This Review Roundup consists of two releases from this week and two from last week I got after their release. First is Scala!!! Or, The Incredibly Strange Rise And Fall Of The World’s Wildest Cinema And How It Influenced A Mixed-up Generation Of Weirdos And Misfits. This is a documentary on Scala, an infamous movie theater in London that influenced future filmmakers, musicians, and everyone in between. I can honestly say I had never heard of the place, but the documentary was pretty fascinating. The theater changed addresses a few times, but at its core it was about showing movies and having events for the outcasts and counter culture. It was for real film nerds and people who liked seeing movies at midnight and being on all kinds of drugs. If you wanted to see David Lynch’s Eraserhead while on mushrooms after dancing at the gay pub next door, the Scala was for you. John Waters is in the documentary talking about the place and his films. Bands, actors and filmmakers talk about what the place meant to them and its effect it had on their careers and lives. It was pro-gay in Thatcher era England. It showed taboo movies and let anyone through the door. The Stooges played it and it became a haven for people outside the norm. Even not knowing the place it reminded me of places in Boston that still exist, but are much tamer today. The artwork for the posters and the theaters themselves were very cool even if the seats were a bit uncomfortable. If you like film documentaries you will eat this up and I dug it as well. This Blu-ray is also jampacked with bonus features including commentaries, extended interviews, extended outtakes of John Waters, Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth), Mary Harron, a disc of short films and a third disc of even more bonus features. Very cool set.
Second we have Hard Wood: The Adult Features of Ed Wood. This is a 3 disc set that features 4 films, three that make perfect sense together and one that is a total headscratcher for why it’s included. The first three films are pretty much pornography and I mean pornography, showing penetration, oral sex and more. The fourth film is a whacky western which I don’t think had any nudity in it. To go from three films with hardcore sex to this comedy western was more of a jolt than popping on the first film and seeing oral sex. Necromania, The Only House in Town and The Young Marrieds don’t really have a plot, they are porn. Whether it’s a couple getting invited somewhere with a woman in a coffin who has sex with the man to a rape scene in another movie to a man picking up a woman outside of a strip club and having sex in another, the plot is irrelevant. Then there’s Shotgun Wedding, which is a sort of western about a woman telling a man she’s pregnant and wanting money from him and a couple that want to be together, but her father doesn’t want them to be together. It’s not great, but it’s certainly not porn like the previous three films. The three discs are also jampacked with bonus features including commentary for the films, Dana Gould and Bobcat Goldthwait talking about Ed Wood and more. If you are a fan of Wood’s you’ll enjoy this quite a bit and it seems like these films haven’t been available before.
Third we have 2020 Texas Gladiators. This Italian post-apocalyptic film is something Roger Corman would be proud of. It’s a sort of Mad Max meets Death Race mixed with spaghetti western production. Costuming and weaponry are laughable, but also awesome at the same time. The story is generic as are the characters, but I also had fun with it. It’s a laugh at it, not with it movie. There are motorcycles and babes and dudes carrying ammo and all kinds of over-the-top action that you expect from this era of filmmaking. Can you tell who are the bad guys and who are the good guys during the film? Not really. Are their Indians on horses with bows and arrows while others have guns? Yep. Is it ridiculously violent and corny yet everything I want in a schlocky movie? Also yes. I’m sure there are people who have been dying to get their hands on a copy and they will love this 4K. The film was scanned in 4K from the original negative and it looks good for a film that never looked great in the first place. It comes with a 4K disc, Blu-ray disc, soundtrack CD and bonus features. Laughable, but in the ridiculous fun way.
Last we have Dario Argento’s Deep Cuts. This is a 4 disc Blu-ray set featuring Argento’s Door Into Darkness, the 1973 anthology series that provides 4 TV episodes on the first two discs plus Dario Argento’s Nightmares and Night Shift. Il Vicino Di Casa & Il Tram and La Bambola & Testimone Oculare are the four episodes. Il Vicino Di Casa is about a young couple with a new baby moving into an apartment and their upstairs neighbor killing his wife. Il Tram is about the investigation into the death of a woman on a tram and reenacting the crime. La Bambola is about the escape of a mental patient and the doctor who tries to find the patient before more crimes can be committed. It has a twist ending. Testimone Oculare is about a woman driving on a dark road who almost runs over a woman, but soon realizes she’s dead. She the only eye witness but with no body or killer, the police aren’t sure what to make of it. There’s a twist ending as well. Disc 3 Night Shift has all kinds of interesting bonus features including interviews with Argento, Lamberto Bava and more plus multiple segments from that series. Disc 4 features Dario Argento’s Nightmares segments and the 100 minute Giallo Argento. I’ve gotten into Argento over the years and quite liked this collection. I binged the 4 Door into Darkness episodes in one night and discs 3 and 4 took a few days to get through. Argento collectors will love it.
The Nerds Templar 