Beast
Within
(2024/Well Go Blu-ray)/Creature
With The Blue Hand
(1967)/Web
Of The Spider
(1971/Film Masters Blu-ray Set)/Daiei
Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories
(Bride
From Hades
(1968)/Ghost
Of Yotsuta
(1959) Snow
Woman
(1968)/Radiance Blu-ray Set*)/Profane
Exhibit
(2024/Unearthed Films Blu-ray/*both MVD)/A
Dog Called Vengeance
(1978/Severin Blu-ray)/Twisters
4K
(2024/Warner/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B+/B-/B/B+/B/B Sound:
B+/B-/B-/B+/B-/B Extras: C-/B-/B-/B-/C+/C- Films:
B-/C+/B-/C+/C+/C-
Here
are a mixed group of genre reviews, a few offering some surprises...
Kit
Harington (Game
of Thrones,
The
Eternals)
stars in The
Beast Within
(2024), a
dramatic and quite serious werewolf film with thematic undertones of
domestic abuse. The film centers around an unusual family that dwell
in the English wild lands and lead an isolated life. A man has a
family curse that involves turning into a werewolf under a full moon.
His wife has gone to great lengths to insure the wolf man wont harm
any other humans and hide the secret from their daughter, who has
breathing problems. It doesn't take too long until the little girl
gets curious as to what her parents are up to when they leave the
farm at the night with squealing pigs (a snack from the werewolf),
and soon the truth is revealed. The whole family is ultimately in
constant danger as the out of control man struggles to not kill his
family as an absent minded monster.
The
film stars Ashleigh Cummings, James Cosmo, Caoilinn Springall, and
Ian Giles.
The
Beast Within
is a well made film with very interesting editing, cool special
effects, and a very beautiful backdrop. The tone of the film is
perhaps a bit too serious throughout, but it does a good job of
keeping things mysterious in its first act. As the second act spends
most of its time fearing the monster, the third act gets riddled with
one too many flashbacks. But impressive performances from the
limited cast keep things interesting and luckily the ending is pretty
effective.
Only
extra is a trailer.
I
imagine that the upcoming (as of this writing) Blumhouse adaptation
of The
Wolf Man
will be similar in tone to this film in many ways. Kit Harington
does a good job of playing a character to fear whereas he normally
plays the good guy. Overall, The
Beast Within
is entertaining and worth a look.
Next
up is a double feature of Klaus Kinski horror films where both use
his unique looks and eccentricity to enhance the other-ness of their
tales. Alfred Vohrer's
The
Creature With The Blue Hand
(1967, here in two cuts) is really a killer on the loose film with
Kinski up for murder charges, but a doctor trying
to get him save by an insanity plea, base don an Edgar Wallace book.
Antonio Margheriti's Web
Of The Spider
(1971) has Kinski as Edgar Allen Poe (!?!) presenting two of his
creepy tales in one feature film and has its moments.
Neither
film is a knockout, but despite their low budgets and unevenness,
have their moments and not just because of Kinski. Ilse Steppat is a
curio in Blue
Hand
for James Bond fans as she pulls the trigger of the machine gun that
kill James Bond's wide Tracy (Diana Rigg) two years later in the 007
classic On
Her Majesty's Secret Service,
while Anthony Franciosa (Tenebre,
Across
110th Street,
Death
House)
made one of his genre turns in Spider
and was always an interesting actor. Both films work more than they
do not, even with their creepy old color formats and any serious film
fan will want to give both a good look, though have some patience.
Extras
include another high quality booklet with illustrations and essays by
audio commentary hosts below, while the discs add Ballyhoo Motion
Pictures two new documentaries, A
Man Of Mystery: Inside the World of Edgar Wallace
and Kinski
Krimis: Inside the Rialto Film Adaptations;
authors and film historians Stephen Jones and Kim Newman join forces
for full commentary tracks for Creature
With The Blue Hand
(liner notes by Nick Clark) and Web
Of The Spider
(liner notes by Christopher Stewardson); Samuel M. Sherman provides
an archival commentary track for The
Bloody Dead;
Creature
With The Blue Hand
original 35mm film trailer and recut trailer using restored film
elements; and a new 2024 trailer for Web
Of The Spider,
as well as the original English theatrical trailer for Castle
Of Blood.
Daiei
Gothic: Japanese Ghost Stories
is a set of early supernatural ghost stories that are well-done,
surprisingly effective and far better than the vast majority of
supernatural Japanese feature films we have seen in recent decades
with all the cliches and formulas that somehow still have an
audience. Daiei was a major Japanese studio that spent big money on
their films the way Carolco did before they folded, both going
bankrupt because the returns could not match the lavish productions,
but what they made holds up very well and very much so. By horror
genre standards, these are A-level productions worthy of Hollywood's
best.
