Blu-ray Review: American Rickshaw

American Rickshaw is strange and delightful movie, an action film with a supernatural aspect, starring Mitch Gaylord as a student and rickshaw driver who gets tangled in a murder mystery after being tricked by a stripper into making a secret sex video filmed by the son of a televangelist. Crazy, right? Well, that’s just part of it. There is also an Asian woman with mystical powers who watches over Scott, an evil sculpture stored in a locker, a magical cat, blackmail and child abduction. And, if that’s not enough to get you interested, the movie also stars Donald Pleasence as the preacher, and was directed by Sergio Martino (though using the name Martin Dolman), who brought us such films as Slave Of The Cannibal God, Hands Of Steel and Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key. And it was co-written by Roberto Leoni, who co-wrote the fantastic Santa Sangre. The film has now finally received a proper Blu-ray release, with a 2K restoration from the original negative, and it looks great.

The film is odd right from its opening, when a hand, missing its thumb, opens a locker and puts a creepy-looking little sculpture inside, which then begins to glow. After that, we are introduced to Scott (Mitch Gaylord), a young, handsome rickshaw driver, who gives a ride to an elderly Asian woman in the rain. This is done in slow motion, and is set to some pretty music, giving the scene a magical quality. And of course there is some sort of magic at work; only, we are not aware of that as yet. Months later, Scott receives in the mail a gift from the old woman, though he drops the accompanying letter down the stairwell and doesn’t bother to retrieve it. Could there be some important information in that letter? The gift itself is strange, a green talisman, and if I received something like that, I would want to read the letter to get the explanation. But Scott has other troubles, including a high phone bill because of his roommate, Daniel, and so puts the talisman in a drawer and forgets about it.

After a stripper chooses him from all the other rickshaw drivers (most likely because he’s straight – there are a few gay characters in this film, which is refreshing) and then coaxes him onto a boat with the promise of sex, he finds himself in a fight with Reverend Mortom’s son, who was secretly videotaping the action from behind a mirror. During the tussle, an important key ends up in the water. Scott manages to beat the guy up, but ends up grabbing the wrong videotape. When later that night he returns to retrieve it, he finds that the guy has been murdered. Soon the actual killer is hunting Scott down, believing him to have the key. And of course the police are after him as well. Things soon spiral out of control for Scott, and the only person he can turn to for help is the stripper, Joanna Simpson (Victoria Prouty).

Reverend Mortom (Donald Pleasence) is one of those fire and brimstone types. He tells his followers, “You have made me rich and powerful so that I can show you the glory of God.” Well, the first part of that sentence is accurate, I suppose. But this man clearly has no interest in the glory of God. What he is interested in is retrieving that evil sculpture.

The movie is filled with interesting and unusual moments. And we are reminded that it is the late 1980s when Scott threatens to stab the stripper with a dirty needle, telling her: “I found it in the gutter. I’m sure you’re familiar with AIDS.” Later he asks her, “Can I trust you?” And she replies, “Tie me to the bed.” By the way, when the cops try to get Joanna to proofread her formal statement, and she doesn’t bother, saying “I’m sure it’s just fine,” well, it is not fine. If you look at the statement, you’ll see that her name is wrong. It reads, “Joanna Kimpson.” Also, the world “police” is misspelled. Fortunately, the cops won’t need that statement in court. It’s strange, because on the one hand, this film doesn’t seem to pay attention to details like that, but on the other, it does give us a lot of information with just a line or two, or even the hint of a line, providing important details without hitting us over the head with them. There is very little obnoxious exposition, which makes the movie more believable. American Rickshaw is an action film, a thriller, a horror film, and even a love story. It is more than a bit goofy at times, but totally enjoyable, and it features a pretty fantastic ending.

Special Features

The Blu-ray contains several special features. There is a commentary track by Kat Ellinger (author of All The Colours Of Sergio Martino) and film critic Samm Deighan. Kat mentions that American Rickshaw is one of the films that inspired her to write her book on Sergio Martino. They talk about the director’s work, and about the myriad ways in which this film is unusual. There are also interviews with director Sergio Martino and production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng. Sergio Martino talks about Italian cinema, and how it managed to often be much less expensive than American productions. He also talks about shooting in Miami, and tells a funny anecdote about a change he had to make while shooting a certain scene. Massimo Antonello Geleng talks about his varied career and reveals he’s never seen the film American Rickshaw. Both interviews are conducted in Italian, with English subtitles, and total approximately eighteen and a half minutes.

