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Arrow Video has in a short few years become one of, if not THE premiere label for not just genre aficionados to go for their home video cinematic fix, but for film buffs of all stripes to get the highest quality Blu-ray releases on the market. They cover everything from grindhouse horror to arthouse cinema and everything in between, and thus have a lot to offer the discerning film viewer. I would say that Arrow are making Blu-ray's up to the Criterion standard, but I feel that would be doing the label a disservice, as they are setting a new high watermark for home video releases. They also put out so much that it is hard to keep track of their wonderful output. So I thought I'd put a spotlight on some of their more recent releases from the period of late January-March 2018.
Orchestra Rehearsal
Director– Federico Fellini
Starring – Balduin Baas, Clara Colosimo
Country of Origin- Italy
Discs- 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
Getting any unreleased Fellini to Blu-ray is a reason to be excited, and I stand by that, however minor the film. Fellini's work, no matter the film was injected with his sense of humor, and enthusiasm for life. While, I would be quite happy if something like La Strada or Juliet of the Spirits would finally nab a Region A Blu-ray release, after seeing the Fellini obscurity Orchestra Rehearsal, I am quite happy to add this one to my collection. Orchestra Rehearsal is not a Fellini film I had been aware of prior to this Arrow Video Blu-ray release, but it has elements of the documentary style of I, Clowns and Fellini: A Director's Notebook and combines them into something with a more realist feel (while not leaving the surreal entirely behind).
The film follows a TV documentary crew, while they document an Orchestra's rehearsal with a new German conductor. The documentary crew begins interviewing the crew, who tries to validate the importance of their individual instrument, before the conductor comes out, and begins to dominate the scene. The film then takes some time between sessions with him, only to come back to an orchestra in full revolt. The film is Fellini's strong attempt at social satire with broad attempts at comedy, and obvious attempts at making a political statement about life in deep post-war Italy. Even without those considerations the film works quite well, mixing a realist documentary feel with slight elements of comedy and the surreal to create something special. The score by Nino Rota (his last) is truly magnificent, and is enough to recommend the film on it's own.
The film gets a solid 1:78:1 1080p transfer from Arrow. The Blu-ray looks and sounds very natural and nice with solid detail and an organic grain field present. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD mono track in Italian. Extras include a documentary on Rota on and the film, a Visual Essay on the film, and a gallery.
The Film (4/5)
Audio/Video (3.5/5)
Extras (3/5)
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Henri Georges Clouzot’s Inferno
Director– Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea
Starring – Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani
Country of Origin- France
Discs- 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
There has been a certain fascination with unmade and incomplete films over the last decade or so. We have seen documentaries such as Jodorowsky's Dune and Lost Souls: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's The Island of Doctor Moreau make waves in the film community. However, before these a documentary called Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno made quite the splash in the film community. This film documents the making of Inferno Clouzot's follow up to his critically acclaimed Diabolique, its supposedly epic nature, its complex production, and unfortunately failure.
Clouzot's Inferno was going to be his most epic film. A delirious film that dealt with jealously and the psychological toll it takes on a married couple. The documentary filmmakers Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea actually acquired access to the footage from that ill-fated shoot, and managed to restore it and incorporate it into their Inferno so we the viewer can see bits and pieces of what Clouzot was attempting with the film which would have used black and white sequences to depict the real world of the film, and lush moments of psychedelic colors to depict a dreamlike unreality. The shoot itself as viewers will see drove cast and crew to the brink, and Clouzot himeslf to a near-fatal heart attack.
Arrow presents Inferno in a solid 1:78:1 1080p transfer that is solid, but a mixed bag due to the variety of the sources used. This is to be expected. The colors in some of the Inferno sequences truly pop, while some of the other archival stuff looks a bit worse for wear. The whole of the image looks fine. Audio is presented in a DTS-HD 5.1 track in French. Everything comes across sounding fine with no issues. Extras included a featurette called They Saw Inferno, interviews, trailers, and galleries.
The Film (5/5)
Audio/Video (3.5/5)
Extras (3.5/5)
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The Gruesome Twosome
Director– H.G. Lewis
Starring – Chris Martell, Rodney Bedell
Country of Origin- U.S.
Discs- 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
OK, so I've given you reviews of Fellini and a documentary about Clouzot, so obviously you think I’m a classy film watching fella, right? Well, now I am about to sing the praises of one of the great undersung cinematic auteurs of the 1960's Herschell Gordon Lewis. Yes, H.G. Lewis was not what one would call an arthouse film maker. His films were workmanlike to the core, usually shot with one take, and if that didn't get what he wanted, he used it anyway. However, his films manage to do on a base level what all films should always do, ENTERTAIN. He started his career in film working in nudie-cuties, but made his reputation with a little film called "Blood Feast", that gave him a reputation as the "Godfather of Gore". From there he expanded into other genres, before cinematic violence came calling back to him in the late 1960's and he made "The Gruesome Twosome", while not as gruesome as the title lets on. The Gruesome Twosome is still Lewis being as entertaining as he can be with some decent grue thrown in for fans of his earlier work.
The Gruesome Twosome follows Mrs. Pringle and her son Rodney. The pair run the "Little Wig Shop". Which sells the highest quality wigs in their home town. Of course, like the painter in Lewis' "Color Me Blood Red", the source of the wigs is not easy to come by, it takes MURDER. The two trick women to come back to their shop where Rodney promptly kills them, and scalps them in some grotesque moments of scalp-fu. The film itself isn't a highlight reel of gore like The Blood Trilogy, but those scalping scenes are definitely gross viewing. The film's true highlights, however, are the characterizations of Rodney and Mrs. Pringle, and the opening scene where a couple of mannequin heads have a bizarre conversation.
