Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

In 2016, director Thomas Edward Seymour ventured in the lost world of VHS nostalgia, joining his friends and fellow podcasters on a hunt to see what's going on in the world of video distribution and independent production. "VHS Massacre" only offered a few mild pleasures while connecting to the old ways of home entertainment, becoming more of a grab bag of ideas, going the disappointingly random route to provide an entertaining sit. "VHS Massacre Too" isn't really a sequel, with Seymour using some old footage and ideas to cover basically the same ground, with the emphasis here on distribution woes, bringing in filmmakers and commentators to examine the sorry state of low-budget moviemaking these days, where passion runs deep, but collecting money in the industry is next to impossible. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Hammer Films chases a different trend with 1963's "Paranoiac," which is an adaptation of the novel "Brat Farrar" by Josephine Tey, reworked to fit a defined "Psycho" mood. The prospect of following Hitchcock doesn't seem to bother director Freddie Francis, who puts in a tremendous effort to keep the feature stylish in its own way, while managing a slightly different concept of family issues from screenwriter Jimmy Sangster. "Paranoiac" isn't big on direct shots of suspense, as Francis hunts for a slightly more disturbing atmosphere for the endeavor, which isn't tightly paced, but offers effects moments of tension and eeriness, handing Hammer a creative success with material that could've easily tanked in lesser hands. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1982's "Pals" is a coming-of-age story that takes more than a few head-snapping turns during the run time. Co-written/directed by Eloy de la Iglesia, the feature offers a long look at the state of youth in Madrid, where employment opportunities are limited, video games have arrived, and relationships are tested. The picture is similar to "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" in many ways, with the production trying to analyze adolescent concerns with a darker sense of exploration, dealing with issues in a blunt manner, which helps the material achieve a level of behavioral authenticity as small offerings of melodrama compete for screen time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A darker Canadian way of life is replicated in 1967's "The Ernie Game," which follows the eponymous character (played by Alexis Kanner) as he moves out of a psychiatric hospital and attempts to survive in the city, managing the interests of Donna (Judith Gault) and Gail (Jackie Burroughs) while dealing with his tightly guarded issues. It's an offering of character and urban exploration from director Don Owen, who does away with traditional narrative interests, electing to make a character study with an elusive personality, highlighting all the behavioral choices involved in these struggling relationships. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After helming 1988's "Child's Play," director Tom Holland detoured into television for a few years, working on forgettable endeavors to sustain employability. 1993's "The Temp" was supposed to be his return to big screen mischief, this time examining the dangerous dealings of corporate life at a cookie company, where a new administrative assistant isn't quite as docile as she initially seems to be. Instead of delivering something wicked about the business world, Holland turns in an anemic effort with the feature, which was defanged in post-production and plays like a picture that was hastily rethought during a critical step in its creative journey. Still, all the reshoots and changed ideas can't quite cover for the movie's inherent shortcomings, with its original lean toward laughs presenting tonal management Holland isn't prepared for. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Erotic thrillers really hit their stride in the 1980s. Stripped of the grimier sensibilities of the 1970s, the subgenre found glossiness it could work with, dealing with charged stories of sex and murder through highly stylized directorial efforts, including the one of the biggest hits of the decade, 1987's "Fatal Attraction." As cable service and video stores spread across the U.S., the value of the erotic thriller changed, with audiences no longer required to visit the theater to enjoy some slightly embarrassing titillation, getting their kicks in the privacy of their own home with help from a collection of B- list actors more than willing to disarm and disrobe for these productions, which were cheap to produce. 