June 14, 2016

Short answer, yes!

If you’ve been keeping up with my articles here on the site, then you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I’m somewhat of a 3D junkie. And while I like Westerns, I wouldn’t consider myself an expert by any means. I do attend a monthly Western night at a friend’s place and enjoy getting an education in that particular genre of film. But this past weekend, both of those worlds collided with epic results!

I got my hands on a copy of COMIN’ AT YA back when MVD Visual put it out as a 3D Blu-Ray earlier this year, but it sat on my shelf for a while, primarily because I wanted to watch it with someone that would appreciate the experience as much as I would. Enter fellow movie enthusiast and regular Blumhouse.com contributor Stephen Scarlata. Together, we popped in the disc, put on our 3D glasses and braced ourselves for whatever wonders would stretch beyond my TV through the third dimension and into my living room. And man, this did not disappoint!

Tell me if this sounds familiar. After a 3D-laden color opening title sequence (more on that in a minute), we’re teleported slightly back in time to a wedding, presented in black and white. It’s H.H. Hart (star and producer Tony Anthony) about to wed his beloved Abilene (Victoria Abril) in an empty church. In come two bad guys that gun the husband-to-be down, take his bride and leave him for dead. It’s basically the same backstory as KILL BILL, complete with shots of Hart’s POV looking up at his enemies!

Hart survives and with the help of a Scotsman, he goes on the hunt for the 2 vile brothers that nearly killed him and stole his bride. Those 2 evil brothers are Pike and Polk, (Gene Quintano & Ricardo Apache respectively) who have a set up near the border of Mexico with a basement full of kidnapped women they plan to sell into prostitution to wealthy brothel owners. In one of the film’s best scenes, Hart inconspicuously walks in during an auction to see his love Abilene being manhandled by two brutes while the other rich buyers laugh aloud. The event erupts into violence when Hart draws his weapon and unleashes some vengeance. Hart on a path for revenge while trying to save his lady from the slave trade is also mighty familiar? I see elements of DJANGO UNCHAINED! Which means Quentin Tarantino must have really, really loved this movie.

And I don’t blame him! Because I love it too. Right from the get-go, the movie takes off like a rocket and never slows down once during its 91 minute running time. Set piece after set piece, and even as a well versed movie fan, I could not for the life of me predict what was going to happen next. As someone that loves the down & dirty nasty vengeance movies coming out of South Korea these days, this one was right up my alley.

When you look at the time period, I have to marvel at the ingenuity and filmmaking craft at hand for a 1981 Western that set off that decade’s 3-D craze era with subsequent movies like JAWS 3D, FRIDAY THE 13TH 3-D and TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS. Speaking of the 3D, while not all of it works perfectly due to budgetary limitations of the time, you’ve got to give it up to these filmmakers, it’s not just a clever title. Literally every single shot is set up in a way for something to literally come at you, directly towards screen.

After a brief few seconds for my eyes to adjust, this had some of the best home 3D I’ve ever seen and it’s all presented in vibrant, unique ways. The entire opening title credit scene features Hart gearing up to hit the road and each person’s name is revealed in either a piece of furniture or on the wall, or on the side of his gun. Yes, it’s all intended as gimmicky 3D, but when it looks this cool, and the story behind the gimmick is equally as good, it’s worth it. Also, the repeated switch to black and white, mainly for flashback sequences, but then adding the touch of blood red in an all black & white image is pretty darned inventive.

The film was directed by “Spaghetti Western” pioneer Ferdinardo Baldi, with star Tony Anthony serving as producer. This particular restoration was done with Anthony’s complete supervision and was sourced from a brand new 4K master scan. During the newly designed end credits, we get to see some fun samples of the work Sternco 3-D did for this upgrade. But overall, this is the kind of release that makes me happy I own a home 3-D TV set up! If it weren’t in 3-D, it’d still be a kick-ass straight forward violent, revenge Western. If you’re just getting into those films, or just have a sweet spot for Tarantino’s Westerns, this one gets my highest recommendation.

Here’s hoping someone puts out a 3D version of Tony Anthony’s TREASURE OF THE FOUR CROWNS next!