DVD Review: MIDNIGHT (1982)

MIDNIGHT (1982)

Label: Arrow Video
Release Date: September 5th 2011
Region: Region 0 PAL
Rating: TBC
Duration: 94 mins
Video: 1.33:1 Fullframe
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono
Director: John Russo
Cast: John Amplas, Melanie Verlin, Lawrence Tierney
Tagline: Midnight... Time to Die!


Synopsis: Poor, poor Nancy... Alone on the road, trying to hitch a ride to California to start a new life, away from the sleaze of her own family. Nancy hooks up with a pair of good natured petty crooks on a road trip to nowhere special. Then things take a dark turn when her friends are iced by a pair of backwoods cops. Now, Nancy is in danger of being sacrificed to Satan himself by the wayward lawmen and their twisted siblings, in an insane attempt to resurrect their mother’s mummified corpse.

Writer/Director John A. Russo is probably best known as the co-writer of George A. Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and probably for good reason, everything else just sort of pales in comparison if you ask me. He's got a few directorial credits to his name; the sex comedy THE BOOBY HATCH (1976), a weird shot-on-video cheesecake workout video SCREAM QUEENS SWIMSUIT SENSATION, some novels and this here backwoods exploitation flick.

Russo's MIDNIGHT (1982) opens with a nasty little pre-credit sequence featuring a young girl in the tall grass of field with her leg caught in a bear trap, now that's how you start a film, right there, yup. She is approached by a woman (Jackie Nicoll, THE MAJORETTES) and her four evil spawn who've come armed with various instruments of blunt force trauma. The crazed mother explains to her brood that the girl in the trap is in fact not a girl at all but a demon, further explaining that demons can take the form of anyone, even someone they know, this part brought to mind Bill Paxton's FRAILTY, a very good film if you haven't seen it. The mother cues one of the boys to beat the girl upside the head with his axe handle until she lies lifeless and limp. Her body is dragged back to a house where at midnight she is to be sacrificed to Lord Satan. As the family gathers round the alter of sacrifice an adolescent girl named Cynthia clenches a dagger in both hands held high, a pentagram marks her forehead, at the stroke of midnight she plunges the dagger into the young girl's flesh, Satan's will has been served. That's the pretty awesome introduction to John A Russo's MIDNIGHT.

It's a few years later now and we're introduced to Nancy (Melanie Verlin, MONKEY SHINES) a conflicted girl with tomboyish features whom is torn between the her faith in the Lord and her libidinous teenage hormones. She lives with her mom and a drunken cop stepfather named Burt (Lawrence Tierney, THE PROWLER). Burt's a lecherous perv and one day when Mom's at work he attempts to rape Nancy but she gets the upper hand and improbably knocks the big bastard out. She makes for the road in an attempt to hitchhike to California where her sister resides. Along the way she is picked-up by Tom (John Hall, SURF NAZIS MUST DIE) and Hank (Charles Jackson), two guys travelling in a van on their way to spring break in Florida. They seem like nice guys and even though they're going in the opposite direction she tags along with 'em anyway. Along the way they offer a ride to a priest and his daughter whom when departing the van warn them of a rash of disappearances and murders in the area and advise the trio not to stop until they reach their destination. As ever in these films the trio pay no heed to this warning and after an incident of shoplifting puts them on the run from Johnny Law they turn down a dirt road which takes them further into the forest, which is always a bad idea, always. Even after spotting a maniacal looking man whom may have been carrying a corpse wrapped in a sheet they set-up camp for the night, naturally.

The next morning Nancy awakes early and goes for a stroll leaving the guys slumbering in their sleeping bags. Not long after she's left they are rudely awakened by two police officers with guns drawn and in their faces. The officers are Abrahan (John Amplas, MARTIN) and Luke (Greg Besnack, KNIGHTRIDERS) whom aren't cops at all but the now adult children from the pre-credit sequence all grown up and still crazy as loons and collecting victims for sacrifice for Old Scratch. Nancy witnesses the altercation from a distance and flees the scene but not before catching the notice of the "officers" who give chase. She comes to a nearby house in woods only to discover too late that it's home of the Satanist, natch. Inside is a now grown Cynthia and the families mentally deficient brother Cyrus (David Marchick) who is sorta the giggling Leatherface of the family, at times he brought to mind either Buddy from SLAUGHTERHOUSE and Madman Marz of MADMAN. While their wicked mother is now a rotting corpse the family still carries on her legacy of demented demon sacrifice. Why would they sacrifice demons to the Devil, anyone? Nancy is captured and imprisoned in a small dog cage alongside another unfortunate young lady named Gwen (Ellie Wyler) and comes to realize that on Easter Sunday the quartet of Satanist hope to resurrect their deceased mother by sacrificing three women in her name to Beelzebub. Meanwhile pervy Burt seems to have developed a conscience to some degree and has set off in search of Nancy, through his connections on the police force is able to track down Nancy's whereabouts but can he intervene before it's too late?

The film is an adaptation of John A. Russo's own novel 'Midnight' which I haven't read but I hear had a more morbid ending which was filmed but changed at the producer's advice.  The film definitely cashes-in on the deranged killer family scenario of Tobe Hoopers TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and also has a grim uneasiness about it not unlike NOTLD. Overall the film has an effectively creepy and chilling vibe that exploits our fear of rural folk, satanic cults, rape and the woods. It's fun stuff but technically the film is a disaster, there's some decent shots from low angles and what not but it's a rough warts n' all production. This could stem from the minuscule 71K budget, that's pretty cheap for a 35mm production even back in 1980 when the film was made. The film feels more early 70's than 80's, too.

