{"id":30173,"date":"2024-11-30T01:24:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T09:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30173"},"modified":"2024-11-30T01:24:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T09:24:01","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-2020-texas-gladiators-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30173","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past 4K Ultra HD Review: 2020 TEXAS GLADIATORS (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This 4K Ultra HD\/Blu-ray 2-disc set with a soundtrack CD\nis currently available from Severin Films.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everyone knows that the post-apocalyptic action film Mad\nMax 2<\/em> (1981) aka The Road Warrior<\/em> is among the best of its kind. This\nis largely because Australian filmmaker Geroge Miller managed to create a\ntimeless tale by using mythic story elements and presented hero\u2019s journey from a\nloner survivalist back to a human being willing to sacrifice and do the right\nthing for the greater good. It also featured Jaw-dropping stunts and action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many substandard copies followed from around the world. 2020\nTexas Gladiators<\/em> is an Italian production that, to an extent, definitely attempts\nto copy sections of the formula (along with American westerns). It isn\u2019t a\nparticularly strong picture and by today\u2019s standards is in poor taste, but it\nis a fascinatingly bizarre outing that is never boring and will leave the jaws of\nmany viewers agape.  If you aren\u2019t easily\noffended and appreciate this type of B-movie (and I do, at least to an extent) the\noutrageousness on display will most certainly entertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Severin Films is presenting a 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray combo\npack of the movie that even comes with a CD featuring the original score. While\nthe movie was made on the cheap, this release certainly wasn\u2019t. In fact, it\u2019s a\nstunning 4K presentation. The restoration was taken from the original camera\nnegative, and thus this is an incredible looking disc with a brilliant picture.\nI was flabbergasted by the presentation. Other than a 10-minute sequence in a\nbar that contains the kind of grain one would expect from this type of film, the\nentire picture is spotless. The image quality is so good, that for several\nupward angles on characters screaming, you can see the fillings in their mouths.\nThe movie looks outrageously good and I have no doubt this is the best it has\never, or perhaps will ever look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re not familiar with the movie at all but want to\npick it up, I\u2019d actually recommend skipping the next three paragraphs. It\u2019s a\nfar more shocking and strange experience if you go in cold\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story, such as it is, it set in a world where civilization\nhas crumbled and biker gangs rampage ruins, looking for victims. When a group\nof baddies pillage a monastery, they murder many and attempt to rape several\nwomen. They\u2019re more than a little late, but the title vigilante squad\/heroes(?)\neventually arrive to violently eliminate the threat. The group includes Nisus (Al\nCliver), Halakron (Peter Hooten) Jab (Harrison Muller), Red Wolfe (Hal Tamanouchi)\nand Catch Dog (Daniel Stephen).  Alas,\nafter stopping the attempted rape of a woman named Maida (Sabrina Siani), Catch\nDog decides to commit the same horrific crime. He\u2019s then stopped by the other members\nand kicked out of the group.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maida criticizes the group for their violent ways and tells\nNisus that there is a safe community nearby when they can live in peace. He\ntakes her up on the offer and, years later, they are married with a child\nhappily living in the community. That is, until a fascist group run by Black\nOne (Donald O\u2019Brien) arrives with his henchman Catch Dog to raid the facility\nwith technologically advanced shields that can repel bullets. They do so easily,\nwhich means that Maida is forced to endure some truly horrendous acts. Nisus\ndoes fight back (doing a literal somersault over guards and killing his partner\u2019s\nattacker), but is ultimately killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sometime later, Hakakron, Jab and Red Wolfe find Maida\nworking a bar. It seems she isn\u2019t interested in peace anymore and asks for\ntheir help in returning to the town, reuniting her with her child, and slaughtering\nall the villains. The group encounter a Native American tribe, who join them in\nthe attack, using bows and arrows to get around the villain\u2019s shields. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have no idea whom the protagonist is in this film. Every time that a character takes center stage, they are either killed or pushed aside. Truth be told, Maida may be the real lead in the movie, since she seems to have the most screen time and a character arc (even if it\u2019s a bizarre change from a peace-pleading victim to a gun-toting soldier). But these oddities are part of the fun. The plot twists are ridiculous and the events depicted are so outlandish that it\u2019s hard to take seriously. \u00a0The dialogue is creaky and most of the intended jokes are groaners. And the fact that it is so silly helps make up for the fact that a few scenes are in poor taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, strangely enough, I had a good time with this cheeseball picture. Besides the incredible picture quality that is about 10 times better than it has any right to be, the bonuses are equally engaging. The first is a lengthy documentary on the production with the production team and actor Al Cliver, which explains a lot. There were two directors credited, Joe D\u2019Amato aka Aristide Massaccesi and George Eastman (who was also a writer on the picture). Both are interviewed, along with assistant director Michele Soavi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The history of this production is very interesting. It seems\nthat Eastman was asked to direct, but that he was slow and not experienced enough\nto handle the stresses of making a low-budget feature. Assistant director Soavi,\nwho had been working under Dario Argento and would later become a filmmaker in\nhis own right (helming StageFirght <\/em>and, perhaps most notably, Cemetery\nMan<\/em>), says he took the gig because he had plenty of time between Argento projects.\nEveryone noted Eastman\u2019s inexperience, pestering him over some of his more questionable\ncalls. Soavi didn\u2019t get on well with him either (although they patched things\nup later and Eastman later co-wrote StageFright<\/em> for him). The AD stepped\nin to handle some of the material (although he admits an argument they had ended\nup causing himself an embarrassing injury during the shoot). D\u2019Amato also arrived\non set to take over shooting some of the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eastman admits that there were a lot of problems during the shoot. He does suggest he is a better writer than director in his interview clips, but then also notes that screenwriting was just a job to him and that he wasn\u2019t particularly pleased some of those projects either. The interviewee then goes on to state that he is primarily focused on his current profession of being a restauranteur. In the end, Soavi offers plenty of insight, while D\u2019Amato and Eastman tell some strange behind-the-scenes stories about the shoot that are fun to listen to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also an interview with Geretta Geretta, who plays\none of Catch Dog\u2019s gang members.  She\u2019s a\nfantastic interview, talking about her experiences growing up in Portland, as\nwell as how she became an actress working in Europe. She talks about getting an\nagent in Italy and being cast in European movies. Apparently, Michele Soavi\ndirected the scenes she was in and was a blast to work with Geretta states that\nthe cast and crew she dealt with were wonderful and that it was a thrill do\ncrazy action and play bigger roles that she would never have been offered in the\nUS. She also talks about meeting other Americans and who got their starts acting\nabroad. She briefly mentions other notable appearances in movies like Rats:\nNight of Terror<\/em> and Demons <\/em>(where she ran into Soavi again, as he was\nassistant director and a cast member in that feature). She\u2019s a blast to listen\nto and it\u2019s a great interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trailer is also included, as well as a CD with the movie\u2019s\nscore by Carlo Maria Cordio (who also wrote the music for Pieces<\/em> and Troll\n2<\/em> among many others). It comes packaged in a nice slipcase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yeah, the movie is really cheesy, but its presentation couldn\u2019t\nbe better. Severin has done another stellar job with their 4K Ultra HD\/Blu-ray\/CD\ncombo of 2020 Texas Gladiators<\/em>. B-movie fans will have plenty to cheer\nabout with this release.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This 4K Ultra HD\/Blu-ray 2-disc set with a soundtrack CD is currently available from Severin Films. Everyone knows that the post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max 2 (1981) aka The Road Warrior is among the best of its kind. This is largely because Australian filmmaker Geroge Miller managed to create a timeless tale by using mythic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[115,201,202,203,204,300,697,903,2124,2934,3067,4038,5150,8173,10042,10774,15980,16297,17504,18083],"class_list":["post-30173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-115","tag-2020-texas-gladiators","tag-2020-texas-gladiators-4k-review","tag-2020-texas-gladiators-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-2020-texas-gladiators-review","tag-4k-ultra-hd","tag-action","tag-al-cliver","tag-b-movie","tag-blasts-from-the-past-4k-review","tag-blu-ray","tag-cd","tag-daniel-stephen","tag-genre-film","tag-italy","tag-joe-d-amato","tag-peter-hooten","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-sabrina-siani","tag-severin-films"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}