Repentance

Tommy Carter is a man who has changed his life following a car crash, he re-starts it as a life-coach for people with problems. Tommy has also written a best selling book about his experiences and when he meets a troubled man Angel, he feels he must help him.  Angel is grieving about his deceased Mother and is having real difficulty accepting this.  Tommy does all he can but appears to be unsuccessful and when he is sets off to go on a book promotion tour, Angel has other ideas.

Repentance is one of those films with lots of ideas thrown into the mix.  There is the grieving son, the troubled brother and some old school hocus pocus going down with visions.  The central performance from Forest Whitaker is great, if slightly over the top.  I must say I love his twitching hand when he gets stressed.  Anthony Mackie does well as Tommy and he is backed up by Mike Epps and Sanaa Lathan as his wife.

It's perfectly acceptable entertainment, if a little cliched.  You have seen it all a million times before, so don't expect anything earth shattering but it's all very well made and a passable time waster.

• Starring Anthony Mackie  Forest Whitaker  Sanaa Lathan
• Director Philippe Caland
• Distributor Sony

Secrets & Lies

Ben Gundelach is your normal family man and on one particular morning goes out for a jog.  Unfortunately for him he finds the body of a murdered youngster.  The case catches the eye of the national press and Ben's life will never be the same again.

A terrible chain of events begin to occur with more twists and turns than a country lane.  That's all I'm going to say on this frankly superb drama series.  All six episodes are masterfully directed and acted with a script that takes you to places like the character of Ben you wouldn't want to go.

Martin Henderson acts his socks off as Ben the everyman going through sheer hell, you may remember him in the lead male role in the US Ringu remake and deserves a huge pat on the back for his thespian efforts.  Secrets & Lies is one of those mini-series you could easily binge on in one or two sittings, it's simply that good.  It's a reminder that our Australian cousins do produce quality television and not just Neighbours.  

A first class production and if you don't see it you're missing something very special.

• Starring Martin Henderson  Anthony Hayes  Diana Glenn
• Directors Peter Salmon and Kate Dennis
• Distributor Acorn

Tokarev aka Rage

Paul Maguire is an ex member of the Irish mob. who was lucky to walk away and start a new life.  He is now a successful and rich property developer with a beautiful wife and teenage daughter.  Life is good until his daughter is kidnapped.  Paul is convinced his past has caught up with him and he recruits his two oldest friends to kick some ass and find his daughter.

Paul believes the Russian mob is behind the kidnap due to a regrettable incident many years before.  He is asked by his old boss to leave well alone and let the police (Danny Glover) do their job.  Paul won't and it all goes pear shaped.

Cage once again plays the everyman (although this time reformed) who has his world turned upside down and has to become a mean son of a bitch again.  He is backed up by his friends, one is a bar owner and the other likes strippers and recreational drugs.  They have no problem throwing the fists and pulling the trigger in the direction of scumbags.

Not particulary original but enjoyable and violent when it has to be.  Cage is as usual very good and it's nice to see his 8MM co-star Peter (Dino Velvet) Stormare turn up as a wheelchair bound mobster.  Great entertainment, it won't win awards and some critics have crucified it.  I thought it was all rather pleasant, it isn't Con Air but it's pretty good.

• Starring Nicolas Cage  Rachel Nichols  Peter Stormare
• Director Paco Cabezas
• Distributor Anchor Bay

Way of the Wicked

Now here's something that doesn't happen a lot, Vinnie Jones playing a sympathetic character.  In this film he portays John Elliott a smalltime cop/single parent raising a young daughter.  A few years ago his daughter Heather's friend Robbie was involved in the death of a small child and with the scandal it brought moved out of the area.  Now Heather is at High School, Robbie is back.

Robbie immediately befriends Heather again much to the annoyance of the 'in crowd'.  Weird stuff begins to happen to people as it did all those years ago when Robbie and Heather were little.  

Enter a priest played by Christian Slater who informs Vinnie that Robbie may be the Anti-Christ.  As you would expect Vinnie isn't impressed but then it all behgins to piece together.

With the Anti-Christ plot I was expecting an Omen rip off in fact if anything the film owes quite a bit to Brian DePalma's underrated The Fury.  A nice little time waster and there is one particularly great death which I rather enjoyed.  

