Archive for 2008
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Tokyo Gore Police: Double Disc Special Edition review
“Blood, squirt, artery, homicide, gore.” These are the words pouring out of the mouth of Michael Palin during his rendition of a sadistic barber in a Monty Python skit. It also happens to be a fair description of TOKYO GORE POLICE (2008), Nishimura’s over-the-top blood lusting freak-out film that gives this Gore-Asia genre a comedic lilt with a horror tilt.
Jack the Giant Killer starts in July
Filmonic.com points us to a ProductionWeekly.com report that director Bryan Singer (X-MEN) will start filming JACK THE GIANT KILLER in July, with shooting planned to take place in London and Iceland, for a planned 2011 release.
Singer’s involvement with JACK THE GIANT KILLER could prevent him from rejoining the X-MEN franchise, despite recent overtures from producer [...]
Ponyo – DVD Review
A gentle fable that beautifully demonstrates the artistry of classic hand-drawn animation.
Outpost (2008) – Horror Film Review
It’s not often that I see a film, particularly a horror film, which is lit so well as Steve Barker’s OUTPOST. Stunning greys and shadows are used to great effect, bleaching out the brighter colours and leaving behind a bleak and atmospheric work of art. This stylish cinematography isn’t wasted on a bad film, either, [...]
Trailer Park of Terror (2008) – Horror Film Review
With a name like TRAILER PARK OF TERROR, I was certain Steven Goldmann’s 2008 horror was going to be a diabolical shambles. I figured I’d sit through it anyway, so I could warn you good people to use your precious time on other things, because, well, that’s the kind of selfless gal I am! The [...]
Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008) – Fantasy Film Review
Released on Monday 7th September on DVD in the U.K., FIRE & ICE: THE DRAGON CHRONICLES was made by MediaPro Pictures and The Sci-fi Channel, and directed by CATWOMAN director Pitof. Anyone expecting a fantastical spectacle of fantasy and adventure, with amazing mythical dragons and state of the art special effects is going to be sorely [...]
Ponyo – Animation Film Review
Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film, PONYO (“Gake no ue no Ponyo” or “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”), could be nicely summed up as charmingly innocent. I wasn’t even sure they still made films like it. It’s just a simple slice of pleasant storytelling. And you know what – audiences very much enjoy it. You [...]
Martyrs (2008) – Horror Film Review
Pascal Laugier’s disturbing, brutal, French horror movie is not always comfortable to watch, but in contrast to the other recent torture-porn films, the torture in MARTYRS has a point.
At the beginning we see young girl Lucie escape from a facility where she has been chained to a chair and brutally tortured. Unable to speak of [...]
Mum & Dad (2008)- Horror Film Review
Steven Sheil’s 2008 British horror MUM & DAD – shot in seventeen days, on a micro-budget of only £100,000 – stands up as one of the best British horrors in recent years. Not since THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE have we seen a family this insane.
When young Polish airport worker Lena is stranded at work after [...]
B.T.K. – Horror Film Review
Recently released on region one DVD, Michael Feifer’s B.T.K. describes itself as ‘a fictional film based on a real character’. That character is the serial killer Dennis L. Rader, who was arrested in March 2005 for the murder of ten people, in a killing spree that spanned two decades. Rader was known as “B.T.K.” because [...]
Eden Lake (2008) – Horror Film Review
James Watkins’ EDEN LAKE won Empire’s Best Horror Award 2009, and was also nominated for their Best British Film Award. The film has some fine, young, British actors performing brilliantly as the threatening teenagers, most notably Jack O’Connell [ring leader Brett], Finn Atkins [Paige] and Thomas Turgoose [whom the London Critics’ Circle awarded their Young [...]
Laserblast: The Haunting in Connecticut on DVD & Blu-ray
When it comes to horror, fantasy, and science fiction title, this week’s big home video release is THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT, which was a minor sleeper hit in theatres earlier this year. The film arrives on disc in three variations: a single-disc edition, an unrated special edition, and a Blu-ray disc.
The only other notable new [...]
Chanbara Beauty & Chanbara Beauty: Vortex – A Saga of Sword and Skin
A look at a lovely pair of import DVDs from Japan
CHANBARA BEAUTY (Onechanbara, Japan, 2008) is geek paradise: two gorgeous babes and a fat dude wander around the countryside killing zombies. One is a gorgeous sharpshooter who never misses. The other is a samurai in Western hat and serape – and little else save for a [...]
