New Horror Out on DVD this Week

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!

A Box Office Surprise and a Weak Week on DVD

So, what's the good news out of the box office this weekend? Well, it's that horror is alive and doing... pretty darn good. Look, "Despicable Me", the 3D animated feature from Universal Pictures and the new animation company, Illumination Entertainment, was the big story... It pulled in over $60Million, which crushed its competition and far exceeded what people thought it was going to do and that's great news for Universal. However, let's not take anything away from "Predators", which pulled in over $25Million... not too shabby for an action/horror flick that didn't have a big action star in it. The premise for this incarnation is great, too. I really like how they turned it on its head... sending the most dangerous killers on earth to the Predator's home planet to be hunted like game. Well, now that I write it out, it's really the SAME premise, but the location is different... it takes place on the Predator's turf... which is a good enough twist for me. Now we can look forward to this Friday's big release, which is "Inception", from Christopher Nolan. Early reviews and word says it's going to be a classic... just don't be too drunk and/or hung over. Apparently the plot gets tricky and you're going to have to use your head every now and then. An original idea from the guy who brought you "Momento", "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight". I can't wait. Until then, it's a fairly weak week in new horror releases on DVD, but let's take a look. As usual, you can go to our Youtube Page to check out the trailers and you can click on the titles to be taken to their page on Amazon, where you can read more and/or buy it.

"Outback" is an Australian film from director Oscar D'Roccster. It came out in Australia about a year ago under the title "Prey". However, I guess they decided to add an Australian flare for it's North American release and retitle it "Outback". It's about three couples that stumble across an ancient curse in the Outback and their dream holiday turns into a nightmare that may kill them all.

"Scream Girls" and "Killer Car" are both Japanese films being released by Cinema Epoch. "Scream Girls" is about a haunted school and "Killer Car" is about, well... a killer car. I can't find trailers or much information on either, but as they're Japanese horror films, you should expect lots of over-the-top, grotesque violence.

There's a great indie horror compilation coming out called "Feeding The Masses Horror Collection", which includes four awesome, shot on DV indies: "Feeding the Masses", "Creature From the Hillbilly Lagoon", "Nercroville" and "Splatter Disco". They're all great and all worth watching... and now you can have them all for the low, low price of $22.49!

Twilight At The Box Office, A Decent Week In New Horror On DVD

As expected, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" kicked some serious ass over the weekend. It actually didn't beat the last one, but it did pretty f'ing good - five days, $161Million. That gives it the 7th highest grossing five day start ever - but all of that is not terribly surprising. What WAS surprising was that "The Last Airbender" pulled in over $40Million dollars over the weekend, the third highest grossing opening for Shyamlan, behind the stinker "Signs" and the God-awful "The Village". What I didn't know is that "The Last Airbender" is an adaptation of an animated series called "Avatar: The Last Airbender", which had a fairly big, built in audience. As for the holdovers, "Toy Story 3", "Grown Ups" and "Knight & Day" all took fairly big dives, but all to be expected. Now, we're on the countdown to "Predators", from Robert Rodriguez, which opens this Friday... and I'm looking forward to it. Anyhow, on to the home entertainment market, where we'll look at the new and notable horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, you can head over to our Youtube Page to see the trailers and you can click on the titles to go to the film's Amazon page, where you can read more about it and/or buy it.

I'm assuming that the bulk of the movie going public thinks that Jason Mewes just sobers up enough to be in a Kevin Smith film ever now and then. However, fans of low-budget horror know that he's a fairly busy dude. "Bitten", being released on DVD this week, actually came out back in 2008, right before Kevin Smith's "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" and, since then, Mewes has been involved in at least 10 projects. Mewes isn't exactly a diverse actor, but he is awesome. So, if you're looking for Jay versus vampires, this is for you.

"The Burnt House" comes from writer/director Adam Ahlbrandt and it's about a couple that lose their son to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It causes a rift between them, she has an affair and then the couple moves to a rural neighborhood, looking for a fresh start. Once there, strange things happen and long kept secrets try and dig their way out...

