"National Lampoon's Animal House" was released in July 1978, and went on to become a massive success, delighting audiences with its raunchy sense of humor and nostalgic groove. It was the second highest grossing picture of the year (coming in below "Grease" and above "Jaws 2"), putting National Lampoon in a unique position of power, capable of doing anything they wanted to with their follow-up project. The company had a prime opportunity to showcase their talents, creativity, and abundant supply of mischief. And so they made 1982's "National Lampoon's Movie Madness" (a.k.a. "National Lampoon Goes to the Movies," with this title still included on art in the feature), which is a complete and utter dud, even shelved for over a year while studio executives decided how to deal with a surefire bomb. Whatever audience goodwill developed with "Animal House" was wiped out by "Movie Madness" (and 1982's equally lame, "National Lampoon's Class Reunion"), which is shockingly awful at times, with the end product resembling a production largely fueled by cocaine (this was actually the case) and zero vision for what this oddball collection of non-ideas was supposed to be. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

In 1995, "Outbreak" was rushed into release, hoping to capitalize on growing interest in deadly virus stories. It was a Hollywood production meant to frighten and thrill a mass audience, and it found its way to box office domination, giving viewers a glimpse of body horrors from the comfort of a multiplex seat. 1996's "Ebola Syndrome" isn't nearly as polished or interested in charming outsiders, launching a tale about a horrible man doing horrible things while a horrible virus spreads across the land. Director Herman Yau delivers a big-time mess with the feature, which revels in ugliness, living up to is "Category III" classification with a steady display of contemptible and murderous human behavior, also showing just as much enthusiasm for gore zone visits, going splatter-esque with its vision for bloody encounters. "Ebola Syndrome" is a blunt instrument, but when Yau isn't indulging his taste for screen chaos, he manages to provide a decent detective story at times, keeping things clear enough for recognizable conflicts to materialize, but only for brief amounts of time. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Frida Kempff doesn't simply want to revive the Hitchcock experience with "Knocking," though she doesn't turn down any opportunities for suspense. It's a simple premise concerning a woman haunted by unexplained noises in her apartment, but Kempff and writer Emma Brostrom strive to make a meaningful study of trauma and manipulation from a feminine perspective with "Knocking," adding as much subtext as possible without sacrificing the escalating tension of the picture, which is an effective offering of freak-out cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

When a small collection of indie filmmakers started making hits in the early 1990s, it created a gold rush for small-time producers hoping to bring oddball projects to the screen. The success of Quentin Tarantino and the Miramax Films team is clearly evident in 1996's "The Grave," with co-writers Josh and Jonas Pate (who also directs) cooking up a twisty, violent, and loquacious thriller that's also greatly influenced by the Coen Brothers and their particular way of bringing low-key insanity to a seemingly simple situation. The Pates pay careful attention to character and language with their endeavor, their first moviemaking opportunity, and that hunger to impress is the most memorable element in an otherwise adequate picture that's almost undone by obvious casting and one too many turns after a decent first act of intriguing introductions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Scooter McCrae has some big ideas to help fill his filmmaking debut, 1994's "Shatter Dead," and he keeps all of them to himself. This is McCrae's take on the zombie genre, only instead of flesh-munching monsters, the undead are basically the same as before, scattered across rural New York like homeless people, trying to live their best life without actually living. It's a concept with promise, but McCrae is too busy trying to impress viewers with his Euro-cinema influences, going abstract with his collection of visuals and scenes. The movie opens with a bewildering moment that has nothing to do with the rest of the endeavor, and "Shatter Dead" doesn't really improve from there. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Censor" brings viewers to a time when the British Board of Film Classification went to war with "Video Nasties," or graphic genre offerings that were subjected to intense scrutiny, edits, and even rejection. Co-writer/director Prano Bailey-Bond has something original and wonderfully specific with this idea, but she's not interested in pursuing the numbing experiences of a censor, aiming to make a horror movie with the premise, which isn't nearly as compelling as a study of a moral high ground and extreme filmmaking content. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

To help boost box office potential for 1988's "Too Beautiful to Die," the feature was marketed as a sequel to 1985's "Nothing Underneath." While both endeavors explore the world of modeling and all the horrors it contains, "Too Beautiful to Die" isn't a follow-up, offering its own journey into darkness of human behavior. The first film was a Brian De Palma tribute, and the second one becomes more of a Dario Argento experience, with heaping helpings of Alfred Hitchcock tributes added for flavor. It's also more of a giallo, tracking a crisis involving the well-being of professionally pretty people and the black-gloved killer trying to do them all harm with a comically exaggerated weapon. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Repeated throughout the supplementary features on the "Nothing Underneath" Blu-ray is the production's quest to replicate Brian De Palma's 1984 thriller, "Body Double." Director Carlo Vanzina isn't messing around with this tribute to the filmmaker paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, hiring "Body Double" composer Pino Donaggio to replicate his score, going the sound-alike route to maximize the mood, and harsh violence is awfully familiar, slipping into Dario Argento territory. 1985's "Nothing Underneath" is an adaptation of a book by Marco Parma, but it's not big on originality, trying to deliver expected acts of horror and seduction to best capture audience interest. Vanzina isn't De Palma, but he assembles a functional chiller with the déjà vu endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1989's "The Laughing Dead" wasn't exactly created by amateurs, but the production comes close. Involving numerous first-time filmmakers and a cast of acting novices, the picture looks to generate a decent screen nightmare involving dreamscape horrors, Aztec brutality, and demonic visitation. Writer/director Somtow Sucharitkul has something big in mind with his helming debut, but he's not big on tight pacing, allowing "The Laughing Deal" to stand around for about 40 minutes before it gets something going with gruesome events. It's a patience-tester, but the endeavor finally gets around to conjuring some blood-and-guts mayhem, creating a climax that's almost worth the long journey there. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

A $55,000 budget doesn't buy much, and such financial limitations are on display in 1982's "Trick or Treats," which is writer/director Gary Graver's chance to participate in and lampoon the horror gold rush of the decade. It's a cheap chiller from the Orson Welles collaborator/adult film helmer, who's basically trying to slap together a simple slasher offering for the masses, putting very little thought into the details of the production. "Trick or Treats" isn't scary, but it's not always trying to creep viewers out, remaining in a weird holding pattern around potential areas of entertainment, determined to be about nothing when more ambitious writing could make something out of this weirdly inert endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Director Raya Martin tries to reconnect with his past in "Death of Nintendo." It's a coming-of-age dramedy, and a particularly soft one at that, with Martin and screenwriter Valerie Castillo Martinez delivering a minor adventure through adolescence with characters craving different experiences. The gaming of the title is present for the '90s time period, giving viewers a few chances to fondly recall lost afternoons of console competition, but "Death of Nintendo" aims to be as human as possible when dealing with the tender emotions and universal experiences of childhood. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

"Shit & Champagne" originated on stage, with writer/director/star D'Arcy Drollinger hoping to offer audiences a wild ride with a drag-themed superspy parody that took on corporate culture and weird relationships. Feeling ambitious, Drollinger takes his writing to the big screen with a slicker version of "Shit & Champagne," offering a cinematic take on an unfortunate title and big comedy energy, securing a significant amount of broadness to best support this exhaustively silly endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com