The Little Death (2010) DVD
Stars: Christie Vozniak, Clifton Guterman, Courtney Patterson, Daniel May
Director: Bret Wood
Released by Kino Lorber

Reviewed by Steven Ruskin

It takes a certain combination of elements to drive a low budget independent film. On the one hand the production has to be easily manageable and cheap. In this case the whole film takes place in one location within just a few rooms. There is a minimum of actors and while the film is a period piece many of the costumes look like they have been lifted from a production of A Christmas Carol. There are no special effects and just two scenes of action. Much of the film is presented in stage bound sequences of two people talking together. On the other hand this has some very classy source material with a script based on Anton Chekhov’s short story “Nervous Breakdown” and a stage play, “Death and Devil” written by Frank Wedekind (Spring Awakening). Add to this a director with a decidedly unique appetite for tales of sexual adventure and deviance and you’ve got something that if given the chance will hold your attention and challenge your morality.

Set at the turn of the century, three well-dressed Victorian looking young men enter a brothel in search of an evening of fun and debauchery. Only one of them, played by Clifton Guterman is very timid about the whole thing, even afraid. While he deflects the efforts of two of the house’s charming ladies an upper class woman makes her way in. Courtney Patterson as Eleanor Malchus is all prime and proper, brimming with pumped up confidence. She is a temperance styled rescuer of young women who have been stolen and pressed into the evil world of White Slavery. She knows all about it and has even written a book detailing the ways in which the deviant and devious men who run these brothels operate to lure these young girls. She is there to rescue the daughter of a woman who works for her well to do family. Daniel May as the owner and manager listens patiently to her concerns. He points out that she has no first hand knowledge of what goes on there. What at first seems like a sly put down of her ignorance and presumptions is later revealed to be a slow and expert seduction. Meanwhile our timid young man is now in the hands of another woman who is indeed the very target of Miss Patterson’s search.

Director Brett Wood cuts back and forth between the twosomes. They each experience a sense of discovery that awakens deep feelings within them. It’s marvelously written. The spell that is cast is intoxicating. While the acting is not top drawer one can’t help but feeling drawn in deeper and deeper to the spider’s web. The whole thing is steeped in that Edwardian politeness and courtesy that hides a deep repression of feelings. This is very much a tale of sexual restraint and release. While this movie is nowhere near the caliber of Karel Reisz’s The Gambler with James Caan, there is something similar going on. At the end of Reisz’s film James Caan undergoes a bizarre rite of passage that brings a very unusual satisfaction. He is driven by a strange compulsion that Dostoyesky’s novel revels in. The Little Death also appears to have its intentions rooted in that odd mix of forbidden taboos and pleasures.

Granted the film behaves like a stage play and is abetted by some low rent technical support.The acting on the whole is not that good but Courtney Patterson does a nice job of conveying her change from uncomfortable hesitation to that slow surrender very nicely. There are moments when Daniel May gets it just right, too. Given the right mood it’s easy to get very captivated by this turn of the century tale. It felt like a satisfying night at the local theater, though we’ll make a note to keep an eye on just what kind of projects this director comes up with next.

Video –
1.78:1 16×9. The technical credits are just not very strong here. The brightly lit conversations are shot in a static frame with not much else going on. When shadows or anything too dark are present they appear too much of a challenge for the equipment used and render all kinds of aberrations. However this is all clear and totally watch-able. Today’s inexpensive cameras that do not require costly film stock and lab work make this kind of production possible. However this story is just the kind of tale that would have been enhanced immeasurably by good camerawork and that nice grainy look that even 16mm would have given.

Audio –
Stereo mix in English.

