Movie Review: Uncle Sam (1997, Blu-ray, Blue Underground)

Blue Underground brings head honcho's Bill Lustig patriotic horror flick to Blu-ray. IT WANTS YOU...TO WATCH!

Buy Uncle Sam on Blu-ray or DVD

Film: 1.5/5

I love Bill Lustig flicks. The New York born director has made some highly entertaining and memorable films. Maniac Cop and it's sequels are a blast. Vigilante is a straight up badass revenge outing. And lastly Maniac is a without a doubt his crowning achievement, a film that truly makes me feel grimy . However I can't say the same for Uncle Sam.

Interview: Denise Gossett of Shriekfest

By James DePaolo

1.What does Shriekfest mean to you?

Shriekfest is my baby... lots of hard work has gone into it to make it was it is today... it's fun, it's hard work, it's a labor of love.

2.This was an awesome interview. You rule, thanks so much and have a great night. I am joking. What kind of kid were you in school?

In high school, I was a punk... only dated guys with mohawks.

3.What was the first horror film you witnessed? What film made you think, "I am a fan"? What will be the first horror film you let the kids watch?

Movie Review: Blood Junkie (2010, Troma)

In Troma's nearly four decade run as one of the top independent film companies there have been numerous slasher flicks to flood the massive cult film library out of Hell's Kitchen. Graduation Day, Mothers Day are some great examples of quality Troma slasher offerings but on the flipside there have been some turds like Blood Hook and Dead Dudes in the House. Blood Junkie is a recent film from director Drew Rosa that attempts to line itself up with the "quality" slasher classics mentioned above. 

Buy Blood Junkie on DVD

Eats & Drinks Review: Diet Mountain Dew Supernova and Voltage

I am a big beverage guy. I like to try different sodas, and I have tried every new flavor of Mountain Dew that has ever existed. There are some that I love, like Livewire, and some that I thought were a little odd, like Pitch Black. When Dew launched their original series of fan flavors, I absolutely loved Supernova, but it didn't make the final cut when the fan votes were counted. I was very happy to see it make a return.

Dew released two former contestants in a diet version. The previously mentioned Supernova, which is a strawberry melon flavor, and the original winner, Voltage, which is a raspberry citrus flavor. I was never a big fan of Voltage, so it was easy for me to decide which I liked better. I will say this: neither flavor tastes like a diet. The original Diet Mountain Dew has a diety aftertaste that hampers so many diet sodas. Diet Code Red has it slightly, but it really isn't very noticeable. The two new diets have about the same level of diet aftertaste.

DVD/Blu-ray News: Blue Underground presents this haunted house shocker to Blu!

UPDATE: Blue Underground has informed me this will NOT be presented as the Director's Cut. It will be shown in it's original Theatrical Cut in order to present the highest quality edition. Don't fear though, the extended.deleted scenes will be included as extras!

DVD/Blu-ray News: Blue Underground brings Martino's Shocker to Blu!

Update: Blue Underground has set a new street date for the much anticipated release of Torso due to a production delay.



NEW Order Due Date: August 2, 2011

NEW Street Date: August 30, 2011

DVD/Blu-ray News: Blue Underground brings Argento's feline to Blu!

Movie Review: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

Oh, man. I don't know what I was thinking. When I saw the trailer for The Goods, I thought it could be okay. I also thought that it looked like it was trying too hard. Here were Ed Helms and Ken Jeong. They were hot off The Hangover, and here was another outrageous comedy produced by the people at Funny or Die. The cast was big and full of funny people. Jeremy Piven, Dave Koechner, Ving Rhames, Rob Riggle (one of the funniest men alive, in my opinion), Tony Hale, James Brolin, Wendy Malick and yes, even Alan fucking Thicke. The movie was directed by Dave Chappelle's former writing partner Neal Brennan. All of this reminded me of just one thing: Mars Attacks!

Buy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard on DVD


Remember Mars Attacks!? It had a top notch cast with a well known director, and all of that amounted to an overblown piece of shit. The cast was an amazing who's who of stars and, like The Goods, included one of my favorite Canadians. It was way too much and tried way too hard. That's what happened here.

