Here we are, smack dab in the middle of October - horror's wheelhouse. Usually, this means that there's a lot of good horror coming out on DVD and a lot of good horror hitting the theaters. As for this week on DVD, it's not bad. In fact, it's great for low-budget and micro-budget horror. There's certainly a lot of rereleases and I don't really want to mention them, as I like to concentrate on the new stuff... especially when a lot of the new stuff is micro and low-budget. So, as usual, you can check out all the trailers on our Youtube Page and you can click on the films title and go to its Amazon page, where you can read more and/or buy the film.Let's just start off with "Predators
", as I'm very interested in what other people thought of it. Me, I wasn't terribly impressed. The acting was great, that wasn't a problem. I was ready to write off "The Pianist", Adrien Brody, before the film started, but... I bought him as a tough guy. Really, I bought all of the actors. What I didn't buy, was the concept. I get it, I get it... you wanted to tie it to the original. You know what, though? You didn't have to ram it down our throats. There's other ways. Not only that, there's so much suspension of disbelief needed to get through the plot and concept, I just wasn't buying the whole idea. Maybe I'm being too hard on it, I don't know. What did you think of it?Okay, NOW we're talking! Based on the best-selling manga by Shungiku Uchida, it's the follow up to "Tokyo Gore Police" and "Machine Girl" - "Vampire Girl vs.Frankenstein Girl
". Don't let the goofy title fool you, this film ups the ante on all the demented Asian hardcore hyper-violence that you've seen over the last few years. Just watch the trailer. Personally, I LOVE these films and I really wonder if this stuff could cater to North American audiences? Obviously there's a market for it, but I wonder if it could ever go a bit more mainstream? Hmmm... I doubt it.Not too sure about this one... mostly in that I'm not sure if the "Lost Tribe
" that's new this week on DVD is the same as "The Lost Tribe" that I found on Amazon and IMDB. In any case, this film MAY be about a a group of friends that get stranded on an uncharted island where they encounter an ancient tribe of humanoid creatures... and it may be about something else.Well, if you're looking for a double whammy on Adrien Brody, you might as well pick up "Giallo
". If you don't care to get an Adrien Brody double shot, you may just want to pick it up because it's directed by Italian horror master Dario Argento. If you don't care about Argento or Brody, maybe you just like giallo films... if so, it looks like Argento pulls out all the stops. Takes place in Italy? Check. There's a crime involved? Check. Eroticism? Check. Gore? Check. At the end of the day, it's Argento.... pay your respects and go check it out!I haven't seen "Colin
", but I've heard about it and it's a massive achievement for micro-cinema. It's from the UK and it was shot for something like a few thousand dollars. Maybe even a few hundred dollars. It's a zombie film, but it's got a great twist... the hero, Colin, is bitten by a zombie and he dies and returns from the dead... and the film follows him as he wanders through suburbia during the throes of a cadaverous apocalypse. Low-budget, first person film shot through the eyes of a zombie. I love it."Horno
" - it's not a porno, it's a horno. Life imitates art after several sex craze, flesh eating zombies crash a film shoot about a zombie outbreak that's spread through sodomy. Yeah, let's go through that again because it's sort of awesome. A guy decides to make a film about zombies that ass-rape people... which turns the receivers of the ass-raping in to zombies THEN real zombies attack the film set. Sold.Just in time for Halloween, it's a Christmas horror. It's the third film in the "Bikini Bloodbath" series, featuring the likes of Debbie Rochon, Lloyd Kaufman, Rachel Robbins, Monique Dupree and many more, and it's called "Bikini Bloodbath Christmas
". You like low-budget horror? You like T&A? You like a bit of gore? Of course you do... check it out, the other two were awesome."Deadlands 2: Trapped
" is the sequel to 2006's "Deadlands: The Rising". They're self financed zombie films from Gary Ugarek and he's currently in pre-production on a third film in the series, called "Deadlands III: The New World"."The Bisbee Cannibal Club
" was on Amazon this morning, now I can't find it... I'm actually quite excited to check it out because I just got a box of films from Chemical Burn Entertainment and Reality Films, the distributor, and I haven't started watching them yet... as this is the first to be released, this will be the first one I watch. I'll report back and I may even have an interview for you guys on this!
