Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

In many ways, Our Evil, from first-time feature director and writer Samuel Galli, is a perfect debut. Cramming an ever-evolving creeping beast into 90 mins is no easy feat, but Galli seems determined to show off genre mastery and cinematic competence in equal measure. That, whilst putting the audience through one of the most bittersweet Indy horror experiences of 2017.

Arthur (Ademir Esteves) is a loving father who dotes on his daughter. Charles (Ricardo Casella) is a sadistic assassin-for-hire who records brutal snuff films for dark web viewers. The two cross paths and from there, things don’t go exactly as planned for one of them. It’s a tough film to abbreviate since it relies so heavily on surprise but that’s it in a nutshell.

What starts somewhere south of gruelling evolves into a studied portrait in pain, and finally into a possession flick. It’s a three-act film in which each act delivers another horror subgenre. For some, that’ll prove a refreshing three-course meal in contemporary horror cinema. For others, that twisting narrative could be a bit too spontaneous. There is a commendable, if vaguely desperate, desire to be fresh which perhaps sacrifices cohesiveness.

But what Our Evil lacks in cohesiveness it makes up for in slow-burn intrigue and ambitious genre-wary reveals. Genre theory aside, it’s a genuinely eerie film too, punctuated by a handful of vicious gut-punches and an overall sense of dread.

Galli matches his tightly wound story with suitably tight direction, no time is wasted, except perhaps in the finale, but nothing feels rushed either. It’s a careful and domestic kind of horror story somewhere between the likes of William Friedkin and Nicholas McCarthy. It’s subdued, family-centric, flashbacks are integral, and the nasty bits are Nasty.

It’s important to note that the first act’s torture porn scenes are disturbingly cruel but pointedly so. Once it’s made its point Our Evil goes on to argue that it’s not exploitative trash. Online snuff tapes and a sadistic hitman orbit around the quiet foundation of a surprisingly forward-thinking possession story.

In the same way, The Eyes of my Mother lyrically unpacked a host of classic horror films, Our Evil provides the same elegiac reinterpretation of popular possession films, approaching them from a kind of postmodern kamikaze vigilante angle.

An intriguing debut feature with a great sense of mystery, Our Evil keeps you wondering whilst pushing you deeper into murky waters. Lead actor Ademir Esteves is a superbly muted guide through this satanic long-game whilst Ricardo Casella is a pristinely realised human monster. That finale twist reveals gleefully, if a little abruptly, that Galli knows exactly what he’s doing. Our Evil is a tightly wound smorgasbord showcasing a looming horror talent.

OUR EVIL / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: SAMUEL GALLI / STARRING: ADEMIR ESTEVES, FERNANDO CARDOSO, RICARDO CASELLA, REINALDO COLMANETTI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Legendary Japanese production company Toho return to their most successful franchise as Godzilla comes back to Japan in Shin Godzilla, a full reboot of the hugely popular series.

After unexplainable seismic activity and accidents occur in the Tokyo Bay area, the government convenes to tackle the problem. However, it’s not a natural disaster, but a beast that they have to contend with.

It’s good for Godzilla to be back in Toho’s hands and if you were disappointed with the 2014 American version then you might hope Shin Godzilla puts things right. I wouldn’t hold your breath. Shin Godzilla is a strange beast, and I’m not just talking about the massive lizard. If you wanted to see an almost piece by piece staging of the realistic governmental reaction to a massive monster suddenly appearing in a major city then this film has you covered. But that does mean that about 90% of the film is taken up with meetings in dull looking rooms for its two-hour running time. The film needlessly tells us what every room is and the name and job of every person speaking, even when we really don’t need to know. Unfortunately, the film is a lot more preoccupied in the bureaucracy than it is with the people, so Shin Godzilla lacks a human heart or anyone to really care about.