Movie Review: The Stepfather (1987, Blu-ray, Shout! Factory)

Oh how I loved the slashers of the 80's. Mindless hack 'em ups that had masked-killers with traumatic family backgrounds roaming wooded areas or college dormitories - were ad nauseam back in that wonderful decade. I for one, enjoyed some the most maligned films in the slasher genre. Movies like The Mutilator, Nail-Gun Massacre, Pieces and the New York Ripper just reinforced my love that was initially implanted by Jason and Michael Myers. Rarely these films relied on strong performances by actors. Joseph Rubin's The Stepfather was one of the few 80's offerings that had just that. The folks at Shout! Factory have taken Rubin's seminal classic and given it the royal treatment with a new special edition Blu-Ray release.

Buy The Stepfather on DVD and Blu-ray

Movie Review: Beneath The Dark (2010)

By Greg Goodsell

Directed by Chad Feehan

Paul (Josh Stewart) and his gal pal Adrienne (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) are tooling around in California’s Mojave Desert when they nearly crash while making out behind the wheel of their speeding vehicle. There is a brief cutaway and then we see the not terribly bright couple ask each other “Are you O.K.? Are you O.K.?” Anyone who has watched films for more than a few months knows instinctively that these lovebirds are definitely NOT O.K. and that Beneath the Dark is well on its way down a well-trodden path. The only reason M. Night Shyamalan got away with it in The Sixth Sense (1999) was because he did it exceptionally well, and since Beneath the Dark is the work of youthful, inexperienced hands … eh.

Buy Beneath the Dark on DVD

Synapse Films and the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund

SYNAPSE FILMS JOINS THE EFFORT BY DONATING $1 OF ALL SALES OF JAPANESE FILMS DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL TO JAPAN SOCIETY’S JAPAN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND.


Synapse Films, enormous fans of the wondrous cinema of Japan, has looked upon its catalog and found a treasure trove of red sun delights. Overjoyed with this collection, Synapse Films has chosen to donate $1 of all sales of Japanese cinema ordered from synapse-films.com to Japan Society’s monumental Japan Earthquake Relief Fund during the month of April. Synapse Films’ relationship with Japan goes back for many years from the outrageous to the more outrageous. Tetsuro Takeuchi’s rock n’ roll zombie horror classic “Wild Zero,” rocks the mic, and the house, while Kazuo Gaira Komizu’s “Battle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay” shows us a world where punk gangs rule the streets during a zombie invasion. From the surreal “Horrors of Malformed Men” to the sensual “Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection,” Synapse Films hopes to further bridge the divide between east and west and offer horror fans a chance to get away from overdone and dull Hollywood stereotypes for action-packed incredible Asian cinema. From pinky violence to manga adaptations, Synapse Films brings the land of the rising sun home to you.

TV on DVD Review: Archer: The Complete Season One (2009)

The International Secret Intelligence Service is here to protect you, and they have their best man, codename Duchess on the job. Sterling Archer is the greatest secret agent of all time, and he's also a royal dick. The womanizing crude momma's boy really should be dead, but luck coupled with sheer spy talent keeps him alive and ready to be a douche to whomever he sees fit.

Buy Archer: Season 1 on DVD

H. Jon Benjamin, also known for Bob's Burgers and Home Movies, voices Archer, a spy who works for his mother's company. The show also focuses on his mother, voiced by Arrested Development's Jessica Walter, company comptroller Cyril Figgus (Chris Parnell) and Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler). Though Kane and Figgus are currently dating at the start of the series, Kane's history with Archer is a frequent topic. Sexual debauchery is a major part of the show. There isn't a character on the show who hasn't slept around, including the crazy side characters.

TV on DVD Review: The League: The Complete First Season (2009)

I've heard about this show for awhile now, and it was about time I got around to watching it. I really had no reason to put it off. This show has a ton going for it. It stars several entertaining comedians including Paul Scheer, Nick Kroll, Steve Rannazzisi and YouTube sensation Jon Lajoie. The show is about a fantasy football league, which I often participate in. It's also on FX, which is really the place for balls out television. As it finally appeared on Netflix streaming, I decided to run the six episode season in a little marathon. I was happy I did.

