends a cultural phenomenon  in late 60's and 70's that continues to this day.
    Made for approx. $100,000  and self-distributed by Pierce in partnership with Howco International, it went on to gross upwards of $20,000,000 playing for years on the drive-in circuit.

SHAFT'S BIG SCORE! 1972 & SHAFT IN AFRICA 1973 On Blu From Warner Archive

    Warner archive have announced the upcoming release of SHAFT'S BIG SCORE 1972 and SHAFT IN AFRICA 1973, the sequels to the groundbreaking 1971 film directed by Gordon Parks. The original SHAFT Blu had been released back in 2012, so these nicely fill out the series. Based upon a book by Ernest Tidyman (who also wrote SHAFT and SHAFT'S BIG SCORE), the first movie along with Melvin Van Peebles SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG (also released in 1971) kick started the Blaxploitation explosion in the coming decade

    Directed by Parks, the first sequel is less of an urban detective film and more of an action-oriented film with even a touch of James Bond thrown in along with an amp up in the sex & violence quota. Because of the massive success of the first film, Parks was given a much larger budget which resulted in some great action sequences the highlight of which is an extended speedboat/helicopter chase. While first film has more of a gritty NYC feel, SHAFT'S BIG SCORE seems a bit more polished as it both literally and figuratively moves the action out to the suburbs. The film is still anchored by Richard Roundtree's magnetic presence and nobody can shoot NYC in the 70's like Gordon Parks.

    Written by Sterling Sillipant, SHAFT IN AFRICA leaves NYC completely as Roundtree head to Africa and Europe to break up a present-day slavery ring. Getting even more away from the detective genre and closer into the spy realm, it was directed by John Guillermin (THE BLUE MAX) and once again feature Roundtree in the title role. After the relative box office failure of SHAFT IN AFRICA the property was passed on to TV where a short-lived series (again featuring Roundtree and available from Warner archive) was produced but cancelled after seven episodes.

     

    

THE MANITOU 1978 on Blu

    After directing the nature-on-a-rampage classics GRIZZLY 1976 and DAY OF THE ANIMALS along the blacksploitation EXORCIST homage ABBEY (which was sued into oblivion by Warner Bros.) William Gridler got his change at the big time with this 1978 Native American occult/mysticism bizarre oddity. 

   Based upon a book by Graham Masterton, it was distributed by Avco Embassy and tragically Gridler would die in a helicopter accident just prior to the film's release. Often derided and mocked the film while no doubt having its share of WTF moments features a great cast with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg (SCREAM OF FEAR), Burgess Meredith (THE SENTINEL), Ann Southern (THE KILLING KIND), Lurene Tuttle (WALKING TALL) and Stella Stevens (SLAUGHTER) with Curtis in giving one of his better later period performances as a sleazy medium. Despite of some fleeting nudity from Strasberg and some prosthetic gore the film carried a PG rating and is a wonderful example of how much you could get away with in the 70's and still fall short of an R. It's crazy plot will either grab you from the get-go or leave you scratching your head in puzzlement, but for fans of 70's horror it's a must.

   Shot in Panavision and 2 track stereo with a budget of $3,000,000 it was quite a step up for Gridler and while not a great film, it's certainly an interesting curio from a great decade for screen horror. Strasberg plays a woman who notice's a strange growth on her back which turns out to be an Indian spirit in the form of a growing fetus which hopes to possess her body. Filled with mentions of ESP, spiritualism, mysticism and Native American folklore it certainly takes a different track then a straight up horror film and can be looked as a sort of a mash-up between ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE EXORCIST and THE FURY and CARRIE.

    Scream Factory's Blu-ray of MANITOU despite of the packaging does contain the Dolby 2.0 stereo tracks in addition to the 2.0 mono and with a 4K restoration looks fine with bright colors as the studio bound interior stuff looking especially eye-popping. Extras include a commentary by Troy Howarth, an interview with producer Davis Sheldon and a nice long interview with Masterton along with the usual trailer TV spots and image gallery.