AGFA and Something Weird collaborated to put together a whopping three hour and forty-nine-minute compilation of educational short films meant to frighten children into behaving safely. While the intent behind these shorts is commendable, the acting and production values are hilariously bad. I saw a literal “Don’t run with scissors” PSA (public service announcement). One…
Jade [Vinegar Syndrome] 4k/Blu-ray Release
Jade is an interesting film. Directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection), produced by Robert Evans (The Godfather), scored by James Horner (Aliens), writer Joe Eszterhas (who once held the record for biggest payday for a script), and with the acting talents of David Caruso, Linda Fiorentio, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Biehn, and Richard…
Rose [Cohen Media Group] Blu-ray Release
Aurélie Saada is a composer, actress, and writer who directed her first movie, released in 2021. Rose is a 103-minute drama about an older French woman that loses her husband and finds a new zest for life, which upsets her family. The movie starts with a glimpse of Rose and her husband’s relationship. At a…
In Custody/The Proprietor [Cohen Media Group] Blu-ray release
Cohen Film Collection released a double feature of In Custody and The Proprietor. Both films were directed by Ismail Merchant (of Merchant Ivory fame). “In Custody” tells the story of a scholar (Deven) who is given the task of writing a piece on a great Urdu poet, Nur Sahib. Arriving in the poet’s village, Deven…
Devil Doll/Curse of the Voodoo [Vinegar Syndrome] Blu-ray Release
The Devil Doll opens with a well-dressed man who looks exactly how I picture the Devil in human form. He is being chauffeured through the city with a creepy looking ventriloquist dummy sitting beside him. The Great Vorelli, the man with the dummy, arrives at a theater and performs a mixture of hypnotism and ventriloquism…
The Sword and The Claw [AGFA] Blu-ray Release
The Sword and the Claw is a 1975 Turkish film and is the best kind of terrible. The story is simple. A king is overthrown by corrupt noblemen. The prince is born and raised by lions, eventually returning to unseat the usurper. There are plot twists that are so laughable that I can’t believe the…
Trick Or Treat [Synapse Films] 4K Release
In the 1980s, there was a phenomenon called “Satanic Panic”. The nightly news covered stories of ritualistic abuse at day-cares. People claimed to have uncovered repressed memories of being involved in black masses. Congress held hearings on the evil influence of heavy metal music. It was a strange time and in the midst of this,…
The Carpenter [Vinegar Syndrome] Blu-ray release
The Carpenter, released on Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome, looks like a generic 80s slasher film at first glance. My initial reaction based on the opening in a mental asylum was that this is a comedy. There are strange things in the background that made me chuckle or raise my eyebrows. For example, as the main…
Antiviral [Severin] 4k/Blu-ray Release
Antiviral (2012) was a sci-fi/horror film directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of famous body-horror director, David Cronenberg. Severin released it as a two-disc set on 4k and Blu-ray. The movie has an interesting premise. In the near future, celebrity obsession has reached a level where people are paying for celebrity infections. There is an…
Blood Tracks [Vinegar Syndrome] Blu-ray Review
Easy Action was an 80s metal band that was chosen to be in “Blood Tracks”, a slasher film about a metal band and their entourage trapped by an avalanche and hunted by a family of outcasts. Released in 1985, with an 89-minute runtime, the film is one of many 80s slashers. The movie opens with…