MACABRE (1980) - Vinegar Syndrome

Macabre

Vinegar Syndrome

Original Release Date April 17th, 1980 (Italy)

Written by Pupi Avati, Roberto Gandus, Lamberto Bava, Antonio Avati

Directed by Lamberto Bava

Starring Bernice Stegers, Stanko Molnar, Veronica Zinny, Roberto Posse, Fernando Pannullo

Language Italian (English dub or subtitles available)

Purchase yours HERE from Vinegar Syndrome

by "Doc" Hunter Bush

MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

Overview:

Macabre (a.k.a. Macabro, a.k.a. Frozen Terror) comes to Blu-ray and 4K from Vinegar Syndrome. Directed by giallo vet Lamberto Bava, the film takes a subtler approach focusing on slow burn discomfort over gaudy shock tactics. Vinegar Syndrome's release of Macabre looks and sounds very impressive, and includes a selection of bonus features that is nearly overstuffed.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

Macabre is a tough picture to discuss without inadvertently spoiling anything. There are a lot of interlocking parts and details that set the movie apart from similar thrillers, and describing the film in broad strokes runs the risk of coming off as a shopping list of character traits and events. Needless to say, it's best to go into Macabre knowing as little as possible.

A year after a fatal incident killed her lover and a tragedy shattered her family, Jane Baker (Bernice Stegers) returns to the hotel where she had staged her affair. Robert (Stanko Molnar), the blind owner of the hotel, begins to suspect that she has somehow rekindled the affair, as impossible as that might be. Meanwhile, Jane's estranged young daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny) begins coming around, searching for somewhere to put her long-simmering anger at her mother, and taking it out on seemingly anyone she encounters.

Macabre isn't a traditional giallo (if it even really counts at all; that's for more scholarly discussions of form and function), but it's no less lurid, no less sensual, and no less deranged. It's just quieter. There is no unseen killer wielding a straight razor, no terrorized woman in the night, there's just a damaged woman trying to put some semblance of her life back together and a shy young man teetering on the edge of an obsession with her.

Bernice Stegers is fantastic; beautiful and intense, while also conveying that the events of a year ago have left her more than a little broken. The unfortunately named Stanko Molnar is incredibly handsome and does an excellent job selling Robert's blindness. The film has very few characters, and largely relies on the tension built between these two, who don't spend very much of the film in the same room. With Macabre (a.k.a. Macabro in the original Italian, and Frozen Terror for the American release) Director / writer Lamberto Bava, along with writers Roberto Gandus, and Pupi and Antonio Avati, have created a truly surprising film, filled with slow burn tension and a continual creeping dread that's hard to look away from.

The Packaging: 3.5 stars

First things first: There is a more elaborate version with a slipcase and a 40-page book of some variety, but I didn't receive that version, so I can't speak to that. That aside, the packaging here is good, as is usual from Vinegar Syndrome. The case is the typical black 4K variety with a reversible cover. One side is an image of Jane kissing the corpse of her dead lover, painted by frequent VS collaborator Wes Benscoter, who rules. The reverse is a reproduction of the original poster featuring a fallen porcelain doll with a crack in its head, bleeding.

Here's my issue: one of the covers, not to mention a lot of the promotional imagery in general, just gives the movie away. I know you want to have something attention-grabbing on the cover, and this film being a little less bombastic than others is, I suppose, short on big shock moments, but still. Perhaps the argument could be made that most people already know the reveal, but I can tell you that I did not. For as long as I'd heard of this flick, that part had eluded me. I'm not, like, furious about it, but it is a little disappointing.

The Video: 3.5 stars

This is a very respectable video transfer. I think this looks as good as anyone could reasonably expect. It's a little soft, and slightly gauzy at times, but I never thought it was robbing me of appreciating any of the finer details. And those are a huge part of the film. Set and shot in New Orleans, with the hotel being set in some elaborately decorated house, almost everything in the background is interesting to look at. The furniture, the wallpaper, everything is incredibly ornate. My favorite thing is the wrought iron railing in the house, which is embellished with plant designs.

The colors and shadows are all wonderfully realized. There is a lot of darkness in the hotel, partially because, as a blind man, Robert doesn't require the lights on to move around, leading to some really excellently blocked sequences. But, the important detail is that the shadows have real depth; some are deep and dark as pitch, while others are subtle grey washes over things, adding mood.

The Audio: 3.5 stars

The majority of the score is pretty minimal, but when it does rear its head so to speak, it's a really interesting combination of bass guitar, harmonica, and synths with a sort of xylophone tone. There's also a piece of music that I kept thinking sounded like perfect, era appropriate "date night" music for a film or tv series, but it was NEVER used in anything approaching a "date" scene. This is something I've noticed in a lot of, especially but not exclusively Italian films, where I will realize that the piece of music in the scene feels obviously tailored for a completely different type of scene. I don't mind it, I enjoy the anachronism of it all. "Fun" fact: composer Ubaldo Continiello also composed the music for a flick I love, the fantastically named Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976). 

The dialogue here has obviously been dubbed. This was a pretty common practice in Italian cinema of the era, and some people just do not like it. It's a bit of artifice that, for some, draws attention to the fact that you are watching a movie, and prevents them from achieving full immersion. Obviously, I am not one of them, but it's something you kind of never stop noticing, you just learn to love it, I guess. For the most part, the dub matching is extremely good, with the only issue being some of Lucy's dialogue. But the mix and balance of all audio elements were excellent.

The Supplements: 4 stars

This is a loaded release. First of all, this offers all three versions of the film: Macabro (Italian), Macabre (International), and Frozen Terror (American), all of which are available with either the Italian or English audio. As of this writing, I've only extensively checked out the International version / Macabre, but I'm really curious about what differences there will be between the others. On top of that, the bonus features are fantastic: interviews with multiple folks who are directly responsible for the film, and knowledgeable experts all shed light on the production from its inception to it's cultural impact over time.

While all of them were filled with interesting tidbits, perhaps my favorite one is that co-writer Pupi Avati admitted to setting the film in New Orleans because he was a fan of the music scene there and wanted an excuse to go. It's essentially the same scheme Adam Sandler does with his original movies, and y'know what: more power to them both.

