My main interest regarding England's Hammer Studios has always been their horror output, and that was the focus of the Region 1 DVD list. I've since added others, including their suspense films and Robin Hood movies, to name a few examples.
The latest update adds VCI's great double-feature film noir sets, and also The Old Dark House. I did not realize that it was on the William Castle Collection set.
The American remake of Let the Right One In is also included, as it was released by the "new" Hammer Productions. It's due on DVD and Blu-ray in February.
A blog about gaming, movies, books, and other aspects of popular culture
Monday, November 22, 2010
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Sunday, November 21, 2010
Delays
Various real-world responsibilities have keep me from posting recently. Hopefully there will be new posts here this week.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
The Green Slime: a DVD review
I made some brief comments about The Green Slime and the Warner Archive program in an earlier post when the title was first announced. We received the new DVD last Tuesday and watched it that night.
In the future, Commander Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) is called back from retirement. A rogue asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and Rankin is charged with leading a team of astronauts to set charges and destroy the asteroid. The staging for the mission takes place at Space Station Gamma III, under the command of Rankin's old friend Commander Vince Elliot (Richard Jaeckel), who is now engaged to the station's doctor -- and Rankin's old flame -- Dr. Lisa Benson (Luciana Paluzzi). This love triangle plays out against a backdrop that includes the tense but successful mission to the asteroid, and shortly thereafter the discovery that something was brought back attached to a space suit...
The Green Slime was a co-production between American, Italian and Japanese studios: MGM, RAM Films and Toei. It is often considered as part of the "Gamma" films, including the Italian science fiction films War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet. Reportedly, MGM gathered together the actors, while Toei offered the studio, crew, set construction and special effects. Although filmed in Japan, the entire cast was foreign actors. Background extras were recruited from the US Air Force base near Tokyo.
This is important for the feel of the film, as it has a definite sense of a military organization and mission. In this way it is in the same tradition of "quasi-military force" science fiction as Forbidden Planet and Star Trek. Robert Horton was best known for Westerns, but Richard Jaeckel distinguished himself the year before as Lee Marvin's second-in-command Sergeant Bowren in The Dirty Dozen.
Kinji Fukasaku was known as a dependable director. For the majority of his career he worked at Toei Studios directing yakuza films. Although he delivered what the studios expected, he was still able to innovate and express his own ideas through his films. For The Green Slime, he wanted to deliver a Vietnam-era parable, about a nebulous fight against an enemy that could not be contained or controlled. Some of that shows through, but the ongoing struggle between the producers and the director over scheduling and costs held back the extremes of Fukasaku's vision. Five years later, he would direct the first in a series of films based on the memoir of a Hiroshima yakuza boss, and would be critically acclaimed around the world: Battle Without Honor and Humanity.
What we do find as a result of this international collaboration is a claustrophobic, paranoid, and almost Lovecraftian struggle against a foe that does not stop, that takes on energy from its surroundings and the very weapons used against it to reproduce.
Rankin and Elliot are fighting over Dr. Benson, but also fighting for command of the situation on the station -- literally and metaphorically. There are spacious areas on board the station (see the celebration scene), but we're still in an enclosed and self-contained space with nowhere to run. Even the sickbay isn't safe.
The hunting of the Slime through the dark and empty corridors of Gamma III is a precursor of military sci-fi and horror films like Alien, Aliens, and The Thing. The shots of the aliens swarming on the outside of the station and trying to break into the docking bay are reminiscent of the Martians in the dream recording from Quatermass and the Pit -- a nameless multitude marching on.
Considering the budgets that were available to films of this era, the special effects are quite good. The model work is excellent. The ship models are filmed against a starfield backdrop which gives it a slightly less-than-realistic feeling, but this technique also avoids the problem with matte lines that plague effects work from other contemporary films. The sets are expansive and spacious. It's remarkable to think that all of the locations were built for the film.
The master used for the DVD is a newly-created anamorphic 2.35:1 master scanned from a "beautiful" inter-positive print. For those of us who have only ever seen the movie on cable TV or videotape, the most obvious change is the widescreen presentation. Watching in the proper aspect ratio lets us see so much more of the frame, and therefore more of the action. It's still claustrophobic at the right times, but now it isn't the artificial 4:3 format that causes it.
Colors on the DVD are bright and good, and the blacks deep, so that details in shadow are still visible. Good examples are the service tunnel and darkened corridor sequences. The colors don't pop quite as much as I expected, but still comparable to other similar films of this era. Some speckles are noticeable, along with the occasional scratch in the film, but nothing glaring. The only odd film effects are two quick shots of astronauts outside the station, where the matte effect seen at DVD-resolution levels gives the actors a greenish glow. Overall, this is, without a doubt, the best that the movie has looked since the theatrical release.
The audio track is Dolby Digital mono. No special features are included. I understand that extra features mean additional expenses, although a good print of the trailer would have been a great treat.
I noticed something interesting when viewing this again for the first time in at least ten years: I felt sorry for the alien creatures. Their home asteroid was destroyed, some of their cells were carried to a strange and alien environment, and they just tried to survive and reproduce according to their instincts.
Any fan of Japanese science-fiction/fantasy films would enjoy The Green Slime. The film sits at the intersection of several noteworthy and historic trends. It's part of the career of an internationally-famous and inventive director. It was one of the first major international film co-productions. The effects were created by former employees of Toho Studios and Eiji Tsuburaya's effects crew. The theme song of the American version was written by the composer of the music for Barbarella and Happy Days. It deserves to be part of any cult movie fan's collection.
