Movie Review: Beyond the 7th Door

Beyond the 7th Door is a movie that almost defies explanation. It is a movie that was made on the tiniest of budgets, with the tiniest of casts, and once it was made it seemed to pass directly into legend. It did not pass Go and I am pretty sure it did not collect it’s $200 dollars as it passed from completed film into Canuxploitation obscurity. An oddball puzzle movie with the most fascinating of leads, likely passed around the underground on worsening generations of VHS tape, confounding ll who watched it. It is a movie that on one hand fascinated me and on the other hand made me question my own cinematic tastes.

Movie Review: The Black Hole (1979)

Recently, I decided to revisit a movie I remember loving as a child. I was curious to see how it held up, if it held up, and if my opinion of it has changed in the intervening years. The movie is none other than Disney’s 1979 science fiction epic, The Black Hole. Burned into my memory since my youth are the robots, the floating VINCENT, the malevolent Maximilian, the swirling of the black hole, and, of course, that rolling, flaming meteor that threatened to eliminate our intrepid heroes as we steamed towards the climax. Now, I have seen the film a few times over the years, but I cannot recall the last time i saw it. I was also sad to discover that I did not have it in my collection (thankful for the local library).

DVD Review: Phantasm - 5 Movie DVD Collection

The Phantasm franchise is an odd one to approach. It is one of those franchises that has a lot of fans, but still seems to fly under the radar. You don’t often hear it spoken of in the same context as other horror franchises, like the big slasher series, or even a questionable series as Leprechaun. Of course, it does seem that the longer the series go, the more steep the drop off in quality becomes. Still, there is a lot to like about the series, it is as the budgets go down, the surreal and experimental side goes up. The later entries aren’t for everybody, but if you watch them in close succession, things become much clearer. I will say that initially it doesn’t help that there is so much time in between entries.

DVD Review: With Great Power... The Stan Lee Story

If there is one man we owe a lot of respect to for his contributions to pop culture, it is Stan Lee. The man has done so much and been through so much over the years. He is almost single handedly responsible for creating the Marvel Universe. He has a larger than life personality and always seems to have a smile locked and loaded for anyone he meets. Now, most of us know there is much more to him than that distinctive voice and perpetual smile. This being true should make him a fascinating target for an in depth documentary, chronicling his rise and the rise of Marvel Comics, along with the hardships faced along the way. Is this that documentary? Sort of.

Movie Review: Death Force aka Vengeance is Mine

Death Force is one of those movies that you are really likely to stumble across on the shelves of a brick and mortar store like Best Buy or Target. It is one of those types of movies that seems destined to be forgotten, and for a the majority, it likely is forgotten, along with so many others. This is why we should be thankful for companies like Vinegar Syndrome who go out of their way to not only obtain the rights to films like this, but to go through restorations from the best elements they are able to find. The results here are quite good. The film does show its age and some of the scratches and marks may have been printed in the source. Still, any complaints are minor next to the solid and uncut presentation.

DVD Review: Summer Camp

Ever hear of the movie Summer Camp? I hadn’t either until it appeared at a local movie theater a few months ago. The title did not sound all that exciting, so I was going to pass on it, but something told me I should give it a shot. To my surprise it turned out to be a horror movie. Even more surprising was that it was actually pretty good. It has some decent blood and gore, and an old school feel. While it is not exactly a shining piece of original filmmaking, it was surprisingly good and I am glad I decided to check it out. The interesting thing now is to see how well it holds up a few months later.

Movie Review: Faces (2014)

You have got to admit, when approaching a low to no budget horror movie, you have got to at least be a little bit scared. It is true that talent has to come from somewhere and also that talented individuals can shine with little around to pick up the slack. Still, there is so much junk out there that it might be a daunting task, one which will scare even the heartiest of cinema junkies away, or at the least, leave them twitching from one too many no-budget zombie farces. On the other hand, all it takes is one good movie to make it all worthwhile. Is Faces that one good movie? Perhaps...

DVD Review: The Calling (2014)

A few weeks ago, I was perusing the upcoming weekend movie schedule. I was plotting what movies to see, what order, and if there were any interesting small releases to potentially check out. One of the movies I came across was The Calling. It was playing at a theater about an hour drive away and was the only one that I was potentially interested in driving that far for. It looked interesting, had a good cast, and the trailer seemed to be hiding something. Ultimately, I chose not to make the drive, and now, watching the movie on DVD, I think I made the right decision. This is not a movie worth driving fifteen minutes for, much less an hour.

DVD Review: Bad Asses

Two years ago a little movie came out based on an internet video of a bus fight. This little nugget of fact was taken by writer/director Craig Moss and fleshed out into an entire feature. The movie was called Bad Ass and it did not seem at all interested in being realistic. It was used as an excuse to turn an elderly man into a B-movie action hero. You know what? It worked. The movie was a lot more entertaining than it had any right to be. The low budget film proved to be successful enough to warrant a sequel, the cleverly titled Bad Asses.

