Tag Archives: thriller

The Mountains Are Alive With the Sound of EVIL! “Cold Prey” trilogy reviewed! (Second Sight Films / 3-Disc Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Cold Prey” limited edition trilogy set! Get it while it lasts!

Five snowboarding friends travel to a remote mountain to shred the best scenic power Norway has to offer.  When one of them hurts their leg, the group hunkers down in an abandoned hotel for the night, a hotel with a horrible history of a child and his parents who went mysteriously missing decades earlier.  As the night carries on, a mountain man living underneath the main floor hunts them down.  A lone survivor of the night is taken to a closing down hospital with a skeleton crew.  The mountain man had followed her, prolonging her ordeal of terror, and continues his murderous killing spree through a new batch of medical staff and police officers.  Decades earlier, the mountain man’s abused backstory sets a coming-of-age path of homicidal tendencies as he lives in the woods 12 years later after departing his parents and the hotel.  A group of hikers wander into his woods where he can’t differentiate man from animal game and begins his thirst for the kill that would claim the lives of many years to come.

What I’ve just given is the three basic plotlines for all three of the Cold Prey films, a trio of Norwegian-made slashers with a murderous mountain man at the center of it all.  Including a sequel and a prequal, the films were all produced in a relatively short amount of time of four years between 2006 and 2010.  For the original film, Thomas Moldestad (“The Conference”) wrote the script based off a story he wrote alongside Martin Sundland (“The Wave”) and Roar Uthaug, the latter directed the film and would later go on to direct the 2018 reboot of “Tomb Raider” with Alicia Vikander in the Lara Croft role.  The sequel, “Cold Prey 2,” directly follows the first film but helmed by a different director in Mats Stenberg with Moldestad returning to pen the project.  The prequel innately disconnects the continuous nature of Cold Prey I and II for more history on the homicidal mountaineer with Sundland taking a backseat story idea role to Peder Fuglerud and Lars Gudmestad with Mikkel Braenne Sandernose bringing up the rear in the director’s chair.  The real-world location used in all three shoots was the Jotunheimen mountains and the studios connected to each project are Helgeland Film, SF Norge A/S, Norsk Filmstudio, Film i Väst, Storyline Studios and with the Norsk Filmstudio subsidiary, Fantefilm, involved in all three as the movie’s presenting studio. 

Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (“Chernobyl Diaries”), Thomas Alf Larsen (“Troll Hunter”), Viktoria Winge (“Inside the Whore”), Rolf Kristian Larsen, and Endre Martin Midtstigen play the five friends venturing to the mountains to shred some nice powder but wind up finding themselves stranded with a madman in their company.  That madman is played by Rune Melby, not to be confused with Sweden’s national hockey team player of the same name, to impose his large stature and husky look to be a formidable, silent antagonist that doesn’t need vocals to be threatening.  Surface level inspect of “Cold Prey” has it pegged as another typical slasher but this slasher rolls back the tropes, desaturating the themes and motifs to a reasonable amount and in a more realistic approach rather than having established personas, such as the nerd, jock, slut, etc., having gratuitous sex scene moments, and reduce the bonehead moves that ultimately result in their demise.  The sequel houses a new cast apart from Ingrid Bolsø Berdal making her return as a survivor recovering in a soon-to-be-closed hospital following the events of the first film.  She’s joined by Martha Snorresdotter Rovik, Fridtjov Såheim, and Johanna Mørck as the skeleton crew hospital staff, Kim Arne Hagen as Camilla’s boyfriend and utility emergency service person, Mats Eldøen, Per Schaanning, Andreas Cappelen, and Mads Sjøgård Pettersen as the limited bandwidth local law enforcement, Vetle Qvenild Werring as a boy patient, and Robert Follin replaces Rune Melby as the killer.  A larger cast equates to a larger body in this direct story follow-up and really capitalizes on the killer’s brute force and unstoppable grit that sets up a delusion of him against the world as a misanthropic maniac with some underlying superhuman force, like we see with Michael Myers. Berdal takes on the true survivor and heroine role helping those unaccustomed to the fight and even takes the fight to her tormentor, solidifying more of the final girl trope.  The rest are stuck in the middle as potential kill fodder and support to provide emotional capital as lives hang in the balance in their various relationships, which reminds me one relationship that’s hint at but never explored is the seemingly undercover or seedlings of affection between two medical staff that is quickly squashed by the rise of a killer in their midst.  The scene interaction would have stirred up controversy wither another involved character but never had a change to be problematic.  The prequel doesn’t involve any returning characters and really invests into the mountain man’s background more.  Played by a different actor in Endre Hellestveit and having an appearance more akin to the WWF Undertaker instead of a pelt and parka-cladded mountain man, each filmic version has varying style that almost feels heavily contrasted to the previous one and that can be jarring to that connective tissue for some.  A new band of friends become the hunted prey as they stumble into the mountain man’s forest home under the rough tutelage of illegal game hunter Jon (Nils Johnson) whose brother, police officer Einar (Terje Ranes), pieces the puzzle together the disappearance of the backpackers and Jon’s involvement in something more than poaching.  The backpackers play more into conventions without many complexities in their depth chart with Ida Maria Bakkerud, Julie Rusti, Kim Falck, Pål Stokka, Arthur Berning, and Sturla Rui are put into the mountain man’s crosshairs.  