• Commentary with film historians Eugenio Ercolani, Troy Howarth, & Nathaniel Thompson
• Bloody Beginning, interview with director/co-writer Lamberto Bava (17:19) (HD)
• New Orleans Gothic, interview with co-writer Pupi Avati (9:55) (HD)
• A Head for Producing, interview with co-writer / co-producer Antonion Avati (18:18) (HD)
• Macabre Love, an appreciation by Macabre expert Mark Thompson Ashworth (22:55) (HD)
• Jazzing for a Murder, film music historian Pierpaolo De Sanctis on the work of composer Ubaldo Continiello (22:19) (HD)
• Q&A with Lamberto Bava (58:47) (SD)
• Danse Macabre, archival interview with co-writer Roberto Gandus (24:02) (SD)
• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:17) (SD)
• International Theatrical Trailer (2:17) (SD)

Final Thoughts: Recommended 

I love giallo films, even though I'm not exceptionally knowledgeable about them, and as far as I'm concerned, Macabre counts (reminder: I have no idea whether this is even a remotely controversial statement). I always love the outliers of any genre. I like when a horror movie is funny without necessarily being a horror-comedy; I love when an entry in a franchise stretches what is possible within that established universe. To that end, I really enjoyed how surprised I was by this picture.

Macabre feels like a dime store novel: lean, mean, and floridly detailed. There are shocks, but you'll see them coming from a ways off and dread them the entire time. When the assorted chickens of the Baker family come home to roost, you'll be pleasantly shocked to see how bluntly and directly everything wraps up. After spending most of the movie creeping through the shadows, it feels revelatory when everything is drawn out into the light. The experience is a lot of nasty fun and this release is most definitely Recommended.

HUMAN LANTERNS (1982) - Vinegar Syndrome

Human Lanterns

Vinegar Syndrome

Original Release Date July 14th, 1982 (Hong Kong)

Written by Kuang Ni, Chung Sun

Directed by Chung Sun

Starring Tony Liu, Chen Kuan-Tai, Lo Lieh, Ni Tien, Linda Chu, Hsiu-Chun Lin

Language Cantonese, Mandarin (English subtitles available)

Purchase yours HERE from Vinegar Syndrome

by "Doc" Hunter Bush
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

Overview:

The Shaw Brothers film Human Lanterns comes to Blu-ray and 4K from Vinegar Syndrome. Directed by Chung Sun, a vet of the Shaw Bros. studios, the film combines balletic martial arts with a horrific atmosphere. Vinegar Syndrome's release of Human Lanterns features very thorough video and audio packages, in two languages, and a generous selection of bonus features.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

Until relatively recently I was largely unaware that the Shaw Bros made horror films. I grew up seeing what I have always thought of as "kung-fu movies" on public access TV on weekends, and while some of those had what I guess you could consider horror-adjacent or horror-coded moments and characters, they were very clearly adventure stories in the swashbuckling tradition. There were grand heroes, even if they were somewhat reluctant occasionally, and they defeated nefarious villains and occasional spooky monsters and/or spirits. But that particular veil which had been over my eyes has been lifted.

Two wealthy blowhards, Master Lung (Tony Liu) and Master Tan (Chen Kuan-Tai) allow their long-simmering rivalry to boil over once again, this time involving the local upcoming lantern festival. Lung endeavors to stack the deck by having a local master craftsman make him a lantern that's sure to win. It turns out that this craftsman, Chao Chun-Fang (Lo Lieh) has a contentious history with Master Lung, having fought with him in the past, over a woman, and received a scar on his face. For his part, Master Lung goes on his way with no idea that he has, in the tradition of so many classic myths and fables, unwittingly set in motion his own potential destruction.

Chao Chun-Fang, in an incredibly cool monstrous disguise (a simian-looking skull face with wild hair and a hairy costume; imagine an undead Sasquatch) begins hunting down the women in Master Lung's life whom he cares for and, as the film's title may have clued you in to, skinning them to make perfect lanterns. Is it grim? Conceptually, yes, but it is handled with relative discretion. There is some full-frontal female nudity (although having comedically avoided full-frontal male nudity earlier), but the skinning itself is well-handled, all things considered.

Master Tan is also eventually roped into Chun-Fang's plot, with both he and Master Lung presuming that the other is behind the various women's disappearances. This leads to several elaborate martial arts fight sequences, with some impressively long takes for how complex and acrobatic the sequences are, and really creative wire-work stunts as well! One of the bonus features, A Skinning Team, appropriately highlights how impressive these sequences are. 

Human Lanterns is a wild ride. It starts off closer to what I described at the start: a martial arts film with horrific undercurrents, and slowly upends the balance to a horror movie with martial arts combat in it. Even though it never loses the fanciful, fable-like wuxia feeling, I was surprised to realize how much creeping dread was being cultivated within me. By the time the final confrontations were playing out, I was fully hooked.

The Packaging: 4 stars

So, there is a more elaborate version available than what I received. It has a slip-case, and comes with a 40-something page book as well. Do with that information what you will. I'm still rating this pretty highly because it's quite a nice and solid release. The case is a slightly sturdier than average, black plastic 4K case with a reversible cover. These covers are what really elevate this for me. I'm a sucker for movie posters that are: colorful, obviously hand-made, and not just a collection of actors' headshots.

One image, the same one featured on the slip-case, is a painted depiction of Chun-Fang in his monstrous disguise tearing the skin from a woman's body, painted by the great Wes Benscoter. It's a very blue image with some striking orange highlights and is honestly much more graphic than the same sequences in the film. The other side is a reproduction of an original poster, again highlighting how cool and spooky the monstrous mask is, but also Chun-Fang's skinning blade, which is a large knife with a crescent-shaped tip. The image uses a ton of negative space on a white background, but is still incredibly colorful and enigmatic. You have two great options here.

The Video: 4 stars

This transfer overall looks great. It's not pristine; there is some gauziness to the lighting at times, and a softness here and there, as well as the usual film grain issues with some lower-light sequences, but I was constantly impressed with the visual fidelity. The colors are gorgeous! There's a lot of sequences at night, and in Chun-Fang's cavernous hideout, and the contrast there was very nice. It leans a little towards flat black shadows at times, but is more nuanced in others.

There is a disclaimer that plays before the film that explains that during the restoration process, they found additional footage from another print and restored it to the best of their ability. These sequences are definitely noticeable; softer focus, a bit lighter contrast, etc. These additional bits are usually the beginnings or ends of scenes that were trimmed, but on occasion they're a little more noticeable. Even so, I think this is a really admirable restoration effort.

The Audio: 4 stars

As with any subtitled film, I found it harder to pay attention to the audio mix than with films where I'm listening to dialogue throughout. But, when I would take notice, I was very impressed to find the sheer number of layers to the audio mix. The score which features a lot of chimes that added to the eerie feeling, the dialogue, seriously tons of sound effects and environmental noises like footsteps on various textures, rustling clothing, wind, frogs croaking, etc. Needless to say, the sounds of the skinning and the sonic environment they help to create is terrifyingly intense.

It's a very intricate sound bath in pretty much every scene and it's incredibly well balanced. My three-channel sound bar really lent itself to an immersive experience. But the thing that really impressed me were the silences. Occasionally, to let a moment land, or to underline the importance of a scene, the sound would briefly drop out, and after the subtle wall of sound I had been experiencing, that silence hit like a punch in the back.

