July 29, 2008 - New Horror on DVD this week... and our review of "Lost Boys: The Tribe"

Once again, although it appears that there's lots of new releases this week, there really isn't, there's just a few... we're just getting inundated with rereleases and 'collections' of old films. There are a few notable releases, though, including "Dimples", "Side Sho" and the much anticipated "Lost Boys: The Tribe", which Brad has a few choice words for. As always, you can click on the titles to buy them off Amazon and you can go to our Youtube page to watch all the trailers.

"Lost Boys: The Tribe" comes out this week and, I haven't seen it, but Brad has and here's Brad's review:

After much anticipation, the long awaited sequel to one of the greatest tounge-in-cheek horror movies of all time arrives on video. I am such a fan of the first one (it's in my top ten of all time favorite movies), I just about pleasured myself without even touching myself when I saw it on the shelf.

So, it is with great sadness, my friends that I report this movie is complete and total S. It's like a bunch of executives just wanted to make a movie with a bunch of pretty, twenty somethings skateboarding and motorcycling. There's nothing new about the story. It's basically just a low remake of the first one with all the good parts taken out.

Gone is the style and spirit of the original. Gone are all the great characters and humor. Haim has a quick cameo, but you have to wait a long time to see it and nothing cool happens. My recommendation, leave it on the shelf and let it do it's time in s-movie jail. You'll be much better off buying the original, which just keeps getting better with time. Next to the sequel, it's f'ing, "Lawrence of Arabia". Thanks, Brad... Personally, I'll leave it be.

"Dimples" comes from writer, director and editor, Dusty DePree and it has not one, but two Beverly Hills 90210 Alums in it! First off, you get Gabrielle Carteris, who was none other than Andrea Zuckerman, and then you have Aaron Spelling's own son, Randy Spelling, who, if you remember, played Ryan Sanders in a few episodes. The only other film to DePree's credit is "Golden Showers", a short comedy with, what I think, is a kick-ass title and I have no idea what it's about... but I hope it's about what I think it's about. Either way, I can tell you what "Dimples" is about. It's about a girl named Frances, who has a terrible dream about a little girl being chased by a monster... and then goes on a road trip with her friends the next day, only to end up at a secluded house where that little girl from her dream lives with a man called 'The Doctor'. Frances finds out all the horrors that the little girl has been subjected to and she tries to save her, while Frances' friends run from the monster from her dream, which 'The Doctor' had created.

"Side Sho" was directed by Michael D'Anna and comes from Lucky Kitty Productions. Lucky Kitty is "the South's leading independent producers of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films" and D'Anna is a partner. This is his feature length directorial debut, as well as the first feature produced by Lucky Kitty. That's not to say that D'Anna isn't a veteran, he's been directing commercials and music videos for close to a decade now. "Side Sho" is about a family that's travelling because of the hot daughter's softball league and they decide to take the 'scenic route', only to end up in the middle of nowhere. They stop at an old abandoned side show in a small town. The show is filled with inbred freaks, who promptly kidnap the half dressed women and leave the young son and father to fend for themselves.

I'm going to briefly touch on "Salvage" and "Mortuary" and link to their regular DVD's, even though they're both coming out on Blu-Ray this week. Reason being, they've already been released, just not on Blu-Ray... and I don't think that many of our readers have Blu-Ray, so... Anyhow, "Salvage", from the Crook Brothers, was an official selection of the 2006 Sundance Festival and, according to them, was shot for around $25,000. It has a a wicked twist ending and is about a young woman who repeatedly relives the day she was murdered by a knife-wielding maniac. "Mortuary" is a Tobe Hooper film that came out in 2005 that stars Dan Byrd, Alexandra Adi and Denise Crosby. It's about a family that moves to a small town to take over a long abandoned funeral home, which is haunted and the cemetary on the property is the living place of a sadistic monster.

"Hair Extensions (EXTE): Special Edition", which was originally called "Ekusute", is from Sion Sono and it won the horror jury prize at the Austin Fantastic Fest. In classic J-horror form, this film asks the question, "What if hair extensions carried the grudge of the individual to which the hair originally belonged and started attacking people wearing it at random?" This is the extreme, gruesome version that comes from Tokyo Shock.

...and if you're into those massive packs of low-budget horrors, here's a few of these "Advantage" packs to look into. I won't cover the films, as they're all old...ish and there's too many of them.

Advantage: Ultimate Vampire Collection - (Vampire Stakes, Vulture's Eye, Abomination, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Project Vampire, The Darkness, Lord of the Vampires and The Werewolf Versus Vampire Women)

Advantage: Monsters Gone Wild - (The Screaming Skull, The Monster Walks, She Beast, The Brain that wouldn't Die, The Giant Gila Monster, Attack of the Giant Leeches, The Killer Shrews, The Snow Creature, Beast from Haunted Cave and Human Monster)