Every horror fan knows that October is the best month of the year, but it's not only because the stores finally fill up with quality home decor, it is also the flood of new home video releases that appear every fall. This year has been no exception.
Over the last two weeks there has been a flood of incredible releases that are worth a look. Check out what we have to say about the ghastly quintet of Chopping Mall, Blood Diner, Tales of Halloween, The Mind's Eye, and The Wailing.
First up on our celebration of all things spooky is the Blu-ray debut of Jim Wynorski's 1986 robo-slasher, Chopping Mall. Before I ever actually saw the film, Chopping Mall was one of my earliest video store memories based on the incredibly misleading – and terrifying to an impressionable child – artwork of a dismembered cyborg hang holding a shopping bag. The image, as iconic as it has become, has almost nothing to do with the film itself, apart from the fact that it is, in fact, set in a mall. The killer robots, however, look more like the Daleks from Doctor Who than any cyborg. However, by the time I'd loosened myself up enough to dive into horror films in my teens, that cover was all the impetus I needed to give this film a try and I've been a fan ever since.
The film revolves around a bunch of horny teenagers looking for a place to get intimate without their parents bothering them. Unfortunately, the mall they've chosen has recently installed a new robotic security force. The robots don't look terribly threatening at first glance, but an errant bolt of lightning turns them into killing machines bent on removing any perceived threat that stands in their way. One by one the unlucky couples succumb to the determined little tanks in amazingly gory – and sometimes even explosive – ways. With the couples locked inside the mall and the killbots hunting them down, it's just a matter of who, if anyone, can survive until sunrise when help should arrive.
Chopping Mall is fun, fast-paced, gory, and has a wicked sense of humor. The old horny-teens-must-die trope works remarkably well, and the ace casting of Barbara Crampton and Kelli Maroney among others doesn't hurt at all. Director Wynorski had only made one other feature prior to Chopping Mall, and for a short while in the late '80s he used this film to start a career in mid-low budget horror films that got played in cineplexes. Over the last two decades, however, he's stuck mostly to direct-to-cable skin flicks, and Chopping Mall, in my opinion, remains the high water mark of his career.
The Disc:
Chopping Mall marks the first release in a new series from Lionsgate Home Video designed to celebrate VHS home video era kingpins, Vestron Video. As such, this is no ordinary Blu-ray. The film has been rescanned and cleaned up to a remarkable degree, I'd wager it has never looked this good. Those of us who are fans will recall the previous DVD release which literally used a VHS era tape master and looked awful. Chopping Mall now looks fantastic, and if this is a sign of things to come in the Vestron Video Collector's Series, you can call me a believer, even if the price is a bit steep.
The extras on the disc are remarkable, and a large part of that has to do with the fact that no one sells Jim Wynorski like Jim Wynorski. He an inimitable huckster, and in an effort to give the fans what they wanted, he gathered everyone he could get his hands on to be a part of this release. The disc features three different audio commentaries, one with Kelli Maroney and co-writer Steve Mitchell, another with Nathaniel Thompson of Mondo Digital and Ryan Turek of Shock 'Till You Drop, and a third with director Wynorski and Mitchell again. I sampled all three and they all bring something different to the table. The fan track with Thompson and Turek is probably the least empirically informative, but even if has its raw charms.
In addition to those tracks we also get a stack of featurettes a mile high. There's a making-of overview called “Back to the Mall”, a featurette on the editing process called “Chopping Chopping Mall”, one discussing the actual killbots, one discussing the kickass score, one feature talks to the film's number one fan who has a bunch of great memorabilia and props in his collection including an original robot, and much, much more. This thing is packed to the gills and any fan of the film will be more than satisfied. Definitely a must-buy
Jackie Kong's Blood Diner was new to me when it arrived on my doorstep. I'd heard of it and knew that it was some kind of spiritual sequel to the late H.G. Lewis's Blood Feast, but I'd never seen it and didn't know what to expect. What I got was a hilarious, balls-out horror farce that never failed to make me laugh.
When a pair of young brothers witness the final moments of their crazy uncle as the cops gun him down, it's the beginning of a lifelong quest to finish his work, they must revive the ancient Lumerian goddess Sheetar. Unfortunately for everyone around them, this process requires a whole lot of body parts, so twenty years later when the boys are now men running their own fairly successful diner, I'm sure you can guess what ends up on the menu.
It's difficult to really describe the tone of Blood Diner without spending a lot of time regurgitating scenes and quotable dialogue. The film is a really funny send up of Blood Feast that looks at that pioneering film with great respect while still recognizing what a ridiculous idea it was. H.G. Lewis was a big fan of putting humor in his horror, as his later projects would clearly illustrate, but he never went quite as far as the team did in Blood Diner. The dialogue is over the top and campy, the action and motivations are crazy and in no way realistic, and the execution is satisfyingly lo-fi. This is the kind of film the Scary Movies wish they could have been.
