DVD Review: V/H/S/2 (2013)

V/H/S/2 (2013)

Label: Magnet Releasing
Release Date: September 24th 2013 

Region Code: 1 NTSC

Duration: 96 Minutes

Rating: R

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional Spanish and English SDH Subtitles

Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1) 

DirectorS: Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale,
Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, Jason Eisener

Here we have another entry in the found-footage anthology series, a sequel to V/H/S (2012) with a new set of directors taking a stab at things, I wasn't completely enamored with the last entry and was down right disappointed with a few of the vignettes (lloking at you Ti west) so lets see what we have this time out. 

We begin with 'Tape 49', a very familiar framing device as two private investigators on the trail of a missing teen unlawfully enter a house and come upon a bank of TV monitors and stacks of VHS cassettes. The female investigator is tasked with pouring through the videos while the man searches through the seemingly empty house for clues to the missing teens whereabouts, this is our introduction to the shorts, much like we saw in V/H/S and it's just as weak here as it was then. The warp-around is directed by frequent Adam Wingard collaborator Simon Barrett whose written some good material previously with the creepy Civil War-era chiller Dead Birds (2006) and the recent You're Next (2011) but this just didn't do much for me unfortunately, it's a shame this is your first and last impression of the film. 

Up next is Adam Wingard's 'Phase 1: Clinical Trials' with Wingard in he staring role as a video game designer who has lost an eye in a car accident, we catch up with him just as an experimental camera-eye has been installed in his eye socket and he's returning home post-surgery. As night settles in begins to see strange things happening around his house, it's pretty much a variation on what we've seen previously in the j horror film The Eye (2002) or the underrated Body Parts (1991) with Jeff Fahey, this is a pretty effective entry and infinitely more fun than any of the Paranormal Activity (2007) entries in my opinion, plus we get a bit of nudity, too. 

The Godfather of Found Footage Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) offers up 'A Ride in the Park' a novel take on the zombie genre, featuring a mountain-biker with a Go Pro cam mounted-to his helmet as he hits the dirt trails for some extreme off road action until he happens upon a woman is distress, she's bloodied and vomiting. Dismounting his mountain bike  he attempts to offer aid when she attacks him, tearing out  a chunk out of his throat, he stumbles though the woods a short distance and bleeds out. A few moments later a coupe happen upon his corpse when he is suddenly reanimated as a flesh-chomping zombie, the remainder of the short plays out following his zombie exploits captured on the Go Pro camera set-up, it's definitely a novel idea with an interesting POV. I enjoyed the gore and some interesting POV shots - like when he's run over by an SUV, it made for a fun entry. 

Up next is what I think is one of the stronger entries co-directed by Timo Tjahanto (The ABCs of Death) and Gareth Huw Evans (The Raid) which features three documentary filmmakers gaining access to an Indonesian doomsday cult compound, while interviewing the cult leader he suddenly announces to his followers that the end is here, that the glorious event they've been waiting for is upon them... and it's pretty great vignette. We get a bit more character development than what we've seen up to this point including a love-triangle, but nothing too distracting as to take us away from the apocalyptic matters at hand, one of the documentarian's unplanned pregnancy actually plays into the proceedings, in fact it may have spurred the apocalypse. A blood-soaked and frantic affair, the chaos that ensues is fantastic and it went places I was not expecting we have Jonestown-style mass suicides, zombie ghouls and a horned demon unleashed up the world, I loved this entry and felt like it could have easily been expanded upon into a feature length film, I wanted more but what we get is just enough, this one really opened up the scope of the found-footage entries on the disc, it felt like a new take on the sub-genre an is handled quite deftly, these guys had a vision and it's a brutal bloodbath of fun. 

The segment I was most anticipating is from director Jason Eisener who directed the fantastically entertaining a violent retro-grindhouse romp Hobo with a Shotgun (2009) and the creepy 'Youngbuck' from The ABC's of Death (2013) anthology and it didn't disappoint me. Entitled 'Slumber Party Alien Abduction' it features a brother and sister left alone at their lakeside home for a weekend, the older sister's horny boyfriend arrives and the young brother invites a few of his naughty friends over, pretty soon it's a party. The young boys love to prank the horny older teens and capture their shenanigans on video, including, at night the boys bust into the girls room at catch her topless while straddling her boyfriend, enraged she chases the boys outside and it's then that the kids notice some strange lights hovering over the lake, bit don't pay much notice. As things settle down the vengeful sister notices that the boys are watching porn in the front room and turns the camera on them, catching one of 'em wanking it to the dirty movie, and that's when the shit starts to happen, an alien abduction scenario is underway as the teens are bombarded with noise and piercing bright light, slender armed alien greys are out to get 'em! I thought this was a really effective entry, it's fun and ratchets up the suspense right up to the end, this is great stuff and the ending was startling sad.

