If you want a clue as to that mood, the tagline from one its posters lays it out: “He showed all America how to walk tall and they called him a hero for it. Now see what America does to her heroes.” The Buford Pusser of Final Chapter: Walking Tall, played once again by Bo Svenson, is quite different from the hero in previous films.  He is a tragic, haunted figure who is weighed down by the loss of his wife.  His arch-nemesis John Witter (Logan Ramsey) is in self-exile in the North for his own protection but remains obsessed with trying to take down Buford for destroying his criminal empire.  It seems that no one escape the orbit of McNairy County — even former prostitute/informant Luan (Margaret Blye) returns to town after a failed bid at life in the city.

However, the biggest foes that Buford have to deal with are the passage of time and a shift in values.  This is represented by Martin French (Taylor Lacher), a crusading defense attorney who clashes with Buford over his old-fashioned approach to justice and works to get him removed from office.  French succeeds when Buford loses his next election and ends up being stripped of his sheriff’s badge.  Buford’s fall from grace is interrupted when Hollywood comes knocking to make a film about his life — but there’s still the matter of John Witter to be dealt with…

The end result is a fascinatingly odd combination of the action/revenge fare that Walking Tall fans are accustomed to and a character study with an almost gothic tinge of the tragic to it.  The script, penned by Walking Tall Part II author Howard Krietsek with Samuel Peeples, works in the expected car chase, fistfight and shoot-out elements but its real interest is exploring the final arc of the Buford Pusser story.   What they come up with is not unlike the “death of the Old West” films that were so popular in the 1970’s, portraying a character whose vintage values and approach to life fall out of fashion before he makes a final bid to reclaim his legend status.  It’s also worth noting that the third act goes into “meta” territory before anybody knew what that meant — and it actually uses the concept to emotional instead of ironic effect.

This is heavy stuff for a film aimed at the drive-in/exploitation market but Final Chapter: Walking Tall manages to beat the odds.  Part of this comes from the fact that the acting here is way better than you might expect.  Svenson gives the best of his multiple performances in the Pusser role, responding to the script’s demanding treatment of the character with a committed, Method-style performance.  The scenes where he talks aloud to his wife at her graveside are particularly impressive, bringing a vulnerability to the character that you wouldn’t imagine in this kind of film.

The supporting cast gives Svenson excellent backup.  Forrest Tucker replaces Noah Beery in the role of Carl, Buford’s father, and brings an effortless folksy charm to his work while Sandy McPeak brings a solid yet subtle presence to his work as Buford’s concerned lawyer pal, Lloyd.  Lacher makes a worthy philosophical adversary as the ambitious lawyer and Blye is touching in a few scenes as the ex-lady of the night with feelings for her old friend.  Even the small roles boast memorable performances: Clay Tanner steals a few scenes as a gleefully nasty convict and Morgan Woodward is menacing in a soft-spoken way as Witter’s boss.

That said, the best of the non-Svenson performances here comes from Ramsey in the role of John Witter.  Though he never interacts directly with Svenson, he makes his presence felt throughout the film via his handful of scenes.  His work is scary and darkly humorous all at once as he paints a vivid portrait of a man going mad from his desire for vengeance.

The final and most important piece of the puzzle is strong work from director Jack Starrett.  He was a veteran of the drive-in film scene by the time he made this film and brings the steady craftsmanship of a studio system-era director to his work here.  As noted above, he gets the cast to go the extra mile in a way that Walking Tall Part II did not.  Better yet, his direction of action — always a Starrett specialty — is fantastic here.  The highlight of the action category is a beautifully executed siege-on-a-roadhouse sequence with some bravura brawling and a fiery finale.

In short, Final Chapter: Walking Tall is an unusually gutsy closing chapter for this popular series.  Svenson gives his definitive performance in the Buford Pusser role, the script takes a variety of interesting chances and Starrett’s direction makes it all work.  It’s a film deserving of rediscovery by exploitation flick enthusiasts and a bookend to the series that is well worth the time for anyone who loved the first film.

The classic cop series from the 70s is back for its 2nd exciting season!

