After exploring a real-world nightmare in "Heli," co-writer/director Amat Escalante returns with something sinister from outer space for "The Untamed," though the effort is far from a traditional alien terror extravaganza. The helmer goes for unease with this study of relationships and profound sexual experiences, with Escalante working a more metaphorical route to disturbing behavior, locating unusual suspense as he achieves a clear view of domestic dysfunction. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
After achieve fame as part of the sketch comedy group The Kids in the Hall, actor Dave Foley tries on leading man moves with "The Wrong Guy." He's not exactly testing his thespian skills in the 1997 effort, but Foley is permitted a frame all to himself, playing a man on the run in this Hitchcockian comedy, primarily in charge of depicting hysterics and executing straight man reactions to the weirdness and extremity the screenplay (written by Foley, Dave Higgins, and Jay Kogen) has to offer. "The Wrong Guy" is silly endeavor, and a consistent one under the guidance of director David Steinberg, who packs a surprising amount of sight gags and goofiness into the picture, while Foley remains in command of reactions, adding his special sense of humor to the mix while running all over the frame. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
It's easy to root for 1984's "The Woman in Red." It's written and directed by Gene Wilder, who also takes the starring role in this remake of the French comedy, "Pardon Mon Affaire." Wilder has increased the odds of laughter by securing such a fine supporting cast, including Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna, and Gilda Radner. He's gifted the world the sight of Kelly LeBrock, who makes her acting debut as the titular object of desire. There are San Francisco locations to enjoy, and a lively soundtrack is largely supported by Stevie Wonder songs, including the once omnipresent smash hit, "I Just Called to Say I Love You." There's so much to enjoy here that it hurts the heart to realize the feature doesn't quite come together as substantially as Wilder envisions. He's got the tone and the cast, but "The Woman in Red" is something of a mess, with aborted subplots, random encounters, and strange technical choices conspiring to wear down the natural rhythms of the effort. It's easy to see what Wilder had in mind for the semi-farce, but it's difficult to watch him fumble scenes and lose concentration on connective tissue. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
After achieving success with 1989’s “The Church,” co-writer/director Michele Soavi (best known for 1994’s “Cemetery Man”) takes on a smaller enemy for 1991’s “The Sect,” retreating the wilds of the mind for this horror endeavor. Strange water and nightmare realms define the slow-burn shocker, with Soavi taking his time building trouble for his lead character, asking the audience to sit patiently while the material works around some narrative dead ends and lengthy scenes of investigation. “The Sect” isn’t pulse-pounding entertainment, in dire need of another editorial pass, but the helmer scores with certain macabre visuals, offering wild, invasive camerawork and a game cast to conjure a cult disturbance.
There's nothing particularly special about 1958's "The Man Who Died Twice," but it delivers a meat-and-potatoes crime story with relative ease. Directed by Joseph Kane ("The Yellow Rose of Texas"), the picture offers viewers time with very bad people and a mystery involving murder, drugs, and deception. And there's a little feline torment in there as well. "The Man Who Died Twice" is pulpy entertainment with a limited scope, but Kane understands what's expected of him, handling the screenplay's acts of intimidation and burgeoning violence well. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
"Brothers of the Night" is often classified as a documentary, but it's difficult to understand where the line between fiction and non-fiction remains. The picture tells the story of young Bulgarian men who've come to Vienna to establish a new life and make money, with some of them ending up as "gay for pay" prostitutes, collecting cash to send back home to family and spouses. Director Patric Chiha has an unusual topic to explore with his feature, but the blend of interview footage and nightlife recreation takes some time to get used to, with "Brothers of the Night" often resembling a reality show, not a deep dive into the wilds of identity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
After sending viewers through a traumatic ride in the provocative 1971 film, "Straw Dogs," director Sam Peckinpah settles downs for 1972's "Junior Bonner," which plays unnervingly peaceful, offering a helmer known for his violent cinema a rare shot at emotional excavation with defined characters. Peckinpah's gone soft before, but the change in attitude works especially well here, as "Junior Bonner" offers a story that's open for community spirit and self-inspection, while utilizing colorful Prescott, Arizona locations to support this saga of a rodeo hero facing the twilight of his career. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
After a highly successful producing career in television (responsible for such shows as "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," and "Mork & Mindy"), Garry Marshall made the leap to feature filmmaking with 1982's "Young Doctors in Love." It's material that plays to his sensibilities, offering character- based comedy that's silly, but just misses the mark in terms of a snowballing madness. The picture is often labeled an "Airplane"-style farce that lampoons daytime soap operas, and while "Young Doctors in Love" has that intention, Marshall can't quite wind the effort up correctly, content to pepper the movie with throwaway gags and limp one-liners. In the grand scheme of things, Marshall's done worse, a lot worse, but his helming debut, while brightly made, lacks snap and edge, displaying some of the cuddliness he'd come to rely on. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
For her second directorial effort from 1988, Robert Findlay returns to the comfort of horror to inspire the extremes of "Lurkers." It's a ghost story that's primarily fueled by paranoia, again keeping the helmer busy with a vision of Hell on Earth that doesn't require much in the way of locations and story. It's a simplistic nightmare, and one that's not particularly tasteful, but it has closure, giving it the appearance of a "Tales from the Crypt" episode, only with slightly more feminine hygiene-inspired sexuality. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
The plot of "Prime Evil" would find a more suitable home as a short story, or possibly as part of a horror anthology film, but director Roberta Findlay isn't about to give up on her moviemaking mission, laboring to stretch the 1988 effort without completely breaking it. It's a Satanic Panic endeavor, and one that's fairly light on thrills, often falling back on traditional exploitation moves to keep viewers interested in the feature. Findlay's working hard to make something threatening out of very little, and while she comes up short, "Prime Evil" is not completely devoid of entertainment value. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
