REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES On Blu-ray From Kino

 

I wrote a blog post on REVENGE OF THE ZOMBIES in 2023, but I felt I needed to point out that this new Kino Blu-ray of the movie is the best I've ever seen any feature made by Monogram look. The black & white image doesn't look as razor sharp as, say, something released by Criterion, but the transfer on this disc reveals plenty of detail, especially in the scenes which take place outside John Carradine's Louisiana outpost (which now come off as looking fairly atmospheric). The complete main titles are presented as well (a rare thing for any public domain film made in the 30s and 40s), along with a war bond advertisement after the end credits. 

Now....does the excellent visual quality make the film seem better?? As I pointed out in my original post on it, REVENGE is basically a semi-remake of another Monogram production, KING OF THE ZOMBIES. It's a tossup over which of the two films is better. Both have almost the same plot--a haughty scientist is trying to create unbeatable zombies for the Third Reich--and they both have the same deficiencies--the zombies in either movie are not very threatening or memorable. REVENGE does have John Carradine in the mad scientist role, but he plays it very low-key here. The best element that both REVENGE and KING share is the antics of Mantan Moreland, but plenty of Old Monster Movie geeks would say that isn't much of a plus. 

The main extra on this disc (other than a few trailers for other films released by Kino) is a brand new commentary by Tom Weaver. He discusses the relationship between REVENGE and KING, and he also talks about John Carradine's somewhat lackluster performance. Weaver also gets into the various issues the original script of REVENGE had with the censors and even the Office of War Information (one would think those folks had more important things to worry about in 1943). Gary D. Rhodes pops up twice in the commentary to offer a few insights. 

Personally I love the idea of Kino putting a title like this out on Blu-ray.....but one could question the idea of giving a mediocre low-budget black & white movie that is only an hour long a Blu-ray release. At least Kino has offered up a new audio commentary. If the company is planning on putting out more Poverty Row product, I would suggest having multiple titles on any future releases, and coming up with some worthy extras. The wild and wacky genre movies made by the likes of Monogram and PRC are entertaining in a crazy type of way, but it's often more fun to talk about them than actually watch them over and over again. 

DIRTY ANGELS

 

DIRTY ANGELS reunites Eva Green with her CASINO ROYALE director, Martin Campbell. The new movie belongs to the "Impossible Mission attempted by a motley crew" genre, this time set in the all too-real world of Middle Eastern conflict. 

Eva Green plays Jake, a U.S. Army special operative who has a Mt. Everest-sized chip on her shoulder due to a botched mission in Afghanistan which led to the deaths of her team. Jake takes up a chance for redemption when she joins a mission to save a number of young schoolgirls who have been kidnapped by ISIS forces. The military group which will partake in the mission is to be made up mostly of women, and the plan is to disguise themselves as medical aid workers. The terrorist who killed Jake's team before is the one who has masterminded the kidnapping, and this makes Jake even more determined to succeed--but her truculent attitude may tear the whole plan apart. 

The main reason I watched DIRTY ANGELS is that it starred Eva Green. She gives a totally non-glamorous performance as Jake, a woman who makes the phrase "strong bad-ass independent female" seem like an understatement. Jake is so filled with anger and determination that she borders on being unbelievable (in real life a person like her probably wouldn't have been allowed to go on any more missions). Green does have enough presence to prevent the viewer from not caring what happens to her, but Jake seems more interested in getting a chance to kill people than rescue a group of innocent girls. (Due to the film's main element being young women rescuing other young women, one expects a member of the military team to make a grand speech about how important it is to stop girls from being victimized....but it never happens.) 

As expected in an Impossible Mission scenario, there's plenty of conflict between Jake and the other members of the team. Those other members, however, are barely defined, and none of them sticks out. 

DIRTY ANGELS tries to be a realistic action thriller, and it is quite brutal. It doesn't spare much when it comes to detailing what happens to those who are caught up in the actions of ISIS and the Taliban. Director Martin Campbell (who is also credited with working on the script) is an expert at portraying action, and the battle scenes are the movie's best element, although there's a lot of dodgy CGI explosions. Campbell keeps things moving, and he makes the film's budget seem more than what it probably was (much of the production was shot in Morocco and Greece). 

I thought DIRTY ANGELS was a decent enough action film, but due to its topical brutality it isn't the type of film one wants to watch over and over again. The movie is in an in-between mode--it isn't outlandish enough to be a wild, entertaining violent flick, and it doesn't have enough depth to accurately portray the many complications and issues that make up the current state of Afghanistan. 

