Double Exposure

Released by: Scorpion Releasing
Released on: February 21, 2012.
Director: William Byron Hillman
Cast: Michael Callan, Cleavon Little, Sally Kirkland
Year: 1983
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The Movie:

Directed by William Byron Hillman, 1983's Double Exposure follows a freelance photographer named Adrian Wilde (Michael Callan) who roams around California in his fancy mobile home and who seems to make a pretty decent living taking pictures of sexy ladies. Unfortunately, things aren't all wine and roses in Michael's world - see, he's constantly plagued by horrible, vivid nightmares in which he brutally murders his models. Adrian's been seeing a shrink named Dr. Frank Curtis (Seymour Cassel) in hopes of dealing with whatever is causing this problem for him, but nothing really seems to be helping.

Also on the scene is Michael's brother, a stuntman named B.J. (James Stacy) who, despite having lost the limbs on the left hand side of his body, manages to drive muscle cars like a bat out of Hell. Sadly, B.J. also went through a nasty divorce when his wife left him after the accident. Regardless, life goes on and things seem to be turning around for Michael when he meets a pretty blonde named Mindy Jordache (Joanna Pettet). They hit it off and start dating, but what at first seems like nothing but a good thing soon heads south quickly when some of the girls who have been modeling for Michael start turning up dead in increasingly gruesome ways. Out to catch the bad guys are a pair of cops, Fontaine and Buckhold (Pamela Hensley and David Young respectively), under pressure from their boss (Cleavon Little) - but will the cops catch the killer before he strikes again? Mindy had better hope so…

A kinda-sorta remake of Hillman and Callan's earlier collaboration, The Photographer, this picture moves at a good pace and features some pretty slick camera work. It's a fairly tense film with some decent kill scenes and a fairly high nudity quotient made with a fun cast of B-movie veterans and set to a fun score. The film's biggest flaw is simply that it's not all that difficult to figure out who the killer is, which does sap the film of some of its suspense. The picture does manage to get most everything else right, however, and if a lot of what we see unfold on the screen seems hammy or campy by modern standards, you can't fault it for lack of entertainment value. The scene where Adrian and Mindy head to the beach is worth the price of admission alone, simply because it's so goofy - they walk hand in hand in the surf, the stop to make nice with a small Hispanic boy and his family, they fly a giant rainbow colored kite and then they stop to kiss passionately as the sun starts to set behind them.

Callan makes for a fun leading man here. Sure, he overdoes it in a couple of spots and his breakdown in the later part of the film sees him chew through the scenery like a rabid beaver but he carries the film. Joanna Pettet makes a reasonably believable love interest for him and they actually have a bit of legitimate chemistry together, even when they're not befriending random kids at the beach. Cleavon Little is great, if completely underused and the rest of the cast are good here too. Like most other Crown International Productions, Double Exposure makes great use of its California locations and if the finished product didn't take home any Oscars when it came out, it's definitely worth revisiting as a fun mix up of slasher and thriller staples.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Scorpion presents Double Exposure in its proper 2.35.1 scope aspect ratio (for the first time on home video!) in an anamorphic transfer taken from 35mm elements that were evidently in pretty nice shape. There's the expected amount of grain, but that's not a bad thing at all, and while some minor print damage pops up in the form of some white specks now and again, generally the image is clean and stable. Contrast looks good, colors are reproduced very naturally and there are no issues with any obvious edge enhancement or compression artifacts.

The English language Dolby Digital Mono track on the disc is also good, with clean and clear dialogue and properly balanced levels. There are no issues with hiss or distortion to note and the score is mixed in nicely against the performers, never overpowering them or making things tough to follow.

Surprisingly enough, Scorpion has rolled out the red carpet for this one in the extras department. The first of two commentary tracks on the disc pairs up cinematographer R. Michael Stringer and his wife/script supervisor Sally Stringer with moderator Katarina Leigh Waters for a decent discussion about the film. Waters isn't the most exciting of moderators here but she does manage to keep the two talking for most of the track as they explain why various shots were done the way they were, explore some of the difficulties encountered during the shoot and share some stories about the cast and crew that they collaborated on this project with. A second commentary track features leading man Michael Callan and filmmaker Scott Spiegel, again with Waters as moderator. Callan has got some great stories about working on this project and if he periodically goes off topic and talks about other films he's worked on over the years, so be it, he remains an interesting guy to listen to and he's got some great stories to tell. Spiegel's involvement doesn't amount to much here, but he does manage to pull some interesting information out of Callan when he's not gushing, while Waters doesn't have that much to do this time around.

Waters and Callan also appear on camera for a ten minute interview in which Callan talks about how he got into the acting business before sharing some interesting stories about working on this and other films over the years. It overlaps with the commentary a little bit but this is still worth watching and quite interesting. Rounding out the extras is a trailer for the feature and trailers for a bunch of other Scorpion Releasing titles either available now or in the works for a future release. As this disc falls under the Katarina's Nightmare Theater line, you can watch the disc with an optional intro and outro from Katarina Leigh Waters. As per the norm, this is done in a humorous vein and amusing enough and as its optional, those who don't enjoy Waters' participation can easily choose to watch it without her participation.

The Final Word:

Double Exposure isn't the be all end all of eighties thrillers and maybe it's a little on the predictable side but Michael Callan's nutty performance makes this absolutely worth your time, particularly if you have a thing for early eighties slashers. Scorpion have done a very good job with this release, offering it up in great shape and with some impressive extra features as well.