If you've seen this film you know that it's not great but it sure is fun. I was surprised to see Hollywood Boulevard get better treatment on DVD than some better quality films (As of this writing Citizen Kane has not been released on DVD) but that just makes this release all the more fun. The 3-way commentary by Joe Dante (Gremlins), Allan Arkush and Jon Davidson is what DVD commentaries are all about. They're funny, informative, and quite forthcoming with their feelings towards the film. An interesting passage occurs during Candice Rialson's rape scene. Everybody gets quiet. Clearly all were (and always will be)embarrassed by the scene. So much so they don't know what to say except that all films of this nature had the obligatory rape scene. The stories about Paul Bartel and Roger Corman are a hoot. The disc looks and sounds as good as can be. If you're a fan of low budget fun this disc is worth your cash.
Finally...FINALLY...Hollywood Boulevard is here on DVD
This film is one of my all time favorite slices of cheese. It's from the heyday of Roger Corman's New World Pictures and features many of that stock company, like Paul Bartel, Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, etc.
Two guys from Corman's trailer cutting department, Joe Dante and Allan Arkush, had a great idea: Cut action scenes from various New World Productions, add some comical footage, T&A, action, slasher mystery and a song by country rock legends Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, mix and stir and you have a wildly entertaining film. It's also one of the cheapest features ever produced by New World.
The story concerns an aspiring starlet, played by the beautiful Candice Rialson, who arrives in Hollywood to seek fame and fortune. After a blundering robbery attempt by buffonish thieves who tricked her, she meets agent Walter Paisley (Dick Miller, using the same name as his character from Corman's classic, A Bucket of Blood), and becomes a stuntwoman for Miracle Pictures ("If it's a good picture, it's a miracle"), a thinly disguised parody of Corman's low budget grindhouse production company, New World. She then becomes a Miracles big star, and wacky filmmaking ensues. Not to mention a behind-the-scenes killer, adding mysterious spice to the events.
This film is a lot of fun, worthy of many repeated viewings. At least for me. There are lots of industry in-jokes and gentle satire aimed at Roger Corman himself. It's never taken too seriously and every scene of it is delightful fun, especially for fans of Corman's particular brand of guerilla movie making. My only complaint is that Hollywood Boulevard 2 isn't included on the same disc. It's just as funny and entertaining as the first one. Here's hoping it will be among the next releases by Corman's New Concorde Home Video.
You'd think a black comedy about murder, tackiness, and sexual perversion would quickly become dated, but Eating Raoul (1982) feels surprisingly fresh and delightful. When Mary Bland (Mary Woronov) gets assaulted by one of the repulsive swingers from the neighboring apartment, her husband Paul (Paul Bartel) rescues her with a swift blow from a frying pan--only to discover a substantial wad of cash in the swinger's wallet. A lure-and-kill scheme follows, which nicely fills their nest egg until a slippery thief named Raoul (Robert Beltran of Star Trek: Voyager, making his film debut) stumbles onto the truth and insists on getting a share. When Raoul starts demanding a share of Mary as well, Paul has to take drastic steps. The key to Eating Raoul isn't the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paul Bartel - Mary Woronov Director(s): Paul Bartel DVD Release Date: Released the 13 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Roger Corman produced this shameless Jaws rip-off at the height of the "nature gone wild" boom of American cinema and struck B-movie gold. Scripted by John Sayles and directed by Joe Dante, this tongue-in-cheek thriller stars Bradford Dillman (doing his best Rip Torn impression) as an antisocial mountain man and Heather Menzies as a rookie detective who race a school of mutant piranha downriver. Dante and Sayles provide the requisite blood and gore for this drive-in meat market: a kids' summer camp and a waterfront amusement park await the little beasties. Along the way, riverside retiree Keenan Wynn gets his ankles stripped clean, camp counselor Paul Bartel is chomped on the cheek by a hungry little bugger who takes to the air, and hordes of unlucky bathers are caught in ... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bradford Dillman - Heather Menzies Director(s): Joe Dante DVD Release Date: Released the 24 October 2000 This item is currently not available.
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After the success of the wicked little sci-fi satire Death Race 2000, producer Roger Corman quickly recast David Carradine, this time as a rebel warrior in the year 3000 paired with B-movie vixen Claudia Jennings. The resulting mix of barbarians and bikers lacks the inspired humor and satirical twist of its inspiration, but it works just fine as a drive-in action picture about gladiators on motorcycles and bug-eyed mutant cannibals in second-rate makeup. Carradine gets to go all kung-fu and Jennings bares all in completely gratuitous (and frankly bewildering) torture scenes, and for all their New-Agey philosophy mumbo jumbo, they rise to the occasion in the gladiator ring (the deathsport of the title), where they pack in enough cycle stunts and fiery crashes to please an... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Allan Arkush - Roger Corman - Nicholas Niciphor DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2000 Usually ships within 24 hours
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A rarely screened cult favorite from Paul Verhoeven, this story of medieval war and revenge should please action fans and admirers of the director and his semi-regular leading man, Rutger Hauer, but its graphic scenes of sexual violence earmark it for mature viewers only. Hauer stars as a 16th-century mercenary hired by a Western European ruler (Fernando Hilbeck) to assault a neighboring kingdom; when the king reneges on his promises to Hauer and his men, they kidnap his son's fiancee (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and hole up in a nearby castle. Hauer and Leigh are standouts in a strong cast that includes Tom Burlinson, Bruno Kirby, the late Brion James, and Susan Tyrrell; Verhoeven's realistic approach to the down-and-dirty facts of medieval life and the bloody aftermath of warfare offers a... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Paul Verhoeven DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The peculiar genius of schlock-king Roger Corman is in full bloom with this extremely gory, pointedly offensive homage to 1950s monster movies (with a generous helping of Alien thrown in for good measure), in which a legion of mutated salmon-men terrorize a small town in their search for unwilling female companionship. (Potential viewers should be warned that this movie goes to great lengths to show what earlier films in this genre had only implied.) A guilty pleasure for exploitation fans with a strong stomach and a twisted sense of humor. For what it's worth, director Barbara Peters has claimed that additional shock scenes were inserted by producer Corman without her knowledge. The glop-intensive special effects were devised by Rob Bottin, who later went on to gross out the masses with... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Barbara Peters (II) - Jimmy T. Murakami DVD Release Date: Released the 28 August 2001 This item is currently not available.
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