Always considered to be the overlooked gem from the 80's MY BLOODY VALENTINE kind of got lost in the shuffle of the slasher madness that was the first few years of that decade.

I remember seeing it in the theaters and thinking that the miner character was awesome.  Never really did care for the ending much but overall it was a very solid film that for some reason just never really caught on.

Of course with the 3D remake hitting a theater near you in just a week or so it was inevitable that we would be seeing the original on DVD in one form or another and I am pleased to let you know that LIONSGATE has risen to the challenge and is about to release the classic in fine form on a special editon DVD that quite frankly kicks some major ass.

Of particular note is the fact that they have made available cut out footage that can be watched seperately or viewed in the context of the film.  Very cool.

Here is the official word from Lionsgate on what this presentation is all about:

The cult classic horror film My Bloody Valentine gets special treatment when it returns to DVD from Lionsgate.  A terrifying tale
 about a small town that faces horrifying consequences for holding a holiday dance on the anniversary of deadly tragedy, My
Bloody Valentine: Special Edition features all-new bonus features including never-before-seen lost footage, a featurette
examining the back history of the making of the film and the Ultimate Slasher interactive guide that allows the user to delve
into the evolution of the slasher film/horror genre.  The DVD will be available on January 13, 2009, coinciding with
Lionsgate’s theatrical 3-D remake of the film arriving in theaters January 16, 2009.  My Bloody Valentine 3-D, stars Jaime
King (upcoming The Spirit, Sin City), Jensen Ackles (TV's Supernatural) and Kerr Smith (Final Destination, TV's  Dawson’s
Creek) and is directed by Patrick Lussier.

On Valentine’s Day 20 years before, an explosion of methane gas took the lives of a group of coal miners working in the
Hanniger Mine near the small town of Valentine Bluffs. The accident occurred because supervisors left their posts to attend
the annual Valentine’s Day dance.  A year later, Harry Warden, the only survivor of the accident, retaliated by killing the
two supervisors and leaving a terrifying warning never to hold another Valentine’s Day dance.  After two decades have passed,
despite warnings, a group of young adults start preparations for another dance.  When a blood-soaked heart arrives at the police
station, accompanied by an ominous message, the dance is canceled.  However, a Valentine party is held in its place at the coal
mine and it isn’t long before people begin dying violently.  It appears Warden has returned to punish those who did not heed his
warning.

*DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
Never-before-seen lost footage
A making-of featurette
Ultimate Slasher Interactive Guide
Subject to change

CAST
Paul Kelman    Black Roses, Gas, TV's Street Legal
Lori Hallier     TV's Sticks and Stones, Bull, Heartstopper, TV's Black Widower
Neil Affleck     Wild Thing, Cross Country, Dirty Tricks, Visiting Hours
Carl Marotte     Skinwalkers, TV's Mind Over Murder, TV's Ice Bound
Helene Udy     Witches of the Caribbean, 12 FL OZ, If Tomorrow Comes

Harry Warden deserves to right up there with the big boys.  He is every bit as creepy, frighteneing and vicious as Michael, Jason or Freddy.

Maybe the attention that this remake will bring will finally bring Warden into his own. 

LIONSGATE gets it right with this release.  The first actual MUST OWN DVD in a while and I strongly urge you to add this one to your collection.

MY BLOODY VALENTINE SPECIAL EDTION streets on Jan. 13th.

Get it.....

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I'm glad I didn't rush out and see this one in the theaters.  When it came out it seemed that no one had a kind word to say about this new X FILES film.  It came and went pretty quick and it just goes to show you how negative word of mouth can ruin a fantastic film.

X FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE is a very good film.  It is intelligently written, very well acted and beautifully directed.  The one thing it doesn't have is aliens.  With the title I WANT TO BELIEVE I think fans were expecting a continuation of the FIGHT THE FUTURE film or perhaps a wrap up to the Mulder's sister storyline that has been on going since almost day one of the series.

Instead we get an intellectual journey into belief.  Believing in yourself, believing in your loved ones, believing in god, believing in the system.  All these things are challenged and done in a way that only the X FILES could do.

The story opens with an FBI agent being kidnapped.  As the search is ongoing and time running short a psychic is brought into the investigation after he contacts the FBI and tells them he has had a vision.

The twist is that psychic is a defrocked pedophile priest.  Things get a little to weird and the FBI contact Scully who is now working as a doctor at a religious hospital to see if she knows how to get a hold of good old Spooky Mulder.