The Gruesome Twosome comes to Blu in a transfer that I'll say is an upgrade from what came before, but is not what most will call reference quality. However, these are the best materials out there for Gruesome Twosome, so I doubt it will ever look better than this. Colors are decent and detail is nice, but there is major issue with damage throughout the presentation. Audio is LPCM mono in English and sounds fine for the most part. Extras include an introduction to this film and A Taste of Blood by H.G. Lewis, a 2nd feature A Taste of Blood, an interview with Peaches Christ on H.G. Lewis an interview with Fred Olen Ray on the film, and much much more.
The Film (3/5)
Audio/Video (2/5)
Extras (4/5)
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Scalpel
Director– John Grissmer
Starring – Robert Lansing, Sandy Martin
Country of Origin- U.S.
Discs- 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
Robert Lansing plays Dr. Phillip Reynolds, a plastic surgeon who has an eye on his families fortune. At the same time he has brutally murdered his daughter, Heather's boyfriend, an act he attributes to a rape act against her, but is simply an act of parental anger and incestual jealousy. In fear for her own safety, Heather runs away, but returns 6 month's later to find things are quite different. Her uncle has died under mysterious circumstances, and her Father has taken the disfigured face of an accident victim Jane, and made it into the spitting image of her own.
Scalpel is the debut film from director John Grissmer (1 of sadly only 2 features he would make). The other being the camp slasher classic Blood Rage. Scalpel was a film I had not heard of until Arrow Video announced it, and then I kept hearing about it. Having seen Blood Rage recently, I thought I would know what to expect, however, I was to discover I was completely wrong. Scalpel was a delightful discovery in the realm of 70's regional horror cinema. The film feels like a mix of a Southern gothic thriller, and an American take on the giallo.
Scalpel is a lot less violent than I expected. But it pre-dates the slasher craze by a year or two. Instead it has a few violent moments, but it a more moderately paced film that relies on a bizarre story, and some strange moments to sell itself. The performances from the main cast are solid, but at times feel like southern caricatures. The film has a bizarre quality that I took too, and overall I enjoyed the film a lot, and am excited that this one is out there for horror fans to rediscover.
Arrow Video presents Scalpel in a very natural looking 1:85:1 1080p transfer that presents the film in a solid manner. Detail looks fine, black levels are deep, and colors reflect the natural look of the production. There is some softness, but again that is less a reflection of the transfer, and more a reflection of the film itself. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD mono track in English. Everything sounds clear and concise here with no issues. Extras include an commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith, an introduction by the the direction, multiple on-camera interviews with the cast and crew, and more.
The Film (4/5)
Audio/Video (4/5)
Extras (3.5/5)
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Images
Director– Robert Altman
Starring – Susannah York, Rene Auberjonois
Country of Origin- U.S/Ireland
Discs- 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
Susannah York plays Cathryn a young married woman, who is convinced after a series of bizarre phone calls that her husband, Hugh, is cheating on her. When he returns home that night, she begins to break down, and hallucinates the image of a man, that she previously cheated on him with years before, but who died tragically. She quickly convinces him to go to their vacation cottage Green Cove, in the hopes that getting away from their home might stop her impending break down. Unfortunately, for Cathryn it does not. She begins to hallucinate the images of 2 men, the man she cheated with, and a neighbor whose young daughter she has taken a liking to. She also begins to see a doppelganger of herself, who she is convinced is her darker side, and is making her do terrible things. Cathryn fights with herself to try and discern what is reality, and what is actually her imagination.
First of all, I am so glad Arrow Video finally got Images to Blu-ray. I have wanted a quality version of this film on Blu-ray for so long, and it is finally here. With that out of the way. Images is part of trilogy of films about disturbed women that Altman did, starting with his debut feature film That Cold Day in the Park and concluding with 3 Women. I feel that Images falling between those 2 always seemingly got the cold shoulder, as the former was considered the cinematic debut of a great American auteur, and 3 Women is considered a stone cold classic by many (and it rightfully is).
Images, however, from its American debut at the New York Film Festival in 1972 has largely been an ignored film in the Altman oeuvre. It's like Altman skewed so close to the horror genre, that critics felt the need to ignore him. However, the film is one of his most distinct and powerful films. For one it doesn't feature his trademark overlapping dialogue. When watching it in retrospect outside of his now closed filmography, it makes that part of the experience more unique.
It is also shot in Ireland, and feels a lot more cold and atmospheric than many of his other films. The film has a brutal and bizarre tone that also seemingly sets it apart from certain other films in his oeuvre. The central performance from Susannah York is sheer brilliance, whether she is playing herself, a woman falling apart, or a doppleganger of herself. She is absolutely dynamic in this role covering the full range of emotions needed for Cathryn. The score by John Williams is a sparse haunting affair that really helps set the tone for the film. The cinematographer by Vilmos Zsigmond captures the cold atmosphere of the piece.
Arrow Video presents Images in a brilliant 2:35:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer preserving the film's OAR. Everything here looks brilliant, Detail is excellent thoughout, colors pop, and blacks are inky and deep. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD 1.0 track in English. Everything from the dialogue to the score came through perfectly. Extras include a screen specific commentary by the late director Altman. We also get an in-depth, and fascinating commentary track by Diabolique's Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger. The third act dive into comparison's between Images and Zulawski's Possession made me hope that Mondo Vision has them lined up for their trilogy of upcomoing Zulawski releases. We also have a fantastic interview and appreciation of the film by Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower, whose presence is always welcome on these releases. There is also an archival featurette with Altman and Zsigmond, and a trailer.
The Film (5/5)
Audio/Video (5/5)
Extras (4/5)
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