Movie Review: Lake Placid (1999; 20th Century Fox/Shout Factory)

...killer crocodiles, this...monster alligators, that...over the years, we've had rogue crocs, super-crocs, gatoroids, dino-crocs, mega-gators, and 'what-a-croc' everything in-between (...if I may be so applicably sarcastic). Heck, if it wasn't for all these king-sized blood-thirsty, CGI-rendered mutated 'monster gator' and 'killer croc' movies...why, the SyFy Channel NYSE stock would most assuredly plummet, and the audience for said genre cable channel staple, would probably shrink down to the size of...say, that of The Singing & Dancing Ampersand Channel (...nothing like comparative sarcasm, right??). And yet, amongst these almost countless, generic and often forgettable cinematic reptilian terrors, there's the standout misfits...the often bantered-about cult film oddities, with vividly striking visuals and lively, albeit eclectic characters...revered highly amidst the genre-embracing crowd. For instance, y'all remember the classic 1980 subterranean gut-muncher, "Alligator", right?? The clueless, burnt out, inner-city police officer, investigating some mysterious disappearances and deaths?? The unscrupulous, money grubbing, middle-aged industrialist, who represented, then sheltered illegal and careless discarded chemical experiments, which turns out to have adverse effects on...uh, oh?? The arrogant, ballyhooed and pompous big game hunter, who's come to the big city, in search of the ultimate game?? The invariable clash of characters, between the three?? And of course, the film's titular 'protagonist', itself...oh yes, who can't forget the classic visual of that monstrous 35-plus foot gargantuan reptile, breaking through the concrete streets, from it's underground sewer lair...an ear-shattering roar, emitting from it's gaping, razor tooth-lined maw...

...really!! Can another film of this ilk, come along and possibly top that level of camp...or at least equal it??

Movie Review: Beyond the Gates (2016; Destroy All Entertainment; Shout/Scream Factory)

…OK, then. This next beauty on the lot…just know will appeal to one’s embraced nostalgic fervor…yes indeed, my fine folks, we have this finely restored ‘80’s model…very unconventional looking, though absolutely perfect, for one who appreciates that which suggests a measure of weathered, low-brow independent sylye…as opposed to slick, polished and princely…and not-totally-abandoned-nor-forgotten obscurity, once having meandered in a bygone age of excess. Why, just look at that wildly imaginative, albeit random array of curves, corners and points…that varied and eclectic pallet of bleached, though still madly vibrant and contrasting colors, shades & hues. There’s no mistaking it…absolutely screams ‘80’s, doesn’t it?? Hell, yes…feel free to kick the tires…really, aren’t they oh-so uncompromising…so unyielding, and yet, measurably restrictive and reserved, in the sense that they know very well what they are and aren’t capable of. Oh, and by all means, please…feel free to step inside, and take a seat. Yes, take a deep and elating whiff of that interior…that distinctly familiar and provocative air of a time when opportune and spontaneous chances taken…were daring, unconventional, and oh-so imaginatively pretentious…

…it may not be an actual 80’s original, but in pulling out all of our trump cards,…dammit to all hell...uh, quite literally, that is...we’re gonna convince you that it is…

…and so, considering all that…uh, do we have a deal…Hmmmmm!!! (…with widened fiery eyes, and gnarled hands wringing…over, and over, and over again…); oh yes, please think about it…

…and yes, folks...we are going someplace with this, be rest assured...heh, heh, heh...

Movie Review: The Slumber Party Massacre (Blu-ray)

Scream Factory has had their hand in the Blu-ray debuts of many of the classic slashers from the 80's. One such film that they've recently unearthed for a High-Def makeover is from the one and only, King of the B's, Roger Corman. Throughout Roger Corman’s career (most notably in the 70s and 80s), the legendary cult film producer and director has taken a lot of unwarranted abuse by critics and film-goers for producing too many films that portray women as just objects, that are best seen either naked or getting killed. To me that’s a bunch of crap. Few producers have empowered the female gender like Roger Corman has. Sure they get naked, and yes plenty have perished at the hands of Carnosuars and driller killers, but some talented ladies have actually been employed to do more, like direct, write and produce. The director of the Slumber Party Massacre is is actually a talented woman by the name of Amy Jones. That's my evidence, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Gloria Steinem! Now onto the movie!

