Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

In the fading days of the television movie industry, Universal was still cranking out product for the small screen, with 1989's "High Desert Kill" presented as a genre exercise in line with an extended episode of "The Twilight Zone," offering a low-stakes mystery with touches of sci-fi. Director Harry Falk has the unenviable task of trying to make an extremely small budget work for a slightly ambitious idea, putting his faith in the cast to sell the pressure points of hunters in the wilds of New Mexico discovering that something not exactly human has joined them. If "Predator" went to therapy, that would be close to the tone of "High Desert Kill," which spends most of its screen time dealing with tough emotions and cartoony male bonding before slowly switching over to a more generic situation of survival. Read the review at Blu-ray.com

Director Gareth Maxwell (sharing a co-writing credit with Rex Pilgrim) attempts to bring a little bit of Dario Argento to New Zealand in 1993's "Jack Be Nimble." It's an extremely bizarre endeavor about abuse, psychic powers, and revenge, with Maxwell making a distinct effort to strip away formula when dealing with combustible characters on a mission of rage. He creates a stylish, gothic picture, but not always the most compelling one, getting a little lost with his big ideas, trusting the hysteria of the material will help support the viewing experience. Read the review at Blu-ray.com

The Yeti. The fantasy creature has been apart of myth and entertainment for a very long time, with filmmakers drawn to the strangeness of details about the creature and the mystery of its movements. It's a big, scary looking beast that roams the wild, making it an easy fit for genre endeavors, especially ones looking to save a few bucks on the manufacturing of an elaborate monster. 1974's "Shriek of the Mutilated" features almost no mutilation, but it does hope to sell the fear factor of the Yeti, pitting a team of academics against the wrath of a behemoth. "Shriek of the Mutilated" holds some potential for horror, and it ends with some degree of weirdness, but suspense hasn't been invited to this big screen party, making for a periodically painful sit as director Michael Findlay mistakes lengthy, static conversations for riveting cinema.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1974's "Satan's Children" is a Floridian production, with director/producer Joe Wiezycki looking to enter the drive-in marketplace, coming up with his own take on the horrors of the Devil and followers who will do anything to gain favor with the Lord of Darkness. As it usually goes with this type of quickie endeavor, there's no filmmaking finesse present, with the production generating a collection of random moments and loose characterizations, with the glue of the feature homophobia in many forms. The legitimacy of such hostility is up to the viewer to decide, but Wiezycki is not skilled in the art of genre entertainment, creating an exceedingly boring viewing experience that has no suspense or surprises, mostly registering as a curious installment of Z-grade cinema from the murky depths of 1970s.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1976's "Rollerbabies" is presented as a parody of 1975's "Rollerball," but director Carter Stevens is really doing his own thing with the endeavor. The film eventually gets around to roller skating, but the ride there is a strange one, filled with puns, vaudeville-inspired comedy, an act of telepathic oral sex, and a most bizarre use of ice cream to jazz up a bedroom encounter. One doesn't expect hospital corners when it comes to storytelling efforts in an adult movie, but "Rollerbabies" is all over the place at times, and while it's entertaining, the feature isn't quite as fun as it initially promises to be.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1975's "The Mount of Venus" tries to have plenty of adult film fun on a shoestring budget. There's very little here to go on, with director Carter Stevens merely using some corners of a stage, trying to turn a few spaces into a visitation from Roman gods trying to make sense of humanity. Stevens favors comedy, his first love, while heated couplings are as limited as set design money, keeping the feature low on visual power, hoping to get by on occasional charms and the rare bit of weirdness.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1986, filmmakers Jeff Krulik and John Heyn made their way to the Capital Centre arena in Largo, Maryland, paying a small fee to enter the parking area and record fan activity present before a Judas Priest concert. The short "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" was born, with the footage taking the slow road to cult fame, building a reputation as a comedy gem and delightful time capsule of an age when metal ruled the music scene, giving the faithful something to scream about as Judas Priest (and opening act Dokken) arrived to shred faces and blow minds, playing to what appears to be a mostly inebriated audience of enthusiastic locals ready for their time in front of a camera.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director David A. Prior has never been accused of being a perfectionist. During his career (he passed away in 2015), the helmer churned out product, working during the video store glory days, happy to create genre entertainment capable of filling shelves for renters who weren't too fussy when selecting their evening's entertainment. Prior created "Killer Workout," "Future Force," and "Deadly Prey," maintaining a steady stream of employment for 15 years. 1991's "Raw Nerve" is part of this dented legacy, with Prior and co-writer Lawrence L. Simeone attempting to cook up a murder mystery with some defined elements of psychological exploration, hoping to keep viewers off-balance with damaged characters long enough to deliver a few surprises along the way. The ambition is there, but execution isn't for most of "Raw Nerve," which tries to make a mess of the players in this deadly game, only to get lost in snoozy melodrama and half-hearted detective work.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1984, film critic Gene Siskel covered "Heartbreakers" on the review show, "At the Movies," tearing into the picture for its lack of likable characters, making for a deeply unsatisfying sit. It's one of those great Siskel moments when he latches on like an angry dog to one idea and won't back down, determined to decimate the feature as a wholly unpleasant viewing experience. Such a take isn't entirely wrong when examining "Heartbreakers," as it does highlight the actions of extremely self-absorbed people refusing to step back and think about their actions, running purely on soured instinct. However, writer/director Bobby Roth doesn't remain fixated on toxic behavior, making a noticeable effort to get past it to better understand what makes the main characters tick, providing an interesting psychological study with difficult men and their self-made problems.  Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

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