• Starring Vinnie Jones  Emily Tennant  Jake Croker
• Director Kevin Carraway
• Distributor Signature Entertainment

Killing Season

In terms of talent (and at times box office clout) you aren't going to get much bigger than Robert DeNiro and John Travolta, so it's strange that we have had to wait until now for Travis Bickle and Vincent Vega to make a film together.

Ghost Rider and Daredevil director Mark Steven Johnson pits Travolta's Serbian Soldier against the ex NATO guy of Robert DeNiro. DeNiro's character of Ford has grown weary of the world and has gone to find some peace in a remote cabin.  Travolta (who looks very scary and has an equally scary accent) befriends DeNiro and lures him into a false sense of security and then instigates a deadly game of the old favourite Cat and Mouse.  Personally, I felt the film has a bit of a 'Hard Target' vibe with it's woods setting and use of weaponry.  

It's took a year for Killing Season to find it's way to the UK since the US release where it was somewhat hammered by the critics.  It's no classic but I found it rather engaging and the leads ARE ALWAYS watchable.  It's a great looking film and all in all it's worth a bash. Don't believe everything you read, make your own mind up.  I went in with an open mind and rather enjoyed it.

• Starring Robert DeNiro  John Travolta  Elizabeth Olin
• Director Mark Steven Johnson
• Distributor Lionsgate

Hands of the Ripper

Jack the Ripper is at large in Victorian London and to escape he flees to his home where he lives with his wife and young daughter.  Years later the young girl is in the care of a fake medium who is brutually murdered after a seance.  A kind doctor decides to take her in as his ward as she is obviously disturbed being there at the murder scene and attacked by a sleazy MP as well.

It appears Anna is possessed by the spirit of 'Saucy Jack' and can turn in an instant into the man himself.  Dr Pritchard faces a race in time to try and cure her before another body hits the deck.

Hands of the Ripper was one in a line of the later Hammer Horrors (made with their deal with Rank) and is dripping in Victorian atmosphere.  The two central performances from Eric Porter and Angharad Rees are excellent and are backed up by a stellar British cast.  The film received mixed reviews at the time of it's release.  I'd never seen it until now and think it is rather under rated and definately worth a bash.  It's bloody too.

• Starring Eric Porter  Jane Merrow  Angharad Rees
• Director Peter Sasdy 
• Distributor Network

You Are Not Alone aka House Swap

After finding it on the internet aspiring screenwriter Matt and his girlfriend Ginny swap their house for six months in LA for a nice posh mansion in Glastonbury.  Looking at the cover you would expect some form of slasher picture or a creepy Amityville rip off but when the film started, it materialised as part of the ever growing 'found footage' genre and my heart sank.

Thankfully my initial reaction was totally wrong as the film is quite a clever piece of film making utilising camcorder and CCTV cameras. There are noises in the night and whilst travelling around Glastonbury town and the Tor someone appears to be lurking in the background.  Matt contacts the owners in their house in the States and it turns out they have a stalker.  They couldn't give a monkey's toss so its up to Matt to catch the guy in the act.

The movie has good performances from it's two leads and like I said above is well made.  Although its like a lot of product out there, it has an original setting, some nice views of Glastonbury, a quality West Country accented copper and a bloke with a sack over his head.  Worth a bash, if found footage is your bag.

• Starring Nathan Nolan  Evie Brodie  Seth Sinclair
• Director Mark Ezra
• Distributor 101 Films

The Unleashed

Madison Kennard has to return to her hometown after her Mother passes away as she has been left the family home.  Madison's best friend Lindsay organises a gathering of all her old buddies and they congregate  that evening to catch up.  When one of them finds a ouija board, some of them try it out and unfortunately for them something comes across from the spirit world.

Madison since returning home has been having weird dreams featuring all sorts of supernatural goings on and decides to go to the local occult book shop for some help.  The assistant there is well informed and tells her there is some serious stuff going down. Madison is approached by a writer who offers to help which is a good job as one of her friends gets possessed.

The Unleashed is not too bad at all, it has some nice thriller elements with some ghosty stuff thrown in for the first hour or so and then the excrement hits the fan.  We get topless violin playing ghosts, old hags and a vengeful spirit after his wife for killing him.

Some of the effects are well done and the old hag's make-up is pretty smart too.  The only real letdown is some of the acting is a bit wooden, but to be honest you can go far wrong with a ouija board horror.  It's not Kevin Tenney's Witchboard, but pretty reasonable entertainment all the same.  Watch out for Caroline 'Stretch in TCM2" Williams in a small role as a college professor and Malcolm McDowell earned himself a few easy quid narrating the start of the film.

