Dark Force Entertainment Discussion Thread

[Surge92]

I made a Dark Force order on 12/31. It was shipped on 1/2, and it arrived yesterday. That was the fastest of all my non-Amazon orders, I believe.

[The Great Owl]

Nancy, a young housewife played by Tanya Roberts in her feature film debut, is on her own for a few days in her affluent suburban home while her husband is out of town and her two children are attending school. Her relatively normal existence will soon take a terrifying turn for the worse. Carl, a quiet local mechanic played by Ron Max, has a secret history of raping and murdering female hitchhikers or women who stop by the service station where he works. This predator has his eyes on Nancy, and, after parking on her street and watching her, he enters her home.

The 1975 drive-in thriller, The Last Victim, helmed by Jim Sotos, will never be confused for family entertainment, but it was released in theaters with a PG rating, due to the fact that most of its violence takes place off-screen. This outing, a remake of a 1973 adult film, Forced Entry, about a Vietnam veteran that kills women, shifts the focus to Carl's apparent trauma from an abusive childhood and to his tendency to explode into maniacal frenzies. A longer cut of this movie, titled Forced Entry to further confuse prospective viewers and released years later on VHS, is more explicitly visceral, but the PG-rated cut remained, thankfully, the preferred version of the director.

The late Tanya Roberts was great in all of her movie roles, but not all of the movies that starred her were great. The Last Victim, while generating a fair bit of tension despite its rating, is decidedly one of the lesser offerings. The final 20 minutes, when the home invasion plays out, are interesting because of the heroine's inner resilience, but the rest is nothing particularly noteworthy. Although Roberts commands the most attention, I also enjoy seeing a supporting role by Michael Tucci (Grease) as one of the mechanic shop co-workers of the villain. Nancy Allen, whom all of you know from Robocop, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out, appears as an unfortunate hitchhiker. Ron Max, to his credit, plays the murderer well as a reminder that the ones who blend into the background in our society may not necessarily be harmless.

This Dark Force Entertainment Blu-ray, like the feature and the alternate take themselves, is not spectacular, but the actual high definition scenes look filmic (unlike the several taped inserts). I could rant about the shortened version of the Forced Entry take, but I could also ultimately care less, since the PG-rated The Last Victim, the director's intended version, is the main draw for me.

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by Fodderstompf

My order shipped on Dec 17th and finally got delivered yesterday - I live a 2 minute walk from the post office that DF drops off at (have spotted Dave there a few times.) Who knows how it ended up in North Carolina when it shouldn't have even left Los Angeles County, but it arrived eventually. USPS is just a mess right now.

Sorry to hear about that Fodderstompf. Hopefully the mail improves or DF may have to start looking into other delivery options. FYI it appears the tracking on some of these shipments may be inaccurate as well. Although in your case it certainly had time to go to North Carolina and back to LA.

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu31

Dave, do you have an approximate release date for Magdalena?

Hey Nosferatu31...Happy New Year. Dark Force is salivating to get that one out fast. We are planning an incredible new custom slip for it as well. As it stands right now it could be as soon as the end of January or early February.

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by cloudnine

TERROR EXPRESS arrived today. The quality looks pretty good, but since it has the Italian title and credits there's no reason the Italian language version couldn't have been included.

Actually cloudnine...we were lucky to just get the movie. That was the worst delivery of all time that Dark Force had to deal with. It was so bad we almost couldn't release it. Luckily the forces of darkness aided us in resurrecting TERROR EXPRESS.

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by WillieMLF

Another home run, by those that bought you hits such as The Carrier.

Haha that was actually pretty funny WillieMLF...Happy New Year anyway.

Dark Force (the company that brought you such hits as The Carrier)

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Nancy, a young housewife played by Tanya Roberts in her feature film debut, is on her own for a few days in her affluent suburban home while her husband is out of town and her two children are attending school. Her relatively normal existence will soon take a terrifying turn for the worse. Carl, a quiet local mechanic played by Ron Max, has a secret history of raping and murdering female hitchhikers or women who stop by the service station where he works. This predator has his eyes on Nancy, and, after parking on her street and watching her, he enters her home.

The 1975 drive-in thriller, The Last Victim, helmed by Jim Sotos, will never be confused for family entertainment, but it was released in theaters with a PG rating, due to the fact that most of its violence takes place off-screen. This outing, a remake of a 1973 adult film, Forced Entry, about a Vietnam veteran that kills women, shifts the focus to Carl's apparent trauma from an abusive childhood and to his tendency to explode into maniacal frenzies. A longer cut of this movie, titled Forced Entry to further confuse prospective viewers and released years later on VHS, is more explicitly visceral, but the PG-rated cut remained, thankfully, the preferred version of the director.

The late Tanya Roberts was great in all of her movie roles, but not all of the movies that starred her were great. The Last Victim, while generating a fair bit of tension despite its rating, is decidedly one of the lesser offerings. The final 20 minutes, when the home invasion plays out, are interesting because of the heroine's inner resilience, but the rest is nothing particularly noteworthy. Although Roberts commands the most attention, I also enjoy seeing a supporting role by Michael Tucci (Grease) as one of the mechanic shop co-workers of the villain. Nancy Allen, whom all of you know from Robocop, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out, appears as an unfortunate hitchhiker. Ron Max, to his credit, plays the murderer well as a reminder that the ones who blend into the background in our society may not necessarily be harmless.

This Dark Force Entertainment Blu-ray, like the feature and the alternate take themselves, is not spectacular, but the actual high definition scenes look filmic (unlike the several taped inserts). I could rant about the shortened version of the Forced Entry take, but I could also ultimately care less, since the PG-rated The Last Victim, the director's intended version, is the main draw for me.

