I have always been a fan of giant monster movies, whether they are classics or cheesy, especially the ones made in Japan. During the 1970’s budgets for Kaiju films had plummeted to the point where the movies were made as cheaply as possible. In 1977, Toei distributed Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds, known as…
UHD Review – Lost Highway
Lost Highway may be the first film I saw that could be considered to cross the boundary of both independent and avant-garde. I remember the first viewing from a tape rented from Hollywood Video I found myself both confused, and bored in equal measure. I guess I was not quite ready for what Mr. Lynch…
UHD Review – The Changeling – Severin
George C. Scott stars as John Russell a composer and professor who moves to Seattle into a huge mansion a few months after the shocking death of his wife and daughter. Unfortunately, this mansion was not the place to go to recover, as it immediately reveals itself to be haunted with loud thumping sounds,…
Blu-ray Review – House of Psychotic Women – Rarities Collection – Severin
When Kier-La Janisse’s book House of Psychotic Women came out in 2012, I had declared it one of the finest books on film I had read in many years. It has left a lingering effect even after a decade, and I will say is probably one of the greatest books on film to be released…
Blu-ray Review – Daddy Longlegs – Criterion
Review—Daddy Longlegs (Criterion, blu-ray) Author: Palo Sionoplia The breakthrough success of Uncut Gems has created a surge of interest in the Safdie brothers’ back catalog—and rightly so. As the duo began releasing feature films in 2008—while still in their early twenties—there are five films in the Safdie filmography that predate the Adam Sandler vehicle that…
Tabletop Review – Wormholes – AEG
Despite my love for former AEG franchise, Legend of the Five Rings, I never looked beyond this into AEG’s current crop(or even former crop) of board games. I’d played War of Honor and L5R Love Letter, but for some reason I never tried anything else. There have even been games that have caught my attention…
UHD Review – Drive
In 1997, DRIVE was released direct to video in the US, and in my opinion is one of the best martial arts movies of that decade. Director Steve Wang gave us one of the funnest, and most hard hitting action films of the decade. DRIVE follows Toby, played by Mark Dacascos, a special agent from…
Blu-ray Review – Buried Alive (Vinegar Syndrome)
In 1989/1990, producer Harry Alan Towers produced three Edgar Alan Poe adaptations for Menahem Golan’s 21st Century Film Corporation: Edgar Allan Poe’s The House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe’s Masque of the Red Death, and the film we are reviewing today, Edgar Allan Poe’s Buried Alive. The film stars Playboy Playmate Karen Witter as Janet,…
Ben Reads the Horror Classics: Bring Forth the Carrion Harvest
Since it’s creepy season in October, I thought I’d slide one more of these in before the end of the month. This time I’ve got a classic of the folk horror genre, yet even more doofy Goosebumps, a collection of Weird Tales, a collection of REALLY weird friggin’ tales and an epic of ’80s action…
Ben Reads the Horror Classics: Voyages and Folklore
Been a long time, folks! It’s Boo month, so I thought I’d get one of these horror write-ups out into the wild for people to chew on a little. In this batch we have an incredibly bizarre sci-fi cult classic, a collection of Appalachian cryptid horror tales, a long-dark neo-noir into film nightmares, another seminal…