• Starring Trisha Echeverria  Jessica Salgueiro  Colin Paradine
• Director Manuel H.  Da Silva
• Distributor Signature Entertainment

After the Dark

It's the final day of term at an international school in Jakarta, Indonesia.  Posh Philosophy teacher Mr Zimit wants to set his class a task, that task being how they would choose who would survive in an apocalypse.  Zimit says there is a bunker and the students have to pick who will live after knowing their set of skills such as a carpenter or an engineer.

What follows then are a series of scenarios where their survival skills and instincts are played out.  Although they are based in the classroom, the film moves to different exotic locations where the bunker is situated to give the film some dramatic weight.  Which in all fairness, works really well.

Zimit is a bit of an ego maniac and constantly pushes his students to their limits, they soon work out his twisted intentions and turn the tables on him in this rather sick 'game'.  There's some nice special effects thrown into the mix and pretty good performances all round from the cast.  Keep an eye out for Ron's Weasley's younger sister from Harry Potter who has a main role in the film.

I found the film quite refreshing, clever in parts and some good twists in the story.  Definately worth your time and effort.

• Starring James D'Arcy  Sophie Lowe  Rhys Wakefield  Bonnie Wright
• Director John Huddles
• Distributor Signature Entertainment

Grindhouse Trailer Classics 4

Trailer discs are nothing new to the market, but some are poorly constructed with any old crappy previews thrown together to create the 'Grindhouse Experience".  Things are different at Nucleus Films, these guys care what is shown and make sure the trailers are in good condition and in the right aspect ratios where possible.

We kick off with the famous Coming Attractions introduction to the strains of Funky Fanfare by Keith Mansfield.  In fact there are several different versions of this tune available, check them out on the KPM label among others.  The 'No Masturbation' title card is fun and we start with the first trailer which is 'The Little Cigars' which basically is gangster midgets and looks incredibly bad but strangely entertaining as well.

There is some good stuff here such as Sweet Jesus: Preacher Man, Curtains, Bamboo Gods and Iron Men, Deathmaster and Al Adamson's Blood of Dracula's Castle.  There tends to be a leaning this time around to a lot of T&A exploitation with boobs everywhere, no real issues there and there is a couple of films again on the compilation I shall try and get hold of.

All in all, another great value disc from a company that really does care what it puts out and nice Graham Humphreys art on the cover as well.

• Distributor Nucleus Films

The Invoking

When Sam was around five she was adopted and cannot remember her birth parents.  Out of the blue she is informed she has inherited a house from a recently deceased Aunt.  She and three friends decide to take a road trip to see the property which as you would expect is in the middle of nowhere.

They are greeted by Eric who is acting caretaker of the property and lives in the guest house not too far away.  Eric you can tell from the word go is a creepy dude, as he always seems to pop up at inconvenient times and frankly looks like someone who would torture small animals.

Weird stuff starts to happen to Sam with her friends all becoming what appears ghosts or visions of the past.  You see Sam's real Father was a bit of a nutter and Eric has a connection to her as well.

The Invoking is alright, but I found wanting more.  The concept is good and the overall production is put together well.  Unfortunately it took ages to get going and when it cranked up, I thought it seemed in a rush to finish and tie up the loose ends.  It's okay, but there is far superior product out there.  It does have a great creepy vibe at times and good use of the surrounding woods though.

• Starring Trin Miller  Andi Norris  Josh Truax  
• Director Jeremy Berg  
• Distributor RLJ Entertainment

The Attic aka Crawlspace

The Gates' are a nice typical family, the house of their dreams comes on to the market after being repossessed and they snap it up. At the same time daughter Kayla returns from college and moves in also.

However, the house has a sad past with the accidental death of two children in the swimming pool.  Worst still, the previous owner Aldon Webber hasn't left and lives in the attic unknown to the new occupants.  Aldon has definately got a screw loose as he wanders around the house at night, takes out the trash and other chores.  Unfortunately the old dear next door spots him and so begins a reign of terror.

The Attic is an old fashioned cat and mouse thriller made a bit more spicy with some nudity and gore.  It's a bit predictable but saved by a great manic performance from Steven Weber as nutty Aldon, a bit of lame comedy courtesy of the eidest son trying to get into the babysitter's pants and some original deaths by household implements.  Not the greatest film ever made, but certainly not a waste of time.

