I saw THE EXTERMINATOR when it was originally released in 1980 and thought it was great. Of course, time hasn't been kind to this film, which is more a TAXI DRIVER rip-off without the characterization...

I recently watched a bare-bones DVD - released by Tango Entertainment - and, while the image isn't very good, its flaws add to the movie's overall sleaze. Great exterior shots of 1980's Times Square, with actor Robert Ginty accosted by - what looks like - real people. Terrific marquee shots.

The violence in the film doesn't seem as graphic as I remember it, though the beheading at the beginning is pretty gnarly...

It plays better on Anchor Bay's uncut widescreen print, particularly James Glickenhaus' marvelous eye for presenting gory violence. I think almost all of Ginty's scenes are good sleazy fun (maybe even too sleazy), but I have never given a damn about Christopher George's romance with Samantha Eggar. George's scenes don't even look like they belong in the same movie (though the scene where he cooks a hot dog at his desk is amusing). If I could chop about ten minutes out of THE EXTERMINATOR, I think it would be a much better movie.

I forget where I saw THE EXTERMINATOR but it wasn't 42nd Street--and it should have been. And, yeah, those appear to be real 42nd Street denizens alongside Ginty in those shots. Of course you won't find them there today. Today's 42nd Street denizens are all from out of town and travel in large groups that are completely incapable of negotiating their way around sidewalks. :o

"42nd Street denizens were better when..."

Ok, Ok - anyone posting on this board is probably inclined to agree! ;)

Diabolik got Synapse's Blu-ray/DVD combo a couple of weeks early and I've had a chance to go through it. Synapse has done a terrific job on this grindhouse classic. Watching it again after many years, I was impressed what Glickenhaus was going for, but doesn't always achieve. I think George's Det. Dalton is important to the story in the sense that he's the well-adjusted flipside of Ginty's Exterminator. Both are Vietnam vets, both have a distrust/disdain of authority, and both are shown to have a trunk of weapons at the ready...just in case. Dalton's relationship with Dr. Stewart (Eggar) is further evidence of his "normalcy." But I don't think Glickenhaus pulls it off because for whatever reason, Eggar's character just stops the film dead whenever she's on screen. It's not Eggar's fault. She's fine in the role, but she just has no purpose here other than a name on the marquee. Dalton's grounded humanity could've been explored just as effectively by a brief shot of him on the phone with a girlfriend. Or maybe a shot of him going him and being greeted by a dog. The major flaw with THE EXTERMINATOR is all the time spent with Eggar's character--who doesn't even appear until 47 minutes in--when the film should be really revving up to get where it's going. I really hope the whole point of her character wasn't to get Dalton to the hospital so The Exterminator could quip "Your fly's open."

Chris Poggiali moderates a commentary with Glickenhaus that's low-key but essential listening for fans of the movie and of a bygone era of filmmaking. He mentions how CGI and visual effects have taken the personal impact out of a lot of stunt work and action scenes. Glickenhaus addresses safety standards during the opening sequence, shot at the same Indian Dunes location where the TWILIGHT ZONE tragedy took place. Lots of great stuff about NYC location shooting, working with Ginty and George (Glickenhaus mentions that George told him his biggest career regret was his agent turning down the Burt Reynolds role in DELIVERANCE without even consulting him), the silliness of the edits the MPAA demanded (a blurring of a shot of an erect penis on the wall of the room where The Exterminator sets Chicken Pimp on fire, and the penis turned out to be just the guy's leg, but later, outside, there's a ton of still shots on display behind George and a reporter, showing multiple naked men with erections), Jackie Chan supervising additional fight scenes for the Asian release of THE PROTECTOR, and more. It's not the most energetic commentary, but it covers a lot of ground and gets the job done. It's short on other extras (just a trailer and some TV spots; one of those "locations then and now" montages would've been interesting), but what's here is nothing to gripe about it.

I believe Synapse's release is also the only version on home video aside from the early-1980s Japanese VHS and LaserDisc to include the original Dolby Stereo soundtrack.

Vincent

Synapse does include the Dolby Stereo track (Paul Talbot tells me THE EXTERMINATOR was the first Dolby film mixed in New York). It's a really nice Blu-ray. It looks extremely good, the trailers are a nice bonus, and Chris Poggiali does a good job moderating the commentary with Glickenhaus. I would have liked to have known more about George and Ginty, considering they're deceased (George has been gone almost thirty years), but that's a minor quibble. If you're a fan of THE EXTERMINATOR, the new disc is worth the upgrade.

The restored Dolby soundtrack on the new Synapse disc was actually lifted from a Japanese laserdisc. The original Dolby tracks were lost.

The review at blu-ray.com calls Synapse "an up-and-coming cult studio" which made me somehow manage to cringe and laugh out loud at the same time. Aside from that completely clueless statement, the ratings also seem really far out of sync with all of the other pre-release reviews I've read:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Extermin...-Blu-ray/17817/

Wow. That's pretty bad. And doesn't sound at all like the Blu-ray I watched. I'm surprised this guy didn't take a swipe at the "up and coming" studio for failing to secure current interviews with Christopher George and Robert Ginty.

I think the reviewer must be comparing THE EXTERMINATOR to Blu-rays of contemporary films, which of course boast better picture and sound. "Martin Liebman has been an avid movie collector and home theater enthusiast since the mid-1990s," which means he's probably about thirty. His other reviews appear to be of 2010 and 2011 releases.

Agreed on all counts. I was thoroughly impressed with this Blu-ray. Grain was there, as it should be, colors were vibrant, and detail was good. His assessment of Synapse is just laughable...not much more can be said about that that hasn't already been said here.

