// Category Archive for: DVD

DVD Review: Suzanne Vega Live: Solitude Standing

By Jeffery X Martin

The problem with being a hardcore fan of any artist is the constant desire for more. We want new songs. We want new versions of new songs. We want a tour. We want new videos. We want it all, and we want it now, sooner if possible.

The new Suzanne Vega concert DVD, a show from Rome filmed in 2003, is great for those who haven’t had the chance to see her live. It’s a stripped-down affair, with Vega on acoustic guitar and vocals, Mike Visceglia on bass, and a translator, Valerio Piccolo. It has the earmarks of a small, intimate show. We would have a better sense of that, if we were ever shown the audience outside of some silhouette shots.

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DVD Review: Scream Park

By Brad Henderson

It seems like there are four to five low-budget horror films hitting DVD every week lately, and most of them are not very good. I admire the work and effort that the individuals put into these projects, but at the end of the day you have to ask: Is the film good? Unfortunately, the answer is “no” the majority of the time, but we do get some kickass ones like Scream Park.

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DVD Review: Wrong Cops

By Less Lee Moore

There are people who will love Wrong Cops. Others will probably cringe with embarrassment and/or confusion. Some might even run from the room screaming. These are all normal reactions to a Quentin Dupieux movie. His absurdist humor is certainly not for everyone.

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DVD Review: Lust For Freedom

By Brad Henderson

I’ve never been a big fan of Troma so I’ve only enjoyed a small number of the films among their extensive catalogue. Some Troma films pop up occasionally that I’ve never heard of but I still give them a chance even though they usually leave a bad taste in my mouth. Recently I came across a film called Lust For Freedom released by Vinegar Syndrome. It’s a Troma release from back in the day directed by the guy who brought us the sequels to Class of Nuke ‘Em High. As we know, Troma hasn’t been doing well lately and I think they’ve been licensing their films to other companies. Now Vinegar Syndrome has reissued this movie and they didn’t pick up one of Troma’s pieces of trash, either.

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DVD Review: Don’t Ask Me Questions: The Unsung Life of Graham Parker and The Rumour

By Jeffery X Martin

Read Cait Brennan’s interview with Graham Parker.

At the end of the Seventies, a British gas station attendant, who was also a musician, got his record played on the radio. The next day, he had a contract offer from a major record label. Overnight success? A Cinderella story? Not quite.

The Kickstarter-backed documentary Don’t Ask Me Questions chronicles the rise, fall, and rise of Graham Parker and the Rumour, a band whose contemporaries included Elvis Costello and Squeeze. Their big US hit was “Local Girls,” one of the earliest videos to be played on MTV.

When their first album, Howling Wind, came out in 1976, the critical acclaim was instant and practically universal. They were widely regarded as the best live act in Britain. That doesn’t necessarily lead to stellar album sales, though, and as Parker says, “Everything was just a bit off.”

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DVD Review: Camp Dread

By Brad Henderson

Oh look! Danielle Harris is in a new movie! . . . not. I’m getting pissed that filmmakers cast people like Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Tiffany Shepis, and many others to act for five minutes and then kill them off or turn them into needless characters just so they can put their name on the front cover.

Camp Dread is a new movie that does not star Danielle Harris. It does star Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) but they, of course, don’t put that on the cover. Felissa Rose is iconic and deserves a shout out on the cover of the film she is in. This isn’t the first time (and it won’t be the last) that a production company and distributor have done this. It’s a cheap selling point and it’s disgusting and insulting to everyone. I understand that the director can’t afford these actors and actresses during the whole production but it is still a cheap move and tiresome to see over and over.

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Blu-Ray Review: Dead Shadows

By Brad Henderson

I, along with many others, have been pleased with Scream Factory’s colossal catalogue for the past year and a half, as well as some of the astonishing releases they have planned for the near future. Along with their old-school horror/sci fi lineup, they are also acquiring new films and setting them up with the Scream Factory treatment.

Dead Shadows is one of the films that they have recently added to their roster of releases, after picking them up post-festival screenings. They first brought us Dead Souls, Cockneys Vs. Zombies, Chilling Visions (short film collection), and Beneath. Now they have released their first foreign language film, Dead Shadows.

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DVD Review: Outpost: Rise Of The Spetsnaz