Satsuo
Yamamoto's The
Bride From Hades
(1968) has a guy falling for a beautiful courtesan without knowing
she is really a ghost, but will finding out change his mind? Will
any dead bodies?
Kenji Misumi's The
Ghost Of Yotsuta
(1959) a wife who has been brutally murdered comes back from the dead
for revenge. How long will her spree last? And in Tokuzo Tanaka's
The
Snow Woman
(1968) has the title witch interrupt the lives of a sculptor, his
apprentice and much more.
All
done for mature adults with an intelligence the genre from Japan has
been missing for the most part in recent years, these turn out to be
key films in the genre from key Japanese literature, extremely well
rendered and visually amazing in ways I was not expecting. Though I
have sene films and Japanese films look like this and this good
before, usually not in a genre work. Some of this even reminded me
of Tarantino's Kill
Bill
in parts, but the screenplays take their time to create atmosphere
and tension, up there with the best of their kind. Though some may
not be as impresses as I was, I think even non-genre fans will find
more here than expected, so cheers to Radiance for another fine
Blu-ray set.
Extras
are many and (per the press release) include:
Newly
designed box and booklet artwork by Time Tomorrow
Six
postcards featuring original archive imagery from the films
Limited
edition 80-page perfect bound book featuring new writing by authors
Tom Mes and Zack Davisson, newly translated archival reviews and
ghost stories by Lafcadio Hearn
THE
GHOST OF YOTSUYA
New
interview with filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa
A
visual essay on the history and adaptations of the classic Ghost
of Yotsuya
story by author Kyoko Hirano
Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo
Di Battista
THE
BRIDE FROM HADES
feature
length audio commentary by author Jasper Sharp
New
interview with filmmaker Hiroshi Takahashi
Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo
Di Battista
THE
SNOW WOMAN
New
interview with filmmaker Masayuki Ochiai
A
visual essay on writer Lafcadio Hearn
Trailer
and
a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned
artwork by Filippo Di Battista.
The
Profane Exhibit
(2024)
has finally been released after being in the making since 2011. The
extreme horror anthology film consists of ten short films strung
together from a nice group of controversial horror filmmakers.
Directors
include Nacho Vigalondo (Colossal),
Anthony DiBlasi (Malum),
the late Ryan Nicholson (Gutterballs),
Michael Todd Schneider (August
Underground: Mordum),
Sergio Stivaletti (Demons),
Marian Dora (Cannibal),
Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo
Gore Police),
Uwe Boll (Postal),
the late Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal
Holocaust),
and Jeremy Kasten (The
Wizard of Gore).
The
film premiered in 2022 and finally made it to disc after a lot of
anticipation from the underground horror community. It seems
appropriate that Unearthed Films put out an extreme horror title like
this that not many other labels would take on. I also believe that
Unearthed had a large hand in getting it finished and so first and
foremost it has to be said that independent filmmaking on this level
isn't easy to pull off and that this release is very nicely done all
things considered.
As
with most anthology films the short film content in The
Profane Exhibit
are a mixed bag. Some of them here are quite well crafted and
interesting, with a variety of styles throughout the piece. While
some of the films tell a straight narrative, others are more
conducive to making you feel uncomfortable, which is always the aim
with this type of piece. The films are connected by some grotesque
close-ups of gore that is sure to make some stomachs upset. Other
films rely on things most people flinch at bodily harm and cutting,
while others are content on typical horror blood and guts, cutting up
body parts into bits. The film concludes with the film that started
it all, Manna
by Michael Todd Schneider, which is a strong and brutal way to end
the piece.
Segments
in the film include:
Basement,
directed by Uwe Boll
Bridge,
directed by Ruggero Deodato
Mors
in Tabula,
directed by Marian Dora
Tophet
Quorum,
directed by Sergio Stivaletti
Goodwife,
directed by Ryan Nicholson
Hell
Chef,
directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura
Sins
of the Father,
directed by Nacho Vigalondo
Manna,
directed by Michael Todd Schneider
Amuse
Bouche,
directed by Jeremy Kasten
and
Mother
May I,
directed by Anthony DiBlasi
Special
Features include:
Multiple
audio commentaries
Interviews
Mini
documentary
Behind-the-scenes
footage
Photo
gallery
and
Trailers
The
Profane Exhibit
isn't for the squeamish, but an affective anthology in its own right.
Antonio
Isasi's A
Dog Called Vengeance
(1978) has Jason Miller from The
Exorcist
in this semi-political thriller that is almost a horror film where
Miller plays an escaped political prisoner who has a killer dog sent
after him. Now usually, once an escapee gets far away enough from a
scene, that's the end of it. Not here! The dog goers above and
beyond the call of his training and continues to follow Miller by any
and all means possible.
