Christopher Di Nunzio's DELUSION (2016) now available to buy or rent on Amazon

Director Christopher Di Nunzio's Delusion (2016) has been picked up for distribution by Cinema Epoch and is now available to buy or rent in the US, Canada and UK at Amazon. Free with Prime. Delusion also stars Jami Tennille from Manchester By The Sea. 

Synopsis:  Frank Parrillo received a letter from his wife who died three years ago. With help from his nephew Frank decides he's ready to start over. Soon after a mysterious woman appears who seems like a kindred spirit as they both battle internal issues. Still despite premonitions from a psychic and a man who Frank's not sure is even real he chooses to move forward as he confronts the demons in his head. His choice could ultimately lead him to a darker reality.

SECRETS OF A PSYCHOPATH (2014) (DVD Review)

SECRETS OF A PSYCHOPATH (2014) 

Label: Cinema Epoch 
Region Code: 1
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 091 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo 
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) 
Directior: Bert I. Gordon
Cast:  Kari Wuhrer, Mark Famiglietti, Mia Serafino

Secrets of a Psychopath (2014) comes to us by way of a very familiar name, director Bert I. Gordon. The man who brought us the '70s drive-in classics Food of the Gods (1976) and Empire of the Ants (1977), two slices of ecology gone wrong movie magic featuring over sized creatures causing mayhem in the world of man. I have a soft spot for this  vein of drive-in cinema from the '70s, but realistically it's now been twenty-six long years since Gordon last directed a movie, and thirty-eight since he directed a movie I've actually watched, which is not a comment on the quality of his movies from the '80s, I just have not seen them. Going into this I was both a bit excited and slightly worried about what the old duff was up to with the low-budget Secretes of a Psychopath, starring Mark Famiglietti (Terminator 3) and Kari Wuhrer (Eight LeggedFreaks) as a demented brother and sister who live alone in their childhood home. Henry (Famiiglietti) who prowls the online dating sites looking for a suitable mate, he's an attractive guy, has a nice way about him, and meeting women and bringing them to his home is not a problem. However, once he gets them home things get strange very quickly. Henry has some serious sexual hang-ups, and before you know he and too-close for comfort sibling are dressed up as dolls and murdering the young women. Exactly why they're up to what they're up to is the focus of this psycho-sexual drama/thriller from Gordon, as we delve into the bizarre and traumatic events that have lead this demented duo down that path they're on. 

At one point Henry finds himself at the cinema enjoying a vintage racing movie just a little too much, imagining himself in the driver's seat with a huge smile plastered across his mug. An attractive young woman takes notice of him and moves into the seat next to him, she makes a ridiculously overt come-on and before you know it the two are back at her apartment. They make some small talk and she talks a bit about her roommate Georgette (Mia Serafino), who she says is the image of perfection, a sweet and honest young woman. While this young woman tries to get the pants off Henry he is a bit preoccupied with thoughts of her more wholesome roommate, once things start to get sexual he strangles her to death. This guy does not have time for whores, he's may be crazy, but the guy craves a wholesome woman, not these women who will drop their panties on the first date. 

Once the roomie Georgette arrives he snatches her and forces her into his car and takes her back to his place, where he ties her to a bed, and goes on about marrying her and how happy they will be together blah blah blah. Meanwhile she earns a little trust and is able to walk around the house, where she finds a scrapbook of all the women that Henry has previously brought home, a macabre scrapbook of women who just didn't make the cut. 

Kari Wuhrer as the sister Catherine seems to be the true source of both Henry's insanity and murderous intimacy issues. As the predictable thriller plays out we discover through some nicely executed flashback sequences what transpired in their youth and how it fucked them up, but the reveal is pretty broadcast from early on, with some incestuous overtones and adolescent mind-fuckery. Content and performance wise this is about on par with any of the Lifetime Channel movies I find my wife watching on the weekends, which is to say a little on the dull side, there are very few surprises and the acting is varied to be kind. While Wuhrer is always pleasing on the eyes, she and Famiglietti are a bit inconsistent in their roles in my opinion, they're weird for sure, but they both seem to struggle to connect with the material. 