The Supplements: 3.5 stars

My big sticking point for determining the quality of bonus features is whether they provide additional context for the movie: why was this specific film made, where the folks involved were at in their careers, etc. All of which helps me understand why this film among the millions of films, is getting this attention. I mean, in addition to pure film preservation reasons, etc. Human Lanterns does a decent job in this regard, but still left me wanting a little more.

In fairness, I have yet to check out the commentary tracks, or to watch the included Export Version beyond skipping to its alternate ending. But again, what is here is interesting stuff: the interviews are nice snapshots of the making of Human Lanterns from people directly involved, but especially Susan Shaw's interview which goes into detail on how she ended up being blacklisted! It's w-i-l-d stuff. And as I mentioned above, Kenji McGuire's video essay really highlights some of the excellent stunt, combat, and wire work.

• Additional 'Export Version' with Alternate Ending
• Commentary with film historian Samm Deighan
• Commentary with Kenneth Brorsson and Phil Gillon of the Podcast on Fire Network
• The End Justifies the Means, an interview with actor Lau Wing (24:26) (HD)
• A Fairy in Hell, an interview with Linda Chu (14:53) (HD)
• A Shaw Story, an interview with Susan Shaw courtesy of Frédéric Ambroisine (13:45) (HD)
• A Skinning Team: Peeling Back the Layers of Action, a new video essay by film programmer Kenji McGuire (10:07) (HD)
• Trailer (1:39) (SD)

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended 

I had a real blast with this one. It's a little heavy (what with the skinning and all) but even that is handled with discretion that actually heightens the unsettling feeling. The sound mixing especially adds an incredible amount to that atmosphere. Story-wise, I enjoyed how generally unlikeable both sides of this rivalry were. This isn't just me projecting modern-day values on characters from the past, it is directly addressed in the standard ending to the film! And when I saw that, I breathed a sigh of relief because, y'know, it's good to know I was onto something the whole time.

Human Lanterns might not be for everyone; even if you're someone who usually digs martial arts films, it might not be for you due to its slightly darker, grimmer content. Even though that stuff isn't graphically depicted, it just might not be your particular type of jam. BUT. If you think you'd enjoy this film and are wondering whether this release is worth your shelf space, you can take my word that it comes Highly Recommended.

THE STEWARDESSES (1969) - Kino Lorber / Kino Cult

The Stewardesses
Kino Lorber / Kino Cult

Original Release Date July 15th, 1969
Written by Allan Silliphant
Directed by Allan Silliphant
Starring Christina Hart, Ronald South, William Condos, Anita de Moulin, Paula Erikson
Language English

Purchase yours HERE from Kino Lorber

by "Doc" Hunter Bush,
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

The Movie: Average

The Stewardesses is an odd bird. It's mostly a cheeky soft core flick with no plot, but then what's been tucked into the middle of that? A separate short film with a plot! And it's all shot in 3-D! So why does this deserve the physical release treatment, and maybe even a spot on your shelf? Because, for such a seemingly innocuous collection of cheap thrills, it actually has a few moments of historical cinematic importance. More on that in a moment.

We're introduced to some of the titular stewardesses aboard a flight in-bound to L.A. Once they land, everyone heads off to enjoy their down time. In the cheesecake-ier plot line, we have things like Tina (Paula Erikson) dropping acid and making out with a lamp, or a bunch of the gals heading to a local bar to play pool, or Wendy (Janet Wass) heading home with a soldier (Andy Roth) who's set to redeploy soon, or Jo (Anita de Moulin) and Cathy (Kathy Ferrick) having a little lesbian dalliance.

In between, we follow the dramatic anchor of the piece, Samantha (Christina Hart) as she meets advertising executive Colin (Ronald South) on the flight and agrees to have dinner with him. Their storyline is essentially a straight-up drama, and builds to a truly w-i-l-d climax which I will NOT spoil here. The interesting thing is that this dramatic storyline was added two years AFTER The Stewardesses was released! Allan Silliphant (directing under the pseudonym Alf Silliman Jr.) saw that, for whatever reason, his little non-explicit adult film was doing numbers in theaters, and thought that he could extend its longevity by adding a "serious" plot to the middle to attract "normal" audiences.

So The Stewardesses was re-edited while still actively available to public screenings! Wild stuff, but that combination of drama, casual nudity, and perhaps most importantly, the 3-D, led to The Stewardesses playing in theaters consistently for years! It ended up having a little something for everyone, so word of mouth meant it was a staple of the midnight movie scene. That alone makes it a remarkable footnote in cinema history, but don't forget: the 3-D. Typically, shooting in 3-D was a prohibitively complicated and expensive process. Allan Silliphant was the co-creator of StereoVision, the new 3-D process used in the film that, in brief, recorded both images needed for the 3-D effect onto a single strip of film, meaning it was impossible for them to go out of sync. StereoVision would go on to be utilized in 3-D films going forward, and is credited in large part with reigniting the 3-D craze.

The Stewardesses is half softcore titillation, half romantic melodrama, has a wild production history, and helped revitalize 3-D in the film industry by making it faster, cheaper, and easier to shoot, while also resulting in a more reliable end product. Do any or all of these facets earn it a place in your media library?

The Packaging: Excellent

The Stewardesses comes in a slightly sturdier blu-ray case, with a sleeve and a reversible cover. The cover image that also appears on the sleeve is a simple, high contrast, black and white illustration of six women in striped short-sleeved shift dresses, posed in a small huddle with some sitting, and some leaning in, as though for a group photo. A seventh woman looks back over her shoulder, dressed the same but with a pillbox hat and purse over her shoulder. Above them is the image of an airliner landing, rendered in the same style. The background is a series of concentric rings colored in vivid yellow, orange, and red with a white center. Off to one side, the stylized text "3D" zooms out from the background, with the StereoVision logo beneath it.

The reverse side depicts the same basic illustration, minus the plane and the seventh woman, but plus one couch for the group to pose on. This one has a plain white background with some additional text above the logo: "Now at last on the wide-screen--the most talked about girls in America--the one, the only..." Below the image and title is where the text gets interesting: "The unpublished novel is now America's most controversial film!" I didn't mention above that The Stewardesses was based on a novel of any kind, published or not, because: it isn't! This angle, along with releasing the original, softcore version with a self-imposed X rating, were attempts by Allan Silliphant to generate interest (the X rating was in vogue at the moment due to the recent, very respectable X-rated feature Midnight Cowboy). They're talking points. Fake ones, but talking points nonetheless.

