Finishing Touch

1992/USA/82 minutes

A run of the mill erotic slasher thriller from the 1990s, still saved from the predictable kinks of the particular sub-genre through good acting, emotional involvement of the actors in their respective characters' development, and an adequate whodunit premise of 'whether he killed the girls or not ?'.

Sam Stone is a cop with professional and personal problems. He's under pressure for delivering results in serial killings of women who are regular visitors of a night club. His ex-wife Hannah resents his possessiveness, yet she is pulled into the job to go undercover for uncovering the truth, mostly to honey trap the vicious killer. She gets too involved with a prominent artist Gent whose art lies in video graphing his subjects and exposing the conflict between desire to explore sexuality and prudence in society. Most of these 'art pieces' are naked bodies of women writhing and gyrating in pleasure to signify the act of intercourse/screwing.

Stone suspects Gent from the time he sees him at the nightclub picking up a redhead who turns up dead the next day, with the same modus operandi (MO) as the other girl. Both girls have traces of latex rubber in their vaginas which come from a condom branded 'Necessity' and clean incisions on their bodies made with a sharp knife constructed of expensive metal.

Stone's assignment of finding leads, and tracking and apprehending the killer becomes complicated due to jealousy at his wife's sexual involvement with Gent, which go against her code of conduct. One night Stone follows Gent to a warehouse owned by a Japanese company, which distributes cartoon videos. He breaks in, kills a guard in self-defence and then discovers cartons of snuff films, which show various young and beautiful women getting seduced and then butchered by a hidden assailant. The identification of the women shows that they were from cities in which Gent also lived around the same time, namely Washington DC, Los Angeles and Chicago. 

The ex-wife later finds a packet of condom in his washroom of Gent which matches the brand used by the dead women in the city. She alerts the police and Gent is arrested. Although no evidence is found against Gent and thus charges cannot be brought, stone later figures that another loonie called Sorvino who harasses women in the nightclub was earlier assistant to Gent in making pornographic films. He was later fired by Gent due to 'creative differences' (as in which position to place actors in !). This Sorvino seemed to have followed Gent to the same cities at same time, matching with the killing of women in snuff films, he picks up women too, and thus could very well be the killer  ! 

Stone conjectures that Sorvino is trying to frame Gent and thus crashes into hid home just as he is going to slice a woman. Sorvino escapes and in the ensuing pursuit, falls to his death. Though the case is thought closed, Stone and the department doctor conducting the post mortem later find out that the knife used by Sorvino is a cheap imitation of the one found in the bodies of dead girls in the city, which is made of high quality German stainless steel. Stone realising that Gent is indeed the killer, rushes to his house and almost kills him before his ex-wife (who had already reached Gent's place to make up with him) shoots him dead by muttering that she should have never believed him and that she doesn't make the same mistake twice. The credits roll as both Stone and Hannah stand shell shocked at the sudden turn of events.

There is nothing extraordinary about the pacing or story of the film, and after all the movies are meant for enjoyment rather than relating to reality in any manner. The character Hannah is an annoying brag that proves her own principles wrong by getting involved with an obvious creep. I am referring to Gent who has no qualms about disclosing his obsession with women’s anatomy or his multitude of affairs where he is the least emotionally involved. Inspite of his cold demeanour, Hannah is drawn to him and even sympathises with his ‘art’ and his continuous grilling by the police by accusing her ex-husband of ulterior motives. Stone on the other hand is a ‘tough’ guy with a soft heart who has to juggle between doing his job satisfactorily, protecting his wife from an evil guy and battling jealousy at her growing closeness to Gent. The character triats are common to the genre, however the actors have put in their best to confirm to the roles and that is certainly appreciated !

Maniac Cop 3

US/85 minutes/1993

Tagline-The wrong arm of the law is back again !

The second sequel to the maniac cop flick of 1988 sees Matt Cordell resurrected by a voodoo priest practicing a version of Santeria cult rituals. For the uninitiated, Matt Cordell is the titular 'maniac cop', an undead and vengeful former NYPD vice cop who worked himself crazy to remove criminals off the city's streets and in the process broke law and used excessive force where necessary, for instance in killing rapists and murderers rather than surrendering them to be tried as per due process of law. As a result, he earned disrepute to his superiors who sought to remove him from the force. However, Matt went too far when he tried to blow the lid off a cover up. His superiors and the city's mayor were acting hand in glove with some mafia men, accepting bribes to ignore crimes Matt had been trying hard to uncover and remedy (through means of retributive justice). Thus Matt is framed on false charges and sent as a death row inmate to 'Sing Sing' prison, where he shares space with criminals he had helped put away. He is murdered one day by three of his 'prize' inmates ,and the doctor of the establishment, finding Matt alive but unresponsive with severe brain damage lets him off. His disappearance is covered as death/murder and the name Matt Cordell is consigned to an obscure place in the annals of police history. However, Matt returns to kill his perpetrators as well as innocent people he can lay his hands on, thus highlighting the controversial psychological rationale behind cop actions-do they kill because they have to, or do they enjoy killing for pleasure ?