Bert I. Gordon's direction is solid, there's skill behind the execution with some decent low-budget cinematography, the low-budget limitations seem to be hid behind a gloss of stylized color correction, it's a nice looking low-budget digital shot movie. There's some nice atmospheric lighting, some fluid camera moves and talent behind the cinematography. The score from Scott Glashow (Hatchet III) is sort of generic but suits the psycho-sexual melodrama nicely. At the end of the day I didn't love this movie and I probably won't ever re watch it, but as a fan of Bert I. Gordon's previous work I appreciated that the old guy is still making genre movie, and at the end of the day that's just cool, though I sort of wish he had gone the creature feature route..

Extras on the disc from Cinema Epoch include a new nearly hour-long interview with the now ninety-three year old director Bert I. Gordon who speaks about developing the movie, shooting on digital as opposed to film, his own introduction to feature movie making, and looking back at the making of his own career, including his last films, Satan's Princess (1989), working with Orson Welles on Necromancy (1972). and his future plans for movies. The interview it quite a treat for fans of Gordon's work. Other extras include a trailer for the movie and a collection of images/ 

Special Features: 
- Exclusive New Interview with Director Bert I. Gordon (54 Mins) 
- Trailer (1 Mins) 
- Still Gallery (2 Mins) 

I didn't love Secrets of a Psychopath, it's a bit predictable and is way too melodrama for my own tastes but it's not awful, just not my sort of movie. It pleases me to know that Bert I. Gordon, who made such fun drive-in movies back in the 70's and '80s, is out there making movies today, he still has the passion and the drive, and that's awesome. If you're a hardcore Gordon fan this might be worth a watch, particularly for the new interview, but if you're only curious and don't want to commit to a puchase you can watch it on Amazon Instant Video for about three dollars. 2.5/5

EUROCRIME! THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILMS THAT RULED THE '70S (2014)

EUROCRIME! 

THE ITALIAN COP AND GANGSTER FILMS THAT RULED THE '70S (2014)

Label: Cinema Epoch

Duration: 127 Minutes

Region Code: 1

Rating: Unrated

Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Audio: English, Italian  Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 

Director: Mike Malloy
Cast: Franco Nero, John Saxon, Henry Silva, Luc Merenda, Antonio Sabáto, Fred Williamson, Richard Harrison, Chris Mitchum, Enzo Castellari, Leonard Mann, Joe Dallesandro, Michael Forest, Claudio Fragasso, John Steiner Ottaviano Dell'Acqua, Mario Caiano, Nicoletta Machiavelli, John P. Dulaney, Greg Stephen, Sal Borgese, Ted Rusoff

Something I didn't even know I was yearning for was a comprehensive documentary about the high octane Eurocrime police films coming out of Italy in the 1970s following the decline of the lucrative spaghetti westerns. At first these films were out and out copycats of American angry cop films like DIRTY HARRY but the Italians quickly made it something all their own by informing their stories with the true life violence of the era. The format usually dealt with an angry cop fed up with crime but also infuriated by the bureaucracy and red tape that prevented them from taking the scum off the streets ending with a fed-up cop pushed over the edge and taking things into their own hands with bloody consequences.

Mike Malloy's two hour plus documentary covers all the facets from  Enzo Castellari's HIGH CRIME (1973) starring Franco Nero (DJANGO) onward offering up a steady stream of movie posters, clips and talking heads. We gets some great info about the second career it offered both seasoned Italian and American actors and just which films were ripping off what other films. Some of the dialogue comparisons are quite fun and just a cunt hair short of being verbatim.

The interviews with John Saxon, Henry Silva and Franco Nero are my favorite with candid and often funny recollections of making these oftentimes misogynist crime thrillers under suspect and hurried circumstances.

Plenty of tales of shooting death defying stunts and action sequences peppered with live ammunition - the spaghetti western may have died off but the down and dirty nature of some of these shoots are right out of the wild west.

I've seen only a handful of Eurocrime capers from the likes of Blue Underground and Raro Video so it was a treat to sit down with  this and just take notes with pen and pad jotting down names of films to further my Italian crime education - this was quite an introduction to a sub genre of Italian cinema that has eluded me for the most part.

There's a metric ton of interviews crammed into this, it's a veritable who's who of Eurocrime cinema spread out over two hours and divided up into chapters with a great soundtrack from Calibro 35 among others. The editing is down and dirty and not overly glossy and that's just fine by me, this is a great documentary packed with more info than I could ever hope to absorb in one sitting. The passion for the genre by the filmmakers is dripping off screen and makes for an electrifying watch one critique might me that at over 120 minutes it's a bit long in the tooth and might wear out the less initiated but not me, I wanted it to on for another hour! 

