VW's Memorable Scenes of 2010

Shortly after asking our contributors to compile their lists of Favorite DVDs of 2010, I decided to ask them an additional question:

"What was the most memorable movie scene you saw in 2010?"

I didn't specify whether the scene should be from a new or an old film; I was simply interested in exploring what kind of scenes and imagery were most enticing to us this year. Here are the results...

Michael Barrett:

It's hard to remember a most memorable scene of the year. There are scenes I admire, but often for intellectual reasons more than emotional ones, such as a certain exhaustively-discussed sequence in Tarantino's war movie. I'd prefer to measure a memorable scene by my physical response. I felt powerful emotions at certain moments in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, but it wasn't my first time watching that movie; it only felt like it. Is there something the matter with me, or with movies? Aren't any new movies sufficiently moving to me? Am I even jaded to seeing classics for the first time? Why am I always thinking "Oh yes, that's very good--Next!"? I worry about this.

And then something happens out of the blue, like THE INVENTION OF LYING with Ricky Gervais. It should be called THE INVENTION OF GOD, but that wouldn't have played in Peoria, so it's disguised as a romantic comedy. In fact, the conventional romantic triangle rather lets down the picture--oh, but what a premise. Gervais invents Heaven in an effective scene with his mom. This event snowballs until he becomes the world's first and only messiah and we arrive at his "Moses" scene where he explains the Man in the Sky to a credulous crowd. It's so funny, I had to press Stop until I could calm down. That doesn't happen every year. (I'd have been helpless in a theatre, which hasn't happened since THE BIG LEBOWSKI.) When movies can still make you laugh, that's real power.

Ramsey Campbell:

The scene that's haunted me for months is the ending of Kiarostami's CERTIFIED COPY - one of those final scenes (as in LAST YEAR IN MARIENBAD or L'ECLISSE) where some of the power of the image comes from the dawning realisation that this will be how the film ends. It's a film I loved, and I thought the resolution or rather lack of one was perfect for it.

John Charles:

My choice would be the final moments of INCEPTION. The last shot might not have had quite the same resonance a few decades back, but so few movies nowadays give you anything of substance to think about, let alone have you leaving the theatre intrigued and with something else to consider.

Shane M. Dallmann:

Short and sweet... INCEPTION featured one of the most diabolically delightful final shots I've had the pleasure of enjoying in recent years.

David Kalat:

There have been a number of superb scenes this year—I could almost grab any random scene from the hilarious BLACK DYNAMITE and be done with it—but the one that has stuck with me the longest, and compelled me to think/talk/write about it the most is a fairly innocuous-seeming moment from the early part of CATFISH.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, CATFISH is a low-budget first-person-shooter documentary by Areil (Rel) Schulman about his Facebook-based friendship and romantic flirtation with Megan Faccio, an improbably accomplished multimedia artist from a family of young prodigies in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As the story unfolds, Rel becomes increasingly alarmed by growing doubts that Megan is who or what she claims to be, and he and his filmmaking buddies take their camera on the road to confront Megan in person. This latter half of the movie is as taut a psychological thriller as anything cooked up by Jimmy Sangster, but to get to it we need those early scenes of Rel and Megan instant-messaging and calling each other. One of those scenes, in which Rel speaks to Megan on the phone, became the focal point of controversy when the movie opened.

By the finale, it is fairly clear that Rel’s suspicions had to be inflamed before they started shooting the movie. Indeed, the only way any of this makes sense is if Rel and his cohorts had an inkling of where this was all headed before they filmed that phone call. But, in that phone call, Rel presents himself as fully invested in his virtual relationship with Megan and completely doubt-free. Let’s phrase this another way: those opening scenes were staged for the camera, with the filmmakers misrepresenting themselves solely to establish footage they needed to tell the story.

Critics jumped on this—even those who were otherwise impressed by the film. Rel’s behavior in those early scenes, and his duplicitous stance in that phone call, was like James Frey’s A MILLION LITTLE PIECES or other phony memoirs, they said. An impermissible intrusion of fiction into a non-fiction realm.

Ahem.

If you’ve read my Fictuality article in VIDEO WATCHDOG, you know I admire the crossover of fiction and non-fiction, and moreover I am deeply skeptical of the ability of “pure” documentary to exist in the first place. Every documentary has an element of the staged about it.

The documentary MY KID COULD PAINT THAT has a lot of topical similarity to CATFISH, but instead of being a first-person presentation it is a traditional-style documentary. MY KID COULD PAINT THAT could be cut down and aired on a TV newsprogram and fit right in to that objective journalistic style. And it starts off presenting an unskeptical treatment of its subject, then gradually allows doubt and contrary evidence to creep in—just like CATFISH. Critics didn’t cry foul (in part because MY KID COULD PAINT THAT was lost on a DVD-only release, whereas CATFISH played in multiplexes in Middle America where it made itself an easier target).

Or consider Errol Morris’ landmark THE THIN BLUE LINE. The film begins with one account of Randall Adams’ alleged crime, and then gradually chips away at it to bring in alternate explanations and contrary facts.

In all three of these documentaries, it is essential to their storytelling success that one hypothesis be advanced first, and then challenged and revised as the film progresses. The films that adhere to old-school documentary technique do this without raising any hackles, but CATFISH’s presentation as a sort of videotaped memoir makes that long-standing and venerable technique seem dangerous, new, and illegitimate.

The world of fiction films posing as documentaries is well established. CATFISH is the herald of a new genre of documentaries that pose as fiction films, and the lines are going to get muddier still in the years to come.

Tim Lucas:

Of the new films I saw this year, two films stand out as offering scenes that made me either laugh out loud or shudder at their visionary truth or audacity. One was in Werner Herzog's THE BAD LIEUTENANT - PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS -- the scene where a coked-up Nicolas Cage urges a compatriot to "Shoot him again! His soul hasn't stopped dancing yet!", followed by a subjective view of the felled man's spirit break-dancing around the wreckage of his body until one last bullet nails it down.

The other was in Joe Dante's THE HOLE, as Bruce Dern struggles to finish drawing the jigsaw pieces that will collectively compose a revelatory image, while sitting in a brightly lit room whose lightbulbs are exploding one by one around him, the pops coming closer as they inch him incrementally toward a final darkness. This is a film meant to address childhood fears, which it does on an admirably sustained all-ages level that is effective without being traumatizing. However, in this scene, Dante stages a simultaneously comic and terrifying metaphor for the most fundamental fear of any artist who has reached middle age: that the time to express ourselves is running out. The scene carries extra weight because THE HOLE is Dante's first feature film in six years and still seeking US distribution.

Eric Somer:

Most memorable sequence from a film released on home video this year? That would be from HOUSE/Hausu, when a piano devours a teenage girl. Words cannot really describe it, so I will leave it at that.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Editor's Choice

And now it's my turn.

I was fortunate enough this year to contribute to a number of worthy DVD and Blu-ray releases, including Image Entertainment's THRILLER - THE COMPLETE SERIES, Arrow Films' INFERNO and SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (UK), Mondo Vision's SZAMANKA and Synapse Films' VAMPIRE CIRCUS. Since David Kalat omitted from his list those titles he contributed to, as a conflict of interest, I will follow suit. Each of these releases would have earned a place on this list even without my contributions because they are truly remarkable presentations.

THRILLER is without question the most thoroughly and capably annotated archival television release of the year; INFERNO restores Dario Argento's 1980 classic to a level of beauty and clarity I had not even witnessed on the big screen; SZAMANKA introduces to America one of Andrzej Zulawski's most important films (indeed, an important horror film of a most unusual kind); and SPIRITS OF THE DEAD is the long-awaited, definitive version of a hard film to nail down, encompassing Fellini's masterpiece "Toby Dammit." (If truth be told, SPIRITS is probably the year's most important new release for me, being the first home video release of this title struck from the original camera negative and reinstating the English audio option.) VAMPIRE CIRCUS recently arrived by missed being processed for inclusion by the skin of its fangs. The advance word elsewhere on the net has been very positive indeed.