This time around, the tormented soul fixes himself on a young police woman named Kate Sullivan who is fatally shot in a hostage situation and rendered comatose. When Matt reads about the excess force and illegal means used by the officer to punish street scums, he recognises a kindred spirit; and the fact that Kate is unfairly framed by an unscrupulous media and the police force embarrassed by her acts on duty spurs him to protect her and clear her name at all costs. 

Robert Davi reprises his role as Detective. Lieutenant Sean McKinney from the second film, and investigates with a sweet doctor Susan Fowler about strange killings at the hospital. He is convinced that Kate is innocent, but her name is finally cleared only when Matt procures a tape that shows two journalists edit the store footage to show Kate kill an innocent hostage, when in fact the woman was the intruder's accomplice and had purposefully let him in. Kate had shot the woman in self defense and her gunshots made her brain dead. Matt however is not satisfied once Kate is found innocent, but further wants her soul to be united with his. When the voodoo priest is unable to revive her soul, Matt kills him and sets the priest's den on fire. He previously kills all doctors who plan to remove Kate's life support and the two journalists responsible for falsely accusing her. McKinney and Fowler are then chased by a burning Matt in an ambulance, in a car chase scene that is complex and well executed and clearly shows Lustig's skill at work.

This movie has been unfairly criticised by many people who have called it lame, turgid and the 'weakest entry in the series'. I too was deterred by the barrage of negative comments and chose not to watch it for a long time. However when I finally did, I was surprised by how effective it was. True, it does not follow the fast action formula of the first two movies but that doesn't necessarily make it a disappointment. This is a more nuanced project which plays as a suspense thriller with tense atmosphere and stalk sequences. The music is appropriately composed by Joel Goldsmith and despite its troubled production history (the director William Lustig and the producer had a spat which led to Lustig walking off and the producer had to complete the movie's additional photography, and there were funding issues too), this is by far the best in the series.

The movie shows Matt in a frenzied state, and gives more insight to his character than the other movies can be credited for giving. He is not portrayed as a mindless killing machine or a monster, but is shown a tragic and fallen character with human touches-he can feel love, respect, empathy, rage and frustration like all other humans. Also, I disagree with comments likening the movie to Frankenstein or Chucky finding brides, because I feel that the regard Matt held for Kate is not like love, it stemmed out of empathy in finding Kate a victim just like him. For months, Matt was restless from a sense of profound anger and hatred at the society which used and ultimately betrayed him, but here he finds someone whom he can recognise and feel at home with. Of course, the parts about the voodoo resurrection and the convenient fact that the priest's hideout was linked with tunnels to the same hospital where Kate was admitted are a bit far fetched, but I can forgive these minor flaws and appreciate the broader theme of how grief and torment shaped Matt Cordell after his 'death' and how he could still feel softer emotions when the situation presented itself. 

Maniac Cop 3 was released as a blu ray/dvd combination pack by Blue Underground in 2013, with a 4K scan from the original uncensored camera negative and includes optional English subtitles, deleted and extended scenes, a theatrical trailer and a 25 minutes retrospective where the cast and crew present their views on the film and the difficult production and financial problems. A definite thumbs up !

HOWLING V-THE REBIRTH

1989/USA/96 minutes

Tagline- For 500 years the secret lay dormant... Until now!

            The Beast Returns

Eight people from different walks of life are invited to attend the re-opening of a castle in Budapest, 500 years after it was closed upon being mysteriously abandoned. A professor in the group who reckons that the circumstances surrounding the abandonment have something to do with the absolute lack of historical record of the past 500 years, is the first victim of a chained werewolf in the castle dungeons. As he sets out to explore the castle, he inadvertently lets loose the hungry werewolf which proceeds to rip his throat off. 

