Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Review: The Running Dead / Cert: 18 / Director: Adam Deyoe / Screenplay: Adam Deyoe, Josh Klausner, Loren Semmens / Starring: Scott Peat, James C. Burns, Marissa Merrill, Corsica Wilson/ Release Date: Out Now

You really have to admire the breathless, barefaced audacity of a zombie movie which has the gall to name itself The Running Dead. In actual fact the film’s production title was Dead Season and the alternative title is crudely superimposed over the onscreen title credit. We can only assume, therefore, that the DVD distributors, desperate to find a way to make their effort stand out from the zombie crowd, decided on the last-minute name change to capitalise on a certain zombie apocalypse TV show in the hope that at least a few of its viewers are stupid enough to assume there’s some sort of connection and thus mindlessly fork out for a film which sounds a bit like a TV show they’re watching. But seriously???

In fact, The Running Dead (which, as a title, misses the whole point of the title of the TV show) is a slightly more accurate name than the otherwise bland Dead Season – at least the zombies here do end up running a bit and it becomes something of a plot point. But otherwise there’s nothing new to see here, just another bandwagon low-budget zombie flick starring no one anyone’s ever heard of (not even their families and friends) as the world ends entirely off-screen and a few ragtag survivors fight to fend off some increasingly perfunctory-looking zombies. The Running Dead is set a year after “the start of the outbreak” and Elvis (Peat) and Tweeter (Merrill), two of the last people alive in the USA, flee to what they hope is an island refuge. But their hopes for a quiet life are dashed when they discover another small group of survivors, led by the ferociously militaristic Kurt (Burns), who rules by fear, keeps his teenage daughter under lock and key and is quite prepared to resort to gruesome depths to keep his group alive and fed.

Considering its budget, The Running Dead isn’t as miserable and witless as many in its overfed genre. The script is, for a change, more concerned with its characters and how they’re learning to adapt to their changed circumstances, rather than just piling on the carnage (which is just as well, as some of the action sequences are a bit on the clumsy side). But when the zombies start to run and the bodies pile up, the movie inevitably descends into the usual chaos of bone-crunching violence and blood-letting. Marginally more interesting than might have been expected, The Running Dead does just about enough to keep up the viewer’s interest but is destined to remembered more for its cheeky UK title than anything it has to offer as a zombie movie.

Extras: Commentary / Behind the scenes / Deleted scenes / Trailer

Review: The Baytown Outlaws / Cert: 15 / Director: Barry Battles / Screenplay: Barry Battles, Griffin Hood / Starring: Clayne Crawford, Daniel Cudmore, Travis Fimmel, Eva Longoria, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Wesley, Andre Braugher / Release Date: December 26th 2012

The Baytown Outlaws are three redneck brothers (Crawford, Cudmore, Fimmel) making a living as guns for hire.

One day, after killing someone at the wrong address, they are approached by a beautiful witness (Eva Longoria) who offers them $25,000 to get her godson back from her psycho ex (Billy Bob Thornton). Of course the job is not quite as simple as it seems and they end up fighting gangs of biker chicks and Native Americans while trying to outrun the law. In the meantime a CIA agent (Wesley) turns up in their home town questioning the sheriff (Braugher) on why there are so many violent crimes going unresolved.

The film is an enjoyable shoot-’em-up romp through the Deep South of America. It’s not meant to be taken too seriously and has a decent cast, a couple of whom ham it up but not to the point of over-acting. Despite the relatively modest budget of $4million, there are some good action sequences complemented by fast editing and a great soundtrack.

Despite this, the film does not last long in the memory and there are a couple of cliché’s, but it’s worth a watch nonetheless and will please fans who like Tarantino or The Boondock Saints.

Extras: Making of featurette / Theatrical trailer / Original trailer

Review: Groundhog Day / Cert: PG / Director: Harold Ramis / Screenplay: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis / Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott / Release Date: Out Now

Bill Murray and Harold Ramis’ classic receives a timely Blu-ray re-release, packed with a whole host of exclusive special features. Best of all though – the full spectrum of Bill Murray’s most sarcastic facial expressions, all in lovely HD.

