Overview: He’s back! One of the most infamous B-movie maestros to have ever sat in a director’s chair, Nico Mastorakis returns to Arrow Video with a collection of sci-fi shenanigans and screwball comedies that will take you out of this world!

First up, Nico then shows a more thoughtful side in The Time Traveller, where the widow (Adrienne Barbeau, The Fog) of an astronaut and her young son come across a mysterious man (Keir Dullea, 2001: A Space Odyssey) with uncanny powers on a beach in Greece. The wacky Sky High sees three American jocks on holiday in Greece being handed a tape by a mysterious figure, who begs them to not let it fall into the wrong hands before being shot by an unseen assassin.

Featuring an early score from the great Hans Zimmer, Terminal Exposure focuses on two carefree beach photographers, who accidentally photograph a murder and immediately set after the assassin: a tall, gorgeous blonde with a rose tattoo on her behind. Glitch! sees two bumbling burglars whose attempt to throw the house party of the century in the luxury home of a Hollywood producer is foiled by a group of mobsters determined to collect what the producer owes them – no matter what.

Take a martial arts school, throw in a snotty rich kid, a clumsy geek, a paranoid survivalist, two beach joggers, a cool secret agent and a mime, and you get Ninja Academy, a madcap karate comedy like no other starring Gerald Okamura (Big Trouble in Little China).

Finally, in The Naked Truth, Mastorakis pays homage to a certain Billy Wilder film when two friends decide to pass as women and pose as makeup artists for a local beauty pageant to elude a vicious mafia boss. It seems like the perfect cover, until the mafioso gets the hots for one of them!

Zany, shocking and unhinged, Nico Mastorakis offers a satirical and sardonic skewering of American cinema with a chutzpah that must be seen to be believed!

Blu-ray Verdict: First up is The Time Traveller (aka The Next One) (1984), where an astronaut’s widow and her young son meet a stranger from the future on a Greek island. One day while traversing a deserted stretch of beach they come upon a naked man (Keir Dullea) washed ashore. On his back is an imprinted magnetic number. They befriend the stranger, give him clothes, drugs, money, and sex. In return, they find out where he is from and that he just missed seeing his brother by two days or two millennia.

Can he ever go back? If so will he ever return? What would you do? The story is more a study of human nature than it is sci-fi or time travel, but it works on so many levels that it was enjoyable to watch from start to finish.

Up next is Sky High (1985) where a group of American students traveling in Greece find themselves accidentally involved with a new type of drug--and the gang that wants it.

Man, Mastorakis made some crazy movies! Especially this one, in which a bunch of teens on a Greek vacation discover an entirely new kind of drugs: audio cassettes that deliver orgasms via hallucination filmed music videos. No, really. What is this, The Digital Underground’s Sex Packets: The Movie?

It also has a soundtrack filled with songs by Chris de Burgh, the guy who wrote Lady In Red, so it has that going for it. Also, Seiko paid big money to get their Data 2000 watch into this movie, as if the people who watch Nico Mastorakis movies are looking to upgrade their digital watches!

This is a movie about an old man inside the cassettes trying to get the three heroes to find the second tape, which will weaponize the music video orgy inside. So basically Porky’s meets Videodrome, but Debbie Harry never puts out a cigarette on her breast!

Then comes Terminal Exposure (1987) and tell the story of two beach combing-shutterbugs who accidentally capture a murder on film. Now detectives, the boys set out to capture a murderess shot only from behind, with a rose tattoo on her behind. Fun in the sun turns dangerous when they end up shooting bullets instead of film.

Coming from Mastorakis, who gave us the taboo-busting video nasty Island of Death, Terminal Exposure was never going to be a tasteful movie: it would probably be labelled as problematic by Gen Z today, or worse by the uber woke society, as the film being full of scantily clad young women (the focus on their shapely backsides), with a few camp gay stereotypes for comic relief.

All of this means that it is perfect entertainment for an old dinosaur like me, who couldn’t give two hoots about political correctness when it comes to good, old-fashioned entertainment.