If you have a curiosity for Eurocrime and Italian cinema I strong encourage you to seek this out and immerse yourself in the glory of the action-packed and ultra-violent Eurcrome cinema of the '70s, a damn fine documentary.

DVD REVIEW: Dismal (2010)

DISMAL (2009)

LABEL: Cinema Epoch 
RATED: R
GENRE: Backwoods Horror
RUNNING TIME: 90 Min.
DIRECTOR: Gary King
CAST: Lydia Chandler, Tim Morris, Jack Harrison, Bill Oberst, Jr., Laura Kimsey, Will Triplett, Capel Kane
RELEASE DATE: December 21st 2010
TAGLINE: Eat Or Be Eaten


PLOT: Dana is failing Biology. To pass she must attend an extra credit assignment with several classmates that will lead them into a remote region of the Great Dismal Swamp, a place teeming with life... and death. While the group keeps one eye out for hungry bear, deadly snakes and lurking gators, they are unaware of the real danger. For the top of the food chain lives in a dingy cabin not too far from their campsite, and he has an appetite for human flesh.


FILM: I do enjoy a good ole backwoods horror film, them rural folk sure is scary. From TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1973) onwards through to the under-valued WRONG TURN films there is some goodness to be had with this sub-genre of horror. How does DISMAL fare? What we have here is a pretty standard group of college-type characters that include survival-girl Dana (Lydia Chandler), good gal Kimmy (Laura Kimsey), good guy Gary (Will Triplett), token black dude Jamal (Jade Arnold) and his sex-crazed gal-pal Shelly (Capel Kane) who head out to the Great Dismal Swamp to earn extra credit in their college biology class. Leading the trip is teaching-assistant Curt (Tim Morris).

Once settled in the group pitch their tents and separate into small groups and head out into the wilderness to take notes, samples and observe nature in action or something. Gary and Kimmy spend time together and develop crushes on each other, it's innocently sweet. Jamal and Shelly find a nice quite spot in the swamp and get their freak on. These two are a couple of horn dogs and Shelly provides a more than adequate amount of nudity to the film. That's a plus. Meanwhile back at camp Dana and Curt get to know each other a little better, it's pretty obvious that Curt sees Dana as more than a student but she's definitely not interested. Curt's a strange one, better keep an eye on him. As night settles in over the swamp the group start getting picked-off one by one by a hulking 7ft. freak called Idiot (Jack Harrison) that's fond of bashing people upside the head with a spiked club and occasionally snagging them with a grappling hook. The gore in the film is pretty good with the exception of some laughable CGI that wounds some otherwise well executed gore scenes. My favorites is a nasty little scene as one of the gals runs through the swamp and it tripped up by a bear-trap that takes her leg resulting in her falling face first into another bear trap, good stuff. Turns out the 7ft. freak is not alone and there's actually a trio of human flesh craving cannibals prowling the Great Dismal Swamp. Bill Oberst, Jr. as Dale (the patriarch of the cannibal clan) is a foreboding and demented son-of-a-bitch and he's got screen presence to spare - the definite stand-out performance of the film.
 

The story well paced but not original by any means. Your typical group of stereotypes out of their element hunted by cannibalistic backwoods folks, it's been done a zillion times (and better) but this one is decent if not very memorable. The swamp setting is a great set-piece and the shots are well-composed but the film is pretty standard backwoods horror that hits all the beats you'd expect and little else.

DVD:  DISMAL is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with 2.o stereo surround. It's a good looking film and the presentation looks great. Not much in the way of special features aside from previews of other Cinema Epoch titles.

VERDICT: This is director Gary King's first foray into the horror genre and I must say it's a decent effort but it's derivative and familiar material that we've seen time and time again. That combined with some lacklustre special effects work knocks the grade down a bit on this one. It's strives to be a WRONG TURN (2003) or HATCHET (2006) but falls short of the mark. Not quite a recommend but perhaps a rental. DISMAL (2009) comes to DVD December 21st 2010 from Cinema Epoch. 

 **1/2 (2.5 out of 5 stars)

- McBASTARD

DVD REVIEW: Stiff (2010)

STIFF (2010)

STUDIO: Cinema Epoch

YEAR: 2010

REGION: 1

RATED: Unrated

GENRE: Drama

RUNNING TIME: 80 Min.

