Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Made at the height of Roger Corman’s successful Edgar Allan Poe series (with his perennialstar Vincent Price), these two pictures, while similar in tone to the Poe films, adapt two differentwriters. Tower of London, a remake of the Basil Rathbone/Boris Karloff film from 1935,is a version of Shakespeare’s Richard III, with Price taking on the role of the villainoushunchback, plotting and killing his way to the throne of England. The Haunted Palace,...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Get this: Chinese nuclear tests have jolted the Pacific tectonic plate into accelerated motion,causing terrible volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and massive venting of gasses that will soonheat the Earth to unlivable conditions. The only way to set things right is to set off acounteractive nuclear blast. In downtown LA. Now, I have a very soft spot in my... er... head fordisaster movies, but Scorcher tested even my patience. The FX consist largely of footageli...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 3rd, 2003
Synopsis
Loosely (to put it mildly) based on a Bram Stoker novel, this is the tale of the town ofD’Ampton, where once there was a monster (a clear reference to the Lambton Worm of legend).Archaeologist Peter Capaldi digs up the skull of what appears to be a giant snake. He andaristocrat Hugh Grant come to realize that a snake-worshipping cult is active in the area, and theysuspect Lady Sylvia Marsh (Amanda Donohoe). They’re right: Donohoe is a snake-woman intenton sacrificing...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on September 2nd, 2003
Synopsis
Ian Richardson is Sir Francis Urquhart (FU to his friends), a scheming politician whocombines the guiles of Richard III and Iago. In House of Cards, the first mini-series ofthe trilogy, he is the Tory Chief Whip, and has just been disappointed in his expectations by anew prime minister he considers weak. Furious, Urquhart sets about the destruction of his ownprime minister. In To Play the King, Urquhart, now PM, comes up against the willfulnew king (who...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 1st, 2003
24 is one of the most ingenious television plots ever devised… a real-time day in the life of a Counter Terrorist Unit. Like the first season, this second season contains twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat, never knowing what will happen next. Kiefer Sutherland has resurrected his career with this series, and I could not picture another actor more suited to his role. This show is wonderfully casted, magnificently written, and flawlessly executed. If you have never seen this show… now is the p...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Steven Seagal plays archeologist Robert Burns who has uneathered precious artifacts in ancient Chinese ruins. He discovers that the Chinese Mafia is using them to smuggle drugs overseas (??). He is framed for the murder of his assistant by the Chinese Mafia and then used for bait by the American/Chinese government to try and bring down the mafia. If the story line sounds like a Jackie Chan movie you are probably not far off as this is a made in Hong Kong action film.
Video
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Hard Core Logo is a “documentary” about a fictional Canadian band of the same name and their last tour/reunion. Watch as the guys head off across the country and their van dies, gigs go very wrong and things start to unravel. Starring Hugh Dillon of the band The Headstones this is a rock and roll film without any frills, down and dirty and truer to life then most would admit.
Video
Being that this is supposed to be a documentary the look of the film is bleak and g...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Charlton Heston drives around deserted Los Angeles. In the wake of a biological war, he isthe only human survivor of the plague. But he is not alone. At night, psychotic albino zombiescome out to kill him. After two years of war with the zombies (led by TV anchor turned madpreacher Anthony Zerbe), Heston discovers other human survivors. The race is on to see if hisblood can supply an antidote before these last people also perish of the plague. The first half ofthe fi...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
Mother Karen Black, father Oliver Reed, young son Lee Montgomery and great-aunt BetteDavis escape New York to spend the summer at a country home. They get the huge mansion fora song, but the only catch is that they have to look after the aged owner of the house. Black takescharge of providing for the unseen old woman, and soon becomes dangerously obsessed withthe house. Strange accidents befall the family, and with each bad thing that happens to them, thehouse, which...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 28th, 2003
Synopsis
People have been disappearing from the Russell Square station of the London Underground.The attention of the police is only really drawn, however, when one of the vanished turns out tobe a man well-placed in the Ministry of Defence. Inspector Donald Pleasance (wonderfullycranky and rude) is on the job. Meanwhile, two university students are also caught up in themystery. The reason people have been going missing is because they are being kidnapped andeaten by the last...
