Blu-ray Review: Zombie 3-Disc Limited Edition

My girlfriend has occasionally remarked disparagingly on my love for horror films. But then – shockingly – she watched a full season of The Walking Dead with me. Well, I thought, if she’s okay with zombie horror, then she should watch some of the really good zombie movies. Now, with the release of the three-disc limited edition of Lucio Fulci’s Zombie, she has the perfect opportunity to watch one of the best films of the genre, and in a new 4K restoration, which looks fantastic. Also known as Zombi 2 (in Italy) and Zombie Flesh Eaters (in England), Zombie stars Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver and Auretta Gay.

Right from that excellent opening moment where a gun is pointed at us, but then fires into the head of someone tied up in a sheet, this movie has me. The shooter announces that the boat can now leave. Then, after the opening credits, we see what seems to be an unmanned boat entering the New York harbor. When two harbor patrol men board the vessel, they discover someone is on the boat, just no one who is alive. After one of them is killed by the zombie, the other shoots the zombie several times until it falls overboard. There is a great shot when the zombie falls into the water: the camera pans up from the water to the city, indicating that the trouble is only beginning, that now everyone there is in danger. That’s something about this horror film. It is thoughtfully and beautifully photographed.

Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) is the daughter of the man who owned the boat, and she is determined to learn what became of her father. She begins sneaking around, trying to gather information. Peter West (Ian McCulloch) is a reporter who is also interested in the story, and the two join forces. There is another excellent shot when Peter is on the phone with his boss, reading the letter he found on the boat. The letter was written to Anne from her father, and while he reads it, Anne stands next to him. The camera starts on Peter, pulls back wider to include Anne, then pushes in on her, focusing on her reaction to her father’s last words to her, words about contracting a mysterious disease. What’s also interesting is that this horror film begins as if it were a crime drama. And as the two travel to the island where Anne’s father was working, we get the sense that trouble is brewing in New York, since the coast guard officer who was bitten by the zombie won’t remain still during his own autopsy.

Peter and Anne convince a couple on vacation to take them to the island on their boat. The movie has some awesome underwater photography, with sharks and nude scuba diving. And the sharks aren’t the only dangerous creatures down there. This whole sequence is fantastic and surprising. Meanwhile, the natives on the island are not doing well. Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson) is trying to learn the scientific cause of the troubles, but his wife is eager to just leave. Soon, of course, Peter, Anne, and the others arrive. And that’s when the real excitement begins. One unusual aspect of this film is that it is a horror movie that takes place mostly in daylight. The movie not only has plenty of excellent horror, such as that famous bit with the eye, but also quite a bit of suspense, helping to make it a favorite of the genre.

Disc 1 Special Features

This three-disc set contains a whole lot of special features. The first disc includes a brief introduction by Guillermo del Toro, and two separate commentary tracks. The first is by Troy Howarth, author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci And His Films. He talks a bit about the fact that the shark was trained and drugged. Actually more interesting are the anecdotes about the actor who couldn’t swim although she’d sworn she could. He also goes into the reasons why in Italy the film was titled Zombi 2. The second commentary track is by actor Ian McCulloch and Diabolik Magazine editor Jason J. Slater. Ian tells an interesting anecdote about how they filmed illegally in New York, without permits. Weirdly, doing this commentary track offered him his first opportunity to see the film in its entirety.

The first disc also includes When The Earth Spits Out The Dead…, an interview with Stephen Thrower about Lucio Fulci and the film. Interestingly, Enzo Castellari turned down the project before Fulci came on board. Stephen talks about that great underwater sequence and of course that fantastic eye shot. This disc also contains two trailers, two television commercials and four radio spots. And there is a still photo gallery, including posters and lobby cards.

Disc 2 Special Features

The second disc contains a series of interviews with several people who worked on the film. Zombie Wasteland is a featurette with interviews with Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver and Ottaviano Dell’acqua. They talk about the film being banned, and about the effect the fans have had on them. It includes footage from a convention, and thoughts from some fans. This is approximately twenty-two minutes. Then Flesh Eaters On Film is an interview with co-producer Fabrizio De Angelis. Interestingly, he starts by saying that as an audience member, he’s not a fan of horror films because he gets too frightened. This interview is approximately ten minutes. Deadtime Stories contains interviews with co-writers Elisa Briganti and Dardano Sacchetti, who talk about how the project came about. This is approximately fourteen minutes.