But what of the actual big guy himself? Well, he gets off to an auspicious start. Making literal waves, he starts as always from the depths of the sea. After all, where else could he hide? One of the main differences about this version of the Godzilla is that he goes through an evolutionary stage, first as an underwater creature before slowly making his way on to land. What appears is something of a disappointment. Bog-eyed and hampered by poor CGI, it looks like a deformed creature that was never meant to live. It’s in his second evolution and most recognisable form that he actually comes into his own. For some reason, the digital effects are much better and more believable in this iteration, and Godzilla is a gnarled mass of scar tissue, as imposing as he is physically interesting. He still has his atomic breath but this time a couple of other surprises and a hefty recharge time. The spectre of Nagasaki and Hiroshima still loom large in the creature with a massive amount of radioactive material being left behind wherever he goes.

The disc release gives those interested a fair amount of extras packed on to a second disc, with several VFX pieces highlighting one of the most successful parts of the film.

Shin Godzilla is a film filled with far more government meetings than Godzilla action. A lack of compelling characters and an abundance of bureaucracy make Godzilla’s big screen return a let-down.

SHIN GODZILLA . CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: HIDEAKI ANNO, SHINJI HIGUCHI / SCREENPLAY: HIDEAKI ANNO, SEAN WHITLEY / SCREENPLAY: HIROKI HASEGAWA, YUTAKA TAKENOUCHI, SATOMI ISHIHARA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Based on true events, Playground is a deeply disturbing thriller that is bound to polarize audiences and critics alike. Having already caused a mass walkout at its San Sebastian debut, it has quickly gained a notorious reputation due to the controversial nature of the film’s grueling climax. Split into six chapters and focusing on the lives of three 12-year-old children, we are able to witness their final day at school where a young girl named Gabrysia attempts to arrange a secret meeting with her schoolgirl crush, Szymek. Little does she know, however, what Szymek is truly capable of and, with his best friend Czarek by his side, we’re able to see how their troubling friendship leads up to an act of unfathomable cruelty.

With the first three chapters centering around each of the individual characters, we’re able to get a slight insight into their upbringings. First up is Gabrysia, who we see getting ready for school. Applying lipstick with childlike curiosity before being awkwardly interrupted by her father, there’s a sense that family life in this middle-class household is a cold and distant affair. Then there’s Szymek, who looks after his wheelchair-bound dad in a low rent apartment. Having taken on the role of carer, he helps his father with everyday tasks such as helping him go to the toilet, preparing breakfast and providing him with his medication. Sharing a joke or two along the way, he then gets ready to leave for school before a sudden outburst of violence tears down any preconception we may have initially formed. Finally, there’s Czarek, who lives in a run-down tower block with his mother. Having to share a bedroom with his crying baby brother, we see a noticeably detached Czarek at constant loggerheads with his mum. Arguing over trivial everyday matters, it’s abundantly clear that he resents his current situation and with nobody to turn to, we see how his anger begins to manifest itself.

The one common thread that connects all these characters together is their mutual disconnect from their parents. Being just one of many possible explanations for their behavior, we see other potential triggers get touched upon such as video games, neglect, the prevalent use of technology and the over-sexualization of children. Unfortunately, however, much like in real life, there is no definitive answer as to what is truly responsible for juvenile violence – which in many ways makes the topic all the more haunting. Directing his first feature film, Bartosz Kowalski has crafted an impeccable bit of cinema which has already gotten the critics talking. With a background which has largely consisted of documentaries, Kowalski has been able to implement those skills into chilling effect. Having used handheld cameras throughout, there’s a raw authenticity to the film which heightens the foreboding atmosphere for the viewer. What we’re then left with is a fly on the wall aesthetic which makes audience members feel like an intrusive spectator.

With strong performances by the entirety of the cast and a script which goes straight for the jugular, there’s a real kick to proceedings thanks to Playground’s 82-minute running time. It’s the last chapter, however, that has caused controversy due to the film’s events taking inspiration from the death of Jamie Bulger. One of the most notorious cases in British history, there are certain moral ethics that have been put into question and with a debate raging on as to whether or not some lines shouldn’t be crossed, one could argue that this is a prime example of fearless filmmaking.

Overall, Playground is a film which should be watched with extreme caution. With scenes of disturbing abuse shown in unwavering detail, the climax will leave even the most seasoned horror fans with a cold chill down their spine. Unflinching in its approach, hard-hitting in its delivery and horrifically executed at the end, this is a film which is bound to cause moral outrage for many years to come.

