FILM FRENZY

Howard Sherman in Day of the Dead (Photo: Shout! Studios)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

DAY OF THE DEAD (1985). George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead has long been considered a classic, as has its 1978 sequel Dawn of the Dead. As for this third installment — well, it’s generally considered anything but a classic, yet over time it’s slowly been gaining a better reputation than the middling one it received upon its original release, when it quickly became apparent that this was the runt of its particular cinematic litter. Set in an underground military bunker, this finds a group of scientists and other nonmilitary personnel engaged in a mental and (eventually) physical tug-of-war with the trigger-happy soldiers who would be just as content wiping out everybody (scientists and zombies alike) who vexes them. Largely missing is the primal horror of the first film and the sharp satire of the second, yet what remains isn’t bad at all, with some of Romero’s interesting ideas and makeup effects artist Tom Savini’s gory effects triumphing over some amateurish performances. A major exception on the acting front: Howard Sherman, who’s effective, even touching, as Bub the domesticated zombie. Interestingly, Day of the Dead shares the same philosophy as 2002’s considerably more acclaimed zombie flick 28 Days Later: A flesh-eating monster may be nobody’s idea of a desirable companion, but he’s no worse than a spirit-sapping military man. The three movies were long considered a trilogy until Romero revived the franchise 20 years later for three further pictures, starting with 2005’s Land of the Dead.

Shout! Studios has released Day of the Dead in a 4-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray edition that’s, in a word, superb. Extras include archival audio commentary by Romero, Savini, lead Lori Cardille, and production designer Cletus Anderson; audio commentary by author Daniel Kraus (Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World); the feature-length making-of documentary World’s End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead; new interviews with Cardille, supporting actor John Amplas (the star of Romero’s Martin; see From Screen To Stream below), supporting actor and Savini’s assistant Greg Nicotero; composer and first assistant director John Harrison; second unit cameraman Ernest Dickerson (future cinematographer of Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X and director of Juice, Bones, and several episodes of The Walking Dead); and Romero’s wife Suzanne Romero and daughter Tina Romero; and behind-the-scenes footage from Savini’s archives. The set also contains several collectible lobby cards.

Movie: ★★★

ERASER (1996). Even though Eraser has to contend with a pencil-thin (ouch) plot, it still functions as a reasonably entertaining vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnie’s cast as the Eraser head himself: John Kruger, a U.S. Marshal whose specialty is scrubbing Witness Protection Plan entrants of their old lives and identities so that no one can find them. His latest assignment is Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams), who works at a company that creates various weapons of war — when Lee learns of a plot to sell electromagnetic railguns to a Russian arms dealer who looks suspiciously like Yanni, she turns whistleblower. Enter Kruger, who has his work cut out for him when it becomes clear that there’s a traitor within his own department who’s outing informants, including Lee. There are some notable action set-pieces, particularly Kruger’s plummet from an airplane, but much of the action feels rote and the typical Arnie one-liners are on the anemic side (“You’re luggage,” he quips as he puts a few slugs into an alligator). Old vets James Caan and James Coburn (as, respectively, Kruger’s mentor and both men’s boss) are on hand to lend this some clout, and Robert Pastorelli, popular at the time thanks to his long-standing role on TV’s Murphy Brown, amuses as a witness who’s saved at the start of the film by Kroger and reappears later when the U.S. Marshal seeks his help.

Extras in the 4K + Digital Code edition consist of a pair of featurettes looking at the film and at Arnie’s work on it.