1992's "Whispers in the Dark" wasn't cheap (reportedly costing $30 million dollars to make), and it was generally behind the times in content. Sure, coming out the same year as "Basic Instinct" didn't hurt, but the Paul Verhoeven event film was wickedly volatile, with heavy European sensibilities, and it was well-crafted. "Whispers in the Dark" is basically the opposite of "Basic Instinct," with writer/director Christopher Crowe ("Off Limits") hunting for a similar balance of kinkiness and violent activities, crafting a whodunit that tries to be more psychological in its approach, adding bits of carnal activities here and there. Crowe arrives with good intentions to generate twists and menace, but the final cut becomes completely ridiculous at times, especially when third act events arrive, which offer unintentional laughs, not satisfying closure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Julia Ducournau made quite a stir with "Raw," her 2016 ode to the pleasures of the flesh. She created a film that disgusted quite a lot of people, making a name for herself as a genre moviemaker to watch. And there's been quite a wait for a follow-up, with "Titane" finally emerging as the new vision from Ducournau, who returns to the darkness for another story of corporeal corruption, this time mixing the limits of denial with a pregnancy story from another world, going high fantasy with the grimy particulars of "Titane." It's another rough one from the helmer, but she digs a little deeper into the psychological depths of her characters, constructing a compelling study of broken people mixed with Ducournau's love of extreme body horror. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1994's "Savage Harvest" is a shot-on-video feature from writer/director Eric Stanze, who works to bring his love of horror cinema to the screen with his own take on a demonic uprising story. The picture was shot in rural Missouri with an amateur cast, with Stanze trying to make the most of a difficult situation, straining to make his own "Evil Dead" without help from production polish and talented actors. The helmer eventually delivers bloodshed and physical threats, but "Savage Harvest" takes a long time to get to the good stuff, finding Stanze way too committed to the negligible details of his story, hammering the endeavor with eternal stretches of exposition before he finally unleashes his version of hell. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Being Natural" is a Japanese production that has a secret. Such a reveal is saved for the last moments of the picture, and it transforms a rather sedate endeavor into something wild. However, to reach an oddball display of physical transformation, one is expected to remain with the slow-burn approach of the feature, which invests in character-driven frustrations and atmospheric stops. "Being Natural" is a comedy that's not especially funny, but the screenplay almost delights in such dryness, having fun arranging itchy relationships and unexpected confrontations that, for some viewers, will resemble certain social and political experiences in Japan. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Detention" is based on a video game, but it's not traditional gamer cinema. The material examines the horrors of Taiwan during the "White Terror" period, blending points of painful history with a ghost story of sorts. "Detention" isn't blessed with a sharpest of technical achievements, but the main push to address stains of the past in a different way is interesting, while the gaming aspects are respected, following the characters in exploration mode as the screenplay tries to tell a more intimate story of love and loss. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

2014's "Norway" is a vampire movie, but it lacks a whole "creatures of the night" atmosphere. It's a Greek production from writer/director Yannis Veslemes (making his feature-length helming debut), who tries to do something different when it comes to the appetites of a bloodsucker on the prowl. "Norway" is short (75 minutes), but there's not a lot of content in the picture to begin with, as Veslemes trusts in the power of atmosphere to carry the viewing experience, bathing the endeavor in big colors, heavy sounds, and strange encounters, offering a film that's not especially rattling overall, but works in small moments of weirdness and pure cinematic power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Malaise is poured on thick in 1992's "Rebels of the Neon God," which charts the slow decline of characters stuck without a future, or at least the motivation to achieve one. It's a Taiwanese production from writer/director Ming-liang Tsai, who's out to communicate a sense of confusion with the work, looking to understand the wayward ways of young adults who no longer have the protection of adolescence, forced to deal with their own problems for the first time in their lives, and they just don't have interest in doing so. "Rebels of the Neon God" is deliberately paced and performed, but the production captures a level of behavioral authenticity that's fascinating to watch at times, observing acts of self-sabotage and perceived freedom that fail to provide necessary emotional rewards for the characters. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Assholes" is not a movie for everyone. The title alone is a strange, exhibition-killing move from writer/director Peter Vack, and he's intent on making a film that's only for viewers into extremity, going wild with grotesque imagery to fuel a comedy about life, love, horniness, and poppers. There's so much going on in the effort, yet nothing really happens in "Assholes," which emerges as an experiment in charged imagery and New York City neuroses – a kind of Woody Allen riff, if the helmer decided to make a feature for Troma Entertainment. The endeavor is certainly memorable, which presents a creative victory for Vack, but his determination to chase every whim quickly grows tiring, even for a picture that's barely 70 minutes long. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Cheryl Dunn takes a look at the whirlwind life of artist Dashiell Alexander Whitney Snow in "Moments Like This Never Last," remaining curious about a man who was born into privilege, only to break away from expectation, living a life that rejected "laws" and the "system." Snow died of a heroin overdose in 2009, leaving behind a strange life and legacy that's of interest to Dunn, who gathers pictures, video footage, and interviewees to help examine the life and times of Snow, attempting to preserve his position in the art world with her documentary. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

It's easy to forget all these years later, but in 1994, Jim Carrey went from being a comedian doing consistent work on a Fox television show to become the biggest and most bankable star in Hollywood. This special year gifted "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "The Mask," and "Dumb and Dumber" to the world, with Carrey showcasing his considerable gifts with chaotic funny business, becoming a household name in the process. 1995 continued the party, as Carrey stole "Batman Forever" and suited up for sequel duty with "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls." With 1996's "The Cable Guy," Carrey took a chance on darker material, which didn't connect in full with his audience, making 1997's "Liar Liar" a careful realignment of his known comedic fury, offering the actor a chance to revive his tornado-like screen presence with a slightly softer offering of sentimental hokum, teasing newfound dramatic interests from the star. It's the Carrey of old meeting the Carrey of tomorrow, and while "Liar Liar" fails to be meaningful, it does offer some wonderfully unhinged work from the actor, who works at top speed and volume to make a big studio smash out of simple high concept comedy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1964's "Lady in a Cage" is a take-no-prisoners kind of movie, with Paramount Pictures trying to shake up the norm in thriller cinema with this offering of nastiness. They're successful with shock value, and director Walter Grauman is completely committed to creating a jolting viewing event featuring a cast of characters who lack all sense of decency and restraint. "Lady in a Cage" eventually reaches an obnoxious level of hysteria, but the ride to overkill is something to see, with the material making room for awful things to happen to awful people, bravely creating a home invasion tale where there's nobody to root for. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Repeated throughout the supplementary material on "The Vampire Lovers" Blu-ray is the strange state of Hammer Films entertainment as the 1960s came to a close. The studio once trusted in the power of gothic storytelling with emphasis on monster mayhem, but audiences were growing bored of the routine, demanding something different from a company that thrived on repetition. With adjustments made to the "X certificate" in 1970, Hammer was allowed to pursue some more adult avenues of escapism, with "The Vampire Lovers" merging genre interests with pronounced eroticism, delivering something a bit more risqué than previous productions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1974's "Madeline: Anatomy of a Nightmare" presents actress Camille Keaton with an acting challenge, tasked with portraying an emotionally scarred woman dealing with the melting of her own mind and various lovers than come into her life. Writer/director Roberto Mauri attempts to mix real-world trauma with erotic cinema in the endeavor, which never quite connects as intended, but offers some reasonable areas of behavior and abstract moviemaking to keep it compelling. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1973's "Sex of the Witch" has a decent set-up for a giallo-style thriller. We meet a family patriarch on his deathbed, hearing his final thoughts about his gathered family, also sharing something about a secret only he and one other person knows about. The man dies, and his will offers his estate to his relatives, who now have an incentive to kill off one another to claim more of the old man's fortune. There's a sluggish but passably enticing first act that's basically discarded as the film unfolds, as director Angelo Pannaccio is more interested in making a softcore experience than a proper thriller. What a shame. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

I'm sure there was a game plan for 1972's "Tragic Ceremony," but the final cut of the picture plays like a handful of different ideas competing for screen time. The production aims to be a chiller, dealing with satanic power and mass death, but the film is mostly about The Hang, spending extended time with the characters as they deal with interpersonal issues, with violence occasionally breaking out. "Tragic Ceremony" isn't an offering of slow-burn suspense. The feature simply parks for long stretches of screen time, occasionally working up the energy to deliver bits of chaos. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com