FEMALE
COMBATANTS BATTLE SCHOOL |
THE
FINAL |
FROZEN 2010 - R - 93 Min. D: Adam Green S: Emma Bell - Shawn Ashmore - Kevin Zegers - Kane Hodder DVD Provided by Anchor Bay Anamorphic Widescreen/Dolby Digital 5.1 Extras: Deleted Scenes - Trailers - Commentary - Featurettes Three college-aged kids con their way onto the ski-lifts
by paying the attendant a hundred bucks. Bad karma is already in the works
in Adam Green's thriller FROZEN. Wanting to go up again, they beg their
way onto the lift one more time just as the mountain is shutting down
for the weekend a little early due to a bad storm coming in. After a minor
distraction, the attendant lets his co-worker know there's three more
coming down the mountain and to shut the lift off when he sees them hit
the bottom of the slopes. Our three leads are half way up the mountain
when three other people just finish their trip down. Not knowing our leads
are up on the lift, power and lights shut down and won't be back up again
until next Friday, five days later. Now for the positive part of the review.
This is damn intense edge of your seat, frozen terror. The possible bad
news is, if you don't invest in the three characters or don't like the
set up, it will be a long 93 minutes for the viewer. I myself found all
three characters multi-dimensional and likeable. Green and the actors
manage to make a horror movie where there is no villain or monster. It's
the upcoming dread of freezing to death and having absolutely no control
with your situation. Mother nature takes a serious bite out of these people's
lives. Sounds boring, but it isn't one bit. You've got the jump and broken
bones, you've got sliced fingers, slipping and climbing, heights and some
of the most ferocious looking NON CGI wolves. And if that isn't enough,
you've got the psychological fear of death and how each character interacts
with their own relationships. A horror movie based in reality and not
in the supernatural or without a killer is a tough chore, but Green pulls
it off in spades. After this movie, you couldn't catch me on a ski left
ever...and I mean ever! I'll be in the lodge, drinking martinis and watching
FROZEN on the big screen. Highly recommended. - Mark Engle |
FIREBALL |
FIGHTING
BACK 1982 – R – 98 minutes D: Lewis Teague S: Tom Skerritt – Patti Lupone – Michael Sarrazin – Yaphet Kotto Paramount Home Video VHS Tough as nails dramatic thriller features Skerritt as John D’Angelo, a man who is pushed to the breaking point after he and his loved ones are victimized, almost constantly, by the rampant criminal element in the neighborhood. This family suffers tremendous personal loss and John’s wife even begins to resent him for keeping them trapped there. He then organizes the People’s Neighborhood Patrol to take back the streets. The war is on. Every hero has a nemesis and D’Angelo’s is a vicious pimp that goes by the name Eldorado. Many controversial topics are addressed throughout the running time; race, economics, the legal system, drugs, moral questions about violence and more. Crime is presented as an ugly, brutal, unpleasant truth of existence and the real footage that opens the film drives the theme home with alarming clarity. You might not always agree with the choices this community hero makes, but you’ll likely not forget them either. Powerful film from the director of Alligator, Cujo, and numerous others succeeds at emotionally impacting the viewer and fits well into its genre alongside the likes of Walking Tall, Exterminator, Vigilante, Rolling Thunder, Death Wish, et al. Many memorable scenes make Fighting Back perhaps not the best of its kind, but certainly worthwhile nonetheless. Dog lovers should definitely beware. – Michael Mackie |
FOREST OF THE DEAD 2006 – N/R – 79 Minutes D: Brian Singleton S: Mark Singleton – Chris Anderson – Erin Brophy – Brandi Boulet DVD Provided by Elite Entertainment Fullscreen/Stereo Extras: Commentary – 3 Featurettes – Outtakes – Short Film – Trailer One set of friends drive out in the country to camp at Alferd Packer Lake for the night and plan on hooking up with another set of friends the following day at Camp Crystal (get it?). One by one they are picked off in gruesome fashion. The next day their friends show up to find that the original campers have all become flesh-eating zombies. Obvious a throwback to many gut-munching orgies from the 80’s what hampers this production is some truly awful acting and dreadful dialogue. It also doesn’t help matters when the first death scene doesn’t take place until the almost half way mark, leaving one extremely bored with discussions about anal sex and French Canadian jokes. Once the gore splatters, it’s hit and miss with some very amateurish F/X to some that are just okay (these have got to be the largest small intestines I’ve seen since the finale from Re-Animator). What could have been a decent premise sporting the proper atmosphere is also marred down by horrible pacing causing more tedium. Go camping instead of watching this clunker and pray Elite finds another Re-Animator like classic to release rather than more of the same old SOV projects. – Mark Engle |
