Reel Reviews - Official Site

“Did you bring me here by force?” And INTRODUCING Audrey Hepburn.  That’s right, the screen legend begins here with Roman Holiday, a quintessential romantic comedy, which was shot on location in Rome . . . even though Paramount wanted it filmed on their studio ...

Read more: Paramount Presents: Roman Holiday (1953) - Blu-ray Review

Kitty’s back on the cell block!  Woot! Woot!  Let the sweat-dripping orgies begin! Violence in a Women’s Prison, originally released in 1982, is a damn ugly exploitation flick. Even when you lower the bar when it comes to Women in Prison flicks, this ...

Read more: Violence in a Women's Prison (1982) - Blu-ray Review

There’s something about a Judd Apatow film that identifies itself almost immediately. Whether it’s gut-busting humor simply for the sake of making us laugh, or foul language and raunchiness with the sole intention of allowing us to be happy wallowing in our own consenting adulthood, his ...

Read more: The King of Staten Island (2020) - Blu-ray Review

When the “Yes” men start telling you “NO”, you are probably approaching the trash-lined gutters along Sunset Boulevard.  Hollywood is clearly sending you a message.  You are no longer needed . . . or are you?!?!  Well, if Billy Wilder (director of The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot,  ...

Read more: Sunset Boulevard: 4K Restoration (1950) - Blu-ray Review

“This . . . is the Inner Sanctum.”   With that opening statement as a guiding force, Universal Pictures launched what would be an interesting venture alongside Simon & Schuster as they produced a series of B-grade horror films starring the one and only Lon Chaney, Jr. ...

Read more: Inner Sanctum Mysteries: Calling Dr. Death, Weird Woman, Dead Man's Eyes, The Frozen Ghost,...

You say want sex and violence?  Well, the Masked Mutilator has EXACTLY what you are looking for.  Just be respectful because this house parent will definitely kick your ass ...

Read more: Masked Mutilator (1994, 2019) - Blu-ray Review

If you’ve not yet become totally comfortable with the whole AirBnB home-sharing thing yet, then stay away from The Rental. It’s the new film from first-time director Dave Franco (yes, that Dave Franco) and it plays off the distrust many have about staying in the home of a complete stranger. Think about ...

Read more: The Rental (2020) - Blu-ray Review

We aren’t in Las Vegas anymore, baby! Written, produced, and directed by Mr. Rear-Projection himself, Bert Gordon (King Dinosaur, Earth vs. the Spider, The Amazing Colossal Man, and Empire of the Ants), War of the Colossal Beast is the ...

Read more: War of the Colossal Beast (1958) - Blu-ray Review

From identical dresses to the fire which ravishes Manderley, the second Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine) can never, ever take the place of Rebecca.  Cue the romance, the heartbreak, the haunted tension and wind it all up because this film is all about the snap.  That’s what makes this ...

Read more: Rebecca: Criterion Collection (1940) - Blu-ray Review

The product of two A-list protégés (at the time) floundering in their careers; a script deemed too dirty by Disney, and not dirty enough by other studios (this was era of sex comedies). Back to the Future, despite being one of the tightest screenplays ever written (then and now) just could not ...

Read more: Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy - 4K Blu-ray Review

A minister-turned-serial killer in one of the most beautiful films ever made by Hollywood?  Sure.  Why not?  When the results of exaggerated set designs and a directing style reminiscent of early silent cinema are as good as they are in The Night of the Hunter, no one is going to complain  ...

Read more: The Night of the Hunter: Criterion Collection (1955)

Fans of Paul Blaisdell’s creature work for films like The She-Creature, It Conquered The World, and Invasion of the Saucer Men are going to dig How to Make a Monster as his monster designs get some prime camera time when hung on the walls.  Some audiences are going to see ...

Read more: How to Make a Monster (1958) - Blu-ray Review

Was he trying to kiss or kill her on that hilltop?  The verdict is still out as Suspicion makes its debut on blu-ray thanks to the efforts of the Warner Archive Collection. Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of Francis Iles's novel Before the Fact - which is as dissimilar as they...

Read more: Suspicion: Warner Archive Collection (1941) - Blu-ray Review

I’ll say this about The Assistant: it’ll probably make you appreciate your own boss. That person is almost guaranteed to be better than the nameless tyrant dominating The Assistant. The movie depicts one long and ordinary day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a twenty something wannabe film ...

Read more: The Assistant - DVD Review

Beware the barn!  Ah, f@#$ it.  Enter at your own risk, fools.  You’ve been warned. With the smells of rotted wood and autumn leaves hanging in the air, you know that it is time to celebrate serial killing season once more!  Hell, we even have a Friday the 13th release for this horror flick ...