It's a ridiculous review. The film looks like the film looks, no unnecessary digital tampering, etc. It's very much a purist release like everything Synapse does. As for the sound, same thing- it sounds like it sounds. Don searched high and low for the stereo masters but as Paul mentions, they're gone. Even the mag tracks labeled as stereo were all mono, so the vintage Japanese LaserDisc and Hi-Fi VHS were used for the stereo track on the disc.

Vincent

I've already got the Synapse disc and am extremely pleased with it, obviously, but I am curious as to whether the Arrow disc will have same A/V specs? I ask because, as you make clear, Don and Synapse are responsible for how good the film looks and sounds on this Blu-ray. Does Arrow license Synapse's transfer or do they do their own in this case?

Don did the transfer for Shapiro Glickenhouse and they in turn then licensed it to Arrow, so yeah, the Arrow disc is based off the same transfer. However, Don did additional manual clean-up work for his Blu-ray, and I don't think Arrow has the stereo track.

Vincent

Thanks, Vincent. I figured this might be the case, but appreciate the confirmation. Arrow's frequently excessive DNR scrubbing disturbs me as it does many in this community so hopefully they won't muck this one up after Don has delivered a beauty to them. Their deluxe cover art is great--though meaningless if the transfer is compromised--but the one thing in their package that truly intrigues me is the retrospective locations featurette.

Quality control at Arrow is a big problem. I have three of their Blu-rays- THE BEYOND, PHENOMENA, and TENEBRAE- and aside from image quality issues, all three of them have various audio sync issues, as well. In the case of TENEBRAE, in addition to looking rather atrocious with a thick layer of digital noise (NOT film grain) overlaying the image, it seems they used the Roan LaserDisc/Anchor Bay stereo sound mix for the English track, and as a result at points where the Roan/AB was missing footage that sound goes sloppily out of sync before the sync is just as sloppily corrected. Really ridiculous that they bother to release this stuff on Blu-ray with so many technical glitches. They should spend less time on gaudy sleeve art and more on QC of the actual discs IMO.

Vincent

Arrow...oy. :rolleyes:

Arrow's Blus of OBSESSION, THE FUNHOUSE, and especially SPIRITS OF THE DEAD are fine; it's their Italian releases that are problematic.

For those in the NY metro area, my friends at 92Y Tribeca are bringing in Jim Glickenhaus for an appearance and 35mm prints of THE EXTERMINATOR and SHAKEDOWN (aka BLUEJEAN COP).

Glickenhaus at 92Y Tribeca

EXTERMINATOR 2 (1984)—Directed by Mark Buntzman and William Sachs. Stars Robert Ginty, Mario Van Peebles, Deborah Geffner, Frankie Faison. Buntzman, who produced THE EXTERMINATOR and owned the sequel rights, returned to write and direct a follow-up. Cannon fired him during production for falling behind schedule and replaced him with Sachs (GALAXINA), who was already working on EXTERMINATOR 2 as a writer and producer.

The final film shows many signs of production disharmony, including shots of Ginty’s and Geffner’s body doubles. The principal visual used in Cannon’s marketing of the Exterminator hidden behind a welding mask and holding a flamethrower most likely came about because Sachs had to shoot about forty minutes of footage without his leading man, who had already moved on to another project. In fact, Ginty doesn’t appear at all during the climactic action sequence (except in one shot taken from a different scene) and is never seen killing anyone on-camera.

John Eastland (Ginty), who escaped death from a CIA sniper’s bullet at the end of THE EXTERMINATOR, is back in New York and continuing his career as a street vigilante dubbed “the Exterminator.” He takes a job as a garbage collector with his friend Be Gee (Faison) and begins a romance with a sweet dancer named Caroline (Geffner, who had been in ALL THAT JAZZ). Being the type of movie it is, you know the Exterminator’s friends aren’t going to survive unscathed, making his street-cleaning mission a personal one.

Eastland’s foes—a multi-ethnic street gang led by the charismatic X (Van Peebles in an early role)—are fairly ridiculous, but prove Buntzman, who shares writing credit with Sachs, saw THE WARRIORS. Van Peebles’ cartoony performance is a little much for what likely began as a gritty urban thriller like THE EXTERMINATOR. On the other hand, going over the top meant Eastland could wipe out the gangbangers with an incredibly cool armor-plated garbage truck outfitted with machine guns, flamethrowers, and grenade launchers.

It’s amazing that EXTERMINATOR 2 is as entertaining as it is, considering its mixed-up production. Twelve (!) film editors are credited, as well as separate crews for New York and Los Angeles. Robert Ginty directed one scene. Both the theatrical trailer and Cannon’s making-of documentary (which calls the Exterminator “Johnny Long!”) show scenes that are not in the final film. Also with Arye Gross and Irwin Keyes, who also got killed in THE EXTERMINATOR. The end credits claim Thomas Calabro, Stanley Brock, and John Turturro are in the movie, but I didn’t spot them.

My interview-filled article on the "making of" both EXTERMINATOR movies is in the new issue of SCREEM (#23 with THE SHINING on the cover). It has quotes from my interviews with Mark Buntzman and William Sachs and tells who did what on the sequel.

Just finished reading this and it is amazing work (as always), Paul.

And for anyone who hasn't picked up THE EXTERMINATOR yet, Deep Discount has the Bluray up for $9.74.

http://www.deepdiscount.com/bluray/extermi...r-654930313190/

Yup. Agreed.

EXTERMINATOR 2 is part of Shout! Factory's new "Action-Packed Movie Marathon." Paul's Screem piece does a lot more to explain the troubled EXTERMINATOR 2 production than you'll get from Mark Buntzman and Mario Van Peebles on the commentary track. I took a look at the set on my blog.

"Action-Packed Movie Marathon," featuring EXTERMINATOR 2