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Posts tagged “Horror

The Return Of The Living Dead Blu-ray Review

The Return Of The Living Dead is a satire of zombie films, particularly Night Of The Living Dead and it’s unofficial sequels. It is a hilarious take that at the same time can spook you in it’s own right. Here the zombies are a little different. They talk! “Brains, I want to eat your brains!” Also they are not easily killed by a gunshot to the head. The movie is filled with 80’s cheesiness, but somehow pulls off horror as well as the much-intended humor. Ultimately it’s a very good zombie flick that you should check out. Just be warned you might die laughing!

Click the picture to read my review of Return Of The Living Dead @ Movie-Vault.com!


#30 – The Amityville Horror

Reasons why – Amityville Horror is another atmosphere movie, this time based on a book that is supposedly a true story, which is creepy in itself. The reality itself that Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered six of his family members while they were sleeping is horrific enough. Whether the haunted house story is true or made-up (which is rumored) is irreverent. Imagine living in a house where six people were killed during their sleep. Just knowing that would creep me out. The addition of a haunted house story with a priests involved in an attempted exorcism, well damn. That’s creepy. A personal memory for me was watching this at a friend’s house and walking home afterward late at night. The music in this movie was spooky and had me very aware of my surroundings and shadows that walk home. James Brolin owned and still owns this part (I like Ryan Reynolds but he‘s no James Brolin who was very convincing in his madness ala Jack Nicholson in The Shining). Sorry to the sequel, but the original is the superior model, though I do like the sequel as well.

Does it hold up? Yes, pretty well. The music is what helps after the visuals fail to scare as they did years ago.

Stars – James Brolin, Margot Kidder, Rod Steiger

Director – Stuart Rosenberg

Studio – MGM

Similar films – The Shining, House On Haunted Hill, The Haunting

Followed By – Amityville II: The Possession, Amityville 3-D, Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes, The Amityville Curse, Amityville: It’s About Time!, Amityville: A New Generation, Amityville Dollhouse, The Amityville Horror 2005

Runner Up – Carrie


My top 31 Horror films!

I’m doing a top 31 list of horror films based on the 31 days in October. My guidelines are simple – #1 – The movie must be scary. If the movie is older it must STILL be scary and hold up well over time. #2 – Is the movie scary or just torture porn like Saw or Hostel which is why neither makes the list. I love both movies, but torture films like these don’t scare in the same way as a true horror film. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. #3 – I must have seen the film at one point or another. I’m sure there are some films that deserves to be on the list, but if I haven’t seen it I can’t put it on the list.


Open Water 2: Adrift Blu-ray Review

Click the picture to read my review @ Movie-Vault.com!

Open Water 2: Adrift is an unusual sequel, not that there’s anything wrong with that. The main appeal from it’s predecessor is left to tread its own waters with a different storyline. My thoughts on having a bigger cast this time out is that you sacrifice true horror for a different type of genre that is much harder to categorize. It’s like the different between Ridley’s Alien and Cameron‘s Aliens though we don’t get the action here either. Which is better? Hard to say, most have their own personal opinion on it. I liked the characters this time out, though there were a couple who annoyed me. I liked the original Open Water as well and enjoyed it’s horror, but this one felt like the better movie overall. The great thing about this release is you get two films in one. Enjoy!


New Review Movies! – 10/6/2010

Hi Everyone! I’ve gotten some movies since my last post, but no time to update the arrivals with you, until now. There’s a nice assortment of DVDs, Blu-rays and even a book! No sign of a partridge in a pear tree, but I wouldn’t be surprised. First up, as always, is the review movies, followed by my personal collection additions (bought and paid for by yours truly). Some really good-great movies!

20th Century Fox –

Blu-ray –

The Last Of The Mohicans – The Last Of The Mohicans takes place in the majestic mountains and awe-inspiring forests of war-torn Colonial America. In the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, Cora Munro (Madeline Stowe, Twelve Monkeys, We Were Soldiers), the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers, including Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), a rugged frontiersman and the adopted son of the Mohicans comes to their rescue. A passionate romance soon blossoms between Cora and Hawkeye, but many forces test their love as they continue to journey through the Frontier.

