Looking back on the physical releases sent to me for review over the past year is a good personal reminder about the importance of physical media.
True, I stream a great deal. Still, it seems far more cost effective to build a collection of physical media than to subscribe to all the services that would give me access to everything in my collection.
Even then, much of what I'd want to access simply wouldn't be available; forget about commentaries and other special features that help me explore my love for cinema. Streaming works well as a way for me to keep current on newer stuff and I currently subscribe to Prime, Netflix and Shudder.
But I'm killing Netflix this year and opting instead for an AMC [movie theater] membership, as there's one right by my apartment. New technology and business models can mean more choice for consumers, but for those interested in curating a first class experience for themselves, physical media is still the way to go.
Click through the gallery below to read more about each release, available from Kino Lorber.
Les Vampires Blu-ray
One Kino title I’d wanted to get my hands on for awhile was Les Vampires (1915-1916), which is not, as the title suggests, a horror film but more along the lines of other French crime serials like Judex (1916) and Fantomas (1913).
I’ve really enjoyed the latter (thanks much to Tim Lucas for bringing them to my attention through his writing) and can’t resist the bat imagery used in the clips I’ve seen of the former.
The two-disc set contains 10 episodes that stretch out to about seven hours of content and, though there aren’t any special features to speak of, it did come with a nice slipcase and features a 1996 Cinematheque Francaise HD restoration.
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu/The Return of Dr Fu Manchu Double Feature Blu-ray
Next up was a double feature disc of The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu / The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu. I can’t wait to dig into this. Both films have been newly mastered in 4K and feature audio commentary by noted film historian Tim Lucas.
Fu Manchu was a villainous Asian character invented by pulp author Sax Rohmer for a series of popular pulp novels just prior to World War I. Fu was a mastermind criminal, an evil genius in the vein of Sherlock Holmes' Moriarty who through pulp novels, radio serials and motion pictures came to embody the popular notion of Asia as the “yellow peril.”
While Fu was also a likely inspiration for Flash Gordon’s villainous Ming the Merciless, it can’t be ignored that much of his appeal lies in an exoticized portrayal of Asians in general that led to the creation of characters like Mr Moto, Mr Wong and Charlie Chan. An excellent overview of this phenomena can be found in the various essays contained in the anthology Yellow Peril!: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear, edited by John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan Yeats.
Fu was almost always played by white actors most famous for their horror and mystery roles. Christopher Lee made a whopping 5 appearances as Fu Manchu between 1965 and 1969 in The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967), The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968), and The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) and the Indicator box set collecting them is still available and an excellent source of information on the character and its history.
Boris Karloff played him in the notoriously anti-Asian The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932). But Warner Oland (a Swedish actor who also played Charlie Chan 16 times) played Fu four times between 1929 and 1931. Even Peter Sellers took a spoofy stab at the character in the notorious misfire, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980).
Among The Living Blu-ray
Among The Living (1941) is an hour-long potboiler about a man whose life is upended by his psychotic twin, whose existence has been kept secret for decades. It’s full of spooky atmosphere and melodrama, and is just all around entertaining enough that Ive always been surprised it’s not more well known.
This disc features a commentary by professor and film scholar Jason A Ney and I would call it more or less essential viewing for classic horror fans. It also has a really interesting cast.
Silent era Western superstar Harry Carey and golden age star Susan Hayward are joined by Albert Dekker, best known to genre friends as the titular Doctor Cyclops (1940) but his career included over a hundred film credits, including Kubrick’s The Killers (1946), Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Suddenly Last Summer (1959), and The Wild Bunch (1968).
Lastly the film stars Frances Farmer, who is remembered less for her acting than for her tragic personal life, which included being unjustly committed by her parents to various asylums.