Movie: ★★½

THE LATE SHOW (1977). If, as is commonly (and correctly) believed among select critics, the best female performance of 1977 not to nab an Oscar nomination belonged to Cannes winner Shelley Duvall in writer-director Robert Altman’s 3 Women, I would suggest that, on the male side, that designation would have to go to Art Carney in writer-director Robert Benton’s Altman-produced The Late Show. Carney, who had won the Best Actor Oscar for 1974’s Harry and Tonto, is terrific as private eye Ira Wells, the central character in this sterling example of a neo-noir. After his former partner (Howard Duff) turns up at his door and promptly dies from his wounds, Ira decides to investigate — along the way, he receives unexpected help (or would it be hindrance?) from Margo (Lily Tomlin), a flaky chatterbox who had hired Ira’s ex-partner to find her missing cat right before he was murdered. The plotline is often molasses-thick, but the dialogue is crisp and the characters all exhibit differing degrees of quirkiness that add to the tale’s singularity. This was far more popular with critics than with audiences — e.g. Gene Siskel had it #2 on his year-end 10 Best list while Roger Ebert had it #3 — but it continued the career ascendancy of Benton, who earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for this picture and would later win statues for Kramer vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart. Incidentally, Ira’s landlady is played by Ruth Nelson, a prolific actress in the 1940s who returned to the screen after a 29-year absence to appear in two 1977 titles: The Late Show and… 3 Women.

Blu-ray extras consist of a segment from a 1975 episode of Dinah! featuring Tomlin as a guest, and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★½

PERFECT BLUE (1997). It’s hard to believe this anime offering, the debut feature from the late writer-director Satoshi Kon, was made 29 years ago, since its ideas about the influence and omnipresence of social media seem even more relevant today. The film centers on young Mima Kirigoe as she leaves a popular pop band to try her luck as an actress — it’s hardly a smooth transition, and it’s made even more difficult since she’s being targeted by a stalker. Adapting Yoshikazu Takeuchi’s novel alongside scripter Sadayuki Murai, Kon has fashioned a psychological character study that unexpectedly swerves into murder-mystery territory, and it further deepens its themes by skipping between reality and fantasy. Perfect Blue is a brutal and haunting meditation on identity, femininity, and fame, and it’s no surprise that Darren Aronofsky is a major fan — traces of the film can be found in both Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan. Kon followed Perfect Blue with 2001’s Millennium Actress, 2003’s Tokyo Godfathers, and 2006’s Paprika before tragically succumbing to cancer in 2010, at the age of 46.

Perfect Blue has been reissued as a 4K UHD + Blu-ray Limited Edition Steelbook. The 4K offers the unrated version while the Blu-ray also houses the original presentation (both are available with Japanese or English audio). Extras include a series of lectures conducted by Kon; interviews with Kon and select voice actors; the recording session for the song “Angel of Your Heart”; and the full English version of “Angel of Your Heart.”

Movie: ★★★

POSSESSED (1931). This Possessed starring Joan Crawford is not to be confused with the other Possessed starring Joan Crawford. That Possessed is a 1947 psychological melodrama that earned the star a Best Actress Oscar nomination (read the review here); this Possessed is a Depression-era drama with Clark Gable, her frequent co-star (eight films together) and real-life lover. Completely unrelated to the later film, this one’s based on the Broadway play The Mirage and stars Crawford as Marian Martin, a Pennsylvania factory girl who’s tired of her grubby lot in life and hightails it to New York. Deciding to snag a wealthy man, she latches onto Park Avenue lawyer Mark Whitney (Gable) — even though he knows her game plan (she doesn’t hide it), he still makes her his mistress, along the way turning her into a true NYC sophisticate. But despite their growing love for each other, he has yet to marry her, meaning there’s the possibility of scandal once he decides to run for public office. Further complicating the scenario is Al Manning (Wallace Ford), her former small-town sweetheart who unexpectedly turns up in the Big Apple still hoping to wed her. Not as outrageous as many of the other sexually charged pre-Code pics, this one is notable for its strong feminist slant — that’s courtesy of scripter Lenore Coffee, who wrote films for nearly all of Golden Hollywood’s top actresses (Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Lana Turner, and more).

Blu-ray extras consist of the 1931 live-action short Love-Tails of Morocco and the 1931 cartoon Bosko the Doughboy.