Buy The League: The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-ray

The show is about a group of thirty-somethings who went to high school together and live and die for their fantasy football season. Pete (Mark Duplass) and Kevin (Rannazzisi) are the heart of the group, and the rest of the group includes Kevin's wife Jenny (Katie Aselton), his stoner brother Taco (Lajoie), a lawyer named Ruxin (Kroll) and a plastic surgeon named Andre (Scheer), who is the heel of the group.

Movie Review: Monsters (2010)

When you read the title Monsters, what do you expect? Monsters, maybe? If you watched the trailer that made its way around the internet, you would think you're watching a combination of District 9 and Starship Troopers. It even looked like there would be an element of Cloverfield in there. Let me tell you, that is not at all what you will get.

Buy Monsters on DVD or Blu-ray

The premise is simple. A satellite or some other space type object (I really don't care enough to remember) falls to Earth and breaks up over Mexico. The fragments are covered in alien bacteria, and it contaminates the U.S./Mexico border and surrounding areas. Giant bug-like octopus creatures inhabit the area, and they are extremely dangerous.

Movie Review: The Rise and Fall of WCW (2009)

When I was a kid, my little brother and I were glued to the television every Sunday morning. No, we weren't watching the ramblings of Oral Roberts. We were watching another mouth from the South, Jimmy Hart. The likes of Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Savage and the Iron Sheik graced our television screen. We loved every second of the WWF back in the 80s, but there was something else going on that we didn't really follow. We really didn't have cable, so the WCW went under our radar. Years after we stopped watching, Hulk Hogan signed with the WCW and eventually joined the infamous NWO. That's when I started watching.

Buy The Rise And Fall of WCW on DVD

World Championship Wrestling was much more than just a secondary league. It was a pioneering league that was first to hit the national stage. In the early days of professional wrestling, leagues were regional. Occasionally, a star would travel between leagues. It was unheard of for an entire league to travel, but that's what the NWA did. The owners made another smart move. They partnered with superstation TBS, which was owned by Ted Turner. Turner liked wrestling's popularity and gave them a slot on his national channel.

Erotic Escape coming this summer from CAV and One 7 Movies!

Original title: Fuga scabrosamente pericolosa Year: 1985 Country: Italy / Colombia Directed by: Nello Rossati Written by: Franco Reggiani Cinematography by: Sandro Mancori Cast: Rodrigo Obregón, Eleonora Vallone, Franky Linero, Roberto Reyes, Humberto Arango

Buy Erotic Escape on DVD

She went all the way to be free! A political prisoner escapes from a high security penitentiary. In order to make sure that the cops won’t trail him, he takes as a hostage the gorgeous daughter of a wealthy businessman. After many brutal humiliations and severe beatings, the very odd couple begins to find a common ground, but the truce is a very brief one. Eleonora Vallone, daughter of star actor Raf, stars in this steamy women on the run classic. Set in a lurid jungle, riddled with infinite perils and deadly creatures, Erotic Escape is a long lost guilty pleasure available for the first time in DVD. Directed by Nello Rossati of The Sensous Nurse fame, the film features lots of nudity and over the top violence. Drenched in mud and with nothing to cover her breathtaking body, Eleonora Vallone runs for her life and gets laid to kill!

Movie Review: The Bloody Ape (1997, Wild Eye Releasing)

Wild Eye Releasing has put out some interesting releases over the past couple years. Of course you have the outrageously sleazy doll epic Dolla Morte, Del Close's lost hippie flick Gold and one of my picks for "Best of 2010", The Electric Chair, all being released last year. One thing that may surprise some of you reading is - these guys are actually filmmakers themselves. Wild Eye owner Keith Crocker has directed a few films, one of which I've had the pleasure of reviewing today called The Bloody Ape. Crocker and friend George Reis (creator of the popular genre review site DVD Drive-in) take a stab at recreating an homage to the great schlock films of yesteryear . As a longtime fan of exploitation, this DVD got me all sorts of excited.

