The Black Dragon / Enforcer From Death Row

Dark Force Entertainment continues their fun series of drive-in double feature blu-rays pairing up two mid 70's kung fu flicks in the form of "The Black Dragon" (1974) & "Enforcer from Death Row" (1976). Neither film could be even remotely considered a classic or even all that good from an objective filmmaking angle, but paired up on this drive-in inspired blu-ray release, they are a blast. "The Black Dragon" was marketed as starring Ron Van Clief though he is actually only a secondary character who does not appear until well into the film. "Enforcer from Death Row" (with a title card showing an alternate title of "The Kill Factor" on this release" stars Leo Fong and might the better of the two by a slight margin. The last time that I had seen either of these films were on VHS way back in the early 90's so I was looking forward to this blu-ray quite a bit. This is a single disc release on a dual layer bluray."The Black Dragon" is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio utilizing the AVC codec with an average bit rate usually staying in the upper 20's to low 30's. Dark Force Entertainment only had access to a beat up film print so keep your expectations in check. The film print is rough shape with green and yellow vertical lines showing throughout, washed out colors, constant speckling, crushed blacks and a lack of fine detail. But in keeping with the mindset of recreating the classic drive in feel from the 70's, it works perfectly as prints shown in drive-ins were often quite worn out anyway. The film's runtime is 1 hours 28 minutes 47 seconds and is broke up into 12 chapters stops."Enforcer from Death Row" is presented utilizing the AVC codec at a similarly beefy bit rate staying in the upper 20's and lower 30's. The back of the case lists it being shown in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio but it seems to be closer to 1.33:1 full frame though a bit wider than the latter. A beat up film print was also used for the transfer for this film but despite speckling being worse than "The Black Dragon", detail and colors are better. Once again perfectly watchable in a drive-in frame of mind. The 1 hour 20 minute 29 second film is split up into 14 chapter stops.Sound for both films is in 2.0 channel English DTS-HD audio. "The Black Dragon" has constant projector flutter noise throughout which, while lacking in terms of quality, once again adds to the experience. "Enforcer from Death Row" fares a bit better sounding a bit clearer and more well defined. No English subtitles are included.You can choose to watch each film on its own from the main menu. The third option is called drive-in mode in which mimicking a drive-in double feature, starts out with "Enforcer from Death Row" followed by an intermission featuring 20 minutes 47 seconds of vintage grindhouse trailers, and closing with "The Black Dragon" as the main feature. This is the way that I watched the disc and it was a tom of fun this particular way and a great way to spend an evening. I highly recommend watching the films using the drive-in mode menu option for maximum impact.The sleeve is reversible with the drive-in double feature inspired art work on one side and the individual movie posters on the other side.Dark Force Entertainment deliver another drive-in blu-ray double feature of vintage 70's chop socky fun. The films look and sound rough but still perfectly watchable. The addition of a bit of over 20 minutes of vintage trailers when in drive-in mode is icing on the cake. Highly recommended!