Movie Review: The Lesson (2017, Blu-ray)

                 Review By:
                 James D.







”The Lesson” centers on Fin and Joel who are juvenile delinquents. They are every parent’s worst nightmare in the way that they conduct themselves daily. Fin lives with his negligent brother Jake and Jake’s girl Mia. Fin views Mia like a mother figure. Their teacher one day has enough and snaps. Mr Gale decides to abduct Fin and Joel. He straps them into chairs at a desk containing two dictionaries. This desk is the setting for the majority of the film as Mr. Gale is out to teach them the lesson he has been trying to teach them in class.

This film tackles how unruly the youth have become and how teachers are reaching their breaking points trying to handle them. The education system constantly comes under fire for the abuse teachers deliver on kids, but we never hear what could have provoked a teacher to do it. As a former “ class clown” in school and general screw up from 3rd grade to 12th, I can attest that teachers get a bad rap and deserve more credit for their jobs. This film opened my eyes to what torture a teacher does go thru, and it also opened my eyes that in a situation that could cause harm, who knows if a child can change. The acting by Hands as Mr Gale is extraordinary. He plays this very unhinged character that we are also scared of snapping even worst. There is a tinge of torture porn thrown in, but nothing too gratuitous or obnoxious. This film centers on a teacher wanting two students to learn their lessons and try to be better people.

Movie Review: The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962)

by Hal Astell

Director: Joseph Green

Stars: Herb Evers, Virginia Leith and Leslie Daniels

Buy The Brain That Wouldn't Die on Blu-ray from Scream Factory

'Let me die!' a woman's voice repeatedly pleads before the title credits begin, in fact before we see anything. It's a disembodied voice out of nowhere that suggests a female version of Johnny Got His Gun, or at least that begins where that book and film ends. It's all very promising but sadly it's all downhill from there, which possibly explains why this was completed in 1959 under the title The Black Door but wasn't released until 1962 under its current more lurid title. It isn't without merit, as it does contain a number of memorable cult moments, not least one of the most abiding images of all sixties genre cinema, but it still can't live up to the title. It comes from the common mad scientist subgenre of horror/science fiction movies of the time but unlike their progenitor Frankenstein which remains as timeless as ever, this has already been superceded as the unholy transplantation of limbs and organs that it rages against is routinely beneficial today.



It's fascinating to watch these movies and see public opinion, as distilled through scriptwriters trying to please the largest audience possible, change over the decades. This film is only half a century old, but it already seems quaint and dated to those of us who have benefited from or know people who have benefited from the very transplant techniques that are derided by the characters as immoral, unethical and insane. Much of the problem is that the overtly schlocky characteristics of a mad scientist are so much easier to write than his more sophisticated drives, especially if you ignore the idea that science is constantly moving forward; and naturally scriptwriters of schlocky low budget genre movies from the fifties and sixties really couldn't give a transplanted rat's ass for anything sophisticated. They could happily start at 'Burn the witch!' and work backwards from there to generate a salacious heap of scientific gobbledygook.

SCREAM FACTORY PRESENTS Wes Craven’s SHOCKER COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAY

Highly-Anticipated Horror Cult Classic from the Master of Horror Wes Craven

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

Wes Craven’s
SHOCKER
COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAY™
Starring Michael Murphy, Peter Berg, Cami Cooper and Mitch Pileggi