This is the 12th and final list of our annual overview, and I was delighted that so many of the lists provided by our contributors praised discs that fell outside my own viewing this past year. That said, I must admit to a twinge of regret that none of our contributors -- not even I -- was able to find a place in our surveys for a disc as beautiful, generous and detailed as 20th Century Fox's AVATAR - THREE DISC EXTENDED COLLECTOR'S EDITION. With new releases, I suspect we take the bells and whistles more easily for granted. With time, the value of these discs may become more deeply felt and appreciated... but by then we'll likely be on to a whole nother medium.

My list is presented, painstakingly, in order of preference, but I must stress that the entire list is preferred.

1. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1954, Criterion)
Probably one of the five or ten greatest horror films, and transcendent of genre in many ways, this disc contains the most staggering supplement ever to appear on DVD: a 2½ hour documentary composed of surviving raw footage from the original filming. This provides us with a unique glimpse into the work methods of everyone involved in the production of this American masterpiece. What this means is that we can now see actors like Lillian Gish, Robert Mitchum and Shelly Winters not only in performance but in process, and witness how Charles Laughton, in his only directorial assignment, shaped their performances.

2. THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (1925, Kino on Video)
It's hard to believe now that I first saw METROPOLIS at a public library screening in the late 1960s that was dead silent and ran approximately one hour. I've since seen it numerous times, at numerous lengths, but this two-hour, twenty-plus minute version of Fritz Lang's masterpiece is the most revelatory─not only due to the newly recovered footage (which very nearly completes it), but also to the HD clarity which exposes previously assumed live action, miniatures or scale model shots to be animated drawings or glass matte paintings. The new footage is in rough shape, allowing it to provide its own footnotes; it adds a great deal to Fritz Rasp's sinister role as Joh Frederson's right hand man, smooths the previously jagged edges of Brigitte Helm's extraordinary triple role, and gives the whole film the breathing space to assume its rightful role as a spectacle. What was never quite so apparent to me before is that METROPOLIS is truly an opera, a film thoroughly informed by the filmmaker's love of opera as surely as Dario Argento's best work found its new direction by wedding its cutting and amplifying its visuals to the key of progressive rock. Knowing this makes its dramatic excesses and its oversimplified, perhaps overly symbolic theme into perspective, makes them more forgivable. Because of this, I find that its traditional narrative scoring─however wonderful it may be, and it carries a distinct and glorious prophecy of Franz Waxman's BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN score during the creation scene in Rotwang's lab─rubs ever so slightly against the grain of what Lang's vision truly wants to be. For all that, it is a very fast-moving two-and-a-half hours and the recovered footage only serves to make it more vital, modernistic and approachable.

3. AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY (1968-72, Criterion)
Over a three year period, BBS produced seven films: HEAD, EASY RIDER, FIVE EASY PIECES, DRIVE HE SAID, A SAFE PLACE, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW and THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS─six of which encompass the arc of work that made Jack Nicholson a star and an actor worthy of stardom. This set contains all seven films and couches them in a wealth of exhilarating extras─audio commentaries, documentaries, interviews, archival materials─pertaining to each film and the company as a whole. Though not fantastic in nature, at least not wholly so, this set represents the college attended by the class that graduated from Roger Corman High School and incidentally underscores the value of the work that actors like Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper and filmmakers like Peter Bogdanovich did with Corman. And the HEAD disc contains, for the first time ever on home video, the 1966 screen tests of Micky Braddock (Dolenz) and Peter Tork, as well as ensemble tests that show The Monkees acting with other wannabees. For Monkees fans, this footage alone is worth the cost of the set. It's almost enough to make one overlook the not inconsiderable fact that the film itself has been remixed in 5.1, with the songs sounding far better than they do on Rhino's newly remastered HEAD soundtrack box set.

4. HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO (2009, Park Circus, Region 2)
This documentary by Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea tells the story of the great French suspense director's ill-fated 1963 project with Romy Schneider and Serge Reggiani, about a middle-aged husband's festering jealousy about his younger wife, which ended when Clouzot suffered a heart attack two weeks into the filming. Collected here, for the first time, is an assemblage of loose and edited footage from those two weeks, footage that promises─even at a distance of almost 40 years─to catapult cinema into new visual vocabularies of human psychology and derangement. Clouzot ventures beyond narrative images to dwell obsessively on the beauty of Romy Schneider, using her as the centerpiece of numerous enthralling special effects, color and makeup tests, and superimpositions. Though presented in the scientific context of a documentary, this is one of the sexiest films ever made. Reportedly coming stateside from Flicker Alley.

5. ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S PSYCHO - 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Universal)
I'm working hard to hold myself in rational check here, because Universal's Blu-ray remastering of PSYCHO, coupled with ADX's 5.1 audio remix, begs to be hailed as the restoration of the year. It unearths visual and sonic elements of the film that feel every bit as long-buried as the lost footage from METROPOLIS or Clouzot's INFERNO. I'm talking about the deeper register now available to the double basses in Bernard Herrmann's orchestra, which make the murder of Marion Crane somehow more traumatic and revolting, and the way the rainfall now heard outside the Bates Motel as Marion checks in places us, with her, in a shower from the get-go. The little rear-channel kick in the pipes just before the shower water is heard in the front channels, and the deep idling sound of Arbogast's car motor. Likewise, the refining of the B&W cinematography has become revelatory in its own way, bringing us into more intimate contact with nearly all the performances. In Janet Leigh's case, this scrutiny presents us with one of the great tragic performances of the past half-century, and the densely layered eloquence of Joseph Stefano's dialogue retains its place at the very pinnacle of the genre. The extras on the second disc are mostly ported over from previous editions but remain valuable, with an excellent making-of documentary by Laurent Bouzereau and a sampling of the legendary Hitchcock/Truffaut interview that reveals the two men more at odds than print suggested, building to a satisfying assertion from Hitchcock about PSYCHO being a film that asserts its value almost entirely in cinematic terms.

6. THE WIZARD OF OZ - 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION
(Warner)
The regularity with which Warner/Turner/MGM keeps trumping past editions of this title has become tedious, but the first Blu-ray issue of the Victor Fleming classic obliterates even the memory of the $1,000,000 digital three-strip restoration of a few years ago. Every check in Dorothy's gingham dress is herein preserved in crystal clarity, and the ruby slippers sparkle and hold the eye in long shots as they never have before. Remarkably, the enhanced clarity of the presentation doesn't unearth faults so much as the film crew's peerless eye for detail in terms of makeup and set design, a standard of quality that carries through to every department on the production in a truly timeless manner. There is simply infinitely more here to appreciate, and even to notice for the first time. True, the box set is padded with a third disc devoted to a lengthy MGM studio history documentary available elsewhere, but the second disc includes some worthwhile arcana, including the earlier silent film adaptations of THE WIZARD OF OZ and a selection of L. Frank Baum's own Méliès-influenced shorts adaptating his Oz stories, and a made-for-TV movie about Baum starring John Ritter.

7. FANTOMAS: THE COMPLETE SAGA (1914-15, Kino on Video)
In 1998, when I reviewed JUVE VS. FANTOMAS in VW 43, 45m of one serial was all that could easily be seen of Louis Feuillade's epic five-hour serial adaptation of the popular crime pulps of Pierre Souvestre and Marcel Allain. JUVE VS. FANTOMAS alone runs 62m in this complete edition. This release belatedly follows earlier issues of this material in France and the UK, and is included here for its importance rather than its novelty. The supplements on Universal's PSYCHO disc would have us believe that Hitchcock was sui generis, but Hitchcock learned everything about the fundamentals of suspense from Fritz Lang and Feuillade. Kino's set has some fine supplements, including other Feuillade shorts and two lively David Kalat commentaries, but it is very disappointing that numerous extras from the other sets were not ported over, including Georges Franju's interview with Marcel Allain.

8. THE GENERAL (1920, Kino on Video)
Despite being an admirer of Keaton's work, for some reason it was not until this year that I finally caught up with the film most commonly cited as his masterpiece. I'm glad I did, because this Blu-ray issue is like looking through a glass window into another time -- culled from an archival print taken from the original camera negative, it is a magnificent feat of restoration, and presented with a choice of three different musical accompaniments. Worth seeing not only for the work of genius that is is, but for the ripples it sent out, influencing (for example) Sergio Leone's later work on THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY and even ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.

