Horror

Aftermath (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 28th, 2014

Considering the state the world is in, I’m a little surprised there isn’t more talk about a possible World War 3 scenario being played out. This isn’t something I want, but watching the news, it is certainly something that resonates in the back of my mind and gives a moment of reflection. Aftermath is the film that preys upon that fear of what a possible World War 3 could be. The results are far from promising, and it succeeds in telling the inevitable fate of the world, despite how bleak the outcome may be.
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The Possession of Michael King (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 27th, 2014

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Here is a film that delves into a subject not many people care to openly discuss but poses a question that everyone who’s lost someone they love can relate to. When prayer and faith don’t seem to deliver the answers you want for those that need closure that therapy can’t seem to provide, where does one turn? It’s this hopeless feeling of loss that seems to be what attracts Michael King (Shane Johnson) to investigate the possibility of the supernatural.
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The Sacrament (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 21st, 2014

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Horror doesn’t necessarily need to be about the supernatural or have an axe-wielding maniac to be terrifying. Jump scares and gore effects are also some nice devices directors rely on to scare their audiences. But for me, what really gets beneath my skin is the possibility of what I see projected up on the screen can become a reality in my day to day life. The Sacrament attempts to show how quickly faith and love can quickly be turned and used as a weapon that can lead to the demise of the fragile and the faithful.
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The Quiet Ones (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 20th, 2014

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Under the revamped Hammer production company, The Quiet Ones is the new release from the legendary UK company that was known throughout the 50-70’s for its Gothic horror. In this new resurgence of Hammer, no longer do we have Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee to look forward to gracing the screen, but what we do seem to be getting is a respect for what horror can be. Horror seems to have bottomed out as of late. Where horror seems to be delving into cheaper budgets and going the direction of found footage, which isn’t so much a bad thing, but as we all know the market is just saturated with this style of filmmaking.
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Rosemary’s Baby (2014) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 19th, 2014

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It’s kind of astounding that it took this long for somebody to revisit Rosemary’s Baby. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting Roman Polanski’s indelible 1968 adaptation of Ira Levin’s 1967 novel was crying out for a remake. It’s just that at this point you’d be hard pressed to find any horror classic — or any horror film, period — that hasn’t been re-done. (Stay strong, Exorcist!) And you probably wouldn’t expect said horror classic to be re-imagined as a bloody network TV miniseries.
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Bitten: Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 14th, 2014

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The television landscape has been flooded with shows about the supernatural. Vampires have been particularly hot topics in recent years, but werewolves are starting to get their own sub-genre going. MTV’s Teen Wolf manages to pull the theme off quite well. It’s no surprise that pretty much every network out there wants to throw their own hats into the supernatural ring. It’s getting quite crowded, but the popularity appears to have no end. Of course, with such a crowded field you have to find a way to stand out from the rest.
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Open Grave (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 22nd, 2014

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It happens all the time. It’s just as common on large-budget films as it is on the small films. Someone comes up with a great hook. It’s a clever idea with all of the potential to be very good. It might even start off that way. Too many times the road traveled is a road to nowhere, and potential was lost somewhere along the path. That’s exactly the issue with Open Grave. The opening sequence is one of those scenes that really sticks with you. A guy wakes up in a huge pit filled with dead and rotting human beings.
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Anaconda (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2014

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“Tales of monstrous, man-eating anacondas have been recounted for centuries by tribespeople of the Amazon Basin, some of whom are said to worship these giant snakes. Anacondas are among the most ferocious and enormous creatures on Earth.”

Today Anaconda would have most certainly been made as a “found-footage” film. All of the makings of one of these trending movies are there.
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Under the Skin (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 15th, 2014

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There is nothing wrong with your monitor. Jonathan Glazer controls all that you see and hear. That tiny speck of light you see is just the beginning. The beginning of an experience you will not soon forget. The light appears distant…cold… foreboding. It’s coming closer to us, or we are coming closer to it. The distant star grows while you are assaulted with some of the most bizarre sounds you have ever heard. It’s somewhat uncomfortable. You squirm in your seat.
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Stage Fright (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 14th, 2014

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“Isn’t it wrong to sing and dance when someone has just died?”

