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New to Blu – Week of 9/8/2015
Each week here at Bloody Disgusting we like to highlight some of the new Blu-ray releases hitting shelves across the world. Please note that this isn’t every release for the week, just a few of the ones that jumped out at us.
It’s that time of the year that we see lots of re-releases of horror titles so this week there are a ton of releases. MGM and Fox are both releasing their Halloween Faceplate editions. These always have cool art work (really digging the art for Joy Ride) but since they’re faceplates instead of slip books that’s always kind of a bummer. Because so many titles were released in the US this week and titles in other countries were a little light, I decided to only do US releases this week. Next week we’ll be back to covering releases from all over the world.
U.S. Releases
Shocker (Scream Factory)
Synopsis:
After being sent to the electric chair, a serial killer uses electricity to come back from the dead and carry out his vengeance on the football player who turned him in to the police.
Dressed to Kill (Criterion)
Synopsis:
After wife and mother Kate Miller discusses her sexual frustrations with her psychiatrist, she goes to meet her husband at a museum. At the museum, she meets a strange man who she follows to a cab and then has sex with him at his apartment. After the affair, Kate is brutally murdered in the elevator by a blonde woman with a razor. A blonde prostitute named Liz caught a brief glimpse of the killer, but when she comes forward with this information, she becomes the prime suspect to the police and the next victim to the murderer and Liz teams up with Kate’s son to find the real killer.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (Discotek Media)
Synopsis:
It is many thousand years in the future. Vampires once ruled the night but have seen their numbers reduced by fearless bounty hunters. One such hunter is D, the halfbreed son of a human mother and vampire father. When a girl from a rich family is taken from her home by the vampire Meier Link, her father contracts both D and the Markus brothers (a rival group of hunters) to race to retrieve her. As the heroes fight their way through Meier’s hired guards, they begin to suspect that the girl may have gone with him willingly.
The Editor (Scream Factory)
Synopsis:
A film editor gets embroiled in a string of murders.
Supernatural: The Complete Tenth Season (Warner Bros.)
Synopsis:
Sam Winchester grew up hunting unearthly horrors. But now law school and a normal life beckon. That is, until Sam’s estranged brother Dean appears with troubling news: their father has disappeared, a man who’s hunted evil for 22 years. So to find their father, the brothers must hunt what he hunts… and Sam must return to the life he’d rather leave behind.
10 to Midnight (Twilight Time)
Synopsis:
In Los Angeles, the rookie Detective Paul McAnn teams up with the veteran Detective Leo Kessler to investigate the murder of Betty Johnson and her boyfriend that were stabbed by a naked serial-killer in a park. Detective Kessler recognizes the victim, who lived in the same neighborhood many years ago and childhood friend of his daughter Laurie Kessler. The killer Warren Stacy goes to the funeral and overhears Betty’s father telling Detective Kessler that his daughter had a diary. Warren breaks in Betty’s apartment and stabs and kills her roommate Karen Smalley trying to find the diary. But Karen had already delivered the journal to Detective Kessler. Leo Kessler is sure that Warren is the serial-killer and her plants a false evidence in his apartment. However, Warren’s defense lawyer presses Detective McAnn accusing him of perjury and Warren is released. Now the Warren is stalking Laurie to revenge against her father.
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (Image Entertainment)
Synopsis:
The most extensive documentary ever made on the ‘Friday the 13th’ film franchise with over 7 hours of interviews, clips and behind the scenes anecdotes from the stars and filmmakers.
Defiance (Kino Lorber)
Synopsis:
Tommy takes up temporary housing in a New York neighborhood plagued by a violent gang called the Souls. Tommy is waiting for his next assignment as a seaman and though he tries to avoid the gang and his neighbors, it does not work. Soon he is battling the Souls and not only changing their attitudes, but the attitudes of his previously intimidated neighbors as well.