The special features also include an episode of the podcast The Production Booth, hosted by Mike White, with guests Kat Ellinger and Cullen Gallagher. All three clearly love the film, but talk about some of its troubles, including that the quote at the beginning is falsely attributed to Confucius, and that 1966 is not the Year of the Tiger, a somewhat important plot point in the movie. They also talk about the voyeurism of the film. This feature is audio only, and is approximately sixty-five minutes.

Location: Miami Now And Then is a short piece on the locations, the “now” being 2019 and the “then” being footage from the film itself. This footage is set to instrumental music. There is no narration. It is approximately three minutes. There is also a photo gallery, which plays on its own, so there is no need to hit the arrow button. It features poster art and production stills.

American Rickshaw was directed by Sergio Martino, and was released on Blu-ray on June 23, 2020 through Cauldron Films.

Blu-ray Review: Abrakadabra

Abrakadabra is stylistic horror film about a magician who is haunted by the tragic death of his father, and suddenly finds murder all around him as he makes his debut at the same theatre where his father died. The film begins with a quote from Harry Houdini: “What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.” It’s an interesting line, because by using it, the filmmakers are basically telling you right from the start that they are going to trick you. But of course we get caught up in the film, and though that line might remain in the back of our minds, the tricks still work on us.

The movie opens in 1951, and right away it is clear the filmmakers are going for that classic giallo style, what with the camera movements, those reds that dominate, the close-ups of the eyes, the music. A magician stands on the stage, and a female assistant walks onto the stage, holding a cushion with a gun laid on it. Her footsteps are loud, the only sound we hear, as if the theatre is empty apart from those two people, which is eerie in itself. A bit of voice over narration tells us, “Magic is the art of making the impossible possible.” A third person enters, as if from the audience, and the sequence has a surreal, dreamlike quality. The gun is fired, as a young child watches. And then we hear other sounds, the screams of the theatre patrons. The movie then jumps ahead thirty years, so it takes place in the early 1980s rather than in the present, another way of preserving that classic giallo style.

Magician Lorenzo Mancini (German Baudino) arrives at the theatre where he is to perform. Yet a sort of performance has already occurred there. Someone has staged a strange murder, and the police are there, investigating and taking photos. As Lorenzo leaves, photos are snapped of him by an unseen person. Through news footage, we learn that Lorenzo is the son of Dante The Great, the magician who was killed in the opening scene. Other things put Lorenzo on edge, such as the letter he receives with the numbers “1951” pasted onto it. But of course the show must go on, and he and his assistant Antonella (Maria Eugenia Rigon) perform. Things go well at first, but then oddly, after a particular trick, there is no applause at all. The audience just watches, not even offering some polite clapping. It is incredibly strange, and of course afterward Lorenzo is upset with himself.

He doesn’t have long to dwell on that trouble, however, as soon another murder is committed with a magic trick prop, leading people to believe Lorenzo himself might be the killer. The film does a great job of creating atmosphere, through some odd camera angles, lots of close-ups, and even some interesting use of split screen. The film gives us an unsettling feeling even before much has happened. However, there are moments when it seems a bit like style over substance, such as the scene when Lorenzo finds himself in a poker game with a guy with a white eye and another guy who insists he knows him. The close-up of the white eye reveals it is a not-very-convincing contact lens. But this film gives us a good ride, and things that at first seem to not make sense eventually are made clear.

Special Features

Abrakadabra Raw is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, showing the filming of several scenes, including the magic show that doesn’t go quite right and some of the scenes at the climax. This is approximately eleven and a half minutes.

The film’s trailer is also included.

Abrakadabra was directed by Luciano Onetti and Nicolas Onetti, and is presented in its original Italian, with English subtitles. Of course, as the filmmakers are going for the delicious old giallo style, you can also watched the film dubbed in English. The Blu-ray was released on May 12, 2020 through Cauldron Films.