War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet are also new releases from the Warner Archive. I haven't seen either one before, but I definitely plan to pick them up in the future.
In the future, Commander Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) is called back from retirement. A rogue asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and Rankin is charged with leading a team of astronauts to set charges and destroy the asteroid. The staging for the mission takes place at Space Station Gamma III, under the command of Rankin's old friend Commander Vince Elliot (Richard Jaeckel), who is now engaged to the station's doctor -- and Rankin's old flame -- Dr. Lisa Benson (Luciana Paluzzi). This love triangle plays out against a backdrop that includes the tense but successful mission to the asteroid, and shortly thereafter the discovery that something was brought back attached to a space suit...
The Green Slime was a co-production between American, Italian and Japanese studios: MGM, RAM Films and Toei. It is often considered as part of the "Gamma" films, including the Italian science fiction films War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet. Reportedly, MGM gathered together the actors, while Toei offered the studio, crew, set construction and special effects. Although filmed in Japan, the entire cast was foreign actors. Background extras were recruited from the US Air Force base near Tokyo.
This is important for the feel of the film, as it has a definite sense of a military organization and mission. In this way it is in the same tradition of "quasi-military force" science fiction as Forbidden Planet and Star Trek. Robert Horton was best known for Westerns, but Richard Jaeckel distinguished himself the year before as Lee Marvin's second-in-command Sergeant Bowren in The Dirty Dozen.
Kinji Fukasaku was known as a dependable director. For the majority of his career he worked at Toei Studios directing yakuza films. Although he delivered what the studios expected, he was still able to innovate and express his own ideas through his films. For The Green Slime, he wanted to deliver a Vietnam-era parable, about a nebulous fight against an enemy that could not be contained or controlled. Some of that shows through, but the ongoing struggle between the producers and the director over scheduling and costs held back the extremes of Fukasaku's vision. Five years later, he would direct the first in a series of films based on the memoir of a Hiroshima yakuza boss, and would be critically acclaimed around the world: Battle Without Honor and Humanity.
What we do find as a result of this international collaboration is a claustrophobic, paranoid, and almost Lovecraftian struggle against a foe that does not stop, that takes on energy from its surroundings and the very weapons used against it to reproduce.
Rankin and Elliot are fighting over Dr. Benson, but also fighting for command of the situation on the station -- literally and metaphorically. There are spacious areas on board the station (see the celebration scene), but we're still in an enclosed and self-contained space with nowhere to run. Even the sickbay isn't safe.
The hunting of the Slime through the dark and empty corridors of Gamma III is a precursor of military sci-fi and horror films like Alien, Aliens, and The Thing. The shots of the aliens swarming on the outside of the station and trying to break into the docking bay are reminiscent of the Martians in the dream recording from Quatermass and the Pit -- a nameless multitude marching on.
Considering the budgets that were available to films of this era, the special effects are quite good. The model work is excellent. The ship models are filmed against a starfield backdrop which gives it a slightly less-than-realistic feeling, but this technique also avoids the problem with matte lines that plague effects work from other contemporary films. The sets are expansive and spacious. It's remarkable to think that all of the locations were built for the film.
The master used for the DVD is a newly-created anamorphic 2.35:1 master scanned from a "beautiful" inter-positive print. For those of us who have only ever seen the movie on cable TV or videotape, the most obvious change is the widescreen presentation. Watching in the proper aspect ratio lets us see so much more of the frame, and therefore more of the action. It's still claustrophobic at the right times, but now it isn't the artificial 4:3 format that causes it.
Colors on the DVD are bright and good, and the blacks deep, so that details in shadow are still visible. Good examples are the service tunnel and darkened corridor sequences. The colors don't pop quite as much as I expected, but still comparable to other similar films of this era. Some speckles are noticeable, along with the occasional scratch in the film, but nothing glaring. The only odd film effects are two quick shots of astronauts outside the station, where the matte effect seen at DVD-resolution levels gives the actors a greenish glow. Overall, this is, without a doubt, the best that the movie has looked since the theatrical release.
The audio track is Dolby Digital mono. No special features are included. I understand that extra features mean additional expenses, although a good print of the trailer would have been a great treat.
I noticed something interesting when viewing this again for the first time in at least ten years: I felt sorry for the alien creatures. Their home asteroid was destroyed, some of their cells were carried to a strange and alien environment, and they just tried to survive and reproduce according to their instincts.
Any fan of Japanese science-fiction/fantasy films would enjoy The Green Slime. The film sits at the intersection of several noteworthy and historic trends. It's part of the career of an internationally-famous and inventive director. It was one of the first major international film co-productions. The effects were created by former employees of Toho Studios and Eiji Tsuburaya's effects crew. The theme song of the American version was written by the composer of the music for Barbarella and Happy Days. It deserves to be part of any cult movie fan's collection.
War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet are also new releases from the Warner Archive. I haven't seen either one before, but I definitely plan to pick them up in the future.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Upcoming posts
I received my DVD of The Green Slime in the mail yesterday, and Mrs. Kaiju and I watched it last night. Unfortunately, I won't be able to post a proper review until the weekend.
