Battle Royale (2000)
Directed by Kinji Kukasaku
Starring Fujiwara Tatsuya & Takeshi Kitano (as Beat Takeshi)
110 mins; R18+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Shock Collectors Edition
Tagline: Could you kill your best friend?
Country of Origin: Japan
The Film:
In the 1980s, after the VRA began to purposefully classify films, a nu
mber were snared in the ‘video nasty’ net; movies which were immediately banned and developed life-long notoriety. Fast forward twenty odd years to the US Columbine school massacre, where something of an anti-violence-in-film furore kicked in once again. Along with Natural Born Killers and other nihilistic tract, Battle Royale had the finger of conservative blame pointed at it – an action that was unsurprising considering its plot of kid-on-kid massacring.
Set in futuristic Japan (though technologically its advancement isn’t noticeable), Battle Royale begins with an unnerving shot of a girl holding a teddy bear, covered in blood, smiling freakishly while a media circus surrounds her. We go back in time a few days to when the event that caused this uproar occurred: due to a Depression-era unemployment rate, school violence and outright teen rebelliousness, the adults have come up with the ‘Battle Royale’ initiative. A group of teenagers throughout Japan are chosen at random, put on a deserted island, given weapons and told to kill each other. There are no rules except two – they cannot escape the island and only one individual can survive. The consequences: an explosive necklace chained to the offender’s neck will detonate (or, in the latter case, everyone’s necklace detonates). The students’ grade three teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano, in one of his best serious roles) is the boss of the group, and all hopes of mercy are shattered when Kitano kills two of his past-graduates brutally. So the kids are sent off – some form alliances, others go on their own, but they all vaguely acknowledge that only one of them can survive.
The Release:
Shock has spared little expense with this Collector’s Edition, and it is one of the few releases that deliver on this promise. There’s a main making-of, four other making-of featurettes, film festival footage, rehearsals, filmographies, theatrical trailers and TV spots. The audio and video is very good on the whole and with only a little grain. A negative (and it is a big negative) are the subtitles – Japanese audio is the only option and English subtitles have been burnt in, as opposed to being optional. Thus, they adopt some of the grain of the picture. Otherwise, this is a brilliant disc.
The Bottom Line:
Something of a mould between Lord of the Flies and Hard Target (though eclipsing these films in regards to quality), Battle Royale is a 100% cult classic. There’s no doubt that the film is very heavy going stuff: the subject of violence committed on kids by kids is a touchy one and has always been reviled, particularly in America. When the group of students in the film, it’s easy to see why – apparently, the renegade uber-prick was one of the inspirations for the Columbine psychos. That said, Battle Royale isn’t a picture to be looked down upon – it is intelligent, exceptionally well directed and acted and very disturbing, not least because of its masterful execution. But the scariest thing? The concept is believable. A bona-fide Asian horror classic.
The Sopranos Season One (1999)
Created by David Chase
Starring James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco
696 mins; MA15+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Warner Bros
Tagline: If this family doesn’t kill you…the other one will.
Country of Origin: USA
The Show:
Called by The New York Times as ‘the best show of this year’ and ‘a ph
enomenon’ by The New Yorker, The Sopranos is one of the most innovative and wildly entertaining shows on television. A mould between GoodFellas and Neighbours, The Sopranos throws the typical Mob formula out the window, and this series may rank as one of the best ever made for television.
The Sopranos revolves around a Mob capo Tony Soprano (Gandolfini) who, after having hallucinations and blackouts, does the unthinkable – and goes sees a therapist, Dr Melfi (Bracco). And he has a lot to talk about – his daughter Meadow isn’t getting on with Tony’s wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and his son AJ gets his delinquent on in school. Then there’s the other family who are problematic – la cosa nostra, consisting of Tony’s hot-headed nephew Christopher, his goons ‘Big Pussy’, Silvio and Paulie, and the boss of the family and Tony’s uncle, Junior Soprano. Tony’s façade is in waste management – unofficially, he runs the Bada Bing strip joint, orchestrates hits on his enemies and keep the cash for both families rolling in. Things start to get a little bit tense when Junior and Tony’s infuriatingly self-obsessed mother Livia begin to plot against him.
On the whole, The Soprano’s opening season is fantastic, and not one episode can be pinpointed that lets the proceedings down. With thirteen 48 minute episodes in total, there’s a lot of viewing time and a hell of a lot of variety – some focus primarily on Tony’s family, others on his Mafia ‘family’, but a deft balance is always kept between the two. Among the best episodes is College (episode 4), where Tony is taking Meadow around to possible future colleges and, on the way, encounters a man he must kill. This episode was one of the most successful fusions of the two families theme and was extremely well executed, as is the majority of the series.
