The Unkindness Of Ravens World Premiere Date Set!

The Unkindness of Ravens Set to Premiere at FrightFest 2016

The Unkindness of Ravens, the much anticipated second feature from Lawrie Brewster will have its world premiere at London's FrightFest which runs from the 25th to the 29th of August.

The film tells the story of Andrew, a homeless veteran suffering from PTSD. Haunted by flashbacks of a traumatic event he witnessed while serving in the armed forces, Andrew travels to a retreat in the remote Scottish Highlands. There, he hopes to overcome his fear of ravens, the dark creatures that trigger his visions, but, in the bleak wilderness, his nightmares take a form more terrifying than he could have ever imagined. He must battle these monsters as well as his own inner demons in order to keep his life, and reclaim his sanity.
Starring Jamie Scott Gordon, the film blends the psychological with the supernatural, taking cues from films like Jacob's Ladder and The Witch as it depicts one man's nightmarish journey into hell. Featuring a slew of practical and visual effects, the film has an epic scope that defies its indie credentials.
Lawrie Brewster's first film Lord of Tears, a slow-burn gothic chiller also penned by writer Sarah Daly, received critical acclaim and earned the duo an avid fan base. With this, their second feature, they want to push the boundaries of the genre further. 

According to Brewster, the film 'is an unsettling, visceral commentary on the mental turmoil that war leaves in its wake. It's brutal, it's relentless but it's also thought-provoking. Expect to be traumatised.' 
Back in December 2015, the film broke records when it became the most-funded UK horror ever on Kickstarter with 635 backers pledging over £44,000 to help complete the project. Following the premiere, backers can look forward to a real treat in the Special 3-Disc Edition of the film, set to include hours of behind the scenes action, interviews, deleted scenes, short films and more. This Special Edition is available to pre-order now at: http://www.theunkindnessofravensmovie.com/

An international co-production between Hex Media and Dark Dunes Productions in association with 3rd Monkey Productions, Lights Out Productions and Zoghogg Studios, The Unkindness of Ravens is set for release later this year.

Also on the line-up for this year's horrorchannel-backed FrightFest are Adam Wingard’s eagerly anticipated The Woods and the latest Stephen King adaptation The Cell. Sang-ho Yeon’s Cannes title Train To Busan will close the festival. 

Horror Channel FrightFest is the UK’s biggest, best and most renowned genre festival and its seventeenth year sees yet another enhancement of its core mission to bring the finest in home-grown and international fear to the dark heart of London, between 25 - 29 August. 

BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS (2015)

USA/2015
Directed By: Brian James O'Connell
Written By: Dr. God, Ryan Mitts
Starring: Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Joey Kern

Evan (Fran Kranz) works in a sales office with his slacker friends, his recently ex-girlfriend and a boss that isn't sure he deserves a big promotion. Things begin to look up when Evan is told by his boss Ted (Joel McMurray) to tell everyone of a meeting that he's positive will be the announcement of his promotion but it all falls apart when Ted announces a former college rival of Evan's as the new manager. Bad goes to worse when Evan realizes that the new manager has turned almost everyone in the office in to vampires.

BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS was just another horror comedy that I didn't have any expectations for. I'd estimate that at least eight out of every ten horror comedy I see these days are nothing special. Sure, there may be some laughs or some fun to be had but when the credits roll there's little to set itself apart from the pack. There's plenty of cliches and tropes in BLOODSUCKING BASTARD. Slacker and stoner humor is as popular as it has ever been in TV and film, and that is the back bone of the comedy in this movie. Joey Kern plays Evan's friend Ted and is perhaps the laziest guy in the bunch and brings the laughs time and time again. It's a perfect compliment to the performance Fran Kranz gives as the quiet and reserved Evan who probably cares too much about his job. Evan's relationship with Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick) is a classic way of getting the audience to root for a couple of genuinely likable characters on more than a surface level. The writing is good enough that we not only want Evan and Amanda to survive the vampire outbreak but we want them to rekindle their love after Evan didn't give a very good response to Amanda dropping the "L" bomb. It's important that the script make Amanda a character to sympathize for and not hate for being a cold bitch about it. Emma Fitzpatrick plays the character as beautifully as she really is.

Pedro Pascal is excellent as the arrogant and appropriately cocky Max who is instantly unlikeable from the second he's introduced with his over the top "We sell dreams" sales pitch to the office that almost anyone can relate to in one way or another. His act is phony and everyone knows it but you have to deal with it for the paycheck. Pascal not only nails it but he also proves to be a formidable opponent to the young couple as the head vampire.

BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS strongest point is probably its characters because there are so many memorable ones beyond the main stars already mentioned. Joel Murray is always a pleasure to see and he is again here as the head of the office.  Marshall Givens plays the tough security guard who also has a soft side for Kelly Clarkson and his repeatedly calling Evan "Colonel Sanders" was hilarious. Marshall isn't given much screen time until the end but he makes the most of it. Then there's the janitor, the stereotypical office cat lady and others who make a lasting impression without needing much screen time to do so.

So yes, BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS is a well written comedy that provides laughs from start to finish but does it satisfy the horror side of things? Yes dear readers, it does. The makeup job for the vampires is on the simple side but they look great and properly menacing with just a set of fangs and well done undead makeup. The laughs are still a major part of the film and they don't stop even during the more horrific parts of the movie as the vampires explode into a bloody mess whenever they die covering everything in the office in red colored corn syrup.

It could have been just another time waster good for a single viewing but BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS is a mashup of The Office, Workaholics and Fright Night that I can see myself watching over and over. Come for the vamps and stay for the laughs. Bam snap!

FEVER - Artsploitation Films (DVD Review)

France/2014
Directed By: Raphael Neal
Written By: Raphael Neal, Alice Zeniter
Starring: Martin Loizillon, Pierre Moure, Julie-Marie Parmentier
Color/81 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: May 24, 2016

The Film
A pair of high school students commit a murder with no motive and for no real reason and have gotten away with it until a neighbor makes a possible connectino to them. The teens now have to worry if she really has proof it was them but their own conciesnce may break on them first.

FEVER is a psychological drarma/thriller partially based on the Leopold and Loeb case from the 1920s but frankly the film is never as interesting as the story of that case or other works that used the famous case as a foundation. While the film is technically sound, including straight forward and competent direction from Raphael Neal and performances from the entire cast that don't have a real weak spot it's simply a boring film. I never felt a deep connection to either of the boys and again, it wasn't due to their acting, it was just that there was never anything in the script to connect the audience to them.

When the film starts the crime has already been committed, we only see with them as they handle it over the passing days as their time in high school is coming to an end and there's never a key moment that could be seen as more important than any other. It's just time passing, saying they'll never break until one of them possibly does. It's a waste of a good cast that is capable of putting on good performances because the script doesn't give them anything to do.

I wish I had more to say about FEVER but I really don't. It is what it is.

The Audio & Video
Artsploitation Films gives FEVER an attractive DVD release for it's North American home video debut. The film has a strong, sharp look with vivid colors and a nice overall clarity that I think could only be improved upon with a HD scan and presentation. The French language audio is handled through a crisp sounding and crystal clear 5.1 surround mix that is stable and well mixed throughout. English subtitles are included and are timed perfectly and read naturally.

The Extras
A trailer is included with a small selection of trailers for other Artsploitation releases.

The Bottom Line
The idea behind FEVER is an interesting one but the film didn't strike a visceral chord or an emotional note with me which left me feeling distant and uninterested from the characters and their story.

FEVER is available HERE

THE HUMAN TORNADO - Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray Review)

USA/1976
Directed By: Cliff Roquemore
Written By: Jerry Jones
Starring: Rudy Ray Moore, Lady Reed, Jimmy Lynch
Color/96 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: May 31, 2016
Blu-ray/DVD

The Film
It's bigger badder and blacker! It's THE HUMAN TORNADO!

After a successful stand up comedy tour Dolemite returns home and wants to have a party to celebrate. The party grabs the attention of the local hick sheriff because any gathering of black folks just can't be good! Upon breaking up the party the sheriff finds his wife making love to Dolemite which leads to the sheriff shooting his wife and pinning the blame on Dolemite who's now on the run and looking for solace with Lady Bee until he finds out that some local gangsters have taken control of Lady Bee's strip joint and making her girls work for them. Dolemite is now fighting battles on two fronts as he tries to elude capture from the honky sheriff and take down the dirty gangsters who are roughing up his friends.

THE HUMAN TORNADO (or as Dolemite repeatedly calls himself "The Human Tornada") is an action packed, "don't give a fuck" whirlwind of blaxploitation goodness. While this movie wouldn't exist without the first Dolemite film which is a classic of its own, THE HUMAN TORNADO is just a crazier take on what made the first film great. One liners, bad martial arts action that is sped up to cover up the lack of choreography, Ernie Hudson, Ernie Hudson's brother in a bald cap playing Ernie Hudson's character, explosions, titties, sex tornados, torture dungeons and more. It's all here and you have to ask yourself where else you'll see an entire bedroom get smashed to the ground in a sex tornado of Dolemite's sexual prowess. Nowhere!