ARRIVES ON HOME ENTERTAINMENT SHELVES EVERYWHERE ON SEPTEMBER 8, 2015
FROM SCREAM FACTORY™

Pre-order This Definitive Collector’s Edition Today!
Fans of legendary director Wes Craven (Scream, The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street) know well the terror mayhem inflicted by Horace Pinker, a diabolical mass murderer who harnesses electricity for unimaginable killing powers, from the 1989 horror cult classic SHOCKER. On September 8, 2015, Scream Factory™ is proud to present Wes Craven’s SHOCKER Collector’s Edition Blu-ray, packed with insightful bonus content including, special audio commentary with Wes Craven, all-new interviews with Mitch Pileggi, Cami Cooper, executive producer Shep Gordon, music supervisor Desmond Child and soundtrack artists, new audio commentary with director of photography Jacques Haitkin, co-producer Robert Engelman and composer William Goldstein, retrospective featurettes, original storyboard gallery and much more!

Movie Review: Cellar Dweller / Catacombs (Blu-ray)

Reviewed By: James D.

Cellar Dweller stars Jeffrey Combs as a comic creator named Colin Childress. It so happens one day he decides to summon a demon through his work. When the demon starts to kill, the only way to stop it is to burn the paper he used to create this demon. We move 30 years after this and meet Whitney Taylor who is following in his footsteps and decides to move into his old house for inspiration. Well others have different plans as meet Mrs. Briggs and Amanda who is her art school rival and they want to get rid of her. As fate would have it Whitney decides to draw the Cellar Dweller comic and now we are back to the start and the creature has been set free to kill again. Cellar Dweller for years after its 80’s release became a cult favorite for what reason I have no earthly idea. The film is pretty bad by all standards. The story is sluggish; the plot is full of more holes than Rambo’s enemies. The creature in this film looks hokey and really does not scare the viewer. This film

Movie Review: Deadly Eyes (1982; Golden Harvest/Scream Factory)

...going into Shout/Scream Factory's recent release of the 1982 Canadian-produced 'nature-gone-amuck' horror chiller, "Deadly Eyes", sight unseen (...I missed it, when it was originally released theatrically, having instead been intensely engaged in the ol' 'hut-one, hut-two' 12-week-plus military boot camp 'game', at the time), this ardent and devoted viewer of the genre, to be quite honest, really didn't expect much. In fact, given the Fortune Star/Golden Harvest opening logos, I almost thought that I had inadvertently plugged in one of those cheezy chop-socky flicks, which for years, Golden Harvest was best known for. Sure, for a long time, it was dimly known by this unsuspecting fright film fan, that the movie had something to do with killer rats...that the film was based upon a best-selling page-turner, by genre author James Herbert...that, in a surprising genre switch, cult film director Robert 'Enter the Dragon' Clouse, handled the reins of the film. Heck, this viewer was even a bit privy to the concept, that inspiration for the outrageous special effects...especially those depicting the rats...was picked up and taken from that ol' class, notorious known as 'Killer Shrews 101'. Later on, even the dark and somewhat vague box art, displayed on the video shelves, didn't phase nor mesmerize this mega monster movie mogul, who often picked up said video rental from the shelves, took a quick & casual look at it, and with a shrug of the shoulders, placed it back, with an uninterested sigh. I mean, really...a killer rat movie?? What could I see in that, which I had not already seen in, say movies like 1971's "Willard" (...also based on a novel), it's 1972 follow-up, "Ben", or even the 1976 drive-in-flavored creature feature, "Food of the Gods"?? (...I could also mention the 1972 Andy Mulligan stinker, "The Rats are Coming...the Werewolves are Here!"...I could, but naw, scratch that...I won't even go there. Eh, forget I even brought it up...)

...boy, was I in for a big surprise...an understatement, to be sure...

Movie Review: Ravenous (Blu-ray, Scream Factory)

Reviewed By: Jimmy D.

I hate to admit this but this is the first time I ever seen Ravenous. I remember in the age of the video store that I rented this once or twice, but never got to watch it and had to return it back. Ravenous is a very atmospheric horror film that is centered on an epidemic of flesh-eating and how it empowers people once they taste the flesh. The film takes place during the Mexican-American War, Col. Ives who seems to be on the verge of death makes his way barely to an isolated outpost. Once there he goes into the fort with this story of what brought him to this place.