The film finishes up with the end of the wrap-around story which as I said up front was quite a let down, but overall V/H/S/2 is a step-up in pretty much every way from the first entry, the stories are better, more consistent, they're creative and have a broader scope plus it's executed deftly. 

DVD: The single-disc DVD from Magnet Releasing presents the film in 16:9 widescreen (1.78:1) with English Dolby Digital 5.1 with choice of Spanish or English subtitles. The DVD features both the unrated theatrical cut and the R rated version, not sure what the differences are, I watched the Unrated cut and it's the exact same length as the rated. There;s a nice compliment of extras including behind-the-scenes featurettes, trailers, galleries and a running audio commentary from the filmmakers, it's a very nice package from Magnet. The movie is also available on Blu-ray and as a DVD/Blu-ray/VHS combo, very cool. 

Special Features:

- Tape 49 Rewind (1:39) 

- Dissecting Phase I Clinical Trials (2:28) 

- Inside Safe Haven (3:34) 

- Slumber Party Alien Abduction: Behind the Lights (5:56) 

- A Ride in the Park: I Dare You (3:06) 

- AXS TV: A Look at V/H/S/2 (2:58) 

- Behind the Scenes Photo Galleries

- Filmmaker Commentary

- 2 Theatrical Trailers (3:56) 

- Magnet Trailers: Hammer of the Gods, Europa Report, Prince Avalanche, Syruo  (8:39) 

Verdict: A fun found footage anthology that improves upon the first film in nearly every way.  I went in with tempered expectation having been a bit bummed by it's predecessor but I walked away having had quite a bit of fun, a definite recommend and a fun watch with a few good scares and some interesting ideas that are executed quite well. 4 Outta 5 

DVD Review: HAUNTED CHANGI (2010)

HAUNTED CHANGI (2010)

Label: MVD Visual
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 81 minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Andrew Lau
Cast: Farid Azlam, Sheena Chung, Audi Khalis, Andrew Lau

I gotta say that the found-footage and faux-documentary films still seem to have some bite left to 'em, from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, REC., TROLLHUNTER (review HERE), THE LAST EXORCISM on through to the wildly successful PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and it's two sequels theatre goers are still jammin' the multiplexes to get their fix of found footage frights. Away from the theatres we have a plethora of indie direct-to-DVD entries too; from EVIL THINGS (review HERE) to PARANORMAL ENTITY, it's a sure sign of pop culture success when The Asylum cranks out a copycat film. That said, despite the continued demand and the sub-genre's success I do tend to elicit a low groan whenever I hear of a new entry, such as the rumored sequel to the FRIDAY THE 13th re-imagining, fuck me, say it ain't so. So, when I first opened up a package from MVD containing HAUNTED CHANGI I can't say that I was enthused at the prospect of it's value based on it's rather lame artwork, but 81 minutes later and a few beers in I was pleasantly surprised by what the film had to offer.  

The story goes something like this; in January of 2010 a group of local young filmmakers began exploring the famously haunted Old Changi Hospital in Singapore with terrifying and tragic results. What we see in the film are pieces edited together from the original Haunted Changi film crew's footage to tell their tragic story. It's pretty simple stuff. First up we meet our documentary crew; the director Andrew, cameraman Audi, producer Sheena and soundman Farid, all pretty likable folks. The four announce that they are setting out to document one of the most notoriously haunted places in all the world, the aforementioned Changi Hospital in Singapore. The property is a series of buildings left abandoned since the 1990's when the hospital was decommissioned. The hospital has a dark and disturbing history beginning during WWII when the location was used by the Japanese to torture and kill hordes of enemy Chinese and British combatants, after the war the property was re-purposed as a military hospital treating ill and wounded soldiers. Now two decades after being decommissioned the structure is said to be haunted by the legions of souls who met their fate there. It's an eerie place for sure and it brought to my mind the sanitarium from Brad Anderson's masterful SESSION 9, a labyrinthine decaying urban enviorment coated in graffiti art, thick with atmosphere and steeped in creep factor.