The Audio + Video: Good

If you're approaching The Stewardesses from a place of seeking pristine visual or audio quality, I don't think it will meet your standards. It both looks and sounds like an older picture that has been, overall, admirably restored, but there are still flaws. There are some scratches and other artifacts on some footage; the sound has a mildly muffled quality where, no matter how much restoration is done, you can't make it sound like it was recorded on more modern equipment than it was. These imperfections did not bother me at all, however. How could they, when I was so firmly under the thrall of the third dimension!

The Stewardesses shines in 3-D. Like all films made with 3-D intentionality, the excuses to push objects into the foreground, and thus the audience's perceived personal space, are kind of always hilarious. Whether it's a shark swimming right into your face in JAWS 3-D (1983), or someone yo-yoing right at you in Friday the 13th: Part III (1982), it's just too fun for minor faults to dampen my enjoyment. Watching the gals shoot pool (legs, cues, and pool balls coming right at you), or a wildly canted angle shot of Colin with an amazing chandelier dominating the frame behind him, all of the 3-D was chosen with such a sense of purpose. It grabs your attention over and over again. It's a bit of a rollercoaster.

The audio mix is pretty quiet overall, but I will give it props in that it's all basically the same level of quiet, so no jump scares when I'd navigate to the menu or anything like that. The score was nice, but largely overshadowed by the visuals and the constant tonal whiplash of the narrative. It has some nice tropicália vibes at times, but the one stand out moment is during the culmination of Samantha and Colin's arc. Still, no spoilers, but I will say: we know it's a bad time because of the woozy, discordant music playing underneath. It's very effective, instantly adding a sickening gravity to a film that has otherwise been consistently flying the friendlier skies.

Special Features: Excellent

Much like the film itself, this Kino release has a little something for everyone, but before I detail any of that, I want to start with my one knock against Kino's release. The Stewardesses comes on two discs; one for the film in three versions: 2-D, "BD3D" (traditional stereoscopic), and anaglyph 3-D (the red/blue variety), and the other disc for the bonus features, with all applicable features likewise available in all three visual formats. This is great, no complaints here. My, admittedly minor, issue is that while both 3-D format options are clearly identified on the disc menus, locating the 2-D isn't. Turns out it's only an option in the "BD3D" sub-menu. Like I said, a minor issue.

Content-wise, this is a dynamite release. There's a really informative commentary track from author and film historian David Del Valle and producer / archivist Miles Hunter, a 21 minute documentary on the film's production and theatrical run, and two semi-related short films. Experiments in Love (1977) is an erotic 3-D short with a much sillier, more heightened tone and much more vivid hallucinatory imagery than The Stewardesses, while Parisienne Life (1953) (a.k.a. Murder in Paris, a.k.a. Paris After Midnight, a.k.a. French Life) is a stereoscopic 3-D short that MIGHT have been directed by Ed Wood! It's basically just two ladies dancing; the kind of thing that passed for erotic in a more chaste, more sexually repressed time.

These shorts, aside from being cultural oddities that might otherwise vanish as there is no real outlet for short films, (especially older films, and especially featuring any kind of erotic content) demonstrate the evolution of what The Stewardesses is. These types of films (which would once be considered pornography in the most pearl-clutching way, and are now almost quaint) have a lineage and with its strange, evolving theatrical release, The Stewardesses is a very interesting inclusion in that history.

• A pair of 3-D glasses
• Audio Commentary by David Del Valle and Miles Hunter
• Experiments in Love (1977) (28:25)
• Parisienne Life (1953) (11:10)
• Alternate Opening Title Sequence (1:17)
• Outtakes and Lens Test Footage (15:58)
• How The Stewardesses Took Off (21:37)
• Theatrical Trailer (2:42)
• Radio Spot (0:52)

In Summary: Buy it on Sale

I think the strongest argument that can be made on behalf of The Stewardesses is one of film preservation. As a film, a narrative, or even just a time capsule of the era in which it was made, The Stewardesses is pretty thin. But as a novelty, it's honestly hard to top. Samantha and Colin's storyline is straight out of an exploitation film. Here, in an abridged form, the story simmers and quickly boils over without much warning, and it's hard to appreciate the simmer because in between is all this very silly, light and stagey footage that's barely narrative at all; almost like stag film vignettes.

The juxtaposition is bananas but still pretty entertaining, but doesn't garner much as far as rewatchability until you take into account the 3-D of it all, when it suddenly becomes a much more enticing possibility. Add to that the incredibly unique backstory and I think this release becomes pretty fascinating. The Stewardesses is a frivolous Frankenstein's monster of a picture; one of a kind and tempting for lovers of the weird and unique.

A NIGHT IN THE LIFE OF JIMMY REARDON (1988) - Kino Lorber

A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon
Kino Lorber

Original Release Date Feb. 26th, 1988
Written by William Richert, based on his novel "Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye?"
Directed by William Richert
Starring River Phoenix, Ann Magnuson, Meredith Salenger, Ione Skye, Louanne, Matthew Perry
Language English

Purchase yours HERE from Kino Lorber

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, 
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

The Movie: Bad

From a technical standpoint, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon is perfectly fine. The direction is competent, action is clear, and on all technical fronts (lighting, blocking, etc.) the production is solid. Its story is an insufferable mess however. Ostensibly, the film is about Jimmy (River Phoenix) spending one night racing around late '50s / early '60s Chicago trying to raise $80 (which would be around $900 today) for a plane ticket to Hawai'i, to follow "the love of his life" Lisa (Meredith Salenger) to college. That's essentially what the plot blurb on the packaging says, but the film itself would have you believe that it's actually about a young man trying to earn mutual respect from his father (Paul Koslo).

The problem is that: it's not actually about that. Jimmy's relationship with his father, while definitely an issue, is just part of the white noise of Jimmy's constant complaining. Jimmy complains about his parents, his friends, rich people in general (note: his friends, including Lisa, are all wealthy and Jimmy's family seem to be doing just fine), and especially women. If I was in the business of pithy, one sentence Letterboxd reviews (I am not), I would say A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon is Dirty Dancing (1987) meets The Catcher in the Rye, with Jimmy Reardon being the same flavor of insufferable little shit as Holden Caulfield.

Jimmy fancies himself a poet, psychoanalyzes his friends to the tune of Sigmund Freud (ever heard of him?) and claims to be "in love" with Lisa, but still sleeps with anyone who'll lay down. Now before you break out the pitchforks and torches, I understand the concept of an unlikeable protagonist. I enjoy plenty of them, because the work around them, be it a film, a novel, or what-have-you, isn't as nakedly in love with them as this flick is. Writer / director William Richert, adapting his own novel "Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye?", looks at Jimmy the way Milhouse looks at Bart Simpson: he's a bad boy, and that's oh so cool.

