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?

BODY PUZZLE (1992) - Kino Lorber

Body Puzzle
Kino Lorber / Kino Raro

Original Release Date: March 20th, 1992 (Italy)
Written by Lamberto Bava, Teodoro Corrà, Bruce Martin, Domenico Paolella
Directed by Lamberto Bava
Starring Joanna Pacula, Tomas Arana, François Montagut
Language English (English and Italian subtitles available)

Get your copy HERE from Kino Lorber, or HERE from Diabolik

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

The Movie: Average

I enjoy the Giallo genre quite a bit. I'm no expert, just a fan, but the emphasis on style always appealed to me. The clothes, the kills, the locations, the direction, and the motivations were all usually equally unique and stylish; at least in the best examples. But Giallo peaked around the late '60s / early '70s and though there are viable examples across the 1980s, perhaps by 1992, it would be unfair to look at Body Puzzle through that lens. But it feels right, so I'm gonna.

Body Puzzle is, super appropriately, a puzzle of a film. It begins with a scene of a man (François Montagut) playing the piano before flashing back to a motorcycle accident. Through the language of film, we believe we are being told who this person is and why they do what they do: murders. But are we? As the film rolls on and we see the man committing numerous murders, taking grisly trophies with which to taunt a beautiful young woman (Joanna Pacula), we believe we understand why. Even if we don't have all the details, we seem to understand the shape of events. The film is then playing catch-up to what we have seen, as Det. Mike (Tomas Arana) comes to Tracy Grant (Pacula)'s aid and begins trying to put together the pieces of this particular puzzle.

As a film, Body Puzzle feels caught between two genres. It loses many of the Giallo trademarks I listed above, but doesn't replace them with anything. The only truly interesting location is Tracy's apartment which has huge blue glass pyramids on the walls composed of smaller, triangular panels, and a swimming pool flanked by black and white pinstriped pillars. The one moment that feels like the kind of cheap, nasty thrills you'd expect from a Giallo film is one kill in a public bathroom stall where the camera is briefly looking up, out of the toilet as the killer descends upon his victim. For a film where a guy is going around collecting disparate body parts, there's hardly even much blood.

I didn't have a bad time with Body Puzzle necessarily, in fact the ending pretty much saves the whole experience with just how bonkers it is, but the journey to get there is at times tedious. It also has a lot of fun small moments like a mortician (Sebastiano Lo Monaco) eating sliced apples immediately after performing an autopsy, a w-i-l-d scene in a classroom for blind children, and the revelation that the killer has been eating an un-sliced personal pizza from the edges inward, the way a rat would. Whether these sound like enough to tip this into Must Watch territory is entirely up to you.

The Packaging: Average

This is a pretty barebones release, all things considered. You've got your standard Blu-ray case, nothing wrong with that, and a pretty cool cover featuring Joanna Pacula's face divided into several slices in the process of being either disassembled or reassembled, depending on your point of view (maybe it's a glass half full or glass empty thing?) So, overall, nothing fancy, but still a handsome addition to your collection that would look very nice lined up with some of Kino Lorber's other Raro releases.

The Audio + Video: Good

I'm not in love with the look of Body Puzzle as a whole, which surprised me since cinematographer Luigi Kuveiller has lensed films like Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971), Paul Morrisey's Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974), and Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975); all films with much stronger imagery. Overall, a lot of the film is a little desaturated and washed out. BUT, from a technical standpoint, the transfer is very clear and when things do occasionally pick up visually, they look very nice. There's a little light haloing in exterior shots, and a little extra visual noise in the darker interiors, but nothing unusual. 

What I did really enjoy was the sound in Body Puzzle. Composer Carlo Maria Cordio plays with a lot of tinkly synths and deep drum sounds that all slowly build at just the right moments. There's also repeated use of Modest Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, which you may know from the scariest part of Disney's Fantasia (1940), which essentially functions as the killer's psych-up music and is actually a pretty fun bit. An interesting fact I learned from the commentary track is that director Lamberto Bava initially used Carl Orff's O Fortuna, which you may know from such films as John Boorman's Excalibur (1981), Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994), or Steve Carr's Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009). Unfortunately, he wasn't able to actually use it for these sequences and chose the Mussorgsky piece as a fall-back.

Special Features: Average

There's not a lot of meat on the bone here, if I'm being honest. Aside from the commentary track (the release's saving grace for me), the only special features are trailers for The .44 Specialist (1976), and Body Puzzle itself. The commentary track, from film historians and hosts of Wild, Wild Podcast Adrian Smith and Rod Barnett, is very informative and the two have a fun, easygoing rapport that makes it actively fun to listen to.

• Commentary track from Adrian Smith and Rod Barnett
• Trailers
• Body Puzzle (1992) (1:12)
• The .44 Specialist (1976) (3:22)

In Summary: Borrow from the library

Obviously, if you're deep in the paint for Giallo films and looking to snatch up the last few stragglers to cap off your collection, absolutely scoop this one at your earliest convenience. But for the general public (like me) who are just interested in a fun trip to Giallo country, this doesn't fully satisfy. Without the expected stylish, memorable visuals, all you are left holding on to is a plot that's designed to make you believe you're well ahead of what's going on.

You aren't. Or at least not as much as you think you are, which is ultimately really pretty fun and crazy when all's said and done, but it's not a great time all the way through. So maybe check this one out first and decide if it's worth the space on your shelf.

THE .44 SPECIALIST (1976) - Kino Lorber / Kino Raro

The .44 Specialist (a.k.a. Mark Strikes Back)
Kino Lorber / Kino Raro

Original Release Date Oct. 26th, 1976 (Italy)
Written by Dardano Sacchetti story by Lucio De Caro
Directed by Stelvio Massi
Starring Franco Gasparri, John Steiner, Marcella Michelangeli, John Saxon
Language Italian (English subtitles available)

Buy it HERE from Kino Lorber, or HERE from Diabolik

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

The Movie: Average

I am by no means an expert in Italy's Poliziotteschi crime subgenre. I really only discovered it on a previous Disc Dispatch (1976's Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man) and I was cautiously optimistic. I mention this only to say that The .44 Specialist didn't really blow me away like that previous film did, and to couch this in: maybe there's something about it that is intrinsically Poliziotteschi that I'm just not getting.

We're introduced to undercover cop Mark (Franco Gasparri) hanging around a cafe, acting as bait to infiltrate the criminal underworld. He provokes a fake arrest in order to come in for a debriefing without blowing his cover. Luckily, this false arrest brings him to the attention of just the people he was debriefed about: terrorists Paul (John Steiner) and Olga (Marcella Michelangeli). In the film's opening scene, we witness them, along with sniper Hans (Claudio Zucchet), execute some dignitary while riding in his car, despite a police escort. They managed to escape, though Hans was gravely injured.

This is where Mark comes in. Initially brought on by Paul and Olga to care for the obviously dying Hans while they conduct other illicit business around the city, before long Mark is hired as Hans' replacement, a decision underlined by Paul unceremoniously executing Hans (which itself leads to an hilarious bit of Weekend at Bernie's-esque shenanigans a full 13 years before Bernie's hit theaters!). Then we're off on an international terror spree.

My issues are manifold: first, and maybe it's just that I missed something, but I had NO IDEA this was the third film in what is known as the Mark the Narc Trilogy (after Mark the Policeman a.k.a. Blood, Sweat, and Fear and Mark the Policeman Shoots First, both from 1975). This technically doesn't matter, as the story is stand-alone, but I never felt like I had any idea who Mark was as a character. Perhaps there is more to him established in the first two films or perhaps not, but importantly: I just can't know.

