Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

These days, directors are lucky to put out a picture every two or three years, taking a significant amount of time to perfect their endeavors, slowly adding to filmographies. In 1957, Roger Corman put in the work, overseeing the release of eight movies, refusing to slow down while in the midst of creative and financial opportunities. "Attack of the Crab Monsters" is one of these offerings, with Corman and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith attempting an atomic age creature feature, looking to the sea for inspiration as automobile-sized crabs become the source of all agony. However, "Attack of the Crab Monsters" isn't entirely consumed with destruction, with the production trying to introduce a little sci-fi to help with the oddness of a short but punchy effort. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Film historians often celebrate the rise of fantasy moviemaking in the 1980s, with many productions chasing the success of "Star Wars," feeding an audience hungry for space opera escapism. Less emphasized is the rise of slasher cinema, thanks to the unexpected domination of "Friday the 13th," and many producers were also looking to replicate the comedic formula of "Airplane!" Horror and broad comedy were subjected to a mass milking by the industry, with some going a step further and combining the two genres, hoping to appeal to more ticket-buyers. 1981 presented "Saturday the 14th" and "Student Bodies," and 1982 delivers "Pandemonium," which offers a take on a serial killer with a taste for young victims, but also includes pie-in-the-face jokes. Screenwriters Jamie Klein and Richard Whitley try to create something of a story to support all the slapstick, but the general velocity of "Pandemonium" is managed by director Alfred Sole ("Alice, Sweet Alice"), and he's not afraid to try anything for a laugh, hoping the feature will magically fall into place by sheer will alone. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1981's "Indecent Exposure" has the right idea for adult entertainment, at least for the first two acts. It's a production from director Gary Graver that's trying to break out of cheap sets and bedrooms, with writers C.W. O'Hara and Harold Lime concocting a road trip for their characters, permitting some sense of freedom as the production visits a few corners of California to have a little fun with predatory personalities. There's enough forward momentum and location variation to carry the viewing experience, which goes from light, silly escapism with sexual encounters to a darker probing of psychology in its last act. Why? Even after watching the entire film, it's difficult to understand the dramatic intent. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

While "Children of the Sea" initially promises to be a coming-of-age adventure for a young girl introduced to magical oceanic elements, the picture gradually takes the story in a different direction, aiming to offer a "2001"-style viewing experience instead of something more grounded. An adaptation of Daisuke Igarashi's manga, "Children of the Sea" is an incredibly ambitious tale of human connection to earthly wonders and life, with director Ayumu Watanabe aiming to respect what the author is trying to communicate and give the feature a cosmic life of its own. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Drive-in sleaze from the 1970s gets a cold slap across the face in 1976's "Jackson County Jail," which presents a more sobering understanding of injustice in America's southland. Director Michael Miller ("Silent Rage," "National Lampoon's Class Reunion") and screenwriter Donald E. Stewart are faced with the demands of exploitation cinema, and try to deliver some awfulness to sufficiently rile up viewers. However, the ultimate aim of "Jackson County Jail" is to manufacture a more character-based survival story, delving into broken people as they come up against an unthinkable future while on the run from the law. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Every career has a beginning, and for the late Jonathan Demme, his start arrived with 1974's "Caged Heat." While producer Roger Corman had already exhausted his interests in women-in-prison pictures, Demme attempts to do something a little different with his take on bad ladies behind bars. Exploitation interests are met, but "Caged Heat" comes at the audience in a slightly different manner, with Demme upping some sense of humor and horror while introducing semi-documentary technique to the endeavor, making it far more interesting than it has any right to be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Feeling the need to squeeze out one more horror adventure with Victor Frankenstein, Hammer Films offers "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" to the mid-1970s, with audiences largely interested in more demonic happenings at the local theater. A sequel to 1970's "The Horror of Frankenstein," "Monster from Hell" doesn't stray far from the "Frankenstein" formula, once again putting Victor in contact with scientific evildoing, only here he's joined by a fan and the monster is an ape-like creation who, true to the brand name, doesn't take kindly to the pains of life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"A Different Story" was originally released in 1978, a much different time in entertainment, with Hollywood trying to get their minds around the selling of stories about gay characters to the general public. Instead of aiming higher with ambition and respectfulness, writer Henry Olek and director Paul Aaron (who would go on to take his name off "Morgan Stewart's Coming Home") elect to make a drippy dramedy with "A Different Story," turning human emotion and sexuality into a pliable thing to fit the needs of a failed sitcom. It's not a hateful feature, just overly careful not to offend a largely heterosexual audience by changing the homosexual experience as the production sees fit. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