I was hopeful, but I didn't really think it would happen... but it did. "The Expendables" won the weekend at the box office. Unbelievable. A throwback action film, written and directed by Sly Stallone, beat out "Eat Pray Love" and "Scott Pilgrim". Further to that, it beat out "Rambo", which was awesome, and gave Stallone his biggest opening ever... although, that's not in terms of actual audience. In any case, a big day for the action genre. Does this mean that 80's style action movies are going to make a comeback? I doubt it, but... it does suggest that (a) put together properly, there's still a market for these films and (b) that guys like Stallone and Dolph Lundgren still have some fuel in their tanks. The way I look at it, it boils down to concepts. Twenty Five years ago, the concepts didn't need to be that big... or smart. Ex-Colonel has his daughter kidnapped by terrorists, Ex-Colonel kills all the terrorists. Reanimated dead soldiers do evil deeds, one with a good heart turns on them. Bad dudes hunt humans for fun, but accidentally pick on an ex-marine. Psycho Ex-Marine gets sent back in to Vietnam to finish the job... you get the picture. These days, those ideas may not fly when that's all it is, just a premise. However, big concepts wrapped around a simple premise will. Highly skilled mercenaries are commissioned to assassinate the dictator of a small South American island... and the group of mercenaries are played by ten of the biggest action stars of the last twenty five years. Layers, big concepts, clean ideas, solid and simple plot - easy sell. I think that a lot of screenwriters think that they need to over complicate things to make it more saleable in today's market... it's not complexity that they're looking for, it's clean, simple ideas with a good concept. That's why this is a success. Anyhow, let's move on to the DVD's of the week. It's not a great week for horror, but it'll do. As usual, you can go to our 
" and "
" both come out this week and they were both written and directed by Larry Blamire. Blamire's films are more like cult comedy, but they're definitely in the horror realm. His directorial debut was the predecessor to "Lost Skeleten", called "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra". He followed that up with "Meet the Mobsters" and "Trail of the Screaming Forehead", before making these two. His films are throwbacks to old, old-school horror films from the 40's or 50's.
" got made. I mean, this film has some serious budget and the plot is utterly ludicrous. A young girl and her autistic brother are in the care of their stepfather, after the death of their mother, and he just pilfered her college fund to buy a tiger for his safari park... and now a hurricane hits them and the tiger gets loose in their home. I think I'm going to have to check this one out, just to see it.
" and the "
" coming out and they're going for $6.98 each. The Creature Collection comes with "Attack of the Giant Leeches", "The Wasp Woman", "Creature From the Haunted Sea", "A Bucket of Blood" and "Last Woman on Earth". The Horror Collection comes with "The Little Shop of Horrors", "The Terror", "Dementia 13", "She Gods of Shark Reef" and "Swamp Women".
" and "
" coming out. If you don't know, Eric is the older brother to Julia and I don't think they really get along. He's been in some great films, including, lately, "The Dark Knight" and "Final Analysis" and, back in the 80's, he was even nominated for an academy award. You can see him in "The Expendables" this Friday and he's involved in tons of upcoming projects... most of them low-budget, like "Killer Weekend" and "Project Solitude: Buried Alive". That's not to say they aren't good, they're just straight to DVD horror films. In fact, they both look alright and I'm going to check them out...
" comes from Brain Damage and it's a micro-budget horror anthology, seven short films in one. I'm not sure if they purposely borrowed the title of a classic noir film from the forties, but they did... so, don't confuse it. As if you could. The film from 1947 has Tyrone Power on the front, this one has a sketch of a decapitated head and it boasts to have been shot in 'Grind-o-Scope'. It was a finalist in the Australia Film Fest, it won at Brunswick Film Fest and it was a selection at Schlockfest Australia.
". As of right now, it's out of stock on Amazon and there's very little information out there. However, it's been called "so bad, it's good" and "an obscure bargain basement shot-on-video horror that's utterly awful and inept". It's about a guy and his friend that get drunk and end up having to fight some ant-like sharp-toothed creatures that were born out of one the guy's sickly wife. Count me in.
