David Cronenberg Short Films

No serious fan of David Cronenberg should be without this DVD in on their shelves. David Cronenberg Shorts is the only release of two of his early short films, which are a lot more professional and eminently watchable than his better known student films that have received many more releases on DVD and blu from companies like Blue Underground, Alliance Atlantis, and even Criterion. For these, there's just this one Japanese DVD from 2003, by Happinet Pictures. It's been pretty widely distributed, so historically it hasn't been that rare, but the older it gets, the harder it becomes to track down a copy. So if you haven't snagged one yet, you'd better get on it.

First up is The Lie Chair, a twenty-odd minute horror story made as part of a series for Canadian television called Peep Show in 1976. It's its own isolated story, not part of an on-going narrative, as each the show was just meant to give upcoming Canadian filmmakers a showcase. You can read a brief history and description of the series on the Canadian Communications Foundation website here. So, it's part of a television series and this DVD makes no attempt to hide that, opening with the signature tune of the series before the individual episode's opening credits, and even closing with scenes from next week's episode, starring Martin Short in an early dramatic role.

 

So for The Lie Chair, Cronenberg forgoes his usual science fiction themes to present a sort of bizarre psychological thriller, written by David Cole, a writer/ producer who's been fairly prolific in television for decades, and recently wrote the film Straight A's. It's presented like a very traditional ghost story, with a lonely couple coming upon a big, isolated house in the middle of the night. Their car broke down during a thunderstorm, but of course the owner says they don't have a phone, so they'll have to spend the night. The maid who answers the door tells them the old lady who lives there wants them to pretend to be her grandchildren because she's gone senile and expects them even though they're not coming. But as soon as the maid leaves them alone, the old lady tells them she knows they're not her grandchildren, and is only pretending for the maid. Then the wife starts to notice that her husband seems to want to keep being the grandson. What is going on here?

 

This is a pretty smart story that will definitely have your mind racing along as more clues are laid down, though I'm not sure the ending entirely satisfies (it's both predictable and a bit of a misfit with the rest of the story). But you can certainly see the dark yet relatable psychological elements that must have attracted Cronenberg to the story, and he gets some strong performances from his cast to match it. It takes a tough look at the lies we tell ourselves, "not lies as evil, or lies as deceit, but lies to make a happier truth," and how they can actually wind up becoming the scariest of all.

The Lie Chair doesn't feel much like a Cronenberg film, largely because he didn't write it. But its look, too, has a old school television feel. Some episodes of Peep Show were shot on film, but most on video; and this is presumably one of the latter (or else this transfer has a lot to answer for). So it's very boxy and looks more like an Upstairs, Downstairs than Videodrome. But that can actually work in the film's favor, especially if you've watched a lot of the old BBC ghost stories... a creaky old ghost story in a creaky old house, displayed in a creaky old transfer. But it's not that bad as far as old television transfers go. I mean, they certainly didn't get the original footage and do any kind of fancy restoration, but it's at least free of the kind of problems, like ghosting or interlacing, that often plagues DVDs of old shows like this.

Well, we know where the lower half of the DVD cover comes from...
The yellow face on top? Not so much.

The Italian Machine isn't a horror story, but feels much more like a Cronenberg flick. I remember reading interviews where he talked about how crafting motorcycle engine parts can be high art, and only when this disc was released did I realize that line of thinking probably originated from this script. He wrote and directed this short film for a series called Teleplay, also in '76. Teleplay was similar in concept to Peep Show but ran a lot longer. Again, you can read CCf's write-up on it here. I've read online that Cronenberg also created two more episodes for Teleplay, but this is the only one to be released to date.

You'll also notice about half the cast here went on to appear in Cronenberg's other films including Rabid, The Brood, Fast Company and The Dead Zone. So, while I imagine a number of fans will be disappointed that this isn't horror or sci-fi, other fans will be pleased with how "Cronenbergian" it feels. An enthusiastic trio of motorcycle enthusiasts who all seem to live together in a garage are crushed when they learn that the most exotic bike in the city sold to some rich collector who doesn't want to ride it, just display it as an art piece in his living room. So they just have to come up with a plan to liberate it.

