Category: 80’s

1986 BMX Cult Classic RAD Now Available For the First Time on Blu-ray

Utopia announced today that the company will be re-releasing the 1986BMX cult classic RAD for the first time on DVD and On Demand this summer.  The film, which was scheduled to have a 4K Restoration World Premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, will launch across all TVOD and On Demand platforms on Friday, July 24th, with a ‘special edition’ premiere on new digital streaming platform  Altavod on Friday, July 10th and now available on Blu-ray directly through Vinegar Syndrome.

Originally released in 1986 during the rise of the BMX bike craze, this powerful piece of pop cultural nostalgia is finally coming to disc, newly restored in 4K from its original negative by Fotokem. The film follows Cru Jones (Bill Allen), a small town kid determined to win an infamous BMX race set on a nearly impossible course known as Helltrack. A sleeper hit upon its initial release, RAD has become one of the iconic cult films of the 1980s and amongst BMX professionals, spawning fan clubs and repertory film screenings for decades.

“This is a very personal project for me. My Father produced the film, my brother John filmed the opening and closing credits, my Mother plays Cru’s Mom; my family grew up in and around the film and my Father passed away before the film reached this phase of its release cycle,” says Utopia co-founder Robert Schwartzman. “It’s taken time to get things in order and reach this point, we’re extremely grateful to all the fans for waiting all these years and for all the support we’ve received from our partners.”

RAD, presented by Jack Schwartzman and Schwartzman Pictures Inc., stars Bill Allen, Lori Laughlin, Talia Shire, Bart Conner, Jack Weston and Ray Walston.  The film was directed by Hal Needham (Smokey And The Bandit, The Cannonball Run), written by Sam Bernard and Geoffrey Edwards, produced by Robert L. Levy (Wedding Crashers) and executive produced by Jack Schwartzman (Being There, Never Say Never Again). Additional release plans for RAD in 2021, more updates announcing soon.

For additional information, please visit https://www.utopiadistribution.com/

DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D.* – Midnights This Weekend at The Moolah (*Medical Deviate)

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“The patient’s screaming is disturbing me. Perform removal of vocal chords!”

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DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. screens Midnights this weekend (August 12th and 13th) at The Moolah Theater and Lounge (3821 Lindell Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63108) as part of  Destroy the Brain’s monthly Late Night Grindhouse film series.

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DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. (“Medical Deviate” – aka: ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST), is a hybrid of the dumbshits-go-to-the-jungle-and are-eaten-by cannibals genre (think CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST), with some living dead shenanigans thrown in.  It’s similar to Lucio Fulci’s ZOMBIE, but twice as cheesy and three times as funny. The gore effects are completely over the top and hilarious; disembowelments, impalements, slit throats, eye gouging, machetes through the head, death by outboard motor – all the stuff to keep the Late Night Grindhouse crowd happy.

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Ian McCulloch returns from ZOMBIE and his dialogue and delivery are really funny, with the good doctor spewing such lines as, “I could easily kill you now, but I’m determined to have your brain!!!” (didn’t Anthony Hopkins say that in HANNIBAL?) Anyone who likes ridiculous gory 80’s Italian exploitation potboilers should definitely check out DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. Along with McCulloch actor Dakar (Molotto) also appears from ZOMBIE only this time he has some more dialogue. Synonymous with these Italian films at the height of their popularity, the lead actress, in this case the lovely Alexandra Delli Colli (as Lori) takes off her clothes at every opportunity and Sherry Buchanan as Susan is also pleasant on the eye and has a pivotal shocking scene. But still it’s typical Italian schlock with bad dubbing, editing and script etc, as it moves from one scene to the next as the expedition’s party are picked off one by one by the local cannibals/zombies. One memorable moment comes early on with a man jumping out of a window and falling 20 stories to his doom, and when he hits the ground, the mannequin in his place loses an arm. Cut to dead guy on floor, and his arm is still attached! I saw DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. several times at the drive-in back in the early ‘80s and can’t wait to see it on the big screen once again! Join me, won’t you?

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TICKETS ARE $7 AND YOU CAN BUY THEM ONLINE VIA MOOLAH’S WEBSITE.

THE PSYCHOTRONIC PRE-SHOW STARTS AROUND 11:30P WITH THE FILM STARTING AT MIDNIGHT.

The Moolah Theatre & Lounge serves alcohol until 2:30AM! Feel free to show up early and stay late to have some drinks and get friendly with the amazing Moolah staff.

