DVD Review: VS. THE DEAD (2009)

My guest review for the Canadian zombie flick VS. THE DEAD (2009) can be found over at THE WITCHES HAT BLOG or by clicking right HERE.

Root Rot over there at horror-themed THE WITCH'S HAT BLOG has been entertaining me for the past six years, biginning with the legendary THE MIDNIGHT PODCAST (R.I.P.) and now with The Witch's Hat Blog, Blogcast and Vidcast.

The site features written, audio and video reviews as well as several podcast;

The Witch's Hat Blogcast - Updated bi-monthly with host Root Rot, Kreepy Kyle, and Keeley… Featuring the Big Ugly Hairy Scary movie review by Eric R. Lowther.

Joanie Loves the Witch's Hat - The original spin-off show of The Witch’s Hat Blogcast featuring reviews and interviews from special all star guests… Host Eric R. Lowther gives you a new show featuring a new special guest each month

The Witch's Hat Horror Discussion -  Originally featured as a segment on The Witch’s Hat Blogcast, the Horror Discussion became so popular that it only made sense to feature it as a stand-alone podcast… Join host Misfitboy and co-host Root Rot as they discuss a new horror topic each month.

Wonder Twins Acticast - bi-monthly podcast featuring two controversial podcaster’s, Horrorcore Bart from the Horrorcore Podcast and Root Rot…

The Hellal Files - A mini-series presented by The Witch’s Hat… Years ago (2006), long before The Witch’s Hat, Root Rot created and hosted a podcast called The Midnight Podcast (MP). His co-host for MP was a guy named Hellal. Hellal was not only the brains behind those classic episodes, he is also one of the greatest guys around. The MP episodes with Hellal as the co-host are too good not be shared with the listeners of The Witch’s Hat, so a series of best of clips have been put together as a mini-series for your listening pleasure.

Then there's a host of Vidcasts, trailers, short films plus a Horror Directory of blogs and podcasts.

So head on over there and check it out, there's tons of content, for free for you!

http://thewitchshatblog.com/

DVD Review: The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Today we have a McBastard's Mausoleum event,  our first-ever guest review from noneother than Root Rot. Check out his blog and blogcast The Witch's Hat

Author: Root Rot


About 6 years ago (actually 2weeks ago), I contacted McBastard and volunteered to do a movie review for his blog. I had to think long and hard regarding my film choice, as to ensure that it was on par with the high standards of his blog. Weeks of scanning my mental movie files resulted in the well deserved choice of The Devils Backbone (2001).

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Origin: Spain

Plot: During the Spanish Civil War, a young boy (Carlos) is dropped off at an orphanage by his father who is leaving to fight in the war. Carlos struggles to adjust to life in the orphanage and away from his father. Loneliness and boredom spark his curiosity, as he eventually sneaks away to explore the orphanage. During Carlos’ midnight adventure he is confronted by the spirit of a dead boy. He is told by the ghost, “all will die”. As Carlos’ and a band of other orphans search the orphanage grounds to once again find the ghost, the orphanage’s handyman and former tenant of the orphanage, catches them. The handyman decides to reprimand the boys the handyman’s way, thus revealing his true nature. The handyman’s mode of operation progressively unfolds throughout the film. To begin, it is exposed that he torments and hurts children, he beats his girlfriend (orphanage’s maid) and fucks his bosses wife in a plot to steal the gold from the orphanage. The doctor that oversees the orphanage begins to discover the handyman’s evil side. The doctor fires the handyman, who then leaves the orphanage with his cronies; however, after a brief time spent plotting their revenge, the handyman and his crew return. While the handyman’s crew is focused on getting their hands on the gold, the handyman himself is more concerned with implementing his revenge. So…this is the point in the movie where the evil doers blow up, shoot up, stab, abuse and kill anyone they can get their hands on. Amidst all the mayhem, this is also where the film reveals the what, who, why, when and where’s of the ghost. Will he help the kids? Is there gold? Why is the handyman such a dick? Why is there a bomb in the orphanage’s court yard? I guess I could tell you , but I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you.

The Devils Backbone concludes with a cohesive meshing of the different story lines that evolved throughout the film, this is one of the film’s strongest attribute. The other highlight of the film is definitely the execution of the handyman character, I mean come on, he torments the orphans, fucks old women, and pimp hands his girlfriend, it doesn‘t get better than that.

On the Root Rot scale of (A+) being the best and (E) the worst, the 2001 The Devils Backbone gets a (B)… I really enjoy this flick.. Thanks for reading my review