DVD Review: 12 DISASTERS (2013)

12 DISASTERS (2013) 

Label: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: R
Duration: 90 Minutes
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Steven Monroe
Cast: Magda Apanowicz, Ed Quinn, Roark Critchlow, Ryan Grantham

Originally aired on the Syfy network as '12 Disasters of Christmas' this TV movie is pretty awful. I love schlocky movies and have been accused of having poor taste in cinema by my wife on a daily basis yet I have never been able to sit down and enjoy any of the Syfy produced pieces of shit that seem to have quite a following.

This one concerns a young woman named Jacey (Magda Apanowicz) who is bequeathed a ring by her grandmother who informs her that the end of the world is upon us and that the young girl is the "chosen one" just before a giant icicle falls from the sky and impales her through the chest. This part was actually a pretty fun start but was unfortunately the last thing I enjoyed about the entire film, mind you that was only five minutes in and we still had eighty-five more to go, ugh. Soon after the small town of Calvary is plagued by mass bird deaths, waters running red, earthquakes, a sub-zero cold snap, volcanoes and a pine tree ripping tornado... and an invisible dome has formed over the town cutting them off from the rest of the world.

The story borrows elements from Stephen Kings 'The Dome' and his short story 'The Mist', most obviously a religious nut who believes a human sacrifice must be performed to save the town from the end of days. Throw in a little Lord of the Rings flavor, a bit of Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997) and the ridiculous notion that the ancient Mayans authored the '12 Days of Christmas' carol to warn future generations about the impending doomsday and you have yourself quite a mess of a film, an mind-numbing ninety-minutes of bad movie making.

I was a bit surprised to see 12 Disasters was directed by Steven R. Munroe who directed the pretty decent I Spit on Your Grave (2010) remake, I can only assume he had a mortgage payment due or a severe drug habit to feed. 12 Disasters (2013) is just a bad film and there's not enough 'so bad it's good' in the world to make me sit through this again. Anchor Bay should be commended for truth in advertising as the generic artwork and font on the DVD screams lame Syfy TV production from start to finish, avoid. 1.5 Outta 5

 

DVD Review: CHILDREN OF A DARKER DAWN (2013)

CHILDREN OF A DARKER DAWN (2013)

Label: Pop Twist
Region Code: Region FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 106 Minute
Video: 16:9 Widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0
Director: Jason Figgis
Cast:  Emily Forster, Catherine Wrigglesworth, Justine Rodgers

A pandemic virus is decimating the adult population of the world, the afflicted grown-ups are losing they're minds and slipping into a weird state of dementia before death. Nine months later teenagers and children are the only survivors of the new plague. This is director Jason Figgis' apocalyptic version of the classic Lord of the Flies story, set in the melancholic city of Dublin, Ireland. Our main characters are sisters Evie (Catherine Wrigglesworth) and Fran (Emily Forster) move from house to house preferring to keep to themselves while scavenging for food and shelter, steering clear of other groups of juveniles in the area. When we finally meet-up with others we can see why - it's pretty grim and desperate out there and the neighbors aren't always a friendly bunch.

As a doomsday movie the scale quite small, there are very few establishing shots setting-up a larger world view, we're tightly focused on a small group of survivors and the teenage drama that's unfolds, only in this post-apocalyptic reality petty jealousies and rivalries can easily turn deadly.

The young cast are excellent, for a micro-budget film a poor cast can be the death knell but there are no such issues here, very strong performances. Through flashback we see the disintegration of the parents who at first exhibit flu like symptoms and then signs of dementia, some of these scenes are quite affecting as the children grasp to hold onto their mothers and fathers as they slip away into insanity, it can powerful stuff.

A few concerns you might wanna be aware of before plunging into this one sight unseen. Due to the micro-budget origins the scope of the film is very small - we just don't get a lot of world building on display. It's a bit of a slow burn and and the sudden finale left me cold. While it lacks a visceral punch it does have some multi-layered performances from a promising young cast, preferring to skip the usual gore and ultra-violence for a genuine sense of dread and tension, but at the end of the day this is a apocalypse-drama that for me doesn't have a lot of rewatch value. 2 Outta 5

DVD Review: VIC (2006)

VIC (2006)

Label: Grindhouse Releasing
Region Code: ALL
Duration: 32 Minutes 
Rating: Unrated
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Director: Sage Stallone
Cast: Clu Gulager, Tom Gulager, Carol Lynley, Gregory Sierra, John Phillip Law, Gary Frank, John Lazar
Tagline: Hollywood's Forgotten Vic Reeves ...You Never Will

Vic Reeves (Clu Gulager, The Invitation) is a faded movie star, once an award winning actor popular in TV westerns now in hs seventies and well past his prime. He just barely scrapes out a career with bit parts on low budget horror productions, paying for groceries at the corner store with rolls of pennies - it's a tough life. 