• Starring Steven Weber  Jonathan Silverman  Lori Loughlin  Raleigh Holmes
• Director Josh Stolberg
• Distiributor 101 Films

Lord of Illusions

With only three features and a couple of shorts, Clive Barker's work on film isn't as comprehensive as his wonderful writing, however with the small film resume quality is assured, even with pesky studio executives tampering with his edits and generally poking their oar in.

Private Detective Harry D'Amour (Scott Bakula) becomes entangled in the world of magic when he discovers the body of a shop owner named Quaid.  This leads hims into the world of Swann, a famous magician and his beautiful wife played by Famke Janssen. Swann was originally involved in a cult ran by a chap called Nix (a rather unpleasant fellow) along with Quaid and others.  To be honest if I was going to reveal anymore it would ruin a great film.

The film is packed with terrific imagery (Barker is a great painter) and good performances.  Bakula is no way like Sam from Quantum Leap in this picture and shows he is a fantastic actor.  All in all, good stuff and with Barker's preferred Director's cut including in the package this is quite an essential film to have on your shelf.  A film starring and made by adults for adults not teenagers.  

• Starring Scott Bakula  Famke Janssen  Kevin J. O'Connor  
• Director Clive Barker
• Distributor 101 Films

Arcade

Featuring a young Seth Green and Megan Ward, Arcade is a thriller from director Albert  Pyun who I worship because he directed Dollman and also the incredibly bad Brainsmasher with Andrew Dice Clay (dig that one out - my copy came from Poundland).

Youngsters are disappearing into the world of 'Arcade' as the home version features the DNA of a dead boy put there by the makers of the game.  Hence lots of 90's fashions (Megan Ward was seriously easy on the eyes) and some at the time pretty good effects. Although now the CGI looks quaint, but don't that let it put you off.

I rather liked Arcade back in the day and it's still a good 'un.  Oh yes, John 'Q' de Lancie pops up and he's always watchable.  Pop it on your shelf next to the likes of Tron and Brainscan.

A terrific little time waster.

• Starring Megan Ward  AJ Langer  John de Lancie  Seth Green
• Director Albert Pyun
• Distributor 88 Films

Banshee Chapter

In the 1960's and 70's  the United States government experimented on some of a citizens with a drug which ended in terrible circumstances.  A journalist is determined to find out what happened to her best friend from college when he took the alleged substance which he got his room mate to film on their camcorder.  He soon disappeared and was never heard of again.

The journalist Anne tracks down an old hippy writer who may or may not hold the key to the drug's secrets and they both set out to track down her friend and the places where the drug was adminstrated to it's subjects.

The drug opens up doorways it shouldn't and the pair are subjected to a living nightmare.  It doesn't help that the low range frequencies of radio seems to spread the evil around.

Banshee Chapter is a clever horror thriller with two very good central performances from Sleepy Hollow's Katia Winter (complete with a rather fetching vest top) and Buffalo Bill himself, Ted Levine.  When it first started with some 'found footage/security camera video' I thought oh no not another Paranormal Activity rip off, but I was very wrong.  Banshee Chapter is unnerving stuff and should be watched with the lights off, highly recommended.

• Starring Katia Winter  Michael McMillian  Ted Levine
• Director Blair Erickson
• Distributor 101 Films

The Tenant aka The Cottage

The Carpenters are a young family who rent out their cottage on their property to make some extra money.  The new tenant unfortunately is involved in a car accident and is unable to honour her agreement.  Enter Robert Mars who answers their advert for a new tenant.  Robert seems charming and is a writer of romance novels by trade.

However, all is not what it seems.  Robert starts off with off the cuff remarks about the teenage daughters, menacing a family friend and swimming naked in the pool.  His true intentions become apparent and then he gets nasty.

The Tenant is one of those films that isn't bad, but not great.  It does have a bonkers leading performance fom David Arquette as Robert and at times is quite tense.  It does suffer a little from a TV movie'esque feel but has a fair bit of stabbing violence and swearing thrown in.

Not amazing, but not too bad at all and as I said Arquette seems to be really enjoying himself playing the psycho.

