KRAMPUS (2015)

USA/2015
Directed By: Michael Dougherty
Written By: Todd Casey, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields
Starring: Adam Scott, Emjay Anthony, Toni Collette

Max is young but old enough to notice the magic of Christmas slipping away a little more each year. His German grandmother makes sure he still writes his letter to Santa to keep the spirit of the holiday with him but when relatives come over and get into a fight with Max making fun of his letter Max tears up his letter and throws it out his bedroom window into a strong winter wind. That night a sudden blizzard hits the town knocking out power and snowing the family in. They'll soon find out that the weather is the least of their worries.

Holiday based horror movies are nothing new. They continue to be a favorite amongst fans and provide a familiar and usually eye catching setting. Christmas horror films are no different and there have been plenty over the years that run the gamut from cute and lighthearted horror fun to down right mean and despicable that caused public outcry. KRAMPUS will fit in nicely with the more highly regarded Christmas horror movies.

Director Michael Dougherty is no stranger to holiday horror, having made one of the finest films based on or around Halloween, horror or not. It was exciting news to fans that he planned on tackling the Christmas season with the old world legend of Krampus who is quite the opposite of jolly old Saint Nicholas. Krampus is a horned figure, resembling that of a goat man from hell. He uses his chains to capture children and put them in his own toy sack to punish them. This isn't the fairy tale you tell the kids on Christmas Eve.

My expectations were high and given the film's PG-13 rating perhaps a bit higher than they should have been. I'm a big time believer that PG-13 horror can (and has) worked perfectly in the past but when dealing with a more restrictive rating it is easy to fall into traps and cliches to try and get the scare factor across. Michael Dougherty showed me that he will not be a victim of such shortcomings in his movies. The scares in KRAMPUS are real. The atmosphere alone is enough to make the audience want to crawl up in a ball with a warm blankey and call for mommy. It's increasingly claustrophobic as the weather has no intention of letting up and Krampus uses his various minions to attack the family barricaded inside the house and try not to be picked off one by one. Their only hope is to brave the weather and try to make it to a snow plow a couple blocks away, a rather unsavory option all things considered.

KRAMPUS allows the audience to have fun with a bounty of laughs throughout. This humor isn't forced, it is organic for each character and given to us almost as a well timed gift from Dougherty to allow us to still laugh and have fun with the film without breaking a single ounce of tension. While KRAMPUS is absolutely a horror comedy it is first and foremost a horror film.

The writing is brilliant without being overbearing. The KISS principle is on display here. Simple but realistic characters that everybody can relate to keeps KRAMPUS grounded in the real world. Every character has their role to fill and there's a good bit of development going on with a few of our main characters. The cast is excellent from Emjay Anthony as Max to Adam Scott as Max's father Tom and David Koechner as Max's uncle, the polar opposite of Tom. And I can't write this review without mentioning Conchata Ferrell, the loud mouth Aunt that nobody invited. She carries the comedy weight on her back and is brilliant.

The thing that may have stood out most to me while watching KRAMPUS is that I felt like I was watching something made in the 1980s. I don't mean it felt like they were trying to capture the feeling of a movies from the 1980s. It had a genuine energy and vibe that only films of the 80s had. While being a seriously scary horror film it was also lighthearted enough to allow the audience to laugh and smile once in a while. KRAMPUS doesn't feel out of place next to a movie like Gremlins though it ramps up the horror quite a bit.

There was a single moment at the end of the movie that I feared was going to blow the entire thing. I thought to myself "oh no, here's the moment I was afraid of... here's the cop out" as my enjoyment faded from my face into a grimace. Then KRAMPUS proved itself right. It was the movie I hoped it would be and the movie I expected from Michael Dougherty. The grimace quickly turned to an ear to ear smile. The ending was handled perfectly.

There's something intangible about KRAMPUS that makes it special and only time will tell if fans hold it in high regard for years to come but I can tell you that it deserves a place among the favorite Christmas horror films of all time and in the hearts of horror fans.

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT (DVD Review) - Wild Eye Releasing

USA/2013
Directed By: Benjamin Roberds
Written By: Benjamin Roberds
Starring: David Chandler, Max Moody, Eva Boehnke
Color and Black & White/76 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: September 29, 2015

The Film
After a zombie apocalypse that lasted a mere 12 hours before zombies stopped attacking and humans stopped shooting the world is now forced to live among the walking dead as they're protected beings kept in enclosed areas as a sort of walking cemetery. Life is decidedly different with the dead living among us even when they aren't trying to eat our brains... until they decide to eat our brains again.

