Jurassic Prey

I've said it before and I will say it again. I grew up watching and loving old stop motion monster movies. I still love them. Godzilla in a rubber suite stepping on plastic tanks, or a stop motion King Kong battering a dinosaur is way more entertaining to me then a cgi creature movie. With that said I was quite anxious to sit down with Jurassic Prey.

Jurassic Prey is the story of 2 bank robbers. After they pull a job they head out to an old cabin with the police in hot pursuit they grab a girl who, as fate would have it, just robbed her criminal boyfriend. Because of that she has goons chasing after her.

So now we have people in a remote cabin, people outside the cabin waiting for them, and just some occasional people wandering around. We also have a giant dinosaur outside to eat them.

The dino, as far as I can tell is a guy in a big rubber suite. When you get full on body shots Its an old school stop motion dinosaur. Just fyi, the suite and the puppet don't really look similar. It also has the cool little off screen kills where you see a limb from the dino and a person being mutilated.

Of course everyone has to band together, sort of, at the end to try and stop animal and escape.
This film is fun plain and simple. Giant monster, stupid people for food, what more do you need.

 If you dig films like this you should definitely add it to your collection



Overall 2.5 out of 5 Stars.

Scars

Ok so try and picture a movie about 2 friends who happen to be girls and who happen to be incredibly beautiful. Now picture these two beautiful women hugging in a room full of blood. Why picture them doing that, because there not only incredibly hot, but also completely insane.

Scars is the story of two women. One a lovely punk rockish lady who wears cat like make up. One day her husband or boyfriend asks her to grab him a beer. She does, then smashes the bottle over his head and stabs him to death.

Our other lovely lady enjoys dating married men. After she seduces them she also enjoys blackmailing them. She has a nice flat rate as well. Five grand up front then two grand a month after that.

One night her blackmail doesn't go so well after her jilted lover starts beating the crap out of her. Luckily our other beautiful lady is around to kill the guy thus saving her.

As the two become closer friends they both realize how much they enjoy killing men. Through various means they meet, and violently kill random men the encounter. Unfortunately there not overly good at covering up the crimes and soon a detective begins hunting them.

I could try and do a makeshift comparison like picture "insert movie title here" now picture it with 2 serial killing women, but that would do it no justice. This is a film that is not only incredibly well done, but original as well. Part slasher, part coming of age, part art house, I've never really seen a film like this.

Aside from being gorgeous, the two female leads do an amazing job portraying there roles. Relying on mannerisms, as they don't have tons of dialogue they covey a sense of fear to the audience, as well as making you feel almost sympathetic to what there going through, and doing.

If you like movies then watch this. Doesn't matter what type as I stated it fits into so many different categories, and succeeds on so many levels that you can't compare it to anything. Just trust me when I say to go pick this up.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars!

Accidental Exorcist

I hate the Exorcist. Its boring in every sense of the word. I hate the Omen, it's horrible in every sense of the word. I tried to watch the Rite a while back. I hated it so much I went in the bathroom to read Bret Hit-Man Harts autobiography. On a side note, that was really good. Because of all this I was somewhat apprehensive about sitting down and watching The Accidental Exorcist, but as I needed a laugh and this is a bit of a dark comedy I figured why not. Besides if it stunk I would have non problem reading Bret Harts book again.

Accidental Exorcist is the story of Richard the city's top Exorcist. Unfortunately for him business is booming. There's a rash of demon possessions going on so people keep calling him to help. He does it in a cool way. He takes a pictures, talks to the possessed person then grabs them and hits there forehead a few times. Yea, he doesn't waste 25 minutes speaking Latin.

As busy as he is he obviously doesn't charge much, as he loves in a crap hole and is behind on his rent. He also eats spam for dinner every night.

One other thing, he really seems unhappy in his job. Could be from the fact he's so busy, and also that when he performs an exorcism his stigmata opens and he bleeds from his hands and feet.

This film is pretty damn entertaining. I found myself laughing a few times over watching it. The acting and writing was well done and it moved at a very quick pace. Fans of the possession and haunting type films should find this enjoyable and should add it to there collection.


Overall 3 out of 5 Stars.

Blood Bath!!!

This movie is something else. The history behind this film is probably one of the best story's in film history. But before we get to that let me give you a quick synopsis.

This is the story of Max. A nice normal guy who paints nude women. He calls them "Dead Read Nudes" he meets a young lady admiring one of the paintings and after a little prodding convinces her to be his next model.

He takes her back to his tower like studio. Then turns into some sort of demon vampire thingie. He kills here and dumps her body in wax.

Its not just her he kills, no he kills lots of people through the film. Unfortunately for him the boyfriend of his first victim is searching for his missing girlfriend. At one point a woman who may be the incarceration of Max's former witch lover even comes into play.

This is a must see for horror fans. Filmed in chilling black and white with an amazing score, it's one of the most atmospheric films ever made. Its beautiful to watch. And seeing as how this is an Arrow release its better than ever.

The transfer is flawless. Nothing was spared in transferring this to Blu Ray. The shadows all pop in the film and the sound is absolutely perfect. And you get all the versions of the film to boot. Yes all the versions.

So Roger Corman bought the rights to a film called Operacija Ticijan problem was the finished version, in his eyes was unwatchable so he changed a few things and released it at Portrait of Terror
Now the following year, still unhappy they took the film and did re shoots and changed it to the story of a lunatic who,kills women. This was Blood Bath.

