All The New Horror Out On DVD This Week and a look at "Jennifer's Body"

I guess I should lead off by mentioning the debacle that was "Jennifer's Body". If you didn't know, it's Diablo Cody's teen horror follow up to "Juno". It pulled in a meagre $6.8Million and the finger pointing is already rampant. Some blame the advertising, which pinned all its hopes on the lead, Megan Fox, and others blame the sub-genre itself, teen horror-comedy. Funny that no one's saying that it just, plain sucks ass and they're just saying where they went wrong in dealing with the film. I haven't see it... so, I can't judge, but I'm betting it sucks. If you did see it, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear some opinions on it.

There's a ton of horror coming out on DVD this week and I'm only going to go into detail on a few of them, as it's just too much and we don't need to bore everyone involved. You can always click on the title and go to the films Amazon page, where you can read more about it. Of course, you can also buy the films through there. As well, you can go to our Youtube page and check out some of the trailers.

Full disclosure... I'm a Rob Zombie fan. If you actually followed him back when he was just the frontman for White Zombie, you'd remember that he directed all the bands videos, he did all the artwork for the albums and even did a reoccurring spot on "Headbangers Ball", where he painted the set. In any case, you knew that he was into film, art and animation. So, it wasn't a huge stretch of the imagination to see him get into feature filmmaking when "House of 1,000 Corpses" was announced. It was also no surprise to hear about "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto", an animated film that's based on a comic book series that he created. It's about a washed-up Mexican wrestler and his sultry sidekick and sister, Suzi-X as they confront the evil Dr. Satan.

Well, we finally get the follow up to "Midnight Meat Train", which is "Clive Barker's Book of Blood" and, surprise, surprise, it ain't getting no theatrical release. (double negative aside, it's not hitting theaters) It's actually the seventh story to be adapted from Barker's collection, but, really, the second since he decided to go through all his works himself. It was adapted and directed by John Harrison and it was shot in Scotland. It premiered at Montreal's Fantasia Film Fest in July and I think it screened at a few other festivals, as well. But... alas, no theatrical release. Just DVD.

Jason Horton's "Edges of Darkness" is finally getting released on DVD and this is one for the Dead Harvey crowd. We saw it a while ago, way back in April, and we discussed the film with him. You can read our interview with Horton here. It looks like they've updated the cover art and it looks great. If you're going to check anything out this week, check this out. It's top-notch, well done indie horror.

So, also out are "Albino Farm", from Joe Anderson and Sean McEwen and starring Chris Jericho, the wrestler; "The Chosen One", a twisted fairytale from Theodore Collatos that's shot all in black and white; "Autopsy of the Dead", which looks to be some sort of unauthorized documentary on "Night of the Living Dead" (can't help but notice that Romero's not in it); and "Witchmaster General" from Jim Haggerty, starring Phil Lewis of LA Guns.

Also, it looks like there's a couple of new distributors that are dumping some titles into the mix.

First up, Psycho Junkie, and I can't find anything on them, but I'll look harder and report back. They're releasing a bunch of films this week, including: "Hillbilly Cannibal Bloodline", "Bedtime Ghost Tales", "Beware the Children", "Manson Kilmore: The Night Caller of Coal Miners Holler - Part 1 Deadly Secrets", "Mondo Psycho", "Run Run Bunny!" and "Ultra-Toxic"

The other new distributor is Screen Media / Gaiam, which is a little odd because all Gaiam distributes currently is Yoga videos and 'lifestyle' DVD's. Well, now they're adding a few horror films, including: "Vampires: Out For Blood" (with Johnny Drama himself, Kevin Dillon and Lance Henrikson) "Blood Gnome", "Demon Within", "Fear Of The Dark", "Spliced", "Satan's Little Helper", "Shallow Ground", "Gangs Of The Dead", "Severed: Forest of The Dead".

New Horror Out On DVD This Week: Header, Dead by Dawn 2 and more...

The positive out of the weekend was that I got my PC back up and running again. It turns out that the thing that receives the signals from my wireless keyboard and mouse had crapped out. So, I went out and bought the cheapest wired keyboard/mouse set I could find ($30) and it works like a charm. I've now made the decision to replace frivolous wireless devices with wired counterparts... Too much wireless is rotting my brain. I mean, if you could actually see the wireless signals travelling through my condo, I don't think Catherine Zeta-Jones would be able to slink her way through them.

