BERSERKER (1987) Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Director: Jef Richard
Vinegar Syndrome

In the waning days of the classic slasher, filmmakers plumbed Norse mythology with BERSERKER, on Blu-ray/DVD combo from Vinegar Syndrome.

Six young city slickers – Josh (Greg Dawson) and his girlfriend Kristi (Shannon Engemann, POOLHALL JUNKIES), Mike (Joseph Alan Johnson, SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE) and Shelly (voices actress Beth Toussaint, DEAD HEAT), and Larry (future digital effects artist Rodney Montague, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) and Kathy (Valerie Sheldon) – head for the woods for a camping weekend. Josh takes them to Rainbow Valley, once a Scandinavian settlement according to Larry who has brought along a book on the subject, where he camped yearly with his now-estranged father until six years ago when the death of young girl ostensibly mauled by a bear cut down on the area's tourist trade. Although ranger Hill (John Goff, THE FOG) warns them about wild animals, and camp caretaker Pappy Nyquist (George "Buck" Flower, THEY LIVE) refuses Josh's request of a particularly remote cabin site, Josh defies the warnings and takes his friends to the site from which an elderly couple (FOOTLOOSE's Oscar Rowland and HALLOWEEN 4's Betty Rowland) have recently vanished. No sooner does Larry spook the group with a story about Norse warriors who sent out ahead of them in battle Berserkers – warriors whose bloodlust allowed them to fight with their hands and teeth alone whose restless souls would continue to possess their bloodline until it was extinguished – than someone or something starts clawing its way through the campers, but is it man or beast? Josh is a hothead who knows the woods like the back of his hand, Ranger Hill has expressed concern about Pappy's credulity of the local legends, and there actually is a marauding bear (Bart the Bear of the Academy Award-winning THE BEAR) prowling the area.

Although less-seasoned genre fans may be surprised at the number of horror films produced in Mormon Utah, many with investment of Salt Lake City businessmen for tax purposes. BERSEKER is not atypical of the state's product much of which cannot really be considered regional since the makers were mainly Hollywood types taking advantage of the investment capital, picturesque backdrops, and local crew what with the state as the base of operations of prolific documentary and family fare producers Sunn Classics; indeed, one of the film's slickest aspects is the photography of Henning Shellerup whose career encompassed west coast softcore (HER ODD TASTES) and hardcore (MARY! MARY!) as well as horror (KISS OF THE TARANTULA and SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT among many) and the aforementioned Sunn Classics fare including THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS as cinematographer and later director. The script is nothing new for the genre, and that indeed may be in its favor, with likable characters going through the motions, suitably atmospheric fog-shrouded settings, a bit of homoeroticism, a more graphic than expected for the period sex scene, and some proficient if unspectacular special effects. Character actors and old friends Flower and Goff provide some interesting interplay, and Flower's daughter Verkina worked behind the scenes. Director Jefferson Richard had served as an assistant director and production manager for Matt Cimber – including THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA with Goff and Flower – before working for Sunn Classics in the seventies and eighties, helming only three features but working more prolifically since then as a producer with Shapiro-Glickenhaus and Cinetel before more mainstream works like DRIVEN and GET CARTER.

Given scant theatrical release by Shapiro Entertainment (later Shapiro-Glickenhaus), BERSERKER was more widely seen on VHS from Prism Entertainment. Derived from a 2K scan of the original 16mm camera negative, it is a testament to the photography that the film looks so good in the 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer. Director Richard had actually worked with a Seattle lab in perfecting a proprietary finer-grained 35mm blow-up process so the 16mm negative was exposed with blow-up in mind, so we have well-lit night scenes in a low-budget slasher film for a change in spite of the heavy use of fog. The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono track is clean with the scoring and stingers coming across effectively. Optional English SDH subtitles are included and also transcribe the song lyrics.

Extras start off with an audio commentary by Justin Kerswell & Joseph Henson of The Hysteria Continues! The pair reminisce about discovering the film on VHS, puzzle over the degree of theatrical exposure it had, compare the likable characters of films from this era to more modern slashers, and express an overall affection for the film's honoring so many slasher tropes while also throwing in the whodunit/whatdunit aspect of the killer, the Norse mythology aspect, and the atypical "Buck" Flower character. Director Richard appears in an optional introduction (0:18) and the interview “A Family Affair” (25:46) in which he discusses his career as an assistant director and production manager in Utah and Los Angeles, producer Joseph Kaufman coming to him with the idea of a horror film about berserkers and the requirement of a lead role for actor Johnson, recruiting Shellerup to shoot the film, and the casting and crewing the film with family members (Flower was his brother-in-law with whom he had started in an acting troupe touring Shakespeare in churches with Flower's friend Goff doing the same in a different group). He discusses the shoot, his use of HMI lights at night for an intentional blue look, shooting the intercut sex and death scenes simultaneously with himself operating a second camera, and working with the bear.

"Beware of Bears" (16:20) is an interview with actor Johnson who recalls producers Robert A. Foti and Robert Seibert coming to Los Angeles to become producers and meeting him when he was working at a nightclub. It was his idea that they try to mount a low budget horror film – Johnson would also pen the snowbound slasher ICED in which he co-starred – becoming fast friends with the cast, and how the film which he likes did not propel his career further. Getting tired of doing soda commercials and just losing out to several roles, he decided to go to Italy where he wound up doing Umberto Lenzi's HOUSE OF LOST SOULS for television and Lucio Fulci's GHOSTS OF SODOM. Returning to the states, he tired of driving around California hunting for roles and got into theater in Florida. “Valley Girl” (10:46) is an interview with actress Engemann who makes some general remarks about the cold shoot and her co-stars but also reveals that she was always more focused on singing than acting. In the audio interview with Berserker actor Mike Riley (9:56), he reveals that his audition consisted taking off his shirt and roaring, his refusal to do the fight scene with the bear after doing some initial tussling with it. He also notes that acting was not his focus and that he eventually became a computer geek instead. The disc also includes a stills gallery (1:38). The cover is reversible, with the odd Pink Floyd's THE WALL-esque artwork on the outer cover and on the back of the special limited edition embossed slipcover designed by Earl Kessler Jr. that ships with the first 2,000 copies ordered directly from Vinegar Syndrome. (Eric Cotenas)

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