THE PHANTOM (1996) - Kino Lorber

The Phantom
Kino Lorber

Original Release Date June 7th, 1996
Written by Jeffrey Boam, based on the comics by Lee Falk
Directed by Simon Wincer
Starring Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Treat Williams, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Remar
Language English (subtitles available)

Buy your copy HERE from Diabolik, or HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Good

For those who came in late... The Phantom is widely regarded as the first costumed comic book hero! Inspired by swashbuckling, globetrotting serial adventure stories, Lee Falk created The Phantom in 1936. Also known as The Ghost Who Walks, The Phantom defends the fictional jungle nation of Bengalla from pirates, poachers, and other ne'er-do-wells with the help of his two pistols, his peak physical conditioning, assorted assistants, both human and animal, and perhaps strongest of all: generational wealth!

In the wake of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Hollywood raced to find other super heroes to plaster on the big screen. Presumably, as more high-profile characters would be prohibitively expensive, the suits chose lesser-known indie characters like The Crow, The Mask, or the Rocketeer, or older ones like Dick Tracy, The Shadow, and ...The Phantom. Director Simon Wincer's film picks up with the same words I used to open this review; a call-back to the adventure serials that partially inspired the character. In a fun parallel, Superman (2025) also opens with a similar trick, designed to reproduce the feeling of picking up a story in the middle, as used to happen quite often. The difference is that Superman is a character that has consistently been in the public consciousness for decades, while The Phantom was a very obscure character in the U.S. in the mid-'90s.

Billy Zane might be the perfect casting here as The Phantom, in that he not only has leading man charisma, but a real vintage Hollywood marquee look to him. Fun fact: in a previous attempt to adapt this character, which was to be driven by Joe Dante (Gremlins, The 'Burbs), The Phantom was to be played by Bruce Campbell who has a similar classical action hero look. The rest of the cast includes Kristy Swanson as Diana, a spunky debutante adventurer working with her newspaper-owner uncle to investigate the film's villain, wealthy industrialist Xander Drax, played by a gleefully scenery-chewing Treat Willaims.

Drax's plan is to collect three mysterious artifacts: the Skulls of Touganda which, when combined, yadda yadda yadda absolute power; you get the idea. Drax is aided in his quest by mercenary Quill, played with a globe-trotting gravitas by the always great James Remar, and Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), the captain of an airborne all-girl gang of pilots. The flick is also almost overflowing with character actors including Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, John Capodice, and Patrick McGoohan, just to name a few.

As the film bounces from Bengalla, to New York, to a mysterious unmarked third location gathering the Skulls, and our heroes survive one dynamic action sequence after another, I fell in love with this character all over again. Zane plays The Phantom with all of his natural charm, he and Swanson banter well and Diana is an incredibly capable female co-lead. Yes, she gets captured and held captive, but then again so does The Phantom. Treat Williams is an incredible sleazebag, with a penchant for reminding you that he's the Bad Guy in the best, most creatively fatal ways. Even though such broad-strokes white hat heroics and black hat villainy can feel a little outdated, The Phantom overcomes these stylistic hurdles to make a truly entertaining adventure yarn!

The Packaging: Good

There's nothing wildly special about the packaging here. It's just very much in line with the traditionally high quality that Kino Lorber puts out. There is a slip cover and a reversible insert with two of the film's posters recreated in the correct 4K Blu-ray dimensions. One is The Phantom punching into the camera with light shining from his skull ring and the tagline SLAM EVIL! at the top, which is also the image on the sleeve. The reverse shows The Phantom sitting on the carved stone throne (did I not mention he had one of those?) inside his skull cave lair (oh, I didn't mention that either?), with a shaft of cold light illuminating the tagline, his sobriquet "The Ghost Who Walks".

It might not be anything overly elaborate, but it's a solid and handsome addition to any physical media library shelf.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

This is where Kino's release of The Phantom really takes the cake. This film looks incredible! As it happens, I had watched the DVD transfer of the film earlier in the week to prepare for an upcoming episode of my podcast, Hate Watch/Great Watch (look for episode 190 if you're so inclined), so I am perhaps uniquely qualified to tell you that this is a definite upgrade. The colors are better; deeper and smartly adjusted. For instance, in most of the film, the deep blacks of the shadows add to the comic book graphic design quality (think of something like Sin City, but not nearly as stark) while in some later sequences in caves, the color has been tweaked to where the shadows are a deep brown, which avoids these darker locations becoming too one-note or flat.

A minor downside to this video upgrade is that some of the CGI assets look worse in comparison. For example, in an opening scene (perhaps a nod to the bridge sequence from 1977's Sorcerer?), one of the cables on a rickety bridge over a steep drop snaps and the CGI dust hit as it goes looks pretty rough. On the plus side, there are actually pretty few such inclusions, and off the top of my head, the other really notable one (involving sparks added to an elevator shaft sequence) looks pretty great, as do the sparks that occur FOR SOME REASON when bullets hit trees during a police chase.

The sound has been restored to the same level of quality. I didn't notice any specific deficiencies in my initial watch of the previously-available Phantom, but in paying attention to review this disc, I found that everything was extremely clear and well-balanced. My three-channel soundbar didn't have any issues; no vibrations, no muddiness, etc., and I never had to pump up the volume in between action scenes. There's also a neat bonus feature interview with composer David Newman, where he describes how little time he had to work on it, that made me really appreciate the score in a new light.