JUROR #2

 

I would have loved to have seen JUROR #2 in a theater, but Warners decided it didn't deserve a nationwide release, despite the fact that it could potentially be the last film directed by Clint Eastwood. One would think that Warners would take this opportunity to celebrate and promote their 50+ years relationship with a cinematic legend, but apparently that isn't trendy enough. JUROR #2 isn't all that trendy either--it's not based on an existing intellectual property, or a comic book, or a musical, and it isn't jam-packed with all sorts of CGI. 

What JUROR #2 happens to be is a good, solid contemporary drama, with a thought-provoking screenplay by Jonathan Abrams. The story contains the type of material that one usually finds in the best films Eastwood has directed. It's about everyday Americans facing the consequences of their actions, and the movie examines the thin line between what is supposedly considered right and wrong. The story also has plenty of ambiguity, an element that has attracted Eastwood all the way back when he was in his prime as a major movie star. 

In Savannah, Georgia, Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) has been chosen for jury duty on a murder trial. Kemp doesn't relish this assignment--his wife is due to give birth any day now. The case seems cut-and-dried--a man with a violent past is accused of killing his girlfriend, and dumping her body in a ravine. During the trial Kemp remembers that he was in the exact area the same night as the woman was killed. That night Kemp thought he hit a deer....but he now starts to realize that he may have struck the woman. Kemp tries to sway his fellow jurors that the accused may not be guilty, while at the same time avoiding telling the authorities about his role in the incident. 

If you are familiar with Clint Eastwood's directorial style, you'll know what to expect from JUROR #2. Eastwood lets the story and the actors do most of the work, and he avoids flashy camera or editing techniques. The overall cast does very well, especially Hoult, Toni Collette as the ambitious district attorney, and J.K. Simmons as a juror who happens to be a retired police officer. What's most effective about JUROR #2 is that it offers up no easy answers, just like in real life. 

If this film had been made ten years ago, it would have absolutely gotten a major theatrical release, and it might even have been up for a few awards as well. The fact that JUROR #2 seems to have been passed over by Warners says more about the state of the entertainment industry than it does the actual merits of the film. If JUROR #2 is Clint Eastwood's last directorial effort, he's going out riding high. 

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS On Blu-ray From Kino

 

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS (1969) is considered a "Macaroni War" picture--that is, a film about World War II that was made or produced by Italians and shot in Spain. It stars Jack Palance and it was directed by cult filmmaker Umberto Lenzi. 

Just before the Allied invasion of Normandy, a tempestuous Scottish colonel named Charley MacPherson (Jack Palance) is tasked with secretly landing on the French coast and making a path for other British commandos to follow. MacPherson's bad attitude gets worse when he finds out he has to use a group of misfits for the mission. The dirty half-dozen make it to France and perform their duties, but the British commandos are wiped out before they make it to shore, so MacPherson decides to destroy their intended target--a giant cannon which is transported by rail. What makes the colonel even more eager to take on the assignment is his discovery that a German colonel named Ackerman (Wolfgang Preiss) is in the vicinity--a man MacPherson has tangled with before. 

I've written a few posts on Macaroni War films. They have a lot in common with their Spaghetti Western cousins. They both share many of the same actors and directors, and they both have a tendency to tweak the conventions of the main genres they belong to. BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS is one of the better entries that I've seen of Italian WWII flicks. It moves along at a pretty good clip, and the action scenes are well staged. The movie obviously didn't have a large budget, but Umberto Lenzi made the most of what he had, and the giant railway gun is actually quite impressive. (One of the credited screenwriters is none other than Dario Argento.) Of course the story takes several aspects from the likes of THE DIRTY DOZEN and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, but it least it doesn't spend a bunch of time on a "Getting to know and train the recruits" sequence. 

Jack Palance made a number of Euro Westerns, and he hammed it up big-time in all of them. Here, he's more determined than outrageous, and his attempt at a Scottish accent is....unique, to say the least. The rest of the cast has plenty of spaghetti Western veterans, including Thomas Hunter, Gerard Herter as the obligatory strutting SS officer, and Aldo Sambrell as MacPherson's right-hand man, a Sergeant from India. (If you think that the fact Sambrell is on the side of the Allies means he'll be able to survive to the final credits.....guess again.) Euro cult star Wolfgang Preiss once again almost steals a film from the bigger stars as Ackerman, a professional German soldier and a man of principle who realizes that the Nazi regime is doomed. Curd Jurgens has a cameo as (what else??) a German general. 

Kino presents BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS uncut in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It's a fine transfer, although the color looks a bit faded at times. Umberto Lenzi expert Troy Howarth (who is on the audio commentary) states that it's the best version of the film he has ever seen. The dialogue track is the English dub, in which Jack Palance and Curd Jurgens provide their own voices. 