The story is about some travelers who battle starvation. They ate all the livestock and animals first, and then stuff like belts and shoes. When one of the people dies, they decided to eat him. Thus, they started to eat other people as well. Well the commander sends out a group to investigate this story. Ravenous is bleak, it is cold-blooded and just all out cruel. The blood and gore is only half the fun of the film, the other half is just the tremendous acting by all involved. Directed by the late Antonia Bird and starring one of her regulars Robert Carlyle, this film like her earlier film Priest really shows that she thinks outside of the box and knows how to really capture the desperation of mankind. This film has so many creepy moments and all-out surprises and revelations that I feel this film really thought outside of the horror realm and wanted to create a multi-layered film that was just more than your simple cannibalism horror film.

Movie Review: The Final Terror (Blu-ray / DVD, 1983)

There have been several sub-genres that have spawned from the glorious slasher film craze of the 80’s.  We've seen the school slasher, abandoned house slasher, the religious slasher and other varieties of genre films thrill moviegoers looking for some good ol’ fashion bloodshed in there horror. The “backwoods” slasher was another fun form that brought the unforgiving aspect of being alone in the wild with a maniac killer. For a good stretch of time this seemed like a great way to scare the pants off people. Some of the more popular of that ilk would include James Bryan’s Don’t Go in the Woods…Alone, Rituals, The Forest, Just Before Dawn, Geek, Back Woods and Scream Factory’s Blu-ray release of Andrew Davis’ The Final Terror.

When a group young hikers (including Rachael Ward, John Friedrich  Adrien Zmed and a and a pre-Splash Daryll Hannah) take a bus trip into the wilderness for a good time things become extremely difficult for the kids when one of the group member pisses off their bus driver and guide, Eggar (Joe Pantoliano, Risky Business, The Sopranos). Now it’s up to them to find a way out of an area they know nothing about. After one of the hikers is found dead after getting machete while doing the naughty things get pretty serious. Oddly enough, instead of going separate way like similar horror films this band of pals stay together and choose to seek out the psycho.

Kevin Connor's twisted horror comedy "Motel Hell" Collector's Edition debuts this Aug 12

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

A Twisted Horror Comedy from Celebrated British Filmmaker Kevin Connor
Finally Arrives on Blu-ray™!

MOTEL HELL
Starring Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Paul Linke and Wolfman Jack
COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAY+DVD COMBO PACK
HITS HOME ENTERTAINMENT SHELVES ON AUGUST 12, 2014

Pre-Order This Highly Anticipated SCREAM FACTORY Home Entertainment Release Today!

People come from far and wide to sample Farmer Vincent's distinctively flavored dried, smoked sausages, but one might well ask why there are so few people staying at the nearby kitschy Motel Hello.  Also, have you ever wondered about the secret ingredients that make his meats taste so darn good?  The ‘80s cult classic horror-comedy film MOTEL HELL, directed by Kevin Connor (At The Earth's Core, The House Where Evil Dwells) takes on a frighteningly funny look into the different kinds of critters that make up Farmer Vincent's fritters with plenty of surprises. On August 12, 2014, Shout! Factory is bringing MOTEL HELL Collector’s Edition Blu-ray+ DVD combo pack to home entertainment shelves in the U.S and Canada. Packed with insightful bonus content and all-new interviews, this definitive collector’s edition also contains a collectible cover, featuring newly rendered retro-style artwork, a reversible cover wrap with original theatrical key art. A must-have for collectors and horror enthusiasts, MOTEL HELL Collector’s Edition Blu-ray+DVD combo packed is priced to own at $29.93 SRP.