Now back to daddy: I'm technically about to spoil the end of the film, which I never do, but I have two justifications: 1) the film is not actually about this relationship, and 2) it opens with an internal monologue from Jimmy that tells you where the two stand at the end of the film, before flashing back, so you kind of already know. And away we go: Jimmy learns a secret (which I won't spoil) about his father in the penultimate scene, one which his father would rather nobody get wise to. So, when Jimmy calls Dad to come pick him up, and they end up riding the train home together, they reach their seeming mutual respect.

It goes like this: Dad says that he thinks maybe Hawai'i is the right choice for Jimmy after all, and Jimmy responds that he was actually thinking of going to Dad's alma mater. They're each, outwardly choosing to be the bigger man, to the point that Jimmy's internal monologue picks up again to pat them on the back with the actual quote "Now we are men together." Except they aren't. Both of these decisions are not motivated by respect, never mind love, but fear. Dad is afraid that Jimmy will spill the beans if he stays, and Jimmy is afraid that he'll run into Lisa if he goes. A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon is a fascinating examination of toxic masculinity and misanthropy, but I honestly don't think it knows that.

The Packaging: Good

The packaging here is fine. The case is Kino Lorber's standard, slightly sturdier Blu-ray case with a cardboard sleeve depicting the same image as the cover, a promotional photo of River Phoenix surrounded by costars Meredith Salenger, Ione Skye, and the enigmatically mononymed Louanne. Weirdly, the cover image looks more like a magazine ad for Beverly Hills 90210 or Melrose Place than from a film set in the era A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon takes place. That aside, it's a perfectly cromulent image, it just feels entirely disconnected from the movie within.

The Audio + Video: Good

I honestly think A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon looks and sounds really great. The colors have a nice saturation, the light balance is solid (most of the back half of the film takes place at night) with soft haloing around the lights and plenty of depth to the shadows. There's a comfortable level of film grain, but it never dominated my attention, even in the scenes with the lowest light. Sonically, the film is mixed and balanced well.

There's a hilarious moment where, having learned that Lisa's other suitor (Jason Court) is also a poet, but has a career plan, and future prospects in addition to already coming from money, Jimmy feels so insecure that he leaps up on stage at the dance to perform an improvised slam poem of his own. It ends with him intentionally alienating the room, before noticing that Lisa is leaving. When he shouts "Lisa!" and jumps off the stage, they added dramatic echo, which was not present at all during his or anyone else's previous time at the mic.

Special Features: Average

This release has a commentary track with film historians Paul Anthony Nelson and Perri Cummings, which, with their easygoing rapport, was a good listen and well as being very informative. Beyond that, all that's included here is a bunch of trailers. Most of them are for similar high school / college romantic something or others (I'm sure some lean more dramatic while others tend more towards comedy) and then, at the bottom of the list a conspiracy thriller called Winter Kills (1979). This threw me for a moment before I realized Winter Kills, which I've never seen, was also written and directed by Richert. It looks interesting and also seems pretty well-regarded, so I've actually added it to my watch list. Just because I don't think the man made a good coming-of-age movie, doesn't mean I believe he doesn't have something worthwhile in him.

• TRAILERS:
• A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988)
• Sneakers (1992)
• The Wild Life (1984)
• Gotcha! (1985)
• The Secret of My Success (1987)
• The Allnighter (1987)
• Secret Admirer (1985)
• Winter Kills (1979)

 

In Summary: Borrow it from the library

Listen, I know I came down hard on this film and, if you're a fan, that's cool. I mean no ill will, I just bounced off of this immediately. River Phoenix, and honestly the majority of the cast, are great and deliver what I think the screenplay demands of them, I just cannot get on the wavelength of William Richert's loving depiction of this bratty, pretentious fuckboi. But I kept with it because I wanted to see if he would change, or learn, or if the film would in any way condemn his character.

If I was feeling charitable, I think perhaps you could make the argument that all of this is intentional; that Jimmy's grousing about problems entirely created in his head is akin to Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000); a glimpse into a diseased mind. But my allergies have been giving me hell and I don't feel like being at all charitable. A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon never approaches the heightened levels of that other film, never even hints that there is any level to read it on beyond the surface. I think it might be worth watching to see a very thorough performance from a talented actor gone too soon, but I don't think it deserves a spot on anyone's shelf. So, support your local library if you want to give it a go.

OFFICE KILLER (1997) - Vinegar Syndrome

Office Killer

Vinegar Syndrome

Original Release Date Dec. 3rd, 1997

Written by Elise MacAdam & Tom Kalin, Cindy Sherman & Elise MacAdam (story), Todd Haynes (additional dialogue)

Directed by Cindy Sherman

Starring Jeanne Tripplehorn, Carol Kane, Molly Ringwald, Barbara Sukowa, Michael Imperioli

Language English

Purchase your copy HERE from Vinegar Syndrome

by "Doc" Hunter Bush

MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

Overview:

Office Killer comes to Blu-ray and 4K from Vinegar Syndrome. The directorial debut of photography artist Cindy Sherman, it remains her only feature film offering to date. Vinegar Syndrome's release of Office Killer features an excellent video transfer and audio package with a robust selection of bonus features.

The Movie Itself: 4.5 stars

I've wanted to watch Office Killer for literally years. Since I heard the excellent horror podcast Werewolf Ambulance discuss it way back on their 30th episode (they are currently approaching episode 580, so: it's been a minute) and honestly, it had been so long that I couldn't even remember what about it sounded good to me. The instant I threw this disc in, I knew I was in for a good time.

Office Killer, as someone says in the bonus features, is more of a black comedy than a horror comedy, despite its horror elements. Touching on topics like office politics, sexual harassment and sexism in a professional setting, and automation taking jobs within, in this case, the magazine industry, Office Killer has the focus of an indie film, despite all the murdering that occurs.

Layoffs are happening within Constant Consumer magazine. Norah (Jeanne Tripplehorn) has been put in charge of them, making her feel like a rat as well as public enemy number one. While Dorine (Carol Kane) keeps her job, she's informed that it will be changing and she'll have to learn the confusing new computer system. One night, after hours, Dorine witnesses the accidental death of handsy floor manager Gary (David Thornton), which she covers up by secreting the body away and sending some emails from his terminal. This accidental death sets in motion a chain reaction that leads to more deaths, on purpose this time, and to Dorine finally making the changes in her life that she's long wanted to. Good for her, I guess?

There aren't really laugh-out-loud moments in Office Killer, but there are shocked chuckles to spare as Dorine  incrementally comes out of her shell, becoming bolder and let's face it, crazier. As Norah and eventually her boyfriend Daniel (Michael Imperioli) get closer to the truth, and both tensions and the bodycount rise, we're also shown more and more of Dorine's past, giving insight into why she is the way she is. The tone of Office Killer is tough to pin down, but if you can get on its level it's a really entertaining ride. 

