See No Evil

Okay, let's talk about Nico Mastorakis. Greece's premiere master of exploitation, he shocked audiences with his 1975 debut film, Island of Death, and finally went almost-mainstream in 1984 with Blind Date, featuring his first "name" cast. Joseph Bottoms stars as a recently blinded man outfitted with a fancy computer "seeing" machine who goes up against a serial killer, but the sci-fi crowd tends to ignore the plot thanks to the fact that two Star Trek actresses, Kirstie Alley and Marina Sirtis, get naked. (And check out the DVD for an even more gratuitous "love scene" outtake reel.) This film marked Mastorakis' first collaboration with composer Stanley Myers; they later reteamed for such diverse films as The Zero Boys, The Wind, Nightmare at Noon, and The Time Traveller. The score is pretty typical '80s Myers (you can definitely see how much he influenced frequent musical partner Hans Zimmer), which means it's often catchy and atmospheric, though the occasional maudlin songs by John Kongos may have '80s-intolerant listeners fleeing the room. Synths were performed by composer Richard Harvey, who already worked with Myers on The Martian Chronicles. A big thanks to ISBUM for providing the original vinyl for this transfer!

Also, on the video news front, fans of wild late-'60s cinema might be interested to know that, without any fanfare at all, Fox is releasing two very rare, perverse Michael Caine films, Deadfall (featuring a fine John Barry score) and The Magus, on DVD today. Grab 'em while you can!