Buy The Bloody Ape on DVD

Movie Review: Zombie Doomsday (2010)

I love the Zombie genre. I mostly have a soft spot for the pre- "Land of the Dead" Romero classics and of course Lucio Fulci's masterpieces, Zombie and City of The Living Dead. Over the past 20 years there have been numerous micro-budget zombie entries. The best being, in my opinion, the ridiculous Redneck Zombies. A micro-budget zombie film isn't that easy to pull off though. The creators of Zombie Doomsday and the documentary of Zombie Doomsday, Another Zombie Flick make a valiant attempt, mixing in some zombie horror with a little shaky POV and a lot of improv. This however isn't the recipe for a primo gut-muncher.

Buy Zombie Doomsday on DVD

Movie Review: Respire (2011, MTI Home Video)

By James DePaolo

The film starts off-In the 1930's, Dr. Robert Kaminsky believed in a process called "breath capture". It was believed that the soul left the body with their last breath and that last breath could cure sickness and disease in others who inhaled it. He was on the verge of making this breakthrough known, and he was gunned down. Not before he puts his last breath in a vile and puts it in this locked box that looks like a hope chest.

The first few minutes of this film we go from 1930 to present day with the box changing hand to hand and no one ever figuring out how to open the box. Until, it lands in the hands of Susan Jordan who owns a novelty store. One day a gentlemen walks in and wants to buy the box off of her, but tells her that there is a book he needs as well. She soon discovers that the book and the box are one. She goes to a auction and outbids someone else who knows about the book and box and when she takes the book home she discovers inside the book is the key to the box.

Movie Review: Aegri Somnia (2008, Absurd Machine Films)

Absurd Machine Films brings this underground Canadian experimental film to DVD.

Buy Aegri Somnia on DVD

Film: 2/5

Aegri Somnia begins with Edgar, a soul sucked depressing man, coming home after a long day a work. Edgar and his bitch of a wife, Muriel argue over unnecessary expenditures and infertility issues. Muriel storms away to the bathroom alone while Edgar passes out on the couch. After a lurid dream, Edgar finds Muriel dead in the tub filled with blood. This triggers a descent into darkness that Edgar and his psyche may not survive.

---

TV on DVD Review: The Walking Dead (2011, Blu-ray, Anchor Bay/AMC)

Over the past ten years we've seen an influx of zombie movies. Almost an epidemic of poor quality, horribly written garbage that's been an embarrassment to what George Romero essentially created 40 plus years-ago with Night of The Living Dead. Even Romero has himself sunk into the cesspool of bad zombie movie-making. Have you seen Diary of the Dead or Survival of the Dead? I really thought there was no hope for a while until I got to experience the visceral rollercoaster that is, Frank Darabont's surprise hit of 2010, The Walking Dead.

Buy The Walking Dead Season 1 on DVD or Blu-ray

Originally broadcasted on AMC - of all channels - Anchor Bay has put together a two-disc Blu-ray set of this amazing epic horror series that's sure to please anyone who followed the show when it was on TV. Based on Robert Kirkman's popular comic of the same name, The Walking Dead stays fairly close to Romero's films.: Get bitten , you turn into a zombie and to kill them they need a good blast to the cabesa. The Walking Dead as a whole is almost what the mediocre Land of the Dead could have been. Much of it, like "Land" takes place in the city , though unlike that film there are just a handful of survivors trying to avoid being torn to pieces by zombies.

TV on DVD Review: H.R. Pufnstuf Collector's Edition Set (2011, Vivendi Entertainment)

I've always had a fascination with older children's programming. 70',s, 60's, 50's kiddie television can be incredibly entertaining to me, even as an adult. Jim Henson was a pioneer back in the early 60s and 70s when he unveiled Sesame Street and his famous puppet personalities of "Miss Piggy" and "Kermit the Frog" on The Muppet Show. A couple of other gentleman that shared a big chunk of the kiddie TV pie, were the sibling team of Sid and Marty Kroft ( The Buggaloos, Land Of the Lost, Lidsvile, Sigmund and the Sea Monster). Most of these shows were before my time but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy them now. The show that arguably put the Kroft Brothers on the map was outrageously creepy but infinitely watchable H.R. Pufnstuf.