World Of The Dead contains interviews with cinematographer Sergio Salvati and production designer Walter Patriarca. Salvati talks about the eye scene, and the use of several different shots, as well as about the footage from the helicopter, and how that was accomplished. Patriarca talks about the church set, and the use of a bulldozer to make it tilt. This is approximately sixteen minutes. Zombi Italiano has interviews with special effects artists Gianetto De Rossi, Maurizio Train and Gino De Rossi. They talk about the need to give the zombies a look they hadn’t had before, and about the use of worms in the makeup. They talk about the shark/zombie scene and of course the eyeball scene, and also about the bridge scene, having to create the zombies quickly for it. This is approximately seventeen minutes.

Notes On A Headstone is an interview with composer Fabio Frizzi, and is approximately seven minutes. That’s followed by All In The Family, an interview with Antonella Fulci, who talks about her father and his work. That is approximately six minutes. Zombie Love is an interview with Guillermo Del Toro in which he talks about Zombie, which he calls one of his favorite movies.

Disc 3: Soundtrack

The third disc is an audio CD containing the film’s soundtrack, approximately twenty-eight minutes of music. The first track has a pleasant, bright, cheerful island vibe. Then beginning with the second track we start getting into the creepier, more intense themes. The third track is percussion, giving the sense of impending danger, the impression of being stalked on an island. The fourth track is also percussion, but faster now, louder, like everything is closer to you. The fifth track has a more electronic, eerie sound. Then we get back into tense territory with the sixth track, which builds in intensity. The seventh track is more cool percussion. The eighth track contains the familiar theme. The CD’s final track is titled “There’s No Matter,” and is a disco song with vocals. This song quickly grew on me.

This set also includes a booklet with an article by Stephen Thrower titled “We Are Going to Eat You! Zombies Vs. The Critics.”

This special 3-disc edition of Zombie was released on November 27, 2018 through Blue Underground.

DVD Review: Indian Point

There is a lot to be worried about these days, when it appears that fascism is spreading, including here in the United States, and gun violence is becoming an everyday occurrence. But the older concerns have not gone away, concerns like those over the dangers of nuclear energy. Indian Point is a documentary film about the nuclear energy plant in Buchanan, New York, and the efforts to shut it down.

The film begins with news footage of the explosion at the Fukushima reactor in Japan, a disaster which raised new concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants in the United States, including Indian Point, which is just thirty-five miles north of New York City. This documentary takes us inside the plant, with Senior Control Room Supervisor Brian Vangor acting as our guide. The place is fascinating, of course, and there is a lot of excellent footage, as well as some information on how it works and what the safety measures are. Vangor tells us, “Water is a great shield, so everything happens under at least twenty-three feet of water,” adding that cuts down on ninety-nine percent of the radiation coming out of the fuel assembly. The people at the plant talk about they applied knowledge gained from accidents at other plants to make sure nothing similar happened there. The documentary shows us footage of safety drills set in place after Fukushima.

We hear from environmental activists too. After one woman points out a few of the dangers of nuclear power, she asks, “Why am I perceived as the hysterical one?” Good question. The problems include the fact that, as one activist tells us, “Six percent of the U.S. population lives within fifty miles of Indian Point, and the emergency plan is based on a ten-mile evacuation zone.” He adds, “We’re screwed, basically.” The population in the area has grown significantly since the plant opened, and the evacuation plan would leave most people in the area stuck. There is some interesting and frightening information about the renewal process for nuclear power plants, and about spent fuel pools. There is also some compelling and depressing material on the effect the plants has had on the ecosystem of the Hudson River.

By the way, since this documentary was released, the fight to get Indian Point shut down grew stronger, and last year the New York governor announced that the plant would close in 2021.