Regardless, let's look at some of the notable DVD releases of the week. As usual, you can go over to our Youtube page to check out the trailers and you can click on the titles to go over to their pages on Amazon, where you can learn more and even buy them, if you so choose...

One of the more notable releases of the week is "Header", which was made in 2006 and was directed by Archibald Flancranstin. Adapted from Edward Lee's novella of the same name, it's set in the backwoods of West Virginia and follows two stories that end up colliding in death and self-destruction - one of a jaded ATF Special Agent and one of a bumpkin ex-con who returns home to be with his handicapped grandfather. Lee was actually surprised that it was made into a film, as he thought it was too sexually violent and over-the-top. Anyhow, it's done indie-style, as Flancranstin not only directed it, but he also shot it and edited it... Edward Lee makes his film debut in the movie and, if you care, noted author Jack Ketchum has a cameo.

"Dead By Dawn 2: The Return" is the sequel to "Dead by Dawn", an indie, micro-cinema film that we covered not too long ago. Here's a link to the interview that we did with Nigel Hartwell, who's the director of both. Nigel's also the brains behind the indie horror distribution company New Blood Entertainment and, obviously, he distributes his films himself... not only that, though, he's more than happy to talk to you about distributing your film. Check out that article and, remember, support indie horror!

"Sea Beast" is a Sci-Fi Original in the vein of "Hydra", "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" and the like... it's directed by Paul Ziller, who's behind a lot of the sci-fi originals.

Although it sounds like a Sci-Fi Original, "Monster X Strikes Back" is not... I haven't seen it, but it looks to be a throw back to 80's Japanese Sci-Fi/Horror and it looks fricking awesome. Check out the trailer on our Youtube page. It comes from Tokyo Shock and it's about a Chinese rocket that causes the monstrous Girara to be born. Of course, the G8 summit is being held at the nearby Lake Toya and all the members of the G8 implement individual plans, which all end up failing... How do you stop Girara? Seriously... how DO you stop Girara?

Back by popular demand, it's "Fear Girls: Volume 2". Don't expect much narrative here, you'll get three vignettes and sexy stripteases featuring, and I quote, "the hottest ladies of horror". Check out the trailer on our Youtube page, you'll see what you're in store for. It stars the Russian Twins, "Lana and Taya", among other hotties.

"Hide" stars Rachel Miner and Christian Kane and it's not really a horror... it's more of a modern day "Bonnie & Clyde". I haven't seen it, but I bring it up because I heard it was rather violent.

"Second Coming" is about identical twin sisters, Lora and Ashley Gerritson, who had a special psychic bond. Lora left their small town to become a photographer, Ashley stuck around to work at the local diner. Then, Lora begins receiving chilling visions from her sister and returns to the small town to find her sister...

"Kaidan" is an award winning Japanese film produced by master of J-Horror, Takashige Ichise. It's part of a ghost story anthology. The other films in the anthology are Shimizu's "Reincarnation" and Kurosawa's "Retribution".

New Horror Out On DVD This Week

Before I get to the horror DVD releases of the week, I'd like to mention "The Wrestler", which also comes out this week. Now, I'll admit something here... I do watch the occasional non-horror film and, I've gotta say, I've enjoyed a few of them. Not all of them, but a few of them... Granted, I do find that my tastes are wildly different than people that, say, liked "Milk" or "Frost/Nixon", but as a film guy, you have to appreciate a well done film. "The Wrestler" is one of those well done films and, if you haven't seen it, you really should. It had a budget of $6Million, which isn't much, considering the cast and how well it did and, as a low-budget filmmaker, you should appreciate the way it was put together. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Anyhow, now to the horror. As usual, click on the titles and you'll be taken to their page on Amazon and you can also go to our Youtube page and see all the trailers.

"Laid to Rest" is written and directed by Robert Hall, who's actually a fairly big name in the make-up and effects world. He's currently working on the Breck Eisner directed remake of Romero's "The Crazies" (due out in September), has spent a bunch of time on "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", plus worked on such projects as "Prom Night", "Pineapple Express" and "Red Sands". He's written and directed a couple of other films, "Lightning Bug" and "Behind the Sting", specifically. "Laid to Rest" stars Bobbie Sue Luther and has an appearance from "Sarah Connor Chronicles" lead, Lena Headey, and it's about a young girl (Bobbie Sue), who wakes up in a casket and has a traumatic head injury and no memory of her identity. She 'quickly realizes that she was abducted by a deranged serial murderer and must survive the night and outsmart the technologically inclined killer who is hell-bent on finishing what he started.' Just flipping through a few reviews, it looks like you can expect a pretty good slasher flick here...

