Category: Horror Movies (Page 71 of 96)

Blu Tuesday: Friday the 13th, Dr. Strangelove and Morning Light

June 16, 2009 /

Those who saved up a little extra pocket change from the lack of Blu-rays released over the last few weeks will probably want to grab a hammer and break open the piggy bank, because there are a slew of must-own titles hitting stores today. Even better is the variety, from new horror films and old classics to cult television shows and HBO mini-series, this week features one of the best HD line-ups that you’re likely to see all year.

“Friday the 13th” (Warner Bros.)

The new adventures of Jason Voorhees may just be the latest in a long line of mindless sequels (in fact, one might even argue it’s little more than a compilation of greatest hits from the first three films), but it does serve as an excellent reboot of sorts that horror fans should appreciate. While Jason’s ninja-like stealth is a bit ridiculous, it’s but a minor obstacle in an otherwise entertaining slasher flick. The kills are just as inventive as they were 30 years ago (there’s even a Blu-ray exclusive featurette that takes an in-depth look at the seven most memorable ones), and at the end of the day, that’s all anyone really cares about. Whether or not it truly revitalizes the franchise is a whole another matter, but at least Warner Bros. is willing to stand behind their product. The Blu-ray release is one of the studio’s best yet, and includes an extended (but still R-rated) cut of the film, as well as a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and a picture-in-picture video track.

“Dr. Strangelove” (Sony Pictures)

Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 Cold War satire isn’t exactly the kind of film that benefits from high definition, but it still looks remarkably good for its age. Though I’ve never really been a fan of black-and-white cinema, “Dr. Strangelove” is one of the few exceptions. It’s probably because the movie would seem absolutely ludicrous in color. Not only are many of the characters (like George C. Scott’s General Turgidson and Peter Seller’s Strangelove) already so outlandish that they’re practically cartoons, but the monochrome effect lends a certain seriousness to the film that only makes the events that follow even funnier. The “Inside Dr. Strangelove” retrospective included on the disc – which covers everything from Kubrick’s original idea of making a serious political thriller to an 11th hour legal coup designed to delay the release of the similarly-themed “Fail-Safe” – should be of particular interest to fans of the film, while the addition of never-before-seen pages from the screenplay sheds new light on the infamously deleted cream pie fight ending.

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External Movie DVDs, External TV, Horror Movies, Lost, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movie DVDs, Movies, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV DVDs

The lost art of opening credits: “Mad Monster Party”

June 16, 2009 /

I love traditional opening credit sequences, something that has literally been slowly going out of style since at least the early sixties and “West Side Story. ” Aside from occasionally providing a bit of final cushion for latecomers, just as I like to know the author of a book I’m reading before I read it, I’d like to know who’s made the movie I’m watching before I see it, not after. Mainly, I just love the way they give us a minute to kind of enter the world of the film in some sort of interesting way.

That’s all well and good, you say, but why lead off with the opening of an obscurity from my childhood like this?

Because I can?

External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies

“Laugh? I Thought I’d Die!” 15 Funny (?) Vampire Films

June 16, 2009 /

Vampires are often painted as dark, sinister characters with a penchant for gothic fashion and a taste for blood that can never be fully quenched. Granted, their nature doesn’t necessarily lend itself to being a laugh riot, but once in a while, we’re gifted with bloodsuckers who can see the funny side of their affliction…or if they can’t, then at least the viewers can. (For instance, “True Blood” sure as hell isn’t a comedy, but if you caught the Season 2 premiere, you saw a truly hilarious scene where a new vampire took a blood taste test to determine which type she prefers.) Bullz-Eye decided to take a trip back through the mists of time to reinvestigate some of the more comedic explorations into the curse of vampirism, skipping over a couple of ostensible classics – neither “The Lost Boys” nor “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn” are here – in favor of some interesting obscurities that may not have crossed your radar.

Here’s a taste:

“Vampires Anonymous” (2003) – A few years ago, Bullz-Eye chatted with Michael Madsen about how many of his films end up going to DVD, and he explained the situation thusly: “People will promise you the fucking world, they’ll promise you anything to get you in the movie…and then, seven times out of ten, it’s not that way.” Although Madsen only has a small role in “Vampires Anonymous,” we like to think that he’s at least relatively pleased with this small obscurity from his resume. Vic Weller (Paul Popowich) is a vampire who’s found himself unable to curb his urges, so he calls up the organization known as Vampires Anonymous, which quickly finds him a new location in a small North Carolina town, where he can feel free to gorge himself on sheep until he gets into the habit of staying clean of human blood. Predictably, he falls in love with a local girl (Carolyn Lawrence) and has to keep his murderous nature in check around her, even though he has feelings for her. A bearded Madsen plays Geno, Vic’s sponsor in VampAnon, who’s never more than a phone call away, even though he’s usually pretty grumpy with his charge. (“I was not aware that I was wearing my Mr. Know-It-All hat today.”) It’s not a consistently hilarious flick, and the recurring gag about redneck “sheep shaggers” may make you feel queasy, but Madsen’s always good for a laugh, and the VampAnon meetings and 12-step title cards are funny enough to make you imagine the possibilities of a sitcom based around the organization.

Surely this one bite hasn’t fully sated your appetite for vampiric comedy, so why not head over to Bullz-Eye and check out the full piece by clicking either here or on the image below?