Movie Review: Sleepaway Camp (1983, Blu-ray)

There have been numerous slashers based in summer camps produced over the years since Friday the 13th brought the horrors of Camp Crystal Lake to the forefront of horror lovers everywhere. Robert Hiltzik’s Sleepaway Camp is one of those unique body-count films that transcends what so many of the post-Friday the 13th slice’n’dicers tried to achieve with a story that doesn’t quite play by the rules like other films of its ilk. This classic in the slasher genre has just been released to Blu-ray thanks to the folks at Scream Factory and Shout Factory with some new surprises and a brand-spanking new transfer that blows away Anchor Bay’s original box set from several years ago.

The plot follows a seemingly innocent young girl named Angela (Felissa Rose, Satan’s Playground, and Slaughter Party) who at the urging of her very quirky Aunt is going to summer camp with her cousin, Ricky (Jonathan Tiersten). Camp Arawak is the destination for these two – it’s full of fun in the sun, marshmallow roasting and also the unfortunate bullying and attempted molestation of Angela. Ricky is there though, to protect her from some of it, but things get progressively worse when people start dying in some creative and at times gruesome ways. Did one of the counselors go crazy? Is it the creeper cook? What about one the bullies? Sleepaway Camp has its share of red herrings sprinkled throughout the story so you’re never quite sure until its shocking climax.

Movie Review: Final Exam (Blu-ray, 1981)

The old school slasher film continues to make its home in the ever expanding library of Scream Factory and Shout! Factory. Recently Scream Factory joined together in conjunction with the cult DVD company Code Red DVD for the Blu-ray release of one of the earliest Halloween knock-offs in Jimmy Huston’s Final Exam (1981).

This chaos-on-campus opus surrounds the trials and tribulations of some nerds, jocks, preppies and assorted fraternity characters around the end of the school year when many will do anything it takes to get past that big exam. Be it “pranks” like a Colombine-sque staging of the mass murder of students by machine gun courtesy of masked indviduals riding in a van - These kids will do what it takes to get around this test. To compromise the situation even more a psycho is going around campus and stabbing students with a very large butcher knife. The more obnoxious and naked they are, the bigger the chance they’ll meet their end in nasty fashion.

LAKE PLACID Collector's Edition lands on Blu-ray July 8.

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

A Pulse-Pounding Suspense Thriller Written by David E. Kelley and Directed by Steve Miner

LAKE PLACID

Starring Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda and Oliver Platt

COLLECTOR’S EDITION BLU-RAY™

Featuring All-New Interviews with Actor Bill Pullman, Filmmaker Steve Miner and More!

INVADES HOME ENTERTAINMENT SHELVES EVERYWHERE

OWN IT ON JULY 8, 2014 FROM SCREAM FACTORY™

Pre-Order This Highly Anticipated SCREAM FACTORY Home Entertainment Release Today!

You’ll never know what bit you… It has existed prehistoric times and was worshipped by ancient cultures.  It can kill a man with one crushing bite!  This summer, one of the world’s oldest creatures has found a new home.  Written by David E. Kelley (Ally Mcbeal, Boston Legal) and directed by Steve Miner (Halloween H20, Friday The 13th Part 2), LAKE PLACID stars Bill Pullman(Independence Day, The Grudge), Bridget Fonda (Jackie Brown, Point of No Return), Oliver Platt (X-Men: First Class, TV’s Fargo) and Brendan Gleeson (Troy, The Village).  Brimming with heart-racing suspense and thrills, this bloody terrifying tale of man vs. nature and survival also co-stars Betty White (The Golden Girls) as the cantankerous Mrs. Bickerman. On July 8, 2014, SCREAM FACTORY™ will unleash LAKE PLACID COLLECTOR’S EDITION Blu-ray™, featuring insightful bonus content and all-new interviews with director Steve Miner, actor Bill Pullman, production designer John Willett and more. This definitive home entertainment release also contains a collectible cover featuring newly rendered artwork, a reversible cover wrap with original theatrical key art. A must-have for loyal fans, movie collectors and horror enthusiasts to complete their entertainment library, LAKE PLACID COLLECTOR’S EDITION Blu-ray is priced to own at $29.93 SRP.