As you’ve might have noticed, the prequel doesn’t receive high marks but it’s an entertaining bloodbath nonetheless, overshadow by the predeceasing counterparts because of the developing characters and the more interesting story that plays to a similar tune of the first two “Halloweens” and even more so with the continuation storyline between the first and second film with the latter set inside a sparsely populated hospital that definitely gives off “Halloween II” vibes.  That’s not to say the “Cold Prey” films are a carbon copy of notable classics and their sequels as “Cold Prey” brings a Norwegian staple into play with the summitting Jotunheimen mountains and their existence within that snowy terrain and mountain air, building a story around a mountain code that’s often spoken of, a code about safety that goes in deadly contrast toward the inexperience and nativity of youth believing they’re invincible to their surroundings when in reality mother nature, a natural evil within the mountain man living off the land, leaves more than a dent into their humility.  “Cold Prey” will often feel unoriginal with a severe lack of gore as that has almost become intrinsic to contemporary slashers but it’s refreshing to see a step back in the violence, though it’s nonetheless harsher.  Audiences will not be treated to impact violence that creates squeamish reactions and ghastly shock.  Instead, implied violence is the name of the game that results in the same blood-spattered crime scene look without the initializing, violent show of the blade sliding into the sternum.  These stylistic choices, executed perfectly by DoPs Daniel Voldheim (“Cold Prey”) and Anders Flatland (“Cold Prey 2”) in their camera work and expertly cut by Jon Endre  Mørk, are sold convincingly to ensure death is impenetrable when the pickaxe strikes while still flaunting a good amount of practical effects in makeup wounds, prosthetic props, and gallons of fake blood.  “Cold Prey III” dabbles in the same inferences and off-screne violence but shows a lot more too as we see a machine pierce and then slice away the insides of man and that knife going right int between the rib cage of a poor young woman, keeping up with the times of a modern slasher.  

The three film, Blu-ray set comes from Second Sight Films.  The UK label rolls out the red carpet with their high-definition release that’s an AVC encoded BD50, presenting each film with 1080p resolution and in a compressed widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 to capture the majestic Jotunheimen mountains.  Despite having three different directors of photography in Daniel Voldheim, Anders Flatland, and Ari Willey, each “Cold Prey” entry has the same gray sepia grading with a solid reducing of color saturation in attempt to harness cold and bleak surroundings of a harsher landscape.  IN the same breath, each DoP also tries to make the mountains and forest feel awesome and breathtaking while coursing its perilously imposing strength in size and, ironically enough, confining isolation.  You may find the Blu-ray details and textures on “Cold Prey” and “Cold Prey 2” not to be a sharp as expected for an early mid-2000s slasher as both were shot on 35mm for a better film cell texture rather than a captured texture to accentuate the landscape in a cinematic view rather than the digital polish that often downgrades pictures with a one-note aesthetic.  Since the snowcapped mountains were not used in the prequel, replaced with a forest setting, digital film was used to flesh out more raw textural details amongst the dense foliage and in the midst of a dilapidated mountain property.  No compressions issues in the codec to note.  Each film is fitted with a Norwegian language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound, suited to bring the soundtrack and the directional tension to the frontlines of the sound design to setup an impacting impression when the action saunters into frame.  Diffused nicely throughout, depth and direction of sound creates not only the atmospheric of a malevolent presence, it also creates environmental anxiety when sounds go bump in the night or just in the abandoned motel or echoing forest setting.  Dialogue is crystal clear and the English subtitles pace well with the speed and have no noticeable grammatical errors.  Each disc comes with its own special features:  “Cold Prey,” Disc one, has a new audio commentary with Director Roar Uthaug and actress Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, a new interview with Uthaug This is the Vibe, a new interview with Ingrid Bolsø Berdal Draw the Process, an alternate ending shown in storyboard that extends the final cut ending, a behind-the-scenes look at the visual FX of the film, additional car scenes, blooper reel, two short films: “Mountain Rose Run Amok” and “An Evening in the Green,” and Bloodlights’ music video for their hit “One Eye Open.”  “Cold Prey 2,” Disc Two, has a new audio commentary with director Mats Stenberg, a new interview with Stenberg A Blessing and a Curse, new interview with actress Berdal Dissociation, a new interview with fomer director turned solely producer Roar Uthaug Stepping Aside, behind-the-scenes, blooper reel, and extended and deleted scenes.  “Cold Prey 3,” Disc 3,” has a new commentary by Christer Andresen and Phillip Escott of an outsiders’ perspective looking in on the film prequel and a behind-the-scenes featurette.  The limited-edition rigid slipbox is massive and perhaps one the biggest physical copies for a 3-disc production.  James Neal provides new artwork for the front cover that truly represents the story as well as the aesthetic to expect.  The trifold jewel snapcase holds all three discs and have dramatic character portrays from all three films.  Also inside are 5 collector art cards and a 120-page book with new essays from Matt Donato, J.A. Kerswell, Just LaLiberty, Paul Le, Ariel Powers-Schaub, and Nathaniel Thompson, plus the book comes with new artwork, stylized stills, cast and crew acknowledgements, and Blu-ray production acknowledgments and thanks.  The Blu-ray holds a UK certified 15 rating for strong horror, bloody violence, language, sexual threat, injury and abusive behavior.  This particular release is region locked on B and has a total runtime of 278 minutes.