Movie: ★★★

SCREAM 7 (2026). A particularly feeble entry in the never-say-live series (30 years and counting!), Scream 7 bolts away from the flow of Scream (i.e. Scream 5) and Scream VI due to an unfortunate firing. With Melissa Barrera and Jenny Ortega firmly established as the new faces of the franchise, cast as half-sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, and with original series star Neve Campbell not even appearing in Scream VI because of a salary dispute, it was clear the series was headed in a different direction. But then Barrera was fired and booted for her pro-Palestinian stance, prompting Ortega to also take a hike, and Campbell subsequently agreed to return in her signature role of Sidney Prescott. Thus we have Scream 7, a dreary slasher flick in which the latest Ghostface (or Ghostfaces, given the series’ history) goes after Tatum (Isabel May), the teenage daughter of Sidney and local police chief Mark Evans (Joel McHale). There’s evidence that Stu Macher (Matthew Lilliard), one of the original Ghostface killers from the first film, might actually still be alive, yet there’s also the possibility that the murderer might be one of Tatum’s friends. So whodunnit? Who cares? At this point, the franchise is running on fumes: The meta aspect, which was praised to the high heavens back in 1996 (although not by me), is tired, the mother-daughter angle is too familiar (even that dreadful Halloween reboot/trilogy employed it), and the whole enterprise now feels like an endless soap opera — given the elevated mean-spiritedness of this entry, one that could be called As the Stomach Turns.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition include a making-of piece; deleted scenes; and the music video for Ice Nine Kills’ “Twisting the Knife.”

Movie: ★½

7 FACES OF DR. LAO (1964). Loosely adapted from Charles G. Finney’s 1935 novel The Circus of Dr. Lao, this production from fantasy filmmaker George Pal (The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine) is an offbeat yarn in which Tony Randall plays no less than seven roles. First and foremost, he’s Dr. Lao, a Chinaman who arrives in a Western town with his circus in tow. While local bigwig Clinton Stark (Arthur O’Connell) tries to swindle the townspeople out of their land, and while local newsman Edward Cunningham (John Ericson) tries to stop him, Lao quietly sets about getting his show up and running. Rather than offering the usual clowns and tightrope walkers, his attractions consist of legendary characters: Merlin the Magician, Medusa, Pan, Apollonius of Tyana, the Great Serpent, and the Abominable Snowman (Randall plays all save the Snowman; his seventh role is a bit part as an audience member). Through various performances, these figures go about showing the townspeople the error of their ways, with the proceedings punctuated by a visit from the Loch Ness Monster. Draggy in spots but mostly enchanting, this unique endeavor earned makeup artist William Tuttle an Honorary Academy Award for his remarkable achievements, with Jim Danforth picking up a nomination for Best Visual Effects.

Extras in the 4K + Blu-ray edition consist of a 1968 short on Tuttle, who was head of MGM’s makeup department; the 1964 Tom & Jerry cartoon The Cat Above and the Mouse Below; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

FILM CLIPS

THE 5-MAN ARMY (1969). This disappointing Spaghetti Western should please those not looking for anything exceptional. A routine oater, it stars Peter Graves as “The Dutchman,” a mercenary who enlists the aid of four other men — an explosives expert (James Daly), a strongman (Bud Spencer, already leapfrogging in popularity thanks to his wildly successful buddy flicks with Terence Hill), a circus acrobat (Nino Castelnuovo), and a samurai (Tetsuro Tamba) — to help him rob a shipment of gold during the Mexican Revolution. Future horror guru Dario Argento co-wrote the script while Ennio Morricone contributes a suitably bombastic score. I’ve long been curious about this one since Leonard Maltin (in his movie guide) originally gave this 1½ stars but upgraded it to 3 stars in later years. Alas, the old rating is a tad too harsh but closer to the truth.

The only Blu-ray extra is the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★

MARLOWE (1969). Based on Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister, Marlowe casts James Garner as private eye Philip Marlowe, who agrees to help a naive girl (Sharon Farrell) from the sticks locate her brother in big, bad Los Angeles. But the missing man is hardly a squeaky-clean citizen, which invariably forces the wisecracking detective to spend time in the company of various criminals, including a mob kingpin (H.W. Wynant) and his destructive right-hand man (Bruce Lee, letting his fists of fury go to town on Marlowe’s office). Garner is well cast, and it’s fun to watch the Maverick/The Rockford Files star square off against another TV legend, All in the Family/In the Heat of the Night star Carroll O’Connor (cast here as a decent police lieutenant exasperated with Marlowe’s lack of cooperation).