Special Features

The DVD includes several deleted and extended scenes, including more footage from within the plant and more on the safety concerns and the efforts to shut the plant down. There is also more footage of Brian Vangor’s personal life and interests, and an interview with the mayor of Buchanan. One of the most interesting scenes is about the emergency plans for the plant. It’s also interesting to see the director of communications at Entergy (the company that owns Indian Point) going to a classroom to address the concerns of students. This bonus footage contains a lot of information, more than you might expect from deleted scenes.

Indian Point was directed by Ivy Meeropol, and was released on DVD on October 25, 2016 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: Heavy Trip

Heavy Trip is a comedy about a heavy metal band that believes it has a chance to jump-start its career by playing a metal festival. It is largely told from the perspective of Turo, the band’s lead singer, who provides a bit of narration at the beginning of the film, introducing the other band members and giving little tidbits about each (for example, guitarist Lotvonen works in his father’s reindeer slaughterhouse). After he introduces Jynkky, the drummer, as the “toughest guy in our band,” we see Jynkky collapse, leading the others to wonder if he has died again (which of course calls to mind the fate of drummers in This Is Spinal Tap).

Turo, Lotvonen, Pasi and Junkky have been friends since early childhood, and their dream has always been to have a band and to play for a big audience. Though they practice all the time, they have never played an actual gig, the agreement being that they wouldn’t gig until they had original material. “We’re not playing covers,” bassist Pasi says. But, hell, check out that fantastic metal version of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock And Roll.” And yeah, there is a nod to Tom Cruise’s dance scene from Risky Business, but Turo (unlike Cruise) has an audience of sorts, a seriously funny moment. Anyway, the band learns that writing an original song isn’t as easy as it sounds. Every riff Lotvonen comes up with is one that Pasi recognizes from an existing song. But then a mishap at the slaughter house where Lotvonen works creates the perfect metal sound. The shot of the four band members enjoying the sound while the legs of a reindeer bounce about in the machine is bloody hilarious.

When a metal festival promoter happens by to get some reindeer blood, the band manages to convince him to accept a demo tape of their song. And they hang all their hopes on this festival in Norway. The town gets behind them too, with people who once teased them now seeing in them something to be proud of. The question is, Do they really have the gig?

Heavy Trip is a lot of fun, with some hilarious moments, like when the band purchases a tour van. The description of the van’s history is perfect. But the film also has heart, and is about the dynamics of a small town as much as it is about these musicians attempting to make it. There is also, of course, a love interest for Turo, a beautiful florist named Miia who is being pursued by the small town’s other lead singer, Jouni. And there are references and nods to some other famous films about bands. The cops trying to catch the band as they make their way to the festival will remind you of The Blues Brothers. And to make sure you make that connection, one character says, “We’re on a mission from Satan,” a line that made me laugh out loud.

Special Features

The DVD contains several special features, including a reel of short deleted scenes and outtakes (one of which has another reference to The Blues Brothers). There is also Heavy Trip Goes To Texas, in which two of the characters from the film – Turo and Jouni – are in Texas in order to make Turo a star, getting interviewed by a Christian magazine, trying to buy another large animal so they can write another song, making a music video, and so on. This feature is approximately fourteen minutes. Also included is a short piece with musicians’ reactions to Impaled Rektum. An audio track of the song “Flooding Secretions” is included, and there is also a song from Jouni Tulkku’s band, with the lyrics on the screen so you can sing along. The film’s trailer is also included.

Heavy Trip was directed by Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio, and is presented in its original Finnish with optional English subtitles. The DVD was released on November 20, 2018 through Doppelganger Releasing, part of Music Box Films.

DVD Review: My Letter To The World

My Letter To The World is a documentary about one of the most intriguing and beloved American poets, Emily Dickinson. It is narrated by Cynthia Nixon, who portrayed Emily Dickinson in the 2016 film A Quiet Passion. The documentary has other ties to that film as well, being produced by the same team, and featuring an interview with Terence Davies, who directed A Quiet Place. It also features a bit of footage from that film, and some behind-the-scenes footage. Fortunately, there is a lot of information in this film, with many interviews with scholars, keeping it from feeling like a promotional piece for A Quiet Passion.