The Italian Machine is classic Cronenberg, with an eccentric cast of characters bonded by their fetishistic obsession and strange set of values. And it's funnier than Cronenberg's usual work, but without getting silly. That's thanks largely to the terrific cast who are a delight to watch. I was only a bit disappointed when it was over that there wasn't any more.

Unfortunately, this looks a little worse than The Lie Chair. No interlacing but a little ghosting and it's softer. This also looks like it was shot on film (though 16, not 35), so it probably has the potential to look a lot better. The Lie Chair's never going to look pretty, but there's the possibility for The Italian Machine. Still though, for an Asian import that's probably sourced right off a TV broadcast, this could be a lot worse.

 

Of course, there aren't any extras in this set - just optional (I'd say we dodged a bullet having them not burnt in) Japanese subtitles for both films. It would be terrific if the CBC would issue an official DVD of this with the other Cronenberg episodes - Hell, maybe even the whole series; I'm sure there's plenty more lost treasure in there. But rather than holding your breath, if you consider yourself a serious Cronenberg fan, I suggest getting this disc while you still can.

Blue Underground's Shock Waves Vs Blue Underground's Shock Waves (DVD/ Blu-ray Comparison)

Blue Underground first released 1977's creepy Nazi zombie flick Shock Waves on DVD in 2005. It's a cult fan favorite, but when people would bring up the possibility of a blu-ray upgrade, they'd say no, because the film was shot on 16mm, so it's inherently grainy and lacking in detail, and their print wasn't in the best shape anyway, so it wouldn't really benefit from an HD upgrade. But then, finally in 2014, they announced a blu was coming after all, even though, no, they hadn't discovered new, superior source elements. So... is this blu actually an upgrade at all? Were they just catering to fans eager for something they just didn't realize they didn't want? Or is this something really good here? Well, I've got both the original DVD and their new blu-ray release on hand, so let's find out!

There's a reason it's lasted as a cult film after all. It's an earnest, well made horror flick... about Nazi zombies. There have been a few others, but none like this one, which manages to feel like a classic Hammer horror movie with its emphasis on dry dialogue and and a deliberate pace. It relies on atmosphere and suggestion rather than gory monster attacks or gags. And of course it stars Peter Cushing, who naturally conjures Hammer as well. But it's actually an American film, shot in Florida. Boat captain John Carradine wrecks onto a nearly deserted island, but his cast of castaways (sorry) soon chance upon a rather large, abandoned house and set up camp. It turns out not to be so abandoned after all when a crazy-looking Cushing shows up and tries to warn them all away before they run afoul of a unit of Nazi soldiers bred to survive undersea for decades. They were an experiment abandoned when they turned out to be too dangerous and malicious even for the Nazis during wartime, but now they seem to be rising up out of the sea... It's slow, and the story's not exactly intellectually rewarding; but it's an effective, pre-slasher horror.

Blue Underground's 2005 DVD on top; and their 2014 blu-ray on the bottom.

 Well, it does look better. Something's definitely different here. We get a sliver more picture (not just on the sides where the vertical black bars are, but also along the bottom. The grain, which is certainly present in both images, at least looks less splotchy on the blu. The colors look better - in the shots above, the DVD seems to be turning green on the right-hand side; not so on the blu. And the gamma and contrasted have been boosted up a bit, so his face isn't so lost in shadow. Let's look at another.

DVD on top; blu-ray on bottom.

Again, the image is clearer, brightness wise, less murky, and the color timing is different. You also notice the additional picture more distinctly here, as we can see on the blu that Cushing's got something in front of him which was never visible on the DVD.

DVD on top; blu-ray on bottom.