Last Rites: The “Cold Prey” trilogy doesn’t flash new spins on the slasher genre that’s as old as horror itself. Instead, “Cold Prey” a satisfactory slasher that scratches the killer maniac itch with its mountainman maniac!

“Cold Prey” limited edition trilogy set! Get it while it lasts!

A Father and an Assassin Fight Against EVIL Corruption! “On the Run” reviewed! (88 Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“On the Run” Now Available from 88 Films!

CID special operations police officer Hsiang Ming is going through a separation with his wife, who also works for the CID in the narcotics division.  As the two attempt to work out an amiable agreement with their young daughter before she moves to the U.S., his wife is brutally slain by a female assassin, a hired gun employed by corrupt cops involved in a large drug smuggling operation.  One of those cops is her new boyfriend, a high ranking CID officer.  Accused of murder, Ming is on the run with his youngest daughter and even tracks down his wife’s murderer, Miss Pai.  Extenuating circumstances leaves Ming at the mercy of Pai who didn’t know her target was a cop and has immense sympathy for Ming and his daughter, a problem she’s directly responsible for.  Outnumbered, outgunned, and friends quickly diminishing. Ming has no other option but to accept the deadeye Pai’s help and the two quickly form a bond that goes beyond just surviving insidious corruption.

In 1988, Bo Ho Film Company and Golden Harvest Productions released the Alfred Cheung-directed, Hong Kong heroic bloodshed flick “On The Run,” penned by Cheung alongside cowriter Keith Wong (“Her Fatal Ways” trilogy). “Mong ming yuen yeung,” aka “Fleeing Couple,” is the literal title which also included another alternate title, “Hong Kong Connection – On The Run,” in more broad English titles.  The fast-paced, action-packed fight or flight thriller told a narrative of ingrained corruption within the ranks of the law, bonded unlikely heroes with conflicting professionals and a sore point connection, and really pushed the exodus, or export, of emigration at the time because of the seedlings of British rule coming to an end with a handover of Hong Kong back to the Republic of China, an act that eventually took a decade to complete.  Anhtony Chan, Leonard Ho, and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung produced the film with Paragon Films and Mobile Film Production as associated studios.

“Picture of a Hymph” and “The Peacock King” martial arts action star Biao Yuen is a sorely underrated action star from the 1980s, overshadowed greatly by the versatile Jackie Chan and the quickly rising through the heroic bloodshed ranks Chow Yun-Fat.  Though immensely popular in Hong Kong for his contribution to the acrobatic style of fighting and palpable stunt work, Yuen should be a household name in the States with select films that carried over.  The only problem was Yuen was never really a part of those niche works unlike the aforementioned stars and amongst others, but Yuen never stopped working, starring in a co-principal production as Hsiang Ming, a CID officer whose special operations department is being phased out, mirror his own life as he is being phased out amicably by his emigrating wife (Idy Chan, “The Siamese Twins”) and child (Chan Cheuk-yan, “Bless This House”).  As Ming, going through a separation is already difficult enough and Yuen’s able to show the meek and reserved desperation that initially stunts him as a husband but breaks through that limitation when she’s shot in the head and he must step up to be the protective father for his young daughter.  The father -daughter aspect is a narrative opposite that strays from the typical damsel in distress device.  Instead, Patrica Ha (“Flaming Brothers”) embodies the strong protector as the assassin Miss Pa.  Quiet natured and a crack shot, we’re introduced to Ha’s unique solitude of naked contemplation and, later, her retro appearance of a woman plucked from the 1960s with the flick up hairstyle.  Ha’s portray adds a lot to Pai’s mysterious past and her cold nature but her character’s arc travels across a sympathetic bridge when Miss Pai’s target ends up being an law officer with a cute family being hunted by money greedy and morally corrupted officials in Lu played by Charlin Chin (“The Imp”) and his entourage of varied goonies (Lo Lieh, “The Untold Story III”) – Wah Yuen, “Mr. Vampire” and Phillip Ko, “Cannibal Curse”) who are so individualized they are worth more than just the general and broad charactered henchmen that tend to be forgettable.  Bowie Lam, Kam Kong Chow, Peter Pau, Lap Sal Lam, Yung Kwan, Cheuk Yan Chan, Shek-Yin Yau, Kwai-Bo Chun and Heung-Kam Lee costar. 

