The Big Movie House

An Old Kung Fu Master aka Yi lao yi xiao yi gen ding (1981) (Terror Vision) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 10 Nov 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Terror Vision has done the impossible and rescued another kung fu flick from becoming lost media. Is this release worth your time or should you look the other way?

Studio: Terror Vision
Release Date: May 2nd 1981 (theatrical) / May 21st, 2024 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 27 minutes 1 second
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-50)
Picture: 1080p (2.35:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: Yes
Starring: Yuen Siu-tien, Charles Heung Wah-Keung, Cecilia Wong, Yuen Lung-Kui, Thompson Kao Kang, Chow Siu-Loi
Written by Gwan Jing-Leung
Directed by Gwan Jing-Leung
Rating: Unrated (martial arts violence)

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Poster

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What's It About?

A drunken master takes on some new disciples from a Kung-Fu school and he teaches them his secret styles of martial arts to take on a greedy warlord that is trying to take over the land.

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Video/Audio

Terror Vision is dedicated to preserving films that they grew up on and have loved for decades. This includes rare and unknown martial arts films and An Old Master Kung Fu is one of them. Saved from the brink of extinction from a badly battered print found in a warehouse in Hong Kong. Terror Vision was able to scan, repair, and color correct this severely damaged film in order to bring it to HD for the very first time in the world!

If you thought GAME OF KILLERS was rough, you have not seen anything yet. Just about every problem you can ever think of can be found here. Lines, teeth marks (from projector use), hairs, nicks, missing frames, scratches, burns, and color fluctuations are all present. This would be a bad thing if this were a bigger, more popular film, but this is a forgotten film from a time when kung fu movie film prints and negatives were not kept in the best of conditions. The fact that this was even watchable is a testament to Terror Vision. They have done a bang up job getting this film is a presentable fashion. There are a lot of people who will shit on the way the film looks but I like it. I imagine this is what watching a film like this on 42nd Street would have been like. All of the damage and whatnot give the film character. It also reminds us that we are watching a film print. No DNR or anything of the like can be found here.

The included English track (the original language track is lost) sounds good but not great. It can be a bit thin at times, but it is listenable and doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the film.

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Extras/Packaging

Fists of Beauty: The Cinematic History of Cecilia Wong (13m 50s, HD, 1.78:1) I didn't know anything about Wong but I do now. I plan on checking out of some of the films she made that I haven't seen yet.

Terror Vision has done a bang up job with the packaging. The slipcover is the thick cardstock we have come to love from them. The front of the slip features some nice art that I am not sure is original or if it's from the film's original release. The back of the slip lists out the names of the three most famous people in the film inside of an orange ball.

The front of the blu-ray case features the film's original poster art complete with the director's name misspelled. Inside the clear blu-ray case is some inner art that features a still of Simon Yuen. We also get a "Creep Coin", which I explained in my GAME OF KILLERS review.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Soapbox

I hate that Terror Vision and other companies spell Chinese names incorrectly. Almost every name of the box for AN OLD KUNG FU MASTER (and GAME OF KILLERS, which I reviewed previously) is misspelled. In China, the last name goes first and first name goes last. Think of Chow Yun-fat's name. His last name is Chow while his first name is Yun-fat. IMDb.com is the biggest offender of this with 95% of the Chinese names being in the wrong order. Big names like the aforementioned Chow Yun-fat and Yuen Woo-ping are done right but others are not. This is incredibly disrespectful to everyone and should be corrected. I have called out these different places for doing it wrong and they ignored me. The English titles at the beginning get the names right; why couldn't Terror Vision? I love Terror Vision but they can do better than this. It seems like the only places that get this right are Wikipedia and Letterboxd.

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Overall

AN OLD KUNG FU MASTER is not a good film. It's boring with some terrible fight scenes. I mean, every move is telegraphed to high heaven. We know what the move is going to be before the characters do. The end fight scene is pretty good but you have to sit through a bunch of other dull fight scenes. Not even Simon Yuen can save this thing. He was so great in films like DRUNKEN MASTER and SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW but he is very lackluster here. The comedy also falls flat. It has been a long time since I have rolled my eyes at attempted comedy and my eyes were a rollin' here. Not one joke landed. I will say that the English dubbing made the film a lot more watchable. I can not recommned this film to anyone outside of those who are stone cold martial arts movie fans or those looking for something out of left field.

The Blu-ray, from Terror Vision, is a miracle upon itself. While the picture quality is rough, to say the least, it is completely watchable. The special feature is good if you are looking to learn more about the people who made these films. I spent $10 on this release and I do not feel ripped off. Sure, I didn't like the film, but if my money goes to restoring more unknown flicks, then I am all for it. I don't think this release will play well outside of the fandom, but I think it could play to those who just want a kung fu flick to close out their day.

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Extras/Menus

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Film

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Packaging

Game of Killers (Xiao mian sha shou sha xiao zi) (Terror Vision) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 06:00:00 +0000

A mainstay on the 80s and 90s bootleg circuit gets a new lease on life thanks to Terror Vision.

Studio: Terror Vision
Release Date: 1978 (theatrical) / March 26th, 2024 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 30 minutes 53 seconds (English Language Version) / 1 hour 27 minutes 12 seconds (Mandarin Language Version)
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-50)
Picture: 1080p (2.35:1 aspect ratio) (both versions)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (English Dubbed Version) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Mandarin Language Version)
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: Yes (thick cardstock)
Starring: Barry Chan, Chu Shao-Hwa, Ma Yu-Feng, Chan Long, Su Kuo-Liang, Tu Kuei-Hua, Lin Wan-chang, Lin Kuang-Yung
Written by Hui Sing-Yue
Directed by Hui Sing-Yue
Rating: Not Rated (martial arts violence)

NOTE: There are two versions of the film. The first is the one that is dubbed into English. This version runs 90 minutes. Then there is the Mandarin language version. This one runs 87 minutes. This is a weird one because the announcement claims the longer version is the Mandarin language version.

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Poster

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What's It About?

One map. Plenty of killers. Two unlikely friends cross paths and join forces after they come in possession of a map that many are on the lookout for. How will they defend themselves against an army of assassins that are also after that map in this Game of Killers?

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Video/Audio

Terror Vision is proud to prsent this rare kung-fu film that has been bootlegged and presented unfairly for decades. For the first time since it's theatrical release, Game of Killers is scanned, restored, and presented in it's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Game of Killers survives from a print that was found in a warehouse in China that suffered immense damage and loss of color during tirs chemical breakdown from unhealthy storage conditions.

Terror Vision has restored and meticulously color-timed the print in order to bring you the possible picture to date. While the picture is still rough at times, it is impossible to NOT enjoy this rare oddball piece of cinema.

This is what the back of the box says about how the film looks. They are right. GAME OF KILLERS looks REALLY rough, but knowing gives me pause to say that it looks like crap or that the transfer is terrible for reasons that shouldn't really apply to something like this. There was really no way for Terror Vision to do anything better than what they have done here without a great cost. Sure, the film could have been cleaned up more and given a restoration Universal gave to their Monster films a decade or so ago, but they don't have Universal money to play with. What they have done here is incredibly impressive. They have taken a film that was a mainstay at flea markets everywhere during the 80s and 90s, and given it a new lease on life. The print they had to work was degraded so they did what they could to bring it back to life. There are all kinds of imperfections found all over this transfer. Cuts, scrapes, lines, hairs, dots, a few rough splices can be found at any time. I don't have a problem with any of this as I am very forgiving when it comes to stuff like this. Could I shit all over Terror Vision for not doing more to make this most perfect transfer ever? I am sure I could but why would I want to? They have done a great job with GAME OF KILLERS. I don't know if anyone else would have given this much time and attention to this film as they have. I love the way the film looks here. It reminds us that we are watching something that was shot on film while also giving us a ton of reassurance that they have not applied any DNR to the picture.

Now, we have two different soundtracks and they are very different. The English track is clear and precise. You can hear everything that is going on and understand what people are saying. The Mandarin Audio version is not very good. The sound is muffled and hard to make out at times. The thing with this version is that the Mandarin track was thought to be lost so this is all we have. For something that no one thought existed anymore, it sounds better than you would have expected. Sure, it's soft and thin but it's there. That is the most important part.

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Extras/Packaging

Game of Killers Interview with Barry Chan (6m 54s, HD, 1.78:1) Dude is the head of the Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do Association of Taiwan. At 17, he joined the Nan Kuo Acting Troupe, where he worked with Dean Shek (who was also studying acting) and Ng See Yuen (who was studying directing). He talks about living with David Chiang Ti Lung at Shaw Brothers and how Ti Lung loved scaring people. He left Shaw Brothers at the end of his contract because he wasn't getting good roles. He had to learn Mandarin for the film as it was shot with sync sound. Hong Kong films are shot MOS or without sound. This is done because it speeds up the shooting time because you don't have to worry about doing another take because of sound problems. You just go in afterwards and dub everyone. He says at one point, he had 13 films in production at the same time.

The Unknown Legacy of Barry Chan by Shaun Williams (13m 34s, HD, 1.78:1) This is a video essay that covers Chan's career. Chan seems to have had a pretty cool career.

Packaging wise, this is a good looking release. The slipcover looks like something you would find in an 80s video store's foreign section. The front cover of the blu-ray case is a slightly modified version of what is on the slipcover. There is some inner artwork that is a still from the film. There is also a "Creep Coin" inside. This is a promotional item that Terror Vision includes in every one of their releases. If you collect a certain amount (there are a bunch of different amounts found on the back of the insert) then you can get something for free. The lowest amount, 10 coins, gets you a free Terror Vision cassette of your choosing while the highest amount, 125 coins, gets you 2 VIP tickets to the next TV Fright Fest in Savannah.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

GAME OF KILLERS might be the most juvenile kung fu flicks I have ever seen. This thing is just as much a comedy as it is a martial arts film. The comedy doesn't really ring well for me as it was a bit too goofy for my tastes. I have no problem with something being goofy but the comedy has to work. The stuff here just isn't funny. It felt like the jokes were made up on the day of shooting and they just shot whatever they came up with. The fight scenes are pretty decent, if not all that exciting. The film isn't a bad watch. I wasn't mad I watched it and it isn't the worst thing I have ever seen. It's just ok. I could see myself revisiting this years from now. I can't wholeheartedly recommend GAME OF KILLERS, but I do think you could give it a chance if you have nothing better to watch.

Terror Vision has done a great job with GAME OF KILLERS. The picture quality will be questionable to some but there are reasons for this. While the English language track is nice, the Mandarin track is not but there are reasons for this as well. The special features package is very light, but worthwhile. In the end, this is a good release for one of the more polarizing martial arts films I have ever seen.

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Film

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Packaging

The Frighteners (Arrow Video) 4K Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Years after first teasing us, Arrow Video has finally released The Frighteners on 4K Blu-ray. Was the wait worth it?

Studio: Arrow Video
Release Date: July 19th, 1996 (theatrical) / October 27th, 2026 (4K blu-ray)
Run Time: / 2 hours 2 minutes 36 seconds (director's cut)
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 3 (1 BD-100, 2 BD-50)
Picture: 2160p (2.39:1 aspect ratio) (theatrical and director's cuts found on disc 1), 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio) (theatrical and director's cuts, open matte presentations found on disc 2)

HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision
Sound: English DTS-HD 5.1 (director's cut home video mix), English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1)
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: Yes (a metallic one)
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs, Jake Busey
Written by Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson
Directed by Peter Jackson
Rating: R (terror/violence) (theatrical version) / Not Rated (horror violence and language)

NOTE: I do not have the means of being able to capture screenshots from a 4K Blu-ray disc. So, there are no screenshots from that disc but I have included screenshots from the other two discs. The open matte disc features the exact same menu and special features/tech selections so you can see what the 4K menu and selections would be.

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Poster

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What's It About?

Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future) stars as Frank Bannister, a small-town psychic who uses his ghostly friends to con unsuspecting locals - until a series of mysterious deaths points to a far darker force. Racing to uncover the truth, Frank realizes he's the only person capable of stopping a malevolent spirit from claiming more victims... even if it means facing his own haunted past. (taken from the back of the Arrow Video 4K blu-ray box)

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Video/Audio

We get two different presentations of THE FIGHTENERS featuring both versions of the film. The 4K disc presents the film in it's original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and looks amazing. This restoration was first seen in 2022 on the German 4K Blu-ray release from Turbine Medien. This transfer and restoration has been praised and rightfully so. While I did see the film in the theater on opening day, I can not rightfully tell you if this transfer matches what my 30 year old memory tells me. In my mind, it does, but this is just a memory and not fact. Here are the facts: this thing looks amazing. Very film-like presentation here. Film grain is here which I am sure some would have been afraid was going to be taken away given Jackson's seemingly hatred of it (based on that Beatles doc he did a few years ago), but I am happy to see it here. Skin tones look just right and the colors (thanks to the HDR) bounce off the screen. Blacks are also incredibly deep. I have been watching THE FRIGHTENERS for the past 30 years and this is the best it has ever looked.

As for the open matte presentation. I don't understand why anyone would want to watch a film out of it's original aspect ratio. Speaking for myself, once I discovered widescreen and OAR, I decided that was the only way to watch a film. Sure, sometimes a film was only released on home media outside of it's OAR, but those are limited cases. When a film is available in its OAR, I don't see the point in an open matte presentation outside of seeing the stuff that was matted out. Look at a film like DOLEMITE. The open matte version shows off all kinds of things we weren't supposed to see like dolly tracks and boom operators. Sure, that makes DOLEMITE an interesting watch for those who view the open matte version, but for a film like THE FRIGHTENERS? You get to see more of the effects, so I guess that is a decent enough reason for the open matte presentation to exist, but I don't find any value in it outside of a curiosity piece. The film also has a cheaper feel to it. I will have to say it's down the framing. After this review, I will never watch the film this way again.

The picture quality is great. Everything I said about the 4K presentation is valid here except for the mentions of the HDR. There were some compression issues early on but those went away the further into the film you get. Those who find value in the open matte stuff will love what they see.

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Extras/Packaging

Disc 1: The Frighteners 4K

Commentary by Peter Jackson - What a wonderful track. I loved listening to this in the 90s on the LaserDisc. I loved listening to it on the DVD. I loved listening to it on the Blu-ray. I can now say I love listening to this on the 4K release. Jackson covers the making of the film from both a technical aspect as well as a personal one. You don't find very many tracks that are this good.

Peter Jackson's 10th Anniversary Introduction (2m 41s, SD, 1.78:1) He looks back fondly on the making of the film, everything it took to get it done, and what came from it. This intro first appeared on the double sided DVD called "Peter Jackson's Director's Cut" that came out in 1995. It wasn't recorded as a 10th Anniversary intro. He never mentions any anniversary. He calls the release a "special edition" release. It's a great intro, though, and proof that Jackson was a master at special features.

Theatrical Trailer (2m 3s, HD, 2.39:1)

Disc 2: The Frighteners (Open Matte)

The special features on this disc are the same as the 4K disc.

Disc 3: Special Features

No Way to Make a Living: A Look Back at The Frighteners (1h 34m, HD, 2.39:1) A retrospective documentary produced by Tribune in 2022, featuring interviews with director of photography John Bick, production designer Grant Major, editor Jamie Selkirk, creature and miniature effects supervisor Richard Taylor, visual effects artist Wes Takahashi, and actors Dee Wallace and Jake Busey.

Where as the four-hour documentary that is included on this release was shot during production, this is a retrospective doc with the people involved looking back on the film and their time on it. There are some great stories told by everyone while also loving the film and everything about it. This was shot over Zoom with webcams of varying quality. It is a shame we don't get to hear from Peter Jackson, Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, or Jeffrey Combs. Still, this is a must watch for fans.

The Making of The Frighteners (4h 31m, SD, 1.33:1) An exhaustive four-hour documentary exploring every aspect of the film's production, from initial development to release, produced for the 1998 LaserDisc release.

This is the gold standard of behind the scenes making ofs. Where HEARTS OF DARKNESS is the gold standard for theatrically released behind-the-scenes documentaries, this is the same but for ones made directly for a film's home video release. This thing covers everything about the film and then some. Everyone involved with the film has been interviewed and we get so much fly on the wall footage. While we got the TERROR TAKES SHAPE documentary on THE THING first, this one surpasses it. That doc is amazing, but this one is more so. Even if you don't like THE FRIGHTENERS, you owe it to yourself to check this out. It lives up to everything ever said about it.

A Conversation with Richard Taylor (41m 21s, SD, 1.78:1) An interview with creature and miniature effects supervisor Richard Taylor, produced by ESC Editions in 2022.

Image Gallery (59 images)

Packaging wise, Arrow has done a great job with one thing I don't like.

The front cover features the film's original theatrical poster of the demonic face coming through the white background, only here the cover isn't white but metallic silver. It helps the release stand out from all of the other ones that have white covers. The double-wide 4K Blu-ray case features reversible artwork, with one featuring the same artwork as the slipcover while the reverse features artwork I have never seen before. It features Michael J. Fox standing in the middle of a black void with his arms crossed. We see the three main ghosts emanating out of his body. I do not like this artwork as it looks like cheap video artwork done quickly to meet a looming deadline. I am happy it's here but I don't like it.

Inside the case, we find a 40-page color booklet featuring Peter Jackson's Introduction that was found in the Signature Collection Laserdisc's own booklet along with the production notes as well. You will also find an article that was originally published in American Cinematographer magazine. Information about the transfers used for the film and credits finish out the booklet. I am actually kind of surprised there isn't anything new in this booklet. Maybe Arrow doesn't want to create new writings for all of their releases and just want to focus on some of them? Maybe, because there was already a wealth of written material from other releases, they could just recycle that? I don't know but I find it kind of weird.

What's also weird is the lack of post cards. It felt like every release from the last few years had their fairshare of post cards but there are none here. I am all for this because I don't like the inclusion of post cards unless they are being used to reproduce lobby cards. This is really what started the whole post card thing in the first place, but then spiraled into their inclusion to bolster the perceived value of a release. I used to like post cards but their inclusions were getting out of hand. I picked up both THE FRIGHTENERS and Arrow's A BETTER TOMORROW TRILOGY 4K Blu-ray releases and neither one of them have post cards.

The one thing that IS missing that I am not happy about is the poster. Since I started collecting Arrow Video releases, I have always looked forward to getting a poster. Not every release had them but many of them did. Arrow was always good at including them with their Limited Editions, but now it's kind of a crap shoot. The hard box ones still get them (except for their HELLRAISER: QUARTET OF TORMENT set) but its up in the air whether there is a poster or not. My copy of SWORDFISH has one but neither THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT nor UNDER SIEGE have one. I am especially sad that THE FRIGHTENERS doesn't have one as this is a favorite of mine and I would have loved to have been able to hang the poster in my movie room. Sure, I can buy a copy of the poster online, but Arrow's posters a small enough to be able to hang many of them in the same place one poster would go. This is, of course, not a deal breaker but it is a shame one was not included.

Finally, we have the three discs. We have 1 4K disc and 2 Blu-ray discs. For whatever reason, and I can not figure this out outside of laziness and being cheap, all three discs share the exact same artwork. Was it really too hard to make it less difficult to tell the discs apart? Sure, they tell you which is which, but it's in small print below the film's title. If you are just grabbing a disc to throw in and watch, you might grab the wrong disc and now you have to get up again and make sure you put the right disc in. Just a small complaint.

All three discs are REGION FREE

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Overall

THE FRIGHTENERS is a masterclass in how impressive CGI can be when it is done with care. This film blew away most of those who actually took the time to watch the film and it opened the door for Jackson and company to make the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. The film was a box office flop, barely making back it's budget. Critics didn't really like it either, with Roger Ebert giving the film one star (out of four), saying:

"But all of that incredible effort has resulted in a film that looks more like a demo reel than a movie–like the kind of audition tape a special-effects expert would put together, hoping to impress a producer enough to give him a real job."

I guess I can see his point but I think it a shallow way of looking at the film. I would go into more but I am working on a WAS EBERT RIGHT? on the film. I will say this: I love THE FRIGHTENERS. I was fortunate enough to see Peter Jackson's filmography in order. This is something not people outside of New Zealand can say, so it gave me a great build up to seeing THE FRIGHTENERS. Seeing Jackson go from making all of his make-up effects in his mother's oven to him having $30 million of Unversial Studios' money to create special effects the world had never seen before. THE FRIGHTENERS is a great film that more people need to see. I will link my article on the film in this review when I post it.

Arrow Video has done an amazing job with this 4K Blu-ray. The picture quality is top notch, for both presentations of the film and I love the different audio options we get because I did not know there as a different mix for the Director's Cut when it hit home video. I mean, it makes sense given Jackson's history with his films, but it is a surprise nonetheless. I love that all of the special features from the Signature Collection Laserdisc have been ported over along with giving us a few new features. This isn't a jam packed edition like we have come to know througout the years, but the features are a lot meatier than what we normally get nowadays. This thing has an actual making of documentary on it instead of a bunch on individual interviews with very little editing like companies have been giving us as of late. This is one of my favorite releases of 2026.

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Was Siskel Right? Friday the 13th (1980)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today, we are changing it up. We are taking a look at a Gene Siskel review and asking the question: Was Siskel Right?

I am going to do something a bit different. I was looking up film reviews from Roger Ebert's cohort, Gene Siskel, and I started reading some of his reviews for the FRIDAY THE 13TH films and I knew they would make for a good article like I do with Roger Ebert reviews. So, lets go through his FRIDAY THE 13TH review.

It has been suggested to me that a great way to keep people from seeing a truly awful movie is to tell them the ending. I like that idea a lot, and I know it is a powerful (and controversial) weapon. So you're going to have to trust me to use it wisely.. and sparingly.

He starts out the review letting us know he hates the film. I like when critics do this because you know they are going to find some wild ways to convey these emotions. His way of doing this is to spoil the entire film. Yes, Gene Siskel is so mad at the very existence of this film that he has decided to spoil the film for anyone unlucky enough to read his review before seeing the film. This is low for a critic to do. I mean, he barely gives any kind of spoiler way except a brief mention of it in the paragraph right before spoiling the film. Anyone who is reading the review might let their eyes wander without knowing what is coming and have the film ruined for them.