It's not a huge upgrade. If you've got the DVD, I'm not sure it's so crucial to upgrade to the blu-ray just in terms of image. There's not really any new detail discovered in the move to HD. But it is a genuine, visible improvement. I certainly won't be going back to the DVD for future viewings. And you have to give BU credit for not doing any of the naughty things other companies would be tempted to with a print like this, i.e. try to scrub away all the grain with DNR or go nuts trying to find details in the naturally soft image with lots of sharpening and edge enhancement. Blue Underground appears to have done everything they possibly could with what's available. If it's still too grainy or soft for you, blame low budget 70s filmmaking; because even if you unearthed pristine, original camera negatives... well okay, that could help a bit. But it was shot on 16mm, and pretty much what you're seeing here is Shock Waves at its best.

If you're not fussed about upgrading for the limited boost in picture quality, though, you might yet be tempted by the new extras. All the original special features from the DVD are ported over: the director's commentary and interview with actor Luke Halpin, as well as the trailers, stills and radio spots. But they've gone and added three new, all three of which are engaging and informative, and go some way towards making this feel like a special edition rather than just a DVD with extras. Producer and cinematographer Reuben Trane has the most to share about this film. He remembers it well and covers everything from coming up with the original idea, shooting with the cast, and its subsequent history as a finished film. Richard Einhorn is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about this being on of cinema's first electronic scores. And finally Brooke Adams speaks cheerfully about auditioning for the role, working with Carradine and more.

So if you haven't already got the DVD, this is unquestionably another strong release from Blue Underground in its own right. And if you have got it, you might want to prioritize other upgrades before this one. But I'm happy to report that it is a real, visible upgrade.

Lions Gate's Worthwhile(ish) 6-Pack

There's kind of a bunch of these Lions Gate packs. But I'd say the After Dark Horrorfest ones are a little different, so there's really only 4 Horror Collections. And out of those, this and the 8 pack I already covered are the only two that really struck me as worthwhile. The other 8-pack simply doesn't have any titles I'd bother with . At least the other 6-pack has the second two Re-Animator movies and a bunch of Living Dead sequels, which are all fun; but there's better editions of those films out there, including some pretty loaded special editions of the Re-Animator flicks. And if you've read my piece on Return Of the Living Dead 3, all you need to know is they've got the cut version. And it's not the only cut version in that lot. So the only reason to pick it up would be that you're willing to settle for less because of the admittedly great price point (less than $1 a movie ain't bad). That first 8-pack was actually essential for collectors in that it had the best available transfer of one of its films. I mean, only "essential" to people who are already fans of CHUD 2. I think it's an amusing little romp, but I'd hardly argue that it belongs on the shelf of every true film lover worldwide. But my point is: that one offered something superior that you couldn't get anyplace else.

So this set doesn't quite qualify as "essential" by that standard. You'd have to import, but you could get every film in this set presented equally or better on other discs. But it's the only other one I rate as worthwhile because you get a good percentage of nice, OAR transfers, and a couple of them aren't so easy to track down for a decent price otherwise. But let's quit generalizing and get into it film by film.

Blood Diner) Right off the bat, this is probably the title most people were after this set for. It's Jackie Kong's wacked out horror send-up, which starts off paying homage to Blood Feast and just gets weirder from there. The premise, that two killers are turning their victims into food for an unsuspecting populace, has been done to death; but how many of them had its killers taking orders from a floating brain in a jar determined to resurrect a five million year-old goddess? I saw this as a young teen, and that's probably the perfect age to see it. Really silly humor and over the top violence that felt rally outrageous at the time made it a favorite back then. Now it still makes me smile, but it's hard to say how much of it nostalgia vs. anything really holding up. Either way, though, it should at least bring some smiles.

Look how nice and widescreen it is. And it's the uncut version. This hasn't been released in the US at all, outside of this set, much less anamorphically. It's got a little interlacing problem, but Americans should just feel lucky to get this at all. And even compression-wise, well, at least this is just 3 films per disc as opposed to 4, and sans extras.