Other future postings will include more upcoming DVD news, a look at the "Red Box" D&D 4th edition starter set, and an overview of the state of manufactured-on-demand DVD releases from the major studios.
Other future postings will include more upcoming DVD news, a look at the "Red Box" D&D 4th edition starter set, and an overview of the state of manufactured-on-demand DVD releases from the major studios.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A Halloween treat from Lulu.com
If you've been thinking about ordering a print-on-demand game (or book, or any other items) from Lulu.com, they just released two coupon codes valid this weekend only. From the announcement email:
Enter coupon code TRICK305 at checkout and receive 20% off your order. The maximum savings for this offer is $100. Enter coupon code TREAT305 at checkout and receive 25% off your order of $500 or more. The maximum savings for this offer is $500. Sorry, but these offers are only valid in US dollars and cannot be applied to previous orders. You can only use these codes once per account, and unfortunately you can't use these coupons in combination with other coupon codes. These great offers expire on November 1, 2010 at 11:59 PM...
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
15 games, 15 minutes
Following along with the gaming blog meme "15 Games in 15 Minutes", which I first spotted at Age of Ravens and later at Grognardia.
The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen games you've played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
My list:
The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen games you've played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
My list:
- Dungeons & Dragons (1e, Mentzer Basic/Expert)
- Call of Cthulhu (particularly 4th and 5th ed.)
- Star Frontiers
- Warhammer 40,000
- GURPS (3rd ed.)
- The Bard's Tale II (for the Amiga!)
- TIE Fighter (PC)
- Pitfall (Atari 2600)
- Villains and Vigilantes
- James Bond 007
- Starcraft (PC)
- Marvel Super Heroes (TSR, FASERIP)
- Rolemaster
- Tekken 2/3, Soul Caliber (PS2)
- Tomb Raider (PS2)
Happy Birthday, Bela Lugosi
The actor famous for his portrayal of Dracula was born 128 years ago today.
"Bela, how do you do that?"
"You must be double-jointed. And you must be Hungarian."
"Bela, how do you do that?""You must be double-jointed. And you must be Hungarian."
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Jazz Age Culture for Call of Cthulhu players
Jazz Age Culture, parts I, II, and the Writers page, is a scholarly resource on 1920s popular culture, focused specifically on the United States. Aside from a few short articles, most of the site is a collection of links to other 1920s resources on the web loosely grouped by subject. Much of the information linked here would be of interest to Cthulhu 1920s players, including fashion, movies, gangsters, music, technology and inventions of the time. Where else would you find The Unofficial Tommy Gun Page? It is an excellent resource for historical research for both Keepers and players.
Update: The Jazz Age Culture pages have been moved to another site.
Update: The Jazz Age Culture pages have been moved to another site.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Vampire Circus release date
The Digital Bits is reporting that the release date for the Vampire Circus Blu-ray/DVD combo is December 14th. Of course, you can check it out right now through Instant Netflix.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
The Red Box Diaries at The Escapist
This "escaped" me earlier -- about three weeks ago The Escapist Magazine had an issue devoted to the influence of Dungeons & Dragons on the videogame industry, timed to coincide with the release of the new "Red Box" 4th edition Starter Set. Articles in this issue include the story of a veteran computer gamer's first try at a tabletop role-playing game, and a look at the new Starter Set with Mike Mearls, who is now the full D&D manager at Wizards of the Coast.
I purchased the new "Red Box" the week it was released, partially for nostalgic reasons and partially with the hope that it would make a good introduction to 4e. I have mixed feelings on both counts which I'll share in a future posting.
I purchased the new "Red Box" the week it was released, partially for nostalgic reasons and partially with the hope that it would make a good introduction to 4e. I have mixed feelings on both counts which I'll share in a future posting.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Hammer horrors and others this month on Turner Classic Movies
Continuing the theme of Halloween movies, I just found out yesterday that Turner Classic Movies is showing Hammer films each Friday night this month. My apologies for not noticing earlier; the Dracula films were on October 1st. Check the link above for the main article and the movie listing.Take a look at the rest of the schedule for more non-Hammer monster and suspense films throughout October, especially the three days of the Halloween weekend. Universal horrors from the '30s and '40s with Lionel Atwill, Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi on Friday and Sunday, a block of William Castle films on Saturday, and Vincent Price and haunted house movies on Halloween itself.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
For your Instant Netflix viewing pleasure...
The cool chill of autumn is in the air, which means that October is here. For me the tenth month has always meant Halloween and, perhaps more importantly, monster movies.