The Rookies – The Complete Second Season

Available on DVD August 7^th from Shout! Factory

From renowned producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg comes the second season of the classic cop drama The Rookies. On DVD for the first time, The Rookies-The Complete Second Season features all 23 original episodes from the 1973–1974 season, as well as the original series pilot as a special bonus   A must-have for fans of police dramas and DVD collectors , the six-disc DVD set will be available nationwide from Shout! Factory August 7th, 2012 with a suggested retail price of $44.99.

Covering intense cases involving a cop killer, a serial rapist, a rogue officer and an escaped convict in addition to the off-duty drama that comes with being a cop, the second season continues to explore both sides of the badge worn by a group of young officers from the Southern California Police Department (SCPD).  Joining the Rookies in season two are a number of notable guest stars including John Travolta, Sissy Spacek, Don Johnson and Nick Notle.

Starring Gerald S. O’Loughlin (In Cold Blood), Georg Stanford Brown (Roots), Sam Melville (Big Wednesday), Michael Ontkean (Twin Peaks ) and Kate Jackson (Charlie’s Angels), The Rookies is an intensely human series is sensitive, sometimes humorous and always filled with action, suspense and excitement.

Walking Tall Part II picks up exactly where the first film left off  - with Buford in the hospital and his wife’s killers still walking free. When Buford get his bandages removed, he is now played by Bo Svenson, who actually bears a pretty strong resemblance to the real Buford Pusser.  He returns to work, ignoring the pleas of deputies Grady (Bruce Glover) and Obra (Robert DoQui) for him to track down the killers as he tries to return to some semblance of normality.

However, the remnants of the old State Line Mob don’t want to let sleeping dogs lie.  Southern crime underboss John Witter (Logan Ramsey) wants to get rid of Buford and sets out to take him down with the help of hired thug Pinky Dobson (Luke Askew) and seductress Marganne Stilson (Angel Tompkins).  Buford soon becomes aware that he’s still a marked man but he tries to play it cool.  However, tragedy forces his hand and the finale finds him going all-out against Witter and his cronies.

That’s a rather formulaic-sounding synopsis and that’s the main problem with Walking Tall Part II — it’s as predictable as it sounds.  Howard Kreitsek’s script pulls its punches and avoids the visceral touch of the first film to make this a more all audiences-friendly outing.  Pusser is portrayed as a more mellow and methodical character, requiring the plot to move in low-gear until the finale and previously important characters like Grady and Obra are simplified into little more than a cheering section for the hero.

The sanitized nature is also felt in the direction of Earl Bellamy.  Car stunts and chases replace the shootings and brutal beatings that defined Walking Tall’s action.  The end result feels like a t.v. movie, which isn’t that surprising as Bellamy was primarily known for directing episodic t.v.  His craftsmanship here is solid but impersonal, lacking the distinctive touch that Phil Karlson brought to the original film.

However, Walking Tall Part II is fun to watch despite its toned-down nature, at least if you’re into southern-set crime movies.  Its first ace in the hole is Svenson, who  is quite good as Buford. He actually reinterprets the role: unlike Joe Don Baker’s more operatic turn in this role, Svenson plays things close to the vest, talking softly and smiling slyly until it’s time for action or a dramatic reaction.  When that time comes, he can deliver the fireworks but does so in a carefully controlled burst.  His measured take on the role fits the storyline well and keeps it compelling even when the plotting lags.

It also helps that Svenson is backed by a stellar cast of character actors, a trait that is a recurring strength in all the Walking Tall films.  Ramsey, who only had a cameo in the first film, gets to ham it up in style here as a decadent crime boss and he has many slyly amusing lines as he obsesses over getting Buford.  Askew makes a reliably good side-villain and Tompkins gives an amusingly overripe interpretation of a southern belle.  However, the big scene stealer among the villains is Jaeckel as Stud Pardee: his reactions in a scene where Buford takes his club to Pardee’s prize automobile are priceless.  Elsewhere, Glover and DoQui don’t get much to do but it’s always good to see them.

Finally, it’s worth noting that the third act delivers the goods in down-home style, combining boat chases, car chases and a few shootouts.  Bellamy directs the action beats well, particularly an eye-popping stunt during the boat chase.  In fact, the best part of his direction overall is his handling of the action beats that dot the film’s running time.  Screenwriter Kreitsek and the director wisely insert these bits about once every reel to keep the film’s engine revving.