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT is an interesting take on the zombie genre in an overly politically correct age where everything offends somebody and everybody thinks their opinion matters. It isn't too hard to believe there would be a group rallying for zombie rights in the event of an actual zombie apocalypse. As the dead walk freely among the streets and in gated "living graveyards" some people can't beyond the loss of their loved ones and others can't stand having to deal with this protected species.

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT has an interesting idea of a man who shoots down the corpse of his sister's ex-lover after she shoots down his best friend's attempts to woo her. This shooting once again sets off the zombies lust for blood and the film quickly becomes an attempt to survive. The film's tone shifts drastically once the zombies begin to attack, going from a thoughtful movie with a fresh take on an idea that has been explored before with characters we could have grown to care about. The movie even shifts from black and white to color at that moment which isn't only unnecessary it also exposes a lot of the film's shortcomings due to its miniscule budget which makes it feel like any other direct to DVD zombie movie of the past decade.

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT could have been wildly successful as a short film. The entire second half of the film is running away from zombies and that's it. It becomes painfully redundant and boring and filled with inconsistencies and holes in logic but take the idea the film originally presents and sadly jumps away from to add the horror element that sells DVDs would have been an interesting character piece about the relationships of the living with the living and the living with the dead.

The Audio & Video
Wild Eye Releasing gives A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT a home on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks just okay. The movie has very modest production values so it is no surprise the movie doesn't look great on disc but it doesn't look awful. It's a totally watchable transfer that looks better when the movie switches to color from black and white which suffers from some artifacting. Colors are decent and black levels are fairly deep. The stereo audio is a solid effort with a clean track free from any distortions and a passable mix. Dialogue gets a bit muddled at times but not to the point where you can't understand the characters. I can't fault Wild Eye for not delivering a better A/V presentation, the movie is only going to look and sound as good as it is going to look and sound and I think this is pretty much it.

The Extras
A pair of trailers are included for the film.

The Bottom Line
A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT seems like the filmmakers were scared to make the movie they wanted to make in its entirety and instead felt the need to tack on half an hour of crappy zombie chase scenes that add absolutely nothing to the movie and only detract from an interesting original idea.

A PLAGUE SO PLEASANT is available HERE

MARQUIS DE SADE'S JUSTINE (Blu-ray Review) - Blue Underground

Italy, France/1969
Directed By: Jess Franco
Written By: Harry Alan Towers
Starring: Romina Powers, Maria Rohm, Klaus Kinski
Color/124 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date:
Limited Edition 3 Disc BD/DVD/CD Combo Pack

The Film
Justine and her older sister Juliette are left orphaned after their father is forced to leave the country and their mother dies and are removed from their convent where they're training to be nuns. The sisters quickly take different roads in life as Juliette shacks up at a brothel and takes to a life of crime while Justine clutches on to her innocence and virginity while she's put through trial of physical and sexual abuse and torture, framed for murder, forced into a gang of fugitives just to name a few as told by the Marquis De Sade himself.

JUSTINE is Jess Franco's biggest production and it certainly feels and looks like it with lavish costuming, big sets dripping with gorgeous dressing and a substantial amount of locations and cast members. The film looks beautiful and despite a few "Franco being Franco" moments (including a needless quick zoom to a totally out of focus eyeball) this is a stylish and skillfully made production. Unfortunately the star Romina Powers is either totally disconnected from the material or blissfully (for her own sake) unaware that she's making a movie. She has a perfect look for the character of Justine as she has a naturally innocent look but she's as wooden as wooden can get and doesn't emote any of the tasteless brutality that she endures again and again.

The script can be blamed for that however as much of the straight forward mean spirited nature the original story has toward Justine is lightened and there is a moment of reprieve for Justine in the film where she meets a man who has a genuine love for her and wants to protect her. It leaves the film being a bit uneven and awkward at times. Jack Palance and Mercedes McCambridge play supporting roles who both kill it with their respective performances. As the story goes Palance was drunk on red wine by 7am each morning and that very well may have lead to his totally bizarre and off the fucking wall performance while McCambridge owns the screen during her scenes as a powerful leader of a band of thieves and swindlers. If Romina Powers had half the charisma or talent as McCambridge she could have won an Oscar for this film. The film still succeeds in adapting the De Sade story, with a performance from Klaus Kinski himself as the author locked up in a prison having hallucinatory visions of naked chained women bleeding from their necks and covered in sweat.

