DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

Director Fred Olen Ray’s Biohazard is probably the best example of just how universally mutated the creature features coming out of the 1980s were becoming with their mix of gore, boobs, and lasers. I’m not saying Fred Olen Ray’s film is completely dismissible in any sense (read   ...

Produced by Roger Corman in what amounts to a marketing miracle, Howard R. Cohen’s Space Raiders remains a cheesy kid’s tale through space as a ragged band of pirates mistakenly abduct a small boy and allow him to join in on their merry fun. It is a film as fun as it   ...

The Monster That Challenged the World might not be the smartest creature feature from the heyday of the atomic age but it is nonetheless enjoyable. It opens with a peaceful shot of what is supposed to be California’s Salton Sea as a brilliant white light – emerging ...

A professor, haunted by his own words of disbelief in the supernatural, runs across an empty beach as the surf crashes violently against a steady shore of rock and sand.  He is frantic in his search for his wife who is convinced that the taking of her life will prevent the loss of his.  This scene is one of  ...

Written and directed by John McTiernan, Nomads is a film whose reputation as a disappointing film suffers solely because it was released way ahead of its time.  Print critics simply killed the film with the pen and their negative reviews upon its initial release in 1986 but –  ...

While not remarkable, Lost After Dark is a somewhat effective throwback to the heydey of Slasher flicks that once made the drive-in rounds while knocking off Friday the 13th.  This Canadian feature played well at festival circuits last year and, thanks to Anchor Bay  ...

Sometimes shit is shit.  Writer/director Ryan Bellgardt’s Army of Frankensteins is being advertised as a horror/comedy.  It is neither.  It’s just a bad film that – even with its intriguing premise of a time travelling Frankenstein trapped in the Civil War – goes nowhere fast.  Released by  ...

The directorial debut from Brian Yuzna simply will not be silenced. It is, at once, disgusting and gratuitous and demented; however, its message about wealth and excess expands out beyond the yuppie influence of its origins and speaks volumes here in the golden age of  ...

…in which we meet Invader ZIM’s inspiration. While perfectly harmless, Spaced Invaders is a kid’s movie that had the potential to be something a little bit more than a silly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles knockoff. Halloween night. A War of the Worlds rebroadcast ...

While most of sexploitation director Pete Walker’s films (Die Screaming, Marianne, The Flesh and Blood Show, House of Whipcord) have been greeted with disgust and condemnation, House of Long Shadows is his – as far as the horror genre goes – his most noteworthy. Check  ...

With strong hues of murderous reds and neon blues, Tobe Hooper’s follow-up to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre has always been regarded as a stylized mess.  It is neither good enough nor horrible enough to dismiss without a second thought, though.  It is a movie that   ...

Hailing from the early years of the Blaxploitation movement in cinema, Jim Brown in 1972’s Slaughter is one helluva serious bad ass.   He never smiles and puts EVERYONE in his or her place.  The film – as its blu-ray arrives this week courtesy of Olive Films – remains  ...

With the release of Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx and First Strike on blu-ray this week Warner’s back catalog of New Line titles finally begin their much-delayed martial arts HD rollout.  These are, mind you, bare-boned releases with a 2K visual upgrade and no special  ...

Operating along the same guidelines as a raging bull in a china shop, James Roday’s directorial-debut Gravy, now appreciating a solid release on blu-ray thanks to Scream! Factory, is a gonzo-spirited horror-comedy that definitely does not disappoint.   This freewheeling comedy  ...

Riddle me this. Besides being movies I like, what do Evil Dead II, Moontrap, Army of Darkness and John Woo's Hard Target all have in common? It's not Bruce Campbell. It's the not the splatterific amount of gore either...but close. It's special effects artist Gary Jones  ...