Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

"Massage Parlor Murders" opens with a scene that finds a lowly, frugal john negotiating with a comely working girl for special clothes-removing enhancements to his anticipated rubdown (scored to Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," natch). The scene has nothing to do with the rest of the picture, yet it's an apt start to the feature, which continues down a path of incoherence and slapdash filmmaking. Right from the start there's sleaze, a general reluctance to spend money, and nudity, which sums up the viewing event extraordinarily well. Exploitation cinema with a side serving of New York City travelogue, "Massage Parlor Murders" isn't much of a movie, but it's a heck of a viewing experience, packing in enough violence, vague confrontations, and clothing-free actors to satisfy those in the mood for gratuitous, no-budget entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Working out his filmmaking interests with shot-on-video productions, writer/director Dave Castiglione dares to go underwater with 2005's "Deep Undead," striving to create an epic mystery about the dangers of the ocean, the corruption of corporations, and the threat of mutant monsters. It's a promising idea handed leaden execution by the helmer, who can't achieve the basics in pace and suspense with the feature, which is represented on the disc in a 2019 "Director's Cut," which adds 20 minutes of footage to a picture that's already 45 minutes too long. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1976's "The Double Exposure of Holly" is an odd offering of adult entertainment. It's not the usual collection of heated encounters, but something of a revenge story featuring an assortment of confused people attempting to make sense out of overwhelming feelings and misplaced passions. There's some narrative momentum to the endeavor during the first act, but director Bob Gill slowly graduates to more experimental-style filmmaking, inserting some abstract adventures and bizarre relationships into what initially appears to be a straightforward study of blackmail. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One doesn't have to be a professional wrestling fan to watch 1998's "Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows," but it certainly helps the viewing experience. Writer/director Paul Jay strives to present a history of Bret "The Hitman" Hart and his personal journey to ascend to the top tier of pro- wrestlers and stay there, dealing with the demands of the profession and his boss, World Wrestling Entertainment (then World Wrestling Federation) owner Vince McMahon. There's inherent drama in any tale of physical might and business activity, but "Wrestling with Shadows" has something unique in a major life-changing event for Hart, as Jay runs with the opportunity to generate suspense around a situation known as the "Montreal Screwjob." Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The story of Ted Bundy, serial killer, has commanded many books, movies, articles, and all sorts of news programs, with most offerings chasing after the idea of a "handsome" man capable of inhuman behavior. Every corner of Bundy's life has been explored, but that doesn't stop co-writer/director Matthew Bright, who endeavors to capture the essence of evil in 2002's "Ted Bundy," which chronicles the murderer's quest to destroy women, using charm and psychological tactics to lure his victims into traps. While other media offerings generally seek to grasp the lurid nature of the crimes and spotlight Bundy's battle with insanity, Bright goes the exploitation route, selling the idea of the madman's horrors while making sure to highlight every moment of violence. As with most Bright movies, "Ted Bundy" is crude and wrongheaded, transforming a study of brutality into a surface appreciation of female agony. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Co-writer/director Victor Bonacore has a mission with "Thrust," looking to make a throwback endeavor celebrating the ways of "Cinema of Transgression," when young filmmakers pursued attention through hostile features filled with dark comedy and ghastly imagery, working very hard to offend viewers. What he actually has with "Thrust" is an effort that resembles dozens of Troma Entertainment releases, saddled with a low budget, amateur actors, backyard locations, and a dream to make a righteous mess, trusting the power of a feminist perspective to keep the picture together. There's a push made for man-crushing entertainment featuring an epic journey across a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but Bonacore can't get the movie going, and he has no idea how to end it. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Sam Raimi is a Michigander who created "The Evil Dead." Tom Chaney is a director from Michigan who would love to be considered a peer to Raimi, fashioning his own version of "Evil Dead"-like happenings with "Frostbiter," which brings viewers to a cabin in the woods for a haunting rooted in unreality. It's a tiny picture shot over many years, and there's something feisty about "Frostbiter" that's appealing, with Chaney overseeing a plan to create a mess of monsters, demons, and survival panic, doing so with some serious DIY energy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

