Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Vampire's Kiss/High Spirits
Collapse
-
- Published: 02-22-2015, 12:57 PM
- 3 comments
X
Collapse
-
Vampire's Kiss/High Spirits
Released by: Scream Factory
Released on: February 10, 2015
Directors: Robert Bierman/Neil Jordan
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jennifer Beals, Maria Conchita Alonso, Elizabeth Ashley, Kasi Lemmons/Steve Guttenberg, Daryl Hannah, Peter O'Toole, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, Peter Gallagher, Liam Neeson
Years: 1989/1988
Purchase From Amazon
The Movies:
Vampire's Kiss: After a one-night stand during which he and his paramour are interrupted by a bat and another in which his pick-up claims to be a vampire and attacks him, literary agent Peter Loew becomes obsessed with the notion that he is one of the undead. He cuts his own neck while shaving, develops aversions to sunlight and crosses, fails to see his own reflection in mirrors, and takes to wearing a pair of cheap plastic teeth he buys at a “magick†store. As his “transformation†progresses, those around him become increasingly (and justifiably) alarmed.
At one point, Vampire's Kiss utilizes clips from F.W. Murnau's classic Nosferatu—A Symphony of Terror (1922), which is fitting given that lead Nicolas Cage, who plays Peter Loew, constructs a performance that mimics the broad acting style of the silent era. Cage has always been a love-him-or-hate-him kind of actor: Those who love him will likely see his performance here as somewhat groundbreaking, while those who don't will probably feel as though they're watching a particularly excitable ham sandwich with extra slices of cheese. Either way, Cage's performance makes or breaks the film. What's undeniable is that his mannerisms are undercut by both terrible “Is that an accent?†enunciation and fairly flat direction from Robert Bierman. (Bierman had been set to direct The Fly, 1986, but had to drop out after personal tragedy struck, thus paving the way for David Cronenberg to step in.)
All this aside, Vampire's Kiss is actually fairly interesting, with a reasonably original premise and arresting performances from Jennifer Beals as Loew's vampire tormentor and Broadway star Elizabeth Ashley as his psychiatrist. Joseph Minion's script is solid and occasionally witty—Loew's makeshift coffin is an overturned couch resting on piles of books—and there are a couple of laugh-out-loud turns, such as the moment when Loew becomes convinced that he is a vampire and runs down the street announcing it to the world. Helping the film to move, Colin Towns's score borrows unashamedly from John Williams's score for Dracula (1979), at times to great effect.
It's undeniably a watchable film. Whether it's a likeable one depends entirely on how one reacts to Cage's scenery chewing.
High Spirits: Peter Plunkett is about to lose his Irish castle-turned-hotel to the American businessman from whom he's borrowed money to keep it running. Worse, said businessman plans on moving the castle brick-by-brick to Malibu, California. When a group of Americans show up, Plunkett stages a haunting hoping to scare up some positive word-of-mouth. The attempt fails, prompting some real ghosts to intrude on the action, intent on preventing the Americans from relocating their home to the United States. Meanwhile, two of those ghosts—a husband and the wife he murdered—fall for a young American couple having marital problems.
Most of the film's running time is spent detailing the necrophilic romances of the spirits and their living counterparts. Those bits aren't particularly melodramatic, scary, or funny, but when the focus switches to presumably zany ghostly hijinks, the film fares even worse. It's difficult to believe that Neil Jordan wrote and directed something this relentlessly bad, particularly given the strength of so many of his films: The Company of Wolves (1984), Mona Lisa (1986), The Crying Game (1992), Interview with the Vampire (1994), The Butcher Boy (1997), The End of the Affair (1999), and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). In his defense, it isn't all his fault. The studio, once it had seen his finished product, declared it too dark and re-edited it without Jordan's involvement, making what was once a black comedy something far lighter… and less interesting. High Spirits manages to be the nadir of Jordan's long directorial career. The acting here is also seriously awful (Darryl Hannah was nominated for a Razzie) and the script even worse. Oh, well; at least the sets are attractive.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Scream Factory presents both Vampire's Kiss and High Spirits with MPEG-4 AVC encodes. Both are in 1080p, and each is presented in 1.85:1. Because this is a double feature disc, Scream has wisely used a 50GB disc. Given the age of each film, one would expect more moderate transfers, but these are surprisingly strong. Though neither is particularly colorful (per the way each film was originally shot), both are quite naturalistic and have solid details. There is no crush, and there is an organic layer of grain that should please purists without upsetting everyone else. The opening credits of Vampire's Kiss feature some minor dirt and debris, but it quickly clears once the optical effects are over.
Both films are recorded in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, which is more than serviceable. There are no noticeable problems with either track, though High Spirits is the more robust of the two, if only because it has a far more dynamic score. Both films feature English subtitles.
The only extras are for Vampire's Kiss, and those are sparse. There's a theatrical trailer running a little over two minutes and an audio commentary with director Bierman and actor Cage, which has been ported over from a previous DVD release. It's an interesting track (Cage explains his decision to use that god-awful “accent,†and he confirms the influence of the silent era on his performance), and Bierman and Cage seem to get along well. Their laughter is contagious, in fact, making the commentary an easy one to get through.
The Final Word:
Vampire's Kiss is an interesting and, depending on your threshold for broad acting, fun film, while High Spirits is wretched. Both receive strong transfers with great detail and solid sound. The only extras are a trailer and an audio commentary for one film, but given that two have been placed on a single disc, this is probably a good thing. Both look and sound very good, and fans of either film can safely purchase the BD; just consider the second film a freebie.
Tags: blu-ray, blu-ray review, shout! factory, liam neeson, scream factory, daryl hannah, peter o’toole, jennifer tilly, nicolas cage, jennifer beals, maria conchita alonso, elizabeth ashley, kasi lemmons/steve guttenberg, beverly d’angelo, peter gallagher, robert bierman, neil jordan, vampire's kiss, high spirits, DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z
-
#1Mark TolchSenior MemberFind all postsView Profile02-22-2015, 03:18 PMEditing a commentI LOVE Vampires Kiss. I wish it wasnt a double feature. It's true, Cage is either a love him or hate him guy in this.
-
#2C.D. WorkmanSenior MemberFind all postsView Profile02-24-2015, 06:42 PMEditing a commentConsider the second film a freebie! VAMPIRE'S KISS is so much better than HIGH SPIRITS, and after listening to the commentary, I have to admit I liked Cage a lot better than I did before.
-
#3Mark TolchSenior MemberFind all postsView Profile02-24-2015, 07:22 PMEditing a commentThe commentary is great.
Posting comments is disabled. -
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (271)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4140)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (385)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (295)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (496)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
Year: 1969
Purchase From Amazon
Hot Spur – Movie Review:
Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:53 AM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: April 9th, 2024.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Death Squad – Movie Review:
Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:46 AM -
-
Released by: Quality X
Released on: February 28th, 2024.
Director: Chuck Vincent
Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
Year: 1982
Purchase From Amazon
Roommates – Movie Review:
Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:10 PM -
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
Year: 1970
Purchase From Amazon
Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:
Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:07 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Saul Bass
Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Phase IV – Movie Review:
Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:02 PM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
Year: 1969-1972
Purchase From Amazon
The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:
Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this...-
Channel: Movies
03-13-2024, 11:30 AM -