9. GEORGES MELIES ENCORE: NEW DISCOVERIES (1896-1911, Flicker Alley)
Flicker Alley's five-disc set GEORGE MELIES FIRST WIZARD OF CINEMA 1896-1913) from 2008 seemed exhaustive but an additional 28 shorts by this seminal fantasist came to light only after its release. Also included are a couple of shorts by Méliès' Spanish counterpart Segundo de Chomón, sometimes mistaken for the work of the French master and no less brilliant.

10. THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (1965, Shout! Factory)
In which James Brown throws down a still-resonating gauntlet to the bill-topping Rolling Stones, who haven't even written "Satisfaction" yet. This all-star live performance, filmed with television cameras at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, has a little something for everyone (Mersey Beat, Motown, soul, girl group, soul, beach music, garage band) and it's all pretty much cream of the crop. Even some of the lesser bands have the power to make one misty. Speaking of crop, it's been impossible to see this film in its original widescreen format since its original release, especially with The Beach Boys' set intact, and this disc restores all that. The surprise of the film, once you notice that Teri Garr is one of the background dancers, is how much musical history she's able to eclipse with her frenzied flailings.

RESTORATIONS OF THE YEAR:
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S PSYCHO - 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Universal)
THE WIZARD OF OZ - 70th ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION
(Warner)
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (Arrow Films UK)
THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939, Universal)
THE T.A.M.I. SHOW (Shout! Factory)
HEAD (in AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY, Criterion)

HONORARY MENTIONS:
TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE and TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT (1959/1960, Warner Archive)
Directed respectively by John Guillermin and Robert Day, these British-produced Gordon Scott adventures raise Edgar Rice Burroughs' character to a level of maturity and rousing excitement that his long-running film franchise would never enjoy so fully again. GREATEST ADVENTURE features one of the earliest screen appearances of Sean Connery, as a stooge to main menace Niall McGuinness, and the heavies in MAGNIFICENT are as good as they come: John Carradine, Jock Mahoney and Al Mulock. Two of the finest matinee movies of their time, these deserved an official release from Warner Home Video, and much more ballyhoo than they got. If you care about action and adventure cinema, don't let anything stand in the way of ordering these burn-to-order discs from Warner Archive.

THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT and TALES
FROM THE PUB (2009, Shout! Factory)
While his TRAIL OF THE SCREAMING FOREHEAD (2007) still awaits release, Larry Blamire's subsequent three Bantam Street productions arrived on disc this year in splendid presentations. These movie-smart, absurdist parodies─tackling fantasy-adventure, old dark house movies and ONE STEP BEYOND, respectively─not only share one of the most delightful repertory acting ensembles ever assembled, but they stand on their own comic merits (you don't need the reference points to laugh, yet they run hilariously deep) and they represent pretty much the only real, consistent wit found in American comedies today. Blamire's work is a testament to what can still be achieved when shooting digitally and strictly to low budget, and it's time some forward-looking studio (assuming there is such a thing) repaid his ingenuity with an opportunity to advance to the next level.

Don Van Vliet 1941-2010

"I'm goin' up on the mountain and find me a cave and talk those bears into takin' me in..."
-- Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), "Wild Life" (1969)

A word on the importance of Captain Beefheart.

When I was 16, I was in a bad way: my best friend had committed suicide and my own homelife was becoming unliveable. It crossed my mind more than once that it might be more convenient for all concerned if I wasn't around anymore. Then one morning, I awoke with one clear thought in mind: "I am going to have to start listening to some f****ed-up music."

And so I began to embrace sounds I could not bring myself to embrace before. I started listening to Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, The Mothers of Invention, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges... bands that tapped into emotions that were not traditionally musical -- and I believe hearing those edgier feelings expressed musically, literally saved my life. They also opened my ears to new textures, contours and concepts of beauty.

Beefheart's music may sound crazy to some of you, but it became my refuge from something much crazier. More than any teacher I had, his work taught me to think like an artist and how to use language like paint.

I shared this life-saving confession earlier tonight with a friend, and she wrote back to me, "We should all be so lucky to say that we served such a purpose in this life."

So, thank you, Don, for being the bear on the mountain who took me in -- and godspeed.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: John Charles

John Charles, of course, is VIDEO WATCHDOG's Associate Editor, the author of THE HONG KONG FILMOGRAPHY, 1977-1997 (McFarland), and host of the website Hong Kong Digital. He has chosen to divvy his list between a "Best" and an alphabetical arrangement of "The Rest." - TL



By John Charles

THE BEST:

VIDEO NASTIES: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE (Nucleus Films UK PAL DVD)
Home entertainment has never been more high tech and special features have never been more pervasive, but this superb 3 disc set reminds one of how important it is to support the independent specialty labels. A true labor of love and admirably comprehensive, this is an excellent documentation of how British Right Wing politicians and their allies manufactured a horror videos “moral crisis” to help divert public attention from their own monumental policy failures.

THE REST (alphabetical):

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010; Disney Blu-ray)
I was surprised by all the negative reviews for this Tim Burton fantasy, which ranks among his most exquisitely styled, well cast and satisfying works. It was also the only post-production conversion feature released in 2010 to have anything approaching acceptable 3-D (and is also available on a separate Blu-ray release in that format).

DARK AND STORMY NIGHT (Shout! Factory DVD)
I adore 1930s old dark house mysteries and Larry Blamire’s satirical tribute features the look, casting, and creaky plotting of someone who loves them as much as I do.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Alliance Films Canada Blu-ray)
Some have expressed disappointment in the second and third entries in this trilogy and I suspect it has a lot to do with just how forceful and enthralling this initial instalment is. Noomi Rapace is fascinating as the titular anti-heroine and watching her character across three movies gave me 7 ½ hours of cinematic bliss.

THE RED SHOES (Criterion Blu-ray)
I have never screened THE RED SHOES in black and white, but I’m sure it would still be superb. In color, it is a ravishingly beautiful experience and the recent restoration is skilfully rendered on this stunning disc.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (Universal Blu-ray)
While well past the target age, I could not help but be charmed by the infectious energy and visual invention on display throughout virtually every moment of this Edgar Wright confection. It is also a wonderful visual treat for those who love Toronto.

SHUTTER ISLAND (Paramount Blu-ray)
People have complained about how obvious the twist in this film is, but it should be obvious to anyone who has seen the trailer. The point was never the mystery, but the opportunity for Martin Scorsese to indulge in a deep and meaningful character study; on that level, coupled with his superb directorial technique and fine performances from the principles, it is a complete success.

SPLICE (E1 Canada Blu-ray)
It goes off the rails in the final reel and overdoes the splatter in one sequence, but Vincenzo Natali’s refreshingly intelligent science fiction/horror thriller depicts basic moral issues of experimentation in frank terms that few filmmakers have dared in the past. It is also wonderfully Canadian in the best Cronenbergian sense.

STAR CRASH (Shout! Factory Blu-ray)
My favorite to date of Shout!’s Roger Corman Cult Classics line offers Luigi Cozzi’s campy sci-fi cult classic in a surprisingly elaborate special edition release that certainly won’t disappoint fans who have been waiting a very long time for this sort of loving celebration.

TOY STORY 3 (Disney Blu-ray)
Another superb effort from Pixar, TOY STORY 3 once again bucks the sequel curse, seeming entirely fresh, appealing and witty (it’s part prison movie send-up and a very good one at that), with the sort of dazzling animation we have come to expect from this company (though as with UP, there is no reason to watch this movie in 3-D). For all of 2010’s vivid horror imagery, Big Baby is still the creepiest thing I have seen all year.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Kim Newman

Kim Newman contributes to a great many publications in addition to VW, in addition to other authorly duties, and in response to our request for his list of year-end favorites, he rightly pointed out that such a list by him appears in the current issue of SIGHT & SOUND -- "and almost all the things I picked were on other folks' lists." That said, he did agree to list some additional Honorable Mentions on DVD, all of which (like he) hail from the UK. Kim's most recent books are the excellent HORROR! 333 FILMS TO SCARE YOU TO DEATH (co-written with James Marriiott, Carlton) and forthcoming appended reissues of his ANNO DRACULA series. - TL

By Kim Newman

The UK BluRay from Optimum of THE GUILLERMO DEL TORO COLLECTION (CRONOS, THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE and PAN'S LABYRINTH) - subtitled, and with a pop-up labyrinth in the packaging.