At the prologue of the film, we witness the events of the same castle in 1489(the present events are of 1989) where an entire family of kings, Queens and other royalty were butchered by the loyal valet and his wife while enjoying a scrumptious dinner, purportedly to eviscerate a family curse which could harm the outside world, akin to a plague. As the servants take their own lives, apparently in guilt for the crimes, a baby wails and the dying valet laments his oversight in letting go of the infant which would probably continue to spread the legacy of evil.

The scene shits to 1989, where the eclectic bunch of persons, which include the professor and a famous Scandinavian actress, set off to the ancient castle on the outskirts of Budapest. Almost at once, the imposing castle walls and oppressive interiors overwhelm the group, though most don't bother as the stay is supposed to for a few hours only. However, when the professor is discovered lost and the castle is engulfed in a heavy blizzard, their mysterious host Count Bazeli directs the guests to put up for the night.

A black writer named Gail has an eerie encounter with the werewolf-while she is changing clothes in the room next to the sitting room, she hears footsteps and sees a shadow but sees no one when she emerges from behind the latticed screen. However an unknown presence observes her as she talks to another guest Richard in the sitting room. After lunch, a concerned Gail talks to Ray and tells him that their collective presence in the castle was carefully designed and was not a coincidence, and that the bus meant to transport them back to the Grand Ramada Hotel where they all had accommodations had left abruptly, leaving them stranded. Richard disregards her words, but then finds a secret passageway leading to the dungeons of the castle, apparently its  'center' and is then attacked by the werewolf, which bursts out from snow as Ray is making his way back to the castle from a back-door. Earlier, the werewolf kills Gail as Ray watches helplessly, locked behind the secret door. One by one, most of the guests and staff are decimated in the same fashion-encounter with the werewolf at the least expected moment, from out of dark corners of the old, creaky castle.

During the last twenty minutes or so, the Count's secret is revealed. It seems he is an agent of some religious order, which has been assigned the task of tracking down and killing the last of the werewolf bloodline, whose ancestor had miraculously survived that fateful night in 1489. The eight guests were not selected randomly, but instead all were orphans who had a mysterious triangular mark on their left arms, and one among them was a werewolf killing the others.

Now this supposed explanation actually confuses more than clarifies, since if all eight have the same symbol of the blood curdling family, why are they all not related, and why were they all not werewolves ? In the movie, the manner in which the main characters and the werewolf are positioned makes it impossible to believe that there is one werewolf in action; instead it looks like there are at least two or possibly more. For instance during the first killing of the adventurous (or stupid, as you see it) professor, a voracious werewolf hidden in the castle dungeons escapes from its chains and attacks him. Simultaneously, the other guests including the werewolf revealed during the last scene are shown eating lunch. How would that be possible unless there were a companion werewolf (maybe the twin ??) Also, if these persons are related, then the script throws few hints of incestuous liaisons between them-Richard and Catherine Peake have an extra-marital relationship, and the actress Anna boasts to the shy Mary Lou about her sexual escapades with two guys present there-Richard and Ray. 

Another useless scene shows the male servant take negative rolls out of photographer David's camera, which has no connection with any character, subtext, theme or storyline whatsoever. Also, the final reveal of the werewolf is disappointing, because the character does not transform into one at the time when the full moon is covered by clouds (as the count had predicted), instead only showing a slight malicious gleam in the eye. Despite all the lacking in logic, pacing (most of the running time is spent by characters fishing around in the damp dungeons for undefined mysteries and looking clueless), acting and character development, this movie has always fascinated me. I think it is the heavy atmosphere and the mood created by the spooky setting of the castle (it was shot on location in Budapest in a truly eerie looking castle) with its moth eaten walls, stone paneling and shut-off and barely lit rooms, stuffed animal decorations and carvings, and the slight yet chilling music score which does it for me. The use of falling snow around the castle ramparts as the establishing shot after every death also appropriately signifies a sense of gloom surrounding the characters. One scene that still scares me is where Richard (the playboy tennis player who tries too hard to woo Mary Lou) is sitting at her bedside in a deeply curtained and fire-lit room, when he imagines seeing the actress Anna emerging from the shower. Transfixed, he goes closer to the mirror where her reflection is cast and sees her perfectly shaped body and breasts. Then it turns out that the image was an illusion, as the werewolf bursts into the room through a door adjacent to the mirror and murders him. The bottomline is that though the movie benefits from and makes good use of the location and the castle interiors to suggest evil afoot with the wall adornments of weapons and stuffed animal heads as sinister motifs, it suffers from low budget as evident from the dark photography and minimal scare impact through a rather cheesy looking werewolf. In fact, the audience barely gets to see the werewolf in full form, rather it is shown for a microseconds before the kills as a huge fur-ball with sharp fangs and long claws.

