Dead heads.
Two slackers wake up to find they have become zombies. Unlike the rest of their kind they have retained their humanity. They head off on a cross country road trip so one of them can reunite with his girlfriend. Made in Michigan the film is chock full of horror references including Evil Dead from one of Michigans most famous sons Sam Raimi. Dead heads doesn't always hit its marks and some of the jokes fall flat. Overall though its 90 minutes of fun and can be picked up really cheaply.
The perfect weapon.
Jeff speakman plays Jeff, he's a kenpo master whose mentor has been murdered by the Korean mafia. Naturally this being action cinema he's out for vengeance! Perfect Weapon is great fun if not a little dated in places. It must have seemed incredibly cool to open the film with Speakman doing his Kata to snap's 'I've got the power' unfortunately 20 years on it is slightly cheesy.
HOWEVER. Perfect weapon is worth a watch. The fight scenes are very well choreographed. James Hong is a great villain and the film is never, ever boring. I can live with cheesy, not boring.
The Blu-ray from olive is region free btw.
Night Tide.
Somewhat classier, Curtis Harrington's 1960 horror stars Dennis Hopper as a sailor on shore leave hanging around the bars, sideshows and attractions on Venice beach. In a jazz bar he meets a mysterious young woman who he becomes infatuated with.Finding out she is working on a carny side show as a mermaid Hoppers sailor soon hears some dark rumours about the woman and discovers she may in fact be a real mermaid from legend.
Harrington's film was shot independently at a time the independent film scene was not as prevalent as it would soon be (outside of Sam Arkoff and James H Nicholson of course) and Landing Hopper, who while not an A star had recently been working with James dean on films like Rebel without a cause and Giant, must have been a minor coup. The black and white photography looks marvelous and the haunting score and strange carnival attractions help instill the film with a strange otherworldly atmosphere. Kino have done a good job here as the film looks great, it's a region free Blu and is well worth picking up.
Day of the animals.
A disparate group of tourists head up into the wilderness on a hiking trip with their guide (played by Christopher George) only to discover the hole in the Ozone layer is driving all the animals nuts. Pretty soon the group are being mauled and killed off by Fuzzy critters as they fight for survival!
From the director of GRIZZLY (also worth seeking out) William Girdler. Day of the animals is a fun and occasionally genuinely creepy nature amok film. The animal photography and stunts are all first rate and the film manages to be genuinely tense. It's does occasionally veer into the ridiculous. Lesley Nielsen goes totally nuts, tries to rape a woman and when a bear wanders into camp (played by the momma bear of the bear from THE EDGE no less) he calls it a bastard and goes to fight it! That said its scenes like this that really endear me to the film!
Scorpions region Free Blu-ray looks ASTOUNDING. A really impressive transfer. The film has never, ever looked as good. If you haven't seen it and you like killer animal films then you really need to pick it up!!!
LAST STAND.
Arnie returns to the screens in a film that was unfairly panned by critics and shunned by cinema goers. Director Kim Je-Woon really makes the most of the material and delivers a genuinely entertaining and beautiful looking action picture with well choreographed action scenes and a real sense of fun. Personally I much preferred this to the expendables.
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