Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 12th, 2010
A mysterious figure or organization going by the name of War on Crime is apparently engaged in just that in the streets of Soweto. Known drug dealers are being gunned down. On the case is Lt. Deel (Nigel Davenport). Caught up in the case is newspaperman Chaka (Ken Gampu), who is contacted by War on Crime and given tips as to when the next attack will take place. Deel and Chaka are friends of long standing, but their friendship is challenged by the fact that the police captain now views Chaka as a possible accomplice in the vigilante killings. The question, too, is whether there is more to these killings than meets the eye.
Now this is an interesting artifact: a South African grindhouse epic from the 70s (and thus the Apartheid era). The case boasts that this is a blaxploitation effort, and while this is only 100% accurate, as a fair amount of screen time is spent with Deel, and ditto a white killer working for War on Crime, it's certainly close enough for government work. The story is a bit meandering, given that there isn't really that much plot (and so we can take time out to watch Chaka eat lunch and feed ducks). But the moments of tedium are made up for by the over-the-top slow-motion violence, not to mention the entertainment value of the hilariously clunky post-synchronization. And the editor, it seems, was having to work while being subjected to random electrical shocks. All in all, a most fascinating oddity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2010
The axiom in Hollywood these days is that more is better. Every year we get inundated with blockbuster films sporting $200 million budgets, groundbreaking f/x, epic journeys and casts of thousands. Enter first-time director J. Blakeson and his intimate and quite claustrophobic thriller, The Disappearance Of Alice Creed. Right from the start we know that we're in for something completely different. There are no opening credits of any kind. There isn't even a title screen. We don't get that until about 90 or so minutes later when the film is over. In between you will experience the leanest, meanest little movie you likely have ever seen.
Two hoods, Danny (Compston) and Vic (Marsan), are preparing meticulously for their big crime. They kidnap Alice Creed (Arterton) and tie her to a bed with a blindfold and ball gag. Everything is planned down to the most minute detail. It all seems to be going perfectly. But, like all so-called perfect crimes, there are going to be some hitches in this one.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on November 25th, 2010
A surgeon named Michael Foster, played by Peter Gallagher, has his world turned upside down when his wife disappears one morning without a trace. Initially he suspected she was having an affair and ran away with another man, but as strange evidence gathers he soon realizes that she has been a part of a strange coven of witches and her disappearance might not have been her choice.
Originally airing on the Lifetime network, this film retains being separated into two parts on this DVD. Each part clocking in around the 90-minute mark, the first part can be a touch tedious as so little time was spent establishing the relationship between Foster and his missing wife that we have no reason to emotionally connect with the situation, aside from our hero's despair as he searches. As all the supporting characters, along with our desperate protagonist, come to accept the supernatural truth driving the plot, by the second part, the story finds a better pace and can hold your attention with more action and moments of tension.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 15th, 2010
"The rule of law, it must be held high! And, if it falls, you pick it up and hold it even higher. For all society, all civilized people will have nothing to shelter them if it is destroyed."
Agatha Christie created the rotund Belgian detective in 1920 with the book The Mysterious Affair At Styles. The detective would go on to feature in about 30 more books over the years. He was a distinctive character. He was picky about the order that things were placed. Yes, there's more than a little Adrian Monk in the man. He insists that his eggs be exactly the same size. He refers to himself in the third person and does not own the virtue of modesty. He often calls himself great and talented. He doesn't suffer fools and is somewhat closed-minded for a detective.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2010
Wow, someone took Dolan’s Cadillac, one of my favourite Stephen King short stories, and made it into a movie! Awesome! Cool, not a bad cast either. Christian Slater and Wes Bentley. Good actors. A little bit of edge to them. This might be alright. What’s that? It’s a straight to DVD release? Well that’s not promising. Hmm? It was made in Saskatchewan? By a Canadian sit-com director? Okay, now you’re just messing with me…
As it turns out, it’s all true. King’s sun-scorched tale of madness and revenge has indeed been brought to the screen, even if that screen is the one hooked up to your DVD player.
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 Gino Sassani on September 21st, 2010
"Sherlock Holmes, the immortal character of fiction. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he's ageless, invincible and unchanging. In solving significant problems of the present day, he remains -- as ever -- the supreme master of deductive reasoning."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 16th, 2010
Most people are aware that I don’t care for romantic comedies but nothing gets under my skin more than a horrible prison movie. My attempts to forget the movie are usually successful until the next time a similar movie appears in my review pile. Maybe it is the cliché plot, the contrived and stereo-typed characters, or the male on male forced action. How would a movie fare where it simulates the jail experience in a behavioral experiment? I dare to find out.
Travis (played by Adrien Brody is just another drifter trying to get through life. He works part-time at the retirement home until the state cuts back and lays him off. As he considers his options, he attends a peace protest where he meets a rather attractive girl named Bay (played by Maggie Grace) who is also demonstrating. Bay wants to go to India for spiritual enlightenment and wants Travis to join her. Travis however needs some money to make the journey.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2010
"The truth is, I've done dreadful things. My life has been a monstrous corruption. And there will be a price to pay."
The Picture Of Dorian Gray was actually Oscar Wilde's only full-length novel. It was quite a controversial subject when it first arrived on the scene in 1890, but not because of the horror element. The book is often sexually explicit and contains more than a flirtation with homosexuality. The main themes have survived, but much of the work itself has been forgotten. We know the work almost exclusively from the classic film from 1945 where Hurd Hatfield played the title character. The more notable members of that cast included Peter Lawford, Donna Reed, and Angela Lansbury. That film downplayed the debauchery elements and focused on the one element that appears to remain strongest in our collective memories, that of the picture aging instead of the man. It's that deal with the devil that most of us think about when we hear the name Dorian Gray, or Dick Clark for that matter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 23rd, 2010
A robber tosses his loot onto a freeway and it lands on the hood of a random passerby. Said passerby decides to keep the $600,000+ and use it to buy brand new...everything, for him and his wife. While the robber gets incarcerated, he offers half the money to his twin brother if he can track it down. If the young couple flashes their money around and started paying cash for big ticket items, they will be hunted down...they do, and they are.
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