All actors have to start somewhere, and before Melissa Leo grew into an in-demand performer, nominated for an Academy Award in 2009 and collecting Oscar gold in 2011 for her work in "The Fighter," she was eager to make her screen debut. Like many before her, Leo found her way to the Roger Corman factory, handed the starring role in 1985's "Streetwalkin'," which has her playing a teenage prostitute caught between the demands of life and the protection of her little brother as her raging pimp seeks revenge. As first movies go, it's not the classiest endeavor, playing into the trends of the day as certain audiences craved tales of bruised innocence and streetwise antagonisms. "Streetwalkin'" isn't a refined dramatic event, it's exploitation, with Leo doing what she can to provide some personality and emotional urgency in the midst of cliché, giving the grungy endeavor bits of life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Alice Lowe has amassed a substantial amount of credits as a character actress, making brief appearances in "The World's End," "Locke," and "Paddington." Her most substantial screen role was found in "Sightseers," a wonderful dark comedy from director Ben Wheatley, who showed uncharacteristic focus and made the most of Lowe's screen presence. Taking command of her professional future, Lowe makes her directorial debut with "Prevenge," also scripting herself a prime role in a slasher film that's more about the anxieties of motherhood than the piling of dead bodies. Crafted with wit, terrific performances, and some unexpected trips into the gore zone, "Prevenge" is striking work from Lowe, who not only understands the constant concerns that swirl around the journey of pregnancy, but she's good with violence as well, keeping the feature suspenseful when it isn't refreshingly insightful. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Zoey Deutch deserves a lot of credit for trying to do something with her acting career in recent years. She's worked in teen cinema and romantic comedies, but with last year's "Zombieland: Double Tap," Deutch went full-tilt silly, exposing impressive timing and a sense of adventure when it came time to bring weirdness to a somewhat stale feature. She's back in "Buffaloed," which supplies her with a true acting challenge, tasked with portraying an absolutely manic human being while also being attentive to the quirks of Brian Sacca's screenplay, which plays around in the sobering world of debt collection. "Buffaloed" is amusing, and director Tanya Wexler gives it an appealing velocity, rarely slowing down with skin-crawling displays of predatory criminal behavior. And she has Deutch, who gives the part her all, submitting her finest performance to date, keeping characterization compelling and mischief spinning at top speed as she endeavors to embody a modern take on the American Dream. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Filmmakers love to make movies about the history of the Bushrangers, and the saga of Ned Kelly is a particular favorite, with his story repeatedly brought to screens of all sizes, presenting different creative visions a chance to get to the core of Kelly's propensity for violence and bruised sense of honor. Talents from Mick Jagger (in 1970) to Heath Ledger (in 2003) have played the man, offering different takes on dangerous behavior, but it's George McKay (recently seen in "1917") who's permitted to go absolutely bonkers with the part. "True History of the Kelly Gang" isn't your average period outlaw experience, with director Justin Kurzel (2015's "Macbeth," "Assassin's Creed") looking to shake things up with his take on the Kelly Gang and their legendary days, blending in brash cinematic style and sneering punk rock attitude to fully realize the primal instinct found within the screenplay by Shaun Grant, who adapts a 2001 novel by Peter Carey. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Hoping to build on their success with 1982's "Creepshow," co-writer/producer George A. Romero and producer Richard Rubinstein brought their interests in small bites of horror to the small screen in "Tales from the Darkside," a syndicated series that began its four year run in 1984. The show was a minor hit with a loyal audience, and some willing to stay up very late to catch the program, where its twisted sense of terror was best appreciated. 90 episodes were completed before the itch to take the brand name to the big screen was scratched, resulting in the creation of 1990's "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie," an anthology feature that doesn't stray far from the essentials of the original show, offering more in the way of style and gore to help it compete with other cinematic nightmares filling the multiplex. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The director of "I Dismember Mama" and "Ape," Paul Leder tries to make something of a statement with 1986's "The Eleventh Commandment." It's a story that doesn't feature a protagonist, tracking two characters engaged in their own levels of evil. One is a ruthless businessman who's not shy when it comes to lying, cheating, and stealing. Murder isn't an issue either. The other personality is a mentally ill man who's channeled his clouded ways into the priesthood, setting out to protect innocence by going on a killing spree. Leder is challenging viewers to take sides with the screenplay, but those who sit down with "The Eleventh Commandment" may start to wonder why the movie isn't more extreme after the first 30 minutes, with Leder settling into a strangely tasteful assessment of bodily harm and sexual gamesmanship. There's a welcome mat laid down for exploitation elements, but the production plays it relatively calm, refusing to indulge wild antics with deranged people, which results in a frustratingly tepid viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Sir Burton (Richard Greene) is a man concerned for two friends who've disappeared, electing to travel to the castle of Count Von Bruno (Stephen McNally) to investigate what happened. Encountering the villainous Von Bruno, Sir Burton focuses on the man's wife, Countess Elga (Rita Corday), looking to protect her when she begins to expose her husband's dangerous ways, also encountering Dr. Meissen (Boris Karloff), who's sympathetic to Sir Burton's cause, and Gargon (Lon Chaney, Jr.), the master's top brute. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Taking in the Asian sights before they return home at the end of World War II, six American officers elect to pursue a wild rumor and visit the secret temple of the Lamian cult, which worship a cobra goddess. The men enter as observers but leave the temple destroyed, with a death curse placed on the intruders. Returning to America to resume their lives, the men are suddenly visited by Lisa (Faith Domergue), a mysterious woman who appears at the same time the veterans are killed off one-by-one by strange cobra attacks in the big city. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In rural America, Jessica (Carolyn Kearney) is a young woman with psychic powers, using her gifts to find water on her Aunt Flavia's (Peggy Converse) farm. During her routine, Jessica discovers a box that's been buried for nearly 400 years, with Flavia believing she's found a fortune. The box actually contains the head of Gideon (Robin Hughes), a warlock who's ready to hypnotize the locals, hoping to be reunited with his buried body and return to full Satanic power. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After masterminding the murder of a wealthy old woman, her husband, Walter (Andre Morell), has plans to claim her entire fortune, sharing the loot with his accomplices. Unfortunately for the spouse, the house cat, Tabitha, witnessed the crime, and she's hungry for revenge, taking out the mansion crew one-by-one while Walter frantically tries to hide evidence of his wrongdoing from the dead woman's niece, Beth (Barbara Shelley). Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Attempting to pull off a monster movie with 1982's "Q: The Winged Serpent," writer/director Larry Cohen clearly didn't want to mount another horror event with a large cast, returning to the basics of low-budget filmmaking with 1984's "Perfect Strangers" (titled "Blind Alley" on the disc). Instead of skyscrapers and creatures, Cohen's follow-up deals with apartments and New York City street tours, imagining a scrappy tale of murder and attraction that occasionally switches over to thriller mode. Cohen's after something more human with the endeavor, and his interest in characterization is laudable, aiming to subvert expectations and dig into troubled people. It's the lack of cash that ultimately holds the picture back, with the scrappy, urban look of the feature diminishing any potential intimacy, keeping the effort cold to the touch. The blunt edges of Cohen's screenwriting also don't help the cause, but for those willing to work a little harder to find meaningfulness here, "Perfect Strangers" has some mildly interesting ideas on love and self-preservation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Mel Gibson likes violence. It's mother's milk to him, especially with most of his directorial choices. There was 1995's "Braveheart," which hid tremendous bodily harm behind a traditional historical drama, also testing rear-ends with a three-hour run time. Gibson was rewarded with big box office and Oscar gold, empowering him to go deeper into the darkness of human behavior with 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," where he tried to visualize biblical suffering by showcasing all manner of torture and death. Gibson was once again rewarded with huge box office, with most of the bucks going directly to him after a self-financing leap of faith paid off enormously. Trying his luck once again with history and horror, Gibson captures Mayan mayhem with 2006's "Apocalypto," looking to mix cultural imagery with a B-movie-style survival/revenge picture, keeping up his interests in screen pain with another marathon of men facing certain doom from the ruling class. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com