Contracted (2013/MPI/IFC Midnight DVD)/Cybergeddon (2012/Arc DVD)/The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965)/The Vengeance Of Fu Manchu (1967/Warner Archive DVDs)/In The Name Of The King 3: The Last Mission (2013/Fox Blu-ray)/Machine Head (2012/Anchor Bay DVD)/Odd Thomas (2013/Image Blu-ray w/DVD)/Sparks: The Origin Of Ian Sparks (2012/Image DVD)/The Truth About Emanuel (2013/Well Go USA Blu-ray)

Picture: C+/C/C/C/C+/C/B- & C+/C/B- Sound: C+ (Thomas Blu-ray: B-) Extras: C/D/D/D/D/D/D/C-/C Films: C/C/C/C-/D/C/C/C/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Fu Manchu DVDs are only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

Here's an odd group of genre releases that have things going for them, but cannot seem to pull off what they intend, save the latest Uwe Boll disaster.

Eric England's Contracted (2013) has a good cast of unknowns and an idea that could have really worked, but it played for cheap thrills instead of suspense, mystery, ironic or impact as a pretty young woman (Najarra Townsend) has a one-night stand, but instead of mere VD or something as deadly as AIDS, she starts to get sick and literally, her body starts falling apart! Reminding one of The Incredible Shrinking Man, The Incredible Melting Man or even The Incredible Shrinking Woman, the script even has good plotting.

However, it starts to lose itself midway to a lack of energy, ideas and spends a little too much time on showing off its make-up and visual effects to its detriment. It did not even have to make the big statement, but that ambition could have at least made this a better picture. A film like this has not been done (it is NOT a zombie film) in a while and certainly not done well, so this one is a big missed opportunity.

Extras include two feature length audio commentary tracks, Behind The Scenes Promo, Making Of featurette, Original Theatrical Trailer, Animated Pitch and lead Najarra Townsend's Audition clip

Diego Velasco's Cybergeddon (2012) says it is from the creator of CSI and some of this also has its moments, but it is also too derivative (the chase for a hidden agent is too much like Salt and how many plots have been built around computer programs lately? Lost count.) Yet, this has some energy, a few good action moments and all after starting with one of the dumbest scenes I have seen in anything in months. Oliver Martinez (not here enough) shows up and that does not hurt, but lead Missy Peregrym as the framed agent, is not bad.

The result is something that looks like a rejected TV pilot, but could have been much more. Some of the computer look and the like is generic, but with more development, this could have worked. Too bad.

There are no extras.

Don Sharp's The Face Of Fu Manchu (1965) and Jeremy Summers' The Vengeance Of Fu Manchu (1967) were the fourth and fifth installments of the series of new Sax Rohmer-based films with Christopher Lee. Now antiquated, the stereotypes of the evil Chinese criminal mastermind killer was relaunched to take advantage of Lee's star status and on the success of the Bond films.

In the earliest film adaptations, the small Stoll Pictures studio made 24 silent shorts with actor H. Agar Lyons in the early 1920s, Paramount cast Warren Oland as Fu Manchu in three films (1929 - 1931), then MGM cast Boris Karloff in the 1932 Mask Of Fu Manchu and that is a film that still works, which you can read more about here:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4451/Hollywood's+Legends+of+Horror+Collection+(Doctor

Then in 1940, Republic Pictures picked up the rights and launched a fun movie serial entitled The Drums Of Fu Manchu, which you can read more about here:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/28/Drums+Of+Fu+Manchu+serial

And even some of the early Lee/Manchu films were interesting enough, if not as watchable, as you can see with The Brides Of Fu Manchu (1966), which we reviewed at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7917/Chamber+Of+Horrors/The+Brides+Of+Fu+Manchu

Unfortunately, it was all played out by 1965, even with the producers turning to widescreen scope framing and Technicolor, but there was still talent involved. Face has Nigel Green as his nemesis Nayland Smith and Karin Dor (You Only Live Twice) as the supervillain is beheaded and dead... or is he? A deadly gas in minimal amounts that can kill massive numbers of people adds to the feel that the makers wanted to capitalize on the Bond films. Unfortunately, they do not have the script or money, but they did get genius Director of Photography Ernest Day (Psycho-Circus, Deadlier Than The Male, Ten Little Indians (1965) and series like The Avengers, New Avengers and The Professionals (all reviewed elsewhere on this site)), who does deliver some nice scope compositions that make this one of the best visually in the whole Lee series.

Vengeance rightly took two years to make and tries out a cloning plot that is very clunky, much like its script and falls amazingly flat. Somehow, the series went on for two more films which would be interesting to see after all these years. These two are for fans only and the most highly curious exclusively from Warner Archive.

Nether discs has any extras.

Uwe Boll's (we have to keep naming him so you know who to blame if you suffer through this one) In The Name Of The King 3: The Last Mission (2013) is the second unnecessary sequel to the unnecessary original by the most unnecessary foreign director alive! Dominic Purcell continues to attempt career suicide here as a modern day sword-wielding contract killer (it never seems to kill the contracts to make slop like this though) but is (we are not joking) is suddenly transported back to medieval times (must be that damned sword... and script... and director) where more madness happens.

