Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 16th, 2010
Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) is going through more than the usual puberty traumas. She pees on the carpet, curses a blue streak, causes objects to fly around the room, and speaks in the voice of Mercedes McCambridge. Her mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn) takes her to every medical professional under the sun, to no avail. With her daughter's life in the balance, she turns to Father Karras (Jason Miller), asking him to perform an exorcism. But not only is he skeptical, he has his own problems, not least of which is losing his faith. Meanwhile, Regan's symptoms of possession grow steadily worse...
The most successful horror film of all time (and, adjusting for inflation, still the ninth most successful film ever made) works as well as it does for a number of reasons. The performances, especially from Burstyn and Miller, are grounded and very convincing. The visual effects still hold up, but the sound design is as powerful as it ever was. It's also a smart, adult horror film, such that even if one disagrees with its philosophical and ideological stance, it remains no less compelling, no less interesting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 15th, 2010
Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a young woman utterly lacking in self-confidence and given to deliberately cutting herself. She gets her first job as secretary to E. Edward Grey (James Spader), as tightly wound and ferociously self-isolated an individual as you could imagine. What happens when the sadist meets the masochist? Sparks fly. Low key and sharply sly, this winning film shows (along with Amelie and Kissing Jessica Stein) that there is life in the romantic comedy genre after all, and that original work can still be done with the formula. Spader and Gyllenhaal are superb, with Spader’s icy calm every now and then cracking with sudden spasms of emotion, and Gyllenhaal giving her all in brave, vulnerable, and utterly heartwarming performance. The plot structure is a little messy towards the end, but this winds up being of minor concern, given how delightful the film is.
Secretary is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The 1080p image is arrived at with an AVC/MPEG-4 codec at an average of almost 30 mbps. The format looks like 1.78:1 to me, but I suspect the original format is more like 1.85:1. What is particularly suspicious is the fact that some credits during the title sequence wind up far too close to the right edge of the screen. Even if there is some cropping, however, it is not enough to ruin the nice, deep focus compositions that are no small part of the joy in looking at Spader’s elaborate office (think Belle de Jour meets The Shining). The colors are good, with terrific shifts from the green/brown alternations of the office color scheme, to the sudden bright primary colors of Gyllenhaal’s fantasy sequence. There is quite noticeable grain in an early exterior shot, but this is the exception rather than the rule.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 13th, 2010
Good Eeeeevening, Mistress Noms here with a spooky review to add to the “31 Nights of Terror” countdown we have going here in the dungeon of Upcomingdiscs.com! -digs into her bag of tricks (provided by the head dungeon master of Upcomingdiscs.com)- What do we have here, what do we have here... A Blu-ray copy of The Blair Witch Project!? This is the scariest thing you could come up with? Oyie! Perhaps it is true what they say... Terror can come in many forms... including a really terrible movie! Grab your choice of poison and hop into my hearse (Sure... I have some... candy... around here somewhere...) we are going for a ride! -drives off in a fit of madness, cackling out her window-
I remember when the Blair Witch Project first came out. There was all this fuss about how it was a REAL documentary, all the footage was REAL, and how three film students REALLY went missing. Ha, how naive some people can be! There was even a special on Sci-Fi making it seem all real and mysterious! Oooooo Spooky! Not really, but let's just pretend for a while, shall we? And like anything else, things were leaked onto the interwebs, and people got to talking. The actors showed up on some special on MTV (Possibly it was on that “news” thing they do on there, it was a while ago) and bam, killed a good promotion they had going. Too bad too, I wanted to see it in theaters before they revealed it was indeed just a movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 10th, 2010
So Troll 2 hits Blu-ray. That fact is as sure a sign of the coming Apocalypse as any I can think of, and, at the very least, must threaten the entire Blu-ray format with destruction, as judgment rains down from the hands of an angry God. If, Gentle Reader, you come to this review without any foreknowledge of the film, and are actually wondering if a movie called Troll 2 might be good, then please run as fast as you can and hide. Or at the very least, please watch the legendary YouTube clip appended below. What, you're still here? Don't say you weren't warned.
I'm risking my immortal soul by writing any kind of a synopsis of this film, but here goes. Little Josh (Michale Stephenson) is regularly visited by the rather cranky ghost of his grandfather, who warns him about the dangers posed by goblins (yes, this is a movie called Troll 2 that features goblins instead of trolls – already a dire omen). Josh's family heads off into the countryside for a pioneer-style holiday. Less than happy to be on the trip is teenage daughter Holly (Connie McFarland), whose callow boyfriend Elliot (Jason Wright) was supposed to come along, but was late. Elliot and his equally idiotic friends are now trying to catch up under their own steam. Our characters arrive in the town of Nilbog, where the residents turn out to be goblins in disguise. Their dastardly plans involve transforming the people into vegetable hybrids, and then eating them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 8th, 2010
Open Water:
An over-worked couple (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) whose marriage, while not in danger, has clearly reached some difficult shoals, head off on a diving vacation. A mix-up (which is disturbingly credible) results in the tour ship leaving them behind. Stuck in the middle of the ocean, they float together, hoping against hope for rescue, growing cold and hungry. And then there is the marine life. Like stinging jellyfish. And sharks…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2010
"You are what they eat."