Here is a list of Showa-era Godzilla and Toho kaiju films that have been added recently to Instant Streaming Netflix:
Rodan (1956)
Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster (1964)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Godzilla's Revenge (1969)
Also, from this thread at the Mobius Home Video Forum, a partial list of other horror and monster movies newly-added to Instant Netflix:
COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1970)
THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA (1971)
VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)
HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1971)
IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)
THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD (1957)
THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976)
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977)
TENTACLES (1977)
OCTAMAN (1971)
FUTUREWORLD (1976)
YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (1967)
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)
SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK (1991)
THE RETURN OF DRACULA (1958)
THE RAVEN (1963)
THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964)
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964)
THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1964)
DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972)
TALES OF TERROR (1962)
WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968)
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1976)
AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION (1982)
AMITYVILLE 3D (1983)
TRANCERS 2: THE RETURN OF JACK DETH (1990)
ZONE TROOPERS (1985)
NIGHT DRIVE (1971)
AMOK TRAIN (1989)
GHOST WARRIOR (1986)
OPEN HOUSE (1987)
THE FALLING (1987)
THE IMMORTALIZER (1989)
THE VIDEO DEAD (1987)
VICIOUS LIPS (1987)
ROCKULA (1990)
NEW YEAR'S EVIL (1980)
DR. HECKYL AND MR. HYPE (1980)
DERANGED (1974)
CRAWLSPACE (1986)
CULT OF THE DAMNED (1969)
THE CRIMSON CULT (1968)
THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT (2009)
CATACOMBS (2006)
SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD (2004)
SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD: ULTIMATE POWER (2006)
THE VAMPIRE (1957)
NEANDERTHAL MAN (1953)
THE TOMB (1986)
BLACK SABBATH (1963)
THE ANGRY RED PLANET (1959)
QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966)
THE BEAST WITHIN (1982)
ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU: DIRECTOR'S CUT (1977)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1977)
SQUIRM (1976)
VAMPIRE'S KISS (1989)
COUNTESS DRACULA (1971)
DIE MONSTER DIE! (1965)
THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (1977)
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC (1987)
CARRIE (1976)
THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING (2000)
LASERBLAST (1978)
LEVIATHAN (1989)
EVENT HORIZON (1997)
EDGE OF SANITY (1989)
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
SPHERE (1998)
HOUSE OF 9 (2005)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1992)
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001)
THE GHOUL (1933)
FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM (1987)
INTRUDER (1989)
THE BURNING (1981)
THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT (1971)
THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (1972)
Here is a list of Showa-era Godzilla and Toho kaiju films that have been added recently to Instant Streaming Netflix:
Rodan (1956)
Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster (1964)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Godzilla's Revenge (1969)
Also, from this thread at the Mobius Home Video Forum, a partial list of other horror and monster movies newly-added to Instant Netflix:
COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1970)
THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA (1971)
VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)
HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1971)
IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)
THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD (1957)
THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976)
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977)
TENTACLES (1977)
OCTAMAN (1971)
FUTUREWORLD (1976)
YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (1967)
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)
SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK (1991)
THE RETURN OF DRACULA (1958)
THE RAVEN (1963)
THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964)
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964)
THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1964)
DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972)
TALES OF TERROR (1962)
WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968)
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1976)
AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION (1982)
AMITYVILLE 3D (1983)
TRANCERS 2: THE RETURN OF JACK DETH (1990)
ZONE TROOPERS (1985)
NIGHT DRIVE (1971)
AMOK TRAIN (1989)
GHOST WARRIOR (1986)
OPEN HOUSE (1987)
THE FALLING (1987)
THE IMMORTALIZER (1989)
THE VIDEO DEAD (1987)
VICIOUS LIPS (1987)
ROCKULA (1990)
NEW YEAR'S EVIL (1980)
DR. HECKYL AND MR. HYPE (1980)
DERANGED (1974)
CRAWLSPACE (1986)
CULT OF THE DAMNED (1969)
THE CRIMSON CULT (1968)
THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT (2009)
CATACOMBS (2006)
SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD (2004)
SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD: ULTIMATE POWER (2006)
THE VAMPIRE (1957)
NEANDERTHAL MAN (1953)
THE TOMB (1986)
BLACK SABBATH (1963)
THE ANGRY RED PLANET (1959)
QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966)
THE BEAST WITHIN (1982)
ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU: DIRECTOR'S CUT (1977)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1977)
SQUIRM (1976)
VAMPIRE'S KISS (1989)
COUNTESS DRACULA (1971)
DIE MONSTER DIE! (1965)
THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (1977)
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC (1987)
CARRIE (1976)
THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING (2000)
LASERBLAST (1978)
LEVIATHAN (1989)
EVENT HORIZON (1997)
EDGE OF SANITY (1989)
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
SPHERE (1998)
HOUSE OF 9 (2005)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1992)
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001)
THE GHOUL (1933)
FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM (1987)
INTRUDER (1989)
THE BURNING (1981)
THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT (1971)
THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (1972)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Warner Archive Collection and The Green Slime
On Tuesday I was looking at Glenn Erickson's DVD Savant site when I saw his note about the email he received from George Feltenstein, VP of Warner Brothers' classic film catalog:
That night I checked DVD Drive-In and found a confirmation. Listed at the top of the news, they announced that two '60s Italian sci-fi films, War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet, are due from the Warner Archive Collection in October, along with Kinji Fukasaku's Gamma dai sango--Uchu dai sakusen (Gamma III--Operation Outer Space), better known by the title The Green Slime.
A quick aside about the Warner Archive Collection -- various representatives from Warner Brothers Home Video have insinuated that they wish to release everything they have from their catalog titles, in some fashion. Last year they started the Archive Collection, a method of releasing catalog titles on DVD that may not have the commercial appeal to support pressed discs sold at retail. The Archive makes these lesser-known catalog titles available by direct download or on-demand DVD-Rs which are sold on their site and also through Amazon.com.
The first releases used a generic blue background package with a still or publicity photo on the covers. Sometime this year they started using the original poster art on most new offerings, and it appears that they have changed to this for some of the older releases as well. I'll write more about on-demand discs in a future posting.
