DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE: "G"-Willikers!

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (Blu-ray)

1968 / 92 min

Warner Bros

Available at MovieZyng.com

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave has the historic distinction of being the first movie to receive an MPAA rating using their new system. It was given a ‘G,’ the same rating bestowed upon Disney’s The Love Bug. 

This is a movie that opens with a priest discovering a corpse hanging from a church bell. But there’s more family fun in store…open bite wounds, blood gushing from a staked heart, guys getting shitfaced and a body being disposed of in a roaring fireplace. And let’s not forget the lovely Barbara Ewing as the flirty, ill-fated barmaid, Zena, who not only attempts to bed-down the drunken protagonist, her prominently featured cleavage makes one wish the movie was shot in 3-D.

Either the MPAA (now MPA) thinks today’s children are a bunch of fragile flowers, or the organization never knew what the hell they were doing in the first place. Perhaps it's a little bit of both.

There's a lot at stake.

So even though the violence and titillation on display is comparatively mild by today’s standards, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave is hardly kids' stuff. One of several Dracula films produced by Hammer Films, this one has Christopher Lee as the titular bloodsucker with a history of terrorizing a nearby village. Back from the dead, he’s a little miffed that Monsignor Mueller (Rupert Davies) has placed a giant gold crucifix on his castle door. So decides to get even by turning Mueller’s daughter, Maria (Veronica Carlson) into a creature of the night…

…but not if boyfriend Paul (Barry Andrews) has anything to say about it. He’s an atheist who bears an uncanny resemblance to Roger Daltrey. While it’s a toss up whether Andrews or Carlson gives the most ineffectual performance, there’s no question who owns the movie. Lee makes an terrific, scenery-chewing Dracula, oozing menace whenever he’s on the screen. When he isn’t, the narrative is kind of meandering. 

Elsewhere, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave benefits from handsome production design and wonderful matte paintings that greatly enhance the overall gothic feel of the film. Hammer veteran Freddie Francis always had an eye for striking imagery, which he uses to good effect here. While this is far from the greatest vampire movie ever made, it’s fairly enjoyable. But, man…that G rating! What the hell were they thinking?

This is a re-issue of a Blu-ray previously released in 2015.

LETHAL WEAPON 2 and TROY: Icons At Work

LETHAL WEAPON 2 and TROY: DIRECTOR’S CUT

Warner Bros.

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Box Office Behemoth😺

These two Blu-ray reissues from Warner Brothers showcase a couple of icons, past and present. There are no technical upgrades or additional bonus material, but both make decent additions to any action collection if you haven’t already done so.

LETHAL WEAPON 2 (1989/115 min) is the inevitable sequel to the original, which wasn’t the first buddy cop film, but certainly the most influential. Being that Lethal Weapon just recently got a 4K upgrade, I’m kinda surprised that, so far, there’s none planned for this one or the other sequels (perhaps as a boxed set, like WB did with the Mad Max franchise a few years ago). 

But no matter…made back when Mel Gibson could do no wrong (before he went all funny on us), Lethal Weapon 2 serves up more of everything that endeared audiences to the original, this time with a much greater emphasis on comedy, especially with the addition of Joe Pesci to the main cast. As usual, the plot itself is so thin that it might blow away with a slight breeze, which is perfectly fine because the emphasis of the franchise has always been on the characters (though the film doesn’t skimp on the action). 

As such, Gibson and Danny Glover are now so comfortable in their roles as Riggs & Murtaugh that their performances seem effortless, and we feel like we’re being revisited by old friends. In that respect, Lethal Weapon 2 is arguably superior to the original, and as a whole, it’s infinitely better than the subsequent lazy sequels (they really should of stopped after two).

EXTRA KIBBLES: Stunts and Action Featurette; Additional Scenes; Trailer.

This is a reissue of a Blu-ray first released in 2007.

TROY Director’s Cut (2007/196 min) is Brad Pitt’s compulsory historical epic. As far back as the silent era, every Hollywood dreamboat has one or two on their resume. Gibson’s was Braveheart, of course, and I only mention this because the two films share some similarities, and not just the action and bloodletting. Both protagonists are savage-but-intelligent and impossibly gorgeous (even in battle), with the camera almost voyeuristically fawning over their flowing locks and statuesque frames at every opportunity (probably written into the contracts).

But rather than bastardizing history, Troy bastardizes Homer’s The Illiad, which is fine because it’s doubtful most people who continue to love this film have ever actually read it. By and large, director Wolfgang Petersen does a good job distilling and embellishing events for cinematic oomph. The battles are big & bloody, the production design is excellent and the performances befit the material.

However, I’m still not sure this Director’s Cut, which runs well over three hours, is an improvement over the original theatrical version. The thirty minutes of additional footage features more gore and sex, but storywise, they tend to drag the pace down a little. Still, it’s got a great ensemble cast, with Pitt in full movie star mode (which is something of a rarity these days).