There;s some effects work from gore-master Tom Savini who already had George A. Romero's MARTIN and DAWN OF THE DEAD under his belt at this point but probably owing to budget constraints has little to work with here, there's a decent decapitation but don't expect any hardcore gore here folks, just some blood.

It's not all bad however, there's some promise to the film. Russo's definitely going for a gritty grindhouse vibe, aiming capitalizing on the Satanic panic of the 70'sand he succeeds to some degree with a disturbing pre-credit sequence and some low-budget scares and exploitation elements but overall the film is poorly executed; the acting is pretty limp. While Verlin makes for a decent protaginist and Tierney is pretty scary as the rhinocerous sized alcoholic stepdad John Amplas, so good in Romero's MARTIN seems adrift for most the film though he does get a few unhinged scenes, particularly during his initial appearance. 

DVD: This marks the first time that MIDNIGHT has been made available completely uncut in the UK. The film is presented in it's original fullframe  (1.33:1) aspect ratio with English Dolby Digital mono. It's been a while since I've seen the R1 Lionsgate DVD of the film from a few years back but this appears slightly better than what I recall but even that's not much of a compliment, this is still near VHS quality. The NTSC-PAL conversion leaves the film looking soft, there's print damage, dirt and it's just an overall murky image lacking detail. Something I found annoying is that the timecode is slightly visible along the top edge of the frame, I don't understand why this wasn't cropped to conceal that. Audio isn't great either, there's an assortment of hiss, crackle and pop evident throughout and the dialogue is not always clear. I would assume there are no pristine vault elements of this film available, the brand new transfer would seem to back me up there but also it points to a rather amateur production overall, technically this is a mess all around. Russo is definitely a writer first and a director maybe third or fourth.

Reversible Artwork

The DVD starts off with a brief Introduction by star John Amplas (0:33), we then get two video interviews produced by High Rising Productions. The first is Vampires, Rednecks and Zombies: The Fear Career of John Amplas (31:17) and features Amplas talking about catching the eye of Romero in a theatre production who then cast him as the title character in MARTIN, he also gives his interpretation of whether Martin is truly a vampire or just a severely disturbed kid, Savini's effects in the film and his late introduction to the world of horror conventions in 2006. He also speaks to his recollections of the filming of MIDNIGHT, they're pretty much limited to the fact that he wore a policeman's uniform. This may be partially explained by his remembering being drunk on set and more than a bit drugged at times, much to Russo's dismay. Midnight at Your Door: The Shocking Sacrifices of John Russo (20:14) features the writer/director remembering the myriad of issues he encountered during the filming the 70K low-budget film on 35mm including losing footage due to light exposures and cheap film stock and how distributor Independent International Pictures sat on the film for two years hoping to avoid the glut of slasher films at the time, no luck there. There's also mention of the MPAA requesting cuts to get an R rating and the banning of the film in South Africa and meeting Quentin Tarantino. Lastly there is a theatrical trailer for the film, plus an easter egg wherein Russo reveals the artwork for 'Undead', a collection of the out-of-print NOTLD and ROTLD novelizations.

The screener of the film I was sent did not Arrow Video's packaging of the film which includes reversible artwork, a double-sided foldout poster and a collectible booklet with writings on the film by Stephen Thrower, author of 'Nightmare USA', so I cannot elaborate only lament my loss.

Special Features:
- Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork
- Double-sided fold-out artwork poster
- Collector’s booklet ft. writing by Stephen Thrower, author of ‘Nightmare USA'
- Brand new transfer in the original Full Frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio
- Original Mono Audio
- Introduction by star John Amplas
- Midnight at Your Door: The Shocking Sacrifices of John Russo
- Easter Egg

Verdict: Not a genre classic by anyone's standards but an interesting footnote at the very least that riffs on familiar, even for it's time, horror and backwoods exploitation tropes. Despite Russo's lack of technical finesse the film still manages to be a devious slice of exploitation. If you have the R1 Lionsgate DVD I can't say this is worth an upgrade for picture quality alone but if you're fond of the film and crave features that expand on the production and enhance it's viewing Arrow Video have given the film it's due and then some. This is a definite recommend for those who wanna see it, you know who you are.

DVD Review: INTERPLANETARY (2008)

INTERPLANETARY (2008)

Shock-O-Rama Cinema
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 83 mins
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio; Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Director: Chance Shirley
Cast: Mia Frost, Kyle Holman, Michael Shelton
Tagline: Monsters and Mayhem...40 Million Miles from Earth

SYNOPSIS: Nine men and women, employees of Interplanetary Corporation, live and work on Mars. Their days aren't particularly interesting, much less exciting, until they are assaulted by a murderous band of strangers and a seemingly unstoppable alien creature. Do these attacks have anything to do with the Martian fossil recently uncovered by one of the employees? Will the rapidly increasing body count adversely affect Interplanetary's stock price? And can anyone survive long enough to fill out the inevitable paperwork?

