Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 29th, 2007
Amber Tamblyn, playing Sarah Michelle Gellar’s sister, comes to Tokyo to help Gellar, currently in a hospital and considered insane. The help is too little too late, and soon Tamblyn is contending with the same evil ghosts. Two other storylines intertwine with this one: a young American student goes into the evil house on a dare, and she and her two friends attract the unwelcome attentions of the spectral mother and son. And back in the States, a blended family moving into a new apartment is gradually torn apart by the influence of the malevolent duo.
When Takashi Shimizu revisited Ju-On as The Grudge for Western audience, he did so with a script that, while streamlining the original and making it more comprehensible, still stuck close to the story, and the resulting film was arguably superior to its predecessor. The Grudge 2, on the other hand, jettisons the story of Ju-On 2. That sequel had a pretty convoluted plot, but it built a quite the horrific charge, and was a great spook story. The new film’s storyline starts from a false premise (that the ghosts were previously confined to the house, when they manifestly were not) and proceeds from there to work diligently at creating a result that is nonsensical, repetitive, and dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 18th, 2007
Alexandra Holden is a big-time TV reporter who is traumatized when an intruder breaks into her home and kills her fiancé. (Does this set-up remind anyone of The Howling?) She retreats to her old home-town, moves back with her parents (Sid Haig and Leslie Easterbrook!) and starts work at a local TV station. Her first assignment takes her to a house where murders took place years ago, and she promptly has visions of ghosts and the murders, and she feels she is being called on to provide justice for the ghosts. Their still-living killer has other ideas, however.
The counter-casting of Haig and Easterbrook (most recently together in The Devil’s Rejects) as overly protective parents is enjoyable perverse, but the movie itself has the rather plodding, pedestrian feel of a late-70's made-for-TV flick. The dialogue is frequently awkward and excessively expository, and the characters aren’t always consistent. There are a couple of decently assembled jolts, but there isn’t really much here to lift things out of the run-of-the-mill.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2007
Pulse is a remake of the 2001 Japanese film Kairo which was based on a novel of the same name. The movie opens with Josh entering a dark university library looking for someone named Zieglar, where he is instead met by some creepy old man and an entity that sucks life out of him. At this point everything seemed to be promising, although a bit out there. We soon find out that Josh was the boyfriend of Mattie (Kristen Bell) who is now worried as to where their relationship stands because Josh isn�t speaking with her anymore. She goes to his apartment where Josh is still alive but looking very pale and lifeless. Moments after he asks her to wait for him, he walks into another room and hangs himself using a wire, Mattie is left blaming herself. Shortly after his death Mattie and her friends begin getting messages from Josh online, believing it is a virus Mattie�s friend Stone goes to his apartment to turn off his computer, where he is in turn met by these entities. Basically the rest of the movie is Mattie and her new found friend Dex trying to figure out who these people are and how to stop them, while her friends are slowly being killed one by one.
The movie�s central theme is technology's negative impact on people; instead of connecting people together, it has in fact distanced us from personal and emotional relationships. But maybe that�s getting a little too deep, because that�s exactly the opposite of this movie�s intention. Instead, while keeping that as a core theme, the movie is essentially The Grudge combined with White Noise, The Ring, and Night of The Living Dead with the exception of digital zombies in the place of human-like ones. That�s right, two of the most overrated and weak horror movies, The Grudge and The Ring, essentially piled into one even crappier movie, Pulse. Referring to The Ring, as in Pulse a creature if you will comes from a television and kills people. With reference to The Grudge (another Japanese remake) you got someone wandering around trying to figure out some nonsense plot all the while leaving you to wonder when something scary is going to happen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 13th, 2007
Wolf Creek is an Australian horror film that is based on true events; with no certain event in specific it combines a few elements from some missing people�s cases in Australia. The actions of some of the characters mirror that of famous serial killers, most notably that of Ivan Milat who most have speculated is whom the movie is based on. According to Quentin Tarantino Wolf Creek is ��One of the great horror film heavies of the last 25 years� so it seems to be really promising.
Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi) are friends from England who are travelling Australia for a holiday. Here they meet up with Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips) with whom they plan to take a trip to Wolf Creek, a desolate area of Australia where a large crater formed by a meteorite lays. The Wolf Creek of the movie is based upon the real life Wolfe Creek in Australia, which you can see during the aerial shots of the crater in the movie. After driving to Wolf Creek and exploring it the group happily returns to the car ready for their next adventure. But fait would have it, or maybe someone else would have it, their car won�t start. Waiting in the car for hours finally they see headlights off in a distance approaching them. Out comes Mick, a Crocodile Dundee looking fellow who offers to tow their vehicle to his camp and will fix it free of charge. Although a bit hesitant the group decides to accept the offer due to their lack of money. After driving for quite some time they arrive at Mick�s camp, an abandoned mining site that he calls home. Here they all sit down and exchange stories, where Mick�s behaviour becomes a bit suspicious, but somehow he manages to woe them into a false sense of security. Before we know it everyone passes out and we skip ahead to day break where Liz, Kristy, and Ben wake up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 9th, 2007
Victor (Greg Bryk) is one piece of work: a millionaire playboy with a taste for torture and absolutely no regard for anyone but himself. Who wouldn’t want this guy dead? His wife Elizabeth (Kristy Swanson, emerging from the where-are-they-now file) and his lawyer Roman (Josh Peace) are having an affair and plan to knock him off. They poison him, but it turns out the drug only creates a death-like stasis. He is still fully conscious, even as he’s about to be dissected. Understandably, when he regains mobility, his disposition has in no way been improved.
The film is at its strongest during Victor’s pseudo-death, as it gives free reign to black humour, and the initially ho-hum lovers-kill-evil-husband plot ventures into fresher territory. The dialogue becomes quite witty at this stage as well. The first and third acts are rather more conventional DTV fare, though the gore level is surprisingly, and pleasingly, high. When all is said and done, this flick isn’t going to rock anybody’s world, but it is brisk, efficient and bloody enough that one won’t complain about the lost 85 minutes either. Call it rental fodder that actually delivers what it promises.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 9th, 2007
When you consider the huge amount of acting inherent to the WWF, you might expect acting talents to dominate this WWE horror production. OK, of course you wouldn't. Still, acting is not where this film shines. The tired formula of teens in an isolated location who get picked off one by one is certainly nothing original, so the script doesn't offer any real shining moments either. So where exactly does this film take on a luster of its own? Truth be told? It doesn't. Of course, looking at the target audience, the film doesn't really need to. What matters here is body count, right? The numbers are up there in respectable territory. And while the gore f/x are not groundbreaking, you have to give the film style points for creativity. The plot has plenty of holes. Let's just forget the overall premise of jail inmates earning time off for fixing up an old hotel. Let's totally ignore that when they arrive there's obviously no direction or equipment to do the job. The setting at least takes us away from the by now cliché babysitters and camp counselors. As for the rest of the story, it's pretty much horror 101. Everyone knows that when running for your life from a bloodthirsty maniac, there's always time to break for a joint and a quick romp in the sack.
The cinematography is almost video game in nature. There are plenty of POV shots and quirky lighting. There are too many rapid cuts, which tend to make the kill shots a bit frantic and hard to actually see. There's also a strong influence by the latest Asian Horror Invasion, as evidenced by jerky movements and again in some of the rapid cuts. Glen Jacobs is the wrestling world's Kane. The film was obviously developed for and catered to the wrestling personality. Unlike such icons as Hulk Hogan or even The Rock, Kane has a pretty limited range. Fortunately he's perfect for the part, but let's not get too many of those Shakespeare scripts to him yet. What makes Kane work is that all he really has to do is look menacing without really speaking, and Kane has it down. The film's atmosphere works on many levels, thanks to an inspired set design. Unfortunately the shooting style cheats us of any opportunity to linger a bit and enjoy the work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 8th, 2007
Sven Garrett plays the Photographer, who, when not exercising his profession of photographing beautiful women, is busy torturing and killing them. His girlfriend’s little sister (Jade Risser) thinks there’s something creepy about him, but isn’t listened to. Meanwhile, the bodies pile up.