Blu-ray extras include a visual essay and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

DIARY OF THE DEAD (2007). The fifth film in George Romero’s zombie franchise finds him meeting not just the new youth culture that had overtaken the entertainment industry by that time but also the new technology used to relate its tales. The cast skews far younger than in any of the previous Dead flicks, as several college students (with one professor tagging along to represent the older generation) are interrupted in their filming of a mummy movie with reports that the world around them has gone haywire. Using the technology they have at their disposal (digital cameras, computers, etc.), the group decides it must record for posterity the zombie plague that has seized the nation — a noble idea, although Romero’s script is quick to also criticize their (and, by extension, modern America’s) obsessions with voyeurism, sensationalism, and self-adoration. A decent outing (although no match for the original trilogy, or 2005’s Land of the Dead), this was made and released around the same time as the similar — and far more profitable ($80 million stateside vs. Diary’s domestic take of $5 million) — Cloverfield.

Movie: ★★½

MARTIN (1977). This cult item is considered by many critics to be George Romero’s best film, and it does receive the highest seal of approval imaginable: Romero himself stated that it was his favorite of his own output. Martin is among the more unique vampire movies in that it’s never completely established whether its central character is indeed a vampire or just a guy who thinks he’s one (although Romero went on record with his interpretation). As played by boyish John Amplas (making his film debut, as well as his first of six films with Romero), Martin — who’s not afraid of garlic, crosses or the sun — employs a syringe to inject his female victims with a serum that renders them immobile before sexually assaulting them and then using a razor blade to slice open their wrists and drink their blood. Martin’s elderly relative (Lincoln Maazel) is convinced the young man is a real vampire, but viewers are left to decide for themselves. Martin is a deeply disturbing film, with Romero offering several interesting directorial touches that accentuate the eeriness. Day of the Dead makeup artist Tom Savini made his acting debut in a supporting role — he also provided the film’s makeup effects — and that’s Romero himself as Father Howard.

Movie: ★★★

THE POWER (1968). Producer George Pal and director Byron Haskin, neither exactly a slouch in the fantasy-flick field (their collaborations included Conquest of Space and The War of the Worlds), are behind The Power, in which a team of scientists finds its members getting bumped off by a telekinetic killer. One of the group (George Hamilton) decides to investigate on his own, resulting in a Hitchcockian trek involving remote areas, red herrings, and a mood-appropriate score by Spellbound Oscar winner Miklós Rózsa. The intriguing story remains frustratingly on the surface, but the film’s visuals are often eye-popping (literally, in the gruesome death of one of the characters) and Hamilton is backed by a terrific cast of familiar faces: Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still’s Klaatu), Arthur O’Connell (also in Pal’s 7 Faces of Dr. Lao), Gary Merrill (one of Bette Davis’ exes), Yvonne De Carlo (matriarch Lily on TV’s The Munsters), and more. Oh, yes, there’s also a cameo appearance by beloved Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J Ackerman.

Movie: ★★★

THE SAND PEBBLES (1966). An epic in every sense of the cinematic term — lavish production values, widescreen presentation, hefty running time (three hours), even an intermission at the halfway mark — The Sand Pebbles is also noteworthy in that it was one of the first films to touch upon the Vietnam War. It does so in a roundabout way — after all, this film is set in 1926 China — yet with its explorations of the imperialist mindset and the unwanted American presence on foreign soil, it’s not hard to connect the dots. The story centers on the members of the gunboat the San Pablo, specifically its maverick engineer (Steve McQueen), his sensitive best friend (Richard Attenborough), and the captain (Richard Crenna) who must take care to remain neutral in the political skirmishes among the Chinese while also protecting his crew from the threats posed by those who clearly resent the U.S. presence. This earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (McQueen’s solitary career nomination), and Best Supporting Actor (Mako as McQueen’s tenderhearted assistant.