JUSTINE is worthy of praise as the good certainly outweighs the bad and will live on as one of Jess Franco's most attractive and lavish productions. It makes me think about how incredibly some of his horror films could have looked and how big their scope could have been had he had the budget he had on JUSTINE.


The Audio & Video
Blue Underground takes what is arguably Jess Franco's most visually stimulating and lush production and give it the Blu-ray release it deserves with a stunning anamorphic widescreen transfer keeping the film's original 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Colors are vibrant and vivid while there is excellent detail level in textures and surfaces. You can almost feel the scratchiness of the wool garb! Skin tones are fleshy and natural with no signs of waxiness or excessive digital scrubbing. The film's natural grain structure is kept gracefully in tact and there's really nothing that could have been done better on this disc from a visual standpoint. And the English DST-HD mono audio is largely the same with a crisp and clear track that is free of any background noise or distortions. The dialogue and beautiful score from Bruno Nicolai are beautifully complimentary and have a great mix.

Please Note: Screen shots are taken from the DVD copy of the film and do NOT represent the quality of the Blu-ray transfer.

The Extras
-"The Perils And Pleasures Of Justine" - Interviews with Co-writer/Director Jess Franco and Producer Harry Alan Towers (20 minutes)
-Stephen Thrower On JUSTINE - Interview with Stephen Thrower author of "Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco" (18 minutes)
-French Trailer
-Poster and Still Gallery
-Booklet by Stephen Thrower
-CD Soundtrack
-DVD Copy of the Film

The Bottom Line
This period piece adapted from the story of the same name is sometimes sleazy, sometimes excellent and sometimes a misfire. Those misfires are quickly followed up by more sleaze and excellence most of the time which lands JUSTINE as a perhaps under appreciated piece of Franco's filmography and one that will hopefully gain some attention from this gorgeous Blu-ray release.

MARQUIS DE SADE'S JUSTINE is available HERE

A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY (Blu-ray Review) - Image/RLJ Entertainment

Canada/2015
Directed By: Grant Harvey, Steven Hoban, Brett Sullivan
Written By: James Kee, Sarah Larsen, Doug Taylor, Pascal Trottier, Jason Filiatrault
Starring: George Buza, Zoe De Grand Maison, William Shatner
Color/107 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: November 24, 2015

The Film
Christmas isn't all reindeer, presents and yuletide cheer. There's a darker side to the 25th of December including The Krampus, occult versions of the Nativity, killer zombie elves and a simple disdain for the holiday. This isn't a wonderful life, this is A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY.

Anthology films and horror have gone hand in hand since well, the first anthology horror film but this may be the first Christmas horror anthology film, at least that I can remember. A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY features four stories of holiday fear. Unfortunately all four stories play congruently as opposed to the standard format of one story playing to its conclusion and moving on to the next. This breaks up the individual segments for no apparent reason which makes the movie feel as there's simply too much going on at any given time.

The segments themselves aren't bad, it is just the way in which the entire film is presented that drags it down. Each segment is decent but sadly most of them miss out on the gorgeous and sometimes wonderfully gaudy Christmas aesthetic. The tacky decorations can lend a beautifully colorful look and feel to a set but there's little of that to be seen. What we do see is a simple but effectively vicious looking Krampus, some killer zombie elves that look like they came from Satan's version of Lucky Charms and a grizzly and badass Santa Claus. Oh and a pretty hot sex scene with a possessed girl humping her friend's brains out. Nothing says Christmas like a little fully clothed sex, right?

 A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY is a nice mix of horror tropes that has good special effects and make up and good costuming. It also has a solid comic relief segment that pops up every so often with William Shatner playing Dangerous Dan, the local radio station host who tries to spread Christmas cheer while getting hammered on egg nog. While I don't think A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY would be any sort of classic had it been presented in a traditional anthology format, I think it would have been a bit more successful in its execution but either way it is an entertaining holiday horror movie.