Cheung’s “On the Run” is not only fast-paced, hard-boiled, and well-executed, the story is also dark and unforgiving.  No one is safe from the ingrained corruption even when lives are already upended through a natural course of hardships between sentient people making conscious choices that best suites them, such as Ming and his wife’s separation involving a small child.  Good guys are bad, bad guys are good, “On the Run” doesn’t define and cement the roles of the players as cops turn out to be corrupted drug smugglers and ruthless killers and an assassin for hire becomes a life savior for a father and his daughter with immense sympathy.  Each one of them are looking to escape one way or another:  Ming’s wife wants to move to America, Miss Pai wants to go back to Thailand, Lu’s looking to get away with murder and money, and Ming is open to explore the possibility of either moving to American before all the chaos ensued or flee to Thailand with his wife’s assassin in attempt to not only be out of the reach of Lu and his men as a witness to their treachery and victimizing transgressions but also to escape from his accusations of murder as well as be with his new found affection for his wife’s killer.  This speaks to the current Hong Kong climate of the looming power change and the state of affairs that drive denizens to abscond an unwanted change in rule with Lu and his men likely representing Chinese corruption of a communism power.  The film’s neo-noir veneer capitalizes suspense and danger around every corner and the level of trust certainly wavers in a directional wind that gives a scent of deceit.  “On the Run” is not gun-fu nor is it straight up martial arts; instead, the conflict basis is strictly melee and projectile based without the heavily influenced martial arts action of Hong Kong historical cinema, grounding “On the Run” with more realism in it’s darkest, grittiest narrative that makes the Andrew Cheung thriller more intense.   

88 Films releases “On the Run” onto a new Blu-ray home video that’s AVC encoded with Full HD 1080p high-definition resolution on a BD50 capacity disc.  The new 2K transfer from the original film elements has no qualms about it with a clean picture quality underneath it’s naturally healthy grain and diffused color palate that’s designs around shadows, neon lighting, and low-key lighting.  The negative spaces are often pleasantly inky without any decoding blotches or issues to divide into a couple of shades of black.  Skin and fabric textures are nicely highlighted with full perspective of the grime that builds up on the characters put through the violent wringer.  Patrica Ha is stunning with her character’s introductory getup much to the thanks of the transfer’s refined detail from her retro hairdo to the equally attributed outfit ensemble that’s plain, but she wears plain in a cool, sexy fashion.  The film is presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The uncompressed Cantonese LPCM mono track funnels right, left, and center audio through a singular speaker so there’s an unfortunate lack of spatial direction, but this cleanly presented ADR track still offers strong, robust audio in its action and in its unobstructed dialogue albeit some low buzzing interference from the studio recording.  This strength of quality also extends to the action that has powerful measure despite being held in a crowded, single audio design.  The new remastered, optional English subtitles are of the UK lexicon with 88 Films being a UK label.  Special features include an audio commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Phil Gillion from their Podcast on Fire Network, a second audio commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, an interview with director Alfred Cheung Running Away, an interview with David West Predicting the Future, an alternate ending that cuts shaves off scenes on the tail end, and the Hong Kong trailer of the feature.  Graphic artist Sean Langmore continues to supply 88 Films with tremendously detailed slipcover and primary sleeve art compositions of characters and memorable moments meshed into a single image.  The reversible sleeve inside the green Blu-ray Amaray case houses the original Hong Kong poster art, which is more simplistic and not as busy as Langmore’s.  The region A/B encoded Blu-ray is not rated and has a runtime of 89 minutes.

Last Rites: Hong Kong heroic bloodshed and noir is defined by many filmic entries but “On the Run” has paradoxical attractiveness about it that separates it from the rest as it treads a gloomy disposition and an expat dream.

“On the Run” Now Available from 88 Films!

Earth’s Greatest Threat of Destruction is an EVIL Extraterrestrial Slug! “Slither” reviewed! (Visions Home Video / 2-Disc Steelbook 4K UHD and Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Slither” Steelbook Can Be Yours! Buy it Here Today!

Wheelsy, South Carolina is a small town where the biggest event of the year is the countdown to deer hunting season.  On the eve to the start of the great hunt, an aggressive, parasitic alien entrenches itself inside a human host.  It impregnates a young woman to gestate thousands of its spawn, slug-like creatures that form telepathic link to the host and undertake its bidding.  Newly appointed Sheriff Bill Pardy, alongside his deputies, the eccentric town mayor, and longtime high school crush, Starla Grant, who’s husband was first infected by the invading extraterrestrial creature, must fight through the zombified hordes of alien controlled friends and neighbors townsfolk to stop the source from spreading and taking over the world but with their force numbers dwindling and the alien growing bigger and uglier by the second, Pardy must himself avoid being a host to the meat-hungry creature that has come to plague his small town community.