DIRECTOR: Mike McKown and Jim Towns

CAST: Bill Scott (Troy), Lulu Benton (Lori), Melissa Troughtzmantz (Ms. Chapman)
TAGLINE: "I Want You to Help Me Die...."

PLOT: Troy (Bill Scott), a suicidal office employee, forms a bond with Lorri (Lulu Benton), a crisis counselor with a secret necrophiliac obsession. The two make a secret pact: Lorri will help Troy kill himself, if she can have her way with him afterward. But, as they prepare to go through with the deed, Troy's feelings for Lorri begin to grow, putting a strain on their seemingly ideal arrangement, as Troy wonders if he really does want to give his life (and Lorri) up. (from cinemaepoch.com)

FILM: Well here's a quaint indie drama that's not your typical boy meets girl love story. In this instance a suicidal office worker named Troy (Bill Scott) frequents the suicide hotline so often that not only do they know him by name but he's got his favorite operator at the crisis center, Lori (Lulu Benton). Lori is your average mid-20's necrophiliac ...oh yeah, that's right ...she's a real corpse grinder, truly. What better place to meet a stiff than at the suicide crisis hot line, right? The two strike up an unlikely friendship over the phone to the point that Lori gives the depressed loner her home phone number. Not a day later Troy's ringing Lori looking for a sympathetic ear while he half-heatedly contemplates jumping off a bridge. That's his deal, he has no follow-through to fully commit to suicide. Lori reaches out to him and arranges to meet him at his home. Troy's home is a pathetic sight with a shoddily constructed noose hanging from his sparsely furnished kitchen. So, what's Lori's deal, why is she so altruistic? She's into screwing corpses and is there to convince Troy to let her help him kill himself so that she can gratify her morbid desires after his death. Sounds like a sweet deal for both of 'em, right? Well, after spending a few days together Troy starts to feel the pangs of love for the 1st time and begins to question his resolve, and this is where the film excels, when it's exploring the tricky emotional interplay between Lori and Troy.  

The film is carried by the two main performances and they are definitely up to the task. While not Oscar-caliber they are both strong and tap into the dark emotional struggles that have brought them to this point in their lives. Both are socially and emotionally awkward individuals, most obviously Troy whose life of solitude has driven him to a state of suicidal despair. Lori is more socially adept but is deeply emotionally twisted stemming from witnessing her 1st love's death under the wheels of a school bus which has lead her down the path of death fetish and necrophilia. The film could have easily slipped into darker waters with themes of suicide and necrophilia but somehow manages to maintain it's edge as drama without devolving in DEADGIRL (2008) or NEKROMANTIK (1987) type body-horror territory but it straddles the line. Reportedly this film was shot in 7 days on a $1,000 micro-budget, that is true independent spirit. If I were complelled to nit pick I might say that the camera shots were pretty static and shot on the cheap, well no shit, right?  

DVD: STIFF comes to DVD courtesy of Cinema Epoch. The film is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen with stereo audio. It's a good looking transfer with good image qaulity and crisp detail. The film is dialogue driven and the stereo audio is more than adequate. A good variety of supplemental materials including an informative behind-the-scenes featurette and an audio commentary with Directors Mike McKown and Jim Towns, first assistant camera/sound Christopher Nickelson and actors Lulu Benton and Bill Scott.

Special Features:

- Audio Commentary (80:00)

- Trailer (2:58)

- Alternate Ending (2:56)

- Featurette (40:33)

- Still Gallery

VERDICT: A decent entry into the pantheon of quirky indie-dramas. An off-kilter chronicling of the fateful meeting of two lonely souls working together towards a mutual morbid end. **1/2 (2.5 out of 5 stars)

CINEMA EPOCH

cinemaepoch.com

@cinemaepoch

- McBASTARD

DVD Review: Hide and Go Kill 2 (2009)

HIDE AND GO KILL 2 (2009)
aka HITORI KAKURENDO: GEKIJO-BAN (2009)
Cinema Epoch

RATING: PG
RUNNING TIME: 83 Min.
DIRECTOR: Masafumi Yamada
CAST: Yukie Kawamura, Mayuko Kawakita, Masahiro Usui, Ben Yuzawa, Yuzu Kubota, Miyû Wagawa


SYNOPSIS: When her classmate Ritsuko disappears, her friend Ryoko is desperate to find her. When she discovers that Ritsuko was playing a strange game online of hide and seek, she begins to wonder if it could be related to her disappearance somehow. Ryoko then discovers that the game is more sinister than it appeared at first. It is linked to demonology and the supernatural. Will she be able to get past her fears and superstitions to discover what secrets the game of hide and seek might hold?