Okay, seriously, I'm just going to whip right through the news from the box office because it's all of little or no consequence to anything that I give a rats ass about. "Shrek Forever After" won the weekend, but it was the least attended opening for a "Shrek" film... this being the fourth, if you lost count. I have a feeling that "Shrek" will live on, though... in some sort of incarnation. A kids show, video games, straight to DVD releases. Whatever. It's a good franchise. The other new nationwide release was an unmitigated disaster. "MacGruber". Wow. I mean, it took in around $4Million total. With "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "Sex and the City 2" coming out this week, it's done. "George Romero's Survival of the Dead" will probably do better and it gets a limited releases this Friday... so limited that I don't get it here, which sucks. Anyhow, let's look at the week in DVD horror. As usual, you can check out our 
" on DVD. Where does the time go? Are any of you big "True Blood" fans? If so, is this worth getting caught up on, really? The show has received great critical acclaim and even won a few awards, including a Golden Globe. However, I want to hear from the people that watch it.
and 
. Is it a classic? I think so. It was the first installment in Fulci's unofficial "Gates of Hell" trilogy, which also included "The Beyond" and "The House by the Cemetary".
", comes out this week... officially. We actually spoke with the writer/director, Emil Hyde, a while back. 
".
" on our Youtube Page, it looks unreal. It had a very limited theatrical release in 2009, but won a ton of awards on the indie horror festival circuit.
" is Chad Ferrin and he broke into the industry as a production assistant on "Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers" and "Hellraiser: Bloodline". He moved on to directing episodes of "Troma's Edge TV" and then started making films for Troma... with low-no budgets. "The Ghouls" was shot on Mini DV for $15K and "Unspeakable" was shot for $20K. This is his latest and, quite frankly, it looks pretty f'ing good. If you're going to go low-no budget, you might as well do something f'ed up. This fits the bill and I can't wait to check it out.
" looks really creepy, but mainly because I find twins creepy to start with. The film is about a twin that dies and the brother and family that grieve after his death. The surviving brother acts as a medium and they discover that the two of them want the same thing, their parents love. However, the dead one doesn't want to return to the living, he wants them all to join him in the afterlife.
So, comedy beat out action at the box office... kind of. Really, there was no clear winner, as "Date Night", "Clash of the Titans" and "How to Train Your Dragon" all came in within a couple million dollars of each other, which is nothing. What's a couple million dollars? However, they did come in, in that order. "Clash" dropped big time and "Dragon" held in there a lot better than people expected. Not much to report, really, so I'll just look to next week. This coming Friday has two big movies coming out, "Death at a Funeral" and "Kick Ass". Let's just say that I won't be seeing "Death at a Funeral" and leave it at that. However, I'm really interested in "Kick Ass", as, to be honest, it's really unique and I want to see how it does. It's based on a comic book of the same name, although the rights to the film version were sold before the first issue was even published. It's about a teenager that wants to become a superhero, then gets caught up in a bigger fight when he meets Big Daddy, a former cop that's training his eleven year old girl to be a ruthless vigilante. I'm interested in it because it really seems to be going for a younger demographic (an eleven year old antagonist, a teenager that wants to be a superhero, a flashy soundtrack), HOWEVER, it's been called "jaw-droppingly violent", "relentlessly violent" and has an eleven year old girl that is more vulgar than a bus load of drunken sailors on their way to a whore house. The budget wasn't that big, by Hollywood standards, only $28Million, so I guess the risk is low for Lionsgate... but it's an interesting angle and I do want to check it out and see how it does. Anyhow, on to the horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, you can go to our 
and get the entire "
" on regular DVD.
", written and directed by Mark Stouffer, is about four young couples that head off to do some off-roading, but end up being attacked by 'The Catcher', an alien (or human or thing... I don't know) that's "a skilled and brutal hunter of human specimens for alien science". Reviews aren't that great, but it does look like it's got a bit of budget behind it. The trailer's very strange, as it has an official trailer at the front end, but then it cuts to this choppy sequence of events that I can't really figure out. I'm not going to lie to you, I really don't know what's going on here. Next.
". The title sounds a bit low-budget, but it's got a decent cast of people that you'd recognize and it's directed by Howard Wexler. This is the first real film of this kind that Wexler's directed, but he's spent a long time in the camera department, both as a cinematographer and camera operator, splitting his time between making straight-to-DVD horror and porn. Granted, it's been mostly horror for the last decade or so... but a career in porn will linger like the smell that filming a porn leaves behind... not that I know. I'm just guessing. Really. Anyhow, the plot is fairly interesting, as it's about a small town that WAS attacked on September 9th, 2009 and the film takes place sixty years later with the last survivor recounting the details of what the government calls 'the start of the modern plague'. Interesting angle, I like that.
