Post by Evan on Mar 24, 2007 19:25:24 GMT -5
In an abandoned prison, a doctor has revived executed convicts as the living dead. Teenager Scott Schwartz (A Christmas Story, The Toy) creates a weapon from a laserdisc player's laser and pursues the walking dead, aided by his girlfriend and grandfather (western star Bob Allen). A reporter (Robert Deveau) on the trail of the story is helped by the town librarian, played in her final film role by Zita Johann (Boris Karloff's "The Mummy," "The Sin of Nora Moran"). On the prison island, the zombies attack a security guard and tear him apart as the reporter and teenager venture into the prison caverns for a final showdown.
A cheesy 80's horror/comedy movie. I dont think the comedy is intentional, but this movie is funny. This features a young Scott Schwartz who years earlier was Flick in "A Christmas Story". The DVD for this movie is waaay above average. The DVD features the two other shorter versions of this film which have entirely different stories and for the most part, actors. Here is the entire list of extras in detail:Now here’s where things get interesting on this two disc (!) set. As I previously mentioned, Raiders was hacked together from a number of sources by producer Sam Sherman, hoping to make his money back on a sight-unseen purchase of Brett Piper’s 16 millimeter feature, Dying Day. Why anyone would devote this much attention to the evolution of such an awful film is anyone’s guess, but here it is.
Included in their entirety are Dying Day, the non-film that comprises the bulk of this madness, and Dark Night, Sherman’s first stab at turning said film into something releasable. I’ll make this quick. The 80 minute Dying Day has its effective moments (like maybe two), but is essentially unwatchable and very unlikable. The black as pitch print is cobbled together from a 16 millimeter source and a video master. It’s initially surprising to see how much footage was deleted for Raiders, but not such a shock once I realized how bad it all is. Slow moving, dreadful acting, and horrible shots all amount to a sleepy time. Dark Night, which incorporates footage from Dying Day and new scenes shot by Sherman, fares much worse. You heard me. It’s a true mystery as to why this utter piece of dreck was even released on DVD. Even as an extra, this mostly silent (no score, little dialogue) rough cut will have you staring at your socks in about two minutes. Although there’s a ton of unused footage, it just boils down to Raiders without Scott Schwartz, his laser gun, and the laughs. No fun.
Still with me? If you survive Dying Day and Dark Night, make your way over to Sam Sherman’s commentary track for Raiders. I really enjoy Sherman’s commentary tracks, which have popped up on numerous Al Adamson and Blood Island discs. On more than one occasion, Sam has kept his commentaries short and sweet, often concluding with a wealth of information before the actual film hits 60 minutes. I wish he would have used that kind of judgment while recording the Raiders track. While it starts out pretty fascinating, things soon get redundant and tedious, as Sherman resorts to describing screen action and talking about how much he really likes some of the camera angles towards the end of the film. A half hour blitzkrieg would have more than sufficed in this case.
Wrapping things up, we’ve got trailers for Raiders, all of the Blood Island films, and a few other Independent-International releases, as well as a lengthy behind the scenes still gallery. The Raiders trailer, filled with genius catch phrases like “This ain’t no picnic,” might be one of the best things ever. And for only 22.00 but if youm buy it in a three pack its only 14.99!