The Packaging: 3.5 stars

Office Killer comes in a sturdy, black 4K case with two discs inside; one for the Blu-ray, one for the 4K. The cover is reversible with one side being black and red renderings of what I can only presume are employee photos of Dorine and Norah. The other side is the blood-spattered image of a hand holding a butcher's knife in front of a flat gray background, with the image distorted as though seen on an old-school tube television or office security monitor.

I'll be honest with you, neither of these images really blow me away or, I feel, capture the visual aesthetic of the film. Director Cindy Sherman is a photographer known for creative applications of different visual tropes and her direction here utilizes a photographer's eye for making the mundane seem interesting. On a more surface level, it's a film that is primarily set in an office that's mostly green and cream in color and lit by fluorescent lights; the red and black, or red and gray colors schemes aren't really exemplary of that.

The Video: 4 stars

I think this Vinegar Syndrome release looks incredible. I can only guess what Office Killer looked like before restoration; I own many DVDs of black comedies and the like, from the end of the '90s, many of which have yet to make their way to Blu-ray and beyond, so it's easy for me to visualize. Whatever restoration work Vinegar Syndrome did, the final product is tremendous. The colors are deep without reaching over-saturation, the lighting means minimal deep shadows, which lends locations a heightened, stagey quality that makes sense when you take Cindy Sherman's photography background into consideration.

In the High Art / Low Budget featurette, cinematographer Russel Lee Fine talks about catering his work to specifically echo some of Sherman's photos, which not only makes so much sense, but also leads to a tremendously strong final product from a visual perspective. Also, just because I love them so much, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Office Killer has one of the best, most arresting opening credits sequences I've seen in a l-o-n-g time.

With film grain that's present, but never dominating the frame, Vinegar Syndrome's release of Office Killer looks like something shot recently that's trying to ape the aesthetics of the late '90s. This is a compliment by the way. I'm obsessed with this era, especially the advertising and while Office Killer isn't exactly the same thing, having a photographer's aesthetics definitely puts it into that arena.

The Audio: 3.5 stars

The more discs I review, the more I think that the less you notice the audio or video, the better. I don't mean that you shouldn't be moved by visuals or sounds in a movie, I just mean that when it's all working, you're often not thinking about it. That's where I'm at with Office Killer; I took numerous notes about the visuals (which makes sense as it's director is a visual artist) and almost no notes about the audio. But that's, overall, a good thing.

I utilize a three-channel soundbar, and never had to adjust from scene to scene no matter what was happening. When we're in the offices during regular business hours, there's an appropriate amount of background noise that makes it feel like a functioning workplace: phones, footsteps, photocopier noises, cross-cubicle conversation, etc. I'm trying right now to recall any music that jumped out at me and the only thing I can muster up is whatever piece of the score plays over the disc menu. It's such a perfectly-of-its-era composition that it feels like I should be intimately familiar with it. Fun (to me) fact: composer Evan Lurie also scored Trees Lounge (1996), Steve Buscemi's feature directorial debut, which I haven't seen in a long time, but has a similar overall black humor tone in my recollection.

The Supplements: 4 stars

I was very pleased with the amount of bonus features and their content. My big sticking point for most discs is whether these featurettes provide context for someone who may not be super well-versed in whatever film's whole history. Sometimes, as I mentioned above, you're interested in a film because you've heard about it for so long and you finally want to see for yourself, but that doesn't mean you'll necessarily be a scholar about it.

Office Killer's featurettes answered all of my questions. I was not inherently familiar with Cindy Sherman by name, but after watching the interview with cinematographer Russel Lee Fine, I looked up her photos and realized I have actually seen a bunch of her work. The features also helped clear up the whole "Why hasn't Sherman directed another film?" question.

• Commentary with author / journalist / programmer Heidi Honeycutt
• Return to Office: interview with Cindy Sherman and Molly Ringwald (17:15) (HD)
• A Pure Creative Experience: interview with Jeanne Tripplehorn (22:16) (HD)
• High Art / Low Budget: interview with cinematographer Russel Lee Fine (17:01) (HD)
• Another Kind of Monster: interview with author Dahlia Schweitzer (13:27) (HD)
• Behind-the-Scenes footage: courtesy of Jeanne Tripplehorn (6:14) (SD)
• Still gallery

Final Thoughts: Highly Recommended 

Office Killer is a great time, if you're into horror-adjacent black comedy. The visuals are impeccable, and the performances are excellent. I didn't even find an opportunity to mention Molly Ringwald as Kim the chain-smoking office gossip; if you're used to seeing her in her '80s roles in films like Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985) or Pretty in Pink (1986), it's refreshing to see her play someone so no-nonsense. She was also apparently integral to the production by donating a bunch of her personal clothing to be used as various characters' wardrobe, to help keep production costs down. What a buddy!

I will admit that Office Killer sort of throws me the closer it gets to the ending. I feel like there were grander ambitions that were hindered somewhat by both the budget and the relative inexperience of the director. Apparently Cindy Sherman had informally sworn off of ever working in film again, but has since softened on that position. I would love to see her take a second bite of the cinematic apple, because while Office Killer is imperfect, it's still Highly Recommended.

THE BLADE (1995) - Criterion

The Blade
Criterion

Original Release Date 
Written by Koan Hui, Hark Tsui
Directed by Hark Tsui
Starring Wenzhuo Zhao, Sonny Su, Xiong Xinxin, Moses Chan, Austin Wai
Language Cantonese (English subtitles available)

Purchase your copy HERE from Criterion or HERE from Diabolik

by "Doc" Hunter Bush,
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

The Movie: Excellent

The Blade is a complex story involving Siu Ling (Sonny Su) the daughter of a legendary blacksmith, who dreams of a love triangle involving two of his apprentices, Iron Head (Moses Chan) and the orphaned Ding On (Wenzhuo Zhao) who was raised by her father. Ding On and Iron Head draw unwanted attention from a clan of troublemaking hunters at the same time as Ding On finds out details about the death of his bio-dad and the origins of the Broken Blade, the school's lucky charm, and sets off on a journey to find his father's killer. This quest will cost Ding On his arm, before ending in a massive, blood-soaked final confrontation that will put the blacksmithing school, called the Refined Blade, in jeopardy.

Director Hark Tsui is a filmmaker who plays in many genres and styles. In The Blade, he and co-writer Koan Hui approach the wuxia genre, and specifically the concept of jianghu, from the perspective of cinéma vérité. If you aren't inherently familiar with any of those terms, worry not: I am here to help. In brief, wuxia is the term for Chinese martial arts stories taking place in a semi-fictional version of ancient China, built primarily around chivalry. That chivalry is known as jianghu, and it informs the fantastical world around it, one of wandering masterless martial artists or clans of warriors capable of defying physics through sheer will power and endless training. Cinéma vérité on the other hand is a filmmaking approach akin to a documentary, which does away with traditional blocking and preparation.