PLAYGROUND / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: BARTOSZ KOWALSKI / SCREENPLAY: BARTOSZ KOWALSKI & STANISLAW WARWAS / STARRING: NICOLAS PRZGODA, MICHALINA SWISTUN, PRZEMYSLAW BALINSKI / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

10-year-old Ronja is the daughter of the chieftain of a clan of bandits, living in a mountain stronghold at the centre of a vast forest. On the night of her birth a bolt of lightning split the keep in two, leaving a wide chasm separating the halves, and now a rival tribe has moved in to the empty side. With them came their leader’s son Birk, with whom Ronja develops first a mutual antagonism and then a growing friendship as she begins to mature from girl to adolescent.

Animated by multi-disciplined animation studio Polygon (with unspecified co-production from anime titans Studio Ghibli) and directed by Gorō Miyazaki – son of Ghibli co-founder Hayao and previously the director of the mediocre Tales From Earthsea and far more accomplished From Up On Poppy Hill – visually Ronja the Robber’s Daughter is luminous. Animated with CG cel shading over painted backgrounds, every frame allows you to bask in the wild verdant majesty of the sprawling forest, smell its fresh unsullied foliage, and feel the crisp chill of winter’s snow or the warmth of the summer sun. As well as the expansive woodland terrain, the medieval fantasy setting also contains the wonderfully weird creations Ronja encounters, such as the malevolent bird-women harpies, the territorial porcupine-like grey dwarves, and the tiny subterranean humanoid rumphobs, all further developing the self-contained but highly believable world.

Adapted from the children’s novel of the same name by Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren, Ronja’s core themes are universal and will easily appeal to its younger viewers. As you grow up, you begin to see your parents not as unassailable deities ruling your whole existence, but as mere people with their own faults and fallibilities. As you separate from them you seek to establish yourself and develop your own identity, and with Ronja herself being so independent, carefree and adventurous, kids will see in her someone they would love to be like.

Although the story follows its source material fairly faithfully, the pace at which it does is borderline glacial. Entire episodes are spent on single situations that could be resolved to equal satisfaction in a matter of minutes, and the overarching plot is nowhere near complicated enough to require anything like the series’ 26 episodes to fully tell it. It would have worked far better as a feature film (like the book was previously adapted in 1984) and also wouldn’t have run the risk of straining the limited attention span of its target audience.

Overall, Ronja the Robber’s Daughter is a bright, charming and inoffensive series that will delight the children at which it’s aimed, but adults will find their patience wearing thin long before the conclusion.

RONJA THE ROBBER’S DAUGHTER / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: GORÔ MIYAZAKI / SCREENPLAY: TOM PALLAI, DAVID FREEDMAN, LYN FREEDMAN, DAN HENRY / STARRING: TERESA GALLAGHER, RUFUS HOUND, MORWENNA BANKS, KELLY ADAMS, GILLIAN ANDERSON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Directed and written by newcomer Adam Alleca, Standoff is a gripping new thriller boasting two fantastic performances from Laurence Fishburne and Thomas Jane.  A suspenseful tale of murder and redemption, a young girl’s life hangs in the balance of a lonely veteran after becoming a witness to a murder scene.

Burdened with what she’s witnessed, Bird (Ella Ballentine), is hunted by the merciless assassin known as Sade (Laurence Fishburne). Finding refuge in a secluded home, she’s protected by the skilled veteran Carter (Thomas Jane). Armed with just one shell, Carter’s conflict with Sade reaches an impasse in the confinements of his small home. Not willing to give up the girl, Carter attempts to find redemption by saving her.

It doesn’t take long for Standoff to kick things into gear, as it immediately presents Sade as a thunderous presence. Recently known for his role in NBC’s Hannibal, Fishburne channels an altogether different type of character. Psychotic, cold and calculated, it’s completely new territory for the talented actor – and it’s an astounding performance too.

