Category: DVD/BLU-RAY

"Rituals" aims to be a Canadian version of "Deliverance," only with a bit more emphasis on a malevolent force from the shadows shorting the lives of regular men embarking on an adventure in the deep woods. The screenplay by Ian Sutherland has an idea, moving away from typical terror to something character-based, with the players making trouble for themselves while being stalked by a mysterious stranger. "Rituals" has the direction but no real feeling of movement, with argumentative behavior often dominating the feature, making the central crisis more about bickering than heated situations of survival. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Originally broadcast on CBS in 1975, "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" is unlike many television movies. It certainly has the outside appearance of familiarity, with a plot that concerns a widow trying to figure out the next chapter of her life. However, writer Jerome Kass takes the material down some unusual avenues of self-expression, joining director Sam O'Steen as they mount what becomes a musical in the most casual manner, with characters not breaking out in song, but slipping into it, finding matters of the heart best expressed through lyrics and, as the title suggests, plenty of dancing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After three "Poison Ivy" adventures that tried to, in some small way, connect the films in one big erotic thriller saga, 2008's "Poison Ivy: The Secret Society" elects to break from the team, taking on its own vision for lusty young things causing all types of trouble for horndog men. However, instead of a passably cinematic touch, the franchise is turned into a Lifetime production, and one with tacked on sex scenes to give the product an afterlife on home video. It's all very sketchy (Catherine Hicks is the biggest name here, and I'm sure she had no idea what type of movie she was making), poorly acted, absurdly plotted, and randomly sexualized, with the end result landing somewhere between a WB pilot and a lukewarm parody of the "Poison Ivy" pictures. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Trying to keep a profitable business motoring along, New Line Cinema returns to an unlikely franchise with 1997's "Poison Ivy: The New Seduction." There's actually an effort made to connect the sequel to the series, but the third installment of the franchise is mostly interested in doing its own thing, with director Kurt Voss realizing that aiming for any sort of realism when it comes to an assessment of trauma is pointless at this point, moving ahead with a fairly basic revenge movie that fulfills most erotic thriller needs. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Much like Drew Barrymore, Alyssa Milano was hunting for a different image during the 1990s, working to lose the brightness of her "Who's the Boss?" years, entering the seemly world of B-movie entertainment to redirect her career. 1996's "Poison Ivy II: Lily" wasn't offering an acting challenge, but it did gift Milano an opportunity to continue her work in seductive endeavors, picking up the "Poison Ivy" brand for a spiritual sequel that attempts to be a little more sympathetic to the ways of sexual gamesmanship and the creation of identity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Trying to shed her image of youthful innocence shaped in films such as "E.T." and "Babes in Toyland," Drew Barrymore entered the 1990s on a personal crusade to show Hollywood just how much she's aged. For 1992's "Poison Ivy," Barrymore tries jailbait seductress on for size, participating in a sensual chiller from the helmer of "Stripped to Kill." Mercifully, there's more going on in "Poison Ivy" than simple acts of thrusting, with co- writer/director Katt Shea fighting the potential salaciousness of the plot, trying to dig deeper into character psychology and moody gamesmanship. Shea almost gets there with her noticeable effort, but the feature's Skinemax absurdities tend to overwhelm whatever grit manages to find its way to the screen. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Tony Bill started his career making gentle pictures about human concerns. He dealt with friendship in 1980's "My Bodyguard," and finality in 1982's "Six Weeks," returning to the land of tearjerker entertainment with 1993's "Untamed Heart." Working from a screenplay by Tom Sierchio, Bill aims to create an unabashedly earnest film about love and devotion, pulling the characters away from gritty authenticity for 100 minutes of sweetened romance, inching toward a fairy tale with this story of two sensitive people finding each other in an unusual way. "Untamed Heart" isn't for cynics, as Bill doesn't weigh the feature down with too much of the hard stuff, preferring to remain in a glow of attraction and protection, touching on mild fantasy overtones that probably wouldn't hold up in the cold light of day, but connect beautifully in the seasonal light. Performances from Christian Slater and Marisa Tomei secure Sierchio's aim to create a something of a cosmic connection between lost souls, while Bill stays in touch with the fragile atmosphere of the movie, which is captured in a deeply heartfelt way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

