Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

HUNTING THE LEGEND

Hunting the Legend

REVIEW: HUNTING THE LEGEND / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JUSTIN STEELY / SCREENPLAY: JUSTIN STEELY / STARRING: CHRISTOPHER COPELAND, HANNAH WALLACE, JEFF CAUSEY, JUSTIN STEELY / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 9TH

The wheel refuses to come off the ‘found footage’ bandwagon despite the fact that the genre is now going round and round in circles and, judging from Hunting the Legend, has finally found-footaged its way back to where it all pretty much started – 1999’s Blair Witch Project. Thus we have a group of teens trudging through crackling, pitch-dark woods jumping out of their skins at mysterious knocking noises, grisly ritualistic offerings and half-glimpsed shadowy figures. Been there, seen that, thanks…

It’s five years since young Chris Copeland (the characters mostly bear their real-life names) lost his father in a mysterious hunting incident. Locals blame Bigfoot – obviously– so Chris sets out with some pals and a hired crew of documentary-makers to investigate the Alabama woods where his father died and to find out the truth behind the legends. He doesn’t do what you or I might do (I certainly would) and stay at home, keep away from the place where his Dad died and not become a hunter. But there you go, that’s cheap-end Hollywood for you…

Hunting the Legend is no better and no worse than the hundreds upon hundreds of found-footage types we’re inundated with these days. As usual the script consists of little more than whiny kids shouting at each other – “What do you mean?”, “I don’t know what I’m doing any more!” – or else at something they’ve seen in the woods, whereupon they shriek “Oh my God! Oh my God” before we’re treated to endless footage of running feet and wobbly torch beams.

It begins and ends the way these films generally do – title cards portentously explaining how the footage came to be and what happened to those who made it. But we’ve seen all this far too often now. Yes, dark forests at night are scary, we suspected as much even before Blair Witch. Hunting the Legend throws in a few skinned rabbits hanging from trees, a primitive encampment littered with random remains and a mysterious figure in a (wait for it) cabin in the woods. What it singularly fails to deliver is anything remotely scary or unsettling, content just to tick off the expected clichés without bothering to give them a new spin or offer up anything we’ve not seen a hundred times before.

Cheap, cheerful, inoffensive and nothing if not watchable, Hunting the Legend treads no new ground but it will probably just about pass muster for those who still can’t quite get enough of this sort of thing.

Extras: None

DOC OF THE DEAD

DVD REVIEW: DOC OF THE DEAD / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ALEXANDRE O. PHILIPPE / SCREENPLAY: CHAD HERSCHBERGER / STARRING: GEORGE A. ROMERO, MAX BROOKS, ROBERT KIRKMAN, SIMON PEGG, BRUCE CAMPBELL, TOM SAVINI / RELEASED: MARCH 30TH

Alexandre O. Philippe’s latest documentary looks to discover just why zombies are now a popular piece of mainstream entertainment. To do so, Philippe looks at a whole host of different angles and brings in plenty of familiar faces to give their thoughts on the matter.

Going back to the very beginning, the film looks at initial efforts like White Zombie before switching attention to the godfather of the zombie subgenre, George A. Romero, and taking audiences on a joyous history lesson of the walking dead over the ensuing decades. Whilst there are plenty of famous genre names on show – Romero, Sid Haig, Tom Savini, Simon Pegg, Bruce Campbell, Max Brooks, Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Greg Nicotero, Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, to name just a few – Doc of the Dead also speaks to fans, explores the serious origins of zombie culture, addresses the notion of Voodoo zombies, looks at virus-infused zombies, explores the scientific concept of zombies in the animal kingdom, explores zombie subculture as a satirical tool, and even throws up the age-old debate of slow zombies vs. fast zombies. Whereas it’s always informative, the film is also never afraid to poke fun at its subject matter, and even goes as far as introducing us to zombie porn (honestly, something we definitely didn’t know existed before seeing Doc of the Dead. Honest).

