Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIES

MONSTER A-GO GO (1965) — American astronaut Frank Douglas (HENRY HITE) returns to earth as a ten-foot-tall radioactive humanoid monster!

INVASION FROM INNER EARTH (1974) — In the Canadian wilderness a group of pilots listen to reports of planes crashing, cars stalling and a deadly plague gripping the planet. As it becomes clear that the Earth is amidst an invasion, they barricade themselves in a cabin in the woods and wait for pending doom.

THE ALPHA INCIDENT (1978) — A space probe returns from Mars carrying a deadly organism that could destroy all life on Earth! While being transported across country by train the micro-organism is accidentally released, resulting in the quarantine of an entire train station. Those trapped inside must wait for the government to find a cure while trying not to sleep, because that’s when the organism strikes!

THE DEMONS OF LUDLOW (1983) — The population of a small quiet town prepares to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of its founding, but the town of Ludlow has a very dark past and when a piano arrives at auction, the ghosts from its past return to seek retribution.

THE GAME (1984) — Three bored millionaires gather nine people at an old mansion to play “The Game”… if they can meet and conquer their fears then they’ll receive a million dollars in cash. But all is not as it seems!

TWISTER’S REVENGE! (1988) — An action-comedy-smash-‘em-up in which three bumbling criminals repeatedly attempts to steal the artificial intelligence control system of Mr. Twister, a talking Monster Truck.

WHO IS BILL REBANE? (2021) — Historian and critic David Cairns’ feature length documentary on the life and work of the tenacious Wisconsin auteur is a fascinating inquiry into an extraordinary life in filmmaking. Featuring contributions from historians and critics, cast and crew who worked with Bill and went on to Hollywood careers, plus fellow filmmakers Randal William Cook, Mark Borchardt, and Cory Udler. Who is Bill Rebane? Answers the important questions on who, what, where, why and much more.

Quick Hit Review: I hold a certain amount of respect for the independent filmmaker, especially those working on a shoestring budget. But that respect only goes so far and these films from Bill Rebane aren’t exactly anything to behold. Yes, they’re bad, awful in fact, with terrible acting and even worse dialogue. However the worst sin for all of these is they are downright boring, a couple I nearly dosed off due to my disinterest.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 4½/5

Here is a breakdown of the features:

MONSTER A-GO GO/INVASION FROM INNER EARTH

• Straight Shooter Part 1 and Part 2 — Newly filmed interviews about the making of Monster A-Go Go and Invasion from Inner Earth with director Bill Rebane.
• Interview by historian and critic Kim Newman about the films of Rebane.
• Short Films — Twist Craze and Dance Craze, early short films by Rebane.
• Kidnap Extortion is a newly restored industrial short from 1973, directed by Rebane.
• Stills and Promotional Gallery

THE ALPHA PROJECT/THE DEMONS OF LUDLOW

• Straight Shooter Part 3 and Part 4 — These parts covering The Alpha Project and The Demons of Ludlow with more interviews with Rebane.
• Rebane’s Key Largo is a new visual essay by historian and critic Richard Harland Smith.
• Trailers for both films
• Stills and Promotional Gallery

THE GAME/TWISTER’S REVENGE

• Straight Shooter Part 5 and Part 6, covering The Game and Twister’s Revenge and more interview footage with Rebane discussing both projects.
• Discovering Bill Rebane is a new interview with historian and critic Stephen R. Bissette about his personal connections with the films of Bill Rebane and their importance in regional film making in America.
• Trailers for both film.
• Stills and Promotional Gallery

WHO IS BILL REBANE?

• King of the Wild Frontier is a feature-length interview/conversation with historian and critic Stephen R. Bissette.
• Outtakes from Invasion from Inner Earth, The Alpha Incident and The Demons of Ludlow.
• Original Trailer for The Giant Spider Invasion.
• Stills and Promotional Galleries

VIDEO – 3¾/5, AUDIO – 3/5

Arrow Video releases each of these 7 movies onto Blu-ray for the first time. Since 6 of these were made on a shoe-string budget so these aren’t going to look the best but likely never looked better, each with 1080p high-definition transfers. Obviously they show off film damage with scratches and specs but at least there is some detail on the older films. The seventh film, a documentary, looks the best of the bunch given its newly made for, I believe, this release.

The six older films each come with a very flawed but okay DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks. Like the picture, these lossless tracks show the films’ ages where you get plenty of scratches and hisses throughout not to mention some low level sound design for the dialogue. The documentary meanwhile does sound fine with each participants audio levels sounding okay.

OVERALL — 2½/5

This Weird Wisconsin collection has some… not so good movies from filmmaker Bill Rebane. I would guess those who have an appreciation for these shoe-string budgeted films, or are from that region, might get something out of this. On the plus side, there is a feature-length documentary that is worth a watch.