Thomas Jane’s Carter is also a man with his own set of dangerous skills. Dealing with his own personal demons, Carter utilises all of his past army training to stop Sade at all costs. Slightly reminiscent of his past portrayal of the Punisher, Thomas Jane’s role is a stark reminder that he is criminally underutilised in cinema today.

Having the film mostly take place in the isolated home allows room for some superb storytelling, which is aided by a paunchy script. Full of one-liners and great speeches throughout, Alleca’s script allows Fishburne to truly flourish as Sade. Arguably the highlight of the entire film, viewers may find themselves captivated with Sade’s ostentatious display, as his lethal practices and threats are downright despicable.

The story itself has a strong, tight focus with some decent plot developments, but ultimately Standoff’s final moments may leave viewers desiring a bit more. Wrapping up the plot quickly, the film has a strong build up, only to finish on just more than a whimper. Regarding the tense stalemate between both characters, the ending could’ve been a little more climactic.

Whether or not some may find Carter’s backstory a little forced remains to be seen, but it’s the driving force for the character and it works well enough. Ella Ballentine’s role as Bird also manages to be a commendable effort, never once failing to convince viewers of her turmoil.

Standoff is a wondrous display of two talented actors that need more recognition. Some scenes have some surprisingly decent composition too, which propels Standoff from being more than your typical b-movie fare. It has decent production values and is well paced, save for the disappointing ending.

Running at approximately an hour and a half, Adam Alleca’s Standoff is a strong entry. Having previously worked on the remake The Last House on the Left, Adam Alleca proves his worth with his directorial debut, as a filmmaker who is set to impress.

STANDOFF / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ADAM ALLECA / SCREENPLAY: ADAM ALLECA / STARRING: LAURENCE FISHBURNE, THOMAS JANE, ELLA BALLENTINE / RELEASE DATE: 11TH JANUARY 

 

 

What’s more macho than Kurt Russell in his finest moustache, playing a grizzled Sheriff, fighting cannibal cave dwellers in the old west? Manly man director S. Craig Zahler follows up his incredible debut feature Bone Tomahawk with something completely different – but no less idiosyncratic or machismo-drenched.

Vince Vaughn practically oozes testosterone as tattooed thug Bradley Thomas – a man who is as much victim to circumstance as he is his own unbending morals. Forced to turn to crime after losing his job and unborn baby, Bradley takes to drug dealing in a last-ditch effort to save his marriage. Unfortunately, Brad’s bad luck – and moral code – leave him jailed, in debt to gangsters and, crucially, very angry about it.

His wife and latest unborn child kidnapped, Bradley is blackmailed into murdering a man on the infamously horrible Cell Block 99. The only problem is, Bradley is on a completely different wing in a completely different prison. With his wife and kid’s lives at stake, Bradley must punch his way through the prison system, like Charlie Bronson with a motivation, or an incarcerated Grand Theft Auto protagonist. ‘Brawl’ is putting it mildly, though.

Limbs break at every angle, bones crack, heads smash and – in the most disturbing cinematic head stomp since American History X – faces scrape. Zahler never once flinches from his violence, doing for the prison fight genre what Bone Tomahawk did for cannibals. Crucially, he rarely glorifies it either, making his fight sequences disturbing and upsetting. As with his previous feature, Zahler moves at his own pace, allowing the story to unfold naturally and with terrifying inevitability. To this, the director brings a sensibility usually reserved for such torture flicks as Hostel and A Serbian Film – not so much a genre twist this time around as taking the prison film as far as it will go. But even as the prison guards get more sadistic and his fellow inmates turn the knife, Bradley is up to the challenge. He may not enjoy inflicting violence for violence’s sake, but Bradley is very good at it… and so, surprisingly, is Vaughn, in the career comeback he’s been threatening since True Detective Series Two.

If not the violence, some will baulk at the retrograde Damsel in Distress subplot for Jennifer Carpenter (good, but a little wasted), and the unashamed like-it-or-lump-it conservatism of the story and its themes. Brawl in Cell Block 99 makes few concessions to its audience, expecting them to stick with the relatively slow pace and stretches of time between fights. Go in expecting just another prison punching movie and one will be sorely disappointed. This is no triumphant jailhouse beat ‘em up, nor the next Shawshank Redemption – quite the opposite, in fact. As it drags its reluctant antihero down to the depths of a Salo-esque torture prison, Brawl in Cell Block 99 is, quite exquisitely, the ultimate feel-bad prison movie.