The ongoing releases, also from Optimum, of THE AVENGERS on DVD in significantly improved versions: SEASON FOUR (black and white) and FIVE (colour) collect Diana Rigg's tenure on the show, and arguably the height of its achievement. Even the lesser episodes sparkle with wit and invention.

Lesser-known genre or fringe genre TV releases from Network - SHADOWS, a children's ghost story anthology from the 1970s, and THE GUARDIANS, dystopian ITV science fiction from the same period with remarkably sophisitcated politics.

Kudos to Odeon Entertainment for its BEST OF BRITISH COLLECTION, making rare titles available on DVD - though the transfers haven't always been great: THREE CASES OF MURDER, RETURN OF A STRANGER, STRIPTEASE MURDER, COVER GIRL KILLER/LIFE IN DANGER.

And, of course, the BFI's ongoing Flipside BR/DVD releases - HERE WE GO ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH, PRIVILEGE, THE PLEASURE GIRLS, PERMISSIVE, etc.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Eric Somer

This list compiles the selections of Eric Somer, who has been contributing reviews to VW since sometime in 2008. Eric studied journalism at Central Michigan University and works for Family Video in Glenview, IL. He is presently working on a book about prize fighting in the cinema, and we expect it will be a knock-out. - TL

By Eric Somer

*NOTE: I stubbornly ignored multi-film sets this year in the interest of establishing a more level playing field.

1. PSYCHO: 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal)

Start naming the greatest films of all time, and then start compiling the greatest horror films of all time. Next, how many films could conceivably top both lists? That third list would have to be brief, but Universal’s new Blu-ray treatment of PSYCHO prepares further evidence that the Hitchcock classic is the greatest cinematic achievement of all time, and thus the greatest horror film of all time. To watch PSYCHO on a large monitor in its most pristine state to date—and with a crisp new 5.1 digital audio track for those interested—is to re-discover every close-up, every acting nuance, every camera movement, every reason why audiences were so taken back upon the film’s original theatrical run, and every reason why the experience holds up remarkably well today, despite countless imitations, including a pointless shot-for-shot remake. Though the supplements are mostly common to prior editions, this new 1080p transfer necessitates the upgrade, regardless of how many times you have purchased/rented/borrowed/lost PSYCHO already.

2. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Criterion)
The elaborate supplemental documentary “Charles Laughton Directs THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER” offers immense ammunition for those who buy into the auteur theory. Some critics have dismissed the once popular school of thought based on the notion that filmmaking is a collaborative process, which it is, but this collection of dailies makes it clear Laughton was not looking for a lot of advice. He obviously had a rigid, predetermined mental image of every sequence, right down to the delivery of each line of dialogue, which he obsessively forced actors to repeat until he was 100% satisfied (he was particularly tough on Shelley Winters and 10-year-old actor Billy Chapin). Can’t really argue with the results, of course. The lone directorial effort from Laughton is a tremendous addition to The Criterion Collection. It’s a shame Laughton never offered a follow up to his hauntingly beautiful fairy tale noir, in which “false prophet” Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) menaces a little boy (Chapin) and girl (Sally Jane Bruce) in pursuit of stolen money. All films are about good vs. evil, but nobody describes it quite like Powell (Spike Lee paid tribute to Mitchum with one of his characters from DO THE RIGHT THING). You might chuckle when Willa Harper (Winters) proclaims she is “quivering with cleanness,” but those words strikingly anticipate her last scene, which is no laughing matter. Considering the film’s original release was in 1955, this was probably the most expressionistic noir film of its decade other than, perhaps, TOUCH OF EVIL. This restored digital transfer is available in both Blu-ray and 2-disc DVD editions.

3. MOON (Sony)
Though settings may be futuristic, sci-fi dramatics almost always revolve around present-day concerns, like the exploitation of the working class. In this rendition of the future, the harvesting of Helium-3 capsules via lunar rock on the dark side of the moon has resolved all of earth’s fossil fuel-based energy issues. A presumably large corporate entity oversees the mining operation from earth, keeping expenses under control by reducing the need for human labor to an absolute minimum—all site work is handled by a lone worker (Sam Rockwell), who is contractually bound to a three-year stint (as in METROPOLIS, workers become extensions of their machines). His only companion is a robot named GERTY (memorably voiced by Kevin Spacey). The film’s resolution juxtaposes a proletarian call to action with nightmarish plutocratic realities. Watch it with a friend and rest assured there will be a lot to discuss later. Sony’s presentation of this impressive feature film debut from Duncan Jones (the son of David Bowie) is enriched by multiple audio commentary tracks. Reviewed in VW # 156 by Michael Barrett.

4. THE BAD LIEUTENANT PORT OF CALL: NEW ORLEANS (First Look)
I reviewed this not-to-be-missed Werner Herzog/Nic Cage teaming in VW #157. The First Look Studios Blu-ray might be the most affordable HD option in my Top 10.

5. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (Paramount)
Better late than never, right? At least Paramount treats the U.S. digital bow of THE AFRICAN QUEEN with an awareness of the film’s many fans. The Commemorative Box Set Blu-ray edition, though alarmingly pricey, looks oh-so-cool in one’s assortment of, well, other expensive gift set purchases. It includes a separate audio CD with the original Lux radio broadcast of THE AFRICAN QUEEN, four 35mm frames that illustrate the Technicolor process, lobby card reproductions, a “making of” special feature, and a miniature paperback copy of “The Making of THE AFRICAN QUEEN” by Katharine Hepburn, and of course a restored presentation of the entertaining adventure itself. For whatever reason, I still crack up when Rose (Hepburn) admits to Mr. Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) she needs help getting back into the boat after bathing.

6. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Män Som Hatar Kvinnor, Music Box)
David Fincher indeed seems the logical choice to helm the remake of this intense Swedish thriller, but the original might be tough to match in light of the unforgettable performance from Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. Given the forceful, sometimes shocking narrative material that informs this elaborate search for a girl who long ago vanished, the concluding moments are surprisingly heartwarming and reassuring, a testament to the development of characters worth paying attention to. David Kalat’s full VW review can be found in VW #159.

7. NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL (VCI)
Now available for the first time on domestic home video. Film noir fans are well-advised to snap up VCI Entertainment's welcome remastering of this excellent example of the genre as it existed in the Fifties. Broderick Crawford and Richard Conte offer performances that serve to underline their respective careers, and the hardboiled dialog is top-notch. My full review can be found in VW #159.

8. THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE) (IFC Films/MPI)
It’s this year’s MARTYRS in terms of gross-out factor—your stomach will have to be in tip-top shape at certain “I wish I didn’t see that” intervals. But there is a surprising amount of suggestive cinematic techniques and an engagingly dire atmosphere underscoring things in this undeniably bold effort from filmmaker-to-watch Tom Six. Be sure to check out our upcoming coverage of the MPI home video treatment in VW #160.

9. GAMERA VS. BARUGON (Daikaijû kettô: Gamera tai Barugon; Shout! Factory)
Shout! Factory has done an amazing job with the original Daiei Gamera series, granting the Shōwa era the serious treatment the respective films consistently have been denied in previous domestic releases. My favorite classic GAMERA film was always GAMERA VS. GYAOS (Daikaijû kûchûsen: Gamera tai Gyaosu) until I revisited this inspired sequel to the original GAMERA. It compares favorably to any kaijū eiga and is a must-own even for casual fans of the genre. August Ragone and Jason Varney team up for the commentary duty.

10. HOUSE (Hausu; Criterion)
Landing officially on U.S. shores this year via The Criterion Collection, this delirious exercise in experimental filmmaking won the hearts of film fans 15 years of age and under at the time of its original theatrical release in 1977, though most everyone older had no idea what to make of it; perhaps it’s Japan’s more violent ALICE IN WONDERLAND. There is a neat moment in the supplemental interview with director/co-producer Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, who recalls how the lighting crew devoted hours to finding a tiny screw that fell out of his eyeglasses. When Ôbayashi asked why they spent so much time looking for something he assumed unrecoverable on a ridiculously cluttered soundstage, one of the men said that Ôbayashi was the first Toho director to address him by name, which moved him so that he and the crew decided to find what the director presumed lost.

