Blue
Jean Monster (1991/88
Films*)/Fear Is The Key
(1972/Arrow*)/The Moon
(2023/Well Go Blu-ray)/Scream
Queen (2022/Visual
Vengeance*)/Shaolin Plot
(1977/Arrow/*all MVD Blu-rays)/Space
Wars: Quest For The Deepstar
(2022/Uncork'd DVD)
Picture:
B+/B-/B-/C-/B/C Sound: B+/C+/B/C-/C+/C+ Extras:
C+/B-/C-/B/C+/C+ Films: C+/C+/C+/C-/C+/C
Here's
a wild mix of genre releases of old and new theatrical films....
You've
likely seen Robocop (1987) and countless other revenge based
action extravaganzas and now The Blue Jean Monster (1991)
seeks to claim a spot on this list in this impressive new release
from 88 Films. The wild action film stars Shing Fui-on (The
Killers) along with Gloria Yip and Pauline Wong in this Hong Kong
based production.
The
film also stars Tse Wai-Kit, Kunimura Jun, and Amy Yip.
A
Hong Kong lawman with big dreams is killed in a vicious shoot out and
his corpse is resurrected into something more than human. Endowed
with super powers and not afraid to be crude when needed, the Blue
Jean Monster is a zombie cop / Terminator-style unstoppable killing
machine!
Special
Features include...
Man
Made Monster: An Interview With Assistant Director Sam Leong
Hong
Kong Trailer
Stills
Gallery
Reversible
Cover Art
and
a Double Sided Poster.
The
Blue Jean Monster may have a similar plot to other genre entries,
but has enough zany moments to be memorable.
Michael
Tuckner's thriller Fear
Is The Key
(1972) gets a U.S. Blu-ray release not long after its Australian one
I just reviewed a few months ago at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16247/Black+Sunday+(1977/Paramount/MVD/Arrow+Blu-
Barry
Newman is the lead (I will not reveal any spoilers like I did before)
landing up in a small town looking for trouble. Backed by a solid
cast and strong pace, it is an underrated film from its time and
everyone, especially serious film and action fans, should go out of
their way to see it. It is one of those many fine films from the
1970s that got lost in the shuffle of so many well-made ones that
you'll wonder why it was not a bigger hit.
Extras
are expanded from that version and include
a new (and different from the previous Blu-ray) feature length audio
commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger
Kim
Yong
Hwa's The
Moon
(2023) is set into the near future when South Korea has made it tot
he title locale and everything is going smoothly, until seven years
later, a disaster. The adventure melodrama has plenty of sets,
activity and sudden trouble, but the more interesting thing about the
film is its imagining of the country having a space program at all.
With more countries making it off the earth in one way or another, it
seems more possible than ever.
Here
though, the film can only repeat what we have seen in everything from
Kubrick's
2001
to Howard's Apollo 13
to Scott's The Martian
to other films they may not have even directly seen (Silent
Running, Outland,
both versions of Solaris,
etc.) so you know what you are getting in advance. Not bad, but
nothing much new to see here either. At least South Korea can be
happy how their film industry continues to grow.
Trailers
for this and a few other Well Go USA releases are the only extras,
though our copy came with a nice paperboard slipcase that includes
metallic ink.
Linnea
Quigley, best known for cult classics such as Night of the Demons
and Return of the Living Dead, is the literal definition of a
Scream Queen. In fact, if I had to make a chart of them I would
probably put her in the top five.
She
has been in nearly 200 films over her multi-decade career in B-movie
cinema. An endearing character to the horror community, it’s no
surprise that fans won't be excited to get Scream Queen (2022)
on Blu-ray as a new release by Visual Vengeance, just to get a Linnea
movie they may not have seen and which has been considered lost. The
film is admittedly not very good by even slasher movie standards, but
I don't think it was necessarily supposed to be. With releases like
this you simply have to enjoy them for what they are, but
recommendable depends solely on your personal taste (and often times
tolerance) in B movie cheese.
Shot
on video on no budget, the film stars Quigley (which was probably
most of their budget) as a Scream Queen named Malica Tombs who fakes
her own death in a car accident after leaving the set of one of her
movies upset. Crew members of the fated film start to get killed off
one by one shortly after by someone who seeks to avenge Malica's
death... with a chainsaw!