Update 10/3/16: Americans just got luckier! Lions Gate has released this as a fancy special edition blu-ray as part of their new Vestron Video line-up.  Check out a comparison between the two releases here, as Blood Diner has just been upgraded to its own solo post!  8)

Parents) I'm a big fan of Bob Balaban as an actor; and thanks to Parents, as a director to. Premise-wise, this isn't so far removed from Blood Diner, actually. But tonally, it's very far away. This film tends to get pushed as a comedy, thanks in part to star Randy Quaid, but apart from a few moments, this is really more just a dark... weird movie.  It's closer to Blue Velvet than Vegas Vacation. So people who came into this film expecting big, Family Film laughs were quite put off and this film kinda flopped. But if you're ready to explore the gruesomely nightmarish side of life that bubbles behind the 1950s sitcom veneer, Parents is actually quite a good, underrated film, and probably my main reason for picking up this set.

Pow! Anamorphic widescreen again! And it's a sweet upgrade, as this film was originally released as a no-frills fullscreen disc. It was also released widescreen as part of a double-feature disc, paired with the Ally Sheedy thriller Fear; so I guess you could kinda go either way. Regardless, it's swell to see here.

Update 3/3/17: And just with like Blood Diner, Lions Gate has now released this as a fancy, new special edition blu-ray in their Vestron Video line-up.  Check out a comparison between the two releases here, as Parents has just been upgraded to its own solo post, too!

Earth Girls Are Easy) ...Is a horror movie? I don't think so. But putting that aside, it is a fun, silly comedy with a big cast including Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Geena Davis, Damon Wayans, Charles Rocket, Michael McKean and of course screenwriter Julie Brown. A trio of goofy space aliens crash-land on Earth, but it turns out if you shave them and teach them English they become great boyfriends! It relies too much on the fish out of water in modern society schtick, but it's an upbeat, not at all horrific, romantic comedy with bright colors, musical numbers, and some genuinely funny moments.

Horror Collection on top; 1999 special edition below.

This set even does 2.35:1 correctly! Very nice. I mean, okay, the film's single DVD release does handle the compression better and is a little more defined. If this is one of your favorite movies and you've got a really large television, the difference might matter to you. But it's a pretty decent match unless you're really getting in there to examine those screenshots up close. I should stop to say, though, that this set still includes the movies only. The cover shows a picture of the Earth Girls Are Easy special edition DVD cover, and Film Aficionado insists on listing this as "Special Edition," but to be clear, none of the extras are here. If you want the complete package with the skits, behind-the-scenes footage, outtakes and deleted scenes, you have to actually get that Special Edition DVD elsewhere. But the movie itself is using the same root, widescreen transfer.

Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat) Ah, this movie's so much fun. I still think the Waxwork movies are the peak of Anthony Hickox's career, but I'm sure a lot of cult audiences would argue for this one. It's a character actor's wet dream with an all-star B-movie cast, including Bruce Campbell, David Carradine, Buck Flower, Brendan Hughes who'd just starred as the steamy vampire in To Die For the year before, M Emmet Walsh, Twin Peaks' Dana Ashbrook, John Ireland... oh man, it's endless.  It's one of those movies where everybody's somebody, and there's a whole lot of everybody. A family man brings his family to a small, isolated town that seems to be locked in the times of the old west. That's because its inhabitants are all vampires who've been alive for hundreds of years. They sent for him to help them with a machine to make synthetic blood so they can live amongst the humans without eating them. But unfortunately for them, there's also an uprising of bad vampires that want to take over and continue sucking blood. Oh, and Van Helsing's bumbling ancestor shows up to take (s)take down all the vamps, too. It's certainly light-hearted, but thanks to some excellent performances and direction manages not to get too silly and remains an engrossing story all the way to the end.

But you're probably noticing that these screenshots look pretty square, right? Yeah, this is the one film this set gets wrong. Lions Gate had already released this in its proper, widescreen aspect ratio on a really nice special edition DVD. LG gets, and deserves, a lot of flack for locking away their catalog in a vault to rot; but they did right by Sundown. On this set, however, they went backwards to fullscreen. Either they were just clueless (quite likely) or maybe they didn't want to undercut sales of their special edition and force fans who got this set to still seek the other edition out (also fairly credible). Either way, let's compare screenshots with that edition and see how this film should look.