To say anything else is a hideous waste of time, but like a bad slice-and-dice killer series (think Freddie or Jason), calling this a Last Mission is wishful thinking. Fox must need a tax write-off.

Sadly, extras include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes capable devices so you can lose friends and make enemies by tormenting them with this garbage and a horrid Making Of featurette.

Jim Valdez's Machine Head (2012) has some similarities to Tarantino's Death Proof segment of Grindhouse (see elsewhere on this site), but wants to be a regular slasher feature as some pretty gals are followed by a unknown guy in a black 1970s muscle car. Here, they are going on Spring Break and some guys are going to join them, though one of them has some annoying sister that is not helping. Some of the script is just plain dumb, especially the silly, goofy, cynical, lame ending that is way too smug for tis won good. Screaming and being histrionic is also not acting, but the makers seem to think you can't get enough of it in a project like this.

And that is why this could have ben much more and again, they settled for formula, are clueless as where to go with this material and miss a few opportunities on the way. Also, some of the dialogue is just plain bad.

Extras include a Photo Gallery and Original Theatrical Trailer.

Stephan Sommers (The Mummy films with Brendan Frazier) is far from the best filmmaker, stuck in generic commercial cinema at best, so here he is making Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas (2013) with Anton Yelchin (the new Scotty in the new Star Trek films) as the title character who sees dead people, but they keep visiting him to get help from him for closure in the afterlife. The film wants to be eccentric, slick, tricky, hip and clever, but even with Yelchin's best efforts, this too gets too convoluted, even if the ideas Koontz has (like that of bodachs) retains its internal logic.

Most Koontz adaptations (like Phantoms) never work, though Donald Cammell's Demon Seed (1977, reviewed elsewhere on this site) proves how effective his work can translate to the big screen in the proper hands. This is not that case at all. Still, fans might want to see it, but it does not get enough done in its 96 minutes and its not the worse curio, but al scenes with sped-up action (usually done digitally) is especially a mess. Patton Oswald and an underused Willem Dafoe also star.

There are no extras.

Christopher Folino and Todd Burrows co-directed Sparks: The Origin Of Ian Sparks (2012), the latest superhero genre work trying to mix the 1920s and 1930s with today as today. Chase Williamson is the title character, talking about his desire to become a super (oh how hip) and meeting a supergal (Ashley Bell) who calls herself Lady Heavenly. The script wants to follow The Shadow and Watchmen, but is not as fun as the former could be and as scattered as the latter. If anything, this will remind you of the likes of Sky Captain, which I thought was a real dud, but this is not that bad.

Jake Busey shows up as an frienemy hero (or is he) in an underdeveloped role, Clancy Brown shows up, even Clint Howard shows up and co-producer William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) is here looking a little ghostly. However, this has nothing new to say, never adds up and even with a few good-looking shots, is not visually memorable either. At least fans might be mildly amused by what seems like Kick-Ass for older people.... or maybe not.

Extras include a feature length audio commentary track, Outtakes and Making Of featurette.

Finally we have Francesca Gregorini's The Truth About Emanuel (2013) in which a young woman (Kaya Scodelario) is suffering from the loss of her mother and taking out at least verbally on everyone around her, but she is distracted a bit by her new neighbor (Jessica Biel) who lives alone with her newborn baby. When the younger (who lives with her father and stepmother) gets to know her better, she agrees to babysit the toddler. Unfortunately, it is not what she thinks.

Now this is a great set up for some kind of creepy horror film and things get creepy, but the script instead uses trappings of the genre to make this a character examination of women and make it stick. The result is a mixed-but-interesting film trying to have a purely female discourse that it achieves on some level, yet it does not achieve as much as it could have in its 96 minutes and is still a film I think everyone should see. It is easily the best release on this list.

Extras include Outtakes, Original Theatrical Trailer, Deleted Scenes and on camera interview with the director.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 AVC @ 22 MBPS digital High Definition image transfer on King should look as good as any of the Blu-rays here, but it is awful, has all kinds of sloppiness, motion blur and other flaws. That leaves the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Thomas and Emanuel tying as the visual champs, both HD shoots that are far more professional and the DVD of Thomas can more than compete with the King Blu, both matched by the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the Contracted DVD.

The rest of the DVDs are on the weak side from the aged, anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image on Face and anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Vengeance discs, as the film copies of both Fu Manchu films need some work. The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Cybergeddon, Machine and Sparks, despite some nice shots in each, are also just too soft tying those old Fu Manchu films for overall performance and have no excuses, though I wonder if the would improve on Blu-ray. I would give them some benefit of the doubt.

In the sound department, all three Blu-rays offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes, bit only Thomas really uses the surrounds and that is inconsistently, more apparent on the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD version, which sadly can compete with the awful DTS on King (beware of volume levels if you must hear it) and DTS on Emanuel, which can be compressed and too restrained to the front channels. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound on the Fu Manchu films holds up better than their prints and hold their own against the rest of the DVDs, which are in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 that might sound better lossless but are on the weak side in all cases here without being really bad.

You can order either of the Fu Manchu Warner Archive DVDs by going to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

http://www.warnerarchive.com/

- Nicholas Sheffo