Blu-ray Review: The City Of The Dead

The City Of The Dead is a spooky gem of a film, with good performances, an intriguing tale and plenty of atmosphere, shot in glorious black and white. It stars Christopher Lee as Alan Driscoll, a professor with a passionate interest in witchcraft, and Venitia Stevenson as Nan Barlow, one of his students who develops her own interest in the occult. It has now received a new Blu-ray release, featuring a new 2K film transfer and restoration, and a couple of special features.

The film opens with a lynch mob emerging from the mist and shadows at a quick clip, heading directly at us. Fortunately, these people are not after us, but a woman named Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel), who they believe is a witch. This is Massachusetts in 1692, after all. When they bring her out of her home, she certainly looks like a witch (though it’s difficult to shake from my mind that wonderful scene from Monty Python And The Holy Grail). There is an interesting and unusual shot when she’s tied to the stake; it’s a close-up of her head, turning from side to side, then suddenly stopping and looking almost directly at us. It’s unexpected and kind of creepy. Jethrow Keane (Valentine Dyall), whom Elizabeth had earlier called out by name, is in the crowd. And while we think maybe Elizabeth is not a witch, Jethrow utters, “Help her, O Lucifer, help her.” So we were wrong. Elizabeth, in the flames, curses the town for all eternity. And as she burns, she smiles and even laughs. What a fantastic opening scene.

The film then takes us to modern day (in this case, 1960, when the film was originally released), where Professor Driscoll is lecturing a group of students about witchcraft, and telling them the story of Elizabeth Selwyn’s death. After class, Nan Barlow expresses an interest in learning more and wants to travel to Massachusetts to do personal research on the subject, over the minor objections of her brother Richard (Dennis Lotis) and boyfriend Bill Maitland (Tom Naylor). Driscoll recommends Whitewood, the town where Elizabeth was burned at the stake. She travels there alone, meeting a strange hitchhiker on the way.

They’re a bit too heavy on the fog machine when Nan stops to ask for directions. But the town itself has a great, creepy atmosphere, and is populated by unusual characters. I love how as she’s driving in, her headlights catch one person simply standing by a building, watching her. It’s like the whole town is simply waiting, either for her or for some event, or both. At the inn, she finds more unusual characters, including Mrs. Newless, who closely resembles Elizabeth Selwyn, and Lottie, a mute servant who desperately wishes to help Nan. She also encounters a priest who warns her to leave – “Evil has triumphed over good here,” he tells her – and Patricia Russell (Betta St. John), the priest’s granddaughter, who is sorting through her grandmother’s store and lends Nan a rare book on witchcraft.

I love the moment when Nan reads aloud to Mrs. Newless about a sacrifice, clearly describing what is likely destined to be her own fate.  There are some surprises in this film (such as Nan’s undergarments – holy moly). The City Of The Dead came out the same year as Psycho, and it has something akin to that film’s structure, with two distinct sections. It’s not a perfect film – the ending could be a bit better – but it is completely enjoyable and engaging, is well-acted, and is definitely worth checking out.

Special Features

The DVD includes a commentary track by Christopher Lee, moderated by Jay Slater. Lee talks about the film’s atmosphere, comparing it to the atmosphere of the work of H.P. Lovecraft. He also talks about the camera work and focus, and about the other title the film was later given, Horror Hotel. Interestingly, when they recorded the track, they did so without being able to hear the film’s sound, so they are often guessing as to what is being said on screen. This track seems to have been recorded in 2001.

There is also an interview with Christopher Lee, conducted by Brad Stevens. He talks about some of the directors he worked with early in his career, including Orson Welles. He also talks about working on the Hammer films, and tells an interesting anecdote about To The Devil A Daughter, as well as giving his candid thoughts on the film industry. Christopher Lee is a perfect interview subject, as he is so eloquent and has so many interesting stories to tell. This interview is approximately forty-five minutes. The film’s trailer is also included in the special features.

The City Of The Dead was directed by John Moxey, and was released on Blu-ray on March 27, 2018 through VCI Entertainment and MVD Visual.