FILM: The sequel to the creepy urban ghost tale Hide and Go Kill (2008) came out just a year afterwards and is directed by Masafumi Yamada. The film is centered around a high school where students and teachers are being affected by the game of Hitori Kakurenbo and the angered spirit it brings. The film is very similar to the first though the storytelling is more linear and the mythology is expanded on to some degree. If you missed out on the review for Hide and Go Kill here's how the game is played...

First you  take a stuffed doll or animal and give it a name. Once you've named it cut it open and remove all the stuffing. Replace the stuffing with rice and your nail clippings and sew it back up using a needle and red thread. When done wrap the doll in the remainder of the thread. Then at precisely 3am take your stuffed animal to the bathroom, holding it in both hands and say "For the first game I'm (state your name) going to be it." three times and  drop the doll in water. Then you must turn off all the light in the house. You may turn on the TV but it must be an off-air static filled station. Now close your eyes and count to ten. Open your eyes and take a knife or sharp implement and return to the bathroom where you must find the doll and exclaim "I found you (state dolls name here)!" and proceed to stab it with a knife. You've won this round.  Next you say "Okay, now (name of dolls here) is it." The Japanese  word for "it" is Oni or "Devil" - weird, right? So, you're basically saying "You're the Devil". Leaving the impaled doll in the bathroom you must quickly run from the room and hide quietly in a closet or similar small space. Bring with you a glass of salt water with you when you hide. The object is to remain hidden in your space until sunrise or as log as you can despite what you may hear, see or feel. According to the blog  people have reported smelling repulsive odors, temperature changes, the sensation of being pulled at or tugged, creaking sounds, furniture moving. No matter what happen you must stay hidden. At sunrise the game is almost over but not quite. Fill your mouth with as much salt water as you can, don't swallow it. With the water in mouth go to the bathroom where you left the doll, keep in mind it may not still be there. Search until you find it, don't give up. When you find it spit the water on the doll and say three time "I won!" The final act is to burn the doll. To stray from any of these steps is to invite death upon yourself from the ghostly apparition who is summonsed by the incantation, this is basically a ritual to curse yourself.

Ms. Kashiwaga is a teacher at the high school, she notices a student named Uno seems troubled and out of sorts. She walks the young girl home and while she is not forthcoming during the conversation she inquires to Ms. Kashiwagi if she's heard of hide and seek alone game.  Uno disappears a short time later. The teacher begins her own inquest in the game and sees video of the apparition on the internet, soon after she begins having odd visions and dreams of a childhood friend who disappeared years earlier. Ms. Kashiwaga hears at school that one of the new teaching staff Mr. Yamagata was fired from his previous teaching job for necromancy and cult activities. As students and coworkers disappear around her she asks Mr. Yamagata for help and it is from him that the mythos surrounding Hide and Seek Alone is expanded on.

The pace of this film despite it's longer running time seems more fluid and the characters are  better developed as we get to spend more time with them. Aikawa is a troubled young man whose mother has recently passed away and he contemplates the murder his father. Maya is a young woman who craves Aikawa's attention and she thinks she may be able to use the Hide and Seek Alone incantation to rid him of his father. In matters of the occult and supernatural these things rarely pan out as expected, it is no different here.

Aside from more character development the film is also more visually focused and I enjoyed the multiple montages of the teens readying the game, it's just creepy to watch and was the highlight of both films for me. The encounters with the ghost are more startling and prolonged as well. Both this film and it's predecessor benefited from a great film score that created a tense audio dynamic that greatly enhanced my viewing experience.

DVD: Hide and Go Kill 2 makes its way to DVD from Cinema Epoch and is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen with a Japanese language Dolby Digital Stereo soundtrack with optional English subtitles. Special features include an photo gallery of stills from the film and an image gallery of other Cinema Epoch titles. Pretty bare bones but a good audio/visual presentation. 

