|
|
|
Venom
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Blue Underground Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (18th March 2025). |
|
The Film
 When his American expatriate mother (The Reincarnation of Peter Proud's Cornelia Sharpe) dashes off to Rome to see her constantly-traveling hotel chain owner husband, young reptile-enthusiast Philip (Christmas Evil's Lance Holcomb) is left alone with his wildlife photographer grandfather Howard (Winter Kills' Sterling Hayden) in their London townhouse for the week. Although Philip's asthma is a constant concern, maid Louise (Die Screaming Marianne's Susan George), chauffeur Dave (The Brood's Oliver Reed), and former mercenary Jacmel (Crawlspace's Klaus Kinski) are plotting to hold the child for ransom. Their plan goes awry when Philip goes off on his own in a taxi to pick up an African house snake from exotic animals importer Lowenthal whose harried wife (Up Pompeii's Rita Webb) accidentally give him the terrarium intended for toxicologist Dr. Marion Stowe (Hope & Glory's Sarah Miles) carrying a deadly Black Mamba. Things go from bad to worse when paranoid Dave blows away a police sergeant (The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires' John Forbes-Robertson) who catches them mid-abduction leading to a standoff between the kidnappers and their victims and a police operation lead by clever Commander Bulloch (Excalibur's Nicol Williamson) as a slithery predator makes its way through the house's ventilation system and pops up in surprising places. Based on an airport paperback timewaster by Alan Scholefield released at the height of the nature attacks trend of fiction and film, Venom is more of an abduction gone wrong film with the added danger of a killer snake. What should have been a claustrophobic little thriller is let down conceptually by spending too much time on the police operation and too little on the escalating tension between Dave and Jacmel, although the departure of original director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) who was replaced by Piers Haggard (The Blood on Satan's Claw), along with the anecdotes of Haggard and other crew members suggest that there may have been a bit too much Reed and Kinski when the cameras were not rolling. Although the snake does add some scares to the film – with the most successful one lulling the viewer into letting their guard down by way of some unexpected warmth from Reed – it is not really the "unpredictable" force Stowe describes; indeed, it ends up being more of a deus ex machina that only seems to attack the villains. Hayden provides some much-needed humanity but his character's frailty and his grandson's asthma never seem to be as much of a threat to their survival as established. Although shot in the U.K. with funding from the Guinness family, the film was actually produced by American Martin Bregman during less auspicious period between his last decade hits like Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon and subsequent blockbusters like Scarface and Sea of Love but feels "British" thanks not so much the the locations as the brief appearances by the likes of Michael Gough (Crucible of Horror) and Edward Hardwicke (Sherlock Holmes) and the work of cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (Repulsion) and Amicus veterans in art director Tony Curtis (And Now the Screaming Starts) and additional cinematographer Dennys Coop (Vault of Horror) shooting not so much second unit but apparently rolling the camera on any bits that could be picked up around the work of Haggard and Taylor. Reed would tangle with an even deadlier snake two years later in the Canadian Spasms (it too an adaptation of a paperback in which the snake was actually the chief threat). 
Video
Released stateside theatrically by Paramount with a hard sell campaign ('The mystery of "The Birds", The danger of "Psycho", The evil of "The Omen", The terror of "Jaws", Now, the ultimate in suspense.') that fell on deaf ears, Venom was dropped onto VHS through Vestron and forgotten until Blue Underground released the film on DVD in 2003 followed by a Blu-ray/DVD combo upgrade in 2016 and a Blu-ray-only edition the following year. Blue Underground's new 2160p24 HEVC 1.85:1 widescreen Dolby Vision 4K UltraHD/1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray combo comes from a new 4K 16-bit scan. While we do not have the older Blu-ray disc on hand anymore for comparison, the 4K remaster is beautiful detailed giving the film's sound stage sets and backlot rendition of the neighborhood a lived-in texture which also extends to the sweaty and pallid facial features of its cast members (particularly those who have been bitten who now look sickly rather than just gray) while the snake close-ups also give a more textured shiver even if it is obviously never actually in proximity to the cast in the same scene. Some grainier passages including some underexposed shadows as well as the mamba fish eye POV shots – used early on but seemingly dropped for the rest of the film – are baked in the materials and the original grading (this is the internegative which had already been color-corrected over forty years ago so there is less latitude than a negative scan). 
