Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 11th, 2007
Apparently, someone out there really wanted to see another entry in the Species franchise, surely one of the most poorly conceived series ever. But here we go: Miranda (Helen Mattsson) is a college professor (yeah, right) who suddenly experiences a mysterious blackout, during which she transforms into monster in a rubber suit and slaughters the hospital staff. Her uncle, Ben Cross (no doubt dreaming sadly of the days when he starred in the likes of Chariots of Fire), reveals to her that the is in fact an alien/human hybrid, and the two set off to Mexico to find an ex-colleague of Cross’ who might be able to help. This unsavory sort has been making even more hybrids, which leads, in a roundabout way, to all kinds of trouble.
I say “roundabout” because this flick has one of the most infuriatingly meandering plots I’ve encountered in a quite some time. If you’re going to be a DTV B-picture, the least you could do is get to the point and stick with it, seeing things out in 90 minutes or less. But Species: The Awakening plods along for 103, first appearing to go in one direction, then another, but never mounting anything that resembles a head of steam. The inherent misogyny of the concept hasn’t been improved on, either. Colour this effort dismal, dated, depressing and dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2007
Scientists Edward Pretorious (Ted Sorel) and Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Coombs) successfully construct a machine (dubbed the “Resonator”) that links our world with another, hostile dimension. Pretorious gets his head bitten off by something summoned by the machine, while Tillinghast is incarcerated in an asylum. Psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbara Crampton) believes Tillinghast’s story when she discovers his pineal gland is growing enormously, and she has him released into her custody to recreate the experiment. Baaad idea.
Director Stuart Gordon’s follow-up to Re-Animator ups the gore and mutated flesh aspect, and in this uncut version, we at last get to see Coombs sucking Carolyn Purdy-Gordon’s brain out of her eye-socket, among other gruesome delights. There are plenty of distorted monstrosities on display, too, and the film certainly benefits from an enthusiastic commitment to its material. But Gordon, despite his great love for Lovecraft’s material, has always struck me as not quite having the right temperament to really capture Lovecraft’s spirit. He comes close in Dagon, but there, as here, he coaches performances that are pitched far too broadly, and gets carried away, not just with the sex and gore (which isn’t necessarily a problem), but with the equally broad humour such that the movie never really captures the true cosmic terror of Lovecraft’s tales. (In the Mouth of Madness is much more successful in this regard.) So, while this film doesn’t quite work, it is still huge fun.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 26th, 2007
The style of "Grindhouse" films were something of a cult legend. More often than not, they were crazy over-the-top horror movies or action movies that had insane action that usually involved a body count that could rival an Arrrrrnold flic. These were referred to commonly as "B" flics due to the shoddy quality of the films. Video would be scratched up, missing reels were all over the place and audio would drop at the most inconvenient moment. More often than not they would be shown at some crusty drive-in for the change in your pocket. Fast forward to 2007 where Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez decided to resurrect the forgotten genre and brings us two movies (Death Proof and Planet Terror) to the screen.
The films unfortunately did not do so well at the box office. They were scrutinized for being too long (due to the Double Feature, the movie experience was roughly 4 hours) and many people just didn't get "it". When it came time for the two movies to be released on dvd, they decided to release them separately. Planet Terror would be released in mid-October and the focus of this review: Death Proof would be released in mid-September. I had the opportunity of picking it up at Best Buy with a special limited edition tin that included three discs rather than the standard two found in the other editions. Being the huge Kurt Russell fan, I leapt right in and paid at the counter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 25th, 2007
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
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 24th, 2007
Stop me if you’ve heard any of this before. Four teens set out on a road trip …
STOP.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 20th, 2007
It’s back, yet again, and looking for more brains. Dan O’Bannon’s lively zombie comedy tells the tale of a toxic spill reanimating corpses who, not content with wanting to eat your brains, are going to give you lip about it at the same time. Notable for its mix of horror, punk rock, gore, humour and nudity (this is the film that established Linnea Quigley as a horror starlet), the film has since been bested in terms of wit and gore by both Dead/Alive and Shaun of the Dead, but it was there first, and remains great fun. Never having caught the film in the theatres, I haven’t noticed anything amiss with the soundtrack, but the chatter out there among the film’s fans lets it be known that some of the songs have been truncated, so be warned on that front. Otherwise, have a blast.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 12th, 2007
I love horror movies, but lately Hollywood hasn’t done it for me, and Wrong Turn wasn’t an exception. So I wonder how a low budget sequel is going to manage to be better than its phony prequel. But I won’t judge this one until I’ve seen, lets just hope its nothing like The Hills Have Eyes 2, or The Grudge 2, etc.
