Mischief Night (DVD Review) RLJ Entertainment

USA/2013
Directed By: Richard Schenkman
Written By: Jesse Baget, Eric D. Wilkinson, Richard Schenkman
Starring: Noell Coet, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Charlie O'Connell
Color/86 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Emily is a high school aged teen, left blind from an accident that left her mother dead. On this night, October 30th, the night before Halloween, Mischief Night, she has finally arranged a date for her dad after years of not dating since the loss of his wife. Emily is excited that her dad has agreed to let her visit her boyfriend's family's cabin for the weekend and is ready to enjoy a quiet evening while her dad gets back in to the dating game. 

There are a few mischievous kids who egg the house as is commonplace on this night and it begins to creep out Emily a bit along with the feeling that Emily has that she is being stalked. And stalked she is, a man in a yellow rain jacket with black and white face paint/mask are stalking the in and around the house waiting for their perfect moment to attack Emily. 

MISCHIEF NIGHT is a solid home invasion horror film featuring a few really creepy scenes and some quality suspense. The director does a good job creation tension with our blind lead and Noell Coet really pulls off playing the blind lead brilliantly. The movie suffers from a "been there, done that" feeling that we've seen this all before. The bit of a twist in the story that our lead girl is blind ends up being much less interesting in the grand scheme of than it could have been and most of the characters are fairly cookie cutter. That isn't to say it is a bad movie because despite it being anything exceptional, it is a well crafted home invasion film that is pretty entertaining. This movie is superior to The Purge which features a fairly similar premise and a much bigger budget.


The Audio & Video
MISCHIEF NIGHT receives a solid DVD presentation from RLJ Entertainment. The audio, which plays a large role for our lead character is mixed well and comes across very clean and clear. The mix between dialogue and sound effects and the score is well done and we're able to relate to what Emily is going through while enjoying being a viewer at the same time. The video side of things is mainly a strong effort with only scenes that are heavy in blacks suffering from blocking and compression issues. Luckily the film is darkly lit through almost all of it but lighting it well done to keep unnecessary black levels out of the picture which the disc benefits from.

 
The Extras
The disc's lone special feature is a 12 minute behind the scene's featurette that features some interview time with various cast members and a nice look at filming and what worked and what didn't with the writers and director.

The Bottom Line
The film would have been better suited for this title had there been a bit more Halloween and Mischief Night atmosphere as there was very little. As it sits it is a competent home invasion horror film with a very likable lead that performs better than many other films of this type from recent years. 

MISCHIEF NIGHT is available HERE

The Book - Italian Horror Masters Return For A 12 Part Anthology - Fund Raising Campaign

Update: It's been 2 and a half years and there is no movie. I along with hundreds of others are still owed the goods we donated money for. There's no sign of that ever happening or the movie ever being made. My $75 is gone for good it seems and others who donated anywhere from $1 into the thousands have been ripped off essentially. I don't blame the directors that were to be attached but the "production team" that essentially ran off with over $12,000. I'd be happy if I got the autographed VHS I was promised. What a bummer.

There are days when I'm blind sided by exciting movie related news. You know the feeling, when a director, actor or subject matter gets a green light on a project you're incredibly excited about and that project immediately shoots to the top of your "Most Anticipated Films" list. Well, yesterday was one of those days for me when I heard about THE BOOK.

Taken from THE BOOK'S Facebook page," THE BOOK sees the ultimate collaborative Italian horror film unfold before your very eyes. A one off project of unprecedented scale, THE BOOK brings together, for the very first time, the writers, directors, actors, composers and artists behind the finest Italian genre cinema of the past sixty years. This includes the creative forces behind the Giallo movement, Spaghetti Westerns, Eurocrime and more. Each director will be given the opportunity to showcase their own personal vision of Rome, spread across a dozen episodes. Each segment in this feature film will contain a unique blend of macabre thriller, horror and the fantastic; all delivered with the unique style and method of the director in question."

If that doesn't get you excited, well then you aren't me. 

The directors attached to the project are:
Lamberto Bava (Demons, Demons 2, Macabre)
Antonio Bido (The Bloodstained Shadow, Watch Me When I Kill)
Enzo G. Castellari (Cold Eyes Of Fear, Inglorious Bastards)
Luigi Cozzi (The Killer Must Kill Again, Contamination)
Alberto De Martino (Holocaust 2000, The Antichrist)
Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust, House on the Edge of the Park)
Aldo Lado (Night Train Murders, Who Saw Her Die?)
Umberto Lenzi (Nightmare City, Cannibal Ferox)
Edoardo Margheriti (In The Eyes Of A Killer, Black Cobra)
Sergio Martino (Torso, All The Colors Of The Dark)
Sergio Stivaletti (The Wax Mask)
Tonino Valerii (My Name Is Nobody, My Dear Killer)

The screenplay will be provided by Dardano Sarchetti (Cat 'O Nine Tails, City Of The Living Dead) and the soundtrack will be provided by Goblin. Famous Italian genre poster artist Enzo Sciotti will handle the custom art to round out this beautiful package. 

