Ozploitation Rarities Vol 2 - Desolation Angels, Coda, The 13th Floor - 11/06/2024

[snipemonkey]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ozplo...lu-ray/366777/

Our exploration of lost Australian genre films continues in OZPLOITATION RARITIES VOL. 2, featuring our NEW restorations of DESOLATION ANGELS (aka Fair Game), CODA and THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR.

These three unearthed tales of women facing off against vicious killers feature some of the most bold and bonkers filmmaking from Down Under with electrified ghosts, twin panel vans from hell, and a symphonic spree-killer in a mask.

Standard edition with softpack available from select stores. Only available from the Umbrella webstore, the Collector's Edition includes:

A 48 page book with behind-the-scenes, experiences and art
Rigid case artwork by Fräntz Kantor
8 poster cards
2 x A3 reversible posters
Limited Edition Numbered release

DESOLATION ANGELS (1982)

Three spunky teenage girls decide to ditch their parents and private school for a long weekend getaway in Portsea. But, on the way to the seaside resort town they encounter two menacing black panel vans – and their bid for a harmless adventure turns into a chilling white line pursuit that climaxes at the schoolgirls’ remote beach house.Thrown into this nightmare is Pamela, a stunning blonde who has defrauded her employee out of $20,000. On the run and lying low, she joins the girls in a terrifying battle for survival as the terror, suspense and body count rises. Released in the U.S. under the far more generic title FAIR GAME, DESOLATION ANGELS boasts bitumen-burning chases, a harrowing game of cat-and-mouse and star turns from Kerry Mack (Hostage) and the alluring Karen West (1980 Playmate of the Year) – accompanied by classic tracks from COLD CHISEL. Never before available in Australia - and considered the rarest of Ozploitation gems - DESOLATION ANGELS is presented in a new 2K transfer approved by the film’s cinematographer Ellery Ryan (Death in Brunswick, Grievous Bodily Harm).

Director: Christopher Fitchett

CODA (1987)

The brutal murder of a university’s most promising music student sends panic and fear through the stuffy halls of academia. Neighbour and fellow student, Kate Martin (Penny Cook), finds herself caught up in the hunt for the masked killer as one-by-one the people around her start dying in bizarre and horrific ways. Who could this insatiable maniac be? Is it the jilted ex-husband who always happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Is it the new arrival next door with the heavy, locked steamer trunk? Or is it the music professor whose claims of abstinence mask a deep-rooted, psycho-sexual desire for her most promising students of either sex? Heavily influenced by Hitchcock and John Carpenter’s Halloween, CODA marks the feature debut of prolific filmmaker Craig Lahiff (Heaven’s Burning) and boasts a talented cast of Ozploitation regulars including Penny Cook (The Dreaming), Arna-Maria Winchester (The Chain Reaction) and Liddy Clark (Kitty and the Bagman). After having only received a limited VHS release in Australia before fading into well-thought-of obscurity, CODA is finally presented in a new 2K transfer approved by the film’s cinematographer David Foreman

Director: Craig Lahiff

THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR (1988)

From famed Ozploitation producers David Hannay (Stone) and Tom Broadbridge (BMX Bandits) comes this chilling tale of supernatural vengeance. A dark and terrible secret lurks on the thirteenth floor of a plush city office block, where a mysterious curse had brought disaster to anyone who rents it. Years earlier, an innocent seven year old girl, Heather Thompson (Lisa Hensley), watched on as her gangster father ordered the brutal electrocution of a small boy. And today, fate has drawn her back to the possessed building. Heather discovers that a deadly life force has manifested itself in the electrical system – and is about to unleash a terrifying new power hell bent on revenge… somewhere on the thirteenth floor. Boasting a series of gruesome set-pieces and early big screen appearances from Miranda Otto and Lisa Hensley, THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR finally makes its hi-def premiere with a new 2K transfer approved by the film’s writer/director.

Director: Chris Roache

Extras:

DESOLATION ANGELS

NEW! Audio commentary from director Chris Fitchett and cinematographer Ellery Ryan
NEW! THE CAR AS VILLAIN IN AUSTRALIAN CINEMA – a visual essay from screenwriter and author Stephen Vagg
Aussie Car Movie trailer reel
AFI trailer

CODA

NEW! Audio commentary with production designer Anni Browning, assistant director Gus Howard and actress Liddy Clark
NEW! Interview with cinematographer David Foreman
NEW! Interview with Liddy Clark
The Craig Lahiff trailer and short film collection
The VHS experience
Original trailer

THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR

NEW! Audio commentary from writer/director Chris Roache
NEW! Interview with actress Lisa Hensley
NEW! WOMEN IN PERIL – a visual essay from author and TV historian Andrew Mercado
The VHS experience
Original theatrical trailer

Preorder: https://shop.umbrellaent.com.au/prod...7-1982-blu-ray

[mfan1986]

Very cool that they’re doing commentaries for each film. They should continue doing this for the special features for any subsequent box sets.

