Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

Returning to Gaston Leroux's original 1910 novel, Hammer Films tries to put their stamp on "The Phantom of the Opera," looking to compete with previous adaptations, including a 1925 silent picture starring Lon Chaney, Sr. For the 1962 version, Hammer hires Herbert Lom to become the titular character, and he does a terrific job in the part, gamely following the screenplay's interest in darkness, losing some of the romantic, obsessive aspects of the source material. Director Terence Fisher can't redefine the work to inspire a new classic, but he gets surprisingly far with his vision, which merges Hammer's gothic horror interests with little elements of Hitchcockian suspense, delivering a movie that's lovely to look at and retains a good amount of dramatic tension as it labors to find new ways to deal with old business. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Trying to keep a good thing going after finding success with 1984's "Missing in Action" and its 1985 prequel, Cannon Films returns to war with 1986's "P.O.W.: The Escape," replacing the world-saving ways of Chuck Norris with the pale heroism of David Carradine. The decline in star power is noticeable, finding Carradine barely committing to a lackluster screenplay, unwilling to put in his best effort to help director Gideon Amir, who comes armed with all the blanks and explosions an action movie helmer could ask for, somehow forgetting to put just as much labor into characterization, making "P.O.W.: The Escape" nothing more than a theme park stunt show. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1969's "The Cycle Savages" tries to tap into an industry trend, presenting the exploits of a biker gang on the loose, causing some amount of trouble wherever they go. Those accustomed to more forceful acts of intimidation and violence might want to take a pass on this film, which focuses on a mad dog gang leader's tireless quest to…break an artist's hands. Yeah, that's it for viciousness in "The Cycle Savages," which seems to be under the impression that slight bodily injury is the key to anarchic horror. The subgenre needs a little more awfulness to truly scratch that exploitation itch. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Best Friends" has the appearance of exploitation cinema, but somebody forgot to inform co-writer/director Noel Nosseck that his movie should be a little sleazier, or least more suspenseful. The 1975 release tends to go for the heart instead of cheap thrills, following one man's desire to retain the experience of youth while he marches into adulthood. Post-Vietnam War PTSD issues and homoeroticism are a few possible dramatic avenues for Nosseck to explore, but he mostly sticks with a slightly agitated relationship story, which is never memorable enough to leave a lasting impression. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Stories concerning the events of World War II are catnip to film producers, gifting them a chance to explore a seemingly simpler time of heroism and villainy, while most of the features pay careful attention to gritty tales of sacrifice during a period of unimaginable violence. For "Resistance," the saga of Marcel Marceau is examined, with the man who became world famous due to his mastery of mime once a French resistance soldier who had a hand in saving a large number of Jewish children during horrific years of Nazi occupation. Writer/director Jonathan Jakubowicz ("Hands of Stone") certainly has a take on WWII challenges and suffering, and while it's unclear just how accurate "Resistance" is, it does offer an unexpected source of conflict, depicting Marceau as a man of honor and creativity looking for safety in war and art. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Swallow" appears intended to be a major showcase for the acting skills of Haley Bennett, who takes a producing role on the picture, gifting herself a little more control over the final product. It's been a rocky road for the talent, who failed to breakout in efforts such as "The Girl on the Train" and "The Magnificent Seven," with "Swallow" delivering a juicy leading part that's completely focused on her abilities, offering a tonal challenge with strange material that deals uncomfortably with obsessive compulsive disorder and depression. The good news about the movie is that it truly makes the most of Bennett's screen appeal, and she delivers refreshingly alert work for director Carlo Mirabella-Davis, skillfully reaching some interesting psychological spaces as the feature conjures plenty of compelling darkness. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After scoring a slight box office success with 1999's "House on Haunted Hill," Dark Castle Entertainment returned to the William Castle well for 2001's "Thirteen Ghosts." The original 1960 picture is best known for its gimmick, with "Illusion-O" offering moviegoers a chance to "choose" whether or not they wanted to see poltergeists through a special 3D "ghost viewer." "Thirteen Ghosts" isn't nearly that innocent, trying to pummel its audience with sustained graphic violence and aggressive sound and visual design achievements. It's an R-rated update of enjoyable nonsense, with Dark Castle trying to keep matters deadly serious as they present their take on Castle's creation, making something gruesome and noisy to reach demanding audiences of the era. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Old Dracula" (which is the North American title, released elsewhere as "Vampira") is Britain's answer to "Young Frankenstein," with director Clive Donner aiming to pants the vampire genre with a mild comedy starring David Niven. While it seems like a farce, and initially plays like one, the production elects to mute its silliness with a semi-horror take on bloodsucker business, trying to be a little bit scary while maintaining gentle yuks. It's an oddly restrained offering, with Donner perhaps unprepared to take the material where it needs to go, while the whole endeavor seems a little out of time, dealing with swinging sixties playful in 1974. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While a respected filmmaker during the course of his career, 1997's "Taste of Cherry" brought Abbas Kiarostami's work to a worldwide audience, collecting awards and rave reviews for his mediation on life and death. Never one to conjure a volcanic viewing experience, the helmer remains within his creative boundaries for the endeavor, which provides a minimalist moviemaking effort, while the story touches on the depths of experience, existentialism, and resiliency. There's an emotional side to "Taste of Cherry," but Kiarostami elects to head into a more reflective place of thought, delivering an intriguing portrait of a man experiencing life for perhaps the first time as he orchestrates his own demise. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After dealing with the voyeurism impulse in "I Like to Watch," co-writer/director Paul Vatelli is back with a more traditional adult film endeavor in 1983's "Sorority Sweethearts." The helmer heads to the American college campus to inspire carnal delights, containing the action to a sorority house where students and the housemother come into contact with sexual thrills as they try to reverse all disappointment previously tied to a weekend of cancelled plans. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1982's "I Like to Watch" endeavors to be a seductive understanding of voyeurism. Not the psychology of the act, but the sheer amount of it, with a cast of oversexed characters trying to reach different heights of arousal as they take to small holes and cracked-open doors to experience the thrill of peeping. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps inspired by the cult success of "This Is Spinal Tap," director Allan Holzman ("Forbidden World," "Out of Control") attempts to mount his own faux documentary with 1985's "Grunt! The Wrestling Movie." Instead of sending-up the world of heavy metal music and band dynamics, Holzman turns his attention to professional wrestling, itself a product of manufactured interactions and results. It's somewhat bold to poke fun at something that isn't exactly real, but Holzman aims to please with "Grunt! The Wrestling Movie," working to bring a level of comedic insanity to the screen, pounding viewers with matches and personalities, holding the whole thing together with a story involving one filmmaker's mission to find the truth in the midst of madness. It's not especially funny, but the effort is snappily paced and highlights a special time in pro-wrestling when regional organizations were king, about to be demolished by the domination of the World Wrestling Federation, who debuted their "WrestleMania" extravaganza that very same year. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Chuck Norris was destined to become a big screen action hero, testing the waters with small productions looking to do something with his physical prowess and steely stare. He was a martial arts hero hunting for the right project to bring him to the next level of fame, and while efforts such as "An Eye for an Eye," "The Octagon," and "Silent Rage" did what they had to do for the star, it would be 1983's "Lone Wolf McQuade" that would forever change how the industry and fans would perceive Norris. Newly scruffy and irritable, the actor submits to director Steve Carver's vision for a fresh take on old Sergio Leone business, delivering a satisfying Eastwood-ian riff on The Man with No Name. "Lone Wolf McQuade" has issues with ridiculousness, but it's one of Norris's better pictures, with Carver's spaghetti western itches fully scratched by his leading man, who seems to enjoy the challenge of creating a performance with as little dialogue as he can possibly get away with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After scoring an unexpected success with 1979's "Zombi 2," writer/director Lucio Fulci maintains his reputation as a prolific moviemaker, returning to screens with 1980's "The Gates of Hell" (aka "City of the Living Dead"), diving right back into all things undead. It's the first of a three grisly features made with star Catriona MacColl ("The Beyond" and "The House by the Cemetery"), who gives a full-body performance of panic in "The Gates of Hell," giving Fulci some thespian hustle while he works out the extreme gore of the endeavor, which details a quest to prevent the rise of zombies in rural America, organized by a dead priest. It's all supernatural mumbo-jumbo without a decent ending, but Fulci's never been one for details, turning his attention to atmosphere instead, giving the effort enough shock value and scenes of mounting dread to cover the viewing experience. It's not remarkable work, but it really scores when concentrating on disgusting bodily harm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Noah Baumbach has always permitted pieces of himself to inform his work, assessing stages of his life and experience with family through mostly effective dramedies, including his last endeavor, 2017's "The Meyerowitz Stories." With "Marriage Story," Baumbach goes to a dark place to assess the end of a life shared by two unhappy people, taking over two hours of screentime