Frankenstein's Bloody Nightmare - 2006
The opening credits proudly proclaim that it's "shot in VistaChrome 70". My ass, it looks like Super8 to me. But at least they have the good taste to homage HGL & Blood Feast with a cop saying the SWV tagline "Looks like another long, hard one".
This movie is cheap in every bad way! Whole sections of the dialogue is unintelligible. Watching paint dry would be more interesting. Watching a Bollywood movie in it's native tongue would be more intelligible.
Commentary by John R. Hand, writer/director. Fairly technical, but he's too impressed with this mess. Other extras include a Making Of, which is just more of the same. Guy is WAY too in to it. Has he not seen this movie. It's duller than dirt.
The Film Crew - Wild Women of Wongo - 1958
This one is the dirtiest and funniest so far. Get it for sure.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
My Bloody Valentine - 1981
Rather standard slasher, but an unexpected ending. I thought it was gonna be gorier, based on the comments in that slasher documentary I saw a few months ago. No extras except subtitles, which are appreciated, but it's too bad that there's no commentary. The director and most of the cast are still around.
Unholy - 2007
Adrienne Barbeau ! Only a $250K budget. "Beware the experiment"! And there's Zander! (Nicholas Brendon). Very nice. Time travel, Nazi's, and mind "f". Pretty cool.
Commentary by writer/director Daryl Goldberg, and writer/exec. prod Sam Freeman. I was hoping for some technical discussion, but it's all lame schtick. About the only thing we learn is that AB is easy to work with, and it was an 18 day shoot. No other extras.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Alligator - 1980
This one was very nice. A great addition to the Nature Gone Wild genre.
Commentary with director Lewis Teague and actor Robert Forster & someone named Dale from I guess a magazine "Dark Deliverer". $1.5M budget. Talks a lot about the advantage of shooting sequentially. Interesting.
Other extras - Alligator Arthur Interview with the screenplay writer.
Grindhouse: Death Proof - 2007
They even scratched the logos to make it look old! I sure wish they had the fake previews that were with the theatrical release. Well, maybe Planet Terror will have them.
I'm actually surprised that this isn't better than it is. It's AWFULLY slow at the beginning. There's a one hour period of nothing, with a big payout. Then another long stretch, and the awesome ending.
The bad news? There's a ton of padding that probably killed this at the theater. The good news? man, this IS grindhouse. And I oughta know, I watch a ton of 'em.
And where the hell is the commentary? Or any extras for that matter? Must all be on the second disc, that Netflix isn't carrying. But this one isn't good enough to own. Rent.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Masters of Horror - Brad Anderson: Sounds Like - 2006
In case the name Brad Anderson doesn't sound familiar, he's the guy who did Session 9 . Dark, moody character study of the descent into madness.
Commentary with just director, Brad Anderson. WOW! Is this guy dull.
Other extras include the standard Making Of, which was pretty dull, and Cacophony, with was a behind the scenes featuring some contest winner, who got a day on the set and a background part in the show.
Masters of Horror - Peter Medak: The Washingtonians - 2006
This guy is even less well known than Brad Anderson. Peter Medak has done a lot of TV, but he did do the excellent The Changeling with George C. Scott. Music of this episode was by Richard Band, which is always a good sign.
This is a serious funky episode. I mean, George Washington was a cannibalistic monster, and all of history is wrong? Plus, there's a lot of gore for a TV show. And what's with the joke at the end?
Commentary with author/actor Johnathon Schaech and director. It was better than the previous MOH commentary, but still pretty non-memorable.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Graduation Day - 1981
That classic horror icon, Christopher George . This early 80's slasher is really a perfect example of the genre at that time. Crappy day for night shots, lots of blood, and a twist at the end. They all gotta have a twist at the end. This one is memorable due to the dumb, superlong postlogue.
Only other extra beyond the subtitles (YEAH!) is an interview with Linnea Quigley, who is SO young in this movie I didn't even recognize her. The interview wasn't very good either.
Fire Serpent - 2007 TV Movie
More Nicholas Brendon goodness. I didn't realize that this was a Sci-Fi channel movie when I rented it. So you roll the dice. Some are good, some are poor. Oh crap, this was created and Exec. Prod by William Shatner! And just to give us another Star Trek connection, there's Robert Beltran, who played Chakotay in ST:Voyager.
This wasn't terrible, but the ending was just plain stupid. And how do these things smoke, let alone exist in space?
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Phantasm - 1979 (new release DVD)
I LOVE this movie. It's an absolute classic. Great WTF moments, great concept, excellent characters that you care about, it's just about perfect. This is a great transfer. Sure wish there were subtitles, thou.
Commentary with writer/director and stars A. Michael Baldwin (Mike), Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man), and Bill Thornbury (Jody). It's an excellent commentary, with a good blend of reminising and technical. Alas, it's the same commentary as on the last edition, from the LaserDisc edition.
Other extras include Phantasmagoria - interviews of cast & crew about the making of Phantasm. And a Behind the scenes which are home videos of the shooting with a commentary by Don and Reggie Bannister. There are some deleted scenes which are really cool, as I wish they hadn't been cut.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Sex Machine - 2005
Wow! The second Frankenstein story this week. I think the guy really handles it well when he notices that he has a black arm. Not since The Incredible Two Headed Transplant do I remember a cross-race Frankenstein.
This is SLOW, trying to be artsy (never a good sign). The audio is really uneven too, so keep that remote handy, you'll be moving the volume up and down constantly.
Commentary with Director (Christopher Sharpe ) and DP (Shogo Nakagawa ). An $8K movie shot in Oklahoma City. Not very interesting, actually.
Other extras include a Making Sex Machine, which is an interview with cast & crew with behind the scenes shots. Not too bad. BTW, if you're wondering why a Frankenstein re imaging is called Sex Machine, that's a tattoo on one of his arms.
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