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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: October 25th, 2016.
Director: Mark Pirro
Cast: John McCafferty, Robyn Blythe
Year: 1987
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The Movie:
Mark Pirro's 1987 effort Deathrow Gameshow is a lukewarm and barely funny film that, oddly enough, came out the same year as the similarly themed Schwarzenegger vehicle, The Running Man. In this film, John McCafferty plays Chuck Todean, the host of a game show called Live Or Die where convicted felons give up their slot on death row for a chance at winning a stay of execution. If they fail, they're killed right there on live TV, but can at least go to the grave knowing that they've won some nice consolation prizes for their family members to enjoy.
Chuck's show is the subject of some controversy - not everyone appreciates his creativity and as such, the show comes to the attention of WAAMAF (Women Against Anything Men Are For). These ladies hope to make their protest cries loud enough to get Chuck taken off the air. On top of that, there are family members of some of the prisoners who were killed who would love nothing more than to pay Chuck back in kind. Eventually the leader of WAAMAF, Gloria Sternvirgin (Robyn Blythe), and Chuck wind up in a televised debate. As they argue the merits of the show, members of the Spumoni Mafia make a hit on Chuck's life, leaving him to wonder whether he should keep at his show or give it all up to live a calmer, safer life.
To its credit, Deathrow Gameshow does try. It does feature a ridiculously catchy pseudo-rap theme song and a great synth score. The gameshow set is well designed, with a guillotine featured in the opening scene and lots of blinking lights. And you've got to love the fact that Pirro called his production company Pirromount Pictures. Some of the social commentary is kind of interesting, and the movie foreshadows the reality TV craze in a pretty big way. Some of the challenges that they come up with for the felons to get through in order to win the game are also pretty creative. Obviously made on a low budget, Pirro and company do a lot with a little and it's cool to see what they pull off here.
However, the movie features a fairly uninspired cast and it can only go so far. It toys around with some interesting ideas and makes a few limp statements about the media's penchant for sensationalistic violence but the script just isn't all that clever and the humor tends to fall pretty flat on its face more often than not. McCafferty is a pretty decent choice for the lead, in that he definitely has that faux-sleaze charm that eighties era games how hosts seemed to have oozing out of their pores, but really, he's the only bright spot in what is otherwise a misfire. There are moments here that work and some occasional laughs to be had, but for the most part, this one is a bit of a snoozer.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Deathrow Gameshow debuts on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen on a 50GB disc. Taken from a new 2k scan of the original 35mm negative, the picture quality here is great. The film is pretty grainy but the clarity and detail is definitely there and the picture itself is quite clean, showing very little in the way of actual print damage. There are no noticeable issues with mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement nor is there any obvious noise reduction to complain about. Colors look nice, black levels are pretty strong - yeah, this looks really good.
The only audio option for the film is a DTS-HD Mono track in the film's original English language with removable subtitles provided in English only. That score sounds great here with better range and clarity than you'd hear on the old DVD release. There are a few spots where you might hear some mild hiss but there's nothing serious and generally speaking the movie sounds very good here.
Extras start off with a commentary track from director Mark Pirro who is joined by actors John McCafferty and Robyn Blythe. This is a pretty interesting track with Pirro doing most of the talking. He speaks about casting the film, shooting in various locations like a law office that a friend let them use and how various cast members have gone on to do some interesting projects since this picture was made. Blythe talks about working on the Conan show at Universal Studios playing Red Sonja where she was cast alongside Zachary Harris who plays one of the felons in this feature. Pirro talks about how he still works with a lot of the same people he used on this film all these years later, what it was like working in Hollywood as a relative newcomer, their thoughts on the Pontiac Fierro (“It was a crappy little car.â€), how a lot of people from McCafferty's improve class wound up here, what Leonard Maltin's personal assistant did on this movie, how to compensate for glare on a mirror by using hairspray, and yes, this movie's similarities to Running Man (noting that outside of the basic concept they really aren't that similar). He also talks about fixing different aspects of the movie, adding sound effects and making other tweaks/changes. This is a genuinely great track. It's busy without being too busy, it's got a good sense of humor to it and you can tell that the three participants are having a lot of fun. It's also jam packed with information and as such, quite interesting. Pirro also provides an optional introduction to the feature that runs twenty-one seconds but he doesn't say much other than he made the movie a long time ago and that he hopes we enjoy it.
The disc also includes a thirty-two minute long retrospective featurette entitled Revisiting Deathrow Gameshow. This piece features interviews with cast members McCafferty, Blythe and Darwyn Carson as well as production team members Craig Bassuk, David Baughn, Glenn Campbell and of course, Mark Pirro himself. Pirro starts things off, talking about how he hooked up with Crown International Pictures in the first place with his first feature, A Polish Vampire In Burbank. David Baughn, former VP and General Manager at Crown, talks about how impressed he was with that picture and how they hired him to work for the company, but it didn't happen, at least not at first. Eventually they got around to it, gave him a budget, and off he went. Other topics cover the props that were used in the film like the gas chamber and guillotine, how McCafferty began working with Pirro after doing a Toyota commercial and a soap opera called Texas on NBC. All involved seemed to have had a lot of fun on the set, everyone pitched in and did their part, and there's also talk about how Blythe and Pirro started dating during the shoot and how they were together for few years after that. Lots of stories here and like the commentary it's all done with a good sense of humor. There are some pretty cool behind the scenes features here from various Pirro productions like Vampire and Curse Of The Queerwolf as well as from Deathrow Gameshow. Even if this covers some of the same ground as the commentary it's a fun watch.
Vinegar Syndrome have also included an alternate 2015 'director's cut' version of Deathrow Gameshow. This is presented in 1080i with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio and it runs six second less than the feature version of the movie. It takes up just over 9GBS of space on the disc, so it's pretty compressed. It's basically the same cut of the movie but with some tweaks - digital blood is added when the felon's head is cut off in the opening guillotine scene for example. The sound effects are also more pronounced here too, but given that the video quality is considerably lower and the changes don't necessarily improve anything, it's hard to imagine anyone opting for this version over the feature presentation version. But hey, it's here for those who want it and that's not a bad thing.
We're also treated to two of Pirro's older short films, Buns from 1978 and The Spy Who Did It Better from 1979. Buns runs just under twenty-one minutes and it opens with a scene where a woman who orders some fast food is strangled by a crazy man in a bathrobe. The cops notice a pattern, that various women have shown up dead while eating hamburgers, and set out to crack the case. The Spy Who Did It Better runs forty-six minutes and it's basically a James Bond parody wherein a spy named Neville takes on the villainous Blohard. Though clearly shot for peanuts, it's fairly creative, features some neat props and vehicles as well as some Bond-style gadgets. Some of the action scenes are also interesting and it's fun to see McCafferty play the lead in the picture. Both of these shorts feature what look like newly generated video titles that we can assume Pirro added at some point. These shorts also feature an intro from Pirro that runs just over a minute and include some behind the scenes photos, clips from the movies and quick notes about their origins.
Rounding out the extras are a still gallery, a director bio, a TV spot, the film's original theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection.
As this is a combo pack release, a DVD version of the movie including identical supplements is also included inside the clear Blu-ray keepcase. It's also worth noting that this disc comes with some cool reversible cover art.
The Final Word:
Deathrow Gameshow has its fans, and while some of us may not rank among them, those who enjoy the movie will definitely appreciate the effort that has gone into this feature-laden remastered special edition.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