Relatedly, stuff just seems to happen to/for Mark that doesn't have anything to do with his police prowess or any notable skills. In one instance, he's picked up by hot lady stranger Isa (Malisa Longo) while trying to hail a cab and taken back to her apartment for casual sex. This delay means he is not in his hotel and thus avoids being killed in some vague ambush bloodbath. Similarly, he sees his car being towed just before he enters a clandestine meeting, and again narrowly avoids being murdered along with everyone else, both times purely through chance.

None of this is any fault of Gasparri's. He's incredibly naturally charismatic in the role, but the character is a cipher, and a phenomenally lucky cipher at that. Now, if that was a trait of Mark's that was previously established in the two earlier films, then so be it. I might still be somewhat annoyed by it, but maybe it would have grown on me. Here, it just means I have no real reason to care about what's happening because Mark will be fine and without even engaging with the danger in any meaningful way. Like a virile, laid-back Mr. Magoo.

The Packaging: Average

This is a bare-bones Blu-ray through-and-through. It's the usual slim, blue case, includes no booklet or anything, and features a single-sided cover. The illustration features Mark with his era-appropriately large hair and larger bell-bottoms, falling backwards firing his gun on the tarmac of an airport (a moment that, unless I missed it, does not happen).

It's fine, but not especially attention-grabbing.

The Audio + Video: Good

On a technical quality level, The .44 Specialist is more than adequate. Though it's obviously a product of its era, with regards to film grain and sonic fidelity, I always find that those minor "imperfections" add to a film's charm unless they're so egregious that they distract from the finished product. That's not the case here at all. Aside from arguably looking a little overcast visually sometimes, I had no issues with the look.

From an audio standpoint, my only complaint is that the film's main bit of score largely doesn't work. It sounds very reminiscent of the theme from TV's Taxi (1978-1983) and works perfectly well for when Mark arrives in a new location and we're treated to some casual sightseeing. It does not, and in fact could not, also work when Mark goes for a meeting with his handler Altman (the great John Saxon) whom Mark thinks might be setting him up. The tones of these two scenes are just too different for one piece of music to work equally well in both. Composer Stelvio Cipriani (Piranha II: The Spawning [1982]) is incredibly prolific, and he did a fine job on this piece of music, but it should not be used in all of the places that it is.

Special Features: Bad

The only special features aside from the commentary track from film historian Rachael Nisbet are two movie trailers, one of which is for this very movie, and neither of which is for any other films in the trilogy. While Rachael Nisbet delivers a very informative commentary track, as she normally does, I was pretty underwhelmed with these features.

• Trailers
• The .44 Specialist (3:22)
• Body Puzzle (1:12)

In Summary: Snag it at a yard sale

As a film The .44 Specialist is fine but not especially memorable. As a disc, it feels incomplete. This should really have been packaged and released with the other two Mark the Narc films, had a couple of special features exploring the franchise, its crew and its cast (Franco Gasparri's story for instance, is akin to a Poliziotteschi Behind the Music) and really just given the fans or any curious parties their money's worth. The film may stand on its own without any direct ties to the previous two, but the disc most definitely does not.

NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER (Kino Lorber)

Night of the Juggler

Kino Classics
June 6, 1980
Written by William W. Norton, Rick Natkin, based on a novel by William P. McGivern
Directed by Robert Butler, Sidney J. Furie (uncredited)
Starring James Brolin, Cliff Gorman, Julie Carmen, Abby Bluestone, Dan Hedaya
Language English

Buy it HERE from Kino Lorber, or HERE from Diabolik

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

The Movie: Excellent

Holy Toledo, gang! I originally saw this restoration in July as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival--at least, I think so. It was AN restoration, I'm not 100% certain it was THIS restoration--and I was jaw-on-the-floor riveted the whole time. Full of style that was for the time quite revolutionary, and awash in tension, Night of the Juggler hits the ground running and never really lets up.

Sean Boyd (James Brolin) is an ex-NYPD cop turned trucker who's on the outs with his wife but is still trying to show up in a meaningful way for his daughter Kathy (Abby Bluestone). When a local loon, Cliff Gorman as Gus Soltic the titular Juggler, mistakes Abby for a higher-profile child and kidnaps her, he sets off an exhaustive chase across the city of New York that takes Sean and other interested parties from high society brownstones to the actual sewers and everywhere in between.

A few things set this apart from the myriad of films and television involving a parent unrelentingly chasing down a kidnapper, and only some of them are obvious on a first viewing, while the rest were made clear after checking out the special features. First of all, the pacing. While I absolutely responded to it, as mentioned above, I wasn't conscious of how completely the film emphasized it until Julie Carmen mentioned in an interview how she felt the presence of jogging early on mirrors the unrelenting forward motion of the rest of the film. Relatedly, original director Sidney J. Furie's pioneering use of long lenses to add a claustrophobia to all shots, interior or exterior, by cramming the frames full of foreground and background detail. The result is a film that actively feels like desperately trying to push your way through a crowd going the other direction.

Brolin sells all of it. He has an easygoing but no-nonsense quality that tells the audience from the jump that the Juggler absolutely grabbed the wrong guy's kid (and not just because he actually did think she was a different kid). Once Sean is on the move, he pretty much never slows down and certainly not of his own accord, even though in real life, Brolin broke his foot filming an early chase scene and production had to halt temporarily, but more on that later.

I'd be remiss not to mention the rest of the cast, because they're all fantastic. Richard S. Castellano and Dan Hedaya as cops, with Hedaya becoming an especially dangerous thorn in Sean's side; Cliff Gorman giving a truly unhinged and dangerous performance as the Juggler; Julie Carmen as the sweet Maria who takes pity on Sean and helps him out; and a pre-breakout Mandy Patinkin doing a version of the accent that he would use in The Princess Bride as Allesandro the cab driver. And then there's New York itself. We're all well familiar with the old "the city is a character" adage, but I'd say that here NYC is almost a performer. Sidney Furie allegedly said that in New York, even the extras are great actors, and I'm inclined to agree with him. They add a level of reality to the film that makes the world feel so much more real and visceral.

The Packaging: Good

Talk about the type of case, if there’s a booklet, essays, etc. Talk about what stood out to you as someone who values owning physical media!

This comes in a standard Kino Lorber black 4K/Ultra HD case, which looks sharp, but the real one-two punch for me is the slip and the reversible cover art. One side offers the more colorful of the two illustrations which depicts a visibly shaken Sean in high contrast blue lighting above an image of the Juggler dragging Kathy through a sewer tunnel with the tagline "Somewhere out there his little girl is crying for help." This one is also the image on the slipcover, and it's a great one. The deep blue and teal green of the tunnel below work really well with the stark black background and white-and-blue title.

But, the reverse side, while less colorful, is my favorite. Above a narrow collage of imagery from the film is a depiction of a wild-eyed Sean tearing an image of New York City apart with his bare hands! It's all in black and white with the tagline "In the heart of every victim is a hero and he'll tear apart a city to prove it." at the top. The effect reminds me a little of the pop art collage work I first encountered in comic books from the 1960s and '70s and it's just an incredibly arresting image. I have limited wall-space, but I'm seriously considering tracking down a full-size poster.

The Audio + Video: Excellent

I love the look of this film. As I mentioned above, Sidney J. Furie's concept for using the long lenses is fantastic. It crowds the frame with visual obstacles--fences, subterranean pipes, the people of the city--in a way that makes you almost desperate to keep your eyes on the action. After production halted due to James Brolin's broken foot, producers wanted Furie to make changes to the script that would see his character Sean spend less time being active onscreen. Seeing as how Furie had constructed the whole film to feel like a desperate chase, he disagreed which led to his being replaced by credited director Robert Butler. Luckily Butler and cinematographer Victor J. Kemper kept the long lenses, ensuring a cohesive vision for the film as a whole--and one that Butler would adapt to the Hill Street Blues pilot the next year, helping to establish a look for street-level crime stories that persists to this day.

