Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Glitch (Netflix, 2016)

Kevin discusses the supernatural Netflix series from Australia.

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Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Super Mansion: War on Christmas (Crackle, 2016)

Kevin reviews the Christmas special from a Crackle original and mentions some of his favorite holiday movies.

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Movie Review: Silent Night, Deadly Night Series Review: Part 4 - Initiation

Journal Entry #57: The hallucinations have begun. I can’t tell what’s real and what’s only in my mind. I fear that by the time help arrives I will be dead. Or worse - hopelessly lost in a delusion of my own making. What was that? Santa? Is that you…?

Day four brings us Initiation: Silent Night Deadly Night 4, a film which has ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING CONNECTION TO THE FIRST THREE SAVE FOR A QUICK CLIP FROM #3 WHILE A CHARACTER WATCHES TV.

Fucking weak.

Basically the fourth movie in the series is all about girl power, witchcraft, and how useless men are except to be parasites to the goddess within all women.

Fucking weak. Well, at least the writers didn’t make them Satan worshippers. That’s something. Not much but it’s something.

Let’s break down the plot. Kim works at a newspaper but because she’s just a woman she doesn’t get to work on any big stuff. Well, she says fuck that and decides to get the scoop on the flaming woman who recently committed suicide. When she starts interviewing the locals about it, she meets Fima, the bookstore owner who is suspicious as fuck if you ask me. Which no one did. Moving on.

Kim keeps getting drugged by Fima and her female coven…I mean colleagues. I’m not sure why they feel the need for Kim to join their group other than she’s a chick and they don’t want her to continue being held down by The Man. Because boys are yucky and have cooties and are totally useless.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Disney, 2016)

Kevin, Dalyn, Mandy, Leah and Handsome J discuss the latest movie in the Star Wars series and their experience in the brand new Phoenix area Alamo Drafthouse.

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Silent Night, Deadly Night Series Review: Part 3

Okay. I'm more than halfway through this series now. Just two more to go. Somehow...that's not very comforting right now. Someone slap the shit out of me the next time I come up with another brilliant idea like this.

Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out (really?) at least begins with an interesting premise. Dr. Newbury is performing a dream study with a blind woman, Laura. May not seem all that unusual but here’s the twist - she’s psychic and the doc wants to see if she can link up with the comatose patient in the next room. Which happens to be our psycho from part 2, Ricky.

You may be wondering why he has a clear Tupperware bowl in place of a skull on his head (I know I was). Apparently after the shootout at the end of 2, they blew half his head off and had to reconstruct his brain. 

Um….no they didn’t. I just watched that fucking movie and that didn’t happen. But the writers needed a way to explain how the doctors had to restart his memories and give him an opening to link up with a psychic. 

Continuity, schmontinuity.

Laura does link up with Ricky though all the tells the doctor is that she just doesn’t want to do this anymore. He already knows, of course, so he uses reverse psychology on her to get her to keep going and OMG THERE’S MORE FUCKING CLIPS FROM THE FIRST MOVIE!!

Silent Night, Deadly Night Series Review - PART 2

I think I may need to reevaluate my definition of lazy writing…

Silent Night, Deadly Night: Part 2 begins with Ricky, the younger brother of the serial killer Santa from the first film. He's in a mental institution and is awaiting yet another doctor’s evaluation/interview about what makes him so cuckoo for cocoa puffs. An orderly, with THE tightest white pants I’ve ever seen, eyes Ricky warily as the 13th psychiatrist sets up his recording equipment.

Ooooohhhh…number 13…..wwwOOOOOOOOOoooo!

Whatever.

Ricky recounts the events from that fateful night of his parents’ murders, something he couldn’t POSSIBLY remember as he was only 6 months old at the time. Even if Billy told him everything, there’s still NO WAY he could recount the same details. He also couldn't remember events that occurred between characters when Billy wasn’t even around! Or know the crap that went down at Billy’s job because HE NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO TELL RICKY ALL THAT BEFORE HE WAS SHOT AND KILLED.

Whatever. We need filler.

Movie Review: Silent Night, Deadly Night Series Review

Again I have thrown myself into the series review ring. I did this for the Child's Play movies a little while back on another site (*cough cough* REVIEW WHORE *cough cough*) and had so much fun flogging myself for that little adventure that I want to do it again. But this time I chose a series because of the timeliness of its story elements - CHRISTMAS! And who doesn't love a good set of horror movies at this time of year? It can't be any worse than Aunt Gladys gumming your cheek as she slobbers all over you with holiday cheer.

I will review each of the 5 movies over the next 5 nights, taking us all the way to Christmas Eve. And my present to you Christmas morning will be to stop making you read these. There's enough sadness and stress during the holidays. 