The highlight of this for me is that The Green Slime will finally be available on a legal Region 1 DVD. On the Classic Horror Film Board, film historian Tom Weaver mentioned that he was told the disc source is a brand new anamorphic 2.35:1 scope master, scanned in HD from a "beautiful" inter-positive print.
Fukasaku, who would later become world-famous for his Yakuza films and Battle Royale, directed this at Toei Studios in a contentious collaboration with Italian and American (MGM Studios) producers. The shrinking budget and the shortened shooting schedule might show on screen, but this is still one of the great Japanese science-fiction films of the 60s, a psychedelic trip of bizarre aliens and outer space action.
The trailer makes a good mini-movie all by itself. I get a sense of Lovecraftian nihilism from it, but that suits the movie just fine. Also check out the commentary for the trailer by director John Landis over at Trailers From Hell.
The Warner VP has hinted lately that many of the WB/MGM films on my Savant DVD Wish List will be popping up in the Warner Archive Collection, and five or six more desired titles did indeed surface this week: Atlantis the Lost Continent, The Power, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold and the Italian-American They Came to Rob Las Vegas. I wonder what hidden gems will be popping up for Halloween?That last line had me curious. What other gems, indeed? I held out hope for some of the other great pre-1986 MGM films that are owned by WB, especially one I've been waiting on for quite a while.
That night I checked DVD Drive-In and found a confirmation. Listed at the top of the news, they announced that two '60s Italian sci-fi films, War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet, are due from the Warner Archive Collection in October, along with Kinji Fukasaku's Gamma dai sango--Uchu dai sakusen (Gamma III--Operation Outer Space), better known by the title The Green Slime.
A quick aside about the Warner Archive Collection -- various representatives from Warner Brothers Home Video have insinuated that they wish to release everything they have from their catalog titles, in some fashion. Last year they started the Archive Collection, a method of releasing catalog titles on DVD that may not have the commercial appeal to support pressed discs sold at retail. The Archive makes these lesser-known catalog titles available by direct download or on-demand DVD-Rs which are sold on their site and also through Amazon.com.
The first releases used a generic blue background package with a still or publicity photo on the covers. Sometime this year they started using the original poster art on most new offerings, and it appears that they have changed to this for some of the older releases as well. I'll write more about on-demand discs in a future posting.
The highlight of this for me is that The Green Slime will finally be available on a legal Region 1 DVD. On the Classic Horror Film Board, film historian Tom Weaver mentioned that he was told the disc source is a brand new anamorphic 2.35:1 scope master, scanned in HD from a "beautiful" inter-positive print.
Fukasaku, who would later become world-famous for his Yakuza films and Battle Royale, directed this at Toei Studios in a contentious collaboration with Italian and American (MGM Studios) producers. The shrinking budget and the shortened shooting schedule might show on screen, but this is still one of the great Japanese science-fiction films of the 60s, a psychedelic trip of bizarre aliens and outer space action.
"...struggle for survival in the infected remains of a diseased universe...Rated G."
The trailer makes a good mini-movie all by itself. I get a sense of Lovecraftian nihilism from it, but that suits the movie just fine. Also check out the commentary for the trailer by director John Landis over at Trailers From Hell.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Vampire Circus
As mentioned here at the beginning of May, Synapse Films has the DVD and Blu-Ray rights to several Hammer horror films that have not yet been released on disc in Region 1.
Synapse just announced to DVD Drive-In that Vampire Circus will be released as a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack by the end of the year (scroll down the main page for the news story). There are some great bonus features included -- more than on many other Hammer discs.
I haven't seen Vampire Circus, I only know it by reputation and reading about it. This disc, and the others in the collection from Synapse, fill a glaring omission in the collection of available R1 Hammer films.
Today DVD Drive-In announced more great cult classics on the way to DVD, including one of my most wanted films -- more on that next time.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
So long, Starlog, and thanks for all the fish
Another item from the Drafts bin. When Starlog ceased publication in April 2009, I had intended to write a short retrospective about it. I started writing this draft posting and gave it a suitably geeky cliche title (see above). I did not get around to finishing it.
I only needed to wait 17 months and, look, today James Maliszewski posted his own retrospective article on Grognardia, written more eloquently than I would have. Maliszewski's opinions match my own, more or less, although I do miss the magazine more than he does. Rather, I miss the idea of Starlog more than the print magazine, at least the way it was in the 70s/80s. I haven't picked one up since the very early 90s. By then there were more outlets for fandom information, and Starlog became more slick and glossy but with less substance -- much in the same way that Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood used to report on film production news.
I liked the homegrown fanzine feel of the early issues. A large percentage of pages were given over to classic Golden Age sci-fi and fantasy then, with the sort of articles that you now only see in Filmfax. I remember the multi-issue serialization of "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. and part of David Gerrold's first Chtorr book.Another important aspect of Starlog was its use as a source for new sci-fi and fantasy movie news. An issue might have one or two still photos and a short article on the making of a new movie, and then we would have to wait another month for more news, another still or some production art. Quite a contrast from today, when any leaked movie news is blogged, Flickr'd or Tweeted around the world almost instantly. It's great having more and more fan news available, but I believe we may have lost something special in the process.
As noted in the comments for that story on Grognardia, blogger John Z. has been reviewing every issue of Starlog -- take a look at the archive for The Starlog Project.