Bridgestone Multimedia Group –

DVD –

Homeless For The Holidays – When an uncaring executive falls from the corporate ladder, he learns how difficult it can be to find work and compassion in today’s economy. He eventually accepts a humiliating job, but with bills rapidly piling up, and not enough money to go around, he quickly discovers that, unless something changes soon, he’ll lose everything by Christmas. Will family and faith be enough to bring joy when you’re Homeless For The Holidays?

Anchor Bay Entertainment

DVD –

The Killing Machine – If you thought he was hardcore in The Expendables, he’s now totally unstoppable as The Killing Machine. Action icon Dolph Lungren (Rocky IV, Universal Soldier) stars as Edward Genn, a divorced Vancouver father and investment broker who also happens to be the infamous KGB-trained assassin known as “Icarus”. But when his two worlds collide in a storm of bullets, bloodshed and betrayal by the Russian Mob, Icarus reloads for the most personal – and punishing – contract of his entire career. When revenge is not enough, how far will a one-man death squad go to get even? Stefanie Von Pfetten, Samantha Ferris (“Supernatural”) and Bo Svenson (Inglorious Basterds, Walking Tall) co-star in this bone-snapping, skull-blasting, badass throwback to extreme ’80’s action movies, directed by Lundgren himself!

The Rig – Miles offshore, the skeleton crew aboard Weyland Drilling’s “Charlie” Rig is preparing to ride out an oncoming storm. But 4,000 feet below, their drills have mistakenly unleashed a different kind of terror: it’s strength is inhuman. It slaughters without mercy. And it is hunting the stranded team one by one. Now, deep within the labyrinth of oil platform passageways, a group of tough-as-nails drillers must find a way to destroy a monster that lives to kill…or die trying, William Forsythe (Rob Zombie’s Halloween), Art LaFleur (Field Of Dreams), Serah D’Lane (“Wild Things: Diamonds In The Rough“), Marcus Paulk (“Moesha”)  and Dan Benson (“Wizards If Waverly Place”) star in this science fiction thriller featuring creature effects from the team behind Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem.

E One Entertainment –

DVD –

ARN The Knight Template – Arn Magnusson (Joakim Natterqvist) is trained from birth to become a skilled swordsman. After being double-crossed by a decious nobleman, he is made a Knight Templar and sent off to the Crusades as penance for his sins. Fighting to regain his freedom, Arn battles fierce enemy armies and becomes a hero.

Last Day Of Summer – Tired of being tormented by his boss, Joe (DJ Qualls), a disgruntled fast food employee, finally snaps and plans revenge. But after getting rejected by a beautiful stranger (Nikki Reed), he decides to kidnap her instead. Can she show him that there’s more to life than flipping burgers, or is Joe past the point of no return?

Night Of The Demons – Angela (Shannon Elizabeth) is throwing a decadent Halloween party at New Orleans’ infamous Broussard Mansion. But after the police break up the festivities, Maddie (Monica Keena) and a few friends stay behind, Trapped inside the locked mansion gates, the remaining guests uncover a horrifying secret and soon fall victim to seven viciousm blood-thirsty demons.

The Six Wives Of Henry Lefay – After notorious ladies’ man Henry Lefay (Tim Allen) is presumed dead ub a skydiving accident, his daughter Barbara (Elisha Cuthbert) heads home to help prepare his funeral arrangements. But things get hilariously complicated when his current wife and multiple exes bicker for control over the burial procedures, and Henry shows up to his own funeral very much alive!

IFC Films –

Blu-ray –

Boogie Woogie – An all-star cast has wicked fun in skewering the pretentions and superficiality of the art world in this comic romp by director Duncan Ward Emmy and Golden Globe winner Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) is a cougar on the prowl for a new boy-toy; Heather Graham (Boogie Nights, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) is an ambitious assistant who will do anything to advance her career; Tony winner Alan Cummings (X-Men 2) is a hapless dealer with too much decency for his own good; Danny Huston (Robin Hood, Clash Of The Titans) is a rapacious dealer; and the legendary Christopher Lee (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy) is the owner if the priceless work of art titled “Boogie Woogie” that they all circle with naked desire. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but art ALWAYS has a price.