You're welcome.

Our journey begins with Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). Picture it - a young, happy couple with their two children driving across the countryside to visit Grandpa for Christmas. Granted, Pappy’s in a mental facility and just sits there, uncommunicative. That is until the folks leave the room and then he proceeds to scare the shit out of Billy by telling him Santa comes to punish all bad little boys and girls. Since Billy ain’t too sure he’s been good ALL year, Grandpa warns him he’ll have to RUN FOR HIS LIFE!!!

What the hell, grandpa?

Movie Review: The Orphan Killer (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: James D.

The Orphan Killer is quite possibly one of the better slasher films in the indie market right now in terms of good gore and bloodshed. The kills and torture were really well done. The story focuses around Marcus, and his baby sister Audrey. When he was 6 and she was 2, their parents were killed when they got robbed. They were sent to a home, where Marcus took his parents death harder than she did. He acted out and got more violent. The nuns punished him by making where this old theater mask and treating him like some sort of freak. While Audrey found a home and a family, Marcus took it hard and vowed revenge on her.

My problems with this film are the pacing and the use of the flashbacks. You get a great kill and some adrenaline going, and they whip up this flashback that made no sense. The music in some scenes did not fit…I would have loved less music and more mood of the characters and their emotions, rather than loud music, or some female folk singer. The other negative, was the set up to the barb wire scene. Talk about something that was just dragged out getting to the point, and the conversation he has with his sister once he strings her up was just horrible.

Movie Review:The Ip Man Trilogy (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By:

James D.

I want to put the Ip Man right there with found footage films as a genre that should have stopped or died many years ago. I just feel from the first film, this was going to be a hard franchise. The second one proved my point, but thank god for the third one really living up to the hope that I had when I got into this trilogy. When anything gains any kind of fame, or a few pennies people want to keep on and on. As long as people keep buying into it, studios keep on blindly putting out more and more to meet the demand. I mean ideas like a Paranormal Activity and Ip man are so thin, that they do not have legs to continue to go on and on, but people keep on creating more and more sub stories off the original. The plot to this one is basically stale as he arrives to mainland China to try and re-establish himself after losing wealth to China being at war with Japan. Along the way in this boring story he is adopted by a group of students, they help him learn and he helps them deal with life and all that. The fights in this film are just the same old stuff you seen time and time again, they fight at times in this kinetic speed that feels like they are trying to speed them up to the point when you do not see half of what is going on. The acting in this film was fine, though at times it does go a bit cheesy dramatic that makes this film seem almost like it tried to be too deep, but have the shallowest of deliveries. 

The music in this film hurt the film the most, keep in mind I was watching this on blu ray with the surround sound on low, and it was still too loud, which hurts the dialogue at times also. This film I hope is the end of this franchise or film series however you look at it. I was a fan of a few of the films, but that was long ago, and today’s Ip man films feel more desperate than entertaining. This film is basically setting martial arts films back 80 years and unless you have to see it because you have watched all the others, I would say skip it.

Movie Review: Nightmare Sisters (1988, Vinegar Syndrome)

Directed by David DeCoteau

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Melody (Linnea Quigley in buck teeth), Mickey (Michelle Bauer in a fat suit) and Marci (Brinke Stevens all nerded out) are dorky sorority sisters who have the frat house to themselves for a weekend. Their solution? Invite some equally nerdy fraternity brothers for a house party!

Unfortunately, Marci has made a recent thrift score find with a cursed crystal ball that took the life of its previous owner, an accursed spiritual medium (Dukey Flyswatter of the notorious shock rock band Haunted Garage). The girls whip out said crystal ball for an impromptu séance and our transformed into glamorous, insatiable succubi – female demons who like nothing more than seducing males and then castrating them with their fangs! Things get complicated with the arrival of an exorcist (Jim Culver) to drive out the demons. Low-grade comedy hijinks ensue.

Movie Review: Uncle Nick (2016)

Christmas is supposed to be about the miraculous birth of Christ for Christian families all over the world. It's about giving for many others. Ads a mail carrier, it's about working miserable hours for a month, but that's just my issue. For many people, it can be about one thing year after year; family dysfunction.

Brian Posehn is Nick, an alcoholic loner in Cleveland who runs the landscaping business his late father left behind. He is getting ready to attend a family Christmas party at his baby brother's house. He doesn't respect his brother, who is basically a rich woman's (Paget Brewster) trophy husband. His only real motivation for attending is that he wants to hook up with his brother's college age step-daughter. In case you didn't guess it, Nick is a bit of a creep.

