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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome Archive
Released on: October 29, 2024
Director: Genie Joseph
Cast: Skip Lackey, Lee Tergesen, Miranda de Pencier, David Kener, Roy Thinnes, Françoise Robertson, Sarah Hayward, Gregory Calpakis, Robert Dubac
Year: 1987
Purchase From Vinegar Syndrome
Mind Benders - Movie Review:
Mind Benders (1987), produced by notorious New York exploitation filmmaker Jack Bravman (Snuff), and directed by Genie Joseph - one of the three credited director of Spookies) - is a wacky mid-'80s sci-fi teen-comedy about a group of rebellious teenagers who have to save their beloved school radio station from a hot-headed principal and mind-control experimentation. In it cool-dudes Frankie (Skip Lackey, Once Bitten) and Crash (Lee Tergesen, Cast a Deadly Spell) are student DJ's at Kingston High School radio, pumping out rebellious rock 'n' roll music to the chagrin of hard-nosed Viet Nam vet Principal Borden (Roy Thinnes, TV movie The Norliss Tapes). Tired on rebellious teens, cafeteria food-fights and the disrespectful behavior of horny kids the principal agrees to allow the mysterious Dr. Gunbow (Bill Curry, Lady Blues) of the Behavior Modification Research Institute, to experiment on the students body with a brain-wave altering subliminal tone that will be broadcast over the student radio speakers, but this means an end to the student radio program. Angered by the radio station being shut down Frankie and Crash spring into action alongside fellow DJs Julie Freeman (Miranda de Pencier, Sea of Love), the crimped blonde host of Sleazy Metal Show, and the nerdy goofball Calvin (David Kener, Whore 2), to start a petition to save the station, initially unaware that Dr. Gunbow's dulcet subliminal tones are secretly mind-bending their classmates into well-behaved zombie-esque minions!
This is much more of a silly teen comedy than any sort of sci-fi thriller, coming off as a horny 'we got save the (insert place we like to hang out here)' flick like Joysticks mashed-up with Class of 1999. It's inept, it's charming, it's totally fun, chock full of colorful teen stereotypes and wild teen antics you thought teenagers did when you were eight, meaning it's just the sort of ultra-80's straight-to-cable TV trash that I grew-up with and love. The vibe here is best summed up as being zany, this is a very zany sci-fi teen comedy, complete with messy cafeteria food fights and the prerequisite trip to the mall, to get petition signatures to save the radio station, 'natch. Oh, and not that the film does anything with it, but this is a technically a Christmas flick, because we see a mall Santa in a scene, so feel free to squeeze this into your offbeat Christmas marathon alongside something like Trancers.
Mind Benders - Blu-ray Review:
Mind Benders (1987) makes it's worldwide Blu-ray debut from Vinegar Syndrome by way of their Vinegar Syndrome Archive (VSA) line, sourced from a 4k scan of the OCN, framed in 1.78;1. The source is clean and free of blemish, fine grain is evident throughout, and the mid-80s colors are vibrant and punchy, and we have nice depth and clarity to the image as well, it really looks terrific. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with optional English Subtitles. There is some age related wear on the track where is does get a bit rough in patches for brief moments, but generally dialogue sounds fine, the cacophonous lunch room food fights, 80s pop rock, synth score fare well.
The main extras is the 37-min High Tension High: The Making Of Mind Benders - a making-of documentary featuring interviews with producer Jack Bravman, director Genie Joseph, writer/lead actor Skip Lackey, and actors David Kener and Bill Curry. Genie Joseph discusses being brought on as an editor for Spookies, which turned out to be a massive task, she ending up having to shoot new footage and rewrite a whole new storyline. Then onto being tasked with a page one rewrite for Mind benders after being brought in by the Canadian producers, hashing it out in 10 days, stating her opinion that mind control is actually being used right now by nefarious governments, and getting into the casting. Also discussed are how losing two days of the twenty day shoot due to an encroaching blizzard meant having to eliminate scenes on the fly, rewriting dialogue and transitions as needed, and how a piece of the negative was destroyed so they lost some of the intended ending, and how the premiered on USA's Up All Night with Gilbert Godfrey under the title Alien High, Writer-actor skip Lackey discusses meeting Genie at a Tony Robins seminar of all places, collaborating with her on several screenplays before Mind benders, and how some of the cast were doing some of their own stunt work. Producer Jack Bravman gets into bringing on Genie Joseph to helm the tax shelter film. Other topics include character traits, memories of working with Miranda de Pencier and Roy Thennis, what it was like being Americans working in Canada, the struggles of low-budget filmmaking, shooting overnight at the high-school location, the stunt work including the hair-on-fire fire scene. We also get an Audio Commentary track with James Branscome and Nick Vance of the Cinematic Void Podcast, a fun track, multitude of titles, its Canadian lineage, the cast, the score, and much more.
The single-disc release arrives in a clear Elite keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring artworks by Robert Sammelin, with a Double-Sided Poster ticked away inside. This comes housed inside a hand-numbered Limited Edition Bottom-loading VHS Inspired Slipcase with the same kick-ass artwork by Robert Sammelin, but with some nice spot-gloss highlights.
Special Features:
- Region Free Blu-ray
- Scanned and restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Commentary track with director Genie Joseph and writer/actor Skip Lackey
- Commentary track with James Branscome and Nick Vance of the Cinematic Void Podcast
- "High Tension High: The Making Of Mind Benders" - a making-of documentary featuring interviews with producer Jack Bravman, director Genie Joseph, writer/lead actor Skip Lackey, and actors David Kener and Bill Curry (37:19)
- Reversible sleeve artwork
Mind Benders - Final Word:
Mind benders (1987) is not a particularly well-made flick, it's very rough around the edges, but the ultimate-'80s charm of it all really won me over. The mind-bending finale is a hot-mess that wraps up in record time, but the extras do good work explaining why that may be. Flaws aside, still a terrific party flick, I loved the campy, overly-heightened acting and goofy high school shenanigans, a fun watch for lovers of '80s teen-comedies.
