Audition
(1999/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)/Haunted
Hospital: Hellstatten
(Blu-ray w/DVD*)/Jonathan
(Blu-ray/*both Well Go 2018)/Skinner
(1993/Severin Blu-ray)/Year
Of The Dragon
(1985/Warner Archive Blu-ray)
Picture:
B/B+ & B-/B+/B/B+ Sound: B/B/B+/B/B Extras: B/C-/C-/B/B-
Films: B/C+/C+/B-/B+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Year
Of The Dragon
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
a set of thriller releases that tend to push the envelope, get
challenging and all of them you should definitely know about, older
cult classics included...
One
of the most unnerving foreign films I've ever seen, Audition
(1999) will make you think twice before going out on a date. From
the twisted mind of acclaimed filmmaker Takashi Miike (Ichi
the Killer,
Blade
of the Immortal),
Audition
presents the character of Asami, who at first appears to be just your
normal innocent 24-year-old Japanese girl. However, looks can be
deceiving... A huge hit on the festival circuit and on home video,
Audition
gets a new 2K remaster from the original film elements and new extras
courtesy of Arrow Video.
Starting
out like a romantic drama, a widowed TV producer is encouraged by his
son to remarry before he gets too old. Unable to find anyone that
he's interested in, he decides to hold auditions for a false movie in
order to test out potential wives. He thinks he may have found the
one he is looking for when he auditions a former ballerina. She has
it all... except her sanity.
The
film is presented on 1080p Blu-ray disc from a new 2K remaster from
the original vault elements and a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1
and a great sounding Japanese DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1
mix with English subtitles. A bit sharper and with more supplemental
content than the previous 2011 Shout! Factory release (see below),
Arrow has done a fine job with this cult classic that will make it
difficult for fans not to double dip.
Special
Features include...
The
Making Of Before We Vanish,
an 53-minute featurette including on-set footage and interviews with
cast and crew
Inside
The Story
and Inside
The Characters,
two featurettes with cast and crew interviews
Looking
Back,
members of the cast reunite to discuss memories of the production
Red
carpet interviews from the Cannes Film Festival premiere
Cast
and crew Q&As from four screenings including the Japanese
premiere
Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tommy
Pocket
and
First Pressing Only: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new
writing on the film by Neil Mitchell.
For
more on the film, try our coverage of that earlier U.S. Blu-ray
edition noted above here...
www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9292/Audition+(1999/Shout!+Factory+Blu-ray+++DVD
Next,
the new horror film Haunted
Hospital: Hellstatten
(2018) is a German found footage flick that imitates The
Blair Witch Project
and Paranormal
Activity
phenomenon popular here in America. For what it is, however, it's
not a bad film and has some interesting and creepy moments that fans
of the found footage horror sub-genre will enjoy. The premise is
simple enough: a group of teenage video bloggers accept a challenge
to stay the night in a super creepy haunted hospital. While at first
everything is fine and dandy, as the night rolls on things are to get
especially weird, and supernatural when they go snooping around where
they shouldn't.
The
film stars Nilam Farooq, Farina Flebbe, Sonja Gerhardt, Maxine Kazis,
and Lisa-Marie Koroll.
Presented
in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and
a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless track in 5.1 German (with English
subtitles) and a dubbed English mix. The film is nicely photographed
and isn't too nauseating with its many handheld shots. Also included
on the disc is a standard definition DVD version with an
anamorphically enhanced widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1 Dolby
Digital mix in German and dubbed English. The colors are nice
throughout and not too over-exaggerated, even though the film uses a
mix of different video formats.
The
only special feature is a trailer.
While
it doesn't bring particularly too much new to the table, Haunted
Hospital: Hellstatten
is fine what it is, and is surprisingly more effective than the Blair
Witch
sequels.
Ansel
Elgort (Baby
Driver)
stars in the psychological thriller Jonathan
(2018), which is a spin on the 'split personality' character only
with a bit more dramatic than the norm. While it's a bit reminiscent
of other films in the subgenre such as Memento
and Fight
Club
in some respects, Jonathan
is an interesting thriller that has some very stylized filmmaking
that makes it unique.