Blu-ray Review: Sixteen Candles

Sixteen Candles is a movie that I loved during my childhood (I was twelve when it was released) and whose appeal has not lessened one bit in the intervening decades. It is also a movie that I think would not get made today, as some of its subject matter would be considered too risqué or offensive in our current, perhaps overly sensitive climate. Yet it is a sweet and beautiful and hilarious film about a girl turning sixteen and her family forgetting her birthday. Arrow Video has now released a special edition Blu-ray version of the film, with a whole lot of new bonus material. For those of us who grew up watching Sixteen Candles, this is a great opportunity to revisit it. And for those who haven’t seen it, now is the perfect time to fall in love with it. I hope this release will find its way to the teenagers who may need it as they make their way through those awkward and crazy high school years. Two versions of the film are included on this disc – the original theatrical version and an extended version. The extended version has one extra scene and is approximately two minutes longer than the theatrical version.

The movie opens on the morning of Samantha Baker’s sixteenth birthday, and the day before her sister’s wedding. Samantha (Molly Ringwald) is expecting a magical day – or at least a halfway decent day – but things begin to go wrong when in the craziness leading to the wedding, her family completely forgets her birthday. Things get worse for Samantha when a note she intended for her friend is intercepted by Jake Ryan, the hunk she has a crush on, and when a geek attaches himself to her, even at one point asking to borrow her underwear. Her house is overrun by relatives in for the wedding, as well as a foreign exchange student named Long Duk Dong. This is a film that reminds us of our first loves and of the horrors of riding the school bus. “There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation,” Samantha says. This movie has a great cast that includes, in addition to Molly Ringwald (who is absolutely adorable and fantastic), Paul Dooley, Max Showalter, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Justin Henry, Gedde Watanabe, Blanche Baker, Deborah Pollack, Jami Gertz, Zelda Rubinstein (from Poltergeist), and of course Anthony Michael Hall as The Geek. And it has some excellent music, including “Happy Birthday” by Altered Images, “If You Were Here” by The Thompson Twins, and The Stray Cats’ rendition of “Sixteen Candles.”

There are so many nice little touches, like the parents who have to force their goofy son into the gymnasium for the school dance, and the way Long Duk Dong holds his utensils upside down and uses them as chopsticks. And that simple but hilarious moment when Joan Cusack has trouble getting water from the drinking fountain. Or how Ginny, doped up for her wedding, attempts to eat the rice that is tossed at her. And for those of us who grew up in the 1980s, we get the chance to enjoy the set dressing, which includes a Culture Club poster, a Squeeze poster, and a Heather Thomas poster (I had that Heather Thomas poster on my wall), as well as a cassette of Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music unspooling after a party. But of course, what makes this film special is the honesty and heart with which it portrays its characters.

Special Features

This Blu-ray disc contains a lot of bonus material. The extra scene that is included in the extended version is also presented on its own as a deleted scene. And while I mentioned that this disc contains two versions of the film, it actually contains three. The original video release for Sixteen Candles contained different songs, and this Blu-ray disc includes that version of the film too, which is pretty cool.

Casting Sixteen Candles is an interview with casting director Jackie Burch, who says that John Hughes wrote the film with Molly Ringwald in mind. This interview is approximately nine minutes. When Gedde Met Deborah is a conversation with actors Gedde Watanabe and Deborah Pollack, who talk about their roles and tell some funny anecdotes, including about the stationary bike and some cut scenes. This featurette is approximately nineteen and a half minutes. Rudy The Bohunk is an interview with actor John Kapelos, who talks about his audition, his character, and about John Hughes. This is approximately six and a half minutes. The New Wave Nerd is an interview with Adam Rifkin, who worked as an extra in the film. Here he talks about his experiences on set, and reveals that he still has the glasses that he wore in the movie. This is approximately eight minutes. The In-Between is an interview with camera operator Gary Kibbe, who talks about his job and about how tough it is to move from operator to DP. This interview is approximately seven and a half minutes. Music For Geeks is an interview with composer Ira Newborn, who talks about the troubles of using music during dialogue. And, yes, he does talk about that great musical moment near the end when the doo-wop vocalists basically support the Geek’s dialogue. This is one of my personal favorite special features, and is approximately eight minutes.

A Very Eighties Fairytale is a featurette written and narrated by Soraya Roberts, who takes a feminist look at the film and the work of John Hughes. This is approximately seventeen minutes. Celebrating Sixteen Candles is a featurette that was produced for an earlier DVD release of the film, and includes interviews with Anthony Michael Hall, Paul Dooley, Justin Henry, Haviland Morris, Blanche Baker, John Kapelos and Gedde Watanabe. The cast members tell anecdotes about different scenes. Also interviewed for this featurette is Diablo Cody, who talks about the influence of the film. This is a totally enjoyable featurette about why we all love this film. It is approximately thirty-eight minutes.