"The Burrowers", released by Lionsgate, comes from award winning filmmaker J.T. Petty, who won a special jury prize at the Boston Independent Film Festival for his film, "Soft for Digging". What's really cool is that J.T. Petty has spent a bit of time in the video game world, having written for the game "Batman Begins", as well as for "Splinter Cell". Further to that, I believe this feature was based on an web-based series that was also called "The Burrowers"... so, it goes to show that there's many roads to the goal and Petty took a non-traditional route. Hmm... I may have to get in touch with him to discuss this all with him. Very cool. Anyhow, this film is part creature-feature and part Western, as it follows a rescue party in the old West that falls prey to creatures that come up from underground to feed on the inhabitants of a small town.

Lionsgate is also releasing "Sam's Lake", from writer/director Andrew C. Erin, which was an official selection at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. One of Erin's other films, a drama called "Simple Things", won him three awards. "Sam's Lake" is about Sam, who takes a group of friends to accompany her on a retreat to the cottage she grew up in, much like she does every summer. However, this time, Sam and her childhood friend Jesse take the group on an adventure to revisit the site of a murder and end up face to face with the terrifying legend of Sam's Lake...

"The Poker Club", from director Tim McCann, based on a novel by Ed Gorman, is about a weekly poker game turned bad... Aaron Tyler and his three best friends end up accidentally killing a burgler who's broken into Aaron's home. Fearing the consequences, they dispose of the corpse and agree to take the secret to their graves. However, they soon discover that someone knows what they've done and is now playing a murderous game of revenge with them. The reviews are quite good, so if you're into character driven films with a horror twist, this could be for you.

If you're into erotic horror anthologies (and who isn't?), "Fear Girls: Volume One" is your pick of the week. It's from writer/director Robert J. Massetti and it's four vignettes... the first is about a voyeuristic feast of a female vampire claiming her latest victim after an exciting sexual seduction, the second is where a victim turns the tables on their stalker in a sexy and bloody climax, the third is about an S&M party that takes a wildly violent and unexpected turn and the last is where we encounter some of the sexiest women in the world as they deliver nasty stripteases. 'The Fear Girls are hot, but cold blooded in these thriller tinged stories of passion and fate. Mature audiences only... view discretion is advised.'

Lastly, for all you Hellraiser fans, Clive Barker's releasing the "Hellraiser: Boxed Set" this week. Well, Anchor Bay's releasing it, but... whatever. If you're a fan, you may dig it. It's loaded with almost 3 hours of bonus material and it comes in a custom made Hellraiser Puzzle Box that slides open to reveal the discs...

New Horror Out On DVD This Week: Splinter, The Telling and much, much more...

It's Monday and I'm a little late with this post, but it was a long weekend and I'm taking today off work. I'm a little groggy and a little under the weather, so bear with me... and I'll get through this. It's actually a fairly good week for new horror and, as usual, click on the titles to go to their Amazon page to find out more or head over to our Youtube page and check out all the trailers.

Although the plot to "Splinter" starts out, and appears, fairly standard (A young couple retreats to the wilderness for a romantic camping weekend, but the trip quickly spirals into a nightmare when they are carjacked by an escaped convict and his girlfriend), it quickly takes a few turns. The group of them end up getting trapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still living victims into deadly hosts... basically a fungus-like parasite that turns its victims into mutant, beast zombie things. Think "The Thing", but it infects people and really fucks them up, I guess. In any case, it's won piles of awards, including Best Horror Film at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, as well as Best Picture, Best Directing, Best FX, Best Make-Up and a few others at Screamfest. Definitely the film of the week... looks great.

A lot of low-budget filmmakers like the 'anthology' format, as it allows you to make three short films and tie them together. It can work out if you have three filmmakers with minimal budgets that want to pool their resources or if you want to chop up your shooting schedule and manage everything better or if you just want to space things out and make life a bit easier. Anyhow, "The Telling", co-directed by Nicholas Carpenter and Casey Ward is one of those anthologies. It's not low-budget, by any means, as it's produced by and stars Bridget Marquardt of "The Girls Next Door" fame... yeah, that's right. The Playboy Playmate. Yup, she's also got a bunch of her friends in it, too. Fitting, also, as it's about three girls who pledge the most popular (and cruelest) sorority on campus and, for their final task, they must tell the scariest story they know. So, that's the set-up. Then, there's three distinct stories... which inspire someone at the sorority to commit their own murders.

