Picking Up the Pieces (aka Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh) '84 Entertainment Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots

A wannabe cult classic sees another Blu-ray release, this time in Germany. Is this release of Picking Up the Pieces (Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh) worthy of a purchase?
Studio: '84 Entertainment
Release Date: May 2nd, 1991 (video premiere) / October 28th, 2021 (blu-ray)
Run Time: 1 hour 29 minutes 7 seconds
Region Code: FREE

Disc Count: 2 (1 BD-50, 1 DVD-5)
Picture: 1080p (1.78:1 aspect ratio) (blu-ray) / 480p (1.78:1 aspect ratio) (DVD)
Sound: German 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Digital, English 5.1, 2.0 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: German
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Jake Dengel, Joe Sharkey, Susann Fletcher, Beverly Penberthy, Veronica Hart, Shawn Elliott
Written by Tom Tully, Dean Tschetter
Directed by Dean Tschetter
Rating: FSK: 18 (graphic horror violence and gore, nudity)

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Poster

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What's It About?

Proving that a madwoman can be far more threatening than a madman, BLOODSUCKING PHARAOHS IN PITTSBURGH introduces us to a weapon-wielding femme-fatale who is dedicated to lopping off limbs and chalking up a high body count in the name of an ancient religious cult. What results is a plethora of slice and dice silliness and one of the most deranged, but darkly humoured, hack ’em ups ever unleashed.

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Video/Audio

Presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio (opened up from the film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, PICKING UP THE PIECES (BLOODSUCKING PHARAOHS IN PITTSBURGH) looks pretty decent. First things first, there are a few shots taken from a standard definition source as the cut footage (removed by the lovely MPAA) doesn't seem to have a film counterpart. These shots don't happen all that often (as the effects don't happen all that often) but they are very noticable when they do pop up. The second thing is the film looks really dark. We are not talking VHS bootleg dark, but the darkness can be annoying at times. This darkness leads to some serious black crush. There is a scene where the bad guy is giving a girl a dress to wear. The guy is wearing black and the dress is black. If you don't pay attention, you will have no idea she is holding something in her hands.

The film has also not been restored at all. All throughout the film, there are scratches, hairs, dots, and lines. I know that there are those who will throw a fit because the film wasn't cleaned up and Blu-ray is supposed to be about perfection (there are a lot of these people out there) but I couldn't care less. I have always said that imprfections like these prove to me that this is a film scan warts and all, and not some DNR'd mess like this company is known for.

Is there anything good about this transfer? This is definitely an HD transfer. Detail is higher than the included DVD, and colors look pretty good.

There is no lossless audio present here. This blu-ray was released in the year of our Lord 2021, and it still has lossless audio. This company was known for doing this back in the mid-2010's but in 2021? What a shame. That being said, these tracks are fine. We get 5.1 and 2.0 options in German and English.

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Extras/Packaging

DVD-Trailer (DVD Trailer) (52s, SD, 1.33:1) This is a video trailer for the Paramount VHS released in the US in 1991.

Teaser (55s, SD, 1.33:1)

Artwork-Galerie (Artwork Gallery) (1m 38s) autoplays in silence.

Bildergalerie (Photo Gallery) (3m 33s) autoplays in silence.

Interview mit Dean Tschetter (Interview with Dean Tschetter) (33m 29s, SD, 1.33:1) WARNING: THIS INTERVIEW IS DUBBED INTO GERMAN! I did not know this before I picked this up. Had I known, I don't know if I would have bought this. I can't tell you much about what he talks about because its dubbed in German. What a shame.

Interview mit Beverly Penberthy (Interview with Beverly Penberthy) (22m 11s, SD, 1.33:1) This one is also dubbed into German. I find it weird they would go to all the trouble to dub these interviews but not the trailers.

Presseheft (Press kit) (20s) autoplays in silence.

Storyboard (9m 24s) autoplays in silence.

Behind the Scenes Galerie (Behind the Scenes Gallery) (6m 40s) autoplays in silence.

Behind the Scenes (14m 56s, SD, 1.33:1) Here we have fly-on-the-wall footage of the film being shot. More specifically, the effects being done. We see the creation of some of them along with how they are utilized in the film. This is the best feature, by far, on this disc.

Deleted Scenes (18m 47s, SD, 1.33:1) Text reads before the deleted scenes:

A special extended version of the film was released in Japan, featuring scenes that unfortunately didn't make it into the final cut. Watch these deleted scenes now.

Most of these scenes are just excised jokes that don't work (much like the rest of the film) but there are also some added gore bits. I kind of liked these except for the vaccum death. They added a bit into that ruins the flow of the scene. The edit in the film works a lot better.

Pressefotos (Press photos) (32s) autoplays in silence.

All of the above special features are the same between the two discs.

84 Entertainment, out of Germany, has brought PICKING UP THE PIECES (BLOODSUCKING PHARAOHS IN PITTSBURGH) to Blu-ray in grand style. This release is packaged in what is known as a "Mediabook" (or Digibook if you are in the US). The outer packaging is made up to look like a hardcover book. Inside, you will find two plastic trays attached to the inside of the book, that hold the two discs (a Blu-ray and a DVD). In the middle is a 16-page, full color booklets with infomation about the film. Since this is a German release, the text in the booklet, as well as the back of the packaging, is in German. I was able to do a translation by taking pictures of the text and feeding it into Google Translate. The front cover features a moderfied version of the original video artwork. This is "Cover C" as there were three different cover variants.

Each disc cuts the film into 8 chapter stops.

Both discs are REGION FREE

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Overall

PICKING UP THE PIECES (aka BLOODSUCKING PHARAOHS IN PITTSBURGH) is not a good film. It is a horror comedy that thinks being goofy is funny and not showing a kill is horror. This film is fairly infamous for containing effects done by effects master Tom Savini but that is the only thing that makes this film memorable. The rest of the film is a bore. Almost none of the jokes land, and when they do, we are too bored to notice. It feels like this film was written specifically because Savini said he would do the effects for it. I hate to say but I am not even sure there are jokes in the film. There are whole scenes where you would think jokes would go but the are none. It's a really weird film but not in a good way. Imagine a film made by a Troma fan who somehow got Savini to do the effects. It's not good.

This blu-ray is a mixed bag. The picture and sound are good but the company dropped the ball on the special features. The company relies on photo galleries to pad out the features list while giving us two old interviews (dubbed into German) and some trailers. There is one bright spot here and it's the behind the scenes footage. This was shot by Saivni and his crew as they created and utilized the special effects we see in the film. We get a great sense of what it was like on the set and I wish we had had more of this. There are interviews found on the 88 Films disc (long OOP) and a DVD release that are sadly not here.

I would have a hard time recommending this release. If you like the film, then grab it. I just can't recommend a blind buy on this one. There isn't very much going for it so there isn't much to build a purchase on. This is a very lazy release that was outdated even when it was released 4 years ago. I don't regret purchasing it like I did with the Australian Blu-ray of MEGAFORCE but I could have spent the money on something better. I would say skip it unless you REALLY want this one.

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Extras/Menus