VHyesterdayS: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1996)

This past weekend officially marked Halfway to Halloween. I usually go out of my way to try and bring a little spooky into the springtime - maybe take out a decoration or two, drink some expired pumpkin coffee, whatever works - but this year all I could muster was watching an old movie... and that movie was E.T. The Extraterrestrial!

I know, I know. It's not a horror movie, but honestly I've been getting lots of horror in my diet lately, so watching something fun seemed just the ticket.

E.T. is, of course, the classic story of a young boy who befriends a wayward alien lost on Earth and trying to find his way home. The cast includes heavy-hitters like Dee Wallace (the ultimate '80s mom) and Peter Coyote, and has a excellent young cast with Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Henry Thomas as the film's main character, Elliott. Oh, and it was directed by Stephen Spielberg. You might've heard of him?

E.T. is a family movie, but don't let that fool you. This is perfect fare for Halloween.

The film is set in late-Autumn, although if you're not from Northern California it might be difficult to tell. Have no fear, though! There are several scenes set literally on Halloween night that include costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and decorations.

There's one costume in particular that I always wanted as a kid. As E.T., Elliott, and his brother Michael head out trick-or-treating they run into Yoda. It has to be a $200 mask and, when I was as kid, I thought it was the greatest thing, but I was stuck with plastic smocks and masks that made my glasses fog up.

For all its window dressings as a kids' movie, E.T. is damn scary. I might be a bit biased in this (E.T. scarred me as a child - something that took me a very long time to get over), but just watch the opening sequence of the film and tell me if you don't get a little creeped out. Also, I think every kid can remember being traumatized by E.T. lying half-dead in a creek with a raccoon literally waiting to feast on his soon-to-be dead body.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true (sorry for all the Star Wars references).

Now, onto the tape!

The original release of E.T. was in 1988 and it has an iconic tape with a black cassette shell and green tape guard. I don't, however, have that version of the movie. I have the 1996 re-release, which comes in a swanky clamshell (to further masquerade the movie as something for children) and has its audio remastered in THX.

This release also includes 10 minutes of special interviews with the cast and crew appended to the end of the tape. It plays out like a vignette. There are snippets of the film with commentary from some of the cast and crew, producer Kathleen Kennedy, and - of course - Stephen Spielberg himself.

These interviews are great and all, but they're actually a small sampling of an hour and a half long documentary directed by Laurent Bouzereau. His documentary about the making of E.T. was included on the Laserdisc, which released beside the 1996 VHS.

Bouzereau actually did several of these documentaries for Laserdisc releases of Spielberg films, most notably Jaws, and although many of the others have managed to find their way onto DVD and even Blu-ray, the documentary for E.T. has never escaped the '96 LD.

In 2002 the Special Edition DVD was released, which was infamously retouched with digital effects and included some deleted scenes. Everyone recalls those "walkie-talkies". Later for the film's 30th anniversary it was released on Blu-ray - in the original theatrical cut - and again on UHD in 2017 to coincide with the 35th anniversary.

Regarding the '96 VHS, the video quality isn't anything to write home about. I have definitely seen better VHS transfers of other movies, which surprises me considering this a Spielberg film. I mean, considering their was a widescreen Laserdisc release right there, it might've been neat to sell this as a widescreen VHS, but I digress. The audio is definitely crisp. The THX digital transfer here is on-point. As a result, this VHS is definitely serviceable and probably the best way to enjoy the film on tape.

So, if you're looking to scare yourself just a little on the road to Halloween this year, consider taking in the classic E.T. The Extraterrestrial. It's a fun (and freaky) stroll down memory lane and there's no better way to get those nostalgic vibes then on an old dusty tape you probably have tucked away on a shelf at your parents' house. Oh, and don't forget the Reese's Pieces!

Happy Halfway to Halloween!

I hope you enjoyed,
R

Underwater (2020) Movie Review

I've had an itch that I needed to scratch when it comes to Underwater for some time and I finally managed to watch the film a few days back.

Here are my thoughts on video!

Hope you enjoy,
R

VHyesterdayS: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of one of my favourite films of all time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so it only seems fitting that I take in a viewing of the only copy of the film that I have ever owned, the original VHS!

The film was infamously produced by Golden Harvest - an independent film company - with the use of Jim Henson-created suits and features a story that was actually adapted fairly faithfully from the comic source material, much to the confusion of many youngsters at the time. New Line Cinema stepped in for distribution of the film, which went on to be the highest-grossing indie movie of all time with $200M in the box office until The Blair Witch Project took the crown almost 10 years later.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was directed by Steve Barron (director of Coneheads, executive producer of the ReBoot cartoon series, and director of a load of music videos you probably remember from the 80s), and starred Judith Hoag as April O'Neil, Elias Koteas as Casey Jones, and the voices of Brian Tochi, Robbie Rist, Josh Pais, and Corey Feldman (yes, that Corey Feldman) as the Turtles themselves!