Hornets’ Nest (Kino Lorber)
Synopsis:
Rock Hudson portrays an American Army officer who joins forces with his Italian rescuers after they save him from a German attack in this suspenseful WWII drama that co-stars Sylva Koscina.
Vigilante Force (Kino Lorber)
Synopsis:
In a small town in California, the quiet citizens have had their lives disrupted by boisterous, lawless oil-field workers who have infested their community. One resident, Ben Arnold (Jan-Michael Vincent), enlists his brother Aaron (Kris Kristofferson), a Vietnam veteran, to assemble a group of men to restore law and order to the town. Though Aaron’s crew succeeds, the newfound power goes to some of their heads, and Aaron and Ben must again reclaim the town for the citizens.
Morituris (Synapse Films)
Synopsis:
While out driving, three young men meet two beautiful women and convince them to go with them to a rave out in a remote location. Once there, the women realize that there is no rave and that the men lied to them in order to beat and rape them. The women try to escape, only to accidentally unleash a pack of zombie gladiators that proceed to attack the group as a whole.
Society (Arrow)
Synopsis:
Even though he’s from a wealthy family, teenager Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock of BAYWATCH and GENERAL HOSPITAL) just can’t seem to fit in among the mysterious upper class of Beverly Hills. But when he learns that his parents and sister may be involved in secret sexual depravity, Bill begins to suspect that rich people are indeed very different from the rest of us. Can Bill escape his initiation into a nightmare world of privileged perversion or will he be forced to make the ultimate contribution to SOCIETY?
The Return of the Living Dead (MGM)
Synopsis:
On his first day on the job at an army surplus store, poor Freddy unwittingly releases nerve gas from a secret U.S. military canister, unleashing an unbelievable terror. The gas re-animates a corps of corpses, who arise from their graves with a ravenous hunger for human brains! And luckily for those carnivorous cadavers, there is a group of partying teens nearby, just waiting to be eaten!
Citizen Toxie: The Toix Avenger IV (Troma)
Synopsis:
The Toxic Avenger must defend his friends from his own evil alternate universe doppelganger The Noxious Offender.
From Hell (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
A clairvoyant police detective must stop the most notorious serial killer in history – Jack the Ripper – before it’s too late! Johnny Depp and Heather Graham star in this “engrossing, stylish thriller” (People) that “grips tighter than a chokehold and cut as deep as a knife” (Washington Post)
The Fly (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist attempts to woo investigative journalist Veronica Quaife by offering her a scoop on his latest research in the field of matter transportation, which against all the expectations of the scientific establishment have proved successful. Up to a point. Brundle thinks he has ironed out the last problem when he successfully transports a living creature, but when he attempts to teleport himself a fly enters one of the transmission booths, and Brundle finds he is a changed man.
Jennifer’s Body (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
When small town high school student Jennifer is possessed by a hungry demon, she transitions from being “high school evil”—gorgeous (and doesn’t she know it), stuck up and ultra-attitudinal—to the real deal: evil/evil. The glittering beauty becomes a pale and sickly creature jonesing for a meaty snack, and guys who never stood a chance with the heartless babe, take on new luster in the light of Jennifer’s insatiable appetite. Meanwhile, Jennifer’s lifelong best friend Needy, long relegated to living in Jennifer’s shadow, must step-up to protect the town’s young men, including her nerdy boyfriend Chip.
Mr. Brooks (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Consider Mr. Brooks. A successful businessman. A generous philanthropist. A loving father and devoted husband. Seemingly, he’s perfect. But Mr. Brooks has a secret — he is an insatiable serial killer, so lethally clever that no one has ever suspected him — until now. Earl Brooks is a man who has managed to keep his two incompatible worlds from intersecting by controlling his cunning, wicked alter ego Marshall. But now, as Mr. Brooks succumbs to one last murderous urge, an amateur photographer witnesses the crime. Suddenly Brooks finds himself entangled in the dark agenda of an opportunistic bystander, as well as hunted by the unorthodox and tenacious detective Tracy Atwood. Can Mr. Brooks outsmart his adversaries and conceal his shocking double life from his wife and daughter or will someone expose his crimes and his identity once and for all?