He then spends the next two paragraphs spoiling the film, which I will not do for those who haven't seen the film. Despite the fact that the film is 46 years old, at the time of this writing, I am a decent person when it comes to this.

NOW, THERE - I hoped I've ruined "Friday the 13th," which is the latest film by one of the most despicable creatures ever to infest the movie busi-ness, Sean S. Cunningham. You may have heard of one of his other films, "The Last House on the Left," a film in which a teen-age girl is forced at gunpoint to urinate on herself and then is shot in the head.

Gene Siskel prides himself in spoiling the film. I find this repulsive. I don't care if you hate a film or not. There is zero reason for giving away a film's twists. Michael Medved, a film critic who used to matter before he went all religious, spoiled the twist in MILLION DOLLAR BABY. He didn't agree with the way the film turns halfway through and he was so offended by this that he felt it was his God given duty to ruin the film for all of his listeners. I was so happy I had seen the film before listening to his bullshit show because I would have been pissed. The direction the film goes in the second half is something you would never seen coming and having some God fearing hack ruin it because he didn't agree with the way the film deals with some very heavy themes.

Siskel then goes into talking shit about Sean S. Cunningham. Normally, I would say his take on Cunningham was a bit extreme. That was untill you find out that Cunningham really is a piece of shit. Remember the FRIDAY THE 13TH lawsuit from a few years ago? For those who don't, I will give you a quick rundown:

Victor Miller, the writer of the original FRIDAY THE 13TH, sent out notice that he was claiming the copyright back to his original script which can be done after 37 years. Clive Barker did this with the original HELLRAISER (I actually did a Was Ebert Right? on HELLRAISER) and Wes Craven's estate did this with the original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Sean S. Cunningham didn't like this because he wanted to control everything FRIDAY THE 13TH. So, he fought back, saying that Miller was hired to write the film and it wasn't independent. This case dragged on for years and was settled a few years ago. In the meantime, we got no new FRIDAY THE 13TH films or anything. The video game was even canceled because of the lawsuit.

So, yeah. Cunningham didn't care about anything but the control of the franchise. He could have come to an agreement with Miller but he was greedy. Now, he has taken the franchise to levels no one wants including a new mask design he should be ashamed of. Siskel calling him out is justified.

His reasoning for calling out Cunningham is not reasonable. He calls him out because of the violence in the film. He describes most of the attacks in the film and has a lot of disdain for them. Siskel has always had a problem with onscreen violence especially that of the graphic kind. He gave the David Fincher film SE7EN a lower star rating because of the graphic violence, none of which we never see. We only see the aftermath and that was the point.

In more than one scene, Cunningham rips off sequences from the hit shocker "Halloween," which was much less bloody, much less explicit about its attacks, and much better directed by John Carpenter.

I find this very funny because Cunningham admits he ripped off HALLOWEEN. In fact, he made the film specifically for that reason. That is why the films are so similar. Pointing this out as a negative is pointless. Although I highly doubt, to the point of being 100 percent certain, that he knew this.

THE POINT is this: There is nothing to "Friday the 13th" other than its sickening attack scenes; remove them and you're left with an empty movie.

Saying FRIDAY THE 13TH is nothing more than it's sickening attack scenes is a pretty shallow way of looking at the film. The film isn't high art but it has likeable characters and a lot of suspense. We don't find out who the killer is until the last 15 minutes of the film and it is a bit of a shock, but only because we have no idea who this person is before the reveal.

Paramount is a division of Gulf & Western Indus-tries. If you want to complain about the film, you can write Charles G. Bluhdorn, the chairman of the board of Gulf & Western, at 1 Gulf & Western Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10023. (Betsy Palmer lives in the little town of Rowayton, Conn. I'm sure a letter sent to General Delivery there will get to her.)

This is the most despicable thing Siskel has ever done. There is no reason to give out an actor's address, even if it isn't the full address, based on the fact that you didn't like the film. Telling your audience to send her hate mail because of your hatred of a film is disgusting. Fuck Siskel for doing that.

"Friday the 13th" has been given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). If any film should be X-rated on the basis of violence, this is it. But Paramount pays part of the salary of the MPAA people who determine the ratings, and this is clearly a case where a big studio gets a less-restrictive rating than is proper.

He ends his review by talking about how the film was released with an R-rating and not an X-rating. The thing is: it was originally rated X. The filmmakers had to cut the violence down to get the R rating. This, of course, doesn't matter because the film could have been rated X and he still would have claimed the MPAA went to soft on the film.

So, Was Siskel Right?

No, but I can see why he hates the film.

The 70s had films that were more viceral than they were graphic. Sure, THE EXORCIST was extreme for the time, and there were horror films that contained some graphic violence, but the more graphic horror films didn't start happening until the 80s. There are really no reports of films from the 70s being cut to obtain a lower rating. There were films like SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER that released two different cuts, one with an R-rating and another with a lighter PG-rating, but those instances were very and far between. It was during the slasher boom of the earlier 80s where the MPAA started butchering films they felt weren't suitable for adults. There were many films during this time like MY BLOODY VALENTINE and most of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films that had minutes cut from the film because they contained violence the MPAA felt went too far. I have always found this weird becaue they gave JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING a R-rating without any cuts and that is one of the most graphically violent films of the entire decade. I guess it was because most of the violence has to do with an alien but that shouldn't matter. There were still gallons for blood than in any 80s slasher film.

Many of the critics during time had a hard time with the graphicness of the violence that was flooding horror films. I mentioned Siskel hated graphic violence especially if it was found in a horror film, but not all the time. He gave HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER a glowing review but walked out of 1980s MANIAC. Both films contain violence so graphic the MPAA gave them X ratings. Both films surrendered the ratings and released Unrated but Siskel felt differently about the films. I know that Ebert also had a problem with graphic violence but that was more on a case by case basis and not a blanket view like Siskel.

I don't think that Siskel liked the fact that this graphic violence was being used as entertainment. While he did like HENRY, I wouldn't call it entertaining. The film is very realistic and depressing. The actions of the characters are not to be cheered. They are revolting and ugly. MANIAC, on the other hand, is entertaining. I wouldn't say it is entertaining in the way that the FRIDAY THE 13TH films are, but it is entertaining nonetheless. While the film does feature graphic violence, it is more unbelievable than the violence found in HENRY. Watching Michael Rooker cut off a corpses head in a dingy bathtub is stomach turning and something that will haunt you for days after watching the film. Watching Joe Spinell blow someone's head off with a shotgun is less believeable because the head explodes like the heads in SCANNERS (they were both achieved in the same way). I think the entertainment factor is one of the things Siskel took into mind when judging the violence in a film.

I love FRIDAY THE 13TH. I find the characters to be likeable and fun and the graphic violence is great. Of course, I am thirty years younger than Siskel, but that shouldn't matter. You either like the violence or you don't. The suspense is also well handled although the reveal of the killer is a bit of a letdown because the film just springs this person on to the audience without much build up. There are mentions about a character but we are never lead to believe this person would be the killer because the film doesn't do a good job in leading the way for us to connect the dots. Once we find out who the killer is and why they are doing the killing, we start to see why. It still isn't the best reveal in the world but it does lead the way for the rest of the series. I do like that the filmmakers of the sequels went with a killer that is the same in every film because we don't need to have a reveal at the end of every film like the SCREAM films do.

NOTE: I am going to be as vague as possible in order to avoid spoiling anything for those who haven't seen the film yet.

I will give Siskel one thing. There is the death of a character in the film that is really sad. We really like this character. They are really upbeat, happy, and looking forward to spending the summer at Camp Crystal Lake. We spend a fair amount of time with this person before they are offed. When their death comes, it is done in such a mannor, and the actor is so good in this moment, that we are left shocked and saddened. There are very few deaths in any slasher film that hits as hard as this particular death. Now that I think about, I don't think there is another death in the entire FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise that hits as hard as this death scene.

I can wholeheartedly recommend FRIDAY THE 13TH. It's a fun slasher film that gives us some memorable characters and some gruesome kills while not overstaying it's welcome. If you haven't seen, then go watch it. If you have seen it, go and watch it again and relive this first visit to Crystal Lake.

Was Ebert Right?: Orgazmo (1998)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today, we take a look at the Trey Parker and Matt Stone porn satire, Orgzamo, and ask the question: Was Ebert Right?

Ebert begins the review by talking about the word "sophomoric." He says that he has used it in only 11 of his reviews (at the time, of course) while telling us he has to use the word again to describe ORGAZMO.

Now I must use the word again. “Orgazmo,” a comedy by “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker, is the very soul of sophomorism. It is callow, gauche, obvious and awkward, and designed to appeal to those with similar qualities.

He then goes on to call the film "callow" (a young person who lacks experience, judgment, and maturity.), gauche (a young person who lacks experience, judgment, and maturity, obvious and awkard. I would and wouldn't call the film "callow." The film is a satire on the porn industry and does a damn good job of making fun of it while also paying homage to it. Sure, the acting in the porn scenes is crappy but that's the point. Porn doesn't contain world class acting.

The guys from SOUTH PARK aren't necessarily inexperienced. At the time ORGAZMO was released, they already had a feature (CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL), a failed TV pilot (TIME WARPED), and wildly successful TV show (SOUTH PARK). These guys knew what they were doing. The film being "sophomoric" is the point. They aren't trying to make high art. They are making a film about a guy who creates a device that can be shot at people to make them have an orgasm. Also, calling something or someone "callow" and gauche" in the same sentence is redundant.

True to the film’s sophomorism, it is not a satire of Mormonism, but simply uses Mormons in the conviction that their seriousness will be funny to gapejaws in the audience–to whom all sincerity is threatening, and therefore funny.

I don't know anyone who finds sincerity as threatening. Sincerity can be funny as it is in ORGAZMO. Calling people who like a film or find sincerity funny names is shallow of Ebert. No one should be called names for their taste in film.

Sophomorism uses a sledgehammer; wit uses a scalpel. Sophomorism cries out for your attention; wit assumes it has it. Sophomorism shocks by presenting sexuality; wit shocks by using it. A sophomoric film will think it is funny when hairy buttocks block the camera’s view. A witty film will ask, whose buttocks? Why now? What next?

What Ebert didn't notice is that the only nudity in the film is male. There is not one nude female in the film and that is the point. The hairy buttocks that block the camera's view is funny because its satire, the very thing he says ORGAZMO doesn't have any of. Audiences think that, because the film is making fun of the porn industry, that there is going to be tons of female nudity and how do you think the SOUTH PARK guys are going to circumvent those expectations? By not only NOT including any female nudity whatsoever, but by throwing the male nudity in your face every chance they get. The male buttocks in blocking the camera's view is the point of the joke.

Early in the film, Elder Young (whose name would have been funnier if it had been Elder Younger) and another missionary are knocking on doors in Los Angeles, seeking converts. One door is opened by a sweet little old lady. The instant I saw her, I knew, with the same certainly that a Mormon missionary knows he will go to heaven, that the sweet little old lady would shout a stream of vile obscenities. She did.

This is something I don't think is all that funny. Presenting older people cursing can be funny but most of these films that do this use it as shock value, which they see as comedy. Shcok value can be funny. Seeing Jim fuck the pie in the AMERICAN PIE or see Lin Shaye topless in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY is funny, but seeing someone your grandma’s age cursing someone out isn't. This gag, a religious person goes to someone's house to spread the word of the Lord, was used in FRIDAY, but it wasn't the person answering the door who does the cursing. It was the religious person doing the cursing. It wasn't funny there either.

That is sophomorism. What would wit have done? The missionaries would have knocked on the door, the sweet little old lady would have opened it, and wit would have known that the audience anticipated obscenities, so wit would have had the little old lady say, “I know that in the movies we sweet little old ladies are always getting a cheap laugh by using the f-word to missionaries, but that lacks imagination, don’t you think? That’s what my son, Quentin Tarantino, always says. Here, have some cookies.”

This would have made the joke tens times worse. The thing I hate in comedies is when the satire is thrown in your face. It can work, like in WAYNE'S WORLD with the product placement scene, but most of the time, the filmmakers are just trying to make you see how smart they think they are. Saying things like "The movies tell me" or any variation on that phrase bothers me. Give me the satire in a clever way. Don't shove it down my throat.

Jeremy, for those not willing to admit they know who he is, has been in more porn films than anyone else. His popularity is easily explained: Every man alive believes that any woman would prefer him to Ron Jeremy.

For a person who seems to hate exploitation films, despite the fact that he created one of the most infamous of all time (BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS), he seems to know a lot about Ron Jeremy. I doubt he just looked Jeremy up. He knew exactly who he was. Of course, he didn't know who Jeremy really was (turns out he is a rapist who will never see his day in court because he has dementia, a disease that robs good people of their dignity and bad people of jail).

Elder Young is given the role of Orgazmo, a porno superhero with a sidekick named Choda-Boy (Dian Bachar). They crash through cardboard walls to rescue damsels in distress (or damsels being ravished by Ron Jeremy, which amounts to the same thing). His weapon (Orgazmo’s) is an Orgazmorator, which immobilizes his enemies with multiple orgasms. In a movie with wit, people would be lining up to become Orgazmo’s enemies.

This would have been a very funny joke. They could have included it in the montage where they test out the Orgamorator on various people, randomly. There are still jokes there though like when Matt Stone's character, who has the best lines in the entire film, gets shot and has no reaction. Makes me laugh every time.

I was by now so desperately longing for a reason to laugh that, yes, I did laugh at a scene where all of the characters leave the frame and fight offscreen, and debris is thrown onscreen from beyond the edges to indicate what a battle it is.

This is also a very funny scene.

“Orgazmo” was made before Trey Parker and Matt Stone became famous for the “South Park” cable cartoon program. (There is an even earlier film, “Cannibal: The Musical,” which is unseen by me and has an excellent chance of remaining so.)

I have to wonder if he would have liked CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL. I, like many other people, find that film to be hilarious. The film has some catchy songs and tons of quotable lines. The film is incredibly low budget, which Ebert doesn't have a problem with, but was released by Troma, which Ebert kind of does. I think when Ebert is talking negatively about ORGAZMO, he is really talking about Troma, a company that can't even define the book in which the definition of "subtle" can be found. This isn't an insult to Troma, either. They would be the first to agree. I would hope Ebert would find CANNIBAL! funny but I have a feeling he would not.

“South Park” is elegant, in its way: A self-contained animated universe that functions as a laboratory to conduct experiments in affronting the values of viewers, who, if they held them, would not be watching. I like “South Park.” It has wit. I guess “Orgazmo” was a stage the boys had to go through. They’re juniors now.

I will agree that SOUTH PARK is much funny than ORGAZMO. I do think the satire is more spot on but that doesn't mean that ORGAZMO isn't funny. It just means SOUTH PARK is funnier. As for the film being "a stage the boys had to go through" is a knock but not necessarily. For them, every project informed the one that came after it. They learned from any mistakes they made while using what worked and making it better. Sure, it was a stage, but not a bad one.

So, Was Ebert Right?

No, but I can see his point. Satire doesn't work for everyone. Some people just don't get it or its told in a way that people don't pick up on it. There are people who don't think AIRPLANE! is a good film while thinking the Madea films are the peak of comedy. Different things are funny to different people. My wife HATES KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST, but loves comedians like Dave Chappelle (a man who I used to think was funny until he started making fun of poor people while bragging about how rich he is). For me, KUNG POW is damn near perfect but to her its dogshit. To each their own.

I don't think that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have made a bad film here. It's not the funniest film out there but it is well worth a watch. The porn stuff is easy enough to laugh at because we all know how bad porn can be even if you've never seen any. The Mormon stuff could have been funnier but I don't think they wanted to go that way. Maybe they were testing the waters for their musical THE BOOK OF MORMON? I do think the Mormon stuff in that is so much better than it is here.

While many of the jokes don't work, there are a ton that do. I mentioned it before, but Matt Stone'e character is the funniest thing about the film. He plays Dave the Lighting Guy who always starts out a sentence with "I don't want to sound queer or nothing, but" and then says something that wouldn't be mistaken for "queer" like "I think Depeche Mode is a sweet band!" or "but I think unicorns are kick ass!" There are others too like the guy named Sancho keeps saying "I am Sancho" after being interrupted during a meeting.

ORGAZMO is a funny film that more people need to see. The film does carry an NC-17 rating so that limits how the film is found but it is out there and it is worth taking the time to watch it.

Was Ebert Right?: Night of the Living Dead (1990)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 01:56:54 +0000

Today, we are taking a closer look at the remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and asking the question, Was Ebert Right?

In 1968 George Romero made a scruffy little low-budget horror film named “Night of the Living Dead,” and it was truly frightening. That was in the days before the MPAA rating system, and I saw it at a Saturday matinee filled with little kids, who were so scared they were screaming and weeping. I noted their reaction in my review – I believed, then and now, that some films are simply not appropriate for children – but at the same time I had to admire the artistry of Romero’s film. With grainy black and white photography, a handful of locations and a cast of unknowns, he created a horrifyingly original vision that has been ripped off ever since – not least by Romero himself.

I love that he begins this review with context. I agree that the original film was truly frightening. I also agree that some films are not appropriate for children. I was nine or ten when I saw the film for the first time and it scared the crap out of me. I had a hard time sleeping for a few days afterwards.

The grainy black and white photography is true great. The few locations does help the film because it doesn't complicate things. It's a simple story told very basically with a lot of style. The film is also a "horrifying original vision".

The creatures attacked again in Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” (1979), which was a superb horror film, and in his “Day of the Dead” (1985),which was not.

I agree with him on both points. DAWN OF THE DEAD is one of the best horror films ever made. It shows both the horrific existence of living in a world inhabited by zombies and the boring times when you know you are safe. DAY OF THE DEAD, on the other hand, seems to just focus on the boring side until the horrifying side makes it's presence know close to the end of the film. Sure, there is zombie stuff spread throughout but not really. The carnage is mostly at the end. The rest of the stuff is incredible boring. It's not a bad film but it is a very lackluster follow-up to one of the best horror films of all time.

Now they are back in a remake of the original film, which has been written by Romero but directed by Tom Savini, his longtime makeup expert. The remake is so close to the original that there is no reason to see both, unless you want to prove to yourself that black and white photography is indeed more effective than color for this material.

This is the biggest problem I have with the film. What's the point? I understand that Romero wanted to be able to make money off the film as they weren't able to because of the copyright bullshit that sent the film right into the public domain. He wanted to make money for himself and the cast and crew along with making money for the original investors. This is a noble but not a very good idea.

Watching the film, you can tell very little effort was put into the film. This is close to being a shot for shot remake. So much so that there is very little point in this film's existence. Tom Savini's direction is basic at best. He doesn't do anything interesting with the camera or the editing. The photography is flat and lifeless and doesn't feel very much like a scary horror film. Take out the zombies and this could be a drama. Romero gave his film life. The black and white photography was striking with ti adding to the overall creepiness of the film. The sound mixing is top notch as well. The sounds used during the scene where the girl in the basement kills her parents still makes my skin crawl. I don't think the original film would benefited from being in color. In fact, it would have been a detriment.

The discovery of the people in the basement leads to the movie’s longest-running non-event, a bitter fight between Towles and the others about whether they should all hide out in the basement, or stay upstairs. Todd says no to the basement. Towles says yes, frothing at the mouth. They scream at each other in confrontations in which the overacting is so ludicrous, it gets bad laughs. Towles is an actor who can indeed be chilling; he is unforgettable playing Otis, the mass murderer’s slack jawed friend, in “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.” But here, like all of the other actors, he is wasted on a film that confuses screaming with emotion.

I agree with the wasteful use off Tom Towles. He is a much better actor than this film allows him to be. He yells tons of his dialogue and it feels forced. I know that is the point of the character but they could have done something else with it. Maybe make the guy the quiet type who you are not sure about. Maybe he would sell out his family in order to save himself. How knows? As the character is now, it wastes a good actor's time.

Thanks for small gifts: I am grateful that Tallman’s character eventually figures out something that has been abundantly obvious ever since the first “Living Dead” movie. The zombies are very stupid, and very slow. “You could just walk right past them!” she observes, looking out of the farmhouse. And so she does, for a while, until she is intercepted by a band of redneck hunters who are killing zombies for sport.

The one thing I think the thing does right is giving Barbara a complete 180 of the character from the original. In that film, she was the damsel in distress who goes catatonic for a big chunk of the runtime. She is an incredibly boring and worthless character in that film. In this remake, she starts out screaming and running and being the typical damsel in distress before becoming a badass. She goes full Sarah Connor about halfway through and the film actually gets a little bit better because of this. She is smart and tough and we like watching her take control and dish out bullets.

The ending of the movie, with its bonfire and tortured freeze-frame scenes, is apparently intended to suggest that we really are no better than the zombies, a conclusion which, even based on the evidence of the characters in this movie, I have trouble in accepting.

This ending worked in the original but not here. It feels way too forced like they had to include it because the original did. I do like the other twist in the film. I won't spoil it here but there is a bit of character development we never saw coming.

So, was Ebert right?

In many ways yes. There were a bunch of remakes in the 80s and early 90s in the horror genre that are held in high regard. JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING, THE FLY, and THE BLOB are all universally loved among horror fans because they bring a lot of different ideas to the table. They are not carbon copies of the original like the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake. THE THING gives us a monster that could be anyone while also giving us some of the most amazing gore and effects to come out of the decade. THE FLY gets rid of the cheesy effects (yes, they are cheesy) for a more realistic take on the same ideas. THE BLOB is probably the film that sticks the closest to the original. A alien from outer space attacks a small town. It's a basic plot but the remake not only ups the gore and scares, but also ups the response to the alien. We have the military trying to save people while also trying to hide the monster.

All three of these films are upgrades from their original but the remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is not much of one. It ups the gore but I found what gore we got in the original to be much more effective. I loved the zombie at the beginning who's clothes fall over showing us the medical examination wounds. I thought the gore was good but not really needed. It helps the film a bit but not that much.

