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[tab title="Movie Review"]
Imagine if the original Alien had been shot for 3-D? That chest-busting scene would have really leaped right off of the screen. One has to think that producer and director Charles Band, in his pre-Full Moon days, had been thinking about that when he developed the idea for this monster-sized parasite B-grade horror flick. The kills! The guts! And all the other parasite-themed horror you can imagine coming straight at you! That’s just some of the memories I have about watching this one in the theater.
Parasite, now on blu-ray thanks to a newly restored 4K scan of the original camera negative from Kino Lorber, is absolutely one of Band’s better movies. Sure, it takes itself seriously far too often, but the film is solidly put together, complete with redneck ruffians and drained desert locations, and it tells a rather gritty story about survival in a hopeless future when one scientist gives the middle finger to his employers and hightails it after being infected with a very deadly parasite.
The film also features a performance from Demi Moore as one desert town’s girl next door which, in 1982, isn’t damn bad for a film shot on a nickel and a dime. Sure, she’s pretty characterless, getting by on her looks alone, but her first performance is an eye-opener as the 3-D entertainment includes her, too. {googleads}
In this post-apocalyptic future, there are two parasites. One is with a rogue scientist, Paul Dean (played by a weary-looking Robert Glaudini) inside a canister and the other is growing inside him. You read that correctly; he’s been injected with the parasite that this feature is named after. It becomes obvious, after deadly 3-D ready beatings and one awesome gore-infused iron pipe impaling, that this scientist is on the run from an oppressive military-based government. He created this parasite for them, but now – armed with a laser blaster and his deadly aim – he plans to take the parasite down and somehow find a cure.
Produced and directed by Charles Band, Parasite was aimed at bringing B-movie Believers back into the theaters to enjoy some wicked 3-D specific cinematography from Mac Ahlberg (who also shot Hell Night, Ghost Warrior, Trancers, Ghoulies) and, considering the brief 3-D revival at the time, this post-apocalyptic flick absolutely delivers on its desolate locations and its doomed attitude. When the canister containing the parasite is opened for the first time, there’s not ONE person watching who isn’t squirming and the payoff – thanks to Stan Winston – is a monster-sized shock and a half all set to the screams of “Get it off me! Get it off me!”
Co-starring Al Fann as Collins, a diner owner, James Davidson as Wolf, Luca Bercovici, Scott Thomson, Cherie Currie, and Guys and Dolls’ Vivian Blaine, who gets up close and personal with the monster when it busts out of her skull, Parasite is what happens when the future falls into the hands of an uncaring government. With a killer tracking Paul in an ultra-cool Lamborghini, Parasite is all about the darker side of the 1980’s when the government profits off of everything.
Turns out, there are THREE dimensions of terror! Parasite is all the proof you need.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Home Video Distributor: Kino Lorber
Available on Blu-ray - October 22, 2019
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles: English SDH
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio
Discs:Blu-ray 3D; Blu-ray Disc; Single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
Released to theaters as "The First Futuristic Monster Movie in 3-D”, Parasite on blu-ray delivers a very crisp picture and a significant upgrade in its Richard Band-composed score. Fans of this flick are going to enjoy revisiting the desert locale as one parasite casts millions of microscopic spores into the air.
Video:
Clocking in at a brisk 85-minutes, Parasite is a wild film that looks absolutely grand on blu-ray. The details in the desert locations are bright and strong and so too are the details in the fibers of the clothing and the blood-inducing parasites. Framed in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the transfer here is amazingly detailed and popping with strong colors. The gore is quite good and sticky and so too are some of the laser-brained effects as the filmmakers throw everything at us in the finale. There are strong black levels throughout.
Audio:
The DTS-HD Master Audio track is a good one, making even the slimy movements of the parasite, getting into bed with one woman, both expressive and frightening. The growls! The grunts! Everything is crisp and clear in the center speakers and Richard Band’s soundtrack is a definite keeper, too.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- There is a new commentary with Writer Alan J. Adler and Filmmaker/Historian Daniel Griffith that covers the history of the film and its filming.
Special Features:
If the new 4K scan of the original camera negative isn’t enough of a reason to purchase this title, Kino has also put together a fine array of supplementals, including all-new interviews with the film's writers.
- 3-D and 2-D Versions of Parasite
- From the Inside Out: Writing Parasite - Featuring all-new interviews with writers Alan J. Adler and Michael Shoob
- Three Dimensions of Terror: Filming Parasite - Featuring all-new interviews with director Charles Band, co-writer Alan J. Adler, production manager Charles Newirth, art director Pamela B. Warner, and make-up department head Karen Kubeck
- Symphony for Slimy Slugs: Composing Parasite - Featuring an all-new interview with composer Richard Band
- Interview with Creature Designer and Creator Lance Anderson
- Audio Commentary with Writer Alan J. Adler and Filmmaker/Historian Daniel Griffith
- Still and Promotional Gallery
- Reversible Blu-ray Art
- Theatrical Trailer
Blu-ray Rating:
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 85 mins
Director: Charles Band
Writer: Alan J. Adler, Michael Shoob
Cast: Robert Glaudini, Demi Moore, Luca Bercovici
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Demi Moore in her first starring role!
Memorable Movie Quote:
Theatrical Distributor: Embassy Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: March 12, 1982
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: October 22, 1982
Synopsis: In the future, cities are ravaged by atomic fallout and controlled by evil corporations that have developed a mutant pair of flesh-eating parasites. One is feeding inside the man who created it. The other has escaped. Now with the help of a young woman left orphaned in the wasteland (Demi Moore, The Scarlet Letter), a scientist (Robert Glaudini, Wavelength) on the run must destroy these horrific creatures before they can reproduce. But the more a parasite feeds, the bigger it becomes. And the more it grows, the hungrier and angrier it gets.
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