Buy H.R. Pufnstuf: Complete Series on DVD

Vivendi Entertainment has taken the time to remaster all three seasons of this landmark children's show into one beautiful three disc box-set ( that includes a high-quality Bobblehead of Mayor H.R Pufnstuff himself). Here's a look at how the seasons are set up on each disc. All episodes are in their correct order:

TV on DVD Review: 30 for 30: Jordan Rides the Bus (2010)

In mid-August 1993, the city of Chicago fell into sadness. It was an empathetic sadness. I remember it very well. I was just about to enter my senior year at Lane Tech High School. The news that Michael Jordan's father had been murdered struck like a bolt of lightning. Here was an untouchable hero, a god in the sports world, shaken to the core. His world was destroyed, and the entire city just wanted to hug him and tell him that it would all be okay. Less than two months later, the greatest player that ever graced a basketball court announced that he would retire immediately.

Buy 30 for 30: Jordan Rides the Bus on DVD

"Sex, Demons and Death" Coming Soon from One 7 Movies and CAV Distribution!

Sex, Demons and Death

Original title: Diabolicamente… Letizia
Year: 1975
Country: Italy

Directed by: Salvatore Bugnatelli
Written by: Lorenzo Artale, Salvatore Bugnatelli
Cinematography by: Remo Grisanti
Original music by: Giuliano Sorgini

Cast: Franca Gonella, Mirella Daroda, Gianni Dei, Cesare Di Vito, Giorgio Bugnatelli


Satan’s mistress on a sex prowl!

Buy Sex, Demons And Death on DVD

After having been abandoned by her family in a college, Letizia is brought home by her uncle and aunt. Since the couple is unable to have children, they think that Letizia will somehow help them to overcome their frustrated parental grief. But they are gravely mistaken since the fiendish girl has her own agenda.

Movie Review: The Life of Death

I have been following Kevin Lindenmuth’s career since his first film, “Vampires and Other Stereotypes.” He is something of a pioneer, being one of the first guys to take advantage of digital technology to make very personal low end horror films and get them into video stores world wide. I’ve always respected him, his work, his drive and his dedication.

In recent years he seems to have concentrated on talking head documentaries, like “But You Look So Well,” which dealt with multiple sclerosis. His new documentary, “The Life of Death,” may be his most personal work yet: an examination of death as seen through the eyes of people directly involved in genre films and literature. It’s an odd and slim premise (implying that people involved in the horror genre have some special relationship with the idea of mortality), and reaches no real conclusions, but remains gripping and fascinating throughout – no small feat for a talking heads film with a running time of 117 minutes!

Movie Review: Singapore Sling (1990, Synapse Films)

By James DePaolo

This is the one review almost everyone who knows me knew was coming, when news broke of this finally coming out on DVD in America. First off, thank you Synapse Films for finally doing it justice and releasing it on DVD. Released in 1990, this is the film about a private detective, that is called ” Singapore Sling”. He is on the trail of the love that left his life, her name is Laura. The story is she was a suspect in a murder and he was put on her case and became so obsessed with her, and fell in love with her. That's when he found out she had a lover, he became a drunk and lost his job. Well, the film opens with Sling in a car, his story is told with subtitles and he is drunk it is a bad rainy night and he is bleeding. He is watching two women in a garden, digging a hole and burying something he believes to be Laura. This film is black and white, told to the audience at times with different characters becoming the narrator. The two women in the garden are a mother and daughter. The daughter has some issues, ranging from her sexual appetite to her mental state. The mother is not that much different. Well, as fate would have it, Sling makes it to the front door and falls down on his face passed out. The girls bring him in the house and tie him up. The things these women do not only to him, but to themselves and each other really goes from the totally off the wall to the fucking sick and bizarre.

Buy Singapore Sling on DVD