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Matinee centres around Hitchcock-like Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman on fine form, as usual), a horror movie director-cum-showman trying to get people away from watching TV and back into the cinema.
It’s 1962, and his plan is to give them scares by playing on people’s nuclear fears from the threat from the Cuban missile crisis. The film he’s showing is “MANT!” (Half-man! Half-ant! All terror!), and it’s presented in Atomo-vision, with RumbleRama! So, if there’s explosions onscreen, then bangs of some description are caused to play out in front of the screen. The RumbleRama is like turning the subwoofer up to 12 instead of 11, and then all the way up to 100, while buzzers under the seats also give the audience an unexpected surprise.
With an industry bigwig coming to view the spectacle and how the audience react, it’s got to go right for Woolsey and his companion, actress Ruth Corday (Cathy Moriarty). Meanwhile, teenager Gene (Simon Fenton) is taking Sandra (Lisa Jakub) for a first date – him being attracted to her when she objects to a duck-and-cover nuclear drill at school, while Stan (Omri Katz) has rivalry for Sherry (Kellie Martin) from her older boyfriend, Harvey Starkweather (James Villemaire).
Throw in nuclear-phobic theatre manager Howard (Robert Picardo), and it’s all very silly, but while it’s far from perfect, it makes for a very enjoyable 99 minutes.
Oh, and there’s a brief post-credits scene. You’ll have to watch it to find out what it is.
And as director Joe Dante says in one of the extras, a matinee is far from what you normally get in cinemas these days. Back then, you’d get a series of cartoons, a newsreel and one or two films – ALL for the entrance fee. I can remember this happening once in the late ’70s, going to the Davenport Theatre in Stockport. I think the film was a Sinbad movie, so it could’ve been 1977’s Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, making me about five years old. I remember there was some cartoons, a dull feature about a market on the other side of the world, and then something else before the film started, so it was a very long time in there, and you just couldn’t imagine that happening now. And, personally, when we get long films these days, I long for the return of the intermission!
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition, and in the main, it looks superb, but there’s occasionally a slight look of grain to the print, which I can only presume is part of the original print, but I can’t assess whether it might’ve come about in the transfer. Since it only happens occasionally, I presume it’s not down to the transfer.
The audio is in DTS HD 2.0 (Dolby Pro Logic). It says stereo, but there’s definitely some rear-speaker action, albeit not split-surround, when planes fly overhead, and there’s a lot of fun during the MANT! screening, too.
There are some great extras to this release:
- Bit Parts! The Joe Dante Players (10:07): The first of two brand new featurettes from Arrow, director Joe Dante and a number of the cast talk about working together, Dante on why he likes to work with the same actors regularly, and them telling what they enjoy about working for him.
- Atomo-Vision! Making Matinee (8:04): Cinematographer John Hora and editor Marshall Harvey talk about making the film, plus working with Joe Dante, and how he always knows what he’s looking for in a scene, other than
- Paranoia in Ant Vision (31:21): Made in 2011, Joe Dante talks about making the film. This piece, made by Carlotta Films, is a French production, but was recorded in English. There are 3 chapters to this piece.
- MANT! (16:09): The full film! But provide your own seat buzzers! (2 chapters are included, however)
In addition to the film, there’s a trailer (3:32) – most of which you see during Matinee, itself, and a foreward by Joe Dante (6:18), which mixes in clips from the trailer with the aforementioned Paranoia in Ant Vision piece.
- Original EPK (4:26): A made-for-TV extended trailer – the sort of thing that you’d expect filling in between films on Sky Movies. This and the remainder of the extras are all in 4:3.
- Behind The Scenes footage (8:21): All taken from Joe Dante’s personal archive.
- Deleted and extended scenes (2:27): Five scenes in total. Don’t expect top quality footage, here, but that’s often the way with deleted footage, and it’s great to see them here, either way.
- Trailer (1:55): for Matinee, not MANT!
The main menu features a short piece of the in-movie mousic set to clips from the film. There are a bog-standard 12 chapters to the film, and subtitles are in English.
Matinee is out tomorrow on Blu-ray/DVD Double Pack and check out the full-size cover by clicking on the packshot.
(Note: The picture is NOT taken from the disc, so don’t panic)
|
FILM PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
7 8 8 7 |
| OVERALL | 7.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes
Year: 1993
Distributor: Arrow Films
Released: September 12th 2016
Chapters: 12
Cat.no: FCD1358
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio (Mono)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1 (35mm)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Joe Dante
Producer: Michael Finnell
Screenplay: Charles Haas (based on the story by Jerico and Charles Haas)
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast:
Lawrence Woolsey: John Goodman
Ruth Corday / Carole: Cathy Moriarty
Gene Loomis: Simon Fenton
Stan: Omri Katz
Sandra: Lisa Jakub
Sherry: Kellie Martin
Dennis Loomis: Jesse Lee
Anne Loomis: Lucinda Jenney
Harvey Starkweather: James Villemaire
Howard the Theater Manager: Robert Picardo
Mr. Spector: Jesse White
Herb Denning: Dick Miller
Bob: John Sayles
Jack: David Clennon
Rhonda: Lucy Butler
Dwight: Georgie Cranford
Andy: Nick Bronson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.