In a nice expository maneuver the film dumps some vintage newsreel footage on us to explain the location's history, a few man on the street type interviews with the citizens of Singapore to set-up it's reputation as a place of supernatural activity and then we get to some footage from within the hospital captured by our crew that's rife with the expected variations on the found-footage aesthetic we've come to expect; night vision, creepy darkened hallways, eerie shadows and spooked filmmakers running scared through corridors. Not a ton of originality here; it's definitely BLAIR WITCH meets SESSION 9 with some cool j-horror elements but it works and is a pretty effective little chiller that raised the hairs on my neck more than a few times.

There's a fun bit during the film when the Singapore contingent of Ghost Hunters shows up to aide the documentarians but are scared off the property by some headless apparitions that appear on a thermal cam, this is very much what I think would happen if any of these "ghost hunters" on TV ever really encountered anything more than each other making random fart noises in darkened spaces.

The slow build-up of the film is quite effective, well-paced and satisfactorily spooky. Andrew, the director of the documentary, increasingly becomes obsessed with the location, returning on his own to meet-up with a mysterious woman all the while becoming sickly ill. Meanwhile, Sheena becomes more and more unhinged by the place after an eerie, shadowy encounter that leaves her physically sick and unwilling to return to the location. The film's shortcomings for me include questionable actions on the part of the crew, it's the rare found-footage film that doesn't irk me that way, motivations and actions are oftentimes preposterous. Also, while the film's finale is pretty chilling it doesn't quite live up to the dread and suspense of the first two thirds of the film, but  it's still a pretty effective chiller and a nice found-footage exercise that should please fans of eerie supernatural thrillers and found-footage films.

DVD: The film is presented in 16:9 widescreen (1.85:1) and looks pretty good for a hand-held shaky cam flick, it's not completely hand-held but it's well in line with what we've come to expect from a found footage/faux-documentary  narrative film. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds pretty good to with some nice use of the surrounds to accentuate the film's creepier elements, good stuff. The English subtitles are optional but I found I kind of needed 'em on what with the actors thick accents, not a criticism just a fact.

The film comes with a nice selection of bonus content; the first being that this DVD features "enhanced footage"not seen during it's theatrical run, three text chapters from a book written by a character from the film, more of the archival WWII footage seen in the film and an easter egg with some behind-the-scenes footage.

Verdict: Not the final nail in the coffin of found-footage film by any means, this is a fine low-budget supernatural chiller, very well done and worth a watch. It may not be a classic of the genre but it's a good watch on a Friday night. 3 outta 5

Blu-ray Review: The Terror (1963)

THE TERROR (1963)
[Blu-ray + DVD Combo]

Label: HD Cinema Classics
Region: [Blu-ray] Region FREE [DVD] 0 NTSC
Rating: R
Duration: 79 mins
Video: 1080p 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 with Spanish Subtitles
Director: Roger Corman (Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Hill, Monte Hellman, uncredited)
Cast: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Dick Miller, Dorothy Neuman, Sandra Knight
Tagline: A New Classic of Horror Comes to the Screen!

Film: Roger Corman's The Terror is set in France in 1806. Lt. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson) is a soldier in Napoleon's army who's become separated from his regiment, he awakens on a beach where he encounters a hauntingly beautiful woman named Helena (Sandra Knight) whom walks into the surf and disappears. Thinking she must have been overcome by the waves Duvalier follows her in and nearly drowns himself all the while being dive bombed from above by a vicious hawk. Losing consciousness he awakens (again) inside the villa of Katrina (Dorothy Neumann), an old witchy woman. He inquires if she knows of the young woman and she replies that he must have imagined her during his near fatal drowning.

Undeterred Andre further searches for the woman through the forest until he comes to the castle of Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff, Frankenstein) who reluctantly allows Andre to enter after he flashes his Napoleonic credentials. As if Nicholson and Karloff weren't enough for a ticket to this film legendary b-movie character actor Dick Miller (Bucket of Blood, Gremlins) also appears as the Baron's major domo. Inside the castle Andre happen upon a portrait of a woman whom bares an uncanny resemblance to the mysterious woman he seeks. The Baron informs him that he is mistaken as the woman in the portrait, his wife, died twenty years prior. Andre is obsessed with the young woman and continues to search for the woman's identity despite everyone's insistence that she is merely a figment of his distressed mind. He continues to encounter her but starts to wonder if he has gone mad, is she an apparition, a restless spirit, who is she really? And how does the witch Katrina figure into the story?