In a day and age when Groundhog Day always seems to be on television, re-watching the film can seem like a perpetual February 2nd. Most will have seen this classic movie by now. But, like most classics, it’s well worth frequent viewing. Murray and Ramis have made plenty of incredible and iconic movies in their time (most notably Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman) but for this reviewer’s money, Groundhog Day is their very best.

Murray plays Phil, a sarcastic and cynical weatherman who is sent to a small American town to film a report on their yearly Groundhog Day festival. It’s just another day in the life of an increasingly bored weatherman. Little does Phil know, however, he will be forced to re-live that day many more times. It quickly becomes too much, even for wisecracking Bill Murray. Wouldn’t you be depressed if you had to listen to Sonny & Cher do I Got You Babe over and over and over again?

It’s easy to forget just how black the comedy in Groundhog Day gets. Even beyond the repeated suicide of one of our most beloved comedy figures, there’s the heartbreak, the loneliness and the despair. As Phil attempts to forge a meaningful connection with Andie MacDowell’s Rita, it’s almost heart-breaking. Groundhog Day brings us the performance of Bill Murray’s career. Rarely can a movie sell a character’s redemption as much as it does his nastiness in the first place. The fun in A Christmas Carol (and even Scrooged) is seeing Scrooge act like a hilarious bastard towards everyone, rather than his redemption at the end. But Phil’s transformation from complete ass to loveable superhero (saving lives every day) feels completely natural and just a little adorable.

Groundhog Day is one of the most intelligent romantic comedies ever made. It’s brilliantly acted, very funny, sweet and very clever. It’s an existential romantic comedy in which the hero commits suicide several times and uses quite dubious methods to seduce his love interest. Yet it really is quite wonderful. Groundhog Day is one of those classics which is every bit as good as everyone says it is. Every movie collection deserves a copy. Those who haven’t seen it already should do so forthwith. Those who have could do far worse than picking up this definitive release.

Like February 2nd, Groundhog Day deserves revisiting again and again. It’ll make you a better person.

Extras: A Different Day: An Interview with Harold Ramis / The Study of Groundhogs: A Real Life Look at Marmots / newly discovered deleted scenes / The Weight of Time – a documentary on the making of Groundhog Day / audio commentary with director Harold Ramis.

It’s difficult not to get caught up in the absurd campiness of the Power Rangers franchise. Brightly coloured costumes, special signature moves, dialogue that would be at home in an early Stan Lee scripted Spider-Man comic, bad set pieces, awful special effects – yet undeniably good, clean fun.

Power Rangers, it will comes as no surprise, is aimed specifically at a children’s market. Adults are forbidden. We’re not expected to understand, much less care for the source material. So with this in mind, Starburst has recruited two special reviewers to cast their expert opinion on the matter. Scarlett and Maia, age (7) and (4) respectively. And of the series as a whole this is what they had to say.

Starburst: What were the best bits?

Scarlett and Maia: We liked it when they killed the baddie and made the boy’s life better.

So who’s the best Power Ranger?

The pink one is the best, because she can nearly do it all. She’s very good. And she can jump really high.

And who was the worst?

The light blue one, he didn’t really do much – or fight!

If you were scrolling down the children’s channels and came across Power Rangers would you watch it over something like Scooby-Doo?

No. Scooby is good because it’s scary and fun, and Power Rangers is good, but we don’t like the baddies in it. They’re too powerful.

Is Power Rangers aimed for boys, or girls, or both?

It’s a boy’s program, although some girls might like it.

And there you have it, from the mouths of the (almost) target audience.

At the start of each episode we are treated to a quick voice-over explaining the status quo before the spandex-clad action begins.

Centuries ago in Japan, Nighlok monsters invaded our world. Samurai warriors defeated them with power symbols passed down from parent to child. Today, the evil Nighlok have risen once again and plan to flood the Earth. Luckily, a new generation of heroes stand in their way. They are the Power Rangers, Samurai.