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A Facebook invite for Friday night’s event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1823938141167474/

A Facebook invite for Saturday night’s event can be found HERE

https://www.facebook.com/events/1662010500787073/

Destroy the Brain’s site can be found HERE

http://www.destroythebrain.com/

 

 

 

THE LONG RIDERS – The Blu Review

Howdy fans of HBO’s recent series “Deadwood” and the Coen brothers’ TRUE GRIT! Look out! Galloping down the Blu Ray trail is the 1980 epic “oater” THE LONG RIDERS. It tells the story of several of the great outlaw gangs. You may have seen other films concerning the exploits of these desperados. Well this version is worth a look for two reasons. It’s directed by one of the great action film makers to come out of the 1980’s-Walter Hill ( THE WARRIORS, 48 HOURS ). The other reason, and the film’s big marketing point, is the casting of the brothers with real life siblings-David, Keith, and Robert Carradine play the Younger brothers, Randy and Dennis Quaid are the Miller brothers, Nicholas and Christoper Guest are the Ford brothers, and James and Stacy Keach are the James brothers. This might seem like gimmick or “stunt” casting, but the family resemblances and dynamics enhance the story. Davis Carradine’s a great, swaggering thug as Cole Younger and James Keach brings a sad, haunted quality to Jesse James. There’s several great supporting actors here, too. James Whitmore, Jr. is wonderfully smarmy as an over-confident Pinkerton agent who soon realizes that he and his men are in over their heads. Chris Mulkey and Harry Carey, Jr. score big laughs as victims of a stagecoach hold-up. James Remar is scary in a savage saloon knife fight with Cole. Fans of TV’s “Parks and Recreation” will be stunned to see the mother of Leslie Knope ( Amy Poehler ), Pamela Reed playing a very spirited and sexy Belle Starr. She almost makes the screen sizzle.

There’s no extras here beside the theatrical trailer ( doesn’t count as an extra, Hollywood! ), so let’s focus on the film transfer. THE LONG RIDERS  will really give your sound system a test. Some of the dialogue is soft, but the gun shots roar like cannons. The score by Ry Cooder sounds exceptional especially in a square dance scene. Picture quality is supurb except for a few interior shots which were slightly grainy. The scenery is stunning, and the gun battles are beautiful and brutal. Like Sam Peckinpah, Hill made good use of slow motion in the final action sequence. If the film had been made today I’m sure the bullet hits would have been added after filming with digital effects. Back then they used small explosive packs called ‘squibs’. I’d bet that the actors were pretty sore at the end of the day even if they were heavily padded. I’d not seen the film before and aside from Dennis Quaid’s ‘babyface’ ( wonder if that moustache was real ), you might  think it had been made a couple of years ago and not over thirty! THE LONG RIDERS  holds up very well indeed and deserves a spot on the shelf of any western or action film fan.

SUBMARINE – The Review

The story of a quirky loner coming of age and experiencing first love has been a staple of independent films for quite some time. The new film SUBMARINE directed by Richard Ayoade from the novel by Joe Dunthorne looks at this a new way by setting the story in Wales ( in what appears to be the 1980’s ) and has it’s hero dividing his attention between the pursuit of his new love and concern over his parent’s marriage.  This gives a fresh spin to some well trodden cinema territory.

 Oliver Tate ( Craig Roberts ) doesn’t seem to fit in at school. His supposed best pal delights in taunting him. He pines for the very cool Jordana Bevan ( Yasmin Paige ). He belongs to none of the popular groups, but daydreams that the entire school would be devastated by his death. Things are tense at home. He believes that his mother Jill ( Sally Hawkins ) is unhappy with his nerdy marine science researcher father Lloyd ( Noah Taylor ). The recent arrival of one of Jill’s former boyfriends, Graham ( Paddy Considine ) who is renting the house next door concerns Oliver more than Lloyd. Life gets much more interesting for Oliver when Jordana enlists him in a plot to make her former boyfriend jealous. When Oliver stands up to the bullying former beau and defends her, Jordana sees him in a different light. They become a couple although Jordana is still bit hesitant for such labels. Soon she opens up to him and tells him of her mother’s illness. Jordana wants Oliver to lend his support during her mom’s upcoming hospital stay, but he becomes more concerned about his mom’s attending the motivational speech given by Graham. He begins following the two and trying rouse Lloyd into action. Will Oliver’s mission to stop a potential affair derail his relationship with Jordana?

SUBMARINE offers some great dialogue and many delightfully kooky performances. Roberts is very effective as the hero who still screws things up like any kid. His concern and affection for his folks and his romantic longings are touching and endearing. Yasmin’s Jordana starts as a “too cool for school” hipster who slowly begins to thaw thanks to the sweetness of Oliver’s character. Unlike many of these ” young love ” stories, the adults are giving a chance to shine.  Taylor makes Lloyd a lovable, socially awkward, brilliant doofus. Hawkins leaves her light-hearted roles to play a woman who is a bit unsatisfied and very conflicted. Considine walks a tightrope while playing a somewhat buffonish guy ( he sports a great spiked mullet while driving about in his Pink Floyd inspired van ) and still making him a bit sympathetic. Ayoade does indulge a bit with some fantasy sequences and camera tricks, but never lets the film veer off the central story. The 1980’s setting ( never stated but conveyed by the tiny TVs, VHS tapes, and audio cassettes ) never overpowers the characters. If you’re nostalgic to revisit those pangs of first love with a classmate, then SUBMARINE is a sweet, quirky trip .

