The Crazies (1973) - Arrow Blu-ray Review

Review:

*Originally written September 30th, 2018*

Damn. I'm pretty disappointed by this, I'm a big fan of George Romero's work, so I knew I had to check out his early stuff at some point. I'd seen the remake of The Crazies a few years ago (And it is surprisingly decent), but the original had always been a black mark on my record. Sadly, the wait and hype really wasn't worth it for this low-budget effort.

It starts off well enough, with a scene of a man after having just killed his wife, try and burn down his home with his young children still inside it. It was surprisingly unsettling and done in an effective matter that not a single moment of the rest of the film manages to live up to.

I'm at a loss when it comes to even remembering the characters and events that happened in The Crazies. I'd only watched it last night and cannot remember a single thing about these characters aside from the performances all being just awful. It's understandable that being such a micro-budget effort, that things aren't going to be perfect, but it felt like they'd taken a bunch of first time actors to try and be convincing, but it just does not work.

I still really like the premise of The Crazies, a small hick town starts to lose their minds as a virus slowly turns the inhabitants into not quite zombies, but violent psychopaths. It's just a shame that so much time is spent at the characters vs the government forces sent in to control the situation rather than the actual "Crazies" . The government scientists are pretty bland and one note, they all wear the same costumes and it gets tired very quickly. It's a continuous loop of the leads running from these people, killing a few and moving on until it sorta just... ends? 

I was shocked that Romero actually made this after Night of the Living Dead, which is a much tighter effort and actually bothered to build its characters, while this feels like a much more amateur hour effort. All the gore and blood effects looks weird and fake, with that overly bright blood coloured blood that looks closer to paint than actual blood. 

This is not a good looking film either, the cinematography is constantly ugly and the camera work during the action is muddled and poor, making it hard to tell what is actually happening. Even with a brief run-time of 90 minutes, it still drags and goes off into needlessly drawn out scenes that do nothing to further the plot or let us get to know the characters. In all honesty, it' just kind of boring.

I sound really harsh on this, I know I'm making it sound atrocious, but it's not, it's just painfully average for all it's faults and problems. There are a few sparks of creativity that pop out every now and then, but it just didn't shine bright enough to make a full film worth watching. The best I can say about it is that Arrow's 4K remaster does its best to make an ugly film look good, there's some strong detail in a lot of scenes, but moments here and there look very soft and hazy.


I don't know what else to say about The Crazies, I'd only recommend checking it out if you're interested in seeing George Romero's filmography, but in all honesty, I'd suggest watching the 2010 remake instead. Which is something I rarely say.

5/10 Dans

The Crazies is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Carrie (1976) - Arrow Blu-Ray Review

Review:

*Originally written September 30th, 2018*

Carrie is one of those horror films that grows on me a tiny bit more with every watch. It's easily one of the best of its genre from the '70s and while some of it is a little outdated it still holds up remarkably well and is by far the best adaptation of Carrie to date. Far surpassing the absolutely finely remake from 2013, the atrocious sequel to the original and the piss-poor made for TV remake from the early 2000's.

It's a story that still hits hard. A young girl is relentlessly bullied by her classmates, some of it is really nasty and it opens with one of the most mean-spirited and sickening acts of bullying I can remember from a film and it builds and builds before exploding into a spectacular finale.

Sissy Spacek's performance is absolutely wonderful, perfectly capturing a teenage girl going through changes and trying to live through the bullying in her life and her abusive home life from her utterly psychotic, fanatical Christian mother. It really helps that Spacek is not the most attractive of people, so it's believable she feels like an outcast and tormented by those around her. 

When things get nicer towards the end, it's oddly heartbreaking to see her one true moment of happiness when she feels accepted by those who have bullied her come crashing around her in truly horrible fashion. While this is a horror film with supernatural elements, it feels more like a pretty straightforward and real drama, before exploding into horror in its final act.

