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Evils Of The Night (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

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    Ian Jane
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  • Evils Of The Night (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)



    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: August 30th, 2016.
    Director: Mardi Rustam
    Cast: John Carradine, Tina Louise, Julie Newmar, Amber Lynn, Aldo Ray, Neville Brand
    Year: 1985
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Written, directed and produced by former Al Adamson partner-in-arms Mohammad 'Mardi' Rustam, 1985's Evils Of The Night opens at a secluded lakeside setting late one night where a couple if pairs of adults cast as horny teenagers are doing what horny teenagers do when left to their own devices late at night in a secluded lakeside setting. One girl tries to give her boyfriend his 'surprise' which would appear to be some sort of underwater blowjob, which would be tricky to pull off if you need things like oxygen to survive, but this little blonde cutie gets an A for effort. While she's doing her thing the other couple are boning against a tree. A rope goes around that guys neck but doesn't stop his lady pal from boning down on his dong, and then back at underwater blowjob land a green laser kills that couple as well.

    And from there, we're off. It seems a trio of weird old aliens - Cora (Tina Louise), Zarma (Julie Newmar), and Kozmar (John Carradine) - have landed on Earth and are posing as doctors at what would appear to be the nation's shittiest hospital patrolled by girls in space outfits who may or may not be lesbians. It seems that in order to save their dying species, they need the blood of young, virile, horny Americans like those killed off in the opening scene. To help them get what they need, they've employed a pair of greasy old mechanics in the form of Fred (Aldo Ray) and Kurt (Neville Brand). These guys like nudie magazines and ski masks and have a penchant for kidnapping people and just sort of tossing them into the open back of their Ford pickup. But wait… we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

    A few friends - couple Heather (Bridget Holloman) and fiancé Ron (Keith Fisher), Nancy (Karrie Emerson), Connie (G.T. Taylor) and Brian (David Hawk) and a few others are enjoying some summer fun at a beach. Some girls take off their tops and rub suntan lotion on one another behind the shrubbery. Meanwhile, Joyce (Amber Lynn) and Eddie (Jerry Butler credited as Paul Siederman) find an old abandoned, but surprisingly clean, house out in the woods to screw in. People disappear. The aliens are afoot. Or is it the mechanics? It's probably the mechanics on behalf of the aliens. Lots of people get naked. Aldo Ray gets shot in the ear with an air-hose that causes blood to shoot out of his other ear and then he swats Nancy with a rubber wrench. There's a scene where Nancy runs around a trailer holding what looks like a medieval battle axe, and John Carradine peers curiously into a microscope trying to look like he's up to something, for some reason. Before it's all over there will be spaceship and cheap gore and maybe, just maybe, a few terrible songs to get stuck in your head (Kanga, Eddie Mekka and Delyse Lively Mekka - You have been accused of mass mental cruelty How do you plead? GUILTY!).

    Evils Of The Night was co-written by Philip Dennis Connors. He wrote a LOT of porno movies in the eighties and nineties. The movie also features appearances from Amber Lynn and Jerry Butler. They're porno stars. Crystal Breeze shows up here too, she was in The Sperminator. Also a porn star. And then there's Jodie Preston, a.k.a. Jodie Swafford, who showed up in Coming Together (and Bodacious Ta-Ta's!). Porn star. Shone Taylor, a.k.a Shane Taylor? Yep, porn star. This movie is littered with porn stars, and yet it is not a porno movie. The film also stars Tony O'Dell of Chopping Mall. And hey, that pretty brunette with the battle axe running around in bandana print underoos? That's Karrie Emerson, also of Chopping Mall. And this movie was made in the mid-eighties, the same mid-eighties that gave us Chopping Mall, and yet it is not Chopping Mall.