Special Features: Journey to the Brawl making-of

BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: S. CRAIG ZAHLER / STARRING: VINCE VAUGHN, JENNIFER CARPENTER, MARC BLUCAS, ROB MORGAN, DON JOHNSON, UDO KIER / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 26TH

It’s possibly one of the maddest pitches you’ll hear this year: a group of aggrieved women inveigle their way into the local monastery on the night of a debauched celebration, to take revenge on the monks who sold their families into slavery, just as a party of Vikings arrive on the run from some tree demons – and the three disparate groups, plus the lord of the manor, invited to partake in the monks’ revelry, and some men held captive in the dungeon waiting to be sold as slaves, must band together to try and survive the night, before making their escape if they can overpower the slave traders’ ship, due to arrive at dawn.

Shame the filmmakers didn’t stick by the original name Attack of the Tree Beasts, which makes more sense of this ludicrous, bloody, foul-mouthed, micro-budgeted nonsense, as Viking Siege isn’t really a title that conjures up just how ridiculous the whole thing truly is. The only way to make something like this work, would be if first-time director Jack Burton could manage to persuade the cast of mostly novices – a smattering of short film and television work between them – to play it all with enough gusto and conviction to sell the absurdity to the watching audience. To be fair to Burton, he more or less does.

What this badly wants to be, is The Sword and the Sorcerer, the 1982 Conan the Barbarian rip-off that showed Milius’ ponderous epic how much fun smocks and monsters can be, and so it is replete with lurid characterisation, bucketsful of blood, and brash fight sequences, enough that it very rarely stops for breath and when it does so, generally only because those characters we’ve been marked out to care about have a bit of glaring or arguing to attend to. With the whole film recorded on one location – the vast majority of it taking place within a single room – it might easily have sunk into tediousness if the tone hadn’t been set so archly and, crucially, if Shaun Moseley’s old-fashioned, melodramatic score hadn’t been used throughout, distracting attention from the cheap film-work and occasionally dodgy performances.

Worth singling out are James Groom as Lord Osmund, a bit of a ringer for a younger Rupert Graves, and Sarah Driver and Rosanna Hoult, two young ladies with enough confidence in their performances to suggest they’ve a future ahead of them. Much less successful are the “Tree Bastards”, little more than rough tunics and green-tendrilled masks, but there’s an in-universe explanation that makes them just about forgivable. Make no mistake, this is not by any stretch of the imagination A Good Film. It is, however, surprisingly entertaining in all sorts of odd ways.

Special Features: Trailer

VIKING SIEGE / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JACK BURTON / SCREENPLAY: PHILIP DYAS, ALASTAR KIRTON / STARRING: MICHELLE McTERNAN, SARAH DRIVER, ROSANNA HOULT, ALAN BOOTY, PHIL DEGUARA, JAMES GROOM / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 26TH

It’s not much of an understatement to suggest that there’s no love lost at STARBURST HQ – or, indeed, anywhere – for Skyline, 2010’s frustratingly cheap-as-chips alien invasion effort by the Brothers Strauss. Whilst the film had an interesting aesthetic when it finally got around to showing off its aliens and their intergalactic tech, the film’s lack of funds meant that the human protagonists spent much of the film in hiding or else watching the invasion on TV or by peeking through shuttered windows and gasping “Wow, oh my God!” occasionally. But there were, in fairness, a few good ideas here and there but the film was never able to let them fly because it clearly couldn’t afford to.

