Archive for the ‘Horror’ Category
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 31st, 2010
Vampires are hot right now, at least that’s what everyone keeps telling me. The truth is that everyone is absolutely wrong. Vampires are not hot right now. They’ve always been hot. Since at least since 1897 when Bram Stoker took the world by storm in one of the earliest examples of a horror novel. Of course, I’m talking about Dracula. Dracula, as a character, might have been based on the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler, but the vampire legend that Stoker perfected in Dracula is pure fiction. Still, it wasn’t quite Stoker’s novel that created the vampire craze, it merely lit the fuse.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 19th, 2010
“Tyger Tyger burning bright…”
The 1794 poem by English wordsmith William Blake provides the title and much of the inspiration in this modern thriller/man vs. nature film by director Carlos Brooks. It’s only the director’s second feature film. There is very little experience among the many writers of the story and screenplay. Excuse my jaded reviewer skepticism, but this was not a film I was particularly looking forward to seeing. I expected this to be on par with the beast-of-the week scenario that those made for television SyFy films have been putting out for years.
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Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 16th, 2010
Reviewing schlock in my tenure here at Upcomingdiscs has reached a level of passion. When I was a much younger pup here, I abhorred the concept. Eventually, as I was fed some of the worst movies on record (and most of them weren’t even romantic comedies), I started to actually enjoy some of these and look forward to writing reviews. Then I got a most gracious gift in my review pile, my first Roger Corman flic. Like a new father, I gave out cigars, asked the doctor for the extra stitch, unwrapped Galaxy of Terror and went straight to work.
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Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 10th, 2010
After watching plenty of terrible horror movies in my life, I start to wonder if this is easiest thing in Hollywood to produce. Work with a small budget, come up with a scare and hire some shapely actors to play the ones in peril. Oh, and make sure you have plenty of fake blood. Our example today is Open House, a recent horror movie directed by Andrew Paquin.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 9th, 2010
“There is a place, a mystical nexus, where this unholy relic can be destroyed. I only hope we can get there before Vellich.”
When you think of Edward Douglas, you really do not think about him as a film director or writer. He’s made a name for himself mostly in the music business. No, you aren’t going to see his videos on MTV, and it’s not likely that you’ll find his name on the charts. He’s become somewhat the poster child for specialized Halloween music. So, I guess it isn’t that large a leap to find him writing and helming his first film, obviously a horror film.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 9th, 2010
I recently reviewed Parasomnia on DVD. I was a bit disappointed that we hadn’t been given a chance to see the full in high definition. The director, William Malone, arranged for us to get the film on Blu-ray, and I am thankful. I say this so that there will be full disclosure.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 2nd, 2010
Everybody is always looking to find a new angle or a fresh way of looking at the typical horror film. That is, when they’re not trying to recycle/reboot/remake/reimagine something that’s already been done, often more than once. Credit writer Glenn B Hopper III and director Neil H. Weiss for at least coming up with a new spin on some old ideas. The Hanged Man doesn’t venture very far from its traditional horror roots, but it does offer you a little more thoughtful motivations and insights into its characters and situations.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2010
The second (and final) season of this erotic horror anthology series follows the pattern set down by the first. David Bowie replaces Terence Stamp as host, and takes up the job of briefly uttering portentous statements before each story rolls. These stories star such luminaries as Giovanni Ribisi, Eric Roberts, Jennifer Beals and Lori Petty, and are based on tales by a pretty impressive line-up of line-up of writers: Poppy Z. Brite, Kim Newman, David J. Schow, Gemma Files and Ramsey Campbell, to name but a few.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2010
I’m reminded of my innocent childhood days when Mr. Rogers would come on my black & white television to change his shoes and put on a sweater. I have to say that I always found the guy a little creepy. He would sing to us in a soft hypnotic voice: “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood. Could you be mine. Would you be my neighbor.” Mr. Rogers had quite a fanciful neighborhood indeed. The place was mostly populated with puppets and strange creatures of all sizes. And while today he’d look and sound like a pedophile, Mr. Rogers welcomed everyone to his neighborhood. So, I can’t help thinking how he’d feel about “The Girl”.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2010