"Bled", written by a guy named Sxv'leithan Essex and directed by Christopher Hutson, is about Sai, 'a young artist living in a downtown warehouse that delves into an ancient world of blood and lust. An enigmatic foreigner seduces her to try a long forgotten drug making her the prey of a dimensional vampire who needs her new found hunger for blood to cross over from his world to hers'. It's a slower moving film and, if you're into drawn out, artsy, surreal, moody, vampire films. This, my friend, is a film for you.

Although it was made in 2008, "November Son" has a very distinct 70's or 80's feel to it. I'm not sure why... it could be the compression on the trailer I watched. Anyhow, this film ain't going to be for everyone. It's written and directed by Jason Paul Collum and it would be what's classified as a gay horror. It looks like it's the sequel to another gay horror called "October Moon". It's about a couple of guys, with a shared secret (I wonder what it is?) who enter the lives of the survivors of the first film... then all of them are tossed into a scenario of bloodshed, torture and the ultimate hell of death, mutilation and destruction... and, apparently, not in that order.

"Forest of Death" is from Danny Pang, of 'Pang Brothers' fame... who, if you didn't know, are the guys behind the original "The Eye", all subsequent remakes and sequels, and the kick-ass film, "Re-Cycle". This was called "Sum yuen" in its native Hong Kong and it's about a dark forest, known for causing mysterious deaths, which becomes the focus of a recent savage murder. So, a homicide detective, a botanist researching the paranormal and his tabloid TV reporter girlfriend each embark on a treacherous journey to the heart of the "Forest of Death", where a chilling revelation awaits them all. I'm not sure if evil fighting botanists are going to catch on like "The Eye" did, but... you never know.

From Hong Kong, we go to Mexico... "Helena's Cry", or "El Ilanto de Helena", as it's known in Mexico, is about Isabela, whose daughter, Helena, died in a tragic road accident. The death is under investigation by a couple of journalists who find out that rumors of a strange apparition from beyond the dead may actually be responsible for the killings of the those unlucky ones traveling through there at night. I'll tell you what... that sentence doesn't make much sense, but I'm trying to make sense of the description I'm reading. It must be directly translated from Spanish, as it makes no sense at all... it ends with, something to the effect of... the reporters uncover an incoherent history in which the evil forces seem eager to continue killing the innocent. Yeah, well... what evil forces wouldn't want to continue killing the innocent? Something lost in translation on this one. Check out the trailer.

No, this "Summer School" is not the "Summer School" from 1987, starring Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley and Courtney Thorne-Smith. Side note here, I totally forgot that Shawnee Smith, from the "Saw" films, "Repo! The Genetic Opera" and "The Grudge 3", pretty much got her start in the 1987 version of "Summer School". Wow... Anyhow, this "Summer School" is from Lance Hendrickson, no... not Lance Henrickson, and it's about a guy who watches a lot of B-horror and is forced to go to summer school. He's in class with his buddies, his high-school crush and, if his teacher doesn't drive him insane, what lurks in the school just might...

"Fear the Forest" is a low-budget horror from Matthew Bora and it looks pretty good... The plot revolves around a local philanthropist who puts a $2.5Million bounty on finding Big Foot, as he's been up to no good in the area, killing a few people... and the like. So, a group of free-spirited college friends, as well as a bunch of bounty hunters, head up into the woods to look for the legend and have a weekend retreat. Well, the college guys are on the retreat, the bounty hunters are up there to chew bubble gum and kick ass. Of course, the trip turns to shit when they actually encounter the unspeakable terror. It's Man vs Beast and there can only be one left standing.

There's also a few rereleases of note, a few of which are from an off-shoot of Lionsgate called "The Lost Collection"... which basically means they had a bunch of movies in their library that no one cares about and they're trying to make a few bucks off them. "Slaughter High" was alright, but "My Best Friend's a Vampire" and "Repossessed"? Really? Anyhow, you also get "The House That Cried Murder", "Horror Express", "Screaming Skull" and "Teenagers From Outer Space", all of which are from the 50's, except for "Horror Express", which is from the early 70's... and is a bit of a classic.