Among those interviewed is Jane Wald, who is the executive director of the Emily Dickinson Museum, which is in the home where Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Mike Kelly, the head of the archives at Amherst College, is also interviewed, and shows us some of the items from the collection, including “the one and only authenticated portrait of Emily Dickinson,” as he tells us. Kelly also displays a copy of the issue of the college literary magazine that featured Emily Dickinson’s first published work. Christopher Benfey, a professor of English, offers some interesting information regarding the earliest publication of her poetry, mentioning that the first editor made lots of changes to the poems, “changing words and regularizing the punctuation and the capitalization.” Her photo was also doctored: “They added little curls.” It is interesting that they attempted to make both the poems and the poet herself more acceptable to an audience.

And of course the film treats us to some of her poetry as well as her letters, and these really give us a sense of who she was, how she thought. Leslie A. Morris, the curator of modern books at Harvard University, tells us: “She speaks to people in a very personal way. She speaks to a deep emotion.” Several of those interviewed also talk about the musicality of her poetry, how it can be sung. There is also some fascinating material on alternate versions of her poems, plus the various items she would write on – envelopes, chocolate wrappers and so on. I appreciate that a good deal of her actual written manuscripts are shown on screen. The film also includes lots of shots of nature, for, as one person mentions, her god was a god of nature.

It is not just Dickinson’s work that so fascinates scholars and readers, but her life. She is famous for being reclusive, and not leaving her home. But that was only later in her life. The documentary mentions her dog and the effect the animal had on her life. For while the dog lived, Emily was active, walking it about the town. After the dog died, she became drawn to seclusion. There is also some mention, some speculation on Emily Dickinson’s sexuality, particularly because of that mysterious Daguerreotype which may or may not depict Emily and another woman, but also because of her love for Susan Gilbert. That material is, as you might guess, some of the most interesting of the film. But it is her writing that is at the center of this enjoyable and moving documentary.

Special Features

The DVD includes readings of several of Emily Dickinson’s poems, including “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” “I Heard A Fly Buzz,” “To Fight Aloud Is Very Brave,” “We Never Know We Go When We Are Going,” “I Reason, Earth Is Short,” “This Is My Letter To The World,” “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” and “The Dying Need But Little, Dear.” The readings are done by Cynthia Nixon and Terence Davies. The film’s trailer is also included in the special features.

My Letter To The World was directed by Solon Papadopoulus, and was released on DVD on June 12, 2018 through Music Box Films.

Blu-ray Review: Golden Temple Amazons

Golden Temple Amazons is one of the odder films in Jess Franco’s work, in part because there is some question about how much of it Franco actually directed. A credit at the beginning calls the film a “Jess Frank Presentation,” but then James Gartner is credited as the director. James Gartner is not one of Franco’s many pseudonyms, but is actually a pseudonym for Alain Payet. Some claim that Jess Franco directed the entire thing, while others believe the film was co-directed, and others believe that Franco began the film (under a different title), and then Alain Payet finished it. It was released in 1986, but has many similarities to Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro, which came out in 1983, so perhaps that last idea is the correct one.

As the film opens, several women are riding horses, their naked breasts bouncing in slow motion. When they arrive at the home of the Simpsons, they demand that Mr. Simpson comes out. When he complies, they put an arrow in his chest. His wife is likewise killed. As the women leave, the couple’s young daughter, Liana, comes round from the back of the house to discover her parents’ bodies. The film then jumps to several years later, and Liana (Analia Ivars, but credited as Joan Virly) has grown into an attractive woman who befriends and rides elephants. (There is some really nice elephant footage, marred only by one of the worst soundtracks to ever make it into a film.) Liana is friendly with a wide variety of animals, actually, including giraffes and a chimpanzee (or is it a monkey?). Father Johnstone (Olivier Mathot, but credited as Oliver Matthew, who also appeared in Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro) arrives at the house. He was a friend to Mr. Simpson and has arrived to find out what happened to him. (Took him long enough, eh?) As he reads aloud to Liana from her father’s diary (her parents didn’t teach her how to read), we are treated to a flashback of the action in which Mr. Simpson first encounters the Amazon women and discovers their great caverns of gold. The women warn him to return the gold he’s taken and to leave the area, but he doesn’t heed their warnings. He’s kind of an asshole, actually. And his wife fires a gun in the women’s direction, making her not too sympathetic either. So, as with Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro, we quickly find ourselves siding with the tribe and not the so-called “civilized” man. Anyway, Liana vows revenge on the women who killed her shitty parents.

