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Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: June 21st, 2022.
Director: William Lustig
Cast: Leslie Neal, Christopher Ogden, Isaac Hayes, David Fralick, Bo Hopkins, Anne Tremko
Year: 1987
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Uncle Sam – Movie Review:
From Larry Cohen and William Lustig, the writer/director team that brought you the Maniac Cop films, comes 1987’s misfire, Uncle Sam. The film begins as we find that a man named Sam Harper (David Fralick who starred alongside Don 'The Dragon' Wilson in the phenomenal Night Hunter) was killed in Kuwait when his helicopter was brought down by friendly fire during the first Gulf War.
Back in the United States though, his family has carried on without him. Harper's wife, Louise (Anne Tremko), lived in fear of her husband and when she finally, after not knowing for three years, finds out that her husband is in fact dead, she is able to move on with her life. Seeing as she's already struck up a relationship with the local sheriff, this doesn't seem to have been too difficult for her.
The only one who seems to really miss Sam is Jody (Christopher Ogden), his young nephew. Jody is the only son of Sam's sister, Sally (Leslie Neale), and he idolizes his uncle and sees him as a truly patriotic hero. When Sam's coffin is brought back to the States so that he can receive a proper burial, he rises from the dead and begins killing off all those he deems unpatriotic. On the fourth of July, he steals an Uncle Sam costume from one of his victims and heads over to the town's celebration where there is no shortage of victims to prey on.
When Jody finds out from a retired disabled veteran named Jed (late soul super star Isaac Hayes of Truck Turner and South Park) that his 'Uncle Sam' wasn't a patriot at all but was actually a maniac who enjoyed killing people, he teams up with Jed. Together, and with the aid of a wheelchair bound boy who was injured in last year’s Fourth Of July celebration, they set out to stop his uncle once and for all.
Similar in tone theme to the aforementioned Maniac Cop films, Uncle Sam is sadly a rather lackluster affair that takes too long to get going and doesn't pay off well enough in the end. The zombified killer looks good but spends most of his time covered in a mask that is cornier than it is scary. A few good kills show up at the end when Sam gets to the celebration and Isaac Hayes is likeable as always in his role. A couple of guest appearances (look for Robert Forster of Vigilante, Tom McFadden of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2, Bo Hopkins of The Wild Bunch and P.J. Soles of Rock N Roll High School in cameo roles) keep things hopping towards the end, especially when the action picks up, but it all feels like it's too little too late. The film can't decide if it wasn't to be a social satire, an anti-war statement, or a straight up horror/slasher/zombie film and ultimately doesn't end up doing a particularly good job as any of them.
The camera work is nice (a stand out shot of the coffin moving into the house is slick looking) and the pyrotechnics at the end of the film are really well-done, but it isn't enough to save what could have been an interesting film even if there are a few good kill scenes and a fun cast on hand.
Uncle Sam – UHD Review:
Uncle Sam arrives on UHD from Blue Underground on a 100GB disc in a 4k transfer of the original 35mm negative framed at 2.40.1 widescreen in an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p with HDR and Dolby Vision enhancement. Restored in 4k from the film’s original 35mm negative, it looks excellent. Colors are vastly improved over the previous Blu-ray release, which looked quite good for its day. The primary colors used throughout the movie really pop without ever looking artificially boosted or incorrectly displayed – you’ll see this in all the red, white and blue on display in quite a few scenes. There’s considerably more noticeable depth to the film than we’ve ever seen on disc before, and while the movie has always been treated well by Blue Underground on Blu-ray and DVD before it, this UHD release does show a marked improvement. Skin tones look perfect, black levels are spot on, and the image, thankfully, always looks like film, showing no problems with any visible edge enhancement or noise reduction ,retaining the natural film grain you’d want but showing no real print damage to speak of. This looks pretty much flawless.
New to this UHD release is a Dolby Atmos track in English that, like the other Blue Underground Atmos offerings on their UHD releases, stays pretty true to the movie’s roots while still managing to spread the score and occasional effects into the surround channels to nice effect. This happens not just in the more action intensive scenes, but in the quieter moments as well. This Atmos mix features excellent depth and some impressive range as well. There are no problems with any audible hiss or distortion. It’s perfectly balanced and it sounds great, especially during the more action intensive scenes in the movie, of which there are quite a few. Carried over from the Blu-ray release is an English track in 24-bit 5.1 DTS-HD. As far as subtitles go, we get English SDH, French and Spanish options.
The extras on this disc are carried over from the previous Blue Underground standard definition release. The first of the two commentary tracks finds director William Lustig joined by actor Isaac Hayes for an informative discussion that runs the entire length of the film. Lustig dominates the discussion lending all sorts of information about the film with Hayes chiming in occasionally offering a few tidbits here and there. It's a good commentary and at times is more interesting than the feature itself. This track actually appeared on the old Elite release before the Blue Underground reissue.
There's also a second commentary track on this disc, again featuring Lustig, this time joined by writer Larry Cohen and producer George C. Braunstein. This track is even better than the first one. Cohen and Lustig have worked together a lot and their camaraderie makes for a lot of anecdotes and interesting stories coming to light. Braunstein chimes in when he can, lending a different slant to the proceedings and once again, this track is actually more interesting than the feature itself.
Up next is a behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses on the fire stunts used in the film. Stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos (who also worked with Lustig and Cohen on the three Maniac Cop films) gives commentary over top of this footage, explaining some of the difficulties encountered in the pyrotechnics used in the finale of the film. 'How'd they do that?' junkies should get a kick out of this piece as it goes into detail about a fairly specific aspect of the stunt work used in the film.
A theatrical trailer, a gag reel, a deleted scene, and a decent sized poster and still gallery round out the extra features on this release. All of the extra features are presented in standard definition except the trailer, which is in HD.
As to the packaging, Blue Underground provides a reversible cover sleeve featuring their newly created artwork on one side and the original art on the reverse and, for the limited edition first pressing, a slick lenticular slipcover. Unlike Blue Underground’s other UHD releases, this edition does not come with an accompanying Blu-ray disc.
Uncle Sam – The Final Word:
Uncle Sam is a goofy movie that doesn't provide any real scares but it does have a few interesting moments that make it worth sitting through. Blue Underground has done a very good job with this UHD release, combining flawless audio and video with some interesting extra features and the increase in picture quality should make this a tempting upgrade for the film's fans.