Other key home video releases (in no particular order):

WINTER’S BONE, KICK-ASS, BAD BIOLOGY, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE HORSEMAN, THE CHASER, AN EDUCATION, CRONOS, 44 INCH CHEST, TORMENTED.

Notable disappointments:

INCEPTION (interesting on paper and entertaining on film are not always the same thing), ANTICHRIST (admit it Lars, you hate women), MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE (Herzog might have something here if he trimmed it down to under 60 minutes), THE CRAZIES (God-awful remake of my favorite Romero film), SHUTTER ISLAND (see comment on INCEPTION).

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Sam & Rebecca Umland

Long-time VIDEO WATCHDOG critics Rebecca and Sam Umland are both educators based at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Their books include DONALD CAMMELL: A LIFE ON THE WILD SIDE and THE USE OF ARTHURIAN LEGEND IN HOLLYWOOD FILM. - TL

By Sam & Rebecca Umland

1) 3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG (Criterion)

Along with Flicker Alley’s CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE and Kino’s and Eureka’s THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS, one of the three or four most incredible home video releases of the year containing classics from the silent era.

2) CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE (Flicker Alley)

Another incredible box set consisting of about 10 hours of early, silent era Chaplin, representing virtually all of Chaplin’s work for Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios. Years in the making and made possible by the cooperative efforts of film archives worldwide.

3) THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (Kino US and Eureka UK)

Yet another important silent era film representing the virtually complete version of Lang’s silent era SF classic. Available in Blu-ray.

4) THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Criterion)

Criterion’s welcome edition of this Charles Laughton-directed classic features a splendid Blu-ray transfer along with some important supplemental materials.

5) AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY (Criterion)

BBS—an acronym for Bob, Bert and Steve, the creative team of Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner—made the series of seven Hollywood films contained in this box set between 1968 and 1972, financed by the profits they made from the hugely popular NBC series THE MONKEES. As “countercultural” cinema, the films included here were both critical and commercial successes (e.g., EASY RIDER, FIVE EASY PIECES, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) as well as box-office bombs (e.g., HEAD, DRIVE HE SAID, A SAFE PLACE). The Blu-ray presentations are stellar, and the supplements interesting and informative.

6) SHUTTER ISLAND (Paramount)

Narrative coherence is not as important as the fully immersive visual experience of Scorsese’s engaging and compelling psychological thriller. Paramount’s Blu-ray issue of the film is outstanding.

7) APOCALYPSE NOW: FULL DISCLOSURE EDITION (Lionsgate)

The 1979 theatrical version of Francis Coppola’s acknowledged masterpiece is included here (finally) for the first time in its proper aspect ratio (2.35:1), as is the Redux, both in HD. The “Full Disclosure Edition” has the additional essential supplement, HEARTS OF DARKNESS, Eleonor Coppola's outstanding documentary on the making of the film.

8) THE DAMNED (THESE ARE THE DAMNED, included in THE ICONS OF SUSPENSE COLLECTION: HAMMER FILMS, Sony)

Joseph Losey’s haunting, memorable film in the most complete version yet available on DVD.

9) PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (Shock Blu-ray import)

We were happy to renew our appreciation of this haunting 1975 mystery directed by Peter Weir on Blu-ray. Shock’s Blu-ray disc contains the “Director’s Cut” (as opposed to the original theatrical version) and doesn’t include the array of supplements contained on Second Sight’s valuable 2008 SD DVD issue, but the improved HD image and sound make this a highly worthwhile edition of the film.

10) MICKEY ONE (Sony Pictures Screen Classics By Request)

Unaccountably neglected, never before released on DVD, and shot by master cinematographer Ghislain Cloquet (perhaps best known for the many pictures he shot for Robert Bresson), this fascinating Arthur Penn-directed, Kafkaesque film noir features Warren Beatty as a comedian on the run from the mob. Image and sound quality on this video-on-demand disc is excellent.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Heather Drain

Heather Drain is VIDEO WATCHDOG's newest contributor, appearing for the first time in VW 160 (on its way to our subscribers now). Her work has also appeared in the pages of SCREEM, ULTRA VIOLENT, THE EXPLOITATION JOURNAL and several other publications, and her blog Mondo Heather can be found here. The only predictable thing about Heather is her unpredictability, and her Favorite Discs list takes a different approach than the others I've posted here, being written in paragraph form, amounting to fewer than five titles, and veering entirely away from our staple genres of horror and fantasy. However, since our point in publishing these lists is to direct VW's readers to interesting and offbeat DVD releases which may have escaped their notice, Heather's endorsements certainly fill the bill. - TL

By Heather Drain

2010 has honestly been one of those blur years, when plenty of great stuff has come out but, due to circumstances, finances and creative ADD, I have not had the chance to properly devour a lot of the discs that have come out this year.

That said, there have been a few recent standout titles that I have had the good fortune to watch. Before going into my brief but mega-worthy list, I will preface it by saying that, yes, one of the four titles was technically released in 2009. But as someone who prescribes to the notion that years do not end and begin cleanly and instead bleed into one another, it works. Plus it's my Favorites list and I will fudge if I want to! Anyway, off to the titles!

First up is the Tribeca film release THE WILD & WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA. A documentary produced by Johnny Knoxville's company Dickhouse, this is a gritty and unforgettable peek into the famous/infamous White family from Boone County, West Virginia. They garnered national recognition back in the day for patriarch D. Ray White's unique brand of traditional Appalachian folk dancing. In the wake of D. Ray's violent death, his son, Jesco White, took up the mantle and got even more notoriety thanks to appearances on the DIFFERENT DRUMMER series on PBS. The popularity of that led to the now cult shorts, DANCING OUTLAW and DANCING OUTLAW 2: JESCO GOES TO HOLLYWOOD. Between then (1994) and now, Jesco, along with his bad-ass sister Mamie, have become underground folk heroes. The White family has even been immortalized in numerous songs, the best being Hank Williams III's “Legend of D. Ray White,” which is well utilized in the film.

Charles Bukowski had the quote that nobody suffers like the poor and this fact is all too clear here. The heartbreak of being stuck in a poor, working-class rut, thanks to locale, class status, an extremely faulty system and self destructive behavior that is often the result of the prior factors, is deeply felt. Being someone who has worked and been related to people very similar to this family, it hit especially close to home. The biggest impact, though, is seeing the charismatic Jesco and Mamie, who both are the big survivors of the brood, dealing with the shrapnel of life around them. While you get a good peek into the younger Whites, it is these two that will stay with you long after the disc has played.

Speaking of folk heroes, there's also Troma's two-disc release of Phillipe Mora's MAD DOG MORGAN. While I still feel like this film probably should have been in the hands of a company like Criterion, since it is basically an art film more in the vein of someone like Sam Peckinpah than, say, Lloyd Kaufman, it is still nice to have this film in print and getting some cherry extras. It's a beautifully made film with one of Dennis Hopper's best performances as Dan “Mad Dog” Morgan, an Irishman with a good heart who ends up becoming an outlaw and bush ranger in the wilds of Australia. For anyone used to seeing Hopper playing manic-eyed and occasionally scenery-gnawing characters, it is refreshing seeing him playing such a vulnerable man.

A film that has absolutely nothing to do with Australian folk heroes or documentaries but does have a connection to dancing is the Amero Brothers' cult adult film musical BLONDE AMBITION. Video-X-Pix went all out for this release, complete with a beautiful print, a well-written booklet, a B&W promo card of star Suzy Mandel, two small strips of the negative and two commentary tracks, the first being from John Amero himself. If you're not familiar with the man, John (along with his brother, Lem) was a pioneer in the world of fringe cinema, helming such early sexploitation gems as THE LUSTING HOURS and, later on, BACCHANALE. It's a great commentary from a warm, talkative man. The second one is from none other than the late, great Jamie Gillis. While Jamie's part in the film is a glorified but funny cameo as an effete porn director, his commentary is also fun with a lot of good stories from the days when the adult genre had real actors and filmmakers. The film itself is a frothy and charmingly silly musical comedy centering on the ambitious Kane Sisters, Candy (Dory Devon) and Sugar (former BENNY HILL actress Mandel.) The sex is secondary to the film making, so even if seeing the dirty hula in action isn't your bag, the odds are still good that you will enjoy this film.

