Blu-ray Review: CIRCUS OF FEAR (1966) / FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS (1967) Double Feature

CIRCUS OF FEAR / FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS Double Feature
(a.k.a. PSYCHO CIRCUS)
Directed by  John Moxey / Jeremy Summers
Distributed by  Blue Underground

  Blue Underground has recently released this awesome double feature featuring two films from the 1960's inspired by stories by author Edgar Wallace.   While it includes both CIRCUS OF FEAR and FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS, my review will mainly focus on CIRCUS OF FEAR., and I must start by saying that this is not a true horror film by any means.  It has a few horror elements in it, but this is definitely more of a mystery/thriller/crime film.  Here is the plot synopsis and some info about the films from the Blue Underground website:


CIRCUS OF FEAR: What begins as a daring daylight armored car heist on London's Tower Bridge leads to a sinister circus where a disfigured lion tamer (Christopher Lee) is one of several suspects in a three-ring nightmare of red herrings, grisly 'accidents' and cold-blooded murder. Klaus Kinski (VENOM), Suzy Kendall (BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE), Margaret Lee (FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS) and Leo Genn (THE BLOODY JUDGE) co-star in this gripping thriller directed by John Moxey (HORROR HOTEL, THE NIGHT STALKER) and based on a novel by legendary mystery writer Edgar Wallace.

Originally released in America as PSYCHO-CIRCUS in black & white and cut by more than 22 minutes, Blue Underground has now restored the film to its full running time. Presented in a stunning new 2K High Definition transfer from the original British color negative, this is CIRCUS OF FEAR as you've truly never seen it before!

FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS:
After arriving in Hong Kong, wealthy American playboy Bob Mitchell is the recipient of a strange note found on the body of a dead man. A clue to an illegal gold-trafficking operation, Mitchell is unwittingly thrust into a deadly power struggle between a secretive global crime syndicate and brutal local mobsters. Can he survive long enough to unmask the mysterious FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS?

An international all-star cast including Bob Cummings (DIAL M FOR MURDER), Margaret Lee (THE BLOODY JUDGE), Rupert Davies (WITCHFINDER GENERAL), Klaus Kinski (FITZCARRALDO), Maria Rohm (EUGENIE), Maria Perschy (THE GHOST GALLEON), Brian Donlevy (HANGMEN ALSO DIE), Dan Duryea (WINCHESTER '73), George Raft (SOME LIKE IT HOT) and Christopher Lee (COUNT DRACULA) star in this thrilling mystery from producer Harry Alan Towers (VENUS IN FURS) and director Jeremy Summers (VENGEANCE OF FU MANCHU). Based on a story by legendary author Edgar Wallace, FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS has been newly remastered in High Definition from the original uncut negative for its U.S. home video debut!

  So far I have only had a chance to watch CIRCUS OF FEAR, which is a very intriguing film and
not at all what I expected.   As I stated above, it's more of a murder mystery/crime drama  than a horror film, but that didn't keep me from enjoying this film by any means.   In fact, the opening scene involving an armored car robbery on a bridge was a very cool action sequence.   The people that pulled off the heist go to hide out at the circus which is where the majority of the film takes place. 

  The film is full of subplots and plot twists, although to be honest, most of them you can figure out beforehand.  Christopher Lee plays an awesome character, a disfigured knife thrower who wears a mask most of the film.  Lee is one of my all time favorite actors, any movie is greatly improved with the addition of him to the cast!

  The Blu-ray transfer on this disc is stunning.  The picture is crystal clear and just looks wonderful!  I highly suggest you check this out as soon as you can.   This Blu-ray double feature is available now from Blue Underground and contains the following special features:

*  Audio Commentary with Director John Moxey (Circus of Fear)
*  Theatrical Trailers (both)
*  Poster & Still Gallery (both)


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for CIRCUS OF FEAR
CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS
CLICK HERE to purchase the Blu-ray

 
 

Blu-ray Review: THUNDERCRACK! (1975)

THUNDERCRACK!
Directed by:  Curt McDowell
Distributed by Synapse Films / CAV Distributing

 Synapse Films is known for releasing some of the greatest horror films, as well as come off-the-wall films as well.  They have some crazy, wild films in their catalog, but I think I just found the weirdest film they have released to date.  The film is called THUNDERCRACK! and it is one of the strangest movies I have ever seen.   Here is the synopsis from the Synapse Films website:

  Witness if you dare… THUNDERCRACK!… the world’s only underground kinky art adult horror film, complete with four men, three women and rampaging circus animals. With the initial setup of an atmospheric gothic tale — a dark and stormy night breakdown featuring a creepy old house on the hill — it quickly turns into an eerie orgy of graphic humor, horror and sex. A tour de force of underground filmmaking with a plot beyond description, this film fully exposes itself with amazing dialogue and trash-noir lighting through which to peer at the pickles, the puke and the polymorphs.
  In 1975, Curt McDowell and writer/actor George Kuchar created the exceptionally perverse and utterly brilliant THUNDERCRACK!, a film not recommended for those with tender sensibilities. A true cult classic that has shocked, excited and amazed audiences worldwide for 40 years, this presentation is the first ever official North American video release!