And when that final act starts, it really is a true horror experience. Arrow's gorgeous 4K restoration of Carrie really lets that prom scene speak. The colour and lighting of that scene absolutely sparkles and feels vibrant and beautiful, while the prom scene itself is still pure spectacle of carnage that still feels brutal and nasty by today's standards. This is a huge marked improvement on the MGM Blu-ray release and I really can't image how this would look any better, outside of a true 4K UHD release.

I always forget this was a Brian DePalma film too and it's easily one of his best. I'm still on the fence about some of the weird music and editing choices, but most of it still works pretty damn well. The striking imagery of Christ is unsettling and sets the tone for what's to come and has made me realise I need to finally read the Carrie book. I've yet to actually read a Stephen King novel (I own a few) as a lot of his films I adore and this being one of my favourite adaptations. I need to sort it out.

As much as Carrie does hold up, there are a few things that don't, which come and go in strange moments. The worst of which is surprisingly Piper Laurie as Carrie's mother Margaret, for a film that feels pretty restrained and real, her over the top performance sticks out. I just refuse to believe a mother like that would have been allowed to keep her child and the school seems to have done nothing about her abusive behaviour. 

The minor moments, like I said, are pretty fleeting. Like there's a scene where John Travolta (Yes, he's in this) is receiving a blowjob, but the girl is still talking while she's still clearly going down on him, it's an odd bit of direction that just sticks out. Then there's the scene where everyone is trying on their prom suits and dresses, and it makes use of this weird moment where the sound and image is sped up, giving everyone that weird, high pitched voice. It was so weird and felt so out of place. That aside though, It's all damn good.


Carrie still feels pretty timeless, it's a simple story that flies by like nothing and feels infinitely rewatchable. It's also the best performance of Sissy Spacek's career and by far one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date. The only one I think I like more is The Shining, which is not bad going. 

8/10 Dans

Carrie is out now on Blu-ray (Released by Arrow Video) and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Heathers (1988) - Arrow Blu-ray Review

Review:

*Originally written September 14th, 2018*

Heathers is one of those films I really wish I watched as a kid, I had seen it before in my late teens and I liked it a lot, but I just know had I grown up with it, that I would love it so much more than I do now. It's a film that had always popped up and I'd seen around, but for some reason in the UK it was annoying hard to get hold of, and I really don't know why. For some reason I'm reminded of what a nightmare Leon was to get hold of too. 

Thankfully, Arrow Video have finally given Heathers a worthy Blu-ray release in the UK, mastered from a gorgeous 4K scan and it was probably the best way to experience this film again outside of a theatre. An actually 4K UHD release would have been nice, but we're probably a bit far out from catalogue releases like this seeing the light of day.

Heathers feels like John Hughes on crack. It's a funny, violent and utterly demented high school crime comedy. I'd forgot just how dark this film was, it's one of the darkest comedies I've seen in a while in fact. Teen murder and suicide is brushed off as such a trivial thing. Some of the strangely homophobic and outdated '80s jokes surprisingly worked. The mineral water gag is absolute gold.

The characters are fantastic, it's always easy to forget what a charming piece of charisma Christian Slater was back in the day, back in his later '80s/early '90s peak. This is by far his best role outside of True Romance. It was just so easy to see why Winona Ryder would fall in love with him and go along (Mostly) to his increasingly destructive plans, leading to a genuinely heartfelt confrontation that made me realise I actually loved these characters.


It hits into those '80s high school cliches, but turns them on their heads in its own sick fashion, outside of Thoroughbreds, I'm really drawing a blank at any film that comes close to the tone and unique style of Heathers. It's so easy to see why in today's climate that any attempt to reboot this film as a franchise has been a complete disaster. Heathers really is a product of its time and could in no way be replicated today. That being said, Heathers still feels ahead of its time, despite being 30 years old, a lot of themes are far more relevant today. I guess making it kinda timeless?


Heathers is still excellent, 30 years on and sits near the top of the high school '80s genre, but turns all the genres cliches into something far more horrific the hilariously dark results. God, I love '80s film-making. I cannot wait to watch this again. I can tell it's going to grow on me with every watch.

8/10 Dans

Heathers is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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