I bought the Blue Underground BluRay of “The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue”.
Watching it was… weird. Seventies exploitation simply shouldn’t look this sharp!
I’m so used to seeing titles like these in VHS-quality, and in contrast the BluRay transfer is almost pristine and truly a credit to HD. Stunning work by the people from Blue Underground.
I bought the Blue Underground BluRay of “The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue”.
Watching it was… weird. Seventies exploitation simply shouldn’t look this sharp!
I enjoyed it a lot better than I expected, even though it was a pretty “intimate” sort of story compared to later (epic) end-of-the-world zombie movies. So on the downside there aren’t that many undead, and because the corpses are all still pretty fresh there is hardly any truly spectacular make-up (well, bar the eyes: the zombies’ eyes are awesome, especially in HD). Seeing The Lake District full of badly dubbed Italian character actors (basically ALL of the supporting cast) was very funny in an unintentional way.
But the sci-fi background of the zombies is fun (even if I didn’t dig the superfluous fact that these zombies got contagious when coming in contact with fresh blood). And I loved the whole government-vs-hippies angle and how that plays out.
It does not feature truckloads of gore either, but what there is is pretty shocking at times. One woman gets attacked by several of the undead and gets her shirt partially pulled open in the struggle. A zombie grabs one exposed breast, but just as you suspect this shot is included for titillation’s sake he rips it right off! In the same shot (without any intercutting) another zombie proceeds to disembowel her, opening her stomach and pulling her intestines out. A remarkably well-done effect. Brrr….
I love the dubbing on this actually. George is a gem of a character!
If you watch (God help you) the awful “The Devil Within Her” his voice sounds EXACTLY like John Steiner’s in that.
Great music as well, really strange and ominous (check out the full soundtrack on CD, it’s truly bizarre and unnerving) ...and perhaps THE creepiest sound effects in any zombie film (the moans are based on the sound the Director’s Dad made when he died!) and let’s not forget this was made BEFORE the full colour Zombie gore of “Dawn of the Dead”.
Yes, the breast effect is truly surprising given the time. In fact such an idea is unique as far as zombie films go, I think, and certainly an effect Romero would not have even considered I would say.
“Chemical Wedding” - £2. Had to give this thing a try. BRUCE!!
“Perfect Creature” - 50p. Some Vampire thing.
“MERCS”; 10 film set - Funky set of Exploitation/War flicks (Mixed quality to say the least, but not too bad and some rare, violent, trashy funstuffs for a good price), that includes; 1. Strike Commando.
2. Mannigan’s Force
3. Death Raiders
4. Operation Nam (“Cobra Mission”)
5. Fireback
6. Raiders of the Magic Ivory
7. The Last Mercenary
8. Soldiers of Fortune
9. WarBus
10. Tiger Joe
Based on both Ard Vijn’s Twitch review, and a recent posting on DVD Talk I ordered Pintu Terlarang – Forbidden Door (just came out on DVD November 13th).
Based on both Ard Vijn’s Twitch review, and a recent posting on DVD Talk I ordered Pintu Terlarang – Forbidden Door (just came out on DVD November 13th).
Remember to watch all the way to the end of the credits on that one.!
I just may have to use this forum as a way of therapy. The moment I’m leaving out titles on purpose, I’m spending too much money on films. I have to admit I went into a frenzy after my old telly went bust.
A combination of a new HD-screen, a BluRay player, and a ridiculously low US-dollar sent me into an HD buying spree which only stopped after my credit-card overview showed that indeed, many small things do equal one big one.
Anyway, newly acquired:
On DVD: CQ (thanks Kurt) Pusher trilogy (for a paltry 13 Euros this is a no-brain-necessary purchase) Musishi (the Odagiri live-action) RahXhephon: Complete Collection (8 discs) F for Fake (“Eureka MOC” and the word “bargain” form an irresistable combo) Noir: Complete boxsetwith dogtags (7 discs) From Beyond The Housemaid (Korean R3 with a bilingual booklet and yes, one of those two languages is English…) Female The 1000 Years Cat (because I loved Seventh Curse) Zeiram / Zeiram 2 (I swear that our forum-quiz will make me bankrupt one day) The Stewardesses (I know it’s softcore but I can’t resist 3D, and this is the only movie I know of which got the 3D-treatment on DVD that I want all 3D-movies to get: a 2D-version in color, a 3D-version in anaglyph B&W, and a 3D-version in color to verify that the B&W is actually preferred !)
On BluRay: My Bloody Valentine (can’t resist 3D) Waltz with Bashir Slumdog Millionaire TekkonKinkreet (the DVD I had was good but noticeably soft…) Paprika Eyes Wide Shut Zodiac (why is this cheaper than the DVD ?) Quantum of Solace (like with Casino Royale this is demo-quality) Pan’s Labyrinth (a steal at 9,50 EUR, and finally I have English subs on the Spanish del Toro commentary) Mad Detective (Eureka! MOC is off to a good start in their BluRays with Tokyo Sonata and this title… 15 EUR each) Let the Right One In (reviewing this at IFFR 2008 is still my largest scoop ever, and my most-read review) Coraline (can’t resist 3D, or Selick, or Gaiman for that matter) Hancock (underrated) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (this had better be of stellar visual quality or heads will roll) Close Encounters of the Third Kind Leon the Professional (both versions, best edition worldwide, cheap price, regionfree, thank you Sony, ‘nuff said…) The Fifth Element (hugely flawed but with a perfect first hour, this is still one of my favorite titles of the nineties) 300 Sword of the Stranger Shigurui: Death Frenzy (unfinished or not, I watched that last episode with white knuckles and sweaty palms!)
That is a handsome list both the regular DVD and the BluRay.
Question: Is there more or less extras on the MOC F for Fake DVD? Is Welles ex-wife’s version of the film included (it is on the Criterion release). Either way, I just recently caught F for Fake at the local cinematheque and it was a fever-dream of awesome.
I really hope you do enjoy CQ, it is chock-o-block of visual goodies.
That is a handsome list both the regular DVD and the BluRay.
The weirdest thing: I’ve run out of money and there is still a bit of month left. What happened?
Kurt Halfyard - November 25, 2009, 6:02am
Question: Is there more or less extras on the MOC F for Fake DVD? Is Welles ex-wife’s version of the film included (it is on the Criterion release).
Huh? Never heard of that to be honest. DVD-Beaver has a straight comparison (excellent as always) but in the ned they say it’s hard to choose one version over another - and true fans could do worse than own both.
The MOC was only 13 EUR, so…
