The Collector

So I was just last week bemoaning the fact that small but excellent independant horror films are not getting theatrical releases. Brilliant films such as Rogue, and Midnight Meat Train are getting sent straight to DVD despite great reviews from critics and preview audiences alike.

Maybe that is slowly changing...and if it is, then this film should truly start the ball rolling!


This was such a pleasant surprise for the wife and I, that we couldn't believe it. Truly suspenseful with lots of cringeworthy gore, violent inventive deaths, a creepy as hell villain, a hero character that hasn't really been done before, a great great nude scene, and perfect use of sound design including a music score comprised of ambient sounds, and the use of Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead.

A perfect mix of a first time director getting to stretch his wings and show what he can do, coupled with a great scriptwriting team who gave us Feast and Saw IV-VI.

PLEASE support horror this weekend, especially independant horror, and go see this movie. I would let slip a couple of the nicer setpieces of the movie but I knew very little going into this and I think it would work best for others if they did the same

Enjoy, and as always let me know what you think!

Universal's Wolf Man postponed...AGAIN

Just found out from Ken at Monster Island News that Universal has changed the release date for their Wolf Man remake for the astonishing 4th TIME, now coming out in February instead of November to avoid competition with the Twilight sequal. As if that wasn't bad enough, they are taking "advantage" of the time in between to add new special effects scenes that will change the title creature from the original Lon Chaney type 2 legged creature to a 4 legged one that will more resemble a wolf.

I can't for the life of me understand the need for this change. This is right up there with all the changes to the character of Godzilla in his Tri-Star remake years back. If you are going to alter things that much, why bother calling it The Wolf Man? It also seems like an insult to Rick Baker's talents and efforts who had designed an amazing tribute to the makeup of the original film, not to mention that Universal has already posted lots of publicity photos of the original look over the past year or so (remember, this was supposed to be out 2 years ago!!!)

Hopefully this news is a little premature and it won't be that radical of a difference. I wouldn't mind if the character de-evolved over the course of the film with the 4 legged animal only being in the last 10 minutes or so. Also if they play up the tragic romance of the storyline, the move to February may be a great idea, making it a Valentine's Day release would be perfect strategy for the studio.

What's everyone think?

New stuff

Added some items to the page over the past few days, including about 35 more tracks on the music player including the theme song to the original Prom Night which blew me away that I could find that! Also added more to the always updated list of blogs that would be of interest to anyone that comes here. Please check them often as I will be adding more. Lastly near the top of the page I put in a Netflix widget that shows 10 random titles from my Qeue list. Check it out and let me know what I should watch next!

Review: BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB

So it seems like I've been on a mummy bender lately, and I've seen about 6 or 7 of these in the past few weeks. I noticed I had never seen this before, hell I had never even seen a trailer for it. but, it was a Hammer picture, albeit a late entry for the studio, so I thought it would be a fun one to get me back in the game of reviewing.

A word of warning afendi, this falls in that despised category of mummy films (at least despised to me). In other words, it is a mummy film without a mummy in it. When you sit down in your carsophagus with a bowl of tana leaves to snack on and pop in any movie with the word Mummy in the title, what you are expecting to see is a guy in a red fez and a pencil thin moustache directing an unstoppable shambling corpse wrapped in moldy bandages, that goes around strangling anyone who gets in it's way. This one, however is primarily about reincarnation and the paranormal acquisiton of artifacts.

Having said that, I will remind you that this is a Hammer Studios Production, so there is a level of quality to this that saves it. It was released in 1971 and appears to take place roughly in that time period, so I was expecting the groovy mad mod feel to their later films that ruined the Dracula series (for a perfect example of this go see Dracula A.D. 1972) Fortunately it still looked and felt like the gothic masterpieces that Hammer excels in.

Also what Hammer was known for at the time was their films becoming increasingly sexier and gorier in an effort to keep people coming to see their films, so there is quite a bit of tame gore in this in the form of severed hands, bleeding stumps and torn throats. As for the sexy side of things within 1 second of the opening credits finishing we are treated to the heaving bosum of Valerie Leon whose credits include a few of the british Carry On series of films, and Queen Kong. This girl has the best cleavage I have ever seen in a Hammer film, and she personally saved the movie for me.



It is a fairly interesting story and visually it tried to be more than what it was so it fit the bill for an entertaining diversion, but without any major stars such as Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee (Hell, it doesn't even have Michael Ripper in it), it just seems to fall a little flat...except in the case of Valerie Leon.



So where can you see this if you so choose to? Well, unfortunately it appears to be out of print at the moment. It is available on Netflix, which is where I got it, or you can try finding a local video store that has a copy for rent. I included the Amazon link below, as it looks like a few people have copies for sale there, and it doesn't yet appear to cost a Pharoah's ransom compared to the cost of most out of print titles I've seen.


So I am always searching for people's input here and I know there aren't too many people that come here yet, but if you have any thoughts or comments on this flick or any others let me know, or just drop me a comment to talk about anything you want. Constructive criticism is welcome!

suspended animation

Ok, it's been brought to my attention (finally by someone other than myself) that the 7 months since my last update to this blog is long enough of a break. Having said that, I am going to take advantage of my abundant free time, to make this a somewhat fun place to be to the 2 people who may randomly stop in to see it (Hi Jessica and Vanessa ^_^)
I'm going to assume that since it's come and gone in theaters, and is now available on DVD that everyone has seen My Bloody Valentine 3-D, so I won't bother with the review I was going to do for it except to say I loved it, and if you haven't seen it, go buy it and watch it! BUT don't bother watching it in 3-D at home. That still hasn't been perfected yet.
SO! While I am thinking of some fun things to do to spruce up the joint, I'm going to ask my immense fanbase if there is anything they wish me to write about? Any movies that you're curious about and want a review for? Is there anything you've seen lately that you enjoyed and recommend?