Invasion of the Love Drones Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Invasion of the Love Drones Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 16, 2018

Jerome Hamlin's "Invasion of the Love Drones" (1977) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Pop Cinema. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers and the vintage film "Double-D Experiment". In English, without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The alien ship

The roots of the trend that Jerome Hamlin’s Invasion of the Love Drones was a part of can be traced all the way back to the early 1960s. This was the time when a number of European directors that specialized in erotic films started experimenting with different concepts that could legitimize their work in the eyes of mainstream filmgoers. For example, in France Max Pecas and especially Jose Benazeraf did some very interesting things that essentially delivered the perfect blueprint for ‘serious’ erotic films. (Most basically had what now would be considered arthouse qualities but emphasized the erotic material). However, by the early 1970s the line that used to separate erotic and adult films was pretty much eliminated and directors and actors routinely began crossing over to the adult business if they felt that it was worth doing so. (A bit later, as production budgets in the adult business became bigger, this trend actually produced a number of permanent switches. It is how the likes of Brigitte Lahaie, Lili Caratti, and Karin Schubert, for instance, emerged as adult stars). The greatest variety of these types of films was in France where adult producers contracted some very serious talent, and then in Italy where by the late 1980s local directors that used to shoot genre films had also started experimenting with adult projects. (Joe D’Amato was probably the most famous of the Italian directors that made the switch). In the United States, this trend did not produce the same volume of films. In fact, local directors that wanted to go a bit further than Russ Meyer but still do quality work actually had to shoot in Europe, so the majority of domestic experimental films that came out during the 1970s were done with fairly small budgets. (Radley Metzger, arguably the most serious and talented of the American directors, shot in Italy and Yugoslavia for this exact reason).

Invasion of the Love Drones is one of those experimental domestic films that goes a bit further than Meyer’s films but does not have the sophisticated look of Metzger’s films. In fact, it is a lot easier to compare to some of the smaller films that D’Amato did, though anyone that is familiar with the Italian director’s adult work will immediately, and rightfully, point out that Hamlin did not have the same talent to work with. On the other hand, this does not exactly affect the overall quality of the production because its low-budget look and roughness work really well for the intended psychedelic ambience.

Rather predictably, the film's plot is quite thin. An intergalactic ship dispatches alien invaders to New York City where they begin colonizing the bodies of healthy young men and women. The colonization process occurs as the invaders engage in sexual acts that are telepathically controlled by a horny creature, the Queen, which appears to be in the final stages of some unusual reproductive cycle.

This new release of Invasion of the Love Drones, however, is missing a substantial amount of hardcore footage. It is difficult to tell with absolute certainty if the cuts were intentionally made to strengthen the film’s psychedelic ambience and make it easier to promote to mainstream audiences, or if the producers of the release were able to access only an element with a random ‘softer’ cut of the film, but some of the skips are indeed pretty obvious. All in all, a surprisingly atmospheric film that is perfect to see late at night, but it is very unfortunate that an uncut version of it is unavailable at the moment.

*The edited version of the film that is included on this release is approximately 59 minutes long. The more explicit and fully uncut version that has been released on VHS in the past is approximately 72 minutes long.

Invasion of the Love Drones Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jerome Hamlin's Invasion of the Love Drones arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Pop Cinema.

The film has been transferred in high-definition and this is pretty much where the 'remastering' process that has been highlighted by the label ends. I don't have a problem with this and I would choose such an option in a heartbeat if I had to pick between this release and 'restorations' such as the one that VCI offered for Satan's Cheerleaders. The reason for my decision should be obvious: while looking rough and showing a range of inconsistencies Invasion of the Love Drones still looks like film with a worn out vintage appearance; Satan's Cheerleaders does not.

Here's what you should expect from the technical presentation: All age-related imperfections that were present on the element that was used to produce the master have been retained, so there are tiny starches, some blemishes, a few black marks, and even some vertical lines. There are density fluctuations as well, though I must point out that the short 'reports' actually use documentary footage with native fluctuations. However, overall density for this type of transfer is good. Obviously, color saturation and balance should be better. As pointed out above, the best news is that there are no traces of recent degraining or sharpening adjustments, hence the worn out but still preferable organic vintage appearance. The encoding is not optimal -- each of the two films in the set should have been placed on a separate disc. Image stability is good, but there are a few shaky transitions and some basic frame instability. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

Invasion of the Love Drones Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

I was very surprised with the nice psychedelic soundtrack because it almost feels too good for a film of this caliber. Fortunately, the lossless track is stable and clean, ensuring a hassle-free viewing experience. This being said, a quality remix will likely eliminate some minor unevenness and optimize the dynamic field as well. Bottom line is this: There are no distracting abnormalities to report.

Invasion of the Love Drones Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers - four trailers.
  
  1. Cries of Ecstasy, Blows of Death
  2. Invasion of the Love Drones.
  3. Female Chauvinists
  4. Hot Connections

• Double-D Experiment - a pretty funny softcore film starring Roxanne Brewer. It has not been restored/remastered. In English, not subtitled. (65 min).

• Booklet - six-page illustrated booklet featuring Jeremy Richey's essay "Revolution Blue!". (The author is writer on film and music who created the blogs Moon in the Gutter and Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience. He is also the editor of the print only publication Art Decades and the author of the upcoming From Emmanuelle to Chabrol: Sylvia Kristel in the Seventies).

Invasion of the Love Drones Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

From what I have seen thus far the Racy Reels From the Something Weird Vault collection is shaping up to be exactly what I expected and wanted it to be -- a collection of odd but very interesting low-budget films that could potentially complement the various AGFA releases that are already on the market. Needless to say, I would like to see this collection grow big and (re)introduce to the collectors as many gems as possible. However, I have two suggestions to the guys at Pop Cinema: First, please do your best to offer uncut versions of these films. I enjoyed Invasion of the Love Drones a lot, but I would have preferred to see the uncut version on Blu-ray. Second, use separate discs for each film so that you can optimize the technical presentation as best as possible. Raw transfers are fine in my book, but too much content on a single-layer disc isn't. Invasion of the Love Drones appears in this double-feature release together with Cries of Ecstasy, Blows of Death. RECOMMENDED (but with reservations).