Special Features: Good

Speaking of the bonus features: I'm not mad at them, but I wouldn't have minded more. I almost never would. What I personally really enjoy are interviews or features that give greater context. I would love, for instance, a deep dive into The Phantom's journey to the screen because there were allegedly a number of ultimately less fruitful attempts and I'd love to know more about that. But as I mentioned above, the David Newman interview was very illuminating, as was the one with Billy Zane.

• Commentary track by director Simon Wincer, moderated by filmmaker Douglas Hosdale
• Kismet in the Jungle - interview with Billy Zane (27:08)
• Slam Evil: Scoring The Phantom - interview with composer David Newman (14:49)
• Trailers
• The Phantom (1996) (1:24)
• Treasure of the Four Crowns (1983) 2:01)
• Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) (2:18)
• Hudson Hawk (1991) (2:05)
• Mystery Men (1999) (2:24)

In Summary: Must Own

If you're at all a '90s kid at heart, OR a scholar of comic book movies, OR action films, OR you have kids who might fall into one or more of those categories, I not only recommend The Phantom as a film, but I heartily stan for this specific release which, it cannot be overstated, restores The Phantom to a visual and audio quality that it has been impossible to find for decades.

I don't mean to sound hyperbolic. It's not as though The Phantom is some lost masterpiece; it's a fun Saturday morning with a bowl of cereal movie that's been consistently available since it made the jump from VHS to DVD. BUT. That DVD-era version is muddy, dull, and thoroughly underwhelming, which does the movie a sincere disservice. I'm glad to see The Phantom making the leap to an upgraded format, and hopefully finding a new audience because of it. This Kino Lorber release really Slams the Evil of underwhelming physical media presentation, so why not add it to your library?

Fantasia International Film Festival 2026 - Preview

FANTASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2026
The Renowned Festival Turns 30!

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

2026 has already been a great year in film, which I say with the caveats that A) it's barely half over, B) I haven't seen all of the films released in the first half, and C) the Fantasia International Film Festival hasn't even happened yet. Fantasia is a highly anticipated festival each year, for me (and others, don't get it twisted) because of its focus: smaller, largely independent films and shorts, with a focus on offerings from Asian countries. This appeals to me personally because, odds are, if an indie film that I might like is released in the U.S., it's more than likely I'll end up hearing about it. But international films have that extra barrier of distance to overcome.

For the past handful of years, since I've been covering Fantasia, the festival has routinely exposed me to some of my favorite films of each year. Films coming from creators with different influences, different styles of storytelling and different goals. Expanding your horizons is healthy, and I think everyone should try to do it as often as possible. The festival runs from July 16th - August 2nd, and features a number of exclusive screenings and events for anyone interested in attending in person. 

To that end, below are a handful of films screening at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival that I'm very excited to check out. These are the titles that jumped out at me immediately, either because I'm familiar with some other project(s) from the folks involved, or in some cases, the concept hooked me, but as with every year I look forward to discovering new filmmakers and new ideas at this year's fest!

Get tickets HERE

YOU ARE THE FILM
Directed by Makoto Ueda
Written by Makoto Ueda
North American Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

Madoka (Marika Ito) and Kazuma (Kai Inowaki) are young people separated by about three kilometers (or a 45 minute walk), who seem to be able to communicate with each other through the movies playing in their respective local cinemas. As the title implies, they are each other’s movies! I'm guessing, given writer / director Makoto Ueda's previous work, that this is a romance with some unique twists I won't even see coming. I know Ueda from his screenplays for films like Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020), and River (2023) which each involve unique, small-scale approaches to familiar time-loop concepts. If You Are the Film, which is his directorial debut, is anywhere near as sweet and creative as those films, I'll be very, very happy.

LOS VAMPIRES
Directed by Craig Mitchell
Written by Craig Mitchell
World Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

Famously, while director Tod Browning filmed the 1931 Dracula by day, director George Melford filmed the Spanish-language version on the same sets by night. This is true, look it up. What writer / director Craig Mitchell's Los Vampires does is take a fictionalized spin on this arrangement and add in a rivalry between the two stars (Henry Ian Cusick and Thomas Kretschmann, respectively) and a series of murders happening around the set. As with the TV show Dragnet, “...the names have been changed to protect the innocent”. This story set-up really appeals to me, not just because I love vampire films, but because the whole fictionalized events on the set of a formative vampire film gimmick reminds me of the 2000 film Shadow of the Vampire (check it out if you haven't!).

THE GLORIOUS DEAD
Directed by John Adams, Toby Poser
Written by John Adams, Toby Poser
World Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

I was already a definite fan of the Adams family (with one 'd'; the family who've brought us the films Hellbender (2021), Where the Devil Roams (2023), and Mother of Flies (2025) among others) but after they personally reached out to say they'd read a review I'd written, I'm ride-or-die. Turns out they're as gracious and down-to-Earth as you'd hope. Their latest, The Glorious Dead, finds Toby Poser and Zelda Adams playing a small town sheriff and her deputy who wake up to find out everything is wrong. According to the description "...blood drips from faucets, people and pets are missing, and fleshy creatures walk the woods". Whatever is behind the events of the plot, I trust the steady hands of the Adamses to deliver a good time.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED
Directed by Kasper Kalle
Written by Rasmus Birch, Kasper Kalle, Karl Heinreich Ulrichs (short story)
World Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

A fisherman and a stranded whaler begin a secret, queer love affair in this Danish vampire flick that's being described as "haunting" and compared to the work of Robert Eggers (director of The Lighthouse (2019), and Nosferatu (2024) among others). Based on the 1884 (!) story "Manor" by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, what little I could find about this flick (which unfortunately shares a title with an SEO-dominating video game franchise) looks splendidly dark and sensual.