The party is also attended by Nick's goofy sister (Missi Pyle) and brother-in-law (Scott Adsit), who has a podcast about the Cleveland Indians. The World Series losers (sorry, I grew up in Chicago watching the Cubs) play a pivotal role in the movie. As the story moves along in chapters, each chapter is prefaced by a segment of a story told by Nick about an infamous Indians game at which the poorly attended team offered ten cent beers. The result was chaos, and Nick's story takes a similar path.

Movie Review: Both Ways (1975)

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Directed By Jerry Douglas

Can you really have it …? Apparently not, as this sexually confused semi-hardcore film unearthed by Vinegar Syndrome illustrates.

Donald Wyman (the very unappealing Gerald Grant, from Radley Metzger’s Score) and his wife Janet (disco songstress Andrea True, soon to rocket to one-hit wonder stardom with the dance ditty “More, More, More”) live a nice sheltered suburban existence in Connecticut with their spastic young son (Neil Scott). It’s not all on the up and up; their next door neighbors (Bill Morgan and Darby Lloyd Rains) throw swingers’ parties and Grant has a muscular Yale college student Gary (Dean Tait) as his deeply closeted gay love interest. Donald and Janet play the field while their dried-up old prune of a maid Pauline (Katherine Miles) looks on with disapproval.

Movie Review: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Day three of the David Hayes Christmas Crap Review-a-Palooza and we’re cooking with gas! Hopefully someone leaves the burner on and lights a smoke so I can blow the hell up and not watch anymore of this garbage.

On the third day of Christmas the Head Cheese gave to me three ghostly visits that caused me, within my pants, to pee.

Last night I was visited by three ghosts. The first was the Ghost of Jedi Past and he showed me the glory of the original Star Wars trilogy and I marveled, like in my youth, to the adventures of Luke and Leia and that weird incestuous thing they had going on. Then, merely an hour later, I was visited by the Ghost of Jedi Present and he showed me the horrible, computer-generated filth that passed for films as George Lucas perverted his legacy, ably aided by Jake Lloyd, with the ‘new’ trilogy. As I lay awake in bed, shuddering from fright with the voice of Jar Jar shrilly echoing in my head, another ghost entered my bed chamber. Hunkering below the covers, only peeking out of cat-killing curiosity, I noticed that this ghost was smaller than the rest. And it limped. This ghost also had a hunchback and a wheezing cough that punctuated each step. Unafraid of this new ghost, I threw off my blanket and confronted it. This… thing announced itself to be The Ghost of Jedi A Little After Past. I laughed, mocking it and calling it Quasi-Ghosto. As the retarded little thing grabbed my hand, though, my laughter turned into a scream. You see, gentle reader, this malformed, raised in a basement, step-child of a ghost was taking me on the scariest adventure yet. It took me to The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Buy The Star Wars Holiday Special on DVD!

The Orphan Killer Brings on the Gore Galore!

REEL GORE RELEASING presents the official release of Matt Farnsworth’s slasher movie THE ORPHAN KILLER on Blu-ray/DVD December 13, 2016

Los Angeles, CA (December 2016) For immediate release. Synopsis: The Orphan Killer is a tour de force murder flick that defies classification. It goes far beyond current trends in gore and breaks open a new suffering genre of horror. Marcus Miller is a serial murderer hell-bent on teaching his estranged sister Audrey what it means to have family loyalty. His lessons are taught in massive doses of vulgar and unimaginable pain. Throughout her brutal torture we learn that Marcus is not the only Miller with Killer in the bloodline as Audrey proves to be a formidable adversary. Starring: Diane Foster, David Bachhaus, Karen Young, James McCaffrey, Matt Farnsworth.

THE ORPHAN KILLER (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Price: $34.95

Street Date: December 13, 2016

Production Year: 2011

Country: USA

Film run time: Approx. 83 minutes

Language: English language with optional Spanish/French/Italian/Japanese subtitles

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen Anamorphic

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround/Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Label/Distributor: Reel Gore Releasing/CAV

Catalog Number: RGR004

UPC: 881190600498

Rating: Not Rated

Movie Review: Dillinger (1973)

Directed by John Milius

Review by Greg Goodsell


Every bit as ruthless as the mobsters he swears he will kill in order to smoke cigars over their still warm corpses, Edgar G. Hoover right-hand man Melvin Purvis (Ben Jonson) sets his sights on bank robber John Dillinger (Warren Oates). Dillinger and his gangster cohorts Baby Face Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) and Pretty Boy Floyd (Steve Kanaly). These hoodlums pose a massive threat to the security of Depression Era America in many several ways, Purvis notes in his ponderous narration. These criminals provide escapist copy for the garish tabloids, Purvis says, perhaps inspiring the poor-but-honest to leave their lives of quiet desperation to begin their own lives of crime. He vows to make sure that Dillinger and clan, after a shootout costing the lives of six government men, die in the most sordid and least romantic ways possible – fueling a cross-country manhunt with few survivors.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Heroes vs Aliens Crossover (DC/CW, 2016)

Kevin breaks down the four part crossover between Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow.

