Not since the days of P.T. Barnum, has there been an entertainment based showman with the passion, exuberance, and ability to blow things out of proportion with publicity, since the great master of schlock horror, Lawrence Woolsey (1917-1979).
Known for his theatrical stunts – nurses standing at the ready for films too frightening to survive, dummies rigged to travel above an audience, electrical contacts beneath theater seats – Mr. Woolsey made theater-going great fun, especially for teens.
Woolsey, always seemed to have a cigar in his mouth, and a personality bigger than life.
In 1992, Joe Dante created a loving biography to Mr. Woolsey in the form of Matinee, a sweet-natured film, that places many of Mr. Woolsey’s frightening creatures at the fore, along with the man himself, played by John Goodman.
Great fun, and nice to finally have on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory’s Select label, which adds some nice extras, along with the original version of Mant (1962), as excerpted in the film.
The Blu-ray is a quality affair, with proper color, density, a light sheen of grain, and a clean image.
Image – 5
Audio – 5 (DTS-HD MA)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Recommended
RAH
Robert has been known in the film industry for his unmatched skill and passion in film preservation. Growing up around photography, his first home theater experience began at age ten with 16mm. Years later he was running 35 and 70mm at home.
His restoration projects have breathed new life into classic films like Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, My Fair Lady, Spartacus, and The Godfather series. Beyond his restoration work, he has also shared his expertise through publications, contributing to the academic discourse on film restoration. The Academy Film Archive houses the Robert A. Harris Collection, a testament to his significant contributions to film preservation.
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