The film was released theatrically on 22.02.1990 (the year of production shows as 1989)  and was subsequently available on home media in the US through VHS, laserdisc (Image Entertainment,1990), DVD (Artisan Entertainment, 2003 as a double bill with Howling 6: The Freaks) and also had a blu ray release from Shout Factory/Timeless Media in 2010 (presented along with Howling 3:The Marsupials and Howling 6: The Freaks). Although I do not own the blu ray, I have heard that the transfer is hardly the pristine HD expected from the format, but looks like a full screen port from a previous VHS release.

Trapped

USA/TV Movie/92 minutes/1989

Tagline- She's spending the night at the office... trying to stay alive

Choice Lines-

Mary An Marshall-I thought you said you didn’t like violence ?

John Doe-I said I didn’t believe in it. I never said I didn’t like it.

(when the pair is contemplating measures to take down the baseball bat wielding madman)

In this made for TV film originally screened on USA Network, a woman employee in charge of the security and maintenance of a high-rise building is trapped there at night by a maniac. The building is owned by one Harold Manning who also controls  NTX Corporation, and it comprises of several shops and office complexes.

The woman, Mary An Marshall, stays back late to finish work and then tries to leave home along with a colleague. Then she discovers that the building's locks have been disabled and the phones are all dead. After several close brushes with the baseball bat wielding maniac, in one of which her colleague is battered to death, Mary Ann faces off with her tormentor in a vehicle chase at the parking lot of a lower level. She is helped in her attempts by a mysterious stranger who calls himself John Doe and secretly stays on the 58th floor of the building, to steal industrial secrets from NTX Corporation.

Although Mary Ann is timid and seeks to hide throughout the night till the building revives from automatic lockdown at 6 am, John is all fire to defeat the assailant in order to prevent police suspicion on him for murder of several guards and office workers. His position is perfectly understandable given that he is an encroacher in the premises, engaged in seriously illegal work, and it would be difficult for him to dodge the police as they close in on him. After a suspenseful encounter with the madman where the duo try to hide in the shadows of both sides of a double lift, the man breaks John's arm and is himself hurt by Mary. In the ensuing confusion, both manage to evade the killer and rush to the 26th floor, where Mary's office is situated. 

After John encourages Mary to draw out the killer and kill or capture him, Mary goes to the 5th floor parking level and starts a deadly vehicular chase with the killer in hot pursuit. John is led there by the screeching tyre sounds and notices that the killer's car is leaking fuel. He immediately acts and puts fire through his lighter on the fuel track that causes the killer's car to explode. John saves Mary Ann at the nick of time and as the two embrace, John tells a clearly distraught Mary to handle the police even as he stays out of the whole business.

 When the building opens at sunrise, the police arrive and question Mary Ann who recounts her ordeal, and that she was helped by a stranger whom she can barely recognise anymore, thus helping John to mask his identity and stay out of trouble. At the end, she returns home and is greeted by John who has bandaged his broken arm. The reason for the murderous rampage is revealed early on, in the establishing shots of the movie itself, where a series of dusty photographs and newspaper clippings state that NTX Corporation was responsible for a toxic substance spill, which resulted in the death of a boy. The boy's father is the murderer, and is clearly disturbed and bent on revenge. He preserves his wife's corpse at home, keeps re-reading the press coverage of the industrial disaster and works as a daytime employee at the building. This enables him to get a strong idea of the internal workings and security mechanisms of the building, such that he is also able to access the power and telephone switchboards and insert timers into them, in order to disable the locks and emergency diallers. Along the way at night, he kills Mary's colleague Renni, all the night guards and security personnel as well as Harold Manley, the businessman who runs the corporation and resides in his office at the64th floor, with his chest found stabbed with a knife and newspaper reports on the disaster.

Trapped is a well-made, taut thriller with good pacing and tolerable acting. The music is typically reminiscent of 1980s thriller movies, neither too imposing nor too light or intermittent. As a high-rise thriller, the feeling of claustrophobia and fear is well pointed out by realistic portrayal of the characters' situations, their insecurities and instincts aiding them to save their lives from a ruthless man. The TV aesthetic is noticeable with cheap production values and grimy, dim lit photography. However, the movie does does hold your attention from beginning till end, and Catherine Quinlan as Mary Ann is especially effective as the vulnerable and lonely woman who must confront her worst fears and reservations in order to just survive. There was nothing outstanding in any of the scenes by way of clever framing or cinematography, however there was one scene which amply invoked a sense of cat and mouse game, where first Mary Ann and later the killer are framed in the glass walls of the unfinished condominium and their image is split several times, one as the prey and the other as a hunter. The movie is directed by the underrated Fred Walton, who had earlier made the cult horror When a Stranger Calls (1979) about a psycho terrorising a babysitter, and its eerie sequel When a Stranger Calls Back (1993).

