Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Week of August 21 to 28

Monday, August 21, 2006

Ghost Game – 2004

Oh, this is novel. Friends vacation in a cabin. Never seen a horror movie with that premise. Sheesh! Could we be a little less original? No gore, no originality, no interest. The only thing this disc had going for it was that it had subtitles.

Destruction Kings – 2006

Bonejack and Teen Ape, together battling the evil forces of Dracula, The Wolfman, and Funkenstein (not a misspelling, he raps). It just doesn’t get any better. Not for all tastes, but I love ‘em.

No subs, but there is a commentary with directory Chris Seaver (who also plays Bonejack) and the man behind the Teen Ape mask. Yes, Teen Ape is outed. And that’s because this is the final movie for him and Bonejack. Seaver and LowBudgetPictures are out of the Teen Ape business. Very sad. Be sure to get ‘em all.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 thru Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Doctor Who – Season One – 2004

YES! Doctor Who is back. And they are excellent. First off, the cheesy sets and monsters are gone. The new Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) is very good. I didn’t like him as well as Tom Baker or Sylvester McCoy, but he’s miles better than Colin Baker or Peter Davison. And the new companion, Rose, is good too. Better than Peri but no Sarah Jane Smith. (Have I proven I’m a Whovian yet?)

The writing, however, is truly superior. I love the way the episodes interlock. And I really like how many of the episodes “feel” like Tom Baker episodes. The alien names and such sound like they were created by Douglas Adams (who wrote 9 episodes back in the Tom Baker days). And big things are revealed, that I’m sure will result in cool episodes in the future. I’m not gonna spoil anything, as anyone who reads this should buy or rent these discs. Besides, it’s not like it’s not all over the Internet.

I wrote plot synopsis’ for each episode, but , I don’t feel like writing them all. Suffice it to say that all are subtitles, there are a couple of commentaries, and the entire 5th disc is all special features (don’t bother renting unless you’re a fan). And it’s all excellent. Get ‘em in your queue quick.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Masters of Horror – Dario Argento – Jenifer – 2005

Here was my reactions as I watched this movie.

Ehhhh, that is NASTY!

Ick, he hit that.

Hey, no cat violence!

And the lesson this flick teaches is, no matter who a woman looks like, all she has to do is Paw a guy, and it’s insta-sex…NOT!

Weak, predictable ending. Main character was unsympathetic and unlikable. I am really disappointed, as Dario is a great director. Alas, he didn’t write this, and it shows.

Commentary with writer/Actor Steven Wever & DVD Producer Perry Martin. It was not that great either. Usual butt load of extras, interviews, blah blah blah. Overall, this was a pretty weak entry in the series.

Intermedio – 2005 (aka The In Between)

Once again, we have a movie where I hate everyone in it within the first 10 minutes. And that even includes the character played by Amber Benson (Tara from Buffy). And of course, the one actress I like dies first. Hey, there’s the guy who plays Colonel Carlsen from Lifeforce! First thing I’ve seen him in for ages.

Audio was poor, and accent heavy enough that I can’t tell what they were saying, except for all the F-bombs. And you can’t tell what they’re doing, as its too freaking DARK!

You know, the main character sounds kind of familiar. Holy crap, that’s little John Conner from T2! So there are a lot of famous people in this pile of poop.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Feed – 2005

Holy crap! This may be the most disgusting, disturbing thing I have EVER seen. You will NOT believe the plot. Evidently, there are people who WANT to be fat and get fatter (Gainers) and people who love to help them do that (Feeders). This movie is about a guy who’s a feeder, and then overfeeds his gainers until they die, video taping it for his website. And the folks on the website gamble on when the gainer will die.

And yes, you INCESSENTLY see the gainers naked. I felt like I had to take a dozen showers after watching this flick.

There’s a ton of extra features on this disc, including Deleted Scenes, Alternative Ending, interviews, Behind the scenes, etc. Lots of stuff for a disgusting movie. Fair warning, though, this movie is not for the weak of stomach. Seriously. Watch RickyO instead.