With this in mind, the script for The Blade was written without specific dialogue, instead describing a character's feelings about the topic at hand, and allowing the actors to fill in the details and specifics through the interaction and make it their own. Allegedly, according to one of the special features, the script would also say things like "They fight.", then let the martial arts team work out the specifics. Obviously, they didn't show up on the day with no plan, but they were allowed to conceive of exactly how they would be performing.

Similarly, the camerawork is very loose. Much of the film is shot from a greater-than-usual remove, a wider scope allowing the director and the camera operators to pick out actions or moments happening in an attempt at a greater feeling of spontaneity. This leads to what could be called "imperfections" in the filmmaking; characters standing up out of frame, cameras forced to refocus mid-scene when something unexpected happens, shots occasionally drifting to random objects as, presumably, camera operators become distracted by all the chaos happening on-set. Interestingly, The Betrayal (1966), a more traditional and formal samurai film, builds to a climactic sword rampage that is also largely shot in long takes and from a distance. I imagine that was for different reasons, but the stylistic parallels are worth ruminating on.

That style also leads to some incredibly kinetic edits. Because there are no traditional master shots (the structural part of a scene designed to cover most of the action while allowing for specific additional shots to be edited in), the editing can feel jarring, especially in the action sequences, which are also filled with sudden crash zooms (both in and out) in an attempt to capture all the relevant moments. Interestingly, it approaches something like the high stylization of Sam Raimi's peak genre camerawork. This end result is maybe the antithesis of the pure ethos of cinéma vérité, but still creates a breathless quality. You feel like there's almost too much going on to notice all of it, because there is. Instead of a carefully choreographed martial arts opera (which Hark Tsui has also done), The Blade captures a chaos that most martial arts films, but especially of the wuxia variety, typically lack.

The Packaging: Good

This is your pretty typical Criterion release: slightly larger clear plastic case, with a double-sided cover. The front-facing illustration, by artist Oliver Barrett, is minimalist but full of detail: Ding On, mid-battle, clutching the Broken Blade in his hand, rendered in high contrast shadow and highlighted with kinetic red and black lines on a stark white background. The reverse is the character for 'blade' in red on a black background. A booklet, featuring an essay from screenwriter and author Lisa Morton, which provides a lot of context for where The Blade falls in Hark Tsui's career, sits opposite the two discs.

While I like the illustration and presentation, it led me to anticipate a much more formal film. The world between The Blade's title screen and closing credits is vibrant, messy, colorful, and saturated with emotion! But maybe this is a bonus, a bit of misdirection, whether intentional or unintentional, that allows the unique depiction of the world to sneak up on you.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I was shocked to realize that The Blade is 30 years old. It wasn't until I saw the English language trailer (included in the bonus features) and I was hit with an incredibly vivid memory: being a kid, sitting on the rug in front of the TV on many Saturday afternoons in the '90s, watching martial arts movies from the '60s & '70s on public access. The Blade's trailer had all the same qualities: the too-crisp and too compressed dub, a little faded, but full of wonder, action, and justice. I was already a fan of Criterion's restoration of The Blade, but being able to contrast it with how the film looked before is a real revelation.

But don't be misled: almost by design, it's an imperfect film. The sort of catch-as-catch-can nature of the filming means there are sequences that are improperly focused. They aren't long, but they are present. In the context, the cinematic world Hark Tsui and his team have constructed, those imperfections make everything feel more alive, more real. If you'll allow me a joke, it's a bit like jazz: you have to appreciate the focus they're not pulling.

That, and other similar byproducts of this semi-vérité shooting style aside, The Blade is gorgeous to look at. The world is full of color, like the mercenaries led by Flying Dragon (Xiong Xinxin) who wear cloaks that appear to be almost black and orange tie-dye? I loved that detail and I fully intend to steal it for a detail in a future Dungeons and Dragons campaign. There are also incredible montages which utilize semi-abstract visuals and very pulpy editing techniques and end up with something akin to Evil Dead II (1987) meets House (1977).

The film's score, by Raymond Wong and William Yu, is pretty minimal for the most part. Pieces will frequently utilize very few instruments, focusing on a single melody or percussive rhythm to signify an emotional tone or impending danger. The most elaborate piece that I can think of plays during the flashback where Ding On learns about his origins. It has multiple movements and makes full use of the available instruments. It, or something like it, returns later when Ding On reveals that he has learned to fight with only one arm, appropriately conveying the triumph he feels in that moment. I utilize a three-channel soundbar and had very few issues with clarity or volume. There are some very deep, base-y drums at times that would briefly rattle my soundbar, but that's it.

Special Features: Good

This is a very solid bonus features package. There is an hour-long making-of featurette (Action Et Vérité) that's full of straight from the horses' mouths insight into the process, the vérité concept, and the highs and lows of the entire endeavor. It's genuinely fascinating, even if there are some repetitive moments. The featurette The Edges of Wuxia gives a much more insightful introduction to the concepts of wuxia and jianghu than I did above, and I recommend giving it a watch before putting on the film proper because the concept of jianghu is a running motivation within the narrative. It's not exactly top tier important, but you might be left scratching your head if you're a bit fuzzy on what exactly it is.

• Commentary track with Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng
• Action Et Vérité (58:46)
• The Edges of Wuxia (10:51)
• Tsui Hark (10:56)
• International-Version Titles (2:15)
• English-Dubbed Trailer (2:08)

In Summary: Must Own

If you're a fan of martial arts films at all, or perhaps are interested in rare use cases for a cinéma vérité approach, The Blade is most definitely worth a look. I really enjoy Hark Tsui's works overall. There are some I enjoy more than others of course, some that I can more easily see myself rewatching. The Blade is most definitely one of those. As a fan of wuxia martial arts films, who has watched them since those halcyon days on the rug in front of the TV, I am wildly enamored with this very different approach. It feels like a new insight into a familiar fable, because as much as I like the story of The Blade, it still follows a pretty standard formula and ticks a lot of the boxes you'd expect if you're a fan of the genre. But the energy conjured via the direction is a real shot in the arm.

GAIL DAUGHTRY AND THE CELEBRITY SEX PASS (2026) - Sony Pictures Classics

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Sony Pictures Classics

Original Release Date July 10th, 2026
Written by David Wain, Ken Marino
Directed by David Wain
Starring Zoey Deutch, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ben Wang, Ken Marino, John Slattery
Language English

Purchase yours HERE from Deep Discount

by "Doc" Hunter Bush,
MovieJawn Staff Writer & Podcast Director, cohost of the Hate Watch/Great Watch Podcast

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass comes to Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Classics. Directed by comedy veteran David Wain, the film is in line with Wain's usual genre-savvy, silly, and anarchic output. Sony Pictures Classics' release of Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass looks and sounds good, but being a new release, lacks additional content.

