Blu-ray debut for John Grissmer's 1977 southern-gothic oddity, SCALPEL

Leave it to Arrow Video to unearth (and then so beautifully reproduce/remaster) some really oddball entries into the movie canon. One such is the recently-released on Blu-ray, 1977 psychological thriller/southern-gothic melodrama, SCALPEL, that features, among other delectations, a very heavy dose of would-be father-daughter incest. Golly, the south! Not enough that it was the cradle of American slavery, it seems, as ever, to get up to the most transgressive stuff.

This little zircon-in-the-rough, directed and adapted (from a story by Joseph Weintraub) by John Grissmer, shown at right, tells of a semi-famous and quite popular plastic surgeon whose daughter suddenly disappears following the suspicious death of her current boyfriend. Dad is so bereft that, when a young stripper gets her face beaten to that proverbial pulp, he takes the poor child under his wing and, yes, gives her the face of that missing daughter. As you might imagine, complications ensue.

Are you already put in mind of that classic of all plastic surgery movies, Eyes Without a Face? Worry not. Grissmer's little spin on the Franju film offers enough fun and games, smart and reasonably witty dialog, ambience and characters that fairly drip of our besotted south, and even a few surprises to keep you pleasantly engrossed.

The surgeon is played by that yeoman professional Robert Lansing (at left, above and below), who does a bang-up job of first impressing us (as well as his students) with how smart and resourceful he seems, before allowing us to see what an absolute turd this guy really is.

As the subject of his little experiment, The Young and the Restless actress Judith Chapman (above)-- who barely looks much older today than she did back in '77: she's a shining example of the art of plastic surgery -- also does nifty turns playing the dual roles required here.

Fine support is given by a game cast, including an especially good, Arlen Dean Snyder, as one of this seedy family's seedier members. If you've seen more than a dozen-or-so mysteries you will probably figure out much of the plot machinations prior to their taking place. Still, Grissmer does a nice job with enough of his twists and turns that you'll probably stick with Scalpel to its amusing and quite "just" finale.

About the Blu-ray transfer: It is up to Arrow's usual excellent standards. Especially worth noting is that the movie appears in two formats on the disc. One is evidently what the original release pretty much looked like in theaters. The other, however, has been given a kind of semi-golden overlay more fitting of the southern gothic look that both Grissmer and his cameraman, the now highly noted Edward Lachman, originally wanted. I watched a bit of the former but would recommend the latter, which not only looks wonderful but seems more correct for both the time period and location (Scalpel was filmed in the state of Georgia).

Bonus extras on the disc include very good present-day interviews with the director, the cinematographer, and the lead actress -- plus a new audio commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith.

From Arrow Video, running 95 minutes and distributed here in the USA via MVD Visual, the movie hit the street last month and is available now for purchase -- and I would hope somewhere for rental, as well.

In Brad Anderson's STONEHEARST ASYLUM, old-fashioned class, content & character trump CGI

Good stories still matter. Genre-jumping film direc-tor (and sometime writer) Brad Anderson appears to understand this quite well, as all of the eight movies of his I've seen ad-here to this, what-ever may be their particular genre. His most recent, STONEHEARST ASYLUM, with a screenplay by Joe Gangemi, is based upon a story by one of the masters of the form, Edgar Allen Poe, from whose work literally hundreds of movies have been made.

Mr. Anderson, shown at right, is a clever, intelligent director (The Machinist, Transsiberian, Vanishing on 7th Street) who knows how to keep us interested and, if necessary, on the edge of our seat. Stonehearst Asylum is his attempt to reinvigorate the Gothic thriller, and I'll be damned if he hasn't done a nifty job of it -- from the "A" list cast he's acquired to the extremely classy production design (by Alain Bainée), cinematography (Tom Yatsko), and art direction (Carlos Bodelón and Alexei Karagyaur). I can't tell you how good this movie looks; you'll just have to view it for yourself. Its budget surely wasn't enormous by today's standards, yet it looks like a billion-dollar production.

The story? It's all about an unusual mental asylum of a century or more past, into which arrives a new young doctor (Jim Sturgess, above, left) bent on, of course, doing good things. The early scene in which the head doctor (Ben Kingsley, below) makes the rounds with his new assistant is charming, funny and not a little odd -- which soon makes very good sense.

Anderson and Gangemi allow us viewers to stay maybe one step ahead of plot development, but no more than that. And because the movie is full of visual treats and exciting scenes, we're happy to revel in the good, old-fashioned fun of it all.

The excellent cast includes a lovely Kate Beckinsale (above, and evidently on loan from her crappy Underworld series) as the "lady in question" and the indispensable Michael Caine (below), whose particular role we can't go into without giving away spoilers.

David Thewlis (shown at right, below, with Jason Flemyng), who has not been so menacing since his star-making role in Naked, makes a marvelous villain, and key supporting roles are beautifully handled by the likes of Sinéad Cusack and Brendan Gleeson.

There are fights and flights, humor and sadness, expectations and surprise -- all of this embedded within a beautifully realized creation of a time and place that are long gone. Identity is key, as it is in many situations. But here, it is used both smartly and playfully.

Especially keen is the movie's fine sense of humor, found throughout and particularly noticeable in the delightful yet appropriate costuming (by Thomas Oláh). The movie is set during Christmas and the arriving New Year, and these holidays have seldom been graced with such ironic wit and humor as here. Champagne, anyone?

Stonehearst Asylum, from Millennium Entertainment and running 112 minutes, after a too-brief theatrical release, hits DVD and Blu-ray this coming Tuesday, December 16.