RUBBERHEAD: THE LIFE & MONSTERS OF STEVE JOHNSON
Directed by Nick Taylor
Written by Joseph Krings, Nick Taylor
World Premiere
Acquire tickets HERE

I love the increasingly lost art of practical effects just a hair more than I appreciate the innovations of digital, and while I didn't recognize the name Steve Johnson right off the bat, a cursory glance at his credits shows that I certainly should. With titles ranging from popular blockbusters like Spider-Man 2 (2004), to genre classics like Big Trouble in Little China (1986), to cult faves like Brainscan (1994), to series like The Tick (2001-2002), and music videos from Primus and Slipknot; the man has had some hand in such a great many entertainments that I've personally enjoyed! I'm very excited to hear his story told by many of the folks he's worked with as well as the man himself!

Honorable mention titles that nearly made it into this write-up include Colony (dir. Yeon Sang-ho), the bio-hacking zombie outbreak flick from the director of Train to Busan (2016); Kung Fu (dir. Giddens Ko), Taiwan's first martial arts fantasy film in 40 years; AnyMart (dir. Yusuke Iwasaki), a gory satire set in a convenience store in a corporate dystopia; and Dance Freak (dirs. Alan Resnick and Robby Reckleff), a dance-virus take on an outbreak film from creators known for their genre-hopping short films like Unedited Footage of a Bear (2014) or This House Has People in It (2016). 

Those are just the titles I felt like I had enough of a handle on that I could attempt to explain them. There are so many other films where I won't truly know what I'm watching until the credits roll (and sometimes not even then). If none of them sound like your thing, it's most definitely worth taking a look at what else is on offer this year. The Fantasia International Film Festival is truly a smorgasbord of cinematic treats. Look around, you're sure to find something delicious.

THE HOUSE WITH LAUGHING WINDOWS (1976) - Arrow Video

The House with Laughing Windows
Arrow Video 

Original Release Date August 20th, 1976 (Italy)
Written by Pupi Avati, Antonio Avati, Gianni Cavina, Maurizio Costanzo
Directed by Pupi Avati
Starring Lino Capolicchio, Francesca Marciano, Gianni Cavina,
Language Italian (English subtitles available)

Purchase your copy from MVD HERE

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Good

The House with Laughing Windows doesn't have the grandest legacy, by which I mean it isn't a title that gets tossed around a lot in casual horror conversations, even when discussing the Giallo sub genre, but it certainly could be. Beyond just being very well made, the more unique aspects of The House with Laughing Windows tick many of the typical Giallo film boxes and predate twists in some very popular, more mainstream horror titles. And to be clear: I can't even discuss all of them here because that would rob you of experiencing their revelations yourself.

Art restorer Stefano (Lino Capolicchio) comes to a small Italian village to restore a recently unearthed fresco in the village church. Coincidentally, he will be staying at a house that the artist, Legnani, who is long dead, had once shared with his two sisters. As the restoration goes on, Stefano begins a romance with demure school teacher Francesca (Francesca Marciano) and simultaneously becomes more aware of the local legends and superstitions surrounding Legnani.

There is a sinister feeling that permeates The House with Laughing Windows that few films can maintain for a full run time. As the restoration of the fresco, which depicts the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, continues, the feeling that you shouldn't see what's really under there grows in synch with a series of unsettling events happening around Stefano. You're given ample time to wonder if the rumors the villagers repeat are true, and perhaps how far they're willing to go to keep this history buried.

The Audio + Video: Good

This movie looks fantastic while still preserving what I feel is a key component of The House with Laughing Windows: there is a certain faded quality to it. Much like the fresco that sets the whole ball rolling, that patina of mild decay seems to fall over the entire film. The house that Stefano stays in is filled with once beautiful paintings and murals that have all degenerated since the halcyon days of their prime. The film's restoration reflects that: the colors are deep here and there, when it's appropriate. A yellow glass bottle, vibrant green trees on the edge of the property, etc. but there is an overcast, washed out, dull cast to most of the film. Those occasional moments of bright color only call this into greater contrast, drawing your attention to the casual shabbiness of the town which adds to the film's overall feeling of unease.

The sound mix in Giallo films always feels heightened to me: everything is just a little too sharp, too harsh. Whether its footsteps in a mostly empty house, the wind through the vegetation, or a scream, I find that Giallo films routinely sound like they're just tipping into the red. The overall effect is to further keep you tense and on edge.

The score on the other hand, is handled very well, with a perfect mix that doesn't ever overwhelm or compete with any of the important dialogue. I have a three-channel soundbar and my biggest sticking point with a film's mix is whether I have to ride the volume button the whole time. The House with Laughing Windows avoids this expertly. While certain sound effects were loud enough to demand attention, I could always hear everyone clearly (obviously, the English subtitles help with my clarity, but still) and the score would come and go, building to its various emotional crescendos.

One piece of Amedeo Tommasi's score, Tema D'amore No. 2 (Love Theme 2) is actually really beautiful and haunting, with sustained piano chords under a delicate melody filled with longing. While all the compositions in the film work, this one is my favorite. It's a true "they understood the assignment" moment.