The acting is suitably melodramatic with pre-New Hollywood Nicholson giving a decent performance, he's definitely charming but not nearly French, fun stuff. Karloff seems a bit lost at times, he gives it a good go though but it's obvious this is just another paying gig. While the film is uneven, it's a wonder that the film is as watchable as it is given it's strange production, the sets are fantastic stuff. The towering Gothic castle, a macabre cemetery steeped in fog, creepy crypts and eerie red, green and blue lighting really go a long way towards creating an entertaining and atmosphere spookfest. It's a bit slow at times but the film's final 15 minutes are wonderfully twisted and memorable. 

The legend of this film holds that once wrapping on The Raven, which starred Boris Karloff as Dr. Scarabus, Corman immediately went into production on The Terror utilizing sets from The Raven and A Haunted Place. He tossed Karloff a few extra bucks to remain on for four additional days of shooting. While Corman shot the bulk of the film with Karloff in four days the film's production went on for nine more months, making it one of the longest Corman shoots ever I would imagine. In those nine months Corman left it to a handful of aspiring directors on staff to shoot second unit, and they're notable names, too. They included star Jack Nicholson who would go onto direct the Going South among others, Francis Ford Coppola  (The Godfather)who that same year would direct Dementia 13 and reportedly shot for 11 days only get 10 minutes of footage in this film, Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Coffy) and Monte Hellman (Two Lane Blacktop). Not too shabby.  

DVD: The film gets a AVC encoded 1.78:1 widescreen transfer in glorious 1080p HD. More so than either the Poor Pretty Eddie or Dementia 13 Blu-rays from HD Cinema Classics I thoroughly enjoyed the 1080p bump here. Perhaps because this film has for so long languished in the public domain that to see a nice HD presentation with vibrant colors, nice deep blacks and digitally restored has breathed new life into a film I've seen numerous times but never so eye popping as this. So, it looks pretty great, better than we've ever seen it on the home entertainment front, but there is that usual HD Cinema Classics application of DNR which removes the film grain which in turn smears the fine detail and textures, particularly in the facial features but I found the plasticine tendencies less bothersome here than with previous HDCC Blu's. Audio option include both Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Mono with optional Spanish subtitles. The 5.1 opens it up a bit but only minimally, the 2.0 is thin but adequate for what it is. None of the HDCC Blu's I've reviewed feature lossless audio, c'mon folks it's 2011 let's get with it. Special features are limited to a trailer and a digital restoration trailer. That's a bummer but to see the film given a 1080p spit shine is pretty great, too.

Special Features:

- Movie Trailer (1:15) 1080p
- Before and After Restoration Demo (1:06) 1080p
- DVD of the film with same special features in SD.

Verdict: In years past I've not found myself particularly enamored with this film, no doubt the lacklustre presentations we've seen haven't exactly aided the film's reputation. HD Cinema Classics have given us a very attractive 1080p presentation of the film that enhanced my viewing experience, it's like watching it again for the first time. The Terror while not great is quite an entertaining Gothic melodrama from the master of b-movie cinema with decent performances from a pre-New Hollywood Nicholson and late-era Karloff. Neither are at their peak but this Blu-ray comes recommended, it's a definte good time. 3.5 outta 5

Bill Oberst Jr. battles vengeful spirits in The Asylum's 'A Haunting in Salem' 3D

The Asylum's 'A Haunting in Salem' is filming in Pasadena, California as we speak. The film is directed by horror veteran Shane Van Dyke who also helmed The Asylum's 'Paranormal Entity' (2009) and is written by first time script-writer H. Perry Horton who just happens to be the brain behind the Asylum-themed website Committed which is described as "one inmate's appreciation for the films of The Asylum". Natch.

