Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Street of the Damned Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 19, 2024

Gilles Béhat's "Street of the Damned" a.k.a. "Rue Barbare" (1982) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Fun City Editions. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critic Travis Woods; archival program with Gilles Behat; archival program with actor Bernard Pierre Donnadieu; promotional materials; and more. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Jean-Jacques Beineix’s The Moon in the Gutter is a flawed but legendary film that in several ways sums up perfectly why the '80s were such a fascinating decade. It is a big, borderline mad film that self-destructs in a pretty spectacular fashion. Or at least the shorter version of it does, which is the one that everyone has seen. The longer version of it, which Beineix has always claimed was his film, has not been seen because the footage cut from it to create the shorter version was destroyed at Gaumont. However, even in the flawed shorter version, it is incredibly easy to recognize the work of an auteur who is completely unleashed and bending genre stereotypes in special ways. The ‘80s was the last time when this type of work was encouraged and celebrated.

The original material for The Moon in the Gutter comes from David Goodis’ great cult novel of the same name. Beineix was a big fan of this novel, but his film was never meant to be an accurate cinematic adaptation. Indeed, even if the longer version Beineix wanted to reassemble were available to see, it still would not have been an accurate cinematic adaptation because the tone and atmosphere of the shorter version are so fluid, most of the time so cinematically surreal, it is impossible to add anything to it and make it appear representative of Goodis’ writings. At best, Goodis’ writings would have been only a starting point for Beineix’s longer, complete version of the film.

What does all of this have to do with Gilles Behat’s Street of the Damned?

A lot. Behat is a big fan of Goodis' novel and The Moon in the Gutter, and the original material for Street of the Damned comes from Goodis’ writings, too. Also, while the tone and atmosphere of Street of the Damned are not quite as fluid as those of The Moon in the Gutter, the two films are impossible not to describe as close relatives. One of them was simply made by an auteur with much, much bigger imagination and ambitions.

It is why Street of the Damned does not have the impressive cast of The Moon in the Gutter. Its biggest star is Bernard Giraudeau. He plays Chet, a fearless working-class loser, who shares a lousy apartment with his disillusioned young wife and alcoholic father in a rundown suburb dominated by a slightly loopy drug tsar (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) worshiped by a small army of punk soldiers. When Chet helps a Chinese girl raped by the drug tsar because he has fallen in love with her, he becomes a marked man, and soon after, despite being helped by an ex-girlfriend (Christine Boisson) capable of influencing his powerful nemesis, is forced to fight for his life. However, instead of fighting the old-fashioned way, Chet slowly seduces the drug tsar to face him in a surreal duel.

It takes approximately fifteen minutes to realize that Street of the Damned is not a conventional crime film. The rundown neighborhood where Chet lives and most of the surrounding area are part of an exotic playground for bad characters that is a replica of the one that emerges in Gil Bettman’s Never Too Young to Die. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of macho posturing, noisy brawls, and ‘80s music. In other words, there is plenty of ‘80s kitsch. But Behat pushes Street of the Damned down the same path The Moon in the Gutter chooses, which leads to a pretty surreal place, and here not everything Chet does and says makes sense. Quite often, he looks and sounds like a bored and overworked star who has stepped out of a creative ‘80s production of a not so famous contemporary opera.

This is the main reason Street of the Damned is worth seeing. It is not a great film, but it is a different film. In the ‘80s, French directors, many of whom behaved as auteurs, made a lot of such crime films that became part of a trend.

Street of the Damned 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, Street of the Damned arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Fun City Editions.

The release is sourced from a good organic master, which was apparently finished in 2K. I do not know where it was prepared, but the party that did the work clearly wanted to preserve the film's native appearance. So, there are no bizarre color swings, visuals with awkward dynamic range, etc. However, in several areas, usually darker ones, the grain become a tad too loose, affecting delineation and clarity. This is not a very big issue, but encoding optimizations should have been introduced to ensure that grain is as tight as it needs to be. Depth ranges from good to very good, but I did notice a few dips that could have been avoided with the same encoding optimizations. Image stability is excellent. The entire film looks spotless as well. (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).

Street of the Damned Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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

There is plenty of music and action throughout the film that the lossless track handles very, very well. However, there are more subtle dynamic nuances than great dynamic intensity, which is to be expected. All exchanges are clear, sharp, and easy to follow. The upper register is very healthy. The English translation and the size of the subtitles are excellent.

Street of the Damned Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Travis Woods.

• Gilles Behat - in this archival program, writer/director Gilles Behat explains what inspired him to direct Street of the Damned and certain developments in it are representative of experiences he had as a teenager. Behat also discusses the visuals style and identity of Street of the Damned. In French, with English subtitles. (13 min).

• Bernard Pierre Donnadieu - in this archival program, actor Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu recalls how he was cast to play the slightly loopy drug tsar in Street of the Damned and discusses his feud with Chet. Also, there are some quite interesting comments about the look of his character, his punk soldiers (called The Barbarians), and the film's period atmosphere. In French, with English subtitles. (17 min).

• Image Gallery - a collection of vintage promotional and publicity materials for Street of the Damned. With music. (5 min).

• Promotional Materials -
  
  1. Teaser trailer - a vintage teaser trailer. With music. (1 min).
  2. Theatrical trailer - a newly remastered theatrical trailer. In French, with English subtitles. (3 min).
  3. Short trailer - a newly remastered short trailer. In French, with English subtitles. (1 min).

• Booklet - a 12-page illustrated booklet featuring author and critic Barry Forshaw's essay "Streets of the Damned: The French Crime Film" and technical credits.

• FCE Reel - a collection of trailers for other Fun City Editions Blu-ray releases. (7 min).

Street of the Damned Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you mix some of the surreal that permeates The Moon in the Gutter and kitsch that defines Never Too Young to Die, you will know what to expect from Streets of the Damned, a different French crime film from the '80s that was part of a trend. It is great to see that the folks at Fun City Editions are bringing some of the smaller films that part of this trend to America because they have never been officially distributed on the home video market. Streets of the Damned is included in Seeing Red: 3 French Vigilante Thrillers, a three-disc set. RECOMMENDED.