Black Heat Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Black Heat Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 20, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Jessi's Girls Blu-ray review.

Disc Ten of The Masterpiece Collection finds the ever resourceful duo of Al Adamson and Samuel M. Sherman starting to move into so-called Blaxploitation territory, though kind of interestingly, they quite quickly start to offer at least a smattering of kung fu as well, in a perhaps instructive example of how attuned to the general cinematic zeitgeist Adamson and Sherman could often be.

Black Heat features Timothy Brown, promoted in some of the marketing material as the "star of M*A*S*H", which might come as a surprise to, you know, Elliott Gould and Donald Sutherland, as detective "Kicks" Carter. Kicks has to go on a quest for vengeance when his partner is murdered (sound familiar?), as well as dealing with a drug cartel, with the film offering typical Adamson doses of violence and sex. Russ Tamblyn is on hand in another almost patented gonzo interpretation of a psychopath, a criminal ringleader bearing the name of Ziggy.

Black Heat Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Heat is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. There are some intermittent downturns in quality here, as in the shot of a plane coming in for a landing early in the film, but for the most part this presentation offers a really nicely vivid, natural looking palette, and generally well resolved grain. Some minor flicker can be spotted, especially against brighter background, and there's minor speckling, as well as a lack of shadow definition in the darkest scenes, including (unfortunately) the climax. The bright pops of primaries, like the red of the lounge, offer some of this presentation's best moments.

Black Heat Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Heat features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono mix that has a few hiccups, but which generally sounds fine, offering good support for music, effects and dialgoue. The fun funky score includes a theme that has a noticeable skip at circa 4:29, which sounds like a bad music editing choice made in order to either pad or cut time. The piano bar scene sounds fine, though it sounds like the singing was prerecorded. As with many Adamson films in this set, dialogue can sound a bit on the boxy side at times.

Black Heat Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Partial Archival Audio Commentary with Producer / Distributor Samuel M. Sherman


• Black Heat Trailer (480p; 2:29)


• Alternate Girls' Hotel Intro (1080p; 6:41) comes with a warning that portions of the audio are lost, and so sections here are presented without sound.


• Alternate Murder Gang Title Sequence (1080p; 2:58)


• The Murder Gang Trailer (1080p; 1:28)

Black Heat Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Heat finds Adamson and Sherman starting to make their way into a new subgenre, albeit replete with some of their trademarks like copious naked women. Technical merits are generally solid, and as with several other films in this set, the Sherman commentary is very interesting.