The Release:
This release is pretty much identical as the US release: English, French, German and Spanish 2.0 audio and more subtitles that you can orchestrate a hit on. There are five making-of docos (but they only run about 8 minutes each) and a music video for Woke Up This Morning, which is the opening theme. The shows are presented in a 1:33:1 aspect ratio, which is the regular, full-screen version. There’s an insert that lists the episodes, their writers and directors.
The Bottom Line:
If you want quality viewing – be your preference a television serial, crime thriller, comedy, sitcom or family drama, then The Sopranos is the way to go. With an excellent opening and Award-winning performances (especially by Gandolfini), it’s unsurprising that there have been five follow-up seasons, with a finale in the works. Sometimes violent, crude and brash, The Sopranos is always funny, its rat-tat-tat dialogue akin to the best of Tarantino. Fantastic viewing.
Jack the Ripper (1976)
Directed by Jess Franco
Starring Klaus Kinski & Josephine Chaplin
86 mins; R18+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Big Sky Video
Tagline: Close your eyes and whisper his name…
Country of Origin: Switzerland/West Germany
The Film:
You’ve got to love the seventies European cinematic renaissance. It
was a glorious time – the birth of exploitation, middle of the Cold War, Communist propaganda – and the man in the middle of it was Jess Franco. Creating genre films such as Bloody Moon, Bare Breasted Countess and Barbed Wire Dolls and frequently casting his muse and girlfriend Lina Romay, Franco straddled (forgive the pun) the border between arthouse and exploitation, with some occasional digressions into the murky waters of smut. Violence, female nudity, shitty acting and worse direction – welcome to the world of Jess Franco.
Jack the Ripper begins in fine form, with a gruesome murder of a prostitute. The only witness is a blind man, who later manages to recount the entire event to investigating officer Inspector Selby by relying on his undamaged senses. The killer is in fact a local doctor, the mysterious Orloff (Kinski), who plays a Jekyll-and-Hyde role brought on by being subject to torment as a child at the hands of his mother. When Selby gets nowhere with the investigation, the Inspector’s girlfriend (Chaplin) takes matters into her own hands, dressing up as a working girl and hitting the streets of Whitechapel to lure and apprehend Dr Orloff. Only thing is that her plan doesn’t quite work out, and she is quickly left at the mercy of a sadistic killer.
The Release:
It looks like Big Sky has lifted this release almost directly from the Swiss VIP edition, where Jack appeared under the heading of ‘The Official Jess Franco Collection’. Theatrical trailer, galleries, feature length audio commentary by producer Erwin C Dietrich (English subtitled), two featurettes running about 40 minutes in total (one on production of the film, the other the production of the DVD), biographies and filmographies. The only differences are abscene of French, German and Italian audio tracks and, unusually, a difference in aspect ratio (1:85:1 for VIP, 1:75:1 for Big Sky). Excellent and, according to DVDCompare.com, on par with the Swiss edition, and better than what America has released. Jack is naturally presented uncut, and the audio/visual quality is above average, though not as good as some of the other Franco releases.
The Bottom Line:
Franco’s Jack is a typical carve-em-up of the time, however what sets it apart is its beauty. Among all the ineptness, Jack is truly an astounding movie to watch, but it’s arguable how much of this is down to Franco himself. Zurich posing as Whitechapel, with the cobblestone streets, foreboding streetlights and menacing gloom, is perfect. The music by Walter Baumgartner (Peter B was responsible for the dazzling cinematography) is also excellent. The release itself is also very good, having been lifted from the Swiss VIP ‘Official Jess Franco Collection’. On the downside, the Cockney accents are like nails to a blackboard and the acting is generally poor, although Kinski manages to turn in a fairly good performance. The whole suspense element of the film was also fairly non-existent, only really getting the heart pacing (albeit fairly leisurely) towards the end, by which time it was too late. Probably Franco’s most mature film, Jack the Ripper is worth a look, if not for the film’s cinematography and music than anything else.
Directed by Kinji Kukasaku
Starring Fujiwara Tatsuya & Takeshi Kitano (as Beat Takeshi)
110 mins; R18+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Shock Collectors Edition
Tagline: Could you kill your best friend?