The transfer really works incredibly well with this style of filmmaking. Taken from a 4k scan of the original camera negative, there's film grain present, but the images themselves are very sharp, which you really need with the cluttered depth of frame achieved by the long lenses. On a lesser transfer, Sean and Sgt. Barnes (Hedaya) having a conversation with a chainlink fence between them and the camera could easily be muddy, or the third act descent into sewers and subterranean utility corridors, with all their pipes, steam, and other visual obstacles, could be a dark mess of blurry shapes. Here, everything feels tactile and real, which adds to the immersion. I felt like I had to actively keep my eyes on what was happening, lest the movie get away from me.

The audio mix adds to that effect as well. As I type this, I can't think of any score, though I know there had to be some. All I can recall is the sounds of the city swallowing everything at every turn. Obviously, you can't run down a busy street in New York without drawing the ire and car horns of numerous drivers, but also people passing on the street and general atmospheric sounds were all mixed very well in my three-channel soundbar.

Special Features: Excellent

What I always want most from special features is context. I like to know the clime and conditions in which the film I've watched was made. The features on this Kino release are dynamite for context! There are the two interviews, the Pandemonium Reflex inquest segment, and a very informative commentary track, all of which added to my understanding of this film as an object. Even the trailers help give me an idea of similar films of the era (though as always, I think trailers need a 'Play All' option).

The inquest feature especially, really stands out for me. In addition to elucidating a lot of the information about the filmmaking style that I've mentioned above--which I appreciated because I didn't even realize I was responding to it until it was brought to my attention!--it also really brought Sidney J. Furie into sharper focus for me and added a bunch of his (to me) lesser-known films to my watchlist.

• Commentary from film historians Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Summer of '78, an interview with James Brolin (13:51)
• The Sweet Maria, an interview with Julie Carmen (14:22)
• Pandemonium Reflex: An Inquest into Sidney J. Furie’s Night of the Juggler (14:02)
• Trailers
• Night of the Juggler (1980) (1:53)
• Hardcore (1979) (1:23)
• Vice Squad (1982) (0:59)
• The Hunter (1980) (3:15)
• Stick (1985) (1:22)
• Death Wish 3 (1985) (1:41)

In Summary: Must Own

There's a certain relentless determination in a film that audiences respond to. It's part of what made the John Wick series pop for so many people. Few films really support that tone as well as Night of the Juggler. From the moment Kathy is taken, the film rarely loses momentum, and even when it does it more than makes up for it when the pace picks back up. The densely packed frames add a desperation and anxiety to the chase that, as I mentioned, was adopted shortly after this and remains part of the genre's visual DNA. It's because it works.

Thrillers are called thrillers for a reason. You want your audience tense, and excited, and Night of the Juggler delivers, as a film, hugely. On top of that, this release allows for a tremendously satisfying, high quality viewing experience with plenty of satellite materials for deep-divers to explore. 

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (Kino Raro)

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man

Kino Raro

The Stats
Video: 1080p High Definition
Audio: DTS-HD Master 2.0 mono (on both the original Italian and English dub tracks)
Subtitles: SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Kino Lorber

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

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man comes to Blu-ray from Kino Raro. Directed by the occasionally controversial Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust), the film is a blast of juvenile impulse without a thought for consequence. The excellent visual and audio transfers on this Kino release more than make up for the slightly underwhelming array of special features.

The Movie: Excellent / 4.5 star

Let me just say that the title Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is one of the craziest, best titles I've heard and it's been rattling around in my head all week. With that out of the way, we can get down to business: this flick is nuts (complimentary)! Gleefully violent and oddly lighthearted in equal measure, LLACDLAM feels like an afternoon playing cops 'n' robbers in the imaginations of two children.

Alfredo (Marc Porel) and Antonio (Ray Lovelock) are two slender, casually stylish, devastatingly handsome Special Force cops in Rome who spend their time riding around on one motorcycle together, sexually harassing the Special Force secretary Norma (Silvia Dionisio), and casually killing anyone and anything that gets in their way. Director Ruggero Deodato's (Cannibal Holocaust) dark sense of humor is present throughout, adding to the dizzy, pleasantly chaotic feel of events. There is an overarching plot about the culmination of a three-year sting operation to bring down a crime boss known as Bibi (Renato Salvatori), but it's honestly barely a concern beyond acting as a framing device for the shenanigans of Alfredo and Antonio, or as I think of them: The Crime Bois!

This isn't a unique structure. Most people remember the action sequences from their favorite films over the actual plots, and with LLACDLAM, it's easy to see why. The production really makes the most of its modest budget. One of the most famous aspects of the film was its opening motorcycle chase through Rome, which famously they did not acquire permits for (à la The French Connection), and features one of if not the first instance of a motorcycle popping a wheelie in a feature film! The chase crosses the city, with our Crime Bois riding individual motorcycles, weaving through traffic to capture two purse snatchers who inevitably end up dead. According to the supplemental materials, obtaining permission would have cost $3-4 million, plus two weeks' worth of insurance costs, so they did it guerrilla style, and anytime the cops showed up, they would all simply move to a new location, which ends up giving the chase a wide variety of locales that I suppose they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Porel and Lovelock make for a fantastic and fascinating on-screen pair. Though they're both in almost every scene, they remain ciphers. At some point in the commentary track from film historian Rachael Nisbet, she mentions that supposedly one of them was playing the hot-head and the other the more reserved one, but even she seems skeptical about these supposed archetypes. As depicted, they're foppish goofballs who dump copious amounts of sugar in their coffee, roll around in a loose dirt culvert shooting target-practice at each other, and sexually tag-team the (I should emphasize: very willing) crime boss' daughter Lina (Sofia Dionisio) when they go to her place for information.

This film falls into the Italian Poliziotteschi subgenre, which I was only intellectually familiar with before now, and is written by one of its giants: Fernando Di Leo, whose shadow looms large across the special features. But I have no idea if this is a good entry point to the genre or not. It was well received, there were even talks of a sequel but Porel's on-set behavior made Lovelock hesitant to be put in a situation where he would have to rely on Porel, which amongst other factors like a producer deciding he would direct it instead of having Deodato return, lead to a sequel never materializing. That said, I can't imagine the silliness present here to be indicative of the genre as a whole, can it? If so, I might have found my new hyperfixation.

The Packaging: Average / 3 star

In the film, Antonio's bedside table has three items: an alarm clock, an ashtray, and a full-size silver skull. This release is a little like that: minimalist, but a perfect indicator of what you’re getting into bed with. The cover is an illustration of Alfredo and Antonio posed as they do on their shared motorcycle, both pointing guns, with a smaller illustration of the pair of fleeing purse-snatchers on their own motorcycle. It also advertises that this is the 4K restoration, and that it's from Ruggero Deodato above the original Italian translation of the title: Uomini Si Nasce, Poliziotti Si Muore (which more literally translates to Men Are Born, Cops Die). There's nothing especially noteworthy about the packaging here, but that's perfectly fine.

The Video: Good / 4.5 star

From what little I knew about this film, I was expecting it to be much rougher-looking than it is. I knew that most of the Poliziotteschi films were shot sort of on-the-fly, and I knew Ruggero Deodato's background of having perfected his craft under Roberto Rossellini. I figured that the resulting film would have a real run-and-gun quality to it that might very well extend to the visual fidelity. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be a fair assessment.

