Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Sky High Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 30, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Nico Mastorakis Collection from Arrow Video.

Arrow Video has been cultivating a really rather sweet relationship with Greek writer and director Nico Mastorakis for several years, bringing out any number of Mastorakis' films, including .com for Murder , Nightmare at Noon, Death Has Blue Eyes, The Wind, The Zero Boys, Hired to Kill and Island of Death. It's perhaps worth noting that as with this release, Mastorakis tends to provide his own masters, which may "cut out the middle man" and facilitate releases. Mastorakis quite frequently uses some incredibly luscious Greek locations for films that might otherwise not be much above what the back cover of this release overtly mentions as "B movie" levels, and that's once again the case with the sextet of films offered in this nicely packaged new set. That said, even when the films stray from the stunning Greek locations, there's another kind of "scenery" regularly on hand in these films courtesy of a bevy of beautiful women, often in little to no clothing. This collection has a rather broad range of subject matter as well as tonal proclivities, and makes a pretty cogent case that Mastorakis can be at least decently facile in any number of genres.

Sky High does in fact offer a so-called "high concept" (which may mean someone was high when they thought it up), but whatever gonzo nooks and crannies the plot explores are probably dwarfed by the now hilariously dated "product placement" of Seiko's Data 2000 watch, which for you young 'uns was the first kinda sorta computer powered wrist accessory, and which must have more or less funded this effort considering how often it's shown and/or mentioned. Otherwise, there are some peculiar if kind of daffily enjoyable interludes (inter-lewds?) here as three American guys on a Greek vacation get swept up into some kind of bizarre plot that involves a cassette tape (only slightly less quaint than a Seiko Data 2000 watch) delivering orgasmic thrills and/or death to anyone who listens to it.

There's a whole music video subplot to this enterprise, as weird as that may sound, which in turn offers Chris De Burgh (of "The Lady in Red" fame) a chance to strut his stuff, and the entire outing has a kind of "Grecian Porky's" vibe that may actually recommend it to some.

Sky High Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sky High is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet (really more of a pamphlet this time around) has the following generic information on all the transfers, which are lumped together on one informational page, as follows:

The Time Traveller, Sky High, Glitch!, Ninja Academy and The Naked Truth are presented in their original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with stereo and 5.1 audio.

Terminal Exposure is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with stereo audio.

The high definition masters were provided by Nico Mastorakis.

Despite being a year newer than its disc mate The Time Traveller, video quality here is not at the same level as in the other film. Whatever element was utilized looks slightly faded a lot of the time, and tends to have somewhat anemic densities and overall suffusion. Clarity is adequate, though never at the levels seen in The Time Traveller. The film has some patently absurd "special effects" as the boys experience the "portal" that the cassette tape offers, and those feature intentionally pixelated imagery at times as seen in screenshots 4 and 8.

Sky High Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sky High features either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or LPCM 2.0 audio options. While the video side of things may be markedly different when comparing the two titles on this disc, the audio presentations show some of the same positives, with the surround track nicely if intermittently opening up a lot of the ambient environmental sounds in the outdoor scenes. The use of a kind of quasi-music video subplot also affords opportunities for several songs, which are also more forcefully presented in the surround track. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Sky High Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged The Time Traveller and Sky High together on one disc. All of the films in this set feature "self interviews" by Mastorakis detailing that particular film's production, as well as other supplements, as follows:

• Nico's Self Interviews: The Time Traveller (HD; 23:48)


• Nico's Self Interviews: Sky High (HD; 18:24)


• Dan Hirsch: A Revealing Self Interview (HD; 11:22) features the Sky High actor.


• Trailers

  The Time Traveller (HD; 2:28)

  
  

  Sky High (HD; 3:42)

Sky High Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sky High reminded me of the sort of low level stuff you used to find back in the nascent days of cable and "premium movie" channels, which often offered less than A list material. A lot of Sky High is unabashedly corny and smarmy in about equal measure, but as is often the case with Mastorakis, the location work can be very appealing. Video is certainly watchable, but improvable, and audio is fine. Mastorakis' "self interviews" are unsurprisingly a hoot, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.