Audio
Venom was released in Dolby Stereo but, like everything else in the production, it appears to have been rushed, as separation is limited to the snake hisses, some foley effects like breaking glass and gunfire, and the scoring of Michael Kamen (Highlander). Blue Underground gave the film a 6.1 remix – encoded in DTS-ES and Dolby Digital 5.1-EX for DVD and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 for the earlier Blu-ray – while the mix has been given a new Dolby Atmos remix for the new 4K UltraHD disc and Blu-ray copy (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 tracks are also included). The materials for the mix have their limitations, and a pronounced hiss is evident during quieter passages on the Atmos track that is less-noticeable on the 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. The effects track and score do get more spread, but do not expect to be fooled into believing the mamba is in the room with you. Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish tracks are also included. 
Extras
Ported from the earlier editions is an audio commentary by director Piers Haggard, moderated by Jonathan Sothcott in which he describes how he became involved with the production, replacing Hooper – the official story was a family crisis but Haggard suggests Kinski and Reed game him a nervous breakdown – and surmises that the difference between Reed and Kinski was that the former had a sense of humor but that there conflict was really more of a psychological "ballet" rather than a real fight and they were mostly professional in front of the camera (he does point out onscreen one of the major sources of disagreement). Haggard also reveals that the reportedly difficult Miles was sweet to him even though Kinski got up her nose while Williamson actually promised to be on his best behavior knowing Haggard would have his hands full with Reed and Kinski. Haggard reveals that he did not use any of Hooper's footage but was limited by the sets that were already built and what changes he could make the script, as well as things he would liked to have done. New to this release is an audio commentary by film historians Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani in which they debate whether this is a "nature attacks" film, suggesting that it is more in line with the seventies trend of name ensemble cast crime and disaster films. There is also a discussion of abduction films and snake films – Ercolani also reveals that director Mario Orfini did indeed have the film in mind when he was writing what would become Fair Game (originally titled "Mamba") in which psychotic millionaire Gregg Henry (Body Double) traps Sting's wife Trudie Styler in a house with a deadly snake (Fair Game was actually released on German DVD in a double feature with Venom – and the film's promotion abroad either focusing on the snake or on George. Whereas Haggard was only working from the finished script, Howarth and Thompson provide background information on the novel – the paperback of which was ubiquitous on shelves in the seventies – and the changes made to it for the film for the better, as well as augmenting Haggard's recollections on Reed and Kinski on the film with more tales of their behavior on other films.  The rest of the extras are brand new to this release starting with "Fangs for the Memories" (26:12), an interview with editor/second unit director Michael Bradsell (Gothic) who got involved while Hooper was signed as director and noticed in the rushes that some scheduled shots were not getting completed and that the film was progressively running behind schedule before the announcement that Hooper was leaving the production. Although he had adopted the attitude of doing his job with what he was given rather than worrying about what was not getting done, he was eventually pushed into the role of second unit director, capturing material when Haggard was not shooting, including scenes with the main cast like the entire airport sequence. "A Slithery Story" (21:00) is an interview with makeup artist Nick Dudman (Frankenstein Unbound) who reveals that Venom was his first solo job as a make-up artist after assisting Stuart Freeborn in his workshop on The Empire Strikes Back and Superman II and that he was assigned to do the make-up for Reed and Kinski while Basil Newall (Thunderball) did Miles and Williamson. In addition to chiming in Reed constantly winding up Kinski, he also reveals that his make-up room was next door to the room of caged mambas which had been brought in from the London zoo. In "Mamba Memories" (23:29), author/critic Kim Newman discusses the source novel – while his discussion of the various killer reptile and insect novels that were its contemporaries seems tangential, he does point out some authors to check out – how the adaptation tidies things up while also noting that the menace only seems to attack the bad guys. He also rehashes the Kinski and Reed anecdotes as well as Hooper's involvement. In "Pick Your Poison" (15:26), author/critic Allan Bryce discusses the film within the context of the paucity of eighties British horror – although he saves the term "hellraiser" for discussing Reed's casting – and noting that although Haggard is known to cult audiences for his folk horror film, in the industry, he was primarily a television drama director with his more recent triumph having been the musical romantic series Pennies from Heaven. The disc also includes the American theatrical trailer (1:25), the teaser trailer (0:31), three TV Spots (1:41) and a poster & still gallery. 
Packaging
The two discs are house in a keep case with an embossed slipcover, a reversible cover, and an 18-page illustrated booklet featuring the essay "Filmmaking Bites: The Twisting, Turning History of Venom" by Michael Gingold who goes into more detail than the other extras about how the production came into being including the involvement of the uncredited David Sherwin (If...) on the adaptation back when Sean Connery was to play one of the leads and producer Bregman was still partnered with Frank P. Rosenberg (One-Eyed Jacks), and Hooper's time on the film with his cinematographer of choice Anthony Richmond (Don't Look Now).
Overall
Less of a "nature attacks" film than an abduction-gone-wrong one, Venom has a great cast but is more interesting for its behind the scenes drama than anything that happens onscreen.
|
|||||
|