So the long-threatened and barely-demanded sequel finally arrives with the Brothers now credited as producers and former visual effects producer Liam O’Donnell making his debut in the director’s chair. Extraordinarily, he’s somehow managed to give Skyline the kick up the backside it so desperately needed if there was to be any point to this sequel and dragged its cast of characters out of the shadows and front and centre – and how – into the middle of the alien invasion. Mercifully set in a different location to the original film, Beyond Skyline chronicles the alien invasion – you’ll remember the glowing lights dropping from the sky and the armada of mechanical, tentacled clanking things stamping and swooping about the place – from the perspective of recovering boozehound cop Mark (Grillo) and his ne’er-do-well son Trent (Weston). No sooner has Mark bailed Trent out from a tricky encounter with his cop colleagues than it all kicks off; the aliens arrive and, in a visual image as striking here as it was in the original, humankind is lifted off its feet and drawn inexorably into the belly of the alien war machine. Mark, Trent and a few fellow survivors flee underground and for a moment we fear the worst – a rehash of Skyline’s timid, cash-strapped, it’s-all-happening-off-screen approach. Not a bit of it. A tactical nuke levels Los Angeles as the authorities fight back (although the city doesn’t look especially nuked when our heroes emerge from the darkness) and almost immediately – and quite surprisingly – half the main cast are culled and the rest are peremptorily whisked up into the spaceship where, not to put too fine a point on it, things all go a bit mental.

Beyond Skyline is a big, dumb, non-stop joyous blast. It shamefully plunders from Independence Day, Predator and Battle Los Angeles before doing an about-face halfway through and morphing into a martial arts war movie. Schizophrenic doesn’t come close to describing it – and yet there’s so much going on, so many wild ideas flung into the mix, so many staggeringly-impressive visuals (which only slightly over-reach themselves as we head towards the frantic climax) on what can’t have been a massive budget – that it’s impossible to resists being swept up in the tide of madness, action and spectacle. Scenes aboard the alien spaceship itself are visceral – there’s some nasty business going here involving the aliens ripping open people’s heads to suck out their brains – and stunningly realised and we learn more about the aliens, their origins, and their culture as the film progresses.

Clearly, this isn’t Blade Runner or Arrival or any other more cerebral sci-fi flick – but then if you’re familiar with Skyline you won’t be expecting anything too thought-provoking or challenging. But if you just want some easily-digestible, pulse-pounding, fast food fun fantasy, Beyond Skyline is immeasurably preferable to some of the stuff that’s crowded out the multiplexes this summer. Beyond Skyline, beyond belief, is beyond good.

BEYOND SKYLINE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: LIAM O’DONNELL / STARRING: FRANK GRILLO, BOJANA NOVAKOVIC, IKO UWAIS, CALLAN MURPHY, YAYAN RUHIAN, JONNY WESTON, ANTONIO FARGAS / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 8TH 2018

The House franchise began life back in 1986 with Steve Miner’s original, and 1992’s House IV: The Possession brought this cult favourite genre series to a conclusion. Returning the narrative to that of a mysterious old house – following House III’s focus on a back-from-the-dead serial killer – let’s see if The Possession is a worthy close for this franchise.

Bringing back William Katt as the original movie’s Roger Cobb, the movie opens with him and his family – wife Kelly (Terri Treas) and daughter Laurel (Melissa Clayton) – exploring their old and spooky family home. When tragedy strikes and Roger is killed in a car accident, Kelly decides to move in to the abode and make it the new home for her and her daughter. Unfortunately for her, Roger’s no-good step-brother Burke (Scott Burkholder) is desperate to seize the house as his own in order to knock it down and to make a quick buck. Of course, while this conflict is ongoing, the house itself begins to make its own thoughts clear as strange happenings begin to play out on an increasingly frequent basis.

While House III never truly felt anything like a House movie – as highlighted by the fact that it was initially developed and pegged as a standalone non-House picture, even released as one in the US – House IV is a splendid return to what we’ve come to expect from the franchise. Additionally, it’s also the only sequel that acts as a quasi follow-up to the 1986 original, as shown by the return of Katt’s Roger. Things do get a tad murky on that front, mind, for the house focussed on in the first film and this one are in vastly different locations while supposedly being one and the same. Similarly, Roger’s wife and son of the first movie have been replaced by a new wife and daughter this time out. Still, given the oft-bonkers antics at play in the House franchise, we can just about let this all of this slide.