R.I.P. Tanya Roberts

[Nosferatu31]

Originally Posted by Dark Force

Hey Nosferatu31...Happy New Year. Dark Force is salivating to get that one out fast. We are planning an incredible new custom slip for it as well. As it stands right now it could be as soon as the end of January or early February.

Sounds great! Can't wait for that release.

[Diabolik008]

Originally Posted by Dark Force

Actually cloudnine...we were lucky to just get the movie. That was the worst delivery of all time that Dark Force had to deal with. It was so bad we almost couldn't release it. Luckily the forces of darkness aided us in resurrecting TERROR EXPRESS.

Difficult rights owner you mean?

If it is who I think it is, you're not the only one having a hard time with them.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by cloudnine

TERROR EXPRESS arrived today. The quality looks pretty good, but since it has the Italian title and credits there's no reason the Italian language version couldn't have been included.

Yeah, I would have bought it if the Italian audio was included.

[FoxJam]

I am a subscriber and received my copy of Journey Into Fear today in NC. It has a nice slipcover.

[vortexx]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Nancy, a young housewife played by Tanya Roberts in her feature film debut, is on her own for a few days in her affluent suburban home while her husband is out of town and her two children are attending school. Her relatively normal existence will soon take a terrifying turn for the worse. Carl, a quiet local mechanic played by Ron Max, has a secret history of raping and murdering female hitchhikers or women who stop by the service station where he works. This predator has his eyes on Nancy, and, after parking on her street and watching her, he enters her home.

The 1975 drive-in thriller, The Last Victim, helmed by Jim Sotos, will never be confused for family entertainment, but it was released in theaters with a PG rating, due to the fact that most of its violence takes place off-screen. This outing, a remake of a 1973 adult film, Forced Entry, about a Vietnam veteran that kills women, shifts the focus to Carl's apparent trauma from an abusive childhood and to his tendency to explode into maniacal frenzies. A longer cut of this movie, titled Forced Entry to further confuse prospective viewers and released years later on VHS, is more explicitly visceral, but the PG-rated cut remained, thankfully, the preferred version of the director.

The late Tanya Roberts was great in all of her movie roles, but not all of the movies that starred her were great. The Last Victim, while generating a fair bit of tension despite its rating, is decidedly one of the lesser offerings. The final 20 minutes, when the home invasion plays out, are interesting because of the heroine's inner resilience, but the rest is nothing particularly noteworthy. Although Roberts commands the most attention, I also enjoy seeing a supporting role by Michael Tucci (Grease) as one of the mechanic shop co-workers of the villain. Nancy Allen, whom all of you know from Robocop, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, and Blow Out, appears as an unfortunate hitchhiker. Ron Max, to his credit, plays the murderer well as a reminder that the ones who blend into the background in our society may not necessarily be harmless.

This Dark Force Entertainment Blu-ray, like the feature and the alternate take themselves, is not spectacular, but the actual high definition scenes look filmic (unlike the several taped inserts). I could rant about the shortened version of the Forced Entry take, but I could also ultimately care less, since the PG-rated The Last Victim, the director's intended version, is the main draw for me.

If people watch carefully, they can notice she does her own stunts including one where she ends up falling backwards fown the stairs while struggling with her attacker. You can see some real bruises in some shots.

[DukeTogo84]

Well, the wait is taking too long, so I ordered Journey into Fear. It has both Vincent Price and Donald Pleasance so I said screw it. Hope it's a decent film and the transfer looks decent.

[Member-222782]

Jamaica Reef and Terror Express arrived on Saturday - 32 days after it shipped lol. Journey Into Fear, OTOH, is Out For Delivery after only 6 days. I guess the USPS has cleared most of that old Xmas backlog.

[jaws3dfan]

Originally Posted by Cinema84

Jamaica Reef and Terror Express arrived on Saturday - 32 days after it shipped lol. Journey Into Fear, OTOH, is Out For Delivery after only 6 days. I guess the USPS has cleared most of that old Xmas backlog.

I hope you enjoy Jamaica Reef, it's not great but I enjoyed it.

[SKULLISLANDRESIDENT]

Thanks Dark Force, I received my club membership title of "Journey Into Fear" today. Great service as always.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by jaws3dfan

I hope you enjoy Jamaica Reef, it's not great but I enjoyed it.

God, what a goofy movie. So inept lol. Haven't watched it all the way through but I think I'll find something to like about it eventually. Weird to see Stephen Boyd from Ben-Hur in this. Poor guy must've been desperate for money

[rillog]

Originally Posted by SKULLISLANDRESIDENT

Thanks Dark Force, I received my club membership title of "Journey Into Fear" today. Great service as always.

Could you post pictures of the covers (front and reverse if it has one)? Thanks!

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by Cinema84

Jamaica Reef and Terror Express arrived on Saturday - 32 days after it shipped lol. Journey Into Fear, OTOH, is Out For Delivery after only 6 days. I guess the USPS has cleared most of that old Xmas backlog.

We told you it would eventually show up. Sorry for the long travel time. Hopefully USPS starts to improve now.

[Dark Force]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Well, the wait is taking too long, so I ordered Journey into Fear. It has both Vincent Price and Donald Pleasance so I said screw it. Hope it's a decent film and the transfer looks decent.

Transfer is excellent on that one (from orig 35 neg) and the movie is surprisingly entertaining. With that kind of cast you can't go wrong. Let us know how you like it.