// Category Archive for: Current Faves

Music Review: Love, Poetry and Revolution – A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes 1966-72

By Melissa Bratcher

In just six short years, British Psychedelic bands went from singing songs about tea to songs about witches. Love, Poetry and Revolution: A Journey Through The British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes 1966-72 is a recent three-disc boxed set that plumbs the depths of the psychedelic revolution and collects these little-heard rarities alongside thoughtful, witty liner notes from compiler David Wells. Forgoing the more easily accessible, overplayed songs, Wells gives the listener gems by bands that never landed a recording contract, or perhaps only put out one album, alongside demos and alternate takes of more familiar artists like The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown and The Spencer Davis Group.

(more…)

DVD Review: The Banshee Chapter

By Brad Henderson

There are countless horror films released in a year and most of the good ones go unnoticed by the general public. Unless a horror film is in theaters these days, people just don’t see them. Thankfully VOD is getting more popular and the general public now has access to all the films that we film geeks love and try to promote. The VOD industry is very much like the home video boom in many ways. Independent and low budget films didn’t stand a chance at the theater in the days of the home video boom (and they still don’t), but once these movies hit the video store it became an equal playing field. The same goes for VOD these days: Indie flicks are in the same row as your big budget blockbusters.

(more…)

DVD Review: You’re Next

By Less Lee Moore

“Bidding war” are two words that filmmakers sometimes wait years to hear. In the case of You’re Next, though, it also meant that audiences would have to wait years to see the movie that caused the stir in the first place. If you saw You’re Next at TIFF’s Midnight Madness a few years back and wondered what happened to it, you’re in luck. It’s now out on DVD after a brief theatrical run at the end of last year.

(more…)

Music Review: Painted Palms, Forever

By Less Lee Moore

At the risk of dating this review, Painted Palms’ Forever is a beam of sunlight in the middle of an oppressive winter. It’s not like pulling up the shades at 7 a.m., though. The album’s delightful qualities creep up on you slowly but surely, until you’re singing along and humming the tunes later on.

(more…)

DVD Review: Rewind This!

By Brad Henderson

VHS is slowly coming back. It won’t be readily available in stores again but there’s still a huge market for it under the table. I’ve been collecting VHS for many years and have quite the collection. I adore VHS for many reasons and I know others have the same feelings about this dead format.

Rewind This! is a documentary that focuses on the VHS boom and the effects it had on the film industry. VHS changed many people’s lives and altered the industry forever. Laserdisc, DVDs, Blu-Ray, and other formats didn’t even come close to doing what VHS did.

(more…)

DVD Review: We Are What We Are

By Less Lee Moore

Having only recently seen Jorge Michel Grau’s Somos lo que hay, I was excited to see Stake Land director Jim Mickle’s reimagining of the story in his latest feature, We Are What We Are. I was not disappointed. It’s tempting to compare and contrast the two films, but that would be a disservice to both; while the core narrative is similar, each film explores the terrain of family and tradition in different ways, both culturally and tonally.

(more…)

DVD Review: Plus One

By Less Lee Moore

Admittedly, I haven’t been keeping up with teen movies lately, but Plus One is way better than the ones I remember from decades past.

(more…)

Blu-Ray Review: Prince Of Darkness (Collector’s Edition)

By Brad Henderson

John Carpenter is almost a household name in my opinion. Unfortunately, it is mainly for Halloween and The Thing, which isn’t bad, but there are many other excellent Carpenter flicks that get buried below his “commercial” hits. Even among your common horror fans some of his greatest works are not discussed; they mostly speak about the Escape flicks and Big Trouble in Little China.

I consider myself a huge Carpenter fan in many ways and one of those ways is that I’m a fan of everything he has ever done. Yes, that goes for Ghosts of Mars and The Ward. I know that many people look down upon some of his flicks but I just try to find the Carpenterness in each flick and find my own inspiration. I’m a writer of reviews, but I’m also a screenwriter trying to make it and if it wasn’t for John Carpenter, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

Scream Factory has released another Carpenter flick on Blu-Ray and again, it is outstanding just like the rest. Prince of Darkness is a Carpenter film that I believe is forgotten about amongst the horror community. I know many would say that they know the flick but when is the last time you’ve actually seen it? I spoke my film friends and even they admitted they’ve forgotten the last time they watched it. I admit the film escaped me for a long time but I revisited it a couple years ago and fell in love all over again.

(more…)

DVD Review: Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony

By Brad Henderson

Your average person may not know what a Brony is and neither did I until I stumbled upon this documentary. Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony sought out male fans of the cartoon and followed them to the BronyCon convention.

At first Bronies seems like it might exploit these people and show the “weird” side of them. However, it doesn’t and actually dives into a little of the psychology side of things, going against what most people think of these Bronies. Don’t go into thinking you’re going to go into the house of some weird old dude who dresses up as a pony and prances around.

(more…)

Blu-Ray Review: Assault on Precinct 13 (Collector’s Edition)

By Brad Henderson

“It would be a privilege if you’d walk outside with me.”
—Lt. Ethan Bishop in Assault on Precinct 13

When I was younger I discovered John Carpenter. I was obsessed with Halloween and The Thing; this made me try to track down everything that he had done. Keep in mind that this was the middle of the ’90s so certain titles on VHS were scarce and DVD hadn’t hit it big yet. Tracking down Carpenter titles was very difficult for a little kid that loved obscure films.

I would go with my parents to every flea market that we could so I could scour the depths of boxes trying to find any horror or action titles that existed. Assault on Precinct 13 was one of those titles that I was searching for. I was determined to find it and consume it.

(more…)