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DOUBLE FEATURE MOVIE REVIEW: Dead & Rotting (2002) and Stitches (2001)

The Powers That Be over at CHC must be slipping because this double feature DVD offered movies that actually weren’t that bad. I mean, I kind of liked them. I don’t think I know how to live right now…

The first film is Dead & Rotting. Three prankster buddies (read: douche nozzles) get a little hex put on them when they beat up the son, Pox, of a local witch, Abigail, after he eggs one of their trucks. Since they have the combined mentality of one 12 year old boy, they feel the need to retaliate. When the stoners they hire to break into the witch’s home end up BOILING HER FUCKING CAT (what the hell is wrong with these guys?), the three amigos end up with something a little more problematic on their hands than a simple hex. They incur the wrath of a very powerful sorceress who is about to seriously fuck their shit up but good.

Abigail performs a glamour spell to turn herself into a beautiful, young, big-tittied woman (Debbie Rochon) who seduces the three men in order to…well…let’s just say the unprotected sex between all of them gets her some fluids she needs to birth out ghouls. PLEASE DON’T ASK ANY MORE QUESTIONS.

(Side note: they’re all excited about having unprotected sex with some random chick who’s willing to fuck all of them in one night. Is that really a thing? Men are so stupid sometimes.)

The ghouls then do her bidding in capturing the three friends so she can get her revenge. 

Movie Review: The Passions of Carol (1975)

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Movie Review: Charulata - 1964

Charu (Madhabi Mukherjee), is a woman who feels alone in her marriage.  The husband, Bhupti Dutta(Shalen Mukherjee), is a busy man who is running a fledgling political newspaper.  Bhupti has brought in his cousin, Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), who is known to be lazy and having no direction.  Others were brought into the home as well, but this story is about these three characters in particular.

It turns out, while yes he is lazy, Amal is quite a talented writer.  Charu finds this out and develops a fondness for him.  Amal did not really show the feelings toward Charulata, but he was young and would not dare cross his cousin.  Bhupti was oblivious to all of this.  Charu grows as a character as she opens up more and more and her talents as a writer start to show.  She and Amal are able to read each others writings and the two form a bond.  Amal, ever the good cousin would not let this happen.

Movie Review: 10 Rillington Place (Blu-ray, Twilight Time)

Reviewed By: Hal Astell                      

Somehow I let this feature get past me and I have no idea why. I can safely get a pass from seeing it on initial release because I was too busy being born, but it must have played on British television while I was growing up and, as a boy who had both an interest in true crime and a tendency to read the Radio Times each week to figure out what I wanted to watch (this was in the dark ages before VCRs let alone DVRs), I would surely have noticed it. After all, the address of the title is a standard trivia question in the UK. Where did John Christie commit eight murders between 1943 and 1953? That one’s a gimme. However, I find it more chilling that I’d also let the importance of what the film, and the book by journalist Ludovic Kennedy upon which it was based, has to say get by me too. Perhaps like many, I’d associated it with murders rather than hangings and it’s the latter that has more resonance. Put simply, the hanging of Timothy Evans, an innocent man, is a key reason why capital punishment was abolished in the UK.

Movie Review: 99 Women (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: James D.

As a film fan who seeks out the lost treasures you have always heard about Franco’s 99 Women being so controversial for its time. I think the controversy of this film is that the price is so damn high. Why attack Blue Underground. They are not the regular suspects. That would be Grindhouse, Severin, Arrow and countless others who are gouging the fans for every penny we have. I understand you are having tough times on sales, but to hit your die-hard fans so hard is not the answer. 

99 Women is basically a women in prison exploitation film. Maria Rohm plays the 99th prisoner of an all-female island prison. Franco is shooting high on this film, but it just comes up so short. You have Mercedes McCambridge and Herbert Lom in this film. They both are incredible at their crafts, but they are so wasted here. The film tries to create a plot off of the government inspector coming down on the sadistic governor. Which we get to see the guy who is in charge of the male prison on the other side of the island. 

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Hush (2016)

Kevin talks about the most tense horror/suspense film he's seen in a long time.

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Movie Review: Sudden Fear (1952, Blu-ray)

Reviewed By:

James D.