VERDICT: Hide and Go Kill 2 is as effective as it's predecessor and expands on the personal stories of the participants involved in the game of Hide and Seek Alone, however, the bits of character development were a bit weak the exception being Ms. Kashiwaga as she looks into the disappearances of her friend and coworker, that was very intriguing though I did not care for the dreams and flashbacks of her missing friend. The expansion of the mythos from Mr. Yamagata is interesting but yields no real answers only more questions. Still, and intriguing and atmospheric ghost tale that won't disappoint.
***1/2 (3.5 out of 5 stars)

DVD Review: Hide and Go Kill (2008)

HIDE AND GO KILL (2008)
aka HITORI KAKURENBO (2008)
Cinema Epoch


RATING: PG
RUNNING TIME: 75  Min.
DIRECTOR: Tomoya Kainuma
CAST: Saki Yamaguchi, Aimirôra, Haruka Misaki, Rui Ôno


SYNOPSIS: "I have to play hide an seek by myself to escape the loneliness." So starts a blog on a mysterious website which quickly spreads like wildfire, starting a dangerous online game. At 3:00 in the afternoon, a teddy bear stuffed with rice and nails is sunk into a bathtub. The lights go out and the player is required to stab the bear with the knife, then write their experiences in the blog. But lately the comments have taken a dark, demented turn. As though the players are being possessed.

FILM: The Asian culture sure knows how to tell an effective ghost story, real creepy stuff. I'm not super well-versed in Asian horror but I was quite fond of both  Ringu (1998) and Jo-on (2000), they were tense and atmospheric supernatural skin-crawlers and both were remade for American audiences as The Ring (2002) and The Grudge (2004) - it should be said that the remakes were actually quite good. Following the success of these films we saw an onslaught of Asian horror remakes for American audiences. Here's just a smattering...

Tales of Two Sisters (2003) remade as The Uninvited (2009)

Dark Water (2002) remade as Dark Water (2005)

The Eye (2002) remade as The Eye (2008)

Pulse (2001) remade as Pulse (2006)

...the current slasher/horror remake trend has nothing on Asian horror, these films were be remade scant years after the theatrical runs, not decades.

Hide and Go Kill (2008) is the debut film from Japanese filmmaker Tomoya Kainuma. He doesn't set out to reinvent the genre here, this is familiar stuff, but he has made one hell of a creepy film with a unique twist.  Apparently there are a lot of bored Japanese teens who frequent an online blog that tells of a game called Hitoro Kakurenbo (Hide and Seek Alone) that to my mind recalls a more detailed version of the Bloody Mary game we've all heard about and some of us dared play as kids, it's a very similar theme. The blog entries  give  detailed instructions of how the game is played and what the consequences may be if you do not follow them to the letter. I thought to myself why would these teens play such a game, then again, I played Bloody Mary routinely at sleepovers as a pre-teen.

Here's how it works. First you  take a stuffed doll or animal and give it a name. Once you've named it cut it open and remove all the stuffing. Replace the stuffing with rice and your nail clippings and sew it back up using a needle and red thread. When done wrap the doll in the remainder of the thread. Then at precisely 3am take your stuffed animal to the bathroom, holding it in both hands and say "For the first game I'm (state your name) going to be it." three times and  drop the doll in water. Then you must turn off all the light in the house. You may turn on the TV but it must be an off-air static filled station. Now close your eyes and count to ten. Open your eyes and take a knife or sharp implement and return to the bathroom where you must find the doll and exclaim "I found you (state dolls name here)!" and proceed to stab it with a knife. You've won this round.  Next you say "Okay, now (name of dolls here) is it." The Japanese  word for "it" is Oni or "Devil" - weird, right? So, you're basically saying "You're the Devil". Leaving the impaled doll in the bathroom you must quickly run from the room and hide quietly in a closet or similar small space. Bring with you a glass of salt water with you when you hide. The object is to remain hidden in your space until sunrise or as log as you can despite what you may hear, see or feel. According to the blog  people have reported smelling repulsive odors, temperature changes, the sensation of being pulled at or tugged, creaking sounds, furniture moving. No matter what happen you must stay hidden. At sunrise the game is almost over but not quite. Fill your mouth with as much salt water as you can, don't swallow it. With the water in mouth go to the bathroom where you left the doll, keep in mind it may not still be there. Search until you find it, don't give up. When you find it spit the water on the doll and say three time "I won!" The final act is to burn the doll. To stray from any of these steps is to invite death upon yourself. This is a fairly involved game, I feel kinda lazy with the whole Bloody Mary schtick now.