Director Chance Shirley's INTERPLANETARY is a retro futuristic science fiction homage to the Roger Corman style schlock cinema of yesteryear. Nine men and women working for the Interplanetary Corporation call Mars Base 2 their home away from Earth. It a pretty stale existence for the crew, their lives are a series of repeatable routines and protocol, that is until an engineer named Will (Chuck Hartsell, HIDE AND CREEP) and his assistant Ed stumble upon the fossilized remains of an alien lifeform while scouting locations for a future base Mars base. They're documenting the discovery when Ed is shot by a an unknown assailant and suddenly things get a bit more interesting for the crew, whom up 'til this point were under the assumption they were the only inhabitants on the planet, even though it is called Mars Base 2, one might assume otherwise, right? Soon after another assailant launches an attack on the base taking out the office slut Michelle (Amanda Meyers, DEFILED) with nothing less than a rocket launcher, a loss to every man (and woman as it turns out) at the facility, no doubt. The base goes into emergency lockdown but it's not long before someone, or something, is tearing Interplanetary employees to pieces.

The film takes a bit to get up to full speed as the filmmakers set about establishing that life in space is really, really boring. I fear it's just slow enough that it may send a few less patient viewers running for the exits but stay with it my friends, trust me, it's laced with a wonderful OFFICE SPACE style-humor that had me grinning from ear to ear from start to finish. Another complaint might be that there are too many characters, but they are a fun bunch. There's the aforementioned and unfortunate slut Michelle, the protocol obsessed administrator Lisa (Melissa Bush) and her side-kick Kevin (Kevin Van Hyning, BUDDY: THE MOVIE) with his nose buried firmly in Lisa's ass, these two are just annoying office manager stereotypes that you most definitely wanna see hurt and hurt bad, and you do, rather painfully and bloodily so. On the opposite end of the spectrum we have the cook Jackson (Kyle Homan, SLEEPAWAY CAMP III), the everyman tech guy Steve (Michael Shelton), the laid back mechanic Beth (Mia Frost) and the wanna-be golf pro slash physician Jones (Sylvester Little Jr). very cool cats all but the film's El Ray character is Jackson whom unexpectedly rises to the occasion when the shit hits the fan, his past on Earth is shrouded in mystery but on Mars he's a take-no-shit ass-kicker. These are the film's most likable characters, the actors know their in a low-budget b-movie and the tight script backs 'em up all the way, it's a very quotable film.

The acting is pretty spot-on, some of it's "bad" but that's kinda what the movies all about, celebrating bad sci-fi cinema, though it's not a bad film, know what I mean? Something else that the film celebrates is low-budget campy retro-futuristic technology. We have computer control panels with blinking lights right outta 50's sci-fi matinees, dated future-tech like a miniDV cam and digital alarm clocks, very cool retro space suits with Tint-O-Matic self-tinting space bubble helmets and oxygen canisters that look an awful lot like super-soaker watergun tanks connected with vacuum hoses, plus a profanity filter that bleeps all profanity uttered while using corporate communication devices and a cool working Mars vehicle, it's all very kitschy and quite awesome.

For the interiors of the base the filmmakers constructed a set from scratch which gives the production a claustrophobic retro futuristic aesthetic, complete with STAR TREK-ish sliding portals. There are also a few establishing exterior shots of the Martian landscape (shot in Alabama and Las Vegas, not Mars), it looks pretty darn good, too. Major bonus points for the use of practical special effects, there's no shortage of gore and splatter, just the way I like 'em. Shirley knows when to pull back though and while we do get some nice gore and gross-outs some of the action appear just off camera, or is judiciously edited, so that we're left with the gruesome aftermath but not a shitty CGI effects shot. The last 15 minutes of the film really ramps up the splatter with a bloody array of carnage at the hands of a rubber suited alien creature, apparently they're not all fossilized after all. Like the practical effects the creature design is pretty decent and looks equal parts C.H.U.D. and PREDATOR, good stuff. Lastly, the film some nice gratuitous nudity, what with the office slut and all, so it has that going for it, too. 

DVD: Shock-O-Rama gives INTERPLANETARY an 16x9 enhanced widescreen  (1.78:1) DVD release with English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with no subtitles.  I think the film was shot on 16mm and the image is a little soft and a bit bit grainy too but it's not too distracting. There are also some cigarette burns and some minor print damage, I was unsure if this was an effect to give the film a nice retro patina but if that's the case it very subtle and nowhere near as obvious as say PLANET TERROR. The black levels do fluctuate a bit but again not problematically so. Overall a very nice presentation, unfortunately there's not too many supplemental materials here aside from a Shock-O-Rama trailer vault and audio commentary with director Chance Shirley and producers John White and Shirley Chance which is a fun casual listen, tons of production anecdotes and observations from the making of the film, locations, actors and a little bit of everything else inbetween.

Special Features:
- Commentary by director Chance Shirley and producers Stacey Shirley and John White
- Shock-O-Rama Trailer Vault
Verdict: Chance Shirley's INTERPLANETARY is a schlocky, gore-strewn, low-budget science fiction film with some sweet homages to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, STAR TREK, ALIEN and John Carpenter's THE THING in particular, all with it's tongue planted firmly in cheek, smartly written and directed. I give this a solid rental recommendation, possibly a buy depending on your taste in sci-fi and appetite for cinema fromage. Apparently Shirley first made the horror scene with the zombie comedy HIDE AND CREEP (2004) which he co-directed with Chris Hartsell, never seen it but it's definitely in my future at some point, this was a blast.  

http://www.shock-o-rama.com/

DVD Review: HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH (1992)

HELLRASIER III: HELL ON EARTH (1992)

LABEL: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
REGION: 1 NTSC
RATING: R
DURATION: 93 mins
VIDEO: Fullframe (.33:1)
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
DIRECTOR: Anthony Hickox
CAST: Terry Farrell, Paula Marshall, Kevin Bernhardt, Doug Bradley
TAGLINE: What began in Hell, will end on Earth.
 

