Week of Sunday June 17 throught Friday June 22, 2007

Sunday, June 17, 2007
Android Apocalypse - 2006

Sci-Fi Channel movie, not as good as a couple of recently seen ones (The Lost Room, The Triangle), but not bad. the Ending is hideously predictable. It's another of those "Who didn't see THAT coming" moments.

Interestingly enough, the director (Paul Ziller) has made 17 movies between 1986 and 2004, yet I have not heard of a single one of them.

Only extra is a making of that was short on almost everything, but especially dialogue. There's no dialogue at all, just juxtaposition of movie scene and behind the scene of same shot. It was also only 5 minutes long.

Monday, June 18
Black Sabbath - 1963

Mario Bava's classic trilogy of horror, in it's original Italian, and original cut. It seems very odd to see Boris Karloff, but hear someone else (I mean, there are fewer voices as instantly recognizable as Boris'). The colors scream Bava. I think I'm to the point where I would know he did a movie by it's color tone alone. And this is SO Italian, but in a good way.

There are three short stories here, The Telephone (kinda short, but the first color Gaillo, per IMDB), The Wurdalek (a very dark tale where vampires take over a family), and The Drop of Water (teaches us the old lesson, "Never steal from a corpse"). Of the three, The Wurdalek is the best, IMHO, as it has a very nice edge to it.

Other extras include an interview with Mark Damon (Holy Crap, what a life! How many guys could turn down a big project, and still come out on top like this guy has. This was fascinating stuff. If the movie isn't enough to get you to watch it, this interview might be), a commentary by Tim Lucas (editor of Video Watchdog, and the author of an INCREDIBLE book about Bava), where we have more history than you can shake a stick at. This would be an outstanding commentary if it wasn't for the longish pauses of silence. It is, however, a great course in Italian cinema history. Worth listening to just for that.

This is an outstanding disc, even if you don't like most Italian movies. A must watch in my book.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Cadeverella - 2007

A Brain Damage Films, with a nice 5.1 soundtrack. In fact, this movie is slow and dull, and the soundtrack is the best part. Forty-five minutes in, we finally get some boobage. And then at 53, there's some gore. Alas, it's only 62 minutes long, not counting credits. Too little pay pay off too late.

There's a commentary, but the volume is WAY too soft! And there's one guy on the mike, and the rest obviously across the room. It started out dull, and with the volume problems, I gave up after half an hour.

Other extras include a behind the scenes called Cadeverella Comes to Life. I thought it was silent at first, but it was because the audio didn't default back to the only one. It tried to play an nonexistent directory's commentary on it, and so I thought it was silent. When I manually set the audio track, there was the sound. Weird.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
George Romero's KnightRider - 1981

In preparation of meeting George Romero Saturday at Texas Frightmare Weekend (which was AWESOME, by the way!), I'm watching this nearly forgotten Romero classic. I clearly remember seeing this at a theater in Virgina Beach, VA back in A school.

Look at this cast! Tom Savinni, Ed Harris, Ken Foree, Steven King cameo, and Patricia Tallman (Lyta Alexander in B5!). Pat's first movie, and we see her boobies! You should watch it just for that!

Truly a character driven story. The reason it's great, is that you genuinely care about the characters here. In most of the crap make recently, I am just hoping everyone dies.

It's much longer than I remember. Two and a half hours! I'm sure the theatrical cut wasn't that long.

There's a commentary with George Romero, John Amplas, Tom Savini, Christine Romero (who's in the movie under her maiden name) and Christ Staurakis. Here we learn that it was a 90 day shoot, and there was a tornado on the second day, for a $1M cost. Lots of reminiscing, but good technical details too. Very nice all around. Worth a watch, especially for fans of Romero.

Thursday, June 21, 2007
Masters of Horror, Rob Schmidt - Right to Die - 2007

Wow, they sure must be scraping the bottom of the barrel over at Showtime. Rob Schmidt? He's only made one horror movie, and it wasn't that great(Wrong Turn). There is some nice boobage and good special effects. Not that scary, though, and pretty predictable.

Commentary has just the directory. 10 day shoot, 6 pages a day. They reused John Carpenter's Pro-Live. Nicely technical, but not very lively. Probably mainly because he's by himself.

Other extras include Burnt Offerings: The Making of Right to Die, which was fair. And "Flay-o-Trish", which was excellent, and easily the best part of the entire disc.

Friday, June 22, 2007
Masters of Horror, Joe Dante - Screwfly Solution - 2006

Wow, here's a couple of actors I haven't thought of in a while; Jason Priestly and Eliot Gould. And they both do a fine job. And man, this is like my worst nightmare, a religious infection that makes you hate women. Yikes!

Very nice, deeply disturbing, even if I guessed the "Shock ending". I liked this one a lot.

Commentary has director Joe Dante and writer Sam Hamm. Again, it's a 10 day shoot, under $2M. Almost no technical, very general. But there's a lot of behind the scenes of MOH and what they require.

Other extras include The Cinematic Solution (making of) which is pretty standard, and The Exterminators (making of SFX, again, very interesting).