In short, Walking Tall Part II suffers in comparison to the films that precede and follow it.  Perhaps it is a case of middle-movie fatigue.  That said, Svenson’s fresh interpretation of Buford Pusser keeps it on its feet, not to mention the veteran backing cast, and the last few reels end it on a good action-packed note.  If you’re a fan of the first film, it’s worth a look — and it’s also something you need to see to setup Final Chapter: Walking Tall, the stronger and more compelling of the Walking Tall sequels.

DISCO RECHARGE. VOYAGE — ‘Voyage’

Cat no: DRCCDX002

Release date: June 25th

HARMLESS

From the same team as the phenomenally successful Disco Discharge series, we re proud to introduce Disco Recharge a brand new series which will highlight individual artists and producers and provide further depth to the world of serious Disco music.

Where possible, the albums will be special editions: packed with bonus tracks, mixes and rarities. Each album will be lovingly compiled and researched by Mr Pinks with sleeve notes by Alan Jones co-author of the best selling book Saturday Night Forever. As per usual, the Disco Recharge packages will be beautifully designed and will fit right alongside the existing 16 Disco Discharge packages.

First out of the block is a 2CD special edition of the 1977 French Disco classic Voyage by Voyage. This album was a worldwide smash on its initial release and features the global Euro Disco mega hits From East To West and Lady America. This special edition includes the original segued album as well as the incredibly rare first volume of the Special Instrumental album which includes much in-demand instrumental versions of tracks from Voyage as well as the follow up album Fly Away.

An absolute godsend to today s generations of DJ s, Remixers and Re-Editors. In addition Disc 2 of this special edition is packed with alternative mixes, edits and other rarities including the pre Voyage rare grooves West Coast Drive and Please Love Me Again by V.I.P. Connection massively collectible in their own right. All Tracks transferred from the original tapes. The majority of the bonus cuts have never been released on CD before making this Disco Recharge special edition the ultimate version of this landmark album.

This is the first volume in the Disco Recharge: Voyage re-issue programme. Watch out for 2CD special editions of Fly AWay , One Step Higher and a 3CD deluxe version of Voyage 3 which will all be released this year.

TRACKLISTING

Disc 1

Original album

1) From East To West 7.06

2) Point Zero 4.36

3) Orient Express 5.32

4) Scotch Machine 3.26

5) Bayou Village 1.48

6) Latin Odyssey 4.46

7) Lady America 6.54

Special Instrumental

8 ) Souvenirs (Instrumental) 6.15

9) Tahiti, Tahiti (Instrumental) 5.01

10) Eastern Trip (Instrumental) 1.58

11) Kechak Fantasy (instrumental 2.57

12) From East To West (Instrumental) 2.44

13) Scotch Machine (Instrumental) 3.20

14) Bayou Village (Instrumental) 1.48

15) Latin Odyssey (Instrumental) 3.57

16) Orient Express (Instrumental) 2.57

Disc 2

1) From East To West (Original 12 Mix) 5.53

2) From East To West (Special Extended version) 7.06

3) From East To West (Original 7 Mix) 4.03

4) From East To West ( 7 Edit) 3.26

5) From East To West (US Club Mix) 7.39

6) From East To West (Full Guitar Mix) 6.40

7) From East To West (Extended Instrumental Version) 6.40

8 ) Lady America (Original 12 Mix) 6.47

9) Lady America (Original 7 Mix) 4.05

10) Scotch Machine (Original 7 Mix) 3.22

11) Point Zero (Original 7 Mix) 4.37

V.I.P. Connection

12) Please Love Me Again (Original 12 Mix) 6.23

13) Please Love Me Again (Original 7 Mix) 2.52

14) West Coast Drive (Original 12 Mix) 4.44

15) West Coast Drive (Original 7 Mix) 2.56

The root of Walking Tall’s everyman appeal is that it was inspired by a real-life story. The plot is loosely based on the triumphs and tragedies of Buford Pusser, a small-town Tennessee sheriff who fought off oppressive odds to bring back law and order to his hometown.   In the film version of his story, Pusser (Baker) is an ex-wrestler who returns home with his wife (Elizabeth Hartman) and children to lead a quiet life far from the rat race and corruption of the big cities.  Unfortunately for Buford, big city corruption has seeped into his small town in the form of a criminal gang that runs gambling and prostitution, with the sheriff turning a blind eye.