I watched HELLRAISER (1987) a few night backs and was reminded of how much I loved Clive Barker's initial film, it brought me back to seeing it for the first time and being deeply disturbed, it got under my skin and festered for quite some time. Thinking on it again it occurred to me that I've only ever viewed the first two entries in the franchise. Obviously I have great affection for the first, it's a film I've seen projected in 35mm twice and have watched many times since on DVD and Blu-ray. The sequel HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II (1988) is a film I own and enjoy, watched it on DVD about half a dozen times over the years but after that I seemed to have lost interest in the series. Honestly, I'm not even sure how many entries there are in the series, so I was looking forward to finally taking in a viewing of the film some 19 years after the fact.

In the first two films Pinhead (Doug Bradley) was a character that lurked

in the shadows, certainly an important character, but not the focus of the film, particularly in the first entry which was populated with a quite a cast of characters including the delightfully sinister Frank and Julie, and the unfortunate Larry (Andrew Robinson, DIRTY HARRY) plus our protagonist Kirsty (Ashley Laurence, RED). The second film brought back Kirsty now imprisoned in a psychiatric clinic with the evil Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham) who becomes obsessed with the Box and madness ensues. Third time out Pinhead is front and center in a story revolving around a hungry young reporter Joanne (Terry Farrell, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE) who is trying score a news story that will jump start her fledgling career. Is  it just me or does Farrell look an awful lot like Brooke Shields?

While at the hospital Joanne encounters a victim of the Lament Configuration Box, the puzzle box that opens a gateway to the realm of the demonic Cenobites. His flesh is torn, his skin embedded with the hooks on chains that are will be quite familiar to fans of the franchise. Desperate for a story she bursts into the ER just as the chains spring to life with blue shocks of electricity tearing the young man apart in a SCANNERS style explosion right in front of her eyes. Stunned she stumbles from the room and recalls that the unfortunate man had been accompanied by a woman when he entered the ER. Joanne, or "Joey" as she's known, sleuths the whereabouts of the woman to a club called The Boiler Room, a sleazy nightspot owned by JP Munroe (Kevin Bernhardt). The woman in question Terry (Paula Marshall, TV's CALIFORNICATION) is JP's former girlfriend. Aside from being a generally sleazy guy JP is also a collector of disturbing artwork and his latest acquisition is the Pillar of Souls, a relic last seen in at the end of HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II, inside of which the Cenobite Pinhead is imprisoned. After meeting with Terry it is rexplained that Terry's late boyfriend was in possession of the puzzle box which led to his horrific death, she now possesses it.

Joey befriends Terry who gives her the mysterious puzzle Box for safe keeping. Joey discovers a videotaped interview with one of Pinhead's former victims, Kirsty, that she's recovered from the Channard Institute. She is also haunted by nightmares and visions of Pinhead's alter ego Captain Elliot Spitzer who expands on the origins of Pinhead and how it came to be that that his spirit was sent to Limbo while his evil half, Pinhead, survived in the Cenobite realm or some such nonsense. Joanne comes to understand the power of the puzzle box and through Spitzer devises a plan to trap the demon Pinhead in Hell for all eternity.

At the same time Spitzer's alter-self Pinhead has revealed his existence to JP and convinced the him to bring him victims so that he might consume them and free himself of the Pillar of Souls. JP is only too happy to toss him a bimbo following some raunchy sex but Pinhead betrays JP and is once again free to walk the Earth. He waste no time massacring every living soul in The Boiler Room and creating a new army of Cenobites from the transmuted flesh of his victims to assist him in to reclaiming the Box and free himself forever from the Cenobite Realm, which leads to a fiery and explosive finale with perhaps a bit too much slo-mo action.


Pinhead as the main focus of the film seems to me a misstep, he played much better as the dark entity operating within the darkness. Doug Bradley is really hamming it up here and his scenes of him embedded in the Pillar of Souls are pretty corny, as were the new Cenobites; Barbie, Camerahead and The DJ, need I say more? These guys are no Chatterer, that's for sure. The film is heavy with special effects but director Anthony Hockox (WAXWORK, WAXWORK II) just can't polish this turd enough, there was definitely some money thrown into this production so at least it's a shiny turd.

Overall the film strayed too far from the dark pleasures, sex and pain aesthetic of the previous two installments and ventured into more mainstream, later-era A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET territory with a constant stream of dream sequences, and Doug Bradley's eye-rolling one-liners don't help either. It seems as if the film is reaching for a wider audience but it fails on pretty much every level.