Another disc that rocked my world in 2010 was the documentary about the classic Canadian progressive band Rush with RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE. This Zoe Records release has lots of rare, behind the scenes footage, some dating back to their pre-Neal Peart days, this film is a dream with the perfect mix of live performances and interviews, giving a rounded view of this amazing band. It's another two-disc beast with loads of extras, so it truly is a prog rock feast.

So when you think of this year's releases, as we begin to edge ever so closer to 2011, please think of gritty documentaries, history-based art films, MGM styled musicals with enough skin and sequins to please the eye and of course, Canadian progressive rock bands. I know I will!

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell is generally acknowledged to be one of the finest practitioners of the Weird Tale, but he also has a keen insight into the way films work, as evidenced by his ongoing VIDEO WATCHDOG column, "Ramsey's Rambles." He is also the acclaimed author of such novels as THE FACE THAT MUST DIE, THE COUNT OF ELEVEN, ANCIENT IMAGES and THE OVERNIGHT, as well as the story collections DEMONS BY DAYLIGHT, DARK FEASTS and JUST BEHIND YOU, just to name a few of his many publications. In the 1970s, he wrote highly collectable paperback novelizations of the classic horror films THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA'S DAUGHTER under the pen name Carl Dreadstone. Here is his year's end list of favorite things that went bump in his DVD player... which, incidentally, is not limited to works of horror and fantasy. - TL

By Ramsey Campbell

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Criterion)

A masterpiece finally gets the treatment it deserves, not just with a splendid transfer but several documentaries, the longest of which reveals much about the making of the film.

THE DAMNED (aka THESE ARE THE DAMNED, included in THE ICONS OF SUSPENSE COLLECTION: HAMMER FILMS, Sony)

One of Joseph Losey’s lost films, in the correct ratio at last and the most complete version. His BLIND DATE also saw a British DVD release. Now where’s his M?

THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS (Kino US, Eureka UK)

The version we thought was lost forever, almost completely restored, demonstrates that the film is a genuine melodrama, conceived partly in musical terms.

THRILLER - THE COMPLETE SERIES (Image)

A feast, and it’s fascinating to watch the series develop, just as it is to trace (say) how the EC comics became what they’re remembered for.

3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG (Criterion)

This box set rescues three important films. Many Sternberg qualities are already much in evidence, and does any silent film have an ending more understated than THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK?

THE ITALIAN STRAW HAT (Flicker Alley)

An exemplary transfer that allows us to relish all Rene Clair’s wit, which is as fresh as ever.

LUBITSCH IN BERLIN (Eureka UK)

Six of his silent films, and many revelations, not least the wonderful Ossi Oswalda, a great comedienne at last salvaged from oblivion.

STAGECOACH (Criterion)

Chosen not just for improving on previous transfers but for the extras, which include one of Ford’s silent Westerns, BUCKING BROADWAY, and the complete unedited footage of Ford’s famously irascible confrontation with Philip Jenkinson. The booklet reprints the tale on which STAGECOACH was based.

MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (Criterion US, Eureka UK)

Leo McCarey’s devastating comedy of embarrassment that shades inexorably into tragedy. Arguably his greatest film. I listed the French release back in 2008, but this version doesn’t have irremovable French subtitles and is a sharper transfer. Eureka have it on Blu-Ray.

Now In Effect: Everything 12% Off!

VIDEO WATCHDOG's "12 Days of Christmas" Sale is now in effect! For the next 12 days, everything we sell -- back issues, subscriptions, even the Bava book -- is 12% off, if you use the special code when ordering! Visit our Home Page for more details.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Shane M. Dallmann

The author of today's list is Shane M. Dallmann, a staunch member of the WATCHDOG Kennel since our 46th issue in 1998. Shane also writes for SCREEM and, as his alter ego Remo D., he has carried the torch of Horror Hostdom into the 21st Century with his show REMO D's MANOR OF MAYHEM (now in its 14th season!). Shane lists ten favorites but offers notes on only five, so we invite you to take his list and check it twice. - TL

By Shane M. Dallmann

THE CRAZIES (2010, Starz/Anchor Bay)
One of those remakes that proves that they really are worth doing once in a while. Director Breck Eisner's take on the 1973 George A. Romero thriller (aka CODE NAME: TRIXIE) is a ferocious, intelligent and equally bitter look at mass insanity, its effects on the residents of a small town, and the efforts from "above" to cover -- or cleanse -- their mistake.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (and feel free to pre-emptively include THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST) (2009, Music Box)
Stieg Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy was unavoidably condensed for the movies -- just how effectively remains a topic of debate for some. But it's the bold, absorbing and utterly fearless performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander which more than earns the film series the right of independent existence.

HOUSE (Criterion, 1977)
For some reason, Toho Studios never included Nobuhiko Obayashi's wild and crazy haunting in their American television packages--if they had, it would have shaken up the Saturday night landscape considerably. Is it a shocker that makes you smile, or is it a comedy that plays for keeps? Whatever it is, it never lets up--and the barrage of innovative, pre-CGI optical effects is truly wondrous to behold today. The less you know about this film going in, the better.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (2010, Universal)
Though it sank in the box office quicksand between THE EXPENDABLES (for the guys) and EAT, PRAY, LOVE (for the gals), Edgar Wright's adaptation of Brian Lee O'Malley's graphic novel was lauded at Comic-Con for a very good reason: it's one of the most visually inventive and consistently "alive" romantic comedies yet conceived. Pop culture from around the world, video games, music and an array of larger-than-life nemeses make the most of what is actually a simple and charming story.

SPLICE (2010, Warner)
One of the best films David Cronenberg never made. Sarah Polley and Adrian Brody run the gamut from moral debate to parental concern and, inevitably, desperate action when they become responsible for an new (and highly unauthorized) life form (sensitively portrayed by Delphine Chaneac). Even if the narrative eventually gives in to the chaos of plot resolution, the sober script, the carefully allotted shocks and the excellent performances throughout make this a standout thriller courtesy of director Vincenzo Natali.

BONUS: Everybody's going to name the THRILLER box set, no? Count me in as well. Other honorable mentions include KICK-ASS, Guy Ritchie's SHERLOCK HOLMES, Werner Herzog's THE BAD LIEUTENTANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS and HARRY BROWN.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Richard Harland Smith

Today's list is courtesy of the illustrious Richard Harland Smith, a VW contributor since days of old, and a VW correspondent since days even older than that. RHS currently blogs for Movie Morlocks at the Turner Classic Movies website, screenwrites and curates the curious artwork of daughter Vayda Jane, but still manages to contribute to VW now and then, for which I'm grateful -- as I am for this list of ten. -- TL

By Richard Harland Smith

1. CRACK IN THE WORLD (Olive Films)

One of those seminal childhood films that made becoming an adult seem very attractive: you get to drive Jeeps, shoot guns, fire rockets, look through microscopes and telescopes, and sneak a peak up Janette Scott's skirt as she climbs a ladder from the bowels of the earth to its sulfurous surface. Big love to Olive Films for putting this back on the table.

2. THE MAGICIAN (Criterion Collection)

For all its painterly aesthetics, this under-loved Ingmar Bergman joint is no less a key childhood title for me, reminding me as it does now of those wonderful post-adolescent years of discovering foreign films on public television... back when you could do such a thing. Some of the imagery here is just burned into my brain, like an eyeball in an inkwell.

3. BOB HOPE: THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES COLLECTION (Universal)

This set has a number of films on it, including blah-blah-blah, don't-care-don't-care, yadda-yadda-yadds and THE CAT AND THE CANARY! Yeah, the 1939 one, which you haven't been able to see since forever! Universal could have slapped the SRP of this set onto a keepcase of THE CAT AND THE CANARY and I would have considered it a bargain. Plus, you get the equally funny THE GHOST BREAKERS in the bargain. Thanks indeed!

4. THE ELECTRIC CHAIR (Wild Eye Releasing)

I have a bit of a personal stake here, as this obscure/forgotten/never released independent film stars my late friend Victor Argo. When I interviewed Vic, fairly exhaustively, back in 2000, he didn't even mention what had been, at that point in his thirty-odd year career, his only starring role. This will be an acquired taste, certainly, but double-kudos to Wild Eye Releasing for making space on the shelf for something so rare and niche market. It means the world to me.