I do like what the film did with the Barbara character but thats really it. There's not much outside of that that warrants a remake.

I don't think the reasoning behind the existence of this remake is enough to get it made. I also don't think the film does enough to make it a worthwhile watch. I mean, give it a shot if you really want to but I would rather watch the original again. The film just got a 4K Blu-ray release and it's one I won't be buying. I own the film on Blu-ray and that is fine enough for me.

Deadly Night Shade aka Smiertelny Cien Nocy (1996)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

A lesser than erotic thriller makes its Blu-ray debut with this interesting Polish import.

Studio: Royal Oaks Entertainment or Videoleader (both are listed on the box)
Release Date: June 1st, 1996 (video premiere) / ???? (blu-ray)
Run Time:
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-25)
Picture: 1080p (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: No
Slipcover: No
Starring: Tim Abell, Cory Lane, Tane McClure, Jennifer Burton, Ross Hagen, Don Scribner, Jack Slayton
Written by Sean O'Bannon
Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Rating: Unrated (multiple scenes of nudity and sexuality, violence, and language)

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Poster

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What's It About?

"Deadly Night Shade (1996) is the most overlooked strip club vampire gem of modern times. A literal "WHO'S WHO" of erotic horror classics of the '90s. The all-star cast includes Tim Abell, Tane McClure, Gabriella Hall, Nikki Fritz, Jennifer Leigh Burton, Teresa Langley, Peter Spellos, and Ross Hagen in his longtime role as Detective Crank. This stylish 16mm film directed by Fred Olen Ray hides nothing behind it. You absolutely must see this movie."

This is taken from a translation of the description on the back of the box, which is in Polish. I love how the description spends more time telling us who is in the film rather than telling us what the film is about. I would not be surprised if anyone who reads this has any idea what the film is about outside of vampire strip club.

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Video/Audio

DEADLY NIGHT SHADE looks like ass. I hate to say but it does. Out of the three films I have reviewed thus far that are the Makeflix exclusive imports (POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT and MIND TWISTER were the first two), DEADLY NIGHT SHADE is the worst. I have a feeling its due to the standard definition source being less than adequate. Everything seems to be smoothed out and all the people look like they might be sick. Everyone looks a little too colorful. The upscaling here is just as bad as SCREAM QUEEN HOT TUB PARTY. I really hate that these companies are upscaling SD footage. Just leave the SD file alone. There are whole lines of Blu-rays out there house entire TV series in standard definition and no one cares. Stop with the AI upscaling. The audio here is lossy and fine.

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Extras/Packaging

There are no special features whatsoever.

The menu is the same crappy menu as the previous two imports.

Chapter selections are still every five minutes on the dot.

The packaging is also done with AI, although it looks ok. The front cover features a collage of scenes from the film along with the film's title in English and Polish. The back of the box features a few screenshots from the film along with two different releasing companies. One of Royal Oaks Entertainment which is apparently the film's production company. The other company is Videoleader. There is even a website (www.videoleader.info) which leads to nothing. Inside is a post card featuring the same art as the front of the box. I wish they had used the film's VHS artwork on the post card instead of reusing the AI artwork. The disc features a shot of a female vampire along with the film's title in Polish.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

DEADLY NIGHT SHADE (or just NIGHT SHADE as it's known in the US) is ok. The film was released in 1996 which was after the straight-to-video trend hit its peak. Full Moon had lost their contract with Paramount and the erotic thriller was losing popularity. Shannon Whirry and Shannon Tweed's popularity had peaked and they wouldn't make very many erotic thrillers after 1995. The quality of the films were getting worse too. Just look at POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT and SCORNED (both released in 1994) and then look at NIGHT SHADE and ANIMAL INSTINCTS 3. Even though these films were made a few years apart, they look like they were made a decade apart. The film isn't too bad. It has ample amounts of nudity and it moves at a quick pace. It is definitely not one of Fred Olen Ray's best films but it gets the job done.

The Blu-ray is terrible. The picture quality is downright awful and should be studied for how not to use AI. There is almost nothing good about the picture quality and belongs in the garbage bin along with SCREAM QUEEN HOT TUB PARTY and the BIKINI CARWASH COMPANY Bubble Feature. I would not buy this unless you need to it complete your Fred Olen Ray collection.

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Film

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Packaging

Import Corner: Inner Sanctum II (Panorama Entertainment) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0000

The sequel to one of the better erotic thrillers has made it's way to Blu-ray. Is it worth picking up?

Studio: Panorama Entertainment
Release Date: November 30th, 1994 (video premiere) / ???? (blu-ray)
Run Time:
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (1 BD-25)
Picture: 1080p (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Starring: Michael Nouri, Tracy Brooks Swope, Sandahl Bergman, David Warner, Jennifer Ciesar, Margaux Hemingway
Written by Fred Olen Ray, Steve Armogida
Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Rating: Unrated (a few prolonged sex scenes, violence, and lanuage)

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Poster

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What's It About?

After a traumatized woman kills her wealthy husband in self-defense, her family and friends appear to secure an inheritance for her, even if it means driving the poor woman insane - or worse.

This is translated through Google Translate and it sticks to the film pretty well. It's weird because the other imports that Makeflix has offered lately have had kind of weird descriptions but this one doesn't. It stays to the film and doesn't offer anything outside of that. Although, it does include to "X"'s at the beginning of the description, which you would think they would have deleted.

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Video/Audio

I have to say, INNER SANCTUM II looks decent. It is an upscale, like all of the other import titles of recent available at Makeflix, but the upscaling isn't too bad. There are still the obvious signs this is an upscale. I mean, look at the bushes in some of those screenshots along with the table that looks like it was painted on to the screen. The stuff that isn't in the background looks ok. Detail can be high but it's too high. This film was released in 1994 and was shot on film. There should be even the tiniest amount of film grain but there really isn't any because this is upscaled from a video source. It's a perfectly watchable release.

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Extras/Packaging

As with the other recent imports, the menu is crap and there are no special features.

The film is divided into 10 chapter selections that happen every five minutes.

Packaging wise, this thing is a bit better than usual. The front cover features a shot from the film that looks like it has some AI stuff done to it. The back features random shots from the film. The disc features the same art from the front just zoomed in a bit. There is also a post card featuring the artwork from the film's 1994 VHS release. When I spoke about the post cards included in the other imports, I said I wished they had used the original artwork from the VHS releases as it seemed pointless to reuse artwork multiple times in a release. This time, they actually did use the VHS artwork and this makes me happy.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

INNER SANCTUM II is a pretty good straight-to-video erotic thriller/horror film. It isn't nearly as good as the first film, which was released in 1991 but it is worth a watch. You got Sandahl Bergman and Margaux Hemingway being awesome and David Warner, of all people, making an appearance. The erotic aspect of the film is well done, but you can tell the erotic thriller bubble is about to burst. The quality has dropped a bit and the film feels cheaper than the first film did. It is well worth a watch, though. Its fun and sexy and that's really all you want from an erotic thriller.

The Blu-ray is good but I know there are those who are going to have a problem with it. It's an upscale through and through but if you are ok with that then you'll like this release. If not, then stay far away from this one. I personally don't have too much of a problem with it because we will never (probably) get another release of this film so we have to take what we can get. It'll be fine for most of you. I bought it to add to my Fred Olen Ray collection and don't regret it.

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Import Corner: Mind Twister (1994) (Fejui) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0000

If you were into the video store in the 90s, then you saw the vhs for Mind Twister everywhere. The film finally makes its Blu-ray debut with questionable results.

Studio: Fejui
Release Date: March 16th, 1994 (video premiere) / ??? (blu-ray)
Run Time:
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-R25)
Picture: 720p (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Starring: Telly Savalas, Erika Nann, Gary Hudson, Suzee Slater, Richard Roundtree, Maria Ford

Written by Mark Thomas McGee

Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Rating: Unrated (several strong, prolonged sex scenes, violence, and language)

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Poster

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What's It About?

"The victim's friend, Heather, suspects that a local psychiatrist, Daniel Steinhardt, is the killer; she poses as one of his psychotherapy patients in an attempt to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, veteran detective Richard Holland is also investigating the case."

This comes from a translation of what the back of the box says. I did find it funny that the name of the company translates from Latin as "I have failed"

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Video/Audio

Import company, Fejui, brings MIND TWISTER to Blu-ray with the same results as POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT. This is an upscale through and through, but it isn't necessarily bad. There are times where the upscale is actually pretty good. Detail goes up significantly and whatnot, but then there are times when you can see you are clearly watching something is no true HD. This release does suffer from the same compression problems POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT did, so there's that. Audio is also lossy but that's fine as it sounds good.

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Extras/Packaging

No special features whatsoever.

The very same menu is used here as it was for POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT.

Film is divided up into 10 chapters that seem to have been selected at random. These chapters were probably chosen by A.I. as well.

Edit: Turns out the chapters are done in five minute increments. So, every five minutes (ie 5, 10, 15, 20) there's another chapter selection. I don't know how didn't see that before but I didn't.

The packaging is lazy and cheap. The front cover is shot from one of the film's numerous sex scenes with two characters in a hot tub surrounded by candles. The back cover features shots from the film. Inside you will find a post card featuring a shot of a woman in black lingerie that is also featured on the back of the box.

The front of the box has a blurb in the upper right hand corner that says:

Spiciness Level: Extra-Extra-Hot
Suitable for: Earthlings with no heart conditions.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

MIND TWISTER is a pretty good straight-to-video 90s erotic thriller. I didn't like it as much as I liked POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT, but it is well worth a watch. The story is what it is, but that's not why we are wacthing this. It's the sex scenes that have gotten our attention and they are well worth the price of admission. They are well shot, well staged, and do not overstay their welcome. Director Fred Olen Ray actually used some restraint during his 90s erotic thriller run when it came to the length of his sex scenes. After the turn of the century, it felt like he made his sex scenes as long as possible because the film would have been too short without them. The film also stars Telly Salvas and Richard Roundtree, which gives the film a sense of legitimacy. I had fun with this one even if there are better erotic thrillers from the time out there.

Should you buy this Blu-ray? Again, much like POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT, it depends on you. If you don't care about watching something that was upscaled from a VHS then this release will do you just fine. If you do care, then steer clear. I was able to look past the upscale video but there are plenty who can't or won't. This is probably the last time we see this film on any type of physical media so this may be the best we get. Buy at your own risk but know that it isn't that bad.

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Import Corner: Possessed by the Night (1994) (MPIR Distribution) Blu-ray Review + Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0000

A Blu-ray label out of Hong Kong brings one of the better erotic thrillers to Blu-ray

with questionable results.

Studio: MPIR Distribution

Release Date: May 25th, 1994 (video premiere) / ??? (blu-ray)

Run Time: 1 hour 27 minutes 25 seconds

Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-R 25)
Picture: 720p (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Starring: Shannon Tweed, Ted Prior, Sandahl Bergman, Chad McQueen, Frank Sivero
Written by Mark Thomas McGee
Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Rating: Unrated (many strong, prolonged sex scenes, violence, and language)

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Poster

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What's It About?

When a horror novelist named Howard Hansen buys an oversized glass jar containing a bizarrely shaped picked monster from a small shop in Chinatown, he is quickly affected by its supernatural powers. Not only does he write unprecedented number of pages of manuscript, but he also becomes sexually more aroused. This unusual change begins to make his wife, Peggy, uneasy, especially after their new, sexy blonde secretary, Carol McKay, arrives.

Howard and Peggy were unaware that Carol was conspiring with her partner, Molly Dunlap - Howard's greedy agent - to steal the manuscript. Carol was quickly possessed by the bottle's spirit, playing sexually aggressive and violent games with Howard and Peggy, constantly threatening Peggy. Ultimately, she turned on Molly, leading to an extremely violent climax where almost everyone used automatic weapons to indiscriminately fire at their accomplices. (from back of the blu-ray box)*

*The back of the box is in Chinese so I had Google Translate translate it for me and it gave exactly what is written above, warts and all.

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Video/Audio

POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1994 by Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video where it has stayed, at least in the US. In 2025, German boutique label, WMM, released the film on Blu-ray. I could only find one review for it where the reviewer says:

The picture quality is acceptable DVD standard and offers good sharpness, but don't expect a true HD experience. Furthermore, the picture is in 4:3 format.

It looks like this German release might be an upscale, which is something a few German companies have been known for. I don't have that disc, so I can not confirm nor deny whether it is an upscale or not.

This being said, the version of the film found on this disc IS an upscale. I had watched POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT a ton of times when I was a teenager so I have some very vivid memories of what the film looked like and I have to say that this is what I remember. Not the upscale part but the source part. The source is clearly a video source and not the film negative or a print.

The upscaling isn't too bad. It's not on the level of SCREAM QUEEN HOT TUB PARTY or the BIKINI CARWASH COMPANY upscales, which were beyond terrible, but they aren't nearly as good as the HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE. There were times where the upscale did bring out the best of the picture with decent amounts of detail but then there were times where it looked like you were clearly watching an upscale.

Then there's the compression used. I have no idea what they were thinking when they thought the compression they used was good enough. The titles are shown over black screens and

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Extras/Packaging

There are zero extras on this disc.

The disc has a menu but it is one of the worst, most basic menus I have ever seen. You get a play button in the bottom left corner of the screen and what looks like an open book at the bottom right corner of the screen. When the play button is pressed, the film starts. Easy. When the open book button is pressed, it takes you to a screen of ten timecode choices. Not pictures. Just timecodes. These timecodes will dump you into the middle of a scene. There is a prolonged sex scene that is broken up into two chapters. The second chapter takes you to the middle of the scene. It is really weird but I kind of expected this given the weirdness of this release.

Edit: Turns out the chapters are done in five minute increments. So, every five minutes (ie 5, 10, 15, 20) there's another chapter selection. I don't know how didn't see that before but I didn't.

The packaging is very cheap looking. The front cover features a faceless model wearing black lace bra and panties along with a robe while holding a gun. The back cover features screenshots from the film along with the plot description I included above. There is also a postcard featuring a shot of Sandahl Bergman from the film. The shot is pretty random too.

The film is broken up into 10 chapters.

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Overall

I love POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT. It isn't the best film Ted Prior has made. That would be KILLER WORKOUT. Hell, it's not even the funniest. That would also be KILLER WORKOUT. It is the sexiest though. I have always loved the different reasons filmmakers in the 90s would come up with to have a sex scene but I have to say this might be my favorite. There is a one eyed monster in a jar that makes people horny. That's it. There's nothing more to it. The sex scenes are pretty good too. Director Fred Olen Ray has always been good at giving us exactly what we have come to expect from a 90s erotic thriller. I always knew what I was going to get when I rented a Fred Olen Ray erotic thriller and this was no different. The film doesn't offer much outside of the erotic thriller stuff but we didn't put this into the player for the story. It's an entertaining piece of 90s erotic trash and I love it.

So, should you buy this blu-ray? It all depends on how you view AI being used to upscale films and TV shows. I don't really have a problem with it if it is done well. The upscaling done on HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE was really good but then there's the aforementioned SCREAM QUEEN HOT TUB PARTY and the two BIKINI CARWASH COMPANY films. Here, there isn't any film to restore; the rights holders are the only ones that have access to, so the company felt they had to upscale the SD footage they had. I don't agree with them having to upscale the footage. They could have left well enough alone and just put the original SD footage on the disc and called it a day, but these companies are diving headstrong into using AI on whatever they can and they don't really care about what people have to say. It took people complaining about the upscales done on the BIKINI CARWASH COMPANY films to get MVD to include the original SD files. We were so lucky with POSSESSED BY THE NIGHT, but the upscaling isn't too bad. Just wait until we get to DEADLY NIGHT SHADE for terrible upscaling.

So, if you don't care about AI upscaling, then this release will do you right. If you do care, then I would stay away from it. There are no special features or anything else that will bring you back to this release. Had their been more value, I might recommend it more than I do, which would be a marginal recommendation. I am happy to have the film in my ever growing Fred Olen Ray collection. I just wish the picture quality was better.

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Was Ebert Right? The Good Son (1993)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today, we are looking at the Macaulay Culkin thriller, THE GOOD SON, and asking the question: Was Ebert Right?

Who in the world would want to see this movie? Watching “The Good Son,” I asked myself that question, hoping that perhaps the next scene would contain the answer, although it never did.

I have asked this question when watching various films too but I didn't ask it while watching THE GOOD SON. The film is made for

The movie is a creepy, unpleasant experience, made all the worse because it stars children too young to understand the horrible things we see them doing.

He says the film is "creepy" and says that like it's a bad thing. It's a horror film. "Creepy" is a a good thing. He also says that the child actors are too young to understand what is happening to them. This is very disingenuous and kind of insulting to the child actors. Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin were 12 years old when the film was shot so they were well aware what was going on and were able to understand what their characters were doing. I am the same age as them and I understood what was happening. I could see if they were under the age of 10, but them being pre-teens makes a difference.

They are allowed to roam freely all over the island, which seems to have been designed as a series of death traps for kids. Mark almost falls out of a towering tree house, and then, led by Henry, stands on the edges of cliffs, walks around the rim of a deep well, runs down the railroad tracks, and eventually watches with horror as Henry kills a dog and later causes a highway crash by dropping a human form off a bridge.

I remember seeing THE GOOD SON in the theater on opening night and thinking just how dangerous this island was, but then I thought "Henry has lived on this island his entire life, and he is evil, so of course he is going to take Mark on a tour of the most dangerous places he knows. He is showing off as well as giving the audience a bunch of places where the climax of the film could take place. We know its going to take place on the cliff because that is where Henry's mother goes to be sad, but the filmmakers want to throw other locations at us to try to keep us off their scent.

This is a very evil little boy; the movie could have been called “Henry, Portrait of a Future Serial Killer.”

I have to wonder if the character is named Henry because of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. It fits a bit too well to not to.

But what rings false is that the MacAulay Culkin character isn’t really a little boy at all.

His speech is much too sophisticated and ironic for that, and so is his reasoning and his cleverness.

The character would be more frightening, perhaps, if he did seem young and naive. This way, he seems more like a distasteful device by the filmmakers, who apparently think there is a market for glib one-liners by child sadists.

This is one of the biggest problems I have with the film. We never see Henry as a real kid. The moment we see him, we know he is evil. The film never tries to show us he is anything but evil. The trailers and TV spots show him as being evil. They don't even try to hide it. Hell, a big deal was made of Culkin saying the "F" word. In the film, Henry says to Mark, "Don't fuck with me." This was a huge deal back then because having the HOME ALONE kid, who spent two films battling crooks trying to steal from his family, and one film battling bees while trying to find his friend's mood ring in MY GIRL, threatening his cousin with such vulgar language was not seen often. This scene could have been powerful if they gave us Henry being a kid. If everything we saw leading up to this moment was the Kevin McCalistar from HOME ALONE, then the mask dropped. This could have been a big moment, but the film and the filmmakers dropped the ball.

This is the same problem I had with THE SHINING. We KNOW Jack Nicholson is going to go crazy. It's fucking JACK NICHOLSON! Of course, he is going to lose his mind and start killing people. The film tries to build up to this but we already know where the film is going. Had they cast someone who was a bit more "normal", the film would have worked a lot better. Casting Macaulay Culkin as a evil kid seemed like a good choice, and he is fine in the role, but they never let the character be a kid before he is shown as evil. All of the marketing for the film was "See how evil Macaulay Culkin is?"

Everything leads up to a cliff-hanging climax that somehow manages to be unconvincing, contrived, meretricious and manipulative, all at once. I don’t know when I’ve disliked the ending of a movie more.

The climax of the film, which sees Henry's mother holding on to each kid as they dangle over the cliff the film has convinced us wasn't going to be the final resting spot of Henry. She holds on to Henry with one hand and Mark in the other with her having to decide whether she lets her son (evil) live or Mark (good). Ebert is exactly right with it being unconvincing, contrived, meretricious, and manipulative. It is a terrible climax and we all wish the filmmakers had gone with something less stupid.

The screenplay is by Ian McEwan, that British master of the macabre (“The Comfort Of Strangers” was based on one of his novels). But don’t blame him. He has already published an article in a London newspaper complaining that once the Culkin family came aboard the movie, the original screenplay was the last of anyone’s considerations. The story was shaped to fit MacAulay, he charges. Strange. You’d imagine that the tyke’s parents and managers would have paid good money to keep him out of this story.

Quite the contrary, Mr. Ebert. Culkin's dad, who was also his manager, insisted Culkin be cast in the film. The story goes, HOME ALONE 2 was coming up and 20th Century Fox wanted Culkin in the film, but Culkin's dad had read the script to THE GOOD SON and wanted Culkin to star in the film. His father even told Fox he was going to pull Culkin from HOME ALONE 2 if they didn't cast him in THE GOOD SON. Culkin got paid a ton of money to do both films but whether it was a good decision overall is a different matter.

One of the reasons the movie feels so unwholesome is that Macaulay seems too young and innocent to play a character this malevolent. At times, hearing the things he’s made to say, you want to confront the filmmakers who made him do it, and ask them what they were thinking of.
For that matter, what were Culkin’s parents thinking of when they pushed him into a movie where he drowns his baby brother, tries to drown his little sister, and wants to push his mother off a cliff? If this kid grows up into another one of those pathetic, screwed-up former child stars who are always spilling their guts on the talk shows, a lot of adults will share the blame.

Culkin is fine in the role with a few line reads being flat. I have said the problem is we never see Henry as a real kid and only as an evil kid, but he also never goes far enough. I don't know if it was the direction Culkin was given, his father trying to coach him from off camera, or Culkin not being able to go any further, but Henry feels a bit flat in the evil department, He tells Mark not to fuck with him, kills a dog with a gun he made that shoots bolts, and drowns his baby brother off screen. These are by-the-numbers moments that have to appear in killer kid films in some form. The film doesn't go beyond this. We never see Henry lose his mind Nicolas Cage style or let his anger build over the course of the film until he can't stand it anymore and takes it out on everyone. The film doesn't take chances. It plays by the same book that films like THE BAD SEED and THE OMEN, but doesn't really do anything outside of the casting of Macaulay Culkin, to stand out from the pack.

