Thundercrack! (Blu-ray) (Synapse) Review

Distributor: Synapse Edition Details: Standard Blu-ray Movie Specs: Genres: Golden Age Classic, Feature Film, Comedy, Horror Also known as: Thunder Crack Run Time: 160 minutes Rated: X Release Year: 1975 Director: Curt McDowell Written by: George Kuchar (screenplay), Mark Ellinger (original story concept), Curt McDowell (original story concept) Cast: Marion Eaton, George Kuchar, Melinda McDowell, Phillip Heffernan (as Mookie Blodgett), Moira Benson, Rick Johnson, Maggie Pyle, Ken Scudder, Bernie Boyle, Mark Ellinger, Virginia Giritlian, Michele Gross, Laurie Hendricks, Margo O'Connor, Billy Paradise, Roy Ramsing, Gael Sikula, John Thomas, Curt McDowell (as Pamela Primate) Release Specs: Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: Blu-ray Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): A, B, C (All) Number of discs: 1 Blu-ray/1 DVD

An old house occupied by a mentally deranged woman who masturbates with cucumbers, penis pumps, jars filled with with dildos and K-Y jelly, a copulating gorilla, and a human head in a jar. All of this and more is awaiting you in Thundercrack! Thundercrack! is truly an oddity in the world of adult films and is likely to only appeal to a very limited audience.

A motley crew of travellers end up taking refuge in Prairie Blossom, the remote estate of Gert Hammond (Marion Eaton) and her husband, the late Simon Cassidy (John Thomas), from a thunderstorm. There the group finds that the rooms are decorated in sex toys that were obtained by their son, who no longer exists, and that Gert, after years of living alone has gone insane. Over the course of the night, the refugees engage in all sorts of sexual encounters with each other.

The best way to describe Thundercrack! would be to imagine what would happen if Woody Allen, John Waters, and Carlos Tobalina all worked together to make one film with a little assistance from David Lynch; that film would be Thundercrack! The dialog is thick, doesn't always relate to the narrative, and is in far more abundance than the sex. Buried in all the dialog, there isn't actually much of a story in terms of anything overly happening or an arch that one can follow. The story more lies in the character development of the various denizens of the storm that have taken refuge in Prairie Blossom along with the eccentric Gert herself.

The sex scenes are short and range from odd — like the odd homeowner, Gert, pleasured by a Christian woman Willene (Maggie Pyle) in the bathtub, Roo (Moira Benson) masturbating with a vibrator, and Sash (Melinda McDowell) removing Bond's (Ken Scudder) condom for their sex scene — to the straight out bizarre — like Chandler (Phillip Heffernan) gets off using a penis pump, Gert gets off with a cucumber (which later is eaten by Willene), Toydy McNeill (Rich Johnson) has sex with a blow up doll while pushing a butt plug up his ass, and Bing (George Kuchar) having sex with and being jerked off by Medusa (Curt McDowell), a gorilla — leaving very few of them that could be considered erotic at all.

Out of all of the sex scenes in the film, the only one that one might actually call sensual, especially from how it is shot, is the final sex scene in the film, which is also a gay scene with Rich Johnson and Ken Scudder, which given Curt McDowell's sexuality, probably makes sense. The music by Mark Ellinger is an odd score for an adult film, consisting of olde tyme sounding piano music, which honestly fits in perfectly with the film.

Synapse has gone all out with the Blu-ray release of Thundercrack! The film is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of approximately 1.33:1. The film is presented in its original black and white, although there is some yellowing in the upper right corner. The transfer contains artifacts, print damage, grain, some jumps, and some digital artifacts, which appears to have been introduced by Synapse in an attempt to fix some of the print damage. However the film is in astonishingly good shape. Some of the defects also appear to have been due to how Curt McDowell shot the film, since they appear exactly the same in the Njuta Films DVD as well. There are some places where the film appears to be too bright with not enough pop to the blacks. The disc contains the director's original long version, which runs for 160 minutes, but contains a 10 minute intermission in the middle of the film.

Thundercrack! is presented with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 monaural track, which makes the film sound better than it ever has before. There are some pops and noise present in the audio. Synapse has modified the audio from the original to make the dialog easier to hear, which has always been a problem with Thundercrack! There are English, Spanish, French, and German subtitles included as well.

Synapse has loaded this release with extras. There is a booklet that talks about the transfer of the film on the disc. The Blu-ray disc also contains an audio interview with Curt McDowell from 1972 that runs for 85 minutes. The disc also contains the full-length documentary It Came From Kuchar, on George and Mike Kuchar. The rest of the extras are all on the second disc, which is a DVD not a Blu-ray. On the DVD is the original theatrical trailer. There is 10 minute interview with George Kuchar that was shot in 2004 and is rather poorly done. There is 6 minute interview with Marion Eaton from 2004. There is an 8 minute interview with Mark Ellinger. There is a interview from 1976 that runs for 23 minutes featuring Curt McDowell and Marion Eaton that was originally on San Francisco Bay Area Filmmakers. There are 30 minutes of outtakes and behind the scenes footage along with 18 minutes of sex scene outtakes. There is a silent reel of original cast audition footage that runs for 9 minutes.

Also included on the disc are five of Curt McDowell's short films. Confessions from 1972, which runs for 11 minutes, was directed by Curt McDowell, and stars Mark Ellinger, George Kuchar, Curt McDowell, Ainslie Pryor, Janey Sneed Ellinger, Carla Cooper, and Ted Davis. Naughty Words from 1972, which runs for 2 minutes, was directed by Curt McDowell and Melinda McDowell, and features the voices of Steve Nordstrom, Wendy Miller, and Michele Gross. Loads from 1985, which runs for 19 minutes, was directed by Curt McDowell, and stars Curt McDowell. Boggy Depot from 1973, which runs for 17 minutes, was directed by Curt McDowell, and stars Ainslie Pryor, George Kuchar, Kathleen Hohalek, Mark Ellinger, and Curt McDowell. Siamese Twin Pinheads from 1972, which runs for 4 minutes, was directed by Curt McDowell, and stars Mark Ellinger, Curt McDowell, and Janey Sneed Ellinger.

Strangely missing from all of the extras is anything recent from Curt's sister Melinda McDowell. Synapse has stated that she worked with them on the transfer present on the disc and she was one of the cast members of Thundercrack! so I find it odd that she didn't do a commentary on what she remembered from shooting of the film or a featurette on the film and/or her brother.

Thundercrack! is a one-of-a-kind adult film from director Curt McDowell. It doesn't make for very erotic material but is still a fun viewing experience for the right person. Your standard viewer looking for the standard adult fare will hate this film though. Synapse has done an amazing job on this release that is sure to please anyone who picks it up.

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