In the two-part origin story the usual group is assembled: red leader Jayden, Kevin the blue, yellow and pink who are completely interchangeable, and green Mike the rebel.

This is the Power Rangers eighteenth season and collects the first five episodes for your viewing pleasure. Saban Brands have bought back their franchise and given this new series an upbeat tone and a comedic value that they hilariously felt was lacking in the previous seasons. It’s also the first season to be shot in HD and originally aired on Nickelodeon.

Eighteen years is an incredible run for any series and its popularity shows no signs in slowing, Power Rangers continues to attract around 2 million viewers per episode.

Understandably then, Saban Brands fully expect to milk this cash cow and with that in mind have embraced the various online formats to sell their product. Samurai apps, facebook pages, social media and streaming content are all just a click away to overdose your child on should you want. All these extra, um, goodies can thankfully be ignored, you don’t need it for the series, though it would be hard to imagine a fan not wanting to buy the toy, or dress up as a samurai and surprise the cat from time to time wielding a plastic sword and shouting, ‘It’s morphin’ time, fur-ball!’

Still, this is a good example of, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. And it bears saying that watching brightly coloured characters pretending to kick the snot out of each other can be vastly entertaining, maybe not as much fun as watching brightly coloured robots beating the snot out of each other, but a close second.

The children love it. Our reviewers became actively engaged in the characters, cheering them on when they saved the day, or booing when the evil Nighloks came close to succeeding in their dastardly plans.

Therefore it must be considered a winner. Long may it, cough, reign.

DVD Review: Amicus House of Horrors / Cert: TBC / Director: Derek Pykett / Starring: Geoffrey Bayldon, Derek Pykett, Angela Pleasence, Peter Cushing / Release Date: Out Now

Subtitled A History of England’s Groundbreaking Studio of Terror, this two part documentary, clocking in at just over three hours, is a long overdue look at the talent behind such classic British horror films as Tales From The Crypt and Asylum.

Formed by two Americans, Milton Subotsky (who often wrote the screenplays) and Max J. Rosenberg (the money man), the company started life in 1962 as Vulcan Films with the atmospheric City of the Dead, and continued as Amicus up until the late ’70s. But it was their portmanteau films for which they are most fondly remembered, with their star names and deliciously macabre stories lifted from the American horror comics, or from the pens of Robert Bloch and R.Chetwynd-Hayes.

This wonderfully researched documentary covers each film chronologically and Pykett has managed to dig up (so to speak) some of the people who made the films. These are mostly lesser players in the Amicus story, as most of the big names are now no longer with us, although director Freddie Francis is seen interviewed by Pykett in archive footage. Amongst the luminaries happy to share their anecdotes are Stephen Weeks (director, I, Monster), Kevin Connor (director, From Beyond The Grave, At The Earth’s Core, The Land That Time Forgot), and actors such as Geoffrey Bayldon (Asylum) and Barbara Ewing (Torture Garden). Former UKTV stalwart Kenny Lynch waxes lyrical about his part in Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, and it’s an absolute joy to see Angela Pleasence, Donald’s daughter, talk about playing opposite her father in From Beyond The Grave, despite her admission that she has never seen it because she’s too afraid of horror films! While these may not be top-drawer names for the casual fan, it’s good to hear the lesser-known person’s take on the industry.

We also hear from people who worked in art design and make-up and even clapper loaders; their unguarded insight into the running of the studio, and the egos of the ‘stars’, is completely entertaining. The informal format of the interviews, and the limitations of the camera equipment at Pykett’s disposal sometimes means the background noise is a little off-putting (Bayldon is almost drowned out by passing aeroplanes and Ewing sounds like she was taking a break from working in a tea shop), but he must be commended for seeking these people out and letting them tell their stories.

The only footage from the films comes from public domain trailers, and as such is limited and of lesser quality, but by no means a negative part. Pykett’s rather dry narration is a little flaccid (perhaps one of the actors interviewed could have been coerced into doing it), but that’s a minor niggle in an otherwise great presentation. A worthy addition to any horror fan’s collection, it’s only available in the US for the moment, but can be imported from Oldies.com, where it is less than $10 at time of writing (and shipping isn’t ridiculous either).