Update 8/16/21: And now Vestron's released Sundown on blu, too! Forget either of these DVDs; it's the new king in town.

Yeah, I mean, the fullscreen transfer isn't even open matte. They've just chopped off the sides. And seeing as how this is 2.35:1, not 1.85:1, that's a lot to chop! Couple that with the fact that the special edition has a good commentary and some great interviews, and the special edition is essential. You can't make do with this. They might as well have just left this film off if they were going to just treat it like this. Oh well. It's still just one out of six that they botched, which is the best average they've got going in this series.

Fido) I'd heard good things about this one when it came out, but never actually watched it until I got this set. It's set in an alternate timeline of the 1950s, where Romero-style zombies exist and humans have managed to incorporate them into normal life. They can even be pets! It stars the excellent Dylan Baker, Carrie-Anne Moss and believe it or not, Billy Connolly as the titular zombie. This is not really a horror comedy so much as a comedy-comedy which just happens to have signature elements and references to horror movies, but it's still plenty fun. It's a little too breezy and superficial to start to work on the level of Parents. But for a movie made in 2006 that's still riffing on the same recycled zombies clichés, it's a lot better than you'd expect.

Yay, 2.35 again! Although with newer films like these, I don't imagine fuzzy, made-for-square-TVs junk transfers were even created. Someone would have to have not just been careless but go out of their way to deliberately screw with this movie to present it wrong. But with Lions Gate, you never know. So I'm here to tell you, it's nice and OAR. Like Earth Girls, this does look a little splotchy up close, though, but that's what you get when compressing three movies per disc. Anyway, most viewers probably won't notice it in motion unless they're actively looking for it.

Boy Eats Girl) After a modern day zombie parody that manages to avoid feeling like a bunch of canned, recycled attempts at laughs, here's one that... doesn't avoid that. This is a 2005 Irish zombie comedy that pretty much steps in every puddle you expect it to. It's not badly executed, so the characters and action are still at least mildly engaging, but the more zombie films you've seen, the more you're just going to feel like you've seen this one all before. This would be fresh and imaginative if we hadn't had decades of filmmakers come up with all of these angles and variations on the same source material before. Basically, a teenage boy falls in love and then dies. He comes back as a zombie, and a zombie outbreak ensues, but he still loves his girl. This movie's just counting on its audience having never seen anything from Return of the Living Dead 3 to Shaun Of the Dead or My Boyfriend's Back (another one by Bob Balaban) to enjoy this one. And if you haven't, you'll probably find it pretty fresh and novel. Otherwise, it's not terrible but... you'd be better off just watching something else.

So, I'm not big on the movie. But the transfer's nice and widescreen again. As a newer film, like with Fido, I'm sure nothing but OAR exists for this. So at least if you're gonna watch this, you'll be seeing it properly. I will take this last moment to point out that you will come across the occasional ghosting frame like in this screenshot above. And not just in this film. I don't know if it's a conversion thing or what. But it's pretty common on DVDs from various studios, and it's just an intermittent thing, so I guess it's no big deal. But there it is, just FYI.

So there you go. I pretty much said it all. The last one was more essential by having an exclusive transfer. But this one is a nice collection of mostly strong transfers including some titles you'd have to import to match. And there is no special edition of Blood Diner or Parents, so you're not missing out on any extras there.  No longer true; check out their Vestron blus!  Meanwhile, Fido, Boy Eats Girl, Earth Girls Are Easy and Sundown do have special editions; and at least in Sundown's case, you really ought to see it properly there. Nope, there's a blu of that one now, too.  With the other films, depending how impressed you are with them, this set might just be good enough. It's earned a spot in my collection anyway.

