// Category Archive for: Reviews

Blu-Ray Review: Argento’s Dracula 3D

By Brad Henderson

Let me start off by saying that I’m a huge fan of Dario Argento. Huge. He’s been a big influence in my life and is one of my favorite directors of all time. I’m sad to say this is the first Argento flick that I’ve disliked. (Yes, I like Giallo, so don’t bother asking.) Still, I didn’t go into this film with high hopes but it has Rutger Hauer and Asia Argento so I was thinking what could go wrong with something like that?

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DVD Review: Dark Touch

By Brad Henderson

It’s hard to keep up with horror films because there are so many. Between all of the indie and mainstream horror movies released, it is next to impossible to determine what to watch and stay away from. That is why there are people like us to help you decide what you need to watch right away or take your good ol’ time to get around to seeing.

Dark Touch is a film that I recommend that I actually didn’t care all that much about. Weird, right? I know. I’m one of those people that will recommend a film even though I disliked it because I can see many people digging this film and enjoying it quite a bit. The plot is very intriguing and it immediately got me interested: A little girl is the survivor of a massacre that took place at her home. The cops suspect vandals broke into the home and killed her parents but the little girl knows the truth of what happened on that horrific night.

My main problem with the story is that we know the truth of what happened right away. This kind of ruined the film for me because I would have rather been on the other side of the table with this one. The film is beautifully shot and well done, but that wasn’t enough to save Dark Touch for me personally. Even though it wasn’t for me I think this film will find its audience quickly . . . or not.

Dark Touch was released on DVD by IFC Midnight on January 28.

DVD Review: Stonados

By Brad Henderson

I often wonder how people come up with an idea for a disaster film. Not only do we have volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and everything else but also we now have other things combined with these normal disaster films. Just about every week it seems that there is either a weird shark film or a disaster film on television and it gets old. I know there’s a small market out there but where do they actually find the producers of these films? If someone handed me a script called Stonados I would laugh. I even laughed when I got an email about the release of the film, but since I’m a film geek I gave it a chance. I give anything a chance.

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DVD Review: Devil’s Pass

By Brad Henderson

Renny Harlin has brought us many great films throughout his career, making a name for himself through action films. So what happens when Harlin wants to do a found footage horror film? I’m down. Recently Harlin brought us Devil’s Pass, a.k.a. The Dyatlov Pass Incident, which was inspired by true events.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Blu-Ray Review: Blind Date

By Brad Henderson

There are many ’80s comedies that were popular in their time but are slowly fading away. Blind Date isn’t the funniest flick from the decade, but we get to see Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger in a slapstick comedy love story directed by Blake Edwards . . . yes, The Pink Panther guy.

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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.

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DVD Review: Vikingdom

By Brad Henderson

The success of films like 300 started a trend that has not stopped since then. I’m not saying 300 was the first to do the historical warrior thing, but it seemed it be the film that kickstarted it all. Recently a film called Vikingdom was released. Just the title alone made wonder what I was getting myself into, but I went ahead and gave it a watch anyway.

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