The Annihilators
Director– Charles E. Sellier Jr.
Starring – Jim Antonio, Sid Conrad, Gerrit Graham
Country of Origin - U.S.
Distributor - Kino Lorber
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 08/06/2019
The Annihilators is the story of four former soldiers who reunite to bring civility and humanity back to a town that has been infested with gangs and drug dealers. When ex-soldier Bill (Christopher Stone) returns from Vietnam sees that his neighborhood he had lived in has turned into a town now being terrorized by a vicious drug dealing street gang led by Roy Boy Jagger (Paul Koslo), he contacts his former GI buddies including Ray Track (Gerrit Graham), Garrett Floyd (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), and Woody (Andy Wood) and together, they devise a plan to rid the town of the gang.
The Annihilators is a brutal in your face hard-hitting film, loaded with action and gun violence. It is more or less your typical New World Pictures 80’s low budget all-out action film. The pace of the film moves briskly with some gore and a bit of tantalizing female flesh to keep you interested. Director Charles E. Sellier Jr. (Silent Night, Deadly Night) gets a lot of mileage from his cast, and while the acting isn’t spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, it works well here, as viewers will tend to be more interested in the violence and exploitation that the film offers as opposed to the dialog.
Kino Lorber debuts The Annihilators on Blu-ray in the USA with a Region A release and it’s a satisfactory package. The picture quality which was given a new 2K scan looks fantastic with vivid colors, especially in the daylight. Early on where the picture takes place in the jungle, the green trees and grass are rich and bold with strong details deep textures and remains strong for the remainder of the film. Cinematographer Henning Schellerup captures some beautiful scenery in downtown Atlanta where the film was shot and the image quality in HD is also quite breathtaking. Black levels are balanced with proper shadowing and skin tones look natural, showing fine details in close-ups. And yes, this is uncut 85 minute version of the film, as it contains a topless woman getting stabbed and sliced down the middle with lots of blood flowing.
The English DTS-HD master audio 2.0 track is also more than serviceable, perhaps a bit passive sounding in the dialog department. Gunshots, screaming and other action noises do come in loud and clear, but nothing that is overly aggressive. The music by Bob Summers comes in loud and clear. Optional English subtitles are available.
There are several extras for this release. The New Heat on the Street: A new video interview with actor Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs is a ten minute interview, where the former Welcome Back Kotter actor discusses his role in The Annihilators, with some other interesting tidbits about how he got the part, and his martial arts work for the making of this picture. He also talks about the cast and crew.
In Search of Charles E. Sellier Jr: A new video interview with director David O’Malley is another featurette where director O’Malley discusses the career of Charles E. Sellier, Jr. and his previous films, and other behind the scenes information. He compares him to Roger Corman. O’Malley has a great voice and his insight makes this a recommended watch.
On top of that, there is a comparison between the censored and uncensored releases of the film, which is just a whopping two seconds. We see the difference between the two shots multiple times, where the cut scene takes place and how it appears in its uncut form.
Kino has included theatrical trailers for their catalog of films which includes The Annihilators, Steel Justice, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Code of Silence, Black Moon Rising and Stryker.
If this package from Kino Lorber sounds just like the overseas Arrow Video release, that’s because this release is more or less identical, with Kino’s being the US counterpart to Arrow’s UK release. The only differences are the sleeve art and the trailers from Kino’s library of similar films.
If you are a Region A only collector and have waited for a domestic release of The Annihilators, this is your chance to pick this one up. I highly recommend it and seriously doubt this film will get a better release that what Kino Lorber has given to it.
