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Released by: Retromedia/Bayview Entertainment
Released on: March 19 2013.
Director: John Fasano
Cast: James Hong, Frank Deitz, Marilyn Tokuda
Year: 1989
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The Movie:
When the man who directed heavy metal horror classics like the mighty Black Roses and the ultra-amazing Rock N Roll Nightmare takes on the uniquely Chinese hopping vampire genre, what do you wind up with? Well, if you shoot it on the streets of Toronto's Chinatown, just off of Spadina Avenue, and you cast the great James Hong in a supporting role, you get The Jitters!
When the movie begins we meet a pretty young lady named Alice (Marilyn Tokuda) who works at the small gift store owned by her Uncle Frank (Randy Atmadja). A gang of two white guys and a random black dude show up and start causing trouble but they're soon chased off… or so it seems. They show up later, a fight ensues, and Frank winds up tossed through the window to his death on the sidewalk. Alice is understandably upset but thankfully her unusually smug boyfriend Michael (Sal Viviano) is around. He tells her he'll take a week off of work to help her get the store back in shape. Those thugs though, they're not done yet - see, their boss knows that Frank had over a hundred grand stashed somewhere before his death and he aims to get his greedy paws on that money.
Then, late one night, Frank shows up at the store. Wait… isn't he dead? Yeah, he is, but he shows up anyway, decked out in traditional Chinese garb and hopping around with his arms extended. It seems Frank has been turned into a gyon-sii, a hopping undead Chinese vampire, and that he's out to cause trouble. Enter Tony Yang, Jr. (John Quincy Lee), his father Tony Yang Sr. (James Hong) and their assistant Mona (Clara Peter). They're Chinese magicians who specialize in stopping hopping vampires from hopping and hurting and they're here to help save the day! Frank's not the only hopping vampire around though, and those gang members are soon going to regret the day they started messing around in Chinatown!
The Jitters isn't meant to be taken seriously. It might have been at one point but somewhere along the way… that all changed. Case in point? James Hong's character mentions, in regards to the existence of Chinese vampires, that after they bite you, they're hungry again one hour later. Hong's presence in the film is minimal but he's funny when he does appear. The rest of the cast are fine, the gang members in particular are goofy enough to provide some effective comic relief. The movie makes good use of Toronto's Chinatown, and though it tries to make it look like an American city (at one point when a cash register opens you'll see American currency) it's not hard to spot the red TTC street cars, a Toronto Star newspaper vending machine or the Ontario lottery signs - all dead giveaways. The back alleys and grubby street corners do add some authenticity to the movie, however, and with much of it shot at night and outdoors, we get some nice neon signs and odd inner city scenery.
The movie was scored on a keyboard and the music doesn't really do a whole lot to accentuate the horror elements or the comedy. Additionally, when the hopping vampires actually do start hopping around, the sound effects used make them sound like something out of an old Super Mario Brothers Nintendo game. This doesn't do much to instill fear in the audience but it does add to the movie's bizarre, harmless charm.
Don't go into this one expecting a whole lot of blood and gore, as there's not much here that would push the movie outside of the PG-13 boundary (though at one point at the gang's headquarters the black guy is wearing an apron that says 'Don't Fuck With The Chef' - that's about as explicit as the movie gets!). There is one 'bite' scene that's a little bit bloody and one admittedly impressive and fairly gooey scene where a character transforms that does feature some nice traditional effects work, but outside of that, most of the movie's budget seems to have been spent on costumes for the vampires more than anything else. The movie is just under eighty minutes in length, and that includes about five minutes of closing credits, so it doesn't overstay it's welcome and it moves fast enough that, if nothing else, it's entertaining. Not on par with the Mr. Vampire films that inspired it, The Jitters is an enjoyable low rent B-movie in its own right.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Jitters debuts on DVD from Retromedia framed at 1.66.1 widescreen in an anamorphic transfer that looks…. okay. Not great, but okay. The image is fairly dark and a little bit murky in spots but it's always perfectly watchable and the framing looks just fine. There aren't any compression artifacts but that darkness and murkiness results in some of the night time scenes looking a bit muddy.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, the only audio option for the feature, sounds decent enough. Though the limitations of the original source material are obvious in that there isn't a lot of channel separation at least there are no major issues with serious hiss or distortion. The dialogue sounds decent enough and the film's goofy theme song that plays over the end credits sounds alright.
The main extra on the disc is a commentary track with director John Fasano, actress Marilyn Tokuda and moderator Fred Olen Ray. This is a fun track with Fasano doing most of the talking here. He doesn't take the film any more seriously than he needs to and is all too aware of what works about it and what doesn't. They talk about shooting on location in Toronto's China town, the influence of the Chinese Mr. Vampire films and about some of the effects and story ideas. It's light hearted in that it has a good sense of humor behind it but worth a listen as it's also quite informative.
Aside from that, we get a nine minute Gaga AFM Promo Reel (random clips from the film used to promote it) and a Skouras Promo Reel (basically a two minute trailer) as well as trailers for Wonder Women, Grave Of The Vampire/Garden Of The Dead, Monster From Bikini Beach and , Marquis De Sade. Menus and chapter selection are also provided.
The Final Word:
The Jitters isn't really all that good but it is fun. The movie winds up a strange cultural mish-mash of sorts and a weird mix of humor and horror but somehow even when it doesn't work at all, it remains pretty watchable. Retromedia's DVD won't win any awards for A/V quality but the commentary is fun. This isn't a lost classic but it is an enjoyably goofy slice of Asian infused Canadian horror.