"The Familiar" comes from writer/director Miles Hanon and it's a story of spiritual manipulation. Sam, a lonely gunsmith, hooks up with his estranged sister-in-law and gets involved with a wicked spirit named Rallo. Production value looks great, but when you're dealing with demonic possession and spiritual manipulations, you better have some damn good actors... tough to pull off effectively. Will be interesting to see.

Directed by a team of filmmakers, namely Larry Sands, Bradley Young and Erick Yega, "Recycled Parts" is about a group of college kids that get trapped in a macabre underworld where body parts are extracted from victims for sale to the highest bidder. Trailer looks great and I love the premise. The black market for organs and body parts is pretty damn scary, only because you know it exists...

Why do I love Asian horror films? Because they just take everything to a whole other level. "God of Vampires" is about a professional killer, Frank Ng, who's contracted to murder a Chinese crime lord... who happens to be a Chinese vampire. Undead kung-fu and lots of blood and guts follow. Awesome...

Box Office Review and a Good Week for Horror on DVD

Wow, I am in no condition to be operating my computer, let alone be writing this post... I was out of town for a gong-show wedding where I drank like a sailor on his last weekend before heading out to sea, then flew back home late last night. Flight was delayed three times, finally got home at 4AM... alarm went off at 7:30. Brutal. Anyhow, I'm ridiculously tired and terribly hung-over, but I'm going to try to power my way through this.

The box office was, once again, dominated by "Toy Story 3", but that's no real surprise. "Grown Ups", the ensemble Adam Sandler flick, did as expected and came in second. Third was "Knight & Day" and the press is all saying that the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz film was a bit of a let down. However, I heard it was tracking really badly. So, the fact that it pulled in over $20Million isn't that bad as far as I'm concerned... having said that, I don't know the budget off hand. Further, I was talking with a few people that saw it and they said it was actually a pretty good movie. Lastly, just to add insult to injury, "Jonah Hex" had the worst week to week decline, falling 70% to just over $1.5Million - poor "Jonah Hex". As for upcoming films, we all know that "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" has all the Twi-hards going crazy and it's going to dominate the next few weeks. However, I'm more interested to see how "The Last Airbender" does, as I really can't believe that studios still give M Night Shymalan money to make movies. Horror-wise, just around the corner, we've got "Predators" and "[Rec]2" coming out on July 9th. "Predators", the Robert Rodriguez reboot of the "Predator" franchise, is opening wide, "[Rec]2", not so much. Anyhow, on to the horror that's coming out on DVD. As usual, check out our Youtube Page to see the trailers and you can click on the titles to be taken to the films page on Amazon where you can read more and/or buy it.

Okay, (Ted's note), I've gotta whip through these because I'm fading fast and have way too much to do today, so I apologize for anything that appears cryptic or doesn't make sense...

The big release of the week is the remake of the Romero classic, "The Crazies". Quite frankly, I thought it did the original justice. Especially considering that most people don't consider the original to be a classic. They did change a few aspects from the original, but it was really just to update it a bit. It's worth checking out, for sure.

"The Eclipse" is a dramatic horror film from Conor McPherson, who's adapting a stage play that he did. It's dramatic, it's slow, but it is a horror. If you're used to more visceral horror, this may be a bit too slow for you.

"Versus" is actually about ten years old, but it's getting a rerelease on Blu-ray this week and it's kind of a kick ass Tokyo Shock film. Good versus evil, kung-fu, blood, guts... it's worth picking up if you haven't seen it.

If you like your vampire films mixed in with a little sexy-times, "Temptation" is for you. I haven't seen it, but it looks like you can expect it to be a bit heavy on the lesbians and nudity, light on the gore. Not that there's anything wrong with that... nothing at all.

"A Nocturne: Night of the Vampire" is an indie horror out of Australia, being distributed by Troma over here. I haven't seen it, but it comes from the Australian underground and it's a so-called 'goth original'. It's getting great reviews and, apparently, is shot really well and has a great look and feel for something that's shot on DV.

Lastly, I have to mention two awesome rereleases: "Teenage Hitchhikers" and "Uncle Sam" on Blu-ray. You know, I'm thinking that "Uncle Sam" may be ripe for a remake... I'd like to see a reboot of that. "Uncle Sam wants YOU... dead".