Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

16 years ago, Carter Smith directed "The Ruins." It was a particularly nasty chiller, and in all the right ways, promising big things from the helmer and his love of genre entertainment. Smith's career path didn't take him to expected places, but he returns to horror events in "Swallowed," a small-scale terror experience involving drug mules, mysterious bowel activity, and a strange imprisonment. Also handling screenplay duties, Smith keeps things manageable with the effort, as it's basically contained to a few rooms and features only a handful of characters, looking to inspire suspense in more intimate ways. He gets halfway there in the picture, which starts out strong, promising ghoulish developments to come. Such extremity doesn't arrive in "Swallowed," but the build-up to agony is compelling enough to pass, with Smith skilled at launching a bizarre endeavor, but less confident when it comes to ending it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While 1981's "The Howling" wasn't a major achievement in genre entertainment, it certainly deserved a better sequel than 1985's "Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf." The sequel makes a vague attempt to connect to the original endeavor before becoming its own thing, and such creative freedom doesn't result in a bolder, darker exploration of the werewolf nation. Instead, director Philippe Mora oversees a low-budget creature feature held together by panicky editing that suggests there wasn't much material to begin with. "Howling II" is sloppy stuff, but it almost, just barely, possibly maybe works for its first hour, focusing on stately actor Christopher Lee trying to sell a story that's not really there, while co-star Sybil Danning puts on a visual show as a werewolf queen who's quite fond of cleavage. Filmmaking trends of the 1980s are certainly helpful, but not enough to support the entire offering, which eventually falls into confusion, buried by low-tech special effects. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Steven Kostanski has developed quite a filmography, working to energize cult cinema with efforts such as "The Void," "Father's Day," and "Manborg." He hit a creative peak in 2021, with "PG: Psycho Goreman" delivering big laughs and inventive visuals, skillfully balancing the absurd with the wonderfully strange in one of the year's best movies. The helmer is back with "Frankie Freako," and he's not stepping away from his love of the bizarre, merging elements of "Gremlins" and "Home Alone" for this comedy, with star Conor Sweeney paired with a collection of puppets for an adventure into hardcore partying. There's a lot to process while watching "Frankie Freako," with Kostanski staying close to his low-budget roots, offering big imagination and entertainment value with the endeavor, delivering a textured romp with ghoulish beings and the "square" who's summoned them. Kostanski's vision for weirdness remains a delight in this enjoyably oddball adventure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2017, Netflix released an episode of their popular show, "The Toys That Made Us," that focused on the rise and fall of the "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" toy line. It was done with the program's attitude and speed, acting as more of an overview than a detailed breakdown of just what happened to the brand name during the 1980s and beyond. Directors Randall Lobb and Robert McCallum attempt to go deeper into the He-Man universe with "Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe," offering a more ambitious survey of the ins and outs of the Mattel moneymaker, looking to scan 40 years of development and execution in 90 minutes. "The Toys That Made Us" got there first, but Lobb and McCallum have more material to handle, offering some lively interviews and fascinating discoveries as they examine how He-Man exploded from a throwaway idea into a toy that was, for many years, the most popular item on store shelves. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

According to the picture's opening crawl, "Dude Bro Party Massacre III" is a film from the 1980s that was banned and destroyed by President Reagan due to its monumentally violent content. The only copy of the feature that managed to survive was a VHS tape of an early morning public access showing in Minneapolis, allowing the legend of "Dude Bro Party Massacre III" to live on once again, complete with awkwardly edited commercial breaks. At last, the public is gifted a chance to witness one of the most grotesque B-movies in cinema history, with its unrelenting terror, gore, and fraternity neuroses, stuffed into a slasher extravaganza that finally brings to the screen what the horror genre has been missing: a Larry King cameo. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dick Miller (who passed away in 2019) is an actor. To some, he's the guy who, for decades, showed up in seemingly everything, unafraid to take day- player parts in B-movies of all shapes and sizes. More educated film fans largely treat Miller as a hero, celebrating the longevity and tenacity of his career, which has carried on for over 60 years, amassing quite a resume of appearances in all sorts of endeavors. Director Elijah Drenner looks to celebrate such a life with "That Guy Dick Miller," a 2014 documentary examining the unassuming ways of the subject and his "Zelig"-like magic when it comes to Hollywood omnipresence. Drenner has access to Miller and his wife, Lainie, and they're joined by a wide range of admirers, with the interviewees sharing their adoration for the thespian and his industry history. "That Guy Dick Miller" isn't too big on the fine details of Miller's private life, but it delivers a quickly paced overview of an amazing career that's managed to endure and delight generations of viewers and filmmakers. Not too shabby for a scrappy boy from the Bronx. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Zombie cinema is given a South American twist in 2000's "Flesh Freaks," a shot-on-video production from writer/director/star Conall Pendergast. The helmer certainly attempts to jazz up the proceedings, turning a monster breakout into a series of scenes with swirling camerawork and heavy editing, laboring to make the smallness of the endeavor at least look exciting. The effort is noted, but there's not much in the way of thrilling stuff in the feature, as Pendergast doesn't have enough material to fill his picture, resorting to plenty of padding, which is numbing to watch. When scary stuff actually does occur, "Flesh Freaks" shows off its love of gross-out moments, but it's not enough to sustain the entire movie, as tedium wins in the end. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Oddity" is a horror movie released during a year that's filled with spooky stories from a variety of filmmakers and their specific interests in delivering slow-burn creep to the masses. Writer/director Damian McCarthy returns to the tried and true approach of ghostly experiences and unstable people in the effort, which explores the death of a woman and the different ways her loved ones react to her sudden loss, turning to the unexplainable for answers. McCarthy gets farther than most with his understanding of screen tension, building a suspenseful reunion situation for the characters, while adding touches of the supernatural to keep the whole thing periodically surprising. "Oddity" is strong work from the helmer, who conjures mood and does well with mystery, generating an engrossing sit involving uneasy relationships and the addition of dark magic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2023's "Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey" was a micro-budgeted production that managed to capture headlines due to its use of author A.A. Milne's beloved characters, transferring gentle personalities into the realm of slasher cinema. The idea of the feature went viral, inspiring ticket-buyers to see what writer/director Rhys Frake-Waterfield was going to do with his button-pushing concept. And then viewers were confronted with the punishing reality of Frake-Waterfield's amateur filmmaking skills and lack of imagination, turning "Blood and Honey" into one of the worst movies of the year. Alas, money was made, and Frake-Waterfield is right back with "Blood and Honey 2," which does next to nothing to improve on the viewing experience. In reality, things are just as awful in the sequel, which should be boosted by the power of hindsight and newfound budgetary might, but it mostly remains an excruciatingly dull, dreadfully acted, and poorly written follow-up that's really no different than what came before. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1973's "Hollywood 90028" (a.k.a. "Twisted Throats" and "Hollywood Hillside Strangler") is caught between its exploitation interests and its artful intent. It's an odd one from director Christina Hornisher, who doesn't seem particularly interested in making a serial killer story, aiming to avoid the grim details of horror while she inspects a different tale of a man who can't control his rage issues around women. "Hollywood 90028" isn't really a crime story, showing more confidence as a mood piece with great views of Los Angeles in the 1970s. Hornisher works with her locations to generate some atmosphere, while her tale hits a few beats of salaciousness before it returns to mildly engaging relationship woes and assorted professional and personal points of pressure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Mike Mendez made his filmmaking debut with 1996's "Killers," aiming to cash in on the world of tabloid crime and the success of "Natural Born Killers" with an offering of tremendous violence. He drowned the endeavor in visual overkill and lousy performances, but his love for genre entertainment remained unsullied, returning to worlds of horror and comedy with 2000's "The Convent" (there was a 1997 compilation picture, "Bimbo Movie Bash," but I doubt Mendez wants to discuss that one). A blend of slapstick and 1985's "Demons," "The Convent" tries very hard to be big fun with gory events, and screenwriter Chaton Anderson is gunning to make something approachable with the broadest of broad characters and general goofiness when the story isn't focused on the destruction of humans and monsters. Mendez plays into visual trends of the day, striving to create nightmare visuals for a feature that's not committed to being scary. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2018, writer/director Tilman Singer received the career boost of a lifetime when his thesis film, "Luz," was picked up for distribution. It was a small- scale brain-bleeder with some effective scenes, but it clearly lacked dramatic meat, becoming more appreciable for its style and mood. Singer returns with "Cuckoo," and he's a little more prepared to deliver a full story for viewers, at least ones willing to follow along with the overall strangeness and initial stillness of the endeavor. Much like "Luz," "Cuckoo" is a bit out there and in no hurry to get where it's going, but the destination is intriguing, and Tillman does well with atmosphere, providing a few artfully crafted freak-out sequences. He also has a cast invested in exploring physical and mental distress, with actress Hunter Schafer going full-body with her depiction of a young character experiencing a complete dismantling of her reality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

If one squints hard enough, there's kinda, sorta a "Friday the 13th" sequel happening in "In a Violent Nature." Writer/director Chris Nash (who contributed to 2014's "ABCs of Death 2") certainly isn't pursuing a fan film with the project, which follows, quite simply, a masked killer made of unstoppable magic looking to seek revenge on a collection of young people who've dared to spoil the lasting memory of his mother. Sounds pretty Jason Voorhees-y, but Nash hopes to put his own stamp on slasher cinema with the picture, which isn't a slam-bang offering of suspense, but something very stripped down and hostile…when it wants to be. "In a Violent Nature" is not for the impatient, as Nash presents a slow-burn study of a Movie Maniac's menace, delivering a feature that takes its time with nearly everything it offers. It's almost a test of endurance during travel sequences, as the helmer looks to subvert the subgenre and also deliver hugely with acts of barbarity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In a case of amazing timing, 1996's "Killers" is being issued on Blu-ray for the very first time just as interest in the world of Lyle and Erik Menendez is at a high once again. Co-writers Dave Larsen and Mike Mendez (who also makes his directorial debut with the feature) look to use what was once fresh headline news to inspire their own tale of violence highlighting two murderous brothers following up the killing of their predatory parents with additional carnage. Mendez attempts to make a stylish understanding of menace with the endeavor, clearly pulling from the worlds of Michael Mann and Oliver Stone with this study of media stardom and domestic confrontations. It's a valiant effort to launch crazy, vicious B-movie entertainment, but boy howdy, "Killers" doesn't work. It derails in spectacular fashion after a passable opening 15 minutes, with Mendez obviously struggling with editorial and storytelling issues as he tries to piece together something mildly topical that gradually descends into more horror happenings. The execution of this picture is all wrong. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Eight Eyes" is one of the first films produced by Vinegar Syndrome. The company has been specializing in bringing obscure pictures to Blu-ray and UHD for over a decade now, typically focusing on grungy, hyperviolent exploitation cinema that would otherwise be forgotten. Their support for "Eight Eyes" makes sense, as co-writer/director/editor Austin Jennings is out to create a mean B-movie that's filled with rough locations and menacing characters, sold with plenty of gory events. All kinds of hostility and hopelessness is present in the endeavor, but Jennings comes up short when crafting an engrossing journey into doom, with much of the feature lacking a sharper sense of threat, generating an uneventful viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One surprise of the 2021 film year was "Till Death." A macabre survival thriller, the picture offered star Megan Fox a chance to carry a movie, and director S.K. Dale found a way to make that daunting prospect somewhat appealing, pulling a reasonable performance out of the habitually stiff actress. The feature wasn't stunning, but it worked, especially with nasty business. Fox and Dale reteam for "Subservience," which trades the simplicity of endurance and escape for the world of artificial intelligence, detailing the battle of a father trying to work with his new robotic housekeeper. Once again, there's nothing special about the production, but Dale manages to find opportunities to keep the low-budget offering passably engaging, blending real-world fears and the ways of an erotic thriller from the 1990s. "Subservience" opens with promise, and while the ending is a letdown, the endeavor still hits some seductive and threatening beats that carry the viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The depths of loneliness and the power of friendship are explored in "Robot Dreams." It's an animated offering from writer/director Pablo Berger ("Blancanieves," "Abracadabra"), who creates a feature of visual communication, eliminating dialogue to play with pure expression as he details the seriocomic ways of a friendship between a robot and the dog who's purchased him to help lift his spirits. "Robot Dreams" is an unexpected viewing experience, with Berger willing to explore the sometimes sad side of life and relationships, and he also delivers many laughs as he observes two characters handling separate adventures into the unknown. It's an odd endeavor, but it remains emotionally engaging and superbly animated, with a sharp sense of character movement and location, as Berger returns to New York City in the 1980s to help backdrop this adventure of the mind and celebration of cheese snacks. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1999's "Office Space" is largely considered the gold standard for workplace comedies. It's a sharp, goofy, hilarious feature, with writer/director Mike Judge finding ways to lampoon office culture while also making it feel painfully real, giving viewers an unusual viewing experience with many memorable scenes. There's another pointed take on 9-5 drudgery, with 1997's "Clockwatchers" also exploring the humiliations and oddities of employment, offering a darkly comedic understanding of the personalities that populate such daily responsibilities and hierarchy. Co-writer/director Jill Sprecher doesn't have Judge's impishness, but she retains an understanding of day job misery, concocting a slightly strange but knowing portrait of bonding and mental illness with "Clockwatchers." It's not huge on laughs, but the details of the writing and the performances are excellent, with Sprecher landing a lot of uncomfortable truths about relationships and behavior along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Backdraft" was one of the biggest hits of 1991, and deservedly so. Director Ron Howard captured the intensity of firefighting while developing a crime story, working hard to humanize all of his characters during the tale. The picture was an impressive achievement, but weirdly didn't trigger many copycats. Fast-forward to 1997, and director Johnnie To tries to replicate the formula for "Lifeline," which examines the heartbreak and heroism of firefighters working in Hong Kong. To doesn't have a Hollywood budget or technical assistance, but he manages to achieve a sense of danger with the endeavor, which is frequently engaged in moments of potential peril. The helmer can't quite conquer odd pacing and surging melodrama, but "Lifeline" is a decent offering of special effects and performances. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2019's "Corpus Christi" was a marvelous feature from director Jan Komasa, helping to bring the Polish filmmaker to global audiences with his assured work on the constantly surprising endeavor. 2011's "Suicide Room" is an earlier effort from the helmer, and it shares some similar storytelling interests in the transformation of people who are stuck in a troubling situation, tracking their development as choices are made and confusion begins to set in. Exploring the world of online connections and teen isolation, "Suicide Room" has issues with editing and tone, but it inspects a fascinating aspect of adolescent life, with critical years of emotional development targeted by social media influence. The depiction here is from a different era of online engagement, but the idea remains relevant in this dark picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com