They were known as the "Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling." It was female wrestling presented to the American public in a different way, and the television series "GLOW" (which debuted in 1986) strived to connect worlds of comedy and athleticism, with creator David McLane and director Matt Cimber hoping to create a stir with their blend of outrageousness and silliness, giving birth to specialized entertainment during a pop culture period when pro-wrestling was king. Director Brett Whitcomb ("The Rock-afire Explosion," "Jasper Mall") looks to understand how such an oddball offering of T.V. managed to make an impression on a generation of viewers in 2012's "GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling," with the documentary collecting interviews with the professionals involved in the business. Whitcomb doesn't have a sizable run time (77 minutes), but he has access to many people who put their bodies through hell to make some syndication magic for the masses, covering the four-year-long run of the show and its long list of peculiarities. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With a title like "The Infernal Rapist," one must act cautiously around the film. It's more of a warning than a title, with the 1988 Mexican production working hard to be an ugly movie, examining the corruption of an already corrupt man compelled by dark forces to hurt people in the name of Satan. There's certainly a way to do this kind of exploitation endeavor, but the production (including director Damian Acosta Esparza) isn't attentive to the wily ways of genre happenings, preferring to be more of a blunt instrument aimed at viewers who elect to sit through multiple scenes of sexual violence and occult grisliness. "The Infernal Rapist" initially offers a slightly amusing take on evil events and macabre motivations, but it quickly extinguishes such inspiration, preferring to be sleazy and aggressive instead, which turns the viewing experience into a painful sit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1943's "Flesh and Fantasy" is an anthology film, taking a closer look at the ways of obsession with three different tales of strange behaviors and future visions. Director Julien Duvivier has a tremendous cast to help bring these stories to life, and he puts in quite an effort as well, crafting a mostly suspenseful understanding of pained people, offering style and tension to help accentuate strange circumstances the characters find themselves in. "Flesh and Fantasy" is a decent ride for this type of undertaking, always most interesting at its weirdest points. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1984's "Delta Space Mission" offered a Saturday morning cartoon viewing experience, going wild with adventurous happenings, focusing on delivering a certain level of excitement to support its Romanian animation storytelling. Ambition increases with 1985's "The Son of the Stars," which returns to the ways of deep space and colorful creatures, but amplifies surreal intent. It's a psychedelic viewing experience, with the production basically doing away with measured storytelling to march full steam ahead into a swirl of intergalactic unreality featuring a telekinetic hero and his never-ending quest to understand the unreachable limits of the universe. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1956's "Curucu, Beast of the Amazon" is generally considered a monster movie, produced during an era in Hollywood when such entertainment was happily devoured by young audiences. Unfortunately, the reality of the film isn't quiet as enticing, with the creature feature elements of the screenplay quickly burned through to deal with a greater selling point in South American tourism, as the endeavor was shot in Brazil, even reminding viewers of such a creative get with an opening card. "Curucu" is more of a travelogue than a horror experience, and one that often plays like a slightly more aggressive version of the "Jungle Cruise" attraction at Disney Parks. Writer/director Curt Siodmak isn't going for hospital corners with the effort, basically trying to make a weird adventure with exotic locations, adding as much excitement as a limited budget allows. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1980's "Beast in Space" is an offering of low-budget sci-fi from director Alfonso Brescia, who works very hard to deliver the basics of space exploration with limited resources. It's more "Star Trek" than "Star Wars," with the helmer hoping to go one step beyond the usual marketable elements by adding a few hardcore sex scenes to the mix, bringing some spice to the endeavor, which could really use all the distractions it can find. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Hirokazu Kore-eda is an exceptionally talented filmmaker who's been on a streak of involving dramas over the last decade, mostly recently on view in 2018's "Shoplifters" and 2019's "The Truth," which offered him a chance to make a French endeavor, changing things up from his usual interests. With "Broker," Kore-eda is back in South Korea, examining the inner lives and relationships of characters involved in the business of selling babies. This is no horror story, adding to the helmer's preference for humanist dramas, taking time to understand the mindset of those contributing to such a situation, exploring the complexity of such a choice. There are layers to examine with "Broker," and wonderful moviemaking to help with the journey, as Kore-eda oversees excellent performances and an approachable level of melancholy with this feature, which remains gripping, even when it deals with simple matters of the heart. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Chuck Norris, the man, the myth, the legend, receives an enormous offering of hero worship in 1992's "Sidekicks," which, appropriately, is directed by his younger brother, Aaron Norris. The actor doesn't actually have much to do in the feature, which is probably best for Norris's acting range, but he makes for a compelling action figure in the effort, which explores one sickly boy's relationship with the screen star through the power of daydreams. Unlike most of Norris's oeuvre, "Sidekicks" is meant for a younger audience, but the helmer isn't exactly sure how young to go, often going full cartoon with this endeavor, creating a picture that sometimes wants to be a sincere understanding of adolescent confidence (lifting liberally from "The Karate Kid"), but most of the time wants to be a slapstick comedy co-starring Joe Piscopo at his most obnoxious. The Norris Boys hope to celebrate everything Chuck with the film, but they often get in the way of straightforward earnestness, trying to be wacky in the worst ways. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When 1985's "Re-Animator" became a cult hit, finding profit when many expected it to be ignored, a reunion was organized. Another H.P. Lovecraft adaptation was found in "From Beyond," with screenwriter Dennis Paoli tasked with transforming a short story into a feature-length rampage involving weird science and deadly mutations. "From Beyond" is a little uneven when it comes to finding a story to tell and characters to invest in, but director Stuart Gordon puts on a marvelous display of ugliness with the film, supported by a team of special effects and makeup artists who go crazy with the grisly particulars of the movie, providing a rich sense of the macabre, working to live up to Lovecraft-ian standards with this take on glandular savagery and sexual hypnosis. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A monster mash is prepared by co-writer/director Gary Griffith, with "Satan's Menagerie" an ode to the menace of classic Universal Studios Horror. Griffith concocts a reworking of creature mayhem, dancing carefully around legal issues to bring his version of the Wolfman, Gill-man, and vampire to the screen. Of course, the endeavor isn't ready to pay big for such ghoulish visions, with "Satan's Menagerie" a shot-on-video movie, finding Griffith trying to turn his limited budget into a horror epic, complete with dark magic and forbidden love. There's an A-for-effort here that carries the viewing experience, with Griffith and his team really trying to do something with next to nothing in the feature, and such ambition is welcome, helping the picture to overcome its clear lack of polish and weird neglect of tight editing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1985's "Clue" was a bomb. It was released into a marketplace where few viewers cared about the endeavor, condemning it to life on home video, where the movie suddenly flourished. Fandom was born, with passing decades collecting admirers of the picture and its command of comedy, transforming the effort into a cult hit, almost becoming a secret language for the most devout. For director Jeff C. Smith, just enjoying "Clue" wasn't enough. Feeling inspired by other fan-made documentaries, the helmer has assembled "Who Done It," which examines certain aspects of the 1985 release, focusing on the ensemble and audience growth for a feature that was once considered dead. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As the director of "Phantasm," Don Coscarelli is no stranger to making weird films, and 2002's "Bubba Ho-Tep" is one of his strangest, working with author Joe R. Lansdale on an adaptation of his novella. It's a story of despair turned into purpose when Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) rise up in their nursing home, working to defend the residents from the arrival of Bubba Ho-Tep, an ancient, soul-sucking evil. Lansdale's premise is a corker, but the idea of "Bubba Ho-Tep" is usually more enticing than the actual picture, which is superbly performed and occasionally inspired, but mostly wrestles with its limited budget and lack of adventures for the characters to undertake. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/directors Robert Olsen and Dan Berk put viewers in a difficult place with "Villains." The intent of the material is to create a semi-romp with horrible situations of imprisonment and torment, doing so with a darkly comedic tone as wacky characters encounter dire situations of threat and survival. While that approach works in spurts here, most of the feature struggles to make sense of the characters, offering the audience time with two sets of horrible people. Olsen and Berk make their sympathies clear, but it's not so easy for outsiders, with "Villains" pitting morons vs. morons, making it a struggle to cheer on anyone's perseverance when the screenplay doesn't make a clear case for noble intent. It's all meant to be a macabre ride with unpleasant developments, but the fun factor is extremely limited here, with Olsen and Berk skipping most of the fine details as they focus on supplying genre highlights. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com