Blu-ray Review: My Friend Dahmer

The Blu-ray package for My Friend Dahmer delighted me before I even opened it. On the back, it reads: “Jeffrey Dahmer (Disney Channel’s Ross Lynch) is an awkward teenager.” The name Disney right after the name Jeffrey Dahmer is absolutely priceless, and the whole idea of this film, depicting Jeffrey Dahmer in high school, might sound at first like a comedy, a dark and twisted comedy. Jeffrey Dahmer, for the two or three people who may not know, murdered seventeen men and boys, keeping their skulls and other souvenirs, and eating some parts of the bodies. But of course he murdered his first victim right after high school, so at this point in his life he was already getting into dark areas. My Friend Dahmer is based on the graphic novel by Derk Backderf, who was Dahmer’s classmate and friend in high school. It stars Ross Lynch as Jeff Dahmer, Alex Wolff as John “Derf” Backderf, Anne Heche as Joyce Dahmer and Dallas Roberts as Lionel Dahmer.

When we first see Jeffrey, he is seated toward the back of the school bus, alone, noticing roadkill and a male jogger through the window. He soon retrieves the dead cat, surprising two classmates when they ask what’s in his trash bag. The kids follow him to a little shed on his property which he uses as his laboratory, and they watch as he pours acid onto the cat to dissolve its skin. One kid asks, “Why are you doing this?” (a line, by the way, that is so many movies). Jeffrey answers frankly, “I like bones.” And indeed he does, for he has quite a collection in that shed.

He has only one friend in school until one day when in class he imitates someone with a speech problem. That gets a laugh, which leads Jeffrey to give a full-blown performance in the hall, seizure and all. A crowd gathers around him, and soon he is approached by Derf, who invites him to become friends with him and his pals. They create the Jeffrey Dahmer Fan Club, and they would often encourage Jeffrey, “Let’s do a Dahmer,” which meant spazzing out in front of people to get a reaction, not killing and dismembering people. But that, as you might imagine, becomes disturbing too.

We see not just his troubles in school, but also his less-than-ideal home life, with a mother who apparently isn’t quite stable herself. (Anne Heche is absolutely wonderful as Jeffrey’s mother.) She is sometimes delightful in her lunacy, like when she’s proud about buying a new car. (Oh my, the glass she drinks from at one point made me laugh, as my parents still have a set of those exact glasses.) Jeffrey’s father, however, is concerned that Jeffrey is spending too much time alone with skeletons in his shed. You feel for his dad, who admits to having had trouble making friends himself.

There are some funny lines, like when Jeff tells another student, “I have to pick up roadkill, but I’m trying to quit.” And I love that after Derf warns Jeff to stay away from a particular guy, saying that he’s a total psycho, the next shot is of Jeff and the guy walking together in the woods. I also love the moment when he asks the one black kid if his insides are the same color as his. And the doctor’s examination scene is really good. Stuff like that is humorous. But the film is not a comedy. There are moments when you really feel for Jeffrey, and other moments when you’re frightened of him. Ross Lynch gives an excellent, captivating performance.

Special Features

The Blu-ray includes a short interview with actor Ross Lynch, who talks about the film and about getting information from Derk. “I think the hardest part of playing Jeffrey Dahmer was actually shaking him off,” he says. He would take long showers at the end of each day to shake off the character. He also talks about shooting in the actual Dahmer house. The special features also include a behind-the-scenes slide show and the film’s trailer.

My Friend Dahmer was directed by Marc Meyers, and was released on Blu-ray on April 10, 2018 through MVD Visual.

DVD Review: The Green Prince

The Green Prince is an intriguing documentary about a Palestinian man who went to work as a spy for the Israelis. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fascinating in itself, but this film is a very personal look at it through the eyes of two men – Mosab Hassan Yousef, who is the son of a Hamas leader, and Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Mosab’s recruiter and handler. And through their story, I feel I got a better understanding of what is at stake there. Though the film focuses on interviews with the two men, it plays more like a thriller than a documentary.

Right at the beginning, Gonen Ben Yitzhak says, “The first day handling him was the first day of the end of my career.” And Mosab Hassan Yousef tells us, “To collaborate with Israel is the most shameful thing you can do in my culture.” They hook us right from the opening of the film, not just because of the subject, but because of their character. These are two people that captivate us from the first moments they are on screen. We do learn background information about Mosab, that Hamas (the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement) meant everything to his father, and that his father was taken from their home by Israeli soldiers and not returned for a year and a half. Then, six hours after returning home, he was arrested again. Mosab, understandably, tells us that from that moment he hated the Israeli soldiers and wanted revenge. Listen to how eloquently he states it: “My father did not teach me how to hate, but I was seventeen and I didn’t know how not to feel that way.”

