5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 2.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
It's Fourth Of July Weekend, and the recently discovered corpse of Sgt. Sam Harper - killed by 'friendly fire' during the first Gulf War - is returned to his all-American hometown. But when Sam rises from the dead to punish the unpatriotic, only his young nephew and a bitter Korean War veteran can stop his red-blooded rampage. Draft dodgers, tax cheats, crooked politicians and flag-burners beware: Uncle Sam wants you... DEAD!
Starring: William Smith (I), P.J. Soles, Isaac Hayes, Timothy Bottoms, Bo HopkinsHorror | 100% |
Dark humor | 4% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
People who don't respect the American way of life deserve to have their butts kicked.
There's something to be said for off-the-cuff oddball Horror. Sure the usual suspects -- Michael, Jason, and Freddy -- make for a decent
enough time at the movies; they know how to stalk teens, spill blood, and look really scary doing
it, but at
the end of the day, they're completely fictitious characters devised for film and with no bearing on
real life, save for
some Halloween costumes and pricy figurines that hit the market after the fact. It's when
filmmakers exit that "mainstream"
and take unassuming and benign family-friendly characters -- real or otherwise -- that the Horror
genre takes a turn towards the truly bizarre. It's one thing to see Jason Voorhees slashing up
some campers, but it's another altogether to watch someone in a Santa Claus suit hacking up the
innocent or a snowman putting some folks on ice. Silent Night, Deadly Night (not to
mention its flashback-happy sequel) and Jack Frost are two such examples of campy-good
Horror movies catering to a specific back-of-the-video-store audience, and Director William Lustig's
(Maniac) Uncle
Sam fits comfortably into that same genre niche. It's just too bad the movie's pretty much
awful in just
about every way imaginable, but not so bad as to be unintentionally and uproariously funny, as is
the case with Silent Night, Deadly Night and Jack Frost.
Sam the Impaler adds a bit more red to the Red, White, and Blue.
Oh, say can you see Uncle Sam in 1080p high definition? You can on Blu-ray, and while Blue Underground's 2.35:1-framed image isn't spectacular, it's a good, stable transfer that should please most fans. The transfer's most prominent feature is an aggressive sharp-around-the-edges look that doesn't really lend to the movie a natural film-like definition. Nevertheless, the image is bathed in a moderate level of grain, and the high definition treatment has yielded a fair amount of fine object detail across the board, particularly noticeable on both the texture and stitching of military uniforms in close-up shots and in the intricacies of the film's strong Uncle Sam makeup effects. Unfortunately, the opposite holds true, too; viewers will note the rather phony looking scarring on the blind boy's face. Colors are stable, never particularly vibrant but rarely dull, either. A few random speckles and a bit of dirt are evident on occasion, but the image is generally free of such intrusive elements. Black levels are stable and fair, and flesh tones, too, never appear excessively ghastly or overly red. Though not a reference-level transfer, Blue Underground's work on Uncle Sam more often than not impresses within the context of what one could reasonably expect of a low-budget, mid-1990s film.
Uncle Sam stalks Blu-ray with a full-fledged, all-American DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless soundtrack. More often than not, Blue Underground's 7.1 mixes that accompany decades-old Horror films lack all that much in the way of punch and surround information, but 1997's Uncle Sam manages to squeeze out quite a bit of each. It's certainly not demo-worthy material, but fans should be pleased with the end results. The rear channels spring to life from the film's first seconds as a creepy, mood-setting wind blows around the soundstage and creates a chilling atmosphere for the Kuwaiti desert where Sam's chopper has been unearthed. Additional surround elements are not sparse, but they're not found in abundance, either. The track engages the back speakers to fine effect when necessary and leaves them be when the material can acceptably be handled by the front half of the soundstage. The film's music -- and the opening title's rendition of John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" in particular -- blares into the listening area with a good, positive, and strong posture; it's not the most crystal-clear and seamless of presentations, but fans of the picture's patriotic music should enjoy the added benefit of the lossless encode. Several gunshots and more aggressive cannon fire at a few points in the film feature acceptable power. Dialogue, too, is consistently clear and never lacking in any area, with echoing words over a speaker system at an outdoor Fourth of July festival providing a fairly honest and realistic surround experience. Uncle Sam isn't going to compete for "Blu-ray soundtrack of the year, 2010," but it's just fine for what it is and needs to be.
Blue Underground brings Uncle Sam to Blu-ray with a few extras, the collection headlined by a pair of audio commentary tracks. The first features Director William Lustig, Writer Larry Cohen, and Producer George G. Braunstein. The track is fairly basic; it's affable and informative, with the trio demonstrating a good camaraderie as they discuss a wide range of issues both pertinent and only loosely related to the film. Track two once again features Lustig, this time accompanied by the late Isaac Hayes. This one retains a similar light and friendly tone that covers some of the same information as the first but still makes for a decent listen. Fans can't go wrong with either track. Fire Stunts (480p, 9:45) is a behind-the-scenes look at the picture's pyrotechnics and special effects with forced audio commentary by stunt coordinator Spiro Razatos. Also included is a deleted scene (480p, 0:51), a gag reel (480p, 0:38), the Uncle Sam theatrical trailer (1080p, 1:33), and poster and still galleries (1080p).
It's a surefire sign that Blu-ray has arrived and is here to stay when a movie like Uncle Sam sees the light of day. Yes, the movie is terrible in every sense of the term, but God bless Blue Underground for cranking these things out and giving fans of off-the-beaten-path cinema something that's up their alley to watch on their HDTVs. Anyone with an inkling towards these low-budget campy Horror flicks owe it to themselves to at least give a movie like Uncle Sam a try; chances are even hardcore genre fans will be disappointed at the wasted potential, but for as bad as it is, it could have been much worse. Blue Underground's high definition release of Uncle Sam isn't half bad. It sports a decent enough 1080p transfer, a stable and surprisingly aggressive lossless soundtrack, and a fair assortment of extra goodies. With the 4th of July coming up, why not give this one a rental or gift a new copy to that Blu-ray fan who's going to be slaving away at the grill all day long?
2016
2010
2013
Collector's Edition
1985
2010
2016
Reissue
1985
2012
Unrated Special Edition
2008
2011
1984
2012
2013
Collector's Edition
1988
Limited Edition of 2,000 copies
1983
1985
1983
2015
1963
Collector's Edition
1999