The Ones Below

The fine folks over at Magnolia Home Entertainment have just put out a new British thriller from Director David Farr and starring David Morrissey, who for all my horror fans yes, was The Governor on TWD.  I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this film when my wife and I turned it on last night but I must say it didn’t take me long to become emotionally vested in it.

It’s the story of 2 couples who share a Flat.  They don’t live together keep in mind.  It a downstairs apt and an upstairs apartment.  The creepy couple live in the downstairs apartment hence the title The Ones Below.  Both couples are married and expecting their first child.  They strike up a friendship and our upstairs Dwellers, Kate and Justin invite our downstairs couple Jon and Theresa over for dinner one night.  You can tell the later are slightly off to say the least.

The following is not a spoiler so don’t be alarmed when I say due to a unexpected mishap Theresa slips down the stairs and loses her baby.  They of course blame Kate and Justin and after an argument tell them they are going back to Germany to grieve and will return when they can be happy for the birth of their child.

Months go by, Kate has her child, and one morning when going out for a stroll with the baby they notice Jon and Theresa have moved back downstairs.  The two couples reconcile and Theresa even offers to help babysit for Kate whenever she needs a break.

As this is a psychological thriller and not a family drama things take a turn for the worse right away.  Kate beings to suspect Jon and Theresa of sneaking into their home, doing things to the baby, and at one point even breaks into their house to look around. 

Of course all of this behavior make Kate seem crazy.  Is she crazy?  Are they Evil?  That I will not spoil.  But I will say this film had one of the best and most original thought of endings I have ever seen.

The cast was fantastic.  Everyone was perfect for their parts.  Like I said it did not take me long to become emotionally vested in their characters and their respective plights.  The directing was top notch and everything moved along at the perfect speed and built fantastically to the climax. 

If you enjoy a good suspense movie I highly recommend you pick this one up.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars.

Massacre Up North

Massacre Up North is a little SOV film from 2001 that has developed a bit of a cult following over the years.  Shivers Entertainment recently picked this little treasure up and have released it finally on DVD for the 15^th anniversary. 

It’s the story of Leslie and Patrick.  When they were kids camping Leslie was playing in a tent while his dad was making Kabobs.  When the flame gets to high he flings back sending one of the kabab’s flying into the tent Leslie is in.  He doesn’t really do anything, neither does his wife.  They basically and unemotionally watch it burn.

We see that Leslie has suffered 3^rd degree burns on his face leaving him slightly deformed.  He has to wear a mask to school, and as kids are cruel they torment him.  Finally he just snaps.  He kills his mom and dad, a group of kids in a hotel after prom, he even burns down an entire frat house full of people having a party.

We flash forward to the present and see Leslie running his uncles hardware store and living in his parent’s old house.  His brother is now the county coroner and Leslie has just received ownership of the hardware store as his uncle is retiring.  So when your insane and have a hardware store what do you do?  You go on a killing spree of course.

And as I mentioned, his brother is the coroner so guess who gets assigned to help catch the killer.  Don’t worry his brother has no clue i's Leslie.

This film is a great watch.  It took me back to the days of when I would go to the local Blockbuster and find those straight to video films they only got 1 or 2 copies of.  I haven’t watched an SOV filmed in this style in quite a while so it was a great time.  

Tons of gore for the horror fans out there and the scenes where Leslie is a kid do make him a slightly sympathetic character.

Overall 3 out of 5 stars

Dead End Drive-In

Dead End Drive-In is an original film to say the least.  I saw it back on late night cable when I was much much younger.  I instantly fell in love with it due to the punk rock look and feel.  At the time I had no idea really what I was watching I just knew it was unique and different.  I saw that Arrow was putting out a collector Blu Ray and decided to jump right on it.  And like with all my Arrow releases I am happy I did.

Dead End is set in “The Near Future” economy is totally crashed and random gangs have caused massive crime waves all over the country.  The most valuable thing at this time is cars and car parts.  The government decides to control these gangs, and roaming punk kids in a modern concentration camp way.

They begin working with Drive in Chains, They surround them with electrified fences and allow no cars on the long path to them.  Kids go in to watch a film and their cars are sabotaged so they cannot leave.  The cars are slowly striped and sold off for parts and the punks who own them are stuck there as they cannot escape.  Most of them however don’t really mind.  They are fed junk food all day, given drugs of their choice, and watch exploitation movies on the drive in’s big screen. 