Read more: Return to Splatter Farm - Movie Review

While browsing through your favorite streaming service last week, you probably flipped past the title card for the little-known Canadian thriller called Becky. Big mistake. Need convincing? It stars Kevin James as a swastika-tattooed neo-Nazi murderer. Yes, that Kevin James ...

Read more: Becky (2020) - Blu-ray Review

You can’t say that Hitchcock didn’t warn audiences of Hitler.  He made several films with Hitler’s world view overhanging the shadows in each frame.  But, after a decade in Hollywood, Alfred Hitchcock took that warning to a new level and gave audiences the ultimate romance between a ...

Read more: Notorious: Criterion Collection (1946) - Blu-ray Review

Alien invaders?  Mind control via sharks?  Underwater inner monologues?  Treasure and babes in bikinis?  Shark Encounters of the Close Kind has it all!  It even has an abundant amount of gut busting laughs as this comedy takes nothing seriously - even the shark attacks! ...

Read more: Shark Encounters of the Third Kind - Movie Review

What if they made a movie and nobody came? That was the fear when the horror satire The Hunt was scheduled for release last fall before being delayed by a series of unfortunate events. First, it was the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings. Then a tweet about the film from our ...

Read more: The Hunt (2020) - Blu-ray Review

“I know what happens in those mystery pictures!  A guy walks over to a perfectly ordinary door he opens it up and - ZOWIE! - out falls a body right on its kisser!” And, of course, a body falls to the ground!  When it comes to getting the tone of horror comedies right, you have to sometimes go ...

Read more: Abbott & Costello The Complete Universal Pictures Collection: Hold That Ghost (1941) - Blu-ray...

Shot in black-and-white on a shoestring budget of nickels and dimes, Lake Michigan Monster is - at once - alarmingly successful in its goal of sending-up the whole monster hunting motif in horror films as a wronged sea captain living in a lighthouse mounts a hilarious hunt involving a  ...

Read more: Lake Michigan Monster (2018) - Blu-ray Review

Knives Out (2019) is a clever murder mystery from writer and director Rian Johnson, the best quality of which is its awesome ensemble cast: Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon and more. Everyone seems to enjoy their juicy  ...

Read more: Knives Out - DVD Review

Sandra!  Junior?  SANDRA! Junior? SAAAANNNNNDRA! Having successfully stolen the show in 1941’s One Night in the Tropics, the comedy duo of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello - who were big on radio but untested on film - were quickly signed by Universal Pictures ...

Read more: Abbott & Costello The Complete Universal Pictures Collection: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein...

From dry deserts to tropical islands, Tremors shows no signs of stopping anytime soon, but - if this is the end of the road for the franchise - it goes out on a hell of a high note thanks to Tremors: Shrieker Island ...

Read more: Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020) - Blu-ray Review

With streaming now taking the lion’s share of the average household’s attention, it is getting harder and harder for the studios to entice us for yet another dip at their titles; especially when a great many of them are but a single click away on our smart TVs. It is wildly believed that physical home media ...

Read more: Jaws (1975) - 45th Anniversary Edition - 4K UHD Review

THE POST SAVES EARL WILLIAMS!  Hear all about it in His Girl Friday, now available on blu-ray thanks to the Criterion Collection.  Directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell with standout performances from ...

Read more: His Girl Friday: Criterion Collection (1940) - Blu-ray Review

Greetings, Starfighter!  Arrow Video invited you to watch this 1984 science fiction classic in a way never before thought possible.  With a newly restored 4k scan of the original negative and the 4.1 sound mix originally created for the 70mm release, The Last Starfighter returns to your living   ...

Read more: The Last Starfighter: Arrow Video 4K Restoration (1984) - Blu-ray Review

Films of the ilk of last year’s Ad Astra are always a quandary for me to write about. With the output of most of Hollywood’s efforts being what some might sarcastically call formulaic and digestible, it is both a blessing and a curse when something is offered to buck the trend. James Gray’s science  ...

Read more: Ad Astra - 4K UHD Blu-ray Review

If you ever get a hankering for some solid improvisational comedic skills on display throughout a major motion picture, look no further then director Leo McCarey’s slapstick comedy, The Awful Truth.  It might have been his first film for Columbia Pictures, but that didn’t stop McCarey from  ...

Read more: The Awful Truth: Criterion Collection (1937) - Blu-ray Review

Watch polio get pulverized by a primate! When a circus burns down, a mustached Boris Karloff, as Dr. Bernard Adrian, finds himself battling a loose ape in his laboratory.  What? What? What.  You heard me.  It’s one of the wildest scenes - and maybe the best scene ...

Read more: The Ape (1940) - Blu-ray Review