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DVD Releases: 02/14/2006
By John Marrone
Feb 13, 2006, 21:12

More likely than anything else, it is love that will unleash a storm of horror in your life so ruthless, that it could even kill you.  Wait until bliss presents itself again, glistening, sugary sweet.   You will take all your beliefs - every saved strong heartbeat with meaning -  place them on that table of life as your bet.  All in.  Then one day, that tender cut.  The warm flush that fills your chest as you realize, deep inside where you can't lie to yourself, that you've been broken.  Your heart, it will bleed inside of you, and claim every last heartbeat you had bet - leave you with nothing but your empty body, a zombie-like, lifeless, will-less form.  Valentines Day.  Pay homage to those who are cut down in cold blood on this suicidal holiday and take in just part of the mountain of DVD's released this blackest of all Black Tuesdays.  From the amateur independant filmmaker to the mega-dollar hollywood productions... Here are the new DVD releases for this deadly week of February 14th, 2006...

Saw II (2005)
- trailer (windows media) -
93 minutes

Rated R for grisly violence and gore, terror, language and drug content
Starring Donnie Wahlberg, Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman

IMDB Plot Summary:  Jigsaw locks 8 or 9 unlucky people in a booby-trapped shelter and they must find a way out before they inhale too much of a lethal nerve gas and die. But they must watch out, for the traps that the Jigsaw has set in the shelter lead to death also.

Kudos to Tobin Bell for portraying a "serial killer" who's weapon is his mind.  Solid acting by most everyone involved.  Another Saw-cessful box office run - costing $4 million and raking in $87 million in the US alone.  We'll probably be burnt out on this stuff by the time Saw III comes around, but Saw II was an awesome ride.

DVD Features Include:  A commentary with director Darren Lynn Bousman, stars Donnie Wahlberg and Beverly Mitchell, "Jigsaw's Game" Making-of featurette, "Bits and Pieces: The Props of Saw II", "Bits and Pieces: The Traps of Saw II", storyboards, and other featurettes

If you haven't seen this movie yet, check out our no-spoiler review here
Otherwise... click here to get it from Amazon.com in fullscreen format 

Zombie Honeymoon (2004)
- trailer (windows media) -
83 minutes

Unrated
Starring Tracy Coogan, Graham Sibley, Tonya Cornelisse
Directed by David Gebroe

IMDB Plot Summary:  Zombie Honeymoon is a romantic horror film about a young married couple, madly in love, on their honeymoon. One day on the beach, the groom Danny is attacked and killed by a man who rises up out of the water with no explanation, leaps on top of him, and vomits blood into his mouth. Danny is resuscitated ten minutes later, and seems to look and act totally normal. However, his wife Denise finds out that that's not the case at all. It turns out that Danny has become a zombie. However, instead of becoming a "Night Of The Living Dead"-style creature right off the bat, he disintegrates gradually, in a manner akin to cancer or AIDS. He and his wife Denise do their best to cope with his slipping away, not to mention the fact that he can't stop killing and eating people. As their best friends arrive for a weekend visit, she makes him promise her that they're off-limits. He agrees, but finds it more and more difficult to control himself. She hangs in there because he's the love of her life, but it becomes more and more apparent that her life is in jeopardy as well.

Trailers look cool and its gotten a lot of acclaim.  But - is it a horror movie AND a romantic comedy, or does it fall uneffectively somewhere beteen them both...  Up to you.  I say, if your girlfriend is one of those romantic saps, pop this one in.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com 

Mirrormask (2005)
- trailer (windows media) -
101 minutes

Rated PG for some mild thematic elements and scary images
Starring Stephanie Leonidas, Gina McKee, Rob Brydon
Directed by Dave McKean

IMDB Plot Summary:  MirrorMask centers on Helena, a 15 year old girl in a family of circus entertainers, who often wishes she could run off and join real life. After a fight with her parents about her future plans, her mother falls quite ill and Helena is convinced that it is all her fault. On the eve of her mother's major surgery, she dreams that she is in a strange world with two opposing queens, bizarre creatures, and masked inhabitants. All is not well in this new world - the white queen has fallen ill and can only be restored by the MirrorMask, and it's up to Helena to find it. But as her adventures continue, she begins to wonder whether she's in a dream, or something far more sinister.

DVD Features Include:  "Off-Set"  Making-of featurette, ""Behind the Scenes" with Dave McKean, "Day 16:  A Time-Lapse Video of One Day On-Set", "Neil Talks:  A Conversation with Neil Gaiman", "Flight of the Monkeybirds" featurette, and "ComicCon 2003: A Q&A Session"

Budgeted at only $4 million, this film pulled off a fantastic effort, but failed at the box office grossing around $1 million.  Jim Henson Productions involved on this one - a good choice for parents wanting to push "safe horror" on their youngsters.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com in widescreen format 

Bleeders (1997)
- trailer (windows media) -
95 minutes

Rated R for some strong sexuality and violence
Starring Rutger Hauer, Roy Dupuis, Kristin Lehman
Directed by Peter Svatek

Amazon.com Description:  Their story begins over three centuries ago with a horrifying tale of incest and hedonism.  Now, banished to a remote island in the Atlantic, these hideous creatures stalk the catacombs beneath the rocky shores emerging to satisfy their thirst for human blood. One man (Roy Dupuis) shares their mutual birthright, another man (Rutger Hauer) holds their death warrant. Both of them converge to face these revolting goblin-like monsters in a clash of blood where only one species can survive.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com 

Inexchange (2006)
- trailer (windows media) -
90 minutes

Rated R
Starring Sean Blodgett, Tiffany Wilson, Todd Richard Lewis
Directed by Zack Parker

IMDB Plot Summary:  Maury has a problem... He is a college freshman who is taken advantage of, picked on, and ignored. However, this is the monotony that Maury has come to expect and subsequently rely on. This is what college life is for Maury, until one day when he makes an agreement and his problems begin to be eliminated one by one.

