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Slashdance (Culture Shock Releasing) Blu-ray Review

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    Ian Jane
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  • Slashdance (Culture Shock Releasing) Blu-ray Review

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    Released by: Culture Shock Releasing
    Released on: March 29th, 2022.
    Director: James Shyman
    Cast: Cindy Ferda, J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner, Jay Richardson
    Year: 1989
    Purchase From Amazon

    Slashdance – Movie Review:

    Written and directed by James Shyman and released straight to video in 1990 by Rentertainment, Slashdance introduces us to an undercover cop named Tori Raines (the lovely Cindy Ferda, better known to some as ‘Americana’ from the Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling league!) who works for the Los Angeles Police Department with her partner, Logan (James Carroll Jordan), and answers to her egotistical boss, Captain Edison (John Henry Richardson). She proves her worth by busting some female steroid dealers (one of whom is named Repo and is played by G.L.O.W.’s Dee Booher, credited as Queen Kong) and beating up a couple of rape-happy dudes in an alleyway.

    After a would-be dancer named Alice Ryan (Cynthia Cheston) is murdered at the decrepit old Van Slake Theater, Tori goes undercover to pose as a dancer hoping to land a spot in a new show being produced for the two brothers, one of whom is named Amos (J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner) and is perpetually weird and horny, that run the old theater by a big time Broadway star who got his start working for their father way back when. Lots of bad dancing and ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ counting ensues, as some of the dancers rib one another a bit about their choices in dates. Tori strikes up a romance with the director just around the time that the murderer strikes again… will she be able to put a stop to him before he kills another innocent dancer?

    Eighty-three minutes of strangely watchable nonsense, Slashdance is a beautiful exercise in bad comedy, cheap sets, wonky acting and legwarmers. There is a lot more dancing then slashing in the movie, there are only a handful of murder set pieces here and apparently the movie’s obviously low budget didn’t allow for very good gore effects and the pacing is more than slow for much of the film. The dance practice scenes are repetitive to the point that they become monotonous, but in the same way that the hallway scene in Science Crazed can lull you into a state of psychotronic bliss, these scenes somehow wash over you like some sort of weird wave of late eighties fashion and questionable storytelling, warming those of us of a certain disposition into a micro-budget movie happy place.

    The acting is bad across the board, nobody here is very good, and the production values are seriously lacking. The vast majority of the movie takes place inside a dark, run down theater and the same establishing shots meant to remind us that everything is taking place in Los Angeles are repeated throughout the movie. The dialogue is often inane and adds nothing to the story or the plot. The gore is lacking and the score repeats itself a lot, more than it should. Yet there’s something to Slashdance that makes it really watchable and, in its own stupid way, pretty entertaining. It most assuredly helps to have not just a tolerance but a genuine affinity for eighties culture and style going into this, but even if that garish look and feel doesn’t tickle you, there’s still enough quirky characters, bad comedy (lots of bad comedy) and awkward dance routines to keep you on the edge of your seat.

    Slashdance – Blu-ray Review:

    Culture Shock Releasing brings Slashdance to Region Free Blu-ray famed at 1.33.1 fullframe and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. Up-resed from the original master tape (film elements are reportedly long gone and lost to the ages), this looks as good as it probably can and it offers a more than watchable presentation given the film’s analogue roots. Colors look surprisingly good for most of the movie, though shadow detail can get lost in the movie’s many darker moments. Compression is pretty solid and the image is clean enough.

    The only audio option for Slashdance is a 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono tracks in English. Optional English subtitles are provided. Audio quality mirrors the video quality, in that it isn’t reference quality but it is perfectly fine given the elements available to work with and the film’s origins. Dialogue is generally clean and clear and properly balanced, though things can be a little flat in spots and there are a few lines that are a bit muffled. The score sounds pretty good though.

    Extras start off with a commentary with Director James Shyman who talks about what it was like making a movie made to go directly to the then booming video store market, of which Slashdance was one. He talks about meeting his producer in a jazuzzi at his apartment complex, where some of the pick-up shots were captured, what went into casting the movie and how he came to use some female wrestlers for key parts through his brother's industry connections, where the wardrobe options came from, shooting the movie with an 'ultra-low budget,' parts that were improved that wound up in the finished movie, the respect he has for the actors who worked under difficult circumstances, working with a very 'light' script and quite a bit more. There are stretches of dead air but when Shyman is talking, he's pretty interesting to listen to.

    The disc also includes a commentary by Tony and Johanna, the people behind the "Hack The Movies" podcast. They give a fairly scene specific overview of the movie, done with an obvious sense of humor. They go over the cast members and other projects that they've worked on, the film's obvious fashion choices, what they enjoy about the movie and more.

    An interview with Actor J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner runs for thirty-nine minutes. He talks about how, before he became a forensic psychologist he was a B-movie actor. He starts off by talking about his career before Slashdance and some of the low budget films he appeared in, why Slashdance was the one movie he was in that really clicked with him, what he tried to bring to his role, being able to walk to work when the main location that was used turned out to be near where he was living, working with Shyman and what his direction was like, shooting the gold fish scene in one take and plenty more.

    A second interview gets Producer Andrew Maisner in front of the camera for thirty-seven minutes to talk about the how he got into the film business in the seventies, hanging out in Skid Row and documenting his experiences there, moving into directing work and then into producing low budget films, making pictures for the home video market, casting Slashdance, working with Shyman, what went into the film's post-production process and some of the issues they ran into doing the final sound mix, needing to be very efficient in the editing process due to the expenses involved in it, doing commercial films for a lawn sprinkler company and lots of other related bits and pieces.

    The disc also includes a bonus feature film in the form of Hollywood's New Blood, which is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and framed at 1.33.1, up-resed from the best existing tape elements and with 16-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono audio. Running a scant seventy-seven minutes (including credits and a ‘greatest hits’ selection at the end of the movie!), this is a brisk watch but it doesn’t have quite as much dopey charm as the feature attraction.

    The story revolves around a group of aspiring actors who attend an acting class outside of Los Angeles at a location called Storm Lake. What they don't realize is that the three Clouster Brothers presumed to have died there in a fire years back are not dead at all, but in fact very much alive and only too happy to kill off anyone unfortunate enough to wander onto their turf. How did the fire happen? A movie crew somehow managed to blow up their house instead of the empty house, and now the Clouster's have an axe to grind with actors and moviemaker types.

    Lots of logic gaps, questionable acting and even more questionable fashion choices and goofy bad guys keep this amusing in its own way. Shyman gets a lot of mileage out of the same small batch of trees doubling for his 'forest' and overuses the same forest sound effects, enough so that you could make a pretty serious drinking game out of the movie if you took a swig anytime they appeared.

    Rounding out the extras on the disc are a "3 Minute Slashdance" bit by Future Schlock of Everything Is Terrible!, a selection of Culture Shock Releasing trailers, menus and chapter selection options.

    Slashdance - The Final Word:

    Culture Shock Releasing’s Blu-ray release of Slashdance is jam-packed with extras and even includes a bonus film made by the same director. The feature attraction itself is pretty enjoyable Z-grade nonsense, rife with eighties kitsch and dopey performances. Though it won’t likely win over the film’s vocal critics, this is clearly a release made by fans for fans and you’ve got to appreciate the work that went into the presentation and the supplements.

    Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Slashdance Blu-ray screen caps!

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    Ian Jane
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    Last edited by Ian Jane; 04-01-2022, 03:02 PM.
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