Joy Ride (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Lewis and Fuller are two brothers travelling across America by car. In order to pass the time, they use the CB radio to play a joke on a trucker named Rusty Nail, convincing him that Lewis is a woman called Candy Cane and arranging a rendezvous in a motel room. But when the trucker realises what has happened, he kills the innocent occupant of the motel room, kidnaps the room-mate of Lewis’ friend Venna, and comes after the teenagers in a psychotic fit of rage.
Hannibal (MGM – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Years after escaping custody, the brilliant but psychotic Dr. Hannibal Lecter settles in Italy and becomes the curator of an art museum in Florence, even learning to curb his appetite for human flesh. Back in the States, FBI agent Clarice Starling has been discredited by the bureau and her nights have been haunted by dreams of her past conversations with Lecter. Mason Verger, a twisted pedophile whose encounter with Lecter left him disfigured and paralyzed, places a bounty on Lecter’s head. When Clarice gets word, she goes in search of Lecter to warn him and unwittingly becomes a pawn in Verger’s plans for revenge.
Troll 2 (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Those greedy goblins are back and hungrier than ever in this gourmet gross-out! Disguised as friendly country folk, a pugnacious posse of people-eating trolls lures visitors to their town. But a family of four is about to discover this place is a real tourist trap…and they’re the prey! Now, the no-good gnomes must be destroyed before the family gets flambéed…and the world becomes a buffet in this feeding frenzy of fear!
The Hills Have Eyes (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Wes Craven produces this remake of his 1977 classic of the same name, about the Carters, an idyllic American family travelling through the great American southwest. But their trip takes a detour into an area closed off from the public, but more importantly from society. An area originally used by the U.S. Government for nuclear testing that was intended to be empty…or so they thought? When the Carter’s car breaks down at the old site, they’re stranded…or are they? As the Carters may soon realize that what seemed like a car casually breaking down, might actually be a trap. This trap might be perpetrated by the inhabitants of the site who aren’t pulling a prank, but are out to set up a gruesome massacre.
Young Frankenstein (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
‘Young Frankenstein’ is both a zany comedy and a cinematic tour de force. It has all the usual–and in this case slightly unusual–suspects: the reluctant scientist Frederick Frankenstein, who is actually the grandson of the infamous creature-creator (pronounced “Fronken-steen”, his spoiled fiancé, Igor the pop-eyed hunchback, his dizzy assistant, the castle’s hideous head housekeeper, and, of course, the Monster.
Predators (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
Royce, a mercenary, reluctantly leads a group of elite warriors who come to realize they’ve been brought together on an alien planet… as prey. With the notable exception of a disgraced physician, they are all cold-blooded killers — mercenaries, Yakuza, convicts, death squad members — human “predators” that are now being systemically hunted and eliminated by a new breed of alien Predators.
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (MGM – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
The Freeling family settles into a new home following the annihilation of their former residence by terrifying visitors from the netherworld. But the spirits of the dead are still hell-bent on luring the family’s clairvoyant daughter Carol Anne to “the other side”!
Wrong Turn (Fox – Halloweeen Faceplate)
Synopsis:
License to Drive meets Deliverance when Scott (Desmond Harrington) crashes into a carload of three other young people (Eliza Dushku, Jeremy Sisto and Emmanuelle Chriqui). The foursome is soon lost in the woods of West Virginia, where they’re hunted by three cannibalistic mountain men who are grossly disfigured via generations of inbreeding. Should’ve called AAA!
28 Days Later (Fox – Halloween Faceplate)
Synopsis:
A powerful virus is unleashed on the British public following a raid on a primate research facility by animal rights activists. Transmitted in a drop of blood and devastating within seconds, the virus locks those infected into a permanent state of murderous rage. Within 28 days the country is overwhelmed and a handful of survivors begin their attempts to salvage the future, little realizing that the deadly virus is not the only thing that threatens them.