The set-up for 'A Haunting in Salem'; the newly-arrived Sheriff in the small community of Salem, Massachusetts discovers he is the unwitting victim of a centuries old curse and must take steps to protect his family from a vengeful spirit who means his family harm. Well, honestly that's a very vague description but it has definite potential and I do love a good ghost chiller, some my favorite of the genre are 'The Changeling' (1980), 'The Fog' (1980), 'The Shining' (1980) 'Poltergeist' (1982) 'The Devil's Backbone' (2004) and if you haven't seen any of 'em stop reading and start watching immediately.

The male lead is none other than uber-creepy dude Bill Oberst Jr. ('Nude Nuns with Big Guns') as the sheriff , Wayne. Oberst is a great talent and a striking presence with a storied face and piercing blue eyes and is sure to knock it outta the park. My hat is off to the producer's of the film for the great casting.

Cast as the sheriff's wife is Courtney Abbiati from TV's 'How I Met Your Mother' and son Kyle is portrayed by newcomer Nicholas Harsin. I'm very pleased to say Harsin is a fellow Arizonan who graduated from the University of Arizona back in 2009. Harsin describes the films as "creepy as hell and is being shot old school, very few special effects, in a 200 year old mansion in Pasadena, CA."

Jenna Stone

The principal cast is rounded out by Jenna Stone (TV's 'Miss Behave') as daughter Ali and a veteran of The Asylum's 'Battle of Los Angeles' (2010) and 'Mega Shark Vs. Crocosaurus' (2010) Gerald Webb appears as Mayor Collins.

'A Haunting in Salem' is slated for a DVD release on August 23rd, 2011 and will include a 3D widescreen presentation, 5.1 surround sound and a making of featurette.

DVD Review: The Haunted Casino (2007)

THE HAUNTED CASINO (2007)
Full Moon Features

RATING: Unrated
RUN TIME: 80 Min.
DIRECTOR: Charles Band
CAST: Sid Haig (Roy), Michael Berryman (Gil), Robin Sydney (J.J.), Scott White (Mathew), Kristyn Green (Paige), Wes Armstrong (Jimbo), Lily Rains (Emily), Jessica Morris (Melissa), Bob Rumncock (Sam), Kavan Reece (Skeeter)
TAGLINE: Sheer Terror! Bet On It!

SYNOPSIS: After inheriting the casino from his dead uncle, Matthew Dragna (Scott White),  his girl friend J.J (Robin Sydeny) and a group of friends take a road trip to the outskirts of Las Vegas where they find the run-down Mysteria Casino . But the trip takes a frightening turn when the kids discover that the casino is haunted by the ghost of Vegas mobster Roy "The Word" Donahue (Sid Haig) and his goon Gil Wachetta (Michael Berryman), looking to settle an old score. Matthew and J.J. must fight for their very souls as the ghost seek their gruesome vengeance, and in the vein of "The Shining, this horrifying tale builds to a bloody and surprising climax. (from fullmooondirect.com)

FILM: The Haunted Casino is a pretty straight-forward ghost story right out of the 1950's. Matt is a young guy who's inherited a casino from his uncle and he a group of annoying friends arrive on scene with intentions of restoring the place to its original glory. The film is fairly slow paced after some initial gory ghost action right up front. The problem is that Matt and his friends are truly a bunch of unlikeable caricatures of 20-somethings and it's not until the 40 minute mark that Sid Haig (Spiderbaby) and Michael Berryman (Hills Have Eyes) mercifully appear as the vengeful mobster spirits Roy and Gil that the film finally picks up a bit. We get a lot of tiresome exposition as the group separates and wander around the casino and are killed off one at a time by several casino-themed spirits including a sexy slot machine spirit, vengeful roulette wheel dealer and a cheating black jack dealer. The slot-machine spirit was definitely the highlight of the flick for me, good stuff, but it's one and done - that's all we get! So, the deaths are nothing special and pretty cheesy t'boot, but hey this is a Full Moon film, right? Seeing genre legends Haig and Barryman together on screen was fun even if the movie is no classic. This is one of those $500k Full Moon Features and despite this fact the feature looked good and suitably eerie.

DVD: The Haunted Casino from Full Moon Features is presented in non-anamorphic  widescreen with 2.0 stereo audio. The bonus features include the fun Making of The Haunted Casino and an assortment of Full Moon trailers. Be forewarned that this DVD is a re-packaging of Dead Man's Hand - Casino of the Damned so don't double-dip you Full Moon fanatics out there.