EXTRA KIBBLES: FEATURETTES - Troy Revisited; Troy in Focus; In the Thick of Battle; From Ruins to Reality; Troy: An Effects Odyssey; Attacking Troy (most of these featurettes consist of director Wolfgang Peterson discussing particular aspects of the film); Greek Ship Towing (a funny little sketch).

TRAILER

This is a reissue of a Blu-ray first released in 2007.

GHOST SHIP and the Grand Opening

GHOST SHIP (Blu-ray)

2002 / 91 min

From Warner Bros

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Some of you might be old enough to remember the 1979 film, When a Stranger Calls. The iconic opening sequence was so masterfully executed and suspenseful that we tend to forget the rest of the movie was a plodding police procedural. Still, its place in horror history was all but assured.

Similarly, the jaw-dropping prologue to 2002’s Ghost Ship is brilliantly conceived, shocking and spectacularly violent. Some consider it one of the greatest death scenes ever created for a modern horror film, but even if one doesn’t necessarily agree, it’s something we haven’t seen before and certainly memorable. So memorable, in fact, that we might recall Ghost Ship being a better movie than it actually is.

Unlike When a Stranger Calls, the narrative, aesthetic and tone of Ghost Ship remains firmly within the horror genre. If nothing else, this is a great looking film. However, it shoots most of its creative wad during that prologue. The rest is a standard issue ghost story with characters and tropes we’ve seen in countless other movies.

Some hearts won't go on.

The basic plot features a rag-tag, opportunistic salvage crew led by Captain Murphy (Gabriel Byrne). They come across a derelict old cruise ship, the Antonia Graza, which went missing 40 years earlier. Eyeballing a massive payday, they plan to tow the ship (and the cache of gold they find) to port, but didn’t plan on gobs of ghosts - both evil and benevolent - still lurking on-board. This leads to a series of spooky set-pieces that are efficiently executed, but storywise, this is basically The Shining on a boat…with less interesting characters.

Typical of many horror movies, Ghost Ship makes the narrative mistake of offering more backstory and exposition than it needs, mostly provided by chatty ghosts. Still, some viewers prefer an explanation for everything, and admittedly, it does add context to that opening scene. 

Elsewhere, it’s kinda cool looking back to see Karl Urban in his first major Hollywood role, while sultry Francesca Rettondini (as the ship's seductive singer) is still fetching enough to be a special effect unto herself. And for a film that adheres so strictly to established horror conventions, some viewers might even look at Ghost Ship as creepy comfort food. But for one iconic scene, it briefly had us expecting something a bit more.

This is a re-issue of a Blu-ray edition first released in 2009.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES - Max on Set: Ghost Ship features interviews and behind the scenes footage; A Closer Look at the Gore (title tells all); Designing the Ghost Ship; Visual Effects.

SECRETS OF THE ANTONIA GRAZA - This is an interactive game.

MUSIC VIDEO - “Not Falling,” by Mudvayne.

TRAILER

SWINGERS Still Swings...Just A Little Differently

SWINGERS (Blu-ray)

1996 / 96 min

FROM PARAMOUNT

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

Swingers is almost 30 years old. For some of you of a certain age, it’s become a nostalgic part of your youth. Now you know how this guy felt when The Breakfast Club turned thirty. But don’t fret too much…the passing of time has been much kinder to your movie. Swingers still swings, though a little differently these days.

The film, of course, helped make stars out of Jon Favereau (who also wrote the screenplay), Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston and, despite a relatively small role, Heather Graham. It’s also the first notable film directed by Doug Liman, who’s since made some great action movies over the years. Just about everyone involved with Swingers would go on to bigger and things, so revisiting something from their salad days is an interesting experience…especially if you haven’t seen since 1996.

"Squirrel!"

Speaking of which, Swingers captures a moment in time in the lives of four LA buddies, all struggling actors, who go to parties, play 8-bit video games, frequent jazz nightclubs and try to help their friend, Mike (Favereau), get over his old girlfriend. With its iconic LA locations (some not around anymore), clever references to other movies and frequent use of swing music (which was enjoying renewed popularity at the time), the film has since evolved from something fresh & hip into more of a period piece…kinda like American Graffiti for young male Angelenos.

Because of its laid-back tone, congenial performances, witty dialogue and a killer soundtrack (one of the best of the 90s), Swingers is still enjoyable. Perhaps not as laugh-out-loud as one might remember it, but it’s consistently charming and the friendships between these guys, especially Mike and his more confident & outgoing pal, Trent (Vaughn), feel authentic. 

This is a re-issue of a previously released Blu-ray, with the same picture, sound, bonus features and pre-menu trailers (I almost forgot that Epix even existed).

EXTRA KIBBLES

MAKING IT IN HOLLYWOOD - This is a great 50-minute, multi-chapter documentary featuring many interviews with the main cast, director Doug Liman and others.

2 AUDIO COMMENTARIES - 1) By director Doug Liman and editor Stephen Mirrione; 2) By Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.

“SWINGBLADE” - Short film.

THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR - Unused footage.