Ravenous (Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle), a film by Antonia Bird, debuts on Blu-ray June 3 from Scream Factory

SCREAM FACTORY™ PRESENTS

A Film by Antonia Bird

RAVENOUS

Starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeremy Davies, Jeffrey Jones, John Spencer, Stephen Spinella, Neal McDonough and David Arquette

UNLEASHES FOR THE FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY™!

AVAILABLE IN STORES EVERYWHERE ON JUNE 3, 2014

Pre-Order This Highly Anticipated SCREAM FACTORY Home Entertainment Release Today!

“Over-the-top energy, gore and style.” – LA Weekly

Inspired by twisted tales of cannibalistic survival like the real-life Donner Party, cult terror feature RAVENOUS graphically depicts a twist on an old cliché: You are who you eat. Directed by the late Antonia Bird (Priest), this unnerving cult thriller stars Guy Pearce (Iron Man 3, Prometheus), Robert Carlyle (TV’s Once Upon A Time), Jeremy Davies (Lost, Saving Private Ryan), Jeffrey Jones (Deadwood, Sleepy Hollow), John Spencer (The West Wing), Stephen Spinella (MILK, Royal Pains), Neal McDonough (Captain America: The First Avenger, Band of Brothers) and David Arquette (Scream 4). The film has steadily and deservedly grown a large following over the last fifteen years. Beyond its darkly comic take on gruesome subject matter and some fantastic scenery and cinematography, RAVENOUS features a unique, quirky soundtrack by acclaimed composers Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn. The two contributed compositions separately, collectively serving up a musical stew combining 19th century American folk instruments, electronic sounds and orchestral flourishes; a romantic past filtered through an anxious present.

Movie Review: House in the Alley (2012)

Written and Directed by Le-Van Kiet

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Bad decisions, young marriage and capitulating to the irrational demands of our loved ones – and NOT some spooky orphan children provide the real horror behind Vietnam’s House in the Alley. As the film ably demonstrates, arbitrary phantoms have little impact on an already disastrous situation stemming from a MOST dysfunctional marriage.

Our hero Thanh (Son Bao Tran) is a young, spineless jellyfish in his twenties who takes a most immature wife, Thao (Thanh Van Ngo). Working as a supervisor in a factory that his mother owns and manages, Thanh and Thao buy a spacious home (the home in the alley of the title). Thao suffers a bloody, hysterical miscarriage in their new home's bedroom. In order to facilitate his Thao's grieving process, the husband agrees to have the coffin of their miscarried child prominently displayed in their bedroom. BAAAAAAAAAaaaaad decision.

Movie Review: "Dead Shadows" (2012; DC Medias/Section 5/Shout Factory)

...for this ardent viewer of cult and genre films...well, sometimes it almost seems that he's seen it all. Heck, are there really any more original ideas, out there?? It's gotten to the point where this devoted auteur of oddball cinema can spot a concept film, coming from miles away. It's no wonder, one cannot help but think that all of the great core concepts have been used up, and all that there's left, is a melding of concepts....'this', crossed with 'that', with a smidgen of 'this, over here'. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I truly wish that I was a fly on the wall, in one of those darkened studio executive board rooms, watching some young and enthusiastic writer, wildly acting out a concept, in front of a gaggle of stiff-suited, stogie-puffing, poker-faced executives...trying to convince them to invest their interest and monetary resources, in what the writers believe is a great idea for a movie (...and to be quite honest, being an aspiring writer myself, I would genuinely want to be on the writer's end of this scenario, as for the most part, they're on the deckplate level, like all of us, and as such, they seem to have a finger on the pulse of what audiences would want to see; most studio execs, given their opportunity to put in their two cents worth, idea-wise, seem driven foremost by money, and as such, think that they know what movie watchers want...coupled with what they believe will bring in the big bank...and for the most part, time and time again, both motivations fail to mesh as irreadily as their mis-matched concepts, and in the end, more than often, they tend to be wrong)...

