Disc Type

"It killed 102 people, brutally mauling its human prey. Its victims are all women and children. The worst attack by an unknown beast in history, and the basis for the legend of the werewolf. Two investigators set out to solve the mystery. Applying modern day forensics, they hunt to uncover the real wolfman."

With the Universal remake of one of its classic monsters, you can expect to see a lot of related material come out of the woodwork to capitalize on the buzz. Unfortunately, the remake of The Wolf Man pretty much tanked, plagued more by too many internal problems than the full moon. Still, the legends and stories are out there, and it might be fun to check some of this stuff out. There's likely to be a few interesting tales out there to entertain us and help us to overcome the sting of unmet expectations.

If you have any love for Italian horror films, then you know the names Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci are the ones that cause the most excitement. Both directors have made a name for themselves in horror cinema, each providing their own authorship within their own interests. Much like debate concerning The Beatles or The Stones, cinephiles typically side with one over the other. Yes, Argento has conjured dreamlike, character-driven horror that has haunted our minds over the decades (Suspiria, Phenomena), but the late Lucio Fulci has a seemingly innate ability to create landscapes of terror that consistently push the envelope of realistic gore (Zombi, The Beyond). While I do tend to favor Fulci, I am well aware of both of their contributions and influence to horror cinema as a whole. Even though they have notable differences, The Wax Mask offers a collaboration between the two greats prior to Fulci’s death in 1996.

The story, written by both Argento and Fulci, is an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s “The Waxwork Museum.” The plot involves a mysterious wax museum in 1922 Italy, whose curator has an interesting fetish for the macabre: he only creates scenes of famous murders. Whether it is the slaying of the gorgon Medusa, the mysterious case of Jack the Ripper, or a more contemporary double murder, he creates the scenes for his museum. However, as the film progresses, a reporter and the museum’s newest employee discover the curator’s unorthodox methods of creating his sculptures, as well as the dark history surrounding the curator’s family.

Who or what is God? Does he perform miracles here on Earth? What happens to us when we die? Is there true evil on this earth? How was the universe created? How will it all end? These are the kinds of questions for which there are no concrete answers to be found in the world around us. These are the subjects that require us to turn to our faith or belief systems. The answers might be found in our culture. You might even have had experiences that have brought you closer to the answers. This is meaning-of-life stuff, and the answer might just be 42.

Morgan Freeman joins an elite few actors who have played God in a movie. In Evan Almighty and Bruce Almighty, Freeman was the personification of God. That makes him a rather natural choice to explore the real questions surrounding faith and belief. Freeman is also one of those people who make you feel at ease. He has a naturally soothing voice and a level of wisdom in his presence that allows him to fit the bill here rather nicely as he travels the globe to get to the heart of these important mysteries.

What do you know about the Stuxnet virus? It’s all right, you can be honest. If I’m being honest, before the documentary Zero Days, I hadn’t even known the name. After watching the film, my knowledge is stemmed more in speculation than fact. I hadn’t realized how many different ways there were to hear, “I can’t talk about that.” To this day, government officials refuse to answer any question regarding the computer virus that was supposedly designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. It is incredibly frustrating and has inspired in me a degree of curiosity that I hadn’t known possible beforehand. I can see why it the filmmakers were drawn to this subject matter.

Through a panel of computer experts and government officials, the origin and implementation of the Stuxnet virus is explored, which is believed to have been a joint effort cyber-attack between the United States and the Israeli government with the intention of crashing the Iranian nuclear program during the Bush administration. As expected, this is conjecture, as no one is willing to go on the record about the computer program. Despite this, the facts presented by the computer expert as well as leaked government documents detail a compelling story which makes it hard not to believe it to be true.