To start with, there is some film grain present here, but not nearly as much as I'd have expected. The colors are well-balanced enough, if maybe a touch washed out, except for the fire, which really calls into contrast how cool-toned the rest of the visuals are. Turquoise, blues, blacks and tans monopolize the film's palette, but even the Coke machine visible in a late scene isn't as candy-red as I know it should be. None of this detracts from the film's overall quality, to be clear, instead working in a way similar to sepia tone, to cast Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man as something from a bygone era.

The Audio: Good / 4.5 star

Famously, Italian productions from this era didn't really record live sound often, which lead to the whole 'Spaghetti Western' phenomenon, at least as far as it allowed for the casting of recognizable actors from multiple markets and countries, regardless of how well they all spoke any given language, since they'd all have to be dubbed anyway. As a result, LLACDLAM has that ADR sound to it overall; the quality of having been recorded in a studio divorced from the various locations and moments. Like certain aspects of the visuals mentioned above, this doesn't detract from the experience for me.

Quality wise, my soundbar is of the three-channel variety and this stereo mix sounded perfectly fine. If your ideal audio experience involves multidirectional sonic immersion, this probably won't cut the mustard for you, but you will be able to hear and appreciate everything easily.

One fun thing is comparing the Italian and English dubs: They're not drastically different viewing experiences, plot and tone-wise, but the language is sometimes very different in really interesting and amusing ways. For instance, when the Crime Bois show up for their usual playful harassment of Norma, in the Italian language version she greets them by calling them "Hotshots!" while in the English dub she says "My dear cocksmen!" Wild stuff. Gotta love it.

The Special Features: Good / 4 star

I would like there to have been more about the writer, and perhaps godfather of Poliziotteschi (is that fair to say?) Fernando Di Leo since the trailers are for some of his other works. There's a nice chunk of the commentary about him, but I'd like to have come away from this with a more concise idea of where this sits in both his oeuvre and Poliziotteschi as a genre and maybe a fuller watchlist? But that's just spitting into the wind.

As for what's here, the commentary by Rachael Nisbet was very informative and helpful. For instance, I was initially a bit put off by the sexism with regards to how the Crime Bois treat Norma, but Nisbet seems to feel that the movie is laughing WITH Norma and not AT her, which eases my conscience a bit. I also really dug the included documentary, which gives great insight to the production of the film. Deodato's included commercial spots are interesting as well, but could ideally have been placed in a wider context.

• Audio commentary with film historian Rachael Nisbet
• Archival documentary Violent Police
• TV spots directed by and with commentary from Ruggero Deodato
• Trailers
• Milieu Trilogy rerelease trailer
• Caliber 9 (1972)
• The Italian Connection (1972)

In Summary: Grab it on sale / 4 star

Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is a giddy sugar-high of a crime film. The pacing, characters, and filmmaking all present the indelible energy of youth and an equally immature outlook: these Crime Bois are impervious to harm either physical or emotional, and beyond consequence for their actions. They kill with a casualness that would be chilling if this felt like a real world. Luckily, for us as much as for them, it does not.

I won't spoil the finale for you, but trust me when I say LLACDLAM ends with a gloriously violent shrug from our leads that left my jaw on the floor. If you compare Alfredo and Antonio to other so-called "loose-cannons" from similar cops and criminals films, the Crime Bois come out, as they always do, on top. A trail of bodies and numerous exploded vehicles in their wake, without a scratch on them. Fans of action and genre cinema will want to make space for this release on their bedside table. Right between the ashtray and the life-size silver skull.

CRACK IN THE WORLD (Kino Lorber)

Crack in the World
Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: 1080p High Definition
Audio: DTS-HD
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Kino Lorber

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

Crack in the World comes to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Featuring b-movie science fiction mainstays Dana Andrews, Janette Scott, and Kieron Moore in the lead roles, the film combines grand-scale disaster with small-scale drama. The Kino release, though light on special features, acts as an excellent showcase for the incredible and varied practical effects throughout.

The Movie: Excellent

I quite enjoyed Crack in the World! The film itself could absolutely be Mystery Science Theater 3000 fodder, but the restoration goes a long way towards making you take it more seriously despite the ludicrous premise and outdated science. There are a lot of varied effects shots--matte paintings, composite shots using models or stock footage, etc.--and the vast majority of them look amazing! That, along with the dramatic love triangle between Dr. Stephen Sorenson (Dana Andrews), his wife Dr. Maggie Sorenson (Janette Scott), and Dr. Ted Rampion (Kieron Moore) gave me other things to pay attention to aside from just the plot.

Project Inner Space, lead by Dr. Mr. Sorenson, plans to harness the unlimited energy potential within the Earth's core by drawing magma to the surface using a 10 megaton bomb--which is the explosive equivalent of somewhere between ten and twenty typical nuclear bombs, as far as I can tell--and while he thinks this will go smoothly, his professional and romantic rival, Dr. Rampion disagrees. They demonstrate their competing theoretical outcomes in an amazing sequence where one pane of glass is smashed with a hammer, (representing what Rampion thinks the bomb will do to the mantle) while another is pierced smoothly with a heated iron (which is how Dr. Mr. Sorenson believes things will go). Seeing as the film is called Crack in the World, I imagine you may guess who is more correct.

From there, this is, in broad strokes, your standard disaster movie: the scientists realize they may have doomed the planet, then scramble with plan after plan attempting to put right what they've done wrong. And then! On top of all that, Dr. Mr. Sorenson is secretly dying and hasn't told Dr. Mrs. Sorenson! But since this was the 1960s, instead of discussing the things that are weighing upon him, he obtusely ends their relationship, forcing his wife to leave confused, bewildered, and hurt. But I guess he thinks that's better than having to endure any sympathy?

This emotional fissure, mirroring the global one, fuels the love triangle that lends the film some extra dimensionality and an additional point of interest. I won't pretend that these character arcs are unique, fascinating, or even particularly well-developed, but they really help guide the pacing of the action. Some aspect of the story is always moving forward--sometimes more than one in a given scene!--so I was constantly engaged.

I love a good science-run-amok movie--probably from growing up watching so many of them be skewered on the aforementioned MTS3k--but they're usually hamstrung by lackluster or ill-conceived effects. That is most certainly not the case with Crack in the World. The effects here are extremely ambitious, well thought-out, and generally well-realized. Beyond that, I'm just a sucker for the slight imperfections you get with practical effects. Story-wise, the whole thing builds to one of the single coldest lines in science fiction: "No one has ever observed the birth of a moon, Masefield..." and an appropriately apocalyptic (though not hopeless!) finale that left me grinning.

The Packaging: Good

I love the cover art for this, which I believe is by Adelchi Serafini--who I was not familiar with, but I am now a fan of (see below)--is an amazing, painted depiction of a globe splitting in half, surrounded by various smaller illustrations detailing a number of disasters: crumbing or burning cities, vehicles falling off the face of the Earth, people screaming. It's just tremendous. The more you look at it, the more details you notice. Absolute eye candy, but of true bone-chilling horror.

The Kino Lorber release features a reversible cover with essentially two different versions of the imagery described above. One is slightly off-set to the right, allowing for the cast to be listed in black text against the stark white background, and the tagline, above in red: "Thank God It's Only a Motion Picture!" This is also the image on the cardboard sleeve included with the first printing. The reverse image is a somewhat remixed version of that globe image: A bit sharper and darker, with some details swapped--like an ocean liner sinking into a vortex as opposed to burning oil fields--with some color and motion implied in the negative space around the globe. Both images absolutely rule in my humble opinion.

