1981's "Southern Comfort" was marketed as a viewing experience similar to 1972's "Deliverance," once again pitting masculine men of adventure against rural folk who don't take kindly to strangers. In the hands of co-writer/director Walter Hill, the picture sticks with genre trappings but also pays close attention to character, following National Guard soldiers as they create a violent mess in the Louisiana swamps they soon can't escape from. It's a small-scale horror movie in many ways, playing like a semi-slasher without pronounced suspense, as Hill keeps the feature low-key and irritable, enjoying the slow march into frustration as the characters evolve from men on a mission to strangers desperate for survival. Games of power and command are played, and this is not a film that gallops from moment to moment. It's a slow-burn experience, which doesn't always work for the endeavor, but Hill concentrates on relationships and attitudes, finding some interesting acts of hostility, madness, and anger to work with as he explores the dynamics of the Vietnam War in the swampland of America. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com