Ebert also seems to imply that starring in THE GOOD SON could lead Culkin to being a washed-up child star like so many that have come before him. He says that he questions why his parents would allow him to star in a film where he is evil and kills another kid and tries to kill more. The thing is, and I have been saying this since I heard Gene Siskel complain about having the hero of the first two CHILD'S PLAY films be a kid, KIDS WANT TO MAKE HORROR FILMS. They love it. Like I said before, I am the same age as the two stars of THE GOOD SON and I would have loved to have made this film. It seemed like it was a lot of fun to make. I mean, who doesn't want to play an evil character? There are many directors out there who make sure that their child actors are ok with what they are going to be doing AND know that there is no such thing as Chucky or any other fictional killer. Stanley Kubrick was, very famously, very protective over with the actor who played Danny in THE SHINING. He knew that some of the stuff in that film could fuck the kid up so he made sure to keep him away from as much as he could. Of course, that kid was six when they were making THE SHINING, so the kid had no yet experienced that many things in life yet, so Kubrick was definitely in the right. In THE GOOD SON, these kids were 12 when the film was shot so they had lived twice the life that Danny from THE SHINING. By the time I was 12, I had already seen my first R-rated film (ROBOCOP), seen my first R-rated film in the theater (TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY), and was had a small collection of R-rated films in every genre on VHS. I had seen a lot of things that my classmates had not seen. With Culkin and Elijah Wood being in the film business, they had to have seen things their classmates had not.

I also believe the people working on the set were good to the kids. I think the only person who wasn't was Culkin's father. It seems like everyone else was good with the kids and made sure they knew what was real and what wasn't. I don't think anything in this film would have traumatized them in any way and they probably had fun dangling off the cliff at the end, which they did for real.

The movie is rated R. Market surveys indicate that kids want to see it, probably because it stars their “Home Alone” hero. This is not a suitable film for young viewers. I don’t care how many parents and adult guardians they surround themselves with. And somewhere along the line, a parent or adult guardian should have kept MacAulay out of it, too.

He's right. I remember the kids all talking about this film at school. None of the other parents would take them to see the film and they all had to ask me about. My parents had always been pretty open about what I watched with them only telling me they kind of forbid a ffew films from the house. None of these were "banned" from the house for moral reasons. They were "banned" because they same them as being a bit too "extreme" for my young eyes. Films like HELLRAISER and THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE were not allowed in the house, but that didn't last for very long after I told them I was going to probably see them anyway at a friend's house.

Anyway, kids wanted to see the film because Culkin was in it. I mean, the film opened at #1 at the box office and brought in $60 million on a $17 million budget. The film didn't crash and burn at the box office like so many horror films did during that time. It was also a big renter at the video store probably due to all the kids whose parents wouldn't take them to the theater to see it.

So... Was Ebert Right?

Sort of.

The film is very underwhelming. This should have been a slam dunk. The film's directork Joseph Rubin, gave us THE STEPFATHER, which is great "killer hiding in plain sight" film. He should have been able to make this material shine but he doesn't. I can't fault the actors. They all do their best with what they have.

The film just isn't exciting or scary. Culkin isn't given much to work with and he comes across more as a kid playing evil than an actual evil kid. He should have watched the kid from THE OMEN. That is how you portray evil.

The climax of the film is very lackluster too. We have see scenes like this before nothing new is brought to the table. By the time the kids are hanging off the cliff, we kind of stop caring. Wood wasn't being believed despite their being tons of evidence to back his claims up and it becomes tiring. I know this is supposed to be to drum up suspence but it isn't done very well.

The film does do some things right. The film is very well shot, capturing the rainy, cold Maine weather very well. The film also has a creepy overtone to it. The film is overtly scary, but it does feel very creepy at times. There's just something about kids doing bad things to other kids that feels worse than if it were adults doing things to other adults. Wood is also good as Mark. We feel his frustration in trying to out Henry and we feel for him.

So, should you see the film? I think you should give it a go even if it's just to see what the film is like. The film is very 90s and fits in very well with films like THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE and UNLAWFUL ENTRY. While the film isn't nearly as good as those films, it does many things right and offers up a fair bit amount of entertainment.

Was Ebert Right? Son in Law (1993)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 03:12:41 +0000

This week we are looking at the Pauly Shore fish out of water comedy, SON IN LAW, and of course, asking the question, Was Ebert Right?

Ebert's review starts off explaining the plot of the film and establishing the characters while giving us a good feel for what we have instore. He even gives us the definition of the term "fish out of water", which is nice for his more casual readers. Everything seems to be going ok until he gets to the character of Crawl, played by Pauly Shore.

But it doesn’t much matter, because they’re all upstaged by Crawl, played by Pauly Shore as one of the more tiresome movie characters of recent months.

It is clear from the getgo that Ebert is not a fan of Pauly Shore or the character he plays here. He describes Crawl as "one of the most tiresome movie characters of recent months." I have to say he isn't. Sure, Pauly Shore was an aquired taste, as he was pretty weird, but the character isn't tiresome. He is actually a really good person who is different because he chose to be. It also doesn't seem like the people around him at school find him tiresome. No one makes fun of him or the way he goes about life. In fact, during the Halloween party, his room is filled with people who are disappointed when he asks them to leave.

This story was never going to be great moviemaking, but it might have been more palatable if Shore had been able to make Crawl even marginally likable.

Crawl is likeable. Like I said before, he is a good person. He takes Becca under his wing and shows her that there is more to life than the simple life she grew up in. He gets her new clothes, a new hairstyle, and even a tattoo, but doesn't force any of this change on to her. He lets her find her style and he encourages her along the way.

He also doesn't try to sleep with her. He knows she has a boyfriend back home and he respects that. A lesser film would have had him try time and time again to get in her pants, but Crawl isn't about that. He doesn't want to corrupt her. He wants her to find the person she wants to be much like he did when he started college.

Crawl is weird but we go with it. We like him because of the good nature he has. Adam Sandler in LITTLE NICKY is a comletely unlikeable character based on his voice alone. That acting choice alone makes him unbearable to watch but Crawl is able to drop his schtick from time to time in order to get his point across. Sandler never drops the voice because that is how the character speaks and it is grating.

Since we don’t like him and can’t stand him, why should we hope that he’ll prevail? He’s one of those narcissistic cool guys who speaks in a monotone and thinks it is funny to insult people, and who is even more curdling when he tries to be nice to them.

We want to see Crawl prevail because he is a good person. He is not a narcissist like Ebert characterizes as. He isn't full of himself and he tries to relate to the family and their lifestyle. He wants to learn what it takes to be a farmer and does his best with the challenges presented to him. He even prevails at many of them. There is the scene with the tractor, or whatever that machine is called, but that is one scene. In other scenes he is helping the family out with their problems and even helps the parents get their groove back. Sure, he insults people, I guess, but they are never mean-spirited. He isn't trying to hurt feelings. He is trying to break his way into Becca's life and sometimes he fails. We all do. We don't find it "curdling" when he is trying to be nice. We like that he is a nice person.

The movie has a couple of laughs, mostly thanks to the kid brother. Its warmhearted scenes fail badly, because we do not for a second believe that Rebecca ever loved her first boyfriend, or even could love Crawl.

The warmedhearted scenes don't fail. They feel very genuine. There might be a few that are overdone but for the most part we like the wholesomeness. The film could have been harsher and more mean-spirited but the filmmakers wisely chose to go the wholesome route and the film is better for it.

As for Becca not loving her first boyfriend, I think he might be right on this point but I do believe she did before she went off to college. I think her awakening showed her that he wasn't the person she thought he was. She doesn't want to get married and especially not to him. She realises during the course of the film that the marriage would not be a happy one and she avoids it like the plauge. Her parents, especially her dad, wants it to happen but she is too busy living life to abandon it to live a life where she is not happy.

Do we believe she loves Crawl? No, and the film never wants us to believe it. The engagement between Becca and Crawl is fake. He says it to get the boyfriend off her back, and he probably saw a bit of joy in embarrassing the boyfriend in front of everyone. We also know they are not meant to be a couple because we never get the knowing glances of either of them watching each other while they do something like we get in all romantic comedies. This is not a romantic comedy. It is a fish out of water film.

The movie might have had a chance if it had abandoned all the false sentiment and simply acknowledged Crawl as the cretin he is.

Again, Crawl is not a cretin. He is a good person with a good heart.

This is how the review ends. So, was Ebert right?

Hell no, but I can see why he thinks the way he does. Ebert has never been a fan of weird characters. His hate for many of Adam Sandlers early characters from BILLY MADISON, HAPPY GILMORE, THE WATERBOY, and the aforementioned LITTLE NICKY is well documented, so there was not chance he would like Pauly Shore. He doesn't like him in any of the films he has reviewed and that is ok. Like I said before, Pauly Shore was an aquired taste. He was a bit too weird for many people but his target audience, teenagers, liked him well enough. His characters are good natured, maybe not the ones in JURY DUTY or BIO-DOME, but those are different stories that I might cover in the future (probably not BIO-DOME as that film is beyond terrible and would be torture for me to watch again)

I love SON IN LAW. I love the sweet nature of the film. The family, Becca, and Crawl are nice people and we like being around them. The boyfriend is an awful person with us hating him from the start. We know he is going to be evil and we are just waiting for it to happen. We want good things to happen to the family and Crawl and bad things to happen to the boyfriend.

The film is also pretty damn funny with the biggest laugh coming when the boyfrined punches Crawl in the face after the failed proposal. Shore sells the reaction just right and it always makes me laugh.

I always have a smile on my face when I watch SON IN LAW and always look forward to watching it every year. The film isn't perfect but it isn't trying to be. I wants to entertain us and I think it succeeds. The film also doesn't feel like it belongs in the 90s. Sure, there are some things that are very 90s but I think the film can be watched today without it being a time capsule. I wholeheartedly recommend SON IN LAW and I am looking forward to revisiting the film in 2027.

This Week's Haul: Even More Laserdiscs AND an HD-DVD.

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Today, we look at three more Laserdiscs along with a rare HD-DVD.

We are going to start out this one with an HD-DVD.

Back in the mid-2000s, there was a format war for the rightful successor to DVD. The war was between Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD-DVD, with both formats being high definition. The War began in 2006 when both formats saw their first releases. THE LAST SAMURAI, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (2004), and SERENITY (2005) were the first HD-DVD releases while Blu-ray saw 50 FIRST DATES, THE FIFTH ELEMENT, HITCH, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, xXx, and THE TERMINATOR as their first releases. Despite having less releases, I found HD-DVD's launch titles to be good. I could have done without THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, but the other films are definitely worth watching. Blu-ray's launch is not all that great. Sure, there's THE FIFTH ELEMENT, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, and THE TERMINATOR, but there's also xXx and HITCH. Enough said.

HD-DVD was the cheaper format (not in terms of quality, just cost) and was actually finished. Blu-ray was released without features Sony would later implement like PiP, Secondary Audio Tracks, and BD-Live. All of this stuff HD-DVD could do out of the box. Blu-ray players had to be updated at a later date to get these features. I mean, commentary tracks weren't possible on Blu-ray on day 1. Sony REALLY wanted to win a format war.

Each format had their exclusive releases and studios. Universal and The Weinstein Company were HD-DVD exclusive while Sony, Fox, Disney, MGM, and Lionsgate were Blu-ray exclsuive. Both Warner Brothers and Paramount played both sides with Paramount going HD-DVD exclusive in 2007 but jumping ship on 2008. Films like DEATH SENTENCE, THE DUKE OF HAZZARD (2005), and BLACK X-MAS (2006) were (in the US) HD-DVD exclusives while films like big films like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, JUNO, and THE SIMPSONS MOVIE were exclusive to Blu-ray.

On January 4th, 2008 Warner Brothers announced they were going to stop supporting HD-DVD due to low sales. Best Buy and Walmart announced they were ending support for the format with titles and players later that year. The following month, Toshiba announced they were ceasing production on players, effectively killing the format. Fence-sitters Warner Brothers and Paramount went Blu-ray exclusive in 2008. The last titles to release on HD-DVD were INTO THE WILD, P.S. I LOVE YOU, TWISTER, and PAN'S LABYRINTH.

Which format did I like? I loved HD-DVD. The players were far less expensive, specs were complete and available day one, and the cost of the films was less, most of the time. I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas in 2006 and bought the HD-DVD attachment the next day. I loved walking into Best Buy, Circuit City, and Walmart just to look through both formats. This is how I was able to settle on HD-DVD. Blu-ray seemed smug, if that makes sense. The format felt like a bully to the smaller HD-DVD. I can't really explain what I mean. Can't find the words so this is going to have to do. I spent all of 2007 buying up all the HD-DVDs I could afford. I would buy them new from the aforementioned retailers while buying them used at Blockbuster Video and Hollywood Video. By the time Warner Brothers announced they were discontinung their HD-DVD support, I had over 40 titles. I loved the exclusives for HD-DVD and felt that some of the shared titles were better on HD-DVD.

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY is based on a true story:

In 1787, British ship Bounty leaves Portsmouth to bring a cargo of breadfruit from Tahiti, but the savage on-board conditions imposed by Captain Bligh trigger a mutiny led by first officer Fletcher Christian.

This is a story that, once you have seen one version, you have seen them all. One film may more accurate than another, but they all tell the same story and no film brings much new to it. I have seen three different versions of this story throughout the years (1935, 1962, and 1983) and they are all the same. There is nothing wrong with it but it does happen. Think about films like SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and LITTLE WOMEN all feel the same, no matter the year. They're all the same film but they keep making them because the previous ones made money because lots of people don't like change.

NOTE: I reviewed the Imprint Films Blu-ray of the 1983 MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson.

The HD-DVD itself is pretty good. The film looks and sounds great. The special features focus more on the story than the film at hand but they are still good nonetheless. I wouldn't buy this release though as it is prone to "disc rot." This is when the glue that holds the diffent layers together stops working. This makes the disc partially to fully unplayable. I did not run into any problems with my copy, but most copies suffer from this.

Here's a quick one for you. PEACE HOTEL is a 1995 action western from Hong Kong starring Chow Yun-Fat. This was the last film Chow Yun-Fat made in Hong Kong before going to the US to star in films like THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS and ANNA AND THE KING.

PEACE HOTEL is a pretty decent flick, from what I can remember. The tonal shifts between comedy and drama are weird at times, but the action that is on display is good and you won't regret watching it.

That's really all I have to say about the film. The Laserdisc is from Hong Kong and presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It is worth picking up even if it's just to include your collection.

I have spoken about FEARLESS HYENA PART II before. 88 Films brought the film to Blu-ray a few years ago, a blu-ray I reviewed. The film was being made when Chan signed a bullshit deal with producer Lo Wei. Chan left the project after shooting some scenes for the film, and after Chan's films with Golden Harvest (the company he left Lo Wei for) became massive hits, Lo Wei decided to finish the film GAME OF DEATH style complete with Chan lookalikes. The result is a film that is equally frustrating to watch as it is entertaining. This is a bad film that can be a blast to watch.

The film is presented in 1.33:1 and definitely cropped. Taking the film in this way reminded me of watching kung fu flicks in the 80s and 90s where we would get some truly terrible cropping jobs. Any kung fu fan can tell you about the horrors of trying to watch a film with burnt in subtitles that was cropped AFTER the subtitling was already done. This meant the subtitles wouldn't be readable because they had been cut off the screen. The film is still watchable but the fight scenes, which are already pretty crappy, are even worse cropped to 1.33:1 from 2.39:1.

Closing out this week, we have a mainstay from THE VIDEO STORE DAYS.

The 80s and 90s were a great time to be a kung fu movie fan. There was a boom of films featuring martial artists who were champions in their respective styles. Of course, the big ones were Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, but we also got stars like Cynthia Rothrock, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Billy Blanks, Jeff Speakman, and Olivier Grunner. We had a ton of these guys and there were even more to spare.

One of the stars that no one talks about is Dale "The Apollo" Cook. He only did a handful of films and they are the most forgettable line of films you will ever see and then forget about soon after viewing. Films like ETERNAL FIST, DOUBLE BLAST, TRIPLE IMPACT (which is NOT about triplets despite taking its spiration from the Van Damme film DOUBLE IMPACT which is about twins), and FIST OFF GLORY. I watched tons of martial arts films in the 90s and I have heard of most of these films. That's not to say they are bad. I am just saying he didn't have the best to pick from.

The most well known film Cook made was AMERICAN KICKBOXER 2, which is not a sequel to AMERICAN KICKBOXER 1 (which is how it is titled on the DVD) despite being named as such. There is a sequel to AMERICAN KICKBOXER 1 which was named TO THE DEATH, but that's not what we are talking about. \

AMERICAN KICKBOXER 2 is a cheapie martial arts film shop in the Philippines, but that shouldnt deter you from watching the film. Sure, it's cheap as shit but it is also pretty fun. The fight scenes are decent and I think Cook is actually not bad as the lead. The film moves at a good pace and is well worth a watch.

Vidmark released AMERICAN KICKBOXER 2 in 1993 on VHS and Laserdisc. Both are presented in 1.33:1 full frame and look good for what they are. Whenever I watch a Laserdisc in this day and age, I do so on a CRT TV. This is the way we watched things back in the day and is the way they should be watched today. I have tried watching Laserdiscs on my 4K TV but it wasn't worth all the extra equipment you have buy nor the time to get it up and running. I have a CRT and it does well.

Sammo Hung Reviews: The Master List

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Much like my Jackie Chan Master List, I have created one for Sammo Hung reviews as well. While I haven't reviewed nearly as many Sammo Hung films or releases, I have done my fair share, and I wanted to gather them all together for my readers.

The Films

Dead and the Deadly, The (1982)

Double Team (1997)

Dragons Forever (1987)

Eastern Condors (1987)

Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980)

Enter the Dragon (1973)

Game of Death (1978)

Hand of Death (1976)

Hapkido (1972)

Iron-Fisted Monk, The (1977)

Island of Fire (1990)

Knockabout (1979)

Kung Fu Cult Master (1993)

Lady Whirlwind (1972)

Magnificent Butcher, The (1980)

Millionaire's Express, The (1987)

Mr. Nice Guy (1997)

Mr. Vampire II (1986)

Mr. Vampire III (1987)

My Lucky Stars (1985)

Odd Couple (1979)

Once Upon a Time in China (1991)

Once Upon a Time in China II (1992)

Once Upon a Time in China III (1993)

Once Upon a Time in China and America (1997)

Prodigal Son, The (1981)

Project A (1983)

Project A II (1987)

Shaolin Plot, The (1977)

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon (1990)

Thunderbolt (1995)

Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985)

Warriors Two (1978)

Wheels on Meals (1984)

Winners and Sinners (1983)

Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)

THE RELEASES

Angela Mao: Lady Whirlwind and Hapkido (1972) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Import Corner: Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest (Arrow Video) 4K Blu-ray Review

Dead and the Deadly, The (1982) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Dragons Forever (1987) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Dragons Forever (1987) (88 Films) 4K Blu-ray Review

Hopping Mad: The Mr. Vampire Sequels (Eureka!) Blu-ray Review

Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits! (1994-1999) (Drunken Master II, Rumble in the Bronx, Thunderbolt, Police Story 4: First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I?) (Arrow Video) 4K Blu-ray Review

Island of Fire (1990) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Knockabout (1979) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Kung Fu Cult Master (1993) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Last Hurrah for Chivalry / Hand of Death (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Lucky Stars Collection, The (Winners and Sinners, My Lucky Stars, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars) (1983-1985) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Millionaire's Express, The (1987) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Odd Couple (1979) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Once Upon a Time in China Trilogy (along with Once Upon a Time in China and America) (1991-1997) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Project A (1983) Movie Review

Project A Collection (Project A and Project A Part II) (88 Films) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Shaolin Plot, The (1977) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon (1990) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Three Films with Sammo Hung (The Magnificent Butcher, The Iron-Fisted Monk, Eastern Condors) (1977-1987) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Warriors Two / The Prodigal Son (1978-1981) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Wheels on Meals (1984) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Jackie Chan Reviews: A List

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Over the last ten years, I have reviewed a ton of Jackie Chan films, in terms of film reviews and home video releases. I decided to do a list for those who want to catch up on all the Jackie Chan reviews I have done or are looking for one particular release.

THE FILMS

Armour of God (1986)

Armour of God II: Operation Condor (1991)

Battle Creek Brawl aka The Big Brawl (1980)

Cannonball Run, The (1981)

Cannonball Run II (1984)

Dragon Lord (1982)

Dragons Forever (1987)

Drunken Master II (1994)

Fearless Hyena, The (1979)

Fearless Hyena II (1983)

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978)

Island of Fire (1990)

Killer Meteors, The (1976)

Miracles (1988)

Mr. Nice Guy (1997)

My Lucky Stars (1985)

Police Story (1985)

Police Story 2 (1988)

Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)

Police Story 4: First Strike (1996)

Project A (1983)

Project A II (1987)

Rumble in the Bronx (1995)

Shaolin Wooden Men (1976)

Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978)

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)

Spiritual Kung Fu (1978)

Thunderbolt (1995)

Twin Dragons (1992)

Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985)

Wheels on Meals (1984)

Who Am I? (1999)

Winners and Sinners (1983)

Young Master, The (1980)

THE RELEASES

Armour of God (1986) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Armour of God II: Operation Condor (1991) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Battle Creek Brawl aka The Big Brawl (1980) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Box of Burt: The Man, The Myth, The Moustache (Umbrella) Blu-ray Review

Dragon Lord (1982) (88 Films) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Dragons Forever (1987) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Dragons Forever (1987) (88 Films) 4K Blu-ray Review

Drunken Master II (1994) (Warner Archive) Blu-ray Review

Fearless Hyena, The (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Fearless Hyena II (1983) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Island of Fire (1990) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits! (1994-1999) (Drunken Master II, Rumble in the Bronx, Thunderbolt, Police Story 4: First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy, Who Am I?) (Arrow Video) 4K Blu-ray Review

Killer Meteors, The (1976) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Lucky Stars 3-Movie Collection, The (1983-1985) (Winners and Sinners, My Lucky Stars, Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Review

Miracles (1988) (88 Films) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Mr. Nice Guy (1997) (Warner Archive) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Police Story (1985) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Police Story 2 (1988) (Eureka Entertainment) Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Police Story Trilogy, The (1985-1992) (Eureka Entertainment) 4K Blu-ray Review

Project A (1983) Movie Review

Project A Collection (Project A and Project A II) (1983-1987) (88 Films) 4K Blu-ray Screenshot Gallery

Rumble in the Bronx (1995) (The Video Store Days "My First Jackie Chan Film") Movie Review

Shaolin Wooden Men (1976) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) (The Video Store Days) Movie Review

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Spiritual Kung Fu (1978) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Twin Dragons (1992) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Wheels on Meals (1984) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Young Master, The (1980) (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Jackie Chan's Breakout Hits! (Arrow Video) 4K Blu-ray Review + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 05:00:00 +0000

In 2023, Arrow Video gave us the ultimate Bruce Lee box set with their Bruce Lee at Golden Harvest 4K Blu-ray release. Have they been able to do the same with this Jackie Chan set?