Country of Origin: Japan
The Film:
In the 1980s, after the VRA began to purposefully classify films, a nu
mber were snared in the ‘video nasty’ net; movies which were immediately banned and developed life-long notoriety. Fast forward twenty odd years to the US Columbine school massacre, where something of an anti-violence-in-film furore kicked in once again. Along with Natural Born Killers and other nihilistic tract, Battle Royale had the finger of conservative blame pointed at it – an action that was unsurprising considering its plot of kid-on-kid massacring.Set in futuristic Japan (though technologically its advancement isn’t noticeable), Battle Royale begins with an unnerving shot of a girl holding a teddy bear, covered in blood, smiling freakishly while a media circus surrounds her. We go back in time a few days to when the event that caused this uproar occurred: due to a Depression-era unemployment rate, school violence and outright teen rebelliousness, the adults have come up with the ‘Battle Royale’ initiative. A group of teenagers throughout Japan are chosen at random, put on a deserted island, given weapons and told to kill each other. There are no rules except two – they cannot escape the island and only one individual can survive. The consequences: an explosive necklace chained to the offender’s neck will detonate (or, in the latter case, everyone’s necklace detonates). The students’ grade three teacher Kitano (Takeshi Kitano, in one of his best serious roles) is the boss of the group, and all hopes of mercy are shattered when Kitano kills two of his past-graduates brutally. So the kids are sent off – some form alliances, others go on their own, but they all vaguely acknowledge that only one of them can survive.
The Release:
Shock has spared little expense with this Collector’s Edition, and it is one of the few releases that deliver on this promise. There’s a main making-of, four other making-of featurettes, film festival footage, rehearsals, filmographies, theatrical trailers and TV spots. The audio and video is very good on the whole and with only a little grain. A negative (and it is a big negative) are the subtitles – Japanese audio is the only option and English subtitles have been burnt in, as opposed to being optional. Thus, they adopt some of the grain of the picture. Otherwise, this is a brilliant disc.
The Bottom Line:
Something of a mould between Lord of the Flies and Hard Target (though eclipsing these films in regards to quality), Battle Royale is a 100% cult classic. There’s no doubt that the film is very heavy going stuff: the subject of violence committed on kids by kids is a touchy one and has always been reviled, particularly in America. When the group of students in the film, it’s easy to see why – apparently, the renegade uber-prick was one of the inspirations for the Columbine psychos. That said, Battle Royale isn’t a picture to be looked down upon – it is intelligent, exceptionally well directed and acted and very disturbing, not least because of its masterful execution. But the scariest thing? The concept is believable. A bona-fide Asian horror classic.
The Sopranos Season One (1999)
Created by David Chase
Starring James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco
696 mins; MA15+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Warner Bros
Tagline: If this family doesn’t kill you…the other one will.
Country of Origin: USA
The Show:
Called by The New York Times as ‘the best show of this year’ and ‘a ph
enomenon’ by The New Yorker, The Sopranos is one of the most innovative and wildly entertaining shows on television. A mould between GoodFellas and Neighbours, The Sopranos throws the typical Mob formula out the window, and this series may rank as one of the best ever made for television.The Sopranos revolves around a Mob capo Tony Soprano (Gandolfini) who, after having hallucinations and blackouts, does the unthinkable – and goes sees a therapist, Dr Melfi (Bracco). And he has a lot to talk about – his daughter Meadow isn’t getting on with Tony’s wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and his son AJ gets his delinquent on in school. Then there’s the other family who are problematic – la cosa nostra, consisting of Tony’s hot-headed nephew Christopher, his goons ‘Big Pussy’, Silvio and Paulie, and the boss of the family and Tony’s uncle, Junior Soprano. Tony’s façade is in waste management – unofficially, he runs the Bada Bing strip joint, orchestrates hits on his enemies and keep the cash for both families rolling in. Things start to get a little bit tense when Junior and Tony’s infuriatingly self-obsessed mother Livia begin to plot against him.
On the whole, The Soprano’s opening season is fantastic, and not one episode can be pinpointed that lets the proceedings down. With thirteen 48 minute episodes in total, there’s a lot of viewing time and a hell of a lot of variety – some focus primarily on Tony’s family, others on his Mafia ‘family’, but a deft balance is always kept between the two. Among the best episodes is College (episode 4), where Tony is taking Meadow around to possible future colleges and, on the way, encounters a man he must kill. This episode was one of the most successful fusions of the two families theme and was extremely well executed, as is the majority of the series.