The Video: Excellent

The extremely high quality transfer from Kino Lorber occasionally shines a spotlight on the seams of the visual effects of Crack in the World. There are a handful of composite shots--where two images filmed separately are combined to seem like one--where you can obviously tell that you're looking at a miniature, or stock footage. But importantly, not all of them. Some are so well done that you may not even realize it at first glance.

Effects aside, the colors are fantastic, which greatly enhances numerous scenes including the incredible finale, and the images are overall very crisp with real depth of shadow. It really makes the miniatures even more admirable for having to match these details.

The Audio: Good

First off, a heads-up: while this film starts off at what one might call "a reasonable level"--meaning I had to bump up the volume a bit, as it's largely scientists speaking in conversational tones--by the third act, when the score is all booming brass, the rumbling of a damaged planet, falling debris, and shouting, I was forced to turn it down a bit. In that regard, maybe things could have been balanced with a bit more control, but I'm not sure what limitations the audio restoration team were presented with.

Beyond that, this sounded excellent. No buzzing on the low end, even towards the back of the film, clear dialogue (for the era), and a dynamic score. And while I'm on the subject, not to second guess composer Johnny Douglas (who ended up as the composer for tons of 1980s cartoons like G.I. Joe, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Transformers, etc.), but I personally don't feel like a clarinet is the right instrumental choice to convey implicit danger. Like, "it's getting so hot that metal is melting and I'm about to pass out" should not be accompanied by a whimsical little 'toodle-oop' musical sting. That's just silly.

The Special Features: Average

These are your standard assemblage of commentaries and trailers. As an aside, I'm surprised there wasn't a low res version of the trailer for Crack in the World included, as that kind of thing just makes the visual improvement that much more evident, but I digress. The two Sidebars are fine, with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette discussing their memories of the film. The commentary track from Gary Gerani was informative, but he's obviously reading from a script, which I enjoy less than the more conversational variety. But, as I said, it's still very informative and it pointed me to other films through various cast and crew member connections.

• Audio commentary by film historian / screenwriter Gary Gerani
• Sidebar with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette: Part 1
• Sidebar with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette: Part 2
• Trailers
• The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
• The Last Man on Earth (1964)

In Summary: Must own!

If you're at all into this era and style of science fiction--cautionary tales born of humanity's hubris--or disaster movies in general, I cannot recommend this film, and this release, enough. I know I've harped on the special effects a lot here, but it's because they're just so impressive. This level of visual upgrade would draw perhaps too much attention to the effects of other similar b-movies, allowing you to see too many seams and zippers, but not here. They're glorious and deserve to be appreciated--there's a volcanic island that, according to the commentary track was an 8-foot tall model that belched smoke & debris and it looks fantastic! So: sorry, not sorry about geeking out about them.

But this is more than an effects showcase. It would all drag if it weren't for the performances of our three leads, who add just the right amount of pathos to their stories. As a bonus, for Rocky Horror Picture Show fans, both Janette Scott and Dana Andrews are mentioned in the lyrics to Science Fiction Double Feature (though not for this film). I'm also a sucker for simple, tangible demonstrations in sci-fi--like the folded paper "wormhole" explanation from Event Horizon--and the glass panel demo I mentioned above is up there among the best. I could go on listing my favorite details from Crack in the World, but why not get a copy and find some for yourself? 

THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS (Kino Lorber)

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: 1080p High Definition
Audio: DTS-HD
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Kino Lorber

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

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders comes to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Bond alum Terence Young directs the always alluring Kim Novak in this literary adaptation that may be a touch too plodding to achieve its intended lighthearted tone. The quality of this Kino Lorber release however, might actually make up for any slight failings of the film itself.

The Movie: Average

Based on the 1722 novel dubiously credited to Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) after his death, though it is written in the style of an autobiography of the conwoman Moll Flanders. This adaptation sands some of the rough edges off of the character of Moll (played here by Kim Novak), making her earnest but burdened by sex appeal, while in the novel, she's at least a bit more romantically cutthroat. It also streamlines the narrative--the novel hops over to America early to set up the finale, then back to England--and removes some of the more questionable elements like the numerous abandoned children and the accidental incest (look it up).

According to the commentary track--which I loved, but more on that later--The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders only truly exists to capitalize on the success of Tom Jones (1963), which depicted similar subject matter with a playful tone but a visually more realistic portrayal of 18th-century England. Moll Flanders scrubs the visuals of their grit, presenting as a more studio-pleasing romcom full of elaborate costumes and locations, trying to give Moll's numerous titular amorous adventures a light touch for general audiences.

I do not think this endeavor is successful. Director Terence Young--known for Bond films like Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963)--attempts to make this feel like a "romp", but the script is too unbalanced for him to find much consistent tone. Literally half of the 2 hour, 11 minute film goes by before a hook emerges--Moll is romanced by highwayman Jemmy (Richard Johnson) with both of them pretending to have wealth and land to ensnare the other--which means the first half flounders and feels like aimless scenes only related by their concept: "the almost insufferably beautiful Kim Novak is harassed by men".

However, with Jemmy comes Squint (Leo McKern), the highlight of the film for me. Squint is Jemmy's right-hand man, a bumbling, nearly blind goofball and essentially a cartoon character. He changes personas multiple times to help fool Moll, and others, through the use of such crafty disguises as *checks notes* an eye-patch, or a different hat. He also continually screws up even the simplest tasks in amusing ways, sometimes doing himself some form of bodily harm and almost always acting as an avatar of coitus interruptus for Jemmy and Moll. It's silly, recalling for me some of the physical comedy and broad character performances from something like It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

With more focus and the addition of some clear tonal indicators, I enjoyed the back half of The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders more than the first, but it takes an hour plus of high-production value Benny Hill sketches to get there, all to drive home the concept "Kim Novak is good looking". Reader, I may not be the sharpest of knives, but it doesn't take me an hour for me to let that concept sink in. All told, while I really wanted to enjoy this, or to find it titillating or risqué, it comes across as too long, formless, and bland.

The Packaging: Average

This Kino release features a reversible cover: one side is an illustration of Moll Flanders front and center, posed semi-heroically (and showing some thigh) with Jemmy in the background and a smaller image of the local constabulary chasing Jemmy and Squint on horseback. The other is a slightly more impressionistic painted collage of images mostly featuring Moll being uninterested in kissing various suitors (and Jemmy with his sword drawn for good measure). Perfectly serviceable.

The Video: Excellent

My issues with the film aside, The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders looks incredible! There is no film grain that I saw, whether shooting on set or outside. There is one scene early on--when the Banker (George Sanders) falls ill--where I noticed one very slim, very pale scratch visible for about one minute. But that aside, there is not a mark on this release! Which is good because it allows you to really drink in the costumes, which next to Kim Novak of course, were the most eye-catching part of the film.

I'm being cheeky, but honestly, in almost every scene someone is wearing an amazing frock coat--the Count (Vittorio De Sica)'s pink and black outfit for instance--or gown--any of his wife, Lady Blystone (Angela Lansbury)'s costumes also come to mind--that were absolutely breathtaking. I was genuinely happy to be able to appreciate Ye Olde Drippe and Rizze.

The Audio: Excellent

I had absolutely no issues with The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders from a sonic standpoint. The score, by John Addison--who had previously scored the aforementioned Tom Jones--is bouncy and lively and never distracted from the action or the dialogue. Everything sounded clear and fresh throughout.

