NIGHTBEAST (1982) Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Director: Don Dohler
Vinegar Syndrome

"If you have guts...HE WANTS THEM!" Vinegar Syndrome crash-lands NIGHTBEAST onto Blu-ray/DVD combo.

When a spaceship collides with a meteor, it crashes to Earth deep in the woods of the small Maryland town of Perryhill. The toothsome alien alternates comes out shooting, alternating between vaporizing victims with a ray gun and disemboweling them with his claws. When their bullets are no match for the alien, Sheriff Cinder (Tom Griffith), hunter Jamie (Jamie Zemarel), and deputy Lisa (Karin Kardian) try to evacuate the town, but the mayor (Richard Dyszel, aka D.C. area horror host Count Gore De Vol) is having a poolside bash and the governor (Richard Ruxton, MAXIM XUL) is the guest of honor. When the beast rips apart several of their patients, doctors Ruth (Anne Frith, BLOOD MASSACRE) and Steve (George Stover, HARVESTERS) discover that electricity is a more effective repellent against the creature and team up with Cinder to lure the alien into a thirty-thousand volt trap.

A virtual remake of Maryland regional filmmaker Don Dohler's earlier film THE ALIEN FACTOR with added gore and nudity – including the most un-erotic sex scene ever filmed – is low-rent fun. Starting off with an impressive for the budget outer space sequence by low budget genre effects specialists John R. Ellis (THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING!) and Phil Cook (DESPISER) and animation effects by Ernest D. Farino (THE ABYSS), the film's subsequent Earthbound scenes are of the stalk and slash variety with a beast designed by THE DEADLY SPAWN's John Dods tearing off limbs and ripping out organs in between haphazardly-choreographed fight scenes, coming across more so than THE ALIEN FACTOR like a fifties American sci-fi film beefed up for eighties commercial demands. Performances are generally stilted but Dohler occasionally evinces some style and a couple of the suspense sequences actually do manage some meager tension. Don Leifert of Dohler's better-known FIEND plays an abusive biker who beats his girlfriend and tries to rape deputy Lisa, second assistant director Tony Malanowski would subsequently helm the threadbare NIGHT OF HORROR and the slightly more ambitious semi-remake THE CURSE OF THE SCREAMING DEAD, and the score was co-composed by future LOST creature J.J. Abrams.

Released on big box home video by Paragon, NIGHTBEAST was picked up in the 1990s by Troma and given a "Special Beastly Edition" DVD with commentary and an outtakes/blooper reel. Derived from a new 2K scan of the 16mm camera negative, NIGHTBEAST is a definite upgrade over the DVD. Apart from a couple shots during the outer space opening where the frame line dips into the shot, the element is virtually unblemished showcasing the warts-and-all photography in which the animation effects composites are often sharper than the live action elements while smoke helps the spread of meager lighting equipment in the night scenes and daylight and interior shots are well-defined (as are the close-ups of the beast which include some shots that are obviously the mask being operated like a puppet by someone's hand). A couple daylight shots are diffused with a fog filter, and both Dohler on the commentary and cinematographer Richard Geiwitz express regret at the choice. No complaints about the DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono track in which the dialogue is intelligible but limited by the original recording while dubbed in roars, foley effects, and the synth score come across with more consistent definition. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

The Troma audio commentary from 2004 with writer/director Dohler and actor Stover has been ported over from the DVD, with Dohler and Stover dishing about shooting in and around Dohler's house – including the mayor's party sequence solely to show off his newly-installed swimming pool – the use of family members and friends including his own children (and the audience reaction to seeing them vaporized). Dohler notes that they added gore to beef up the film, and that the nude bits from actress Monica Neff were shot in more explicit as well as TV-safe takes, and that there was originally no sex scene until investor Griffith insisted on one and was left to convince Kardian (the hairdresser of Dohler's aunt) to do nudity.

Also included is the archival cast and crew featurette “Nightbeast Returns” (25:09) featuring Dohler, Stover, Dohler's now-grown children Greg Dohler and Kim Pfeiffer, and Leifert. They touch upon the original NIGHTBEAST which was started with ALIEN FACTOR actor David Geatty in the director's chair but he was so slow and meticulous that the cast and crew revolted. The production was dropped and Dohler mounted FIEND to recoup the lost costs and decided after that experience to resurrect NIGHTBEAST as a scaled down remake of ALIEN FACTOR. “An Electric Performance" (15:44) is an interview with actor Zemarel who met Dohler while in acting classes – his previous experience including an extra role in GREASE that he won in a contest – and his surprise that Dohler wanted him for a principal role. “Crashing the Set" (14:31) is an interview with visual effects artist Ellis who recalls that he did a screen test for THE ALIEN FACTOR and discovered that Dohler had no concept for where the alien came from. He suggested a setup that Dohler liked but felt that the director did not use him for the film because he feared he would take over, and that it was production manager David Ellis (no relation) who called him to work on the spaceship for NIGHTBEAST (which he had to match to the papier-mâché ship created and blown-up by pyrotechnics artist David Donoho who also gets his face clawed by the beast in a cameo appearance).

“Shooting the NIGHTBEAST" (19:04) is an interview with cinematographer Geiwitz who got his start in Super 8 horror shorts and became aware of Dohler through his Cinemagic magazine and was hired to act in THE ALIEN FACTOR and then was asked to shoot FIEND. He recalls that Dohler criticized THE ALIEN FACTOR's photography as too-static and that they got to use dollies and handheld shots on FIEND and also discovered the effectiveness of even slight camera movements in cramped locations where it was impossible to get a second camera angle. They used these techniques and moved conversations outdoors to enliven NIGHTBEAST. Also included is an outtakes and blooper reel (6:40) that includes the amateur actors flubbing lines as well as some effects shots before animation, along with a neat stop-motion long shot of the creature slithering out of the ship, as well as a visual effects gallery (4:16), and the film's theatrical trailer (1:57) that is more tongue-in-cheek than the film itself. Limited to 3,000 copies and if ordered on the Vinegar Syndrome website, you'll receive a special limited edition embossed slipcover designed by Earl Kessler Jr. (Eric Cotenas)

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