to assess the difficulties of a specifically challenged marital union. This one plays like Baumbach is flipping through pages of his diary, delivering frighteningly intimate work that remains focused on troubling psychological spaces, with the fingerprints of personal experience found all over the effort. "Marriage Story" is richly detailed, tastefully balanced with some needed comedy, and consistently attentive to the inner lives of the lead characters, who endure all the dehumanization of the divorce process in America. And yet, through the gloom and rising anxiety, Baumbach always preserves the heart of the moment, fleshing out the struggle of legal and emotional separation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director A.T. White attempts to craft a low-budget brain-bleeder with "Starfish," his take on a creature feature where the odyssey of monsterdom is contained within. There are wild visions presented here, but as freak-out cinema goes, it's not a picture for those with limited patience. White moves forward carefully with his psychological free dive, keeping up with trends in digital cinema that deliver more visual detail than dramatic lure, working to disturb the traditional viewing experience with concentration on imagery and mental distortion, keeping common storytelling away from the endeavor. White certainly knows how to put together a sharp-looking movie, and "Starfish" is ideal for those who enjoy meditative missions into the interpretive unknown. Dramatically, it's intermittently compelling, but after about 30 minutes of this ambling effort, this very well may White's intention with his feature-length helming debut. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1977's "Orca" was created to cash-in on the massive, industry-changing success of 1975's "Jaws," with executive producer Dino De Laurentiis trying to get in on a developing trend with his own take on man vs. sea creature. He can't quite shake the shark envy out of his system (the film opens with sequence involving a Great White), but De Laurentiis elects to head in a slightly different direction with the picture, overseeing a screenplay that puts a killer whale on the hunt for revenge against a particularly selfish human hunter. Director Michael Anderson strives to make something somber with "Orca," dealing with an intelligent apex predator and a screenplay that endeavors to use some sense of marine science to inspire a suspenseful tale of vengeance. The feature wants to be sensitive and deliver a B-movie event, and while Anderson tries to mount an extravaganza featuring "Jaws"-like attacks and conflicted characters, this effort wipes out when it attempts anything more than cheap thrills. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps the first mistake the producers made was titling the film "3:15" (aka "3:15 the Moment of Truth"). It's a poor title, doing little to sell what the viewing experience involves, offering numbers when swinging fist imagery was in order. The screenplay by Sam Bernard and Michael Jacobs explores gang warfare in a Los Angeles high school, downplaying real-world violence to make a graphic novel-style revenge picture, which blends in a little of "The Warriors" for taste. "3:15" is a broad offering of teen aggression, and while it gets a little too silly at times, director Larry Gross (who knows his Walter Hill stuff, co-scripting "Streets of Fire" and "48 Hrs.") has a certain level of authority with the pulpy aspects of the plot, trying to reinforce the danger of the central situation of intimidation. The feature gets away from him at times, but the entertainment value of the endeavor is present, especially for viewers who enjoy their mid-'80s offerings of juvenile delinquency. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1990's "Death Warrant" is a dramatic reminder of Jean-Claude Van Damme's rise to screen glory, starring in a kooky B-list prison picture that attempts to merge the subgenre's propensity for violence and community intimidation with a mystery of modest means. The endeavor permits the martial artist an opportunity to branch out as an actor, playing traditional fist-first beats while working on his range of reactions to uncovered clues. For this type of entertainment, "Death Warrant" is actually quite engaging, with an amusing supporting cast of the trained and the terrible. Nevertheless, the glue here is Van Damme, offering his pronounced concentration and his kick-happy athleticism to what might've been a dreary viewing experience, bringing a funky foreign energy to a movie that's in need of all the oddity it can get its hands on. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Receiving a career boost with his work on 1979's "Penitentiary," Leon Isaac Kennedy keeps the boxing gloves on for 1981's "Body and Soul," which returns the actor to the ring to portray another underdog battling his own demons. However, instead of toplining a scrappy B-movie, Kennedy tries to bend this production into something with more mainstream appeal, also scripting this loose remake of a 1947 Robert Rossen picture. With a blazing, triumphant score and story that concerns the efforts of a man to better himself and his life, it's clear Kennedy was hunting for another "Rocky"-style success. "Body and Soul" isn't as friendly as the Sylvester Stallone smash, offering harder behavioral edges and a strange sense of honor. The boxing is there, complete with a supporting turn from Muhammed Ali, but Kennedy doesn't crack the challenge of likability, giving his feature a distractingly weird assessment of nobility. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com