Anchor Bay Entertainment is known for finding film oddities that are worth bringing back to new audiences and putting together packages that reward the viewer for buying them. In large part responsible for making the films of Mario Bava and Dario Argento available to North American audiences once again, Anchor Bay has repackaged five of Argento’s [“the Italian Hitchcock”] films [Do You Like Hitchcock?, Phenomena, Tenebre, The Card Player, and Trauma] in a cool “steelbox” edition. Individual reviews are separated by photos of their original DVD releases.

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In January, 1967, a new science fiction series called The Invaders premiered on ABC [“In Color”]. The show ran for two seasons and vanished. In its short run, it influenced a lot of writers – echoes of the series can be seen in one-season wonders like Dark skies and long-running hits like The X-Files.

The series revolved around architect David Vincent [Roy Thinnes], who had pulled off the main road after too many hours without caffeine to take a nap. He was awakened by an eerie sound and watched as a UFO landed scant yards from where he was parked. The basic premise of the series was that Vincent had to find proof of the aliens’ existence so the world could be alerted to its danger. The problem was that the aliens could assume human form – only deformed pinkie fingers were a sign of their otherness.

The first season DVD set includes all seventeen episodes. Shot in producer Quinn Martin’s trademark quasi-documentary style [like his best-known hit, The Fugitive], The Invaders was written and performed without resorting to colloquialisms, making it seem timeless [even some of the ‘60s fashions have been back a time or two]. Roy Thinnes does a marvellous job of making Vincent’s growing paranoia palpable, and the show’s plots felt very real.

The show had an all-star selection of guest-stars to add to its impact – J.D. Cannon, Ellen Corby, James Daley and Diane Baker appeared in the premiere alone. Others to guest star include Roddy Macdowall, Laurence Naismith, Suzanne Pleshette, Arthur Hill, Louise Latham, Jack Lord and Diana Hyland [and that’s just in the first half-dozen eps!].

Besides crackerjack writing and the all-star guest starring cast, the series also had extremely good effects for the time. Both the UFOs in flight and the alien immolations hold up pretty well when compared with similar work being done today.

Features include: The Extended, 60-Minute Version of the Series Premiere; A New Interview – and Episode Introductions By – Roy Thinnes; Commentary on The Innocents by Series Creator Larry Cohen, and Network Promotional Spots.

Grade: The Invaders: The First Season – A

Grade: Features – B

Final Grade: A-

The innovative Cloverfield, which brought a whole new, personal style to monster movies, fares even better on DVD than it did in the theater. That’s because the film was shot as if by a guy who happened to have a camcorder with him when the monster appeared in Manhattan. Of course, even on the small screen, Cloverfield remains a truly intense experience, with its visual references to 9/11, its monster lice, and its very “old gods” looking beastie.

Cloverfield is unique as monster movies go in that it takes much more time to establish its characters than the average genre effort. This is because we have to know these people before we are plunged into the action with them. Since the only view of the action we get is from the point of view of the guy with the camera, we only catch glimpses of the monster – but are right there when one character gets mauled by one of the lice. The attempt to rescue someone we’ve seen only briefly on a bit of recording and for a few minutes at a party only makes sense if we know these people.

Overall, Cloverfield is a pretty special achievement in the monster movie genre, with its almost constant intensity and the intimacy of being right there with “The Man on the Street” as it were. The FX are amazing – and although we never quite see the whole monster at any one time, we see enough bits to be able to figure out its appearance.

Features include: Audio Commentary with Director Matt Reeves; Deleted Scenes; Document 01.18.08: The Making of Cloverfield; Cloverfield Visual effects; I Saw IT! It’s Huge! It’s Alive!; Clover Fun; Deleted Scenes; Alternate Endings, and www.cloverfieldfiles.com.

Grade: Cloverfield – A+

Grade: Features – A+

Final Grade: A+

It’s been twenty years since Heathers was released by a dying New World to critical acclaim and some box office success. Now, Anchor Bay has released the dark high school comedy as part of its Cult Classic Film Series. The film’s indictment of kids who will do anything to be popular – and become the ultimate jerks once they achieve it – is as grotesquely funny today as it was when it was first released.

Veronika [Wynona Ryder] is one of the Heathers – the most popular girls in school [the other three are all named Heather] – and the least ruthless. About the same time as she reaches her limit with her so-called friends, she meets a charismatic new guy in school, J.D. [Christian Slater] and becomes in embroiled in a series of murders that the two stage as suicides.

First-time director Michael Lehman and first-time writer Daniel Waters produced a terrific film with its own peculiarly daring sense of humor – and its own slang. With its budget constraints, what propels Heathers is the energy of its performances. Ryder and Slater have, frankly, never been better – And Shannen Doherty stands out as the shyest of the Heathers.

Features include: Audio Commentary by Lehman, Waters and Producer Denise DiNovi; Swatch Dogs and Diet-Coke Heads [a 30-minute of reminiscences by the cast, director, writer, producer and editor]; Trialer; Screenply Excerpt; Original Ending, and Talent Bios.

Grade: Heathers – A

Grade: Features – A-

Final Grade: A

The Upright Citizens Brigade is a group of improvisational comics who have taken their game to the next level.

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The day after John Lennon was killed outside his New York home, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder aired his last televised interview, which had been aired five years previously, along with appearances by journalist Lisa Robinson and Lennon’s producer, Jack Douglas. Interviews with Paul and Linda McCartney and two other members of Wings, and Ringo Starr and his wife, Barbara Bach, briefly touch on John and The Beatles. Plus, Angie Dickinson…

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Pucca is an animated series about a girl with super strength who loves a ninja with super speed. Sounds pretty basic, doesn’t it? But add a group of renegade ninjas who will stop nothing to destroy Pucca’s One True Love and you get an action-packed, beautifully designed series. These two DVDs are great fun for all ages.

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Tin Man is the Sci Fi Channel’s re-imagining of a classic work of fiction and its film adaptation. It’s darker, livelier and definitely entertaining, but it’s not your great-great grandparents’ Wizard of Oz.

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"Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" is the darkest tale to be spun out of the twin horror franchises. Dark doesn’t mean moody, or complex, or any of the interesting qualities affixed to the word. It’s dark as in poorly illuminated. How dark? Entire sequences go by in a black blur, with only an Alien screech here and a Predator trill there to tell us what’s going on. Like Roland Emmerich’s "Godzilla," "Requiem" is set either at night, during a rainstorm, or both.

At times, "Requiem" is so misbegotten you’ll wish the entire screen just went black and stayed that way. "Requiem" opens with a ship containing both Aliens and a Predator/Alien hybrid crashing down to earth, or more specifically, a small Colorado ‘burb. The creatures escape the downed spacecraft and start doing what they do best - indiscriminately killing humans. A second Predator later lands in the same Colorado town to wipe out the new Alien infestation.
Meanwhile, a pizza boy named Ricky (Johnny Lewis) is trying to get the attention of his crush (Kristin Hager), but the gal’s boyfriend keeps beating him to the punch, literally. Then there’s Ricky’s brother (Steven Pasquale), who just got out of prison but is on remarkably good terms with the local sheriff (John Ortiz, earning the dubious prize as the stiffest actor in the lot).  

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Beginning this week, I’ll be looking at B-movies, unheralded re-releases and direct-to-video releases on a roughly weekly basis. Let’s start with Australian indie Gabriel [archangels versus fallen], Outpost [a new form of scientifically created undead], Rowan Atkinson Live! [he's way more than Black Adder or Mr. Bean], Sands of Oblivion [archaeologists searching for buried movie sets], and Black Moon Rising [an early Tommy Lee Jones heist flick].

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