Body Bags (1993)
Starring: John Carpenter, Alex Datcher, Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, Mark Hamill
Writers: Bill Brown, Dan Angel
Directors: John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper
Synopsis:
Two masters of horror -John Carpenter
and Tobe Hooper- come together to create a chilling anthology of
terror.
Review:
I think the one and only time I saw
Body Bags was when it originally premiered on Showtime back in 1993.
I can't remember my reasoning for never going back to it, but I never
did until now, and I have Scream Factory to thank for that. This was
more or less a pilot for a proposed show, most likely for Showtime to
try and compete with HBO's super successful Tales From the Crypt.
John Carpenter plays The Coroner, a character host much like the
Crypt Keeper, who walks you into each story and does a wrap-up when
they're finished. Well, Crypt Keeper, John Carpenter is not... and Tales
From the Crypt, Body Bags is not, either. Carp will be the first to
admit that he's not the greatest actor, but what's really the problem is that he and this wrap-around just aren't as funny as they're supposed to be. Carpenter is great when it comes to
intertwining comedy into some of his films, but when it comes to
playing a creature feature host, he falls very flat. The makeup job
-by Rick Baker- is however, awesome. Carp has a sort of Phantom
of the Opera appearance, and he tries to give the character a Beetlejuice type of energy. The result is pretty meh, but at
least the 3 stories of Body Bags are entertaining.
The Gas Station
Synopsis:
Alex Datcher stars as a woman working
the late shift at a gas station while a killer is on the loose.
Review:
As it turns out, the first story of
Body Bags is indeed my favorite. It's pure Carpenter in terms of suspense, and the fact that the story is based near Haddonfield makes it even better. The entire tale takes
place at a gas station, largely inside one of those little late night
booth's where glass separates the employee from the customer. We get
a total onslaught of genre faces here, including Wes Craven, David
Naughton, Sam Raimi, and Carpenter regulars, Peter Jason and George
“Buck” Flowers. The two leads are Alex Datcher as the new
employee of the gas station, and Robert Carradine, who's shift is
ending as she arrives. Carpenter and Jim Lang are working the music
for Body Bags. There's a different ambiance than what you would get from
Carp and Alan Howarth, but the signature sound is still apparent.
Chase buildups are so much like Halloween that it's hard to not get
completely giddy over them. There's slow, intense moments of the killer
pursuing our lead with that thumping bass that Carpenter likes to
use, accompanied by excellent wide shots and dolly cam. What really caught my
eye in the visual department was the use of hand-held. It's so perfect for the setting and it's not the style you see in found footage movies.
The Gas Station is exceptionally gory, as well. Ultimately, it's just
a great way to get things started, but perhaps it should have been
the last story.
Hair
Synopsis:
Stacy Keach can't stand the thought of
losing his hair, and he'll do anything to keep it.
Review:
I grew up watching Stacy Keach on the
TV show Mike Hammer, as that and Murder She Wrote were my mom's two
all-time favorite shows. Naturally, I love the guy, so it's always
nice to see him. No matter what role he plays, he gives it his all. I
can relate to his character's woes in the story of Hair. I'm 36 years old, and
watching my hair start to thin quite frankly sucks. Well, Keach's
character finds a doctor who has the ability to give him all the hair
he wants, and then some, but not without consequence. Keach is
total comic relief here. The story is silly to the max, but absolutely
intentional. Sheena Easton plays the lovely young girlfriend, and
wow... talk about gorgeous. There's a moment involving her and Keach
with spray-on hair that is seriously laugh-out-loud hilarious. David
Warner and Deborah Harry also have great parts in this segment, while
KNB genius, Greg Nicotero, provides a cameo. Good stuff.
Eye
Synopsis:
Mark Hamill portrays a baseball player
that submits to an eye transplant after losing one in a car accident.
Review:
Eye would definitely be my least
favorite story in Body Bags, excluding the wrap around. I'll take
nothing away from Tobe Hooper, as the man has some great films under
his belt, but I feel like at this point in time he had somewhat lost
his magic. Then again, he brought us The Mangler a bit later, which I
loved. It's not even that I disliked this story, it's just the lesser
of the three. Eye is pretty gory and carries a Body Parts vibe to it. Mark Hamill takes the role and goes so overboard with it that it's
impossible to not enjoy on some level. In a few moments he looks downright insane,
and it's a good transformation from being the average Joe ballplayer
hoping to one day be a star. The flashes he sees from his new eye are
the best moments in this segment, and the actual car crash is
legitimately intense. Eye would have worked better as the opening
story, though, for sure.
Final Word:
At the end of the day, I love
anthologies, and Body Bags is far from the worst. I could have done with a different tone in the wrap-around segment. It's just hard to watch a horror
master like John Carpenter trying to perform as an actor when he
clearly isn't. Give me the Crypt Keeper or Joe Bob Briggs or any old
public access creature feature host and I'm way more satisfied. But,
again, as far as the actual stories go in Body Bags, I had a good
time.
Blu-ray/DVD:
Scream Factory's release of Body Bags comes as a double disc; one as Blu-ray -1080p High-Definition Widescreen (1.78:1)- and the other as standard DVD -Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1). For Audio, you get a DTS-HD 5.1 Master and a 2.0 HD Master. As far as the Blu-ray goes, Body Bags looks absolutely excellent. I'm judging this off of vague memories of watching it on the old box style televisions with wood finish. You know, the kind your parent's use to treat as furniture by putting a flower vase on top? Yep, those. So, this is for sure a step up from watching the premiere on Showtime, or from watching a recording from VHS. I feel like there's a little less grain on this release, but that may be because the film had little grain to begin with. This is crystal clear and just gorgeous. The blood is crazy bright and in your face, especially in during the segment of The Gas Station. I went with the 5.1 audio, and again, amazing. I've got so many movies on Blu-ray where the mix is a bit off, in terms of action and dialog. Scream Factory seem to have this aspect down to a science at this point.
Special Features
Unzipping Body Bags Featurette with John Carpenter, Producer Sandy King and actors Robert Carradine and Stacy Keach - This is a little 20 minute featurette on how Body Bags came to be, with interviews detailing the experiences of Carpenter, Sandy King, Robert Carradine, and Stacy Keach. It's a pretty fun little doc, but you get more tidbits in the audio commentary.
Body Bags Trailer
Audio Commentary with John Carpenter, Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, Sandy King, and Justin Beahm - This is a pretty fun little commentary. It's switches off with who's in the room as the film goes on. For the wrap-around segments, it's mostly all Carpenter. For The Gas Station, Carp is accompanied by Robert Carradine, and he dips out and lets Stacy Keach take the seat for Hair. During Eye, the commentary features Producer Sandy King and Justin Beahm, who created the Unzipping Body Bags feautrette. It's all well worth a listen. You can tell Carpenter is getting up there in age by hearing him make the mistake of stating that David Naughton starred in John Landis' An American Werewolf in PARIS. Blasphemy! Heh, the dude's getting old, so I'll give him a pass. All jokes aside, this is a good commentary.
Final Word:
If you're a fan of Body Bags, Scream Factory's release is a must have. If you're a John Carpenter completest, this is again, a must have. Lastly, if you are someone who just needs and wants every single release that Scream Factory is slinging at us, you know the answer. Ultimately, it's a great release whether you absolutely love Body Bags or not.
The Body Bags release date is November 12th, 2013. If you pre-order directly from ShoutFactory.com, you can receive an exclusive 18x24 poster of the newly commissioned artwork. The posters are limited to 250, so get to it and order HERE!
- Eric (Brobocop)