The more things change...Saturday, September 04, 2010
Red Letter Media review of Star Trek 2009
Red Letter Media, the folks who brought you the video reviews of the Star Wars prequels, is back this week with their video review of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. The character of "Harry Plinkett" seems to have some affection for the film, which is quite different from the way he feels about the Next Generation movies and the Star Wars prequels. He still manages to take a biting look at its flaws, and gives an explanation as good as anything else I've seen about how Hollywood really works and how Trekkies are not going to get another movie like those with the original cast(s).
Be aware that as with the other reviews in this series, some of the language and images are NSFW. The videos do not appear to be on YouTube yet, so I'm linking to the main RLM page and the story about it at Trekmovie.com, where you can watch the two-part ST09 review embedded in the page.
Looking forward to his Revenge of the Sith review...
Be aware that as with the other reviews in this series, some of the language and images are NSFW. The videos do not appear to be on YouTube yet, so I'm linking to the main RLM page and the story about it at Trekmovie.com, where you can watch the two-part ST09 review embedded in the page.
Looking forward to his Revenge of the Sith review...
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Two movies...
...I didn't believe that I would see on R1 DVD, let alone Blu-ray: Star Crash and Shogun Assassin.
Star Crash was an Italian production, and was reportedly conceived as being a Harryhausen-type fantasy film set in space. But then Star Wars was released...
This is one of those odd films that I remember as being a "lost" movie in my memory. It never played here, if I remember correctly, or I'm sure that we would have gone to see it. Much like many Japanese science-fiction films, to my young eyes it seemed like it really was from some other planet. My earliest recollections of it are stills published in Starlog and some of the lower-budget pulpy-paper sci-fi magazines of the late 70s and early 80s, like Media Spotlight. I've read that it ran on cable occasionally, but I never caught it there, either. The only time I've seen live-action shots from it was when I saw the trailer on a compilation tape. The DVD and Blu-ray are due in mid-September.
Shogun Assassin is the notorious American re-edit of the first two Sword of Vengeance films, based on the popular Lone Wolf and Cub manga series, for the British and American movie circuit.
Again, this is another film that I had not seen but read plenty about it. This time I knew it wasn't "lost"; it had been shown in U.S. theaters and released on video, so I knew it actually existed. It wouldn't have played at any of the local theaters and the tape would not have been available at the public library, Chuck Stewart's, Video Movie Center (anyone local remember those?) or any of the other local rental shops.
Although the original Japanese film series became available on R1 DVD, Shogun Assassin remains important as a historical artifact. It works on its own as a movie, but more importantly it represents the influence of the Japanese cinema in general on U.S. audiences (at the same time as kung-fu movies from Hong Kong were incredibly popular here), and specifically the influence of the Lone Wolf and Cub mythology. The manga series would not be published in English until 1987. Shogun Assassin on Blu-ray is out this week.
A bonus image: the cover for the Star Crash DVD. If you compare this cover art to the Blu-ray above, you'll notice the change in framing the title against the art and some cropping at the top. This is probably worth its own post sometime, but I'm disappointed with the cover art choices on many Blu-ray discs. At least the sides of the art are not cropped, as with many Blu-rays.
I'm grateful to have the films presented in such quality, of course, that's the important part. However, the more square-shaped Blu-ray case causes the taller DVD art to be squished most of the time. My own personal preference for DVDs (and Blu) is to have the original poster art used for the covers, or at the very least given a prominent place on the back. I suppose it's just the historian/collector in me.
Star Crash was an Italian production, and was reportedly conceived as being a Harryhausen-type fantasy film set in space. But then Star Wars was released...This is one of those odd films that I remember as being a "lost" movie in my memory. It never played here, if I remember correctly, or I'm sure that we would have gone to see it. Much like many Japanese science-fiction films, to my young eyes it seemed like it really was from some other planet. My earliest recollections of it are stills published in Starlog and some of the lower-budget pulpy-paper sci-fi magazines of the late 70s and early 80s, like Media Spotlight. I've read that it ran on cable occasionally, but I never caught it there, either. The only time I've seen live-action shots from it was when I saw the trailer on a compilation tape. The DVD and Blu-ray are due in mid-September.
Shogun Assassin is the notorious American re-edit of the first two Sword of Vengeance films, based on the popular Lone Wolf and Cub manga series, for the British and American movie circuit.Again, this is another film that I had not seen but read plenty about it. This time I knew it wasn't "lost"; it had been shown in U.S. theaters and released on video, so I knew it actually existed. It wouldn't have played at any of the local theaters and the tape would not have been available at the public library, Chuck Stewart's, Video Movie Center (anyone local remember those?) or any of the other local rental shops.
Although the original Japanese film series became available on R1 DVD, Shogun Assassin remains important as a historical artifact. It works on its own as a movie, but more importantly it represents the influence of the Japanese cinema in general on U.S. audiences (at the same time as kung-fu movies from Hong Kong were incredibly popular here), and specifically the influence of the Lone Wolf and Cub mythology. The manga series would not be published in English until 1987. Shogun Assassin on Blu-ray is out this week.
