DVD Reviews

The British go prehistoric with this wild adventure.  One Million Years B.C. is a special effects bonanza with a variety of creatures created by the famed Ray Harryhausen himself.  Of course, none of that matters in this film because all eyes are on the amazing special effects  ...

With stunning landscapes and a healthy dose of gore, Stake Land 2 stands tall right next to its heavily praised first outing.  Not much has changed in the landscape, but the delivery is a bit more charged.  In my review of the first film, I described the Stake Land atmosphere ...

Nipple inpalements, even in a movie, are just too painful to watch.  Bloody Moon is probably director Jesús Franco’s most accessible movie.  I’m not saying it is his best movie, mind you, but – considering the unique weirdness of his vast body of work – it is a relative straight shooter ...

“She’s not crazy, she’s being chased by a cheetah!” And in this way, Italian filmmaker Franco Prosperi brings animal attraction to a whole new level. Having broken free of the mondo documentaries he is partially responsible for, he went feral with his first horror film. Now ...

The Survivor has finally made its landing on blu-ray.  Never heard of it, eh?  Honestly, I’m not surprised as it is an interesting experiement in horror that doesn't always do what it needs to do in order to be successful.  British author James Herbert’s novel might have been ...

Ah, the 1970s! There are few things more terrifying than cinematic vanity projects – especially when the results are far from fantastic. Vinegar Syndrome – now diving into Crown International’s backlog of obscure titles – presents two of actor Peter Carpenter’s more ...

There’s a solar eclipse this Friday.  There’s also a visible green comet streaking across the skies.  It will, in addition, also be a full moon that night.  If you are a teacher, get a substitute.  If you are elsewhere in the public sphere, know that the only safe place will be under ...

We’re baaaack!!!! Poltergeist III is a better idea than it is a movie. Maybe it should never have been connected to the franchise at all. But it was and – due to the sudden death of Heather O’Rourke – it became something everyone but the studio wanted to write off....

Written, directed and produced by Ken Russell, The Lair of the White Worm remains a phallic-obsessed journey through an endless barrage of serpent double-entendres by way of Bram Stoker. Russell would have it no other way either. He was, after all, a self-confessed ...

It is a dark night.  The sky is pregnant with distant stars.  A lone fire lights the desert canyon wall.  Two Native Americans sit next to it.  There is chanting.  Soon, spirits are inhaled.  If the opening to Poltergeist II: The Other Side throws you for a loop, know that you aren’t ...

Exploitation filmmaking rarely gets ANY trashier than with 1980’s Don’t Answer the Phone.  Shot in and around Los Angeles, it is definitely one of the scuzziest flicks produced during the beginning of that century, yet it somehow left its mark on people and, however surprisingly ...

From the brassy swing of the Perez Prado mambo to the hot pink splash of the movie’s title against the front of an Oldsmobile, the opening to director Bob Balaban’s Parents suggests this horror film is not like the others.  Parents, with its witty dialogue, its critical lens, and ...

Japanese film director and screenwriter Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale) has certainly left his mark on filmmaking.  Notable for his extensive use of shaky camera techniques in the 1970s, his influences on film spread worldwide over his lifetime with his final film being  ...

King Tut, how’d you get so funky? Comedian Steve Martin certainly knew the reasons why. Famed B-movie producer Roger Corman thought he knew why and offered this slow-moving excavation of the 18th dynasty pharaoh’s tomb to Dimitri Villard to oversee. The PG rated results ...

Dun Dun Duuuuun! Even the island of Maui is not immune Roger Corman’s monster-making machine. Up from the Depths is a salvage film. Rescued from the Philippines by legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman, a lot of the film was already in the can before Corman  ...

Alienation, thy name is David Bowie. The Man Who Fell to Earth is one of those movies so incredibly odd that it exists in a sacred sphere that is outside of time itself.  It has, in fact, improved with age becoming more emotionally impactful as David Bowie, playing the part ...

Only the weirdest of the weird gravitate toward the slasher comedy.  Every weirder are those who fall in line with the goofy sequels when the satire has all but dried up.  Scream Factory, knowing that its rabid fanbase of freaks largely fall into the latter group of collectors ...

Roger Corman’s Death Race 2050 is the film America needs right now.  Loaded with comments about where we are headed as a nation, the b-movie – a new release from New Horizons and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment – races across a post-apocalyptic future ...

The odds of being remembered were never in Band of the Hand’s favor.  Most people only recall the explicit violence and the pop-minded title song that Dylan wrote and performed with The Heartbreakers.  I guess the odds never really mattered anyway as they were ...

Shocking. Poignant. Tear inducing. Whatever word I could use to describe this 1981 exploitation documentary that STILL resonates with its intense look at the far-reaching impact of homicide in America would simply not do it justice. The Killing of America deserves more than its ...

Director Arthur Penn’s Dead of Winter is pretty much forgotten today, which makes its appearance on blu-ray – thanks to the efforts of Scream Factory – a real find for fans of old school chills and thrills  ...

And THIS is why mothers should never breast feed their freaky-looking children recently turned zombie.  Directed by Strip Nude for you Killer’s Andrea Bianchi, Burial Ground is an Italian grindhouse romp through and through.  Complete with a paper-thin plot about a professor ...

Bring on the rush of nostalgia! Crank up the cheesy synths and relax because BMX Bandits is back, baby! Return with me, won’t you, to the era of Day-Glo colors and freestyle BMX styling.   Give the middle finger to the humdrum reality of modern life and celebrate the ...

Who knew nuclear fallout could be so wild? Guns belch across a wasted continent.  Wild women run around in torn leather hot pants, football shoulder pads, and not much else.  Beat up Ford Mustangs with dented doors are the new chariots.  And those who control the water ...

It is a movie best left for a super gloomy day. Only the mood created by the sound of falling raindrops and a sky of swollen clouds could satisfy the dark dwellings of The House That Screamed (aka La Residencia). There’s no denying that this creaky old Spanish flick – even  ...

Mr. King, I think it is safe to say that Clive Barker is STILL the future of horror  ...

...in which the whole Nature VS Nurture argument finally gets its hands bloody. Okay, so maybe Morgan isn’t all that original.  The story about an artificial intelligence  being raised in a laboratory and the human assigned to evaluate her when she goes rogue and actually...

Zombie is not finished with Halloween just yet, Boils and Ghouls. Rob Zombie’s 31 is not nearly as good as you’ll want it to be.  It’s also not as bad as other critics are suggesting it is.  The film does EXACTLY what it needs to do, but without establishing any real purpose  ...

For those of you out there wanting to gain access into the celebrated madness that is the b-movie world, Dreamscape is a certified rite of passage.  You. Must. Enter. Here.  All paths lead through its twisting corridors.  Scream Factory celebrates this fact with their updated 2K  ...

Director Abel Ferrara (of Ms. 45 and Bad Lieutenant fame) and his long-time collaborator, screenwriter Nicholas St. John, are certified madmen of the NYC gutter scene.  They are art punks through and through, tirelessly splattering their canvas with a bit of the old ultra-violence  ...