Week of Saturday June 30 thru Friday July 6, 2007

Saturday, June 30, 2007
The Abandoned - 2006


This was the first of the "After Dark" films I've seen, because most did not get a very warm reception over at DVD Stalker. Not bad, so I'd want to see it, and not great, ditto. Just luke warm, and I don't have time for mediocre movies. Just good and bad. However, I was having a hard time finding anything at Blockbuster, so I took a chance. And I'm glad I did. Very moody, and it got downright spooky. Subtitles helped too. And the ghost effects were WAY cool.


Other extras include a Making of, which was in Russian, which is odd, since it was shot in Spain and Bulgaria. And it was too short. But the movie was creepy, so this one's worth a rent.


Sunday, July 1, 2007
Frankenstein Conquers the World - 1965 aka Frankenstein vs Baragon


Well, I gotta admit, this one's got a unique plot. It starts in 1945, with Nazi's experimenting on Frankenstein's heart, because it can not die. With the fall of Berlin, they decide to give it to the Japanese (?). Who carelessly leave it at Heroshima. Ooops. It then proceeds to grow to gigantic size, and in the end fights off Baragon. Bet you didn't see that coming.


This disc isn't like the other new releases of Godzilla movies, and doesn't have the great print, or excellent extras. But the movie is entertaining, and it's got Nick Adams (most will probably see this as a negative). There is only a Japanese soundtrack with subtitles. But there was a commentary by SFx Supervisor (again with the SFX guy on a commentary track!) and someone else which is also in Japanese and subtitles. The commentary was not as technical as you'd expect, or as interesting as the commentaries on the Classic Media releases.


2009 - Lost Memories - 2002 (Korean)


Very artsy, great soundtrack, loads of gunplay. If you like that kind of Asian movie, with tons of gun-fu, this may be the flick for you. This was a VERY early entry on my Deep Discount wishlist, although I no longer remember why.


This is a very interesting alternate history / time travel yarn. Lots of good philosophical debate (which I enjoy a lot more than most folks). This movie is long, but I really liked it, and found it interesting.


Monday, July 2, 2007
Swamp Zombies - 2005 a Brain Damage Films


When a movie features a porn star (Jasmin St Clair), you know that we're not talking big budget. Shot on video, obviously. And these people are WAY too old to be in a college class. Directed by Len Kabasinski, who (according to IMDB) was a big martial artist until 2000. He also wrote this thing, and that OBVIOUSLY NOT his strong point, as the script is painful.


There was a LOL moment "Out, like a deaf kid at musical chairs". Don't know why that struck me as funny. I'm kinda ashamed of it now, typing this. There is also a hysterically bad song at about the 22 minute mark that will make you cry with laughter.


Plenty of blood, but no gore, which is weird for a Brain Damage Films. There is, however, the finest shower scene I've seen in years. Of course, the fact that it features a porn star who has the proper equipment and knows how to use it doesn't hurt a bit.

Two hours?!? Are you kidding me? WAAYYYYY too long. IMDB says 90 minutes, but when I was at 93 minutes, my DVD player said there was 20 minutes remaining. AND it had the slowest credits crawl EVER!

Other extras include Cast Interviews. I had to laugh out loud, they are all SO proud. Have they not seen the finished product? What a bunch of self-serving assholes. There was bloopers and outtakes, which were fair. Deleted scenes that none will miss (they ought to add about another 30 minutes' worth). Audition reel, which was painful. And a stupid Making of, which was actually just behind the scenes footage without any dialogue, so no idea what's going on.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Transmorphers - 2007

If you suspect that this is a cheap rip off to try and cash in on Transformers, you win today's prize. Oh God, is this cheap. And bad acting. The ONLY good thing about this travesty is the soundtrack.

Director Leigh Scott has 26 titles in his filmography, all cheapie rip offs, including one of the most spectacularly painful rip off of all time, C. Thomas Howell's mind-numbingly bad War of the World. And like that movie, the special effects in this movie are special only in the sense of special education. Once again, he bites off WAY more than he can chew. I mean, if you thought Matrix III sucked, imagine it with Amiga graphics, and you're in the ballpark.

There are audio mistakes, places where Foley effects were not put in, (silent gun play), and lasers that are apparently ultraviolet, as they have no visible beam.

No subs, no commentary, and only a couple of other extras. A Behind the Scenes that reveals just how full of themselves these people are. A special effects featurette that made me laugh. Both were mercifully short. There's a blooper reel that did NOT make me laugh. And finally there's a music video by The Divine Madness, that is the best thing on the DVD, especially if you like Evanescence.

Warlock Moon - 1975 aka Bloody Spa

Presented by Joe Bob Briggs. He says that its similar to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but I didn't see it. It's a classic 70's horror movie, similar in look and feel to Don't Look In The Basement.

There's a Commentary by Joe Bob that is absolute greatness. His rant about witches and the name at minute 17 should not be missed. Rent this just for that. Only other extras include an alternate opening sequence that didn't seem any different to me.

Fun little flick, great commentary. Rent it!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Isolation - 2005 UK

An isolated sheep farm in Ireland. This is the most wet, muddy movie I have EVER seen. These actors all deserve medals for working in the most disgusting conditions I've ever seen. Pretty good, with plenty of blood. Predictable, but with several good jump moments.

Other extras include a short film by director Billy O'Brien - "The Tale of the Rat That Wrote". Very cute, and cleverly done. Not really the same flavor as the movie, though.

Thursday, July 5, 2007
Trog - 1970

Joan Crawford being her usual egotistical self. And Michal Gough, being his usual asshole self. And David Warbeck as a child. He's so young, I didn't even recognize him.

This has to be one of the worst costumes I've ever seen. It's a miracle the actors didn't laugh out loud every time Trog is in the scene. I sure did. And the dinosaur scenes from the flashback? As sad as in The Lost World. Cheap, even by 1970's standards. I refuse to believe that Freddie Francis directed this. He must have been sick, and he let someone else do it.

Battlespace - 2006

Here we have an Australian SF movie with a $1.8M budget. You know you're in trouble when the plot must be driven by narration. Of the 86 minutes, I bet there's 30 minutes where there's narration going on. This is pretty much an acted out short story, with a reader and silent actors.

This movie becomes an inadvertent WTF movie, because it keeps jumping from hallucination & back, without any visual clue, I keep getting lost.

More CG than you can shake a stick at. And that computer voice sounds familiar. Let's check IMDB. Paul Darrow! That's Kerr Avon from Blake's 7! I knew I knew that voice.

Friday, July 6, 2007
Dead Silence - 2007

The director (James Wan) was the writer and director of Saw. This guy OBVIOUSLY has a thing with dolls and ventriloquist dummies. AND he likes nifty transitions, 'cause this thing is full of 'em. And thanks for the subtitles, BTW.

This is a wonderful movie. Novel, with characters I actually cared about (that's a novel concept in itself now days) and a twist ending I did NOT see coming.

Other extras include a fascinating exploration of how things go from concept to execution, the evolution of an idea to the final rendering. There was also a Making of that was subtitled too, so that made me VERY happy. A nice little featurette on the makeup effects for the Mary Shaw character.

And excellent disc. Although I rented it, if a deluxe one comes out, I just might buy it.