The main extra is the aforementioned new audio commentary, which features Steve Mitchell, Nathaniel Thompson, and Troy Howarth (who has written a book on director Umberto Lenzi). The three men interact well together, and they provide an engaging and informative talk, where they discuss such things as the historical & military aspects of the Macaroni War genre and the use of the zoom lens in Euro cult cinema. 

BATTLE OF THE COMMANDOS doesn't rank among the greatest WWII movies ever made, and it certainly isn't one of the most historically accurate (the Spanish locations look nothing like the area around Normandy), but it is an entertaining action movie that does what it is supposed to do. Kino has given plenty of spaghetti westerns nice treatments on home video, and perhaps they'll be covering other Macaroni War titles in the future. 

THE BAT (1926) On Blu-ray From Undercrank

 

This September I wrote a review of a special edition Blu-ray release featuring THE BAT WHISPERS. That film was a sound remake of the 1926 silent THE BAT--and now the original gets a restored Blu-ray, courtesy of Undercrank Productions. 

THE BAT has long been considered one of the best of the many mystery-thrillers made during the silent era, but due to the terrible condition of most available versions of the movie, it has been hard to fully appreciate it. This new restoration presented by Undercrank looks amazing, and it enables one to examine the atmospheric art direction by William Cameron Menzies and the striking photography by Arthur Edeson and Gregg Toland. 

The story elements in both THE BAT and THE BAT WHISPERS (1930) are nearly exactly the same--Roland West (who directed both features) uses many of the same shot compositions and dialogue lines in each. I believe that THE BAT is the much better film--the story seems to flow much better in the silent version, and the comedic elements are not as intrusive without sound. THE BAT is also enhanced by a new rollicking musical score by Ben Model. 

One notable point about THE BAT is the way that the title character is shown. The silent Bat wears a big-eared headpiece that at first glance seems to resemble a cheap Halloween costume, but it is so flamboyant it genuinely becomes unnerving. Roland West doesn't engage in as much camera trickery in THE BAT as he would in the remake, but the overall story comes off much better. The main manor setting is also far more extravagant in the original--the place looks more like a cathedral than an actual home where people would live in on a day-to-day basis. 

This release is actually a BD-R, but the quality is excellent. There are two extras on the disc. One is a 9 minute program detailing the life and movie career of Roland West. One wishes it had been longer and more detailed, but it does give the basic info on the man (and yes, it mentions his connection with Thelma Todd). The other is a 1926 comedy short called A FRATERNITY MIXUP. It's more frantic than funny, but it does name drop Lon Chaney and there is a guy running around in a gorilla suit. (This disc is Region-Free.)

An informative audio commentary for this would have been most welcome, and it might be something Undercrank may want to think about for future releases. 

One of the great things about physical media--and one of the things that makes me spend way too much money on it--is the amount of wonderful restorations of silent classics that a number of companies have released on home video in the 21st Century. The average person would never have a chance to watch so many great silents in uncut, restored conditions if it wasn't for these Blu-rays and DVDs. The original THE BAT has long needed and deserved a top-notch presentation, and Undercrank Productions has provided it. 

NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST On Blu-ray From Film Masters

 

The main feature of Film Masters' recent Blu-ray double-bill consisting of two Roger Corman-produced late 50s monster movies is NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST (1959). 

An astronaut named John Corcoran (Michael Emmet) has been launched into space, but he crashes upon his return to Earth. He lands near a tracking station, and its crew goes out to the crash site, finding the astronaut apparently dead. Bringing his body back to the station, it turns out that Corcoran is very much alive, and he has a connection with an alien being that somehow attached itself to his ship. The being has injected Corcoran's body with a number of embryos, and it wants its race to unite with mankind. The tracking station crew are not very excited about this plan, while Corcoran tries to convince them to understand the creature and avoid harming it. 

I thought NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST wasn't as entertaining as ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES. The latter's swamp setting, cracker characters, and Yvette Vickers makes it memorable, while NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST is a mediocre rehash of other movies such as THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT and the original THE THING. Much of NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST takes place in the nondescript interiors of the tracking station, and the alien suit (also used in TEENAGE CAVEMAN) doesn't impress upon close scrutiny. The suit's appearances should have been kept to fleeting glances, but it gets plenty of close-ups under daylight conditions. The suit's bulky and cumbersome nature also detracts from the scenes where the alien is trying to communicate with the human cast. It's obvious that Roger Corman and his brother Gene as producers didn't want the suit damaged, as during the confrontation scenes the actors appear to do everything they can to avoid hurting it. 

