DVD PICK OF THE WEEK
THE STEPFATHER (Shout!
Factory): At long last, one of the
true suspense classics of the 1980s
makes its DVD debut in time for the
Halloween season.
Directed by Joseph Ruben and
loosely inspired by the actual case of
serial killer John List, this knockout
1987 thriller stars Terry O’Quinn in
the title role, that of a deranged killer
obsessed with establishing the “perfect”
family. When those around him
fail to live up to his expectations, it’s
time to start hiding the cutlery.
Jill Schoelen plays the all-American
teenager whose mother (Shelley
Hack) has recently remarried. New
stepfather “Jerry Blake” wants nothing
more than to be a model parent,
but it soon becomes clear that Jerry is
a very dangerous dad.
This is one of the few films that
legitimately came close to recapturing
the Alfred Hitchcock touch, right
down to its sharp (and very dark)
sense of humor and its moments of
excruciating suspense. Shoelen and
Hack have never been better, and
there’s good work by Charles Lanyer
as Schoelen’s ill-fated psychiatrist
and Stephen Shellen as the brother of
a previous victim who’s on Blake’s
trail, but this is a tour de force for
O’Quinn, who gives an unforgettable
performance that did much to
advance his career.
Despite some glowing reviews,
this was a box-office flop but later
found an audience on cable-TV and
video, launched a surprise franchise
(see below), and has now been
remade. This special edition includes
audio commentary by Ruben and a
retrospective documentary. Rated R.
****
ALSO ON DVD
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Blue Underground): Director/coscreenwriter Harry Kumel’s highly stylized, atmospheric 1971 chiller stars the impossibly elegant Delphine Seyrig as the ageless countess Elisabeth Bathory, a vampire who sets her sights on a honeymooning couple (John Karlen and Danielle Ouimet) whose marriage has a few kinks already. Eerie, ethereal and erotic, this is not the usual vampire movie — but it does boast a fervent cult following. Andrea Rau, as the Countess’ concubine, is a knockout. Available as a single-disc DVD ($14.95 retail) or a two-disc special edition ($29.95 retail). ***
DINOSAURS ALIVE! (Image Entertainment): Michael Douglas narrates this self-explanatory IMAX documentary that explores the history of the dinosaurs with state-of-the-art CGI effects. The DVD retails for $19.98, the Blu-ray for $24.98.
“FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS”: THE SECOND SEASON (HBO Home Entertainment): All 10 episodes from the 2009 season of the criticallyacclaimed HBO comedy series starring executive producers Jemaine Clement (Emmy nominee as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series) and Bret McKenzie as ambitious, self-absorbed New Zealanders desperately trying to carve out a music career in New York City, based on their BBC Radio 2 series in Britain. This two-disc boxed set retails for $29.98.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Director J. Lee Thompson’s 1981 contribution to slasher cinema stars Melissa Sue Anderson as a troubled prep-school student recovering from a tragic accident whose classmates start meeting untimely ends. The resident red herrings on board for this gory whodunit include Lawrence Dane as her worried (but oft-absent) father and a slumming Glenn Ford as her psychiatrist. Better made than most, which is faint praise, but it has its fans. This version of the film retains the original music score. Rated R.
** THE LAST ROUND (NoShame Films): Stelvio Massi’s 1976 shoot-‘emup (originally titled Il Conto e chiuso) stars real-life boxing champ Carlos Monzon as a drifter who methodically pits two rival crime families (headed by Luc Merenda and Mario Braga, respectively) against each other. The basic set-up is similar to Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars — although this isn’t as good as either. This is the first time that the full version has been released in the US, replete with a bonus CD of Italian movie scores from the 1970s. **
“THE MIDDLEMAN”: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Shout! Factory): Natalie Morales portrays an art-school graduate who finds herself paired with a straight-arrow crime fighter (Matt Keeslar) in this light-hearted superhero spoof created by executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach. This boxed set, which retails for $34.99, contains all 12 episodes from the 2008 (and only) season of the ABC Family series.