In fact some homeless people just go, knowing what the place is for simple shelter and food. The main plot follows a new punk named  Crabs and his Girlfriend as they become trapped in the Dead End Drive-In and try to escape.  Problems arise when she begins to accept and even grown fond of the drugged out lifestyle.

As this is an Arrow release they once again go over the top with the special features

  Brand new 2K restoration from original film materials

  High Definition (1080p) Presentation

  Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

  Audio commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith

  The Stuntmen, Trenchard Smith s classic television documentary on Grant Page (Mad Max, Road    Games) and other Australian stunt performers

  Hospitals Don t Burn Down, Trenchard-Smith s 1978 public information film told in pure  Ozploitation fashion

 Theatrical trailer

If you’re a fan it’s a must have as it’s a gorgeous print of this classic film.  If you have never seen it its definitely worth getting.  It’s an amazing that that is not only a personal favorite of mine, but of Quinten Tarentino as well.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars

Female Prisoner Scorpion

Arrow is quickly becoming the go to company for great collections.  And let me tell you Female Prisoner Scorpion is at the tops of there list of great releases.

The female scorpion in question is  Nami Matsushima.  She gets framed by a cop she is dating and sent away to prison for a crime she didn't commit.  She is abused, tortured, you name it.  She does however manage to escape and seek revenge on basically everyone.

The second film in the series is actually my favorite.  Nami is back in prison.  As she has become sort of a legend to the other prisoners the warden orders her raped in front of the other inmates.While being transported with other prisoners she, along with the others escape into a small village complete with potential hostages.  This takes the violence, and also the acting to an entire new level.  This is probably my favorite women in prison film to date.

In the 3rd film Nami is still on the run and hiding out with a small time hooker who is having sex with her own brother, who, if that wasn't bad enough, is also retarded.  If the cops hunting her her aren't bad enough she has to contend with the local Yakuza who run the brothel her friend works at.

Finally we come to the last film in the series.In what I have to say is a very weak entry.  Nami has fallen in love and is betrayed.  She is sent back to prison yet again and placed on death row.  Sure its a nice ending for the series but it lacks anything we have seen in the previous instalments.

This set is loaded, and a must have for an fans of exploitation films.  This is all the special features this box set is loaded with

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• Limited Edition Blu-ray collection (4000 copies)
• Brand new 2K restorations of all four films in the series presented on High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD
• Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays) for all films
• Optional English subtitles for all films
• Double-sided fold out poster of two original artworks
• Reversible sleeves for all films featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Chuck Stephens, a brand new interview with Toru Shinohara, creator of the originalScorpion manga and an archive interview with Meiko Kaji by Chris D. illustrated with original stills

FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION

• Newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid)
• Shunya Ito: Birth of an Outlaw, an archive interview with the director
• Scorpion Old and New, a new interview with assistant director Yutaka Kohira
• Theatrical Trailers for all four films in the series

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41

• Newly filmed appreciation by critic Kier-La Janisse
• Japanese cinema critic Jasper Sharp looks over the career of Shunya Ito
• Designing Scorpion, a new interview with production designer Tadayuki Kuwana
• Original Theatrical Trailer and Teaser

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: BEAST STABLE

• Newly filmed appreciation by critic Kat Ellinger
• Shunya Ito: Directing Meiko Kaji, an archive interview with the director
• Unchained Melody, a new visual essay by Tom Mes on the career of Meiko Kaji
• Original Theatrical Trailer and Teaser

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: #701’s GRUDGE SONG

• Newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Kichiku: Banquet of the Beasts)
• Yasuharu Hasebe: Finishing the Series, an archive interview with the director
• Japanese cinema critic Jasper Sharp looks over the career of Yasuharu Hasebe
• They Call Her Scorpion, a new visual essay by Tom Mes on the film series
• Original Theatrical Trailer

Overall 5 out of 5 stars.  A must have

Microwave Massacre

Boy where does one start with a title like Microwave Massacre.  It sure is catchy that's for sure, with some great cover art as well.  The film however, is actually more of a slapstick comedy.

Its the story of Donald, a shluby no respect kind of guy who is married to Mary a normal wife who is trying to spice up her marriage via gourmet cooking.  She constantly tries making new fancy recipes that unfortunately for her Donald finds disgusting.  If that wasn't bad enough his co workers and Friends give him lots of grief about her cooking as well.