Mosab purchased guns with revenge in mind, and soon was arrested, since he was under surveillance because of who his father was. And it’s this arrest that really gets the story moving forward, for it was in prison – after being tortured – that he was asked to work for the Israelis. He was then moved to the Hamas section of the prison. All of this material, by the way, is absolutely fascinating, what happens inside the prison, how the Hamas tortured other prisoners they believed were spying on them for the Israelis, and so on. And this, of course, is what opened Mosab’s eyes to the organization that his own father had gone to prison to support. “So now I don’t think about revenge anymore, because I don’t know what I’m fighting for.”

When Mosab was released from prison, he became his father’s assistant, and essentially functioned as the gateway to his father. “My dad had no clue what I was doing,” he tells us. And he talks about needing to develop his own moral code, not that of his father or Hamas, and not that of the Israelis. It’s interesting that he tried to protect his father, while also betraying him.

And again, the story is told from two perspectives, and Gonen Ben Yitzhak is as interesting an individual as Mosab. He is candid as he tells us, “It crossed my mind when I bring someone to the meeting, basically I am destroying his life.” He also says: “For me as a handler, my sources are somehow like toys. You know, this is a big game and I’m a player.” In spite of his saying that, he does come across as human and likeable. And the relationship between a handler and his recruit is fascinating. This is a completely engrossing and thrilling film, and ultimately is a story of hope.

Special Features

The DVD contains a segment from a television program featuring an interview with Nadav Schirman, who talks about the effect the book Son Of Hamas had on him, how he was intrigued by the relationship between the two men, and how he went about interviewing the two men. He talks a bit about his other films as well. For me, what’s most interesting is when he talks about the sources of the archival footage used in the film. This is approximately thirty minutes. The special features also include a segment from an Israeli television news program, featuring an interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef in which he talks about being recruited and about his goals and outlook. This is approximately seven minutes.

The special features also include approximately nine and half minutes of bonus footage, more from the interviews with Mosab Hassan Yousef and Gonen Ben Yitzhak. There is also a gallery of storyboard art and the film’s trailer. The DVD also includes a booklet with a piece on the film written by Anthony Kaufman.

The Green Prince was directed by Nadav Schirman, and was released on DVD on January 20, 2015 through Music Box Films.

DVD Review: Snails In The Rain

Snails In The Rain, which takes place in Tel Aviv in the summer of 1989, is about a young man whose life is disrupted by a series of letters from an anonymous admirer. It stars Yoav Reuveni as Boaz, and Moran Rosenblatt as his girlfriend, Noa. When the film opens, we see Boaz going through his daily routine: picking up his mail, swimming a few laps, going to class, and then going to work at a moving company. He is an attractive man, and the film gives us shots of women checking him out as he goes through his day. So receiving a letter from an anonymous admirer, even from a man, is probably nothing that would cause him any great joy, nor any great alarm. At least not at first.

Boaz is eager to hear whether he has received a scholarship, the reason for his morning trips to the post office. He lives with Noa, and the two make an astonishingly beautiful couple, but you get the sense their lives are on hold until Boaz hears about the scholarship. There are some nice, intimate scenes between Boaz and Noa, like when he kisses her as she steps out of the shower, and she tells him his stubble is scratching her. That’s something we’ve seen and heard before. But then she actually grabs a razor and, without asking or applying any cream, starts shaving his neck. She does it for just a moment, and the look on her face when she nicks him is great. It’s a surprising and delightful moment. I like that the film gives us these moments and establishes the closeness of their relationship, because then we care about them and don’t want anything to disturb what they have.

Boaz goes to the post office every day, hoping for word on the scholarship. But nearly every day there is another letter from the admirer, and we begin to wonder if he is in some way just as excited to receive these letters as he is to receive the scholarship. The man describes his own routine – watering his plants and so on – slowly bringing Boaz into his world. But the man also knows things about Boaz, such as the kind of car he drives. The man tells him, “I think about you incessantly.” That is both flattering and frightening. The letters begin to disturb Boaz; it is like he is becoming as obsessed with the mysterious man as the man is with him. Each time a stranger is close to him – as in a café or on the bus or at the library – Boaz wonders, Is this the guy? And of course we wonder too, and share his nervousness. Boaz is attractive, so of course people will glance at him – both women and men – but now those glances take on a more serious, perhaps even sinister, significance.