Studio: Arrow Video
Release Date: February 3rd, 1994 (theatrical) (Drunken Master II) / January 21st, 1995 (theatrical) (Rumble in the Bronx) / August 5th, 1995 (theatrical) (Thunderbolt) / February 10th, 1996 (theatrical) (Police Story 4: First Strike) / January 31st, 1997 (theatrical) (Mr. Nice Guy) / January 17th, 1998 (theatrical) (Who Am I?) / June 30th, 2026 (4K Blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 42 minutes 7 seconds (Hong Kong Version), 1 hour 41 minutes 3 seconds) (International Version), 1 hour 42 minutes 33 seconds (US "Legend of Drunken Master") (Drunken Master II) / 1 hour 46 minutes 1 second (Hong Kong Version), 1 hour 29 minutes 38 seconds (US Version) (Rumble in the Bronx) / 1 hour 50 minutes 40 seconds (International Cut), 1 hour 37 minutes 6 seconds (Japanese Cut) (Thunderbolt) / 1 hour 47 minutes 20 seconds (Hong Kong Cut), 1 hour 23 minutes 56 seconds (Police Story 4: First Strike) / 1 hour 37 minutes 17 seconds (Japanese Cut), 1 hour 35 minutes 34 seconds (Hong Kong Cut), 1 hour 28 minutes 23 seconds (International Cut) (Mr. Nice Guy) / 2 hours 20 seconds (Hong Kong Cut), 1 hour 48 minutes 1 second (International Cut) (Who Am I?)
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 10 (BD-100)

HDR: HDR10, Dolby Vision
Picture: 2160p (2.39:1 aspect ratio) (all films), 1080p (2.39:1 aspect ratio) (Japanese Version) (Thunderbolt)

Sound: Cantonese LPCM 1.0 (original theatrical mix), Cantonese LPCM 1.0 (alternate video mix), Mandarin LPCM 1.0, English LPCM 1.0 (Hong Kong version), English LPCM 1.0 (International cut), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (US "Legend of Drunken Master") (Drunken Master II) / Cantonese/English Hybrid LPCM 2.0, English LPCM 1.0 (Original Hong Kong Version), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (US Version) (Rumble in the Bronx) / Cantonese LPCM 2.0, English LPCM 2.0 (Export Dub), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (New Line Cinema Dub), Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 (Japanese Cut) (Thunderbolt) / Cantonese/English LPCM 2.0 Stereo, Mandarin LPCM 2.0 Stereo (Hong Kong Cut), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (International Cut) (Police Story 4: First Strike) / English/Cantonese/Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English/Cantonese/Mandarin LPCM 2.0 Stereo (Hong Kong and Japanese Cuts), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (International Cut) (Mr. Nice Guy) / English/Xhosa DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English/Xhosa LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/24-bit), English/Xhosa/Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Hong Kong Cut), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (International Cut) (Who Am I?)
Subtitles: English SDH (all films), English (Drunken Master II, Rumble in the Bronx, Thunderbolt, Police Story 4: First Strike)
Slipcover: Yes
Starring: Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Ti Lung, Felix Wong, Lau Kar-leung (Drunken Master II) / Jackie Chan, Anita Mui, Françoise Yip, Bill Tung, Marc Akerstream (Rumble in the Bronx) / Jackie Chan, Anita Yuen, Michael Wong, Thorsten Nickel (Thunderbolt) / Jackie Chan, Jackson Lou, Annie Wu, Bill Tung, Yuriy Petrov (Police Story 4: First Strike) / Jackie Chan, Richard Norton, Karen McLymont, Miki Lee, Gabrielle Fitzpatrick (Mr. Nice Guy) / Jackie Chan, Michelle Ferre, Mirai Yamamoto, Ron Smerczak, Ed Nelson, Washington Sixolo (Who Am I?)

Written by Edward Tang, Tong Man-ming, Yuen Chieh-chi (Drunken Master II) / Edward Tang, Fibe Ma (Rumble in the Bronx, Mr. Nice Guy) / Gordon Chan, Chan Hing-Kai, Philip Kwok (Thunderbolt) / Stanley Tong, Nick Tramontane, Greg Mellott, Elliot Tong (Police Story 4: First Strike) / Jackie Chan, Susan Chan, Lee Reynolds (Who Am I?)

Directed by Lau Kar-leung (Drunken Master II) / Stanley Tong (Rumble in the Bronx, Police Story 4: First Strike) / Gordon Chan (Thunderbolt) / Sammo Hung (Mr. Nice Guy) / Jackie Chan, Benny Chan (Who Am I?)
Rating: Not Rated (martial arts violence) (Hong Kong and International Versions), R (violent content) (US "Legend of Drunken Master" version) (Drunken Master II) / Not Rated (language and violence) (Hong Kong Version), R (some language and violent sequences) (US Version) (Rumble in the Bronx) / Not Rated (violence) (Hong Kong Version), Not Rated (violence) (Japanese Version) (Thunderbolt) / Not Rated (violence) (Hong Kong Version), PG-13 (plentiful action/violence) (US Version) (Police Story 4: First Strike) / Not Rated (strong violence and sexual content) (Hong Kong and Japanese Versions), PG-13 (pervasive action violence, some sensuality and drug content) (Mr. Nice Guy) / Not Rated (violence) (Hong Kong Version), PG-13 (martial arts action violence) (US Version) (Who Am I?)

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Poster(s)

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What's It About?

A young martial artist is caught between respecting his pacifist father's wishes or stopping a group of disrespectful foreigners from stealing precious artifacts. (Drunken Master II)

A young man visiting and helping his uncle in New York City finds himself forced to fight a street gang and the mob with his martial arts skills. (Rumble in the Bonx)

In order to rescue his kidnapped sister, sports car mechanic Chan Foh To (Jackie Chan) has to beat a supercriminal street racer. (Thunderbolt)

Jackie, a cop, participates in a sting operation on an international spy ring. But when one of them (Tsui) gets away, Jackie is ordered to apprehend him. This leads Jackie all over the globe starting with Tsui's sister in Australia. The story follows him as he tries to stay alive and capture the villain. (Police Story 4: First Strike)

A Chinese chef accidentally gets involved with a news reporter who filmed a drug bust that went awry, and is now being chased by gangs who are trying to get the videotape. (Mr. Nice Guy)

A Secret Agent loses his memory after falling from a crashing helicopter. He is then chased by several other agency operatives, but he has no idea why. (Who Am I?)

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Video/Audio

Up until this year 2026, it looked like Warner Brothers wasn't going to do very much with the film Golden Harvest films they hold the rights to. They allowed Criterion to a few for their ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA COLLECTION from a few years ago, but that was about it. Thankfully, Arrow Video convinced the Brothers Warner to give them a shot at bringing the Jackie Chan films they hold the rights to and the results are beautiful. Each film has been restored by Arrow Video, to their original theatrical versions, along with the multiple different versions each film featured. Arrow Video has gone the extra mile with each film. Every film and all their different versions have been given the 4K restoration treatment, something fans never would have thought would ever happen for a few of the films in this set. DRUNKEN MASTER II was given a regular Blu-ray release back in the late 2000s by Disney that looked fine for the time. It had its problems but the film was completely watchable. This release only featured the ever so slightly cut version Dimension Films did in 2000. That version redid the score, the opening credits and lopped off the final shot of the film that shows the effects of all the industrial strength alcohol Chan drinks during the climatic fight scene. This the version of the film that features Chan's real voice instead of another actor. Warner Archive did another release a few years later that looked a lot better but wasn't perfect. The version is complete but does not feature the Dimension Films dub with Chan's voice. This 4K Blu-ray release is the first time we have gotten all of the official tracks (original and English) along with all the different versions. The film looks great although there has been a little bit of DNR applied during the restoration process. We knew this was coming because the Warner Archive Blu-ray is the same way. The DNR does not take away from any of the other qualities of this transfer, including great, deep blacks, wonderful colors especially during the final scenes, and the proper balancing of the whites, which had been more blown out in previous releases.

RUMBLE IN THE BRONX has seen a bunch of releases over the years with the 2015 being the last major release here in the States. The picutre quality was decent there but nothing all that impressive. It got the job done. The 4K restorations of both cuts (the first time the original Hong Kong cut has been officially released in the US) give the film a new lease on life. The film looks great with nice colors and high levels of detail.

I have never seen THUNDERBOLT so I have no reference for how the film has been treated on home video before, but I can say that the film looks great. There is some soft focus used in a few scenes that resolves very nicely and the film grain is light but present. Colors can be strong when they appear but the film is shot in mostly darker colors. The blacks are deep and inky.

POLICE STORY 4: FIRST STRIKE looks equally great in 4K. The film had been released on Blu-ray here in the States back in the mid-2010s and it looked fine. Here, the picture has a lot more room to breathe which gives us a much healthier quality. Detail is nice and the characters all look great. The film's scope feels even grander given the bump in resolution.

MR. NICE GUY had been on Blu-ray before, released through as part of the WB's Warner Archive Collection. That release was taken from a 4K restoration of the film and it looked great. I did a Screenshot Saturday on it and I can say that those screenshots are close to how this transfer looks like, just in 1080 instead of 2160. Colors are very strong here as is detail across the board. The red of the journalist's hair is nicely done.

WHO AM I? was only given a DVD release here in the US, which was released more than 25 years ago. It was a great DVD for the time but not so much anymore. Australia got a Blu-ray within the last ten years but it was ok at best. It featured the international cut of the film in HD but the picture is cropped from its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to 1.78:1. This, of course, destroys the fight scenes and makes the film far less watchable. The original Hong Kong cut is there as well, but only in standard definition.

Each film comes with a multitude of audio options. Every film gets at least one English language track with many of them receiving two. All of these tracks are well done and sound great. I do appreciate getting the export and US English dubs. I really don't think any other company other than Arrow would have gone the extra mile like that. This is the first time we are getting both versions of the film in both their original aspect ratios AND proper resolution. Of course, WHO AM I? looks good no matter which version you prefer.

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Extras/Packaging

Disc 1: Drunken Master II (1994)

Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto

Before the Breakout (8m 50s, HD, 1.78:1)

Breakout! Part1: Drunken Master II (9m 28s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette produced in 2026, in which stuntman Mars, academic Dr. Wayne Wong and critics David West and James Mudge look back at Drunken Master II.

Deadly When Drunken with Yuen Kai-Chi (12m 17s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with the co-writer of Drunken Master II, filmed in 2025

Tipsy Tribulations with Mars (10m 47s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with Mars, stuntman and former member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, filmed in 2025

Period Postures with Dr. Lars Laamann (12m 17s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with Dr. Lars Laamann on the historical context behind Drunken Master II, filmed in 2025.

Drunken Defiance with Ricky Baker (10m 22s, HD, 1.78:1) A new appreciation of the film by martial arts cinema expert Ricky Baker, filmed in 2025.

Behind the Master (6m 40s, SD, 1.33:1) An archive interview with Jackie Chan filmed to promote the US release of the film in 2000. This interview has appeared on every Miramax Home Video release of the film. It's a pretty standard promo piece but I love that its here.

Mandarin Version Excerpts

Mandarin Opening Credits (1m 18s, HD, 2.39:1)
Alternate Mandarin Drinking Scene (2m 9s, HD, 2.39:1) In the Mandarin-language version of the film released in Taiwan and other countries, alternate footage was used during the scene in which Wong sings about his father. The footage switches from HD to standard definition for the portions exclusive to this version of the song. The aspect ratio changes as well.

Textless Outtakes (2m 27s, HD, 2.39:1) When the outtakes play at the end of the film, the film's closing credits play. These are those outtakes without the credits.

Chinese New Year Messages (42s, SD, 2.39:1/1.85:1) These two short messages were filmed by Jackie to precede screenings of Drunken Master II in Taiwan and Malaysia to commemorate the Lunar New Year.

Theatrical Trailers

Cantonese (4m 4s, HD, 2.39:1) in Cantonese with English subtitles
English (2m 28s, HD, 2.39:1)
USA (1m 50s, SD, 1.33:1) I have a love for this trailer but it is really awful. Just shows that the evil Weinsteins weren't always right.

Image Gallery (29 images)

Disc 2: Rumble in the Bronx (Hong Kong Version)

Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto

Breakout! Part 2: Rumble in the Bronx (14m 32s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette produced in 2026, in which stuntman Mars, stuntwoman Kathy Hubble, martial arts cinema expert Ricky Baker and critics David West and James Mudge look back at Rumble in the Bronx.

Rumble Recollections with Kathy Hubble (18m 44s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with stuntwoman Kathy Hubble, filmed in 2025.

Textless Outtakes (3m 33s, HD, 2.39:1) When these outtakes are shown in the film, they are shown underneath the closing credits. Here, we get to see them without the credits.

Alternate Footage

Additional Footage from US Cut (55s, HD, 2.39:1) These short additions to the film are exclusive to the North American release version re-edited by New Line Cinema
Alternate "Kiss My Ass" Shot (31s, SD, 1.78:1) This alternate take of Angelo mooning Keung was included in some censored prints of the film.

Image Gallery (71 images)

Disc 3: Rumble in the Bronx (International Version)

Additional Scene from TV Version (5m 24s, HD, 2.39:1) These two scenes were added and re-dubbed for the network television version of the film.

EPK Interview with Jackie Chan (2m 55s, SD, 1.33:1) There's nothing really here. It's just snippets of a bigger interview. I love that it's here, but it's only here for completionists.

US Theatrical Trailer (1m 9s, SD, 2.00:1) This is vertically stretched. It is very apparent it's in the film's original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but it is presented here stretched so everyone looks skinnier than they normally do. I am sure this is the file Warner Brothers gave to Arrow Video and it is a shame because this is the trailer of all us saw that made us go see the film.

TV Spots

US TV Spot 1 (1m 3s, SD, 1.33:1) This is just the US Theatrical Trailer in fullscreen.
US TV Spot 2 (32s, SD, 1.33:1)
US TV Spot 3 (1m 2s, SD, 1.33:1) This one plays to the Jackie Chan song that plays over the closing credits in the US Version of the film.
US TV Spot 4 (1m 2s, SD, 1.33:1) They got Ben Stein to be in this one? I don't remember this one but I love it!
US TV Spot 5 (32s, SD, 1.33:1) Features quick clips from Police Story and Police Story III - Supercop.
US TV Spot 6 (32s, SD, 1.33:1) I loved TV spots like this were they would tout the film being number one at the box office while providing some positive critcal reviews from the likes of Siskel and Ebert.
Canadian TV Spot (1m 4s, SD, 1.33:1) This is the first US TV Spot with the Alliance logo at the front instead of the New Line Cinema logo. It even had the US R-rating screen at the end with the narrator saying its rated R.

Disc 4: Thunderbolt

Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto

Play Japanese Version 1h 37m, HD, 2.39:1) This shortened version of the film also contains a slightly different version of the Cantonese sync-sound audio, including some redubbed dialogue for the character of Cougar.

Breakout! Part 3: Thunderbolt (12m 21s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette in which stuntman Mars, critics David West and James Mudge and dubbing supervisor Paul Clay look back at Thunderbolt.

A Thunderous Presence with Paul Clay (8m 32s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with English dubbing director Paul Clay on his collaborations with Jackie Chan, filmed in 2025. He began his dubbing career with the New Line Cinema dub of Police Story 2. He said the English language scripts were difficult to use because they were straight translations, which means they wouldn't fit the lengths of the characters' mouths moving. Some of the sound had to be redone because it was sync sound instead of being done after the fact. He had to rewrite most of the translations to fit each scene. He talks about how Chan is a very busy man so he doesn't have much time to do the redubbings. Chan did not do the dubbing for Thunderbolt. He speaks very highly of Chan who he has worked with on many films.

Textless Outtakes (4m 1s, HD, 2.39:1) Just like the previous films, these are the outtakes that appear during the closing credits of the film, minus the actual credits.

Alternate Export Credits (5m 30s, HD, 2.39:1)

International Trailer (1m 30s, SD, 1.33:1)

Japanese Jackie Chan Trailers

Drunken Master II (1m 51s, SD, 1.90:1)
Rumble in the Bronx (1m 28s, SD, 1.90:1)
Thunderbolt (1m 26s, SD, 2.00:1)
Police Story 4: First Strike (2m 4s, SD, 2.00:1)
Mr. Nice Guy (1m 49s, SD, 2.10:1)
Who Am I? (2m 13s, SD, 1.33:1)

Image Gallery (95 images)

Disc 5: Police Story IV: First Strike (Hong Kong Cut)

Commentary by Frank Djeng and FJ DeSanto

Breakout! Part 4: First Strike (7m 33s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette produced in 2026, in which critics David West and James Mudge look back at Police Story 4: First Strike.

Textless Outtakes (3m 32s, HD, 2.39:1) There are no subtitles so the dialogue goofs won't make any sense to English speakers.

Image Gallery (95 images)

Disc 6: Police Story IV: First Strike (International Version)

Additional Scenes from TV Version (10m 22s, HD, 2.39:1) For the US network television version of the film, sixteen scenes from the Hong Kong cut were reinstated, some with new dubbing. I wish Arrow had done a proper TV Version of the film like they have done with so many other films, but having the scenes here is the next best thing.

Striking Out with Frank Djeng (11m 49s, HD, 1.78:1) A new appreciation of the film by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng, filmed in 2025. Points out that this is the film that starts calling Chan's characters "Jackie" when dubbed into English. He also talks about how the film looks like a big budget international film while also still feeling like a Hong Kong film. He also points out how this is an actual sequel to POLICE STORY 3: SUPERCOP in Hong Kong but not in the US.

US Theatrical Trailer (1m 36s, SD, 2.00:1)

Disc 7: Mr. Nice Guy (Japanese and Hong Kong Cuts)

Commentary by James Mudge

Breakout! Part 5: Mr. Nice Guy (8m 24s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette produced in 2026, in which stuntman Mars and critics David West and James Mudge look back at Mr. Nice Guy

Nice Thoughts (11m 56s, HD, 1.78:1) A new appreciation of the film by martial arts cinema expert Frank Djeng, filmed in 2025. Points out that the films Chan made that focused on the Western market had more of a focus on stunts than fight scenes. The jokes are more physical in nature too as Chan wanted his films to be understood worldwide.

Alternate English Credits (1m 20s, HD, 1.78:1)

Textless Outtakes (4m 19s, 2.39:1)

HK Theatrical Trailer (2m 24s, HD, 2.20:1)

Image Gallery (156 images)

Disc 8: Mr. Nice Guy (International Version)

US Theatrical Trailer (1m 38s, SD, 1.33:1) I LOVE how the song that New Line Cinema chose to play during this trailer is Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind, which is a song about crystal meth addiction. You know, the PERFECT song to sell a Jackie Chan film with.

Disc 9: Who Am I? (Hong Kong Cut)

Commentary by James Mudge

Breakout Part 6: Who Am I? (9m 48s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette produced in 2026, in which critic James Mudge, actor Glory Simon, and second unit cinematographer Ray Wong look back at Who Am I?

From Drunk to Slam Dunk!: Jackie Chan in the New Millennium (20m 7s, HD, 1.78:1) A new featurette in which critics James Mudge, David West, and Ricky Baker, actor Glory Simons, academic Dr. Wayne Wong, and stuntpersons Kathy Hubble, Wang Yao, and Mars look at Jackie's career in the years since the making of Who Am I?

The Making of Who Am I? - These all-access behind-the-scenes documentaries were made by Golden Harvest to promote the film in 2000.

Part 1: Jackie's On-Set Diary (27m 10s, SD, 1.33:1)
Part 2: A Leap of Faith and Sweat (33m 28s, SD, 1.33:1)
Part 3: Heroes Revealed (28m 31s, SD, 1.33:1)

Alternate English Credits (6m 54s, SD, 2.39:1/1.33:1, 4x3) This is taken from a crappy VHS copy of the film that looks like, from the burnt-in subtitles, its a German VHS copy. The quality pretty bad but not nearly as bad as the HK trailer below.

Textless Outtakes (3m 39s, HD, 2.39:1)

HK Theatrical Trailer (2m 27s, SD, 2.20:1) WOW. This is a terrible-looking trailer. It looks like it was taken from a YouTube video of an old VHS bootleg of the trailer. I can not believe Arrow Video included this in the condition that its in. I get they included it because people would have said shit if they didn't but man, it's that bad.

Image Gallery (45 images)

Disc 10: Who Am I? (International Cut)

Who, When, and Where with Ray Wong (8m 15s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with second unit cinematographer Ray Wong, filmed in 2025.

Jostling with Jackie with Glory Simon (8m 32s, HD, 1.78:1) A new interview with actor Glory Simon, filmed in 2025.