Now I will say that on a purely camp level this is pretty fun stuff, I was entertained but the film is most definitely a dud. Not to say it's without its finer points, there are some enjoyable elements. The WWII and 'Nam flashbacks were very well done with some great action shots, the gore is pretty decent, too. We get some fun chains ripping flesh, skinnings, bloody musculature, the head explosion and other on screen practical effects shots though it's obvious cuts were made to the film. Apparently there's an unrated director's cut that includes more gore and a raunchier sex scene that's been released outside the US, so we got screwed on that deal. While the practical effects are cool they are considerably tarnished by some rough (circa '92) digital effects work that's just laughably bad looking back at it now. The film has a decent heavy rock soundtrack featuring Armored Saint (who can be seen performing in the film), Motorhead and industrial rockers KMFDM among others, but the iconic Christopher Young score from the previous films is only glimpsed here, choosing instead to go the rock soundtrack route, wile the soundtrack is cool it's yet another departure that hurts the film. One last cool tidbit occurs at the end when the puzzle box is buried beneath a construction site, years later we are show the building that has sprung up around it and it has taken on the design elements of the puzzle box, very cool.

In conclusion, NOT GOOD, bit it is pretty brainless fun, not good, but entertaining on a level that will please most bad cinema enthusiasts. That said, it's definitely put me off wanting to further investigate the franchise beyond this. HELLRAISER and HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II I'll watch again, this perhaps with some inebriated friends for fun but don't hold me to it.


DVD: Echo Bridge have licensed this film along with many others titles from Miramax films and dumped it with a pretty dismal cropped fullframe transfer, it is quite disappointing to say the least. This was a feature film presented theatrically in widescreen and why in the year 2011 anyone would be releasing fullframe DVD's is just mind- numbing to me. When Miramax licensed HELLRASIER III to Paramount some years back it was released with an anamorphic widescreen transfer and surely it wasn't the greatest looking it was superior in every way to what we have here. Skin tones are tinged red, definition is lacking, it's a murky affair and there are compression and combing issues. I can only assume that Paramount struck their own transfer from the negatives and Miramax can't touch or EB don't wanna pay for it. Sadly, somewhere out t Paramount vault there's a 16x9 widescreen master of this film collecting dust while we get this. One might assume that EB would have access to the original negative elements to the film, and if they'd been so inclined could have struck a new widescreen transfer, but instead chose to dump this rather unimpressive version on us. Insult to injury, there are no special features.

VERDICT: Despite it's flaws and inherent cheese this was a fun watch, it's entertaining in a bad-cinema fromage kinda way but definitely not something I can recommend to the masses without fear of violent reprisal. Still, I would definitely like to see the 16x9 unrated director's cut of the film and I think Echo Bridge really missed an opportunity here, and with many other Miramax licensed titles, that have been dumped onto the market in affordable but otherwise unremarkable editions. That said, the film is available on the cheap for $5 at WalMart and is available as a double feature with HELLRAISER IV or as a four pack collecting III thru VI for a few bucks more.

DVD Review: TROLLHUNTER (2010)

TROLLHUNTER (2010)

LABEL: Magnet Releasing
RELEASE DATE: August 23rd 2011
REGION CODE: 1 NTSC
RATING: PG13
DURATION: 103 mins
VIDEO: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
AUDIO: English, Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1
DIRECTOR: Andre Ovredal
CAST: Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg, Glenn Erland Tosterud, , Tomas Alf Larsen, Urmila Berg_Domaas, Hans Morten Hansem, Johann Morck
TAGLINE: You'll Believe It When You See It

Here we are again with yet another found-footage film shot in the cinema verite style but fear not visitor's to the Mausoleum, this one is a keeper. TROLLHUNTER begins with a trio of Norwegian college students whom set about documenting what they believe is a series of illegal bear poachings. The crew consists of on-screen talent Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterudwhen), sound recordist Johanna (Johanna Morck) and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen). After speaking with a group of hunters whom are outraged at the illegal killing they track down the alleged "poacher", a mysterious man named Hans (Otto Jespersen). They eventually sleuth the location of the elusive character and further trail him into the woods late one night where they believe he stalks his illegal game. What they discover is that he is not a poacher but is in fact a Trollhunter who works for the Troll Security Service (TSS), a secretive government agency devised to keep the existence of trolls hidden from the public. Hans has been tasked with locating and destroying trolls who stray from their assigned remote territories. After some reluctance he allows the persistent trio to document his trollhunting exploits. Hans has a few strict rules the trio must adhere to if they wish to join him. First, his word is final and they must adhere to his every command, troll hunting is quite dangerous as you can well imagine. Second, if any among them are believers in Christ they may not join him for trolls can smell the blood of Christians, it's true. All confirm they are non-believers but one among them is not forthcoming and it proves disastrous to their well being. They must also mask their natural body odor by smearing themselves in the putrid gelatinous essence of troll stench, which seemed pretty gross. Having sworn to obey his every word, disavowing Christ and covered in smelly goo the trio keeps the film running while he tracks and kills several species of troll which range from the 20ft. tall, three-headed variety to the enormous twenty story tall mountain troll. Along the way he expands on the mythology of the trolls with some cool references to Scandinavian folklore, it's captivating stuff.

The Norwegian mountains and wilderness makes for a gorgeous setting, the lush green gorges, rocky outcroppings, waterfalls and snowy landscapes go a long way towards creating a setting in which one can truly believe in the fantastical, it brings trolls from the fairy tales into the modern age, I totally bought into it. The night scenes filmed deep in the wilderness and lit by the glow of moon are truly magical and eerie, there is some seriously fine world building and mythology transpiring on screen.