"Murder Rock" is the result of a filmmaker who wanted to craft a murder mystery and producers who craved a "Flashdance" knockoff. The genres are smashed together in this 1984 release, and the results are expectedly odd. "Murder Rock" comes from director Lucio Fulci, who assembles a proper giallo, unleashing chaos inside a troubled dance academy, offering familiar sights of black-gloved killers and dreamscape visits, keeping on track with this whodunit. The feature also pays close attention to trends of the day, offering breakdancing and gyrations to go with all the gore (the production could use an anatomy lesson, but it's bloody), providing a dance marathon for a helmer who isn't quite as taken with physical movement as he is with physical pain. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

After the 1996 release of "Scream," horror suddenly found itself popular again, engaging with a new generation by mixing old tricks with new commentary, giving rise to the popularity of self-aware productions stacked with a roster of pretty people. Director Jamie Blanks participated in the movement with 1998's "Urban Legend," emerging with a modest hit, but one that kept the trend alive, paving the way for more similarly themed endeavors to follow. With 2001's "Valentine," Blanks makes a choice to move away from the growing routine, looking to craft throwback entertainment with the effort, which takes its inspiration from early '80s slasher films. Blanks isn't completely successful with "Valentine," which is weighed down by numerous problems, but in the midst of familiarity, Blanks chose to go retro, doing so with hopes to achieve frights from direct shots of stalking and stabbing. His attempt is admirable, but can't quite get the feature to the point of hysteria it needs to reach. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Unlike a lot of giallo that make it a point to deliver shocks before settling into a mystery, 1977's "The Psychic" (titled "Murder to the Tune of Seven Black Notes" on the print) doesn't mind a slower pace. Director Lucio Fulci takes his time with this tale of one woman's struggle with murderous premonitions, gradually working through the layers of the crime and its suspects, trying to make a meal out of the central crisis. It's not a feature that wins on thrills alone, but "The Psychic" is the rare endeavor to actually master a payoff worth waiting for, using stillness to help increase tensions before revealing all in the macabre finale. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Perhaps trying to cash-in on the popularity of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1978's "The Fifth Floor" returns to the manic energy of a psychiatric facility, with director Howard Avedis ("Mortuary") steering the effort into more horrifying demonstrations of institutional corruption. "The Fifth Floor" is often caught between its desire to creep out the audience and its attempt to condemn the business of corralling and exploiting the mentally ill, resulting in an uneven picture that fails to make much of an impact, playing more confidently with B-movie hysterics and periodic chases. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1982's "Summer Lovers" is an important offering in the career of director Randal Kleiser, who, up to this point, was a major force in Hollywood. Kleiser was able to acquire the attention of a younger audience, making a box office blockbuster in 1978's "Grease," and surprising many with the staying power of 1980's "The Blue Lagoon." He was positioned for another smash with "Summer Lovers," which uses the formula of young people in lust and love and ages it up some, with Kleiser trying to inch his way into adult-oriented complications. His answer to the relative innocence of "The Blue Lagoon" is to spend time on the nude beaches of the Greek islands, capturing the sexual heat and emotional complications of a love triangle in the middle of paradise. Kleiser can't get past the slightness of the material, which never has enough texture to completely realize such psychological gamesmanship and eventual softening of personal defenses. But the helmer does maintain command over the location, constructing an evocative understanding of bodily freedoms and lustful sway, which is almost enough to secure an inviting viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With "The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection: Volume 4," the titular animal with an insatiable desire for mischief enters the 1970s, facing a world where things are changing in comedy and culture, forcing the production team at DePatie-Freleng to possibly rethink future adventures for the theatrical short star. However, old habits die hard, and this latest assembly of brief adventures showcasing just how comfort the producers were with routine, trying to keep their star busy with random shenanigans that slowly depart from any earthbound logic, going fully cartoon at times just to give something for Pink Panther to do as ideas for these little slices of animated nonsense dry up. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Greyson Clark is one of the more famous names in the B-movie business. For about 25 years, Clark churned out a number of low- budget endeavors, working to cash in on Hollywood and pop culture trends with his own vision for mass entertainment. The helmer of "Joysticks," "Satan's Cheerleaders," and "Lambada: The Forbidden Dance," Clark isn't one for filmmaking finesse, but there's a certain low-wattage pluck to his endeavors. Such minimal expectations should be applied to 1987's "Uninvited," with Clark attempting to make a creature feature on a boat, gifting himself enough isolation to invent horrors plaguing a varied collection of characters. "Uninvited" has the right idea but often the wrong execution, with Clark not quite covering his seams with this effort, getting a little too sloppy at times with surefire ideas for no-budget excitement. Production polish isn't available, but there's always the simple pleasure of a plot that involves roving attacks from a mutant cat. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1975's "Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic" endeavored to continue a tradition that was developing during the 1970s, where producers were getting the idea to bring adolescent issues to prime time television. It was the playground of "After School Special," but such message-minded storytelling was ready to be experienced by a multi-generational viewing audience, giving the concerns of confused young people a prime slot for massive viewership. Films like "Born Innocent" also offered a glimpse of Linda Blair, who became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood after her role as the cursed child Regan in "The Exorcist," gifting the actress continued onscreen agony as she played a runaway, soon graduating to a secret alcoholic in "Sarah T." Brought on for her innocent look and comfort with darkness, Blair delivers a strong performance as the titular juvenile, tasked with communicating the pain and confusion of a youngster caught up in something she doesn't understand and doesn't care to address, while director Richard Donner finds economical ways to convey such growing distress, guiding a collection of dependable actors to back up Blair in this compassionate study of abuse of all kinds. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Making his directorial debut, Jack Lemmon certainly didn't want to risk much with 1971's "Kotch." Instead of reaching into the unknown to cast the effort, he went to frequent collaborator Walter Matthau to star in the picture, also hiring wife Felicia Farr for a supporting role. Lemmon's caution is the smart play, as Matthau delivers a wonderfully animated performance, carrying the production with an atypically optimistic turn as a senior citizen trying to figure out his place in the world, giving Lemmon plenty to work with. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Much like the numerous films based on "The Amityville Horror," "The Howling" has also inspired a franchise where the installments have very little to do with one another, going down their own path with different producers and behind-the-scenes talent, trying to use brand recognition to lure viewers back into the depths of low-budget horror entertainment. Writer/director Philippe Mora certainly couldn't be faulted for trying to change his approach to the series, with his "Howling II" entering production with a certain attempt at menace, ending up something wacky and crudely exploitative, a far cry from Joe Dante's 1981 achievement. Unwilling to accept the results, Mora returns to action with "The Howling III," which doesn't have anything to do with the previous chapters, retreating to the wilds of Australia to contort werewolf myth into a cinematic offering that's greatly influenced by its surroundings, emerging with a genre romp that's more humorous than horrifying, and rarely does it make much sense. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