Jonathan
also stars Patricia Clarkson, Suki Waterhouse, Matt Bomer, and
Douglas Hodge. The film is the directorial debut by filmmaker Bill
Oliver.
Jonathan
(Elgort) is actually two people trapped inside one body. During the
day he's Jonathan , a mild mannered young man and at night he's
living a completely different and wilder life. When both
personalities get involved with the same woman (Waterhouse), the two
sides of Jonathan start fighting with one another... with dangerous
consequences.
The
film is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect
ratio of 2.39:1 and two nice sounding tracks in DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix and a lesser lossy, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
track. While it's not as impressive as Ultra HD, the film looks and
sounds fine and doesn't have any glaring issues on Blu-ray that
hinder the presentation. Zach Kuperstein's cinematography is quite
nice and feels very real.
The
only extra on the disc is the HD trailer and previews for other Well
Go titles.
Ted
Raimi, brother of genre filmmaker Sam Raimi (The
Evil Dead),
stars in the long lost slasher flick Skinner
(1993), which has been brought back into the spotlight courtesy of
Severin Films. Also starring Ricki Lake and Traci Lords, the film
features special effects from renowned FX masters K and B, and is
presented on Blu-ray in its full uncut glory.
The
film is directed by Ivan Nagy (The
Hitchhiker)
and also stars David Warshofsky, Richard Schiff, and Blaire Baron.
Similar
to the horror classic Maniac
in some regards, Dennis Skinner (Raimi) is a normal man by day and a
savage murderer at night, who likes to peal off and collect female
skin. Not surprisingly over the years, Dennis has made a few
enemies, one of which is Heidi (Lords), who was left disfigured
because of him. As Dennis moves on to a new love in his life (Lake),
he must find a way to hide his grotesque alter ego before she catches
wind of what he's up to.
This
is by far the best that Skinner
has ever looked in this eye-popping new 4K remaster struck from the
original film negative. The film is presented in a widescreen aspect
ratio of 1.78:1 and paired with newly mastered tracks in DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) lossless 2.0 Stereo. Though shot on a shoestring,
the film has an interesting color palette and convincing violence
seen in new detail.
Special
Features include...
A
Touch of Scandal - Interview with Director Ivan Nagy
Under
His Skin - Interview with Star Ted Raimi
Bargain
Bin VHS For A Buck - Interview with Screenwriter Paul Hart-Wilden
Cutting
Skinner - Interview with Editor Jeremy Kasten
Flaying
Sequence Out-takes & Extended Takes
and
a Vintage Trailer
If
you're an Evil
Dead
or Maniac
fan, then Skinner
is definitely worth checking out, especially with this new
presentation from Severin Films.
Last
but absolutely not least is Michael Cimino's thriller Year
Of The Dragon
(1985) based on the Robert Daley book (based on a true story) and one
of the first U.S. films to address Chinese Triads, the original
'mafia' organization. Cimino had already debuted with one of the
great heist films (Thunderbolt
& Lightfoot)
and an all-time critical and commercial blockbuster (The
Deer Hunter),
yet was just coming off of a huge bomb that ended a studio (the
highly ambitious Heaven's
Gate
caused owned Transamerica to put United Artists into bankruptcy,
which was picked up by the original MGM), so the fact that he was
able to take on such a big project, even after rejecting it several
times, shows the respect he still commanded at the time.
Mickey
Rourke, in one of his finest moments, is extremely decorated Vietnam
veteran Stanley White, a policeman who is also racist and has
something bad to say about everyone. No one will even acknowledge
the Triads exist in New York City and its chinatown, but he knows
better. When one of the elder heads of one of the Triad families is
assassinated in broad daylight, he is replaced by a very young
successor Joey Thai (John Lone of The
Last Emperor
and The
Shadow)
and to everyone's shock, Stanley is moved up to investigate. Instead
of just going after the young killers, he intends to go after Joey!
From
there, it is a battle of wills as the bloodshed slowly increases and
Stanley tries to break the Traids or at least bring Joey down.