Addison's score features the whole orchestral kit and caboodle; twinkling chimes, a bravura brass section, booming drums, and playful strings and woodwinds, and all of them sound equally present and real in the mix, generously sharing space with the dialogue and sound effects. The balance really allows the score, with it's simple melodic leitmotif, to become almost a full player in the piece, guiding the tone of scenes as much as the direction or performances at times.

The Special Features: Average

A film's commentary track can make or break a release, especially when it's the only film-specific content included, but The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders lucks out: film historians David Del Valle and Daniel Kremer are the perfect trifecta. They're extremely knowledgeable, have an easy, conversational rapport, and they aren't afraid to talk shit. Don't misunderstand me, they're not spilling any top secret tea, but they don't shy away from talking honestly about this film and others that come up in the conversation. I loved it and would have listened to these two talk for several times the length of the film, happily.

One point of warning however: early on, Del Valle and Kremer briefly mention the tragic story of Claire Ufland who plays young Moll, and even in brief, it could be very upsetting.

• Audio commentary by film historians David Del Valle and Daniel Kremer
• Trailers
• The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (Low-res)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
• Irma La Douce (1963)
• Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
• For Love or Money (1963)
• The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

In Summary: Snag a used copy

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders doesn't work for me as a film really, especially at the length it is, but the high quality of the transfer, and the genuinely elucidating and entertaining commentary track might be enough for me to recommend you track down a copy. If you're a looking for a gently bawdy way to kill a few hours, and especially if you're interested in a cheesecake-y performance from Kim Novak, this disc might be just what you're after.

There are highlights here: Novak and Johnson are genuinely charismatic, as is Lansbury. The costumes are magnificent, and once it finds a center--the Moll / Jemmy relationship--things coalesce quite nicely. There are plenty of moments where you get glimpses of what this could have been: sillier, sexier, rowdier, slapstick-ier; but as is, you might want to wait a while before adding this to your shelf.

VICE SQUAD (Kino Lorber)

Vice Squad
Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: 1080p High Definition (blu-ray packaged with 4k disc as well)
Audio: Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik or HERE from Kino Lorber

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

Vice Squad comes to Blu-ray and 4k from Kino Lorber. Directed by Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried (1981) and Lisa (1990) which is tragically under-seen), Vice Squad is a bombastic yet realistic bit of exploitation with terrific lead performances. With a wealth of bonus material, this Kino Lorber release allows you to fully experience the west coast Neon Slime aesthetic like never before!

The Movie: Excellent

Vice Squad captures a specific era that has moved on in some ways, though not all. Much like the dangerous, family-unfriendly New York of filmmakers like Abel Ferrara, there is a peculiar flavor of West Coast sleaze present here that is palpable from the jump. The sound, the visuals, the colors, and the textures all contribute to a sweaty, desperate feeling that's pervasive throughout the entire film. Vice Squad, for me, has also given that particular feeling a name: Neon Slime.

Vice Squad opens with footage from the Sunset strip accompanying actor Wings Hauser performing the song Neon Slime in an Alice Cooper-adjacent, raw-throated croon, and it perfectly sets the mood for the film to come. When sex worker Ginger (Nina Blackwood) is murdered by her pimp Ramrod (Hauser), vice squad sergeant Walsh (Gary Swanson) enlists Ginger's friend and fellow prostitute Princess (Season Hubley) into a sting operation to capture the pimp. But when Ramrod escapes capture, he sets out on a single-minded mission of violent retribution against a completely unaware Princess.

Vice Squad pulls no punches, but it also never dwells in the vileness of its brutality. Perhaps my favorite moment from the film is after Ginger is beaten, when we cut to the police station to find Walsh bringing in some perps. The scene is chaotic: cops and undercover officers bringing in people, shouting instructions to desk sergeants and the like; barely enough room to move, and then a huge cop emerges from his office in the back screaming about other cops taking his paperclips! It's honestly hilarious--I'm surely not doing it justice--and then Walsh finds out Ginger is in the hospital and we cut to that scene, which ends with Ginger's death. The juxtaposition of realistic comedy and tragedy is part of what makes Vice Squad feel so vital and alive even 40+ years on. It feels heightened, maybe, but real.

Director Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried (1981) and Lisa (1990) which is tragically under-seen) intended Vice Squad to be the first major movie to accurately depict police tactics and, though it might not be the first--apparently Fort Apache the Bronx (1981) does this as well and beat Vice Squad to theaters by a year--the operational sequences on display are riveting. The third act is entirely a chase back and forth across L.A. with the police always precariously on the edge of losing Ramrod's trail as he closes in on the oblivious Princess, going from John to John--which delivers more levity via their various kinks--and fleshes out the world beyond the bounds of the narrative.

Season Hubley is captivating here as Princess. Being introduced to her in her former identity as a businesswoman only for her to change into her sex worker clothes in a bus station bathroom subtly mirrors the vice squad's undercover strategies and the events to come. Apparently she was in the process of divorcing Kurt Russell at the time of filming and Gary Sherman advised her, as is the classic Hollywood punchline, to "use it". That she is not instrumental in Ramrod's inevitable downfall is my one real criticism of Vice Squad as a whole. But while on the subject, I would be seriously remiss to end this review without heaping due praise on Wings Hauser's sleazy, wild-eyed performance as Ramrod. From the moment he sweet-talks his way into Ginger's motel room, he radiates a feral menace. His third-act scramble for revenge--choosing this rather than fleeing the city--are the actions of a man with no thoughts of self-preservation, which Hauser portrays with a creeping inevitability, like watching a predator hunting prey.

The Packaging: Good

There's nothing to complain about, or caution against here. The cover image is a stark black and white, high contrast image of Walsh staring out from behind the wheel of his undercover car, with a smaller, backlit image of a woman standing in an alley, and the tagline: "On the street the real trick is staying alive." The blood-red logo features a neat detail: the middle stroke of the E--which is called a bar, btw-- has been made into a pistol.

Kino's jet-black 4k case combined with the largely also black cover makes the entire package look sleek and menacing. The first printing of the Kino Lorber release also includes a cardboard sleeve of the same graphics.

The Video: Excellent

The blu-ray transfer here is largely incredible. There is one notable sequence at Ramrod's apartment where--whether a product of my television, or some combination of colors and patterns--the grain seemed to almost vibrate and this moiré was initially kind of distracting. There are other grain-heavy sequences, but none of them produced this effect, and in general the grain was a pleasant additional texture in any given scene.

There's even one sequence in a strip club--The Balled Eagle, btw--where the prevalence of film grain, presumably due to the low light and cigarette smoke in the air, actually added to the environment. Princess has agreed to be a honeypot for Ramrod, and as she stalks into his normal hangout, the heavy presence of the grain makes the atmosphere feel thick with intangible jeopardy as well as the smoke.

The colors in Vice Squad, which takes place over one night, are tremendous. From the reds, golds, and moonlight blues of the main drag, to the sickly yellow motel lobbies, and even a sequence lit entirely by candlelight--an inside-joke between director Gary Sherman and cinematographer John Alcott, who had previously worked on Barry Lyndon (1975), amongst other Stanley Kubrick films--it's all so tactile. On the blu-ray, the visual quality is high enough that you can make out the cartoon penis of the flasher graffitied in a bathroom stall, but not quite clear enough to read Walsh's button which, according to one of the commentary tracks, reads "We are all prostitutes". The overall is so good that I am giving this release the highest rating despite my minor, aforementioned quibble.

The Audio: Excellent

This was a very well-balanced audio experience for me. As I mentioned, the film opens with Neon Slime--which also plays over the menu--but once the dialogue proper began and I found the correct audio level, I never had to tweak it again. I'm sure anyone reading this is familiar with the problem of having to adjust volume up or down from time to time when viewing some films; quiet dialogue followed by booming gunfire, roaring car engines, or their ilk. Vice Squad was excellently balanced.