Lionsgate's Essential(ish) 8-Pack

When these first came out, they set internet forums on fire. This is one of a series of Horror Collection DVD sets from Lionsgate, which were essentially cheapie budget DVD packs available exclusively at Walmart. But, Lionsgate being Lionsgate, they wound up including a few movies that they'd never released on DVD before, or with superior transfers - and for only $5 - so collectors around the world went digging in those awful Walmart bins in search of a copy and reporting to each on all the major DVD forums. Fortunately, Lionsgate caught on to the demand for these babies and gave them a broader distribution, and now they're pretty easy to find online at all major DVD shops and even Lionsgate's own website.

This set is absolutely a mixed bag, and certainly not a five-star, top of the line release. For one thing, they're eight movies on only two, single-sided discs (at least they're dual layer!), so compression isn't fantastic. Also, the quality is all over the shop and presumably assembled at random by Lionsgate employees without a clue. DVDs that were already released with nice, restored transfers here have cruddy VHS-level presentations. But, as I said, it also has some good, exclusive material that makes it worthwhile, if not essential, for some fans. So let's get our hands dirty and look at this film by film, starting with disc 1.

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There's your menu. No options, no special features, all bare-bones, just "PLAY" for each film. Also notice that they use the Region 2 DVD cover for CHUD 2.

976-EVIL 2) A pretty inferior sequel to a movie that wasn't very good to begin with, 976-EVIL 2 is basically one really fun, memorable scene with a mediocre movie around it to house it. EVIL 2 is basically a direct sequel, but without the star, Stephen Geoffreys and the rest of the cast and crew MIA. Only Patrick O'Bryan returns to be followed by the curse of the first film, with Jim Wynorski replacing Robert Englund in the director's chair. René Assa is the new villain, a school principal who calls the 976 number to get evil supernatural powers and go on a killing spree; and of course no one believes O'Bryan who knows what's going on by virtue of having survived the first film. It primarily comes up short to the first one in the story department... Geoffreys was a relatable killer, who was picked on and had a miserable life before coming under an evil influence that gave him too much power. Assa's character just seems to be a killer because he's a huge asshole. All in all, it's dopey, but energetic enough to make for an enjoyable casual viewing so long as you're not expecting high art.

It's not a very pretty transfer. It's grubby, which could be partially blamed on the compression, but probably mostly just because it's from a tape. It's also full-screen, though looking at the head room, it at least it appears to be open-matte. This film was surely made with home video (back when TVs were all 4:3, of course) in mind from the start. An HD widescreen restoration would obviously be preferable, but it's only ever been released as a non-anamorphic 4:3 transfer, so, you know... low expectations met, I guess.

Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go To College) Even the original Ghoulies was a pretty weak film, but by part 3 the series was really crap. But hey, it's making its DVD debut, at least here in the US (there is a UK DVD). The subtitle explains the movie pretty well, but if you'd seen the first two movies, you'd still be surprised how much further they'd veered from horror to comedy this time around, with the ghoulies now being talking, wise-cracking hand puppets who commit more pranks than grisly murders. This movie is incredibly juvenile, even compared to what you'd expect from a movie called Ghoulies Go To College, and I'd say Kevin McCarthy is only reason to sit through this at all.

Ghoulies 3 was shot on film, so it could look pretty good, but this is just a crappy video transfer.  Full screen and low quality; even Ghoulies 3 fans will be disappointed, as it won't even be a real upgrade from their old VHS tapes ...or Region 2 DVDs, which looked the same.

CHUD 2) This film really has nothing to do with the surprisingly smart little horror flick CHUD, except that they call their monsters "chuds" in this movie, too. The creatures in CHUD looked and behaved nothing like the zombies here, to the point where it feels more like this film started out as a script with no connection to CHUD at all. It also has a completely different tone, set of characters, locale and story; and consequently, it alienated fans... sorta like Halloween 3. And while I don't think this film is as underrated as that one, I do think that, if you can let go of any expectations of quality or sincerity from the first film, CHUD 2 can be a fun, little watch.