• Starring Kristen Dalton  David Arquette  Victor Browne
• Director Chris Jaynes
• Distributor 101 Films

Prisoners

Starring the great Hugh (Wolverine) Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal in a terrific thriller about missing children.  A bit of a hard going subject matter, but an excellent rewarding filmatic experience.

• Distributor Entertainment One

Full Moon Streaming

With the recent demise of Blockbuster here in the UK and the video store dying a death in the US, things aren't as bad as it may seem.  With the established medium of fast internet, we can now get our films from all kinds of places, YouTube, Netflix, Love Film and various catch up facilities.  Enter a new player into the game, Charles Band's Full Moon Streaming.

Genre fans will know Full Moon from their various Puppet Master films, the Subspecies series and all kinds of crazy pictures like The Gingerdead Man and Evil Bong.  Full Moon was born from the relics of the old Empire Pictures (great book about Empire coming soon from Hemlock) and for us older fans put together some major classics of the genre, Castle Freak immediately springs to mind.  Now Mr. Band has brought together many of his Full Moon (new and old) epics and combined them with some dusty old Grindhouse classics, exclusive trailer compilations, the Moonbeam kids films as well as countless other goodies and formed his own streaming service.  Old farts like myself will remember some of the old Wizard Video releases back in the heyday of video, now Wizard is being resurrected for film makers to showcase their own work and perhaps even get a DVD release.  This is a massive step to showcase untapped talent so who knows what the future (and the Wizard will bring us).  These films will premiere regularly on the service.

There's new releases every week, competitions, regular vidcasts from the man himself, lots of promotions and most importantly the quality of the streaming is good.  What is the price of this you may ask?  Well it's only $6.99 a month which works out as a few quid  There are always deals going on with 6/12 month specials including free DVD's.  You never know what will be happening next so keep an eye on the site.

Full Moon Streaming is right up my street and it should be yours too, there are some real gems to watch and some that are so bad they're great.  How can you go wrong with the people who brought us Jack Deth, Demonic Toys and the twisted old bastard Radu?

• Starring Tim Thomerson  Tracy Scoggins  Anders Hove  Christopher Lee
• Directors  Albert Pyun  William Butler  Scott Spiegel and many more

www.fullmoonstreaming.com

Outpost 11

 

When this blu-ray turned up I thought to myself, Outpost 11?  Isn't the third one out next year?  After my confusion disappeared, I realised this film had nothing to do with the Nazi Zombie series but a thriller set in the Artic wastelands.

 

In an alternate history timeline, the British have been fighting the Prussian Empire and three soldiers are hauled up in a outpost in the middle of nowhere.  The Commanding Officer spends most of his time shooting hares for supper, the young Private is just that, young and naïve and finally the old lifelong soldier spends his time sniffing drugs and playing with himself.

 

On a day like the rest, the security light starts flashing and all three men are curious as to why. The old boy then develops a gross blister on his hand and strange things are afoot in the reactor room.

 

Outpost 11 is a very well made claustrophobic thriller like nothing I have ever seen or likely to.  I really had a job getting my head around it and was incredibly curious to see where the film would lead me to.  It's a very odd film and that's makes it more enjoyable to watch.  I would imagine a lot of people would think it to be a load of old rubbish.  I on the other hand, like things a bit different and its certainly that.

• Starring Billy Clarke  Joshua Mayes-Cooper  Luke Healey
• Director Anthony Woodley
• Distributor 101 Films

The Iceman

No this isn't a new Marvel film but the true story of a hitman, Richard Kuklinski played by Michael Shannon in a scarier role than General Zod in Man of Steel.

Kuklinski is a local hard man working in a film lab editing porno's.  He is approached by the local gangster (Ray Liotta) to be one of his 'guys'.  What he has to do to be 'in' with Liotta is quite sick but I found myself laughing which perhaps says something of me.  Kuklinski becomes one of the best in the business but due to a twist of fate he has to take early retirement from his job which he is very good at.  Unfortunately, for a man with his skills he soon teams up with a fellow hitman who drives an ice cream truck and the mad thing is his wife (Winona Ryder) hasn't a clue.

Violent, well acted and an impeccable production set throughout different times (with the fashions to match).  The Iceman is truly a cinematic joy and another example that Shannon is one of the best actors around.

• Starring Michael Shannon  Chris Evans  Ray Liotta  Winona Ryder  James Franco
• Director Ariel Vromen
• Distributor Lionsgate