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GHOUL SCHOOL: SUPER BLOODY SPLATTER UNIVERSITY EDITION1990 – NR – 72 Min. D: Timothy O’Rawe S: William Friedman – Scott Gordon / Special appearances by Joe Franklin – Jackie Martling DVD courtesy of Camp Motion Pictures Fullscreen / Mono Extras: 3 commentaries – Making of – Promo – Student films – Trailers – More Two thieves (aiming very high) decide to rob the cash a janitor has stashed away in the basement of a local school where he makes his home. The thugs discover a hidden room and, long story short, accidentally release a chemical that knocks them out, filters into the water, and subsequently transforms the swim team into flesh eating monsters. It falls to super-dorks Steve (Friedman) and Jeff (Gordon) to save the band rehearsing in the auditorium, rescue what’s left of the basketball team, retrieve the bootleg gore flick (Robot Ninja no less) they borrowed and were watching in the AV room and make their collective escape. Yes, it’s as dumb as it sounds. Yes, it’s outrageously inept. Yes, it’s nonsensical. It’s all that and less. The gore scenes are not as frequent as you might expect them to be, either. Splatter that is displayed ranges from satisfactory to downright embarrassing, watching blood filled condoms stretch between what are clearly pre-cut articles of clothing until they sometimes pop, for example. Taking all faults into consideration, the interminably annoying characters are this films greatest downfall. Ghoul School may not achieve the clever, tongue in check, cult classic status it strives so hard for, but it’s passable enough viewing for horror hounds in a very forgiving mood. The promo reel and a couple of the student films showcase ambitious gore scenes and admirable low-budget atmosphere absent from the feature itself. Filmed in 1990 yet marketed as part of the Retro 80s Horror Collection. – Michael Mackie |
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THE GHOST aka Ryeong2004 – NR – 94 Minutes/South Korean D: Kim Tae-Kyung S: Kim Ha-Neul – Nam Sang-Mi – Ryu Jin DVD Provided by Tartan Asia Extreme Widescreen/Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS Surround 5.1 Extras: Interviews – Behind The Scenes Featurette – Trailers Ji-Won is a student suffering from amnesia. Her old friends won’t talk to her and when something starts killing them off one by one, she must face her past and remember if she wants to survive. The cover compares it to The Grudge and Dark Water, but you can throw in Ringu and Tomie as well. More of the same that we’ve seen for about a decade now, right down to the long haired specter coming out of water with most of her faced covered only revealing one demonic eye. Ji-Won’s only friend is a male student who is obviously in love with her and as the clues come in, we discover just how evil Ji-Won was before her “accident.” It’s competently made and acted, but entirely ho-hum since we’ve seen it so many times before. I’ll admit, the ending caught me completely off guard, but only in that sort of works once Sixth Sense kind of way. Worthy of a rental for those not tired of the revenge ghost genre and it boasts some great cinematography and decent enough visual effects. Unfortunately, The Ghost does not contain the subtlety of Ringu nor the complexity it requires to make it worthwhile enough to revisit. – Mark Engle |
GROOVIE GHOULIES – Saturday Morning CollectionD: Hal Sutherland S: Dal McKennon – Howard Morris – John Erwin – Larry Storch DVD Provided by BCI Eclipse Fullscreen/Mono Extras: Couple Episode Commentaries – Image Galleries – Sing-A-Long Features – Producer Interview – Scripts – 45-Minute Documentary What happens when you mix Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In with the Universal Monsters and make it a Saturday morning cartoon for kids? Well, you get The Groovie Ghoulies! Completely inane and insane, repetitive and kookie, for fans, you got to love it! All 16 episodes from 1970 are here with tons of extras to boot. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love this stuff and nostalgically, this was an incredible box set when I first opened it up. Just don’t do what I had to do and try and watch it all at once. Best watched in doses since many jokes are reused over and over again. Some of the jokes are quite creative while some should have been nailed in a coffin and buried for good. It’s all good clean fun and captures the spirit of 70’s youth, especially those of us who bought monster model kits and watched Godzilla movies instead of playing baseball with the neighbor kids. Extras include a performance from the band Groovie Ghoulies who got their name from this show and interviews with several Kool Kats like Forrest J. Ackerman, Bob Burns, Alice Cooper and more. If you grew up watching Groovie Ghoulies, there’s no reason not to pick up this set. – Mark Engle |