The movie has only been released on VHS by MCA/Universal Home Video, and I too watched a pretty dull print with many frame jumps. But thoroughly enjoyable !

Slaughterhouse Rock 1988

USA/92 minutes/1988

Lines- When Alex and the rest of the group are climbing the hill, “maybe we should've got some silver bullets and garlic.”

Alex’s friends after the levitation scene, in order to kill the demon-“Look let’s just drive a stake through his heart, and get it over with”

Taglines- The music is the madness.

Alcatraz. For 39 years it held society's most depraved killers. Now it's home to something even worse...

The plot, if anyone can make any sense of it, concerns a certain college kid called Alex harassed by scary dreams of a cannibal demon in a padded cell walking through rotting water and cutting people’s limbs to get tasty bites, complete with skin, bones and cartilage. But wait, the same demon does like his meat roasted too, for in one scene Alex imagines getting barbecued. More on that in a moment.

These nightmares turn out to be projections of actual events taking place in an island called Alcatraz. This is informed to him by his psychokinesis professor Claudia who advises Alex to go there and confront the demon ! In an ancient manuscript, the history of Alcatraz is disclosed. It seems that there was a fort before and there was an ancient text composed by Indian medicine men, which a wicked white man got hold of. In turn, he used their secrets to enslave them, and then there were reports of wild orgies and strange disappearances at Alcatraz, which fortified its reputation as downright nasty and perverse. One night there was a huge conflagration at the place, and the Government abandoned it, later turning it into a prison. Huh ? So what was the government doing before, when there were sadistic rituals and lots of whoring around going on ? And what of the fire ? Was there an investigation ? These are the nuances that the movie is not worried about, for it wants to plod along with gaping holes in its narrative, which will irritate even a kindergarten student. The only nuance present is a slant reference to Nightmare On Elm Street, because like the haunted teenagers in those films, here Alex too has to stay awake to prevent the demon from haunting him. But Alex has visions when he's awake too, such as demon hands ripping through restaurant papered walls to strangulate him, and imagining his face to be half maggot eaten with a slug from his mouth (sort of looked like glass noodles)

All his dreams have a connection with a dead rock singer Sammy Mitchell whose dead body was found inside the cell blocks of Alcatraz hanged by her own belt. Alex keeps hearing her latest song in his nightmares. Alex has splitting headaches, loss of appetite and shaking hands and initially resists going to Alcatraz, but one night when all his friends, brother and girlfriend camp out at his place, they find him levitating from his bed with a strong white beam emanating from the bed holding him prostate. It turns out the demon is roasting Alex atop a fire and preparing a meal !

Claudia, the professor, thinks Alex is being summoned to Alcatraz and that he's like a vessel used to send a message. That very night, all these family members and friends take a fishing boat to the island and begin to take a look around. Caroline leads them to the main cell block, where the demon may be residing, based on the old manuscript she's read and based on some maps. She says the demon is buried someplace below the building, with a set of steps going down a floor. They find a cell block with recent damage and a torn out steel door. Going inside the door, Alex gets separated from the rest and meets the ghost of Sammy who tells him how to deal with the demon who is lurking around and is 'not in a good mood'. The rest see a dead body and rush outside the door while Alex’s brother is sucked inside by a cold blast of dusty air.

Sammy's ghost tells him that her latest hit was composed, produced and directed by her, and airmailed to Alex so that he would get her message and come to her aid, in stopping the indestructible monster that she let loose. She was apparently a goth fan, decorating her stage with real cadavers and was lifelong obsessed with death and the occult, and her ghost says that life is a gift and death isn't fun. She also informs Alex that monster gets his energy from the living essence of everyone he has killed on the island. Unless Alex sets these souls free, the demon would continue to grow in strength.

Now brace for the funny moment, for a confused Alex asks the dead rock singer to explain the meaning of indestructible power. The exact words used by Sammy are-“By inviting his power inside himself, he gave an opening into our world for a lot more than he ever imagined. This thing that overtook him is pure evil.” What on earth is that supposed to mean ?