Sudden Fear” has had an odd trip on its way to blu ray. I first saw this film in 1987, when the 1952 classic was restored in 35 millimeter. The past dvd releases, have raised questions with fans. In the past, this film had picture and sound issues. The copy I had, I could not watch the whole film and went back to Suncoast to tell them. The picture was very low quality and the sound was choppy with blips in it. (The price tag was around 30.00) When I heard the news of the Cohen Film Collection carrying this title, I was iffy.

Movie Review: Murmur of the Heart (1971)

Murmur of the Heart(Le Souffle Au Coeur) is movie in the "coming of age" realm.  Fourteen year old Laurent(Benoit Ferreux) is the main character and he gets into all kinds of mischief.  Hustling on the streets for the Red Cross, stealing jazz albums from the local music shops, smoking, drinking, being hit on by a priest and more.  There were aspects of this film I really enjoyed and others that left me upset.  This review goes into detail in some aspects so if you have not seen it and do not want to be spoiled fully, please do not read past the next paragraph.

What I do like about Murmer of the Heart is the progression of Laurent.  He comes from a well to do family but it is a family that has their own issues.  Laurent's father(Daniel Gelin) doesn't show much affection, the mother(Lea Massari) shows entirely too much affection, and the two older brothers(Fabian Ferreux and Marc Winocourt) are just out to have a good time throughout(almost like sexual deviant versions of the twin Weasleys from Harry Potter).  Unlike the Weasley boys, by good time, I mean sexually harassing the maids, comparing penis sizes, getting Laurent drunk, taking their younger brother to a brothel and then interrupting the act.  We will get into the relationship with the mother shortly.

Vinegar Syndrome's Black Friday Sale!

Now that Halloween is over, it can only mean one thing...Black Friday is just weeks away, and you know what that means...Our world famous Black Friday Sale is almost here! This year, in addition to our incredible price discounts and 2017 yearly package deals, we have two (yes 2!) surprise Blu-rays planned! One is an all-but-lost late 80s slasher which we've restored to its longest cut ever. The other is a 60s sexploitation classic by one of the genre's most acclaimed auteurs. Both are coming to Blu-ray for the first time and will ONLY be for sale on the VS site (and eventually other places, if there's any left).

 

Movie Review: Blue Ice (1985)

Directed by Philip Marshak

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Since we’ve e been promised by a certain individual that America will be great again, this little porno chestnut unearthed by the fine folks at Vinegar Syndrome reminds us once again what makes America great: Third-rate Humphrey Bogart world-weary detectives and their ponderous narration … reliable Nazi villains who can't seem to keep their swastika armbands on straight … purty girls that upon analysis aren't all that purty … sex scenes involving lots of shouting and yelling … dramatic scenes involving lots of shouting and yelling … beautiful locations of San Francisco rendered with ragged camera swish pans. Yes! We're in the kooky alternative universe that is Blue Ice, as helmed by the notorious director Philip Marshak (The Nightmare Never Ends, aka Cataclysm and Dracula Sucks!).

The story? You got us there, pal! Famed skin flick hunk and lunk Herschel Savage stars as the aforementioned gumshoe contracted by said Nazis to find a rare book of ultimate power. Savage wanders in and out fleshy situations that don't forward the plot. His hooker roommate services “Hedgehog” himself Ron Jeremy, there's lots of screaming and yelling, while reliable schlong Paul Thomas stumbles about in an alcoholic haze, winding up trussed up and tortured by said Nazis. The least eagle-eyed viewer will note that Thomas, kept bound in bed rests his arms in two hooks without any restraint whatsoever keeping them there! You suppose the doofus secretly likes it? Exotic “Helga Sven,” a Germanic platinum blonde by way of Tulsa, Oklahoma sings a passable version of “Deutschland Uber Alles,” and the sought-after book, an ungainly prop full of Bedazzler beads is opened, referencing 1955's Kiss Me Deadly long before Quentin Tarrantino did so in Pulp Fiction (1996). We haven't even mentioned the plain-Jane 300-year-old witch who concludes the film with a painfully dated laser light show. Longtime skull-faced screen villain Reggie Nalder (Salem’s Lot) appears as a guest Nazi poobah, and thankfully remains fully clothed ….

