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Released by: CMV Laservision
Released on: 2011
Director: Mats Helge (as Mike Jackson)
Cast: Jeff Harding, Michael Fitzpatrick, Naomi Kaneda, Zin Zan
Year: 1985
The Movie:
A year after Mats Helge directed The Ninja Mission the Swedish exploitation auteur would helm the awesome slasher film Blood Tracks, a heavy metal horror film released on video by Vista where he would be credited as Mike Jackson for some reason. The version of the movie contained on this DVD from German company CMV Laservision clocks in at just under eighty-five minutes in length and it is a bit gorier than the previous domestic VHS version.
When the movie begins, a woman stabs her husband in the back and leaves him for dead, taking off with her countless number of rugrats on the train and hoping to start a new life. Fast forward a few decades to that point in history we all remember, that being when heavy metal super group Solid Gold (played by real life heavy metal group Easy Action (and featuring future members of Europe and Shotgun Messiah!), not to be confused with the John Brennon group of the same name out of Detroit, ruled the charts. They've arrived on the top of a mountain to film an awesome rock video where they pose and roll down hills a lot. What they don't realize is that they've brought so much fucking heavy metal thunder with them that they've caused a literal avalanche!
With no other option, the band and their hot groupie sluts decide to hole up in a nearby cabin where someone starts picking them off one by one. Thankfully, in between murders, people get naked and have awesome Swedish sex and talk on walkie-talkies. Remember walkie-talkies? Yeah, cell phone fucking ruined them for us, didn't they? At any rate, Blood Tracks is pretty great in its own amazingly horrible way - it's kind of a combination of The Hills Have Eyes and... a movie with a bad hair metal band stuck in the snow. Maybe it plays more seriously in Swedish but in English it appears that the writers forgot to give some of the characters names and instead focused more on giving them giant poofy hairdos.
If you enjoy seeing guys dressed like Cinderella or maybe White Lion and dig chicks with boobs (duh), check this one out if you can track it down. It's stupid, gory, and hilarious and best watched under the influence of whatever your particular vice may be. And dig that soundtrack! Bonus points are awarded to an awesome kill scene in which the bad guy throws an axe at a dude, hits him square in the head and sends him careening over a walkway to his death in the industrial complex below - those who get excited over 'dummy' scenes as some of us are apt to do will definitely dislodge some pre-cum over this one. Be sure to sit through the end credits to take in an Easy Action power balled called 'In The Middle Of Nowhere.' Helge himself reportedly appears in this film under his Mike Jackson alias (it does appear in the end credits). It's also probably worth mentioning that Smirnoff and Philip Morris are both thanked in the end credits as well.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Obviously sourced from a video master and one that wasn't in the best of shape, the 1.33.1 image doesn't appear heavily cropped or compromised though the picture quality is subpar. The dark scenes are overly dark and there are fluctuations in colors and tone throughout. This is still of considerably better quality than the VHS sourced dupes and bootlegs that have made the rounds over the years but a film sourced transfer would have likely made a world of difference, though the elements appear to be missing in action.
Audio options are offered in English or German, both in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The audio fares a little better than the video does, the dialogue remains fairly clear and the God awful hair metal score sounds fine. There are a few quirks with the levels here and there and a few spots that sound a little flat but this is a serviceable mix.
The main extra here is the inclusion of a collection of alternate scenes from the Japanese release of the film, these are shown in splitscreen format with the takes from the feature version shown on one side and the takes from the Japanese version on the other. There aren't any alternate kill scenes here nor is there any additional gore but it's interesting to see what has been included.
Aside from that, look for a trailer for the feature using the Blood Tracks name, trailers for a few unrelated films (Alien 2, Cameron's Closet and The Beast In The Celler), menus and chapter stops. The disc is housed inside a slick hardbox package that is basically a smaller version of the packaging style that German company X-Rated Kult has been using for years and it features a pretty great painted cover.
The Final Word:
Goofy, gory and a whole lot of bad movie fun, Shocking Heavy Metal gets its best home video release to date. Even if it isn't perfect it's a longer cut than what most of us have seen before and it's got a couple of decent extras too.