There's a category of sexploitation called "roughies." These are darker endeavors that merge the graphic highlights of adult cinema with a degree of violence, playing into shadowed corners of stimulation that are often better off left unexplored. 1974's "A Climax of Blue Power" is an example of a roughie, but one that's mindful of audience expectations while trying to deliver a more concrete tale of mental illness run amok. It's a highly bizarre movie, but that's the point, with director Lee Frost stepping inside a disturbed character to capture his concept of fantasy and his capacity for harm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Penelope Spheeris is one of the only filmmakers to attend Punk University. The helmer of the 1981 documentary, "The Decline of Western Civilization," Spheeris spent a substantial amount of time covering the punk scene, getting into the subculture to dissect its music and fanbase, trying to understand what made the movement tick. Such an education clearly dominates the creation of 1983's "Suburbia," with Spheeris heading back into the mud pit of neglected youth, this time using dramatics to help sort through young characters trying to make sense of their rotten lives. "Suburbia" has the electricity of "The Decline of Western Civilization" at times, but it's also clumsy work from an inexperienced writer/director, with Spheeris getting carried away with tragedy and confrontational behavior, trying to make a point about generational hostility that never comes together as profoundly as she imagines. It's a helluva time capsule, but not something that's particularly heartbreaking. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com 

Norman J. Warren is a maker of B-movies, working with minimal budgets and locations to crank out horror and sci-fi endeavors, sometimes mixing the genres, as found in 1977's "Prey." For 1987's "Bloody New Year," Warren returns to the confines of a small setting to arrange a tradition haunting, staging the action inside a hotel on a remote island. The outside world remains at bay in the tale, giving the helmer an opportunity to arrange a steady stream of stalking and attack sequences, presenting the English production a chance to play in the "Evil Dead" sandbox for 90 minutes. Screenwriter Frazer Pearce sets up a spooky situation featuring persistent ghosts, bringing in a small band of youngsters to experience the fight of their lives, and Warren supports with a spare, somewhat slow, but engaging screen nightmare, clearly enjoying himself as he organizes various survival challenges while maintaining an eerie sense of ghoulish discovery. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com