Week of Friday November 23 thru Thursday November 29, 2007

Friday, November 23, 2007
Rise of the Dead - 2007


Gotta love a dead baby ghost possession movie. Well, at least you ought to. This one was different. Not good, but different. And the ending was novel. Subtitled (thank you very much!) and a commentary, and that's it. No other extras.


Commentary has director William Wedig and actress Erin Wilk. Here we learn that it was a 3 week shoot on a $20K budget. Lots of deatils of a micro-budget shoot, including using a SDX900 Standard Def camera.


Saturday, Movember 24, 2007
Point Pleasant (TV Series) - 2005 - Disc 1


Richard Burgi again. Just saw him in Hostel II. And a actor I really liked from Space, Above and Beyond, James Morrison.


So, in this TV series, the Anti-Christ is a girl. Some would say that ALL women are the anti-christ (now I'll find out if any women are reading this. :-> )


Interestingly, according to IMDB, only the first 8 episodes, but the rest are being released on these DVDs. That's yet another reason why watching TV shows on DVD is better than on TV. At least I get to see the whole thing, and all at one time.


Sunday, November 25, 2007
Point Pleasant, Disc 2


And the story drags along, as our girl decides whether she's gonna be an evil anti-christ or a good anti-christ. No extras on this disc either.


This show is trying SO hard to be Buffy, but the chemistry is just not there. I see that Marti Noxon is a writer on this, as well on Buffy, but that doesn't help it. The real problem is that relationships between the characters just isn't clicking. There was good relationships in Buffy from Season One Episode One. Not here.


Monday, November 26, 2007
Point Pleasant, Disc 3


The problem here is that I don't believe the relationships. There's no "click". The story really rallies in the end (all the episodes they didn't show on TV, ain't that a shocker?). It still isn't that great. The plot and ideas are fairly clever, it's the execution that drags it down.


At least this disc has some extras. There's a "Making of", but it's not a true making of at all. It's just interviews with cast and crew about the story and philosophy of the show. But there's no actual "Making Of". Irratating.


Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Zombie Town - 2007


My first thought while watching this movie was "Boy, these folks are awfully southern for Vermont. I thought Vermont was NORTH of the mason-dixon line".


My next impression was about 30 minutes in, when I thought "Wow, it's a rip off of Slither". I mean, little worm parasites that turn you into zombies.


All the cheesy gore effects we've come to expect in a low budget zombie movie. Like the chainsaw'd leg. How many times have we seen this gag? *I* could do it.


Commentary by director Damon Lemay, Producers Mary Beth French and Zorinah Juan, and Exec. Producer David Giancola done in October 2006. Fairly technical, interesting to hear 2 females producers. Nice to hear good things about a town being nice to low budget filmmakers.


Other extras include Getting Infected: Making of Zombie Town - pretty good, actually interviews and behind the scenes shots. Also Inside the Effects of Zombie Town, very nice - director commentary on how effects were done, with more behind the scenes footage.


Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Jake West's Evil Aliens - 2005


It's a horror/SF/comedy, but it ain't for the kids. Gory British humor, with lots of blood and several sex scenes. This from the guy who did Razor Blade Smile (which I think I saw before I started writting this, but you're welcome to go back and look. :-> ) Jake West . It's pretty funny, actually. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to.


Extras include Extended, Deleted, Unused & Unfinished scenes. The unfinished without the CG was the most interesting, rest could easily be lost. Also included was a tour of Life Creation Studio, which is the SFX house that did most of the effects. That was mildly interesting, but poorly shot.


Thursday, November 29, 2007
The Burning - 1981


Ahhh, the 80's. Gotta love 'em. And boy, does this movie have a pedigree. Let's see, we got a soundtrack by Rick Wakeman (of Yes fame, in case anyone under 40 is reading this), Special Effects by Tom Savini in his heyday, story by Harvey Weinsten (yes, THAT Harvey Weinstein) and introducing two actors, Jason Alexander (from Seinfeld fame) and Holly Hunter. And Fisher Stevens, just to round things out. Man, they don't make movies like this anymore.


Some of Savini's Fx are pretty good, considering the time and budget. This was the first thing the Weinstein brothers did in movies (they were concert promoters before this), and before they became assholes (see last week's rant against the Weinstein Group).


Commentary features director Tony Maylam and "International Film Journalist Alan Jones (I've never heard of him either). I did think it was funny that Tony actually said that the Weinstein brothers were"ruthless". Also, I didn't realize that this was a Video Nasty. That brings the count of the Video Nasties that I own up to 44 of the 74 movies so branded. If you don't know what the Video Nasties were, Google it, and look in terror at what this country faces if the Christian Conservatives gain any more power.

The actual commentary is pretty dull, due in no small part to the fact that the director is british, and this is the only horror movie he ever made.

The only other extra is an interview with Tom Savani, which was much more interesting than the commentary.