Looks like somebody got a camera and did a film for kicks with some buddies and some makeup.  Don't expect a Hollywood level production.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com 

Hollywood Vampyr/Knight Chills (2002/2001)
- Hollywood Vampyr trailer (windows media) -
- Knight Chills trailer (quicktime) -
175 minutes

Rated R/PG-13 for language, some violence, drug use, sexual content, and violent images
Starring Trevor Goddard, Nora Zimmett, Tim Jeffrey
Directed by Steve Akahoshi and Katherine Hicks

Hollywood Vampyr IMDB Plot Summary: An expose of Los Angeles' gothic subculture as seen through the eyes of a young female vampire. The film focuses on FATAL (Nora Zimmett), a former heroin addict who, having embraced this dark lifestyle, decides to leave her "family" and break free from the Goth world with the help of her college tutor TOM (Jeff Marchelletta). By contrast, Tom finds her world increasingly seductive, and as Fatal gradually loses the only person she trusts, she discovers destiny has other plans.

Knight Chills is rated PG-13 and is not a well made movie.  Most people who watch it give it zero out of 10 stars, or call it one of the worst movies they'd ever watched.  But then I pulled this quote from D&D legend Gary Gygax:  "Knight Chills deals with the urban myth that role-playing games are dangerous and deadly... a very good horror story."  And a few endearing reviews from gamer types.  Might have redeeming qualities to people who own 20 sided die.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com 

October Moon (2005)
- trailer (quicktime) -
112 minutes

Rating N/A
Starring Judith O'Dea, Brinke Stevens, Sean Michael Lambrecht
Directed by Jason Paul Collum

Amazon.com Description:  Elliot, a shy young man, is shunned by his family, friends and fiancée when he falls for another man, Corin. Unfortunately, Corin already has a significant other, and as Elliot finds himself rejected at every turn, he slips into paranoia and rage, determined to get what he desires most.

DVD Features Include:  An audio commentary with director Jason Paul Collum and star Jerod Howard, a ten minute making-of featurette, four still galleries, web links to the cast and the crew, and Tempe DVD trailers

Click here to get it from Amazon.com  

R-Point (2004)
- trailer (windows media) -
110 minutes

Rated R for violence and language
Starring Woo-seong Kam, Byung-ho Son, Tae-kyung Oh
Directed by Su-chang Kong

Amazon.com Description:  During the Vietnam War, a South Korean army base begins receiving mysterious radio transmissions from a patrol that went missing six months earlier. A shell-shocked commanding officer (Gam Woo-Sung) and a ragtag military unit are sent into the desolate stretch of land known as R-Point to gather clues as to the whereabouts of the missing soldiers. What appeared to be a clear search and rescue mission turns into something far more terrifying than any battle.

DVD Features Include:  Subtitles in English or Spanish, Audio tracks in Korean (dolby 5.1 and DTS), a commentary by director Su-chang Kong, "A History of R-Point", and a behind-the-scenes featurette

Click here to get it from Amazon.com  

Poor Pretty Eddie (1973)
92 minutes

Rated R
Starring Leslie Uggams, Shelly Winters, Michael Christian
Directed by David Worth

Amazon.com Description:  A wrong turn on a jazz singer's road trip results in her car breaking down near an isolated lodge run by a faded starlet and a young, homicidal Elvis impersonator.

I saw this like 25 years back on WOR channel 9 out of Jersey.  They used to show the most despicable low-budget violent horror movies like this, Devil's Rain, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, crap you can't even find to this day.  More disturbing than it is horrific or bloody.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com  

House of 9 (2005)
86 minutes

Rated R for strong violence and language
Starring Dennis Hopper, Kelly Brook, Hippolyte Girardot
Directed by Steven R. Monroe

Amazon.com Description:  Nine strangers wake up in a house with no recollection of how they got there and no way out. A voice on the PA introduces them to the grisly game they’ve been chosen to play – Last man standing wins $5 million in cash and their life back. When all attempts to break out together fail, tension turns to violence and violence to death and suddenly it’s every man for himself as they fight for their lives… Why are they here? Who will survive? And what will it cost them in the end?

Here they come - the Saw ripoffs.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com  

OTHER DVD RELEASES THIS WEEK

 
Aliens Gone Wild (2006)
-  Over three hours of alien madness including rare, behind-the-scene footage
-  90 minutes in length, from Wizard Entertainment and Full Moon Pictures
-  get it here

Beast in the Cellar (1970)
-  Cheap, amateurish early 70's horror movie
-  101 minutes of two old ladies and a brother they tried to keep in a cellar for 30 years
-  get it here

Choke (2004)
-  Not Rated, 91 minutes, from Thinkfilm Llc
-  Don't move, don't breathe...  they'll find you
-  get it here

Cop Killers (1973)
-  Hippies, a cocaine deal, police, a roadblock, a shootout, a crime spree, robbery, murder
-  Cops get killed
-  get it here

The Dawn (2005)
-  Predictable but enjoyable low-budget horror
-  Students getting picked off one by one during a night at a creepy rural retreat
-  get it here

Immortal (1995)
-  Rocker Dex Drags is addicted to blood, but stopping could make things even worse
-  90 minutes, from Razor Digital Entertainment, starring Andrew Taylor
-  get it here

Love Bites (2001)
-  Gothic eye candy from Germany, starring Asia Argento
-  65 minutes, big on pretty boys in tough situations, much lacking
-  get it here