The Audio & Video
Image/RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray of A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY is gorgeous. Colors are bright and vibrant while whites are beautiful without being "hot" and black levels are deep and inky with no signs of blocking. Detail level is strong in surfaces and textures and skin tones are fleshy and natural. The PQ is excellent and the audio is no different with a DST-HD 5.1 master audio mix. The mix is strong with dialogue and soundtrack levels being properly complimentary. There's no damage or distractions to the crystal clear audio. This is how a modern movie should look and sound on Blu-ray.

The Extras
The lone extra is a 15 minute behind the scenes featurette.

The Bottom Line
Christmas horror films are a bit of a hot property at the moment and A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY will be able to stand up tall and proud among them even if it doesn't use the holiday setting to the extent I was hoping for.

A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY is available HERE

FANGBONER (2015)

USA/2015
Directed By: Nathan Rumler
Written By: Nathan Rumler
Starring: Lauren Abbott, James Bell, Terence Lee Cover

Review by Shawn Wolfe

There are two types of people in this world. Those who ask "Why would you watch a movie called FANGBONER?" and those who ask "How could you not?". Fortunately, I'm in the latter camp. FANGBONER is a very difficult movie to describe, but I'll attempt it. FANGBONER begins with our main character Dick waking up from a hard night of partying only to find that his member has been mutilated. He soon comes to the conclusion that he and a woman he's been seeing have been infected with a form of vampirism which requires them to feed off of the genitals of their victims. After coming to terms with their new disease, they go about trying to find unsuspecting people to feast upon, unaware that they are being tracked by the extraterrestrial originator of their terrible condition.

FANGBONER could easily have been an awful experience. It's a very low budget film and it shows. The dialogue is awkward, the actors' deliveries are sometimes painful, and the whole movie has a very cheap look to it. Yet, FANGBONER somehow exudes a charm that shouldn't be possible for a dick-joke filled film of it's caliber. The movie is filled with an array of characters that while sometimes bizarre, are never boring. And the soundtrack (featuring bands such as Polkadot Cadaver and Knives Out) is pretty darn good. At several points, I found myself either laughing out loud or wincing at the gore on the screen. I even watched the film twice before I wrote this review. FANGBONER is obviously not a film for everyone, but if you enjoy a hefty side of cheese with your gore you should definitely seek it out.

SGT. KABUKIMAN N.Y.P.D. (Blu-ray Review) - Troma

USA/1990
Directed By: Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz
Written By: Charles Kaufman, Andrew Osborne, Jeffrey W. Sass
Starring: Rick Gianasi, Susan Byun, Bill Weeden
Color/105 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: November 10, 2015

The Film
Harry Griswold is a sergeant with the NYPD, he's a hot dog loving Bronx boy who is about to learn his destiny - harnessing thousands year old powers that will transform him into a superhuman Kabukiman sent to protect New York and the world from ultimate evil with his arsenal of weapons and powers including deadly chopsticks, sushi and Geisha fans.

First a bit of background - While filming The Toxic Avenger 2 in Japan Troma presidents Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz were approached by Japanese financiers connected to Namco to create a Japanese superhero since the first Toxic Avenger film was a big hit in Japan. Namco became a producer and SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD was greenlit with a 1.5 million dollar budget, the biggest budget Troma had ever worked with.

Ideas differed for the film as Michael Herz and the Namco boys wanted a more family friendly, mainstream oriented film while Lloyd Kaufman wanted to go the traditional Troma route filled with offensive material, dark comedy and sex and violence. Kaufman won the battle (mostly) and SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD would end up being R-rated and the Namco boys pulled their distribution leaving the future of the film up in the air until it was finally released theatrically in 1996 despite being screened at Cannes upon its initial completion.

I find SGT. KABUKIMAN to be one of Troma's most iconic characters that could stand toe to toe with Toxie had it been granted sequels in the way The Toxic Avenger was. Now, there's really no denying Toxie is the Troma icon, but Kabukiman is no slouch and neither is the film. Sure the film starts out with a confusing set of astrological circumstances to turn our everyday cop into the striped-bathrobe wearing superhero but that's part of the charm. Planets are in houses, Jupiter has a hole that tigers are jumping through and some other bullshit immediately tell the viewer they're in for classic Troma fare. The movie is gory complete with its own head crushing scene, and its sleazy with a daytime public rape attempt. It's silly and stupid with some cultural stereotypes and cliches on full display. We even have Brick Bronsky! BRICK BRONSKY! I dare not say his name a third time.