DVD Review: Code Red (2013)

Zombies are all the rage, although their welcome seems to be wearing thin in some corners of the horror community. Not this one, however. While there have been some really bad zombie stuff released over the years, I am a sucker for a good one, or even a modestly entertaining one. They come in all shapes and sizes, they recently made the jump to big budget blockbuster status with the surprisingly decent World War Z. They seem to be easy to write, easy to execute, but difficult to master, and every would be horror director seems to try their hand at it. This includes first time writer/director Valeri Milev.

DVD Review: The Phantom of the Opera - Unmasking the Masterpiece

Every movie fan has a list of shame. There are always some movies that we should have seen considering our chosen hobby, that we have for one reason or another not gotten around to. Among my yet to be seen shamefuls is the Lon Chaney, Sr. version of The Phantom of the Opera. As well as the Jimmy Cagney version, the Robert Englund version, the Dario Argento version..... You get the picture. I have seen it on broadway and the Gerard Butler/Emmy Rossum movie. Does that count for anything?

Movie Review: I Drink Your Blood

So, I was scanning my DVD shelves looking for something to watch. I was looking for something I had not watched before, of which I have a number. I was hoping for something a little older, a little lower budget, perhaps a little grimy and sleazy. My gaze landed on a little movie called I Drink Your Blood. That would certainly seem to fit the bill. That 1970 film found its way into my collection a ear or two back when I picked it up at a Hudson Horror Show event. I am not sure why it's taken me this long to check it out.

DVD Review: Bedevilled

When it came to revenge films, there was a time that you needed go no further than your local grindhouse. With films like Last House on the Left, I Spit on Your Grave, and Death Wish you really had no need to look elsewhere. With that said, the past decade has seen Korea has seemingly taken complete ownership of the revenge film with films like Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and I Saw the Devil. Now we have Bedevilled from first timer Chul-soo Jang. No, it is not a perfect, but it is a rather intense look at friendship and the bigger idea of being complicit through complacency.

DVD Review: Fairview Falls - Insanity Edition

My first exposure to Glen Baisley and his work came a few years back at the inaugural Hudson Horror Show (if you have not had the pleasure of attending, look them up, they put on great shows). The show featured a few short pieces directed by Mr. Baisley, including the show introduction (featuring my first glimpse of the Black Rose Killer, whose presence casts a long shadow over Fairview Falls). While I was there primarily for the feature films (with Zombie and Evil Dead), it was certainly interesting to see some indie sensibilities playing in the horror playground.

DVD Review: The Sorcerers

The Sorcerers is a fascinating film starring the late great Boris Karloff as a disgraced doctor of medical hypnosis. I had never heard of this movie before, but I have to say it was quite the pleasant surprise. What made it even better was learning it was the penultimate film from a fascinating young genre director who died way too young. Michael Reeves legacy was secured with the fantastic Vincent Price film Witchfinder General, however The Sorcerers is another fine example of genre filmmaking that is not to sold short.

DVD Review: Confessions of an Opium Eater

I am not sure where to start with a movie like this. Watching Confessions of an Opium Eater is like entering a drug induced fever dream where logic goes flying out the window. It is a pulpy tale of Chinese women sold into slavery by drug lords, the war to stop these human auctions, and the solitary traveler who finds himself in the middle of the war.

DVD Review: The Face of Fu Manchu

As the tale opens, drums sound and we see soldiers lining a courtyard. A man reads charges from a scroll and a prisoner is led out. A basket is laid beside a block and the executioner readies his blade. The prisoner lays down, face to the sky, as the blade swings down. Decapitated, the basket is removed and the witnesses file away. The prisoner was the notorious criminal Fu Manchu, executed in his homeland of China. So begins the 1965 film The Face of Fu Manchu.

DVD Review: The Raid - Redemption

The Raid: Redemption seemed to spring up out of nowhere earlier this year. I was quietly going about my business and then it was all over the place. I began to see a lot of positive buzz surrounding this Indonesian action film with a lot of praise for its extensive action sequences and impressive fight choreography. Being a big fan of action and martial arts films, I knew I had to see it. See it I did. Believe me when I tell you it is a thing of beauty. It is an action film that caters to the adrenaline junkie unlike most films hitting the screens these days.

DVD Review: Seeking Justice

In recent years, Nicolas Cage has become a rather polarizing figure. More often than not he is the target of jokes regarding overacting and the like. I was one of them not that long ago, but have changed my direction and now I have a growing affection for his peculiar brand of acting. No one does crazy quite like he does. Needless to say, I was actually looking forward to seeing Seeking Justice, hoping for some more crazy Cage antics. Unfortunately, he doesn't go too far off the rails here, this time he leaves that to the movie.

DVD Review: Like Crazy

When it comes to cinematic romance, it seems we are relegated to either insipid studio created romcoms that offer little in terms of genuine emotion, or Nicholas Sparks sap-fests. It's rare that one comes along that actually feels genuine and has characters whose emotion rings true. An example of one that got it right is (500) Days of Summer (a favorite of mine); now we have Like Crazy, and it is a good candidate to join the ranks of successful movie romances.