FULL
ECLIPSE 1993 – R – 97 Min. D: Anthony Hickox S: Mario Van Peebles, Bruce Payne, Patsy Kensit, Paula Marshall, Jennifer Rubin HBO Home Entertainment DVD Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Surround Extras: Cast and crew Bios. Detective Max Dire (Peebles) is going through a difficult time in his life. Working on the streets is getting to him, his marriage is falling apart, and his partner is in a coma after being shot. Dire soon sees his partner inexplicably rejuvenated and acting like ‘one of the bionic X-men’. Then, the seemingly invincible partner commits suicide before his eyes. That’s when Adam Garou (Payne) steps in. Garou (Get it?) invites Dire to an encounter group of sorts. This is where our hero learns of ‘The Pack’. A group of werewolves dispensing vigilante justice, a group that wants Max to join. He does so, very reluctantly, but Garou hides even more secrets and Max begins to wonder about the eventual price to be paid for the gift he has been given. Hickox directs with style and the events unfold with an atmosphere that can only be described as sensual. All the performers bring depth and believability to their roles. There really is no area in which Full Eclipse comes up short aside from the possible exception of an early scene in which a stunt double is clearly identifiable. Impressively moody film features a soundtrack reminiscent of John Carpenter and the F/X, courtesy of Alterian Studios, are first-rate. Even the inclusion of some fleeting CG during the climax is managed well. Entertaining and interesting, which is especially impressive when you consider the fact that you’re watching a made for cable horror film from the early 90’s. Well done. The DVD case carries an R rating though the disc itself offers what was previously referred to as the unrated version. – Michael Mackie |
FALL
DOWN DEAD Single mother Dominique Swain witnesses the Picasso Killer (Kier) taking his next victim while going home from her late shift at the diner. Chased through the streets, she is somewhat rescued by a bumbling/nervous security guard (Carradine) who lets her into his building. After calling the police, two local detectives on an unrelated stake out are called in to handle the situation. Soon they are all trapped in the building as Udo kills them one at a time. Sometimes with a gun if the victim is not worthy of his art, otherwise a nice slice and dice if they inspire him (he's building paintings of nude woman via human skin in his basement). Udo seems to be having his usual bent fun and depending whether or not you are a fan of his work will make a big difference with your opinion overall. Carradine is completely wasted and everything is utterly predictable right down to the office people having an affair in order to have a few other people get killed just to keep the horror quotient high or the viewer awake. There's a few moments of decent gore effects, but not enough for the hounds. The plot is nothing new, the direction is adequate and some of the veteran actors should be embarrassed. It all adds up to a bad Jack The Ripper wannabe meets P2 without the psychological damage. I'm guessing the title FALL DOWN DEAD is the nickname it got after the box office tallies came back from the few countries it managed to get an actual theatrical release. - Mark Engle |
FINAL
EXAM Final Exam is a lesser-known slasher that’s taken heat over the years even though it has a lot going for it. The setting is a secluded college as a semester comes to an end. There are very few people left finishing up whatever needs finishing up when a maniacal madman (Raynor) decides to drop in. Courtney (Bagdadi) remains unaware of what’s happening on campus until it’s too late. She’ll have to fight hard if she wants to escape the blade of the seemingly unstoppable psychopath that only wants her dead. Among the most repeated complaints about Final Exam is that the motivations of the killer are not explained. It seems some people are missing the point. The movie sets up this very idea, mostly through the semi-paranoid ranting of local bookworm Radish (Rice), and the fear comes from that; how random it all seems to be, how it could happen any place, in any town, maybe even your town. Another common gripe is how long it takes before a victim is claimed (aside from the opening). This is no body count movie. There’s story and characterization… Is that really such a bad thing? Yes, the acting is a little sub-par, but the entire cast operates on the same level and that helps. You don’t have a singular performance that’s either so impressive or so horrible that it unbalances the rest. When it comes time for the killer to let somebody know he’s there, he does it with style. These are some of the coolest reveals in stalk and slash history, always fun to watch. Final Exam is an easy recommendation for die-hard ‘golden age’ slasher fans, no question. If that’s not you, a rental is definitely the way to go. Better safe than sorry. The tagline says it all… “Some may pass the test… God help the rest!” - Michael Mackie |