HELL RIDERS (1984) Vinegar Syndrome Archive #5 Blu-ray
Director: James Bryan
Vinegar Syndrome

The makers of DON'T GO IN THE WOODS and LADY STREETFIGHTER take on the biker genre in HELL RIDERS, on limited edition Blu-ray as part of Vinegar Syndrome's Archive line.

Seeking a better life, Vegas card dealer Claire Delaney (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND's Tina Louise) hits the road but her rusted heap breaks down on a country road where she is terrorized by bikers known as the "Hell Riders" but she is saved from the advances of woman-hating Snake (Ross Alexander) by Big Ed (Dutch Van Dalsen, DANGEROUS MEN), the leader of another gang who has regretted his decision to let the Hell Riders ride with them when Snake is obviously insane and speaks of taking them all out in a "blaze of glory." When the biker kid tasked with seeing Claire back on the road safely is murdered by the Hell Riders, Claire escapes to the nearby town of Ramsburg where the authoritarian sheriff (Jerry Ratay, THE EXECUTIONER PART II) – who is trying to force his virginal daughter Suzy (Chris Haramis) to marry his own former high school classmate Joe (Frank Millen) and add to the population of Ramsburg – is reluctant to get involved with the bikers and instead casts aspersions on Claire's character. After getting checked over by more understanding Dr. Dave (ONE DARK NIGHT's Adam West), Claire discovers that she will have to accept the hospitality of the Sheriff's family until Joe can fix her car. The bikers ride into town and terrorize the tourists and the populace while the Sheriff is hiding from his wife, until Dr. Dave dislocates Snake's shoulder and sends them scuttling out of town. They return, however, and take it over, jailing the Sheriff, Dr. Dave, and others and raping and killing their way through the female populace.

An extremely familiar biker pic scenario – especially since Vinegar Syndrome's previous Archive release was the similar but far more slick and technically competent SAVAGE DAWN – HELL RIDERS is entertaining for all the wrong reasons. In keeping with the genre, the bikers are a diverse lot of psychopaths including a maniacal, one-handed preacher called Father (Frank Newhouse, LADY STREETFIGHTER), his Angel (porn starlet Melissa Christian, CAN'T GET ENOUGH) who he walks around nude on a leash, a hulking guy in confederate wear named Convict (stuntman Dan Bradley, HELLHOLE), and knife-wielding, matricidal Dutch (co-writer/producer Renee Harmon, FROZEN SCREAM) while the town's authority figures are not just hypocritical but perverted with the town's nubile women – including the waitresses who wait until they arrive at the local diner to strip and shower – seemingly brainwashed to all desire geriatric mechanics while the only man under thirty in the town is Suzy's bratty brother, and the only tourists look like they stepped out of the 1950s. The action scenes are competently-staged, but that is about all that can be said about them, but the climax in the townspeople turn the tables on the bikers is viscerally satisfying. Director James Bryan (DON'T GO IN THE WOODS) makes good use of West and Louise, both apparently hired for a single day of filming but with plenty of coverage in and around the town that suggests more, but the incessant country twang library scoring becomes droning and one longs for moments of inane dialogue instead. One of the film's producers was exploitation vet Lee Frost (CHAIN GANG WOMEN).

Picked up by 21st Century Film Corporation in the U.S. (and apparently by Trans World for overseas), HELL RIDERS languished on VHS from Canon Video with its biker action cover looking seriously dated by 1989. The 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer from a 2K scan of the original camera negative looks quite stunning apart from some minor wear that probably happened in the camera or during processing (in the opening shot it is hard to determine white specs from the sun glinting off individual rocks in the asphalt), quite apart from the grainy and mismatched short ends shooting of Bryan's other films. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track sounds fantastic, what with most of the location dialogue clearly recorded with lavalier microphones, a limited sound effects palette, and library scoring. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

Extras are limited to an original storyboard excerpt gallery (0:58) and "Straight to Hell" (15:16), an interview with co-writer/director Bryan who recalls his partnership with Harmon who was diligent in her screenwriting process (having written a handful of books on low budget filmmaking) and recruited her students to work on the film. He also reveals that the script was dictated by the demands of an Italian distributor who put up the money but that he had to rewrite Harmon's script to make the most effective use of the availability of West and Louise. He describes West as easygoing while Louise was difficult, keeping track of her hours since they would have to pay her for another full day if they went over twelve hours. The limited edition disc – only available directly from Vinegar Syndrome and some select retailers – comes with a reversible cover, foldout double-sided poster, and is packaged in a specially designed, bottom-loading VHS inspired slipcase, featuring the original video art used for the film. (Eric Cotenas)

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