James Gunn, who has taken the MCU and DCU by storm with his creative involvement directing all of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, and upending the David Ayer and Zack Synder-universes with his divergent take on “Suicide Squad, and “Superman,” while also producing the just released “Supergirl,” use to bask in horror with “Slither,” a creature feature that captured the appreciation of 80’s monster movies and body horror with a zombie chaser and plenty of practical, tangible effects.  Gunn wrote and directed the now 20-year-old, 2006 movie filmed in a collective of portions of British Columbia, Canada doubling as a backwater town in South Carolina.  Brightlight pictures and Strike Entertainment produce the Gold Circle films presented movie with Paul Brooks (“White Noise,” “The Fourth Kind”), Eric Newman (“Dawn of the Dead” ’04, “The Thing” ’11), and Jeff Levine (“Shadow of the Vampire,” “ATM”) serving as producers. 

An established cast of talent comprises “Slither’s” eclectic character pool of townies being invaded by an outer space slug with a bad attitude.  “Firefly’s” Nathan Fillion is in the newly appointed Sheriff Bill Pardy and Fillion adds his usual spaceship captain comedic charm and swagger in the more grounded role as he stumbles into a world of slithering extraterrestrials that infest, digest, and gestate inside organic organisms.    Fillion’s hung up projection is for Elizabeth Banks’s Starla Grant, perhaps the most beautiful, and nicest, woman in all of Wheelsy, South Carolina,  The “Uninvited” actress adds pleasantries that are a compliment to Starla Grant but also a detriment as she’s unable to express how she really feels about her much older, well-off husband Grant Grant, played by “Henry:  Portrait of a Serial Killer” Michael Rooker.  Effectively, a love triangle ensues between the three with themes of true happiness, dissolution of a marriage, saving a marriage, love, and heartache coming into play amongst a body transformative horror that exceeds our solar system.  Rooker’s the rich Wheelsy resident who’s very protective of his trophy wife and is starting to feel the pangs of his wife pulling away from his advances but still loves her.  The fourth principal character in this quartet “The Darkling’” Tania Saulnier in what is essentially her debut protagonist role as a teen touched by the shared collective of the slugs and with her insight, provides pivotal information for the survivals to work against.  Each play their respective roles to perfection inside the chaos and mayhem of a more dominant species quickly spreading, even Gregg Henry (“Bodily Harm”) and his jaggedly crude role of town mayor fields a certain level of entertaining value to the frantic fray to keep “Slither” a light-hearted Hard-R creature feature.  The remaining cast includes Brenda Gutierrez (“Stone Cold”), Haig Sutherland (“Halloween:  Resurrection”), Jenna Fisher (“The Office”), and Don Thompson (“Horns”).

“Slither” is one of those seminal movies of the creature feature that could, or more accurately did, being a small fry horror movie that made a positive profit financially and amongst the audiences.  Of course, James Gunn found influence in his favorite horror works and borrowed, to an extent, key elements to spin his own craft that works to stand on its own two feet told mostly by its fine performances of the cast.  The down-to-Earth sci-fi action and gore is palpable and designed well in its composition of practical and computer-generated effects, especially for a mid-2000’s horror.  Gunn’s knack for black comedy works to the advantage of his brand of small-town satire and eccentric characters who can range from being charismatic and likeable to crude and inimitable.  Seeing the influences from John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” and Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. and Russell S. Doughten Jr.’s “The Blob,” or maybe more so closer to  Chuck Russell’s 1988 remake of “The Blob,” won’t create a rift between the film and audiences as there’s too much to like and laugh about “Slither’s” slimy infiltration and invasion concept without it feeling hackneyed and reaching to strive to be something it’s not in its hark of a classic creature feature and science fiction monster movie.

The first time transferred in 4K, Visions Home Video, a subsidiary label of Vertigo Entertainment, releases “Slither” onto a new 2-disc, steelbook 4K UHD and Blu-ray set.  Disc specs include a 4K UHD HVEC encoded with 2160p resolution on a BD100 and a Hi-Def Blu-ray that’s AVC encoded with 1080p resolution on a BD50, and both films are presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  Image quality has been greatly found immersion with an image that pops off of the screen in the 4K option with the additional pixel count.  The Blu-ray holds its own and is also a fine presentation but in UHD, we’re treated to a little extra texture and a little extra clarity from the DolbyVision that can’t be achieved on the standard Blu-ray, especially around night sequences which most of the chaos and action takes place.  This is not to say the Blu-ray is unclear or obstructed as too has plenty of clarity and detail but what it doesn’t have is that deep sensory engagement of picture.  Coloring and grading are equal on both presentations that involve a more organic approach during the date and a bluish grading during night sequences to work in against the lighting.  No issues with the original 35mm elements as it’s kept clean and persevered well last 20 years, contributing to the natural resolution enhancement of the 4K transfer while also maintaining a healty but subtle grain.  The lossless English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio has no suppressive issues with fidelity and is just as immersive as the picture quality with distinctive directionals of the back and side channels and a balanced output of stereo, LFE, and central action.  Dialogue has no issues with clarity and is prominent above the audio layering.  The effects, such as slithering slugs sounds and gunfire, offer a good amount of bang for the cinematic budget and the overall main creature sound production eclectically engineered to be funny, in its whipping tentacles with that distinctive whip crack, as it’s scary and gross with its guttural growls and slimy trails.  English SDH subtitles are available for selection.  There’s also an uncompressed Stereo 2.0 audio format available.  Special features include an audio commentary with writer/director James Gunn and actors Nathan Fillion and Michael Rooker, featurettes The Sick Minds and Slimy Days of Slither and Bringing Slither’s Creatures to Life, Gunn discussions The Genesis of Slither in an interview with the writer/director, an interview with director of photography Gregory Middleton We’ve Got Worms, an interview with editor John Axelrad Feed the Fear, an interview with special make-up effects designer Todd Masters Just a Bee Sting, an interview with composer Tyler Bates What’s Gotten Into You, a location and set tour with actor Nathan Fillion, deleted and extended scenes, a blooper reel, and trailers for film.  The Visions Home Video set case comes in a steelbook with metallic luster and an exclusive, and uncredited from what I can tell, illustrated artwork of survivors in the throes of tentacle mayhem.  The backside also includes additional artwork that has the semblance of a veiny, Resident Evil-like giant eyeball.  Both sides are primarily colored in reddish orange with blue slithering in on the front cover.  Inserted inside is a dual-sided mini folded poster with the same front cover artwork plus alternative compositional artwork on the opposite side on its rigid heavyweight construction paperwork.  The 4K UHD is region free while the Blu-ray is region locked B as it’s a UK release.  The 95-minute film is certified 15 for strong gory violence and language.