When he receives a phone call young upcoming filmmaker Tony LaSalle (Tom Gulager) it appears that a comeback might loom on the horizon if he can just land the role. Clu Gulager completely inhabits the character of Vic Reeves, the desperation and anxiety that he pours into it is affecting, it feels authentic. 

When he arrives for the audition he shows up having gone to lengths to appear younger (dye job, make-up and mascara) and launches into his prepared line readings, the scripted dialogue dredges-up the frustrations within the faded star and the resulting reading is powerful and dark.

I loved this short, the direction is confident and Gulager gives a touching and desperate performance with a lot of depth. the parallels between art and reality were certainly not lost on the actor who was perfectly cast for the role. When it was finished I wanted more of Vic Reeves. Sage Stallone showed some serious chops as a young filmmaker and you walk-away wondering what might have been had he pursued other directing projects.

DVD: Vic arrives on DVD from Grindhouse Releasing on DVD in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and it looks great with a solid transfer with some minor depth to the image. The Dolby digital 2.0 Stereo audio is clean and the Franco Micalizzi (Beyond the Door) score sounds fine, there's also the option of French, Spanish or Italian subtitles. . 

The extras include an interview with Clu recorded in 2008 moderated by Sage Stallone. The star reflects on his career and how the short paralleled his own career as an actor Hollywood past his prime. The film is a Gulager family project of sorts featuring his two sons and late wife Carolyn Lynley in her last role, son John handled the cinematography chores and would later the same year make a name for himself with the gore-comedy Feast (2006).

The disc also includes text biographies for the entire cast and a highlight reel of Vic's career which is actually Clu Gulager highlight reel with loads of vintage black and white TV westerns culminating with his 80's slasher entries and the classic Return of the Living Dead (1986) 

Special Features:
- Cast and Crew Biographies
- Interview with Clu Gulager (14:30
- Vic's Montage (2:17) 

Verdict: Vic (2006) is a touching testament to Sage's love of 70's exploitation cinema and the character actors who inhabited them, a confident first film with a lot of depth. Clu Gulager as the faded star gives one of his finest performances, it might be just a short film, but there's little doubt that this is something special, capturing something very real on film. 3.5 Outta 5 

Three New Filthy Titles from Vinegar Syndrome for January 2014

Evil Come, Evil Go / Oh! You Beautiful Doll / Widow Blue 2-Disc DVD Label: Vinegar Syndrome Streets: 01/07/2014 Total Run Time: 211 Minutes Original Language: English Color Full Screen 1.33:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0 Rating: NR Genre: Erotica / Horror Production years: 1972 / 1974 / 1970 Director: Walt Davis Stars: Cleo OíHara, Rick Cassidy, John Holmes, Sandy Dempsey, Susan Westcott Few sexploitation filmmakers were as bold, daring and bizarre as Walt Davis, the enigmatic auteur behind some of the wildest X rated films to come out of Hollywood. In EVIL COME, EVIL GO (1972), traveling Evangelist preacher, Sister Sarah Jane (Cleo O'Hara), is hellbent on ridding the world of evil, sex-obsessed men. Taking to the streets of Los Angeles, she quickly befriends a gullible young woman and the two embark on a mad, sex-filled killing spree. Cleo O'Hara returns in OH! YOU BEAUTIFUL DOLL (1974), an almost surreal blend of madcap improvisation and low-rent thrills as over-the-hill film starlet Gaye Ramon lounges around her cluttered Hollywood home, molesting bananas and conning innocent men into taking her carnal acting courses. Meanwhile, a con-artist photographer manipulates beautiful hippies into revealing poses. Finally, in one of Davis' hardcore efforts, WIDOW BLUE (1970), a homosexual affair results in a gory decapitation and a living room orgy. But more bloodshed is afoot...Featuring an all-star cast, among them John Holmes and Sandy Dempsey, as well as gore effects straight out of H.G. Lewis' playbook, WIDOW BLUE is a demented masterpiece of sex and death, which is coming to home video fully uncut for the very first time! Vinegar Syndrome presents all three of these mind-numbing X rated classics newly transferred and restored in 2K from their original negatives. Bonus Features: Video interview with Producer Bob Chinn, Theatrical trailers for EVIL and DOLL, Outtake footage from WIDOW.