Head of the Class's Brian Robbins (this was actually released while the show was still running) and his buddy steal a corpse from a military installation. Just like Night Of the Creeps, basically. And of course that corpse is really a "chud" (read: zombie) who comes back to life and starts a zombie plague in their small suburban town. Robbins and his buddy try to keep everything under wraps as they try to recover Bud, which is made a little easier by the fact that its fallen in love with their girlfriend Katie. Everything gets sillier and sillier as more broadly comic characters are introduced, and as derivative as this flick is, a lot more zombie comedies/ parodies seemed to follow in this flick's footsteps.  There's enough recognizable character actors and amusing gags to make this film worthwhile so long as you know what you're in for and don't mind everything being a goof.

Well, the menu showed us the UK DVD cover, but thankfully this disc doesn't use that disc's VHS-ripped transfer. This is actually a pretty nice looking print in its original widescreen AR. The compression doesn't help, and it's a bit fuzzy at times; but it's a very pleasant surprise. It helps that the film had yet to be released in the USA at all before this; but even for the region free this is a nice upgrade. It's the best edition available anywhere, by far; and one of the reasons this set was so sought after.

Update 10/26/19: Well, it was the best edition, anyway, until they included it in their Vestron line of special edition blu-rays in 2017.  Click here to read a full comparison of both editions.

Waxwork) I really enjoy Waxwork, as well as its sequel. Anthony Hickox was really in his element with these films. They're not quite horror comedies, but they're pure fun. Gremlins star Zach Galligan and a bunch of his buddies break into a wax museum run by one of Hollywood's best bad guys David Warner. The museum is themed after great horror stories, but what the kids soon discover is that when they step across the velvet ropes, the each display turns into a real world. So, step into the mummy's tomb exhibit and whoops, you're really trapped underneath a pyramid with a killer mummy. As you can imagine, this is the perfect set up for all kinds of styles. The movie is constantly shifting between being a sexy vampire story or a throwback zombie movie, but unlike an anthology, remains cohesive with a single, narrative thrust. A great cast, lots of cool effects... a real winner.

Unfortunately, the transfer isn't such a winner. It's a fullscreen transfer of a widescreen film. Then again, this film has yet to be released in its OAR anywhere in the world. So at least it isn't any worse than other discs in that regard (Scream Factory or somebody really needs to get on the Waxwork films!). But to make matters even worse, Lions Gate's disc is cut. Yeah, remember back in the days when horror films used to come out on two VHS tapes, the R-rated and unrated versions? And nobody wanted the R-rated versions, because why would you? Well, the R-rated version is what's on this set. And while it doesn't add up to a lot of screen time, the extra footage really makes a difference in the pay-off of the vampire segment.

Thankfully there are unrated versions available. So for more on Waxwork and its multiple releases, check out its new page here. I've given the film its own separate section, to keep this one from getting bloated. I also delve into Waxwork 2: Lost In Time, which I recommend just as strongly as the original.

Slaughter High) Disc 2 takes us to a pretty traditional 80s slasher, Slaughter High. A bunch of kids picked on a nerd, and accidentally disfigured him in a prank (whoops!). In a plot very reminiscent of Class Reunion Massacre, the caretaker lets them inside for a reunion in their now abandoned school. And instead of understanding that hey, mistakes happen, the nerd is back and secretly killing them off one by one. It's a totally predictable, blasé slasher on the one hand; but it's got a bunch of fun, creative kills and is generally just paced and produced well enough to be a pretty entertaining time. It's got a healthy following, as anyone predisposed to 80s slashers will eat this one right up.

Sure, this scene's supposed to be dark, but come on!

Unfortunately, it's another video-sourced fullscreen transfer. Watchable, but pretty junky, really. At least it looks open matte; but Arrow released a special edition in the UK which blows this one to pieces (and it has reversible artwork, which is why my scan has the alternate, foreign title Jolly Killer). There's a really interesting "everything you wanted to know" audio commentary by the director, as well as less compelling one with Caroline Munro - not her fault, the stupid moderators quickly forget about the film on screen and just gab amongst themselves. There's also a couple interviews and an amusing easter egg, and most importantly, we get a quality, anamorphic widescreen presentation of the film.

