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“Rock ’n’ Roll High School (45th Anniversary Edition)” * (1979, Shout! Factory) Allan Arkush’s “Rock’n’ Roll High School” approaches the half-century mark (!) but remains “a gleeful, hormonally charged cartoon layered with the Ramones’ aesthetic of girls, cars, noise, and (Carbona not) glue,” as I wrote back in 2019. The new three-disc edition delivers both UHD and Blu-ray version(taken from a 4K scan of the original negative) and adds new commentary by author Stephen B. Armstrong (“I Want You Around: The Ramones and the Making of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll High School'”) and an interview with Marky Ramone to the vintage extras (commentaries with Arkush, producer Roger Corman, and stars P.J. Soles, Clint Howard, and Dey Young, among others). The 45th Anniversary edition also reaffirms the movie’s high points (songs by the Ramones, including the title track, and the cast, which includes the eternally cool Mary Woronov and Dick Miller) and a few low points (the occasional dip into leering territory, like the gym sequence), but ultimately stands as testimony to, as I said in 2019, “the giddy, all-or-nothing joy you experience as a teenager when discovering that thing (music, the opposite sex, etc.) that seems to be not only the sum of your parts, but also a possible direction (or escape route) for the future.”
“Scala!!!” * (2023, Severin Films) Rowdy documentary about the titular London theater, which earned a devoted (and occasionally demented) following among underground movie fans from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. A host of famous types offer praise the Scala’s eccentric programming – everything from Laurel and Hardy to “Scorpio Rising” and “El Topo” – including John Waters, Ben Wheatley, Jah Wobble, and Thurston Moore, but the most enthusiastic and entertaining recollections come from the mostly female staff (like Jane Giles, who co-directed the film with Guardian writer Ali Catterall), who endured projector fires, the perils of the downtrodden King’s Crossing area, and randy audience members (depicted via appropriately punkish animation), and moviegoers, who found something like a community in the theater. Your interest in cult and arthouse films and those that follow them will determine your interest in “Scala,” but the cracked joy expressed by those that were there is at times infectious and downright endearing. Severin’s three-disc Blu-ray includes commentary by the directors, a number of documentaries about the theater, its programming (including one all-night horror festival that went off the rails), and its eye-popping calendars, extended interviews, and numerous original shorts and animation that played at the Scala including a early project from Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell.
“The Million Eyes of Sumuru” * (1967, Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray release of this delirious pulp adventure-fantasy about novelist Sax Rohmer’s super-villianess, who sought to upend the patriarchy with her fascistic all-woman army. I stand by what I wrote about “Sumuru’ on Blu-ray in 2016: the steely presence of “Goldfinger” alum Shirley Eaton in the title role, and the bemused/bemusing trio of George Nader (“Robot Monster”), Frankie Avalon, and Klaus Kinski as stateside agents and the polymorphously perverse ruler of a faux Asian nation, respectively, are its key selling points. And while the camera still regards Sumuru and her “slaves” (who are given to forays into mild sadism) with a tiresome, leering approach, I don’t think Lindsey Shonteff’s direction is sloppy anymore; the notoriously eccentric filmmaker shows a knack for action and cheeky humor, and makes the most of location filming in Rome and Hong Kong (at Shaw Brothers Studios). Blue Underground’s two-disc set includes 10 minutes of additional scenes and two commentaries – an extensive overview by historians David Del Valle and Dan Marino, and a second by historians Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth which focuses in part on its producer, the notorious Harry Alan Towers, who made outrageous films with, among others, Jess Franco in the ’60s and ’70s. The Rifftrax edition of the film and a trailer are also included, but the highlight of the set is a feature-length documentary on Shonteff, whose dogged determination to make films his own way resulted in some very strange but frequently entertaining productions, including the creepy “Devil Doll” and a slew of James Bond carbons/spoofs that took tongue-in-cheek humor to surreal extremes.
“Who Fears the Devil?” (1972, Severin Films) Amiable balladeer John (Hedge Capers) wanders the Appalachian region and encounters various supernatural entities, which he wards off with his silver-stringed guitar, before turning his attention to a more earthly problem. A-for-effort attempt at translating author Manly Wade Wellman’s stories about Silver John, which used his study of Southern folk legends to lend authenticity; those interested in folk horror will find plenty to chew on, including dowsing, hoodoo and voodoo, witchcraft and location filming in Arkansas and North Carolina. That isn’t quite enough to overcome an unfocused script, which pulls in Severn Darden’s wandering mystic to help tie together two of Wellman’s stories with an original third that, in pitting John against racial injustice, thrusts his modest hero into the uncomfrortable role of white savior. Budget is a problem too, though the stop-motion effects by Gene Warren (“The Outer Limits”) are charmingly crude, and Capers, though a legitimate musician (of the folk duo Hedge and Donna), plays the smart, cagey John as a sort of blissful hippie goof. Enjoyable as a ’70s horror oddity and hard-to-find title (reissued as “The Legend of Hillbilly John,” it flopped twice and remained long out of circulation), Severin bundles “Devil” as part of “All the Haunts Be Ours Volume Two,” a second, sprawling (13-disc) collection of international folk horror titles. Historian Amanda Reyes details the film’s complicated history in commentary, while producer Barney Rosenzweig (“Cagney & Lacey”) is upfront about the problems it faced before and after production. Capers is also interviewed, while author David Drake discusses his friendship with Wellman; the most interesting extra is an interview with historian Mitch Horowitz, who details rural folk magic and hoodoo traditions and showcases eye-popping images from catalogs that sold hoodoo items to the Appalachian region in the 1940s.
