For as long as entertainment has existed, there have been bad boys who leave their mark on it. From Lord Byron to Edgar Allan Poe to Mick Jagger to Quentin Tarantino, the "enfant terrible" has always been there to provoke, enrage, and titillate the audience, critics, and their peers. In the early 1970s, Pete Walker became one of the bad boys of British cinema. As the Hammer films began to die out, Walker picked up the mantle all by himself and began to make low-budget thrillers, horror movies, and exploitation films. He was more notorious than famous, and most of his movies remain unknown in the United States except to those who seek out 70s horror movies. Walker’s films have gotten sporadic home video releases over the years and now Kino Lorber Incorporated have brought four of Walker’s works to Blu-ray Disc in a new boxed set.

The movies will be discussed in chronological order, with the aspect ratio listed by the title.

Die Screaming, Marianne (1971) -- (1.77:1) -- Susan George stars as Marianne, a free-spirited young woman who meets Sebastian (Christopher Sandford) while hitchhiking through the country, and the two return to his London apartment. After just two weeks, Sebastian proposes and Marianne reluctantly agrees. However, due to a mix-up at the ceremony, Marianne marries Sebastian’s friend, Eli (Barry Evans). This is when Marianne’s true past is revealed. She’s on the run from her father (Leo Genn), a crooked judge who wants to stop Marianne from inheriting a fortune. Also, Marianne has information about her father’s illegal activities. Even though she’s comfortable with Eli, Marianne still fears for her life and an eventual meeting with the Judge does nothing to assuage her fears.

While Die Screaming, Marianne was Walker's fourth feature film, it was his first straight-ahead thriller, as he'd made two sexploitation movies and one action movie before that. However, if you'd told me that it was his first time behind the camera, I would have believed you, as this is a very amateurish film. In short, Die Screaming, Marianne doesn't have enough plot to sustain a movie. For most of the first half of the movie, Marianne simply acts like a free-love flake. Then, she tells Eli about her father and the inheritance, but this comes across as very vague and doesn't justify anything which happens from there on. When the scene shifts to the Mediterranean, things don't get any better and the poorly-drawn characters simply do cliched things. There is no suspense here, and it's difficult to care about the proceedings. The film's only bright spot is Susan George, who would appear in Straw Dogs the same year. I've always found her attractive, and she brings much needed life to this dull movie.

The Die Screaming, Marianne Blu-ray Disc contains two extra features. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Walker and Film Critic Jonathan Rigby. "An Eye for Terror, Part 1" (12 minutes) is a modern-day interview with Walker where he reminisces about making movies and discusses the job of the director and the challenges involved. He's very upbeat about all of this, but one gets the feeling that he doesn't miss the business. He talks about why he both produced and directed, but he doesn't really touch on specific films. (Keep in mind that there's no "An Eye for Terror, Part 2" to be found on this collection, so one has to wonder where it is.)

House of Whipcord (1974) -- (1.66:1) -- While at a party, model Julia (Ann Michelle) meets Mark (Robert Tayman) and the two hit it off. After just a few dates, Mark announces that he wants Julia to meet his parents, and she’s very excited by this. The two drive to the countryside and Mark takes Julia to an old fortress of a building. Once inside, Julia is informed that she is to be incarcerated in the building for her immoral activity and she’s forced to strip and don prison attire. The facility is run by Mrs. Wakehurst (Barbara Markham), an insanely puritanical woman and Justice Bailey (Patrick Barr), an old, blind judge who doesn’t know that he’s sentencing innocent women to death. Julia makes minimal efforts to escape and it takes her friends days to realize that she’s missing.

After making some more sex movies and his first straight-ahead horror film -- The Flesh and Blood Show -- House of Whipcord was Walker's first collaboration with writer David McGillivray, with whom he'd work for the next few years. They should both be ashamed, as this is a terrible movie. First of all, I've read about this movie for years and the title has always bothered me. Shouldn't it be "House of the Whipcord" or "House of a Whipcord" at least? As with Die Screaming, Marianne, House of Whipcord has too little story to carry a feature film. Julia meets Mark, gets taken to the prison, meets the other inmates, and then finally her friends look for her. This is one of the most frustratingly stupid movies I've ever seen, as Julia accepts her fate way too quickly and it takes her too long to make an escape attempt. The movie becomes really mind-numbing in the second half. If movies have taught us anything, it's that small towns in Britain are tight-knit and everyone knows everyone's business. And yet, no one seems to be familiar with the fortress-like building where young women disappear. The movie still carries the title card for its original X rating from the British ratings board, but the movie feels very tame today, as we never get the scenes of torture and cruelty which the title implies. Other than locating the building for the prison, it looks as if no work was done here, and the downbeat ending certainly doesn't help.

