Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

Gaspar Noe is a director with an addiction to making provocative films ("Irreversible," "Into the Void"). Some have suggested he hates his audience, looking to punish them with impossibly bleak material and hostile visuals, aiming to create tortuous viewing experiences strictly out to satisfy his malicious intent. His moviemaking modus operandi is up for debate, but Noe isn't the most consistent storyteller, and his last endeavor, 2018's "Climax," played like a parody of his previous efforts, identifying a defined limit to his corrosive mischief. For 2019's "Lux Aeterna," the helmer gets back on track with what's basically a short film about a production disaster, exploring explosive personalities and technical mishaps, keeping his cameras on the move as they capture the disintegration of what was meant to be a simple day of creative collaboration. "Lux Aeterna" is Noe's version of a valentine to cinematic experimentation and philosophy, and while he eventually drives it into the ground with tributes to the avant-garde highlights of his early education, he manages to have some fun for a change, toying with the fragility of personalities involved in the creation of art.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The exploration of virtual reality during the early 1990s opened a lot of opportunities for Hollywood to use the technology for storytelling purposes. At the time, little was understood about the practical uses of VR, giving moviemakers a chance to exaggerate technological might. We had big screen efforts such as "The Lawnmower Man," "Disclosure," and "Virtuosity." Many other titles pursued the same level of in-the-moment advances with sci-fi touches, which supplied viewers with extreme visuals but not a lot of dramatic power. The video store was also stocked with swings at VR-themed adventuring, with 1995's "Cyber Vengeance" going the low-budget route with its vision of digital destruction. Director J. Christian Ingvordsen and writer Josh Weiner turn to "The Most Dangerous Game" formula to support their endeavor, which pits a team of convicts against a pack of hunters in a battle through history. It's an ambitious take on time travel and action cinema, with Ingvordsen managing to provide periodic excitement as the characters jump around time periods, but he's less capable when summoning tension. "Cyber Vengeance" is a bottom-heavy film that takes too long to get going, and when VR mayhem finally arrives, monetary limitations repeatedly throttle the natural pace of what's trying to be an epic battle across centuries. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1986's "Righting Wrongs" is a furious actioner about the pursuit of justice, but director Corey Yuen only gets so far with his attention to berserk fight sequences. The Hong Kong production isn't terribly attentive to storytelling needs, with dismal comic relief prioritized at times, but when it shakes off distractions and focuses on the primal battle of martial arts, the effort packs quite a punch, helped along by starring turns from Biao Yuen and Cynthia Rothrock. These two carry enough ferocity to power the endeavor through several droopy scenes, keeping up with the helmer's vision for a major stunt showcase. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

One of the most important visionaries of the giallo genre, director Dario Argento was in a particularly tight spot career-wise when he decided to make 1982's "Tenebrae." After experiencing a global hit with 1977's "Suspiria," which moved his creative interests toward the supernatural, Argento hit a brick wall with the atmospheric thematic sequel, 1980's "Inferno." Lacking forward momentum professionally, Argento returned to his roots with "Tenebrae," finding himself back in command of a murder mystery that emphasizes violence, playing to his strengths as a stylish conductor of hellzapoppin' goodies. Overseeing evil and mounting paranoia, Argento goes into self-examination mode as well, emerging with an intriguingly personal take on nightmarish events, dissecting his career and mental health while delivering all the bloodshed fans could want. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The insidious nature of greed drives the suspense of "Gold." A dystopian survival tale from co-writer/director Anthony Hayes, the picture provides a spare overview of human suffering in a cruel world, which, I know, doesn't sound like the greatest endorsement, as the feature is relentless in its grim atmosphere of paranoia. However, Hayes does create a gripping viewing experience that's primarily about physical endurance, with star Zac Efron delivering a committed performance as a man just trying to make his way through the punishment of life, only to come into contact with a situation that could change everything. This reaction to the promise of easy money supports the endeavor, which largely remains in observation mode, extracting plenty of tension from seemingly mundane efforts of self-preservation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

During his directorial career, Garry Marshall made 19 movies, and all of them had some level of comedic tilt to them. He was known for funny business, and he scored with vanilla entertainment, enjoying a reputation for making audience-friendly pictures, even with dire material ("Pretty Woman" is a good example of this). For 2007's "Georgia Rule," Marshall is gifted absolute darkness from screenwriter Mark Andrus, who creates a tale of multigenerational mistrust and destructive behaviors, looking into the corrosive ways of sexual abuse and alcoholism. It's a grim screenplay with a strange sense of character engagement, and Marshall isn't the person for the job, approaching such deep human suffering with a spring in his step, hoping to throw a party while everyone in the story tries to make sense of their suffering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As demand for genre entertainment grew throughout the early 1980s, feeding the developing video store business, filmmakers hunted for ways to bring down costs, aiming to create rental fodder for next to no money, securing easy profits. 