When I first hear a film is going to attempt to be a horror musical, all I can do is simply shake my head at the thought of how bad this may be. But that’s not to say that I couldn’t be very wrong. Repo! The Genetic Opera was a rock opera that I had a blast with, and I’m not ashamed to admit I even purchased the soundtrack after the release.
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Scavenger Killers

Posted in No Huddle by J C on June 30th, 2014

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What happens when you splice together the killer-couple kicks of Bonnie and Clyde and Natural Born Killers with the ritualistic depravity of torture porn offerings like Hostel and Saw? I’m not really sure who — if anyone — was looking for an answer to that particular question, but that didn’t stop Scavenger Killers from going to extreme lengths to provide one. Unfortunately, this low-budget slasher flick/wannabe satire is entirely too clumsy and non-committal in its tone to pull it off.
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Wolf Creek 2 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 25th, 2014

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When the first Wolf Creek was released it was one of those films that had a lot of hype around it, and when I got around to watching it, I dug it. It’s one of those films where the more I’ve watched it the more I’ve gotten to appreciate it, not just for its gore, but the film has a solid story, and I appreciated that the film at no time allows you to get too comfortable. At any moment a character could be brutally murdered. It’s the character of Mick Taylor (John Jarratt) who could equally make me smile with his crude outback charm or make me squirm with uneasiness the moment his hands took hold of a weapon.
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Joy Ride 3: Roadkill (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 24th, 2014

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It’s hard to believe it was way back in 2001 when Joy Ride was first released. You can lump me in with the crowd that didn’t expect there to be a sequel, much less a third entry into this series. The second Joy Ride I seemed to have missed altogether, so when I was given Joy Ride 3, I have to admit I was a little hesitant about checking this film out. Now that I have checked out the Blu-ray and all its extras, all I can think is that I had a good time with this film.
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Devil’s Knot (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 9th, 2014

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For most who have heard about the West Memphis Three, it is because of the HBO documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills. It was a documentary that sparked the interest of many and fueled a movement to free Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley for the murder of three young boys in 1993. It was a documentary that attempted to expose the trial as a witch hunt in which the only things the boys were guilty of were listening to heavy metal, wearing black and participating in Wiccan practices.
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Mischief Night

Posted in No Huddle by J C on May 21st, 2014

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“You just never know who’s gonna be at the door.”

A virginal babysitter with bad cell phone reception is terrorized by a masked killer in Mischief Night. You don’t have to be a gorehound to know this is basically the plot of every slasher movie ever made. So it’s natural for viewers to expect some sort of swerve to differentiate this horror flick from all those that came before it. With the flawed, micro-budgeted Mischief Night, that swerve comes courtesy of the film’s intriguing assertion that a “boogeyman” can come from anywhere.
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I Frankenstein (Blu-ray 3D)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 14th, 2014

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“I was cast into being in the winter of 1795 a living corpse with a soul, stitched, jolted, bludgeoned back to life by a madman. Horrified by his creation, he tried to destroy me…”

We all know the story told by the young teen wife of a poet: Mary Shelley. Told to entertain guests on a stormy night, it has become the stuff of legend. Brought to life by Colin Clive’s mad scientist in the shape of Boris Karloff in the Universal Golden Age of horror, the monster has had a face. Since that time studios from Hammer to Paramount have left their own marks and scars on the creature that often mistakenly bears the name of his mythic creator. The name of Frankenstein.
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Devil’s Due (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on May 1st, 2014

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It’s easy to envision the elevator pitch for Devil’s Due. You only need five words: “Rosemary’s Baby meets Paranormal Activity.” The upside is obvious. The idea of a demonic pregnancy has terrified and unsettled expectant mothers since Ira Levin published Rosemary’s Baby in 1967 and Roman Polanski adapted it for the big screen the following year. Meanwhile, the Paranormal Activity films made low-budget/found-footage domestic horror hugely profitable. The downside? You’re probably not topping Rosemary’s Baby, and horror audiences seem to be suffering from an acute case of found-footage fatigue.
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Big Bad Wolves (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 28th, 2014