Good acting all around but the film is anchored by Hans (Jespersen), the craggy, bearded trollhunter  whom completely sold the realism of the situation for me. He trucks around the Norwegian hills in a custom SUV dragging a camper behind it with protective armament's and charms, his weapon of choice, a super-powerful ultra-violet light canon which either turns trolls to stone or causes them to explode, depending on the species. His vehicle is marred by the scars of troll battle, huge claw marks, tears and gashes cover it's exterior, and does his own storied face.

The trolls look fantastic, obviously they're digital renderings but are quite well done and manage not to draw too much attention to themselves, very natural for the most part. These creatures come right off the pages of a dark  fairytales, only way more menacing, these are great creature designs. The film's is also not wanting for action, as the group flee from trolls through the Scandinavian forest it's pretty harrowing stuff, a ground shaking fun time.

It's actually quite rare I get a screener that I can enjoy with my kids, ages eleven and twelve, so it was a real treat to throw this on and watch it with 'em with a nice big bowl of buttered popcorn, much like myself they were completely enthralled from start to finish... should I tell them trolls don't really exist? Nah. 
  

DVD: The films looks pretty good, it's grainy, the night scenes particularly, but the colors pop and the cinematography stays within it's cinema verite concept but it's not too shaky. The 5.1 sound design is pretty great and definitely pulls you into the fantastical reality as the trolls call out into the night, it gave the surrounds quite a work. There's a decent amount of features on the disc but they're not outstanding, interesting, but not what I would call essential viewing. We get nearly 40 minutes of deleted scenes, bloopers, extended scenes, a nifty visual effects featurette (with no audio) plus a behind-the-scenes mini doc, good breezy stuff. These are presented 16x9 enhanced widescreen with Norwegian audio and optional English subtitles. The last of the features include a HDNet featurette and a collection of Magnolia trailers.
 

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Deleted Scenes (3:34)
- Improv and Bloopers (2:06)
- Extended Scenes (7:54)
- Visual Effects (6:06)
- Behind the Scenes (23:23)
- Photo Galleries
- HDNet: A  Look at Trollhunter (4:20)
- Magnolia Trailers (9:15) - HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, 13 ASSASSINS, GOOD NEIGHBORS, THE PERFECT HOST

VERDICT: Last year's MONSTERS (2010) was a like-minded cinema verite style film that I quite enjoyed but those neon-alien-squids just don't stand a chance against these Norwegian trolls, this is right up there with REC. (2007), CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980) and THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) in my opinion. A definite recommend from me, worth a purchase sight unseen.

DVD Review: MY PURE JOY (2011)

MY PURE JOY (2011)

LABEL: Psykik Junky Pictures

VIDEO: 16x9 Widescreen

AUDIO: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0

DIRECTOR: James Cullen Bressack
CAST: Alexie Ryan, Cory Jacob, Lisa Frantz, JD Fairman, Christopher Chandler

MY PURE JOY opens with a dysfunctional family dinner scenario as mother, father, adolescent son and a young man sit down for an delicious angst ridden dinner. The young man causes quite a ruckus at supper and dismisses himself from the table after an outburst that nearly ends in a physical confrontation with his father. A short time later the adolescent son lies in bed as a killer wearing a hoodie and an eerie porcelain mask enters the room and  dispatches the youngling in a most bloody manner, as a father I found the death of the child deeply disturbing, gets me every time. The masked killer stuffs the boy's blood-soaked body into a sack and moves onto the next room to continue the slaughter. At this point I'm thinking these are the actions of the angry young man from the dinner scene, he's obviously gone nutso, but in the next room we find that the angry teen is angrily beating-off to internet porn on his laptop, wow, angry and pathetic, this makes sense. He's dispatched in quick order, followed by the father who comes to check on the teen, perhaps to reconcile, who knows? Entering the room he's overcome by the grisly discovery of the teen and his young son's corpse stuffed in a sack. Our masked killer strikes from behind strangling him with rope, there's a brief scuffle on the floor, his legs spasm as his dying breath is exhaled. Up next is the mother, a woman whom I though bore a similarity to 70's genre familiar Karen Black. She's dispatched in a shower scene that fades to black and white, a sweet homage to Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, it's here that we get our first taste of the coveted slasher cinema nudity. Our killer, having extinguished an entire family, sets off for home where he plops down in bed and scribbles into a journal his thoughts on the killings.

That's the introduction to MY PURE JOY, the first feature length film from 19 year old director James Cullen Bressack. The film stars Alexei Ryan as our psychotic masked killer Adam, a young man living in the suburbs with his widowed mother. On the outside he looks the part of your typical slackerish suburban stoner but on the inside he's a seething tangle of repressed anger and dark murderous impulses. Through flashback we see Adam watching horror films with his bed-ridden father in the months leading up to his death, his dad's a real fright flick enthusiast and he instills a love of the genre into the boy who doesn't take to it right away. It's after his father's death that this exposure to violent cinema seems to awaken latent murderous tendencies within him as he sets about venting his anger by replicating kills from his favorite horror shows on unsuspecting victims. His mother does her best to raise the young man right but Adam doesn't make it easy for her, he's a total douche to the kind but frustrated woman. When he floods the bathroom he threatens to slash her throat after she suggest he clean it up, so yeah he has some serious anger issues. This tense and uneasy situation is made even worse when his estranged older brothers shows up and confronts Adam straight-on about his violent tendencies 

His two best (and only) friends are Chris and Steve, suburban stoners with whom he talks about horror films A LOT. These cats are the only people Adam seems to be able to carry-on a normal conversation with, and even then it's nearly entirely about smokin' weed and foreign horror films like Takashi Miike's ICHI THE KILLER and AUDITION as well as MARTYRS and INSIDE, can't bash their tastes, that's good stuff. Adam's also obsessed with his ex-girlfriend Cindy which leads to a confrontation with her douche-nozzle white-rapper gorilla of a new boyfriend at a party, but it's never a good idea to anger someone as psychotic as Adam, now is it?

