Special Effects — Special Effects(Blu Ray)
From the early 1980’s, Special Effects was Larry Cohen's (It’s Alive Trilogy, The Stuff, God Told Me To Do It) take on the then-popular erotic thriller genre, with a twist of snuff-focused horror. It regards a blonde-haired Dolly Parton look-alike coming to NYC to make it in acting, who ends up dead, and a down-on-his-luck director played by Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio, Uncut Gems) decides to make a film with the lead suspect in the case. Here from Transmission, Radiance sub-label is a Blu-ray release of the film, featuring a new & archive commentary track, and two new interviews.
Special Effects ( Hollywood Kills) appeared in the year 1984, and it was both written and directed by Mr Cohen. It was his 11th movie, and was filmed in & around New York City. The film certainly has a very Brian De Palma feel, but mixed in with this, we get touches of snuff-bound horror and lightly sneering Hollywood satire.
It’s a film you can’t really give too much away about, because early on, we believe our killer has been revealed. The basic premise is that bubbly/ blond Texas actress Andrea Wilcox, played by Zoë Lund (Ms .45) is found dead in a car in a snowbound Coney Island. The car is owned by her estrange/unpredictable husband, Keffe (Brad Rijn), who had been seen manhandling her in public.
The cops turn up to arrest him, but he makes a break for the last place he believes she went, the apartment of Alex Nevllive ( Bogosian ). Alex won’t answer the door- but instead starts filming him from the roof, as the cops appear to arrest him.
We find out Mr Neville’s career is in a bad state, so to pull things around, he decides to bail out Keffe and use him to make a film about his wife's death. As the one-hour and forty-five-minute film unfolds, we get some decidedly shifty/ deceitful behaviour- a little bit of murder(including blood film strangulation), some female nudity, a classy/ art apartment, and of course, the mystery of who the killer is revealed.
The film is both campy, sleazy, and arty 80 in its shooting. I have to be honest and say that the pace is rather plodding/ somewhat. The acting is decidedly mixed, but worse of all is the film's score by Michael Minard- it largely consists of angular/disorienting/off-pitch synth music- which I’m afraid did ruin some scenes.
I’m a big fan of most of Cohen’s output, as I am of Bogosian- his performance in Talk Radio (1988) is one of the finest of the decade. The elements of Hollywood satire are effective/ if somewhat heavy-handed. We get some unsettling scenes when our killer is around/ tension when we think he may get caught. And the end fight is neat enough. I wouldn’t say Special Effects was Larry’s best work- it's middling, with a few issues- but if you enjoy the erotic thriller genre, or Bogosian's screen presence, it’s worth a look.
The region B Blu-ray features an HD scan. This looks bright and bold throughout, with a good sound mix between the dialogue & score- though as mentioned earlier the latter is truly awful.
We get a few new things- first is an audio commentary with Steve Mitchell, director of King Cohen, the 2017 documentary about the director. He begins by talking about how Larry was a social critic, touching on how he started his career as a stand-up comic, but hated the hours, so he got into filmmaking. He points out NYC locations and how red is a colour heavily featured in the movie. He touches on Hemdale, which produced the film. He talks about the film's sexual content, which was not normal in Cohen's films. Later on, he chats about how certain locations have a noir feel, we get quotes from Cohen on Zoë Lund, and more. It’s an ok track, though it felt a bit more generally focused on the director than the film to hand.
The other new extras are: Interview with Eric Bogosian(21.34). He starts off talking about how he got the role. Going onto the first scene, he filmed the sex scene with Zoë Lund, where initially he was wearing flesh-colored shorts, but these had to be removed as they were showing up on the camera. We find out that Ms Lund didn’t like him; they shot for 16 hours a day, and it took a total of 3 weeks to film. He talks about how Larry was hyper-intense and how he felt his own performance was wooden. Critic Christina Newland talks about Zoë Tamerlis Lund(12.34).
On the archive side, we have: Cohen on Cohen (71.00), a 2017 feature-length interview with Larry Cohen. And an audio commentary with Larry Cohen, moderated by Steve Mitchell.
The finished release comes with a booklet featuring new writing from Juan Barquin. It is presented with an O-card and full-height Scanavo packaging with a removable OBI strip, leaving the packaging free of certificates and markings.
Special Effects is Cohen's take on the erotic thriller genre, and while it certainly nods towards the films of Brian De Palma. Larry manages to weave in his own touches, and the pairing of Bogosian and Lund is most certainly interesting. On the extras side, I’d say the interview is a must, Bogosian- though it is all worthwhile.