Week of Friday January 25 through Thursday January 31, 2008

Friday, January 25, 2008
White Noise 2 - 2007


With the relative poorness of White Noise, why did I watch White Noise 2, I hear you ask. The answer is simple: Nathan Fillion! This movie also has Adrian Holmes, who was Victor in Tru Calling, and Katee Sackhoff who is, of course, Starbuck in the new Battlestar Galactica.

This one was completely different from the first, and honestly, it's much better. The mythos is different, explained, and more engaging.

Extras include Deleted Scenes, most of which are just longer versions of what's in the movie. I actually like the deleted ending better. Then there's a documentary called Exploring Near Death Experience. 15 minutes on near death experiences. Stupid. then there's a nice but short making of. Finally, there's Journey Into Madness, which is a sort of behind the scenes, with Nathan taking us on a funny tour of the Haunted Mental Asylum.

Saturday, January 26, 2008
Dragon Wars - 2007 South Korean

More CG than 3 modern Godzilla movies. I had very low expectations for this movie, and was very pleasantly surprised. It's a good action movie. It is kinda hard to tell the good snake from the bad snake, however. And thanx for the subtitles, btw.

Extras include a documentary called 5000 Years In The Making. Fascinating making of, 7 years in the making, all by a Korean comic. And all the CG was done in Korea by amateurs. Interesting.

Sunday, January 27, 2008
Days of Darkness: Rise of the Flesheaters - 2007

Buncha nice folks (which is really unusual for zombie movies these days. Usually they're a bunch of assholes). This movie is a lot more realistic than usual too. Genuine people, real variety. Reacting normally. I gotta admit, this is a novel zombie movie.

Alas, there's no extras.

Monday, January 28, 2008
Evil Brain From Outer Space - 1964

Star Man! The Japanese serial from the 60's. And I am flat out amazed that MST3K never did any of these. They would have been perfect. It features some of the worst fight choreography EVER! Hysterical!

Attack From Space - 1964

Alas, I've seen this one. I love how Star Man just shoots all the bad guys in this one, grinning like a madman the whole time. Can you imagine what would happen if you made a movie today where the hero gunned down his enemies and smiled about it?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Monster - 2008

A pointless rip off of Cloverfield, rushed out before Cloverfield opens at theaters. These guys have no shame. Or talent. There's even a trailer that couldn't be skipped for a movie entitled Alien Vs Hunter. So these guys do nothing but rip offs. How clever.

For those living under a rock, Cloverfield is JJ Abram's Godzilla meets Blair Witch. Shot entirely on shakey cam, with uneven sound and no subs, its like being at ground zero of a Godzilla attack.

And the problem is that it's just irritating. It gives you a headache, and you are constantly wanting to know (like the actors) what the F is going on. But it's cheap. No monster affects needed. Just shots of destruction. Most of which are either just fires painted onto street scenes, or people running and screaming, with noise off screen.

Only extra is a behind the scenes, and its only 5 minutes long. Really sad when you have to pad the making of with scenes from the movie.

In a word, terrible. Avoid at all costs, unless you like headaches.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
TeenApe Goes To Camp - 2008

This is more like it. Foul, irreverent, filthy, and funny. I love Low Budget Pictures. I'm probably at the cutting edge of their demographic, as I expect most people who get these things are a lot younger than me. I just wish there was some Bonejack in this one. I miss him. Especially the Bonejack from the original Mulva. That was hilarious!

I am disappointed that there's no boobage here, however. Come on, what's up with that?

Commentary has the entire gang, sounds like the entire crew. Very little detail, mostly chatter and snarky comments. It's fun, but not very informative.

Other extras include a 12 minute production diary, which has some behind the scenes and some silly interviews.

Worth a rental, if you are not easily offended, or under 30.

Thursday, January 31, 2008
Aenigma - 1987

A non-zombie movie by Lucio Fulci. And it's got Jared Martin (from the War of the Worlds TV show). Just in case you thought that the death by tarantulas scene in The Beyond wasn't dumb enough - ladies and gentlemen, I give you death by snails. And why did they dub Jared? That's not his voice.

No extras whatsoever. This was pretty disappointing on a number of levels. Not the least of them being that it really wasn't very scary. Pretty good MST3K material, though, so I'm glad I rented it.