Special
Features:
New
Linnea Quigley Interview
Feature
Length Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Brad Sykes
Once
Upon A Time In Horrorwood: Behind the Scenes Documentary
Second
Feature: Original Producer's Cut of Movie
Editor
Mark Polonia Interview
Behind
The Scenes Image Gallery
Linnea
Quigley Image Gallery
Original
Script Selects
Original
Trailer
Visual
Vengeance Trailers
Six-page
liner notes by Tony Strauss of Weng's Chop Magazine
Collectible
Linnea Quigley folded mini-poster
'Stick
your own' VHS sticker set
and
a reversible sleeve featuring original home video art.
Clearly
made for die-hard B-movie VHS fans, Scream Queen will appeal
to a certain type of audience in this bonus feature packed disc with
a transfer that looks as it can on Blu-ray disc.
Huang
Feng's
The
Shaolin Plot
(1977) is an expanded revenge film with tons of fight sequences lead
by Sammo Hung working under Feng for the last time before he started
directing films himself, with the antagonist needing to capture a few
more sacred objects, including one in a temple that will be
impossible to get into and others will join in soon on both sides.
Its
best to let the film explain it in full detail as you watch, but it
is more fight sequences than anything else and to a fault, with
limited story and plotting, which some fans and viewers will like.
The action sequences can eventually become repetitive and look
over-choreographed, though it is one of the more stand out Golden
Harvest releases in the genre and otherwise. As a matter of fact,
after all the classic martial arts films we have reviewed over the
years form the period, I would recommend this above most just because
it is so seamless, flaws and all. Now you can see for yourself.
Extras
include
two feature length audio commentary tracks: one by martial arts film
experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth, the other by action cinema
experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema
Garo
Setian's
Space
Wars: Quest For The Deepstar
(2022) is an ambitious-for-its-low-budget space opera adventure
(takes place in 2980!) that wants to be like Dune
in having the characters all chase after a precious substance (a blue
liquid called 'essence' is the MacGuffin here) and they landed
Michael Pare as the lead. No doubt you have seen all this before,
but they do not care, as any similarities are intentional and
celebrated.
Running
90 minutes, they quit just about while they are sort of ahead, adding
any twist or turn they can, even if it just adds on to not developing
any one thing enough. The supporting cast also gives it their best,
but this is for genre fans only, if that. Though this is not meant
to be a total retro project, it will remind you of such films that
were coming out all the time in the later 1980s into the 1990s, many
of which went straight to video. I just wish it offered more, but
the most curious should check it out.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track, Original Theatrical
Trailer, Deleted Scenes and Bloopers.
Now
for playback performance. The
Blue Jean Monster is
presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC
codec, a full frame aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and an original Cantonese,
lossless LPCM 2.0 Mono mix with English subtitles. The film has been
remastered from its original negatives for this new Blu-ray
presentation, which certainly bests previous releases.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Key is looking
just a little better than the Australian Blu-ray version, showing off
its fine color and cinematography just a little more. Its PCM 1.0
Mono is just not quite able to overtake the PCM 2.0 Mono on that
import Blu-ray, so it is a draw of sorts. Both are enjoyable
viewings, though this could stand an actual 4K disc, it is that good
looking a film and the use of the scope frame is nice.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Moon was not a
cheap HD shoot, so it has some visual moments here and there, but it
is a little softer than I would have liked down to the CGI and not
from its mere visual approach. More sets were built than expected,
to its benefit, but you have seen most of its retro-modernist
approach. The Korean DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is consistent with a good soundfield
and decent mixing and editing, but nothing more beyond that. The
combination is professional enough, but they did not go for DTS: X or
Dolby Atmos for some reason.
Scream
Queen is presented in 1080p high definition (upconverted) on
Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec, a full frame aspect ratio of
1.33:1 and a lossy, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448 kbps). The film
was shot on analog, low definition VHS videotape and the quality is
of that caliber, but looks as good as a VHS transfer can look on
Blu-ray disc.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Shaolin
can show the age of the materials used, but not only is this far
superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film in the few
clips I have seen, but one of the best transfers of a pre-1980s
martial arts import I have seen to date. Many have had age and print
issues, but this one does not and the color is exceptional.
Unfortunately, the 35mm color negative (Kodak? Fuji?) has not been
identified, nor has the type of anamorphic lens, but they are both
good and they work well. The original theatrical monophonic sound is
here in Mandarin PCM 1.0 Mono that
is not bad, but would have worked better as 2.0 Mono.
Lastly,
the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Deepstar
is softer than I would have liked, in part because of the
limited-budget digital visual effects, but the sound is here in both
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes.
They sound decent and the 5.1 has a slight edge, but it is only so
good, though a lossless version might sound better.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Jean, Scream)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