Going back to the roots of the series, The Repossession is a fitting way to bring the House franchise to a conclusion, embracing the humour, charm and family-friendly scares that put this series on the map for genre fans in the first place.

In terms of bonus content, the audio commentary from Lewis Abernathy is a fun and fascinating chat track, but it’s the new Home Deadly Home documentary that’s easily the standout of the special features as it brings all of the movie’s key players together to look back on the film. Like the recent new Blu-ray releases of House, House II: The Second Story and House III: The Horror Show, this release of House IV: The Possession is indeed the same as the one included on this year’s House: The Complete Collection boxset, and this new standalone release is the perfect way to pick up the fitting closing chapter of the series should you have missed said boxset.

Special Features: Audio commentary / Home Deadly Home: The Making of House IV documentary / Trailer / Stills gallery

HOUSE IV: THE REPOSSESSION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: LEWIS ABERNATHY / SCREENPLAY: DEIRDRE HIGGINS, GEOF MILLER / STARRING: TERRI TREAS, SCOTT BURKHOLDER, MELISSA CLAYTON, DENNY DILLON, WILLIAM KATT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW4

For those familiar with the famed House franchise, you’ll be well aware that each of the four entries in the series are largely unrelated bar the fact that the action of each film centres around a mysterious creepy house. Well, each of the four entries bar House III, that is. And now, that third franchise entry is getting a new Blu-ray release from the fantastic crew over at Arrow Video.

Plot-wise, House III: The Horror Show revolves around a vicious serial killer and the detective on his trail. When Brion James’ ominously-named Meat Cleaver Max is finally brought down by Lance Henriksen’s Detective McCarthy, the crazed killer doesn’t even let a small matter like death stop him from continuing his bloody rampage. Despite meeting his maker courtesy of a stint in the electric chair, Max returns from the grave intent on piling up his body count and getting some brutal revenge on McCarthy.

Initially released in the US as simply The Horror Show – free from the ties of the House franchise name – the film has now taken its place as a straight-up part of the House series. Regardless of whether it’s in or out of the franchise, there’s no escaping the fact that House III is a stinker of a movie. Lance Henriksen does his best with what he has to work with, but you could put in an Oscar-worthy performance and still not make a smidge of difference to a film like House III. As for the rest of the cast, their performances range from excessively hammy to outright awful. One huge plus point, though, is the effects work on display. With greats such as Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger working their magic with the explosive and excessively graphic scenes dotted throughout The Horror Show, it’s this SFX work that is the hands-down best part of this threequel. As the old saying goes, however, you can’t polish a turd, and no matter how great the practical make-up and effects, there’s no dressing up just how disappointing a picture this is.

When it comes down to it, House III: The Horror Show is easily the weakest entry in the House franchise and sadly seems like nothing more than a desperate attempt to draw in an audience purely based on gore and profanities. Of course, here at STARBRUST we love us some bloodshed and we swear like a sailor for the most part, but House III just seems like excessive blood ‘n’ guts and strong language simply for shock value – ultimately feeling like a cheap gimmick to compensate for a poor story. And considering that the House franchise was built on family-friendly scares with a warm, humourous charm to them, The Horror Show just feels completely out of synch with the rest of the series. So much so, you almost wish the powers-that-be stuck to their original plan of releasing The Horror Show as a standalone picture not associated with the House franchise.

As for the special features included on this release, the major highlight is The Show Must Go On; an interview with legendary stuntman and franchise mainstay Kane Hodder. And in case you were wondering, yes, this release of House III: The Horror Show is the same Blu-ray that was included earlier this year in Arrow Video’s House: The Complete Collection boxset – just now, like the rest of the franchise, the film is getting a solo Blu-ray release.

Special Features: Audio commentary / Slaughter, Inc. featurette / Two interviews / Behind-the-scenes footage / Workprint footage / Trailer / Stills gallery

HOUSE III: THE HORROR SHOW / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: JAMES ISAAC / SCREENPLAY: LESLIE BOHEM, ALLYN WARNER / STARRING: LANCE HENRIKSEN, BRION JAMES, RITA TAGGART, DEDEE PFEIFFER, ARON EISENBERG / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW