During the 70s, 80s and 90s, cable TV after dark was a different world from daytime and primetime viewing. The premium channels and second tier channels often didn’t run blockbuster Hollywood studio movies after midnight. The hot titles from the last decade cost quite a bit. The channels weren’t going to burn those films when most people were in bed. HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, The Movie Channel, The USA Network and others ran indie films that had reasonable licensing fees. These were movies perfect for people stumbling in from last call or dealing with insomnia. The plots were rather goofy. The cast featured faces you remembered from The Love Boat and The Gong Show. For the pay-channels, they’d have a touch of topless action to keep eyes open. One of the filmmakers who understood what worked for the cable night owls was Nico Mastorakis. The Greek filmmaker made audience pleasing indie films. The Nico Mastorakis Collection (Limited Edition) brings together six of his movies that you might remember from laying on the sofa at 3 a.m. and drinking two cups of water.
The Time Traveller (1984 – 105 minutes) has Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) playing a man who might be from the future. A widow (Maude‘s Adrienne Barbeau) and her son find him naked and washed up on a beach in Greece. He has no memory of much. Her late husband was an astronaut so this strange traveler intrigues her. Barbeau likes the guy, but fears his lack of memories might be something sinister. Mastorakis really gets into the science fiction romance. The film plays into the sense that this could have happened to a piece of David Bowman when he entered the Monolith in 2001. This is the less jokey and jiggly of the six films in the boxset. You might want to watch this separately so you can truly enjoy it.
Sky High (1985 – 110 minutes) is an action film that’s a travelogue with a twist of science fiction. Les (The Zero Boys‘ Daniel Hirsch), Bobby (Last Resort’s Clayton Norcross) and Mick (Frank Schultz) take a Greek vacation so they can meet ladies and party hard. During a visit to the Acropolis. one of the guys encounters a mysterious man who hands him a cassette before he’s shot in the head. After fleeing the scene, the trio meet with Boswell (They Live‘s John Lawrence) from the U.S. Embassy. He lets them know the cassette is part of a mind control experiment and there’s a second tape. They get on the cruise ship thinking it will give them cover from the killers, but the dead bodies seem to follow them. The movie’s science fiction angle happens when one character shows off his digital watch that can supposedly translate English to Greek. This movie predicted the Apple Watch. The best part of the film is all the footage of Greece topped off by a visit to a topless beach.
Terminal Exposure (1987 – 104 minutes) opens with Lenny (The Ladies of the House‘s Mark Hennessy) and Bruce (Twisted Nightmare‘s Scott King) partying with two women in bikinis in a hottub at the back of stretch limo. This was a real limo, but turns out to be in Lenny’s dream. He makes it down to Venice Beach with his buddy Bruce where he’s snapping away at women’s bikini butts on the beach as they skate and play volleyball. Lenny and Bruce hang out with their pal Fantastic (The Love Boat‘s Ted Lange) as he does a little day drinking. During a moment when a few weightlifters take exception to Lenny, he accidentally snaps away on a murder in progress. They realize it later when checking out slides of the day’s photography. The duo decides to crack the case on their own as if they’re Starsky and Hutch. Their biggest clue is a tattoo on the female killer’s ass. Fantastic might have a lead on the rear clue. As they get closer to what happened on the beach, other people are watching them. Terminal Exposure keeps a lightness to the murder mystery that involves a lot spicy investigations. Forget Stoner Noir. This is the Libido Detectives. I appreciate the main characters being named after Lenny Bruce. There wasn’t much talk about Lenny Bruce during this time. The film has what you want from a movie based out of Venice Beach in the ’80s.
Glitch! (1988 – 90 minutes) has T.C. (Will Egan) and Bo (Steve Donmyer) as two bumbling burglars who stake out a beach front mansion owned by movie producer Julius Lazar (When Things Were Rotten‘s Dick Gautier). When Julius and his girlfriend drive off for a trip to New York City, the guys break in and begin robbing the house. During this heist, a bunch of actresses show up thinking this was the day Lazar was auditioning for his next movie. Not wanting to disappoint the ladies, T.C. and Bo act like they’re movie producers. This is all good until Dubois (Friday Foster‘s Ted Lange) shows up to collect on a previous deal he had with Lazar. This is another perfect goofy comedy that you’d want to watch while recovering from a night out.
Ninja Academy (1989 – 93 minutes) is what would happen if Police Academy was filled with ninjas instead of cops. It’s slapstick with a martial arts delivery. Chiba (Showdown in Little Tokyo‘s Gerald Okamura) has a ninja dojo in the wilds of Los Angeles. He’s competing for students with Addleman’s (Seth Fosters) Ninja Academy that’s located in posh Beverly Hills. The two places fight over students and then have a real dojo against dojo battle. This might sound like a Shaw Brothers plot, but there’s a lot more slapstick here. The students include a fake James Bond who is agent 007-Eleven. He has to be retrained to stop shooting things and use his hands and head. This is goofy fun that can be summed up with a mime being called “the strong silent type.”
The Naked Truth (1992 – 104 minutes) has Frank (Beverly Hills, 90210‘s Robert Caso) and Frank (The Lion Guard‘s Kevin Schon) flying into LAX when they get their hands on the wrong suitcase that was owned by M. Emmet Walsh (Blade Runner). They find themselves be chased down by mobsters including Brian Thompson (Cobra) who wants the suitcase. They duo’s only hope at safety is to dress up as women and hide among contestants in a beauty pageant. But can they keep up the disguise with all the hot ladies eager to get to know them? This is pure goofy fun with the Some Like It Hot storyline. What makes it great is a long line of cameos including Erik Estrada (CHiPs), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Dick Gautier (Get Smart), Billy Barty (all those Sid and Marty Krofft shows), Ted Lange (The Love Boat), Norman Fell (Three’s Company), Yvonne De Carlo (The Munsters), Little Richard and Zsa Zsa Gabor. If you were half asleep with the TV on, you’d swear you dreamed the cavalcade of stars that cropped up on the screen. There’s also plenty of contestants in swimsuits or less having fun. What it lacks in plot it makes up in pure wacky visual gags from this unfortunately bygone era.
What changed at the end of the 20th Century that made the indie films such as the ones directed by Nico Mastorakis vanish from last night cable viewing? The studios took over the major cable channels. They didn’t want to give away timeslots and money to indie productions. They lowered the licensing prices of their older hit films so it didn’t matter what time of day they booked them. It was no longer a different viewing experience at 2 a.m. The Nico Mastorakis Collection: Limited Edition brings back the joyful bleary-eyed viewing experiences. The Time Traveller is a bit more serious, but the other five are what you’d enjoy before sunrise.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic on all six films. The 1080p transfers of all the films look fine. He brings out the beauty of Greece and odd Los Angeles resorts. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Stereo and DTS-HD 5.1. I prefer the LPCM tracks. All the movies are subtitled in English.
Nico’s Self Interviews has him talk about all six movies:
The Time Traveller (23:48) has him talk about how he made a sweet and emotional film. He reveals his work with Kier Dullea and Adrienne Barbeau and what they really smoked in one scene.
Sky High (18:24) has him reveal that he paid for the entire film with his American Express card.
Terminal Exposure (12:07) came about when he was mixing the audio for an earlier film. He was typing his script pages at night and faxing them to another screenwriter. He talks about his role as a complete indie filmmaker. He had to find two young actors that could hang with Ted Lange. He talks about working with composer Hans Zimmer.
Glitch! (17:07) has him explain how he cast the female actresses. One of the actresses ended up at his wedding. We also learn that David Soul revoiced one of his actors in a previous film. We also learn more about Ted Lange. Nico brings on the film’s composer Thomas Marolda for a talk.
Ninja Academy (15:42) lets Nico admit that he didn’t want to direct. He fired the director after the first day of production. There was a cold snap during the production, but the cast had to fake like it was summertime. Actor Gerald Okamura and Composer Jerry Grant also gets to talk about their work.
Naked Truth (20:37) has him admit it’s an homage to Some Like It Hot. He mentions that reviews on IMDB have people thinking this is a remake of The Naked Truth with Peter Sellers. He praises actor Robert Caso and Kevin Schon for doing the two roles. He gets into the cameos. He wanted the small parts to have big names. We also learn which cast member was his ex-son-in-law.
Dan Hirsch: A Revealing Self-Interview (11:22) the return of Les, the Nerd. He had fun making the movie and enjoyed rewatching it. He liked the travelogue aspect and seeing his friends from the production. He enjoyed playing a nerd.
Gerald Okamura, Ninja Academy’s “Chiba” Remembers (15:53) is a longer version of his piece in Nico’s memories. He talks about how he turned the interview for the role around by demonstrating his “toy” on the casting producer. He hired his friends to be part of the Ninja Academy students.
Original trailers for The Time Traveller (2:28), Sky High (3:42), Terminal Exposure (3:51), Glitch! (3:29), Ninja Academy (3:23) and Naked Truth (3:40).
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring an essay on the career Nico Mastorakis by critic Barry Forshaw
Arrow Video presents The Nico Mastorakis Collection: Limited Edition. Directed by Nico Mastorakis. Starring Adrienne Barbeau, Keir Dullea, Ted Lange, Daniel Hirsch, Gerald Okamura, Little Richard, Billy Barty and Norman Fell. Boxset Contents: 6 feature films on 3 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: July 30, 2024.