The movie is a bit uneven at times because there still seems to be a bit of hokey family friendly attempts thrown in which on a first time viewing may pull the viewer out of the film briefly but I think it adds to the charm once you get to know the film. And you can't dislike the original use of the trademark Troma car crash, can you? No, I think not.

SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD was the first step in Troma attempting to break into the mainstream, something they'd have an unexpected bit of success with a few short years later with The Toxic Crusaders cartoon and brand. While Troma found the crack that allowed a Troma product to squeeze through on to TV sets, video game systems (despite the games being damn near unplayable) and toy chests in homes across America perhaps the timing just wasn't right in 1990 for SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD to be the movie that made "Troma" be a weird word that parents in their 50s and 60s now somehow remember, but they aren't sure where from. Who knows what the world would be like if Micahel Herz and the Namco financiers had won the battle over the film and made Kabukiman an international superhero and icon.

The Audio &a Video
Troma gives SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD a beautiful full 1080p HD presentation. The 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer has a healthy and natural grain structure giving the movie an actual film look. Colors are sharp and vibrant while black levels are deep and come across with no signs of compression issues or blocking. Skin tones aren't at all waxy and detail level is strong in textures and surfaces. The English audio mix is well done as the dialogue comes across loud and clear and the soundtrack is complimentary without ever drowning it out. I didn't notice any damage to the audio but there is a constant whirring in the background similar to that of a running projector that is a bit distracting and annoying at first until you tune it out.

The Extras
-Audio Commentary
-Interview With Star Rick Gianasi
-New Introduction By Lloyd Kaufman
-Full Episode Of KABUKIMAN'S COCKTAIL CORNER (Troma's new web series)
-Kabukiman Cocktail Karaoke
-Original Trailer
-Highlights From Tromadance 2015
-Stupid Moments In Troma History

The Bottom Line
Kabukiman is one of Troma's most iconic characters and it's great to see him shine in HD with an awesome release like he deserves to.

SGT. KABUKIMAN NYPD is available HERE

SOME KIND OF HATE (DVD Review) - Image/RLJ

USA/2015
Directed By: Adam Egypt Mortimer
Written By: Brian DeLeeuw, Adam Egypt Mortimer
Starring: Ronen Rubinstein, Grace Phipps, Maestro Harrell
Color/83 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: November 3, 2015

The Film
Lincoln is a teen being tortured by bullying. When he's sent to a secluded school for troubled teens he thinks he'll find some refuge but the bullying continues until he summons a ghost of a girl named Moira who committed suicide after being victimized by bullies years ago and Lincoln takes revenge on his tormentors through Moira.

Here's my initial review of SOME KIND OF HATE from a few months back - http://celluloidterror.blogspot.com/2015/09/some-kind-of-hate-2015.html

My feelings remain largely the same but knowing what to expect as far as the embarrassingly cookie cutter teen cliches that really pulled me out of the movie made it a bit more palatable this time around. The movie still feels 15 minutes longer than it actually is but the violence and kill sequences were a bit more entertaining on a 2nd viewing as they are quite bloody and have a certain meanness to them.

I'm still no fan of SOME KIND OF HATE but I think I can now see how there would be a fanbase to the film and can see the parts viewers would enjoy.

The Audio & Video
Image/RLJ Entertainment deliver a fantastic looking and sounding DVD that would only be surpassed by the Blu-ray counterpart. The DVD features strong colors, deep black levels with no signs of blocking or compression issues and a clean picture. The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix is clear and mixed well. The soundtrack and dialogue are complimentary and never drown each other out. There's no annoying background noise or damage to the audio.

The Extras
-Audio Commentary with Director/Co-Writer Adam Egypt Mortimer and Co-Writer Brian DeLeeuw
-Audio Commentary with Stars Ronen Rubinstein, Grace Phipps, Sierra McCormick, and Director/Co-Writer Adam Egypt Mortimer
-Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary from Adam Egypt Mortimer

The Bottom Line
RLJ Entertainment gives us a quality release for a film I'm not too keen on but the special features make it worth checking out for yourself.

SOME KIND OF HATE is available HERE