THE PLOT THUS FAR

Danny Trejo (Machete), Anthony Michael Hall (The Dark Knight) and Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) star in this unrated, action-packed battle for vengeance. As a ruthless gang overruns a small mining town, they murder their own leader, Guerrero Hernandez (Trejo), in a cold-blooded power grab. Sentenced to eternity in hell, Guerrero finds himself confronted by Satan himself (Rourke), offering a daring proposition: deliver the six souls of his former gang and he will escape damnation. With time running out, he sets out on a brutal rampage to avenge his own death!

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Dead in Tombstone” is an odd as hell movie. But, the Direct to Video market is flourishing as former A list talent are coming together to work on these weird genre benders. Mickey Rourke playing Satan is cool as hell, but what else is there? Trejo is playing Trejo just in a different locale. Anthony Michael Hall is trying like hell to keep the story going forward. Is it a failure? Oh yeah. Is it bad? Hell no. If anything, we need more movies like this.

The western elements are played for full cartoon caricature stereotype and look decent enough while being obviously anachronistic, there’s just no real excitement to the movie at all. It’s very standard revenge plot action wannabe without the budget and flash to carry it off. You know everything you need to know in the first 5 minutes of the movie and if you are like me and have seen a lot of action movies you’ll even be able to accurately predict many of the set action sequences before they happen.

The Blu-Ray comes with a Digital and DVD copy. Plus, you get a commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes and a few HD exclusives. The A/V Quality is sharp for DTV with a supportive 1080p transfer. However, I felt that the sound mix on the DTS-HD 5.1 track was a little too aggressive during the shootouts. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

Step inside a madhouse of horror and experience the chilling new incarnation of TV’s most daringly provocative series. The sins of the past haunt the present at the notorious Briarcliff home for the criminally insane, ruled with an iron fist by Sister Jude. Forbidden desire and terrifying evil lurk around every corner…from alien abduction to demonic possession to a skin-wearing psychopath known as Bloody Face. Emmyr winner JESSICA LANGE leads an exceptional ensemble cast, including ZACHARY QUINTO, JAMES CROMWELL and SARAH PAULSON. ‘It’s genuinely, unrelentingly horrific and creepy’ (Time Magazine) and a ‘totally addictive’ (The Washington Post) show.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Asylum” opens with an abandoned mental institution and a couple who has set off to explore it. As they enter its walls, the setting reverts back to 1964, and the story begins with a female reporter, Lana Winters, who is attempting to expose Briarcliff Mental Institution, a home for the criminally insane, of its corruption. In the process, she comes to discover a new serial killer that is being housed there as he awaits trial. When Winters is denied the story by a nun that is running the institution, Winters trespasses on to the property. Discovered by the despotic head-nun, Sister Jude, Lana Winters is blackmailed, punished, and committed to the asylum for her homosexuality. Behind Briarcliff Mental Institution’s closed doors, all sanity is left as you embark on a twisting journey, with an ever-thickening plot, in to the despairing depths of crazy.

The show’s jump from its common suburban area to its current dilapidated and abandoned horror house was a jump made with immaculate results. And boy does it still contain its sexy moments followed by the perfect amount of comedy relief and a lot of horror. Unlike most horror films today that focus mostly on “jump scaring” the audience, Asylum, still like the first season, has a complete layer of eerie, dark, psychological terror with a small core of complete terror and fear for one’s sake. Honestly, I just appreciate that the horror anthology is making a comeback.

The Blu-Ray comes with deleted scenes and featurettes. The DTS-HD 5.1 master audio really makes the Bloody Face action come to life. The 1080p transfer plays it smooth against the coolness of the insane asylum and the frequent dark scenes. It’s on par with the first season, so you should know what to expect. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

THE PLOT THUS FAR

A diplomat is nearly assassinated. In order to save him, a submarine is shrunken to microscopic size and injected into his blood stream with a small crew. Problems arise almost as soon as they enter the bloodstream.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Fantastic Voyage” involves a top secret miniaturization program being developed by the Americans and concurrently by what’s hinted to be The Soviets. A scientist from the other side has the secret of counteracting the situation where the miniaturization effects wear off after one hour. Unfortunately, the scientist receives a brain injury in an assassination attempt. This results in General Carter, the commanding officer of the project deciding to “send in” a team of experts miniaturized, to the injured man’s brain to repair the damage.

The team consists of Drs. Duval and Michaels, Pilot Capt. Owen and the romantic leads, Grant and the ever lovely Raquel Welch as Duval’s assistant. Assisting O’Brien as a medical expert is Arthur O’Connell as Col. Reid. Of course, as in most film’s of this type there is the inevitable fifth columnist aboard. The acting is good, particluarly the performances of veterans Kennedy, Pleasance, O’Brien and O’Connell.

The Blu-Ray comes with the featurettes, interviews, promo spots and commentary ported over from the Special Edition DVD. Plus, you get a period appropriate DTS-HD 1.0 master audio track that keeps that mono track booming. Plus, you get a modern DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track to go alongside the stunning 1080p transfer. If that wasn’t enough, you also get an isolated score track. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!

THE PLOT THUS FAR

As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop’s deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Maniac” is about a depressed and genuinely deranged serial killer who by day works at a mannequin shop, mostly reassembling old mannequins and by night, he prowls the streets of Los Angeles, searching for young females to slaughter so he can use their scalps in his private collection of mannequins back at his home, however, his life takes an unusual and positive turn when a young photographer, fascinated by his store, asks him to assist her with an upcoming photo shoot involving his mannequins.

The P.O.V approach is spot on, for then you truly tend to understand what goes inside that head of his. After a point of time it turns into a personal experience of sorts and this is what P.O.V brings to the table. The strain and the blurry visions when Frank has those migraines reciprocates his own pain and you first hand live through his troubled life, feeding into his dreams and upon his preys. It would be incorrect to call Maniac a slasher movie, it does have elements resembling the Slasher genre but in it’s nuances you find a whole gamut of emotions colliding and forging his actions. It explores Frank inside out and in turn generates sympathy for him. His loneliness and his apprehensions in confronting his emotions tend to make him more than a simple antagonist.

The Blu-Ray comes with a commentary, documentary, deleted scenes, poster gallery and trailer. The A/V Quality sports an immaculate 1080p transfer. Plus, the DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track holds up for an indie horror film. While the remake is dividing hardcore classic horror fans, I appreciate what Aja and company tried to do here. I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!