I love the Tales from the Crypt TV Series and I am a huge fan of the first Tales film, Demon Knight (review coming soon,) so it comes with great confusion as to why I’ve never watched the second film Bordello of Blood in it’s complete entirety until now. Could it be that all the reviews were negative for the flick? Maybe, but I usually don’t let reviews stop me from watching a movie, hell even my own reviews wouldn’t stop me. Bordello of Blood does have everything I love in a horror flick. It’s got gore, plenty of boobies and a good helping of comedy, so I don’t understand the hate the movie gets. Is it as good as Demon Knight? Hell no, but it certainly isn’t as bad as most folks make it out to be. Thankfully, the Scream Factory Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release is definitely worthy of purchasing, even if the video is a bit on the over sharpened side. Read on to see the full assessment…
PRODUCT INFOMATION
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 87 min
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A
RATING: R
PRODUCTION DATE: 1996
RELEASE DATE: Oct 20th, 2015
PLOT SUMMARY
Wisecracking private eye Rafe Guttman (Dennis Miller, Joe Dirt) investigates some strange happenings at a titillating bordello on the edge of town. It seems owner Madam Lilith (Angie Everhart, Jade) and her luscious cohorts want more than money… they want blood!
Soon Rafe finds himself up to his neck in a den of hungry vampiresses and battling the Reverend Jimmy Current (Chris Sarandon, Fright Night, Child’s Play), a slick televangelist with an unstoppable talisman.
MOVIE
After the pretty successful Demon Knight movie, production began on the next movie, a script written by Bob Gale & Robert Zemeck, which was about vampires and prostitutes. Things started off pretty bad, with the star of the movie, Dennis Miller, not wanting to be in the movie, unless he was paid $1 million dollars. In order to pay him this obscene amount, they took from the budget for the film, which is never a good idea. Having to cut back on a lot of things and moving production to Vancouver, BC, where experience in filmmaking was just taking off, so talent was limited; the overall movie took some big hits. That’s not to say that the film is awful, as it really isn’t that bad of a movie, but it most certainly is not the classic that most Tales from the Crypt stories are.
Bordello of Blood is pretty much what you think it is based on the name of the movie itself. A bunch of vampires, lead by supermodel Angie Everhart (who mainly got the role due to dating Sylvester Stallone at the time,) runs a brothel underneath of a mortuary and feasts on the horny men that visit. A woman’s brother, Katherine Verdoux (Erika Eleniak, who wanted to distance herself from her Baywatch days and get her name out there, so she thinks a flick titled Bordello of Blood would do that?), hires a private investigator Rafe Guttman, played by Dennis ‘I am just here for the cheque and don’t give a shit about anything’ Miller. The brother, played by the only person who actually wanted to be in the movie, Corey Feldman, has run amuck of the vampires and soon Rafe will as well. Chris Sarandon of Fright Night and Child’s Play fame also shows up to steal the show as the guitar rocking evangelist Reverend Current. What does he have to do with the plot you may be asking? I can’t tell you, as that would be spoiling the fun.
Like I’ve said already, Bordello of Blood is certainly not a terrible film. It’s bursting with boobies and copious amounts of groovy gore, so any gorehound or hound in general, will most certainly get their fill. The story itself is a little lacking in the details department, as all we’re really told is that this vampire, Lilith, is the head of vampires and a key (the same key from the Demon Knight,) can control her; that’s about it. The rest of the movie is all about boobies, exploding vampires and Dennis Miller waiting for his cheque to cash. Is that so bad?
BLU-RAY
Scream Factory has decided to release Bordello of Blood under their Collector’s Edition brand, which means a fancy slip cover and a good helping of features. Does the movie deserve this type of treatment? Probably not and many will agree the price tag is a bit high, but the release itself is definitely worth picking up if found at a good price.
The video is looking a bit on the over sharpened side, which does give the movie an enhanced grainy look, and I don’t think this is exactly how the movie was supposed to look. As I said, I’ve never seen the movie before, so I can’t judge what it looked like on other releases, but besides the aforementioned sharpening issue, the video is completely passable.
Audio is presented in two options, with my review being based on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Speakers are utilized well, with dialogue coming through nice and clear in the center channel. No complaints on the audio side of things.
As for the special features of the disc, you have a commentary with Co-Writer & Producer A.L. Katz. A 35-minute behind the scenes, which is really about how much of a dick Dennis Miller is and all the troubles this movie went through, most of which I’ve already mentioned above. It was a fun watch for sure. Rounding everything out is a wonderful Home Video trailer, which brought me down memory lane for a bit; a Still Gallery and finally a Trailer. Plenty here to keep you busy for a bit, but not so much that it’s bursting at the seams, which may disappoint some based on this being labeled as a Collector’s Edition and having a hefty price tag.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
- NEW Audio Commentary with Co-Writer & Producer A.L. Katz
- NEW Tainted Blood: The Making of “Tales From The Crypt presents Bordello Of Blood” – Interviews with Actors Corey Feldman, Angie Everhart and Erika Eleniak, Co-Writer & Co-Producer A.L. Katz, Editor & Second Unit Director Stephen Lovejoy, and Special Effects Creator Todd Masters (35 minutes)
- Video Promo
- Still Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
VERDICT
Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood turned out to be not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It had plenty of melons, sticky plasma and a good amount of laughs. It’s not the best in the series of Crypt flicks and not the worst either (The Ritual takes that prize.) Scream Factory does a pretty good job on the disc, but there are a few complaints, with the video issue and short features list being the biggest culprits. Overall, this disc is worthy of being given a cozy spot on your horror shelf.
RATING
