Scalpel is a diabolically fun thriller-horror film thanks to the devilish performance by lead actor Robert Lansing; almost seemed like an episode of “Tales from the Crypt”.
Scalpel
(1976)
Genre(s): Drama, Suspense/Thriller
Arrow Video | NR – 95 min. – $39.95 | February 20, 2018
Date Published: 02/18/2018 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
PLOT SYNOPSIS |
| It is likely that a psychotic surgeon (ROBERT LANSING) murdered his wife, and he did murder his daughter’s boyfriend. The surgeon is unhappy when he finds out that he has been totally cut out of his father-in-law’s will and that the man’s large estate is to go to his own daughter, who has run away. So the surgeon devises a plan to re-create his daughter’s face from the damaged face of a go-go dancer (JUDITH CHAPMAN). And with this woman’s help, he begins cheating the estate and gets more demented as he continues with his plot. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
|
This release comes with a 32-page booklet. Audio Commentary – Film historian Richard Harland Smith expounds on the themes of the film and even the origin of the story. It is quite technical and professorial but anyone interested in this movie or just the nuances of story, it is well worth a listen. The Cutting Edge (13:52; HD) – New interview with writer/director John Grissmer finds the filmmaker looking back on his career and inspirations behind Scalpel. Dead Ringer (17:20; HD) is a new interview with Actress Judith Chapman, who, like Grissmer, recounts her start as an actor and playing the dual roles in the film. Southern Gothic (15:25; HD) finds director of photography Edward Lachman explain the look of the film. Last up is an Image Gallery (3:31; HD) and the Trailer (2:42; HD). |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
|
Scalpel scrapes onto Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video, presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. Now, here’s where things get interesting. There are two film grades offered at the main menu: the “Edward Lachman Grade”, for which the director of photographer supervised and approved and the “Arrow Grade”. The former was done with Southern Gothic in mind and colors had warm yellow and green tones while the latter is a bit more “naturalistic” and provided for comparative purposes. Personally, I always go with the intended look so for the score, I am going with the first option. As such, it’s a fine looking transfer, as noted colors veer more toward yellows and greens but detail is sharp and thanks to the restoration work, the 35mm colour reversal internegative was used, as the original 35mm film could not be found, and scanned at 2K resolution. This is clean as major instances of dust marks, scratches and other elements were removed. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The movie comes equipped with a basic but effective PCM Mono track which provides for clear dialogue levels and some okay depth when it came to the music. At no point did the track top out or come across too quiet or loud. Nothing amazing but decent enough. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
|
Overall, Scalpel is a diabolically fun thriller-horror film thanks to the devilish performance by lead actor Robert Lansing; almost seemed like an episode of “Tales from the Crypt”. This Arrow Video release offers up excellent video and good audio transfers and some satisfactory set of bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.