5. S0S PACIFIC (Odeon Entertainment, Region 2)
Not only is it a crackerjack corker of a pisscutter, but SOS PACIFIC allows Eddie Constantine fans a fairly rare opportunity to hear him in a movie with his own voice, as the late, great American in Paris was normally dubbed by others in his films from over there. This strangers-in-bad-company survival tale puts Constantine onboard (and then off) a charter plane with Eva Bartok from BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, Clifford Evans from CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF and Richard Attenborough from, well, let's just say 10 RILLINGTON PLACE.

6. THE CAMP ON BLOOD ISLAND (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Region 2)

No, it's not THE SECRET OF BLOOD ISLAND, but it does have Barbara Shelley in it (if not in a starring role) and it is must-see non-horror Hammer. Sony also has made available YESTERDAY'S ENEMY, with Stanley Baker, and I would recommend all of these to Hammer fans who think they've seen it all.

7. LAKE MUNGO (Lionsgate)

No one would think ill of you if you gave this title from the AFTER DARK HORRORFEST 4 COLLECTION a pass... but you'd be missing something unexpected. A documentary ghost story, the film doesn't go for the visceral shocks of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY but rather charts the terrain of remorse and regret from which ghosts sprout and flourish.

8. THE WOLFMAN (Universal)

Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to like Joe Johnson's THE WOLFMAN, and there are a ton of things wrong with it, but I just can't help but feel all giddy at the DVD package of the theatrical and director's cut and all the menu art and all the extra touches that, whatever its failings, mark this latest reboot of the Talbot Mythos a labor of love.

9. JOHNNY STACATTO (Timeless Media Group)

I offer this in the place of the THRILLER box set that I'm sure all of my fellow Watchdogs will have on their list. When I was a kid, I thought MANNIX was pretty cool but that's only because I hadn't heard of John Cassavetes or seen his early TV show, about the adventures of a jazz-loving shamus. (Early on, the plan was to make the protagonist an actual hepcat but, well, you know The Man.) This 3 disc set (27 episodes - a single season!) will have to hold me until they can find all those episodes of DAN RAVEN.

10. THE GREEN SLIME (Warner Archive Collection)

There are a bunch of titles from this collection that I could nominate for greatness (coughSTRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOORcough) but there's just something about THE GREEN SLIME. Like a lot of grumpy 50-somethings, I learned about this Kinji Fukasaku joint from the cover of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and I actually saw it fairly early in the development of my love of these kinds of things. The movie has lived in my heart for decades and it's great to have it back on my TV.

ASTOUNDING Footnote

As a follow-up to my romantic memoir about a lifetime of encounters with THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER (VW 158:16), reader Mitch O'Connell has filed an interesting footnote. Apparently the girlie mag photo of Madeleine Castle, which was the, um, foundation of Albert Kallis' staggering artwork for this American International release also inspired another artist, who contributed this cover to a forgotten work of lesbian erotica!

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Bill Cooke

VW contributor Bill Cooke now offers a short list of some of his favorites of the past year. He's a film critic and teacher, corporate media screenwriter, video producer and the co-director of the horror film FREAKSHOW (1994). -- TL

By Bill Cooke

THE GREEN SLIME (1969, Warner Archives Collection)
This lunatic clash between astronauts and alien blobs -- a co-production between American and Japanese filmmakers -- is undeniably silly but a whole lot of fun. At last, the longer, English-language version is given a beautiful widescreen transfer by the folks at Warner Home Video, even if it’s only part of their manufacture-on-demand service.

STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940, Warner Archives Collection)
The Warner Archive Collection strikes again with this great little prelude to the film noir movement. John McGuire stars as a witness to a murder case. Is poor little Elisha Cook Jr. really the killer, as McGuire originally thought, or is it the mysterious Peter Lorre—the Stranger on the Third Floor? Includes a bravura, expressionistic nightmare sequence.

COLUMBIA PICTURES FILM NOIR CLASSICS II (1954-1958, Sony)
This second batch of Columbia noirs might not be as essential as the first, but still contains a few gems for aficionados. In spite of the title, Jacques Tourneur’s NIGHTFALL (1957) is mostly set in bright, snowy countryside, and features Brian Keith and Rudy Bond as two of the most sadistic bank robbers a suffering noir hero ever met; PUSHOVER (1954) stars Fred (DOUBLE INDEMNITY) MacMurray in a fascinating echo of his old noir self as he destroys himself once again for money and a dame ( Kim Novak); Fritz Lang’s HUMAN DESIRE (1954) is an American update of La Bête Humaine, and features Glenn Ford as a railroad worker pulled into a mariticide; and CITY OF FEAR (1958) adds Cold War fears and a tense Jerry Goldsmith score to the mix, as hood Vince Edwards unwittingly carries around a stolen and volatile container of radioactive material.

THRILLER (aka BORIS KARLOFF’S THRILLER, 1960-1961)
Finally -- the most important gothic horror television series comes to DVD, complete and with a number of great audio commentaries by an all-star line-up of genre experts.

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: Michael Barrett

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe, not keeping an eye on their little boy, in Lars von Trier's ANTICHRIST.

Next up with his list of favorite discs from this past year is Michael Barrett. Mike is a fairly new contributor to VIDEO WATCHDOG but has already distinguished himself with numerous reviews and, particularly, his well-received and widely-cited article "While We Were Dreaming: Millennial Unreality at the Movies," which appeared in VW 152. He also reviews for PopMatters.

By Michael Barrett

ANTICHRIST (Criterion)

Advice on grief therapy: don't go in the woods. Controversial among art-house types unfamiliar with the last 10 years of torture porn. I haven't seen those either (including PASSION OF THE CHRIST), but assume this fits in. Astoundingly stylish and mesmerizing, like a music video or commercial (that's a compliment).

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (MPI)

Like AVATAR and FANTASTIC MR. FOX, another course in modern terrorism. A giddy, riveting whirl dissecting public and private, state and individual violence.

DOLLHOUSE (20th Century Fox)

When your amnesiac heroine can become anyone, your show can do anything. With the second and final season now on DVD, Joss Whedon's head-spinning marvel is the acme of Millennial Unreality TV.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX (20th Century Fox)

Slightly preferred to PONYO or TOY STORY 3.

FANTOMAS (Kino on Video)

Louis Feuillade's series, with excellent commentary by David Kalat, is my favorite silent release in a year that includes Flicker Alley's similarly wonderful releases of MISS MEND, the original CHICAGO and CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE.

ICONS OF SUSPENSE: HAMMER FILMS (Sony)

Most overall satisfying box of the year compared with 3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG, COLUMBIA PICTURES FILM NOIR CLASSICS II, OSHIMA'S OUTLAW SIXTIES, AMERICA LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY, and ROBERTO ROSSELLINI'S WAR TRILOGY. Find out if I'm wrong.

MOTHER (Magnolia)

Korean Miss Marple gone very dark. Confident, stylish, disorienting, gripping, laced with deadpan humor, and of course about amnesia.

THRILLER: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Image)

My favorite classic TV box of the year, closely beating out SGT. BILKO, THE GOLDBERGS and ELLERY QUEEN.

THE WHITE RIBBON (Sony)

Black-and-white, literary, totally absorbing mystery of life in a pre-war village where sinister goings-on are going on. A strange what's-happening movie that may be compared with DILLINGER IS DEAD or SALTO, so please do.

YOU THE LIVING (Palisades Tartan)

Bleak skits, with jolly music and moments of wonder, about how we make ourselves miserable. Funny, sinister, surreal, compassionate follow-up to SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR.

A note on the rules: This alphabetical list is confined to things I saw for the first time in any form in 2010, or else it would look very different in a year of Kino's THE COMPLETE METROPOLIS and PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, Criterion's THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, RED DESERT, BIGGER THAN LIFE, MODERN TIMES and BLACK NARCISSUS, or Disney's DVD/Blu-Ray combos of FANTASIA and FANTASIA 2000. Along similar lines, I excluded any films about Leonardo Di Caprio dreaming of another Oz remake, although I liked 'em all. There was no way to shoehorn in MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW or Ozu's THE ONLY SON/THERE WAS A FATHER, so their incandescence goes unmentioned. And there you have it--only ten titles!