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It’s movies like Big Bad Wolves that keep me excited about cinema. After all, who would guess that Israel would produce this savagely dark fairy tale revenge film that is also one of the darkest comedies I’ve seen in some time with a visual aesthetic you’d expect from a Coen brothers film, but the violence and humor you’d expect from a film by Tarantino. My first time viewing this film was via On Demand a few months ago; more and more I feel the cable companies are onto something by acquiring these little films and releasing them pay-per-view so that those not in New York and Los Angeles can experience these films before having to wait months longer for their DVD or Blu-ray release.
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Death Do Us Part

Posted in No Huddle by J C on April 21st, 2014

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“Bad things happen in the woods, especially to pretty girls like you.”

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a smallish group of friends head to a remote location for what they think will be a sex-and-booze-fueled romp. Instead, they find themselves getting picked off by a mysterious killer. If you’ve ever seen a slasher movie, you’re painfully familiar with this scenario. Thankfully, it seems like the people who made the low-budget Death Do Us Part are also well-acquainted with the way this sort of movie is supposed to work. And they’ve decided to have some fun with it.
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Dark House (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 25th, 2014

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Sometimes a horror movie comes along that is rich in originality and ideas. Dark House certainly fits into that category. There are some truly scary moments and seriously frightening images to be found here. For a low-budget affair, the movie sports pretty solid acting and an atmospheric production design. Writer/director Victor Salva knows how to get the most out of the resources at his command. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a serious flaw to be found here. This is a movie that is often a little too clever and more than a little enigmatic at times.
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Here Comes the Devil (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 20th, 2014

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Remember the first film that kept you awake at night? The film that had you keeping the light on, when every strange noise you heard was that of some monster you were all but certain was lurking in the darkness waiting for your eyes to finally close? For me it was that thrill that got me excited about horror films, where every Saturday I’d watch Creature Feature, and in the evening I’d channel-surf till I found some horror film to keep me up into the late hours of the night
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In Fear (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 11th, 2014

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When you are first getting into a relationship those first few weeks can be pretty awkward at times as the two of you get to know one another. The decision to go on a road trip early on in a relationship is simply one of those gambles that can go either way, but if the trip goes well, then of course the future of this budding romance is all the more promising. In Fear follows a couple that bravely decides to take a road trip together so they can see a concert; unfortunately for them, it’s the road trip from hell.
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Hellbenders 3D (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2014

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“Don’t mess with a man of God.”

It has been said that an old vaudevillian was on his deathbed and was asked how he was doing. He replied, “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard”. And no, it wasn’t Shia LaBeof. The fact is that comedy is easy. Horror comedy is hard…very hard. One needs only to look at the lame attempts each year to make us laugh at the carnage. For every Shaun Of The Dead there are 100 Vampire In Brooklyn‘s Let’s not even talk about the last Scream entry.
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Battle of the Damned (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on February 19th, 2014

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“Zombies…killer robots…nice town you got here.”

If nothing else, filmmaker Christopher Hatton definitely thought outside the box in his attempt to spice up the lumbering zombie genre. The random appearance of killer robots about halfway through the film is such an out-of-leftfield move — assuming you started watching this movie without looking at its Blu-ray cover (and, no…Dolph Lundgren is *not* one of the robots) — that I actually found it to be inspired. It’s a good thing too because the rest of Battle of the Damned is essentially a low-budget, paint splatter-by-numbers survival flick.
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Argento’s Dracula (Blu-ray 3D)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 29th, 2014

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“This evening I finally met Count Dracula. He is younger than I expected, although his behavior and his demeanor seem to somehow contradict his appearance.”

Dracula and vampires in general have taken on many appearances and personalities over the years. He has been portrayed as the suave European gentleman and a vicious gaunt creature best left to the shadows. Lately vampires have taken on the angst and yearnings of adolescence. Dracula has been around since 1897 when Bram Stoker wrote his groundbreaking novel.
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