Movie Review: Julia (1977)

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Fledgling playwright Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda) is shacked up with past-his-prime hard-boiled author Dashiell Hammett (Jason Robards) at his Martha's Vineyard beach retreat. Hellman is grinding away at her first play, the groundbreaking melodrama about repressed lesbianism at a girl's school “The Children's Hour.” While Hammett gives his criticism and praise to her initial efforts, Hellman drifts back to childhood revelries with her longtime friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave). The two enjoyed a wealthy, rarefied childhood full of servants and castles, but Julia had an unflappable sense of social justice at an early age. Both Lillian and Julie go their separate ways come young adulthood – Lillian, to the stage and Julie to anti-fascist resistance work in pre-Hitler Europe when fate leads to a final meet up. A secretive counter agent (Maximilian Schell) approaches Lillian to help smuggle money in a hat across the border into Berlin where she will be briefly united with Julia – the usually unflappable Lillian tenuously accepts the offer and tastes fear as she walks into highly dangerous territory as a final favor for a friend ….

Julia is grand, old-time movie entertainment packed to the rafters with Hollywood's foremost old-time leftists. Fonda, Robards and the pro-PLO Redgrave – who accepted her Best Supporting Oscar in 1977 while denouncing “Zionist hoodlums” – give it their all in a story packed full of romance, humor tragedy and a heaping helping of suspense. We know that Hellman will live to see another day, but Fonda's time on the express headed for certain death remains nonetheless remains fraught with tension. In addition, the production and attention to period detail is so lavish, those accustomed to more modern, grittier fare will be sure to exclaim, “Now, this is what a movie is all about!”

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (DC, 2013)

Kevin reviews DC's dark animated tale of time travel gone wrong with The Flash and a Batman from your nightmares.

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Music Review: Luke Cage Original Soundtrack (Marvel/Netflix, 2016)

One of the best parts of Marvel's Luke Cage is the music. Many episodes start with musical acts performing at Harlem's Paradise, the show's fictional night club. Add to it an amazing score by Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and you have a soundtrack that beautifully compliments the show.

Marvel and Netflix recently released the soundtrack to the show. While it served as the background to my work day once or twice, I have to say that it was a bit disappointing overall. To clarify, nothing on the soundtrack is disappointing. Every track is perfectly written and performed, and I thought about their corresponding scenes as I listened. Method Man performs Bulletproof Love, and original track for the show which I can not get enough of. Unfortunately, that's the only vocal performance on the album.

TV Review: Luke Cage (Marvel/Netflix, 2016)

By now, everyone who was going to watch Marvel's latest installment in the Defenders series has binged through all thirteen episodes of Luke Cage. If you haven't, I'll warn you now, there might be some minor spoilers. Also, what have you been doing? After two rounds of Daredevil and Luke's introduction through Jessica Jones, I would think people would be ready for the bulletproof hero for hire. I couldn't wait for this one, and so far, it's my favorite of the bunch.

Luke lives a quiet life working two jobs to make ends meet. After his bar was blown up in part thanks to Jessica Jones, he decides to lay low. Not to mention the headaches he still suffers after she shot him in the jaw with a shotgun. His day job is at a barber shop run by local thug-turned-hero Pop. At night, he sweeps up at Harlem's Paradise, a night club owned by the infamous Cottonmouth Stokes. When a bartender calls in, Luke is forced to take his place for the night, and our story is set in motion.

Movie Review: The Mutilator (1984, Blu-ray)

Now that the busy season of the hubby’s business is over and October has wrapped up, I can get back to my reviews. And I’m excited to jump back in with a film from the most tubular of decades - the 80s!

The Mutilator (original title Fall Break) begins with the most unfortunate of events. Little Ed Jr. decides that the best birthday present he can give his father is to clean all his dad’s guns. We’ve all been there. Checking down the sight of a rifle and pulling the trigger to make sure everything’s clean and accidentally killing our moms, amirite?

Needless to say, Ed Sr.’s cheese slides a little off his cracker when he comes home to find his wife dead and his spawn responsible. 

Years later, Ed is in college and the relationship with his father is basically nonexistent. Until now. He wants Ed to close up the beach condo for the winter. And how convenient because Ed and his friends are on fall break (ahhh…now the original title makes more sense!) and have nothing to do. So why not help close up the place while enjoying time at the beach?

Because Ed’s dad is a fucking nut job and wants them all dead!! Particularly Junior, of whom he dreams about killing all the time.

Movie Review: Doctor Strange (Marvel, 2016)

Of all of the characters in the MCU, Dr. Strange is possibly the one I knew the least about going in. I knew that he was a doctor that screwed up his hands and became a magician. that's about it. In general, I wasn't wrong. Truly, though, there was much more to it.

Stephen Strange is a brilliant surgeon. He has an amazing track record, but mostly because he filters out any possible failures. He's successful, self-centered, arrogant as hell and just a big giant asshole to everyone around him. He's not really likeable in the least. Upon taking a phone call in the rain while speeding through a twisting highway, Strange goes off the road and down a mountainside. In the process, he destroys his hands. After multiple surgeries to repair the damage, Strange has tremors that he can't steady, rendering him useless as a surgeon. After months of desperately looking for a medical way to heal, he turns to other methods.