There were shootouts, car crashes, arguments, screaming, and even organ music at one point, and it was all perfectly mixed. The police shouting into their radios, coordinating assorted vehicles in pursuit of Ramrod--a genuinely riveting sequence--lacked for none of the clarity of any scenes that came before or after. As they say: perfect. No notes.

The Special Features: Excellent

This release really cooks for me. Both the commentary tracks on the main disc were fascinating--fair warning that the track with Gary Sherman and Brian Frankish has a little more downtime where the two are just engrossed in the film--and each filled with interesting making-of tidbits. If that was it, plus the trailers, radio and TV spots, this would still be a satisfying experience. But there's an additional disc of supplemental bonus material! It all seems to have been produced for the Shout Factory blu-ray release from 2019--so heads up if you already have that--but for the rest of us, that's about 6 hours of interviews! Between all the interviews and commentary tracks, there are a few repeat stories, but I won't hold that against this release.

• Audio commentary by Steve Mitchell, writer/director of Wings Hauser: Working Class Actor
• Audio commentary by director Gary Sherman and producer Brain Frankish
• Radio spots
• TV spots
• Trailers
• Vice Squad (1982)
• Stick (1985)
• The Hunter (1980)
• To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
• Wanted: Dead of Alive (1986)
• Code of Silence (1985)
• Murphy's Law (1986)

• Disc of Bonus Materials:
• Tracking the Beast: Interview with actor Gary Swanson
• Of Poltergeists and Neon Lights: Interview with director Gary Sherman
• Hollywood Magic: Interview with producer Brian Frankish
• The Roots of Reality: Interview with actress Beverly Todd
• Catching a Killer: Interview with actor Pepe Serna
• Princess Driver: Interview with actor Michael Ensign
• Hollywood Streetwalking: Vice Squad filming locations

In Summary: Must own!

Vice Squad will not suit everyone's palate, nor should it, but if you enjoy a fictional walk on a realistic wild-side, it may just be for you. Allegedly, Martin Scorsese once got into an argument in a restaurant with future Columbia Pictures head Dawn Steel over whether or not the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would have the gumption to nominate Vice Squad for the Best Picture Oscar, as he felt it was the film of the year.

I may not know everything, but I know better than to argue with one of the foremost living appreciators of fine and not-so-fine cinema. This is a truly incredible example of crime filmmaking, and would be a glorious addition to almost any film library. Vice Squad is Neon Slime in all the best ways. My one caveat is that there are examples of language that has either grown outdated, or was deliberately intolerant to begin with which, combined with the subject matter, might not be enjoyable for all viewers.

THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE (Kino Lorber)

The Bermuda Triangle
Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: 1080p High Definition
Audio: 
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Diabolik

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

The Bermuda Triangle comes to Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Sunn Classic Pictures, makers of niche educational documentaries on a number of subjects, adapted the best-selling book from Charles Berlitz for audiences in 1974. Though the disc's special features are quite slim, The Bermuda Triangle represents a subgenre of film that could easily disappear and is worth investigating for yourself.

The Movie: Good

With a higher production value than you might expect, The Bermuda Triangle (1974) is a true blast of nostalgia, even if it's your introduction to this type of edu-tainment. As a kid, I was glued to reruns of shows examining supernatural phenomena, like In Search of... and Sightings. I had copies of the The Unexplained: Mysteries of Mind, Space, and Time book series and in general, just could not get enough of this sort of thing.

I had never seen The Bermuda Triangle before, but I was sucked in immediately. The reenactments from various locations and eras--beginning with Christopher Columbus and the onscreen text "1492, off the coast of Bimini"--are bookended by segments with host and narrator Brad Crandall (who rules), first from his study and then from a number of relevant locations: a shuttered military base, the inside of a passenger jet, a military airfield. This makes it extremely engaging in short bursts before starting the whole sequence over.  This is a favorite format of mine for this kind or thing, which has largely evaporated from documentaries.

This does a fantastic job of asking questions, which I think is the most important thing a program or film like this--and covering these sorts of topics--can do, by explaining numerous strange historical phenomena. It's just so fun. It lights up your brain. Everybody who's into the Bermuda Triangle (a.k.a. The Sea of Fear) will know about the instances of UFO sightings, Edgar Cayce's Atlantis theories, the numerous occurrences of lost time, etc. But I, for one, had forgotten about Charles Wakely, whose strange experiences in the Triangle led him to dedicate his life to investigating it before his mysterious unsolved murder. Was it related to his search for the truth?

See what I mean about asking questions? Aren't you just the least bit intrigued? I find these sorts of mysteries, however improbable, truly fascinating. Could the collective armada of ships, of varying sizes, that have disappeared within the Bermuda Triangle (a.k.a. The Devil's Triangle) have been sucked down by changing sea pressures caused by a series of interconnected caves on the ocean floor? Maybe. But then how do you explain the planes? What about the planes?!

I'm sorry for yelling. I just get a legitimate, giddy thrill from these subjects and this format. They take me back to an era when my bedroom walls were bedecked with innumerable drawings of Bigfoots and Mothmans. A simpler time, when I would grin ear-to-ear when it became clear that the new episode of Unsolved Mysteries was gonna be, as I said, "a weird one".

The Packaging: Average

I love this cover image! A freighter and a passenger jet depicted half as stark, minimalist white silhouettes on a black background as they travel over, presumably, the Bermuda Triangle. They are being blasted by some undersea energy coming from a vortex on the seafloor, surrounded by ship and aircraft wreckage. I love how pulpy it is, aside from also being beautifully rendered.

The first pressing of this Kino release also includes a slipcover featuring this illustration.

The Video: Good

There is one huge caveat in my rating: a good amount of this film is composed of stock footage, compiled from various sources. I will cop to not fully understanding the restoration process for films and video, but it makes sense to me that the stock footage isn't nearly as clean or sharp as the rest of the film. I imagine it's that old "like making a copy of a copy of a copy" thing. Regardless, the result is that the occasional shot of aircraft taking off from a carrier, or ships on a stormy sea look a little more weathered, on a scale from "Somewhat" to "Wow, Very!"

The original footage shot for this film looks wonderful however. Things like the swarm of UFOs glowing with a shrimp-pink light seen by Columbus and crew in the opening scene, while obviously a special effect--rotoscoped, perhaps?--they still look excellent! I always say that I'd rather see the occasional slightly janky but deliberate effect than a bunch of aimless but technically "perfect" ones.

The Audio: Excellent

The sound here is fan-fucking-tastic. They're not reinventing the wheel, but everything sounds very good. Obviously, since we have Brad Crandall as our narrator, the mix is very important, and Crandall--who has done narration for everything from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) to a 1979 episode of WKRP in Cincinnati--sounds marvelous. His voice is sonorous and rich and he conveys authority.

Then there's the score from John Cameron & The New London Orchestra. This absolutely blew me away! The main theme is incredibly grandiose and dramatic when it's in full gear, with rolling drums and an exciting main melody full of brass (which hits immediately on the dic menu!). There are moments where the score switches tack, utilizing flutes when the scene is set on an old fashioned sailing ship, or mimicking a military march on the air force base that, without drawing attention to itself, really adds weight to the reality of what we're watching.