 Anyway, it seems that Alex was chosen by her because as a living body, he could open a door at the end of a labyrinthine corridor and release the captive energy. She tells him to lie down and help her in leaving his body (astral projection). Meanwhile, the demon kills Richard and disguised as him, with green eyes, white Dracula teeth and white drool, lures his girlfriend and rapes her. Sammy dances for Alex as he rests on the dusty floor and this sequence is interspersed with Alex's demonic visions. Meanwhile the bunch of other people chase the demon who has possessed Richard and try to draw the ‘real’ Richard out of its distorted contortions. The demon spews snakes from his mouth and appears and disappears at will, like an agile cat, playing with the poor people who scamper for safety.

Alex’s spirit hovers over his body and Sammy tells him about the history of the monster. It was earlier a certain commander Moricai Langston who began enjoying human meat, till too many Indians disappeared from the island. When the Indians had taken enough shit from him, they barbecued him to exorcise the evil, but instead the white man had learnt enough magic to make a pact with the devil and continue existing as the cannibal demon.

Sammy had earlier (when alive) read the manuscript which detailed the hidden place of the ashes of the evil sorcerer buried in the island and surrounded by symbols of great power, as his ashes were still considered dangerous ! She found the urn and the spirit accidentally got released. Richard’s soul appears and tells Alex that his body is taken by the demon, and that it is Alex’s job to set his damned soul free and grant him eternal peace.

The demon is finally destroyed in the chapel with a wooden cross and fire. The body of the demon chases Alex's spirit in the dungeons below and tries to harm him. But he manages to run through the leaky walls and putrid moss filled water to reach the door. He keeps beating the door till it opens and as sunlight filters in, both body and spirit of the demon are finally destroyed. But Caroline is captured by the demon in the chapel and burns to death. Alex and his romantic interest Jan are the only survivors.

The movie's plot is atrociously ludicrous, the acting is pathetic, lines are corny and sound that they were prepared impromptu by the non-actors, the special effects are non-existing except the levitation scene and the astral projection one. I am at a loss to understand the motivation behind this movie, as in how some people could have conjured up this stinker and as to why they chose to inflict unsuspecting audiences to pounding headaches. But to be honest, I did have lot of laughs over the contrived sequences, especially every time when the demon bared his fangs and pulped people to death in hilarious ways, like bashing a man's brain with a fist which would put Jason Voorhees to shame (remember the head bounce scene in Friday the 13th part 8 movie) or salivated at bare tits and necks. The possessed demon representing it's spirit was a complete comedian who appeared from roofs, out of thin air and growled with friendly aggression, then proceeded to rip out flesh or brain tissues with a solemn promptitude that Alex was quite taken aback and unable to react at the right moment. In the end, his role was consigned to just releasing these poor souls from the grip of the fearsome (haha) demon and send them to peaceful rest in heaven or wherever. The dance scene of Sammy was really funny too, considering that she could have achieved her aim of freeing Alex's spirit through some hocus pocus spells. As I see it, her dance signified her ability after death to sway to her own posthumous tunes which were usefully created to arouse Alex into demon hunting action. Also, the barbecue scenes of the evil commander and Alex were hilarious, especially as in the former case the ritual was meant to cleanse the evil from his system and in the latter Alex's butt burning is accompanied by the demon carving up a knife and cutting up his chest to enjoy a juicy ( if slightly undercooked) bite !

88 films presents the film for the first time on Blu Ray in the UK. It had been earlier released in the US by Code Red label in 2016. The 88 film disc is region B locked and ports a sharp video transfer in widescreen with optional English subtitles. The colours are bright and sharp, grain is at manageable level and supports a healthy film like appearance, black levels are strong and contrast is also good. The audio is reasonable if not great. Extras include a theatrical trailer (not remastered) and an interview with Jim Harper, the author of Legacy of Blood. There's a reversible sleeve which basically is the same artwork in original blue colour. The other one is red as is the case, which gives a premium feel to an otherwise underwhelming film. Though 88 films claims that this is title 32 in the Slasher Films Collection, it would be more appropriate if the studio opened a comedy collection and named this as their first, because apart from the non-existing horror and several head-scratching funny moments, the gore is minimal and amateur, the filmmakers using copious amounts of fake blood, latex gum and jelly to accomplish the cheap effects. 

Bottomline- A boring drag of a film, it's not even entertaining enough to be classified in the 'so bad it's good' category. Except some unintentional chuckles, the rest is just eyesore. I am not sure I can recommend this movie at all.