futuristic island" 
routine, Stephanie Rothman (the first female drive-in director coming from a background in Roger Corman films) delivered a bare bones exploitation quickie about a novel solution to the jail overcrowding problem: round up all the worst felons, toss 'em on a boat, and abandon everyone on a desolate island where they'll hopefully kill each other off. While no one's gotten desperate enough to implement this plan in reality, Terminal Island's concept was catchy enough to inspire several generations of more prominent exploitation films. The extremely low budget definitely limits the execution here, but it's remained a video mainstay for years, even earning a solid VHS life throughout the '80s thanks to an important supporting role played by a bearded Tom Selleck in between Myra Breckinridge and his big breakthrough on TV's Magnum P.I.
by Lost in Space's Kristen, all grown up. Oh, and there's another future Magnum alumnus, Roger Mosley. 
Accompanied by a drawling country theme song, we then meet our newest arrival: Carmen (Hartmen), a tough cookie who doesn't take kindly to becoming another sexual submissive for the island's men under the control of unofficial leader Bobby (The Corpse Grinders's Kenney). Soon the island's splitting into two factions, and all-out war breaks out with only the victors surviving to see a new day.
shady, quasi-PD video companies have trotted this out on DVD in a terrible 
transfer yanked from a heavily edited TV print that lops out all of the nudity (and much of the storyline in the process); ignore the reviews on Amazon complaining about those pieces of ridiculous junk since Code Red's DVD release from 2010 featured the raunchier R-rated cut familiar from the old VHS days on Continental Video. As the packaging prominently states, this anamorphic, uncut presentation is taken "from UCLA/the director Stephanie Rothman's archieved[sic] print," so while it's definitely on the "grindhouse"-y side (visible damage at reel changes, some blown-out scenes here and there), it still marked a major step up over past editions. In 2016, the label revisited the title for a Blu-ray edition, pulled from the same source (damage marks are identical) but with slightly toned-down and more realistic flesh tones.
more vibrant and wide-ranging gradations in hues like orange and green. The 
UHD in particular has that gaudy Dimension Pictures look we all know and love, bordering on trippy at times in its intensity with reds that nearly sear your retinas. The DTS-HD MA English 2.0 track (with optional English SDH subtitles) is also cleaner and more dynamic than any past release, right down to that omnipresent theme song. All of the video extras are included only on the Blu-ray (the UHD maxes out the bit rate for the feature itself) with the big score here being “Why Be A Man, When You Can Be A Rothman?” (31m23s), a new interview with Rothman finally participating in a supplement for one of her films. It's a great, in-depth talk that starts with a bit about getting her start with Corman before going deep into the making of this film and approach to the characters, as well as the development of the story including those great "man on the street" interviews seen at the beginning. Don't miss the funny barfing story, too. Then in "From Hartman to Carmen" (19m51s), Hartman recalls making this film at the end of her career, her early modeling days and name changes as she dreamed of being "the black Marilyn Monroe," the reason she walked away from acting, and her thoughts on being directed by a woman. Separate interviews with Kristen and Kenny are edited together for "Crash Landing On Terminal Island" (27m50s), which features both of them briefly sketching in their careers to that point and cheerfully recalling the shoot including their favorite moments. Last but definitely not least is "The Rothmanaissance: Rediscovering the Work of Stephanie Rothman" (30m55s), an interesting analysis of the filmmaker featuring separate interviews with film historian Dr. Alicia Kozma and film programmer and author Heidi Honeycutt about their connections to her work, the themes running throughout her films, the distinctive traits and value of female filmmakers, and the way Rothman and her husband adopted to the demands of exploitation cinema while keeping their own stamp on the material. Also included are a still gallery and the theatrical trailer. Definitely a must for fans of '70s drive-in thrills with a little potent social commentary swirled in. Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)
Code Red (Blu-ray)