The Release:
This release is pretty much identical as the US release: English, French, German and Spanish 2.0 audio and more subtitles that you can orchestrate a hit on. There are five making-of docos (but they only run about 8 minutes each) and a music video for Woke Up This Morning, which is the opening theme. The shows are presented in a 1:33:1 aspect ratio, which is the regular, full-screen version. There’s an insert that lists the episodes, their writers and directors.
The Bottom Line:
If you want quality viewing – be your preference a television serial, crime thriller, comedy, sitcom or family drama, then The Sopranos is the way to go. With an excellent opening and Award-winning performances (especially by Gandolfini), it’s unsurprising that there have been five follow-up seasons, with a finale in the works. Sometimes violent, crude and brash, The Sopranos is always funny, its rat-tat-tat dialogue akin to the best of Tarantino. Fantastic viewing.
Jack the Ripper (1976)
Directed by Jess Franco
Starring Klaus Kinski & Josephine Chaplin
86 mins; R18+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Big Sky Video
Tagline: Close your eyes and whisper his name…
Country of Origin: Switzerland/West Germany
The Film:
You’ve got to love the seventies European cinematic renaissance. It
was a glorious time – the birth of exploitation, middle of the Cold War, Communist propaganda – and the man in the middle of it was Jess Franco. Creating genre films such as Bloody Moon, Bare Breasted Countess and Barbed Wire Dolls and frequently casting his muse and girlfriend Lina Romay, Franco straddled (forgive the pun) the border between arthouse and exploitation, with some occasional digressions into the murky waters of smut. Violence, female nudity, shitty acting and worse direction – welcome to the world of Jess Franco.Jack the Ripper begins in fine form, with a gruesome murder of a prostitute. The only witness is a blind man, who later manages to recount the entire event to investigating officer Inspector Selby by relying on his undamaged senses. The killer is in fact a local doctor, the mysterious Orloff (Kinski), who plays a Jekyll-and-Hyde role brought on by being subject to torment as a child at the hands of his mother. When Selby gets nowhere with the investigation, the Inspector’s girlfriend (Chaplin) takes matters into her own hands, dressing up as a working girl and hitting the streets of Whitechapel to lure and apprehend Dr Orloff. Only thing is that her plan doesn’t quite work out, and she is quickly left at the mercy of a sadistic killer.
The Release:
It looks like Big Sky has lifted this release almost directly from the Swiss VIP edition, where Jack appeared under the heading of ‘The Official Jess Franco Collection’. Theatrical trailer, galleries, feature length audio commentary by producer Erwin C Dietrich (English subtitled), two featurettes running about 40 minutes in total (one on production of the film, the other the production of the DVD), biographies and filmographies. The only differences are abscene of French, German and Italian audio tracks and, unusually, a difference in aspect ratio (1:85:1 for VIP, 1:75:1 for Big Sky). Excellent and, according to DVDCompare.com, on par with the Swiss edition, and better than what America has released. Jack is naturally presented uncut, and the audio/visual quality is above average, though not as good as some of the other Franco releases.
The Bottom Line:
Franco’s Jack is a typical carve-em-up of the time, however what sets it apart is its beauty. Among all the ineptness, Jack is truly an astounding movie to watch, but it’s arguable how much of this is down to Franco himself. Zurich posing as Whitechapel, with the cobblestone streets, foreboding streetlights and menacing gloom, is perfect. The music by Walter Baumgartner (Peter B was responsible for the dazzling cinematography) is also excellent. The release itself is also very good, having been lifted from the Swiss VIP ‘Official Jess Franco Collection’. On the downside, the Cockney accents are like nails to a blackboard and the acting is generally poor, although Kinski manages to turn in a fairly good performance. The whole suspense element of the film was also fairly non-existent, only really getting the heart pacing (albeit fairly leisurely) towards the end, by which time it was too late. Probably Franco’s most mature film, Jack the Ripper is worth a look, if not for the film’s cinematography and music than anything else.
The New York Ripper (1982)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Jack Hedley
87 mins; R18+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Stomp Visual
Tagline: Banned in Australia for 20 years.
Country of Origin: Italy
The Film:
Oh, that wacky Mr Fulci. Having pissed off the Brit censors
with House by the Cemetery, Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Beyond, by the time New York Ripper was submitted, Chief of the BBFC James Ferman had had enough. According to the Fulci biography Beyond Terror, Ferman had police escort the New York Ripper print out of the country. And, considering the period in which it was released, Ferman was justified in doing so – alongside Cannibal Holocaust, Ripper stands as one of the nastiest ‘video nasties’, its nihilistic and misogynistic tone finding it banned the world over.