Abduction Of An American Playgirl + Winter Heat DVD Label: Vinegar Syndrome Streets: 01/07/2014 SRP: 17.98 Total Run Time: 141 Minutes Original Language: English Color Full Screen 1.33:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0 Rating: NR Genre: Erotica Production years: 1975 / 1976 Director: Claude Goddard Stars: Darby Lloyd Raines, Jamie Gillis, Eric Edwards, Jennifer Jordan, Helen Madigan In ABDUCTION OF AN AMERICAN PLAYGIRL (1975), two lonely men kidnap a beautiful woman and subject her to their shocking carnal desires. But much to their surprise, she loves every minute of it and soon the hapless men realize that they are incapable of satisfying her lustful urges! Next up, WINTER HEAT (1976). In this notorious roughie, a group of ex-cons terrorize and abuse a trio of helpless young women who are held hostage in a snowbound cabin. Bonus Features: Theatrical trailer for ABDUCTION OF AN AMERICAN PLAYGIRL

Judy + The Night Hustlers DVD Label: Vinegar Syndrome Streets: 01/07/2014 SRP: 12.98 Total Run Time: 132 Minutes Original Language: English Color Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0 Rating: NR Genre: Erotica/Thriller Production years: 1968 / 1969 Directors: David W. Hanson / Bobby O'Donald Stars: David Haller, Sandy OíHara, George Mead, China Valles, Joe Varo, Mike Douglas In JUDY (1969), a sex killer is on the loose, terrorizing working girls in Boston's seedy 'combat zone.' Will a rogue ex-detective solve the mystery before more buxom beauties meet an unfortunate demise? Next up, THE NIGHT HUSTLERS (1968). In this Florida lensed sexploitation oddity, a group of Vice cops trade stories of their sleazy, sex-filled busts.

Kino Classics Releases Andrei Tarkovsky's NOSTALGHIA on Blu-ray/DVD 1/21

Kino Classics Releases Andrei Tarkovsky's NOSTALGHIA on Blu-ray/DVD in new HD transfer from archival 35mm film elements Available on Blu-ray and DVD on January 21st

NEW YORK, NY - December 19, 2013 - Kino Classics is proud to announce the Blu-ray and DVD release of Andrei Tarkovsky's NOSTALGHIA (1983) in a new HD transfer from archival 35mm film elements. One of the final films by its celebrated director, Tarkovsky was nominated for the Palme d'Or, and won Best Director, FIPRESCI Prize, and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983 for NOSTALGHIA. NOSTALGHIA is currently in repertory release from Kino Lorber, which began with a run at one theater in NYC (Brooklyn Academy of Music) in May that grossed $20,000. It has played in 15 markets to date with more to come in 2014. The film comes to Blu-ray and DVD on January 21, 2014, with a SRP of $34.95 for the Blu-ray and $29.95 for the DVD. Special features include optional English subtitles and the theatrical trailer.One of the most highly-regarded directors of the past 50 years, Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) produced a towering body of films (Andrei Rublev, Solaris, and The Sacrifice among them) that continue to be highly acclaimed by critics and filmmakers alike. Of Tarkovsky, Ingmar Bergman said: "Tarkovsky is for me the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film." Kino Classics is pleased to bring NOSTALGHIA, one of his final masterworks, to Blu-ray and DVD in this new HD transfer which marks the film's Blu-ray debut. NOSTALGHIA is Andrei Tarkovsky's brooding late masterpiece, a darkly poetic vision of exile. It was the first of his features to be made outside of Russia, the home to which he would never return. Tarkovsky explained that in Russian the word "nostalghia" conveys "the love for your homeland and the melancholy that arises from being far away." This debilitating form of homesickness is embodied in the film by Andrei (Oleg Yankovsky,The Mirror), a Russian intellectual doing research in Italy. He becomes obsessed with the Botticelli-like beauty of his translator Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano), as well as with the apocalyptic ramblings of a self-destructive wanderer named Domenico (Erland Josephson, The Sacrifice). Written with frequent Michelangelo Antonioni collaborator Tonino Guerra (L'Avventura), NOSTALGHIA is a mystical and mysterious collision of East and West, shot with the tactile beauty that only Tarkovsky can provide. As J. Hoberman wrote, "NOSTALGHIA is not so much a movie as a place to inhabit for two hours." Nostalghia - Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (trailer) NOSTALGHIA Director: Andrei Tarkovsky Genre: Drama Street date: January 21, 2014 Blu-ray SRP: $34.95 DVD SRP: $29.95 Blu-ray UPC: 738329123321 DVD UPC: 738329123222 SPECIAL FEATURES * Newly mastered in HD from archival 35mm film elements * Optional English subtitles * Theatrical trailer Italy/Russia 1983 125 Min. Color 1.66:1 1920x1080p In Italian and Russian with optional English subtitles

MACHINE HEAD from Anchor Bay Entertainment arrives March 25th on DVD!

MACHINE HEAD (2011) 

Spring Break. The two words together connote those heady days when academia stops for a week and unbridled hedonism reigns. Spring Break means fun, sun and sex. But in Los Ranchos, CA it also means…abject terror! From Anchor Bay Entertainment comes the March 25^th DVD release of Machine Head.