Philippe’s film manages to cover a whole host of zombie-based bases, and comes across as a passion project for not just the director but for the very people who are featured in the feature, be they fans, creators, actors, scientists, or even porn stars. Granted, there are a few notable omissions (most notably the non-mention of Lucio Fulci), but Doc of the Dead serves up something for near-enough everybody. Whether you’re a hardcore zombie fan or just a casual viewer with a fleeting interest in the shuffling hordes that are seemingly everywhere these days, Doc of the Dead will entertain and likely educate. Hell, there’s even Bruce Campbell carrying out a legally-binding wedding service between two of the undead! And if that wasn’t enough, additionally there’s some real-life tips on how to survive should a zombie apocalypse finally happen.

Whether used as a veritable historical tool or viewed merely as a fun companion piece to an often-crammed corner of the horror genre, Doc of the Dead is an excellent look at what is so special to so many about the vast variety of zombies that have populated screens, books and video games over the year, providing plenty of food for thought and enough interesting viewpoints and titbits to satiate even the most demanding of zombie appetites.

Special Features: None

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CONTINUUM

DVD REVIEW: CONTINUUM / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: RICHIE MEHTA / SCREENPLAY: RICHIE MEHTA / STARRING: GILLIAN ANDERSON, RUFUS SEWELL, HALEY JOEL OSMENT, VICTOR GARBER / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 16TH

Continuum, not to be confused with the Canadian TV series of the same name, takes a look at time travel in an incredibly dramatic way. If you could go back in time and rewrite history, would you?

The film takes a look at the classic story of time travel in a way that you initially wouldn’t expect. The story starts with a young scientist (played by Dark City‘s Rufus Sewell) who mysteriously disappears on a business trip, and the resulting struggle that his wife (Gillian Anderson) and son (a surprisingly grown up Haley Joel Osment) are faced with after his sudden disappearance. But there’s far more to this story than just a dark drama; whilst it may seem like a lengthy epic of the family’s struggles with the father’s disappearance over the years, there’s a far more intriguing and well thought-out story underneath.

With all of its layers of human drama and character arcs, there’s a real sci-fi story underneath, one that would surprisingly fit in rather well as an episode of cult TV series Fringe. Continuum is a well thought-out and certainly well researched look at time travel that will make you think twice, using a valid theory from the world of quantum mechanics to build on a gripping story of time travel. How many of us have wanted to see Everett’s Many-worlds theory put into real use? The plot twist will certainly have you on the edge of the sofa waiting to see how it turns out.

Whilst time travel has for some been done to death in movies, Continuum takes a refreshingly different look at this classic sci-fi plot. The drama may be a little too heavy at times for some, but it’s all part of the build up to the unexpected twist at the end. It certainly makes for compelling viewing, with a stunning soundtrack that brings out the tension in the film even more, in part thanks to the great direction and writing of Richie Mehta.

More of a drama interwoven with science fiction, this is as much a story retracing the father’s steps as it is of the struggle to bring the time travel theory to life. With as many twists and turns towards the end as the character stories that build up along the way, it’s certainly not light-hearted viewing but is a compelling story that’s worth watching.

Previously released as I’ll Follow You Down in the U.S, Continuum is certainly a much more fitting title for this dramatic story of science fiction. Whilst it may have been filmed on a tight budget, the compelling acting and science behind the story bring it together perfectly. You’ll certainly be glad that you gave it a try.

Special Features: TBC

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DIGGING UP THE MARROW

DIGGING UP THE MARROW

A horror mockumentary? This ought to be fun. A load of horror movie stalwarts playing themselves (and one who isn’t) talking about the monster genre and then an outsider (Ray Wise) claims not only that monsters are real, but he knows where they live. Suddenly the documentary makers are making an entirely different sort of film. Is this guy nuts or is there really some weird stuff out there? Or maybe both? Like we say, it should be fun and actually, it is.

Digging Up the Marrow is the brainchild of writer/director Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen, Holliston) and artist Alex Pardee, whose work is the inspiration for the “monsters” who live underground near an old graveyard (where else?). This could have easily not worked but Green’s direction is fairly deft and the cast of what we assume are his mates put on a good show (including a particularly amusing turn from Kane Hodder as, er, Kane Hodder, failing to understand that the film isn’t a found footage flick and repeatedly giving his opinion about the make-up). But it’s not just a comedy, and while the horror is low-budget and low-key (of the commendable “less is more” school) it does actually manage to deliver a few jumps, genuine scares and some proper chilling dark stuff. In fact, despite its format, it’s actually easy to forget it’s supposed to be a documentary when it starts to suck you in during those tense moments.