Buford tries to confront the crooks when he catches them cheating a friend and he gets a savage beating for his trouble.  When the sheriff ignores it, he fashions a massive wooden club from his father’s lumber yard and beats his own version of justice into the thugs.  Pretty soon, friends talk him into running for sheriff and when he wins, he vows to clean up the county for once for all.  However, Buford has a lot to learn about how the law works as well as the sneaky methods of his opponents — and he will pay a heavy cost to take his enemies down.

The end result is a clever crossbreed of classic Hollywood storytelling values with of-the-moment social concerns: you could argue that Walking Tall is an updated Western, one rebuilt to incorporate a distinctly 1970’s theme of “one man vs. the system.” Both elements have a strong populist pull with moviegoers and writer/producer Mort Briskin makes the most of them in his script.  Briskin was a t.v. veteran and he brings a confident sense of structure and pacing to the story, carefully building the characterization of Buford and his philosophy before bringing in the revenge scenarios and action setpieces.  Thus, when the action kicks in, it has a resonance that goes beyond pushing the plot forward.

And that action comes through with tremendous raw power thanks to skilled direction from another Hollywood veteran, Phil Karlson.  He was a journeyman director with a special skill for gritty crime dramas like The Phenix City Story that presented the fight for law and order in visceral terms.  He brings that style into the early 1970’s here, lending a muscular, no-nonsense touch to the fights and shootouts.  Whether he’s depicting Buford clubbing his way through a roadhouse full of thugs or staging a bloody shotgun ambush in the middle of a car chase, Karlson brings a physical immediacy to the action that communicates its costs in bare-knuckled style.  You don’t just watch the brawls and the shootings in this film, you feel them.

However, there is more to Karlson’s direction than just raw force.  Aided by Jack Marta’s cinematography, he brings a stylish yet spartan look to the film’s rural Tennessee locations that fits its neo-Western style.  More importantly, he gets appropriately gritty performances from his cast.  Baker is obviously the lynch-pin here and he mixes down-home charm with a surprisingly deep reservoir of emotion that the film frequently draws upon.  Buford does more than kick ass — the film requires him espouse his anti-“the system” philosophy with great passion and also react to intensely tragic events.  Baker throws himself into the performance with operatic fervor and the white-hot intensity of his work acts as the film’s engine.

That said, Baker isn’t working alone here. Indeed, a big part of the joy in watching this film is the excellent cast of character actors.  For starters, Elizabeth Hartman is excellent as Buford’s wife, Pauline, bringing a vulnerability to her role that acts as a nice contrast to Baker’s bluster.  There is also strong support from Bruce Glover as Grady, who obviously enjoys getting to take a break from playing bad guys to portray a genuine character arc as a formerly corrupt deputy who becomes Buford’s right-hand man.  Felton Perry delivers along similar lines as Obra, Buford’s friend who has to put his equal-rights rhetoric to the test by joining the side of the law.  Elsewhere, there are villains a-plenty that add color: Rosemary Murphy earns top honors with her darkly humorous turn as grizzled female crime boss Callie Hacker but she gets quality back-up from familiar faces like Kenneth Tobey and Richard X. Slattery.

In short, Walking Tall is a controversial hit that retains its gritty, gut-punch effectiveness nearly four decades after the fact.  Critics have written this film off over the years for having a simplistic moral view and being crudely manipulative towards its audience — but no one can deny the visceral power of its attack.  The filmmakers and put in the strong work necessary to earn the powerful reactions the film gets.  If you like your crime cinema tough and uncompromising, Walking Tall drives that agenda home with bone-crunching verve.

The Cabin In The Woods throws its first curveball at the audience with its setup: instead of starting with the obligatory horror flick setup the title suggests, it starts with a brief scene of Hadley (Bradley Whitford) and Sitterson (Richard Jenkins), going to work in some sort of high-tech, massive corporate lab.  Then the film cuts away to Plotline B: this is the horror stuff, with a gaggle of college kids heading off to the title location.  There’s a nice girl/final girl (Kristin Connolly), a sexy girl (Anna Hutchison), a nice guy(Jesse Williams), a jock (Chris Hemsworth) and a wiseass stoner (Fran Kranz).