Hopefully they’re working with WIN Corporation and Crawfords on releasing ‘Fortress (1985)’ on 4K UHD.


Apparently the NSFA have the OCN of ‘Fortress (1985)’.


https://www.nfsa.gov.au/

[OceanBlue]

As the preview posts that I saw on Umbrella's Facebook page (didn't think that Desolation Angels was going to be part of this boxset, which I put down to that Facebook preview post being several days before the ones for Coda and The 13th Floor) were pointing towards a second Ozploitation Rarities boxset, to see this boxset among the announcements today, it is one of the highlights for me among the various boutique label announcements recently.

Keeping my expectations realistic, and after looking at them a couple of times now, the list of extras/bonus features looks very good. Hopefully the boxset will be worth the wait until November when it's released.

[PT Ryan]

Very nice lineup. Looking forward to this!

[TheJosher]

I've been wanting this one. A bit expensive but so is everything else. Really excited for Desolation Angels (Fair Game). Umbrella's Ozploitation releases have been consistently good.

[Cujo]

I messaged Umbrella last summer to ask them if Desolation Angels was a possibility for release, and they said they'd look into it. So, this is a most pleasant surprise, and the release was probably already in the works at that time. Very underrated little film, though I do wish it was available solo (a trend recently) as I'm not big on the other two titles here.

[mfan1986]

Originally Posted by Cujo

I messaged Umbrella last summer to ask them if Desolation Angels was a possibility for release, and they said they'd look into it. So, this is a most pleasant surprise, and the release was probably already in the works at that time. Very underrated little film, though I do wish it was available solo (a trend recently) as I'm not big on the other two titles here.

Watched ‘Fair Game (Desolation Angels (1982)). I haven’t confirmed this, but apparently it was filmed in the late 70’s and wasn’t released on VHS until 1982. Definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in Aussie films from this time period. Not too sure what the HD source was, could be an internegative or interpositive. No scratches or anything like that which is good considering this was barely released on VHS in 1982. The 35mm elements must have been in storage for 40+ years. The audio commentary would probably have more info about it. The soundtrack has Cold Chiesel songs from 1979 and the film is copyrighted as 1982 on the end credits. The audio commentary should be interesting.

[Katatonia]

My "Collector's Edition" of Vol. 2 arrived from Umbrella yesterday. Interestingly, the 2 "Posters" included inside the actual sealed set were for 2 Full Moon movies. The correct 2 Posters for the set were included in an individual sealed zip-lock baggie. Printing snafu I guess?

Browsing through them, the transfer for The 13th Floor easily looks the best. None of the transfers are really going to wow anyone however.

The audio tracks on all 3 films are just "lossy" Dolby 2.0. The 1st volume had 2 of the 3 movies as "lossless" audio tracks in comparison.

[DawnShadow]

Originally Posted by Katatonia

The audio tracks on all 3 films are just "lossy" Dolby 2.0. The 1st volume had 2 of the 3 movies as "lossless" audio tracks in comparison.

Oh brilliant! I suppose Caligula matters enough to fix but these will be stuck like this forever.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Katatonia

My "Collector's Edition" of Vol. 2 arrived from Umbrella yesterday. Interestingly, the 2 "Posters" included inside the actual sealed set were for 2 Full Moon movies. The correct 2 Posters for the set were included in an individual sealed zip-lock baggie. Printing snafu I guess?

Browsing through them, the transfer for The 13th Floor easily looks the best. None of the transfers are really going to wow anyone however.

The audio tracks on all 3 films are just "lossy" Dolby 2.0. The 1st volume had 2 of the 3 movies as "lossless" audio tracks in comparison.

Thanks Katatonia for posting the above comments on the transfers and audio. Disappointing to hear, this. Hoping Arrow might do their own release of these films next year.

Have got one Umbrella Blu-ray title on pre-order (should be shipping in a couple of weeks (The Speedway Murders).

[mfan1986]

I thought the PQ was good on all the transfers.

[Slasherfilm]

Watched Coda last night from the set and LOVED it so much! I had never heard of it before so was soo good to see.. I think set 2 is looking better than 1 so far! still got the other two to watch but Coda is up there for sure!