Among the film's more remarkable claims to fame is the fact that it was co-written and directed by Jackie Kong, a young Asian American woman. A young minority woman leading a project like this would turn heads today, but back in 1986 it was almost unheard of. Kong's direction in the film is confident and effective, and even when the film and its performances go a bit off the rails, you can feel her touch and she clearly understands exactly how far she can take the thing before losing her audience. Very few women made their marks in the horror and exploitation markets as directors, but even with only this project and a few other limited successes, Kong deserves to be mentioned among the greats like Doris Wishman. Blood Diner is a real success that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do, it delivers blood, guts, and laughs in equal measure.
The Disc:
This second release in the Vestron Video Collector's Series is just as good as the first. The vibrant color palette of Blood Diner is respected and clarity is quite good throughout. The audio is similarly effective and I noted no hisses or dropouts on the track. Overall, the presentation is a half a step below the quality of Chopping Mall, but fans should be pleased.
For this release, Lionsgate trusted the bonus material to the very capable hands of Michael Felsher's Red Shirt Pictures, who've put together many of the best such projects of the last decade for companies like Arrow Video and Synapse Films. Here we get an audio commentary from Kong, along with an hour long making of documentary called Killer Cuisine which tackles every part of the film's development, genesis and production. Very good stuff, and it features interviews with most of the cast and principal crew. Another really great disc for a gem that is ripe for rediscovery. Definitely one to own.
Horror anthologies are a dime a dozen these days, but one of the better efforts in recent years was 2015's Tales of Halloween, recently released in a super deluxe edition by Epic Pictures. This film, brainchild of Soulmate director Axelle Carolyn, brings together many of the indie horror scene's most well known directors to create a story of a town that goes apeshit every Halloween. Among the culprits are Carolyn,The Convent's Mike Mendez, The Dead Hate the Living's Dave Parker, Saw II's Darren Lynn Bousman, Night of the Demons' Adam Gerasch, Grace's Paul Solet, May's Lucky McKee, horror home video extra vet Andrew Kasch and his partner, director John Skipp, Abominable's Ryan Schifrin, and Neil Marshall of Dog Soldiers fame. That's quite a strong list.
Izzy Lee reviewed the film when it released last year and had this to say:
Tales is a hellmouth full of talent sure to become a classic played each Halloween by the horror faithful, paired with a gratuitous amount of candy corn and chocolate. I haven't seen a film this devoted to the annual October holiday since Trick R' Treat, and the spooky, sticky sweet candy nostalgia is quite welcome. Here's hoping that we'll be treated to a sequel or three.
While I'm not quite as sold on the “classic” label, this anthology is certainly more hit than miss and I wouldn't mind seeing what else this team could do. Many horror anthologies these days feel like cash grabs, and some are just downright bad – sorry, Holidays, I hated you – but Tales of Halloween succeeds largely on the charm and obvious affinity of its creators to engender goodwill, and that fun spirit is certainly infectious.
The Disc:
Epic Pictures certainly didn't skimp on this release. Tales of Halloween is currently available as a four-disc collector's edition that is sure to be the definitive release of the film. The first disc features the film on Blu-ray – looking and sounding great – along with an feature commentary that includes many of the directors (Carolyn, Bousman, Marshall, Mendez, and Gerasch), and a pop-up facts commentary track that one can watch along with the feature. The second disc is a DVD version of the Blu-ray, complete with commentary.
The third disc is where it gets really fun. This one is packed with extras including additional scene specific commentaries from different directors, a 23 part making-of featurette that doesn't go quite as deep into the production as I would've liked, but does manage to show how much fun was had on set, as well as a storyboard to film comparison for the story, Ding Dong, a side-by-side anatomy of the Friday the 31st story, and a ton of bonus short films including an early film school project from Neil Marshall called Brain Death, Carolyn's own The Halloween Kid, and several others from Mike Mendez, Lucky McKee, Ryan Schifrin, and Andrew Kasch & John Skipp. The package wraps up with a great CD of the film's OST for those who like to collect music.
This set is really exceptional, and anyone who was fortunate enough to order Epic Pictures previous release of Turbo Kid on Blu-ray knows exactly the kind of amazing quality they are in for. Tales of Halloween on Blu-ray is definitely worth your money.
Director Joe Begos grabbed the horror world's attention with his 2013 feature Almost Human. Last year he returned to the limelight with his telekinesis themed horror film, The Mind's Eye. This film cast an eye back to the great telekinesis horrors of the late '70s and early '80s like Carrie, Scanners, and The Fury, only this time Begos did it on a tiny budget with a ton more blood.
Alex Williams saw the film at Fantastic Fest last year and had this to say:
When any filmmaker with a well-received first film heads into their next project, the threat of the sophomore slump has to weigh heavily on their heads. Joe Begos' first film, Almost Human, was a lovingly crafted homage to the low-budget films of the 1980's and whileThe Mind's Eye, his follow-up feature, doesn't step backward, there is no real forward motion either. Instead of the sophomore slump, The Mind's Eye is more of a sophomore stasis, a film that simply repeats the low-fi charms of Begos' debut.
Graham Skipper stars as Zack, a psychokinetic drifter who ends up arrested after an altercation with an aggressive pair of cops. He's released into the custody of Dr. Slovak (John Speredakos), who takes Zack to a secretive facility where he's studying other psychokinetic people - including Rachel (Lauren Ashley Carter), one of Zack's oldest friends. Once Zack realizes the sinister Slovak intends to harvest their powers for his own gain, he and Rachel mount an escape.