Night of the Devils Blu-ray
Giorgio Ferroni’s The Night of the Devils (1972) is a a tale of that will be recognizable to fans of Mario Bava, who adapted the same novella, The Family of the Vourdalak, by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, for a segment in his horror anthology, Black Sabbath (1964). Bava’s adaptation, titled I Wurdalak is unforgettably atmospheric and features one of the greatest performances of Boris Karloff’s career.
But Ferronis feature length adaptation allows for more character development in a multi-character story that tells of a traveller encountering a family who may or may not be dealing with vampirism. No commentary here but there is an interview with filmmaker and journalist Chris Alexander, an interview with composer Girgio Gaslini (Deep Red) and a 12-page booklet offering a history of the films creation release and reception.
Doctor Death Blu-ray
Do you love weird 70s supernatural indies? Just buy this and thank me later.
Doctor Death (1973) is about as fun as they get. The plot is almost beside the point. Man loses wife and searches for a way to bring her back to life. His journey leads to dum-dum-DUMB, the 1000 year old Dr Death, who can transfer souls from one body to another. Soon the two men are locked in a cosmic struggle for the dead woman’s soul.
Dr Death is played to scenery chewing perfection by a wide-eyed John Considine, an actor/writer best known for his TV work. He’s joined by a colorful cast of character actors who will be recognizable to anyone who grew up watching 70s TV.
My favorite is Leon Askin, best known for his portrayal of the humorless Gen. Burkhalter on Hogan’s Heroes. Here he plays Thor, a scarred mute manservant always ready to help Dr Death dispose of a body. The special features include a commentary and an on-camera interview with Considine.
The Mafu Cage Blu-ray
The Mafu Cage (1978) is another film that has only recently received renewed attention. It’s one of those rare gems that sparkles no matter what angle it is examined from.
Two sisters live on their late father's crumbling estate. Dad (Will Geer) was a renowned anthropologist who not only left them the house but also his research primates. Older sister Ellen (Lee Grant) is a successful scientist looking to branch out on her own with her new love, David (James Olsen). The younger, Cissy (Carol Kane), is an unstable woman-child unable to face the outside world. What follows can only be described as one of the most unique horror thrillers of the 1970s.
Carol Kanes psychotic performance set against the African themed decor of the house is unforgettable. Characters are haunted, hunted and eventually captured within Cissy’s fantasy world, as Roger Kellaway's dynamic score resounds. The Mafu Cage only recently came out on DVD in the US, so this upgraded Blu-ray (way better image quality) and multiple special features (some new, some ported over) is quite welcome.
Skullduggery Blu-ray
Ever wanted to watch Burt Reynolds baptize a missing link? To call Skullduggery (1970) bizarre only hints at how much fun it is.
To begin with it has a great cast. Led by Burt Reynolds in one of his early big screen outings, the rest of the cast includes Susan Clark (Airport 1975, Porky’s, Coogan’s Bluff and the 1980s sitcom Webster), larger than life Aussie character actor Chips Rafferty and perennial TV heavy and all around eccentric Roger C. Carmel. perhaps best known for his appearances as Harry Mudd on Star Trek and Colonel Gumm on Batman. The venerable William Marshall (Blacula himself) plays a barrister, and a last-minute scene involves Wilfred Hyde-White in a uncharacteristically racist role.
Reynolds and Carmel play a couple of scoundrels who con their way onto a New Guinea expedition. When the group stumbles on a tribe of beings, the Tropis, who may or may not be the missing link, a variety of interests collide. The anthropologist wants to study them. The priest wants to baptize them. The business concerns see a source of cheap slavery. The scoundrels? Well, just watch. The film does not wind up where you think it will. In fact you may find it quite haunting.
If watching Skullduggery makes you feel uncomfortable, that’s probably a good thing. The intent is satirical, even if the film can’t help but deal in the notion of the white savior.
Not listed in the special features is the presence of legendary Chicago film critic/historian/filmmaker Sergio Mims on an audio commentary that also features film historians Howard S. Berger and C. Courtney Joyner. It’s a hugely informative conversation that well balances any future conversations you may wish to have with anyone you watch the film with.
