One of Charles Bronson’s numerous forays with Cannon Group producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, 10 TO MIDNIGHT (102 mins., 1983, R; Kino Lorber) ranks as one of their better collaborations, and comes to 4K UHD this month with Dolby Vision HDR courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Here, Bronson plays yet another tough cop gunning after a serial killer (Gene Davis) who likes to kill in the nude. Eventually, Bronson takes Davis’ psycho down – only to have his unconventional (read: illegal) methods lead to his release, and Davis’ eventual stalking of Bronson’s nurse daughter (the lovely, underrated Lisa Eilbacher). Andrew Stevens co-stars as Bronson’s by-the-book young partner in a film that reunites Bronson with veteran director J. Lee Thompson. It’s an at-times seedy yet (given the material) mostly restrained outing for Thompson, who fuses “Death Wish”-like action with slasher-genre elements in an entertaining hybrid Bronson fans consider to be one of his best from the ‘80s.
Twilight Time previously brought “10 To Midnight” to the format before a Shout release in 2019 that debuted a 4K master. Now that 4K scan has been brought to UHD for the first time from Kino Lorber sporting Dolby Vision HDR (1.85) and the results are satisfying, with more details inherent in the image and solid encoding throughout. The original mono sound is included plus a 5.1 DTS MA track that seems like it’s merely upmixing the original source.
Extras are carried over from past releases, starting with a terrific commentary from Bronson authority Paul Talbott and extending down to interviews with supporting cast members Andrew Stevens, Robert F. Lyons and Jeana Tomasina, plus producer Lance Hool. The disc also reprises the Twilight Time commentary featuring producer Pancho Kohner, casting director John Crowther and historian David Del Valle, while adding the trailer and radio spots.
Must-see viewing for Bronson and Cannon fans, this unusual (for the star) outing is irresistibly entertaining, much like his next outing – the near-classic trash sequel “Death Wish 3,” which Kino Lorber debuted on 4K UHD earlier this year.
More Bronson in 4K can be found this month from Kino Lorber with their premiere UHD release of RIDER ON THE RAIN (114/120 mins., 1970, PG-13/Unrated).
A dreamy sort of character drama/thriller from French director Rene Clement, this is a moody and highly compelling picture starring Marlene Jobert as a young wife attacked by a mysterious man who gets off a bus. After ultimately killing him in self-defense and disposing of the body, Jobert becomes part of an investigation with Charles Bronson the American detective in charge of finding out what truly happened – the duo even generating chemistry despite Jobert’s seemingly forever-occupied husband off on business trips whenever something interesting happens to her.
“Rider in the Rain” reminded me a little of “The Road to Salina” and other offbeat French productions of the era – even though the script is mostly chronological and straightforward, Clement’s direction is a bit more ethereal in its approach. The result successfully transports the viewer back to time and place, and into Jobert’s POV as she tries to do the right thing but finds herself in increasingly hot water. Jobert gives a fine performance with Bronson in one of the most “sensitive” performances and films he would make in the 1970s for that matter; it’s a curiously involving film that plays well on repeat viewing as well.
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD (1.66) includes both the French and U.S. cuts of the movie in SDR 4K transfers from Studio Canal. Both have good color saturation and a high level of detail, with the French cut playing just a bit more leisurely by comparison. Extras include the trailer and commentaries by Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson on the U.S. version and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson on the French (subtitled) longer edit.
HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (111 mins., 1987, PG; Kino Lorber): The annals of ‘80s “Steven Spielberg Presents” movies yield as many box-office disappointments as they do hits. Falling into this category was a movie Spielberg and Universal were hoping would hit some of the same notes as “E.T.” – “Harry and the Hendersons,” which substituted our beloved extraterrestrial from the former with a living sasquatch whom the Seattle suburb-dwelling Henderson family inadvertently injures and brings back to domestic civilization, where he turns out to be a lovable sort that quickly causes shenanigans of the domestic kind.
This early Summer ‘87 release, obviously, didn’t become “E.T.,” but it wasn’t as if Spielberg and company didn’t try. Production personnel included make-up artist extraordinaire Rick Baker, assorted vets from Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” NBC series including producer Richard Vane and production designer Jim Bissell, and even “E.T.” cinematographer Allen Daviau himself, all in support of writer-director William Dear, who revised what was originally configured as a sitcom concept by William Martin and Ezra Rappaport.