Through flashbacks, we learn that Boaz served in the military (or at least went through training). Those scenes feel almost out of place, like they’re from a different world, one of some homoeroticism for Boaz. Could one of the other soldiers be the man now writing to him?

Snails In The Rain is quite good, with plenty of excellent moments. For example, there is a scene where Boaz turns off the shower and he hears (and we hear) a woman crying. We think it’s his girlfriend (earlier she discovered the letters). It turns out to be a female friend, but as Noa comforts her, she looks straight at Boaz, almost in an accusing way, as if to say, “Are you going to hurt me the way her boyfriend hurt her?” Both leads turn in worthy performances, but Moran Rosenblatt as Noa in particular is extraordinary. Her face is so wonderfully expressive, and we identify more with her as the film goes on. What I also love is that the film is not really about the mystery of the man’s identity. It’s more about Boaz’s identity, how these letters affect him, and how they affect Noa as well.

Snails In The Rain was released on DVD on November 11, 2014 through TLA Releasing. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: Land Of Storms

Land Of Storms tells the story of a young man who suddenly quits his soccer team in Germany and moves home to Hungary, seeming to seek solitude in his grandparents’ old house, which he has inherited. One night he encounters a man trying to steal his motorcycle, and the two develop an unlikely friendship that becomes something more, this in an area that is openly hostile to even the appearance of homosexuality. This is an excellent film, which hinges on the beautifully honest performances by András Süto as Szabolcs and Ádám Varga as Aron.

The film opens on an image of the sky, from the perspective of one lying on the ground. And we hear a soccer coach saying: “I think of nothing. My head is completely empty. I love the ball. I’m in love with the ball. It is round, like my girlfriend’s ass. There’s nothing but the ball and the goal.” And we see the coach walking among the players, who are all lying on the field, looking up at the sky – an interesting sort of meditation. And it feels perfect to begin this film with a kind of meditation, as it will soon move to another kind, and this is a film that is often intense in its quietest moments, and accomplishes so much with very little dialogue. That pattern is established almost immediately, with quiet shots of the players seated in a locker room before a game (a welcome change from the usual rowdy locker room scenes).

A fist fight in the showers between two players following the game’s loss is pretty intense. Most of it is one shot, without a cut, and it feels completely real. It is an impressive scene. Immediately following that, one of those two players, Szabolcs, suddenly leaves the team behind and travels to a old house in the countryside, which has been damaged by vandals. He seems more at peace and, surprisingly, is alone. We see him cleaning a motorcycle and discovering that the house’s roof leaks. I love all these shots without dialogue. One night a young man tries to steal the motorcycle, and Szabolcs throws him from the bike, then takes care of him, patching him up. This is also done without any dialogue mucking it up, which is remarkable. Szabolcs and Aron, the would-be thief, begin to repair the roof together. Thus they begin a strange, uneasy friendship, which of course one night develops into something more (again, without much dialogue). When Bernard (Sebastian Urzendowsky), the friend that Szabolcs fought in the shower, shows up to admit his love for Szabolcs, things get a bit more complicated.

While the performances are excellent, the film also does an exceptional job of creating a strong sense of place. There are lots of shots where the composition is dominated by the landscape, which is beautiful but also has an isolating effect. The film stays with Szabolcs and Aron long enough that when we are finally introduced to other people – Szabolcs’ father, Aron’s mother, people in the town – we consider those people to be the outsiders and even possible threats. It is almost shocking when we begin to get glimpses into Aron’s home life, for by then we feel that he almost belongs exclusively to Szabolcs and the land where the house is situated. It is somewhat unsettling to see him at home, and actually those scenes are among the film’s best, particularly the one where Aron and his mother are seated at the kitchen table. There are some intense and brutal scenes, and what I love is that these scenes are not presented in any overly dramatic way, which makes them feel all the more real. This is a film that is going to stay with me for a while.

Land Of Storms was directed by Ádám Császi, and was released on DVD on March 10, 2015 through TLA Releasing. The DVD includes the film’s trailer, but no other special features.