Silent Hill – 2006

No commentary (which is unusual in a big budget movie release), but there are subs (thank god). And it’s got Sean Bean again. Been seeming him a lot the last couple of weeks. Interesting visuals, but the plot was really confusing. Of course, for me, it wins big points by making fanatics the bad guy. Especially when the cult leader is the Borg Queen, Alice Krige. She’s also Maddie in Deadwood, for those who watch that CSing series

And it’s too dark, too much flashing light to see the neat stuff. Good thing there’s a really good behind the scenes featurette. You get to see everything and how cool it was. Pity you couldn’t in the movie.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Stagecoach – 1939

Yeah, okay, so it’s not Horror or Science Fiction. Blame Jesse. He loaned me these discs, and said that I’d like the extras. The movie is pretty good, an early John Wayne entry. I do think that the critics like it better than I did. They were really in awe of the Duke’s intro scene, whereas I didn’t like it, because it’s a rack (moving) focus shot where it goes out of focus. Maybe it’s the first time a shot like that is made. Nevertheless, they don’t succeed in keeping it in focus, so I didn’t think it was so great.

It starts off great, showing stupid religious people being all stuck up, looking down on a prostitute and running her out of town. It’s obvious from the way this is presented that we are NOT supposed to support these people. Good. I’m always fine with that. And John Carradine is in this, so young I didn’t recognize him right way. But his voice gave him away. Other than that, I was pretty bored. Like I said, the critics liked it a lot more than I did. Maybe it was the complete lack of action until the last 15 minutes. I mean, I don’t need constant action, but a little something every once in a while would be nice.

There are subtitles, which is great, and a commentary where a professional critic goes on and on about how great a movie this is. There is a lot of good history about John Ford and John Wayne, but WAY too much praise for this movie. It kinda irritated me after awhile. He makes a great comment about “vomit cam”, which I really like.

The second disc holds a pair of bonus featurettes. One of them is a PBS American Masters show about John Ford and John Wayne. The most interesting aspect of this was watching the evolution of John Ford’s beliefs. The second feature just repeats most of what was in either the commentary or the American Masters show.

SoulKeeper – 2001

This movie has Hawkes from Space: Above & Beyond (Rodney Rowland), Brad Dourif, “Tiny” Lister, Robert Davi, and Karen Black. God! What a cast. This actually was not too bad of a horror/comedy. One of the better “Bill Shatner DVD of the Month Club” entries. There’s also one extra, a behind the scenes “Making of the Beast”., which is unusual. Most of the BSDMC are featureless.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Pendulum Pictures “Savage Sickos” (yeah, I’m a glutton for punishment)

Slaughtered – 2005, but no IMDB info

A Goth photographer kills models and puts them on his website. Not as bad as the previous Pendulum disc movies. The effects were fair for a movie with this low of a budget. I looked up the actors, and none of them were listed either except one, who’s a porn star.

Disk Jockey – no IMDB either

WTF! Language like an Eminem video. Tons of “breaking the 4th wall”, as the main character talks to the camera. Plot unfollowable until the very end. Officially, this is not a movie, as its only 55 minutes long.

Dead Body Man – 2004

This actor plays a great crazy guy. Plenty of fake blood and guts, and titties too!

Skyggen Extra – The Mind of a Killer – yet another unlisted in IMDB movie

Utterly incomprehensible. Plus, it’s all blue. Dull, pointless, and predictable.

When Heaven Comes Down – 2002

Murder Mystery as much as a movie about a “savage sicko”. In fact, it’s really a whodunit. As such, didn’t care.

Demon Slaughter – yet another no listing

From the same folks who gave us Dead Body Man. More gangsta shit, with about 20 F-bombs a minute, and plenty of blood and fake gun shots (when did it become so accepted to just paint in gun flash on toy guns).

Hey, nice dangly eyeball. And the finale with the demon dying was very well done. Looks like the entire budget of the movie was in that ONE sequence.

Another non-feature length, but this was the best of this group.

I’m tired, so I’m done.

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