" comes out of Ireland and it's directed by Aisling Walsh. It was nominated for best achievement in production and best actress for Samantha Morton at the British Independent Film Awards. You've got a classic horror backdrop, where an emotional fragile family moves to a remote village following the tragic death of their baby daughter, which sets up them taking in a disturbed and orphaned autistic girl called Daisy. One thing leads to another and, as you would expect, Daisy is not what she seems... in fact, she may be something far more malevolent.
", which in long form, is called "The Greatest American Snuff Film - Directors Cut Special Edition". Now, I don't know if this is a remake or reinvisioning of the original, but if you haven't seen the first, it'll be worth picking up. What's great about these films, and what I love about them, is the fact that he's justifying using an extremely low-budget medium. Yes, it looks low-budget. Yes, it's gritty. Yes, anyone could put this together... but that's the point. You want to know how to make a no-budget film marketable? Look at what Tretta's done with these two films.
" was actually already released... and not that long ago, just back in December. I'm pretty sure what I said then is still valid: "Mental Scars" is from Mischa Perez and it's got one of the creepiest looking killers I've seen in a while. However, I feel that he should've been taller... maybe move a bit slower. That could be just me, though. In any case, he goes by the name David Taggart, but his ancient Native American tribe refers to him as "the Protector" - a dark figure in the night who scavenges the grounds in search of human flesh... and he's got his work cut out for him here, when a bunch of investors try to turn a dilapidated old junk yard that sits on top of a Native burial ground into a profitable parking lot.
So, the weekend at the box office went, sort of, as I predicted. "How to Train Your Dragon" toppled "Alice in Wonderland" and "Hot Tub Time Machine" came in third. The interesting story out of this weekend revolves around 3D films. Currently, there's three 3D films in the theaters: "How to Train Your Dragon", "Alice in Wonderland" and, of course, "Avatar". Now, a little backstory - modern 3D films use polarized 3D, which is different than, say... the 3D used in "Friday the 13th Part 3-D", which used the red/blue glasses. Polarized 3D requires digital projection that uses either two digital projectors fitted with polarizing filters OR a single digital projector used in conjunction with an adaptor in the front. IMAX, I believe, uses a slightly different and far more expensive method, but it's still based in polarized 3D. (If you're a tech guy and know this better, please elaborate) So, the interesting thing is that there's not enough screens to play all the 3D films now. So, with "Alice" being so successful and "Dragon" just opening, guess what happened to "Avatar"? Biggest drop yet, but the real reason is because it was booted off most of its 3D screens. Long and short is, it looks like 3D has hit the tipping point in a big, big way and, if that's the case, the theaters are going to need to do some serious upgrading. Now, here's where it gets interesting for us... the switch to 3D capable screens means that the theaters are going to go all digital.... which means that getting alternative content (ie. sports, indie and micro-budget film) on to the big screen will be a whole lot easier - no cost for prints, virtually zero distribution costs, blah, blah... unless, of course, there's four 3D films competing for all the spots in the megaplex. Oh, did I mention that "Clash of the Titans" opens this Friday and it's also in 3D? It's an interesting time to be in theatrical releases, for sure. Anyhow, let's get back down to earth and look at the horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, head over to our Youtube Page by clicking 
" is the feature film debut from Irish director, Glenn McQuaid, and it finally comes out on DVD this week. It's a great film and it had a great run at the festivals. It was picked up by IFC for domestic distribution; Anchor Bay for Canada, the UK and Australia; and Screen Media for foreign. Not only that, it was popular enough to have spawned a comic book adaptation - always a sign of acceptance in the horror world. The film stars Dominic Monaghan, Larry Fessenden, Ron Perlman and The Tall Man himself, Angus Scrimm. A month or so ago, we talked with Jeremiah Kipp, the writer/director of the short film "Contact" and he happened to be the AD on "I Sell the Dead". We talked a bit about "I Sell the Dead" in the interview and if you'd like to go back and check that out, here's the 
" is a Canadian indie horror from Lee Demarbre and it's produced by Robert Menzies. The film is about an "Ed Wood" sort of director who starts killing people and using their blood and guts in his films for realism. It screened at Fantasia Fest and the London FrightFest, before getting a limited theatrical run in Canada. The cast is unreal, including David Hess from "The Last House on the Left", Michael Berryman from "The Hills Have Eyes", Ray Sager from "The Wizard of Gore" and porn star, Sasha Grey, in her second non-porno role. Not only that, the Godfather of the splatter film, Herschell Gordon Lewis, is in the opening credits, advising the audience to "watch if they must". There's a lot of good things going on here and I may have to check it out.
