Horror
Rod Lott
As someone who loves mummy movies, I’ve long had The Awakening on my radar, but only now has the 1980 horror thriller come within reach, thanks to Warner Archive. While the film's rep isn't sterling by any stretch, I found it to be a nice surprise.

Comedy
Rod Lott
Coming from a family of doctors, yet being nothing more than a bar bouncer, Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott, American Reunion) feels down in the dumps, because he lacks "a thing." That changes when, defending his gay brother's honor from a homophobic slur at a hockey game, he punches the offending player with such power, the guy's helmet cracks open.

Comedy
Rod Lott
Among many other credibility-stretchers, This Means War asks the viewer to believe:

Documentary
Rod Lott
Don't tell anyone, but in my first year of high school, I owned a couple of Simply Red cassettes, purchased from Sound Warehouse. If you clicked on the link to read this review, it's likely you did, too.

Drama
Rod Lott
It's fun to compare Lucky Devils — a 1933 RKO Picture about stuntmen — to something more contemporary, like 1980's The Stunt Man or even last year's Drive. According to this fun flick, safety was like an afterthought, with the guys who were risking their lives getting the scene explained to them once, quickly and just before the director called, “Action!”

Horror
Rod Lott
On the bloody heels of Something Weird Video's The Blood Trilogy comes another Blu-ray of pioneering indie filmmaker Herschell Gordon Lewis' well-known works. The disc may hold one feature fewer, but high-def beggars can't be choosers, so chew happily on what you got: 1970's The Wizard of Gore and '72's The Gore Gore Girls, which would be his last directorial effort for more than 35 years.

Action
Rod Lott
Since 2005, Synapse Films has helped keep the sticky-floored spirit of grindhouse cinema alive by issuing collections of coming attractions under the 42nd Street Forever banner. Interested parties can catch up on the half-dozen titles thus far on DVD (I have, minus the lone XXX-Treme one) or opt for the new Blu-ray Edition. It's essentially a "greatest hits" piece, culling 80 trailers from all previous volumes.

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
You won't find Jules Verne's name in the credits of Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, but so integral is he to the surprise-hit sequel that the classic author is practically a supporting character, despite being dead since 1905.

Western
Rod Lott
Mill Creek Entertainment offers another "Spaghetti Western Double Feature" by pairing 1972's Grand Duel and 1976's Keoma on one Blu-ray. Although both already are available on the company's Ten Thousand Ways to Die: The Spaghetti Western Collection on DVD — not to mention a dozen other labels' public-domain discs — the prints here are so clear that fans of the genre should consider the small investment.

Comedy
Rod Lott
Imagine there were a pay-per-view pro wrestling championship battle in which the fighters were not your Hulk Hogans, but hulking creatures. Would you watch it?