The House of Whipcord Blu-ray Disc brings us an AUDIO COMMENTARY by Walker and Cinematographer Peter Jessop. "Perversions of Justice" (14 minutes) is an interview with Walker, where he talks about the themes and ideas of the movie. Here we learn that the story was inspired by an actual political movement in Britain at the time. He also discusses the morals of the movie and his own personal views on them.

Schizo (1976) -- (1.78:1) -- Figure skater Samantna (Lynne Frederick) should be having the time of her life, as she’s marrying carpet magnate Alan (John Leyton) and the two are to being a new life together. However, Samantha becomes convinced that she’s spotted William (Jack Watson), a violent man from her past, around town. She confides in her friends Beth (Stephanie Beacham) and Leonard (John Fraser), but their words don’t comfort her. When people around her begin to die, Samantha becomes thoroughly convinced that she isn’t safe.

The lone extra on the Schizo Blu-ray Disc is "My Sweet Schizo" (13 minutes), an interview where Walker specifically discusses the film, paying a lot of attention to the story. He talks about his collaboration with the writer David McGillivray and the reaction after the fact to the movie.

The Comeback (1978) -- (1.78:1) -- Singer Nick Cooper (Jack Jones, known to American audiences as the singer of The Love Boat theme) is a popular singer, but he released his last album six years ago. He’s now ready to embark on a new project. As he’s recently divorced Gail (Holly Palance) and doesn‘t want to stay in the apartment they once shared, his manager, Webster (David Doyle, Bosley from Charlie’s Angels), has arranged for Nick to live in an old mansion on the outskirts of town. The place is massive and an old couple (Shelia Keith and Bill Owen) look after it. As Nick tries to settle into his work, he hears a woman’s voice in the house and then begins to see dead bodies, but investigations turn up nothing. Is the pressure of recording a new album driving Nick mad?

Whereas Walker's previous film, Schizo, was a "whodunnit?", The Comeback is more of a "who's doing it?", as Nick must try to learn the truth behind the voices that he's hearing and the bodies he's seeing. This falls squarely into the "let's drive someone crazy" genre and the movie is quite satisfying for most of its running time, as Walker and screenwriter Murray Smith (which whom he'd worked with in the past) never met a red herring which they didn't like. The movie also gets high marks for opening for a murder which actually lives up to Walker's exploitation reputation. Jones is good in the lead role and the supporting cast really bring an air of professionalism to the movie. So, why did The Comeback have to have such an incredibly lame ending. When you learn what is happening, your response will most likely be, "Oh...". The silly final twist sucks all of the air out of the film, destroying any goodwill which had been accumulated up to that point, and leaving the viewer to wonder what in the world they just watched.

The Comeback Blu-ray Disc brings us an AUDIO COMMENTARY by Walker and Film Critic Jonathan Rigby. "Slasher Serenade" (13 minutes) features interviews with Walker and star Jack Jones (separately) who talk about the film. They discuss how Jones got the role and what the production was like. They also talk about the reaction to the film.

If you're a Pete Walker fan, then this collection is a no-brainer for you, as it contains brand-new extras and nice transfers. However, it's a shame that arguably Walker's best and best-known movies, The Flesh and Blood Show and Frightmare, aren't included here. Thus, casual fans who want to know more about Walker may be disappointed by this offering.

"The Pete Walker Collection" stabs its way onto Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Kino Lorber Incorporated. As you can see above, the films have various aspect ratios and the Discs contain AVC 1080p HD transfers which run at an average of 35 Mbps. The quality of the transfers vary, but on the whole, giving the age, budgets, and relative obscurity of these movies, they look pretty good. The daytime scenes are sharp and clear, showing little grain. The colors look good in these scenes, with the tones rarely looking washed out. Die Screaming, Marianne has a nighttime scene in which nearly nothing is visible, but otherwise the images aren't too dark or bright. Die Screaming, Marianne and House of Whipcord show some minor defects from the source materials, mostly in bad splices, but otherwise, the prints look good. This is probably the best these movies have looked since they were first screened theatrically. The Discs carry a LPCM 2 channel audio track which runs at 48 kHz and a constant 2.3 Mbps, save for House of Whipcord, which is 1.9 Mbps. The tracks provide clear dialogue and sound effects. Along with the bad splices noted above, we do get some clicks and pops here, but otherwise, the tracks are clean. The dialogue is stable and the tracks are even, although the theme song from Die Screaming, Marianne gets a little loud for my taste. We don't get any dynamic effects, but the tracks are certainly serviceable.