The people in Plotline B run into the expected horror movie scenarios — a creepy gas station owner who warns them away, suspicious items tucked away in the cabin’s basement — as the people in Plotline A are revealed to be manipulating the events in Plotline B with their arsenal of high-tech equipment.  The synopsis will end here to preserve the film’s real surprises but let’s just say “meta” is the order of the day with this film, from start to finish.

So what exactly is this tricky little genre exercise up to?  Perhaps it easiest to  start by figuring out what The Cabin In The Woods is not:

1) despite the jump scares and horror iconography, it’s not a horror movie: this film is really a genre satire that uses the narrative language of horror movies to make its points.  It also happens to be a satire concocted by people who allow any love for the horror film to be overpowered by their contempt for its current state.

2) it doesn’t reinvent horror: comedic deconstruction of the horror genre has been around since Abbott And Costello Meets Frankenstein.  In fairness to the filmmakers, they’re drawing on a bigger canvas and their satirical take has more moving parts to it but that just makes it a more conceptually grand addition to an already existing tradition.

3) it’s not a game-changer: if the next wave of horror movies is going to be a series of self-consciously clever deconstructions of the genre, don’t expect the genre to live much longer than this film’s theatrical run.

The Cabin In The Woods is a film of two distinct parts and each part has its own issues.  The first part of the film allows Plotline A to constantly comment on and deconstruct the more conventional Plotline B.  If you appreciate meta-tricky storytelling, this is swell but if you like getting lost in the storyline of a film, forget about that happening here.  You will be constantly reminded that you’re watching a movie — and it’s all done in a way that calls attention to its creators’ cleverness and technique rather than getting the audience engrossed in the work itself.

This part of the film is like watching a skilled magician create a skillfully rendered illusion then stop to say “Like that trick?  Let me show you how it’s done.  Kinda silly, huh?  Can’t believe people fall for this stuff.  Oh, well… on to the next trick.” It’s also weighed down by a certain lack of humility about its own creative genius: it is difficult to get into the work the filmmakers are doing when they’re elbowing you in the ribs every two minutes to remind you how clever they are — and how silly they consider the task at hand.

The second part of the movie, essentially its third act,  changes up the game and takes some interesting chances.  However, this brings in a new and different set of problems.  Without getting into too many spoilers, let’s just say The Cabin In The Woods becomes a noisy, colorful blur that flirts with Big Ideas About The Horror Genre rather than exploring them.

In fact, the final reel is vague enough that it has been interpreted in a number of ways but this is how it seems to Your Humble Reviewer: as the final revelations tumble out in a twisty-turny way, they basically suggests that the genre is a joyless, dying machine designed to appease an essentially brainless audience who values bloodshed over surprises.  Some viewers might feel conspiratorial joy at this notion but it felt like a slap in the face to Your Humble Reviewer.

This is all unfortunate because The Cabin In The Woods is obviously the work of talented people.  Whedon and Goddard know how to tell a story that moves and Goddard gives it a slick look and gets strong performances from a game cast.  It’s a shame they allow their “wink wink, nudge nudge” satirical antics to override every other storytelling concern.  As a result, it comes off more as a feat of self-impressed geek showmanship rather than the wake-up call for the genre that it seems to think it is.

The end result teaches an important lesson: if you think a genre is dying, making a smarmy meta-parody of it is not the solution.  Create the fabled “new concept” that you yearn for and blow the fanbase’s mind with the dazzling depths of your creativity.  Wagging your finger at the audience for taking what they’re given is just a dodge.  The creators must lead the way — and The Cabin In The Woods is ultimately a frustrating experience because it has enough craft and smarts to suggest that its creators might be capable of pulling off such a genre reinvention but they aren’t willing to try.  After all, it’s much easier to adopt a smartass tone and pander to the fanboy crowd.

And that brings us to the Schoolgirl Report films.  This long-running German sexploitation series was the brainchild of producer Wolf Hartwig, who took a real non-fiction sex study and spun it into a string of profitable sexploitation anthology films that worked their way through one youth-oriented fantasy after.  Hartwig managed to get over a dozen films out of this formula, not to mention spin-off series, throughout the 1970’s.  His success also led to countless knockoffs.

Schoolgirl Report Vol. 8 comes from 1974, right around the middle of the series’ run.  The storyline is loose but moves with drive and purpose as it goes through its bump-and-grind paces.  The framing device for the film is provided by a girls’ school taking a trip to a boarding house in the country.  Along the way, the girls — all of whom seem to be experienced seductresses despite their tender ages — swap stories of sexual adventures that cover the gamut from soap opera to slapstick hijinks.

