THE DEADLY SPAWN

(A.k.a. RETURN OF THE ALIENS: THE DEADLY SPAWN!)

A couple out camping one evening are distracted by something flashing through the night sky: a meteorite crashes not so far from them. They investigate, and perish as a result.

The deadly spawn have arrived!

Cut to Sam (James Brewster) and his wife Barbara (Elissa Neil), possibly the most sexless couple to ever share a bed on screen – and, yes, I’ve sat through BAT PUSSY. They’re disturbed from their slumber by noises emanating from their suburban home’s cellar. Sam investigates first, in his mustard dressing gown and Moccasin slippers. And then Barbara ... Neither lives to tell their tale.

Next door, there lives a family whose son Charlie (Charles George Hildebrandt) is one of those kids that only exists in 80s horror films: he’s obsessed with monsters and renowned for playing practical jokes. So, naturally, when he ventures to his neighbours’ cellar and discovers their remains being chomped on by overgrown tadpoles with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, no-one is going to believe him.

And so, the neighbourhood – including young buck Pete (Tom DeFranco) – will just have to learn of their hungry alien invaders in an extremely difficult way ...

THE DEADLY SPAWN first came to my attention in the mid-80s, thanks to its release on pre-cert video by Vipco. It had amazingly evocative (and gory) cover artwork, but I found the film itself to be a crushing disappointment.

Years later (2004, in fact), I bought into Synapse’s Special Edition DVD in the hope that my complacency towards the film was largely down to its overly dark presentation on VHS.

Nah, I still hated it. It was cheap in a Sub Rosa way, feeling like nothing more than a bunch of mates getting together one weekend to knock together a shitty, cliché-riddled horror effort on no budget whatsoever. There’s something about opportunism that doesn’t smell so good.

I’m still not the film’s biggest fan. But, having just watched it again, I have to say I appreciate it a lot more now in terms of its creativity, if not its style. The editing is tight, the score suits every scene and the lighting is better than I thought now that we’re seeing it in HD.

I enjoyed some of the imaginative camera POV shots, which would happily give Scott Spiegel a run for his money.

More to the point, the film keeps its plot B-movie simple and roars along at a fair pace. The gore is ample and the effects are unexpectedly good. The monsters are goofy, certainly, but there are some great moments of bloody face-ripping and flesh-eating: THE DEADLY SPAWN delivers, in that enjoyably primitive early 80s fashion!

There is, however, little point discussing any other artistic merit in the film – it has none. But the producers know this, and they’re not aspiring for the next Oscar winner. This is schlock, through and through. As such, it serves its purpose to an entertaining degree and can now be seen as an influence on the likes of the FEAST films. Yikes.

Elite Entertainment present the film on this blu-ray disc in 1080p HD, via an MPEG4-AVC file. It’s uncut, and the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio has been preserved. The disc is region free.

But those who own Synapse’s excellent Special Edition DVD of a few years back will be hard pushed to notice any significant upgrade in image quality. While it’s true that images are much clearer and far more colourful than they ever were on those old Vipco pre-cert videos, this presentation still has the soft look of an old US TV sitcom – and the palette is only intermittently satisfying.

Of course, the film was made for peanuts on cheap 16mm stock: it’s not supposed to look great. And, in fairness, this controversial transfer isn’t the outright travesty that some have implied online. However, as rough and ready as the film is in its original state, the HD rendition does fall some way short of the detail and rejuvenation that we’ve seen being given to THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and, to a lesser extent, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.

Most damning of all, there are rumours spreading across the Internet that Elite Entertainment are already hard at work on preparing a corrected release (although, it seems unlikely that people who purchase this initial run will be furnished with upgrades if dissatisfied ... clarification would be nice). Perhaps producer Ted Bohus kicked off when he saw the okay but ultimately lacklustre HD presentation?

Anyway, English mono audio comes in a 2.0 48k mix and is limited in so much as the original audio recordings were never that good.

An animated main menu leads to pop-up menus, which include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 16 chapters.

Where this disc does excel is in its extra features. Albeit, fans who own the Synapse DVD will already have most of these.

For the benefit of those without, here’s what’s on offer:

An audio commentary track from Bohus, in conversation with editor Marc Harwood. This is a surprisingly detail-packed listen, with plenty of useful insight for those who aspire to make no-budget horror films. Okay, theirs was a different world – but the stories are interesting and fun, regardless ... and I like the honesty that came with the benefit of their reflection.

An alternate opening is presumably the "effects enhanced version" as mentioned on the back cover. I don’t know, it just looked even rougher in quality to me. It’s 4 minutes long though, and arguably worth a look.

36 minutes of cast auditions footage follows, some in black-and-white and all being of a very distressed VHS standard.

Bloopers and outtakes are in slightly better condition, and make for an indispensable 5 minutes of viewing for hardcore fans of the film. They’re even set to the movie’s enjoyable Carpenter-rip-off electronic score.

"Local news segments" comprises of no less than 40 minutes of footage from local TV shows in the New Jersey area, from the early 1980s. Including interviews with crew members, this is a fantastic relic from the archives.

As is the 26-minute episode of "Take One", a local TV show where an amusingly patronising female presenter interviews Harwood about his good luck to be involved on what may equate to being a "real" film. Priceless stuff.

"A Visit from the Deadly Spawn" is an 8-minute featurette that plays as a tongue-in-cheek mockumentary concerning the film’s FX. I’m still not entirely sure about this, but I enjoyed revisiting it regardless.

A 2-minute original trailer and 30-second US TV spot both announce the film under the time RETURN OF THE ALIENS: THE DEADLY SPAWN, demonstrating the US distributor’s attempts to cash in on ALIEN at the time.

Galleries are often pointless exercises, but that can’t be said of the mammoth 15-minute affair proffered here. Stills, behind-the-scenes photos, conceptual artwork and much more validate this bonus feature as a genuine further insight into this production.

We also get 6 giddily colourful pages from the "Deadly Spawn" comic book. Did that ever surface?!

Finally there is an optional 79-second video introduction to the film from Bohus. It’s humorous and irrelevant, but nice that it’s here.

Inside the slim-line keepcase packaging, you’ll also find a double-sided colour inlay card with liner notes from Bohus.

This Elite "Millennium Edition" blu-ray falls short of expectations due to the apparent lack of restoration on the film’s visual front. It’ll be interesting to see how the film fares when it’s released onto UK DVD by Arrow Video shortly.

Still, if the online rumours are true, Elite are addressing the concerns regarding the transfer here and will be re-issuing this film in an improved HD state. Assuming this IS true and the re-release incorporates all of the bonus features contained on this release, that really will be a wet dream for fans of this film.

Review by Stuart Willis