US Video Trailer (2m 2s, SD, 1.33:1)

The special features package Arrow has included in this set is pretty impressive. Every film gets a commentary track that gives each film and its history a lot of depth. There are even some stories I haven't heard before along some tidbits I didn't know. There are a few interviews with various cast and crew members giving us stories about working with Chan and his team. Frank Djeng, who provides commentary tracks for the first four films, gives us a few featurettes about his views on Chan's films. Every film gets a "textless outtakes" feature that removes the credits from the outtakes that play during the closing credits.

I liked all of the special features here but I didn't love them (besides the Frank Djeng commentary tracks). When these films were releasing, I was an up and comming Jackie Chan fan. This meant I devoured every bit of information about these I could as they were coming out, so 95% of the information and stories presented here are not new to me. In fact, I didn't learn all that much going through this set. I am not mad at anyone for this. I am quite happy about it because it means that they are doing their job right. What I mean is, they are covering the right ground. They are digging as far as there is to dig. I like that because it means that someone is going to get the info I have known for decades. While I would have loved to learn something new, I am glad there are people out there who are going to be able to go into this set with fresh eyes. This IS a great set, despite the lack of new knowledge I gained from it.

Packaging wise, this thing is a beast, but there are still some things I don't like about it.

Let's go over what we get: We start with a thin slipcover that goes over the hard box, The slipcover is fine but nothing all that great. Its way too loose for my taste. One of the cool things about Arrow's slipcovers has always been they were always tight on the box but not too tight. I never had any problem removing a slipcover from any release from Arrow. The slipcover here is far too loose. It bows out a bit and it doesn't look all that great on the shelf. Of course, Chan is the main image on the slipcover with him punching through the cover.

The hard box underneath is all white and features Chan from the US THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER poster. This image too makes it look like Chan is busting through the packaging. On the back, we get the iconic (I used the word correctly unlike many who think anything memorable is "iconic") Golden Harvest logo.

Inside we get 6 black 4K Blu-ray cases, one for each film in the set. Each case features double-sided artwork with one side featuring new artwork from Sam Hadley while the opposite side features the film's original Hong Kong theatrical poster art. I do wish we had gotten the US poster art for each film but we didn't so...

There is also one double-sided poster featuring the original Hong Kong poster art for DRUNKEN MASTER II on one side and the US "Anatomy of a Hero" poster for RUMBLE IN THE BRONX that features Chan performing a jump kick with arrow pointing to different parts of his body (feet, hands, arms, etc) with text explaining an injury he sustained on one of his films. Out of all of the artwork created for the US releases of the Jackie Chan films released after RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, this one is by far the best one.

There are also 24 postcards featuring shots from each film. There is also 160-page "perfect bound" book that features an interview with Chan along with writings on the various films in the set from authors Thorsten Boose, Peter S. Bruce, Matt McAllister, Elaine Chung and Jialu Zhu. Also included in the book are cast and crew credits for each film, plenty of color screenshots and poster art for each film, and two pages of notes on the transfers used in the set.

So what don't I like about the packaging? First, the slipcover. It is way too big and loose for the set. It fits but comes off way to easily. If you were grab the set wrong, the hard box might slip out of the slipcover. I wish they had used the same kind of packaging they used on their BRUCE LEE AT GOLDEN HARVEST set from a few years ago. I know that people complained about that packaging because it was more easily damaged during shipping but those complaints weren't as widespread as you would think. They could have used the same outer box while keeping the inside stuff the same.

The second problem I have is: why only one poster? There are six films in this set and we only get one poster? That sucks. Arrow could have easily cut back, or out completely, on the post cards and given us more posters. I don't know anyone who likes this post cards but I do know a bunch of people who love, and use, the posters. I find myself hanging more and more of the posters and I would have loved to have had the option of representing the other four films in this set on one of my walls.

That being said, I like the packaging. One of the complaints I had with the Bruce Lee set was the use of the cardboard disc holders. While I don't have a problem with them as I find them very appealing, I don't like that they used the new artwork and not the original poster art, which was relagated to the inner flap of each case. Here, we get six case, one for each film along with the choice of artwork. The book is nice but I also could have done without the post cards. I guess they are cheap to produce but they don't offer anything to me unless they are recreating lobby cards from back in the day.

Each disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

The run of films in this collection was a lot of fun to go through. I had seen every film except for THUNDERBOLT and I liked most of them. I thought THUNDERBOLT was a bit lacking with the fight scenes being decent. The pachinko parlor fight scene, choreographed by Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen, is the best in the film but it is very obvious when Chan is being doubled (he shot this after breaking his ankle on RUMBLE IN THE BRONX. The addition of the original Hong Kong versions of all the films in the set was a masterstroke because many of these versions have never been officially released in the US. Many of these films were cut down significantly for their US releases so seeing these original versions was a hoot. I have to say, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX might be the most different in its original form as it seems a bit darker at times. I mean, Anita Mui is treated way worse in the original version than she is in the New Line Cinema version. You feel bad for her more in that version.

If I have any complaint about this set its that I already know most of the information found here. I started watching Jackie Chan films in the mid-90s (thanks to RUMBLE IN THE BRONX), so I was learning about the films as they were being released. I have heard all of the stories and whatnot. I did learn a thing or two from the audio commentaries but the rest I had known for three decades. This isn't the set's fault. It's just that there isn't much beyond what is already out there. Plus, outside of DRUNKEN MASTER II, I wouldn't say any of these films are classics and they don't have the lasting impact that Chan's 80s work has.

That being said, this is a great set. The films all look and sound great and the special features are worth the time, especially if you are newer to the filmography of Jackie Chan. If you get nothing else out of the set, know that each film looks and sounds just about as perfect as they can be. I wasn't all that fond of the packaging but that is more of a personal gripe. It just doesn't fit what I feel it should have.

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Packaging

This Week's Haul: Four Laserdiscs of Varying Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

This week we are looking at four more Laserdiscs that have found their way into my collection. There isn't a theme for this one outside of them all being Laserdiscs.

1997 was the "Year of the Black Actor Hero." So many black actors got their shot at being action heroes. We got action films from newer stars like Shaquelle O'Neill (STEEL), Michael Jai White (SPAWN), and Dennis Rodman (DOUBLE TEAM), along with films from more astablished action stars like Eddie Murphy (METRO), Will Smith (MEN IN BLACK), and Wesley Snipes (MURDER AT 1600). It was very interesting year for black action heroes.

Then we got MOST WANTED. The film stars Keenan Ivory Wayans as a military guy who is framed for murder and has to go on the run to clear his name. Wayans has been in a few action films before MOST WANTED. He made I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA, A LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME, and THE GLIMMER MAN. The difference here is that those were action comedies, whereas MOST WANTED is a straight-laced action film. Wayans clearly wanted to be taken seriously as an action star and this was his best chance. He wrote the script and had planned on directing the film but, according to imdb.com, there were problems on the set of THE GLIMMER MAN, which caused Wayans to have to seek out another director. He chose David Hogan after seeing BARB WIRE. This would have been a good choice had Hogan been given a chance to do what he did on BARB WIRE. Hogan took what could have been a stinker, with BARB WIRE, and made something that was pretty unique. The film could have been crap but he made sure it wasn't.

The same can not be made about MOST WANTED. This is one of the most cliched films released in the 1990s. If you saw THE FUGITIVE from 1993, then you have seen MOST WANTED. Wayans is framed for murder and then goes on the run. The only thing that is different is that he isn't a doctor but a soldier. This, of course, changes nothing as Wayans does nothing to differentiate the film from THE FUGITIVE or any other film like this. We have seen this thing time and time again, so there is no real reason to see it. The only reason I watched it was that it was a joke amongst my friends and me back in the day. Any time we would see a bad film, we would always ask, "Was it as bad as MOST WANTED?" despite the fact that none of us had ever seen the film. We just knew the film was that bad.

The thing is, I like Keenan Ivory Wayans. He broke a lot of barriers with IN LIVING COLOR and I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA is a pretty good Blaxploitation spoof. He even gets Steven Seagal to do light comedy in THE GLIMMER MAN. I don't like the way he handled Anna Faris continuing her run on the SCARY MOVIE films after the series was "stolen" from the Wayans. For those who don't know, Faris says that Keenan called her after her involvement in SCARY MOVIE 3 was announced. He asked her to not do the film because they weren't involved. When she told him she was under contract, he said "All they can do is sue." This made me look at him in a different light as he had been in the business long enough to know what a lawsuit could do to someone. I lost a lot of respect for Keenan when I read that.

New Line Cinema released MOST WANTED into theaters on October 10th, 1997, in 2,098 theaters. The film bombed hard, opening up at #9 at the box office before crashing its second week. The film ultimately earned $6 million at the box office against a $25 million budget. New Line Cinema would then release the film on home video (VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD) in February of 1998. The film was also rereleased on Laserdisc later in 1998 with a DTS track.

APOCALYPSE NOW is one of the best films ever made. Almost everyone who has ever seen the film will attest to this. The film is a fever dream of a journey into the darkness of not only war, but also of the human experience. Martin Sheen plays a captain in Vietnam who is tasked with a secret mission to assassinate a rogue colonel accused of murder. The journey takes the captain down a river from Vietnam into Cambodia, where the colonel is located. The journey takes the captain into various dream-like places and introduces him to various soldiers and locals. The film is brilliant and incredibly well made. It's exciting, sad, angry, dreary, and ultimately broken.

Francis Ford Coppola's wife, Eleanor, was tasked by her husband, who was financing the film himself, to film behind the scenes footage. She was given a camera and a ton of film and she documented everything. No one knew what would happen during the filming, but thankfully, Eleanor was there to document it.

HEARTS OF DARKNESS was released in 1991 and garnered universal praise. Gene Siskel picked it as the Best Film of 1991. The film played in a few theaters and made a little bit of money before it made its way to home video. The film would on VHS and Laserdisc in July of 1992. It would then get a DVD release in 2007, followed by a Blu-ray release (in a double pack with APOCALYPSE NOW), and finally a 4K Blu-ray release in 2026.

HEARTS OF DARKNESS is the best film about filmmaking ever made. It shows us how difficult filmmaking can be while also showing how rewarding it can be. Coppola risked his life and the lives of his cast and crew in order to get the film he saw in his head. He definitely achieved his vision and we got to see the good and the bad of the journey there.

In 1980, two years after the break-through success of SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and DRUNKEN MASTER, Golden Harvest, the studio that had Jackie Chan under contract, decided to send Chan to the U.S. to make a film. It would be the first film they would produce in the U.S. as they wanted to get into this market and they figured Chan was the best person to get introduce them.

The film would be THE BIG BRAWL (or BATTLE CREEK BRAWL as it was known outside the U.S.) and it would be a big ole bomb. No one went to see this thing and it was quickly forgotten about.

Golden Harvest would continue making films in the U.S. and they would hit pay dirt with THE CANNONBALL RUN, starring Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, and a rogues galley of movie stars. Jackie Chan was one of these movie stars. He plays a Japanese (?) racer who uses technology like infrared to give them an advantage. The film was a massive hit and a sequel was made three years later with Chan returning.

After the box office bomb that was MEGAFORCE, Golden Harvest decided to give Chan one more run in the U.S. before pulling him out completely. The film Golden Harvest landed on was THE PROTECTOR.

THE PROTECTOR was written and directed by the great James Glickenhaus and tells the story of two New York City cops who travel to Hong Kong after the daughter of a rich businessman is kidnapped.

Chan notoriously hated the film. He hated it so much that when it was released in Hong Kong, he re-edited the film to remove the cursing and nudity along with reshooting the climatic fight scene. This version would be more favorably accepted than the U.S. version of the film. I actually like both versions of the film with my prefered version being the U.S. one. I think the Hong Kong edit is very well done but I like the grit of the U.S. one.

THE PROTECTOR was a flop at the box office, grossing under $1 million during its entire run. The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1986. It was given a barebones DVD release in 2002 and I wouldn't be for another ten years until it got a Blu-ray release. The film then made it's 4K Blu-ray debut in 2026 from 88 Films.

The Hong Kong version would see a VHS release in the U.S. in the 90s, from Tai Seng. Every Blu-ray release of the film has included it as a special feature.

In 1994 a little film called FEAR OF A BLACK HAT was released. The film was a mockumentary that focused on a rap group called N.W.H. as they travel around and perform at concerts. The film is the THIS IS SPINAL TAP of rap and it is fucking hilarious. I honestly think it is better than THIS IS SPINAL TAP.

The success of FEAR OF A BLACK HAT opened up the door for writer-director Rusty Cundieff to make his next film, TALES FROM THE HOOD.

TALES FROM THE HOOD is an anthology horror film that tells five stories that focus on the black experience. Four of the stories are race based with the fifth not concerning race at all. Unlike many anthology films, all of the stories in TALES FROM THE HOOD are great. Even the wraparound segment with the funeral home caretaker is excellent. I remember seeing this in my local multiplex right before they shut down. It was an awesome theater experience and I recommend anyone who is interested in the film, or has already seen it, to see it in a theater, if possible.

TALES FROM THE HOOD was a minor box office success, making $11 million against a $6 million budget. The film was a much bigger hit on home video with the film hitting VHS and Laserdisc in November of 1995. The film would get a DVD release in 1998 before being forgotten about for 15 years. Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray in 2017 with some nice special features (a new commentary track with Rusty Cundief and producer Darren Scott was recorded at Clive Barker's house but was unusable.

This Week's Haul: 4 Laserdiscs from My Favorite Film Year (1995)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

I have said this many times before, but 1995 is my favorite film year of all time. I know, I know. What about 1982? What about 2008? What about 1999? All good years but none of them hold a candle to 1995, in my book.

Why 1995? Well, 1995 saw the release of a ton of films that would become beloved by me. STRANGE DAYS, SUDDEN DEATH, CONGO, RUMPELSTILTSKIN, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX, ACE VENTURA: WHEN NATURE CALLS, ICE CREAM MAN, etc. All of these films I love unironically, along with the films below.

Speaking of the films below, I have chosen to spotlight four Laserdiscs from 1995 that have made their way into my collection.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS DEMON KNIGHT was one of the first films released in 1995, coming out the second weekend of the year. In fact, the film was released on Friday the 13th. The film is basically a big screen episode given feature length room to breathe. The film starts with a blonde taking a bath after having killed her husband. The problem is, he isn't dead. He makes his way all the way up to the bathroom from the basement, where he is about to kill the blonde, when we hear someone yell "Cut!"

Turns out, this is a film being shot by our favorite living dead host, The Cryptkeeper. For those who don't know, The Cryptkeeper was the host of the HBO horror anthology TV show, TALES FROM THE CRYPT. Every episode told a different morbid story with The Cryptkeeper hosting wraparound segments before and after the featured story. The series ran for seven seasons, from 1989 to 1996. The show was a big deal as it was a playground for big name actors who refused to do anything on television because it was "beneath them." There was a divide between TV and film and none of the big name film actors crossed that line...except for TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

So, we see The Cryptkeeper is making a film but takes a break to introduce their first theatrically released film, DEMON KNIGHT.

The film tells the story of a nameless drifter who is on the run from a bounty hunter. After landing at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, it turns out the bounty hunter is a demon who is trying to retrieve a key from the drifter that contains the blood of previous demon knights. This blood protects others from demons. The film turns into a single location siege film with the demon on the outside (the blood from the key can be used to create a barrier the demon can not cross) and the good guys on the inside.

DEMON KNIGHT is a gory bundle of fun. The cast, including William Sadler, CCH Pounder, Dick Miller, Thomas Haden Church, and Charles Fleischer (the voice of Roger Rabbit), are all amazing but it is Billy Zane who steals the show as the bounty hunter/demon. He knows exactly what type of film he is in and gives the role everything he has. He is scary, violent, and sexy. There are scenes where he creates a false world for a character based on their fears and then talks to them in this soothing, entrancing voice that would sway anyone to whatever his plan was. We had all seen Billy Zane before but this is the film that cemented for a lot of people that he was someone we needed to watch.

The film was directed by Ernest Dickerson who spent the 80s and early 90s being Spike Lee's cinematographer. He is the guy who made DO THE RIGHT THING and MALCOLM X look so good. He was robbed at the 1990 Oscars out of the Best Cinematography Oscar. He directed the film with a free flowing camera with a lot of dutch angles and dolly shots. He and cinematographer Rick Bota bathe the film in darkness accented with blue lights. This is a great looking film. The film cost $13 million but looks like it cost a ton more.

DEMON KNIGHT hit VHS on July 25th, 1995, with the Laserdisc arriving a week later. The film was not a hit at the box office but was on home video. The VHS was in fullscreen (1.33:1 aspect ratio) while the Laserdisc was in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Laserdisc looks pretty good even today. The film would see a multitude of releases on DVD throughout the years but these releases were always barebones. It wouldn't be until the film's 20th anniversary in 2015 that we would get a worthwhile release when Scream Factory brought the film to Blu-ray as one of their Collector's Edition releases. This release featured a commentary with Dickerson, a commentary with the special effects artists, a making of documentary, and a few other features. This is the way to watch the film and hopefully we get a 4K Blu-ray release someday.

Stephen King is one of the most popular authors of all time, having written over 70 books since the 70s. He was such a huge author that Hollywood wanted to be in his orbit so they started buying up the rights to all of his books even if they hadn't been released yet. The first film based on one of his books was CARRIE (1976). The film was a huge success so we started getting Stephen King films every year. Some hit the big screen while some, like 1979's SALEM'S LOT, hit the television screen. Many of the films were successful. THE SHINING is considered a classic even if King (and I) don't agree. Some of the biggest names in genre films like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Mark L. Lester all made their own Stephen King film. Hell, Stephen King even took a crack at it with 1986's MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, which didn't pan out too well.

By the mid-90s, films based on King's work had become less than stellar in terms of box office takes. Sure, MISERY was a hit but GRAVEYARD SHIFT, THE DARK HALF, NEEDFUL THINGS, and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION were all flops. King fared better on the small screen with a bunch of mini-series adaptations like IT, THE TOMMYKNOCKERS, and THE STAND, which felt like a series finale to all of the TV films in a way.

New Line Cinema decided to take a chance and adapt King's short story, THE MANGLER. The film tells the story of a haunted clothing press. Yes, that is what the film is about. There's a cop who is investigating the deaths caused by the laundry press but no one really looks at that aspect of the film. They hear "haunted laundry press" and nope out. The fact that THIS is the King adaptation New Line Cinema made is one of the weirder things to come out of the 90s.

The film was directed by Tobe Hooper, who gave us THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and is the only director of POLTERGEIST. He takes this film deadly seriously which gives the film a weird feeling. It contains some of the most ridiculous things you will ever see in a film but they are completely believable because of how Hooper tackles them. There is a scene with a haunted refrigerator that we buy because Hooper does.

THE MANGLER was a big ol bomb when it released theatrically in March of 1995. The film did much better when it was released on VHS in August of 1995. There is no listed release date for the Laserdisc but I am pretty sure it was either on the same date or within a few weeks. Both the Laserdisc were released in Unrated Versions with the VHS also getting a Theatrical Version as well. The Unrated Version adds back the gore that was cut from the film in order to obtain an R-rating.

I have written about my first experience with the 1981 animated classic, HEAVY METAL. I have loved this film since I first watched it back in 1995. Now, I know HEAVY METAL is not a 1995 release but it is a film I first watched in 1995, so it falls into a "1995 adjacent" category. Since it was first viewed in 1995, it played a similar role to any film released in 1995.

HEAVY METAL did not see a home video release until 1996. This is because the film's soundtrack clearances did not cover home video, so the rights would have to be renegotiated. This has happened to many TV shows and films in the past including with BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, what with all the music videos they watch. We got most of the episodes minus the music videos.

The film was released on VHS at the beginning of June 1996 and was a huge hit. This was a big deal and I know a lot of people who picked this thing up (thanks to me showing them the way). The film was released on Laserdisc a month later. The Laserdisc included a deleted scene that had been unseen. The film did see a few DVD releases including a Superbit release. Superbit was a Sony thing where they would strip all of the special features and increase the file sizes and bit rates to give the film more room to breathe. The regular DVD release added special features including a commentary track, a retrospective featurette, and the film's rough cut which features unseen footage. The film was then released on Blu-ray in February of 2011 as a timed Best Buy exclusive ('member those?). We then got an amazing 4K Blu-ray release, which looks absolutely beautiful in 2022. This 4K release also includes the very disappointing sequel, HEAVY METAL 2000.

1995 was the "Year of the Cyber Thriller." A cyber thriller is a film where computer technology plays a vital role in the plot. Think of films like THE LAWNMOWER MAN, SNEAKERS, or ARCADE. Films like the Michael Douglas/Demi Moore thriller, DISCLOSURE, fit the bill. The reason I say 1995 was the "Year of the Cyber Thriller" is because this was the year when we got the most of them. We got, to name a few, THE NET, VIRTUOSITY, JOHNNY MNEMONIC, GHOST IN THE SHELL, NEMESIS 2: NEBULA, HOLOGRAM MAN, EVOLVER, VIRTUAL COMBAT, EXPECT NO MERCY, STRANGE DAYS, and the film I am going to talk about right now, HACKERS.

Like most of the cyber thrillers that came out around this time, HACKERS is a film that could only be made in the 90s. From the way the characters dress, right down to the lingo they use, everything about this film screams 90s. This is not a film that has aged well in the most common sense. The film's core, a thriller about teenagers who are being frame by a corporation and have to use the talents they have to clear their names while also sending the bad guys to prison, is timeless. We have seen these kinds of films for decades now. The computer and internet stuff is what dates the film and makes it somewhat inaccessible to people born after the 90s.

Like the 50s films we 80s kids watched when we were kids, HACKERS seems like a joke. There is no way things were like this and in some ways they would be right. Hacking is almost nothing like what it is in this film. There are things the film does get right like how laborious hacking can be along with how it's not just typing until you are in but also tricking people into giving you access. These things the film gets right for the most part. The idea of what the internet looks like and many of the other hacking tools are not. Even the tech talk dates the film. The characters are amazed by the specs of another's computer, but those numbers are fractions of what they can do today.