Comic highlights include the story of a girl who seduces a gardener who wants to remain chaste, and another young lady who talks about how she and her cousin were stalked by a horny fisherman while skinny-dipping before a pair of naturist-minded young men come to their rescue.  The latter bit includes some wacky chases with pratfalls and music right out of a Benny Hill episode.

The “serious” side of the film produces some bits that are almost as funny.  One young coed finds true love with a young soldier who gets her pregnant and another girl allows herself to be seduced by her father’s boss to save their family’s livelihood, thus kicking off a May-December romance in the swinging ‘70s tradition.  Even though these are more dramatically inclined than the comedic subplots, they have the same amount of nudity and softcore sex.  The May-December romance subplot even works in a cleverly filmed coupling atop a pool table that makes eye-catching use of 360-degree camera pans.

If those storylines didn’t offer enough carnal fun, the wraparound storyline also includes a nypmhet trying to seduce a new male teacher and a group-shower scene.  Despite the jailbait angle of the storyline, the proceedings never feel creepy as the film’s plot exists in a fantasy land where every teenage girl is a jaded carnal predator (even the nice girls bare all on the first date) and all the supposed teenage girls are all clearly actresses in their 20’s.

The fun, light tone of the proceedings is aided by slick direction from series regular Ernst Hofbauer, a journeyman director who places his focus on color, snappy editing and mobile camerawork to give the film an energetic tone.  The lounge-pop score by Gert Wilden also plays an important role in the old-school fun of the proceedings.  The resulting film captures the joy of the sexual revolution era — and more specifically, the joy that exploitation producers had cashing in on the relaxed social mores of the era.

In short, Schoolgirl Report Vol. 8 is a solid pick for any schlock scholar who enjoys the lighthearted side of 1970’s softcore filmmaking.  If you fit that description, this Bavarian romp will put a little oompah in your step.

(DVD Notes: this title was recently released by Impulse Pictures in a nice-looking DVD edition that offers a remastered, anamorphic presentation of the uncut German version of this film.  It retains the German language audio track and is presented with optional English subtitles.  Aside from a bit of grain on the titles due to their opticals-heavy nature, the majority of the film looks crisp and retains its distinctive ‘70s color palette.  There are no extras but fans of softcore filmmaking will be glad to get a nice-looking uncut version of this film.)

Impulse Pictures is proud to announce the next releases in their acclaimed series, The Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection.  A collection of classic Asian “eroductions” designed to shock and titillate fans of extreme erotic cinema.

EROS SCHOOL: FEELS SO GOOD

Impulse Pictures presents EROS SCHOOL: FEELS SO GOOD, possibly one of the most controversial and offensive Nikkatsu films ever made. Ryu (Murakuni Shôhei), a sinister transfer student with a dark past, sexually assaults his way through his nubile female classmates to his ultimate conquest, the leggy athletic champ and class president Misa (Asami Ogawa). Tadao, a fellow classmate, is also in love with Misa and wants to take her virginity for himself. The big Eros High School track meet is happening soon. Will these two boys ruin her chance of winning? What strange secret is Misa hiding from everyone? Why is Ryu prancing around in a banana hammock with a pet pig?

Perhaps the biggest question is, how can something so wrong feel so good? EROS SCHOOL: FEELS SO GOOD goes further than most in trumping itself in outrageousness. By the film’s end, your jaw will be on the floor and your eyes will be popping out of your head at what you’ve just watched on your television screen. You’ll discover, at Eros High School, no one is safe from the obscenity… not even the pig.

Special Features:

- Liner notes from Japanese film scholar, Jasper Sharp

Director: Kurahara Koretsugu

Starring: Murakuni Shohei, Asami Ogawa

Run Time: 67 minutes

Release Date: June 12, 2012

Language: Japanese

Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1

Format: DVD

Region: Region 1

Price: $19.95

ZOOM UP: THE BEAVER BOOK GIRL

Impulse Pictures is proud to present the controversial Nikkatsu classic, ZOOM UP: THE BEAVER BOOK GIRL, a sexually perverse mystery set within the adult magazine industry. A woman is brutally assaulted in an abandoned factory, and her assailant escapes into the darkness after dropping a wad of money. A few years later, a photographer specializing in schoolgirl panty shots meets his match when a mysterious femme fatale volunteers to be his new model. This woman used to be the “queen” of the skin magazines, but she is also hiding a terrible secret and may be a wanted fugitive. Will the photographer escape her sexual grasp?