Parasomnia is a broad term that covers a lot of sleep disorders. I even ran into the term in association with restless leg syndrome. But there is a severe disorder called Kleine-Levin Syndrome, also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, where the sufferer spends a very large part of their lives asleep. In reality, it usually amounts to days at a time. In William Malone’s new thriller Parasomnia, we meet Laura, who sleeps about 90% of the time, making her a true Sleeping Beauty.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 8th, 2010
“Barugon: The Freezing Monster – This carnivorous reptile, a nightmare cross between a monitor lizard and a chameleon, is found only in New Guinea’s Valley Of The Rainbow. It is born every 1000 years, according to legend, from an egg resembling a large opal. It has a long, darting tongue used as a battering ram, while the tip sprays a freezing mist that immobilizes its prey…”
Ask anyone about Japanese monster movies and Gamera usually won’t be the first name that comes into their minds.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 7th, 2010
Mention the name of George A. Romero to anyone even remotely familiar with horror movies, and the first thing they’re going to think of is zombies. Why shouldn’t they? It was Romero who made what might be the first little film that could. Long before Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, Romero set out with his trusty 16 mm camera and a crew of pretty much local Pittsburgh friends, to make Night Of The Living Dead. With this film and the ongoing “Dead” franchise, Romero has pretty much written the rule book on zombies. He is no doubt the zombie king.
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 5th, 2010
The title is grammatically ambiguous. Is this a film about vampire killers who happen to be lesbians, or killers of lesbian vampires? The former might have given the film some nicely subversive potential, but the latter is the case. Our heroes are the gormless pair of the serially dumped Jimmy (James Corden) and the piggish Fletch (Mathew Horne) – basically Shaun and Ed from Shaun of the Dead, minus the wit. Heading out to a randomly picked village in rural England for a low-budget vacation, the duo happen upon a VW bus filled with women who, based on the available evidence, have just finished a gig as background dancers for a hip-hop video. The group arrives at a decrepit mansion and proceed to party, unaware that the area is cursed by the lesbian vampire queen Carmilla. Seeking to resurrect their matriarch, her minions proceed to vamp all but one of the women, and the stage is set for a supernatural battle of the sexes.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 30th, 2010
“Cursed (kur’sid) adj. To be afflicted with, suffer from the calling down of calamity on someone by a spirit, deity, demon, or one of the dead, esp. from a desire for revenge, resulting in an evil, malevolent being.”
I’m well aware of the popularity of the Twilight series. I have to admit that I’ve pretty much avoided the films, mostly because after 7 years of teaching high school I’ve had more than my fair share of teenage angst. Let’s face it. These films are not really for the die-hard vampire, werewolf, or horror fans. They’re genre chick flicks full of all of that overflowing romance and adolescent hormones.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 27th, 2010
There is a “Convenience Store Killer” running amok in Los Angeles, killing patrons and shop owners and stealing the security camera footage for his own collection. Our heroes are a misfit band of workers who are having a poker night while locked inside their damaged store (the damage being on the door…so they are stuck until morning…see what they did there?) and soon the killer targets them.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 14th, 2010
If you are a fan of the original Kolchak: The Night Stalker, you were more than likely disappointed in the remake a couple of years ago on ABC. Your hope is now once again restored. Supernatural is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the Night Stalker. Like Kolchak, the Winchester brothers are faced with weekly incarnations of evil. They’re forced to research these legends and figure out a way to stop them. As Kolchak discovered, it’s a thankless job. Sure, Supernatural is populated with all sorts of beasties and nasties, but it also manages to hold on to a sense of humor
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Disc Reviews by Dale Krawchuk on June 14th, 2010
Reading the synopsis on the back of the dvd case for Hard Ride to Hell, I was immediately struck by its similarity to the 1975 film Race With The Devil. A group of vacationers in an RV accidentally witness a satanic ritual out in the boonies and, after inevitably being spotted doing so, are set upon by the Satanists and must fight for their lives in a cross-country chase. As it turns out, the similarities are pretty much all cosmetic.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2010
“Evil Is Among Us.”