  This is the 40th Anniversary release of this film, and it amazes me and says a lot about this film that it is still around and even celebrated this many years after it's initial release.   As I mentioned, this is one of the strangest films I have ever seen.   The plot was amazing in that it started out like a horror film, as a group traveling along a country road have car trouble and find refuge in an old creepy house.  It then goes in about 20 different directions, including a sub-plot about one of the men who was recently released from the "loony bin" after his friends tricked him into having sex with a gorilla.  This scene is told from the man's point of view, complete with flashbacks of the event.  Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!  That is honestly about the most tame plot point of this film, everything else pretty much just revolves around the members of the house having sex with everyone (and everything) in the house!

  While I can't say this is a film I will be re-watching anytime soon, I can at least say I have seen it.  Although, now that I think about it, maybe I should not mention to anyone that I actually watched it! Ha!  It's definitely good for a laugh 40 years later, and is a must see for anyone that is into very strange, underground cinema.

THUNDERCRACK! is available now on DVD and Blu-ray from Synapse Films and CAV Distribution, and contains the following special features:

*  All-Region (Region Free) Release!
*  Rare archival interview segments with director Curt McDowell presented as audio commentary
*  BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE Bonus Feature - IT CAME FROM KUCHAR (87 mins): Directed by Jennifer Kroot. Documentary about the twin underground filmmakers George and Mike Kuchar
*  BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE: An additional BONUS DVD loaded with fun additional extras! Rare interviews, short films, THUNDERCRACK! audition footage, outtakes and MORE!
*  Multiple language newly-translated removable subtitles in English SDH, French, German and Spanish
*  Chapter Selections


CLICK HERE to purchase the DVD
CLICK HERE to purchase the Blu-ray

Double Feature Blu-ray Review: ZOMBIE LAKE (1981) and OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES (1982)

 
OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES
Directed by:  Jesús Franco
Distributed by Redemption Films/Kino Lorber, Inc.

ZOMBIE LAKE
Directed by:  Jean Rollin
Distributed by Redemption Films/Kino Lorber, Inc.

The great folks over at Kino Lorber, Inc. have just released two classic European zombie films onto DVD and Blu-ray.   Jean Rollin's ZOMBIE LAKE and Jess Franco's OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES aren't the best zombie movies ever made, but they both have a certain nostalgic feel to them that makes them sort of "cult classics" when it comes to foreign zombie films.  The films are very similar in many ways, and both have their good points and bad.  Here are the basic plots of the films from the Kino Lorber website:

OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES
In telling the story of a cache of German gold—lost in the desert, sought by a group of teenagers, protected by the walking dead—Franco demonstrated his characteristic lack of restraint, shamelessly inserting stock footage from a bigger-budget war picture, allowing his camera to dwell on the worm-eaten orifices of the shriveled undead and, of course, lacing the action with his trademark style of lyrical eroticism. The resulting film is a decadent exercise in grindhouse filmmaking that is more audacious than frightening, illuminating one of the more peculiar facets of Jess Franco's uniquely warped cinema.

ZOMBIE LAKE
Conceived by one master of erotic horror (Jess Franco) and pseudonymously directed by another (Jean Rollin), ZOMBIE LAKE weaves the tale of a contemporary French village haunted by water-logged Nazis slain by the Resistance. With little regard for narrative subtlety, the film veers from the shamelessly exploitive (as when a women's volleyball team skinny-dips in zombie-infested waters) to the tearfully sentimental (depicting a young orphan girl's psychic connection to one of the walking dead). Beneath its garish surface, however, ZOMBIE LAKE embraces several themes that run throughout Rollin's body of work, showing that this eclectic artist could not help investing even a playful film such as this with his personal sensibilities

As I mentioned before, both of these movies have their good and bad points.  OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES is just very strange, and the plot is hard to follow. I saw this movie years ago on DVD under the title of BLOODSUCKING NAZI ZOMBIES, and the film was extremely hard to watch in terms of a technical aspect.  The film was very dark and grainy and almost hard to make out certain scenes at some points.  I will say that the film is much improved on with this release, especially on the Blu-ray.  The lighting issues are fixed and it is very good picture quality overall.  Also, I think the zombie makeup effects are better in this film compared to those in ZOMBIE LAKE.  They are not great zombie effects by any means, but compared to ZOMBIE LAKE, they are superior.

ZOMBIE LAKE is my favorite of these two films by far.  The zombie effects are not nearly as good in this film.  Basically, the zombies are just regular men with green face paint.  But, even so, seeing a bunch of green faced zombie soldiers rise out of the lake is a very cool image.  There are also numerous underwater shots of the zombies attacking people who go swimming in the lake (usually young, attractive, naked women).  These underwater scenes are fun, especially considering the lake is dark brown, but the underwater scenes are pretty blue water like you would find in a swimming pool...hmmm.  Ha!  You gotta love low budget films!  ZOMBIE LAKE is a lot of fun and I recommend you check this one out.  

Both films are available now from Kino Lorber and are packed with special features!  I am proud to add these films to my zombie movie collection, and you should to!


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES
CLICK HERE to purchase OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES on DVD or Blu-ray


CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for ZOMBIE LAKE
CLICK HERE to purchase ZOMBIE LAKE on DVD or Blu-ray