Funny, smart, suspenseful and with some unforgettable sequences,
Cimino adapted the book with soon-to-be super director Oliver Stone,
who had just come off of co-writing the 1983 Scarface
remake with Brian De Palma. That film is at its best in its uncut
X/NC-17 edition, but I still like this film even better yet the
audience has still not caught up with it, even though it has inspired
a slew of imitators including Philip Kaufmann's Rising
Sun,
Ridley Scott's Black
Rain
and those repetitive Rush
Hour
films.
Cimino
went all out making a thriller with much character study but along
with William Friedkin's To
Live & Die In L.A.,
this was the end of the line for the gritty police thrillers that
started in the early 1970s. However, this has aged extremely well
(no one denies Triads exist anymore) and it is probably one of the
most underrated gangster genre films ever made, though it is much
more. The pacing is exceptional, the realism very raw and stark, but
what it builds up to is a truly stunning climax and the film has all
kinds of hidden thinks in it you'll catch after a few viewings.
Rourke proves why he was one of the most talented and dangerous
actors of his time. I have been a gan of the film for years and it
is great this has finally made it to Blu-ray in the U.S. after
surfacing in other markets the last few years.
Another
great thing is how great this film looks, shot in the J-D-C- Scope
format, using the great anamorphic lenses with 35mm color camera
negative. Other films to use those lenses include Lynch's Blue
Velvet,
Return
Of The Jedi,
Poltergeist,
The
Bounty,
Firestarter,
The
Mission,
Highlander
2 and
even The
Sandlot.
This is my favorite use of those lenses and you can see how
effective and great they are, making them among the best along with
Todd-AO 35, Clairmont Scope, Hawk Scope, Franscope and the usual
array of great Panavision lenses. You will find this to be great
demo material for your Ultra HDTV or HDTV.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer rarely shows
the age of the materials used, looking like it was shot more recently
than it was. The brilliant, late, great Director
of Photography Alex Thompson, B.S.C. (Alien
3,
Raw
Meat,
Excalibur,
Roeg's Eureka,
Branagh's Hamlet,
The
Keep,
The
Krays,
Ridley Scott's Legend)
uses the very widescreen frame to its fullest extent, making the film
increasingly involving the more you watch. It was also released in
70mm blow-up prints and the rare thing Cimino did was letterbox his
scope frames instead of cutting any sides of it to fit the 2.20 X 1
70mm frame.
Now
I have the French Blu-ray edition from Carlotta (though it has no
English subtitles, the book edition is one fans should get ASAP) and
it has a great HD transfer, but it is NOT the same one as the Warner
Archive edition here. That was produced by Studio Canal and MGM
overseas, where they have rights there and you get the new MGM logo
at the beginning, while this edition has the old MGM/UA logo preceded
by the disclaimer that the film is not meant to offend or degrade
Chinese Americans.
The
French edition (which is region free despite being marked as Region
B) has some great color, detail and depth, but I thought the color
timing was a little off at times and the very important Video Red is
not as rich, full and warm as it should be. The Warner edition has
the superior Red, is warmer and more color consistent in its color
timing, though it might not be always as sharp and clear as the
French edition. Both are superior to the U.S. DVD, but the film's
use of color and amazing detail in its set-ups show no regular
Blu-ray can totally capture the film, so maybe a 4K version will
eventually make up the slight visual losses or inaccuracies in both
editions. Despite that, thanks to Blu-ray, you can see the depth
intended to experience the look, feel and atmosphere pretty much
throughout. That makes it easily one of the best back catalog
Blu-rays of the year.
The
original soundtrack of the film at its best was a 70mm magnetic 4.1
Dolby Surround soundmaster featured only on the blow-up prints,
upgraded nicely to DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix here
that does as much justice to the film's original soundtrack as
possible. The French version sounds as good with little variation
for the record, so you'll hear everything as cleanly and clearly as
possible and I always liked the film's sound design.
Extras
include a repeat of the outstanding feature-length audio commentary
track by Cimino, who has so much excellent to say and share, plus the
Original Theatrical Trailer, both of which were the extras on the old
U.S. DVD. Add the great supporting cast and production design and
you MUST see this one!
To
order the Warner Archive Year
Of The Dragon
Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Dragon)
and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/