You’ve got to love a horror film directed and written by a guy named Kevorkian. Johnny Kevorkian is a young director still finding his chops with only a handful of credits to his name thus far. The young talent does have vision, and doesn’t go for the obvious. While the film does tend to be a bit heavy on the British sensibilities, you can expect such a thing from an independent low-budget horror film from England. The Disappeared is absolutely derivative of at least 20 films I’ve seen recently
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2010
“Pray for dawn.”
Mark Young is a bit of a one-man band in the short list of films that he’s done in his decade-long career. Southern Gothic is no exception. Mark Young is credited as: producer, director, writer, editor, chief cook and bottle-washer on the film. I have to say that I’m more often scared when I see that sort of thing than anything that ends up coming at me from the screen. Too many cooks may, indeed, spoil the broth, but only one cook tends to mean someone’s going to end up eatin’ out tonight.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 10th, 2010
Pulse:
Plenty of Japanese horror films have storylines that vary from the oblique to the opaque. Pulse is no exception, so forgive me if this synopsis is a bit confusing (or confused). An internet website offers visitors the chance to see actual ghosts. Viewing the footage seems to make one vulnerable to an actual visitation, and when someone encounters a ghost, that person withdraws from others, shunning all society, and becomes consumed by loneliness to the point of suicide or something even more bizarre.
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Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 30th, 2010
The review you are about to read is true. Nothing has been changed. These are the actual people who performed in this great movie and this is exactly the way it really happened. I truly believe this. Signed, Michael Durr also known as Kedrix. Trust me on this one, I couldn’t make up what I’m about to write for this review. If I were to brainstorm for the next twenty years, there would be absolutely nothing to lead me to this movie. (well except for the boobs).
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Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 26th, 2010
The year is 2003. The War in Iraq is just underway, and its ripples are felt even in the small town of Port Gamble, Washington. Take, for instance, Frida (Janette Armand). Her father is Iranian, which is the same thing as Iraqi as far as everyone else is concerned, and furthermore her skin tone and ethnic background mean she is not a “real American” (to quote her numbskulled boyfriend) even though she was born in Port Gamble. Tom (Doug Fahl), meanwhile, has concerns less related to world affairs: he has returned to his home town, in the company of his boyfriend Lance (Cooper Hopkins), to come out to his mother, a prospect that fills him with dread.
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Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 25th, 2010
The title monster of Irish myth terrorizes people in the middle of the US for no good reason and with no explanation as to why its there, how it came to be or anything else aside from visually demonstrating that it uses sound to make its victims hallucinate. A group of teens on spring break encounter it and every single one of them survives after befriending the misunderstood beast. Of course that’s a lie…they die…but doesn’t the nice plot sound so much more interesting? It does to me when you’ve seen countless films about teenagers being ripped apart in the woods.
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 24th, 2010
“Two years ago my son was taken from me. Since then I’ve lost everything: my job, my marriage, even my life. But I came back, and the dead came with me.”
Ever since the hugely successful 1999 film by M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense, it was only a matter of time before the idea would spawn copycats both in film and television. The phrase, “I see dead people” became a cultural icon. It was a highly effective scene from a clever and refreshing movie. Unfortunately, not all of its spawn have carried on the same level of quality. Haunted falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. Cancelled after only 11 episodes,
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Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 21st, 2010
“Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But there is, unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not so brightly lit, a darkside.”
Not since the likes of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits has there been a really good sci-fi/horror anthology until 1984’s Tales. Not to say that each episode was a winner. In fact, most were pretty weak and relatively lame, but when this show was good, it was very good.
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