Weekend Wrap-up and What's New on DVD, including: Lesbian Vampire Killers...

Well, they talk about this whole recession thing and they say that piracy and home entertainment is cutting into the box office, but... last weekend was the highest grossing weekend at the box office... ever. All time. No shit. "Avatar" pulled back less than 3% from its opening weekend and "Sherlock Holmes" had the second biggest open ever for a film that didn't finish number 1... which was only bested by "The Day After Tomorrow", which opened the same weekend as "Shrek 2". Even "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The squeakuel" raked in over $50Million. I did my part, too. I finally went to check out "Avatar" at Imax. Say what you will about the story and plot, the film is an f'ing spectacle. I've NEVER seen anything like it before and I can't wait to see something like that again. Unreal. If you haven't seen it, I suggest seeing it at Imax. It's an unbelievable experience.

As for the week in DVD releases, we've finally got ourselves a stellar week. As usual, you can click on the title and be taken to the films page on Amazon, where you can read more about it and even buy it. You can also go to our Youtube page and check out all the trailers.

For the indie crowd, the big movie of the week is, without question, "Paranormal Activity". The best part about it, I don't think it'll lose a bit of its effectiveness when seen on the small screen. In fact, it may be better. Think about it, they way it's filmed, it could be even more effective... it'll certainly add to the intensity and suspense. Anyhow, if you're a reader of this site and you haven't seen it, you really ought to go pick it up and watch it. It's only the most successful micro-budget film to date, not to mention it's the most profitable film ever.

"Jennifer's Body" is the follow up film for "Juno" scribe, Diablo Cody, and the film was a disappointment on a few levels. First up, it just wasn't that great. Secondly, it got slaughtered at the box office. Some of the executives blamed the marketing efforts, others blamed timing... at the end of the day, it just wasn't that good. Having said that, if you're desperate to check out a horror film with some budget and Megan Fox, go right ahead...

I'm not really sure what happened with "Carriers", which was written and directed by Alex and David Pastor. The film was completed, and actually screened, way back in 2007... it even got a lot of good reviews. Then, Paramount Vantage was going to release it last September, but I don't really remember it coming out. It must've been one of those projects that fell to the wayside when the studio's started shuttering their indie arms. In any case, it's finally coming out on DVD this week. It's about four people that are fleeing a viral pandemic that's spread world-wide and it stars Chris Pine, AKA Captain Kirk from the new "Star Trek".

"Vampire Killers" was originally called "Lesbian Vampire Killers" during it's run in the UK, where it was made. It's a horror comedy written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield, directed by Phil Claydon. The funniest thing about the film is that the writers, who were both working in the comedy development department at MTV in Europe at the time, were challenged to come up with the most commercial film project and title they could to pitch as a low-budget, straight to DVD feature... this is what they came up with. It toiled around for a while, but did, obviously, eventually get made. Can't say that the reviews are good, but... with a title like that, the bar is set low. Don't know about you, but I'll be checking it out.

Lastly, there's the low-budget "Evil Offspring", directed by Tommy Brunswick and released by R Squared. The trailer that I found is in German, but the film isn't... so, it looks like the film had an overseas release. I don't know much about the plot, but the film opens with the trees and wilderness ripping two guys apart, then raping a girl. The girl then goes on to spawn some evil offspring, which go out and wreak havoc... thus the title.