Extras –
Deleted scenes, Behind-the-scenes documentary, trailer and a short film “The Other Half” by the same director. Make sure you check out the short. Just like the feature the technical stuff is low rent but it delivers an arrestingly strange plot.
On a scale of Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, Classic:

DVD – Fair/Good

Movie – Good

Strip Nude For Your Killer (1975)

by Troy Howarth

D: Andrea Bianchi; S: Andrea Bianchi and Massimo Felisatti; MP: Edwige Fenech, Nino Castelnuovo, Femi Benussi, Solvi Stubing, Amanda, Franco Diogene

Models at a chic fashion salon find themselves targeted by a mysterious murderer in black…

The above synopsis could just as well apply to Mario Bava’s seminal Blood and Black Lace (1964), but director/co-writer Andrea Bianchi’s tackier intentions are evident from the opening, blue tinted (how appropriate!) prologue.  While directors like Bava and Dario Argento used the genre’s conventions to explore aesthetic and thematic obsessions, Bianchi’s eye is firmly on box office receipts as he ups the ante with a deliriously over the top melange of sex, sleaze and violence.  The end result isn’t quite the most excessive of gialli – the notorious Giallo a Venezia (1979) may well take the prize in that category, though Lucio Fulci’s underrated The New York Ripper (1982) may well trump it – but it is among the most absurd.

Giallo scream queen Edwige Fenech (Five Dolls for an August Moon, All the Colors of the Dark) toplines the cast, but she isn’t utilized very well – at least from an acting standpoint.  Bianchi makes ample use of Fenech’s physical attributes, lingering on leering shots of her in various stages of undress, but the script doesn’t give her a chance to show what a good actress she can really be.  Nino Castelnuovo (Massacre Time) is on hand to play the smug hero, but the character remains just that – smug.  Castelnuovo is a capable actor in his own right, but he seems to have understood the trashy nature of the material and coasts by on his natural charisma.  The supporting cast includes doe-eyed Femi Benussi (Hatchet for the Honeymoon), who also gets to display copious amounts of skin.  The biggest impression, however, is left by corpulent Franco Diogene – and not necessarily for the best of reasons.  Diogene does a credible job playing a pathetic sex starved victim, but genre enthusiasts are more likely to shudder in rememberance of his demise – wearing a none-too-flattering pair of tighty-whities.

Bianchi’s direction is hamfisted as ever, relying heavily on zooms to punctuate important plot points.  The film drags along at a sluggish pace, and for all the sleaze and gore on display, it’s surprisingly boring, too.  The police procedural scenes dog many a giallo, but they’re positively lethal here.  Given that Bianchi never displays the eye for macabre poetry typical in the films of Bava, Argento and Fulci, the various murder scenes are merely ugly.  Even so, the blood flows pretty liberally, and the sexualized nature of the violence makes the picture something of a dry run for the aforementioned New York Ripper. 

On the upside, at least there’s ample nudity from the gorgeous startlets, and Berto Pisano contributes a catchy theme or two to the soundtrack.  These elements alone are enough to elevate the film above the very worst the subgenre has to offer.  Not surprisingly, many fans have warmed to the film, embracing it as a bit of a kitsch classic; most viewers, however, will likely be far less forgiving.  In any event, giallo enthusists will still want to give the film a spin.

Video:

Blue Underground’s new Blu Ray release of Strip Nude For Your Killer is a winner.  The 1.85/16×9 transfer looks very nice on the whole.  The image is a little soft, leading one to assume that there’s been a little over zealous DNR applied, but this is not a major distraction.  Colors are vivid, the print is in very good shape, and the film is fully uncut, retaining all the full frontal nude scenes.

Audio:

Audio options are presented in English and Italian, both in dts-HD mono.  The Italian dub is the more satisfying, though arguably the ropey English dubbing suits the film’s wonky tone even better.  English subs are included for the Italian track, as are English captions for the deaf and hard of hearing.  Both tracks are in pretty good shape, showing off Pisano’s groovy score to its advantage.

Extras:

The main extra is a 12 minute featurette featuring interviews with actress Solvi Stubing and co-writer Massimo Felisatti.  Felisatti is dismissive of the film and refers to director Bianchi as a ‘masochist’ who derived unhealthy pleasure from the film’s unsavory aspects, while Stubing seems somewhat more proud of the end result.  An international trailer, Italian trailer and poster and still gallery round out the package.

Overall:

A lower tier giallo gets a fine release from Blue Underground.

