sheer out-and-out weirdness. And it’s a good thing said psychedelics are rendered even more trippy on the cleaned-up, high-def transfer presented on this Blu-ray because, in absence of any additional features whatsoever, it’s the only reason to pick it up.
TREVOR TUMINSKI Being Christopher Walken
BRAINSTORM (1983) Blu-ray Starring Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood
and Louise Fletcher Directed by Douglas Trumbull Written by Bruce Joel Rubin, Robert Stitzel and Philip Frank Messina Warner Bros.
Just how badly do you want a window into the
mind of Christopher Walken? That’s what you need to ask yourself before putting down money on this Blu-ray version of Brainstorm. Starring a young Walken, Natalie Wood (in her
final performance), Louise Fletcher (Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), and enough ’80s techno-kitsch to make TRON blush, this dark sci-fi thriller imagines an invention that allows one to enter the mind of another per- son and experience the world through their per- spective, like a real-world form of virtual reality. The brain child of one Michael Bruce (Walken),
it’s initially used for pleasure, but then the gov- ernment appropriates the technology for torture purposes. When one of the re- searchers records his own mind while dying, the machine becomes lethal. Pushed over the edge, Michael bat- tles enemies and friends alike, mani- acally convinced that he will gain enlightenment by
experiencing the death recording. But stripped of its amusingly outdated “futuristic” tech and rudi- mentary computer graphics, this convoluted sci- fright flick is pretty dull. The Blu-ray itself is equally underwhelming; a
theatrical trailer is its only addititional content (when can we stop listing these as special fea- tures?). The picture is sharp but the colours are bleached and the sound poorly equalized, requir- ing a constant hand on the remote. Another odd authoring choice is the Blu-ray’s
faithfulness to the film’s gimmicky theatrical pres- entation, wherein it shifts between a ratio of 1.85:1 (shot on standard 35mm) for the majority of the narrative and 2.2:1 (shot on Super Panavi- sion 70mm) for the virtual reality POV sequences. This would have been a neat bit of trickery on a gigantic cinema screen, but on a widescreen tel-
RM48 R E I S S U E S
Brainstorm: Ground Control to Major Chris.
evision it’s just distracting. One thing the Blu-ray does takes advantage of, however, is the ability to show the 70mm sequences in all their 60 frames-per-second glory, but the majority of the film remains shoddily refurbished for the format and is not much of an upgrade from the 2009 DVD release. If you’re a Brainstorm super-fan (and that’s a
pretty big if), this edition may be a worthy virtual trip, but for the rest of us, this Blu-ray may be best left in the mind of someone else. PATRICK DOLAN
When The Inmates Ran The Asylum
TALES THAT WITNESS
MADNESS (1973) DVD/Blu-ray Starring Donald Pleasence, Kim Novak and Joan Collins Directed by Freddie Francis Written by Jennifer Jayne Olive Films
The ’70s were a fertile
time for British horror an- thologies. Most were made by Hammer rival Amicus Pro- ductions, but 1973’s Tales That Witness Madness was produced by World Film Services, who managed to scare up a fine cast, includ- ing Donald Pleasence (Hal- loween), Kim Novak (Vertigo), Joan Collins (Dynasty) and Mary Tamm (Doctor Who). Like the Amicus films – and, indeed, all anthologies – some segments are better than others. The wraparound tale sees Dr. Nicholas (Jack
Hawkins: Theatre of Blood) visiting his colleague Dr. Tremayne (Pleasence) at a futuristic asylum.
Tremayne, who only has four patients, explains that his work has led him to a major discovery – one he will reveal once Nicholas has met all his “special visitors.” The first is Paul (Russell Lewis), a child whose
argumentative parents do not believe him when he insists that his imaginary friend is a tiger – one who hates them for their bickering. Patient two is Timothy (Peter McEnery), a young an- tiques dealer bequeathed a penny-farthing bi- cycle and a creepy portrait of his late Uncle Albert, who imposes his will on Timothy in an effort to use his nephew to rewrite his past. The third, Brian (Michael Jayston), brings home a human-like tree of which his wife Bella (Collins) soon grew jealous – for good reason. Finally, Au- riol (Novak) is a literary agent whose new client (Michael Petrovich) chooses her daughter (Tamm) for an ancient ritual that will release his dead mother’s soul from Hell. Director Freddie Francis, who cut his teeth on
Hammer’s The Evil of Frankenstein (1963) and the Amicus anthology Dr. Ter- ror’s House of Horrors (1965), keeps the action brisk, never letting the weaker segments drag down the film. Of the four, the first, “Mr. Tiger,” is the most full -realized, while the last and longest, “Luau,” is the most perverse, delving as it does into dismemberment and cannibal- ism. Handsome production values
and generally fine perform- ances (except for Novak who looks out of place, having re- placed Rita Hayworth after the
Gilda star ran away from set) make Tales That Witness Madness at least a bit more than the sum of its parts.
SEAN PLUMMER
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