There is an IndieGoGo campaign underway trying to raise their goal of $100,000 and they've offered up quite a few nice perks including signed DVDs and Blu-rays of THE BOOK upon completion, signed movies and art from each director's film, a limited edition mask from Sergio Stivaletti's original mold of the mask from Demons and even an Executive Producer credit on the film. There is something cool available at every price range to help make this film the best it can be. And you may be wondering exactly what your donation will mean to the film, well the filmmaking team answered that question on their Facebook page as well:

 "We fully intend to involve every possible worthwhile creative force in the Italian genre industry, which means that all of the funding acquired here will go towards attaining further cast members.

Is there anyone you would love to see as part of THE BOOK?

Chances are that they may be appearing, but we’ll need your help.

Every purchase that you make, even the small tier ones, makes a huge difference to our project. With so many great names out there, we want to ensure that we create the ultimate tribute to Italian genre cinema, and we’re off to a great start.

So, once again, thank you, from the bottom of our hearts."

Sounds good to me. 

THE BOOK is a project close to my heart, I'm a long time lover of Italian horror (and other forms of Italian genre cinema), I'd say these movies are what really turned me from a lover of horror into a lover of all forms of film by opening a door to a much wider world of movies. I was exposed to many genres, actors and film makers that I had no idea about when I first discovered the Italian horror world. Seeing so many names I love come together to make this film has made me a very happy person the last few days and I cannot wait to see the final product. If you share in my passion for these great artist's films and want to see THE BOOK be the best it can be head on over to the Indie GoGo page and pick up a cool perk for donating!

THE BOOK can be found on Indie GoGo HERE

Animals (DVD Review) - Artsploitation Films

Spain/2012
Directed By: Marcal Fores
Written By: Marcal Fores, Enric Pardo, Aintza Serra
Starring: Oriol Pla, Augustus Prew, Dimitri Leonidas
Color/94 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

 The Film
Pol is a high school student with a couple of very close friends, and his best friend a talking stuffed bear that he has had since childhood. His bear plays drums in his band and is his closest companion. Of course the bear can only be heard by Pol, who is struggling with the growing feelings of lust and love, for a couple of very different classmates, the monotony of daily school life and an older brother who thinks little of him. Pol's friend Laia is obviously in love with him but Pol's feelings stretch beyond her and perhaps beyond women in general. After a decision to sever the ties with his best friend, Pol's world and experiences hit new extremes which the adolescent finds difficult to deal with without his best friend.

ANIMALS is a coming-of-age film but it cannot be summed up that simply. It is far greater than the sum of its parts. This is the story of growing up, learning the gravity and consequences of every choice you make and learning to stay true to yourself while holding the people you love closer and not letting go. And that growing up doesn't mean you have to lose yourself This movie is smart, funny, insightful and features some beautiful images. There is a strong resemblance to the Marky Mark film Ted here, and it isn't too far away from that, just without he weed and fart jokes. Really though, ANIMALS transcends the high school age of its cast, who are simply fantastic in their roles from top to bottom, and will resonate with viewers of all ages as something that you can really latch on to and take something away from. This is a great film.

The Audio & Video
Artsploitation Films delivers the debut of ANIMALS  to DVD with a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks good. Daytime scenes are strong with good color reproduction, clean picture and allowing the photography to shine while night time and darker scenes suffer from a bit of blocking up and weaker black levels as previous releases from this label have. It isn't that big of a deal and the scenes in question still look decent. The Spanish (and partially English) 5.1 audio track sounds great and features English subtitles. There are no hiccups or annoyances to speak of. 

The Extras
-Audio Commentary with director Marcal Fores and Travis Crawford
-"Making Of" Featurette 
-The Bear Truth: A Short Film
-Animals: A Short Film
-Beautiful 12 page booklet featuring an interview with the director
-Official trailer for ANIMALS
-Other Artsploitation trailers
-Reversible cover art 

The Bottom Line 
Artsploitation Films has yet to release a film that I haven't liked. It is getting to the point where I can safely predict that I'll enjoy whatever they put out for me to watch. Their DVDs are always packed with interesting and cool special features and the reversible covers are a great touch. This is a top notch product from a company getting it right.