Oh, and just as a bonus, here’s a trailer for one of the films that didn’t make the cut. Believe us, with Dean Cameron – best known as Chainsaw in “Summer School” – playing the titular character and a supporting cast which includes Toni Basil, Bo Diddley, and Thomas Dolby, we really, really wanted to include it, but we just couldn’t get our hands on a copy in time to do so…and after watching this trailer, we just can’t imagine we could do the film justice without seeing every last second of it.

External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, True Blood, Video

Box Office Preview of the “Lost” Weekend

June 5, 2009 /

So, there I was, thinking about what I was going to post tomorrow when it suddenly occurred to me: it’s not Wednesday, it’s Thursday, which means you’re reading this on Friday morning and, damnit, you need your box office preview.

This weekend sees the release of passel of comedies and comedy dramas, and the smart money at both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter agrees that “Up,” which is just about ready to receive the first Nobel Prize for animation and become the basis for a new religion, will likely defeat both of the newcomers. It gets more intriguing become it’s not impossible that the film starring a bonafide comedy superstar could come in at the #3 spot.

I speak, of course, of “Land of the Lost” starring Will Ferrell, which our own Will Harris gave a mere 1.5 stars to on the grounds of being unfunny and raunchily disconnected from it’s own youngster appeal. Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a sad 20% “Fresh” rating (even if Roger Ebert wrote another of his very, very many utterly winning defenses of films I would never spend my own money to see). I’m sure the elaborate comedy will do a certain amount of business based on Ferrell’s appeal and its special effects, but unless audiences like this one vastly more than critics, there may be long faces at Universal on Monday. At least it’s gotten the original TV series reissued, much to the delight of my fellow PH-er, Ross Ruediger.

Ed Helms and a feathered friendOn the other hand, the megastar-free “The Hangover,” which sort of sounds like a retread of the premise of “Very Bad Things,” is apparently a vastly more upbeat affair. My film review overseer, Jason Zingale, gave it a solid 3.5 stars and in general it is being received as a very good thing by RT critics, and may well do very good things for the careers of its up-and-coming cast. An upset at the #2 spot is not impossible.

Other than that, we have a new romantic comedy vehicle from Nia Vardolos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), “My Life in Ruins.” Despite being written by the very talented comedy writer, Mike Reiss, this film keeps alive director Donald Petrie’s career long record of never making a single well reviewed featured, receiving a truly dismal 7% at RT. I wouldn’t expect another sleeper from this one. Bullz-Eye’s Dave Medsker gave it 2.5 stars, definitely more in sorrow than in anger.

That’s pretty much it, but in very limited release is a new film from Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”, “Road to Perdition”) and literary power couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, which we’ll talk about when it’s in more than four theaters. Also, speaking of director’s named “Sam,” please consider giving Mr. Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell” a chance this weekend. It’s that or the only horror films the studios will be greenlighting will be “The Grudge 15” or such upcoming torture-porn classics as “I Digest Your Eyeballs” and “The Scrotum Stretchers.” Keep horror sane, see the darn thing. (Also check out Will Harris’s interview with the very cool actor, Dileep Rao.)

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies, TV DVDs

BadAzz Mofo Geeky Quick Hits

June 4, 2009 /

Other than the very sad and disturbing passing of David Carradine, very well noted by Will Harris a bit earlier (I’ve got more at my own bloggy digs, Forward to Yesterday), it’s kind of a slow news day in the movie world…

* In a bit of very inside baseball, with his upcoming “Avatar” 3-D extravaganza already getting a lot of ink many months before its X-Mas release, James Cameron has broken with his past practice and has signed with an agency. And not just any agency, but the mighty CAA. I know, your life will never be the same. Variety has the scoop, such as it is.

* 79-year-old lifelong cinema enfant terrible Jean-Luc Godard (“Breathless,” “Contempt” — a great film you really ought to see) is looking to do a film inspired by a Holocaust memoir, says THR. I know, your life will really never be the same, but this is interesting. Godard, a truly radical leftist, criticized Israel implicitly in his 1967 comic masterpiece, “Weekend,” when the middle-east nation’s battles were still very much a liberal cause. I’m not at all one to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, but the film itself, and the worldwide response from Jewish groups, should be worth watching for those of us interested in this kind of thing.

* And finally, Nikki Finke devoted all of 24 words this morning to the passing of David Carradine (and turned off comments for some reason), but after adding that she doesn’t “do geek,” she did find time to devote some space to covering Total Sci-Fi‘s “25 Women Who Shook Sci-Fi” list, with a definite emphasis on bad-ass mofo type females. It was topped by Sigourney Weaver‘s Ripley from the “Alien” franchise (including “Aliens” from the aforementioned J. Cameron). The list also covered fantasy for whatever reason and #2 on the list was Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Geller) of “Buffy” fame. (My personal Buffsession, Willow Rosenberg, aka Alyson Hannigan, came in at #21.) With the possible exception of the first choice, which I really can’t argue with as long as you’re talking about actresses and not, say, writers, my list would be entirely different — if I didn’t tend to avoid lists. Since we really do “do geek” here at Premium Hollywood, allow me to link to fan site Whedonesque‘s comment thread on the topic, where the discussion eventually includes the terrific SF (not “sci-fi”!) writer, Roger Zelazny. Now that’s geek.

Action Movies, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

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