Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Get Crazy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 20, 2021

Allan Arkush's "Get Crazy" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by Allan Arkush, filmmaker Eli Roth and filmmaker/critic Daniel Kremer; new program with cast and crew interviews; vintage promotional content; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Did anyone mention a party?

Allan Arkush’s Get Crazy looks like the spiritual godfather of all those unhinged films Gregg Araki made in the early 1990s. In fact, it is a bit odd that Araki wasn’t in any way involved with Get Crazy because its big party seems like the blueprint for the mad mayhem he unleashes in Nowhere.

For approximately twenty or so minutes Get Crazy has the more coherent plot. It is set in LA where club owner Max Wolfe (Allen Garfield) is celebrating the end of the year with one of the greatest parties the areas has ever seen. But with only a couple of hours left before the doors of his club are supposed to open, Wolfe has a heart attack while having a heated dispute with the shady industry veteran Colin Beverly (Ed Begley Jr.). His right-hand man and occasionally stage manager, Neil Allen (Daniel Stern), immediately steps up, assisted by former stage manager Willy Loman (Gail Edwards), whose heart has suddenly started insisting that this is the perfect time to fall in love. Soon after, the already appropriately stoned and drunk stars begin arriving, and eventually the partygoers move in as well. What happens next is impossible to accurately describe. Some leather-clad extraterrestrial creature wearing a helmet enters the club and quietly spikes up the cocktails of various stars and crew members. Local angry bikers break into the club and begin having a good time as well. After becoming uncharacteristically emotional in front of his fans, the legendary rocker Reggie Wanker (Malcolm McDowell) reluctantly participates in a backstage orgy and then has an eye-opening conversation with his playful penis. Fellow punk-rock whacko Piggy (Lee Ving) loses his mind, too. And a dirty businessman with a bold new plan for the future of the club plants a bomb that is supposed to go off at midnight.

Get Crazy is a crazy film, so the mish-mash of bizarre events that Arkush shot with his camera are unlikely to have been fully scripted. Indeed, there is just way too much going on at the same time for a director to be able to control in any meaningful way. Also, the range of emotions the actors display before Arkush’s camera are routinely so extreme that at very best they can only be anticipated. But this is what makes these types of crazy films memorable and entertaining -- if they are legit, as Get Crazy is, they just take off and their unbridled energy becomes their greatest strength.

Of course, what makes Get Crazy quite unique amongst other similarly-themed films is the fact that it brings together a huge number of well-known actors that dive into the fun head on. For example, while Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov’s enthusiasm may not be too surprising, the same cannot be said about Lou Reed, Fabian, and Dick Miller. The weirdness of McDowell’s conversation with his penis cannot be overstated either.

The wild live concert footage was shot at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, which was set to be fully renovated. The trashing of the place that Arkush captured with his camera basically saved the incoming construction crew some hard work that was needed to tear down old sets and structures.

The soundtrack features performances by Ramones (“Chop Suey”), The Sirfaris (“Wipe Out”), Lori Eastside (“You Can’t Make Me”), Sparks (“Get Crazy”), and Black Uhuru (“Carbine”), amongst others. McDowell did a live rendition of “Hot Shot” as well.

Arkush worked with cinematographer Thomas Del Ruth, who a couple of years later assisted John Hughes on the cult teen dramedy The Breakfast Club.

Get Crazy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Get Crazy arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an exclusive new 2K master that was approved by director Allan Arkush. Before I sat down to view it, I was concerned that it may have some of the same crushing issues that have popped up on other recent 2K and 4K masters the folks at Kino Lorber have commissioned, but the overall quality of the visuals here is really good. To be perfectly clear, there is still a bit of light crush sneaking in, but the darker and daylight footage boast wide ranges of very healthy nuances. (Screencapture #13 should give you a pretty good idea what type of light crushing tries to sneak in as well as demonstrate to you why it is easily tolerable). Some small density fluctuations remain, but delineation and depth are usually very good. Occasionally, clarity can appear a bit inconsistent, but there is quite a bit of footage where the camera is operated in some rather wild conditions, so this isn't surprising. There are no traces of problematic digital adjustments. Color balance is lovely and on my system select sequences looked quite remarkable, though I have to say that in an ideal world a proper 4K restoration would have produced even more impressive results, particularly in terms of color saturation and depth. Image stability is very good. A few white spots and blemishes remain, but there are no distracting large cuts, debris, warped or torn frames to report. All in all, this is a very solid technical presentation of Get Crazy that is guaranteed to make its fans happy. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Get Crazy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Thee is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

One the fun activities begin, which is a moment that comes very early into the film, the soundtrack welcomes all kinds of random sounds and noises. The dialog is usually very easy to follow, but you should know that there is a lot more going on around it. The music sounds good too, but again you should keep in mind that clarity and even sharpness can fluctuate because of the the noises that are produced by the large crowds. There are no audio dropouts, pops, distortions, or other similar anomalies.

Get Crazy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a remastered vintage theatrical U.S. trailer for Get Crazy. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• The After Party - in this exclusive new program, Allan Arkush and many of the people that helped him make Get Crazy recall what it was like to collaborate on it, how they felt during and after the shooting of the film, what it meant to them and still does. Also, there are plenty of interesting observations about the music performances and the film's unbridled sense of humor. In English, not subtitled. (76 min).

• Fan Fiction with No Gods in Space - in this new program, Carolina Hidalgo and Marcus J. Parks share some appropriately strange findings about a few of the key characters in Get Crazy. Allan Arkush participates as well. In English, not subtitled. (9 min).

• Trailers From Hell - an archival episode of Trailers From Hell featuring Allan Arkush. In English, not subtitled. (5 min).

• Get Crazy - presented here is an original music video for "Get Crazy", the theme song heard in Allan Arkush's film, performed by Sparks. (4 min).

• Not Gonna Take It No More - presented here are two more music videos:
  
  1. "Not Gonna Take It No More" by Lori Eastside & The Nada Band. Produced in 1983. Restored. (4 min).
  2. "Not Gonna Take It No More" by Lori Eastside & The Nada Band. Produced in 2021. (4 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by Allan Arkush, filmmaker Eli Roth and filmmaker/critic Daniel Kremer. The entire commentary is essentially one big trip down memory lane with all the information fans of Get Crazy would expect to get. One of the the more interesting bits that emerges from it is that Elton John and Rod Stewart apparently turned down Arkush when he offered them parts in the film.

Get Crazy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Allan Arkush's Get Crazy is a legitimately unhinged film that I think paved the way for a few of Gregg Araki's early mind-benders. Also, it is very much a product of its time, which of course is the main reason why its unfiltered excess looks so uncharacteristically bold now. If you were a collector during the VHS and DVD eras, you know well that Get Crazy never received the respect it deserved. In fact, there were no legit DVD releases of it at all, so this Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber is quite the event. It is sourced from a very solid exclusive new 2K master approved by Arkush, too. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.