Watching HACKERS as a straight-up thriller or as a relic of what the 90s were kind of like makes the film a lot more entertaining for those who had not experienced it back in the day. For me, I view the film as if I were still in the 90s. Sure, the dated stuff can feel a bit weird but I don't view it in that manner. I watch the film as 15 year old me did. I watch these "teenagers" talk shit to each other, play games with law enforcement, and then save their friend from "The Plague." The film is a lot of fun and is incredibly well made. Even back then I knew this film probably didn't deserve the level of filmmaking it got. Look at this film and then look at the Sandra Bullock film, THE NET, which was released a few months before HACKERS. THE NET is as basic a thriller as one can get. There isn't very much style to it and it gets lost in a sea of other thrillers released around the same time. HACKERS feels original. It feels alive. The soundtrack builds on the visuals in a way that makes the film feel like a music video without being one. The soundtrack for the film was so good, there are three volumes of it on CD. HACKERS is one of my favorite films to come out of 1995.

HACKERS was a huge flop when it hit theaters in September of 1995. The film cost $20 million and only made back $7 million. It opened ok then tumbled down the box office rankings every week. HACKERS hit VHS and Laserdisc in February of 1996. I remember when this thing hit because I was waiting for it to come out. I really wanted to see the film in the theater but my dad wouldn't take me (understandable) and it never hit the dollar shows around me. I remember watching the Laserdisc with some of my friends and becoming obsessed with it. I have seen HACKERS so many times, I have lost count. I have owned it on every format it has ever been on, from VHS to Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray to 4K Blu-ray. The film didn't get the kind of love it deserved until its first Blu-ray release from 88 Films. They gave the film a commentary track and a making-of documentary. Shout Factory released the film on 4K Blu-ray with amazing picture and sound but the documentary from the 88 Films release is noticeably absent.

Was Ebert Right? The Girl Next Door (2004)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

2004 saw the release of one of my favorite teenage sex comedies, The Girl Next Door. Roger Ebert hated the film. Was he right?

In the 3 plus decades I have been reading Roger Ebert's movie reviews, I have disagreed with him many times. Who hasn't? There have only been a handful of times I have been in total disagreement with him. I have previously written about his hatred of HELLRAISER and now I am writing about his hatred of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR.

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR tells the story of Matthew Kidman, who is a high school senior about to graduate from college when he meets the titular character, Danielle, played by the gorgeous Elisha Cuthbert, in one of the best castings during that time. Kidman finds out Danielle used to be a pornstar and it messes with his head. After breaking up with Kidman, Danielle decides to get back into the porn business but Kidman won't have anything of it. He gets her back out, before she shoots a frame of footage, and they are back as a couple.

As I stated at the beginning of this piece, Ebert hated this film. Let's see why.

The studio should be ashamed of itself for advertising “The Girl Next Door” as a teenage comedy. It’s a nasty piece of business, involving a romance between a teenage porn actress and a high school senior. A good movie could presumably be made from this premise — a good movie can be made from anything, in the right hands and way — but this is a dishonest, quease-inducing “comedy” that had me feeling uneasy and then unclean. Who in the world read this script and thought it was acceptable?

Ebert calls the film a "nasty piece of work" but negates to talk about the stuff that was in teenage sex comedies around this time. Remember when Jason Biggs broadcasts Shannon Elizabeth nude in AMERICAN PIE? This was played for laughs but has been seen as creepy. Ebert happened to like that film. Ebert seems to be fine with some nasty stuff but not others. He also calls the film "a dishonest, queasy-inducing ' comedy '" I didn't get that feeling at all watching the film. I found the film to be quite funny and very touching and humble. It wants to entertain while giving us something a bit different. It is a comedy and a very good one at that.

Danielle (Elisha Cuthbert) has two personalities: In one, she’s a sweet, misunderstood kid who has never been loved, and in the other she’s a twisted emotional sadist who amuses herself by toying with the feelings of the naive Matthew. The movie alternates between these personalities at its convenience, making her quite the most unpleasant character I have seen in some time.

Ebert then goes on to call Danielle a "twisted emotional sadist who amuses herself by toying with the feelings of a naive Matthew." Is he talking about her messing with him when they first meet because that fits into the teenage comedy mold quite well? Or is he talking about her going to get back into porn because of the way Matthew treated her upon finding out she was an ex-pornstar because that makes sense? She thought her saw her as the girl next door but he acutally saw her as a pornstar who will fuck anyone (this is very temporary but also fits into the misunderstanding aspect of every teenage sex comedy. Danielle spends the majority of the film being a normal person who has fallen in love with someone who sees her as a normal person. It is actually quite touching and actually elevates above many of the teenage sex comedies of the era. In fact, this is one of the best films to come out during this time. Danielle is not a sadist. She cares very much for Matthew and we all blessed to watch their relationship grow during the course of the film, even if there is the slight detour in the middle.

There’s worse. The movie produces a basically nice guy, named Hugo Posh (James Remar), also a porn king, who is Kelly’s rival. That a porn king saves the day gives you an idea of the movie’s limited moral horizons.

I am going to bring this up now even though he does later. Ebert correctly compares THE GIRL NEXT DOOR to the Tom Cruise film, RISKY BUSINESS. In that film, Tom Cruise, who a senior in high school, the same as Matthew in this film, destroys his dad's Porsche while his parents are away and opens up a brothel to pay for the repairs. Let's say that again, Tom Cruise, a TEENAGER in RISKY BUSINESS, opens a whorehouse in his own house. A teenager opening up a brothel is a bit weirder than a teenage falling in love with a former pornstar.

Ebert also talks about the film's "limited moral horizons." I guess a film where a guy and a girl connect in a way many people will never experience is a bad thing. Look at the way Matthew looks at Danielle is one of the best and most honest things baout the film. This is a great love story that Ebert clearly didn't get.

The nature of their film is yet another bait-and-switch, in a movie that wants to seem dirtier than it is. Like a strip show at a carnival, it lures you in with promises of sleaze, and after you have committed yourself for the filthy-minded punter you are, it professes innocence.

Matthew has to raise money that was stolen by Danielle's former handler, played with a true scariness by Timothy Olyphant, to bring a genius kid to America to study, so he decides to shoot a porn in his school during prom. Ebert refers to this as "sleazy" but I don't see it that way. The film has already established the universe the film takes place in (it certainly isn't ours) so this doesn't seem out of place. What does seem out of place are the jocks who participate in the film. In fact, one of the jocks can't perform so you would think he would ruin the plan for everyone else. Maybe he didn't want to embarrass himself.

The film that is shot in the school turns out to be a sex ed film that brings sex ed films into the 21st century by covering things the sex ed films we were shown didn't. The big sell of this film is the showing of how to put a condom on a real penis, something many of us wish we were shown before our first times. I liked this twist. Sure, it seems like these guys are taking advantage of Danielle's contacts to make a quicky porn flick to make the money Matthew needs.

One necessary element is to distance the heroine from the seamier side of her life. “The Girl Next Door” does the opposite, actually taking Danielle and her “producer” Kelly to an adult film convention in Las Vegas, and even into a dimly lit room where adult stars apparently pleasure the clients. (There is another scene where Kelly, pretending to be Matthew’s friend, takes him to a lap dance emporium and treats him.) We can deal with porn stars, lap dances and whatever else, in a movie that declares itself and plays fair, but to insert this material into something with the look and feel of a teen comedy makes it unsettling. The TV ads will attract audiences expecting something like “American Pie“; they’ll be shocked by the squalid content of this film.

Ebert ends his review by talking about how the film was advertised. The film is advertised as a sex comedy but doesn't even mention the darker aspects of the middle section. I can see why he would think the film falsely presents itself but I don't agree fully. I don't think the audience for this film would find it all that "unsettling." We all have had those ideas of what the porn industry is like and the film respresents those ideas pretty well. Any normal person is going to know the porn industry isn't everything it's cracked up to be. It's also not like the porn convention stuff doesn't have comedy in it. It does and some pretty good comedy at that. The only dark stuff comes in the form of the Timothy Olyphant character. I said he was scary and that is the truth. This is the only thing about the film I can see people having a problem with. However, we should not overlook the pimp character, played by Joe Pantoliano, from RISKY BUSINESS who is equally as scary as the Olyphant character is here.

So, do I think Ebert was wrong? Hell yes I do. I can see all of his points but I don't agree with the vast majority of them. I was in my mid-20s when the film was released in 2004 and Ebert was in his 60s. The film is not made for him and his review shows that. There is nothing wrong with that. There are plenty of films he has loved that were clearly not made for me. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is not a film that was made for me but Ebert loved it. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is a very funny film that has a lot of heart and some of the best character relationships I have seen in a teenage sex comedy. I love this film and can watch it whenever.

Evil Bong 888: Infinity High (Full Moon Features) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 26 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

While the Evil Bong series doesn't get the epic send off you would expect from the film's title, it does get a good Blu-ray release.

Studio: Full Moon Features
Release Date: May 20th, 2022 (streaming premiere) / September 26th, 2023 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 59 minutes 9 seconds
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-25)
Picture: 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: None
Slipcover: No
Starring: Sonny Carl Davis, Diana Prince, Israel Sharpe, Bree Essrig, Whitney Moore, Dare Taylor

Written by Kent Roudebush

Directed by Charles Band
Rating: Not Rated (ample amounts of nudity and some bad language)

NOTE: A few years ago I reviewed Full Moon Features' EVIL BONG: STASH BOX which gathered together all of the EVIL BONG films, along with the spin-off GINGERDEAD MAN vs EVIL BONG, that were available at the time.

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Poster

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What's It About?

When he's finally given a chance to go legit by opening a restaurant, Rabbit (series regular Sonny Carl Davis) can't stop himself from sliding back to his old ways. With Eebee as his Master Chef, weed is definitely on the menu and this high-end joint is the toke of the town. Staffed with tons of familiar faces and fan favorite buds, will Rabbit end on a high note? Or will he be chopped by the cops in a kitchen nightmare that goes up in smoke?

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Video/Audio

Shot digitally, and presented in the film's original aspect ratio of 1.78:1, EVIL BONG 888: INFINITY HIGH looks exactly how you would think it would look for being a fairly recent film. Detail is high, colors are strong, and skin tones look great. Both Dolby Digital tracks are lossless but get the job done. I do not have anything to complain about when it comes to the visuals and audio.

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Extras/Packaging

Full Moon Channel on Amazon Promo (1m 26s, HD, 1.78:1) plays at disc startup and is not available to watch from the menu

Bad to the Bong (38m 52s, HD, 1.78:1) I was very disappointed with this feature. I thought it was going to be a retrospective documentary looking back on the entire series but all it is is a glorified clipshow, condencing the entire series down to 38 minutes. What a wasted opportunity.

Totally High Trailers

Evil Bong (1m 31s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong 2: King Bong (1m 11s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong 3: Wrath of Bong (59s, HD, 1.78:1)
Gingerdead Man vs Evil Bong (1m 25s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong 420 (1m 24s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong: High-5 (1m 32s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong 666 (1m 18s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong 777 (1m 26s, HD, 1.78:1)
Evil Bong 888 - Infinity High (1m 36s, HD, 1.78:1)
Weedjies: Halloweed Night (1m 56s, HD, 2.35:1)
The Gingerweed Man (1m 20s, HD, 2.35:1)

Packaging wise, EVIL BONG 888's is pretty standard. The front cover shows us an epic we don't get but the art is serviceable.

The film is divided up into 21 chapters.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

EVIL BONG 888 is a decent flick. It is better than the few previous films in the series but isn't say very much as most of these films are exactly the same. Like the other films in the series, this one is not directed by someone who has ever been high. This means jokes fall flat and the comedy is fairly devoid of anything that a pothead would find remotely funny. Still, the film has a gentle spirit to it and you can't hate on that. The film does not have the send of it deserves but it is still a fun flick.

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Extras/Menus

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Film

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Packaging

Arcade (1993) (Full Moon Features) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Thu, 14 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Another one of my favorite Full Moon Entertainment's films has been given a rather nice Blu-ray release.

Studio: Full Moon Features
Release Date: March 30th, 1994 (video premiere) / July29th, 2025 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 21 minutes 5 seconds
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-25)
Picture: 1080i (1.33:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Megan Ward, Peter Billingsley, John DeLancie, Seth Green, Sharon Farrell, A.J. Langer
Written by David S. Goyer
Directed by Albert Pyun
Rating: R (language)

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Poster

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What's It About?

All the kids in town are dying to play the hot new video game "Arcade". Trouble is once you play the game you can kiss reality good-bye. Arcade has seven levels of excitement, adventure, and terror for its players. The game transports you to another world with its stunning graphics, thrilling sound effects, and virtual reality simulation. It is the ultimate experience in a video game. But excitement like this doesn't come cheaply - when you battle with Arcade you're putting your life on the line. The kids have accepted the challenge and are absorbed into the game. Only Alex (Megan Ward, Encino Man, Freaked) and Nick (Peter Billingsley, A Christmas Story, Death Valley) realize that these mysterious disappearances are linked to Arcade. They must battle the game, alone.

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Video/Audio

Charles Band has searched high and low for ARCADE's original camera negative. He could not find one so he has decided to go back to the video file used for all of the previous home video releases (VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and streaming) and upscale the footage. This upscale doesn't look too bad although there are problem areas. Darker scenes, like the ones that take palace in the club where the titular Arcade game is located can be a bit hard to make out at times. The film's director, the late, great Albert Pyun, uses alot of smoke, along with adding different colored lighting to give the film a unique look, and these can mess with the picture quality, given the circumstances. The film looks better than the DVD but also worse. I wish Band had just put the standard defition file from the DVD and not done any work, outside of enhancing the colors. As my regular readers already know, I am very leniant when it comes to picture and audio quality when very under special circumstances. I do not hold a transfer or release's problems to the studio releasing said film if the problems were out of their control. I mean, I am still going to criticism the problems but I will never lower any kind of score I give said transfer if what we are given is the best that can be done. The transfer used here is the best ARCADE will likely ever look unless the film's original camera negative can be found.

The audio here is not lossless, something that is true for all of Full Moon's Blu-rays released in the last five years or so, but that's fine as both tracks sound good. Sure, lossless would have made them better but they get the job done.

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Extras/Packaging

These promos play at disc startup and are not available to watch separately:

DeliriumTV Promo (1m, HD, 1.78:1)
Delirium Magazine Promo (30s, HD, 1.78:1)
Full Features Streaming Site Promo (1m 22, HD, 1.78:1)
The Full Moon Legacy Volume One Promo (49s, HD, 1.78:1)

Original Trailer (1m 44s, HD, 1.33:1) The footage used here looks so much better than the footage used for the main feature.

Commentary - Producer Charles Band and actor Megan Ward sit down for another chatty commentary track. This is a track well worth listening to.

Videozone (9m 43, SD, 1.33:1) This features the only input from director Albert Pyun, as this Blu-ray was created and released after his passing. It's a shame we couldn't get a commentary from him but having bits from an interview here is better than nothing.

Interview: John DeLancie (15m 42s, SD, 1.33:1) I have no idea when this interview was done but it's in standard definition and in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, so it had to have been done in the 90s (maybe but probably.) The questions and answers are pretty standard so there isn't very much to learn here. He does mispronounce Albert Pyun's last name as "Pie Oon." You would think a guy who has worked with Pyun more than once would get his last name right.

Rare VFX Reel (18m 3s, SD, 1.33:1)

This text proceeds the footage:

When ARCADE was finished with post-production, the decision was made to scrap the exisiting special computer effects and replace them with new effects.

An early workprint was discovered and featured the original special features that were once thought lost.

The following scenes offer a new look at the world of ARCADE.

The real reason this reel exists is because Full Moon was FORCED to change the effects after Disney thought they resembled TRON a little bit too much. Outside of the speeder bike looking things twoards the end of the film, they look nothing like TRON. This footage actually looks a lot better than the stuff used in the film proper. I don't know why Full Moon just didn't change the speeder bike stuff and call it a day. If the other stuff looks too much like TRON then so does the stuff from films like THE LAWNMOWER MAN. The footage here fits the film better than the redone stuff.

Full Moon Trailers

Savage Island (1m 21s, HD, 1.85:1)
Quadrant (2m 3s, HD, 1.90:1)
Bad Channels (1m 40s, HD, 1.78:1)
Crash and Burn (1m 5s, HD, 1.78:1)
Bad CGI Gator (1m 52s, HD, 1.78:1)

The film has been divided into 18 chapters.

The film's menu is basic. There are two of them: the main menu, where the special features, along with the "Play Feature" buttons, are, and a sub-menu for the "Full Moon Trailers" section.

Packaging here is simple: The film's original poster/video artwork is used here. The disc art features the flying creature from the poster art.\

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

I have a lot of nostalgia for ARCADE. As I have written before, Full Moon Entertainment was a big part of my film studies. I was getting into film about the time the company was formed and they were making films I wanted to see. I remember falling in love with ARCADE when it hit video store shelves in 1994 and it has always been one of my favorite Full Moon films.

That being said, ARCADE is kind of crap. The live action stuff is pretty well done. Pyun shoots this stuff with a lot of style which boosts the film production value. Pyun has always been known for being able to spread a buck. His films never cost very much but they look like they cost a small fortune. Once we get into the virtual reality stuff, the film gets worse. The effects had to be replaced because of Disney, and the replacement effects look way worse than the original stuff. The original effects footage is present on this disc and I wish they had kept what they could. Everything feels more in line with the live action stuff Pyun shot. This does bring the film down a bit but I still look at it with a sympathetic eye. I do think the film would have been better had Full Moon been able to use the original effects.

ARCADE may be kind of crap but I love it. I find the film fun and, if looked through the eyes of someone from the 90s, the effects are not that bad. They are bad but we know why. The effects could have been a whole lot worse. Watching the film today, I was transported back to my bedroom in 1994, being amazed but the effects while also watching the growing careers of Megan Ward and Seth Green. I really do love ARCADE and hope others do too.

The Blu-ray we have here is better than you would think it would be. Sure, the film doesn't look the greatest but we know why this is and can accept that. The special features really save this release from being mid at best. We get the original effects footage which is so much better than the footage in the film proper. We have the film's Videozone which is always a pleasure to revisit as well as an older interview with actor John DeLancie. The film's trailer along with a reel of Full Moon trailer round out this fun release.

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Extras/Menus

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Film

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Packaging

Bad Channels (Full Moon Features) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

One of my favorite Full Moon Entertainment films finally gets a Blu-ray release and it is a damn good one.

Studio: Full Moon Features
Release Date: June 25th, 1992 (video premiere) / June 10th, 2025 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 20 minutes 17 seconds
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-25)
Picture: 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English Dolby Digital 2.0, English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Slipcover: No
Starring: Paul Hipp, Martha Quinn, Aaron Lustig, Ian Patrick Williams, Charlie Spradling
Written by Charles Band and Jack Canson
Directed by Ted Nicolau
Rating: R (language)

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Poster

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What's It About?

There's a hip new disc jockey at KDUL, Superstation 66, and he's about to make rock and roll history. He's Dangerous Dan O'Dare, the most controversial DJ to hit the airwaves and he's changing the station's format from only polka music to a wild rock and roll. But when a fungus-headed alien named Cosmo -who has quite a taste for hard rock and beautiful young women - lands nearby, he takes over the airwaves, miniaturizing the ladies listening to the radio in a bid to bring these rockin maidens back to his home planet.

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Video/Audio

After decades of being stuck with various standard definition releases (VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD) so this HD release is something very special. BAD CHANNELS was shot on 35mm film and this transfer does a good job of bringing the film to home video in the right way. I used to watch this thing all the time back in the 90s so I can tell you that I am very happy with the presentation here. It looks like the negative was taken great care of because there isn't any damage found here. Detail is good with finer detail getting a boost in closeups. Colors, especially after the alien takes over the radio station, look great. Film grain is here but not overly so. This is how I hoped the film was going to look when Full Moon announced this release and it couldn't have made me happier.

Full Moon went lossy with the sound, yet again, but I don't mind it too much. Dialogue is crisp and clear as is the music, which is the big draw here. We get all different kinds of rock bands here and they all sound great.

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Extras/Packaging

Full Moon Features Promo (1m 22s, HD, 1.78:1) Automatically plays at disc start up

Full Moon's Freakshow Podcast Promo (1m, HD, 1.78:1) Automatically plays at disc startup

Delirium Magazine (30s, HD, 1.78:1) Automatically plays at disc start up

Original Trailer (1m 40s, HD, 1.78:1)

Commentary - director Ted Nicolaou sits down to break down everything about Bad Channels. He does repeat just about everything he talks about in the interview found elsewhere on the disc but does so by expanding the stories. I loved hear him talking about the cinematography and the actors. The nice thing about this track is that Nicolaou talks through the whole thing. There are not too many downtimes here.

Behind the Scenes (11m 31s, SD, 1.33:1) So, this IS the Videozone that was included on the VHS release but it isn't. The first 12 minutes or so of the Bad Channels Videozone focused on the film at hand. The second half of the Videozone focuses on C. Courtney Joyner, who worked on a ton of Full Moon films like Pupper Master III, Doctor Mordrid, and Lurking Fear. Joyner did not have anything to do with Bad Channels so I am perplexed as to why they would have a section of a Videozone on a film he had nothing to do with. So, what we got here was the Bad Channels Videozone but without the stuff about a guy who did not have anything to do with Band Channels.

Ted Talk (27m 45s, HD, 1.78:1) Nicolaou started out as an editor for the films Charles Band was making in the 80s. This got him the directing job on Terrorvision (an awesome film you should check out). When that film didn't do well (he says it "crashed and burned"), he returned to editing. A few years later, Band started Full Moon Entertainment, and he brought Nicolaou into the fold to make films for the new company. Band had been to get Nicolaou to make Bad Channels because he wanted to do the same thing for radio that Terrorvision did for television. Nicolaou kept saying no because Terrorvision had been such a good experience (the shooting aspect) but also a depressing one (the failure and the aftermath). He eventually took the job because Band finally talked him into it.