As she sets out on her search, she is almost immediately captured in a net by a tribe of men. But it turns out they only stopped her out of concern for her. (That’s how my friends try to keep me from making mistakes too!) Their plan doesn’t work, of course, and one of the tribe’s members ends up accompanying her on her quest. He is the tribe’s medicine man, and he is apparently there mainly for comic relief. They are also joined by a group of archeologists (after Liana was captured by their porters – you know, for a girl who grew up without parents in the jungle, she’s not very savvy about her surroundings). And the group goes off in search of adventure, a lost civilization and revenge.

Quite a bit of the film is dull and silly. The gold aluminum foil on the walls looks ridiculous, and the guy who is supposed to be hammering it is clearly hitting it gingerly so as not to tear it. And the cheap blond wigs often look terrible. But still, there are certainly some interesting moments and elements. The Amazons are actually ruled by a mysterious man named Uruck (William Berger) and his mistress Rena, a woman who worries that Liana will take her place. And the moment when Uruck takes Liana into his chamber is handled really well. We see that he rapes her, but the camera remains outside the room, with the guards and with Rena, who is humiliated after losing a fight with Liana. She is also humiliated and distraught because she is being replaced at that very moment. She is defeated, and Liana is being defeated, raped by the man who ordered the deaths of her parents. It’s an intriguing and strange and effective scene. This film also has a surprising amount of cool footage of animals. And remember, when things get weird: “Forget your archeology, let’s get out of here.”

Golden Temple Amazons is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray on September 11, 2018 through MVD Visual as part of the MVD Classics series. The disc provides the option of watching the film dubbed in English or in its original French. The film’s trailer is included, as well as the trailer for Jess Franco’s Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro.

Blu-ray Review: Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro

Jess Franco was an unusual and incredibly prolific filmmaker (he directed between one hundred fifty and two hundred movies). Not all of his films are excellent, of course, but all of them have moments and elements that make them worth watching. Lately there has been a renewed interest in his work, which is good news, for it means that more of his films are getting Blu-ray and DVD releases. Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro might not be as popular as some of his other films, but it does feature a supporting performance by Lina Romay, Franco’s muse and second wife, who in appeared in much of his work. The film is now getting a Blu-ray release, as part of the MVD Classics series.

When the film opens, a small plane is in trouble, preparing for a crash landing, as a tribe below watches. When the two survivors emerge from the wreckage, the tribe kneels before them as if they are gods. A few years later, armed treasure-hunters make their way through the jungle and are suddenly surrounded by the tribe. One of the men is beaten until Diana, the young woman now grown, puts a halt to it. Interestingly, all the men of the tribe immediately get on their knees, but the one woman (who was administering the beating) remains standing, like she knows better. It’s a nice touch. The woman even questions Diana’s judgment when Diana demands the man be set free. He is warned to never return. By the way, both women are nearly naked. This is a Jess Franco film, after all.

The treasure-hunters go see Diana’s mother, a rich woman in her sick bed, who seems surrounded only by people who want her money. She is played by Lina Romay, who began acting in Jess Franco films a decade earlier. Though she doesn’t have a large role in this film, her presence is appreciated. The explorers offer to mount an expedition to find and return her daughter if only she’ll finance it. She sees them as thieves right away (the women in this film are much smarter than the men), but takes them up on her offer, for she must cling to hope of seeing her daughter again. But can she trust them? Even her relatives are only after the inheritance, and don’t want Diana to return for that very reason. These characters are all greedy and self-centered, making the world of the tribe all the more appealing. It’s an intriguing effect, as the viewer can’t wait to get back to the jungle, where the people might be cannibals but at least they’re honest. It’s the opposite of how most films of this genre make the viewer feel. And into the jungle the team goes, after a girl none of them actually wishes to save. With such questionable motives, how could anything possibly go wrong? Well, it doesn’t help that one of them shoots the first native they encounter. But remember, “Any man who thinks too much of his honor is no good in bed.”