VW's Favorite DVDs of 2010: David Kalat

We missed last year because our heads (okay, my head) was elsewhere at the time, but I thought it would be an opportunity to reassert Video WatchBlog by asking our most frequent contributors to deck our halls with lists of their Favorite DVDs (or Blu-rays) of 2010. This first list comes from David Kalat, whom you may also know as the impresario behind All Day Entertainment, as the author of books on Godzilla, Dr. Mabuse and J-Horror, and whose exhaustive and entertaining audio commentaries appear on such discs as Kino's FANTOMAS, Masters of Cinema's METROPOLIS and THE COMPLETE FRITZ LANG MABUSE. More lists from other VW contributors will be posted throughout the week ahead, so stay tuned. - TL

By DAVID KALAT

This is ostensibly a Best Discs of 2010 list, but my options for selection are (self) limited.

If, for example, I were to encourage you to get INCEPTION (Warner) on Blu-Ray, I wouldn't really be commenting on it as a disc. I’d just be identifying that as one of the best movies of 2010. Similarly, anything I might say about MAD MEN SEASON THREE (Lionsgate) is not so much a comment on the discs themselves as an exhortation to watch MAD MEN on TV. Since this is intended as a best discs of 2010, I want to avoid the most current of items, so as not to indulge in mission creep.

Another problem: I was involved in the FANTOMAS set and the Masters of Cinema version of the restored METROPOLIS, so there's a conflict of interest. Obviously I would never write something like "Hey, I did the audio commentary on METROPOLIS with Jonathan Rosenbaum--you should go buy that!"

For that matter, these things represent low-hanging fruit. If you need this blog to tell you to get FANTOMAS or METROPOLIS, you probably aren't the kind of person who would read this blog.

I'll break my own self-imposed rules, though, to plug LOST KEATON - SIXTEEN COMEDY SHORTS 1934-1937 (Kino on Video). There's a whiff of conflict of interest to my recommending this, since my name's on the box. In my defense, I have no idea what I am supposed to have contributed. All I remember doing is making some suggestions about bonus features that then weren't followed. Kino has an ongoing Buster Keaton line-up, and I'm definitely in conflict-of-interest territory on some of these releases, but I feel OK saying LOST KEATON rocks. Keaton's talkie-era comedies are routinely slagged off by film historians and some books on Keaton contemptuously ignore these films altogether. Well, I say "phooey!" Don't compare these wonderful shorts to THE GENERAL, compare them to other talkie comedy shorts of the 1930s -- and you'll have to agree they have a integrity and personality unmatched by the competition.

I'll also break my own rules (that's the magic of self-imposed rules--it's easier to ignore them) to give my hearty recommendation to DOCTOR WHO THE COMPLETE FIFTH SERIES (BBC Warner) and SHERLOCK SEASON ONE (BBC Warner), even though I'm really just gobsmacked with love for having seen these on TV and have yet to break the shrink-wrap on the discs themselves. No matter -- these two shows were inarguably the most exciting, thrilling things to appear on any medium this past year.

Call it Steven Moffat worship if you must. The guy has a rare gift for reinventing familiar pop cultural figures in ways that pay deep tribute to their roots, yet feel fresh and new at the same time.

After more than 30 seasons and almost 50 years, DOCTOR WHO (under Moffat) somehow arrived with a deeper resonance and a brain-meltingly demanding plot intricacy never-before-seen. The new title sequence is duff, but the show inside is sparkly and wonderful. SHERLOCK manages to include nods to minutiae of the original novels without alienating newbies or feeling like fanboy service. The opening episode "A Study in Pink" samples the pieces of Doyle's A STUDY IN SCARLET and produces a 21st century dance remix, that echoes the original but is surprising and original at the same time. Take that, Guy Ritchie! Seriously, I saw the Ritchie monstrosity a few months before Moffat's version, and the comparison is ridiculous.

I know there are haters out there who see the Warner Archive as the video equivalent of the End of Days, but if you're upset that Warner felt there was too small an audience to justify a mass market release of, say, BREWSTER MCCLOUD, your gripe isn't with the Warner Archive but with the DVD buying public.

Me, I'm a full-blown convert to the Archive and its nascent cousins at Sony, MGM, Paramount, etc. VIDEO WATCHDOGgers have probably already found their way to obvious treasures like the remastered THE GREEN SLIME, but there's a gem lurking in the Archive back catalog in danger of being overlooked: Anthony Mann's THE TALL TARGET. This is an episode of 24, set in the 1850s, with the lone rogue agent battling a vast government conspiracy to protect the President (Honest Abe). Most Civil War-era movies sidestep racial issues or address them in cursory, insincere ways. This one goes head-on -- and does so in a subplot, handled in the margins of the tautest, tensest action thriller made before the 1970s you ever seen.

Speaking of non-traditional media outlets, if you like slapstick comedy and silent movies, then you should seek out Chris Snowden's Unknown Video. That's the name of a video label that "publishes" on DVD-Rs sold online through a blog. The latest entry, NICKELODIA 3, is a compilation of Really Old silent comedies from years whose first three digits are 191. Among the highlights is the brilliant "Versus Sledgehammers," which has a winning title, and then manages to live up to that title. But the world needs more sets like this... plus it comes with a spiffy Charlie Chaplin magnet!

It used to be that you’d need to rely on a non-traditional outlet to access something like HAUSU (HOUSE) on a DVD-R bootleg or file-shared download. But since we live in a world of infinite possibility, this cult gem has been given a deluxe rollout by the Criterion Collection in the US and Masters of Cinema in the UK. It’s a TEN LITTLE INDIANS-style old dark house thriller with Japanese teenagers killed by ghosts, but you don’t watch this for the plot. It’s a truly unique vision of horror that comes as close as any movie ever has to capturing a nightmare on celluloid. It’s more strange than scary, but no self-respecting fan of psychotronic cinema should go walking around without a knowledge of this loopy masterpiece.

If you have a choice between getting MOON (Sony) on Blu-Ray or DVD, opt for the Blu-Ray. This is meant to be savored on a big screen, so plug that BR disc into a home theater setup and settle in for a treat. It’s a head-trippy Millennial puzzle-box of identity confusion rendered in a 1970s-style DIY ethic of model miniatures and practical effects (and the least amount of CGI needed to hold it all together).

Speaking of tributes to 1970s cinema, BLACK DYNAMITE (Sony) sort of belongs to that same world as Larry Blamire’s Lost Skeleton movies in that it is a genre parody that perfectly captures the aesthetic of the original sources. What makes this extra special is how filmmaker Scott Sanders and star Michael Jai White manage to have their cake and eat it too. They don’t just parody blaxploitation movies, they also deliver the perfect example of a blaxploitation movie on its own crazy terms. Everything you might want from a Dolemite or Fred “Hammer” Williamson movie appears here, along with the jokes. Easily the single most entertaining thing I saw all year.

I know I’m likely to drop this recommendation on deaf ears with this crowd, but if you grow tired of SF and horror and hunger for a classic screwball comedy, the Warner Archive has resurrected Wesley Ruggles’ SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS. Lana Turner is an unhappy girl trying to make her way in the big city who hits on the bad idea of pretending to be an amnesiac—and this leads into her pretending to be the long-lost heir to a wealthy recluse whose daughter was stolen from him when she was just a baby. What makes this work is Turner’s superb performance as a reluctant crook caught up in a deception she doesn’t believe in and wants to end, but can’t—and character actor Walter Brennan giving a career-best performance as the anguished papa. I’m not going to bother complaining that Warner should’ve put this out on mass market instead of DVD-R, because I realize there is so little audience for something like this anymore. I suspect most of you reading this will say, “Eh, I don’t watch romantic comedies,” but you’re only cheating yourself.

Kim Newman already reviewed the Hammer Collection ICONS OF SUSPENSE (Sony) in a recent VW. I have little to add except to say that maybe many of you like me were so hungry for the restored (THESE ARE) THE DAMNED, you jumped on the Region 2 import from the UK long before the ICONS set came along, and maybe you are on the fence about whether the additional movies are worth the additional money to rebuy THE DAMNED. Hell, yes, they are! Maybe not MANIAC (you can comfortably skip that one) but the rest of the collection is absolutely worth duplicating THE DAMNED to get your grubby little fingers on. Excuse me, I’m off to rewatch CASH ON DEMAND. Happy holidays!