5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When the owners of the Lotus Cat Food Company, who manufacture an exotic, high-priced type of kitty chow, run short of cash, they find themselves in big trouble with their suppliers. The two disreputable partners soon turn to a new and plentiful source for product--fresh cadavers! Grave robbing and unreported murders soon provide plenty of raw material for "the food cats crave," but there's only one problem--cats all over town have begun attacking and killing their human owners, filled with a newly-found taste for human flesh! Experience maverick director Ted V. Mikels' independent terror classic in a brand-new transfer that will give you chills you never knew you had in you! For God's sake, don't watch it with your cat!
Starring: Vincent Barbi, Ray Dannis, William Kirschner, Richard Gilden, Sean KenneyHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
BDInfo
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Some people will go a long way to make a buck. The premise of 1971’s “The Corpse Grinders” is a hoot, detailing the struggle of two men using dead bodies to manufacture cat food, hoping to make a fortune by feeding felines rotting human meat. Certainly there are more efficient, less disgusting ways to pay the rent, but lunacy is part of the film’s charm. There’s no logic here, no moment of thought to consider alternate vocational routes. There are only cadavers and cat food, with director Ted V. Mikels making sure to keep the macabre study of food processing at least passably revolting. While “The Corpse Grinders” is ultimately more of a detective story than a gross-out extravaganza, there’s still plenty of ghoulish fun to be had with the feature’s low-wattage charms and strange misadventures with kitties. Sure, it could be more, but this is Mikels, and he rarely goes above and beyond what’s necessary to sell a picture.
The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation opens with a note identifying issues with the source material, which was the best that could be found for "Corpse Grinders." Damage is periodic, and there's wear and tear, along with a few missing frames and cigarette burns. Detail isn't strong, reaching about as far as it can go (focus issues are common, and the source is slightly blurry), picking up on set particulars, along with make-up and costuming achievements. Colors are respectfully refreshed, keeping the comic book look with strong greens and reds, while hospital blues remain potent. Skintones maintain their intended range of illness. Grain is heavy but managed. Delineation is acceptable. Judder is common.
The 1.0 DTS-HD MA isn't built to dominate, offering a basic listening event that emphasizes dialogue exchanges, working with performers of various abilities and volume. Scoring is flat but understood, without defined instrumentation. Sound effects are basic. Reels vary in quality, with muffling most prominent in the last reel. Hiss is detected.
Mikels keeps exploitation interests up front in "Corpse Grinders." There's plenty of screen time devoted to the collection of dead bodies, but the production also zooms in on any actress willing to get undressed for the camera, adding a touch of sleaze to the massacre. Anything of unease tends to help the feature, which becomes a little stale when tracking Angie and Howard's hunt for evidence, which doesn't pay off as explosively as imagined, while antagonism between Maltby and Landau remains fairly uneventful, lacking a harsh showdown between two sickos trying to pull off a major pet food scam (cat fans should be warned that felines are tossed around a bit in attack simulations, but nothing is too violent). "Corpse Grinders" runs just 73 minutes, but it feels longer when away from the essentials of the viewing experience, finding Mikels trying to pad the effort with dialogue and financial woes when viewers are probably more interested in the bizarre extremes of the Lotus Cat Food Company and the creation of their special recipe. It's a little clunky, but as this type of entertainment goes, Mikels at least adds some hustle when he feels inspired to do so.
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