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chaos dont look in basemen bluray

Movie Review

5 beersCode Red does fans of the Drive-In a very cool favor with the release of the Chaos and Don’t Look in the Basement double feature. While Don’t Look in the Basement has been released on Blu-ray previously, never before has the cult classic been presented in a twofer that replicates the drive-in experience, complete with savage trailers and a one-two punch of classic grindhouse flair.

Put it down, Judge!  Put it down!”  With that command, the first murder in Don’t Look In The Basement occurs.  Already we’ve been introduced to a mad woman who thinks a baby doll is, in fact, her real baby, a grown man who behaves like a child, a sergeant still at war, and a staff of nurses who have the bedside manners of Mack truck.  And now Dr. Stephens (Michael Harvey), who treated these demented folks as a functioning family, is dead. 

Unfortunately, his unconventional psychiatric methods have claimed their first victim.  There will be others, too. 

Written by Tim Pope and directed by S. F. Brownrigg (Don’t Open the Door and Poor White Trash Part II), Don’t Look in the Basement has a shocker of a twist.  It is completely off its rocker as the sane become insane and those already plagued by crazy become, well, crazier.  The original was initially released to drive-ins as a double-bill, with Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left carrying lead duties.  And, as a result, this one became a cult classic and Brownrigg himself become one of the most underappreciated directors in 1970s b-movie horror.

In spite of its low budget trappings and unorthodox narrative pacing, Don’t Look in the Basement remains a creepy horror film that wins over its audiences due to its performances, its confident swagger as a grindhouse flick, and a whole list of possible suspects as the bodies – and there are plenty – start to pile up, up, up. 

Chaos, originally released in 2005 to abysmal reviews, is made in the same vein as Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left - except this one deals with a rave deep in the woods and a rape and a revenge that is both crude and completely nihilistic in its extremely viscous rollout. And to think the poor girls merely wanted to score some weed.

Written and directed by David DeFalco, Chaos is teen-faced slasher that has solid performances throughout. It just refuses to sugarcoat much of its brutality and lets all its rawness hang out, especially when one of the kidnapped girls is forced to eat her own nipple before being killed and then sodomized. Yes, you read that correctly. Starring Kevin Gage as Chaos and Sage Stallone as Swan, his son who hangs out at parties to lure women back to the cabin…

…and Code Red doesn’t censor anything. Both movies are raw and both are served with a wink and a nudge to a bygone era of film viewing.

Bring home a double feature TODAY.

 

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Chaos/Don't Look in the Basement - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Kino Lorber
Available on Blu-ray - February 13, 2018
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: None
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Don’t Look in the Basement, in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and its sequel, presented in a 16:9 ratio, arrive on HD thanks to a much-needed 1080p upgrade. The original has been scanned and restored from the best possible source. There are still damages to the print that the new scan can’t fix, but this film looks all sorts of great on Blu. There’s certainly more detail, even if the colors are a bit inconsistent. While there is nothing wrong with the HD transfer of Chaos, it’s the original and its reddish hue, which might disappoint viewers the most. The sound is released in a Digitally Mastered Mono Soundtrack on the original and a 5.1 Stereo Surround for Chaos.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

The Drive-In mode is the best way to go for this release. 

 

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Don't Look in the Basement Trailer

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chaos dont look in basemen bluray

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