Planet of the Vampires Blu-ray
Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires (1965) is a film that has already been on Blu-ray but this new edition comes with some new special features that make the double dip worth it. I won’t say as much about the film, except that it’s a stunning example of Bava’s ability to build atmosphere through lighting.
The plot concerns a group of scientist astronauts stalked by the disembodied inhabitants of a seemingly dead planet but it’s Bava’s visual aesthetic that creates the haunted cosmos, which makes the film so memorable. The older Tim Lucas audio commentary is ported over and there’s also a new commentary by one of my favorite voices in film scholarship, Kim Newman.
Newman is always an excellent source of history, anecdotes and insight into genre cinema, and he inevitably and freely shares not only facts but an inexhaustible joy in studying film in his work. Newman is joined on his track by journalist Barry Forshaw. There are also a pair of Trailers from Hell episodes featuring Joe Dante and Josh Olson.
Mystery Men 4K
A number of films made their 4K debut courtesy of Kino as well. Mystery Men (1999), Touch of Evil (1958), In The Heat of the Night (1967) and Hard Target (1993) all arrive in sparkling new transfers packed to the gills with special features either ported over from previous releases or newly produced for these editions.
It’s been surprising lately to see what comes out on 4K and from whom lately. I’ll admit I was most excited to get my hands on Mystery Men. Like Tank Girl and other superhero spoofs that flopped, it has re-emerged in recent years to new appreciation.
Besides a featurette and commentary from Kinka Usher (which I believe are ported over from original release) there are a bunch of other mini-docs covering various aspects of the film. Mystery Men is funny, charming, weird as hell and absolutely deserving of the treatment it gets here.
Touch of Evil 4K
Orson Welles' Touch of Evil looks and sounds spectacular on Kino's 4K.
That and the fact that all the extensive extras from the previous three disc Blu-ray edition are ported over would make this a no-brainer upgrade. even if only one of the three versions of the film in the set were offered in 4K. Nope.
You get three separate 4K discs, each one containing a separate cut of the film. Also of note is that, while the previous set contained four audio commentaries, this new 4K set contains five.
Hard Target 4K
A silly, silly movie full of silly tough guys looking silly while they try to look serious doing silly things. I have always loved its over top action excess ever since I saw it on first release.
But there are other reasons to love it as well. It was John Woo's first Hollywood film. It features the muscles from Brussels at his peak. It has a scenery chewing performance from Lance Henriksen as the villain, an equally mean role for Arnold 'I ain’t been the Mummy yet' Vosloo and lastly, a crazy-ass bow hunting armed character part for Wilford Brimley.
Hard Target is also laughably violent, even by the standards set by Arnold and Stallone in the 80s. The 4K upgrade also gets you an audio commentary by action film historians Brandon Bentley and Mike Leeder. Rounding out the special features are a series of interviews with Woo, Henriksen, stunt coordinator Billy Burton and actress Yancy Butler.
In The Heat of the Night 4K
Lastly, this 4K release of In the Heat of the Night has been on some year end best release lists but not nearly as many as it should be. It’s not just because it won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture 1967. It’s that it transcends its own reputation as a key film in the cycle of movies dealing with 1960s race relations.
In the Heat of the Night simply stuns the viewer as it moves an unlikely pair of allies -- one an out of town Black homicide detective, one a racist white sheriff -- through the politics and social realities of a small Mississippi town during a murder investigation. Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates and Lee Grant headline a cast in a film featuring a score by Quincy Jones.
There are several featurettes and two audio commentaries. The first commentary features producer Norman Jewison, Rod Steiger, Lee Grant and cinematographer Haskell Wexler. The next features producer Robert Mirisch and film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. As if this wasn’t enough the release also includes the In the Heat of the Night sequels, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs (1970) and The Organization (1971), on a separate Blu-ray.