“MR. BELVEDERE”: SEASON 3 (Shout! Factory): Nearly 40 years after Clifton Webb introduced the character on the big screen, Christopher Hewett assumed the role of the acerbic but warm-hearted British housekeeper of a typical all-American family, in a (surprisingly) popular, award-winning ABC-TV prime-time sitcom. This boxed set ($39.99 retail) features all 22 episodes from the 1986-’87 season.
MUTANTS AND MONSTERS DOUBLE FEATURE (Liberation Entertainment): A self-explanatory DVD twin-bill ($19.95 retail): Greydon Clark’s idiotic 1988 shipboard shocker Uninvited (˝*) with George Kennedy, Alex Cord and Clu Gulager; and John “Bud” Cardos’ okay 1984 sci-fi chiller Mutant (**) starring Wings Hauser and Bo Hopkins. Both films are rated R.
THE NEW YORK RIPPER (Blue Underground): Director/co-screenwriter Lucio Fulci’s notorious, sometimes nonsensical 1982 shocker sees a bladebrandishing lunatic (who taunts the police in a duck voice!) at large in the Big Apple. Jack Hedley plays the grumpy cop on the killer’s trail. In some quarters, this is considered a black comedy… but not in this one. In some countries, it was banned outright. *˝
NEXT DAY AIR (Summit Entertainment): Benny Boom, musicvideo veteran, makes his feature directorial debut with this uneven action comedy starring Wood Harris and Mike Epps as two would-be drug dealers in Philadelphia who mistakenly come into possession of 10 kilos of cocaine. The cast’s energy helps, but the film goes awry when it inexplicably turns violent in the third act. Rated R. *˝
“THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY” (HBO Home Entertainment): The best-selling series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith are adapted into an HBO series starring Grammy Award-winning songstress Jill Scott as the proprietor of the first female-owned detective agency in the African nation of Botswana. All six episodes are included in this three-DVD boxed set, which retails for $59.99. The pilot was the last directorial stint for executive producer Anthony Minghella, who died before it aired. Fellow producer Sydney Pollack died not long after — but the show did go on. CCH Pounder earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (for the episode “The Boy With the African Heart”). PUSH (Summit Entertainment): Paul McGuigan’s directorial touches boost (slightly) this jumbled fantasy about psychics waging war in Hong Kong. Chris Evans plays a telekinetic pursued by a shadowy conspiracy led by Djimon Hounsou, while Camilla Belle (badly) plays Evans’ ex-girlfriend. Also on hand: Dakota Fanning, Ming-Na and Cliff Curtis. Rated PG-13. **
THE RAMEN GIRL (Image Entertainment): Brittany Murphy, who also produced and whose movies used to be released theatrically, plays an American tourist in Tokyo who tries to overcome a break-up by becoming a ramen chef at a local eatery. As usual, Murphy tries too hard to be endearingly quirky, but Toshiyuki Nishida scores as her hard-drinking “sensei” in this featherweight comedy that goes on a bit long. Rated PG-13. **
RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS BRAVE NEW VOICES” (HBO Home Entertainment): Queen Latifah narrates this reality series, which follows a group of teenaged poets and spoken-word artists are they aspire to compete in the 2008 Brave New Voices National Youth Poetry Slam Championship in Washington, DC. This boxed set retails for $19.96.
“SANCTUARY”: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (E1 Entertainment): Amanda Tapping leads her scientific team in an ongoing investigation of the supernatural, in all 13 episodes from the 2007 (and, to date, only) season of the award-winning SyFy Channel series. This boxed set, which includes audio commentaries and featurettes, retails for $44.98.
