Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

1974's "Death Wish" was an adaptation of a novel by Brian Garfield, who expressed his disappointment in the picture, which turned out to be a major hit for the producers. Tapping into a growing feeling of disillusionment in the criminal justice system and fear concerning rising crime rates, "Death Wish" found its moment, offering viewers a crude summation of Garfield's ideas, sold with reliable steeliness from star Charles Bronson. There wasn't more story to tell, but there was more money to be made, inspiring new producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus to revive the brand name eight years later, bringing back Bronson and director Michael Winner to revive vigilante escapism. "Death Wish II" restores Paul Kersey to full power, but there's no material to support the character, who once again embarks on a mindless hunt for big city scum. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

As explained in the supplementary material on this UHD release of 1988's "FleshEater," Co-writer/director/star Bill Hinzman was interested in cashing in on his own cult fame as the first zombie found in George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," aware that his face was forever associated with the horror classic. "FleshEater" was soon born, with Hinzman endeavoring to create his own epic with a lunch money budget, reviving his old undead ways to fuel what's basically a loose remake of "Night of the Living Dead," offering the fanbase a return to the ways of rural survival. The helmer certainly delivers with gore and exploitation elements, but he's not a storyteller, with the feature coming to a dead stop one too many times, making for a tedious viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Roger Corman is known for recycling anything he can to keep producing genre entertainment for a cult audience, and he does it again with 1991's "Dead Space," which is a remake of 1982's "Forbidden World." Characters have been slightly reworked, but the plots are basically the same, following a man of action as he goes up against a mutated monster in the middle of nowhere. Of course, such a setting allows Corman to keep the effort as low budget as possible, tasking director Fred Gallo ("Dracula Rising") to figure out ways to make tight hallways, labs, and living spaces interesting for 75 minutes of screen time. It's a challenge Gallo can't conquer, as most of "Dead Space" is repetitive and silly, but he has a committed lead performance from Marc Singer to help keep the endeavor somewhat palatable, with the actor trying to make extended nothingness look exciting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Breeziness is not a quality normally associated with adult entertainment, but 1984's "Stiff Competition" breaks away from the bleakness of the industry by offering something fun to watch while still meeting expectations for carnal activity. Director Paul Vatelli creates a spoof of sporting world competitiveness with the endeavor, embracing a "thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat" atmosphere of rivalries and personalities clashing over a most unusual test of skill. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Cineastes and scholars often praise, borderline worship, films from the 1970s, and understandably so. It was a decade of challenging endeavors, respecting audience intelligence and patience, with studios and talent taking risks to deliver textured, meaningful work. But there were stinkers too, a lot of them, with 1972's "Bluebeard" (an adaptation of a French folktale) caught between a desire to appear like a sophisticated production and the cold reality of its campy-ish approach to horror. It's a deeply weird serial killer story, and one with a confused sense of tone and morality, rendering the picture quite ridiculous as it strives to explore an absurd figure of evil with a straight face. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2019's "Other Music" is a documentary about a store in New York City that meant the world to its customers. Other Music specialized in album sales, opening its doors in 1995, when the music business was red hot, giving owners Josh Madell and Chris Vanderloo a chance to create a space catering to a more obsessive type of music fan interested in burgeoning sounds and scenes. In 2016, Other Music closed, with directors Puloma Basu and Rob Hatch-Miller picking up cameras to cover the establishment's final six weeks of life, trying to make sense of this special relationship between the business and its loyal customers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Communion" was a 1987 book written by Whitley Strieber, with the author detailing his experiences with alien abduction, working with hypnosis to make sense of his blurred mind, helping to identify what happened to him. The book was marketed as "A true story," but there were many doubters when it came to Strieber's experiences, but that didn't stop the title from becoming a major best-seller, attracting those curious about the "grays" and their experimental interests in humans. A film adaptation was quickly assembled, with Strieber taking on the role of screenwriter, transforming the novel into an accessible mystery with a slight horror atmosphere, making sure to emphasize the journey of a man encountering alien activity and all the psychological problems that followed. Director Philippe Mora ("Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf," "Pterodactyl Women from Beverly Hills") is in an unenviable position to turn the nightmares and therapy into a workable movie, which is a task he fails. "Communion" deals with a dubious subject matter and it turns it all into ridiculousness, relying on Walken to use his thespian jazz to make the drab production magically interesting, but the actor deliberately pushes the effort into campiness, joined by Mora, who transforms alien interests into a terrible puppet show. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 2019, director Ken Burns oversaw the creation of "Country Music," looking to understand an American sound as it developed over the course of the twentieth century. Burns is back with "Benjamin Franklin," returning to the formation of a nation, once again digging to the roots of American history, this time focusing on the efforts of a single man who, as a boy, wanted to learn everything he could, hoping to shape his own education, which would take him on a most unique ride of power and position. The documentary is divided into two chapters, going from Franklin's first days to his last, and in between resides an astonishing list of achievements that turned the subject into something of a celebrity during his extremely long life. As with previous documentaries from Burns, there's more to Benjamin Franklin than the basics in wit and electricity, with the two-parter working to understand his vices and prejudices, along with his doubts, especially with his own family. "Benjamin Franklin" provides the comfy sweater style and presentation common to all Burns productions, but it offers a slightly more aware comprehension of the man and his legacy, hoping to appreciate his shortcomings as a way to understand the full extent of his atypical life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1984's "The Violent Breed" plays like a movie that was made when another production wrapped early, giving the producers a chance to reuse the locations and the cast, hastily arranging another shoot. The screenplay is credited to Nino Marino and Fernando Di Leo (who also directs), but there's little evidence of a story or ideas, and characters aren't fleshed out in the least. Someone, somewhere wanted a quickie actioner with little to no effort put into dramatic entanglements, and that's what "The Violent Breed" is. Things go boom and actors make pained faces, but a greater understanding of motivation and stakes is ignored, with Di Leo quickly assembling vague conflicts to inspire some jungle mayhem. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1979's "Screams of a Winter Night" is notable for being one of the few horror films of the era to offer frights to a wider audience, securing a PG-rating for this drive-in release. It's also a picture that was heavily edited, with the anthology feature dropping one of its segments after a test screening, losing nearly 30 minutes from the run time (the segment has been restored on this Blu-ray). Such severe cutting is usually a problem for most movies, but less time with "Screams of a Winter Night" is actually a good thing, as director James L. Wilson isn't too familiar with the benefits of pacing, preferring to play the endeavor as slowly as possible, thinking often unbearable stillness somehow equals suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There are not a lot of ways to approach a werewolf story, with freshness lacking when it comes to the details of transforming bodies and vicious appetites. Writer/director Sean Ellis ("Cashback," "Anthropoid") searches for a new take on a monster movie, and he finds it with "The Cursed," which brings such terror to the late 1800s, offering a story about land seizure, denial, and grief. There's also the occasional sequence of stalking between predator and prey, but Ellis doesn't go overboard with his moments of violence. Instead, he elects to take the slow-burn route, playing tribute to Hammer Films and their deliberate ways of exploring an unfolding nightmare. "The Cursed" isn't always riveting, but it comes together as an intelligent study of werewolf fantasy and threat, doing something different with a well-worn concept. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The escalating ways of loneliness are explored in 2018's "Ode to Nothing," which examines a most unusual relationship between a funeral home owner who finds comfort in the presence of a fresh corpse. The premise is ripe for a slapstick take, but writer/director Dwein Baltazar strives to find the emotional pull of such a partnership, offering a serious take on the pains of isolation and social anxieties. "Ode to Nothing" has issues with indulgence, as Baltazar delivers a slow-burn vision for the tale, favoring extended shots that feel unnecessary, but she has an original take on heartache, and the lead performance from Marietta Subong is a richly observed understanding of character distress. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Lewis Teague is credited as the co-director of "Dirty O'Neil," making his professional debut with a low-budget sexploitation/thriller offering before embarking on a career that included work on "Alligator," "Cujo," and "The Jewel of the Nile." People have to start somewhere, and Teague is tasked (joined by co-helmer Leon Capetanos) to create something similar to a romp about a small-town cop who enjoys dealing with criminals and local women during his daily rounds. "Dirty O'Neil" is drive-in fodder, with barely a plot and the thinnest of characterization, offering an episodic exploration of bad behavior with a few detours into supercop cinema. It's all fun and games until the production grows incredibly dark, which is the wrong creative decision to make when the material is basically shapeless, adding disturbing severity to a simplistic weekend distraction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1962's "Night Creatures" was originally titled "Captain Clegg," while the film is a loose adaptation of the "Doctor Syn" books, created by Russell Thorndike. The material goes by many names, but this hardly matters to Hammer Films, who attempts to transform the story of a pirate captain in hiding into a modest adventure with some mild horror elements, turning to trustworthy star Peter Cushing to capture the essence of a secretive rogue. "Night Creatures" (the American title) is mostly supported by Cushing's wonderful work, giving the picture a sense of life as the writing struggles to make a tale of smuggling seem exciting, with Hammer laboring to stretch meager antagonisms into a feature-length endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1999's "Backwoods Marcy" is trying to do something different with the horror genre. After decades of demeaning victim roles for women, writer/director/star Dawn Murphy wants to change things up, taking command of a movie that places a male character in jeopardy, with the female presence in the production a malevolent one. For that, credit is paid to the helmer, who's actively attempting to subvert cliché with the concept, creating a slightly different exploitation endeavor. Appreciating "Backwoods Marcy" is one thing, but actually sitting through the shot-on-video effort requires tremendous patience with Murphy's amateur approach, which often favors real-time screen movement and lifeless moments of suspense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Before he took on the world of performance art in 2019's "Project Space 13," writer/director Michael M. Bilandic took aim at the world of contemporary art in 2013's "Hellaware." The helmer is clearly disturbed by the New York City art scene, using his career to satirize the pretentious and the ridiculous, this time examining a young artist's desperation to separate himself from the competition, working with the strange darkness of an Insane Clown Posse-like rap group to inspire his latest effort to make a name for himself. "Hellaware" has a premise with potential, but Bilandic likes to keep his commentary minimal and humor bone-dry, making for a short but disappointingly slack viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

For "On the 3rd Day," director Daniel de la Vega looks to transform the material into a Dario Argento-style shocker, with the Argentinian production hoping to resemble an Italian genre offering. The screenplay (credited to Alberto Fasce and Gonzalo Ventura) aims to create confusion as a way to inspire the central mystery. It's an approach that only works when the writing is top-notch, skillfully scrambling the pieces of the tale before a solution is eventually provided. "On the 3rd Day" isn't up to the challenge, keeping viewers in the dark as de la Vega pays more attention to showmanship than storytelling. He makes a stylish feature at times, but he offers nothing more than shot construction, leaving the viewing experience disappointingly empty. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Stop-Zemlia" is a 2021 Ukrainian production that explores the world of teenagers facing the end of their adolescent experience. They're about to enter adulthood and all the confusion that inspires, still working out the finer points of communication and relationships as they endure days at school and nights of social gatherings. Writer/director Kateryna Gornostai departs from the usual routine of melodrama when it comes to the aching hearts of young people, arranging a docudrama feel to the endeavor, hoping to give it a more active sense of psychological inspection. Hallway aches and pains are present, but "Stop-Zemlia" offers different dramatic moves than most teen-centric offerings, setting a quieter mood of reflection and consideration as Gornostai hopes to make something human. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"The Long Walk" is an unusual feature from director Mattie Do ("Dearest Sister") and screenwriter Christopher Larsen. The story plays with time, establishing two experiences for the same character as he deals with life as he knows it and life as it once was, 50 years ago. It's a genre picture, but suspense isn't immediately identified, as Do takes the title to heart, enjoying the slow-burn nature of the tale, which is meant to sneak up on viewers. "The Long Walk" isn't ultimately effective as a chiller, but Do conjures some terrific atmosphere with the endeavor, and she has actor Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, who delivers outstanding work in the lead role. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Slaughterhouse Rock" is an unusual title for a picture that offers very little music and spends limited time inside of a prison. However, it's catchy, and acquiring attention in any form is the goal of the production, with director Dimitri Logothetis ("Pretty Smart" and the recent Nicolas Cage actioner, "Jiu Jitsu") hoping to participate in the horror boom of the 1980s with this monster movie. "Slaughterhouse Rock" is the rare genre offering to open with some imagination and visual gusto before sliding into stasis during its second half, finding all the creature feature material less interesting than the nightmare realms Logothetis arranges for his introductions. The endeavor generally does away with clarity as it unfolds, but it manages to grab attention right away, which is enough to support the uneven viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com