Nicolaou then speaks about the cast, all of whom he has nothing bad to say about. He then moves on to talking about the bands featured in the film. He says they would drive out to the valley, get high, and listen to a ton of bands. Then, during post-production, the music supervisor was able to get Blue Öyster Cult to do the film's score. Nicolaou locked the edit of the film and sent the film over to Blue Oyster Cult, who Nicolaou may have pissed off because he told them what to do (Nicolaou jokes about this. Nothing was said by the band)

Nicolaou then talks about the effects used in the film which he calls "low-fi." He breaks down how they did the effects with the girls the alien captures in the bottles. Then he talks about the alien design along with his robot sidekick. He says that he is surprised at the amount of people who worked on all the effects because Full Moon's budgets were never big.

He loves working with Charles Band because Band loves movies. He works with people he trusts and lets them make their films without meddling too much. Band would only step in if something wasn't right. If the dailies look and sound good, then Band doesn't say anything. Band will step in when the film hits post-production. Band would watch the first edit and then give notes on how to get the film to the right length with the right pacing. In the end, Nicolaou is very happy with the way the film turned out and he loves hearing from fans who appreciate it.

Rare Trailer (2m 15s, SD, 1.33:1)

Full Moon Trailers

Quadrant (2m 3s, HD, 2:1)
Deathstreamer (1m 37s, HD, 1.78:1)
Suspecies 5 (2m 18s, HD, 1.39:1)
Bad CGI Gator (1m 52s, HD, 1.78:1)

Packaging-wise, we get a lackluster redition of the film's original poster art. The alien, the robot, and the girls in the bottles are there but the radio background is missing, replaced with a black background and a blue light in the middle, behind the alien. I really love the poster art and I wish they had used it here. I mean, the DVD had the right art, why not the blu-ray? The disc art features the shot of the alien arriving with the big spotlight behind him. It's one of the best shots in the film and I am happy Full Moon used it as the disc art.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

I haven't watched BAD CHANNELS since the 90s, so this viewing was an experience. I used to watch this film all the time back in the day, and I felt like I was transported right back to sitting in my bedroom the day BAD CHANNELS hit VHS. The doctor from LETHAL WEAPON 3 ("a dumb-dumb wound?") stars as a radio disc jockey whose station gets taken over by an alien who uses the airways to capture women to take back to his planet. The film also stars a fucking MTV VJ (remember those?) Martha Quinn. She is actually pretty good here which is not something that can be said about most of the VJs that did films. The film is filled with rock music from bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Joker, Dracult Milk Toast, and Sykotik Sinfoney with each band getting a music video that fills in for the women being taken. The alien's design is interesting with his big rock-like head and little robot assistant. This is one of the few Full Moon films that does not contain any violence, gore, or nudity. While it is still rated "R", the reasoning is for "language" and nothing more. This was the right move as anything worse would have felt out of place. BAD CHANNELS is a great example of what Full Moon was able to do back in the day with very little money but a lot of talent.

Full Moon has done right by BAD CHANNELS. The picture quality is really good and the sound isn't too bad either. They do well with the special features with a brand new interview with director Ted Nicolaou who is always game to talk about his films. Nicolaou also sits down with Charles Band for a delightful audio commentary. We also get a shortened Videozone (see Extras/Packaging section for details) along with two trailers for the film. BAD CHANNELS is one of the final "classic" Full moon films (ones released during the Paramount Days) and they given the film the release it deserves.

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Extras/Menus

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Film

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Packaging

Import Corner (?) - Das Geheimnis Des Grabmals Am Nil aka The Tomb (1986) (Retromedia) Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 19:19:00 +0000

Fans have been begging Fred Olen Ray for a Blu-ray (hell, even a DVD at this point) and he has delivered, giving us this "German Import" with decent enough picture but lossless sound.

Studio: Retromedia
Release Date: October 31st, 1986 (theatrical) / April 14th, 2026 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 23 minutes 58 seconds
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 1 (BD-R 25)
Picture: 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Subtitles: No
Slipcover: No
Starring: Cameron Mitchell, John Carradine, Sybil Danning, Michelle Bauer, David Pearson, George Hoth

Written by Kenneth Hall, T.L. Lankford

Directed by Fred Olen Ray
Rating:

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Poster

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What's It About?

Abenteuer und Grabruder John Banning plundert gemeinsam mit seinem Gefahrten Alan und einem einheimischen Fuhrer das karge Grab der agyplischen Hohepriesterin Nefratis. Diese hatte zu Lebzeiten magische Krafte erlangt, indem sie das "Blut der Lebenden" trank. Dafür wurde sie pauter bestraft und lebendig eingemauert. Die Gruppe erweckt durch ihre Freveltat die Priesterin zum Leben, die neben dem Führer auch Alan sofort totet, während John die Flucht mit einigen wertvollen Fundstücken gelingt. Die Nerfatis lusst John zunachst entkommen schwart jedoch, ihn bald aufzusuchen und die Storung zu rachen. (Taken from the back of the box)

Adventurer and grave robber John Banning, together with his companion Alan and a local guide, plunders the desolate tomb of the Egyptian High Priestess Nefratis. During her lifetime, she had acquired magical powers by drinking the "Blood of the Living." For this transgression, she was later punished by being walled up alive. Through their sacrilegious act, the group reawakens the priestess; she immediately kills both the guide and Alan, while John manages to escape with several valuable artifacts. Endowed with superhuman powers, Nefratis initially allows John to flee, yet vows to track him down soon and exact vengeance for the intrusion. (Taken from Makeflix.com)

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Video/Audio

THE TOMB is the most requested film from Fred Olen Ray (not officially but it has to be given this release is an "import") and he has finally answered the call (hopefully, this means ARMED RESPONSE is coming soon) with this "German import". This means that the quality of the release could be up in the air. We all wondered if the picture and sound would be good or if it be just a VHS transfer.

Ok. So here’s the deal: this is a problematic presentation. First, the aspect ratio is weird. The film was shot in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and it looks like Retromedia was trying to present the film in that way, but somewhere along the way, the top black bar was deleted. I mean, I don’t have any info on this but that’s what it looks like. The bottom has a black bar at the bottom like any film presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but the top looks like a film with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. I will say that it wasn’t immediately noticeable. It took a minute or two before I noticed it. It’s a weird thing I have never seen before.

Second, this is not the greatest transfer in the world. It looks like a DVD. A dated DVD. There are times when it looks like we are getting something in the HD realm and then other times where the picture quality drops. You can tell this many times throughout the film. Look at the third screenshot with three characters entering a cave. There is a bush to the right of the cave that looks straight out of a budget DVD.

Now, look at the screenshot with the close-up of Cameron Mitchell. Looks like HD to me. This is how the whole film is. It was a bit distracting at first but I got used to it because this is probably the only release we will ever see of THE TOMB. I can look past a lot of stuff because sometimes things can't be perfect. This is one release I don't think will ever happen again. I really hope I am wrong.

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Extras/Packaging

Trailer (Vorschau) (54s, SD, 1.33:1)

The film is divided into 13 chapters

Packaging is your basic Retromedia packaging. You get some really nice art on the front cover, although I wish they had gone with the original poster art but I know why they didn't.

Inside you will find a postcard with a photo of Michelle Bauer in black lingerie. The disc art is the same as the front cover.

The disc is REGION FREE

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Overall

It’s Fred Olen Ray’s take on Indiana Jones. It’s clear that Ray only had enough budget to only have the opening scenes resemble an Indiana Jones film while the rest of the film takes place in L.A. The opening scenes are very well shot and are exciting. The film loses a bit of steam when the films come to L.A. because that wasn’t the film we were promised. I’ll tell you this though: I don’t care all that much. I am still watching a Fred Olen Ray film. All of his 80s and 90s stuff has a feel to it that other films released during this time don’t have. He shoots very fast (apparently, the film was shot in 13 days) but the quality is still there. There are plenty of other directors who can’t work with smaller budgets but Ray takes every opportunity to give the film a "bigger than it cost” look. He knows how to use his budgets to their fullest. Here, he gives us as much adventure stuff he could and it works. The L.A. stuff is still good. We get to see some of the seedier spots of L.A. and that is always welcome. This is also a film that features a many cameos by names kids like me would come to recognise: John Carradine, Cameron Mitchell, and Sybil Danning. Every one of these actors get one of two scenes (Mitchell actually has the bigger part). Many of these actors would appear in future Fred Olen Ray films. Once you see these actors in this film, you will see them in a ton more films. THE TOMB is an entertaining piece of 80s cheese and needs to be seen.

I have to hand it to Retromedia. They have exceeded by very, very low expectations. We get the film with a decent, incredibly dated transfer with lossless sound. The only extra is the film's theatrical trailer. I love that this film finally has a disc release and I hope, given the massive success (it sold out within the first 24 hours with more coming back into stock soon (as of 4/16/2026)), we get a bigger release with special features and a pressed disc. I highly doubt it will happen but you never know. This is must own for Fred Olen Ray fans, 80s schlock fans, and Indiana Jones rip-off fans.

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Extras/Menus

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Film

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Packaging

Ten Years Reviewing Physical Media For You All

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

I have been doing this site for 10 years, as of today (4/16/2026), and I wanted to take a look back at my collecting history.

I have been doing this site for ten years. Yes, I have been reviewing movies, DVDs, Blu-rays, 4K Blu-rays, Laserdiscs, and Books for ten years now.

I started collecting on Christmas Day 1991. This was the year my parents bought me my first VCR. I already had a 13-inch black and white TV, so the VCR expanded what I could watch in my bedroom. My family collected films before that, consisting mostly of Disney and family films. 1991 was when I started MY collection. A collection that has grown throughout the last 35 years.

This is what the site first looked like back in 2016

After collecting VHS for four years, I was able to talk my parents into buying me a Laserdisc player. My local video store, R&R Video (later Lion Video), rented out Laserdiscs. I saw them there all the time and wanted to get a player. I am a huge fan of film, obviously, and I wanted to be able to watch a film the way it was supposed to be seen (most Laserdiscs were released in that film's original aspect ratio. Especially ones released in the mid to late 90s.), so I started working my parents. I did a ton of research which I presented to them. The player, which they got from Best Buy, cost 300 bucks but I assured them it was worth it.

The day of my birth came and they had actually bought it. They told me they couldn't get me any discs because they had to spend the money on the player. So, for the first two weeks I had the player, I had to rent all my discs. When the day came for me to pick out some discs, my mom took me to Suncoast Video where I would pick out two discs: PENTATHLON and SPITFIRE. I have written about these first Laserdiscs here

Over the years, I bought many discs but not all the ones I wanted. Laserdiscs were quite a bit more expensive than VHS so I had to choose wisely which discs I wanted to buy. The discs I bought had to be something that was special to me while anything else I would buy on VHS.

After a few years of collecting Laserdiscs, I received a DVD player for Christmas along with LETHAL WEAPON 4. Man, I fell in love with DVD right away and would buy discs whenever I could. DVDs were very expensive so I had to choose wisely like I did with Laserdiscs. After a while the price of DVDs came down and I started buying more. I would actually go to Best Buy, Circuit City, or Target to get the latest releases. I have a pretty big collection and it is always growing.

I have also been collectiong Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays for many years as well. I have amassed quite a collection over the years and am always on the lookout for the next disc to add to my collection.

I started this site on April 16th, 2016. Well, technically, I started it on the 13th, but I was only migrating reviews I had written years before to the new site so I don't count that. The first new review I posted was on the 16th, CRIMSON PEAK was the start of what I have been doing for all these years.

My first Blu-ray Review

The first reviews I did were called JUST THE FEATURES where I would review just the special features along with including pictures of the packaging. I did this because most reviews I have read don't say much about the special features and I wanted to make sure that wasn't always true. I did this few the first six months or so until I decided to do full on reviews where I would not just cover the special features and packaging but also the picture and sound. The first film I did a full review on was THE PUNISHER.

Since then I have reviewed a ton of films. I have reviewed releases from various companies like Arrow Video, 88 Films, Full Moon Features, and Retromedia. I have reviewed DVDs, Blu-rays, 4K Blu-rays, films, and even a book. I love what I am doing with this site and try to spread the love I have for home video to everyone who reads.

I want to thank everyone who has ever visited this site. I truly appreciate each amd every one of you. I hope any of the reviews you have read may have helped with a purchase you made or just entertained you. I know not everyone likes my reviews or see things the way that see them, but I am still thankful for them because they didn't have to read anything but took the time out of their day to give me a chance. I plan on doing this site for as long as I can and I hope you join me on this home video journey.

Inside the Packaging: Shawscope Volume Four (Arrow Video)

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy P) — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Another year, another Shaw Brothers box set from Arrow Video. This time around, the set focuses mostly on horror films from the late 70s and early 80s. This is a great set that belongs in any martial arts fan’s collection.

Studio: Arrow Video
Release Date: August 1st, 1975 (Super Infra-Man) / September 18th, 1976 (The Oily Maniac) / September 9th, 1977 (Battle Wizard) / October 2, 1975 (Black Magic) / December 9, 1976 (Black Magic 2) / September 11, 1981 (Bewitched) / July 9, 1980 (Hex) / November 19, 1980 (Hex vs Witchcraft) / June 23, 1982 (Hex After Hex) / December 11, 1980 (Bat without Wings) / October 1, 1981 (Bloody Parrot) / July 30, 1982 (The Fake Chost Chasers) / August 4, 1983 (Demon of the Lute) / December 29, 1983 (Seeding of a Ghost) / March 11, 1983 (Portrait in Crystal) / February 12, 1983 (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars) / December 9th, 2025 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 30 minutes 39 seconds (Super Infra-Man) (theatrical), 1 hour 29 minutes 55 seconds (Super Infra-Man) (US version) / 1 hour 30 minutes 32 seconds (Oily Maniac) / 1 hour 20 minutes 9 seconds (Battle Wizard) / 1 hour 37 minutes 51 seconds (Black Magic) / 1 hour 32 minutes 59 seconds (Black Magic 2) / 1 hour 37 minutes 6 seconds (Hex) / 1 hour 47 minutes 42 seconds (Bewitched) / 1hour 40 minutes 59 seconds (Hex vs. Witchcraft) / 1 hour 45 minutes 33 seconds Hex After Hex) / 1 hour 35 minutes 15 seconds (Bat Without Wings) / 1 hour 36 minutes 32 seconds (Bloody Parrot) / 1 hour 43 minutes 3 seconds (The Fake Ghost Catchers) / 1 hour 46 minutes 32 seconds (Demon of the Lute) / 1 hour 30 minutes 19 seconds (Seeding of a Ghost) / 1 hour 22 minutes 40 seconds (Portrait in Crystal) / 1 hour 36 minutes 10 seconds (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) (Cantonese version), 1 hour 37 minutes 15 seconds) (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) (Mandarin version), 1 hour 37 minutes 15 seconds (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) (Cantonese version with Mandarin scene)
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 10 (all BD-50s)
Picture: 1080p (2.35:1 aspect ratio) (Super Infra-Man, The Oily Maniac, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic 2, Hex, Hex vs Witchcraft, Bat Without Wings, Bloody Parrot, The Fake Ghost Catchers, Demons of the Lute, Portrait in Crystal, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) / 1080p (1.85:1 aspect ratio) (Bewitched, Hex After Hex, Seeding of a Ghost)
Sound: Mandarin LPCM Mono (Super Infra-Man, The Oily Maniac, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic 2, Hex, Bewitched, Hex versus Witchcraft, Hex After Hex, Bat without Wings, Bloody Parrot, The Fake Ghost Catchers, Demon of the Lute, Seeding of a Ghost, Portrait in Crystal, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) / Cantonese LPCM Mono, (Super Infra-Man, Hex, Bewitched, Hex vs Witchcraft, Hex After Hex, The fake Ghost Catchers, Demon of the Lute, Seeding of a Ghost, Portrait in Crystal, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) / English LPCM Mono (Super Infra-Man, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic 2)
Subtitles: English (all films) / English SDH (Super Infra-Man, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic 2, Hex vs Witchcraft)
Slipcover: No
Starring: Danny Lee, Terry Liu, Hsieh Wang, Man-Tzu Yuan, Liu Mei-Mei, Bruce Le, Yang Chiang (Super Infra-Man) / Danny Lee, Ping Chen, Lily Li, Lun Hua, Hsieh Wang, Angela Yu Chien (The Oily Maniac) / Danny Lee, Tien Lie, Lam Jan-kei, Wai Wang (Battle Wizard) / Ti Lung, Lo Lieh, Tien Lie, Lily Li, Ku Feng (Black Magic) / Ti Lung, Lo Lieh, Liu Hui-Ju, Lily Li, Lin Wei-Tu (Black Magic 2) / anny Tien-Ni Wang Yong Chen Szu-Chia Shum Lo Lee Sau-Kei Hon Kwok-Choi Yue Tau-Wan (Hex) / Ai Fei, Melvin Wong, Fan Lei, Lily Chan, Wu Pei-Chin, Choi Kwok-Hing. Wong Siu-Ming, Lee Sau-Kei (Bewitched) / James Yi Lui, Jenny Liang, Pei Ju-Hua, Cheung Miu-Lin, Yang Chi-Ching, Lam Fai-Wong (Hex vs Witchcraft) / Lo Meng, Nancy Lau, Nam-Kai, Danny Lau, Dan Hon, Kwok-Choi Law, Ho-Kai, Lily Chan, Lau Siu-Kwan (Hex After Hex) / Derek Yee, Tung-Sing Ching, Li Wang Yong, Tang Ching, Susanna Au-Yeung, Pui-San, Eddie Koo, Koon Chung (Bat without Wings) / Jason Pai, Piao, Tony Liu, Tian-jue Kwan, Yeung Ching-Ching, Chan Shen, Eddie Koo, Koon Chung, Wong Mei-Mei, Jenny Liang (Bloody Parrot) / Alexander Fu Sheng, Hsiao Ho, Cheung Chin-Pang, Johnny Wang, Lung-Wei, Lily Li, To Siu-Ming (The Fake Ghost Catchers) / Chin Siu-Ho, Kara Hui, Ying-Hung Kei, Kong-Hung, Phillip Kwok, Chui Lung, Tien-hsiang (Demon of the Lute) / Norman Tsui, Siu-Keung, Phillip Ko Fai, Wai Ka-Man, Maria Yuen, Chi-Wai Wang, Yong Wai, Yee-Yan (Seeding of a Ghost) / Jason Pai Piao, Chun Wong, Lau Yuk-Pok, Lam Sau-Kwan, Teng Wei-Hao, Wang Yong, Chen Szu-Chia (Portrait in Crystal) / James Yi Lui, Cherie Chung Cho-Hung, David Lo Dai-Wai, Leung Tin, Tam Tin-Nam, Lau Yat-Fan (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star)
Written by Ni Kuang (Super Infra-Man, Battle Wizard, Black Magic, Black Magic 2, Bloody Parrot) / Chua Lam (The Oily Maniac) / Kuei Chih-Hung, Tan Chin-Hua (Hex) / Szeto On (Bewitched) / Tam Gam-Wa, Szeto On (Hex vs Witchcraft) / Szeto On (Hex After Hex) / Chor Yuen (Bat without Wings) / Wong Jing (The Fake Ghost Catchers) / Tang Tak-Cheung (Demon of the Lute) / Chen Wengui, Tsai Nai-Pin, Huang Ying (Protrait in Crystal) / Alex Cheung Kwok-Ming, Sandy Shaw Lai-King, John Au Wa Hon, Yuen Kai-Chi, Manfred Wong Man-Chun, Lawrence Cheng Tan-Shui (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star)

Directed by Hua Shan (Super Infra-Man, Bloody Parrot) / Ho Meng-Hua (The Oily Maniac, Black Magic, Black Magic 2) / Pao Hsueh-li (Battle Wizard) / Kuei Chih-Hung (Hex, Bewitched, Hex vs Witchcraft, Hex After Hex) / Chor Yuen (Bat without Wings) / Lau Kar-Wing (The Fake Ghost Catchers) / Tang Tak-Cheung (Demon of the Lute) / Hua Shan (Portrait in Crystal) / Alex Cheung Kwok-Ming (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star)
Rating: Not Rated (violence) (Super Infra-Man) (theatrical version), PG (action violence) (Infra-Man) (US version) / Not Rated (nudity, sexual assault, some bloody violence) (Oily Maniac)/ Not Rated (violence and brief nudity) (Battle Wizard) / R (sexual content, graphic nudity, violence) (Black Magic) / Not Rated (nudity, sexual content, violence) (Black Magic 2) / Not Rated (graphic nudity, bloody violence) (Bewitched) / Not Rated (graphic nudity, bloody violence) (Hex) / Not Rated (graphic nudity, sexual content, some violence) (Hex vs Witchcraft) / Not Rated (some nudity, some violence) (Hex After Hex) / Not Rated (violence) (Bat without Wings) / Not Rated (some graphic nudity, bloody violence) (Bloody Parrot) / Not Rated (violence and a brief sex scene) (The Fake Ghost Catchers) / Not Rated (violence) (Demon of the Lute) / Not Rated (nudity, sexual content, a rape scene, bloody violence) (Seeding of a Ghost) / Not Rated (graphic nudity, bloody violence) (Portrait in Crystal) / Not Rated (violence) (Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star)

I have done these INSIDE THE PACKAGING posts for the previous Shawscope Blu-ray releases:

This fourth release in the Shawscope line of Blu-rays from Arrow Video contains 16 films mostly horror films bur there's also SUPER INFRA-MAN, which is kind of a weird inclusion here being one of the only films in the set that is not a horror film. I would have thought they would have paired it up with THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN, which was found in the first volume, but they must not have had the rights locked in when they did volume one. Still, I am happy to have the film as I love it so much. We also get the US version of the film which is an interesting edit.

We get the usual extras we have come to love from Arrow Video releases. We get commentary tracks, appreciations and trailers. The thing about this release is that most of the special features are not on the disc with their respective films but on a bonus disc. Every film gets a commentary track while SUPER INFRA-MAN and TWINKLE TWINKLE LUCKY STAR do get their special features on their discs but that is because they have their own discs. This is because those two films contain multiple versions of the films. Still, the special features are a lot of fun and worth taking a look at.