Here's how it looks on Arrow's DVD.

So yeah, we lose all the extra headroom; but Arrow's 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen is the far superior composition. And that's not to mention the loads of compelling extras, including two audio commentaries and a bunch of interviews. It's very disappointing how this film was handled by Lions Gate, and fans of Slaughter High who get this set will still need to pick up the Arrow disc to enjoy the film properly.

Class of 1999) Not really a sequel to Class of 1984, but it's definitely some sort of follow-up. Writer/ producer/ director Mark L Lester returns with a similar premise, punk kids running wild. But this time it's set in a dystopian future, and they're pitted against robot teachers created by the military to deal with the worst of the behaved teens. But unfortunately there was a glitch and they revert to their earlier, combat programming and go on a unstoppable killing spree. And only the most misunderstood, biker kid with a heart of gold can stop them. Obviously, this ain't Shakespeare, but the production values are high and some of the performances (mostly by the killer robots) are quite memorable and fun. If you want to see punks riding around a high school in the middle of the night on motorcycles, getting chased by robot adults shooting missiles at them, this is the movie for you.

At least Lionsgate's solo release of Slaughter High looks just as crappy as the one in this set. Arrow restored the film for their special edition, but Lionsgate just released the crap that they had. Here, Class of 1999 again looks like a cheap-o fullscreen flop; but this set comes well after Lionsgate had already issued Class on a nice, anamorphic widescreen disc - why would they go backwards here? I know, I know... Because nobody at Lionsgate realizes or cares... sigh

Look at their name-tags. "Bland." They absolutely are reprising their characters from Eating Raoul.

Chopping Mall) This one's a real crowd pleaser. We're back with Jim Wynorski, this time telling the tale of a group of teenagers who stay overnight inside a shopping mall. Unfortunately, they chose the night the mall just installed their new collection of robot security guards. When lightning strikes the building, the robots turn into berserk killing machines, and it becomes a small war. Cameos by Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, Angus Scrimm, and especially Dick Miller add a lot of flavor to the proceedings, but this film is enough of a blast on its own.

Another full screen transfer, again looking open matte. It's essentially the same transfer as the special edition they'd previously released, but of course lacking all of its awesome extras. Those included an entertaining commentary, a really neat featurette on the killbots and of course the trailer. Wynorski attempted to release a nice blu-ray edition not too long ago, but Lionsgate being Lionsgate, they quashed that while opting to not do anything with it themselves. Well, hallelujah!  It seems they've seen the light, and finally released this on blu-ray with a fresh 4k scan and a ton of extras!  Full comparison between this, the DVD special edition and the new blu has been carried over to its own page, here.

The Unholy) Our final film, again making its US debut, although it has been released overseas. The Unholy is more of a serious film, starring Ben Cross as a priest who begins to unravel a mystery involving the death of a priest who'd been in the same church before him. Things get dark and supernatural and lead up to a wild conclusion. It can be a bit slow moving along the way, but it's all pretty well done and the ending will make you glad you stuck it through.

Thankfully, like its overseas counterpart. this film is presented in its original, widescreen aspect ratio. It looks pretty great, in fact the best of all of them, and is another strong reason to pick up this set. Not a great film, but a good one, and looking good, which I'm sure adds to this one feeling like a higher quality production.

I guess this set is really only "essential" for it's exclusive, proper presentation of CHUD 2. But it also saves you the cost of picking up a couple foreign imports (Unholy, Ghoulies 3), and gives you a bunch of bonus fullscreen flicks to boot. All for $5-$8 is a pretty great deal. Some more widescreen prints and an uncut Waxwork would have made this a really sweet set; but it's still got some goodies you can't get anywhere else. So I'm spreading the word.