The special features include three trailers, two television spots and eighteen radio spots. The screenplay is also included, presented as a photo gallery. In addition, there are two other photo galleries, one of production stills and one of poster and video art.

Sixteen Candles was written and directed by John Hughes. This special Blu-ray edition was released on April 14, 2020 through Arrow Video.

Blu-ray Review: First Snow

First Snow is a tense and excellent psychological thriller starring Guy Pearce as a traveling salesman whose life begins to unravel when a fortune teller gives him some rather unpleasant news. The film has quite a talented cast that includes Piper Perabo, William Fichtner, Rick Gonzalez, Shea Whigham, Jackie Burroughs and J.K. Simmons. It was written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, who also wrote Children Of Men.

The movie opens with a shot of a road at night, and a bit of voice over: “This road you’re on, you put yourself on this road. On this exact night. You chose this. Man makes his destiny, right?” He may be asking himself that question, but he seems to be asking us as well. And this is a movie that at certain points may get you thinking about your own life and what you’re doing with it. Do we make our own destinies? How much control do we really have over the direction our lives take? On the car radio, we hear of a coming snow storm, as Jimmy Starks (Guy Pearce) is seated in the driver’s seat, bleeding from his forehead. We then travel back in time a bit to learn just what leads this man to this point.

When Jimmy has car trouble in the middle of nowhere, he makes the most of his time while the mechanic is at work by trying to sell a jukebox to the local bar owner. Always the salesman. He also sees a sign for a fortune teller, and, amused, and with more time to kill, decides to get a reading. The fortune teller, Vacaro (J.K. Simmons), doesn’t bother with the usual trappings of his profession, with Jimmy commenting, “No crystal ball.” During the reading, the fortune teller suddenly freaks out, but Jimmy still finds it all amusing. Once he is back home, the few things the fortune teller told him begin to fall into place, which gets Jimmy to thinking. And when his doctor calls him on a Saturday for a follow-up, he begins to wonder just what made the psychic react as he did. What did that man see in his future? After visiting a professional psychic in town and getting no real results – the film does a good job of contrasting this likely fraud with the real deal – Jimmy travels back to see Vacaro. When forced to reveal what he saw, Vacaro tells him he doesn’t have much time left. “One thing is certain,” he says. “You’re safe until the first snow.” J.K. Simmons is fantastic in this scene.

The film has a kind of beautiful, quiet tension. And that tension grows from this point onward, as Jimmy begins to see death and its causes everywhere. And when he learns an old friend is now out of prison, Jimmy has the feeling that his past is about to catch up with him, and that leads to him beginning to unravel. Guy Pearce delivers a riveting performance in this film. Piper Perabo is also quite good as his girlfriend, who seems to understand Jimmy perhaps even better than he understands himself. And William Fichtner also turns in a good performance as Jimmy’s friend and co-worker. There are some light moments that break up the tension, as when Jimmy says, “Lowest form of organic life, the telemarketer.” Funny for a salesman to say that, though no one would disagree with him, of course. One thing that struck me as odd was that, fearful as Jimmy is, at one point he leaves his car unlocked and the window rolled down. That didn’t seem quite believable. But other than that, this movie holds onto you, tightening its grip as it goes, and leading us all to ask ourselves what we would do if we knew death was coming.

Special Features

The Blu-ray contains several special features, including a short behind-the-scenes featurette that contains interviews with Guy Pearce, J.K. Simmons and Piper Perabo. This is approximately three and a half minutes. There is also more behind-the-scenes footage, showing the filming of the bar scenes as well as some exterior scenes. That totals approximately seven minutes. A short interview with J.K. Simmons is included, some of this footage having also found its way into the behind-the-scenes featurette. He talks about his character, the script and what drew him to the project. This is approximately a minute and a half. And there are interviews with both Guy Pearce and Piper Perabo. Guy Pearce talks about the script, about Piper’s character, and about whether he’d like to know his own future. Piper Perabo talks about what got her excited about this project, about working with Guy Pearce, about the director, and about shooting on location. These two interviews total approximately seven minutes. The film’s trailer is also included.

First Snow was directed by Mark Fergus, and this Blu-ray edition was released on June 30, 2020 through MVD Visual.