Night School, director Ken Hughes and writer Ruth Avergon‘s tale of a headhunting slasher on the streets of Boston, arrived in the early Golden Age of the slasher film and never quite broke through the endurance test that other films in the subgenre, like Friday the 13th, managed to pass with flying colors. Blame it on a more cerebral tone, a crowded market, whatever you like, but saying it’s a shame that the film didn’t break through doesn’t begin to cover it.
Night School isn’t just an underrated slasher, or an underseen one. For my money, it’s one of the best films the subgenre has ever produced, full stop, and Vinegar Syndrome’s new 4K UHD restoration, arriving just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, is must-have proof. Stacked with special features highlighting the craft of the film and its place in slasher history, and headlined by a gorgeous restoration showcasing the wonderfully textured production, this is Night School as it’s meant to be seen for slasher devotees everywhere.
So, what makes the film so effective? It starts very simply, with the revelation that a killer with a very cool knife and a motorcycle helmet as a mask is murdering young women in Boston, taking off their heads, and dropping those heads in the nearest body of water (no matter how small).
Solving the case falls on Judd Austin (Leonard Mann), a detective with an academic background who traces all of the victims in one way or another back to a local night school. There, suspicion falls on a womanizing professor (Drew Snyder) who sleeps around on his research assistant and romantic partner, Eleanor (Rachel Ward), whose own death could be right around the corner.
I’m doing my best to stay as spoiler-free as possible here, not just because I think plenty of slasher fans still need to see Night School, but because the film is quite determined to be a whodunit in the classic Italian giallo sense. The kills are brutal and elaborate, the killer deliberately covered head-to-toe in leather and a gleaming black helmet, the knife and the headhunting a disturbing signature. Avergon’s script is well-versed in the trappings of exactly this kind of story, complete with red herrings galore. And yet, by the time it’s all wrapping up, there’s also the sense that the answer was right there in front of you the entire time, something the very best films by legends like Mario Bava and Dario Argento could also achieve.
But on to the restoration: Like the best of the gialli, Night School is also a beautifully engineered film full of colors and delicate camera compositions and sound design. The opening kill, which takes place on a playground carousel outside of a daycare, is rich in exactly this kind of thing, from the cityscapes that lead into the scene to the sound of a motorcycle slowly rolling forward, its engine already dead. Cinematographer Mark Irwin, best known for his many collaborations with David Cronenberg, paints the film in rich reds, absinthe greens, and haunting, chilled blue-white light on wet Boston streets, all of which are preserved beautifully by the restoration team at work on this one.
It’s a movie that very deliberately evokes a specific place – the aging streets of Boston in the 1980s, and the halls of relatively low-level academia – and then takes that place into haunted territory, saturating every frame with color and shadow that suggests a killer lurking just out of view.
Night School is not a massively gore-heavy film, but it does deliver the slasher goods with a series of tense, often unpredictable kills and body discoveries that range from the darkly comic to the flat-out jaw-dropping. That’s thanks to the sound design, the score, the editing from Robert Reitano, and more, all of which add to the film’s giallo soul.
In every case, the scene’s geography is outstanding, and it’s easy to see where the simplest possible kill shot might land, but the film never goes for the obvious. Throw in a surprisingly (for 1981, anyway) feminist bent to the storytelling and some very progressive moments for an early slasher film, and this one fits right in with Black Christmas and The Slumber Party Massacre as a film with depth you can just keep unpacking.
That depth, helped along by a load of featurettes and two new commentary tracks featuring members of the crew, is what stands out the most in this new 4K set. Night School may be a niche film recognized mostly by horror addicts and the slasher faithful, but it deserves to be something more, a landmark on the roadmap of slasher cinema history. It’s one of the best in the genre, and this restoration highlights, underlines, and shouts that from the rooftops.
Night School is now available in 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome.
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