Last Rites: An early 2000s oldie but a goodie, “Slither” gives a glimpse of James Gunn’s caliber of losers become winners and to not hold back much of the violence, gore, and rough dispositions of uncouth, unsavory, and unsophisticated characters. This new 4K UHD and Blu-ray release from Visions Home Video re-invades “Slither” into our lives, taking over our brains, and becoming part of our physical media collective.

“Slither” Steelbook Can Be Yours! Buy it Here Today!

EVIL Rides Murderously on the “Highway to Hell” reviewed! (Visual Vengeance / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Highway to Hell” on Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance!

Prison escaped, serial killer Toby Gilmore treks across the Midwestern terrain killing innocent people to take what he needs to retain his freedom.  City photographer Fran Tucker travels to the countryside to visit her family.  When the two collide, Fran is taken hostage after Gilmore shoots a man down on a road rage whim and he keeps her alive because of his loneliness inside a jail cell for years.  As the bodies pile up on Gilmore’s path toward freedom, the keen photographer will use ever clever trick in her repertoire to get away from a maniacal, yet steely, murderer with no sympathy, no remorse.  Sheriff Earl Dent stopped Gilmore once before and regrets not finishing the killer off when he had the chance.  Now, Dent won’t make the same mistake twice as he’s hellbent on stopping Gilmore once and for all before anyone else falls victim to Gilmore deranged acts of violence. 

“The Abomination” and “Ozone:  The Attack of the Redneck Mutants” filmmaker Bret McCormick strays outside the supernatural confines of horror and into a different kind of terror with an escaped prison and serial killer on the loose, titled “Highway to Hell.”  McCormick helms the 1990 release thriller under the pseudonym of B.A. Jenkins with writer Gary Kennamer penning his debut screenplay.  The story was set on the same near by set locations as “The Abomination” and “Ozone:  The Attack of the Redneck Mutants,” such as in the Poolville, Texas area as well as Dallas, Texas.  If you’ve seen all three of McCormick’s films, you may recognize some of the locations in the same shot angle.  McCormick also produces the film but also in a pseudonym of Max Raven, a regular alias used the aforenoted productions.  Mars Film serves as the production studio for the low budget, regional thriller.

Aside from a large supporting cast of Gilmore whim fodder, a murder spree that’s shows no discrimination, “Highway to Hell’s” cast is chiefly three principal characters, all beginning with Toby Gilmore’s escape from prison involving using stolen jail keys, killing a guard, pilfering the guard’s gun, and absconding on foot through the western landscape.  “Reanimator Academy’s” Benton Jennings, who has since “Highway to Hell” has found success as working up through the minor roles of eclectic of projects, had free reign to mold serial killer Toby Gilmore and the result is a generously entertaining dose of controlled chaos as Gilmore quirks and tics as he runs across the parched Texas land provide insight to his mental mindset but Gilmore is no dummy when he’s calculating next steps with hostages that ultimately benefit his survival.  His guard corpse looted snub-nosed pistol becomes an extension of his madness as he uses it to takeout anyone who puts a pinky toe in his path.  Up against him, his main arch nemesis, is Sheriff Earl Dent, played by an American action star mostly notable for his roles in Italian cinema, such as “Ninja Commando” and “Orgasmo Nero” to name a couple plus with a major role in U.S. “Evil Spawn” with John Carradine.  Harris and Jennings share very little scenes together and the ones they do share are in flashback of Gilmore’s apprehension, one that the Sheriff regrets not putting a bullet in between the killer’s eyes instead.  The other Gilmore antagonist Fran Tucker, an unfortunate photographer on her way to see her family caught in the middle of Gilmore’s escape.  Blue Thompson (“The Abomination,” “Ozone:  The Attack of the Redneck Mutants”) provides Fran’s beauty that strikes Gilmore’s perverse chord after his long jail time stint, providing him the only reason to keep her alive, but Fran isn’t one to backdown and give up her life so easily as she is involuntary thrusted into a misadventure of carnage and death  with no one coming to save her. 