    Honestly, it's hard to say what the fuck Evils Of The Night is. It's not scary and it's not really sexy, though it does have a lot of nudity and some of the actresses are pretty (go Amber, with your big hair, you!). The story doesn't make any sense or come to a particularly logical conclusion and yet, here we are with a cast of 'name' performers, all in the twilights of their respective careers, still trying to earn that paycheck. The pacing is erratic, the dialogue nonsensical. There's no character development but there is a guy who tries to put a lizard down a girls' top and lots of other equally unfunny scenes of terrible comedy. Do the aliens pay the mechanics in gold doubloons? It looked like it. This was clearly meant to cash in on the slasher craze, but it feels more like a bad fifties sci-fi/alien invasion movie than anything else, it's more Plan 9 than it is Friday The 13th. Neville Brand threatens to 'hump' one of the girls. He actually says 'hump' so that's kind of great. The space ship in the woods looks like a disco ball.

    I just don't know.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Vinegar Syndrome brings Evils Of The Night to Blu-ray in a transfer taken from a new 2k of the film's original 35mm negative in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Framed at 1.85.1 widescreen it looks remarkably good. The scenes that take place outdoors at night can sometimes look a little grainier than those indoors shot with better lighting but overall, this low grubby little low budget movie really shines on Blu-ray. Detail is very good, especially in close-up shots, while texture is strong throughout. Skin tones are lifelike and warm, never too hot or too pink, while black levels are typically quite nice. There is only ever minor print damage to note, the occasional white specks here and there rather than anything distracting, and there are no obvious instances of noise reduction or edge enhancement. This is a nice, film-like presentation - quite frankly it's shocking to see the movie look as good as it does on this disc. The previous DVD releases from Media Blasters and MPI/Gorgon looked okay for their day but this is a pretty serious step up from those discs in every way that you'd want it to be.

    The only audio option for the feature is an English language DTS-HD Mono mix. Clarity of the audio is fine. The levels are nicely balanced and there are problems with any hiss or distortion and the film's quirky score has some decent presence to it in spots. Not a fancy mix, but it suits the movie and gets the job done without any issues. Optional subtitles are provided for the feature in English only.

    Extras start off with a featurette called Alien Blood Transfusion which is a nicely shot, brand new video interview with director Mardi Rustam. He talks about where the idea for the movie came from, how some of the cast members came to appear in the film, shooting locations and a good bit more. It's pretty interesting stuff and a nice inclusion on the disc.

    The disc also includes a standard definition presentation of an alternate feature length TV edit that actually runs almost nine minutes longer than the theatrical cut. The main differences here are that Amber Lynn's scenes have been completely cut out of the film (not just trimmed for nudity but completely excised all together), the nude scenes from the other actresses have been edited, and the stronger violence has been trimmed a fair bit. Added to this version, however, are longer and more frequent doses of the hokey comedy already inherent in the movie, some alternate footage in the opening scene that takes place in that lake at night, and an amazing scene in which John Carradine talks to a holographic Dawn Wildsmith! The movie is also very different in terms of its editing, meaning that certain scenes are placed in a different order here. It actually winds up making slightly more sense in this version as the aliens' motives are a bit better explained, but then, no breasts, so… take your pick.

    Outside of that, also be sure to check out the alternate audio track that presents Robert O. Ragland's score as an Isolated track, roughly twenty-five minutes of raw outtake footage from the shoot, a 'work-in-progress' theatrical trailer, a TV spot, menus and chapter selection. As this is a combo pack release, inside the clear Blu-ray case alongside the Blu-ray disc is a DVD version of the movie containing the same supplements. Lastly, we get some nice reversible cover art - always a nice touch.

    The Final Word:

    Evils Of The Night has been released on DVD twice before but the quality of Vinegar Syndrome's high definition presentation really leaves past editions in the dust in terms of quality. On top of that, we get all the extras from the older releases and a few new ones as well. As to the movie itself? It doesn't make a damn lick of sense but if slow moving, goofy and plodding, super wonky now budget trash films tickle your fancy, prepare to have your fancy tickled!

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!






























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