1990 was probably the height of Turtle-mania. Although the comic was first published in 1984, it was the Fred Wolf cartoon series that brought the Turtles into everyone's homes in 1987, not to mention the astronomical Playmates toyline.

As you can imagine I, like any other kid at the time, was obsessed with the Turtles, but the idea of a feature film certainly wasn't something on my radar. Then one day I saw the trailer for the film and all bets were off.

What's bizarre about the trailer is that they used a different voice-over for Shredder, but with the same lines (for the most part). Seems kind of weird, considering the incredible performance that had been delivered by James Saito.

edit: As it turns out, David McCharen voiced The Shredder in the film in a voiceover. So maybe the voice in the trailer is actually James Saito? I've been watching this film for 30 years and didn't know that. You certainly do learn something new every day!

I actually don't remember seeing the trailer first. My first memory without a doubt was the poster, which included some kind of mock-up of the Turtles sneaking a peak from under a manhole cover, also featured on the back of the VHS.

Regardless, I had to see the movie and I had to see it right away. So, when March 30th rolled around we were naturally waiting in a gigantic line that weaved out of our little three screen movie theatre and spilled in front of the neighbouring K-Mart. After waiting for what probably seemed like hours we eventually reached the hallway just outside of the box office before my soul was crushed and I found out that all screenings were sold out.

We returned sometime later - I can only assume swiftly - and I got to see the Turtles in "real life" (as far as I was concerned) and all was well with the world.

But, as any 7-year old would, I wanted to watch the movie again! And again, and again, and again! Well, thanks to good ol' Saint Nick I would have that dream, as I found this copy of the film under the Christmas tree that December!

I can't recall owning a VHS tape before this. I have some old cartoon tapes around that might pre-date this film, but I truly believe that this was my first home video ever. Considering how many times I've watched it, it's in remarkably good condition!

Even though New Line did the theatrical distribution, the film wasn't released under New Line Home Video, because it didn't yet exist. New Line would wade into the video market once they made the play to get the rights for the Nightmare on Elm Street series in 1991 (they sold the home distribution rights to Media Home Entertainment in 1985). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released in the US under Family Home Entertainment. In Canada, oddly enough, F.H.E. didn't handle the video, but instead it was distributed by MCA via Alliance Releasing, which typically handled a lot of Canadian VHS. That's a little strange only because I had and rented metric tons of F.H.E. tapes when I was a kid, including the home releases of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show! Distribution rights are weird.

This film - along with the rest of the film series - has received very weird home video installments. There were the original VHS tapes and later fairly bare bones DVD releases. Honestly, they didn't do much for me, so I just never felt the need to upgrade to DVD. I always assumed at some point the Turtles would get the proper video release they deserved, but I'm still waiting. There is a DVD and Blu-ray box set, which includes the two live-action sequels and the 2007 animated film, but again with little-to-no features to speak of. Word is the German release actually contains a commentary by the director. Again, distribution rights are weird.

So, you can pick up this flick for cheap on DVD or Blu-ray at your local Wal-mart, but - as always - I would say there's a certain charm to watching these movies on VHS. Especially, if you were in the target market in the late-80s. The patina on the tape adds a certain quality to the experience that I always find endearing, and none more so than my first ever home video, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Now, break out your favourite pizza and pay tribute to one of the biggest films from your childhood for it's 30th birthday!

Cowabunga,
R

Friday the 13th: Part III Japanese Bootleg and 3D Glasses

Nowadays 3D has completely permeated the entertainment industry. Just about any big film release has a 3D option at the theatre and with 3D HD TVs you can watch more and more 3D content in the comfort of your home.

In the '90s and early 2000s 3D movies had been something played out at least a decade ago; a technology that managed to kick out a few theatrical releases and went the way of the dodo. The last remnants were VHS and DVD releases of films littered with the hokey detritus of what once was. Movies like Amityville 3-D, Jaws 3-D, and even a few minutes of 1991's Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Being a big Friday the 13th fan, however, the film that always piqued my interest was of course Friday the 13th: Part III. Oft loved by horror fans for the portrayal of Jason and simultaneously reviled for the acting, one thing that everyone could agree on was that the kills, although interesting, were clearly setups for the 3D effect that no longer added to the scenes, but left them standing out like a sore thumb.

In 2004, after picking up the From Crystal Lake to Manhattan box set I became more and more enamoured with the Friday the 13th films. Previously I would rent the VHS tapes from my local video store, but now I had them to watch as much as I desired. After viewing some special features about my favourite of the lot I became obsessed with the idea of seeing Friday the 13th: Part III the way it had been intended - in full 3D.