Although reluctant at first of course Fox can't resist a good psychic and we are off to the races.  Through a series of inter meshed story lines the main storyline takes form and it is creepy and weird enough to warrant an X FILES classification.

Ultimately though the film ends up being about people.  The priest and his quest for forgiveness.  Mulder and his search for the truth.  Scully as she wrestles with a sick child she has as a patient and a hospital administration that just wants to send the boy along through the system.

I WANT TO BELIEVE becomes a journey of hope and salvation and the dark corners that sometimes lurk as you search for these things.

I am always excited to witness genre fare that doesn't dumb itself down to appeal to the masses and this go around with the X FILES is anything but dumb.  They actually kind of shot themselves in the foot a bit by being a little to wordy but I liked it and I'm thinking a lot of you may as well.

Don't listen to the trolls that bad mouth this one, they are wrong. 

The disc features the standard fare of extras but of particular note is the FX reel that highlights all the FX in the film that actually kind of go unnoticed in the film.  I didn't realize how impressive the FX work was till I watch this chapter of the special features.

That's just how wrapped up I was in the actual story in the film.

X FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE hits the stores on Dec. 2nd.  Make sure you pick it up.

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In this modern era of horror films we have found our selves inundated with these first person style of horror films.  BLAIR WITCH, CLOVERFIELD and of course DIARY OF THE DEAD have all attempted that "in the moment, watch it while it happens" style.  And now we have a new one.

An indie shocker titled THE ZOMBIE DIARIES tells the tale of a viral outbreak that over runs London and how a few bands of survivors cope with the hordes of undead and terror that they find surrounding them.

Genuinely creepy and very unsettling THE ZOMBIE DIARIES is what I think Romero was attempting to do with his DIARY film but somehow never managed to quite achieve.  Documenting an outbreak of the undead from the very beginning and all the confusion and disbelief and true terror that would accompany bearing witness to such events.

The film is broken up into chapters or diaries as they like to call them.  The film opens with Diary One - The Outbreak where we witness one group coming face to face with the horror of the dead returning.

Diary Two - The Scavengers takes us with another group as their supplies are running out and they are forced to head in and try to find food and water.

And so the film goes.

There are parts of the film, small details, that I feel really help set this one apart from all the others in recent memory.  Like when  a zombie is getting close in a lot of the cases you can hear the buzzing of the flies around their rotting bodies before you actually see  lumbering coprses.  Very nice touch.

Uncompromisingly realistic I have no doubt that the events that this film depicts are in fact pretty much exactly what would happen.  Panic, confusion, complete breakdown of any and all rule.  Ultimately the zombies would not defeat us, we would defeat ourselves. 

I completely enjoyed the new life that this film breathes into what has become a very stale and predictable sub genre and although a bit hard to follow at times and as is the case with all these "documentary" style films the shaky hand held style of shooting does wear thin but over all the film is very solid and very well done.

The zombies look great and gone for this go around are the fast moving vicious monsters.  These zombies are the slow, lumbering death machines of Romero's universe and ultimately what is even more terrifying are the living, still breathing monsters that the outbreak brings to life.

THE ZOMBIE DIARIES is must see zombie fare.  Dimension Extreme has done a great job on this disc and seems to have found its stride in bringing us little known, well put together indie horror gems..

The disc itself features a the normal menu of "making of" and "behind the scenes" goodies that we have all become accustomed which are both informative and interesting.

All in all THE ZOMBIE DIARIES is a welcome addition into Zombie lore and is a brilliant showcase for what appears to be a wealth of up and coming horror talent.

THE ZOMBIE DIARIES is  available now so go get it.

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Bruce Campbell films are a bit of a guilty pleasure.  He has crafted a career out of being kind of so-so.  There is no denying him the praise that comes from his work with Raimi on the EVIL DEAD films and as Elvis in BUBBA HO TEP, well it just really don't get much better then that but if we are going to honest here he has also done more then his fair share of shall we say, stinkers.

Nice thing is Bruce realizes this and actually kind of embraces it and with his latest directoral effort MY NAME IS BRUCE he has fun with it.  A lot of fun.

Bruce is out on a national tour right now promoting MY NAME IS BRUCE and I was lucky enough to get an advance look and just had to sit right on down here and  let you all know about it so you all head on over to his official site, find out when he is coming to a town near you and get you asses out there and support this great little film.

Now, I had my doubts when the flick first started up.  A little to cliched for my liking a little to "tongue in cheek" for my taste and just when I was about to give up on it, BAM, it changes gear and becomes what may just be one of my favorite films of the year.