Granted a DVD release in celebration of its uncut approval by the OFLC, who had banned it for 20 years, The New York Ripper is one of Fulci’s few ‘giallos’, the Italian term for thrillers (giallo, translating to ‘yellow’ refers to the colour of the pulp paperbacks in the sixties). A killer is loose in New York, mutilating and killing beautiful young women. He also quacks like a duck, and has a very Donald accent. Hot on the Duck Murderer’s trail is Lieutenant Williams, but the killer is far smarter than the local fuzz, outsmarting them at every turn.
Upon its extremely limited release, Ripper was reviled worldwide. Disgusted at the scenes of graphic violence, women picketed the theatres who showed it and dozens of countries banned it outright. Ripper is certainly an interesting film as it depicts everything that the censors, particularly the BBFC with their list of video nasties, stood against. And, while poor acting prevents suspense, Ripper still holds up today for its outright shock value. No recent mainstream films – Saw, Hostel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes remakes included – have been able to depict intense grisliness quite as effectively.
The Release:
The picture and audio of the Stomp disc is all right, but the features are meagre. They could have done much better than a thirty-second slideshow and a trailer. For a great release, look no further than the French two-disc DVD.
The Verdict:
Many of Fulci’s fans have puzzled over Ripper, which is an atypical film of his output. Sure, most of what the Italo-exploitation master had done in the past was violent, but there were scenes here that overstepped the mark a tad, including a pervasively grisly torture scene that was cut from the UK print (Australians, however, can see it totally intact). This isn’t Saw, this is Saw on acid, and in some ways that is good and bad. Fulci’s New York is very sleazy and bleak, but poor performances prevent the claustrophobia achieved in similar films. Fulci’s direction is, as usual, reasonably good and the special effects are excellent, eclipsing many of the set-pieces in his hyper-gory masterpieces The Beyond and Zombie Flesh Eaters. Comes recommended, but with a substantial caution.
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Jack Hedley
87 mins; R18+; Colour
Previewed Release: R4 Stomp Visual
Tagline: Banned in Australia for 20 years.
Country of Origin: Italy
The Film:
Oh, that wacky Mr Fulci. Having pissed off the Brit censors
with House by the Cemetery, Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Beyond, by the time New York Ripper was submitted, Chief of the BBFC James Ferman had had enough. According to the Fulci biography Beyond Terror, Ferman had police escort the New York Ripper print out of the country. And, considering the period in which it was released, Ferman was justified in doing so – alongside Cannibal Holocaust, Ripper stands as one of the nastiest ‘video nasties’, its nihilistic and misogynistic tone finding it banned the world over.Granted a DVD release in celebration of its uncut approval by the OFLC, who had banned it for 20 years, The New York Ripper is one of Fulci’s few ‘giallos’, the Italian term for thrillers (giallo, translating to ‘yellow’ refers to the colour of the pulp paperbacks in the sixties). A killer is loose in New York, mutilating and killing beautiful young women. He also quacks like a duck, and has a very Donald accent. Hot on the Duck Murderer’s trail is Lieutenant Williams, but the killer is far smarter than the local fuzz, outsmarting them at every turn.
Upon its extremely limited release, Ripper was reviled worldwide. Disgusted at the scenes of graphic violence, women picketed the theatres who showed it and dozens of countries banned it outright. Ripper is certainly an interesting film as it depicts everything that the censors, particularly the BBFC with their list of video nasties, stood against. And, while poor acting prevents suspense, Ripper still holds up today for its outright shock value. No recent mainstream films – Saw, Hostel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes remakes included – have been able to depict intense grisliness quite as effectively.
The Release:
The picture and audio of the Stomp disc is all right, but the features are meagre. They could have done much better than a thirty-second slideshow and a trailer. For a great release, look no further than the French two-disc DVD.
The Verdict:
Many of Fulci’s fans have puzzled over Ripper, which is an atypical film of his output. Sure, most of what the Italo-exploitation master had done in the past was violent, but there were scenes here that overstepped the mark a tad, including a pervasively grisly torture scene that was cut from the UK print (Australians, however, can see it totally intact). This isn’t Saw, this is Saw on acid, and in some ways that is good and bad. Fulci’s New York is very sleazy and bleak, but poor performances prevent the claustrophobia achieved in similar films. Fulci’s direction is, as usual, reasonably good and the special effects are excellent, eclipsing many of the set-pieces in his hyper-gory masterpieces The Beyond and Zombie Flesh Eaters. Comes recommended, but with a substantial caution.
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