Weird stuff and even odder is that I hear this is an actual game in Japan. Something I've always enjoyed about the Asian ghost films are the ghosts themselves. More often that not it's a contorted woman with unruly long black hair crawling unnaturally across the floor. I don't know why but the image is unnerving to me. Secondly, I think that the Japanese culture is so tech-gizmo crazed that the films usually incorporate laptops, cellphones and text messaging into the plot lines in a way that is natural and actually adds elements of suspense, more so than one might assume. Along those same lines we are fed quite a few details through blog entries and as lame as that sounds it works surprisingly well.


DVD: Hide and Go Kill makes its way to DVD from Cinema Epoch and is  presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen with a Japanese language Dolby Digital Stereo soundtrack with optional English subtitles. Special features include an photo gallery of stills from the film and an image gallery of other Cinema Epoch titles. Pretty bare bones but a good audio/visual presentation.

VERDICT: Hide and Go Kill is a very effective ghost story that incorporates elements of urban legend and technology in a way that is modern but suspenseful with a great sense of atmosphere and intrigue. A great Asian horror entry and a very good film debut from director Tomoya Kainuma.  ***1/2 (3.5 out of 5 stars)

DVD Review: DeathTube (2010)

DEATH TUBE (2010)
Cinema Epoch

RATED: Unrated
RUNNING TIME: 117 Min.
DIRECTOR: Fukuda Youhei
CAST: Shôichi Matsuda, Wataru Kaoru, Ishino Atsushi, Tsukamoto Sanae

SUMMARY:  There's a new internet craze and eight separate people frequent a website called DeathTube which streams a real time game show in which contestants are put to task under penalty of death if they lose. To their horror each of them awaken to find out they are now contestants on DeathTube as millions of people watch.

FILM: The internet is teaming with websites catering to our darkest desires, one such site is a streaming video site called DeathTube whose logo mimics the ever-popular YouTube. The site delivers a murderous game show wherein "contestants" are coerced to complete a series simple game-based tasks. If they fail they are gruesomely murdered for millions of viewers to see. The site is an underground sensation and only intermittently appears online. Those who watch are fascinated, some think the deaths are faked or staged while others believe them to be true snuff films.

At the start of the film we are introduced to a young man watching DeathTube but he is distracted by his fiance before he sees the bloody outcome. Sometime later he awakens alone in a strange room. He's disoriented and confused and becomes quite shaken once he realizes he's in one of the DeathTube rooms. The room is small and sparsely furnished with a table containing a laptop computer and a small television set. There is also as a smaller table full of seemingly random objects that play into the contests challenges. The room is wired with several web cams including the laptop. On the laptop there are eight camera feeds visible on the screen showing all the other contestants in this round of DeathTube, each in their own identical room. All eight contestants can see and hear each other via the laptops and are able to coordinate their efforts to some degree. On the television set a computer animated yellow bear calling himself Ponkichi appears and informs the group that they must all compete against each other in a series of contests and that the losers will die. The lone survivor will be allowed to leave unharmed. Unlike the Saw films the games are seemingly non-threatening and are actually a bit comedic in nature; word puzzles, rubik cubes, history and children's games are all included. These games though non-threatening in and of themselves hold the threat of death with each round. Soon after the start of the game contestants start dying in bloody ways.

Eventually Ponkichi appears in person dressed in a giant yellow bear suit and armed with a pistol.  As the game continues the challenges become more physical in nature and the players start to turn against each other. As the final few compete for survival twists and turn are revealed adding to the lunacy of the and threat of the situation.

The premise though not wholly original was well executed. It's a demented idea for a film but it works. We've all seen crazy shit on YouTube and the idea that live deaths are streaming on the Internet is not a great stretch of the imagination, in fact it's probably more common than I'd care to think about. The demented giant yellow bear is a very surreal and threatening element to the film and the whacky film score adds to the game show-from-hell atmosphere. The film is well stocked with bloody violence though not to a fantastic level. To be honest I'm not a fan of what I like to call the high-pressured Asian blood splatter we've seen in films like Tokyo Gore Police (2008) and Machine Girl (2008) and that style of gore is represented here. I didn't think any of the deaths were particularly great, a few were decent, but it was the deadly game show elements that kept my attention, the deaths were not the focus of the film.