There’s not a heck of a lot more to the plot than that. The title is an apt description of the film: it is basically a collection of set pieces. References to Nazi Germany and footage of 9/11 are tossed in to no very compelling purpose. The acting is painful, as is the dialogue (what one can make out of it – more on this below). This is a film that has stirred up quite a fuss among the critics, horror or otherwise, but viewers wanting to see what all the fuss is about won’t be enlightened by this release. The film originally ran 105 minutes, according to IMDB. This version runs 83. So when I said this is a collection of set pieces, I should have said “truncated” set pieces, and all the really nasty stuff is completely absent. The result is akin to a hardcore porn film with the sex removed. The actual technical aspects of the film are quite slick, but that doesn’t make it watchable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 20th, 2006
A twisted twist on the zombie genre. Dellamorte (Everett) is a watchman of sorts over a small village cemetery. The problem is not so much with folks breaking in as with the dead breaking out. In this neck of the woods the dead arise within 7 days of their death. A simple shot in the head solves the rather pesky problem; however, it requires a certain amount of vigilance. Now so far none of this is terribly original at all. Things begin to change when Dellamorte becomes infatuated with a mourning widow. Their escapades at her husband’s grave literally wake the dead. Her deceased hubby’s attack leaves her apparently dead, and of course needing to be placed in a more permanent position by Dellamorte and his revolver. That might be that, as they say. It appears you can’t keep a good gal down, and the woman begins to reappear in many guises throughout the film. Here things get quite confusing, and it’s hard to determine how much of this is actually taking place. The film’s climax further complicates the question.
The film’s original title is Dellamorte Dellamore. If you are at all squeamish about in your face necrophilia, this one will make you quite antsy. Apparently you can really have a blast if you can keep your head about you. Francois Hadji – Lazaro steals the show in his role of Gnaghi, the Curley Howard-like mute but faithful sidekick with a head for romance. Anna Falchi plays the object of desire with skills more physical than not. The film utilizes a narrative style which never really captures the action. Perhaps the translation from Italian leaves holes not originally intended. While the film is originally an Italian film, many of the actors are obviously talking in English. It isn’t hard to conceive that Cemetery Man might have been some inspiration for Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. Many of the visuals are starkly familiar. The theme is certainly rather similar. The zombie effects themselves are not terribly original, but many of the images are fresh takes on an old theme. With the help of clever set design, the atmosphere of the film is accomplished throughout. The film manages to be a black comedy while still satisfying the horror fan as well.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 19th, 2006
Nicolas Cage is a highway cop haunted by a gruesome accident. He receives a mysterious letter from his ex-fiancee, begging him to come to the remote colony where she lives and help find her daughter. Cage arrives there to find a grim matriarchy, uncooperative locals, and sinister hints of something nasty going to happen to the child.
I wrote about this film when it was in the theatres, and rather than repeat myself through paraphrase, I repeat myself verbatim. Note there are some spoilers below.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 24th, 2006
No monster movie is bigger than King Kong. AFI members recently considered King Kong to be the most influential film ever. The original King Kong has inspired more filmmakers, actors, and technicians than any film in Hollywood’s history. The score is considered the first modern film score. For the first time the music is timed to accent certain aspects of the action. Willis O’Brien practically invented movie special f/x with his revolutionary stop motion technique seen earlier on The Lost World. One of those filmma...ers so inspired was director Peter Jackson. It seems none of the wonderful journey that was Lord of the Rings would exist on celluloid if not for King Kong. At 12 years old, Jackson set out (unsuccessfully) to create his own version of the iconic film and has apparently dreamed of remaking it ever since. After a hopeful but aborted start in 1996, Peter Jackson finally brought his childhood fantasy to life, and was it ever worth the wait.
The first question you might ask is how does this film compare with the original or the 1976 Kong? This film simply blows away the 1976 debacle. As for the original? Obviously the 70 years of f/x progress means that Kong himself shows the greatest improvement. No question the stop motion Kong was the most spectacular thing 1933 audiences had ever seen. Today we live in a computer age where if you can imagine it someone can bring it to life. Jackson’s WETA Digital is very much like George Lucas and ILM. In New Zealand they are movie f/x. Unlike Lucas, Jackson integrates his f/x so intimately into the action that we cease to think of them as movie magic. Lucas tends to overload each scene with a “look ma what I can do” overindulgence. Andy Serkis plays the Kong character as he did with Gollum so that the other actors have something real to act against. His emotional range gives Kong a façade of realism that sucks us into the story without really thinking about the f/x. So, like the original, Kong is a real character to us, capable of feelings and deserving of our empathy When he finally slips from the tower of the Empire State Building, we share an emotional moment with Ann (Watts) that can only be possible for a real being. The film is far longer than the original. In this extended version Jackson’s Kong is about double the original’s running time. Jackson’s Skull Island, while richly detailed and far more elaborate than the original, maintains the illusion that we are in that same place. The creatures are purely magic, rivaling the best we’ve seen from Jurassic Park.
![Pulse [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/pulse-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
![Wolf Creek (Unrated) [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/wolf-creek-unrated-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