[hallowdrew]

The audio in The 13th Floor was pretty bad, but did you notice at around the 1 hour 15 minute mark (or so) that the sound and background noise went silent for 3 or 4 seconds as the addiction doctor left the room and she swept her pills off the side table. Sound then picked up again during the start of the flashback to the construction site elevator.

Originally Posted by Katatonia

My "Collector's Edition" of Vol. 2 arrived from Umbrella yesterday. Interestingly, the 2 "Posters" included inside the actual sealed set were for 2 Full Moon movies. The correct 2 Posters for the set were included in an individual sealed zip-lock baggie. Printing snafu I guess?

Browsing through them, the transfer for The 13th Floor easily looks the best. None of the transfers are really going to wow anyone however.

The audio tracks on all 3 films are just "lossy" Dolby 2.0. The 1st volume had 2 of the 3 movies as "lossless" audio tracks in comparison.

[Slasherfilm]

Originally Posted by hallowdrew

The audio in The 13th Floor was pretty bad, but did you notice at around the 1 hour 15 minute mark (or so) that the sound and background noise went silent for 3 or 4 seconds as the addiction doctor left the room and she swept her pills off the side table. Sound then picked up again during the start of the flashback to the construction site elevator.

I watched this last night. The audio is super difficult to hear used the sub titles.
I think the audio is up there with Terror Vsions Dream stalker and Vinegar Syndrome’s Dead Girls. It’s a shame as I really ended up enjoying this one only got 1 more in the set to watch over all I enjoyed all but Final Cut (vol 1).

But I did sit up when the audio dropped thinking it was a dud but sounds like it must be a source issue or something.

Overall didn’t take too much away from my enjoyment of the film

[hallowdrew]

Thanks a lot for confirming, Slasherfilm. So it's most likely either a source issue or umbrella messed up and not just a bad disc in my set. One weird thing is in the middle of the sudden silence (when all the humming and crackling you get in the background throughout the rest of the entire movie stops) you can distinctly hear the pill bottle hit the floor. In the commentary track, right when the sound returns at the beginning of the next scene the commenter says something like "looks like its back on track."

Originally Posted by Slasherfilm

I watched this last night. The audio is super difficult to hear used the sub titles.
I think the audio is up there with Terror Vsions Dream stalker and Vinegar Syndrome’s Dead Girls. It’s a shame as I really ended up enjoying this one only got 1 more in the set to watch over all I enjoyed all but Final Cut (vol 1).

But I did sit up when the audio dropped thinking it was a dud but sounds like it must be a source issue or something.

Overall didn’t take too much away from my enjoyment of the film

[hallowdrew]

Yeah, Coda is the reason I bought the set. I wish we could have gotten something better than a 2K scan of a rough-looking 1:33 source material for TV/home video. I think I read in imdb, or somewhere, that it was originally planned for theatrical release but never got one.

Originally Posted by Slasherfilm

Watched Coda last night from the set and LOVED it so much! I had never heard of it before so was soo good to see.. I think set 2 is looking better than 1 so far! still got the other two to watch but Coda is up there for sure!

[Slasherfilm]

Watching desolation angels and the credits on the back of the case are for crosstalk… now how did they manage that haha

[GaryCouzens]

Originally Posted by Slasherfilm

Watching desolation angels and the credits on the back of the case are for crosstalk… now how did they manage that haha

As are the aspect ratio and the running time. The box says 2.35:1 for the former and it's actually 1.78:1, which is presumably opened up slightly from an intended 1.85:1. Given that a) it was shot in Super 16mm and b) the cinematographer authorised the transfer, I'm certain it wasn't shot in Scope! And you can see it's not shot anamorphic just by looking at it.

[GaryCouzens]

Originally Posted by mfan1986

Watched ‘Fair Game (Desolation Angels (1982)). I haven’t confirmed this, but apparently it was filmed in the late 70’s and wasn’t released on VHS until 1982.

Desolation Angels was shot in March-April 1982 and premiered at Sydney Opera House on 27 June 1982 to qualify it for the 10BA tax rebate as it had to be shown before the end of the same tax year it was made in. (From DP Ellery Ryan's piece in the booklet.)

This Blu-ray is actually the film's first commercial release in Australia - it didn't even come out on VHS. It was released in the USA under the Fair Game title.

[hallowdrew]

BTW, I contacted Umbrella about the audio dropout in The 13th Floor. A rep got back to me a few days later, writing "Thanks for reaching out. I'll investigate this issue for you." That was about a week ago. I'll report what they find (if they follow up, that is).