Wrong Turn 2 takes off shortly after the events of the first film. Right away I’ll let you know that other than the mutant freaks of the first film, this movie has no other links to the first installment, i.e. characters. Slightly off topic, I’ve always thought a movie about a group of reality contestants fooled into thinking they were in a post apocalyptic world could be interesting. This is probably as close as my vision will get to being realized, as it’s about a group of people in a simulated post apocalyptic world who are competing for $100,000. Instead things start getting messed up at the cannibalistic mutants start to show up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 11th, 2007
It’s good taste time once again, as we follow the unfortunate Amber (Grace Johnston) as she falls into the clutches of your usual gang of inbred hillbillies. These psychos have kidnapped a number of women. They then force them to fight to the death, with the idea that the winner will get to carry on the clan’s bloodline. Charming.
Lord knows the backwoods horror film is not, nor should it be expected to be, a bastion of quiet restraint, but we’ve got a pretty unequivocally misogynist premise here, and the execution does little to mitigate it, despite Johnston’s best efforts. The filmmaking is pedestrian, though not incompetent, but this is a cynical, exploitive work that is also derivative and dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 22nd, 2007
Every so often, a remake comes along that does the original proud. David Cronenberg’s The Fly is one. Philip Kaufman’s reworking of Don Siegel’s 1955 classic is another. For the three people out there who aren’t familiar with the plot, pods from outer space are replacing people with soulless duplicates. Donald Sutherland is the health inspector whose friend (Brooke Adams) is one of the early people to believe that someone close to her is no longer who he appears to be. Before long, Sutherland, Adams, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright are running for their lives.
The story of perfect paranoia is infinitely flexible, adapting itself perfectly to the tenor of the times (assuming, of course, the filmmakers are halfway competent). Kaufman’s film distinguishes itself from its predecessor by playing on our worst fears concerning big city anonymity and alienation, and by introducing the infamous pod scream, which leads to one of the most chilling final frames in film history.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 3rd, 2007
One hundred years after Abraham Van Helsing and allies fail to annihilate Dracula, the vampire arrives in a small American town looking for an amulet that, if destroyed at the prescribed moment, will usher in a reign of darkness. Recruited to aid in this project are versions of the Wolfman, the Frankenstein Monster, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Opposing Dracula is the titular Monster Squad, a group of monster-crazy boys and one very little (and very adorable) sister, who befriends the Monster.
I first caught this film during its original theatrical run, and enjoyed it then. Twenty years later, it looks even better. This is the kind of movie that Stephen Summers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) evidently thinks he is making, even though he is utterly unable to do so. Director Fred Dekker’s acknowledged model is Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and as in that film, the monsters are treated with respect, remaining figure of fear, not of fun. There is much humour in the film, but the stakes are real. There is a sense that the battles could have a real cost to them (and when the monsters attack, people do actually die). There are also enormously poignant, heartfelt moments (when was the last time you teared up at a Summers film?). The special effects have aged somewhat, but have accrued all the more charm for that. Dekker’s love of the classic Universal films imbues every frame, right down to replicating the out-of-place armadillos and phony-looking bats from the original Dracula. This is, from top to bottom, the dream of every classic monster fan made flesh.