With a hot young cast including Sharon Hinnendael (Embrace of the Vampire, Rites of Passage), Nicole Zeoli (The Telling, Zoey to the Max), Cristina Corigliano (Last Day on Earth, Sand Sharks), Morissa O’Mara (Hanna’s Gold, Devolved) and Alana O’Mara (The Cottage, Hanna’s Gold), Machine Head promises a permanent rest from studies! SRP is $22.98 and pre-book is February 26^th.

The deserts of Los Ranchos, CA isn’t your standard spring break destination, but it’s p-a-r-t-y time when a young girl's wealthy father gives her the keys to his amazing desert ranch house.  She and her hot girlfriends plan a wild spring break vacation getaway to take full advantage of this lavish vacation oasis. But like all good intentions, the road it paves becomes a living hell…

During the drive to the house, the girls find themselves terrorized by a mysterious black muscle car on the highway.  They soon realize they have been lured into a sick game of high-octane terror.  “Machine Head” unleashes a motorized fury unlike anything they’ve ever seen. The girls will do whatever it takes to cross the finish line alive! 

MACHINE HEAD DVD

Genre:             Horror/Thriller

Rating:             R

Languages:       English

Format:            Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)

Audio:              Dolby Surround 5.1

Year:                2011

SRP:                $22.98

Street Date:      March 25, 2014

Pre-Book:        February 26, 2014

Length:             82 minutes

UPC:                01313261835780

Cat#:                DV61835

DVD Review: DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS (1984)

DON'T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS (1984) 

Label: Mondo Macabro

Region Code: Region-FREE

Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 86 Minutes 
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.66:1)

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 

Director: Edmund Purdom

Cast: Edmund Purdon, Alan Lake, Belinda Mayne, Gerry Sundquist, Kelly Baker, Caroline Munro

Don't Open Till Christmas (1984) is a sleazy Santa-slasher with just enough of a threadbare plot to string along a series of grisly murders and nude scenes, and that's just fine by me honestly. This London-set slasher features a masked killer on a spree slashing anyone dressed-up as Santa leading to a fun array of deaths as various St. Nick are pistol-shot in the mouth, burned, razor-slashed, eye-traumatized, wiener-mutilated, speared through the skull, strangulated and machete whacked to death - the kills are pretty fantastic and varied with some fun set pieces including a sleazy strip joint, the London Dungeon, a carnival and even the infamous urinal slashing, and a strange musical cameo from scream queen Caroline Munro (Slaughter High). 

While the deaths are gruesome fun what constitutes the story line is pretty silly even for an 80's slasher. Scotland Yard, Chief Inspector Ian Harris (Edmund Purdom, Pieces) and Detective Sergeant Powell (Mark Jones) are called in to sleuth the gristly murder spree. They interview the daughter of the victim speared through the head at a holiday party, Kate (Belinda Mayne, Alien 2 on Earth) and her jerky boyfriend Cliff (Gerry Sundquist) who were present during the crime. Cliff is an insensitive type and when he's present at the murder of yet another victim (a porn model) he's the prime suspect but let me just say you will never have any doubt who the culprit is, the red-herrings here are a complete failure. It's a nice conceit, instead of a Santa-suited slasher on a murder spree we have a grinning masked killer murdering Santas, it's a nice twist on the surface, but the script just doesn't go anywhere with it. 

On the plus-side you can just shut off your brain on this one and enjoy it for the scuzzy Santa-slasher that it is, which is plenty entertaining even if not a very good movie, in fact it's pretty terrible! As awful as it might be this is mandatory viewing at my house during the Christmas season right after Black Christmas (1974) and Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).

DVD: Mondo Macabro have revived this Santa-slasher from the dingy grey market releases that were apparently sourced from crusty VHS sources with a brand new anamorphic widescreen (1.66:1) transfer and it's quite an improvement if not exactly a stunner. Colors are pretty decent but the darker scenes suffer somewhat but overall this is a significant upgrade over previous versions. Audio is handled by pretty standard Dolby Digital mono track that's well balanced and free of distortion. 

They've done a great job with the special features including a massive 52 minute documentary about the making-of the film featuring producer extraordinaire Dick Randell with loads of behind-the-scenes footage, it's pretty fantastic. There's also an 33 minute featurette on the life and career of Dick Randell spotlighting his many films and colorful producing style, quite a character! Extras are finished-up with production notes, trailers a collection of Mondo Macabro trailers which are always a blast.

Special Features: 
- Brand New Anamorphic Transfer (1.66:1)
- 52 Minute Making Of
- Documentary About Producer Dick Randall (32:40)
- Trailers
- Extensive Production Notes
- Mondo Macabro Previews

Verdict: A trashy slice of 80's schlock cinema, if you can imagine Pieces (1982) as a Santa-slasher and that seems like a fun time this is definitely a film for you, Mondo Macabro DVD presentation is very nice and the extras are great, a high recommend for pretty shit film that I find immensely entertaining. 3 Outta 5