Movie: ★★★

STROKER ACE (1983). Few Hollywood superstars have made as many genuine bombs as Burt Reynolds; this brain-numbing horror just might have been his worst ever, although it does face serious competition from Cannonball Run II and Rent-a-Cop. Filmed at Charlotte Motor Speedway, this redneck comedy, starring Reynolds as a hot-shot race car driver, contains countless awful elements: Reynolds wearing a chicken suit while sitting atop a giant egg; Loni Anderson as a God-fearin’ virgin who shucks her morals for this womanizing good ol’ boy; Jim Nabors as mechanic Lugs Harvey; and much, much more. If nothing else, Stroker Ace represents one of Charlotte’s biggest presences on the year-end awards circuit. No, not the Oscars — instead, it was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Actress (Anderson), New Star (also Anderson), and Director (Hal Needham), winning for Worst Supporting Actor (Nabors). Famously, Reynolds was writer-director James L. Brooks’ first choice to play the role of Garrett Breedlove in Terms of Endearment. Reynolds turned down the part to make Stroker Ace instead; Jack Nicholson was given the Terms role and ended up winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Movie: ★

UNDERCOVER BROTHER (2002) / LAST HOLIDAY (2006). As The Worst President of All Time™ continues his abhorrent attacks on all things Black — just check out what he did with the National Park Service when it comes to Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day — here are a pair of titles that can add some mirth to this year’s Juneteenth festivities.

In the words of Forrest Gump, stupid is as stupid does in this highly amusing dum-dum comedy that not only takes a swipe at that Tom Hanks blockbuster but also manages to include jabs at everything from “Ebony and Ivory” to Dennis Rodman to the then-continual Oscar shafting of Spike Lee (director Malcolm D. Lee is Spike’s cousin, so the dig is expected — and earned). This blaxploitation spoof downplays the raunch in favor of gags that rely on the strength of their own cleverness as opposed to the extent of their outrageousness. Granted, this hit-and-miss mode results in a lot of groaners, but its cheeky attitude is definitely appreciated. Eddie Griffin plays the title character, described as “a Soul Train reject with a Robin Hood complex.” He joins up with the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D. to take on The Man, the secretive white male who’s always conspiring to keep African-Americans down. At first, UB is successful in his efforts to thwart the villains, but eventually he finds himself succumbing to “the Black man’s Kryptonite”: a Caucasian beauty, this one known as White She Devil (Denise Richards). Even at a mere 88 minutes, this slight film tempts fate, but the big laughs are tumultuous enough to barrel right over the slow patches (usually, the scenes involving Chris Kattan as The Man’s manservant). Can you dig it?

A remake of a 1950 British comedy starring Alec Guinness, Last Holiday is better than expected thanks to its retooling as a vehicle for Queen Latifah — she and a solid supporting cast, to say nothing of the gorgeous location shooting and eye-popping shots of delectable food dishes, go a long way toward making this digestible. Latifah stars as Georgia Byrd, a working class woman who, upon learning that she’ll die in three weeks, cashes in all her assets and heads off to the Grandhotel Pupp (located in the Czech Republic) with the intent of winding down her life in luxury. While at the hotel, she befriends the cook (Gérard Depardieu), offers sage advice to assorted individuals (among them Giancarlo Esposito’s silky senator and Alicia Witt’s kept woman), and butts heads with her former boss, the hardhearted CEO of a national retail chain (Timothy Hutton). Meanwhile, her love interest (LL Cool J) back home discovers her dark secret and hightails it to be by her side. The message of the film is that everyone — no matter what lot in life — should be treated with dignity and respect, but after watching Latifah receive endless massages, hit the snowy slopes, and chow down on lobster, most viewers will be forgiven for believing that the true message of the picture is that (duh) it’s better to be rich than poor.

Undercover Brother: ★★★

Last Holiday: ★★★