ANIMALS is available HERE

The Twilight Zone Complete Series - RLJ / Image Entertainment

Few television series have had the impact and staying power that came from a little Sci-Fi series in 1959 known as THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Hosted and narrated by it's own creator, Rod Serling, the series ran for 5 seasons until 1964, totaling 156 episodes, eventually spawning a re-boot in 1985 which ran for 2 seasons and another in 2002 which ran for a single season. In 1983 there was even a feature film simply titled Twilight Zone: The Movie. The series has been referenced and parodied by dozens, perhaps hundreds of other television series and films over the years. The impact the series has had on pop culture would be hard to measure, but it goes without saying that it is great.

The series brought us into future worlds and alien worlds, we got to see robots and martians, the supernatural and doomsday, the mad and the macabre. THE TWILIGHT ZONE featured many current stars and future stars that hadn't become household names including but certainly not limited to Buster Keaton, Charles Bronson, Dennis Hopper, Carol Burnett, Martin Landau, Ron Howard, Elizabeth Montgomery and many more. The list truly goes on and on. Each episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE brought us something new, something exciting, the anthology format made it easy to follow as each week was separate from every other episode.

 Image and RLJ Entertainment provided me with their DVD release of season 1 to preview and spread the word to all you loyal followers on their new release of each season and the complete series sets. I must say that they did an excellent job with these new discs. The picture and sound quality of each of the 36 episodes from season 1 were on point. The source material were in great condition and the digital transfer did them justice. Prints are clean without wiping away detail and digitalizing everything. It looks like we're watching a pristine presentation of the series in its original syndication. The audio is also excellent with a clean track free of any annoying Rice Krispies (snap, crackle, pop).

THE TWILIGHT ZONE isn't going anywhere anytime soon, it will remain an entertaining and important series for decades to come and the new box set from RLJ/IMAGE make sure viewers have an opportunity to add this classic series to their collection.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE COMPLETE SERIES was released on November 19th and is available HERE

Schoolgirl Report Volume 11 (DVD Review) - Impulse Pictures

Germany/1977
Directed By: Erns Hofbauer
Written By: Gunther Heller
Starring: Helga Anders, Sandra Atia, Ulrich Beiger
Color/80 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE

The Film
Few film series reach 11 entries, normally the steam, creativity and profitability is long gone and dried up before we get to double digit entries in a franchise. The simple, cheap and profitable idea of the SCHOOLGIRL REPORT series made making more and more of these sexploitation films an easy decision. 

Subtitled TRYING BEATS STUDYING, SCHOOLGIRL REPORT 11 is yet another series of stories of young women and their sexual encounters. This entry features a struggling student who finds her confidence and academic success after luring the straight-A student to bed. That is until he moves on to another girl. And how about the young blond who is sexually assaulted by her tutor? Or is he seduced by the young girl? It is up to the police to decide who's story is true. Then there are the young boys who have sex in an old barn with more experienced girls and it ends up in a hilarious mess that literally brings the roof down. And those are just the beginning of the fun that SCHOOLGIRL REPORT 11 brings us!

After almost a dozen entries you may think that seeing attractive girls romp around naked while dealing with the drama that their specific story deals with but you'd be wrong. The SCHOOLGIRL REPORT films are quick moving films that are like quick flashes of sexy lightning. What does that mean, you ask? I really don't know but it sounded good. These films are a lot of fun to watch, and they manage to balance out effective comedy and sexy girls and it always equals a good time even if this entry wasn't quite as good as previous SGR chapters.


The Audio & Video
The Impulse Pictures imprint of Synapse Films delivers SCHOOLGIRL REPORT 11 on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen transfer in the films OAR or 1.66:1. The transfer looks good with natural skin tones which is probably the most important thing about the film's look. There isn't a ton of color in the film's palette but what is there also looks good. A bit of dirt and print damage can be found but we are talking about sexploitation films from the 70s. The lone soundtrack option is a 2.0 track in the film's native German with optional English subtitles, which are newly translated. The track is nothing special but it is clean and free of hiss, crackling or otherwise annoying background noise. 

 

The Extras
Bare bones. 

 
The Bottom Line
The series quality may be taking a bit of a dip at this point, we'll have to wait until we see the release of parts 12 and 13 to really say, but there is still plenty of exploitative fun with the girls here to please previous fans of the series. If you've never seen a SCHOOLGIRL REPORT film I'd suggest an earlier one to see if you're into it but returning viewers will gladly find a spot on their shelf for this disc.

SCHOOLGIRL REPORT 11: TRYING BEATS STUDYING is available HERE

The 7th Day (2012)

Allan is a quiet man, a loner who works as a dish washer at a local bar, he hates his job, his loud and annoying neighbor, and his co-workers who give him shit. He does have a soft spot for the cute waitress at the bar named Denise who treats him with kindness. Oh, and Allan also has a love for murder that dates back to his childhood.

Allan gets urges to kill every so often, but lately these urges have become stronger and much more frequent. He picks and chooses his victims, often using some sort of knife to kill them off. His madness has been getting worse as he has now started experimenting with rape and necrophilia. He believes he will change the world, even to the point that he is being followed around by an interviewer documenting his life. His delusions are getting worse and worse over the last week and on the seventh day he realizes who he is and what he does and nobody can escape that when he select them.

THE 7TH DAY is an independent horror film made by a team of people from the Baltimore area. Directed by Jason M. Koch, who has an ever growing resume of special effects work with the Aftermath FX team (who worked on this film), the film is a simplistic horror film that works in its minimalism. The cast does a good job being believable in their roles, with Mark S. Sanders being very good in the lead role. Aftermath FX provides plenty of gore that is just dripping with nastiness. They're a team that does excellent work. THE 7TH DAY is a low budget, simple and effective. It isn't perfect but it is definitely shows that the up-and-coming group responsible for this movie have a bright future ahead of them.

7/10

Shoot The Sun Down (Blu-ray Review) - Kino Lorber

USA/1978
Directed By: David Leeds
Written By: David Leeds
Starring: Christopher Walken, Margot Kidder, Geoffrey Lewis
Color/99 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A

The Film
Christopher Walken stars as Rainbow, an ex-Confederate soldier who left the war due to being ordered to slaughter indians. Now Rainbow spends his time as a bounty hunter, making money taking in wanted criminals dead or alive. He encounters a young woman (Margot Kidder) who is trying to get home to New Orleans from their current location in Santa Fe. She tells Rainbow a story that he doesn't believe, trying to get him to escort her through the dangerous territories back to her home. All the while a nasty man (Geoffrey Lewis) is on the loose, hunting Montezuma's gold and taking scalps along the way. 

The nasty man, gets a hold of the woman, who was sold into servanthood as a young girl, and discovers some golden treasure. Rainbow and some of his Native American friends team up to take down the scalphunters and rescue the damsel in distress. 

SHOOT THE SUN DOWN is, if anything, an uneven film. Made by the time the Euro Western cycle had practically been dead for a few years, this American production, the only credit for writer/director David Leeds toes the line between a piece of avant garde filmmaking ripe with social commentary and a rather dull western that feels like we've been-there-done-that and it was better before. David Leeds is capable as director, but his writing lacks the punch and feeling of urgency that the powerful and climactic moments need to get the audience to feel their full potential. 

The cast is decent. I'd say nobody really drops the ball but before watching the film I found it difficult to picture Christopher Walken as some sort of gunslinging old west badass and after watching the film he did little to change my mind. I think Walken is a good actor, don't get me wrong, but he just doesn't pull off a convincing western character and that is a major detractor for me as he is the lead and main protagonist.  The film features a pretty solid spaghetti western-esque score that is one of the highlights of the film. There is also enough action and fighting to keep things fun. 

The Audio & Video
The anamorphic widescreen transfer maintains the film's original Scope aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and Kino Lorber has done a decent job with the video side of things. As always with Kino they haven't done much in the way of cleaning up the print, there is a bit of white speckling throughout the duration. This is nothing to get annoyed over, it only reminds us that we are watching a film. There are some other instances of dirt, scratches and very minor print damage but nothing major at all. The quality of the transfer is generally good, flesh tones look nice and there is no edge enhancement or digital fuckery to be found. Detail levels are a mixed bag as sometimes they're quite strong and other times the image is soft and muddy. I find this to be more of the source material than anything Kino has done wrong. 

From an audio standpoint SHOOT THE SUN DOWN is great. The 2.0 track is in English and sounds pretty damn good. There is no background noise, and overall there's nothing to complain about the sound quality or audio mix. There are no subtitles available.  

The Extras 
Special features include an alternate opening title sequence with an original song by Kinky Friedman. It is nice to have but I prefer it the standard way. There is also a theatrical trailer.

The Bottom Line
While SHOOT THE SUN DOWN is by no means an essential western, it is decent and filled with familiar names in the cast. Kino did a nice job with the transfer and overall disc presentation so fans of the genre will find enough here to be pleased about. I'd love to see Kino tackle some spaghetti western films as they've shown they're capable of doing solid work within the western genre. 

SHOOT THE SUN DOWN is available HERE