This film has a lot of the stylistic elements that Jess Franco is known for – interesting use of sound, zooms, moments of odd focus, extreme close-ups of people, and wide and sometimes gorgeous shots showing the landscape. He always makes the most of his locations, as he does here. The film is presented in English, and like all Jess Franco films that are dubbed, the dubbing has much room for improvement. And it’s not just a matter of things not being in sync. One character is referred to as Diana’s cousin at first, though he is clearly much too old, and then later referred to as her uncle, which makes more sense. However, like all dubbed Jess Franco films, the poor dubbing becomes part of the film’s charm. There is also a moment when in a wide shot you can see a note written in French in blue marker, and then in the close-up, it’s suddenly in English in black marker. There is also a strange moment when one character almost becomes Gollum from Lord Of The Rings when talking about his stones.

Diamonds Of Kilimandjaro is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray on September 11, 2018 through MVD Visual. By the way, even though the Blu-ray case indicates that the film is 83 minutes, the disc actually contains the 95-minute version. The Blu-ray contains the film’s trailer (which is in French), as well as the trailer for Jess Franco’s Golden Temple Amazons.

DVD Review: Of Horses And Men

I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a film quite like Of Horses And Men before. Its subject, its tone, its style and its characters all feel singular to this movie. And that is remarkable. Clearly the film is a work of passion. At the end, there is this message: “No horses were hurt in the making of this film. The entire cast and crew are horse owners and horse lovers.” That message goes a long way in explaining how they got some of the tremendous footage that this film contains. But the extraordinary footage is only part of what makes this film a delight.

The movie begins with extreme close-up shots of various parts of a horse, until a shot of the animal’s eye reveals a man standing there. He is attempting to put a bridle on the horse, which he eventually manages to do. Though spread out, the community is close in spirit, and several people with binoculars wait for a glimpse of him riding his new horse. As the man proudly rides the horse, there are some shots of his face, and some of the horse’s face, as if each has his or her own thoughts, but maybe have the same goals. As he rides atop the mare, a stallion breaks free from a nearby pen and mounts the mare. The sun’s reflection on the binoculars in the distance alerts the man that everyone is witnessing his strange ménage à trois.  The man’s demeanor changes quite a bit after that, and the film takes a surprising turn.

What’s interesting is that after that, the film gives us a close-up of the eye of another horse, this time with a passing vehicle reflected in it. The vehicle’s driver spots a boat in the distance, and races back to a pen, from which he takes a horse and rides it into the water all the way to the boat. He makes it to the boat, only to purchase some rather potent alcohol, which then kills him. There is a wonderfully odd humor to this film, and at his funeral he is described by the minister as a man “who let nothing come between him and his goals.” It is a small, tight community, and the first man attends the funeral. So does his girlfriend, whose stallion was the one to violate his mare, and the two now seem estranged and do not speak to each other.

Each section of the film begins with a reflection in a horse’s eye, as if the action is from the perspective of the horses, which creates an interesting dynamic, as it is not just about the relationships between characters, but the relationships between the characters and the horses. The horses are a big part of the identity of these people and their community. The characters are all interconnected, so the film never feels like an anthology of stories. In addition to the excellent footage of the horses, there are gorgeous wide shots of the landscape, and some intense footage that brings us close to the human characters. For example, when one man cuts a barbed wire fence, the wire snaps and hits him in the face, blinding him. This movie also contains one of the oddest and most honest sex scenes I’ve ever seen in a film (and yes, binoculars come into play again). Okay, I suppose the movie actually has two of the oddest sex scenes I’ve seen, as we cannot forget that early threesome scene. There is also a scene where one of the characters acts like Han Solo on Hoth, using a horse to stay warm.

Of Horses And Men was directed by Benedikt Erlingsson, and was released on DVD on December 5, 2017 through Music Box Films. The film is presented in its original Icelandic, with English subtitles. The DVD contains the film’s trailer.