There’s really only one minor criticism we’ve got of Digging Up the Marrow. While Ray Wise is in pretty good form as Dekker, the slightly unhinged monster-follower, he is pretty well known in the genre. So, with everyone else playing themselves, it’s slightly incongruous to have Ray Wise not playing Ray Wise, if you see what we mean. Nitpicking? Yeah, possibly…

So basically this is sort of Nightbreed (1990) in mockumentary form but much more fun than that actually sounds. It’s got scares and quite a few laugh out loud moments (because we don’t say LOL here at STARBURST) but our favourite line is when Dekker asks Green how soft the light he’s planning on setting up in the graveyard is. “On a scale of one to ten, I’d say it was very, very soft”. Well, we laughed…

INFO: CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: ADAM GREEN / SCREENPLAY: ADAM GREEN / STARRING: RAY WISE, ADAM GREEN, WILL BARRETT, RILEAH VANDERBILT, JOSH ETHIER, KANE HODDER / RELEASE DATE: JUNE 22ND

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KAMISAMA DOLLS SERIES COLLECTION

DVD REVIEW: KAMISAMA DOLLS SERIES COLLECTION / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SEIJI KISHI / SCREENPLAY: MAKOTO UEZU / STARRING: NOBUHIKO OKAMOTO, MISATO FUKUEN, AI KAYANO, RYOHEI KIMURA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Based on the manga series by Hajime Yamamura, Kamisama Dolls follows Kyohei Kuga as he moves to Tokyo to break away from his small town origins. While in the big city, and just before a babbled attempt to ask out the girl of his dreams, he stumbles upon the classic mood killer of a bloody corpse in an elevator; an incident which unravels Kyohei’s past and the fantastical secrets of his former town, where certain individuals called ‘sekis’ possess the ability to control ancient gods through mind powers.

At least, that’s how it begins. Once you’re beyond the opening episodes, Kamisama Dolls quickly buries itself in branching plot lines and additional characters. There’s Kyohei’s younger sister Utao, who’s struggling to control her ancient god pet; some business types trying to unearth the secrets of said gods; Kyohei’s past and twisted connection with a deadly assassin called Aki; the awkwardly handled romance between Kyohei and Hibino; then a random twin brother to Utao turns up but is quickly forgotten about to make room for everything else.

It’s frustrating, because the show can be enjoyable when honed to its core. A flashback episode revolved around Kyohei and Aki halfway through the series proves memorable purely because it trims the excess and doesn’t throw plot lines towards the audience at random. After this highlight however, Kamisama Dolls descends wildly into a convoluted mess; losing any intrigue under its lofty ambitions and the exhaustive tonal switches between comical fun and clunky melodrama.

While often all too common in anime, there’s also some cringe worthy camera lingering on some of the female characters. Most notably on Hibino San, or as she’s commonly referred to by others in the show, ‘the girl with the big tits’. The bad taste hangs beyond the main show too, with a baffling DVD extra of her working out in her swimsuit for a few, awkward minutes.

What feels promising at the outset of Kamisama Dolls soon dissipates underneath muddled plots, irritating characters and a poorly executed finale. There is certainly something here to salvage from its opening few episodes if a second series materialises, but in its current form Kamisama Dolls is best left to your imagination.

Special Features: Shorts / Japanese promos / Japanese commercials / Textless opening and closing / Artwork gallery / Trailers

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WOLVES

DVD REVIEW: WOLVES / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: DAVID HAYTER / SCREENPLAY: DAVID HAYTER / STARRING: LUCAS TILL, STEPHEN HATTIE, JASON MOMOA, JOHN PYPER-FERGUSON / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 2ND

Credited for the screenplay of X-men and Watchmen, David Hayter goes a little more supernatural than superhero with his directorial debut Wolves, starring Lucas Till as disturbed teen Cayden alongside co-stars Stephen Hattie and Jason Momoa.

Cayden was the popular kid in school, the top football player with the hot girlfriend. It all comes to an end when he starts to have violent nightmares. Eventually he blacks out, waking up to find his parents torn to pieces. Forced to flee, he wanders aimlessly until he meets the ominous Wild Joe (Pyper-Ferguson), a werewolf who sets Cayden on a path to discover who he really is. A small town conveniently named Lupine Ridge is where Cayden unearths his true history.

