Movie Review: The Life After Death Project (2013, Yellow Hat Productions)

...funny how the strangest of incidents in one's life, drive one towards the strangest of directions...and in the interim, the determinant wrought of that unswerving drive proves pretty much negligible and unrevealing, albeit resignedly procuring a level of speculation which has long since become 'air of mystery' commonplace amongst those privy of the seemingly paranormal and supernatural 'unexplained'. Point in case: An inexplicable and unexplained ink smudge on a piece of paper...a smudge, blotting out some words, which reportedly was not there, when writer/director Paul Davids place the paper down, and walked away from it, for only a moment. Amusingly enough, given certain parables in this particular incident, Paul eventually concluded that the mysterious paper smudge, considering what the smudge was blotting out, was a 'message' from beyond the grave...from none other than genre philanthropist and once-magazine publisher Forrest J. Ackerman...yes, THE Forrest J. Ackerman, of the renowned horror/sci-fi/fantasy publication, which the more seasoned of us grew up with, namely 'Famous Monsters of Filmland', who regrettably passed away some five years previous. In the end, Paul Davids wound up engaging a pursuant study of the paranormal, porting the resources of experts and celebrities, in a chronicle he would moniker as "The Life After Death Project"...which again, in the final analysis, really doesn't provide any answers, per say...merely, that often explored air of speculation and mystery amongst an exclusive fold of 'believers', with shared experiences in ghostly matters...and at the very least, it proves an arcane glimpse at an endearing look at a famed genre celebrity, who according to those who reportedly bore witness to 'strange, bizarre and inexplicable' incidents, is amusingly guilty of carrying on his trademark impish personality...from beyond the grave...

TV on DVD Review: Ghost Hunters, Season 8, Part 1 (2012, Image)

...as a certain famed, wise and literary 15th/16th century sage once wrote, "...there are more things in Heaven and Earth, (Horatio), than are dreamt of, in your philosophy..." Eh (...with a shoulder shrug), I suppose that I'd subscribe to that...I'd buy that for a dollar. However, in doggedly engaging the twelve episodes, which make up the SyFy-sponsored "Ghost Hunters: Season 8, Part One" box set collection, I also seem to recall an equally certain...and well, at a specific moment, quite shaken...Dr. Lesh, from 1982's "Poltergeist", who candidly admitted, "...parapsychology isn't something you master in. There are no certificates of graduation, no license to practice. I am a professional psychologist who spends most of her time engaged in this ghostly hobby, which makes me, I suppose, the most irresponsible (sixty-one-year old woman) I know..." Least to say, BOTH convoluting relevations fervently rattled around in my head, while watching this slick, paranormal-themed, investigative reality cable series, which despite the wonderfully varied, eclectic, historical and picturesque locations ventured to, in the course of this series' episode set, the whole of this suggestively endeavorous production seemed more exploitively 'showboat', than 'show-me'...

Movie Review: Earth's Final Hours (2012, Blu-ray)

Review By: Rob Sibley

So what do we have here? Another SyFy Channel produced disaster movie? Yep that's the case here. I have a passionate love for B-movies. Especially made for SyFy channel B-movies, I usually tune in every Saturday night to see what's the latest schlock they are showing. They dabble in everything from Alien Tornado's to Eric Estrada taking on Chupacabra's at the Alamo. So what's this made for SyFy disaster flick all about?

That's a good question, one that I'm still trying to piece together as the ending credits roll. I will say this before I continue, the whole movie felt sort of like an episode of "24" with disaster movie elements peppered in. Almost like Deep Impact meets 24. But instead of Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer we get Robert Knepper (Prison Break) as Agent John Streich. Streich and his partner Agent Massey (Alex Zahara) are driving around and come across a scientist and his hot young blonde assistant. As the two agents confront the scientist on his activities some debris from a radiation storm comes shooting down to the earths atmosphere. One of these baseball sized pieces of debris burst right through the scientists chest. So much for a quick explanation on what he's up to.