STEPFATHER II (Synapse Films): Terry O’Quinn returns as the fiendish father figure in director Jeff Burr’s atmospheric, darkly humorous 1989 follow-up, in which he escapes from an asylum and finds a new suburban haven — posing as a family therapist, no less! As unnecessary sequels go, this is unquestionably one of the better ones, mostly due to O’Quinn’s terrific turn (again). Good supporting work by Meg Foster as his intended bride and Caroline Williams as a suspicious neighbor. Like the first film, this died at the box-office but found a fanbase on cable-TV. This special edition includes a retrospective featurette and audio commentary by Burr and producer Darin Scott. Rated R. ***
“THE UNIVERSE”: THE COMPLETE SEASON THREE (A&E Home Entertainment): All 12 episodes from the 2008-’09 season of the acclaimed History Channel documentary series about space exploration come to Blu-ray in this three-disc set ($69.95 retail). A&E Home Entertainment is also releasing “The Universe”: The Complete Seasons 1-3, which includes all 43 episodes, on Blu-ray ($179.95 retail). Mark Burger can be heard Friday mornings on the “Two Guys Named Chris” radio show on Rock-92. Copyright 2009, Mark Burger !
ALSO ON DVD
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Blue Underground): Director/coscreenwriter Harry Kumel’s highly stylized, atmospheric 1971 chiller stars the impossibly elegant Delphine Seyrig as the ageless countess Elisabeth Bathory, a vampire who sets her sights on a honeymooning couple (John Karlen and Danielle Ouimet) whose marriage has a few kinks already. Eerie, ethereal and erotic, this is not the usual vampire movie — but it does boast a fervent cult following. Andrea Rau, as the Countess’ concubine, is a knockout. Available as a single-disc DVD ($14.95 retail) or a two-disc special edition ($29.95 retail). ***
DINOSAURS ALIVE! (Image Entertainment): Michael Douglas narrates this self-explanatory IMAX documentary that explores the history of the dinosaurs with state-of-the-art CGI effects. The DVD retails for $19.98, the Blu-ray for $24.98.
“FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS”: THE SECOND SEASON (HBO Home Entertainment): All 10 episodes from the 2009 season of the criticallyacclaimed HBO comedy series starring executive producers Jemaine Clement (Emmy nominee as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series) and Bret McKenzie as ambitious, self-absorbed New Zealanders desperately trying to carve out a music career in New York City, based on their BBC Radio 2 series in Britain. This two-disc boxed set retails for $29.98.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Director J. Lee Thompson’s 1981 contribution to slasher cinema stars Melissa Sue Anderson as a troubled prep-school student recovering from a tragic accident whose classmates start meeting untimely ends. The resident red herrings on board for this gory whodunit include Lawrence Dane as her worried (but oft-absent) father and a slumming Glenn Ford as her psychiatrist. Better made than most, which is faint praise, but it has its fans. This version of the film retains the original music score. Rated R.
** THE LAST ROUND (NoShame Films): Stelvio Massi’s 1976 shoot-‘emup (originally titled Il Conto e chiuso) stars real-life boxing champ Carlos Monzon as a drifter who methodically pits two rival crime families (headed by Luc Merenda and Mario Braga, respectively) against each other. The basic set-up is similar to Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars — although this isn’t as good as either. This is the first time that the full version has been released in the US, replete with a bonus CD of Italian movie scores from the 1970s. **
“THE MIDDLEMAN”: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Shout! Factory): Natalie Morales portrays an art-school graduate who finds herself paired with a straight-arrow crime fighter (Matt Keeslar) in this light-hearted superhero spoof created by executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach. This boxed set, which retails for $34.99, contains all 12 episodes from the 2008 (and only) season of the ABC Family series.
“MR. BELVEDERE”: SEASON 3 (Shout! Factory): Nearly 40 years after Clifton Webb introduced the character on the big screen, Christopher Hewett assumed the role of the acerbic but warm-hearted British housekeeper of a typical all-American family, in a (surprisingly) popular, award-winning ABC-TV prime-time sitcom. This boxed set ($39.99 retail) features all 22 episodes from the 1986-’87 season.
MUTANTS AND MONSTERS DOUBLE FEATURE (Liberation Entertainment): A self-explanatory DVD twin-bill ($19.95 retail): Greydon Clark’s idiotic 1988 shipboard shocker Uninvited (˝*) with George Kennedy, Alex Cord and Clu Gulager; and John “Bud” Cardos’ okay 1984 sci-fi chiller Mutant (**) starring Wings Hauser and Bo Hopkins. Both films are rated R.