As for the film, well, Terminal Exposure is a prime example of dumb ’80s trash, with a nonsensical plot, atrocious acting, laughable dialogue and basic direction. Mastorakis chucks in wacky WTF? Scenes that boggle the mind: a blonde dominatrix with a swastika tattoo on her butt; a surprise party held by a bunch of mafiosi; the two young heroes disguising themselves as bushes; an ice cream fight on the beach; and an exciting finalé in which an assassin tries to escape the police on a skateboard!

Up next is Glitch! (1988) and is the story of two thieves who rob a large fancy house when the owner is away. But when a visitor mistakes them for the owner, and they find out about a casting party mis-scheduled for that day, they decide to stick around for the fun. There’s only one small problem, a little glitch in their plan. The real owners owe some bad dudes a lot of money, and they show up to collect!

As one could only ever expect, Glitch! is a dopey and oddball mistaken identity comedy that in the end doesn’t get up to hell of a lot. Although Dan Speaker as Brucie the casting shoot’s gay bodyguard did make the most of his scenes with the odd comical line of dialogue.

So the gist is that two burglars break into a skeezy movie producer’s mansion, whose just left for a holiday trip. While in the process of stealing they’re mistaken for the owners when a casting party (for a sleazy b-action pic) is accidentally scheduled for that day. One involving a lot of bikini clad women so they obviously decide to stay!

So begins the glitch (and the script’s running gag) in the duo’s plan. Thinking on the fly, lands them in even more trouble. Very unexpected trouble. Life-threatening trouble!

Oh, but do stick around to the very end of the closing credits for the thank you messages. Probably more amusing then the film itself. Even their own copyright warning message took me by surprise!

Along for the cinematic ride next is Ninja Academy (1989) where this Police Academy-styled film offers its laughs at the expense of students of the obvious school for ninjas.

This is B-movie perfection! Stereotypes are twisted and turned every which way possible. The film is so light-hearted and mad-cap that you can’t help but laugh your way through.

The greatest thing about this movie is that it gleefully breaks all the rules and mocks the martial arts movie genre soundly, while not completely disrespecting it.

The level of absurdity could not be raised much higher than it was raised here in Ninja Academy. You either love it or hate it I suppose. If you like B-movies then you’ll adore it. Otherwise, your taste is too refined and elite for me!

Finally comes The Naked Truth (1992) where two friends, both named Frank, accidentally obtain a suitcase at the airport. It contains incriminating evidence against a mafia boss, who sends his Terminator-like lackie to find them.

The Franks hide by impersonating make-up women for a beauty pageant. While in drag, the mafioso falls in love with one of the Franks.

OK, bear with me here as I am going to be brutal, but in all honesty, this piece of celluloid is what you get when you take Bosom Buddies and The Naked Gun and have them stripped of everything funny! This is the type of film where a character says Black Russian to a bartender and the white bartender responds saying that he’s just really tanned!

Was that ever funny ... ever? This is the type of film where two gentlemen are in side-by-side helicopters and one guy asks the other if he has some Grey Poupon. This is the type of film where some guy ignores a bunch of good-looking women in skimpy swimsuits and instead gets all hot and bothered by some dude in drag.

In short, this is the type of film that doesn’t have even a shred of originality and would be destroyed if we lived in a civilized society! I can understand the likes of Bubba Smith, Lou Ferrigno and Zsa Zsa Gabor showing up in junk like this. The saddest moment for me, however, was seeing the wonderfully talented Yvonne De Carlo make an appearance. Sure she fully deserved to be given more roles in the ’90s, just not stuff like this! [But hey, five out of six ain’t bad!]

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations
Original stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio sound
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Nico’s Self Interviews, six brand new interviews with writer, director and producer Nico Mastorakis where he looks back on how the films in this collection came to be, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew interviews
Dan Hirsch: A Revealing Self-Interview, a brand new interview with the star of Sky High Dan Hirsch looking back on his role in the film
Gerald Okamura, Ninja Academy’s “Chiba” Remembers, a brand new interview with Gerald Okamura, looking back on his role as Chiba in Ninja Academy, and his career as an actor and martial artist
Original trailers for each film
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the career Nico Mastorakis by critic Barry Forshaw
Limited Edition Deluxe packaging with reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch

www.arrowfilms.com