ZOOM UP: THE BEAVER BOOK GIRL is a film spawned from the dark manga stories of Takashi Ishii, featuring women troubled by the psychological effects of sexual violence. Barely staying within the boundaries of Japanese censorship laws, this film will shock and surprise you.

Special Features:

- Original Theatrical Trailer

- Liner notes from Japanese film scholar, Jasper Sharp

Director: Takashi Kanno

Starring: Junko Mabuki, Hayano Kumiko, Yoshiko Saski

Run Time: 64 minutes

Release Date: June 12, 2012

Language: Japanese

Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1

Format: DVD

Region: Region 1

Price: $19.95

The Raid: Redemption is the latest example of this kind of bone-crunching thrill machine from the East.  Like any action-intensive film, the plot is built around a few simple hooks that you can hang endless fight scenes off of: in this case, the story revolves around a top-secret raid by a Indonesian special forces squad into a multi-storied tenement building that houses a crimelord (Ray Sahetapy).  Our hero is Rama (Iko Uwais), a stand-up guy who has to put aside concerns about his pregnant wife to tend to the job at hand.

Unfortunately for Rama and his colleagues, they have walked into a hornets’ nest.  Not only does the crime lord use this building as a base of operations, he has also bought up most of its apartments as housing for his criminal squad.  Once the special forces men infiltrate the building, the boss quickly becomes aware of their presence via his lookouts and security cams — and he offers a huge reward to his men to take down the cops.  Rama and his rapidly dwindling fellow cops must fight for their lives — and the torrent of bloodshed that follows forces a few secrets on both sides of the conflict out into the open.

In short, The Raid: Redemption is built on a lot of archetypal elements, right down to the surprise character reveals in the 2nd and 3rd acts.  Some mainstream film critics have used this as a reason to shrug off the film as more of the same but this merely shows how such critics don’t understand how to read genre fare. The Raid: Redemption works because it achieves a carefully balanced blend of action, fluid visual storytelling and simple building blocks of plot that hold it all together.

In fact, The Raid: Redemption plays like gangbusters because everyone involved makes a serious investment in their work.  Director/co-writer/co-choreographer Gareth Evans leads the way, affecting a style that mixes John Woo with early Walter Hill: the color-desaturated cinematography and punchy editing seem to embrace the action with romantic fervor, drawing the viewer directly into the middle of the brutal life-and-death stakes the fight scenes and shootouts present.

The film pulls off this sense of immediacy by making the viewer acutely aware of the pain that comes with its intense action. One of the most unforgettable moments in The Raid: Redemption arrives when a seriously wounded cop drags himself across a floor littered with broken bodies, stifling a scream of pain with gritted teeth until one of the injured men tries to attack him.  At that point, he stabs his attacker frantically as he lets out an animalistic howl that is equal parts pain and rage.  That’s the kind of operatic tension and release this film is built upon and it really sells the physical side of the danger the characters face.  It creates a tangible feeling in the audience that makes them gasp and yell during the fights — and it works every time in The Raid: Redemption.

There’s also a subtler, oft overlooked element of The Raid: Redemption that works in lockstep with the obvious power of the action: the earnest performances of the cast.  Not only do they physically commit to their work by performing the bone-crunching fights but they go about their dramatic duties with an irony-free earnestness that helps make the archetypal plot work.  Uwais anchors the film as the stalwart hero but there are also fun turns from Joe Taslim as a brave commander and Doni Alamsyah as the crime lord’s mysterious, smart assistant.

There’s also some colorful evil in the form of Sahetapy as the boss, who seems eerily comfortable with being so nasty, and Yayan Ruhian as the boss indefatigable enforcer.  If there was an Oscar for the most epic and frightening display of martial arts brawling in a film, Ruhian would win it, hands-down.  He’s like the Energizer Bunny of ass-kicking in this movie and watching him go through his brutal paces is exhausting in a delightful way.

