DVD Reviews

Make no mistake, Panic Room - hailing all the way from the year 2002 - is director David Fincher’s underrated masterpiece.  There are moments of suspense in this neo-noir gem which are definitely not for the weak of heart, with one early stand-out sequence has to be when Jodie Foster has to  ...

Forget about the wooden stakes, the garlic, and the kisses of death on the neck. Everyone knows that’s not really how you fend off a vampire. That’s just Universal Studios movie lore. As depicted in Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu (2024), breaking the curse of a vampyr is a far more complicated  ...

After gaining international fame and recognition following the release of her 2017 debut feature film Revenge, French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat entered a very dark and lonely place in her personal life. In her forties and contemplating the reality of success, fame, and fortune, those self-defeating thoughts of “what am I ...

Thirty years have gone by already since David Fincher unleashed his masterful beast of a thriller and reinvigorated his feature career (Alien 3 did not go well for him, and he returned to commercials for a time), cemented Brad Pitt as a megastar, made household names of Gwyneth Paltrow and ...

Action. Atmosphere. And Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken saying things like, "Sad story.  You got a smoke?"  Do I really need to say any more?  Escape from New York, from writer/director John Carpenter, is the perfect mix of genres from a director who could do no wrong throughout the 1970s ...

Because who doesn’t like a practical joke?! “On a clear day you can see the Kennedys.”  That line of dialogue is one of the many clever lines in this cult classic from 1986.  April Fool’s Day, directed by Fred Walton and written by Danilo Bach, is an undeniable masterpiece of mood and mayhem that  ...

Well folks, we have another weekend in Hollywood where two blockbuster juggernauts square off with one another to grab box office gold. Remember last year’s Barbenheimer which saw Barbie and Oppenheimer slug it out to the tune of a $250 million dollar opening weekend  ...

When this film was originally released FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, we really wanted writer/director Sam Raimi to be back in the business of scaring the pants off of us and making us howl with laughter. We got exactly what we wanted with Drag Me to Hell even if Raimi remained relatively quiet until  ...

Jackie Brown is one badass motherfucker.  This film, full of extremely smart characters who are all trying to outmaneuver their competition over Ordell’s $500,000 “retirement”, continues to be the ugly step-child in Quentin Tarantino’s highly consistent filmography.  Many fights have started among my friends with  ...

A fortuitous trip to Poland several decades ago by filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg eventually turned into A Real Pain, a delightful and poignant exploration of family, friendship, and the passage of time. With a blend of humor and heartfelt reflection, the film resonates deeply with its audience ...

Filmmaker Edward Berger, who brought us the heartbreaking anti-war film All Quiet on the Western Front in 2022, revisits emotion and intrigue in Conclave, which offers a riveting exploration of one of the most secretive and ancient processes in the world—the selection of a new  ...

Released in 2004 with about 7 months between the original film, Kill Bill Volume 2 tells the story of The Bride, a former assassin who decides to leave her clan when she finds out she’s pregnant. Thurman is great in the role, she’s far less bubbly than she has been in the past, and everyone  ...

Once Upon A Time in El Paso, Texas . . . Step into the blood-soaked revenge saga of Quentin Tarantino's iconic Kill Bill: Volume 1 with this stunning SteelBook Edition. Featuring Uma Thurman as the relentless Bride, this explosive tale of vengeance and redemption is a masterclass in action filmmaking, blending  ...

Directed by André Øvredal and written by Bragi F. Schut Jr and Zak Olkewicz, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is exceptionally well done.  It is brooding and darkly realized, bringing to life “The Captain’s Log” chapter from a chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, a chapter which is somewhat  ...

“Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie?  Or are you gonna bite?” If one needed to sum up who Quentin Tarantino was in one word, I think the best one would be “pioneer.” He ushered in a new wave of film that is replicated over and over again, ad nauseum, until the entire pool is over saturated with ...