In 1964 Herschell Gordon Lewis brought us the classic gore-fest Two Thousand Maniacs. It was pretty much like all of his films. It was generous on the naked babes and the blood. Lewis was one of the pioneers of the slasher film and was producing low-budget gore films long before they were popular in the mainstream. The man continues to be a legend in the genre. It's been a long time since an original Lewis film has been released, but his influence can be felt everywhere in the genre. So, when I first heard about a "sequel", of sorts, being prepared by Tim Sullivan, I was intrigued, to say the least. This could either be a ton of fun or a complete disaster.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 5th, 2010
Bruno Hamel (Claude Legault), a surgeon, and his wife Sylvie (Fanny Mallette) enjoy an afternoon tryst while their young daughter Jasmine (Rose-Marie Coallier) heads off to school. Tragedy strikes, though, when Jasmine is assaulted and killed by pedophile Anthony Lemaire (Martin Dubreuil). Bruno and Sylvie are devastated, and each deals with the tragedy an unhealthy way, with Sylvie withdrawing from the world and her husband, and Bruno plotting vengeance. Lemaire is caught, but doesn't remain in police custody long, since Bruno kidnaps him and carries him off to a secluded cottage in the forest. His plan: torture Lemaire for the seven days leading up to what would have been Jasmine's birthday, and then kill him. The police investigation becomes at least as much about saving Bruno's soul as it is about saving Lemaire's life.
Rightly or wrongly, so-called “torture porn” is one of the more reviled subgenres of horror film. While there is no denying that the worst films of this type can be among the most mind-numbing and depressing bits of celluloid stupidity, aesthetically as well as ethically bankrupt, it is just as true that the best can force the viewer into some extremely uncomfortable, but artistically and philosophically vital, territories. One should also bear in mind that though the term “torture porn” is new, that type of story has been around forever. No less a figure of classic horror than Bram Stoker himself wrote a short story called “The Squaw,” wherein a character experiences a sexual thrill by installing himself in an iron maiden (until, of course, things go rather wrong). And if we go all the way back to the birth of literary horror, with the arrival of the Gothic novel at the end of the 18th century, the Marquis de Sade was right there at the start, penning works that articulated what the English Gothics only hinted at, and that depicted horrors that go far beyond anything Eli Roth has dared put on the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 17th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Only once in a blue moon will a filmmaker come along to change the way films are created…for an entire country! Kazakhstan – born director Timur Bekmambetov is best known in America as the director for Wanted (2008) and for producing 9 (2009) alongside Tim Burton, but in Russia he is known as the man who changed the film industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His plan was to shake up the whole Russian film world with a feature film that was unlike anything done in the country before. Night Watch was his answer: a visionary fantasy horror film with an astonishing collaboration of mind-altering visual effects, suspenseful terror, and adrenaline-fueled action.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 17th, 2010
We begin in Vietnam, where the unit of which Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a member comes under attack. Jacob is bayonetted, and as he struggles with his wounds, the film flashes forward to his post-Vietnam life in New York City. He works for the post office, is divorced, is still grieving over the death of his youngest son (Macauley Culkin), and is living with his new girlfriend (Elizabeth Pena). He is also being tormented by visions of demonic figures. And then suddenly this life turns out to be a dream, and he's at home with his wife and all of his kids are alive. Or is that a dream? And what really happened in Vietnam?
I'm going to assume that most people who are interested in this film have, in fact, already seen it. But in case you haven't, spoilers follow, and should you wish to avoid them, skip to the Video evaluation. Now I'm going to waste another sentence just in case your eyes drift. You're all gone? Good. The last time I saw this film was twenty years ago, during its initial theatrical run, and I was left feeling bitterly disappointed: after all the build-up of conspiracy and mystery, we're left with the he-was-dying-all-along gambit? In other words, my sense was of a horror film that was compellingly original and frightening for most of its running time, and then squandered that good will by a hackneyed conclusion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 13th, 2010
"On April 21st,1967 the 100-millionth GM vehicle rolled off the plant in Janesville. A blue two-door Caprice. There was a big ceremony, speeches, the Lt. Governor even showed up. Three days later, another car rolled off that same line. No one gave two craps about her, but they should have. Because, that 1967 Chevrolet Impala would turn out to be the most important car in pretty much the whole universe...I guess that's where the story began. And here's where it ends."
Except it doesn't; not really. Still, everything about the 5th season of Supernatural plays out like it were the show's last. Perhaps at one point it was expected to turn out that way. Fortunately, for us, it didn't end up that way. But you can't deny the finale feeling this season has. It's the Apocalypse, for cryin' out loud. It comes with all of the trimmings: horsemen, dead walking, anti-Christ, and Satan himself. How the writers could ever top such an event with these players I just can't wait to find out. Like finale seasons, these episodes bring back a lot of familiar faces from the first four years. Friends die. And the final episode would be a fitting conclusion to the series.
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