Posts by Brent Lorentson

When I first got this DVD with my stack to review I treated it like I do with most films; I go in with little to no expectations, and whatever the result is at least I can’t be left too disappointed.  I love action films, and I’m a big fan or martial arts films, so when I see the name Gordon Liu in the credits, well, I at least know I have a little something to get excited about.  After all, Liu kind of has a cool pass in my book since doing The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin movies. But to deliver a good movie, you need more than just an appearance by a martial arts legend, and really that’s all Blood Money brings to the table.

Revenant: one who returns from the dead in corporeal form

Back in 2009 when I was in Austin, Texas for the Fantastic Fest (a genre film festival they hold every year) I was lucky enough to catch this film  and it was one of the standout films of the festival.  Since that night I’ve been waiting and waiting for this to finally get a theatrical release, and now three years later The Revenant has finally found its way onto DVD.  With all the vampire and zombie films that have been released over the past few years ,it is still a mystery why it took so long for this film to find a wide release.

“Juan of the dead we kill your loved ones”

This is one of those movies I had heard about but was beginning to wonder if I’d ever get a chance to watch.  The notion of Cuba releasing a zombie comedy just kind of shocked me.  To be honest I didn’t even know they had a production company down there.  So when I noticed this title had come in to be reviewed at the Upcomingdiscs headquarters, I jumped on this, willing to fight off hordes of zombies if need be.  Thankfully there were no masses of the undead to be dispatched, and this title was mine to review.

It seems the new recycled trend in horror is the exorcism/ possession genre.  For me personally this is the only horror genre that tends to get to me, since I was brought up Catholic and the thought of the devil possessing me was thought to be a very real possibility.  The strange thing is The Exorcist seems to be the only film that I would consider great and would even say it’s one of the greatest horror films of all time.  Many films have tried to deliver, but in the end the films seem to just fall flat, the closest being The Last Exorcism though that film also has its fair share of naysayers.

It would be fair to say Lewis Black is not for everyone.  When in the mood for comedy, few people would decide on watching an old man rant and rave on a stage to the point you expect him to simply keel over from a self induced heart attack.  You won’t find any puppets or redneck humor when watching one of Black’s routines.  In fact what you can expect is at some point to maybe get a little upset if not outright offended.  But that’s okay.  He knows his routine is not for everyone, so much so in fact he even opens this show with a note of warning about what to expect from his show.  And then the anger-fueled rants continue from there.

“It’s times like this you need to think like a stoner.”

It’s not every day you get the chance to say the quote above and apply it with conviction.  But when you watch High School or any other “stoner” movie, you simply have to view them through smoke-filled glasses or the viewing experience will be in vain.  Kind of like watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show, as a movie it’s bad, but when you see it with a live performing act it becomes a completely new experience. 

Watching this film is like unearthing a time capsule, not just to another time, but what seems like another world.  It’s crazy to see how much has changed since this film’s original theatrical release back in 1975.  One moment that stuck out in particular: when they are driving along the streets of Los Angeles you might notice a sign at a gas station posting gas at 56 cents a gallon.  This is a family that is already sick of life in the big city.  I can only imagine how they would react to big city life now; would they run further into the hills or simply accept the advances in modern technology?