John Lithgow leads a terrific cast here in one of his first leading/comedic roles as the head of the Henderson clan, which also offers a wasted Melinda Dillon (reuniting with Spielberg for the first time after “Close Encounters”), while Don Ameche, coming off his “Cocoon” Oscar win (his credit encased with a box around his name) essays a lifelong Bigfoot investigator and David Suchet serves up the villiany (and a heavy French-Canadian accent) as a hunter who wants “Harry” (as the Hendersons come to call him) as a trophy in his collection.
Sweet and inoffensive, “Harry” is just kind of “there.” The plot is clearly constructed in an “E.T.” type of blueprint, but the mystery of Harry’s species is neglected and Harry’s general persona isn’t very compelling: he’s just a big teddy bear (played by “Predator”’s Kevin Peter Hall) and the dramatic entanglements involving Suchet’s hunter and Harry’s eventual, and obvious, need to “go home” are trite and sappy. The film looks good and the cast tries, but there’s a real cloying element to how the material is treated here that makes it one of the lesser Spielberg productions from this era, right down to the treacly Joe Cocker ballad that closes the movie, written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil alongside composer Bruce Broughton.
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD of “Harry and the Hendersons” (1.85) offers a new 4K scan of the 35mm OCN and the Dolby Vision HDR presentation here is aces: there’s a lovely array of color present throughout, doing justice to Daviau’s work in a way the movie’s older HD transfer wasn’t able to. The 5.1 and 2.0 DTS MA offerings each include a nice amount of surround activity, while you also get an archival commentary from Dear and vintage extras (a trio of featurettes, deleted scenes) from the 2009 DVD.
Exclusive to Kino’s release is an informative new commentary by Dear who’s joined by moderator Douglas Hosdale. Dear does an excellent job covering the project’s genesis, and also how he came to be involved with “Amazing Stories” (and one of its best episodes, “Mummy Daddy”). He also notes how the movie’s misfired marketing campaign – which initially hid Harry’s appearance from the public a la “E.T.” and the shark in “Jaws” – may have contributed to its disappointing box-office. (There’s also a certain irony in that the movie did inspire a TV sitcom follow-up, in keeping with the material’s origins, which Dear found unwatchable). The trailer, a Blu-Ray, and another commentary by Youtuber Joe Ramoni round out the two-disc set.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (90 mins., 1988, PG; Kino Lorber): There’s a moment of unabashed honesty in “The Great Outdoors”’ commentary featuring director Howard Deutch where the filmmaker admits this wan John Hughes comedy was, at one point during the test-screening process, the lowest scoring film in the history of Universal Pictures.
It’s a bit surprising as well, given the fact producer Hughes was on a roll (this picture slotted between “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” and “Uncle Buck” with “Home Alone” and “Christmas Vacation” to come) and “The Great Outdoors” teamed John Candy with Dan Aykroyd – hot off the box-office triumph of “Dragnet” – in what sounded like a can’t-miss summer comedy.
The end result, clearly, fails to make the grade, with Hughes’ script featuring labored chemistry between Candy, playing the straight family man to Aykroyd’s scheming brother, who joins his sibling on an (uninvited) Midwestern lake vacation – though has ulterior motives for doing so. Deutch laments the overly “broad” tone of the picture in the commentary and the film comes across that way, with slapstick gags that mostly fizzle, characters that are mostly unlikeable (Aykroyd and his clan specifically), and a late-game attempt at infusing the material with dramatic stakes (a la “Planes, Trains”) that end up contrived at best.
This comes despite a good supporting cast including an early turn from Annette Bening as Aykroyd’s wife, Robert Prosky as the campground manager and Chris Young (“Max Headroom”) as Candy’s son, whose romance with a local teen (Lucy Deakins from “The Boy Who Could Fly”) plays more honestly than anything else in the movie. Obvious reshoots, however, dominate the picture’s second half, where Candy and Aykroyd have to rescue the latter’s terrified twin girls, who’ve gotten stuck in an old mine nearby.
Despite receiving unanimously bad reviews and those tough test scores, the Hughes brand and goodwill generated by Candy and Aykroyd at the time helped “The Great Outdoors” turn a modest profit at the box-office. Though not a big hit, the movie did better on home video and has finally been remastered in 4K by Kino Lorber with a new Dolby Vision HDR (1.85, 5.1/2.0) grading of the 35mm OCN from Universal.