VERDICT: The Shining this film is not but it is a spirited lil' b-movie and was a fun watch if not overly impressive. Seeing Haig and Berryman together was a lot of fun and the effects while cheese-tastic were not without their charm. **1/2 (2.5 out of 5 stars)

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: Clive Barker's Book of Blood (2009)

BOOK OF BLOOD (2009)

"The Dead Will Not Be Silenced"

RATED: R
RUNNING TIME: 100 Min.
DIRECTOR: John Harrison
CAST: Jonas Armstrong (Simon McNeal), Sophie Ward (Mary Florescu), Clive Russel (Wyburd), Paul Blair (Reg Fuller), Romana Abercromby (Janie)

SUMMARY: A paranormal researcher and her assistant recruit the help of a psychic to investigate a haunted house that is at the crossroads of life and death.

FILM: John Harrison, the director of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE (1990) and the quite good DUNE (2000) miniseries helms this sleepy adaptation of two short stories from Clive Barker’s ‘Books of Blood’.

Simon (Jonas Armstrong) is a young man with horrific scarring covering his entire body. A professional killer (Clive Russell) has been contracted by an anonymous benefactor to peel the skin from his body. Before killing him the assassin tells Simon that if he tells him a story he will make his death quick and painless. Simon agrees and spins the tale of what has led to this moment.

As the fable unfolds a young woman is viciously attacked by an unseen spirit that culminates in a gruesomely fantastic face-peeling scene that really evokes Clive Barker’s HELLRAISER (1987), it’s a strong start to a film that quickly loses steam. Enter Mary Florescu (SophieWard) a professor and paranormal researcher and her assistant Reg (Paul Blair) who enlist the help of psychic grad-student Simon McNeal (Jonas Armstrong) to assist them as they investigate the house where the mysterious murder took place. They set up cameras and other diagnostic equipment ala POLTERGEIST to record any paranormal activity. Trouble arises as Sophie and Simon strike up a romantic relationship, Reg is highly skeptical of Simon’s psychic abilities and disapproves of the romance. As the spirit of the house make themselves known things quickly escalate out of control.

“The dead have highways, running through the wasteland behind our lives, bearing an endless traffic of departed souls. They can be heard in the broken places of our world, through cracks made out of cruelty, violence, and depravity. They have sign posts, these highways, and crossroads and intersections. And it is at these intersections where the dead mingle, and sometimes spill over into our world.”

- Mary Floresco / Book of Blood

The script and story are plodding, the performances are ponderous and the film crawls along at too slow a pace. By the end of the film I’d long since given up interest. While the film contains some of the best elements of Clive Barker’s stories; horror, fantasy and eroticism, director John Harrison is not able to focus these elements into a suspenseful film.

 DVD: A pretty bare-bones affair here including trailers and a 20 minute featurette. We get interviews with Clive Barker, John Harrison, the actors and producers - pretty standard fare, nothing too illuminating. The image and audio quality are very good, no complaints in that department.

VERDICT: The trouble with this film is that its source material is merely a prologue to a series of short stories and you can feel the director really trying to stretch the material, it’s just not there. I can see this making a decent Masters of Horror episode or a part of a larger anthology film, but as a full-length feature film it’s pretty abysmal and the story cannot sustain a 100 min. running time. While not a terrible film BOOK OF BLOOD is a largely underwhelming film. Clive Barker’s best adapted works have always been directed by himself; HELLRAISER (1987), NIGHTBREED (1991) and the underrated LORD OF ILLUSIONS (1995). There are some decent adaptations by others out there, but for every MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008) there are several that fall to the depths of THE PLAGUE (2006) and BOOK OF BLOOD. I think I’ll be checking out DREAD (2009) next, let’s hope for something better than this.
*1/2 (1.5 out of 5 stars)

-McBASTARD

Blu-Ray Review: Total Terror Double Features Vol. 1 (2010)

TOTAL TERROR DOUBLE FEATURES VOL. 1 (2010)
DEMONIC (2005) / UNINVITED (1993)

Mill Creek Entertainment

DEMONIC aka FOREST OF THE DAMNED (2006) “Thrown out of heaven …they’ll take you to hell…” Directed by Johanne Roberts/Starring Tom Savini, Daniel Maclagan / Nicole Petty/Sophie Holland/Color/R/83 Min.

SUMMARY: In England 5 friends are travelling to a countryside lake when they have an accident. They soon discover that the woods are prowled by beautiful nymph-like creatures that seduce then kill their victims.