", but I'm assuming that's because too many videos pop up on Youtube when you type in "Bigfoot". In any case, this film was actually completed back in 2005 and has been trapped in indie film purgatory due to a snafu with another distribution company. Now, it's finally getting the release it deserves from Troma, who just recently picked it up. It's a low-budget indie, but reviews are fairly good and it looks like it's worth checking out.
" is a Japanese film, based on a novel of the same name by Tatsuhiko Takimoto. There's also a manga adaptation - a sign of acceptance in the Japanese horror world. The trailer that I found has no subtitles and I know nothing of the book, so I'm not really sure what it's about. Judging from the trailer, there's a love story, some motorcycle riding and a chainsaw wielding psychopath from space.
", AKA "Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny, and Girly" is a cult horror-comedy classic that came out of the UK from British horror veteran Freddie Francis in 1969. It's been called one of the greatest lost films of British horror cinema and received great reviews at the time, although it was marketed poorly and was forgotten very quickly. The distributor gave up on the film and it all but vanished, except for an even more limited release on VHS in the early 80's. Then, during a Freddie Francis film festival in 2004, the organizers struggled to find even a VHS copy and the film was thought to have been completely lost... when copies began to surface on the web, people started talking about it, it gained some cult status and, low and behold, it's now out on DVD ready to be rediscovered.
", an eight DVD collection of all the After Dark Horrorfest films, which includes "Dread", "The Final", "The Graves", "The Hidden", "Kill Theory", "Lake Mungo", "The Reeds" and "Zombies of Mass Destruction". We spoke with the Director of Horrorfest, Sarah Finder, before they all hit the theater and she discussed all of them, so instead of rehashing, just click 
" comes from director Colin Theys and it actually came out a couple years ago, but they've given it some new cover art and are rereleasing it. Maybe they fixed it up a bit, I don't know. Reviews aren't that great and when I saw it a couple years ago, it felt like it could've used a bit more time in post production. Banshee's are creatures from Irish mythology and the banshee in this film has the ability to make its prey hallucinate through sound waves... a group of college friends on a Spring Break camping trip get stalked and slashed up by one these not-so-little suckers.
" stars Lou Diamond Phillips and it came out in 2009 and premiered on the 'don't call me Sci-Fi', SyFy channel. Lou's a small town Sheriff that hunts a mysterious bat-like creature that escapes from a carnival.
" comes out on Blu-ray and DVD this week and, I'll just say it... I liked it. I'm not the only one, either - it won awards. It won the critics choice for best comedy at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards and the audience award at Sitges. It's horror/comedy at it's best and Woody is classic. From a filmmaking perspective, it's funny to note that the project was originally pitched as a TV series and the film is actually just the first three episodes, reworked. The brains behind "Zombieland" are Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and they broke into Hollywood by coming up with the idea for, and creating, "The Joe Schmo Show". "Zombieland" is their first feature and now they're tapped to do "Earth vs. Moon", "Zombieland 2" and the untitled G.I. Joe Sequel. Great success story...
", but you can now get the whole series on DVD. It was distributed in first-run syndication in the US from October 1990 to April of 1991. The first 14 episodes were filmed in England and the second season, which was filmed in L.A., only lasted 6 episodes. Never seen it, don't know anything about it.
", which is a classic... with Lon Chaney Jr, Bela Lugosi and the whole crew. It's one of those films that you should just see for the sake of seeing. The big thing of note is that this is the film that introduced the idea of werewolves being vulnerable to silver. Who knew, huh?
" is finally coming out. Hey, that's not to take away from Debbie, we love her. She's a great actress, has done a lot to push indie horror forward and she's one of the top scream queens in the biz. Always, always, always support Debbie Rochon. Bless her heart...
", directed by Ryan Todd and written by Kevin Haskin. It's about a children's book illustrator who inhabits a twilight world of shifting reality and illusion, where cruelty and rampant evil do battle with his better instincts and sanity is a question of perception. Nice rhyme... question of perception. I like that. Best part about this film? That evil children's book illustrator is played by Robert Picardo, the guy who played Richard Woolsey in "Stargate" and, of course, The Doctor in "Star Trek: Voyager".