Anchor by Benton Jennings horridness and traversal storyline, “Highway to Hell” doesn’t become stagnant because of its independent and minute budget.  The editing, performances, locations, effects, and overall story are more coherent than not without mostly any confounding measure. There are a couple of plot holes that could have been addressed to sate the quizzical audience, such as how did Toby Gilmore end up with jailhouse keys?  Or how he was able to explode motor vehicles with one shot of his puny revolver handgun?  Gilmore must have been one crack shot.  Yet, the sensationalized key points and action add mystery and cult film nodes to McCormick’s ambitious westernized highway thriller that pits good versus bad, morality versus justice, and insanity versus sanity.  Crackerjack editing from Gregg Phillips and stylistic measures by McCormick salvage any misgivings about the budget or special effects in what is a competent and coherent, yet strangely fascinating, terrain and terror tensioner that has little representational or metaphorical value but high on entertaining merit. 

Visual Vengeance highlights another Bret McCormick Texas hoedown of horror and exploitation with “Highway to Hell” on a new Blu-ray transfer.  The AVC encoded, 1080p resolution, BD50 uses the original SOV tape master and what it lacks in saturation, as tapes usually do, makes up for in quality with a near flawless image quality for a magnetic tape.  Details are not terrible defined, typical of a tape, but there is great delineation and discernibility with all objects in screen.  As mentioned, hues are muted because of analog limitations and the inability to touchup the tape itself.  If a digital transfer was made, doesn’t look like much was done to touch up the color, and perhaps has purposefully retained its analog aesthetic, presented in a full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio.  The LPCM stereo 2.0 English track offers a dual channel ranged output that has clean and clear dialogue with no issues of hissing, crackling, or any other vocal obstructions.  Overall truck lacks vigorous opportunity within the action context, such as gunshots and explosions, but, again, keeps with the original presented elements of a retro SOV exploitation.  Optional English subtitles are available.  Visual Vengeance delivers another jampacked Blu-ray full of special features that include an audio commentary by Bret McCormick, an interview with McCormick, interview with actor Richard Harrison Red Hot Asphalt, interview with Blue Thompson Road Trip, interview with screenwriter Gary Kennamer Writing a Road Map to Hell, interview with actor Tom Fegan, an image gallery, Gary Kennamer directed movie “Redneck County Fever” from 1992, Bret McCormick interview on Kennamer’s “Redneck County Fever” film, an interview with Kennamer on his movie, a commentary rack with McCormick and Kennamer on “Redneck County Fever,” Kennamer interview on his film, and other Visual Vengeance trailer previews.  Inside the Blu-ray, there’s a stick-your-own, retro VHS sticker sheet, a folded mini-poster with original art, and a reversible cover sheet with new art from Jolyon Yates as well as the original VHS artwork on the reverse side.  The Blu-ray comes in a clear Amaray case sheathed inside a limited-edition O-ring slipcover with more new illustrated artwork almost in a Ghana style fashion.  The 90-minute film is unrated and has region free playback. 

Last Rites: My personal favorite of the Bret McCormick catalogue, “Highway to Hell” is a SOV that’s simple yet effective with its western veneered thrills and a maniac making his will to ride-or-die freedom.

“Highway to Hell” on Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance!

EVIL’s Imprint Doesn’t Like Your Friends! “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” reviewed! (MVD Visual / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” Now Available on Blu-ray

Maddie’s reserved and loner behavior becomes frazzled when a promised small party in a wooded state park expands with invited surprised guests by best friend and roommate Kim.  What was supposed to be a gathering of letting lose with booze and drugs, tensions rise with Maddie at the center of it all.  A truth or dare game sends Maddie into the forest just after hearing a ghost story about a tragic young girl who haunts the woods, known as Caroline Woodsman, the girl who cried her eyes out.   When Maddie comes across an unsettling girl sitting alone on a bolder, she’s becomes marked by Caroline Woodsman’s spirit and all of her friends are in mortal danger.  After that night, they each are visited by the spirt and disappear, some found to have come to a tragic end, now Maddie and her friends that are left must find a way to stop the curse before Caroline takes them all. 

Inspired by J-horror’s folkloric Onryō subgenre, the vengeful spirit, “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” is an original American-made Onryō story with heavy influences from “Ringu” or “Ju-on”.  Fabrizio Fante and Debraoh Ricky were the top with the film is the feature length debut of co-writer and director Eugene John Bellida, known to dabble in the melancholic and horror affluent shorts with the tense-laden killer neighbor next door “Upstairs” in 2009 and the contemplative contra of an artist and a mental patient in “Empty Places” of 1999.  The move to a major, yet Independent, feature challenges Bellida to build and retain a taught and haunting tale, filmed in the wooded rural areas of Connecticut and released in 2024.  Like most notable vengeful spirit films, “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” has creepy children centerstage with a supernatural antagonist ready to curse the minding-their-business unfortunate who stumbles across them.  Deborah Rickey, Fabrizio Fante, and Aurora Athame produce the film for Bellida’s Mimage Pictures.