Thankfully, eBay was a thing and after some searching I came across a little device that could potentially make my dreams come true! It doesn't look like much, but by hooking up this little doodad to your rear-projection TV (I think it may only work with CRT sets, but I've never tried it on an LCD) it would cast a signal to the shutter glasses, which would cause them to essentially blink in the watcher's eyes.

If you coupled these glasses with the right kind of VHS or DVD it would create the 3D effect I was looking for! But how to find a copy of Friday the 13th: Part III in this format? It didn't exist, right?

Well, let's head to Japan!

After some browsing on a Japanese Yahoo auction site I eventually managed to find just the release I needed. The bootleg's box art is patterned after an official Victor VHD 3D release of the film, but I'm not sure if it's a dub of that VHD or if it's from a completely different release that just used the box art. Either way, the 3D black magic reportedly worked on it, so I purchased the bootleg and waited impatiently for the many weeks it took to arrive on my little island in Atlantic Canada.

I can still remember hooking it all up and trying it out for the first time. I had a small TV that had seen countless hours of video games and X-Files that would do just the trick. After messing around with the cables and getting the right batteries for the shutter glasses, I was ready to experience the film anew.

And it did not disappoint!

Now, before you get all excited let me be real with you; this isn't like the 3D films you're used to since Avatar. However, it beats watching the film in the old red and blue anaglyph 3D, which is actually an option if you picked up the Paramount Blu-ray release from '09.

Would I want to watch the movie like this every time? Nah, not really. It's fun now-and-then to throw on this version and see those old kitschy gore effects the way they were really meant to be seen, but watching the movie through the shutter glasses isn't exactly a treat and the bootleg I have is a little dark and not the best quality.

That said, it meant a lot to me to get to see the film this way back in '04 and even today. I'm doubtful we'll get a real, proper 3D release of the movie that would work on modern 3D TV sets. Heck, I don't even know if that sort of thing is possible! So other than a super rare opportunity to see the film in stereoscopic in theatre we'll be left laughing when Abel dangles that eyeball at the teenagers or when the snake attacks Harold on the toilet, wishing we were in on the gag.

Cheers,
R

Memory, Blog: The Sunday Night Ritual Revisited (Sorta?)

A little under a year ago I wrote an article about my old Sunday Night Ritual, which I pretty well never missed from 1996 right up until 2002!

The Coles Notes: I'd settle in to enjoy the last dregs of my weekend and watch The Simpsons, typically whatever other show Fox chose to air in between, and my favourite show of all time, The X-Files.

So, why are we talking about this crap again? Well, ever since I wrote that post I've had an unyielding urge to try and recreate that Sunday Night Ritual and I finally did it (kinda, sorta)!

I figured if I was going to attempt this, it made the most sense to start at the beginning, so let's travel back to the first night The X-Files aired on Sunday night, which was October 27th, 1996. What was on that night? Well, it being so close to Halloween, Fox decided to air back-to-back episodes of The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror", with a re-run of the prior year's special (VI) followed by the latest edition (VII). Then The X-Files slid into their new slot with "Unruhe", one of the most well-remembered "Monster-of-the-Week" episodes from the series.

It was actually a full night of The Simpsons. Before airing the latest Halloween episodes, there were repeats of "22 Short Films About Springfield" and the "138th Episode Spectacular". "22 Short Films..." is one of my all-time favourite episodes and features a peak into the lives of some of the lesser-known residents of Springfield, including Bumblebee Man. The "138th Episode Spectacular" is the third clip show of the series, but the one everyone remembers, because it had early clips from The Tracey Ullman Show.

I have no idea if I watched these re-runs or not, honestly, but I thought it was too interesting not to note!

If I'm being honest, I probably didn't start out my night watching The Simpsons on this particular evening. At the time I was an avid watcher of 3rd Rock From The Sun, which was on at 9 o'clock AT on NBC. Luckily in 1996 this didn't rub against The Simpsons, because Fox would air the newest episode at 9:30. This would change the following year, however, when The Simpsons would lock in at 9PM followed by King of the Hill at 9:30. 3rd Rock From The Sun, however, moved to Wednesdays in 1997, so it all worked out!

I didn't particularly feel like revisiting 3rd Rock From The Sun for this Sunday Night Ritual, however. When I saw that Fox kicked off their new big Sunday flagship line-up with back-to-back editions of "Treehouse of Horror" I couldn't resist to watch that instead.

The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror VI"

---

Although a re-run, this is probably one of my favourite Simpsons Halloween specials. If you're unfamiliar with the specials, they would feature three non-canon spooky stories set in Springfield. Let's examine each of them!