Film: ** out of *****

Blu Ray: ***1/2 out of *****

Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol Blu-Ray, DVD

Stars: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg
Director: Brad Bird
Released by Paramount

Reviewed by Steven Ruskin

This is one film that delivers on the promise of a great action film with no reservations at all. Cruise is first seen in a prison cell and he looks like a man. Still handsome but he has aged and it suits him very well indeed. His character Ethan Hunt has been away so when he accepts his mission he is met with a new team that features an IT geek who has been promoted into the field. Simon Peg is masterful in the comic relief support role. You know his mettle will be tested when the chips are down. He brings just the right level of humor and humanness to the part. He does not play it too broadly at all. He’s really perfected this kind of thing since his days on The Enterprise in the re-booting of the Star Trek franchise. Jeremy Renner plays the member with emotional baggage that has to come clean in order to be effective. The only one that falls just a bit shy of the mark is Paula Patton.

There were times when the pace, gadgetry and international settings brought to mind the globe trotting headiness of a good old  James Bond film. There is a sequence that feels right out of the old television series. A meeting between two couriers has to be stopped. Rather then just intercept each player and hijack the goods, Ethan Hunt’s team goes delightfully old school with rubber masks, re-designing hotel rooms on the fly and impersonating not only the hotel waiter but the couriers themselves to each other. There is a trade of diamonds for information and said jewels need to be swiped and smuggled out of one room and delivered literally into the hands of another agent at just the precise moment without a nanosecond to spare. The bit is giddy fun for fans of the original series.

J.J. Abrams has a producer’s hand here and it is evident as he brings in Anil Kapoor who is recognizable form the last season of 24 to play yet another target for the team, a rich sheik who must be charmed by Paula Patton. Producer Abrams’ (24) influence can be felt in the breakneck pace of the film, which really does cruise along even at 135 minutes (forgive the pun). Director Brad Bird is know for his work with animated features like The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouile. From the looks of the film, he’s ready for some more real live actors. He makes what could be yet another overstuffed dull big budgeted over the top action picture an enjoyable blast. The whole film has a nice sense of fun and that childlike thrill of rushing from one ride to the next at a Sunny Summer’s day at the Amusement park.

The fights scenes are well done and you can follow every move clearly. No hyper kinetic slice n’ dice cutting here. All of the action scenes rely on their execution, stunt work and construction. There is digital work done here to be sure but nothing that gets in the way of the action. With the over-reliance on fast, close cutting in most of today’s action films that choice, and the old school framing, is very much appreciated and frankly works so much better.

All formidable action movies have a set piece that stands out. This one has an amazing sequence with Tom Cruise climbing outside of a hotel window and scaling up and over several floors of sheer glass wall using these Spiderman like gloves that allow him to stick to the surface. It’s shot and edited extremely well producing several gasp for air moments as you are certain Cruise is taking the long way down. There are two other films with stunts that take place outside the slippery slope of a modern glass-sided building. In Sharky’s Machine (1978) a record was set at 220 feet for the highest free fall taken as legendary stuntman Dar Robinson plunged out from a window in Atlanta’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. In Who Am I (1998) Jackie Chan slid down the accented glass face of a hotel in Rotterdam, Holland all the way to the ground. Ghost Protocol can proudly join the ranks of these exhilarating and exciting films that see a glass sided building and think…you know what would be really cool? And then they do it.

The plot points can be as easily forgotten as one of Hitchcock’s McGuffins. Bad guys are up to no good and the team has to stop them from getting X and Y  so they can blow stuff up. However the characters that make up the team work well together bustling the narrative forward with urgency and some comic relief courtesy of Simon Pegg. There is a bit of back-story given to Jeremy Renner’s character that introduces just a dash of gravitas and guilt. That shading works well and serves to keep you guessing as to the motivations of the members of the team. It’s not a terribly Machiavellian twist and you’ll see it coming, but again it’s a nice texture.

Video
2.35:1, 1080p. The Blu-Ray offers a slick and rewarding viewing experience. Excellent detail is readily apparent. The rich colors compliment the various exotic locations, especially in the wide establishing shots, some of which are done from high up in the sky. This is just what you’d expect from a topflight modern Hollywood production. It doesn’t disappoint at all. Though the Blu-Brother is the clear winner here, the DVD presentation more than holds is own. The screen caps are from the DVD.