The characters are comprised of mostly black-garbed, rock-enthused, group of friends, if you can even call them friends because of the unsavory way they treat each other between the cheating on one’s significant other, the physical bullying, the mental bullying, the emotional bullying, the betrayal of trust, the leaving of friends behind, and other plenty more examples of anti-comradery that make this group highly unlikeable amongst an evil ghost child with no eyes.  Being a large cast of character is also detrimental to the narrative’s progression and success as there’s too many too many to pick off to pick off right in a slashersque horror.  A slew of off-screen kills takes over as the core mortality rate, leaving hardly any character confirmed dead or alive in what is mostly hearsay fate from another character.  The only time we know a character is in fact dead is when their ghost returns to play mind tricks on the living in a metaphorical medley of guilt.  Mari Blake’s feature film debut as the lead protagonist Maddie has her inexplicably marked by the urban legend ghost when she stumbles upon in the woods.  Blake’s angsty performance is akin to being an outcast, or the black sheep, amongst the character friends with a tie only to one friend, her roommate Kim (Suzanna Scorcia).  The sight challenged apparition Caroline Woodman whose powers are immense and reaching is played by “V/H/S/Halloween’s” Hallie Ruth Jacob and Woodman terrorize, in an arbitrary manner Maddie’s so-called friends that represent, in their own idiosyncratic way, the worst of friends with Cort (Jason Schlaman), Selene (Aleis Work), Jess (Kelsea Baker), Goose (Chandler Reed), Mikayla (Mikaela Seamans), Max (Mark Ashin), Nikki (Lisa Naso), Lindsay (Meena Knowles), Greg, Tyler (Meteu Bryan), and Landon (H.K. Moore).

Bellida constructs a script that has an elimination process that not only literally purges the social toxicity out of one’s life, Maddie’s life, but also puts Maddie into a downward spiral with the vengeful spirit representing Maddie’s breaking psyche as she’s the only one who can see the ghost and hear the fabricated noises eats at her patience.  Maddie also experiences the friend dysphoria  as a trickster device by the spirit.  “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” is a solid supernatural chiller but lacks tethering to keep the rising body count closer to the chest and the imprinting curse laid upon Maddie is a bit ham-fisted as the campfire ghost story is literally told by another friend and then sanctioned shortly after by a mere lone walk through the woods.  There’s no story device that stirs up the conflict, it just happens. There’s no unearthed video tape, no discovery of bones, an cursed object, or some ancient spell spoken and without this spurring device that makes the woods instilled with evil, then this would happen to anyone but the woods, which is mentioned to be a state park, don’t come with a warning as surely others would have been affected by the apparitional affliction.  The tale of Caroline Woodsman serves loosely as such catalytic crux.  Considering the special effects, the budget limits the visuals as makeup effects take the lead with Caroline’s pale aura and the illusion of bloody eye sockets.  Quick editing and opportunity sound bites, coupled with performances, provide the ghostly impulses over the group which also seems premeditated with taking the sullied friends out one-by-one in an isolated fashion, an interesting course for a child spirt to take in order to pluck souls just to invite Maddie back to where it all started, the woods, where her troubling, friend-induced psychosis began.

MVDVisual conjures “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” to Blu-ray home video. The AVC encoded, 1080p Hi-Def resolution, BD25 exhibits the film in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ration. The codec has fair reproduction value of the digitally shot film with a dark-natural saturation scheme that favors more natural lighting than key lighting, even the woods scenes utilize a more translucent tint that offers muted illumination rather than bright as day illumination. Details are a bit fuzzy and less defined but delineation objects and subobjects more than most indie valued releases. There are arranged characters in background and foreground that create measured depth but the lack of color reduces range to mostly blacks and grays of an achromatic color palette. The English surround sound has a compressed, moderate pop with a clear dialogue track that varies in strength, often times the speech stamina goes below other character dialogue despite being in the same scene and on the same depth level of which they’re talking, suggesting a singular or stationary mic placement. There is also a second English audio option of a 2.0 Stereo and, personally, this was option had a better fidelity that didn’t suppress the strength without compromising depth and range. Special features include an audio commentary with director Eugene John Bellida and producer Deobrah Rickey, “Sick Sick Sick” short film by Fabrizio Fante, behind-the-scenes video clips, and a photo gallery. The physical release is pretty bare with a standard Amaray Blu-ray case with a blow up image of Mari Blake’s bloodied and tear-stricken face. The unrated Blu-ray has a runtime of 94 minutes and is region free.

Last Rites: A busy American Onryō clutters, “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” is stifled on its fair stab on the subgenre but the themes of rocky friendships and the true nature of people become diluted by the sudden deluge of little ghost girl wrath and her pick of the litter within a large group of toxic friends.

“The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” Now Available on Blu-ray