The films starts off strong with the massacre of an entire family, it's potent stuff with some good gore effects. There's some decent dialogue, a tense pulsing filmscore, plus the coveted slasher cinema nudity, and the violence is fairly shocking and includes a rather painful stab to the groin which actually made me flinch. A particular strength of the films is Alexie Ryan's portrayal of Adam, you could feel his repressed anger, bursting at the seams with hostility and it really carried the film for me, his expressive face going from disconnected psychosis to over-the-top insanity at the drop of a pin good stuff.

For a first-time feature film from a director on a very limited budget I have to give it up to Bressack, this is a good watch. While the film looks good for a low-budget production there's some technical aspects that could've been handled better; editing and sound recording in particular come to mind and the effects aren't consistently good throughout, there's a few iffy moments that draw attention to themselves but not ruinous, just not great. Something else I didn't care for was the scapegoating of violent cinema as a cause for his murderous rage but as the film roles on there are revelations that might also explain his actions, so again, didn't care for it but I didn't hate it.    

VERDICT: A decent slasher with some interesting psychological horror elements, a definite recommend for those inclined to enjoy low-budget indie slashers and don't mind a few rough edges. I'll look forward to Bressack's next film, there's certainly bigger and better things on the way from this promising young director.

http://mypurejoyfilm.com/

http://psykikjunkypictures.com/

DVD Review: PRODUCE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE (2011)

PRODUCE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE! (2011)

2-Disc DVD Box-Set

LABEL: Troma Entertainment
REGION CODE: All NTSC
RATING: Unrated
DURATION: 300 mins
VIDEO: 1.33:1 Fullframe
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0
DIRECTOR: Lloyd Kaufman
CAST: David Cronenberg, Roger Corman, Avi Lerner, Monte Hellman, Joe Dante, Ernest Dickerson, Steven Paul, Mick Garris, The Duplass Brothers, Caroline Baron, Herschell Gordon Lewis, James Gunn, Darren Lynn Bousman

SYNOPSIS: When it comes to producing, no one speaks with more authority than Lloyd Kaufman creator of The Toxic Avenger and founder of the longest –running independent film studio, Troma Entertainment. Over the years he has discovered talents such as Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park, The Book of Mormon,) and Vincent D’Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) to name a few. Candid interviews, tips, tricks and tidbits scattered throughout the DVD give filmmakers practical tools for getting a movie shoot off the ground, keeping it afloat and seeing it through to the end – Lloyd Kaufman shows you how it’s really done. (from the DVD box)

Say what you will about Lloyd Kaufman and the quality of the films released by Troma Entertainment throughout the years, I know that there's a ton of what some might generously call stinkers among them, but they've been doing it for over 35 years. The simple fact is they've made a successful business of producing and distributing no-budget trash cinema and cult b-movie mayhem, that's no small feat. While it may not be for all tastes but I'll tell yeah that more than just a few folks out there are tried and true Tromaholics, they are legion. Troma is the longest-running indie film studio still in business today. Proverbial stinkers aside there are in fact many gems amidst the dreck; THE TOXIC AVENGER, CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH, POULTREYGIEST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD, THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE and a handful of classic genre cinema titles they've only distributed under The Tromapiece Collection banner; COMBAT SHOCK, MAD DOG MORGAN, THE LAST HORROR FILM and a more recent entry, the very cool retro-80's slasher that I just can't say enough great things about, BLOOD JUNKIE.

What we have here is a companion piece to Lloyd Kaufman's best-selling book Produce Your Own Damn Movie! which is a sequel of the "how-to" book Make Your Own Damn Movie! and Direct Your Own Damn Movie!, each of those were followed with a DVD companion, too, but this is my first viewing of the series. This time out Lloyd sets out to answer the question of what exactly is a movie producer, how to raise money for a production, capitalizing resources, casting, securing locations and pre-selling your move among others.

PRODUCE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE is parsed into two separate discs. Disc one is a series of behind-the-scene vignettes filmed on a hand held DV camcorder by Lloyd himself in true cine verite style as he appears in various cameo roles and speaks to the directors, filmmakers and producers on the set of backyard horror films, indie fright flicks and multi-million dollar productions.

Not in any order and possibly missing a few folks along the way we meet n' greet director Greg Lamberson (SLIME CITY) on the set of SLIME CITY MASSACRE while he shows us how to make our own damn inexpensive green screen. Lloyd visits The Godfather of Gore - Herschell Gordon Lewis (BLOOD FEAST) -  on the set of his film THE UH-OH SHOW in which our fearless moderator Lloyd cameos as a dapper pimp. Watching Herschell and his staff contemplate another term for dildo is priceless. Then onto visit to the set of SLITHER director and Troma alum Jame's Gunn's vigilante justice feature SUPER. Next up is Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW II) who's filming a remake of Troma's MOTHER'S DAY featuring cameos from both Lloyd and brother Charles, who directed the original film.