Blu-ray Review: Doctor Detroit

When I was growing up, my brother and I spent many weekends at our grandparents’ house watching movies, one movie after the other. Our grandparents used to create their own double features, copying two rentals onto a single video cassette, and had probably a couple hundred of these tapes. As an adult, I’ve been trying to collect all of those films on DVD. One movie that I remember watching fairly often was Doctor Detroit (which I believe was paired with Trading Places, or possibly D.C. Cab). It’s a movie I’ve thought of often since then, particularly as the “Doctor, Doctor Detroit” chant is something that pops into my head on a regular basis (though I’ve been promised that my new medication will take care of that problem). Now I’ve finally had a chance to revisit the movie, as Shout! Factory is releasing it on Blu-ray as part of its Shout Select series, along with plenty of bonus material. And I am delighted to find that it holds up well.

Doctor Detroit stars Dan Aykroyd as Clifford Skridlow, a college professor (with a habit of talking to himself) who gets caught up in a prostitution ring and has to take on an alternate identity in order to protect the women from another criminal element. The women, by the way, include Fran Drescher and Donna Dixon (this is the film on which Dixon and Aykroyd, now married, met). The women’s pimp, Smooth Walker (played by the wonderful Howard Hesseman), owes $80,000 to Mom (Kate Murtagh), and has to come up with an excuse for why he can’t pay on the spot. His solution is to invent a new and dangerous partner, Doctor Detroit, who has moved in on his business. His choice for this patsy is, of course, Clifford Skridlow. He and the girls show him a fun night on the town – drinking, dancing, drugs – leading Clifford to declare, “I can feel my hair growing.” And then Smooth delivers his pitch, for Clifford to take over his business.

Meanwhile, the college at which Clifford teaches (which happens to be run by his father) is in financial trouble, and its very existence is now reliant on receiving a large endowment check from a man whom they feel a need to impress. Soon Clifford’s professional life at the college collides with the new life that was thrust upon him (but which he begins to take pleasure in), and the fun ensues for us in the audience.

The film opens with a comical image – Dan Aykroyd power-walking. A person power-walking is something that always looks silly, but of course when that person is Dan Aykroyd, it is particularly funny.  And this film has plenty of hilarious lines. When Clifford is taken to Smooth Walker’s apartment, he exclaims in a delighted, childlike way: “Wow, look at this place, it’s positively vulgar! You must be so incredibly rich.” And then: “Look, what utterly tasteless furnishings!” Another line that I love is, “You can’t insult me; you see, I’m a lawyer.” As funny as Dan Akyroyd, Howard Hessemen and George Furth (as Clifford’s father) are, my absolute favorite character is Clifford’s mother, played by Nan Martin. She is a complete delight and is hilarious, giving her character an excited and playful quality, as she delivers lines like “Did they molest you? Did you struggle? I want all the details.” On top of that, this movie includes music by Devo, an appearance by James Brown, a wonderful dance sequence, and a Star Trek joke at the end that I love.

Special Features

The Blu-ray disc contains several special features, including a new interview with director Michael Pressman, in which he talks about how the film differs from the original story, about the casting process and other elements of the film. Regarding framing, he says, “I believed, and still believe, that comedy plays in the wider angles.” He also talks about John Belushi’s death, which wasn’t long before production of this film began, and about having to cut Glenne Headly’s lines. This interview is approximately twenty-five minutes.

Radio Free Detroit: Inside The Audio Press Kit contains parts of a promotional package of interviews and radio spots that was sent to radio stations. This includes an interview with Dan Aykroyd, in which he talks about the film and about John Belushi’s death. There are also interviews with Howard Hesseman and Donna Dixon, as well as interviews with Steven Spielberg, John Landis and Steve Martin talking about Dan Aykroyd. There is even a bit of audio with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, plus an interview with the band Devo. This feature is approximately twenty-four minutes.

The special features also include a commentary track with director Michael Pressman, moderated by Russell Dyball. Pressman mentions that during the casting process, when they saw Donna Dixon, Dan Aykroyd said they should cast her. There are also two trailers for the film, two television spots, six radio spots and a photo gallery.

Doctor Detroit is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray on April 24, 2018 through Shout! Factory.