DVD Reviews

Apparently Steven Soderbergh and filmmakers were so caught off guard (as were we) by the surprising success of 2012’s Magic Mike, that they failed to incorporate a natural segue that leads into a second chapter. But that’s never stopped Hollywood from plowing forth  ...

Arming itself with a new interpretation for the popular saying “crash and burn”, Robot Jox continues to garner new fans with each passing year. This post-apocalyptic science fiction film featuring gigantic battling robots for territorial claim is the crème de la crème when it comes to influence  ...

The scariest thing about The Gallows isn’t exactly because of what happens in it. It’s the realization (occurring afterwards) that, had a producer truly given two shits about the film and not just the money-grubbing hustle from the 23-and-under crowd this weekend, there once ...

Italian horror filmmakers have a long and fascinating history of taking a successful Hollywood idea and running with it until at least 10 films, all with different titles, have beaten its singular uniqueness into the ground. I can’t say that I blame them as boobs and gore will always   ...

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Zombies. I know what you are thinking and, trust me, I went there as well when I first heard about Maggie. Schwarzenegger, sans shirt, throwing zombies off his hulked out frame while screaming something about running to a tank or a chopper or an underground  ...

They say it’s not the size, it’s how you use it. Ant-Man, with its emphasis on all things microscopic, is proof of the truth in that saying. With its smallest hero, Marvel Studios has done the biggest thing. I’m just going to go ahead and make one thing clear: Ant-Man is   ...

Not yet on the Amy Schumer bandwagon? If the comedienne’s steady rise to cultural notoriety on such shows as Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer and her numerous turns at the mic on awards programs and comedy clubs have yet to ping your entertainment radar, there’s still time to catch  ...

Robert Wise. The name alone should command respect. He was, after all, the man who edited Citizen Kane and directed (in no particular order) West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Body Snatcher (the last film to feature both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi), The Day the  ...

Directed by Mario Brava (Planet of Vampires), Black Sabbath remains an influential horror film. It is, after all, where Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne (who all marveled at the fact that people actually paid money only to leave theaters that  ...

If you’ve ever seen the 1990 post-apocalyptic Hardware, you probably recognized the sheer genius of its writer and director Richard Stanley. Additionally, if you’ve ever seen his follow-up, the supernatural horror film Dust Devil, then you are well aware that his unique vision ...

2012’s  criminally underrated Jack Reacher featured the debut of the Christopher McQuarrie/Tom Cruise filmmaking team. Though that film was more of a laid back and gritty homage to the classic car-chase films of the ‘70s like Bullitt and The French Connection, McQuarrie and  ...

I think it might just be time to pass Ash’s 12 gauge, double barrel Remington shotgun along to the next auteurs of horror. Yes, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is that impressive of a debut from an entirely new crew of makeup effects and wicked stunts. Hand over the Boomstick,   ...

While uneven to a fault, Guy Ritchie’s spin on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., originally an American television series broadcast on NBC from 1964-1968, is easily the best thing Warner Bros has put out this summer. Maybe that’s not saying much this year but, once the  ...

Fuck the great outdoors, man. I’m staying inside forever.  Cub, the debut feature of Flemish filmmaker Jonas Govaerts, is as violent and as desperate as an overnight Cub Scout camping trip should NEVER get. Throw out any preconceptions you might have about boy scouts ...

Occurring in an alternative world in which magic was once fact in British history, this seven-part mini-series from the BBC recounts the story of how real magic made its glorious return into the world thanks to two competitive magicians in the early 1800s. Stylish and slick and operating ...

There is something insane about spending time with anyone outside of the inner family circle. Think about it. Hell, some people struggle with spending time with their own spouse and children. If we break spending quality time with strangers we call family or friends down to ...

Chronicling Friday the 13th’s tenure in popular culture, Crystal Lake Memories is an entertaining documentary that is as eye opening as it is extensive.  There really should be no questions left to ask as it comes its conclusion after 400 minutes of Jason-themed analysis ...

Scott Cooper’s Black Mass wants to be a steely-eyed monster of a gangster flick. It isn’t quite that, though. The film, while not disappointing, is best described as a procedural pit of darkness in which a pretty awful criminal, one James “Whitey” Bulgar, gets the quasi-reverential  ...

If people are STILL complaining about the lack of quality female-centered stories and NOT watching Marvel’s Agent Carter then something is seriously wrong with them. Marvel Studios has answered the call with this smartly-written eight-part series that turns an interesting   ...

Remember when actor/director Kenneth Branagh used to draw fiery criticisms for his lengthy and highly-charged adaptations?  The monumental mounting of Shakespeare’s unabridged version of Hamlet, visualized for the 19th Century, had a mix of people running toward and away ...

I know someone who refuses to watch any movie more than once. After my second viewing of Inherit the Wind (1960), I think she might have the right idea. The first time I watched this classic, the performances of Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly and Fredric March really impressed  ...

God bless Burgess Meredith.  I mean really.  God bless him.  Whether cantankerous, goofy, or playing a booklover facing a world without people and spectacles, his performances dramatically elevates the material.  Here, in Michael Winner’s atmospheric The Sentinel, his  ...

Writer/director Nancy Meyers (The Parent Trap, Something’s Gotta Give) takes on the American generation gap and mixes in clichéd beats of gender role reversal in her latest called The Intern, a film which would come and go without much notice were it not for the surprising chemistry  ...

When Olive Films announced that they would be releasing Republic's The Invisible Monster, a 12-part serial from 1950, on blu-ray my excitement shot through the roof.  Audiences (myself included) would finally be able to see the  the Phantom Ruler in all his HD glory ...

John Carpenter’s Christine is a masterpiece.  There.  I said it.  There’s simply no other way to put it.  Criminally underrated by damn near every critic, its release this week on blu – thanks to Sony Entertainment – offers me the opportunity to argue for its reconsideration as  ...

Writer/director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel I & II, and Aftershock) might just need to be crowned the new King of Putrid.  A self-confessed connoisseur of gore and Grindhouse alum, Roth’s work in the genre is living proof that the exploitation flick is not forgotten and definitely ...

Wow.  To think it was just earlier this week that I wrote about how gruesome Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno is and why that graphic repugnance is much needed in our uber-safeguarded world.  Following in step with that line of thought comes director Denis Villeneuve   ...

Director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel, The Green Inferno) turns his back on gore with his take on Peter Traynor’s 1977 exploitation movie Death Game.  Knock Knock is, at once, a much better film than its predecessor and, as far as home-invasion flicks go, a much more  ...

Dan Curtis is a relative god among men when it comes to producing and directing American horror television programs. From creating Dark Shadows to bringing life into investigative reporter Carl Kolchak in The Night Stalker, Curtis is often cited as the primary source of  ...

There is a moment in Insidious’ latest chapter that makes it all worthwhile. Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) is tiptoeing through the nooks and crannies of her own house following the oily footprints of a demon hell-bent in possessing the living. The suspense is palpable, as she seems ...