A bonus image: the cover for the Star Crash DVD. If you compare this cover art to the Blu-ray above, you'll notice the change in framing the title against the art and some cropping at the top. This is probably worth its own post sometime, but I'm disappointed with the cover art choices on many Blu-ray discs. At least the sides of the art are not cropped, as with many Blu-rays.I'm grateful to have the films presented in such quality, of course, that's the important part. However, the more square-shaped Blu-ray case causes the taller DVD art to be squished most of the time. My own personal preference for DVDs (and Blu) is to have the original poster art used for the covers, or at the very least given a prominent place on the back. I suppose it's just the historian/collector in me.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Gen Con 2010 Report
The semester is over, which means I have a chance to write a post-Gen Con report.
The Good
Attendance appeared to be up, from the crowds I saw. All of the publisher reports that I have read said that sales were good, and the con officially broke the 30,000 attendees mark. Very good news, indeed.
I was able to see just about everything that I wanted to and pick up the items I was most interested in. I also found a few surprises.
My main goal was to get a copy of Shadow, Sword & Spell at the show. Their booth was my first stop, and I had my copy signed by one of the authors. They took my name and email address and I got the PDF of the book by email two days later. $12 for print and PDF -- bonus! Rogue Games is building more online support for the game and really pushing customer service.
I found a copy of Villainy Amok for half-price at Chimera Hobby Shop's booth. This is Hero Games' sourcebook of seven classic superhero scenarios, packed with dozens of variations on each. I've wanted this book for quite a while. The plots and story ideas can be lifted and dropped into almost any genre of RPG. I've had a certain one of these in mind since the start of the Freeport campaign, so the book will be used!
BoardGameGeek wins the Diana Jones Award! Very well-deserved!
In all my years of gaming, I've never owned any Gamescience dice. I could hardly call myself a goober without owning some of Col. Zocchi's precision-edge dice. I found a good deal on one of their "Color Explosion" sets. It includes 12 different dice -- translucent, opaque, glow-in-the-dark, all different colors and sizes -- the usual seven, plus some odd ones, including a d20 marked 1-10 twice and a d16. I think these are overstock and/or seconds. Two of the colors are discontinued, and a couple have gouges where the usual mold flash would be. They will all need some sanding, but it's still a good deal for $6.
The booth that is alternately labeled "Adventure Gaming Retail" and "Cthulhiana Corner", Steve Jackson Games and Atlas Games' Gen Con presence, had all of the usual good stuff. DV and I think that they moved last year's regular-priced GURPS books into the 3-For-$10 section this year. It sure seemed that way to us. We went in together on the 3-For-$10 deal and I walked away with GURPS 3rd. Ed. Compendium II and Suppressed Transmission 2, two more books I've wanted for a long time.
On Sunday we finally got to the Paizo booth, and I looked around for any of the Planet Stories series. The selection was sparse (they needed the room for Pathfinder, of course), with the latest in the series and...several copies of Robert E. Howard's Almuric, one of the first books they published. I hadn't picked it up yet (I'm far behind), so now, finally, I have a reading copy of this novel. And I love that cover.
As I mentioned to D., based on the booths at the show and the attendees in costume, I'm calling it: Steampunk is the new Goth. Not that I mind...
The Bad
Another book on my list was Hamlet's Hit Points, Robin Laws' new book on story beat analysis in RPGs, using the plots of Hamlet, Dr. No and Casablanca. I saw it on the table at Adventure Gaming Retail once, Friday afternoon, but then copies were scarce. I missed out on the book and getting it signed. Next year...
When I got back home, I discovered that I didn't get the commemorative d6 in the free swag bag. DVO and Mrs. Kaiju didn't get one either. It appears to have been a widespread problem. I emailed Crystal Caste but they were completely out. Not a big thing, but I do like collecting the dice.
White Wolf's "booth". Really?
It wasn't until after I already purchased Villainy Amok that I spotted it on Chimera's Buy-One-Get-Three-Free shelf, along with various Freeport books that I could have used and the reprint Judges Guild d20 books.
I spent more on food than on gaming goodies, and that includes Mrs. Kaiju's blue anime wig.
I don't mind the cos-players, the more con attendees the better -- they are helping to subsidize the stuff that I like. However, I don't know if it's necessary to wear a costume that takes up a lot of space for the entire weekend. I usually enjoy walking through the con center, but this is the first time I found myself walking outside so that I could move from one end to the other at a standard walking pace.
Speaking of space... the convention center expansion looks nearly finished. This is going into the area where the RCA Dome sat. I'm hoping that having this extra floorspace available will help to spread out the con in a more reasonable way. Many of the events have been farmed out to the hotels. It would be nice to have more of the con held under the convention center roof, yet also giving us room for everyone and their massive cos-play props.
Soon, some photos.
The Good
Attendance appeared to be up, from the crowds I saw. All of the publisher reports that I have read said that sales were good, and the con officially broke the 30,000 attendees mark. Very good news, indeed.
I was able to see just about everything that I wanted to and pick up the items I was most interested in. I also found a few surprises.
My main goal was to get a copy of Shadow, Sword & Spell at the show. Their booth was my first stop, and I had my copy signed by one of the authors. They took my name and email address and I got the PDF of the book by email two days later. $12 for print and PDF -- bonus! Rogue Games is building more online support for the game and really pushing customer service.
I found a copy of Villainy Amok for half-price at Chimera Hobby Shop's booth. This is Hero Games' sourcebook of seven classic superhero scenarios, packed with dozens of variations on each. I've wanted this book for quite a while. The plots and story ideas can be lifted and dropped into almost any genre of RPG. I've had a certain one of these in mind since the start of the Freeport campaign, so the book will be used!
