Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Slayground Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 17, 2019

Terry Bedford's "Slayground" (1983) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film as well as an exclusive new video interview with actor Peter Coyote. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The thieves

Peter Coyote apparently knew that he was making a poor film. If what he says in the exclusive new video interview that is included on this release is true -- and I can’t think of a single reason to speculate that it is not -- the people around him, including director Terry Bedford, simply did not see what he did. A lot of it had to do with the script that Trevor Preston delivered, which Coyote quickly deconstructed and found problematic, but when he expressed concerns no one took him seriously. After that he did what every smart actor in his situation would do -- he played his part, got paid, and walked away.

I viewed Slayground a couple of weeks ago and decided to give it a second chance this past weekend. This time I did not even reach the half-hour mark. Here’s why: I enjoy older genre films and often times actually find things to like in legitimately ‘bad’ films, the kind that most people would instantly dismiss. A unique atmosphere or unabashed enthusiasm I think can make a ‘bad’ older film very entertaining, even special in a way that contemporary films can’t be. Everything in Slayground, however, is so mismanaged and delivered with such an incompatible attitude that I just could not find anything to like. It is just awful material that does not work.

The short prologue is the best part of the film. It is uses George Thorogood’s classic tune “Bad To The Bone” and shows some appropriately badass character picking up a supposedly naïve young beauty in his muscle car. His entrance is especially encouraging, but the girl quickly kicks his ass and then kills him in a way that makes him look like a total amateur.

Coyote then emerges as Stone, a pro thief, and meets another guy named Joe Sheer (Bill Luhrs) with whom he is planning to do a job. They learn that their wheelman has died in an ‘accident’ and promptly hire some rookie who is so wired that you can see trouble written on his forehead. Nevertheless, the three go to work and successfully rob an armored truck, but on the way back the rookie crashes their car into another car with the daughter of a prominent businessman. It all happens on a desolated road somewhere up in the hills, without the cops or anyone else following the thieves. A few days later, the businessman hires an exotic assassin with a rock-solid reputation and tells him that he wants the men responsible for the death of his precious daughter to pay with their lives. The assassin, whose face isn’t shown until the very end and speaks as if he is reading a novel, then begins tracking down his targets.

When his partners die in some truly horrific ways, Stone concludes that he desperately needs the help of an old pal, a Brit named Terry Abbatt (Mel Smith), whom he has not seen in years. He goes on the other side of the Atlantic and in time discovers that Terry is officially dead, but quietly making ends meet as a small-time businessman in Blackpool. Because Terry owes him big, he agrees to help him out, but it soon becomes obvious that he and his associates are not in the same league as the mysterious assassin.

The film is overloaded with so many clichés that the narrative essentially gets fractured into multiple episodes where Bedford repeatedly does two things until the inevitable ‘decisive’ encounter between Stone and his nemesis – he gives Stone stilly opportunities to get away while people around him are murdered, and hypes up the assassin’s image with ‘gotcha’ moments that can make even Robocop blush. Needless to say, the suspense is so artificial that the entire film ends up looking like an overcooked parody.

One last thing about Coyote’s character: As it is played, he just does not look right for this film. This guy appears slow and jaded, like an overused office worker who can’t wait for the weekend to come. He usually announces the obvious and then frequently looks annoyed because he has to go through the trouble of figuring out how to stay alive.

Slayground Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in his original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Terry Bedford's Slayground arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old an unfortunately very weak master. It must have been prepared during the DVD era because it has all sorts of severe limitations that were common on very early masters, such as poor depth and flatness that basically wipes out just about all meaningful darker nuances. Also, the film's dynamic range is so brittle that it is easier to point out the few areas where it shows a few signs of life rather than describe why it struggles. Predictably, fluidity is also extremely unconvincing. The color scheme looks dated and is missing some key primaries and big ranges of nuances. Image stability is good. All in all, the current master is so weak that it simply cannot produce a quality high-definition presentation of this film. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player to access its content).

Slayground Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only 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.

The audio must have been properly remastered because it handles the film's soundtrack very well. There are quite a few action sequences with plenty of dynamic activity and the lossless allows it to flourish in a way that I believe is very organic. Also, neither the dialog nor the music show any signs of aging, and as a result clarity and overall stability are very nice.

Slayground Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for Slayground. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

• Dead in Birmingham: Peter Coyote on Slayground - in this new video interview, Peter Coyote recalls how he became involved with Slayground and discusses his interactions with director Terry Bedford and various cast members, the rather unusual progression of his career, and some of the principal differences between American and British actors as well as their working methods. The interview was conducted exclusively for Kino Lorber's release. In English, not subtitled. (17 min, 1080p).

• Additional Trailers - trailers for the following films from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. Bitter Moon
  2. Heart of Midnight
  3. The Silent Partner
  4. Code of Silence
  5. Cop

Slayground Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

On paper Slayground sounds like a nice project, and I really wanted to like it because it comes from an era that produced some great genre films. Excluding the stylish prologue with George Thorogood's classic tune, however, the rest is just a big mish-mash of cliches and questionable acting. I don't even think that Peter Coyote was the right person to play the main character in this film, though in a very nice exclusive new video interview that is included on this release the actor reveals that his performance was defined by a script he knew was problematic. (The interview was conducted at the same time he did the one for Bitter Moon). The release is sourced from an older and quite weak master.