Let’s get this out of the way right off the top. I Saw the TV Glow is a pretty difficult watch, but one that has its rewards for those who stick with it. It is one of those rare films that dares to take risks, telling a story that is as deeply personal as it is surreal. Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, this ...

“I don’t have any secrets.” Lionsgate is currently killing it with their Collector’s Edition releases.  And The Conversation, with its delicious treatment of a web of secrets, is certainly a crowning achievement.  For physical media lovers, it is something to celebrate as it gives us a whole lot of material  ...

“You’ve got red on you.” Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the beloved horror-comedy classic Shaun of the Dead, with this limited-edition SteelBook release from Focus Features, complete with cover art that is a throwback to the EC comic book art of yore! How do you pull an entire genre from the precipice ...

Art The Clown as Santa?  You had me at Ho Ho Holy shit that’s a great idea! Grabbing the B-movie vibe by both cheeks and yanking his audience toward him, writer/director Damien Leone continues to put horror on the right track with Terrifier 3, featuring the fabulous David Howard Thornton as ...

Believe it or not, we are approaching the 50th anniversary of one of TV’s biggest achievements in the world of comedy. That’s right, “SNL,” originally titled Saturday Night, the legendary variety show that launched the careers of such comedic geniuses as John Belushi, Chevy Chase,  ...

The journey begins with a series of hallucinations; a smoky reefer-saturated mess of colors that spiral out as the jungle setting is surgically snipped by the blades of helicopters crisscrossing the image. Then, the landscape suddenly explodes. Fireballs shoot up from the ground and the frame dissolves  ...

Fresh from the success of 1978’s Halloween, director John Carpenter returns to horror and its star Jamie Lee Curtis for his follow-up feature film.  The Fog is a supernatural horror flick that is heavy on atmosphere and creativity and, in spite of its age, its creepy vibe and physical make-up effects  ...

Hey Ho, Let’s Go!  It's time to head back to school – Rock 'N' Roll High School, that is – with this special 45th Anniversary Edition featuring the cult classic film newly remastered in 4K! Thank God for Paul Bartel (who plays Mr. McGree, the music teacher) at Vince Lombardi High School in this ...

Ghost stories are a dime a dozen, have been for decades, so it’s a herculean task to rise above the rest. M. Night Shyamalan, now a director of renown, managed to pull this off at the end of last century. The Sixth Sense actually managed to nearly top the box office in 1999, only being thwarted  ...

Ho ho ho! Merry friggin’ Christmas! Have you been naughty or nice this year? Fuhget about Sandy Claws, it is Krampus who really wants to know.  And thanks to Shout Factory’s Naughty Cut of 2015’s Krampus, we get another chance to celebrate the dark lord of Christmas ...

With Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre as its reference point, Motel Hell is a seriously delicious horror film that exploits all the typical genre markers for the sake of comedy. And it’s all because director Kevin Connor (From Beyond The Grave, At The Earth’s Core) came aboard. What  ...

Joker: Folie à Deux is both a testament to the ambitious nature of its creators and a cautionary tale about trying to marry too many disparate ideas into one film. The follow-up to 2019’s critically acclaimed Joker attempts to explore themes of identity, mental illness, and self-acceptance through  ...

Pumpkinhead returns with a new 4K scan from the original camera negative! What a sad, sad story of one man’s tragic revenge.  Another viewing of Stan Winston’s Pumpkinhead, newly remastered and released from Shout Factory, confirms this for me.  This cult classic and its following seems to get ...

“You don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? The perfect organism… Its structural perfection is only matched by its hostility.” —Ash (Alien 1979) Perfection is what Ridley Scott managed when he took his razor-sharp sensibilities, creature designs from the brilliantly disturbed mind of  ...

When is a 4K upgrade worth the double-dipping?  When it’s from Shout! Factory, of course!  Silent Night, Deadly Night, complete with a brand-new 4K transfer from the original 35mm negative, has returned!  Deck the Halls with parts of Charlie indeed! ...