For a low budget horror the make-up effects are pretty impressive, though for a straight-up horror flick it was much too Teen Wolf and should have been more American Werewolf in London. What is most impressive about this film is the lack of exposition; usually with these films it’s pouring into your ears every five minutes, but with Wolves the plot proceeds quickly without unnecessary filler for what is a straightforward storyline.

Hayter pulls off an interesting concept but the same can’t be said for the execution of the plot or the performances. Lucas Till plays a very serious and brooding wolf that you just can’t actually take that seriously, very reminiscent of Robert Pattison’s Edward Cullen. Many werewolf flicks tend to have their own origin and rules. These wolves do not transform by the full moon but through adrenaline. Think Hulk but smaller and with fur. The teen angst thing is slightly overbearing and the tone of the film isn’t quite clear either. It has its entertaining moments, but the plot takes a funny turn, not in a laugh out loud kind of way, and suddenly the film isn’t as fun anymore.

Special Features: Deleted scenes / Gag reel

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THE JOE SHOW

DVD REVIEW: THE JOE SHOW / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: DANIEL FALICKI / SCREENPLAY: DANIEL FALICKI, JOSEPH MCINTOSH / STARRING: JOEY POTRYKUS, JEFFREY GOODRICH, CHARLEY VANPORTFLIET, NICK SNIDER / RELEASE DATE: TBC

We deleted the opening paragraph of this review so many times, frantically trying to rework it so we didn’t sound so hostile to the film and the people behind it. We even attempted to write the review in rhyming couplets at one point. But then we remembered the sad truth: we’re not skilled at writing good poetry and the writers of The Joe Show, a mystery drama about a dullard whose only excitement comes from performing said poetry, aren’t either.

It’s a shame they’re not, because the film doesn’t have a lot else going for it. The script is little more than a blunt instrument, devoid of the promised mystery (not much mystery when there are only two real suspects), the directing is merely competent and the actors… well, they’re making the best of what they’ve got.

In fact, we feel a bit bad for a couple of the female actors, as they seem to have been chosen for the parts because they have nice bodies rather than through any sense of artistic integrity. Normally we wouldn’t complain, but it just felt so blatant here that we had to call it out. It’s nowhere near pornographic but does feel exploitative.

The main issue we have is that it feels like it would have been easier on all involved to simply collect the poems that the writers used for the film into a self-published pamphlet, so that it could die in obscurity. But now the film’s here, we have to deal with it and its angsty teen breed of performance poetry. They are technically more skilled than we are at writing it, true, but that doesn’t make it, or the film in general, any good.

Special Features: TBC

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METROPOLIS

BLU-RAY REVIEW: METROPOLIS / DIRECTOR: FRITZ LANG / SCREENPLAY: THEA VON HARBOU / STARRING: ALFRED ABEL, GUSTAV FR ÖLICH, RUDOLF KLEIN-ROGGE, FRITZ RASP, THEODOR LOOS, ERWIN BISWANGER, HEINRICH GEORGE / RELEASED: OUT NOW

We’ve heard Metropolis being referred to as the first sci-fi movie. It isn’t. You might have heard the BBC recently describe it as the first feature-length sci-fi film. Still wrong; it’s not even close. There were some pretty long sci-fi movies well over a decade before Fritz Lang blew five million Reichsmark on this one. Metropolis isn’t really the first anything, so what’s all the fuss about? Glad you asked. You see, this is probably one of the most iconic movies, not just of early cinema, but in the history of film. The best silent movies were all about visual impact (obviously) and there aren’t many films more stunning to look at than Metropolis. Never has a movie been more worthy of a Blu-ray release and with this 2010 restoration you get to see it in all its original 150-minute bum-numbing glory. One can only wonder at what an audience of 1927 thought of it. Well, actually they weren’t particularly impressed: it bombed.

In case the film has passed you by then let’s just say it’s classic dystopian fare; a future living in the grim shadow of uncontrolled continuing industrial revolution where the almost zombified workers toil beneath the gleaming towers that are home to the means-of-production owning elite

So basically, if you’re not familiar with Metropolis then this massively influential piece of cinema is something you need to see (if only because Ridley Scott has); if you already are then you might as well get this version because it’s Blu-ray, has an interesting commentary and a load of documentaries. Mind you, hope you’re interested in Germans talking about film restoration because there’s rather a lot of that on the disc. Oh, and you also get the 1984 Giorgio Moroder version if Bonnie Tyler is your thing. Well, it might be. Who are we to judge?