Still not really happy, a few years later he decided to once again film new scenes and change the film around. The twist with Max being a vampire like monster was added in but the title stayed Blood Bath. This version actually got a limited theatrical run.

And, as this film has a short run time, especially for television more scenes were added, that mostly just featured a girl dancing and it was re-titled Track of the Vampire!

As this is brought to you via the fine folks at Arrow you know it's loaded with special features.  These are as follows:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of four versions of the film: Operation Titian, Portrait in Terror, Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire
• Brand new 2K restorations of Portrait in Terror, Blood Bath and Track of the Vampire from original film materials
• Brand new reconstruction of Operation Titian using original film materials and standard definition inserts • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on all four versions
• The Trouble with Titian Revisited – a brand new visual essay in which Tim Lucas returns to (and updates) his three-part Video Watchdog feature to examine the convoluted production history of Blood Bath and its multiple versions
• Bathing in Blood with Sid Haig – a new interview with the actor, recorded exclusively for this release
• Archive interview with producer-director Jack Hill
• Stills gallery
• Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artworks
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
• Limited edition booklet containing new writing on the film and its cast by Anthony Nield, Vic Pratt, Cullen Gallagher and Peter Beckman

This is a must have for any serious horror fan, and truthfully for any fan of cinema do to the
backstory. This is highly recommended and one that's definitely a must have for any collection.


Overall 4.5 out of 5 Stars!

2 Jennifer

Ok let me start of by apologizing. This film is a sequel to the film Jennifer. I'm not apologizing for that, I'm apologizing for the fact I did not know that before watching so I never saw part one. I guess that's not a bad thing for you as I have nothing to compare this to. Nothing.

2 Jennifer is a horror film first and foremost, it's also a handheld film. Sort of. Its the story of a filmmaker. See the director of Jennifer wants to do a sequel but he doesn't want to make it. He lets a fan make it. Too bad the fan in question is a weirdo.

He wants to shoot the film entirely on an iPhone and being the film is Jennifer 2 he will only cast a girl named Jennifer in the lead role.  He spends a lot of time making calls, meeting his buddies roommates and prepping for this film. Throughout this process we also see how he's basically insane.
The film starts slow but picks up once our filmmaker finds his Jennifer and basically just wants to kill and torture her for real. That's where the payoff hits. The closing act is incredibly shocking and a fantastic payoff.

The iPhone handheld camera is a nice touch and not overdone in terms of shaky cam style. The acting is good and the script is very tight. My only issue is the slow build up. Don't get me wrong the payoff is great but the pacing could have been a little quicker to start.

Overall though this film is unique and a must watch for horror fans


Over all 2.5 out of 3 Stars

The Joe Show!

Every once and a while a film comes out that is so different than anything you have seen it's almost hard to classify. Not hipster art house different, no those I find are made to confuse to be hip and cool. I mean really different in tone and plot. I mean The Joe Show!

Joe Show is about, you guessed it, a guy named Joe. He's an interesting guy. He's drives a cab for a living, or at least he used to. He lives alone, and from what I could tell has no really friends or family. In the evenings he goes to a poetry club where he reads the poetry he writes. It always focuses on his bizarre cab customers and how he flashes out of reality and at times becomes violent with them.
Turns out he's actually unemployed. We witness him stealing a car to go on a job interview with a cab company. He also poses naked for money. Ohh yea and girls seem to be going missing. Did I mention he carry's around gasoline and a saw from time to time?

Let me say right of this is a great film. Its different sure, but it comes across better than most psychological horror films that hit the mainstream do. This is a small budget production but that helps set the tone perfectly.

The acting is great and the writing of the poetry Joe reads is spot on entertaining as well as chilling in its own right.

Like I said in the beginning it's very different, but not in the sense that it is made to cater to a certain audience. This is a film that horror, drama, thriller, mystery, and psychological film fans will enjoy. I give this one a very high recommendation to say the least. Well worth watching.


Overall 4 out of 5 Stars.

Awaken The Devil!!

Awaken The Devil! Pretty cool title, also, as you can see above pretty cool cover art. Its also a pretty cool film with a pretty cool visual concept. Think Sin City meets Scanner Darkly with a smoke like effect instead of full blown animation.

Its the story of two brothers Vernon and Tom Dopple. Things aren't going to good for them. For starters Vernon can't talk, or walk, he gets pushed around in his dilapidated wheelchair by his brother Tom. He does have a little chalkboard he writes things on. Its ok he can't talk,because Tom never really shuts up. Also they are homeless, and even more also Vernon can see demons.

One night they decide to bed down in an abandoned building. I'll say it again fans. Nothing good happens in abandoned buildings in movies. Nothing good happens here either as they find a dead girl laying by a giant pentagram.

From there it really goes downhill as there trapped in the building that's inhabited with some type of evil. They start changing as,well as Vernon starts getting better in terms of his health while Tom begins to deteriorate. Its as if there switching body's. Is this the work of the Devil himself?

Besides the obvious cinematography that sets it apart from other films the general tone is also much different than a standard horror film. This doesn't play as your typical blood and guy devil worship type horror film. This plays off more suspenseful. Its like watching a spiritual battle for someone's soul.

The acting is also very impressive for a small budget production. Both leads are fantastic. You really believe that they are experiencing what you are watching. There interaction with each other is fantastic to say the least.

This is a pretty cool film with a nice hook on the cinematography end for horror fans. Well worth a look


Overall 3 out of 5 Stars