That being said, Martin Varno's script for BLOOD BEAST does offer up some thoughtful concepts, but the finished film doesn't have the budget or the running time to properly explore them. Varno hints that the alien might be more sympathetic than one thinks, and Michael Emmet's reaction to being brought back from the dead to serve as an incubator is certainly unusual. Emmet doesn't portray the post-crash Corcoran as a madman under the influence--instead the man is low-key and articulate while attempting to give the alien's side of the situation. The rest of the roles in the story are very bland--the two female leads don't get to do much other than stand around and scream a lot. Director Bernard Kowalski does provide a lot of interesting shot compositions to give NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST some visual vitality. 

Film Masters states that the print used for this release of NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST comes from a newly restored 4K scan, and it is a very clear and sharp presentation. The movie is available on this disc in two formats: 1.85:1 and 1.37:1. 

The extras include an 8mm version of the film. It's silent, but the sound of a clicking projector has been added to it. (I understand why this was done but I thought the effect was annoying.) The MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 episode featuring NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST is here, along with a reconstructed trailer, a restoration comparison, and a image gallery for both BLOOD BEAST and THE GIANT LEECHES. 

Tom Weaver once again provides the audio commentary here. He starts out by telling the story of the launch of Sputnik by the Soviets in the late 1950s, and how that event affected the low-budget horror/sci-fi movie genre. Weaver points out the movie's many similarities to THE THING, and he goes into detail about the film's screenwriter, Martin Varno, and Varno's issues with the Corman brothers over pay and billing. Varno's involvement with the film are also the basis of an article by Weaver which appears in the booklet accompanying this release. 

As I stated in my blog post on ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES, Film Masters has done a great job in taking public domain cult material and giving such movies brand name home video releases. NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST has its faults, but, as with any product associated with Roger Corman, it has enough unique elements to make it stand out. 

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES On Blu-ray From Film Masters

 

Film Masters continues its releases of lower-budget Roger Corman productions with a double feature consisting of NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST and ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES. Today I'll be focusing on the latter. 

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES, produced by Roger and Gene Corman, and directed by Bernard Kowalski, holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of bad movie fans. What makes it stand out is its slimy, seamy, sweaty atmosphere. The story is set in a remote Florida swamp, and while the title creatures won't impress many, the peckerwood passions on display put it above the typical cheap monster flick. The victims of the giant leeches are a collection of poor rural folk who one might find in a Tennessee Williams tale. Chief among them is Yvette Vickers as Liz, the young white trash tease who happens to be married to the slovenly local storekeeper (Bruno Ve Sota). Ken Clark (who in the 1960s would go to Italy and work with Mario Bava) plays the stalwart game warden who is ill at ease in dealing with not only the monsters, but the local rednecks as well. 

ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES didn't have much of a budget (the swamp scenes were filmed in a Pasadena arboretum, and the costumes for the leeches appear to have been made out of rain slickers) but director Kowalski and screenwriter Leo Gordon get much more out of the setup than one would expect. The sequences set in an underwater grotto, where the leeches store their victims to keep feeding on them, are quite disturbing. The characters might be lower-class caricatures, but they're still more memorable than the nondescript folks one finds in the dozens of quickly made Fifties horror/sci-fi features. Yvette Vickers became a genre legend mainly due to her role here, and while she certainly is sexy in a trashy way, she also makes Liz more than just a one-dimensional skank. 

This release by Film Masters gives each of the films its own disc, and it is Region Free. ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and while the packaging says that LEECHES comes from a new HD print, the visual quality looks dark and murky at times. It still is better than the tons of public domain versions of the film that have circulated through the years. 

The extras on the GIANT LEECHES disc include a program on Bernard Kowalski, presented by C. Courtney Joyner, which focuses on the director's television work. There's also a new commentary from Tom Weaver (with a little help from his friends). If you listened to Weaver's talks, you know what you are in for. As expected, he has plenty of sarcastic comments on the movie's plot, but he also offers up a lot of inside info on the making of the film and the people involved in it. Weaver also discusses his friendship with Yvette Vickers and the tragic conclusion of her life, along with giving a mini-tribute to the late Roger Corman. There's also a re-created trailer for the film, a slideshow featuring Yvette Vickers, and the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 episode that focused on GIANT LEECHES (I might as well point out that I am not a MYST3K fan). 

A 22-page booklet is included in this release, and Tom Weaver has an article about GIANT LEECHES in it, where he makes some cogent insights on how the film is looked upon by monster fans today. 

Film Masters has been doing an exemplary job lately of rescuing low-budget genre outings from public domain purgatory and giving them impressive presentations with worthy extras. ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES is not a great film but any stretch, but it has had a longer shelf life than most of the "important" mainstream big-budget movies made during the same period. I'm looking forward to what Film Masters has planned for the future.