THE NEW YORK RIPPER (Blue Underground): Director/co-screenwriter Lucio Fulci’s notorious, sometimes nonsensical 1982 shocker sees a bladebrandishing lunatic (who taunts the police in a duck voice!) at large in the Big Apple. Jack Hedley plays the grumpy cop on the killer’s trail. In some quarters, this is considered a black comedy… but not in this one. In some countries, it was banned outright. *˝
NEXT DAY AIR (Summit Entertainment): Benny Boom, musicvideo veteran, makes his feature directorial debut with this uneven action comedy starring Wood Harris and Mike Epps as two would-be drug dealers in Philadelphia who mistakenly come into possession of 10 kilos of cocaine. The cast’s energy helps, but the film goes awry when it inexplicably turns violent in the third act. Rated R. *˝
“THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY” (HBO Home Entertainment): The best-selling series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith are adapted into an HBO series starring Grammy Award-winning songstress Jill Scott as the proprietor of the first female-owned detective agency in the African nation of Botswana. All six episodes are included in this three-DVD boxed set, which retails for $59.99. The pilot was the last directorial stint for executive producer Anthony Minghella, who died before it aired. Fellow producer Sydney Pollack died not long after — but the show did go on. CCH Pounder earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series (for the episode “The Boy With the African Heart”). PUSH (Summit Entertainment): Paul McGuigan’s directorial touches boost (slightly) this jumbled fantasy about psychics waging war in Hong Kong. Chris Evans plays a telekinetic pursued by a shadowy conspiracy led by Djimon Hounsou, while Camilla Belle (badly) plays Evans’ ex-girlfriend. Also on hand: Dakota Fanning, Ming-Na and Cliff Curtis. Rated PG-13. **
THE RAMEN GIRL (Image Entertainment): Brittany Murphy, who also produced and whose movies used to be released theatrically, plays an American tourist in Tokyo who tries to overcome a break-up by becoming a ramen chef at a local eatery. As usual, Murphy tries too hard to be endearingly quirky, but Toshiyuki Nishida scores as her hard-drinking “sensei” in this featherweight comedy that goes on a bit long. Rated PG-13. **
RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS BRAVE NEW VOICES” (HBO Home Entertainment): Queen Latifah narrates this reality series, which follows a group of teenaged poets and spoken-word artists are they aspire to compete in the 2008 Brave New Voices National Youth Poetry Slam Championship in Washington, DC. This boxed set retails for $19.96.
“SANCTUARY”: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (E1 Entertainment): Amanda Tapping leads her scientific team in an ongoing investigation of the supernatural, in all 13 episodes from the 2007 (and, to date, only) season of the award-winning SyFy Channel series. This boxed set, which includes audio commentaries and featurettes, retails for $44.98.
STEPFATHER II (Synapse Films): Terry O’Quinn returns as the fiendish father figure in director Jeff Burr’s atmospheric, darkly humorous 1989 follow-up, in which he escapes from an asylum and finds a new suburban haven — posing as a family therapist, no less! As unnecessary sequels go, this is unquestionably one of the better ones, mostly due to O’Quinn’s terrific turn (again). Good supporting work by Meg Foster as his intended bride and Caroline Williams as a suspicious neighbor. Like the first film, this died at the box-office but found a fanbase on cable-TV. This special edition includes a retrospective featurette and audio commentary by Burr and producer Darin Scott. Rated R. ***
“THE UNIVERSE”: THE COMPLETE SEASON THREE (A&E Home Entertainment): All 12 episodes from the 2008-’09 season of the acclaimed History Channel documentary series about space exploration come to Blu-ray in this three-disc set ($69.95 retail). A&E Home Entertainment is also releasing “The Universe”: The Complete Seasons 1-3, which includes all 43 episodes, on Blu-ray ($179.95 retail). Mark Burger can be heard Friday mornings on the “Two Guys Named Chris” radio show on Rock-92. Copyright 2009, Mark Burger !