Extras: Both discs contain some incredibly rare and frankly brilliant footage of Peter Cushing. On disc one is almost an hour of an interview filmed in 1983, and disc two features an episode of a religious programme, The Human Factor from 1990 in which Cushing speaks candidly about his dear wife Helen, whom he never got over losing in the early ’70s.

Review: Total Recall / Cert: 12 / Director: Len Wiseman / Screenplay: Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback / Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston / Release Date: December 26th

For the second big screen adaption of Philip K. Dick’s We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, director Wiseman (Underworld) has decided to follow the events in the short story a bit closer than Paul Verhoeven did.

After a chemical war makes much of Earth uninhabitable, there are two distinct populations on the planet: the United Federation of Britain, which is basically Europe; and the Colony, which is pretty much Australasia. Workers from the Colony commute to the UFB via a direct route through the centre of the Earth called The Fall, that takes 17 minutes. Bored of his life, Douglas Quaid (Farrell) decides to pay a visit to Rekall and have a fake spy memory implanted, but it appears that he may already be one. A brief massacre of a small police force later, Doug is forced to run. Seeking solace with his wife, Lori (Beckinsale), he learns that his life is a lie and he has to escape the murderous clutches of his spouse before trying to work out what to do next.

The resistance, led by Matthias (Bill Nighy) and Chancellor Cohaagen (Cranston) are both after Quaid for what may be locked in his mind. Throwing in Melina (Biel) to assist Doug, what we have here is an extremely stylised chase movie that rockets from one grandiose set piece to another. Don’t try and compare it to the Schwarzenegger version of 1990 as it’s a completely different beast.

There is no Mars trip involved, Lori now has a much bigger role as the tracker of Doug, and his ability to fall back on any help is greatly diminished. As a sci-fi film, it is well polished and pure candy for the eyes, taking obvious inspiration from everything from Blade Runner and I, Robot to The Fifth Element.

There are enough moments to keep you watching, including a hover car chase and a zero-gravity shoot-out, but because Wiseman has chosen to take this project seriously, it all comes across as a little too clean – to the point of almost being sterile. Stripped of any humour, it appears to have no real heart although it now does marry better with its literary sequel Minority Report (which also starred Farrell).

One last comment for Wiseman – turn the dial back on the lens flare, you’re not J.J. Abrams!

Extras: Extended Director’s Cut / Commentary on Extended Director’s Cut / Theatrical Cut /Total Recall Insight Mode / Gag Reel / Science Fiction vs. Science Fact Featurette / Designing the Fall featurette / Blu-ray Exclusives: 7 Total Action featurettes / Stepping into Recall Pre-visualization sequences / God of War: Ascension” PlayStation 3 Playable Game Demo

Review: Christmas Evil / Cert: 18 / Director: Lewis Jackson / Screenplay: Lewis Jackson / Starring: Brandon Maggart, Jeffrey DeMunn, Dianne Hull / Release Date: Out now

Meet Harry Stadling (Maggart) who, after seeing his father fondle his mother whilst dressed as Santa, seems to become emotionally crippled. He’s grown up into a badly adjusted forty-something who loves Christmas so much that he wears Santa pyjamas to bed, even if there’s 55 days to go until December 25th. He’s got a nice and creepy collection of dolls, too, and he’s voyeuristic, watching the local kids through his binoculars to ascertain if they’ve been naughty or nice.

His dead-end job at the Jolly Dream toy factory is demeaning, and when he is tricked into working an extra night shift for a colleague (while also being ridiculed for his obsession with the quality of the toys he makes), Harry finally loses the plot. He ‘becomes’ Santa, gluing the white beard to his face; only he doesn’t just decide who is worthy of a present. Instead, his choices are far more dire, involving life or death for those he judges.

This is touted as a slasher movie, but there is very little killing going on and the gore is laughable. Instead, it’s more of an insight into the mental breakdown of a man who never grew up. The tone of the film is extremely dark. Remember when Phoebe Cates’ character in Gremlins tells the horrifying story of her father getting stuck up the chimney and dying whilst dressed as Father Christmas? Well, run that moment for 90 minutes and you’ve got the tone of this little curiosity.