Simply put, The Raid: Redemption is what you want to see when you check out an Asian action flick: a veritable buffet of acrobatic fights and stunts supported by a decent plotline and delivered with precision, focus and a refreshing sincerity.

Some great trailer comps were produced in the VHS era — Mad Ron’s Prevues From Hell might be the best — but it was the DVD era when trailer compilations really began to get their due from the marketplace.  The 42nd Street Forever series in particular really brought the concept to a new plateau, starting with an independent set assembled by Ban 1 Productions in 2004 and later moving to the Synapse label in 2007.  Synapse has produced a half-dozen of these discs, refining the formula as they developed the line into the standard-bearer for trailer compilations — including the addition of trailer-by-trailer commentary on Volume 3 (perhaps the best of the DVD series).

Synapse has broken new ground for the series once again by bringing it to the high definition format with 42nd Street Forever: Blu-Ray Edition.  The idea behind this collection was to collect the best material from volumes one and two, which were done before the advent of the trailer commentaries, and add in some new material to sweeten the deal.  The end result packs in a whopping three hours and forty six minutes worth of vintage trailers — 89 spots in all — covering all the different flavors of the exploitation spectrum.

Trailers come in themed batches — blaxploitation flicks, rape-revenge films, mondo movies, etc. — and cover everything from easily accessible kiddie fare like Super Fuzz to stomach-churning squirmfests like Shocking Asia.  Thankfully, the themed nature of the trailer arrangement makes it easy for the viewer to skip past material they’ll find unappealing.

The programming offers a nice, even mix of stuff that classic status with trailer aficionados along with some intriguing obscurities.  Classic stuff here includes Ms. 45, Shogun Assassin, Dr. Butcher M.D., The Green Slime, Rolling Thunder, They Call Her One Eye and several more.  In the obscurity category, some of the most choice inclusions are forgotten teen comedy Van Nuys Blvd., skin-crawling roughie sleazefest Invitation To Ruin, Italian sci-fi/action hybrid Raiders Of Atlantis and the trailer for Italian Stallion, the retitled version of Sylvester Stallone’s pre–Rocky softcore quickie.

The new material also turns up some gems for devoted fans of this series.  For instance, there’s a great trailer for Eye Of The Cat, a thriller with a unique feline hook from the screenwriter of Psycho, and a fun spot for John Carpenter’s first film, Dark Star (which stars and was co-written by future Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannon). Also, keep an eye peeled for Taboos Of The World, a mondo movie with narration from Vincent Price(!), rape-revenge shocker Act Of Vengeance and a nice, sleazy trailer for the all-star women in prison epic Chained Heat.

Visual quality is excellent, particularly when you consider the rough-and-ready look common to trailer collections.  There’s plenty of grain and scratches that reflect the vintage, no-negatives-available nature of this material, as well as the occasional faded spot, but the color and detail levels are surprisingly good here.  Certain spots like Ms. 45, Star Crash and Matango really pop off the screen.  Audio is 2.0 mono on these spots and they all sound nice given the nature of the source material.  Besides, there’s a certain subversive pleasure in seeing exploitation trailers get upgraded to high definition.

There’s only one extra here but it’s a doozy: a commentary track for the entire program of trailers by Edwin Samuelson, Chris Poggiali and Michael Gingold.  This is the same team that provided the commentary for volumes 3 and 4 of the DVD series and they make an excellent team.  Each member of the team fills a vital role: Samuelson acts as M.C. of the track and keeps it rolling, Poggiali is the go-to man for facts on distribution and career history of filmmakers/actors and Gingold brings his decades of experience as a critic/journalist with Fangoria to flesh out the info, as well as goosing the track with the occasional lowbrow joke.

They trade comments back and forth with ease, ensuring there are only a few brief spots of dead air during the nearly four-hour running time, and all three do the occasional solo commentary bit on particular films, showing an impressive depth of research.  The result delivers plenty of eye-opening facts even if you’re already a scholar about this stuff but it’s all delivered in a light, easy-going manner that makes it a fun listen.

Simply put, 42nd Street Forever: Blu-Ray Edition brings the series into the high-def realm in style, offering both a bump in visual quality and an array of valuable historical info via its commentary track.  Even if you own Vols. 1 and 2 of the DVD series, this update is worth the purchase for that commentary track alone — and the joy of watching cheap thrills in high definition is a gift that will keep on giving for the schlock connoisseur.