There are also behind-the-scenes set visits and cameos on Richard Griffin's NUN OF THAT, a low budget nunploitation flick from the director of Lovecraftian film BEYOND THE DUNWICH HORROR. in the film Lloyd cameo's as none other than his holiness the Pope whom delivers a Papal Pardon. Lloyd's cameos are classic Kaufman, fun, silly and terribly acted not unlike a lot of the Troma films really. Others sets visited include KILLED ON THE 4th OF JULY directed by a 16 year old named J.D. Lifshitz who was inspired by Lloyd's Direct Your Own Damn Movie!, Ted Moehring's indie Giallo BLOODBATH IN THE HOUSE OF KNIVES, a period horror film called UNDER THESE HILLS by young filmmaker Sam Bahre, Mike Huecks MIDNIGHT ORCHIDS in Berlin, Germany, behind-the-scenes on Jeff Burr's (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III) SURVIVAL (working title), on the set of BAD GIRLS BURN IN HELL with actress Devanny Pinn, a film in which Lloyd's head is blown up. The SF/X guy on the film didn't realize that Lloyd had a beard before hand so he has to improvise using some fur from a teddy bear, that's the wonderful improvisational nature and necessity of indie filmmaking right there. It's an interesting filmset located in a town that had been condemned by the state government for lead poisoning, not sure I would wanna be on that set. Lloyd is willing to risk life and lung for our entertainment, that's dedication.  There's also a nice segment of director William Instone  on the set of JON who instills upon us the value of treating your crew right and exploiting strip clubs, that's good advice for young filmmakers and young men in general.

The second is stuffed with on-camera interviews with a variety of known and lesser known directors, producers and filmmakers. Of the two formats I prefer this one, I've always preferred interviews to behind-the-scenes special features and this entire film is one gigantic bonus features. Joe Dante (PIRANHA) speaks on GREMLINS and how the studio practically begged him to make the sequel, about the opportunities he was lucky enough to have had in the industry and the dismal future of filmmaking, it's not very uplifting in my opinion. Dante is someone so informed, so enthusiastic about filmmaking that I wish the entire disc had been filled with his recollections and insight, great stuff.

The Duplass Brothers, directors of BAGHEAD and THE PUFFY CHAIR, speak about making short films and the opportunities afforded to them after being accepted into the Sundance film festival. Producer Steven Paul (DOOMSDAY) gives a from the ground-up perspective on obtaining the rights to Marvel's GHOST RIDER on through finishing the film while Avi Lerner (THE BLACK DAHLIA) similarly recollects ramping up production on Stallone's RAMBO. The DP on Spike Lee's DO THE RIGHT THING, Ernest Dickerson, speaks about the nebulous nature of the producer's role, the do's the don'ts, the benefits of being a producer versus a director and the availability of funding from outsider sources; shipping magnates, realtors and such.

Monte Hellman director of TWO LANE BLACKTOP and some notable acid westrens speaks of producing Quentin Tarentino's RESERVOIR DOGS, what makes a good producer and pointing out that by his standards Lloyd's iron-fisted producer model would be unacceptable, feeling producers should be hands off, a facilitator not a creator. He also speaks about the importance of pre-selling films to foreign markets, all of this is spoken of while he toils away in his kitchen preparing a morning ritual of coffee, pancakes and eggs, it's all very Zen. CAPOTE producer Caroline Baron, who started her career as a production manager on Troma's TOXIC AVENGER, drives home the point that Troma's legacy truly is anyone can make a film. Her own career a prime example of someone who came into the industry with no experience and worked their way up through the ranks through trial and error. There's a nice nostalgic segment as she finds the original Toxic Avenger production diary in her office, it's a pretty fascinating look back, even Lloyd seemed mesmerized by it.

Creator and producer of Showtime's MASTERS OF HORROR Mick Garris reminisces about breaking into the business as a writer and catching the notice of Spielberg circa AMAZING STORIES, and working his way up to a point where he doesn't have to chew on turds anymore (obviously he doesn't watch his own films). There's a fun bit with yet another Troma alum Trent Haaga (CITIZEN TOXIE) that opens with a staged masturbatory intro that is very Tromatic. Haaga goes onto discuss a script he penned called POOR THINGS that got picked up by some novice producers. The script gained some notice and was cast with Shirley McClaine, Channing Tatum and Lindsay Lohan in the leads until it fell victim to the producer's avarice and Lohan's drug bust, completely derailing the project. He also speaks to the value of a good location contract following a bad experience with DEAD GIRL which he wrote and expounds on what he considers the good and bad of Troma's business model.

Of course what good would PRODUCE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE! be if it did not feature the American king of schlock films, Roger Corman. The Cormster looks back at producing independent cinema for so many years (and still going strong), the differences between then and now, producing CYCLOPS for the Syfy channel and what his current business model is, it's a bit dry as Corman sometimes is but still a good watch.

VERDICT: Coming to this is a non-filmmaker I still found it quite fascinating from the perspective of a special features enthusiast and film nut. If you're a young filmmaker I can't say this is THE answer to all your questions about producing a film but it does pose many useful tidbits worth pondering, and it's quite inspiring seeing these filmmakers toil under sometimes adverse conditions to put forth their vision on film for the masses. Lloyd is a great host of course, he's smart and funny, he hits on the young ladies and pokes fun at himself at every turn, fun stuff.