The Movie Itself: 4 stars

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is a film with a very thin premise. Allegedly, this was part of what drew director David Wain and co-writer Ken Marino to working on it: it's cliché and it doesn't really go anywhere in a grounded universe. So Wain, Marino and their crew set out to create a universe where it could work. One that mostly represents our own, but not in any ways that would inhibit the fun that could be had.

We follow the titular Gail Daughtry (Zoey Deutch), a hairdresser who's about to be married. When her husband-to-be cashes in his titular sex pass, Gail decides to tag along with her coworker and bff Otto (Miles Gutierrez-Riley) to Hollywood to find the name on her pass: Jon Hamm! They make friends, inadvertently make enemies, and meet several celebrities on their star-studded silly adventure, while they're off to see the Hamm-man.

I like David Wain. As a founding member of both The State and Stella, and co-creator of Wet Hot American Summer (2001), I've been enjoying the man's comedy for decades. Even in the films I'm not wild about, there are these moments of genuine, genre-deconstruction that are brilliant, and Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is chock-a-block with these moments. From an appearance by fellow The State / Stella alum Michael Ian Black as a minor character with a lot of important information, to Ken Marino as a noble paparazzi with a dream, to Jon Hamm's Mad Men co-star John Slattery as a fictionalized, pathetic version of himself, Wain and Marino know exactly how to twist familiar clichés into fun, new arrangements.

The film covers a lot of comedic ground: Vincent (Marino)'s tragic backstory is played largely straight, and relies on the absurd dignity of the character to carry the joke, while a later fight scene is full of over-the-top violence paired with clever acknowledgement of the genre's tropes: "Must have been 20 or 30 guys! It felt like the same couple guys over and over, but it wasn't!" There's even a segment where a gangster played by Jo Lo Truglio asks random people on the street if they've seen Gail and Otto, and it was clearly filmed in a guerrilla / Candid Camera style, as evidenced by one passerby recognizing him as Charles Boyle from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

As is the case with all modern comedy, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass probably won't tickle everybody's funny bone, but I think it's a rewarding watch. Wain & co. continually zag when you expect a zig, going for a subtler joke than the obvious one, or a more absurd punchline you couldn't foresee. Not that there aren't clichés or obvious gags, from the self-aware voice-over narration of small town postman played by Fred Melamed, to an encounter with an assault rifle-wielding 'Weird Al' Yankovic, to having a character deliberately repeat the film's ethos to make sure we're all on the same page. But as is the case with everything Wain has been attached too, they are just one spice in the dish. 

The Packaging: 3.5 stars

This isn't anything special, packaging-wise. It's your basic Blu-ray case with a representation of the Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass poster, which is, for some reason, aggressively orange, and features Gail in the center surrounded by many of the characters she encounters on her journey. I don't want to talk poorly of a film I enjoyed, but I feel okay since this isn't exclusively a Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass problem: Why are comedy posters so bad?

Seriously, think about it: what is the last good comedy poster you've seen? For some reason, they tend to just feature the characters on a solid color background that gives you almost no insight into the film. In the '90s, for whatever reason, the color was almost universally white but thankfully, I think, that has fallen by the wayside somewhat. The way I look at it is: if you don't want to hang advertising your film on one joke, or one location, why not take the classic pop music album cover route? Y'know, all the band members sitting in a bathtub like the Mamas and the Papas album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. Or whatever. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

The Video: 4 stars

As always with new releases, there isn't much to exactly marvel over. There is no restoration needed, etc., but I will say that for the most part Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass looks great. There are some janky visuals within the film itself, but I obviously don't think this specific release has anything to do with that. I'm talking about things like weird establishing shots with obvious elements like billboards added in post, or the occasional celebrity cameo obviously being green screened. If this were anything other than a comedy (or a Neil Breen movie), these things would obviously be larger issues, but everything being relative I think they're fine.

As a film, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass has a nice look to it, for the most part. A lot of the scenes in Gail's hometown and in Hollywood have a nice, bright look but there are occasional sequences that come across a little flat. This is another issue with comedies by and large: they lack a strong visual aesthetic to either build off of, or subvert. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass has the strongest visuals when dealing with their antagonists, a group of mobsters. Scenes set in boss Ludovica (Sabrina Impacciatore)'s restaurant play into the crime movie visuals with a stronger green or yellow tint, and then later, scenes in an abandoned western movie set have a real sun-baked look.

The Audio: 4 stars

The audio here, as with the visuals, is solid. I have a three-channel sound bar and noticed no balance issues. The only volume issue I encountered is that the studio logos and the included theatrical trailer are significantly louder than the movie itself, so I was busy bumping the volume up while Frank the Mailman (Melamed) was beginning his introduction to the world of Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.

The one thing most worth remarking on with regards to the film's score is that I kept realizing one bit of music or another was actually acting as meta-commentary. As in, it would be a bespoke song about exactly what was happening onscreen, but was presented in such a straight-faced and believable way that it took me a moment to realize it WASN'T a real song. If you've seen Arrested Development, and are familiar with its "Mr. F!" or "Coincidence!" musical stings, you'll have a good idea of what I'm talking about.

The Supplements: 1 star

There are basically no features to speak of here. As far as I can recall, this is the barest release I have so far covered. Aside from the Theatrical Trailer, it's a bit of a ghost town. So I guess I'll talk about the trailer: it's fine. It showcases a lot of the varied gags from the film, but is otherwise very, for lack of a better term, normal for a trailer. I know Hollywood doesn't really do bespoke trailers like this anymore, but do you remember the trailer for Toys (1992) with Robin Williams enigmatically standing in a field of tall grass?

I know I've spent a good chunk of this review referring back to other, unrelated things, but that's actually kind of appropriate for a film as Hollywood-referential as Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is. Regardless, I'd have loved to see a trailer with David Wain and Ken Marino standing at the Hollywood sign and talking about the magic of the movies as their pitch for the flick. I'm sure they'd have made it funny. They're good at that.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:07) (HD)

Final Thoughts: Recommended

I would definitely recommend Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass to most folks I know who dig comedy. It isn't challenging, but it does, as David Wain movies tend to do, come across as pretty dry in tone, despite all the weirdness, violence, and what have you. The first time I saw Wet Hot American Summer, I thought it was "Fine." and it wasn't until a subsequent rewatch that it really started to click for me.

Even in that case, Wet Hot is a pastiche of a specific handful of movie clichés, all arranged around a summer camp. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is a little wider in its scope, encompassing a whole range of stranger-in-a-strange-land, road trip, and fish-out-of-water stories, which might make the genre subversions a little harder to parse. Other than that though, I think it's a very funny flick and a real winner, but the lack of almost any additional materials really makes me hesitate to fully endorse it. Maybe wait for a future release with at least a commentary track?