The Special Features: Average

The commentary track with producer James L. Conway was pretty enjoyable and informative, I just wish moderator Howard S. Berger let Conway talk more. I understand perhaps occasionally steering the discussion towards relevant topics and talking points, but Berger spends, I'm not kidding, the whole film constantly reiterating that he likes this film and doesn't think it's silly. Of course, I'm Monday morning quarterbacking here, and perhaps Conway didn't have very much to say, but I was fascinated by his dive into the company's history, which led to me watching The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)--the trailer for which is included on the disc--immediately after finishing The Bermuda Triangle, and fully enjoying it.

• Audio commentary by producer James L. Conway, moderated by film historian Howard S. Berger
• TV spot (Low-res)
• Trailers
• The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
• The Questor Tapes (1974)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
• The Boogens (1981)

In Summary: Snag a used copy

*Robert Stack voice* If you, or someone you know grew up watching The X-Files or had a tape of the two episode arc of The Six Million Dollar Man (s.3 e.16 & 17) where Col. Steve Austin befriends Bigfoot, this might be right up your street. And remember, this film is kid-friendly and was originally marketed to children, so if there's a young Gravity Falls fan in your life for instance, they might also dig on this.

As much as I loved watching this, and it should be clear to you that I really did, I can't pretend this is a must-watch for the average movie viewer. The Bermuda Triangle is niche in both subject matter and genre, but it's extremely well-made examples of both things. I loved this format as a kid and since it's now kind of fallen by the wayside, I really enjoyed seeing something of this ilk be restored intact. It even opens with the original Schick Sunn Classics logo!

THE EMPIRE (Kino Lorber)

The Empire
Kino Lorber

The Stats
Video: NTSC (720 × 480)
Audio: 5.1 Surround (w/ 2.0 Stereo available in Setup menu)
Subtitles: English SDH

Buy it HERE from Kino Lorber

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

The Empire comes to DVD from Kino Lorber. Writer / Director Bruno Dumont offers perhaps the most ambitious film of his career with this absurdist sci-fi epic that's more intriguing than it is satisfying. The mediocre video quality and extremely slim offerings on the DVD leave more questions than answers, like "Should I get the Blu-ray instead?"

The Movie: Fair

I co-host a movie discussion podcast and above all, we admire big swings, which The Empire definitely is, but it's also just a big old mess. Full disclosure, having perused the trailers included on this disc, I began to suspect that maybe The Empire is part of a larger series, or in any case that a viewer would benefit from having some familiarity with the previous works of writer / director Bruno Dumont, but I can't be totally sure.

In a sleepy, seaside French village, unbeknownst to most of the inhabitants, a war for the fate of humanity is taking place. Some of the locals have been possessed by alien beings who lack physical forms, the 0s--naturally jet black liquid blorbs floating in the air who represent the darker side of humanity--and the 1s--spears of white and blue light who embody humanity's nobler aspects--and a child of prophecy has been born, which both sides wish to control.

There's a lot of weird little detail that I kind of actually enjoyed. For instance, somehow, both the earthbound aliens can visit their respective ships in space via hidden portals--the 0s through a dense wood and the 1s via the ocean, like in Supergirl (1984). There are also a lot of interesting design elements. The respective heads of each side--the 1s have a Queen (Camille Cottin) and the 0s have Belzébuth (Fabrice Luchini), called Majesty in the film--wear costumes right out of Jodorowsky's Dune, and their spacecraft resemble huge cathedrals or sprawling estates in space, complete with trees! Does it make sense? No! But it doesn't have to. Arthur C. Clarke famously said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", and I'm fine with that ...when it's serving some greater end.

The literal plot of The Empire is a by-the-numbers sci-fi story drowning in clichés, but for a while I could excuse it because the film seemed more concerned with (admittedly very basic) philosophical concepts. It seemed to be using the clichés as shorthand (which is what they are) to get everyone to a place where it could begin its more high-minded legwork. But that moment never comes. Tropes pile up, superficial relationships unfold, and by the time the credits roll, you realize that despite a climactic space battle, nothing has truly happened. It's a big nothing, and comparatively expensive-looking, but it's still narratively empty.

Listen. Movies are hard to make, and I don't lambaste them willy-nilly. While I'm sure Dumont had noble intentions when setting out to make The Empire, the result feels like a waste to me. Of time, of talent, of the passion and effort it takes to make even the most misguided film.

The Packaging: Average

The poster / cover image here is a digital collage of pretty much all the characters and some key features of the film. It certainly makes the film look interesting, with the science fiction decadence of some of the designs resembling the work of illustrator Jean Giraud (a.k.a. Moebius) who did designs for the aforementioned, unproduced version of Dune that was to be directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

The Video: Average

This being a DVD, the visual quality is never going to be as good as a Blu-ray or any higher quality format. I know that. But I still think this kind of looks bad for a DVD. There was a decent amount of visual noise and artifacting in shots with more substantive depth-of-field, or shots with a lot of detail. One sequence for example features Jane (Anamaria Vartolomei) walking through a field, with Jony (Brandon Vlieghe) following her on his horse, depicted with alternating shots of her feet and the horse's hooves. With a higher quality format, this shot might have come across as striking or even amusing, but the lower quality visuals made it just kind of distracting.

That said, the more effects-heavy shots are surprisingly good. The ships are very detailed and that detail translates very well. I was caught off guard because the earlier shots of just woods and fields were kind of pixel-noise heavy and I wasn't expecting the digitally created aspects to look as clean as they do.

The Audio: Good

I had no issues with the audio from a technical quality standpoint. My three-channel soundbar handled the mix very well, and though the film isn't exactly sonically dense, the balance was handled very well. There was, however, a fucking crazy bird sound that shows up throughout. I first noticed it after a car accident scene, in the relatively empty field where the car ends up. It was such a bizarre bird call that when we cut away to another location, I half convinced myself that it wasn't a bird at all but some kind of robotic noise coming from a character who, therefore, must be a robot (Arrested Development narrator voice: He wasn't).

The sound reoccurs in subsequent scenes in that field, but also occasionally throughout the rest of the film in other locations around this fishing village. It's very unpleasant and hard to ignore. I've never been to France, let alone to this particular coastal town: is this how France sounds?

The Special Features: Poor

In general, I don't think there's any less exciting "special feature" than a bunch of trailers. It just feels like advertising. Though sometimes, when a disc also has some kind of commentary track--which, to be clear, this does NOT, despite this being a project that could honestly benefit from hearing the creator explain his goals--these titles can be given a greater significance.

Here, the trailers are obviously for other offerings from writer/director Bruno Dumont, at least three of which are set in the same town as The Empire, two of which feature gendarmes (police) played by Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore, and one of them seeming to potentially be connected to The Empire through the inference of black goo aliens. It's unclear if these two members of the gendarmerie are through-lines, or just stock characters Dumont likes. Watch the trailers, and see for yourself, I guess? 

• Trailers
• Camille Claudel 1915 (2013)
• Coincoin and the Extra Humans (TV mini-series) (2018)
• The Empire (2024)
• France (2021)
• Li'l Quinquin (2014)
• Slack Bay (2016)

In Summary: Stream it instead

Putting aside the technical aspects--because there IS a Blu-ray available out there--and speaking just as a film: The Empire is kind of interesting at best and that's it. There are some great visuals, and a few fun gags, but none of it is enough to give this any kind of strong recommendation. The tone is distracting, and the bizarre and only vaguely explained world and rules, while interesting, could use a bit more elaboration. The fact that it all builds to a conflict we don't really understand the rules or stakes of, which ends in a very large anti-climax is just the last nail in the coffin for me.

If a science fiction story that's heavier on mundanity than it is on philosophy or story is your thing, grab The Empire at your earliest convenience. Otherwise, wait to check it out first.