4.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A teenage girl driving through the desert is confronted by a huge Neanderthal-like man and she returns to the city to share her story with her explorer father and her boyfriend. When her father doesn’t return from searching for the creature, the girl and her boyfriend head out to the desert to find him and the girl is taken hostage along with her father. It’s up to the efforts of the boyfriend to rescue the father and daughter before the caveman can make the girl his mate.
Starring: Arch Hall, Jr., Marilyn Manning, Richard Kiel, Arch Hall, Sr., Clay StearnsSci-Fi | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 1.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It's often regarded as one of the worst movies of all time, but Arch Hall Sr.'s Eegah (1962) is still alive because of it. Produced on a tiny budget and released with little fanfare, this caveman-meets-girl story proved tolerable at drive-in theaters and quickly faded into obscurity. It earned a second life in 1993 via Joel Hodgson's Mystery Science Theater 3000, where it was predictably roasted to a crisp. Hodgson himself has gone on record as being somewhat remorseful for his scathing remarks (largely due to a 2014 meeting with actor Arch Hall Jr.,) and now views Eegah as harmless fun made by an adventurous young cast and crew just learning the ropes. So, is it really that bad?
First-timers will likely be taken aback at some of Eegah's weakest elements: the amateur acting, our titular character's ultra-fake beard,
gaping continuity errors, poor editing, and badly-overdubbed dialogue that occasionally comes out of nowhere. Though die-hard fans have given
themselves over to its campy atmosphere and most ridiculous quotes, those with a more critical eye might be driven up a wall...because as unlikely
as it sounds, a few little tweaks could've made this an unironically enjoyable movie. But I'm a firm believer in viewing movies as what they
are instead of what they could be, and Eegah is most definitely one of the most awful movies of its era. Yet there's a
certain spark that keeps people coming back, or we wouldn't be celebrating with a Blu-ray edition more than 55 years after its original release.
Although director Arch Hall Sr. died all the way back in 1978, his son is still very active and appears on-disc via a short interview, as does
MST3K creator Joel Hodgson. But the real secret weapon here is a brand-new 4K-sourced transfer, which valiantly attempts to
polish this turd to a gleaming shine. What a time to be alive, right?
Much better than it deserves, probably. Eegah carries a 4K restoration of the original 35mm negative spearheaded by Peter Conheim of Cinema Preservation Alliance, which yields very strong results. Be aware that this 1.66:1 transfer still has its share of flaws, although some of them are likely "baked in": dirt and debris, inconsistent color timing, emulsion damage and color spots, vertical scratches, and more. Yet these appear only during certain sequences, whereas others are razor-sharp and virtually free from damage. Grain levels are satisfying and show no evidence of excessive DNR, although it looks a little chunkier in certain screenshots than it does in-motion. Skin tones appear accurate, black levels are often nice and deep, while overall fine detail and texture can be very striking...so while this isn't the most stable 4K restoration in recent memory (and one that clearly would have benefited from a round or two of manual cleanup), it's certainly far and away Eegah has ever looked on home video and most theatrical showings.
Although the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix sounds less impressive in comparison, most of its defects are entirely due to age and original source recordings. Eegah is loaded with dubbed lines that add quite a bit of unintentionally funny exposition (including its most famous warning, repurposed for this review's tagline), and they sound just as bad as ever; maybe even worse. Yet most traditional dialogue remains clean and easy to understand, while André Brummer's original score acquits itself about as well as any other low-budget production from that decade.
Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included; these are formatted perfectly with no sync issues (screenshot #14).
Eeegah is packaged in a standard keepcase with poster-themed cover art and an insert booklet with a short essay by award-winning writer Don Stradley. On-disc extras are limited in number but all are extremely worthwhile.
Truly a film that defies its modest roots, Eegah is a campy horror adventure that was obviously made with enthusiasm by its young, inexperienced cast and crew. Infamous during the drive-in days and later remembered for its MST3K appearance, Eegah's legacy lives on with a left-field limited Blu-ray that includes a 4K-sourced restoration and a few worthwhile extras. Collectors and die-hard fans should grab this while it's still available -- only 1,500 were made!
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