Movie Review: Night of the Demons (1988, Blu-ray / Combo Pack)

During the 1980’s genre films as a whole were represented nicely with the explosive popularity of the slasher film and the inevitable growth of directors like Wes Craven (Nightmare on Elm Street) and John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog).  As we started to creep towards the end of the decade, the pickings were unfortunately slim as far good quality horror. Much of this in part to frequent censorship Nazis like MPAA president Jack Valenti, who was so bent on messing with "'violent" horror films. Oh and, well, the overall output just sucked. Jason Takes Manhattan is wonderful example of the late 80's downward spiral.

Thankfully a couple of gentlemen came to the rescue with some excellent offerings towards the end of the decade – Clive Barker with Hellraiser and Kevin Tenney with Witchboard and Night of the Demons.  Night of the Demons has now made it’s debut on Blu-ray in a DVD / Blu-ray Combo pack with Tenney’s other film via the folks at Scream Factory.

One of the most common used plot devices for some of the most entertaining horror films over the past three decades have been having that "big party" to gather all the teenagers in the film at and dispatch them in all sorts of creative ways. Night of the Demons does just that, but it also adds a neato possession and haunted house element that brings it to another level.  It’s Halloween night and Angela’s having a costume bash at the supposedly haunted funeral parlor called “Hull House”. Mimi Kinkade plays the super sexy succubus, Angela, who is almost immediately possessed by the angry spirits whilst entering the house.

Movie Review: Cat People (Blu-ray, 1982)

All throughout Paul Schrader's career his name has been synonymous with some of the finest gritty dramas to be put on film over the past 40 years. Whatever hat he may be wearing, be it writer, director, or in several cases both, his films have a certain edge that makes him one of the finer talents in Hollywood. One thing he hasn't tackled too much are genre films. Aside from Exorcist: Dominion, he's only made one other horror film - the remake of Jacques Tourneur's original film Cat People from 1942, starring the stunning Nastassia Kinski (To the Devil a Daughter) and Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange, Blue Thunder). Scream Factory has gone back to the 80's again to unleash a newly remastered Blu-ray edition and it may just be the cat's meow.

Irena (Kinski) arrives in town to meet up with her older brother, Paul (McDowell), who unbeknownst to her has a mad crush on the short-haired, pouty-lipped beauty. Who wouldn't?? It is family though, so probably not the best idea. Paul has much deeper, incestuous motives unfortunately. His goal is to get Irena to make love to him so she can become a shape-shifting panther like him and both their mom and dad. It’s essentially her next level of being and he's on a mission to get her there. On an equally creepy note, Mom and dad were actually brother and sister too, so naturally Paul wants to continue to keep it in the family. Of course it's not easy for Paul as Irena has a love interest in a veterinarian named Oliver (John Heard, Home Alone), who has a strong fixation on big cats.

Movie Review: "The Beast of Hollow Mountain/The Neanderthal Man" (1956/53; Shout/Scream Factory)

...what was it, that old saying, about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery?? Point in case, the little guy...filmmaker-wise...who is inspired to 'knock off' something put out by the big-leaguers. We've seen and heard this one before, time and time again...and we've resigningly come to accept the fact that, for good or bad...for every 'Alien', there's a 'Galaxy of Terror', an 'Xtro' and an 'Inseminoid', just to give one of the more obvious examples. However, every once in a blue moon, just the opposite happens...'opposite', in the sense that a fairly good, albeit forgettable and negligible genre idea is put out there, for all the masses to see...an 'underdog' production contender, so to speak...only to have greater life breathed into such ideas, by big-studio efforts...upheld to the point where they stand out more prominently, historically, than the underlings with the original concept...in effect, making those who were there, first, almost forgotten. Alas, and yet in a way, thankfully, such is the latter case, with regards to a duo of lower-tiered classic 'B', creature-feature-style, sci-fi/horror flicks, recently showcased together, on one of Shout/Scream Factory's two-fer combo packs...