I'm not someone who reads a lot into films for the most part. I don't dissect films to evaluate their subtext and social commentary. But I would be blind not see see that DeathTube is making some attempt at commenting on our need as a society to indulge our darker interests online, the search for entertainment regardless of the expense of others. Much like the idea of live streaming deaths online the thought of a game show where persons lives are in jeopardy is not too far from Jack Ass or Total Wipeout, a theme that was similarly explored in Running Man (1987).

DVD: The DeathTube DVD from Cinema Epoch is presented in 1.77:1 anamorphic wide screen with a 2.0 stereo Japanese soundtrack with optional English language subtitles.  The only special features are a collection of Cinema Epoch film trailers.

VERDICT: DeathTube's two-hour running time is a bit long and could have easily been edited to a more brisk 90 minute film and the acting is a bit spotty and overwrought in places but the demented and dark premise is strong. I can see fans of Saw (2004) and/or Cube (1997) enjoying this quite a bit.   *** (3 out of 5 stars)

DVD Review: The Dark Lurking (2009)

THE DARK LURKING(2009)
"In Space, Terror Knows No Bounds"
Cinema Epoch

RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 96 Min.
DIRECTOR: Greg Connors
CAST: Tonia Renee (Lena), Ozzie Devrish (Kirkland), Roslyn Van Doorn Yutant), Dirk Foulger (Konieg), Anthony Edwards (Dare), Bret Kennedy (Michaels)

SUMMARY:  Outpost 320 is a secret research facility located one mile beneath the Earth. Researchers make a critical mistake and an ancient evil is unleashed. Eight survivors including two former research patients, three mercenaries, two researchers and a medic fight for survival against a horde of creatures. They're only escape is through 13 levels of terror that will lead them to the surface. However, one of them is not what they appear.

FILM: The Dark Lurking is the feature-length debut from writer/director Greg Connors. This is an action-packed film that wears its influences on it's sleeve, just check out the box art which unlike Cinema Epoch's Psycho Shark delivers what the box art promises - an adrenaline fueled homage to James Cameron's Aliens that mixes in a healthy dose of Resident Evil type creatures that makes for a potent combination of sci-fi and action-gore.

The Dark Lurking is set in the underground research facility Outpost 320, it's a dark labyrinth of narrow, claustrophobic corridors and rooms complete with strobing red lights, misty atmosphere and ravenous creatures running amuck. The researchers have accidentally unleashed an ancient evil that mutates the majority of the crew into ravenous creatures. Our eight survivors make their way through research facility in an effort to escape to the surface while avoiding the vicious horde of creatures. There's a good mix of familiar iconic characters. You have the roughneck mercenaries, the suspect researchers, a few research patients, and a medic. The acting is decent, not fantastic, but the actors suit the characters and play there parts sufficiently.

What sets The Dark Lurking apart from other low-budget sci-fi/horror knock-offs is that the cinematography and editing are top notch. Great use of interesting angles, movement of camera and well edited action sequences provide a visually interesting film. I also enjoyed the pulsing filmscore, which is also heavily influenced by the films of Cameron. A criticism I have of the film would be that there may be too much action. The rarely slows down and I would have appreciated a few more character moments because you don't get a great feel for the characters. That aside, this film is all about relentless action and killing mutated creatures and to that end this film delivers in spades.

On par with the cinematography and editing are the outstanding creature SFX.  Grotesque, clawed mutations rendered using old school practical latex and rubbber suits and they look great. While more an sci-fi actioner than a horror flick The Dark Lurking  has more than enough blood, guts and splatter to satisfy most gorehouds.  The film just feels old school in regards to it's action and creature effects, it's an appealing combination.

DVD: The Dark Lurking is presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen with a 5.1 surround sound mix. It's a good looking , not stunning, but better than your average micro-budget sci-fi action film. A decent amount of extras including Trailer, Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, the short film "Netherworld" and a still gallery.

VERDICT: The Dark Lurking was a ton o' fun. A high recommend to fans of bloody action-packed sci-fi horror, particularly if you dig Aliens, Predator, or Resident Evil. I look forward to the next project from director Greg Connors, a promising debut from a new talent. The Dark Lurking is set to be released October 12th 2010 from Cinema Epoch.
***(3 Out of Five Stars)


- McBASTARD