As good as "Attack of the 50 Foot Eyesores" is - its basically The Simpsons take on kaiju films - it isn't a stand-out for me. Still a lot of fun, though!

"Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace" is exactly what it sounds like; a spoof on A Nightmare on Elm Street. This one features Groundskeeper Willy as a Freddy-like character who is hunting down the children of Springfield because their parents were lazy and negligent, resulting in his death. The nightmare sequences in this episode are just such a great copy of what you would find in an ANOES film and the crazy colour palette of The Simpsons makes them that much more opulent to look at.

"Homer³" might be one of my most well-remembered segments from the entire series. This was the episode where The Simpsons went 3D. Homer, in an attempt to avoid his sisters-in-law Patty and Selma accidentally enters The 3rd Dimension. Ultimately Bart tries to save him, but Homer ends up sucked into our world, which he's quickly okay with after finding an Erotic Cakes store. I can recall the ads for this episode showing Homer in the "real world" and him being in 3D and I couldn't wait to see it. You have to remember that Toy Story had come out the year prior and 3D animation was all the rage, so it made sense for The Simpsons to have some fun with it.

The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror VII"

---

The latest edition of the long-running Simpsons Halloween specials was great and contained some classic shorts even if they weren't quite as memorable as those in the prior special.

It starts out with "The Thing and I", in which we find out that Bart was actually a conjoined twin, but that his brother, Hugo, was so evil he had to be surgically disconnected and hidden away in the attic. It features some great lines from Dr. Hibbert.

Second up was "The Genesis Tub". Lisa accidentally creates a tiny society while working on her science fair project, which becomes much more advanced than our own society and comes to see her as their god and Bart as their devil. It's an okay segment, but nothing to write home about. It does have one of my favouite quotes that I still use to this day: "Why am I so fat?" You'll have to watch to understand!

"Citizen Kang" is probably the strongest short from the episode. The popular aliens Kang and Kodos, who first appeared in the original "Treehouse of Horror", return - this time abducting then-President Bill Clinton and Senator Bob Dole so they can impersonate them in a bid to take over the planet. It's a great dive into the foolishness of that election and has some really funny lines.

The X-Files "Unruhe"

---

This episode has all the trappings of an unmemorable MotW episode. It follows a serial killer, which was pretty routine for the show, but I guess it did add the paranormal element of "phantom photograpy". Oh, and Scully gets kidnapped! Real original! The thing is despite it looking weak on paper it's a really great show.

That said, I think the fact that it was the first Sunday episode, was basically their "Halloween" episode for the year, and had Pruitt Taylor Vince in a lead role make it memorable.

If you're not familiar with the name, Vince appeared in many different television and film roles through out the 90s and early 2000s, most famously Identity (2003), and has a very distinct feature that makes him stand out: an eye condition known as nystagmus, in which his eyes sort of vibrate back-and-forth.

It all comes together in a great episode that kicked off the shows Sunday night run, which lasted right up until the finale episode in 2002.

Now, I have to be honest with you... this was all a bit of a cheat. You see, I originally planned to re-create this ritual in October of last year. I wanted it to be a feature for my Halloween 2019 stuff, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't squirrel away the time on a Sunday to make it happen. I was initially going to wait until next year to try again, but like I said before this has been on my brain since last February. I've tried repeatedly to make it happen and with my hectic life and busy work schedule it just kept slipping through the cracks.

So, I did what I had to and I just waited for the opportunity to present itself, which finally happened the past Tuesday. I know, I know. How can you have a Sunday Night Ritual on a Tuesday!? Finding two hours to sit down and relax just doesn't happen for me right now and I had to run with it.

Beside the fact that it was on the wrong night, it also wasn't very relaxing. After a long day at work, a quick supper, taking my eldest to swim class, and finally getting all the kids to bed I decided to shoe-horn this in and I just couldn't wind-down. Revisiting the episodes were all great fun, but when I used to watch these shows I would practically fall asleep it was so chill and that just wasn't the case this time around.

It also didn't help that I had to stream The Simpsons from Disney+, which meant I had to sit at my desk and watch these shows. That just doesn't jive. I have to be firmly ensconced in my couch or bed for true authenticity.

So this particular attempt at The Sunday Night Ritual was a bit of a failure. But I don't think I'm done there. I have to give this another try and really make it as authentic as possible, so instead of trying to cram the event in because I'm hankering to do it, I'm going to just take my time and make it work on a rare quiet Sunday, when (hopefully) the kids are all sound asleep and I can really enjoy it. Even if that happens in like 13 years...

Anyway, I hope you had fun with this trip down memory lane, if only to enjoy reading about the TV shows that aired that night.

Hopefully there are more to come!
R