This is a big improvement over the movie’s earlier HD master, sporting superior details, encoding and colors. Thomas Newman’s early score offers some dramatic highlights late in the game while extras include the trailer, a commentary by Deutch and moderator Douglas Hosdale (who mistakenly thinks “Three Men and a Baby” was a Hughes movie), plus other commentaries by Youtube creator Joe Ramoni and podcasters Paul Anthony Nelson and Lee Zachariah.
TERROR TRAIN 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (97 mins., 1980, R; Kino Lorber): It’s all aboard the “Terror Train” in this Canadian tax shelter production from Sandy Howard which was one of a handful of genre exercises starring Jamie Lee Curtis in the wake of her breakout success in “Halloween.”
Unlike some other genre rip-offs, “Terror Train” offers the involvement of director Roger Spottiswoode and cinematographer (and Stanley Kubrick collaborator) John Alcott, which is doubly fascinating seeing as the finished product really is pedestrian all the way around.
Years after playing a prank on a young medical student, a group of co-eds decide to stage a graduation bash on a wintry train, complete with a magician (David Copperfield) to entertain the party-goers. Of course, a killer looking for revenge has managed his way onto veteran conductor Ben Johnson’s train (Johnson even nets top billing over Curtis here), and not even the magical delights of Copperfield can ensure that everyone stays safe.
“Terror Train” certainly isn’t the worst horror movie made after “Halloween” but it’s nevertheless pokey and chugs along as a cardboard roster of characters gets offed before the “big reveal” of the movie’s climax. Considering Spottiswoode helmed the picture, it’s surprising it doesn’t play with more energy, and given Alcott’s work as a DP, it’s likewise a bit stunning there isn’t more to look at here outside crowded train corridors. Jamie Lee tries but all I mostly could remember about this film a few days after having watched this UHD were Copperfield’s “in-movie” show and the pleasant end title scored by John Mills-Cockell.
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD (1.85), out May 26th, features a nice HDR10 master with natural film grain courtesy a 4K scan of the 35mm OCN. The movie’s colors are a bit faded but the transfer is quite good just the same, with both 2.0/5.1 sound options provided plus the trailer, Blu-Ray, and extras including two commentaries and a smattering of archival interviews with Spottiswoode, writer Judith Roscoe and composer Mills-Cockell.
A KISS BEFORE DYING Blu-Ray (93 mins., 1991, R; Kino Lorber): Loads of steamy “adult thrillers” hit theaters in the wake of “Fatal Attraction” including this one: an adaptation of Ira Levin’s ‘50s novel from “Attraction” writer James Dearden, who also directed.
Sean Young plays multiple roles as the twin daughters of coal magnate Max Von Sydow, whom good-looking but psychotic Matt Dillon is fixated upon. He manages to off one of the Youngs early on but has a more difficult time with her philanthropic sister, who eventually figures out Dillon isn’t what he claims to be.
Shot in the UK albeit with a nearly all-American cast and some NYC location filming providing a fairly believable facade (the lone giveaway is an appearance by Shane Rimmer), “A Kiss Before Dying” plays mostly by-the-numbers in terms of thrills and suspense. The performances are serviceable but there’s not a lot of fire between Dillon and Young, who’s let down by a glut of unappealing hair styles (each one seemingly worst than the last) plus attire that doesn’t suit (no pun intended) her either. A few “hot” sex scenes hit the R rating but most of this is pretty benign mystery-suspense stuff – watchable, competently made and scored by Howard Shore, but lacking the kind of cinematic energy needed to put it over the top.
Kino Lorber’s premiere Blu-Ray of “A Kiss Before Dying” offers a serviceable 1080p (1.85, 2.0 DTS MA stereo) older Universal HD master with extras including the trailer and two commentaries: one with Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson, and another with David Del Valle and Ryan Bijan.
SWASHBUCKLER Blu-Ray (101 mins., 1976, PG; Kino Lorber): Box-office disappointment attempted to bring back the golden age of pirate movies – complete with ‘50s “Buccaneers” TV hero Robert Shaw, fresh off “Jaws,” as its star – but ultimately perplexed audiences with a tone too adult and violent for kids, but also too light and silly for adults.