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Trailer Park Boys: Out of the Park: Europe (Netflix, 2016)

Kevin reviews a new series from our favourite Canadian screw-ups.

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Movie Review: Raiders! (2015)

One of the biggest movies of the 1980s was Radiers of the Lost Ark. The entire Indiana Jones series (barring the shots taken at The Crystal Skull) has been an action/sci-fi mainstay for my generation. For one group of kids, it became an obsession that lasted seven summers. Friends Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala led a group that reshot the entire movie scene for scene and practically frame for frame.

It's actually a pretty amazing feat for a bunch of kids with a VHS camera.What's even more amazing is the fact that they were able to hold everything together for so long in spite of all of their difficulties. One thing they were never able to complete was the scene where Indy is getting pummeled by a shirtless goon who ends up being chopped to bits by an airplane propeller. Finally, in their adulthood, they got the opportunity. For one last weekend, the boys would get together to complete their homage.

Movie Review: Masks (2016, Blu-ray)

Reviewed by:

James D.

If you would have asked me a decade ago, “ How do you feel about a new Giallo film”. I would have told you, no thanks. I am such a die hard movie geek. I have seen so many of the 70’s and early 80’s Giallos, that I lost faith in a modern day one at that time. In the last decade, it seems that the Giallo film has seen a comeback of sorts. “ Masks” is a very interesting one that brings me back to a creativity that pays respect to the masters of this genre.

Our main character is Stella. She is a young lady trying to get her dream of becoming an actress to happen. The problem with this dream, is the reality that she does not have the necessary talent to back it up. After bombing at an audition, she is asked to join the Matteusz Gdula acting school which courted much controversy in the 70’s. It seems that this school employs some very questionable methods. At first, the school seems fine and normal. It is when Stella makes friends with Cecile that she becomes worried and suspicious at what is going on around her at this school.

TV Review: Haters Back Off! (Netflix, 2016)

I will generally give any show a few episodes before I quit watching it. Sometimes, I'll sit through whole seasons, just to be agitated and disappointed. Take seasons 5-7 of Mad Men, for example. I sat around waiting hour after hour for something interesting or entertaining to happen, and it never did. John Hamm, who I don't blame at all for the disastrous nose dive of that series, actually got an Emmy for the last season. I suppose anyone should be rewarded for gracefully choking their way through the demise of something that was once brilliant. I was smarter with shows like Dexter and Game of Thrones. These shows that people inexplicably love play out in such a flat and dull manner that I dove off the ship after a very short stint. Hate me for saying it all you want. They're terrible shows. I'm sure I'll get the same level of hate for this mess based on a popular YouTube star.

Sure, the title expects people like me to chime in. I get it. When you share hundreds of videos on YouTube, you're bound to get some horrible reactions. Miranda Sings is the creation of Colleen Ballinger, and she is everything a delusional YouTuber should be. She believes she has talent, which she doesn't. Her friends and family tell her how good she is, which she isn't. People online tell her to keep going, which she shouldn't. She's bad. She's Chocolate Rain bad. Her singing is blocked up and nasal. Thanks to her uncle, she starts a YouTube channel, and her videos start to get hits, mostly from a boy who likes her.

Movie Review: The Midnight Swim (2016)

Reviewed By: James D.

Talk about a total shocker. Watching the trailer for this film and looking at the box art, I was expecting a low budget horror film. What I got was something truly unforgettable. This is the story of a body of water actually, and it is called Spirit Lake. I do not admit this often, but I have a phobia of water. ( I do bathe, so I am not talking about running water in a house) I am afraid of the open water. So, a film to base itself around water, will peak my interest. We are told that this lake is so deep, that there may not be a bottom?

The Midnight Swim is about three sisters and one guy friend who are trying to cope with the disappearance of the ladies mom. All they know is that their mom went diving one day, and never came back. The three sisters in their mom’s house start to become intoxicated with the notion that this lake holds such a odd mystery to it. This film is told thru the camera lens. The home video hand style this film displays, gives this film such a rich intimacy about it. This film deals with loss, and it handles it in such a light yet effective way. Where you would think this film would be heavy handed with emotion, trying to grip your heartstrings, this film shows us not what death holds on us, but what life gives us.

C.H.U.D, The Driller Killer and More!!

MVD Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the US with three great new titles in November. The month kicks off with The Initiation on Blu-ray, one of the best of the college-based slasher movies of the 1980s. One of the later entries into the genre, it had horror fans hooked with its tense stalk 'n' slash scenes and it's surprising twist of an ending.

The horror continues with C.H.U.D., the classic 80s horror featuring the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers making their long-awaited debut on Blu-ray with a brand new restoration from original film elements.
Last but by no means least comes Arrow Video's landmark release of The Driller Killer as a both Limited Edition SteelBook and standard Dual Format release. One of the most infamous of the UK video nasties, Abel Ferrara's psychological horror masterpiece is presented fully uncut and comes with several new, exclusive special features.

Movie Review: Killbillies (2016)

Reviewed By: James DePaolo

Welcome to Eastern Europe. Killbillies will have us believe that the population of Slovenia is fucked. Women are either models or batshit insane. ( Some may qualify as both) The men are either too weak to fight, out to get women drunk and try to take advantage or crazed hillbillies. So, there is not really much to deferianant their culture from ours. The locale of Slovenia makes a great setting for this horror film. The story centers on an ex model named Zina. She agrees to do a photoshoot in the country. The photographer is Blitcz who along with his assistant Dragica and airheaded but over-ambitious model Mia are going to make the best of this. The photoshoot is a nightmare already with all the complaining from Mia. The nightmare gets worse, as Mia spots in the distance two crazed hillbillies coming their way. The two deformed hillbillies are Franci and Vintlr. Right off the bat, the two bully the group. One thing leads to another, and the group are abducted by the two.They are trapped inside this dungeon of sorts waiting for what can happen to them next.

Killbillies is a very fun horror film. It gives us a new vision of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre premise. The film while does start off slow. It seems that when the 30 minute mark hits, this film is just an all out insane ride. The violence in this movie is intense as is the blood and gore moments. This is also one of the first horror films in recent memory, that a character started off annoying but you gain sympathy for them. The people involved in this film, clearly are horror fans and wanted to change the cliche elements. 

Movie Review: Mascots (Netflix, 2016)

Netflix has grabbed some big names since starting to produce their own movies and television shows. While series seems to be what most of us focus on, they've been quietly ramping up their movie production. Adam Sandler is a third of the way through his six movie deal, Ricky Gervais recently shared both a series and movie on the platform, documentaries are flowing like water, and now Christopher Guest has added a film to the service. His latest mockumentary focuses on a competition between the top twenty team mascots from around the world. It's basically Best in Show with a different setting, but it's still worth watching.

We start with Mike and Mindy Murray (Zach Woods and Sarah Baker) as a couple who performs as an octopus and turtle, respectively, for their local baseball team. The two are clearly in a difficult marriage, partly because of infidelity. Their on screen awkwardness is perfectly uncomfortable, because we've all known or been this couple. In contrast, we see a lovely English couple, the Gollys (pronounced Jolly). Owen Jr. is a third generation soccer mascot trying to prove himself to his father. Chris O'Down is an aggressive hockey mascot known as The Fist. He's a Scottish man living in Alberta because of a cult his parents started. We follow a few other interesting mascots including a worm, a plumber and an armadillo. They are all unique in strange ways.

Blue Underground presents 99 WOMEN (3-Disc Limited Edition)

Director:    Jess Franco
Star(s):    Maria Schell, Herbert Lom, Mercedes McCambridge, Luciana Paluzzi, Maria Rohm, Rosalba Neri, Elisa Montes, Valentina Godoy

Synopsis
The Demented Mother Of All Women-In-Prison Movies!

For his epic shocker of caged women gone wild, legendary director Jess Franco (MARQUIS DE SADE’S JUSTINE) brought together a once-in-a-lifetime cast of International beauties including Maria Schell (THE ODESSA FILE), Luciana Paluzzi (THUNDERBALL), Rosalba Neri (LADY FRANKENSTEIN) and Maria Rohm (VENUS IN FURS). Oscar® winner Mercedes McCambridge (JOHNNY GUITAR) and Herbert Lom (THE DEAD ZONE) co-star as the sadistic wardens of an island prison where abused yet luscious young lovelies surrender to their own depraved desires. Behind bars… without men… experience the unchained passion of 99 WOMEN!

Long censored around the world, Blue Underground is proud to present the Unrated Director’s Cut of 99 WOMEN in a brand new 4K restoration, along with startling Extras including an eye-popping interview with Jess Franco himself! This Limited Edition also includes a new 4K scan of the notorious French Version (LES BRULANTES) on a bonus Blu-ray Disc!

Cinema Head Cheese: Podshort! - Yoga Hosers (2016)

Kevin, Dalyn and Gio discuss the second film in Kevin Smith's Great North Trilogy.

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