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Ultimately, The Mind's Eye is exactly what it wants to be: a cheesy homage to the 80's with some glorious gore effects. While it's hard to fault Begos for staying in his comfort zone, his sophomore effort feels stale, and hopefully his next film is able to find a better balance between his undeniable eye for viscerally satisfying moments and his budding directorial voice.
I share Alex opinion of The Mind's Eye as lateral movement in Begos career, but it still manages to stay entertaining and provide a very pacy ride through this world where telekinetics are harvested, not unlike in Scanners and The Fury. Is there anything new here? Absolutely not, The Mind's Eye is a faithful re-imagining of a genre that has largely disappeared, but it is for that reason that it's a treat nonetheless. We don't see a lot of horror films like this, and so even though it's not breaking new ground, The Mind's Eye is satisfying in its own way.
The Disc:
The Mind's Eye comes to Blu-ray from RLJ Entertainment looking just fine. It's a modern production with modern production values, so there are no issues with the audio of video. The extras are a bit sparse, but they do carry some useful, fun information. There is an audio commentary with Begos alone and a second where he is joined by producers Josh Ethier, Graham Skipper, and Zak Zeman that is informative and fairly loose in a way that makes it easy to listen to. There is also a behind-the-scenes featurette that spends about half an hour telling us that (a) they really wanted to use as many practical effects as possible, and (b) it was really cold during the shoot. There are a few other facts scattered in there, but the conversation seems to center around those two items.
The Mind's Eye isn't a barn-burner, and it's not going to make anyone go out and get a Joe Begos tattoo on their face, but it's good fun and some heads explode. That's gotta be worth something, right?
Finally, we arrive at what could be the bet horror film of 2018, Na Hong-jin's The Wailing. Na's two previous films,The Chaser and The Yellow Sea, were amazing action packed thrillers that turned their respective genres upside down. With The Wailing (Goksung), he takes a turn toward the supernatural with remarkably effective results. The film premiered at Cannes this year to overwhelming praise, and has gone on to blow the minds of film fans around the film in its travels since.
Our man in Korea, Pierce Conran, saw the film early on and was impressed:
Gokseong, the Korean title of the film, is a small Korean town deep in the countryside that becomes plagued with strange and violent deaths. Jong-goo, a local officer, is helpless in front of the terror and illness that is slowly gripping the town and fears the worst when his own daughter becomes sick. A mysterious Japanese man draws suspicion from the townsfolk and while Jong-goo attempts to investigate the reason for his appearance in the area, he also employs the help of a shaman to deal with his daughter as her condition worsens.
While many elements link the film to Na's past work, such as its pessimistic worldview, subversive use of genre codes and mounting momentum, The Wailing sees the filmmaker build on his past successes. He inures us into a uniquely dark atmosphere, gradually involving us in its seeping, pestilential sense of dread and foreboding before gradually cranking up the tension to unbearable levels throughout the film's 156 minutes, a running time you'll scarcely believe has elapsed when the lights come back on.
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As a mystery, The Wailing is deeply unsettling and resists obvious solutions or twists as it allows evil to swallow the narrative whole. As much as it is a result of the intricate mise-en-scene and hypnotic performances, the film's effect is also a result of its unusually long editing process. Na spent over a year fine-tuning the film, and it shows. From the minute attention to color grading that results in the most beautiful and terrifying images of the Korean countryside ever put to film, to breathtaking parallel-edited sequences that should probably come with a warning to anyone with a heart condition, editing is a tool of paramount importance to Na, and in his hands, it is a fearsome beast.
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Like The Yellow Sea , when the action really gets going it never lets up. Na completely undermines what we thought we knew about genre films again and again and for a good 40-minute stretch you may have to remind yourself to breathe. A dizzying and stunning accomplishment, The Wailing elevates genre to an art form.
Pierce is right, The Wailing is a work of art and a tremendous film regardless of genre restrictions. If you haven't seen it yet, you're only hurting yourself. It is remarkable.
The Disc:
Well Go USA presents The Wailing wonderfully on Blu-ray. The film is striking looking, as mentioned in Pierce's review above, and that beauty is captured well on this Blu-ray. I have no complaints. As if the color reproduction, detail, and attention to shadow wasn't enough to sell the disc, there is also the incredible audio. The Wailing uses sound in an incredibly effective way that is meant to unsettle and disturb the viewer, and this Blu-ray release the audio is perfect. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track is impeccable, with the dialogue clear and punchy and the multitude of surround effects all-enveloping. It's a great presentation overall.
Unfortunately, as is the case with the vast majority of American releases of Asian film, the extras are incredibly sparse on this disc. We get two fluffy EPKs that total around six minutes of footage, and none of it terribly in-depth. I wish there was more, but sadly this is what I've come to expect. Oh well.
Lucky for the viewer, The Wailing is not a film that requires a bunch of contextual bonus material to sell itself, it's stunning all on its own. Please check it out, this disc looks and sounds great and is definitely worth a recommendation.