THE GREAT AMERICAN SNUFF FILM2003 – N/R - 87 Minutes D: Sean Tretta S: Ryan Hutman – Mike Marsh – Jason Dinger – Melinda Lorenz DVD Provided by Brain Damage Films Fullscreen/Stereo Extras: Commentary – Trailers – Shorts – Featurette – Extra Snuff I had heard that this film had some sort of actual footage of the killer that this flick was based on killing some girl. BULLSHIT!! It’s the same, shot on video and badly made to look like 8mm film. What we get is a fictionalized account of serial killer William Allen Grone. Seems that he and some messed up buddy that runs a junkyard like to make snuff flicks by catching and whacking people that are passing through their little part of the desert. Well, this time they have themselves two lovely ladies who they brutalize in a nasty little trailer out in the junkyard. The film culminates in actual footage of one of Grone’s killing. My opinion on the reality of this is mentioned above. Look people it’s just badly made torture horror porn. Remember Saw and Hostel? That’s all it is and as a sub genre it leaves quite a bit to be desired. In the case of this little SOV project it leaves even less. The killer narrates the entire thing in this flat monotone that is probably supposed to be spooky, but is just boring. His sidekick is so much of a stereotype that when he gets what’s coming to him you almost applaud. They try to do things to make it look like rough footage, but you know it’s not. They try to make it cutting edge and it’s not. I do find that the mountain of material that issues forth from Brain Damage is a hit or miss kind of thing. I see a lot of stuff from them that works, even on the micro budget level. This one, however, is an embarrassment and a waste of time. – Douglas Waltz |
THE GRIM REAPER2007 – NR – 82 Min. D: Michael Feifer S: Cherish Lee – Benjamin Pitts – Brent Fidler – Rebekah Brandes – James C. Burns Lions Gate Home Entertainment DVD Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Digital 2.0 / Extras: Trailers This independent plays as though it’s afraid to take the ride by itself and negotiates this fear by stealing so much from so many other places that there’s nothing left for it to call its own. Think Final Destination but on that film’s toiletry budget. Lee is a stripper helping to put her boyfriend through medical school. She gets hit by a taxi after work and eventually finds herself in an abandoned asylum with some other (troubled) people that are all under the impression death is hunting them. They’re right. The next hour or so is spent watching these people run from dark hallway to dark hallway trying to avoid the shadow of the Reaper as well as the Doctor that gathers them all up in exchange for extended life. The boyfriend shows up to try and save the day because a guardian angel showed him the way. Pretty much a failure on all counts. Everybody seemed to be trying their best but it just wasn’t enough (Brandes is the only performer on display with any spark). A little bit of silly gore is peppered over an abundance of logical lapses while boredom creeps in. Been there, done that… - Michael Mackie |
 GOVERNMENT
GUINEA PIG: WHEN UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU...2007 – NR – 104 Minutes D: William G. Macrides S: Jim Modrall, Matt Turner DVD Courtesy of Guinea Pig, LLC Fullscreen/Stereo Extras: Interview with director, photo gallery, music video Filmmaker William G. Macrides brings more of a lecture than a docudrama to the screen with this project. Much of it is based on the puzzling (and admittedly interesting) story of Steve and Beth Lee, who might be victims of a bizarre U.S. Government experiment. Might be, I said. The movie goes on to cover the possible dangers of government tampering in our lives by covering everything from UFO theories, to the Taos Hum, to hologram projections, to downright human rights abuse. The project tries hard to link almost every conspiracy theory imaginable together and blame it on those in charge, namely the bigwigs from the governmental agencies. I don't know. Maybe the filmmakers are right, maybe they aren't. Look, I'm not knocking the premise here. We all should know by now that something is fishy in our government. Come on, if nothing else, there are a slew of unanswered questions regarding the embarrassing mishandling of justice by the Bush administration. However, this production is unlikely to win converts, but it will probably get conspiracy buffs nodding their heads “yes” to every “what if” theory that it states. – Craig Hamann |
GHOST MONTH2008 – NR – 100 Min. D: Danny Draven S: Marina Resa – Shirley To – Rick Irvin DVD courtesy of Dark World Pictures Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Digital 5.1 Alyssa (Resa) has had enough of hurried city life and takes an out of the way job as a housekeeper to start life anew and hopefully leave all her worries behind. Most of those worries stem from her psychotic ex-boyfriend who has become a dangerous stalker. Alyssa’s new job lands her in the home of Miss Wu (To) in the midst of Ghost Month, the time when spirits are allowed to leave Hell and roam the Earth freely. It’s explained that most spirits are content to simply look in on loved ones, most spirits… The closest neighbor, Blake (Irvin), had a mysterious relationship with the previous housekeeper and, according to Miss Wu, a violent one. Now, Blake seems interested in Alyssa. She doesn’t take much notice though, since she is preoccupied with the ghostly visitations that have begun to torment her; they are trying to tell her something, something important. Draven has crafted an attractive film. His subtle use of color brings to mind several Italian classics of the past. More a supernatural mystery/thriller than a horror movie, Ghost Month is an interesting idea that doesn’t solicit enough thrills or emotional involvement to be anything more than a not-too-disagreeable way to dispose of 100 minutes which, for the record, is a bit too long. The actors deliver decent enough performances, though they rarely rise above the level of a well-produced soap opera. That isn’t necessarily an insult as much as a point of reference. Ghost Month is an interesting effort, competent and pleasing to the eye, but generally unspectacular. However, Draven has come a long way as a director and it’ll be interesting to see what he’s capable of in the future. – Michael Mackie |
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