Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Frightmare (88 Films) Blu-ray Review

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Frightmare (88 Films) Blu-ray Review



    Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
    Released on: September 10th, 2018.
    Director: Norman Thaddeus Vane
    Cast: Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Leon Askin, Jeffrey Combs
    Year: 1981
    Purchase From Amazon

    Frightmare - Movie Review:

    Written and directed by Norman Thaddeus Vane, 1981's Frightmare (also known as The Horror Star) begins when an aging actor named Conrad Radzoff (Ferdy Mayne in a role originally intended for Christopher Lee) botches his line on a commercial shoot. The young director rags him out and Radzoff responds in kind by reminding him how important he is. It doesn't go well and soon enough the director is dead. Shortly after that, the actor is awarded a retrospective at a university's horror film appreciation society. He has a heart attack on stage and it's clear that he's not going to be around much longer. He goes home and prepares to make his final arrangements, even killing off his old director friend Wolfgang (Leon Askin) before he goes.

    His funeral is an odd one - he greets the attendees from beyond the grave by way of a video that is played at the gathering, and rumors are that he intends to return from the dead. Nevertheless, he's laid to rest in a huge mausoleum completely with a neon star with his named in lights atop the entrance. That night? The members of the horror movie society - Saint (Luca Bercovi), Meg (Jennifer Starrett), Oscar (Alan Stock), Eve (Carlene Olson), Stu (Jeffrey Combs) and a few others - steal Radzoff's body and coffin from its place of rest. They bring him back to the huge mansion where they all puzzlingly seem to live, a massive old place decorated with horror movie posters from throughout the years and Coor's beer cans, for one last hurrah.

    When his widow, Etta (Barbara Pilavin), has a medium named Rohmer (Nita Talbot) contact her beloved and learns that his body is taken, well, from there all bets are off - Radzoff is back (sort of) and he's not happy about what's been done with his corpse…

    Mixing elements of humor and horror in fairly equal doses, Frightmare isn't a particularly scary movie but it is an interesting one. Vane's film definitely takes some shots at prima donna style thespians but so too does it shine the light on how obsessive some horror fans can get. It's interesting how the reality of what the horror fans want collides with their fantasy. Given that they idolized this guy enough to get him on stage at the retrospective he was obviously a big deal to them (at one point Eve tells his corpse how she used to fantasize about being one of his brides) but of course once they get their alone time with him, the evil we knew was in him from the opening scene comes to light, even if it is from beyond the grave.

    Ferdy Mayne (who not only played Count von Krolock in Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers but who also popped up as God in fucking NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR!!!!) is great as the lead. He overacts just enough, bringing in a performance that's delightfully hammy but also completely fitting of the part. He uses his fantastic speaking voice to craft a sinister character seemingly drunk on his own self-worth, a man so obsessed with his start power that he sets up a series of motion detectors to play videos of himself in the mausoleum where he's buried! It's a great role for him and he makes the most of it. The rest of the cast are perfectly fine, if fairly disposable. It's fun to see Combs show up here in a supporting part but he doesn't really stand out, neither to the rest of the 'kids' in the film - they're not bad, just forgettable. This is, however, Radzoff's show so that's almost fitting. On a fun side note, however, Chuck Mitchell of Porky's fame appears in the movie in a small role as a detective.

    Frightmare - Blu-ray Review:

    Frightmare arrives on Blu-ray from 88 Films in a transfer that seems to mirror the one that Vinegar Syndrome released in 2015. What we get here is a 1080p high definition transfer restored in 2k from 35mm original camera negatives framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. The image has the expected amount of grain but it's pretty rich in detail, even in the scenes where a lot of dry ice and fog is used. Colors look great, especially during the weird video messages that play in the garishly lit mausoleum, while texture is typically very strong too. Black levels are nice, the image is very clean and shows very little print damage and the transfer provides strong depth and clarity throughout. There aren't any obvious problems with compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction and all in all, the movie looks very good here, very film-like too.

    The English language DTS-HD Mono track on the disc isn't going to blow you away but it sounds just fine. The dialogue is clean, clear and properly balanced and the score has some nice atmospherics to it. There are no problems with any hiss or distortion to note. No problems here, really, it all sounds quite good. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided.

    The extras start off with the first of two commentary tracks ported over from the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray release. Here David Del Valle and David DeCoteau offer up a pretty interesting chat about the history of this picture, films that influenced it, how it plays around with some of the notions of horror fandom and quite a bit more. They also provide some interesting facts and trivia about the different cast members, some of the directorial flourishes, how Famous Monsters' Forrest J. Ackerman came to be involved in the movie and more. The second track is provided by the guys who do the Hysteria Continues podcast and it's a bit lighter. They offer up their thoughts on the film in a fairly scene specific manner and while they don't deliver an MST3K style riffing, they definitely have fun with the movie as they head through it. They also make some pretty interesting observations about how this film compares to other horror films being made around the same time and what sets this one apart.

    The two commentaries are complimented very nicely by the presence of an archival audio interview with Director Norman Thaddeus Vane. This plays out as a commentary would but it's not so specific as to only cover Frightmare. Rather, it's basically a talk that covers his entire career on stage and screen, how he got into filmmaking and different projects that he worked on over the years with various participants. He talks about writing as well as directing various projects and quite a bit more. This was recorded over the phone and so it doesn't sound pristine but it's a great addition to the disc regardless. The disc also includes a new video interview with Cinematographer Joel King. He speaks for just over twenty-minutes about how he wound up in California, got involved with the local arts scene and transitioned into working with still cameras and then eventually working as a cinematographer. There are some interesting stories here about the different transitions he made, career wise, and some of the people who helped him out along the way.

    New to this 88 Films release is a third commentary, this time featuring Nathanial Thompson of Mondo Digital and Tim Greer. They talk about how the film stands as an example of eighties L.A. horror story, Norman Thaddeus Vane's contributions to the horror genre, the importance of Ferdy Man's contributions to the film and what it is an interesting choice, parallels between this film and other horror pictures, background information on pretty much all of the cast members in the film, Combs thoughts on the picture itself as taken from a Star Trek related interview and how the picture doesn't really acknowledge slasher films at all. They also talk about how Ferdy Mane's character may be evil but you wind up siding with him towards the end of the movie, how they both saw the film for the first time, some of the effects features in the picture and more.

    This disc also features a new featurette in the form of Bobo's Confession, an interview with Scott Thomson that clocks in at sixteen-minutes. He talks about having the advantage of youth while making the film, and then talks about how he got into acting after finishing school. He then talks about the audition process that he underwent for the picture, the influence of Stephen King's Dance Macabre in terms of cramming on horror history to get the part, and then about the locations that were used in the film. From there he talks about some of the cast and crew that he worked alongside in the picture, his thoughts on horror movies that actually scarred him and quite a bit more.

    Aside from that we get an original theatrical trailer for the film, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection. The disc fits inside a red standard sized Blu-ray case that features some slick reversible cover art allowing you to display either the Frightmare piece or an alternate piece under The Horror Star title, as well as a slipcover. Inside the case alongside the disc is an insert booklet containing an essay from Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain.

    Frightmare - The Final Word:

    88 Films' Blu-ray release of Frightmare is a good one, presenting the movie in very nice shape and with some top notch extra features too. As to the movie itself? It's as interesting for how it depicts rabid horror fans and how it portrays actors as it is for anything else. It's never really all that scary but it does feature a great lead from Ferdy Mayne and some interesting moments of decent atmosphere. If nothing else, this one is different, and never less than entertaining (and as such, well worth checking out).

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
































      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X