“Swashbuckler” is nevertheless an entertaining enough Universal lark with a too-good cast led by Shaw as pirate “Red” Ned Lynch, who runs afoul of local Jamaican governor Peter Boyle after rescuing pal James Earl Jones from the gallows. Genevieve Bujold is the noble woman who falls for Shaw with Beau Bridges, Anjelica Huston and Geoffrey Holder leading a cast that looks like it was having a great time down in Mexico filming onboard “The Blarney Cock.” Alas, director James Goldstone has difficulty settling on a consistent tone while Jeffrey Bloom’s script warbles all over the place from adventure to comedy with heavy PG elements, much like a drowsy, seasick-laden sailor.
At least John Addison’s score is fabulous, making for a film which curious buffs might enjoy in spite of its obvious issues. A perfectly serviceable Universal master (2.35, mono) is included here in Kino Lorber’s Blu-Ray alongside the trailer, a vintage promo featurette, and a pleasant commentary with Steve Mitchell and Howard S. Berger.
Also on 4K UHD
BODY HEAT 4K UHD/Blu-Ray (113 mins., 1981, R; Criterion): Brilliantly shot, scored, and edited film noir finds lawyer William Hurt falling for femme fatale Kathleen Turner in Lawrence Kasdan’s first and, in some ways, most satisfying directorial effort. From John Barry’s searing, gorgeously moody jazz score (with one of his most attractive main themes) to Richard H. Kline’s cinematography and a perpetually dancing Ted Danson in a supporting role, “Body Heat” is a treat for film noir fans, and Criterion has done a superb job adapting Kasdan’s salute to “Double Indemnity” and other ‘40s potboilers to 4K UHD in a much-appreciated remaster.
The Dolby Vision HDR grading (1.85) and detail, supervised by editor Carol Littleton and approved by Kasdan, level far surpass Warner’s 2008 Blu-Ray, while the 2.0 Dolbv Stereo track is a great inclusion, a big improvement over the old BD’s limp Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. The Dolby track has been included as 2.0 PCM here while the 5.1 remix from the previous release is also on-hand in a DTS MA container.
Extra features abound, including new interviews with Kasdan plus a conversation between Littleton and historian Bobbie O’Steen, all discussing the production and its subsequent legacy. Archival extras culled from the 2006 DVD include several deleted scenes and three different Making Of featurettes, including comments from all the principals and John Barry as well. The original trailer puts the finishing touch on another superlative Criterion release.
THE BRIDE! 4K UHD (126 mins., 2026, R; Warner): Bonkers has got to be the first word that pops into mind when describing writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s much-derided re-do of “The Bride of Frankenstein.” Despite its tepid box-office and mostly negative reviews, you do have to give her credit for going all the way with her strange re-conceptualization of Mary Shelley’s material, updated to the Prohibition era 1930s where the Monster (Christian Bale) comes to Chicago looking for a mate – and finds her in the form of a gangster’s slain moll (Jessie Buckley, fresh off her “Hamnet” Oscar win) who’s also been inhabited by the ghost of Shelley herself…or something. The mix of horror and ‘30s period piece with modern social commentary makes for a bizarre concoction that most audiences understandably didn’t know what to make of; the end result is intriguing simply because it’s so different, but still unsatisfying in terms of its seemingly disparate narrative elements which the director is unable to convincingly corral together. Nevertheless worth a look for genre buffs, Warner’s 4K UHD (2.39, Atmos) sports a brownish-hued Dolby Vision transfer with Atmos audio, a slew of featurettes, and a Digital HD code.
SPEED RACER 4K UHD (135 mins., 2008, PG; Warner): Candy-coated adaptation of the ‘60s cartoon from producer Joel Silver and the Wachowskis — helming their first effort since the “Matrix” trilogy concluded, back when they were brothers and not sisters — is nearly guaranteed to give kids ADD if they don’t have it already. Intense visuals and endless special effects populate this sparsely-written tale of “Speed” (Emile Hirsch) and his racing family (parents John Goodman and Susan Sarandon, girlfriend Christina Ricci) in a CGI wonderland where something, somewhere is happening on-screen every second. The jaw-dropping visuals are guaranteed to serve as a litmus test for your home theater, but as a movie and dramatic experience “Speed Racer” is an interminable, almost painful exercise that will test your threshold for rapid-fire editing and FX that never stop…except when the credits roll. Best digested in small increments, Warner’s 4K UHD (2.35, 5.1 DTS MA) looks spectacular with its Dolby Vision HDR grading at least, benefitting all of the movie’s wide range of colors and FX work. Extras include a retrospective featurette, additional archival EPK segments, and a Digital HD code.
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