Thriller
Rod Lott
A slaughtered pig hangs in the middle of a room, at which Inspector Bun (Lau Ching Wan, “Black Mask”) stabs. Then he zips himself up in a suitcase and asks a colleague to push him down a stairwell. Then he cuts off his own ear as a going-away present for his boss.

Drama
Rod Lott
It sucks getting old.

Thriller
Rod Lott
The less you know about "Rabies," the better. Don't be misled by the title, which suggests some sort of viral thriller along the lines of "Contagion." However, the movie is so clever, so twisty-turvy, you may foam at the mouth in satisfaction.

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
From 1983, “Deadly Spawn” clearly is rooted in the style of the 1950s sci-fi monster movies whose posters bedeck one of the character’s walls, from Bert I. Gordon's "The Spider" to Jack Arnold’s “Monster on the Campus” — films in which severe deficiencies in budget are mitigated by ingenuity and charm.

Action
Rod Lott
Just in the past 15 years, I’ve seen literally hundreds of martial-arts movies, a genre that — especially in its 1970s heyday — thrived on abiding to a mindless, predictable template. As a result, many are indistinguishable from one another.

Comedy
Rod Lott
In simplest terms, producer Ted Bohus’ new-to-DVD “Hell on Earth” reads a lot like his most famous film, the new-to-Blu “The Deadly Spawn”: Most of it takes place in one house, with a family and a few invited friends menaced by an otherworldly force.

Drama
Kathryn Jenson White
Community ranks as key on the list of basic human needs. After water, food and shelter, our need to connect with others drives and defines us.

Action
Rod Lott
After busting a playing card-costumed criminal ring of safecrackers, members of the Justice League of America face their greatest foe yet: “Doom.”

Action
Rod Lott
While nowhere near infallible as the title may suggest, Immortals is superior to the other recent big-budget epic to take a comic-book look at mythology, the Clash of the Titans remake. Immortals also is more coherent — not completely coherent, but enough to keep me from dozing off.

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
In an abandoned lab in Jackson, Fla., one Dr. Leopold (Marshall Grauer) completes a seven-year project to mutate and transform himself from a mild-mannered, dumpy-looking mad scientist to an upright, green-scaled creature (Wade Popwell) who retains all of the doc's mental functions and artistic abilities.