1986's "Night Ripper" is not the first shot-on-video endeavor to make it to store shelves, but it represents a shift in moviemaking demands, using commercial grade equipment to create a nightmare for viewers just looking for a few cheap thrills. Excitement is actually quite limited in "Night Ripper," with writer/director Jeff Hathcock refusing the lure of stylishness or suspense with his serial killer story, which accepts all cliches it can find while offering little tension for those who enjoy such entertainment. It's a snoozy slasher, but Hathcock remains somewhat earnest about his effort, trying to piece together a shocker concerning the love life of a photography studio co-owner and his horrible luck with women. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director David Cronenberg hasn't crafted a feature in eight years, last seen on screen with 2014's "Maps to the Stars," and 2012's punishing "Cosmopolis." He's a daring, original filmmaker, but Cronenberg ventured away from the darkness he's usually drawn to, dealing with storytelling that didn't feel like a natural fit for his sensibilities. He's back to his obsessive ways with "Crimes of the Future," which returns the helmer to a world of flesh and fixation, reworking the general mood of his 1970 picture, which shares the same title. Cronenberg revives his interest in the ways of human society and the pollution of mind and body, pushing the material into the worlds of performance art and detective fiction, emerging with a highly original vision for a sinister evolution. Appreciating the imagination of "Crimes of the Future" is easy, but the endeavor requires a bit more patience when getting through Cronenberg's habitual storytelling coldness, which limits immersion into this peculiar world of surgical ecstasy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Wes Hurley has been working to bring his life story to the screen. He initially turned the strangeness of his Russian upbringing and American life into a well-received 2017 documentary short, and a second offering of the tale was offered that same year. With "Potato Dreams of America," Hurley is presented with a chance to fully explore his history with this biographical offering, bringing the specifics of his unusual maturation to the screen. The helmer has a game cast, a theatrical presentation, and distinct appreciation for confusion, but he's not a great judge of tone, with "Potato Dreams of America" gently pawing at elements of comedy and drama, never quite sure how to play scenes that carry innate peculiarity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The 1980s introduced a wave of films that reassessed and, in some cases, reengaged with the Vietnam War. With the conflict becoming more and more of a memory, storytellers elected to return viewers to the situation with renewed clarity, hoping to reach the reality of all the senseless death and destruction, creating a true understanding of horror and sacrifice. When one considers this trend, the extremes of titles such as "Platoon" and "Rambo: First Blood Part II" come to mind, but there's also room for "Combat Shock," a low-budget backyard production from writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo, who used the 1984 release to address the plight of PTSD-wrecked vets trying to contain their melting brains. And he takes on the subject matter via exploitation cinema, hoping to strangle audiences with his dire vision for mental health and physical decay, which often confuses his messages on the state of the union. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As revealed in the supplementary material on this Blu-ray, 1972's "Stanley" was solely created to cash-in on the success of 1971's "Willard." Before, it was a story about a man and his beloved rat. This time, it's the story of a man and his beloved rattlesnake. Director William Grefe and screenwriter Gary Crutcher aren't concerned about hiding their influence, marching forward with this effort, which tries to address a special sensitivity between a broken man and his top snake buddy while offering viewers the occasional horror of an animal attack endeavor. "Stanley" was written in three days and assembled quickly for release, and it retains the atmosphere of a movie that isn't particularly well thought out or properly edited, leaning heavily on the central shock value of snakes in motion to provide entertainment. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The torment and terror of "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is brought to a Texas high school in 1973's "Horror High." Screenwriter J.D. Feigelson turns to author Robert Louis Stevenson for inspiration, using the basic idea of weird science to inspire a slight but determined chiller concerning a teenager who's done with his problems, turning to a special serum to help trigger his violent side. The picture isn't a refined genre offering, with director Larry Stouffer handling occasional troublemaking while tending to teen concerns involving bullying and burgeoning romance. "Horror High" keeps things simple with chiller moments and detective focus, helped along by engaged performances, which help to hold attention as the material figures out things to do between scenes of revenge. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

PFFR is a production company that counts Vernon Chatman as one of its founders. Chatman is best known to alt-comedy geeks as the co-creator of "Wonder Showzen" and "The Heart, She Holler," and he's recently worked as a producer on "South Park," helping to guide the show's transition into a streaming event series for Paramount+. In 2003, Chatman had a dream, looking to scratch a particular absurdist comedy itch with a vision for dramatic chaos few could match. Recognizing the growing industry of made-to-order pornography, Chatman sent screenplays to four companies specializing in fetish moviemaking, paying them to execute his bizarre take on the impending apocalypse. No hardcore footage was included, just concentration on the wild visuals and bodily commitment required to bring these loosely connected stories to life. "Final Flesh" stitches the short films together in one big mess of non sequiturs and amateur acting, offering those with amazing patience for Chatman's sense of humor a full display of his lunacy, captured with a shot-on-video budget. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1984's "Voyage of the Rock Aliens" (titled "When the Rain Begins to Fall" on the Blu-ray print) was initially conceived as a parody of B-movies from the 1950s, when teenagers ruled the world, monsters occasionally interrupted the fun, and love (mostly lust) was in the air as high school happenings carried on. During development, the project became a musical, perhaps to cash-in on the MTV craze, which saw numerous films enjoy a bump at the box office due to their slick visuals and stacked soundtrack. "Voyage of the Rock Aliens" isn't a glossy effort, stuck between comedy antics and musical presentations, with director James Fargo ("The Enforcer," "Every Which Way But Loose") trying to find a balance to the chaos that often takes over the feature. It's a highly weird offering of screen spirit and music genres, and a picture that tends to go wherever it wants to, trusting in the might of a hit single to support the whole endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1995's "Red Lips" is a 76-minute-long movie, and the opening five minutes of the endeavor are devoted to a sex scene between two women that establishes a dual meaning for the title. Writer/director Donald Farmer is in no hurry to get the film moving along, introducing viewers to softcore material before gradually moving things over to horror, and another change, to melodrama, follows. "Red Lips" is a $5,000 effort that has a lot of things it wants to accomplish, but no significant resources or imagination to do so, with Farmer believing some bloodshed and plenty of sexuality is enough to keep viewers interested in what becomes an aggressively repetitive picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché" is a documentary about the punk rock singer, but it's more interested in the subject's relationship with her daughter, Celeste Bell. After the 2011 death of Poly Styrene, Bell was left with memories and boxes of media to sort through, giving herself five years of distance before she began going through her parent's belongings. What she found in these boxes wasn't just photos and recordings, but a window to another human being she never really knew, offered a tour of Poly Styrene's career and personal experience. "I Am a Cliché" follows Bell on a journey of discovery, joining co-director Paul Sng as she tracks the life and times of her loved one, reinforcing her position in music history and identifying the fragility of her mind, forced to battle through mental illness while keeping up appearances for fans and the music industry. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Bertrand Mandico made an impression on certain audiences with 2017's "The Wild Boys." It was his first feature-length production, and he poured everything into its creation, using experience gained after spending a large portion of his life making short films. "The Wild Boys" was weird and incredibly specific in its moviemaking goals. Dramatic value is debatable, but the endeavor was a striking showcase of craftsmanship, earning him a loyal fanbase interested in his helming future. Altered Innocence elects to go into Mandico's past with their release of "Apocalypse After," which offers the 2018 short and ten others to provide an understanding of creative development and artistic vision, identifying Mandico's growing obsessions as well. It's a high dive into challenging, arresting cinema, with the shorts detailing Mandico's fetishes and pursuit of enigmatic material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Love is a complicated thing, with "Cross My Heart" an examination of the dating process between two people fighting to overcome their scorching insecurities. It's a comedy from writers Gail Parent and Armyan Bernstein (who also directs), and one that hopes to inspect its characters a little more deeply, getting into the muck of adult gamesmanship as the participants try to present themselves in the most appealing light possible, only to have the truth slowly command the evening. It's up to leads Martin Short and Annette O'Toole to carry the feature, and the pair share wonderful chemistry and timing in this slight but enjoyable two-hander that touches on the challenges of honesty and the thrill of attraction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1991's "Pure Luck" is a remake of 1981's "Le Chevre," a French production directed by Francis Verber. The popular French filmmaker proved to be an object of fascination for Hollywood, with studios trying to bring his sense of humor to American audiences. Star Martin Short previously Verber-ed in 1989's "Three Fugitives," and he returns for "Pure Luck," trying to find some funny business with co-star Danny Glover. Instead of luring Verber to handle directorial duties, Universal Pictures turns to Nadia Tass, an Australian helmer who isn't quite up for the challenge of mastering the slapstick comedy. Instead of winding up the leads and arranging plenty of tomfoolery, Tass is caught up with uneven material, constructing a farce about clueless people that's also a detective story, often stopping the feature to highlight weirdly DOA sequences that lack jokes. There's Short, who's always a welcome screen presence, but he's working hard for no reward in this tedious misfire. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To make a first impression as a filmmaker, William Malone leans on his love of monster movies with 1980's "Scared to Death," joining a long list of directors using genre entertainment as their way into the Hollywood system. The effort is low-budget and limited to a few locations and sets, but Malone has heart, working with whatever he's got to piece together a horror film featuring the threat of a "synthesized genetic organism," or Syngenor, who's basically the Xenomorph from "Alien" if he grew up in the sewers of Los Angeles. Enthusiasm for the project is appreciable, but "Scared to Death" isn't crisply edited, with Malone refusing to tighten the bolts on a picture that often wanders away from the central crisis, dealing with character business that's not important, which helps to dilute what little suspense is present here. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com