A
low-budget film, the movie has its moments, but when you combine the
parts that have not aged well with the parts that never quite worked
with how they handle the dog, this becomes an unintentional (pun
intended?) howler with editing and music some of the scenes needed
and did not get. Additionally, it just gets ridiculous (think Jaws
on a low budget too) until the climax. I like the look of the film
and Miller was a good actor, among other things, so just to see him
somewhere else besides his classic turn as a priest will make fans of
that film and the genre very happy. Glad Severin grabbed the rights
to this one and put it on Blu-ray.
Extras
include:
A
Film Ahead Of Its Time:
An Appreciation By Angel Sala, Head Of Programming At The Sitges
Film Festival
Memories
Of A Guerilla Woman:
Interview With Actress Marisa Paredes
Daughter
Of Titans:
Interview With Maria Isasi, Daughter Of Director Antonio Isasi And
Actress Marisa Paredes
and
an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Last
and least is Lee Isaac Chung's Twisters
4K
(2024) rehashing one of the most overrated films of the last few
decades, Twister,
which I was not a fan of. You can read our coverage of the film on
4K disc and going backwards (in all kinds of ways) at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16470/Manifest:+The+Complete+Series+(2018+-+2023/
So
without the two name stars of the previous film whom I liked as much
as I disliked the original, the film still did some business and got
about as much so-so-acclaim, but not as many people are talking about
it. Also, we have seen all this before, even if the digital visual
effects are newer, they look more digital than ever versus the first
film, where (like Jurassic
Park,
et al) digital was so new then it surprised people. Now that
virtually every
image we see is digital, any thrill is gone. Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen
Powell, Anthony Ramos and Brandon Perea are the new faces front and
center who might benefit from this in the long run, while Maura
Tierney heads the supporting cast, but it is just more of the same
and only for the VERY curious. Otherwise, all I could think of when
bored (which was often) is when I might see these effects in the next
vacuum cleaner ad on TV.
Extras
include a DIGITAL COPY of the film, while the discs add...
TRACKING
THE FRONTS: THE PATH OF TWISTERS: Trace the trajectory of TWISTERS
from its earliest inception to production and get to know the cast
as they lead this look into creating their characters, using science
to add authenticity, and working through extreme weather wreaking
havoc on set.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Twisters
4K
has some good shots, but it somehow plays as still lacking despite
enough good shots to barely make this the best-looking release on the
list by default. The 1080p Blu-ray is even softer with less color
range and is passable, but if you have to watch this, 4K is the only
way to go.
The
Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) lossless mix
on both disc versions has the strategy of playing as if it were a
quite, normal, dramatic film until the storms kick in, then the
soundtrack comes alive. However, it is not alive enough for me, much
like the whole film itself.
The
Beast Within
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and a lossless English
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) sound mix. The HD
transfer is pretty solid but not as many with the details in some of
the film's darker moments. The soundtrack score is a bit one note
and driven by uneasy sounding noises that works most of the time.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the two
Kinski
films can show the age of the materials used with some damage and
fading, as well as their low budgets, making them look a little worn
and weak. Likely, the original cameras negatives are lost or in such
bad shape, they had to use surviving materials, but its the best I
have ever seen either film, so Film Masters has done some fine work
here making both easily superior to all previous releases of these
films. Not an easy task as I have seen all kinds of warn prints and
clips of both for eons. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on both films can
also be rough, but have been restored as well as can be expected,
especially again considering their low budgets. This is likely as
good as both will ever sound.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on all three Daiei
Radiance
Blu-ray releases are a big, pleasant surprise, often with stunning
shots, cleaner, sharper and with more detail and depth than so many
Asian films (especially martial arts genre films) we have been
covering for the last few years. In those cases, they are showing
their age, the original camera materials with fading and detail
issues from bad storage, abuse of the negative (used to make all the
release prints?,) lab work that was lacking and/or film stock issues.
These films look cleaner, clearer and fresher than most classic
Asian cinema we have seen lately and color range and richness can be
stunning without being phony. Expect a few demo shots as well,
including some on the vivid side. The original theatrical monophonic
sound has been restored in all three cases, presented in PCM 2.0 Mono
and I doubt they will ever sound better.
The
Profane Exhibit
is presented in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an
MPEG-4 AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratios of 2.35:1 and 1.78:1
depending on the film and an audio mix in English 2.0 PCM. The
overall transfer to Blu-ray disc is fine for the format with no
overly glaring issues to report that affect the overall presentation.
The
1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on A
Dog Called Vengeance
can show the age of the materials used at times, but it looks pretty
good otherwise from a 2K scan of the original 35mm camera negative.
Color is good and the look is consistent. The
original
theatrical monophonic sound has been restored and is presented here
in a DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix that sounds decent for its
age and also is as good as this film will ever sound.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