Lionsgate Home Entertainment –

Blu-ray –

Winter’s Bone – After her father jumps bail and mysteriously disappears, 17-year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) must find a way to track him down or she’ll be left without a home or custody of her two young siblings. To avoid losing everything, Ree must hack through the lies and threats looming everywhere in her rural town to piece together the dangerous truth about her father – without getting herself killed – in this taut, pulse-pounding thriller.

Wolverine And The X-Men : The Complete Series –

MGM/20th Century Fox

The following are part of MGM’s multi-feature collections 6 movies in one DVD-sized holder with 3 Double-sided discs with a movie on each side.

6 80’s Movies –

Valley Girl – Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman

The Rachael Papers – James Spader, Jone Skye, Dexter Fletcher, Jonathan Pryce

Losin’ It – Tom Cruise, Shelley Long

The Last American Virgin –

Class – Rob Lowe, Jacqueline Bisset, Andrew McCarthy, Cliff Robertson

Zapped! – Scott Baio, Willie Aames

6 Kids Movies –

Snow White –

Red Riding Hood –

Beauty And The Beast – Rebecca De Mornay, John Savage

Puss In Boots – Christopher Walken

Sleeping Beauty –

Hansel And Gretel –

6 Sports Movies –

Bull Durham – Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins

Rocky Marciano – Jon Favreu, Penelope Ann Miller, Judd Hirsch, Tony Lo Blanco, George C. Scott

Body And Soul (1981) – Leon Isaac Kennedy, Jayne Kennedy

Body And Soul (1999) – Rod Steiger, Jennifer Beals, Michael Chiklis, Tahnee Welch, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Joe Mantegna

Diggstown – James Woods, Louis Gossett Jr.

Semi-Tough – Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburch

Vivendi Entertainment –

DVD –

Seven Deadly Sins – It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt…and then the real fun begins. For popular high school student Harper Grace (Dreama Walker, TV’s Gossip Girl), senior year means that she is just one step away from escaping her small-town life. But everything changes when Kaia (Rachel Melvin, TV’s Days Of Our Lives) arrives on the scene – bringing with her a big city attitude and an attraction to danger. Based on the phenomenally popular book series by Robin Wasserman, Seven Deadly Sins is a roller-coaster ride of betrayal, retribution, guilt and sweet revenge.

Warner Bros –

DVD –

The Exorcist – Controversial and popular from the moment it opened, The Exorcist endures as a defining classic that influenced movies afterwards and still shocks and haunts today. The frightening and realistic tale of an innocent girl inhabited by a terrifying entity, her mother’s frantic resolve to save her and two priests – one doubt-ridden, the other a rock of faith – joined in battling ultimate evil always leaves viewers breathless. In the Extended Director’s Cut, director William Friedkin and producer/screenwriter Wiliam Peter Vlatty intergrated over 10 minutes of footage deleted before the film’s 1973 release. They include moments deepening the impact of a first-rate ensemble’s remarkable performances and reinforcing the film’s grip on it’s audience. A phenomenon of it’s time and for all-time, The Exorcist astonishes and unsettles like no other movie.

He’s Your Dog Charlie Brown – The gang is fed up with mischief-maker Snoopy, so Charlie Brown sends the offending beagle away to puppy boot camp. Equipped with a tiny suitcase and his own doggy dish, Snoopy heads to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm but never makes it past his first step at Peppermint Patty’s. Now Snoopy wonders if the grass is greener with a new master, Can Charlie Brown put an end to the canine chaos and bring Snoopy back to the little red doghouse? Friendship and loyalty come out on top in He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown. And you will, too, with this Remastered Deluxe Edition with Improved Picture and Audio.

The Human Target: Season One –


New Movies 2 Review! 9-21-2010

Hi all. Got some new movies to review. ALL are Blu-rays today. Blu-ray today. That ryhmes, completely unintentional but cool.

Fox

The Order (Heath Ledger) – A renegade priest Alex Bernier (Ledger) from a secret order of the Catholic church is sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious death of one of their oldest most revered members. Following a series of similiar killings Bernier launches an investigation that forces him to confront unimaginable evil and the terrifying knowledge that there is a fate worse than death. Peter Weller (Robocop) and Shannyn Sossamon (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) co-star in this thrilling journey.