The DVD is not a great transfer, in fact it’s incredibly grainy. However, for those who hate the over-the-top nature of the holiday season, this will be perfect. A real killjoy for the Christmas spirit and nicely disturbing too. After all, any film that ends with Santa Claus being hunted down by a baying mob with torches a la Frankenstein deserves a viewing surely, and that’s not even mentioning what is perhaps the most bizarre final shot in a horror film ever.

A Christmas horror film with presents (sorry, presence), that John Waters has proclaimed to be the “greatest Christmas movie ever made”.

Extras: New widescreen transfer in the original ratio of the Director’s Cut / Audio commentary with director Lewis Jackson / Audio commentary with Lewis Jackson and director John Waters / Original story-board sequences / Comment cards / Rare audition tapes / Collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by critic and author Kim Newman, and with a new introduction by Lewis Jackson, illustrated with original stills

Review: Goosebumps – Series One / Cert: PG / Director:  Randy Bradshaw, Craig Pryce / Screenplay: Scott Peters / Starring: R. L. Stine (Host), Kathryn Short, Cody Jones, Scott Wickware, Hamille Rustia / Release Date: November 26th

“Viewer beware – you’re in for a scare.” There’s not a young adult – or parent of a certain age – out there today who won’t remember RL Stine’s Goosebumps books. For this horror fanatic, Stine’s series of scary novels for youngsters kick-started a passion for horror which abides to this very day. Goosebumps was childhood’s last stand before I moved on to the likes of Stephen King, Jack Ketchum and HP Lovecraft.

With Stine’s stories proving so astonishingly popular, it was only a matter of time before Goosebumps was adapted into a television series. Series One is now available on DVD, bringing a number of very memorable RL Stine tales to the small screen. The author himself shows up in the prologue to The Haunted Mask, one of Stine’s best novellas. The tale of a bullied young girl who becomes too attached to her Halloween mask is surprisingly creepy, given its age and target audience.

There are nineteen episodes in this set, consisting of such classics as The Phantom of the Auditorium, The Girl Who Cried Monster and The Werewolf of Fever Swamp. Amongst the best of the bunch is Night of the Living Dummy II, which is effectively Child’s Play crossed with Dead of Night for kids. Amateur ventriloquist Amy is gifted a new dummy by her parents, but Slappy is a malicious little creature. Trashing the house and cruelly insulting Amy’s family, the little girl repeatedly gets the blame for Slappy’s crimes. The Slappy stories were the most popular Goosebumps tales, spawning a number of sequels and becoming Stine’s signature villain. It may be for kids, but Night of the Living Dummy is vastly preferable to anything Chucky has done beyond Child’s Play 2.

Slappy isn’t Goosebumps’ only celebrity attraction. Say Cheese and Die features a young Ryan Gosling as its hero – a lad who finds a cursed camera in a dark basement. It looks more like a cross between a Cyberman’s helmet and a toaster than any camera I’ve ever seen, but it’s a horrible artefact all the same – injuring his friends and crashing his dad’s car. One would never guess that Gosling could go on to become a Hollywood A-Lister on the basis of this, but it’s the best story of the series. Meanwhile, It Came From Beneath the Sink has little Katherine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps and Freddy vs Jason) fighting an evil, um, sponge. It’s an icky feeling, having seen her strip naked to get killed by Freddy and Jason (both at the same time) but her performance shows a lot of promise. “Did I ever tell you what a wonderful sponge you are?” It’s a very silly story, but enjoyable all the same.

That opening sequence still has the power to send shivers down the spine. The stories remain compelling and fun. Goosebumps is the very best nostalgia trip – the kind that doesn’t disappoint, all these years later. Celebratory worm sandwiches all around – Goosebumps is still good!

Extras: None

Review: Supernatural: Season 7 / Cert: 15 / Director: Various / Starring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver / Release Date: Out Now

For a series that seems to live eternally under the threat of cancellation, Supernatural has got some real staying power.