Special Features: Audio Commentary / Giorgio Moroder’s 1984 version / Three documentaries / 56-page booklet

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THE CALLING

DVD REVIEW: THE CALLING / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: JASON STONE / SCREENPLAY: SCOTT ABRAMOVITCH / STARRING: SUSAN SARANDON, GIL BELLOWS, ELLEN BURSTYN, TOPHER GRACE, DONALD SUTHERLAND, CHRISTOPHER HEYERDAHL / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 16TH

Based on a novel by Inger Ash Wolfe (pseudonym for Michael Redhill), The Calling is an odd little Canadian chiller about a small town detective (Sarandon) with a drinking problem living in snowy Fort Dundas. One day she comes across this grisly murder and soon she’s on the hunt for a mysterious serial killer that has orchestrated these ritualistic manipulative corpses. As she’s trying to figure what all this is about, Donald Sutherland comes in to do a scenery-chewing cameo where he can deliver this ominous ooga booga speech that will no doubt become important to the plot, to which Christopher Heyerdahl fares rather better.

The film seems to look like the work of somebody who has watched and enjoyed both Fargo and Seven and can’t seem to figure out how much to borrow or rip off from each. So, unsurprisingly, The Calling is not very good in terms of the mystery that is happening in the film, plus you can pretty much work out who the killer will be instantly when you see him. But what is good is the relationship between Susan Sarandon and Ellen Burstyn, who plays her mother, as the relationship is quite sparky and fractious, yet quite sweet and enjoyable at the same time. Susan Sarandon has always been a fantastic actress, and here she does give a solid performance as the run-down investigator, whilst Ellen Burstyn seems to be enjoying what has been a very welcome big-screen revival lately; she stole the show in Kevin Costner’s latest release Draft Day and made a memorable cameo in Christopher Nolan’s epic Interstellar.

Although the unfolding murder mystery is pretty much clichéd, uninteresting, seen-it-all-before and not something to be bothered by, all the stuff with Susan Sarandon and Ellen Burstyn works rather well and makes The Calling worthwhile. But the murder mystery? Less so.

Special Features: Making The Calling

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BLOOD LAKE: ATTACK OF THE KILLER LAMPREYS

DVD REVIEW: BLOOD LAKE: ATTACK OF THE KILLER LAMPREYS / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: JAMES CULLEN BRESSACK / SCREENPLAY: ANNA RASMUSSEN, DELONDRA WILLIAMS / STARRING: SHANNEN DOHERTY, JASON BROOKS, ZACK WARD, CHRISTOPHER LLOYD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (US) TBC (UK)

Blood Lake draws from a wide pool of influences, the most obvious being Joe Dante’s Piranha; both see holiday makers terrorised by flesh-eating aquatic beasties. In this case it’s lampreys, best described in-film as an anus with teeth. Like Maggie in Joe Dante’s creature feature, Jason Brooks’ Michael is the straight-faced, reluctant hero. Being an expert on all things lamprey, he’s soon baffled by their strange violent behaviour, and it quickly becomes a question of survival, in a mad rush to stop them making their way into the Mississippi.

The set-up is all by numbers, with Michael moving his family into small town Michigan with the usual suburban displacement. The story, as is usually the case, is just a vehicle to get to the red stuff, and the gore effects are brilliantly over the top. Killing lamprey’s with a grass strimmer is a particularly gruesome delight.

Shot digitally for a slick look, director James Cullen Bressack stretches a thin budget, but the shocking quality of the CGI will have you in stiches. The half-decent practical effects makes you wish there’d gone the whole hog and made a latex throwback. Even more bizarre is the presence of Christopher Lloyd barking his way through the lines of grouchy Mayor Akerman.

Given the lake setting, there’s bikini bods, muscle jocks and pretty boys, though never as much as its eighties predecessors. It’s an impassioned ode to the creature feature, but more in love with the present than the past. As far as TV movies go, you’d be hard pressed to find one half us much fun.