Special Features: Excellent

When it comes to special features, what I'm always looking for is a greater understanding of the context in which the film was made. I'm happy to say that this Arrow release really delivers in that regard. The included, feature-length (!) documentary about the making of the film, Painted Screams (2025), is a treasure trove! With interviews ranging from stars Lino Capolicchio and Francesca Marciano, to director Pupi Avati, the doc gives insight into not just the making of the film, but into where the ideas came from, to recollections from life on-set, like going to the local pharmacy forgetting you're covered in fake blood!

Beyond that, the two video essays La Casa e Sola and The Art of Suffering, both of which were produced for this release, give really elucidating insight into aspects of the film I wasn't consciously thinking of. In La Casa e Sola (The House Stands Alone), critic Chris Alexander draws particular attention to The House with Laughing Windows' somewhat grisly opening credits and contrasts them with the subtle implication of violence in the credits to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), which were designed by the amazing Saul Bass (that's neither here not there, I just love the guy). In The Art of Suffering, critic Kat Ellinger focuses on the push-pull of themes in the film between, as she says "Apollonian Rationality and Pagan Chaos", as well as drawing comparisons with Clive Barker's Hellbound Heart and the writings of M.R. James.

Since I had seen this picture before, I watched all of the bonus content before diving back in for a rewatch, and I was not disappointed. Armed with numerous new facets to pay special attention to, I really enjoyed my second visit to The House with Laughing Windows.

• Commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
• Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani and Troy Howarth
• Painted Screams (1:34:31)
• La Casa e Sola (19:13)
• The Art of Suffering (14:59)
• Theatrical Trailer (3:40)

In Summary: Must Own

The thing about horror as a genre is that, even though it at times has been seen as lesser-than by mainstream studios, audiences and critics, it's always been relatively easy to make. Not everything, mind you, but it's never been prohibitively expensive to gather some teens / twenty-somethings and put someone in a spooky mask, holding a kitchen knife. This means that, even before its most recent reappraisal and popularity boom, horror has been a crowded field and it's all too easy for films of even high quality to slip by without much notice,

To that end, I recommend anyone with any love for horror, but ESPECIALLY if you're into Giallo, should pick up Arrow's release. Even for a student of the game, there are moves in this film that really left me pleasantly surprised. Plus, I'm a sucker for the folk horror sub genre, which this most definitely flirts with (multiple people in the bonus features make comparisons to The Wicker Man (1973) and with good reason) and films built around pieces of ancient art with a terrible secret. The House with Laughing Windows is all these things, while also splashing around in the tawdry sexual shocks of Giallo, and delivering a constant simmering tension that's just unbeatable.

THAT ALIEN, SOUND (2025)

That Alien, Sound
Directed by Brando Topp
Written by Brando Topp
Starring Mia Danelle, Will Tranfo, Deyo Forteza, Amy Hill, Richard Masur
Running time 1 hour and 37 minutes
Streaming now

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

When I first saw That Alien, Sound, back in 2024, I came away from my viewing quietly reeling. The film, from writer / director Brando Topp, takes the basic premise of John Carpenter's 1984 sci-fi drama Starman (written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon) and turns the knobs a little bit. Adjusting the settings to make it, if not more relevant to today's concerns than Starman, at least more focused. I'm not saying anything negative about Starman, mind you, I gave it a solid four stars on Letterboxd, but the Carpenter film is unsurprisingly a little paranoid while Topp's film is all about acceptance. Both are bittersweet.

When Micah (Mia Danelle) collapses in the record store she works at, screaming and clutching at the headphones she's wearing, her coworker / boyfriend Shannon (Will Tranfo) rushes to her aid and sets a precedent for the film that just kept pleasantly surprising me: no matter how crazy what Micah is saying might seem, everyone pretty much rolls with it. As we'll learn, Micah isn't really Micah anymore, she's a sentience; a once formless intelligence from deep space that accidentally hitches a ride on the song Micah was listening to--"Disco" by Death Valley Girls--into Micah's body. She didn't mean to, she didn't even seem to know that was possible, but it happened. And now she's learning what it means to be, not just physical, but human. Most of you reading this right now are likewise human, so you at least have a vague idea of what she's in for.

The former Micah, now going by the name Sound, meets Micah's family, spends time with various groups of assorted friends, and eventually forms something like a plan: perhaps, if they can broadcast a Death Valley Girls performance into space, it will act as a beacon to Micah's consciousness and she can return to her body, and Sound can return to the void. Sound is a gentle soul who seems very aware that piloting someone's body without their consent has consequences, but the story doesn't need to externalize them. There's no tangible penalty if, for instance, Sound were to smoke a cigarette with Micah's brother Deyo (Deyo Forteza), except that Sound would know it was a selfish thing to do, so she doesn't. 

Mia Danelle is phenomenal. I didn't reference Starman at the top of this article by accident. Jeff Bridges' performance in that film is very highly regarded. His take on an alien being learning to exist in a human world is different, and slightly more physical, while Danelle's is mostly experiential. You're constantly asked to believe that this person is realizing what a sense of smell is, or that she can shrug (which is apparently pretty cool), and you do. 

Evan as That Alien, Sound builds a case that Sound's story might not be true and that, as many of the people close to her posit, this is just Micah's way of dealing with feeling overwhelmed, we see person after person playing along, whether they believe it or not, despite having very little to gain. That is what stayed with me most after watching: the kindness. Whether her story is true or not, whether Sound is the most extraordinary person you've ever met or just a girl having a hard time, where is the harm in having a little empathy? 

You never know what someone is going through until you walk a mile in their shoes, or their body. It may be a cliché, but it's one that too few people take to heart. That Alien, Sound makes the case that we could all stand to be a little softer with one another, a little more understanding, and it makes it with heart and good humor. There is no admonishment in this film, no straw man bad guys or tenacious government agents hunting Sound. There's just some kids treating each other kindly and making it look easy to do. This is a film that leads by example, and I'm profoundly glad it exists.

SATAN WANTS YOU (2023) - ETR Media

Satan Wants You
ETR Media

Original Release Date Mar. 11th, 2023
Written by Sean Horlor, Steve J. Adams
Directed by Steve J. Adams, Sean Horlor
Starring Sarah Marshall, Charyl Proby-Austman, Marilyn, Charles Ennis, Kenneth V. Lanning
Language English (subtitles available)

Get your copy HERE from Diabolik, or HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

Overview:

Satan Wants You comes to Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome partner label ETR Media. An eye-opening doc that examines the events leading to a wave of fear mongering that gripped North America, the film is well-crafted. ETR's release of Satan Wants You looks and sounds respectable but lacks for bonus features.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

"Satanic Panic" is the term given to the media blitz that swept the nation in the '80s. If daytime TV and even the nightly news were to be believed, Satan hid in every dark corner just waiting to make good, god-fearing people sacrifice animals, torture children, and eat babies. Or listen to Black Sabbath. Or play Dungeons and Dragons.

My familiarity with the Satanic Panic is through the McMartin Preschool case where multiple children alleged that they were, daily, being kidnapped, tortured, and forced to commit untold atrocities. But if you looked at the details, there was NO WAY it was true. Kids claimed they were transported in a hot air balloon, or flushed down special pipes in the toilet, and these claims were never interrogated, lest the entire witch hunt-scented house of cards come tumbling down. I also knew there was a book involved, but for whatever reason, I thought the McMartin case came before it.

Satan Wants You clears up this timeline, and then some. Directors Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor dive deeply into the creation of Michelle Remembers, the book co-written by psychiatrist Larry Pazder and its subject, his patient, Michelle Smith who through multiple sessions guided by Pazder, recalled a 14-month long stint in the hands of a Satanic cult. The sensational story, which included the aforementioned animal sacrifices, child torture, and infant cannibalism, obviously caught everyone's attention, generated headlines, and led to Pazder and Smith becoming all but household names. Michelle even appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth!

But beyond just reciting a series of events, the documentary examines Pazder's time in Nigeria where he witnessed what he believed were Satanic religious rites, his reaction to the 1976 made for television film Sybil--where Sally Field plays the titular woman who suffers from what would now be recognized as dissociative identity disorder--and the details of his relationship to Michelle (both of whom were married when he took her on as a patient in the late '70s, but ended up marrying each other by '87). Satan Wants You also examines the fallout from the fervor around this book, both short-term like the McMartin case, or longer-term, like Pizzagate. The parallels there, once you see them, are very upsetting. 

The Packaging: 3 stars

The packaging here is solid, but nothing to write home about. It comes in a nice, sturdy, clear plastic Blu-ray case with a booklet featuring an essay from "cultural archaeologist" Heather Drain, with a reversible cover. One side features an illustration of a book laying on a map of North America. Its cover is an image of Michelle Smith, there is a forked tongue snaking out between some of the pages, and it is on fire. The reverse side leans into 'Satanic' visual clichés with a bleeding title and pentagram on what appears to be aged parchment.

My only complaint here is the font chosen for the essay booklet, a Gothic-style font (I'm not a really a font guy, so forgive me if that's not exactly right) presumably chosen to further lean into those same "Satanic" clichés, is actually kind of a pain to read. I will say that this is nearly counter-balanced by the cleverness of one of the film's taglines "She was chosen... as the Devil's bride.", the double entendre of which becomes clear as you watch. 

The Video: 3.5

What you have to understand is that Satan Wants You features quite a bit of, let's say, archival footage of television interviews, that gameshow appearance, news clips, and the like, much of which has some visual degradation. I initially wondered how much of that might have been the result of post-production; the chasing of a general aesthetic. But as things went on I came to believe it's probably legit, and that the quality is the result of these clips being transferred from old VHS tapes.

None of it is wholly egregious, just the kind of tracking distortion or general static that you'd get with an old tape. The rest of the footage, as in everything shot for this documentary, looks great. The majority is talking heads, but there are some reenactments and almost ...interstitials designed to evoke certain emotional responses. It's all very solid, but nothing super remarkable.

The Audio: 3.5

Satan Wants You features actually quite a bit of the audio taken from the tapes Larry Pazder recorded during his sessions with Michelle Smith, as well as some other, related vintage audio, and they vary in audio fidelity. To shore up the clarity issue, subtitles are present on screen, but sonically, they can get pretty loud, and kind of grating at times. It never had me reaching for the volume knob, but that was only for their brevity; if they'd gone on longer, I would have definitely needed to turn things down.

Other than that, and the slight audio issues with the vintage television footage, which are even more slight than the visual issues I mentioned above, everything here sounded great. I have a three-channel sound bar and, like I said, I only almost needed to adjust the volume.

Special attention should be paid to the score, from Mark Dolmont, which is present throughout (as much as I noticed) but never competes with or overwhelms the conversation. This should be a no-brainer for a genre that is generally speaking, mostly dialogue, but I have seen documentaries that don't pull it off.

The Supplements: 1 star

Aside from the trailer, there are no bonus features. The booklet mentioned above is the only thing we get that even approaches context or any outside examination of the film or its subject beyond Satan Wants You itself. The essay in the booklet is very good, but when combined with the difficult to read font, makes this nearly a wash. I do appreciate the effort that went into this release, but there's just so much ground to cover with this topic that it feels like a major misstep not to include any supplemental materials.

• Trailer (1:49)

Final Thoughts: Recommended

Satan Wants You effectively transports you to an era where Satanists lurked around every corner and were capable of regularly doing elaborate and despicable crimes. But, beyond the obvious parade of bummers that this story is, and what it says about human nature and specifically the psyche of North Americans, the doc has a lot of humor. The interviews feel honest, leading to some hilarious comments like when podcaster Sarah Marshall says of Michelle Remembers: "This book contains an extraordinary number of dead babies."

Similarly, the degree to which the media assimilated the story is itself (darkly) humorous. Obviously, Larry and Michelle appearing on lowbrow tabloid TV like Oprah or Geraldo makes sense, but watching clips from To Tell the Truth (a game show where panelists could question three guests who each claimed to be the subject of the life story read aloud by the host) feels incredibly surreal and disorienting. But, in a good way?

I think this is a documentary worth seeing, and only might be worth having an at-hand copy of but for some, this would be a one-and-done viewing experience (that I would still hope leads to further investigation). After all, as many people have paraphrased before me: Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. But the essay font issue and lack of supplemental material is a pretty big sticking point for me, personally.

MUTANT (1984) - Vinegar Syndrome

Mutant
Vinegar Syndrome

Original Release Date Aug. 24th, 1984
Written by Michael Jones & John C. Kruize (story), & Peter Z. Orton (screenplay)
Directed by John 'Bud' Cardos, Mark Rosman (original director)
Starring Wings Hauser, Lee Montgomery, Bo Hopkins, Jody Medford, Jennifer Warren
Language English (English subs available)

Get your copy HERE from Diabolik, or HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

Overview:

Mutant comes to Blu-ray and 4K from Vinegar Syndrome. Directed by industry veteran and jack-of-all-trades John 'Bud' Cardos, who was brought in to replace the original director, the film is an enjoyably creepy experience. Vinegar Syndrome's release of Mutant features a respectable video transfer and audio package with a solid assortment of bonus features.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

Mutant (also known as Night Shadows, The Pestilence, Things in the Night, or Toxic Waste) (yes, really) most likely will not blow your socks off, but it's a very competent small town horror thriller. When brothers Josh (Wings Hauser) and Mike (Lee Montgomery) run afoul of some rednecks on the highway, their car ends up in a ditch and they end up stuck overnight in a fairly inhospitable small town. But the violent locals aren't their biggest problem.

Beset with production difficulties that led to original director Mark Rosman being replaced by John 'Bud' Cardos, Mutant plays the long game with the audience, teasing something unknown and horrible and a possible conspiracy to hide it from prying eyes before ultimately revealing a more familiar style of antagonist fiends. Allegedly, the "monsters" were originally intended to be something else, but budgetary concerns and limited time were the real conspiracy, I guess.

BUT. The final product is still enjoyable. With plot elements that feel straight out of a Resident Evil game--including characters listening to the final audio log of a doctor (Jennifer Warren) while examining the site where they were murdered by monsters--and a charismatic lead performance from the great Wings Hauser, as well as a colorful cast of supporting locals, Mutant is perfect late night, popcorn-and-a-beer movie.

The Packaging: 3.5

The film comes in a standard, handsome black 4K Blu-ray case with a reversible cover. One side features an appropriately drive-in style cover with a baseball bat wielding Josh protecting bartender / schoolteacher Holly (Jody Medford) from threatening outstretched hands, flanked by other characters from the film and above an image of a burning car on town's main street. The reverse side features a more vague (and honestly, misleading) image of many large, amorphous, vaguely biological shapes filling the sky above a small town on the horizon. This image, which would make more sense for a movie like Phantoms (1998), sits above the tagline "Mankind's deadliest threat will not come from the skies."

The Video: 4 stars

Something that happens fairly frequently with these restorations is that lower light sequences will end up having a bit more digital visual noise in them; a byproduct of balancing the contrast (is my understanding). Since the majority of Mutant is set at night and/or in various interiors, the light levels are somewhat inconsistent, meaning there's kind of a lot of this grain. So if you're someone who will not settle for anything but the most pristine, crystal clear presentations, you'll want to skip this one.

Now, I will say, at no point was any of this grain ever a distraction. For the most part, it just became akin to the usual film grain and added that certain something that modern digital clarity lacks. For me, some grain, some noise is a bonus. It's akin to production value, especially when it fits the vibe of the film. For a desperate, paranoid, trapped-in-a-small town monster movie thriller like Mutant, it fits like a glove.

The Audio: 4 stars

I had no issues with the sound mix here. My personal metrics are: whether or not I have to ride the volume buttons on my remote and whether or not, when things get their loudest, the mix makes my three-channel soundbar vibrate. Neither of these particular beasts reared their ugly heads on this one. There are one, maybe two scenes in locations that are slightly more echoey, but these sequences don't have a ton of important dialogue, so audio clarity and whether or not I could understand what was being said is kind of a moot point.

What I really loved was the score, by veteran composer Richard Band (brother of fellow genre legend Charles Band, and composer for many of their projects) which features a lot of simple motifs and some beautifully sustained strings. It was nothing mind-blowing, but as usual with Richard Band, it was surprisingly engaging and vivid.

The Supplements: 4 stars

What I want most out of supplemental materials is context, especially when I learn that the production on a film was somewhat troubled. Luckily this release offers a lot of it. Between the two commentary tracks, two archival interviews, and the new interviews, I feel like I have a very good idea of what the experience of making Mutant was like, and as a bonus, it seems largely very positive. Oftentimes, a change of director is indicative of some great strife, but here it seems like a mutual parting of ways.

• Archival commentary track with director John 'Bud' Cardos, producer Igo Kantor, and actor Lee Montgomery
• New commentary track with film historians Howard S. Berger, and Steve Mitchell
• A Real Country Boy - an interview with Cali Lili Hauser, widow of Wings Hauser  (17:10) (HD)
• Mutant Report - Anthony Everitt reflects on his father's coverage of the film (7:23) (SD)
• Archival Interview with Bo Hopkins (10:59) (SD)
• Archival Interview with Lee Montgomery (15:42) (SD)
• Trailer (1:30)

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended

I don't think Mutant is a must watch, but for genre fans, it's a neat little treat. Wings Hauser, Lee Montgomery, and Jody Medford are all fun to watch, even though Montgomery is missing for much of the run time, and Medford doesn't arrive until nearly halfway through, I believe. But hands down, my favorite character and performance was Bo Hopkins as the Sheriff, who goes through an entire arc, largely in the background of his scenes. He begins as a surly obstacle with a drinking problem before the events of the film begin to set him straight and he ends up a hero.

All-in-all I recommend most people check this film out if you get the chance. It's probably worth a watch if only to see Wings Hauser leap across a pool table in the middle of a bar fight! But I imagine only true blue midnight movie fans will be making space for Mutant on their shelf.

THE KEY (1983) - Cult Epics

The Key (La Chaive)
Cult Epics

Original Release Date Oct. 19th, 1983 (Italy)
Written by Tinto Brass, based on the novel Kagi by Jun'ichirô Tanizaki
Directed by Tinto Brass
Starring Frank Finlay, Stefania Sandrelli, Franco Branciaroli, Barbara Cupisti
Language English

Get your copy HERE from Diabolik, or HERE from Orbit

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, MovieJawn Podcast Director and Staff Writer 

The Movie: Good

Tinto Brass is perhaps most well-known for the film Caligula (1979), an erotic depiction of the late Roman emperor's reign starring Malcolm McDowell, Peter O'Toole, and Helen Mirren which had a messy post production, was received generally negatively but has become something of a cult classic. The Key, while nowhere near as ambitious or expensive, is widely regarded as Brass' masterpiece and, whether you agree with that assessment or not, is certainly more cohesive a vision.

I can't really begin to talk about this film without first addressing the elephant in the room: this is an erotic film. It exists to titillate and arouse, and it does so directly. The sex and sexual situations depicted are the point; The Key is about the sex. Just as folks may not enjoy horror movies, or documentaries, erotica is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I believe, whether or not the genre is your thing, you can still discuss the artistic merits of a piece.

To that end, The Key is actually very impressive. Well-shot, fairly well-acted, with gorgeous locales and mostly very beautiful people, The Key is also a shockingly solid character piece. Art professor Nino Rolfe (Frank Finlay) is frustrated in his wife Teresa (Stefania Sandrelli)'s lack of libido and sexual creativity. To that end, he manufactures a scenario to unleash her sexual id: he leaves a key somewhere she is certain to find it, knowing she'll be too curious to refuse finding what it unlocks, which is a drawer in his desk containing a journal in which he has been writing about his sexual frustrations and fantasies.

Things spiral from there. At a dinner with their daughter Lisa (Barbara Cupisti) and her fiancé Laszlo (Franco Branciaroli), Teresa initially seems to be playing along and flirting with Laszlo to excite and tease Nino, before she ends up fainting which requires an injection into her buttock, delivered by Laszlo. This begins a back-and-forth between Nino and Teresa where each tries to call the others' bluff before Teresa stops caring and just has a full-on affair with Laszlo.

Stefania Sandrelli had been a celebrity since she was a teenager and, at 37 years old, she viewed taking such a literally and emotionally naked role as the potential start of a new stage in her career. As Teresa, she's wonderful and exudes sensuality. Her sexual awakening is presented as the story's main focus, with Nino quickly sliding down a moral scale from playfully cheeky husband to jealous monster. He also, it should be noted, has nonconsensual sex with his wife after she passes out, which the film's score (by legendary composer Ennio Morricone!) depicts as oafish via oompah-oompah music as opposed to a reprehensible act.

Which brings me to a point I frequently reach in most viewings of erotic films: the prevalence of depictions of sexual assault. These films, no matter the level of "core", are about depicting fantasies for the audience, and noncon scenarios are plenty of people's jam. So basically, I don't have to like it, but I do have to accept its existence, and that acceptance doesn't stop me from thinking prof. Nino is a garbage human being. I was happy to watch as he slowly ruins his marriage and ultimately gets his just desserts.

The Packaging: Excellent

Cult Epics' physical releases, just in general, are very handsome and of good quality. The Key comes with a slipcover featuring Teresa lying in bed wearing black lingerie, with a mirror on the wall behind her reflecting an image from a different, more naked scene. The case inside is of the black 4K variety and has a double-sided cover.

One side features a vintage poster, with the Italian title La Chaive, of Teresa sitting on a dune wearing a mature blazer, shirt and skirt combination, but flashing her stocking garters. The reverse side is another image from the same sequence as the slipcover image, with Teresa this time sitting up in bed. There is also an included booklet with a wonderfully thorough essay about Tinto Brass and Stefania Sandrelli's careers, written by Eugenio Ercolani.

All in all this is the sort of release you could comfortably display on a shelf without worrying anyone would think The Key was pornography (if that's a concern of yours).

The Audio + Video: Excellent

This looks wonderful. The colors are lush throughout and the light balance is excellently handled. or example, there is a sequence where Nino takes nude photos of Teresa and then has Laszlo develop them as part of the whole psychosexual game, but I mention it because: when Nino is taking the photos, he pulls out a powerfully bright studio light and still, even in the dark bedroom, nothing is washed out OR swallowed by darkness. It's wonderfully well-managed. 

There is more visual noise in darker scenes, but not to a great or distracting degree. This phenomenon is a byproduct of balancing / restoring sequences initially shot in lower light, and typically presents as just a higher rate of film grain. I mention it here only to assure you that this is normal and to be expected.

I loved the look of The Key throughout, from the deep, jewel box colors of the clothing, the amber lighting on some scenes, and the inky black shadows. There's even a sequence with light streaming through the windows highlighted with some atmospheric smoke like a damn Steven Spielberg movie! When combined with the beauty of the locations and architecture, it's absolutely a gorgeous film.

I had slightly more of an issue with the audio, but truly only minor complaints. Firstly there is a scene in a barber's where the volume suddenly jumps exponentially, which is an unpleasant surprise, but only happens in that one brief scene. The more prevalent issue is that there are moments where the audio is slightly muffled, but never to a degree that you can't understand what's being said. It's almost bound to happen with a film with so much ADR. Automatic Dialogue Replacement is when something is recorded later, either to replace imperfect on-set recording, add lines of dialogue that were not initially recorded, or in this case to dub the various actors (many of whom were not native English speakers).

Special Features: Excellent

I would like to see this section grow in terms of your opinions. I do think it’s still important to list all of the special features that are available, but I would like you all to check them out and highlight one or two that really stood out to you. 

What I look for in a selection of bonus material is context. Unless I'm already familiar, I like to get an idea of the what and why of a movie's creation, and this release is a treasure trove of context. Aside from the booklet with the essay from Eugenio Ercolani mentioned above, there is a feature length commentary featuring Ercolani and Marcus Stiglegger, numerous interviews both new and archival, and trailers for other films from Tinto Brass.

Perhaps my favorite is the Score by Ennio Morricone bonus feature. Yes, legendary composed Morricone scores the film, which I barely mentioned above because I wanted to highlight that this bonus feature allows you to play the entire score over a still photo from the film! It played in the background as I was outlining this review, in fact!

The only bonus feature I didn't really enjoy is Outtakes Venice, which is just extra footage of the water which, while nice to look at and technically correct, is decidedly not what I think of when I see the word ' outtakes '.

• Feature commentary from Eugenio Ercolani & Marcus Stiglegger
• Tinto's Talisman - interview with actor Franco Branciaroli (38:55)
• Keyhole Venice (7:35)
• Sensuous Morricone (28:29)
• Score by Ennio Morricone (32:06)
• Archival Interview with Tinto Brass (16:52)
• Outtakes Venice (10:15)
• The Key poster gallery
• Tinto Brass poster gallery
• Tinto Brass trailers:
• The Key (1983) (3:08)
• Cheeky! (2000) (3:25)
• Frivolous Lola (1998) (2:18)
• All Ladies Do It (1992) (3:22)

In Summary: Buy It On Sale

I quite liked The Key overall. It's has more to it than its just erotic content, it's genuinely funny and strange at times (the dream / fantasy sequences!) and just has a lovely overall presentation. I know erotic films without much more to their plot--meaning not erotic thrillers or somesuch--aren't everybody's bag, but if you're in the market for something like that, and with the added morality tale ending tacked on, I can't recommend this release strongly enough.

There is, I should mention, in addition to the maybe distasteful assault stuff, an odd through-line of fascism to the film. Now, to be clear: neither the film itself nor any of the characters seem to support fascism. The film is set in 1939 and opens at a New Year's celebration held by the Italian Association of Fascist Hoteliers. It ends with a funeral shown underneath an address from Mussolini announcing Italy entering into WWII. In addition, Nino has a side hustle authenticating art forgeries to allow folks struggling under fascism to make some money. I just ...am not sure how this informs the film itself.

I suppose the societal repression and the personal repression is a parallel, but it seems like a relatively half-constructed one. Certainly, fascism represents a major epoch in Italy's history but beyond that I just feel like I'm missing something. This film is based on a novel, Kagi by Jun'ichirô Tanizaki, so perhaps it's some thematic holdover from that? I don't think its inclusion really dampened my enjoyment any, I just couldn't end this write-up without mention it.