Lionsgate –

Bad Lieutenant – Harvey Keitel is a New York cop hopelessly addicted to drugs, gambling and sex. As he makes his way to various crime scenes his only concern is with placing bets with his fellow cops on the outcome of the National League playoffs. His bad choices leaves him deeper in debt and a life so surreal it feels like hell. A constant use of crack, coke, heroin and booze erodes what is left of his sanity. An investigation into the rape of a nun leads to his spiritual breakdown at the church’s crime scene. He sees Jesus and his road to redemption. Will he take it?

The Blair Witch Project – Set in 1994, three film students travel to the woods of Maryland to investigate an urban legend and find themselves terrified to the core. The friends – Heather (Heather Donahue – TV’s Taken, Boys and Girls), Josh (Joshua Leonard – TV’s Law & Order SVU) and Mike (Michael Williams – Prom Night) – never return from the Black Hills Forest, and one year later their missing footage is found and edited together to tell the story of the amateur filmmakers’ terrifying two-day hike.

Hard Candy – 14-year-old Hayley (Ellen Page – Inception) goes to a coffee shop to meet a 30-something fashion photographer she met on the internet. Before she knows it she is mixing drinks and stripping for an imprompt photo shoot. It seems like it might be Jeff’s lucky night. But the innocent-looking Hayley isn’t as innocent as she looks, the night takes a turn for the worse when she begings a hard-hitting investigation on Jeff in an attempt to reveal a possible scandalous past.

High Tension – Maria and Alexia are classmates and best friends who go to Alexia’s family home in the French countryside hoping to prepare for their college exams in peace and quiet. In the middle of the night a psychotic killer breaks into the house and turns the girl’s idyllic weekend into a terrifyingly endless nightmare. Alexia is captured and thrown into a van leaving Marie to attempt to rescue her from the evil murderer.

Open Water/Open Water 2 : Adrift – Open Water is based on true events about an American couple on vacation at an island getaway to escape their workaholic lifestyles and marital problems. Daniel (Daniel Travis – Thank You For Smoking, TV’s Cold Case) and Susan (Blanchard Ryan -It’s Complicated, Super Troopers) are both certified divers but when they surface from an underwater tour of a coastal reef they find that their fellow divers and boat are gone! Stuck in the middle of the ocean the isolation sets in and they turn on one another. Soon they wonder whether they will survive the open water in the shark-infested ocean. Open Water 2: Adrift – Is the true story of a weekend cruise aboard a luxury yacht that goes horribly wrong when a group of old high-school friends get together for a reunion and forget to lower the ladder before they jump into the ocean for a swim. As reality sets in the group turns on one another. Exhaustion and the efforts to stay afloat and struggle to get back on the boat soon takes a terrible toll. What started as a joyful reunion ends up as a fight for survival!

Secretary – Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Dark Knight) is a young woman with a few strikes against her after having a brief stay in a mental hospital. She accepts a job as a secretary at the law office of E. Edward Grey (James Speder – Stargate, Wolf). The work seems normal at first but somewhere between the typing, filing and coffee-making, Lee and her new boss cross the line of their professional relationship and steam up the office in this sexy dark comedy.

Wonderland – July, 1981 in Los Angeles police respond to a distress call at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon and discover a grisly quadruple homicide. Drug dealers Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, Barbara Richardson and the homeowner Joy Miller were found brutally murdered, beaten to death with lead or steel pipes. Launius’s wife Susan was left in critical condition. The police investigation that followed – led by detectives Sam Nico, Louis Cruz, and Mike Peters – would unearth a seedy world of drugs and violence. Ultimately it reveals a motley crew from LA’s underbelly including ex-con David Lind, nightclub impresario Eddie Nash, and porn legend John Holmes (Val Kilmer – Top Gun) as well as Holmes’s estranged wife Sharon and his teenage lover Dawn Schiller. Kate Bosworth (21, Superman Returns), Lisa Kudrow (Friends, Analyze This), Josh Lucas (American Psycho & Sweet Home Alabama), Tim Blake Nelson (The Incredible Hulk, Syriana) and Dylan McDermott (In The Line Of Fire) costar in this crime drama.


