DVD Tuesday again, folks!
As you know, we are amateur “journalists” over here… just doing this for fun and the desire to share our passion with others. Although there are occasional perks, we don’t regularly get screeners or have the time to check out every genre film in the theater. This means depending on the look of the marketing, trailers and word of mouth to make these recommendations sometimes and… well… This week, I got nothing.
Although I want to check out many, this isn’t exactly a group of well-reviewed horror films. Some intrigue me and repel me at the same time. Do you know what I like? Robots, aliens, ghosts, silly slashers, beautiful cinematography, Udo Kier and J-horror masters are a few good examples. Lots of bad reviews, while not always representative of how I’ll personally feel, make me sad and hesitant to suggest titles without seeing them first.
It’s a cop-out, but too bad. You get a simple list today. Click the links for more information and trailers!
DVD titles released today:
Battle: Los Angeles
For years, there have been documented cases of UFO sightings around the world — Buenos Aires, Seoul, France, Germany, China. But in 2011, what were once just sightings will become a terrifying reality when Earth is attacked by unknown forces. As people everywhere watch the world’s great cities fall, Los Angeles becomes the last stand for mankind in a battle no one expected. It’s up to a Marine staff sergeant and his new platoon to draw a line in the sand as they take on an enemy unlike any they’ve ever encountered before. http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/battlela/
Chatroom
When five teenagers meet online in a chatroom they form friendships that seem innocent. However, soon one dysfunctional member of the group singles out the most vulnerable, seizing the chance to erase his own past. http://www.chatroomfilm.com/index.php
Death’s Door
In this horror film, a television psychic finds surprising success when contacting spirits. But as the title implies, the spirits are shockingly close and they begin to attack those who work on the show. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439536/
Fall Down Dead
Single mother Christie (Alpha Dog’s, Dominique Swain) faces the most terrifying Christmas Eve ever when she becomes the sole witness to the handiwork of the Picasso Killer (Halloween’s, Udo Kier), a cold-blooded maniac with an eye for beautiful women. Now a citywide blackout has Christie trapped in an isolated office building with a group of strangers as this unstoppable killing force closes in, picking them off one by one in preparation for his ultimate bloody masterpiece. The body count is climbing and a madman is watching in this relentless, suspenseful shocker, also starring Kill Bill’s David Carradine in one of his final roles. http://falldowndead.newfilmsint.com/
Fugue
A young woman (newcomer Abigail Mittel) moves in with her boyfriend (Richard Gunn, “Dexter”), and becomes convinced her new home is haunted. But when she discovers the last eight months have been erased from her memory, she must uncover what caused the condition…before the past destroys her present. http://www.fuguethefilm.com/
Haven: Season One
JD: Ok, I wasn’t totally honest. This SyFy television show has been reviewed rather well, but I was unimpressed when I did my homework last night and took in a few episodes. Maybe it gets better!
FBI Agent Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) travels to Haven, Maine to investigate the murder of a local ex-con, but soon discovers that the small town is a refuge for people with supernatural afflictions. Now, it’s up to her to unlock Haven’s mysterious secrets, including the hidden truth about her past. http://www.syfy.com/haven/
Midnight Movie: Killer cut
JD: Wait, wasn’t this supposed to have been out already? Confused!
It was just another rundown movie house in a small suburban town — what better place for a midnight screening of a true cult classic? But this isn’t your typical horror film, because five years earlier, the director and star of the movie made a bloody escape from a psych ward and may still be on the loose. When the film starts to roll, the heckling begins. But when one of their friends is viciously murdered in the very movie they are watching, laughter gives way to fear as the horrified audience realizes that it is no prank. When they try to run, they realize that the same psycho they just saw on the silver screen has trapped them all in the theater. With no hope of escape and their numbers thinning fast, the survivors must figure out a way to turn the tables on the very same killer that they once rooted for in the cult slasher flick. Caught between reality and the screen’s flickering shadows, they become the unwilling stars of the very horror movie they were watching. http://www.midnightmovie.com/
Red Riding Hood
JD: Ok, I totally thought this one was out already too. Blogger failure. :(
In a medieval village a beautiful young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, much to her family’s displeasure. When her sister is killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village, the people call on a famed werewolf hunter to help them kill the wolf. As the death toll rises with each moon, the girl begins to suspect that the werewolf could be someone she loves. Panic grips the town as she discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast–one that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect…and bait. http://redridinghood.warnerbros.com/dvd/
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That’s all for now! Stick around for more news, upcoming reviews of Seconds Apart and Super 8, a Saturday Nightmares con report and Photo Fridays.
Final Girl Support Group 
Midnight Movie: The Killer Cut
Was Midnight Movie already out? Yes, but The Killer Cut is a very enhanced director’s cut of the film. Why, you ask…
There isn’t a filmmaker out there that looks back at their movies and doesn’t see a better way to do things. Look at Spielberg and Lucas – they have retouched classic films. Hindsight is always 20/20, even with cinematic geniuses that had pretty good budgets to work with at the time.
With Midnight Movie, many of the limitations to my original vision were purely budgetary. The ideas were there, just not the means to execute them. So when Bigfoot gave me the opportunity to overcome some of those limitations, I jumped at the chance.
I’ve seen a lot of director’s cuts that weren’t better versions of the movie. They were longer, yes, but not better. So when I started The Killer Cut, I didn’t want to make the same mistake. I didn’t want to shove in a bunch of scenes that didn’t belong there in the first place. My goal was to enhance an experience that people already liked. That meant a lot more than just re-cutting the film.
From the start of the original production, I made sure that every penny of our limited budget made it onto the screen – and I think it shows. But there were a few things in the original version that just fell a little flat for me because of those budgetary limitations. The biggest was Radford himself.
I had a lot of ideas on how Radford should move through his environment, but they just weren’t within our budget. With The Killer Cut, we were able to utilize a lot of those original ideas to go back and make Radford a much more menacing villain. Believe me, the visual effects in The Killer Cut help create a totally different mood and feel for the film.
The other goal of The Killer Cut was to streamline a few areas that I felt just weren’t as tight as they could be. So I took the editing room scalpel to the film and made a lot of changes that you won’t notice, but the feel of those areas will be a lot better. And I made a lot of cuts. Even though we added several minutes of new material, the running time of the two films is about the same.
Much of the new footage we added was shot specifically for this version of the film. It was designed to fill in a few holes that myself, and the fans of the original, felt were missing. We really made an effort to enhance the mythology of Radford with the new footage. And the scenes that we extended with footage from the original shoot were enhanced with the new visual effects, making them a completely new experience.
Really, The Killer Cut is a totally different movie – much closer to my original vision. So if you haven’t seen the movie before, this is the version to watch. And if you think you have already seen Midnight Movie, I guarantee that you haven’t seen it like this.
Thank you for taking the time to share information about your film with us and our readers! We’ll be sure to check out the new version.