The Winchester brothers Sam (Padalecki) and Dean (Ackles) return in the seventh season and there is quite literally no rest for the wicked, or the righteous come to that. Castiel (Collins) has now declared himself God and has taken it upon himself to wander around and strike down anyone who he sees as unworthy or evil. His wrathful journey does not last long, however, as he also absorbed the Leviathan as well as the powers of a deity, and they don’t want to be kept locked up.

Escaping, seemingly killing Castiel in the process, the Leviathan possess other bodies and seeks the Winchesters out, determined to kill them. Sam and Dean equally want to fight fire with fire and Dean becomes obsessed with the idea. When they discover a facility that the Leviathan have built, they are surprised to find out that it is being used to destroy cancer.

The problem is that whilst this is the case, it’s all part of a grander plan to turn humanity into a perfect food source. Castiel returns and they set out to kill the Leviathan and their leader, Dick Roman. Dean and Castiel succeed, but are sucked into Purgatory as a result, leaving Sam to deal with Crowley alone. It’s not the easiest of seasons for Sam, suffering hallucinations of Lucifer and the ghost of Bobby telling him that reality is an illusion and that he is still stuck in Hell with him.

This certainly is not the easiest entry point for a viewer for this series if you haven’t picked it up before, and some of the special effects look like they have been lifted from an early season episode of Buffy. But, and it’s a big but, you don’t have a genre series reach its eighth season (which has just aired) without good storytelling and strong characters. Supernatural has both and in a world where networks are quick to press the delete button – Firefly anyone? – it’s nice to have a series that you can rely on.

Wry humour, stand out episodes that weave comedy and horror, and a fulfilling story arc are the strong points. There are less entertaining ways to spend your evenings than with the Winchesters.

Review: Lovely Molly / Cert: 15 / Director: Eduardo Sanchez / Screenplay: Eduardo Sanchez, Jamie Nash / Starring: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden / Release Date: Out Now

Life imitates art, it seems, as Eduardo Sanchez’s grim and unsettling Lovely Molly arrives on DVD in the wake of the death, in strange circumstances, of the film’s star Johnny Lewis. Obviously there’s no connection between the film and the actor’s death – Lewis was clearly a troubled soul – but his death casts a long and uncomfortable shadow over a movie which already has problems of its own.

It looks at first as if Sanchez is revisiting the ‘found footage’ storytelling style he pioneered so successfully in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project as Lovely Molly opens with shaky-cam images of the wedding celebrations for Tim (Lewis) and recovering junkie Molly (Lodge). The couple move into Molly’s childhood home but she finds herself left alone when Tim’s work takes him out of town for long stretches. Here, inevitably and predictably, Molly’s world starts to unravel as she becomes tormented by her own demons and, possibly, some very real ones as her behaviour becomes more and more erratic and delusional. Disturbed by inexplicable sounds all around the house – slamming doors, children crying, horses hooves – Molly starts to videotape her experiences and the film becomes a found footage/ haunted house drama hybrid. Despite her efforts to integrate back into society when she takes a cleaning job, Molly spends too much time alone in the house and her condition deteriorates to the point that her entire personality is subsumed by something not entirely benign – with dire consequences to those closest to her.

Lovely Molly doesn’t really try to do anything new; we’ve been in this particular haunted house a few too many times recently. But Sanchez has a few decent tricks up his sleeve – there are a few warped scares here and there – and Lodge brilliantly portrays the disintegrating Molly, not least in the scene where she attempts to seduce the visiting Pastor and when a moment of passion with Tim turns horribly bloody. There’s not much of a feel good factor here, this is an unremittingly grim story which, like many recent similar supernatural horror movies, may be a little too ambiguous and nihilistic for some tastes. But Sanchez knows how to ratchet up the tension and whilst Lovely Molly can’t help but feel a little derivative it remains a well-crafted, intelligent and edgy horror film which you’re more likely to appreciate than enjoy.

Extras: Featurettes, commentary, trailer.