Movie Review Slate

I just finished writing my review for the Showgirls 15th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray/DVD and will be posting that review soon on Movie-Vault.com. Past movies I still have to review are The Eclipse Blu-ray, Someone’s Knocking At The Door Blu-ray, The Warlords Blu-ray, The Man With No Name Trilogy (Clint Eastwood Westerns) Blu-ray.

Just recieved the following batch of movies to review – Hot Tub Time Machine (John Cusack) Blu-ray, Caught In The Crossfire Blu-ray, Ladybugs (Rodney Dangerfield) Blu-ray, Lock Up (Stallone) Blu-ray, Acceptance (Joan Cusack) DVD, Rambo The Complete Collector’s Set Blu-ray (First Blood, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo).


Featured Blu-ray releases 6/1/2010

About Last Night/St Elmo's Absolute Power

 

Air Force One/In The Line Of Fire

 

Alice In Wonderland

 

Alice In Wonderland 3-Disc Set

 

Bad Boys

 

Band Of Brother w/The Pacific Sampler

 

Bram Stoker's Dracula/The Grudge

 

Clint Eastwood Collection

 

Crossing Over

 

Essential Eastwood: Collector's Edition

 

Groundhog Day/Hitch

 

Heartbreak Ridge

 

I Know What You Did Last Summer/I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

 

Silent Hill/Ultraviolet

 

Someone's Knocking At The Door

 

Space Cowboys

 

The Enforcer/Sudden Impact

 

The Gauntlet

 

The Stranger

 

The Wolfman

 

War Of The Worlds

 

Wild Things: Foursome

 

Joe’s Top Picks (& why you should buy!) – 

1 – Band Of Brothers (Best war miniseries ever! Must-own for war movie fans, Speilberg & Tom Hanks fans and anyone with any sense. Buy It!…….Now!)
2 – The Enforcer/Sudden Impact (Sudden Impact = Dirty Harry at his best! Must-own)
3 – Clint Eastwood Collection 1968-2008 (Absolute Power, Dirty Harry, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, The Rookie, Unforgiven shall I go on???)
4 – Essential Eastwood Director’s Collection (Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Unforgiven cheaper than the above by nearly half the price and some damn fine titles!)
5 – Absolute Power (A very underestimated Eastwood flick. Eastwood+Hackman+Ed Harris=I’m so there! Buy this!)
6 – Bad Boys – (As much as I rag on Michael Bay this here is a fun movie. Worthy of a buy)
7 – The Rookie (What’s not to love? Eastwood & Charlie Sheen shine here, another underappreciated Eastwood flick that should be in your collection)
8 – Air Force One/In The Line Of Fire (These are here mostly for In The Line Of Fire an EXCELLENT Eastwood flick, Air Force One is good but more of a throw-in) and in a tie – Bram Stoker’s Dracula/The Grudge (This is a nice pairing of similar genre movies. A good pairing, nice price. I’d get it)
9 – I Know What You Did Last Summer/I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (I love the first one, as much as I loved that I HATED the sequel. Still with the pairing of the two at about the price you’d pay for the original alone, why not buy this?)
10 – Groundhog Day/Hitch – (The pairing of these two movies is what knocks this down to the last spot. Love Groundhog Day and Murray is at his best here. Hitch…well at least Groundhog day is worth buying. Didn’t see Hitch. Don’t want to) 

Notable Mentions – War Of The Worlds (Not so much a fan here, but I’ll review it if Amazon sends it and go in with an open mind on my 2nd viewing of it maybe I’ll like it more on the 2nd go-around), Alice In Wonderland (Kiddies will eat this up. I read on Wiki that this drew in over $1,000,000,000+ worldwide up there with Titanic and below Avatar, just not my thing), The Wolfman (Didn’t see it, don’t know anyone who has, but I’ll have to rent it and see, love Anthony Hopkins though), Someone’s Knocking At The Door (looks interesting, but have to give it a rental), The Strangers (Steve Austin might be a far better wrestler, but his acting skills are pretty decent. I haven’t seen this, but I feel if it is anything like The Condemned it will at least be worthy of a rental), Wild Things: Foursome (I only mention this because a girl from my hometown of Reading, PA is in this so I’ll give my shout out here), The Gauntlet (Need to rent this, forget the movie it’s been so long),