I think I have figured out what I didn't care for a the start of the film though.  In the first reel Bruce is playing a parody of himself, an over the top "through the fans eye" point of view of how I think Bruce feels is the way the fans see him.  A silly bufoon of a character with slapstick action and funny one liners.  Some worked, most didn't.

Then after the bar scene (you'll know it when you see it) and everyone heads on over to the gun store to "ammo up" the tone of the film changes.  More importantly Bruce's perfomance changes.

He quites playing himself and just is himself and then the film soars.

The last 45 minutes or so are pure horror gold and are so strong that you actually end up forgetting about the first half of the film.

The story line is simple enough.  A super fan kidnaps Bruce after he accidently unleashes an ancient evil on his hometown.  Being the Bruce fan he is he knows there is only one person that can defeat unleashed evil and that is the one and only Bruce Campbell.

Bruce plays along thinking it an elaborate stunt put together by his manager for his birthday and realizes way to late that the events are real and the danger all to scary.  As I mentioned Bruce not only stars in this one but is also the director and I have to say it is his most impressive work to date.

The film looks great from frame one.  The lighting looks great, the monster looks great, it all looks great.  Even though the film lags a little in story at the start at no point is the production quality anything less then top notch.  No problems there.

All in all I have to say that I find MY NAME IS BRUCE to be well worth the time for any horror fan and a MUST SEE for any Bruce Campbell fan.

Oh, make sure to watch the many faces of Ted Raimi in this one.  He's a great character actor and turns in another in a long list of great performances.  Great stuff.

CLICK HERE  head on over to The Chin's official site for all the details on his MY NAME IS BRUCE tour.

CLICK HERE for House of Horrors exclusive interview with Bruce.

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Hey there dear reader! Let's do something fun together. Let's make an Independent Horror movie cake. We'll take 4 cups of sexy girls, 3 cups of gore, 2 cups of unintentionally funny moments and 8 cups of 'What the f@ck did I just watch?' Then, we'll put it into a 350-degree oven and burn it, hell, let's light it on fire. We will call the cake A FEW SCREWS LOOSE.

The movie, written and directed by Craig McIntyre, didn't start off well for me. My puppy has the uncanny ability to sense if a movie is going to be watchable or not. I liken her to that ape that makes NFL Super Bowl predictions. As soon as I began watching A FEW SCREWS LOOSE she abruptly looked at the TV, looked over at me and proceeded to leap off the couch. On her way out of the room I could have sworn she raised her paw and flipped me off.

The movie starts off with young porn starlet Coco, who is filming a gonzo-style porno directed by a sadomasochistic auteur who goes by the name of Extreme Eric. We know Eric is extreme because during a scene he yells at Coco to drink his pee through some kind of urine-bong contraption and yells obscenities at her. A true lady would drink it out of a champagne class with her pinky raised but not our Coco! Anyway, everyone seems to be onboard with the insanity except for Coco's dad, who bursts onto the set with a machete.

The first victim, a Dirk Diggler-wannabe in a light blue track suit and backstreet boy-manicured facial hair falls to the ground and gets it in the head. Well, a mannequin head made up to look like him does anyway, complete with facial hair lovingly recreated with a black sharpie pen. You can actually hear the machete hitting the hard plastic head. Am I not hip enough to realize it as a joke done on purpose? Who knows but welcome to bare bones, independent filmmaking at it's finest. If Mr. McIntyre had sitting next to me I would have given him a big hug for the effort.

The movie basically goes in about 100 different directions after that and all of it plays out like a freaky, uncomfortable acid trip. The viewer is treated to a smorgasbord of insanity. We go from watching a main character being shown by his employer how to make an ice cream sundae (In real time) to watching him get his penis cut off in an impressive scene that will most likely have male viewers asking for the check. We see two young girls sucking on lollipops talking about sex and going to the grocery store. Then, we see a young girl being disemboweled in the woods; her insides wrapped up so that they may be consumed later.  

You might be asking yourself, Should I seek it out? That's a tough call my pet. AFSL isn't bad but it isn't good either. It's DIFFERENT. It's the movie David Lynch would have made if he had suffered a brain injury or if the Manson family had attended film school together and they all were asked to make a group film. Either you will appreciate it or you won't. There is no middle of the road here.  

So, If you like a big helping of strange with your horror then, yes, see this movie. Please keep in mind however that there are some things you just can't UN-see.

For ordering and additional information visit

www.afewscrewsloosemovie.com

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