FILM: A young couple are parked in a wooded area, making out. The woman hears a rustling in the forest, we see quick moving shadows dart through the trees, and the man goes to investigate. Personally, I say "honey, get in the car, we’re leaving", but few horror films are based on good decision making. He’s confronted by a gorgeous naked woman, apparently bewitched by her unearthly charms. they embrace and deeply kiss. It is revealed that the woman’s mouth is toothed with gnarly razor sharp teeth as she tears a chunk of flesh from the young man’s neck. A great start, well done, I was on board immediately. From there we are introduced to five friends on a road trip to a countryside lake. Along the way they get lost, as youngins are apt to do in films such as this. They pull into a darkened gas station to get directions and are accosted by a crazed fella spouting warnings about fallen angels who were banished from heaven for having been infected by an earthly lust and how they now prowl, seduce and kill people in Miranda Forest. A total “It’s got a death curse” moment, right outta FRIDAY THE 13th. No one ever believes the crazy guy, and the group tears outta there quickly and proceed down the road through the forest. After a bit the driver is getting sleepy, he notices something strange in the woods. Momentarily distracted he doesn’t see a woman in the road, violently striking her. The van is damaged beyond drivability, the woman in need of immediate medical attention, and the cell phones don’t work (OF COURSE!). Miles from anywhere, on a desolate road, the group splits into three groups in search of assistance. Once separated the groups each encounter the nymph-like creatures and a mysterious man named Stephen (Tom Savini, GRINDHOUSE, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, DAWN OF THE DEAD) who is aware of the creatures and has a sinister agenda of his own. A promising start, not a bad idea, but the film is spoiled by shoddy stylistic decisions regarding editing, cinematography and filmscore, and a thin script. A particularly poor choice is the night vision camerawork which pulled me out of the film and the painful electronic score. On the plus side, this film is genuinely eerie at times, there’s an abundance gorgeous naked woman from start to finish and the special effects are well executed for a low budget affair, not gory but pretty bloody. **1/2 (2.5 out of 5 stars)

UNINVITED (1993) “Thrown Only the brave would dare to awaken the guardian of the dead” Directed Michael Derek Bohusz/Starring Jack Elam, Christopher Boyer, Bari Buckner, Jerry Rector, Zane Paolo, Dennis Gibbs/Color/R/90 Min.

SUMMARY: Seven strangers, led by a mysterious stranger, have come together to stake a claim on a gold mine. Once there they discover that there may be more than gold is buried on the mountaintop.

FILM: This is the last film of the legendary Jack Elam (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST), a man known for his western persona, he  gets top billing, and he's in the film for maybe 3 minutes. UNINVITED is that most rare of horror sub-genres the western-horror, most recently visited by THE BURROWERS. This is the tale of several disparate folks who've pooled their money and to lay claim to a goldmine, intending to split the profits. A good cast of characters; the hooker with a heart of gold, the couple looking for a down payment on a homestead, a priest with a past, and a cagey survivor of the Donner Party.  Along the way they disturb an ancient native American burial site, and that's never a good idea. Afterwards, violence and tension erupts between the group as one by one they die off at the hands of angered spirits and each other.  I feel the filmmaker overstepped the films meager budget trying to capture the look and feel of a gold rush-era western here and it hurts the film and it feels thin in parts, but the film is steeped in mountain mist and a sense of doom for all involved. It works to a point, but the film is too slow moving. 
RATING ** (2 out of 5 stars) 

DVD: This DVD is the 1st of two entries into the blu-ray market for Mill Creek Entertainment. A company primarily known for releasing budget collections of public domain films and television series. There are no special features included for either film. The films are presented in anamorphic widescreen. The image quality is good, purportedly 1080p high definition, but visually appears little better that standard definition, which is appropriate. Mill Creek’s DVD’s have VHS quality images, it is logical that their blu-ray editions would have DVD quality images.  

VERDICT: Both these film are also available on Mill Creek Entertainment’s BLOOD BATH 12 Movie Collection DVD set, which is worth a purchase if only for the Fiona Horsey films alone, but there's some other good stuff on there, too. These films were fun, but for the budget minded, I can't see committing to blu-ray when the standard-def version look just as good. OVERALL RATING **1/2  (2.5 out of 5 stars)

-McBASTARD