See, he’s not your everyday schizophrenic, but a supernatural one, playing host to a half-dozen souls (hence the title) sharing one common thread: They were murdered. It’s an intriguing idea, and for a while, co-directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein (Underworld: Awakening) do it justice. Alas, it cannot last. Once the story moves into the […]
horror
Posted inArts & Culture
The Monk
Oh, well. Seeing the new film adaptation makes me feel as if I have. Obviously, I can’t speak to how closely it may or may not adhere to the book, but director Dominik Moll’s The Monk definitely is rich in its Gothic trappings. To me, that alone is a huge plus. In 16th-century Madrid, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Last Exorcism Part II
She even gets a job cleaning hotel rooms and attracts the eye of a boy who works there (Spencer Treat Clark, 2009’s The Last House on the Left remake). But she can’t escape everything — namely, the demon still inside her. Still produced in part by Eli Roth (Hostel) but directed by new blood Ed […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ninja III: The Domination
I sure did. Never have I seen a ninja movie as entertaining as Cannon Films’ 1984 epic. And I’ve literally had to wait 29 years to see it. I recall the 13-year-old more being intrigued by the black-and-white ads for it in the daily newspaper; remarkably, this Shout! Factory Blu-ray/DVD combo marks its first North […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Lifeforce
Time may heal all wounds, but it can’t repair damaged careers. It does, however, prove Hooper was in the right all along, especially judging by Shout! Factory’s Blu-ray edition, which allows American viewers to see the longer international cut while also giving them Cannon’s trimmed theatrical version. Whether you watch one, the other or both, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Dead Souls
Steve Niles’ Remains comic-book miniseries is terrific; Michael Laimo’s Dead Souls novel was average even by horror-paperback standards. Both resulting movies were directed by Colin Theys and written by John Doolan (the team behind Chiller’s inaugural telepic, Alien Opponent, not considered here because it’s not based on pre-existing material). Both also reside on a similar […]
Posted inMusic
Vulgar incident
You’re doing something right when the powers that be shut your show down early. Denton, Texas’ experimental duo Vulgar Fashion endured this rite of passage on May 30, when the owners of a posh Dallas nightclub called The Dram instructed the two to call it quits a mere 20 minutes into their set. The band […]
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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
Granted, that title tells you everything you need to know. Armed with steampunk weaponry and high-gloss camp, siblings Hansel (Jeremy Renner, The Bourne Legacy) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, Clash of the Titans) have devoted their lives to dispatching witches. In the case of this film, their current target is one (Famke Janssen, Taken 2) responsible […]
Posted inArts & Culture
dead again
Computer ChessJust in case there was any doubt that fashions and haircuts of the early 1980s were mighty ugly, the time capsule Computer Chess is a solid reminder. Writer-director Andrew Bujalski, in his use of antiquated cameras and technology that could make a TRS-80 look cutting-edge, evokes the period in gloriously fuzzy black and white. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Stripped / Nailbiter / American Mary
First, in Stripped, debuting feature director J.M.R. Luna updates the been-there scenario of college-age assholes on a holiday of hell by applying a coat of found footage to it. In this case, four friends gather to make the 21st birthday of one of them memorable, beginning with 8 a.m. bowl smoking before heading to Vegas, […]