One day poor Donald has enough and during an argument kills Mary.  He needs to stash the body so he does like the title implies.  He decides to cook her in the microwave.  Well when you go this far all you have left to do it see what the corpse tastes like, and that's exactly what Donald does.  And guess what he likes it.

Not only does he like it but so do his co workers.  He enjoyed it so much though that now he has to go out and find other victims to cook in his microwave leading to a few over the top gore scenes as well as over the top laughs.  The gore is about a low budget as one can get, but it works in the context of this film quite well.

As this is an arrow release not only do you get an immaculate transfer but it comes loaded with special features as well.

Brand new 2K restoration of the original camera negative

High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray (Region A) and Standard Definition (480p) DVD (Region 1) presentations

Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Brand new audio commentary with writer-producer Craig Muckler moderated by Mike Tristano

Brand new making-of featurette including interviews with Muckler, director Wayne Berwick and actor Loren Schein

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork

First pressing only: fully-illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower

If your a fan of Evil Dead Style tongue and cheek humor and gore do yourself a favor and pick this up

Overall 3 out of 5 stars!

The Candy Tangerine Man

Ever watch a movie where a pimp grabs a cue ball after losing a game and yell "white honkey mother fucking ball" you will when you watch Candy Tangerine Man.

This is the story of The Barron a really nice pimp. He's good to all his women he even let's the have weekends off. Why would a pimp do that you ask, because on the weekends he goes home to his wife and family in the suburbs. See his family doesn't know he's a pimp they think he's a traveling salesman.

He works his girls out of a massage parlor and drives around in a tangerine colored custom Rolls Royce complete with pop out machine guns.

He's harassed by crooked cops, gets into it with the local evil pimp, and even has to battle the mob. This is all done in violent fashion. Breasts cut off, mutilation, constant chase and gun battles, you name it.

Its also one of the best exploitation films of the 70s. Its biggest complaint was that the VHS as well as the DVD were horrible transfers. Well I am happy to say Vinegar Syndrome has taken care of that with a beautiful 2k transfer off the original 35mm print.

If that is not enough you also get a beautiful transfer of the film Lady Cocoa.

Lady Cocoa is a lesser know film that I haven't seen since I was a kid. Its about a young diva of a woman named Cocoa. She's stuck in prison for not cooperating in the trail of her racketeering boyfriend. She decides to finally testify against him on one condition, she gets a night out on the town.

She's protected by a young, and old cop but it doesn't take long for her boyfriends muscle to track her down. I know it seems like a generic plot but here's the sell point. One of the evil Henchmen is played by Mean Joe Greene.

Here's all that's included in this collection
1. Scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm archival prints
2. Director's video introduction for The Candy Tangerine Man
3. Commentary track for Lady Cocoa with Director Matt Cimber and Director's Assistant / Actor John Goff
4. Reversible cover for Lady Cocoa
5. English SDH Subtitles
6. Closed Captioning

So if you want to watch a movie with the tagline of "Git back Jack give him no Jive, he's the Baddessst cat of 75" get this release


Overall 4.5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful Prison

Yesterday I say down to watch A Beautiful Prison. I had no real idea what it was, and that was by choice.  Lately I find myself not wanting to know anything about the film I will be watching. It helps make me more prepared to be surprised.

Beautiful Prison is the story of Ben, a mentally handicapped young man who works at a manufacturing plant with his slacker pot head friend Jerry. We find out through a series of very dark and graphic flashbacks that Ben was once normal but a beating he got from his dad caused him to be slow.

His sister just so happens to be married to his boss. Ben spends,most days watching a Mexican soap opera and dreaming of Jubelie, the female lead. His distractions with this cause him to drift off at work causing production delays.

One day after another mishap Jerry steps in to cover for him and gets fired. Fueled by his anger he gets in a physical confrontation with his boss/brother in law and is hit buy a car putting him in a coma.

Inside his dream world he learns he can control what happens. He's no longer slow, he's dating the girl he dreams about, everything is good unroll he starts flashing back to the day in his childhood where he was hurt.

The film has a great washed out color look and the dream world is haunted by zombie like creatures when things are bad. The score of well done and sets the pacing of each scene very well.

The acting on Kaelin Stockwell as Ben is fantastic. He's sympathetic and believable. You become vested through the film watching his character develop. I was actually dissapointed we did not see him play the mentally challenged version of Ben longer as his facial expressions and mannerisms were amazing.

Overall this a a great film. Compelling characters, a great story, and strong performances by all involved make this a high recommendation


Overall 3 out of 5 stars