The Film (3/5)

Al Adamson, one of the all-time great sleazy “Z” filmmakers, who either entertained or nauseated fans with quite a few schlock horrors including Dracula vs. Frankenstein and Brain of Blood, also gave us  Nurse Sherri, which is actually better than most of his films. The film actually has a few different titles, including The Possession of Nurse Sherri and Terror Hospital for prior home video releases, but this Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome is under the Nurse Sherri movie title.

The plot is very basic; it’s about a spirit that takes over the body of someone, which is reminiscent to some extent of the Exorcist films. It all beings with a cult leader Reanhauer (Bill Roy, Black Samurai) who tries but ultimately fails in his attempt to bring back to life a dead member of his cult, and actually dies during the process. The spirit leaves the dead body at a hospital and winds up inside Sherri (Jill Jacobson, The Jigsaw Murders), the hospital nurse and goes on a killing spree. She is specifically killing those who have done harm to that specific dead cult member and also tries to kill her boyfriend, Peter Desmond (Geoffrey Land, Doctor Dracula) probably for trying to stop her!

So, when it’s all said and done, Nurse Sherri isn’t Al Adamson’s worst, in fact it’s pretty decent and certainly better than some of his other offerings. The gore scenes and effects are good; there is some tension and suspense, especially toward the end with the creepy musical score. The acting, however, is pretty lousy and just odd at times, and the pacing of the film is lethargic.

The movie even has a good developing subplot with nurse Tara Williams (Marilyn Joi, Galaxina) who spends time with a blind patient Marcus Washington (Prentiss Moulden, in his only film) who explains demon possessions.

Audio/Video (3/5)

This release from Vinegar Syndrome is a Blu-ray / DVD combo. I will just be covering the image and video quality of the Blu-ray disc

Before the film begins there is a brief note that says there will be “fluctuations in grain structure as well as overall image quality” because “16mm elements were lost” and the elements are sourced from a “blown up 35mm version”.

That being said Nurse Sherri gets a 2K scan from Vinegar Syndrome, which is also presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, in 1080p with an MPEG-4 AVC encode and despite the forewarning of the image quality, it isn’t a miserable viewing experience whatsoever. 

The picture quality is a mixed bag but overall I feel it’s satisfactory. Some colors look pretty dynamic, but black levels are a little bit distorted in some scenes. Film grain is prevalent throughout, and I noticed a few areas in the film that were completely smothered in film grain. Flesh tones also look a little inconsistent. Some parts of the film look pretty decent in daylight scenes, but then on the flip side, other parts are hazy, but never spectacular. I guess we can just call this a “Grindhouse Style” in terms of image quality, which seems pretty suitable for an obscure gore film.

English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 is what’s used for the audio and it’s perfectly fine but nothing spectacular. Dialog, music, and screams come in loud and clear without pops or drop-offs. None of the audio in the film was really overly aggressive sounding or even ‘soft’; so let’s just call it adequate.

On the plus side, which I know fans do appreciate,  the release does offer English SDH subtitles.

Extras (4/5)

There are a lot of cool features for Vinegar Syndrome’s release of Nurse Sherri. For starters there is a commentary track with producer Sam Sherman. Other extras include a 20 minute interview with the women of Nurse Sherri,  which are Jill Jacobson and Marilyn Joi; “Locations Then and Now “ compares both the suburban and hospital settings of the movie from the time of this movie to present

There is a promotional still gallery, a reversible cover and two theatrical trailers as well. On top of everything else, this release is Region Free.

The DVD has another version of the film, Killer's Curse which is five minutes longer than Nurse Sherri. This particular cut has more ‘skin’, giving it the edge on being sleazier.

Overall

For a movie from Al Adamson, this wasn’t too bad but still not a classic by any stretch of the imagination. Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray / DVD combo of Nurse Sherri is overall a great package, giving it the royal treatment with the best image quality the film has ever seen and a busload of extras. Highly recommended !