Audio
The film sounds fine. Dialogue is supported with a generous amount of bass to give it that movie theater quality. Effects are good, though nothing jumps out as extraordinary. The 7.1 DTS mix (BR only) is presented in English, 5.1 in French and Spanish and Portuguese. Subtitles choices are English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Extras
There is an entire disc full of extras that comes with the Blu-ray. Mission Accepted, Impossible Mission, Deleted Scenes, and Trailers. Too many? Generally one needs a little more critical distance from a film to justify such depth, although this is very enjoyable chest thumping. The regular DVD edition does not come with the second disc of extras.

On a scale of Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, Classic:

Blu-Ray – Excellent

Movie – Excellent

Virgin Witch (1972) UK Blu-Ray
Stars: Ann Michelle, James Chase, Keith Buckley, Patricia
Haines, Vicki Michelle
Director: Ray Austin
Released by Redemption Films

Reviewed by Steven Ruskin

In the sub-sub genre of British witchcraft films made with real life twins there are two films to be found. It’s very fitting that there is a pair here. The earlier Hammer picture Twins of Evil (1971) certainly delivers its share of horror being the third in the Karnstein trilogy following Vampire Lovers and Lust for a Vampire. Peter Cushing is on hand as well as real life twins Mary and Madeleine Collinson who went on to grace the pages of Playboy magazine. It was an effort by Hammer to expand the boundaries of eroticism and horror they had mined so well in the fifties and sixties. Those early films had a mischievous air of brinkmanship about them with the ever-plunging necklines and period bustiers that functioned like an Elizabethan version of the push up bra. The bold crimson blood letting also announced that these were defiantly not the Universal classics. Toward the end of the cycle the folks at Hammer studios elected to push things further to compete with the new permissiveness that was growing rampant in contemporary cinema. Despite that maneuvering Twins of Evil remains a very enjoyable film.

The following year saw the release of The Virgin Witch. Right from the get go this one more than delivers on the erotic count and completely exceeds anything one would ever encounter in a Hammer film. There is copious nudity and much more daring than the clever brinkmanship of the old Hammer days could get away with. Just one year later and the boundaries have been thrown to the winds. This is also set in present times. Swinging England is presented in that Devil may care pop fashion that was so prevalent then. The costuming that was so hip and trendy then is very amusing now. However there is really very little on display here one could call actual horror. When these witches get together rather than cast spells and make blood sacrifices, they dance around naked.

The real life twins in this one are played by Ann and Vicki Michelle. Vicki went on to a substantial role in the BBC-TV hit, Allo ’Allo! In terms of pulchritude they certainly fit the bill with the featured lead sister never missing an opportunity to strike a revealing pose or engage in a lengthy bawdy sequence. The simple set up has them being young “birds” who want to be models. A leering agent who happens to be a lesbian and a recruiter for a witch’s coven packs them off on a photo shoot that just happens to be where that coven gathers. They need to obtain virgins for a midnight ritual. The surprise is that the older sister is hip to all of this and one-ups the coven at their own game by scheming to take over. There is a racy photo shoot and two lengthy clandestine gatherings where everyone gets their witchy-dance on. At no point is any of this treated in a creepy or haunting way. The proceedings are rather tame unless you get unnerved by the sight of some folks disrobing who you’d just as soon not see in that state. Taken as a saucy early seventies romp Virgin Witch will cast a lightweight spell over those willing to go under very easily, just don’t expect much from the witch end of things.

Video
1.66:1 There is nothing that stands out either way with this transfer. Colors are fine and occasionally have that slightly muted look common to some Eastman prints of that era. Things get a bit dark in some of the night scenes but that’s down to the way it was shot. Flesh tones look normal. On the whole it’s a decided improvement over previous editions.

Audio
A mono Track is offered. There are no subtitle options.

Extras
Trailer and a photo gallery.

On a scale of Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent, Classic:

Blu-Ray – Good

Movie – Fair