Overall Rating: Four Out of Five Stars

Is there Really a Third ‘Gremlins’ in the works?

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Bloody-Disgusting recently made a set visit to ‘The Hole’ to speak with director Joe Dante. During their visit, the topic of ‘Gremlins’ came up and the question of whether or not a third ‘Gremlins’ was in the works surfaced. According to Dante, it’s not currently happening but he seems pretty confident that it will at some point.

“I find it hard to believe that they won’t make a GREMLINS 3 because they’re remaking ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING. I mean, they’re gonna remake everything.” — Joe Dante

Oh, God! That’s news in and of it’s self, but not good news. ‘Adventures in Babysitting’ remake? Really? We can add this to the list of movies that need not be remade, although it does fit into the category of movies that could be remade better.

OK, back to ‘Gremlins’… I LOVE the ‘Gremlins’ movies, well, the first one anyway was awesome! ‘Gremlins 2: The New Batch’ was a lot of fun, but kind of cheesy, which in turn is actually part of why it was so much fun. Then again, can you really hate any movie that features Christopher Lee?

Dante went on to expressly insist that he’ll have no involvement in the possible making of a third ‘Gremlins’ movie. Personally, the first movie will always be the only true ‘Gremlins’ and anything and everything after is just fluff. Then again, given the right players in front of and behind the camera, a third (or dare I say even a remake) movie could prove quite interesting with our advances in technology… and no, I’m not just talking about CGI.

Joe Dante apparently is, however, very much involved in the remastering the first two ‘Gremlins’ movies for their upcoming Blu-Ray release. Sweet! I knew there was a reason I’ve held out on buying them this long…

[source: Bloody-Disgusting]

Children of the 80’s Rejoice, “Our” Cartoons coming to DVD!

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For all my fellow children of the 80’s I bring good news. Two of our most beloved animated cartoon shows from our childhood are getting a respectable DVD treatment. Shout! Factory and Hasbro are teaming up to bring the original ‘Transformers’ and ‘G.I. Joe’ episodes to DVD.

The first of these epic DVD releases scheduled to hit store shelves will be ‘The Transformers: The Complete First Season — 25th Anniversary Edition’. This is set for June 16, 2009, a week before Michael Bay’s live-action sequel ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ hits theaters on June 24, 2009.

The 3-disc DVD set will include the original 1984 broadcast version of all 16 episodes of season one, in the intended story line order. The DVD will feature a remastered picture and a new stereo soundtrack created from it’s original audio recordings, unlike the original Rhino DVD release made from incomplete work prints. Shout! Factory will release DVD sets of the complete series of ‘Transformers’ and ‘G.I. Joe’ later this summer.

This anniversary edition of season one will sell for $29.99 and tentatively include the following extras:

  • Triplechanger: From Toy to Comic to Screen: The Origins of the Transformers featurette
  • Printable Script
  • Rare PSAs
  • Toy Commercials
  • Concept Art
  • Limited Edition Autobot Magnet

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

“Naked Dawn” Trailer (w/ Rob Schneider, Mena Suvari and Vinnie Jones) [NSFW]

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What if the Russians attacked the U.S.? What if Rob Schneider was our last hope? What if he was naked? Looks like Rob Schneider is back in his spoof mode with this epic and explicit trailer that looks to be a failing homage to the 80s classic Red Dawn. Naked Dawn stars Rob Schneider, Mena Suvari Vinnie Jones and is directed by Jake Szymanski.

‘MacGyver’ back in Action on the Big Screen?

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New Line is developing ‘MacGyver’ into a feature film… no, really, they are! Dino De Laurentiis is executive producing and keeping it somewhat in the family, as his daughter Raffaella De Laurentiis and Martha De Laurentiis… oh yeah, and they’re working with ‘MacGyver’ creator Lee Zlotoff as well.

“We think we’re a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise,” said New Line’s Richard Brener. — HR

No writer(s) are attached yet, so it’s not going to happen in the near future. What has me curious is whether they’ll go realistic (ha! funny, huh?) and keep ‘MacGyver’ low-tech or will they ruin it by throwing a massive budget at special effects?

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

Jonah Hill Developing ’21 Jump Street’ Movie

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So, Jonah Hill is working with Sony Pictures to write and executive produce a feature film based on the old Fox program (and Johnny Depp career starter) ’21 Jump Street.’

That show blew major ass, so Hill’s involvement will probably be for the best, as he will most likely take the source material and turn it into an intentional comedy.

I must be honest, this news neither interests or excites me. Another P.O.S. television show is being made into a comedy. Why not make a feature film of ’24,’ starring  Leslie Nielsen as  Agent Jack Bauer. Or a live-action ‘Simpson’s’ movie directed by Martin  Scorsese, starring the cast of ‘Sopranos.’ Everything is genius on Opposites Day.

  

In other news, a cat was found inside a $27 used couch. Adorable and sad, because if there is one thing that the internet has more of than porn, it’s junk about cats. Sad, though, because this is the kind of news that makes it to MSNs main page.

  

source: Entertainment Weekly