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Terminus (1987) Blu-ray Review


MVD Visual

Blu-ray Release: June 10, 2025

Video: 1.78:1 (English cut), 1.66:1 (French cut)/1080p/Color

Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (English cut), French LPCM 2.0 Stereo (French cut)

Subtitles: English SDH, English (for French version)

Run Time: 83:44 (English cut), 115:33 (French cut)

Director: Pierre-William Glenn


In the year 2037, the future is in the hands of a genetically engineered boy – Mati (Gabriel Damon) – a child-genius with a brain programmed by a brilliant and evil doctor (Jürgen Prochnow). Mati is the master of a sadistic cross-country rally (with a 100 million dollar prize that no one has ever won), controlling ‘Monster,’ a gigantic A.I.-operated ‘storm truck’ that rumbles across the continent, while being pursued by a squad of rebels determined to stop Monster before it reaches the end of the line. (From MVD’s official synopsis)



While George Miller’s Mad Max (1979) was a groundbreaking work of science fiction action, it was really the first sequel, Mad Max 2 (aka: The Road Warrior, 1981), along with John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (also 1981), that set the standard for the post-apocalyptic action boom of the 1980s. The bulk of the output was made by Italians in the wake of the enormous success of Enzo Castellari’s 1990: The Bronx Warriors (Italian: 1990: I guerrieri del Bronx, 1982). The spaghetti-apocalisse movement peaked in 1984 and a hungry home video market had plenty of room for American, New Zealand, and Filipino knock-offs, like Charles Band’s Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn (1983), Harley Cokliss’ Battletruck (1982), and Cirio H. Santiago’s Stryker (1983 – one of several similar films made by Santiago in the Philippines).


On the more obscure end of the spectrum was the French-German co-production Terminus, directed by Pierre-William Glenn, a veteran filmmaker also known for his 50-year career as cinematographer. Terminus fits the Mad Max-alike pantheon more than anything, but references a mish-mash of futuristic dystopian cinema, including Paul Bartel’s pre-Max death sport classic Death Race 2000 (1975, based on Ib Melchior’s 1956 short story The Racer). What its colorful production design and general spirit reminds me of most, however, are the American-European co-produced B-movies that Empire Pictures was making around the same time. Glenn channels the spirit of Charles Band, John Carl Buechler, and especially Stuart Gordon, whose Robot Jox (1989) would make a complimentary double-feature with Terminus.



Like Gordon’s film, the effects work and action (or at least demolition) is quite ambitious, given the limited resources. However, unlike Robot Jox, Terminus’ ambition leads to a lot of narrative waffling and meandering. Glenn and co-screenwriters Patrice Duvic and Alain Gillot throw a lot of sci-fi nonsense at us and, while I respect the concept of tossing the audience into the middle of a situation they don’t understand, this isn’t really a Road Warrior or Escape From New York situation, where we follow a specific surrogate into a wacky apocalyptic landscape and discover the plot alongside them. At best, Terminus is more like playtime, when children slam action figures together and make things up as they go along, based on the terrain of the backyard. The wooden dialogue doesn’t help matters, especially to any viewer not already inured to the world of awkwardly dubbed European B-action. This is all mitigated depending on which version of the film you’re watching, because the French and English versions of the film are very different (see the Video and Audio sections for more information).


Though pretty lethargic across the board, the multinational cast is headed by A-level stars from three different countries. America is represented by Karen Allen, who sandwichedTerminus between major studio roles in John Carpenter’s Starman (1984) and Richard Donner’s Scrooged (1988). France is represented by pop idol Johnny Hallyday, known as the French Elvis, and future writer/director Julie Glenn (also Pierre-William’s daughter). The German delegate, Jürgen Prochnow, arguably had the widest international appeal, having crossed over from German prestige pictures, namely Wolfgang Peterson’s Das Boot (1981), to Hollywood blockbusters – or at least attempted blockbusters – including David Lynch’s Dune (1984), Danny Cannon’s Judge Dredd (1995), and Peterson’s Air Force One (1997). Prochnow is sort of the film’s star and mascot, as he plays three separate characters.


I’m particularly fascinated to learn that young Gabriel Damon played an adult-coded child (in this case genetically engineered) in this film a couple of years before he controversially played a different adult-coded child in Irvin Kershner’s similarly dystopic RoboCop 2 (1990). Between these oddly similar roles, he was also the voice of Littlefoot in Don Bluth’s The Land Before Time (1988). Additionally, cult film fans might be happy to learn Jess Franco favorite Howard Vernon is the voice of the evil computer, Monster/Monsieur on the French version (Louise Vincent dubs it in English).



Video

Terminus had a healthy life on European VHS and hit stateside tape from a company called Lumina Films. The only official DVD is a PAL, 1.33:1 open-matte disc from Germany. There are at least three different cuts available – the original French director’s cut, the shorter German cut, and the even shorter English language cut. What’s interesting is that these are taken from two different versions of the film. Glenn shot nearly all the dialogue-driven scenes twice, once in French, then again in English (some actors are still dubbed after the fact, including Allen). MVD has included both the complete French and shortened English cuts on this disc in 1080p video, though the aspect ratios and image quality differ. 


The English cut is 1.78:1 and the French one is 1.66:1. I found a bootleg, French language HDTV rip that was framed at 1.78:1, so I’m not sure why MVD chose the alternate framing, but it works just fine. Right off the bat, it’s obvious that the French cut is meant to be the main course and its transfer is better by most measures – better detail, cleaner presentation, brighter colors, and more natural textures. There is some compression noise and haloing along harder edges, which is odd, because I wouldn’t call it an oversharpened transfer otherwise. The English cut isn’t a disaster by any means (it actually has a charming grindhouse quality), but is comparatively duller, flatter, less well-defined, and features more print damage artifacts. 


For reference, the images immediately below the Video section are examples of the English cut transfer. All others are from the French cut.



Audio

The French and English versions are both presented in their original, uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mono sound. Once again, by and large, this isn’t a case of dubbed performances, but shooting scenes in both languages, meaning that you can’t flip between tracks to compare the sound qualities. With that in mind, the slight muffling and distortion of the English track matches expectations set by the rougher video quality. The French tracks are cleaner and feature greater dynamic range, as well as crisper elemental separation.


The score is provided by frequent Peter Greenaway collaborator David Cunningham and the music sounds solid on both tracks. The French cut features more string and sax themes, while the English score lays on the drums and harmonicas, matching the title theme, “End of the Line,” written and performed by Wall of Voodoo frontman Stan Ridgway.



Extras

  • Terminus: The Jürgen Prochnow Interview (15:55, HD) – In this 2025 interview, the actor discusses his career dubbing Sylvester Stallone in Germany, the success of Das Boot, his early Hollywood career, and the making of Terminus.

  • We All Descend: The Making of Terminus (49:30, HD) – A newly minted, French language behind-the-scenes doc that features interviews with Pierre-William Glenn’s son Vincent and daughter Julie (who plays the young Princess), along with a collection of archival interview footage with the director himself. It includes clips from Glenn’s other films and quite a bit of behind-the-scenes footage, some of which can also be seen during the Prochnow interview.

  • Photo gallery

  • U.S. theatrical trailer

  • MVD release trailers – Swamp Thing (1982), Nemesis (1992), Tunnel Vision (1976), One Tough Cop (1998), and Knock Off (1998)


The images on this page are taken from the Blu-ray and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.

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