BoardGameGeek wins the Diana Jones Award! Very well-deserved!
In all my years of gaming, I've never owned any Gamescience dice. I could hardly call myself a goober without owning some of Col. Zocchi's precision-edge dice. I found a good deal on one of their "Color Explosion" sets. It includes 12 different dice -- translucent, opaque, glow-in-the-dark, all different colors and sizes -- the usual seven, plus some odd ones, including a d20 marked 1-10 twice and a d16. I think these are overstock and/or seconds. Two of the colors are discontinued, and a couple have gouges where the usual mold flash would be. They will all need some sanding, but it's still a good deal for $6.
The booth that is alternately labeled "Adventure Gaming Retail" and "Cthulhiana Corner", Steve Jackson Games and Atlas Games' Gen Con presence, had all of the usual good stuff. DV and I think that they moved last year's regular-priced GURPS books into the 3-For-$10 section this year. It sure seemed that way to us. We went in together on the 3-For-$10 deal and I walked away with GURPS 3rd. Ed. Compendium II and Suppressed Transmission 2, two more books I've wanted for a long time.
On Sunday we finally got to the Paizo booth, and I looked around for any of the Planet Stories series. The selection was sparse (they needed the room for Pathfinder, of course), with the latest in the series and...several copies of Robert E. Howard's Almuric, one of the first books they published. I hadn't picked it up yet (I'm far behind), so now, finally, I have a reading copy of this novel. And I love that cover.
As I mentioned to D., based on the booths at the show and the attendees in costume, I'm calling it: Steampunk is the new Goth. Not that I mind...
The Bad
Another book on my list was Hamlet's Hit Points, Robin Laws' new book on story beat analysis in RPGs, using the plots of Hamlet, Dr. No and Casablanca. I saw it on the table at Adventure Gaming Retail once, Friday afternoon, but then copies were scarce. I missed out on the book and getting it signed. Next year...
When I got back home, I discovered that I didn't get the commemorative d6 in the free swag bag. DVO and Mrs. Kaiju didn't get one either. It appears to have been a widespread problem. I emailed Crystal Caste but they were completely out. Not a big thing, but I do like collecting the dice.
White Wolf's "booth". Really?
It wasn't until after I already purchased Villainy Amok that I spotted it on Chimera's Buy-One-Get-Three-Free shelf, along with various Freeport books that I could have used and the reprint Judges Guild d20 books.
I spent more on food than on gaming goodies, and that includes Mrs. Kaiju's blue anime wig.
I don't mind the cos-players, the more con attendees the better -- they are helping to subsidize the stuff that I like. However, I don't know if it's necessary to wear a costume that takes up a lot of space for the entire weekend. I usually enjoy walking through the con center, but this is the first time I found myself walking outside so that I could move from one end to the other at a standard walking pace.
Speaking of space... the convention center expansion looks nearly finished. This is going into the area where the RCA Dome sat. I'm hoping that having this extra floorspace available will help to spread out the con in a more reasonable way. Many of the events have been farmed out to the hotels. It would be nice to have more of the con held under the convention center roof, yet also giving us room for everyone and their massive cos-play props.
Soon, some photos.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Gen Con wrap-up soon
Busy, busy... Might be a couple of days before my comments on this year's show. I'm also looking at some changes using Blogger Template Designer.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most, part 3
Part 3 of the series...
Castle Ravenloft.
Wil Wheaton will be there, speaking and selling chapbooks of gaming stories. As a fellow member of the "video game/D&D/BBS/Star Wars figures generation", I enjoy reading what he has to say. I'm sorry, J. and G.!
FFG has a Space Hulk co-op/solitaire card game on the way. Looks like fun!
Alderac has a new version of the alternate history World War II game Dust: Tactics that looks like a hybrid board/miniatures game. I'm also interested in their Cadwallon boardgame City of Thieves.
The Cubicle 7 booth will have a wide variety of titles, including the acclaimed ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying. I'm curious about it because Steve Kenson, the "mastermind" behind Mutants & Masterminds, also worked on this. I'm hoping they will also have a copy of Barbarians of Lemuria for me to read through.
Green Ronin will have DC Adventures and some unspecified surprises for their 10th anniversary.
There are at least a dozen more. I'm sure there will be plenty of surprising discoveries to be found. I love finding something great that I wasn't expecting.
Castle Ravenloft.
Wil Wheaton will be there, speaking and selling chapbooks of gaming stories. As a fellow member of the "video game/D&D/BBS/Star Wars figures generation", I enjoy reading what he has to say. I'm sorry, J. and G.!
FFG has a Space Hulk co-op/solitaire card game on the way. Looks like fun!
Alderac has a new version of the alternate history World War II game Dust: Tactics that looks like a hybrid board/miniatures game. I'm also interested in their Cadwallon boardgame City of Thieves.
The Cubicle 7 booth will have a wide variety of titles, including the acclaimed ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying. I'm curious about it because Steve Kenson, the "mastermind" behind Mutants & Masterminds, also worked on this. I'm hoping they will also have a copy of Barbarians of Lemuria for me to read through.
Green Ronin will have DC Adventures and some unspecified surprises for their 10th anniversary.
There are at least a dozen more. I'm sure there will be plenty of surprising discoveries to be found. I love finding something great that I wasn't expecting.
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