1947's "Driftwood" is aimed at a family audience, making its general weirdness a bit more understandable as the production goes big to appeal to all ages. After all, this is a movie that features on dog on trial and a young Natalie Wood trying on her best Shirley Temple impression, so any expectations for subtlety and depth are generally punted out the nearest window five minutes into this endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
Some people will go a long way to make a buck. The premise of 1971's "The Corpse Grinders" is a hoot, detailing the struggle of two men using dead bodies to manufacture cat food, hoping to make a fortune by feeding felines rotting human meat. Certainly there are more efficient, less disgusting ways to pay the rent, but lunacy is part of the film's charm. There's no logic here, no moment of thought to consider alternate vocational routes. There are only cadavers and cat food, with director Ted V. Mikels making sure to keep the macabre study of food processing at least passably revolting. While "The Corpse Grinders" is ultimately more of a detective story than a gross-out extravaganza, there's still plenty of ghoulish fun to be had with the feature's low-wattage charms and strange misadventures with kitties. Sure, it could be more, but this is Mikels, and he rarely goes above and beyond what's necessary to sell a picture. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
1977's "A Woman's Torment" is an adult movie made by a writer/director who simply didn't care to add any eroticism to the effort. Roberta Findlay has different ideas for this horror/sex picture, and I'm not sure any of them are translated to film properly, with the helmer striving to create a cold- blooded feature that's covered in blood and other bodily fluids, making strange points about sexual anxiety and resentment while teasing titillating visuals. "A Woman's Torment" is an odd endeavor, caught somewhere between a need to thrill and repulse, resulting in exploitation that's interesting to analyze but difficult to endure. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
According to "Rolling Vengeance," when life gives you lemons, you retreat to your farm and build a fire-belching monster truck capable of killing anything in its path. The 1987 revenge picture has a special way of doing business, trying to sell the specialty of a monster truck used as a lethal weapon, and why not? It gets the job done, with as much property damage as possible. It's an amusing premise, but screenwriter Michael Thomas Montgomery doesn't know the fine line between manipulation and punishment, keeping the feature on the nasty side when all it truly takes to inspire pushback is a lot of attitude and some mild maiming. The movie could do with less child murder and rape, but for those capable of absorbing overkill, "Rolling Vengeance" eventually becomes the film the marketing promises, pitting dim-wits against the might of an enormous truck stocked with weapons. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
Nearing the end of his illustrious filmmaking career, Billy Wilder attempts one from the heart with 1972's "Avanti," which still rings loudly with his particular sense of timing and silliness, but strives to be more than just a series of jokes. Wilder's had greater success with this type of tone before, but all is not lost with the painfully overlong "Avanti" (which runs 144 minutes), which offers pronounced charm from leads Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills, while the screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond (adapting a Samuel Taylor play) remains interested in twists and turns, working to keep the audience engaged as the pair refuse to trim any tangents and bad ideas. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
Most low-budget horror pictures tend to play it safe with narrative construction, keeping things simple to appeal to a wide audience, trusting in frights to define the viewing experience. 1983's "Blood Beat" does away with story altogether, submitting what should be an abstract extravaganza where anything goes because it simply can. It's filmmaking without rules, but something tells me the pronounced confusion of "Blood Beat" wasn't intentional. Writer/director Fabrice Zaphiratos has ideas but no real clue as how to implement them into a dramatic saga of psychic forces, deer hunting, and samurai armor. Instead of giving it all some thought, he makes a mad dash through nonsensical scenes and empty characterizations, almost relishing how little clarity the endeavor has to offer its audience. Perhaps some viewers will get off on the confusion, but to reach a point of comfort with Zaphiratos's randomness takes a substantial amount of patience I doubt few are willing to give. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
1948's "Portrait of Jennie" is a romantic fantasy that's very careful to introduce elements of the unreal, opening with narration that debates existential questions and offers two quotes from philosophical minds to help set the mood. It's a lot of introductory work, but "Portrait of Jennie" is a strange movie (adapted from Robert Nathan novella) that requires the viewer to let go and join the narrative flow, leaving few answers to many questions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
"Demon Wind" is not a great movie, but it's a fun movie. The 1990 release explores the mess of an evil encounter at a rural location, offering another helping of young people heading where they shouldn't, unable to successfully defend themselves during monstrous encounters. Perhaps everything in the film makes sense to writer/director Charles Phillip Moore (making his helming debut), but he's not especially skilled at providing proper exposition to help secure critical turns of plot. However, bouts of incoherence tend to add to the viewing experience, which is loaded with gore zone visits, macabre encounters, and bewildering events, keeping "Demon Wind" just absurd enough to enjoy. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
It's a story told time and again, but only once by the Nazis. 1943's "Titanic" is a German production personally overseen by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, who sought to undermine faith in the British Empire by detailing one of the most famous disasters in world history, only here the focus is not on loss of life, but English greed. More of a curiosity than a true extravaganza, "Titanic" doesn't come close to other dramatic interpretations of the incident, but it has a specific point of view that's perhaps interesting for students of history and German cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
"A Closer Walk with Thee" is described as a "Homoerotic Evangelical exorcism film." Perhaps that's all the review certain viewers will need. It's a curious effort from writer/directors John C. Clark and Brie Williams, who are clearly after something with the work that concerns the uncomfortable relationship between religion and desire, with longing mutating into supernatural events during what's largely a static thriller. The helmers aims for a Lynch-ian mood of unease and askew sexuality, but they don't have the technical seasoning to pull off a few wilder ideas, keeping "A Closer Walk with Three" limited in its ability to beguile and terrify. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com
BRIAN ORNDORF 