A Suprise At The Box Office and Retro Week On DVD's This Week

I wasn't really surprised that "Inception" won the weekend at the box office again... The film is good, it's got great buzz and star power. It took in over $43Million over the weekend, bringing its domestic take to over $143Million. What DID surprise me was how well "Salt" did. Quite frankly, I believe that the days of stars carrying films are over and I think we're now in, what I would call, the concept era. Stars can still carry films, but the film better be well put together and/or have a great concept. "Inception" is a great concept from a great filmmaker AND it has star power. "Salt" has a massive star, but the concept is kinda tired. Female lead, a spy action-thriller... your traditional summer film. Does this still fly? I mean, really? Well, it opened strong, very strong. Over $36Million strong. Maybe there is still a bit of gas left in those stars' tanks. Who knows? Anyhow, this Friday is a bit lame... "Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore", "Charlie St. Cloud" and "Dinner for Schmucks". So, let's look at the new horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, you can go to our Youtube Page to see the trailers and you can click on the titles and be taken to the films Amazon page, where you can read more and/or buy it.

It must be retro-week or something. I feel like almost every new release this week has some tie to my personal film-loving history. First up, the "legends of horror have returned". Now, that's not a quote from anybody. That's from the box art. I'd have a tough time referring to Pinhead, Six Shooter and Tunneler as legends, but they are back in Full Moon's "Puppet Master Axis Of Evil". This is the 9th film in the series and it's been a long while since the 8th. Charles Band, you wicked genius... damn, I love the Puppet Master series.

We've discussed "Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated" a few times, most notably when we interviewed the curator/producer of the film, Mike Schneider. You can find that interview by clicking here. It's released by friends of Dead Harvey, Wild Eye Releasing, and it's a great film. Any fan of the original should have this in their collection, for sure.

I didn't know that they still made films like "Death Kappa", but I'm damned glad they do. Did you ever check out the early Godzilla and Mothra type films out of Hong Kong when you were a kid? You know, where it was just dudes in costumes leveling a model city? I loved them... and apparently they're still making them because that's exactly what "Death Kappa" is. I've got two thoughts on this. One, as I said, I'm glad they're still making these. They're great fun. Two, I still think we're in need of more monster movies. We flirted with them around the time that "Cloverfield" and "The Host" came out, but that was it. I think monster movies could explode. Writers... it's a call out to you. We need to be writing monster movies.

"Pickman's Muse", which is based on H.P. Lovecraft's "Haunter of the Dark", was a horror festival darling. It won best adaptation at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Fest and best screenplay and best actor at the Chicago Horror Film Fest, plus it screened at tons of others.

The Wishmaster himself, Andrew Divoff, and Tom Savini star in "The Dead Matter", from director Edward Douglas and the producer of "From Dusk Till Dawn". With that title and those actors, I assumed that it would be a bit an entertaining, gore-comedy film, but the trailer looks quite serious. I haven't seen it, but I'll have to check it out.

Tim Thomerson, Mark Foree and Tiffany Shepis all show up in "Live Evil", a low-budget horror from co-writer and director, Jay Woelfel. There's two storylines taking place in the film, one follows a car full of vampire buddies road-tripping to Hollywood and the other follows a sword-wielding, vampire hunting priest (Thomerson) who's looking to care of some unfinished business. Expect a lot of blood, boobs and vampires. Sold!

New Horror Out On DVD This Week: A Weak Week, But There Are Puppets

I'll tell you what... when you don't want to pay for information, it can be a little harder to get your hands on specific stats. It's a no-brainer that the summer is a huge season for theatrical releases. However, that's because school's out. That age group, call it... 10 years old to, I don't know, 20? Generally speaking, they don't work, they don't MAKE money, but they sure do know how to spend it and they've got a lot of free time on their hands. They're the ones that love going to the movies in the summer and the studios give them what they want. Big tent-pole films that cater directly to them. Now, the stats that I want to know revolve around what this means for the other end of the spectrum. I guess there's actually a variety of different spectrum's here, but what does it mean for niche, indie horror that's NOT getting a theatrical release? Well, my thought is, it can't be good. The summer is not the time to be releasing your indie horror on DVD. Now, I can't find ANY stats to support this because I don't want to spend the money on getting a report. Having said that, this is the internet and my Google skills are top-notch. So, I'm confident that I'll find something to support this and, when I do, I'll write up a post on it. In any case, it's another fairly weak week in horror releases, but I think that's because the distributors have the stats that I'm looking for. In any case, you can click on the title and be taken to its page on Amazon, where you can buy it (if you'd like) and you can also go over to our Youtube page and check out all the trailers.

"The Kiss", written and directed by Scott Madden, actually looks pretty darned good. Apparently it's got a little something for everyone as they seem to think it spans three genres... they call it a romantic horror comedy. However, it has a hot, ravenous vampire in it. So, I'm calling it a horror. Sorry. So, it's about said vampire and the 18 year old boy that raises her from the near dead. The vampire, played by Lourdes Colon, is, like I said, quite hot and it looks like you get to see a fair bit of her. Not only that, the gore and effects look good. Blood, vampires, nudity, gore. Sold.

"Ghosts of Goldfield" is the directorial debut from Ed Winfield and it's definitely got some budget behind it, plus a few notable actors, including: Marnette Patterson ("Starship Troopers 3", "C.S.I." and "Charmed"), Kellan Lutz (upcoming "Nightmare on Elm Street" remake, "Twilight" and the new "90210") and none other than Rowdy Roddy Piper... who needs NO introduction. Apparently based on true events, it's about a group of five who set up film equipment to capture footage of the ghost of Elisabeth Walker, a maid that was tortured and killed in the derelict town of Goldfield. I can't say much about the film, as I haven't seen it, but it was made in 2007, with what looks like a decent budget, and it JUST got released, straight to DVD. So, come to your own conclusions on the quality.

"Caramelo" is a Spanish film, written and produced by Benjamin Lopez, directed by Jorge Luis Urbina. This is a 'disturbing psychological action thriller' (again with the multiple genres) about the relationship that forms between a young student and the schools janitor... who the student figures out is a murderer. If you're into Spanish psychological action thrillers, could be for you. Doesn't look to bad.

Lastly, as it's a slow week, I'm going to give props to Charles Band, Full Moon and the Puppet Master Series, as the "Puppet Master Box Set" is coming out this week. Charles Band is the brains behind Full Moon and he's produced hundreds of classics and, because of that, he ate up a large portion of my time while I went through film school... He's a director, a writer, a producer and all around good guy. However, as far as I'm concerned, if he should be remembered by ONE series of films, it's The Puppet Master Series. If you've never seen them, check them out... the films revolve around a group of puppets that were animated by an Egyptian spell. They're each equipped with their own unique and dangerous device. Each film has piles of puppets, but there are a few guys that appear more than others, such as: Blade, Jester, Pinhead, Six Shooter and Tunneler. Rumor around the campfire says that they're thinking of reviving the series, which could explain this box set release, as well as reviving various other Full Moon titles. Bring it, Charles... bring it. I'm ready to donate more of my time to puppets.