Director Cliff Roquemore creates a picture that is still rough around the edges as this is still an exploitation film despite having a slightly larger budget. Roquemore's debut film shows more style and natural ability than you may expect as he uses different tricks and techniques to cover up some of the film's technical shortcomings. The cast is good from Rudy Ray Moore on down to karate champion Howard Jackson who lends the the film's lone sense of martial arts credibility. Jackson isn't asked to do much besides show up and kick ass so he's successful in what was asked of him.

THE HUMAN TORNADO is a rollercoaster of emotions - you'll laugh, you'll cry, and you might just discover yourself. Nah, who the hell am I kidding? Grab a 40, pack a bowl and grab some buddies to watch this incredible piece of 70s blaxploitation cinema.

The Audio & Video
It is going to be hard to not compare the transfers of the Dolemite movies as they're released by Vinegar Syndrome so I'll do my best to keep that to a minimum. THE HUMAN TORNADO is presented in a new 16x9 anamorphic widescreen transfer taken from a new 2K scan and restoration from 35mm vault elements. Now, I said I wouldn't compare but it's definitely worth mentioning that you shouldn't expect the damn near pristine PQ that was delivered in the first Dolemite film's Blu-ray. THE HUMAN TORNADO's elements were obviously in far worse condition than that of the first film and where Dolemite was restored from an original negative this film isn't quite as fortunate. The picture quality is decent, with some areas looking good and having really solid detail and sharpness while others show just how rough the elements were. And that of course shows just how much work Vinegar Syndrome put in to this release to make it look as good as it does. There's still scratches, speckling and various other damage but overall this is a big improvement over the decade old DVD that was bordering on unwatchable.

The English audio comes through a DTS-HD mono track that sounds good. The audio was in far better condition than the video and while it isn't the sharpest sounding audio mix you'll ever hear it is clear and mostly free of any damage. The mix is stable and steady and you won't have any issues listening along. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Extras
VinSyn has put together a nice collection of extras including:

-"I, Dolemite part 2" - More documentary interview footage with Rudy Ray Moore and others involved in the Dolemite series. - I really hope these continue through the rest of the Dolemite releases.
-Audio Commentary with Rudy Ray Moore Biographer Mark Jason Murray and Co-star Jimmy Lynch
-Audio Interview with Director Cliff Roquemore and Howard Jackson
-German dubbed version of the film "Der Bastard"
-Soundtrack
-Radio Spot
-Theatrical Trailers
-Promotional Still Gallery
-Reversible Artwork

The Bottom Line
THE HUMAN TORNADO fits right in line with Dolemite. It's rough and tough and wild as hell! Highly Recommended!

THE HUMAN TORNADO is available HERE

CRIMSON - Kino Lorber/Redemption Films (Blu-ray Review)

Spain, France/1973
Directed By: Juan Fortuny
Written By: Marius Lesoeur, Juan Fortuny
Starring: Paul Naschy, Silvia Solar, Olivier Mathot
Color/98 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: June 14, 2016

The Film
Surnett (Paul Naschy) is the leader of a gang who have planned a jewel heist but end up in a police chase that leads to Surnett getting shot in the head. Requiring surgery to survive his gang take him to a secluded doctor who has made many advances in brain surgery while experimenting on animals. They hold the doctor and his wife hostage until he does the surgery but a transplant is needed so they decide to take out their head rival who is known as The Sadist. After the transplant Surnett has absorbed many of the personality traits from The Sadist and is even more violent and deadly than ever before.

CRIMSON aka THE MAN WITH THE SEVERED HEAD is a messy take on classic horror film ideas. Transplanted body parts containing pieces of their donor is an plot device as old as horror cinema and it leads to rather sleazy results here. CRIMSON is a mash up of Euro crime, horror and sleazy exploitation. Unfortunately this triangle of ideas never meshes together into a cohesive and successful formula. While individual pieces of the film, including the scene where the gang acquires The Sadist's head and some rough nudie scenes are entertaining enough to keep the viewer engaged the rest of the film is a missed opportunity at something better. Paul Naschy certainly had the ability to be the best part of this movie and when he's given an opportunity to do something other than lay around in a bed in various states of conciousness he generally is.

But the messy mash up of ideas proves time and time again that it just doesn't work. There's far too much down time and unnecessary subplots such as various members of the gang looking to take revenge for being left behind. Only touching on horror elements and never fully becoming a horror movie, CRIMSON is probably best described as a horror influenced exploitation film but it's much more than that while being less than that as well.

It all comes back to to the messiness of the execution. Director Juan Fortuny's visual style is straight forward and it works but bringing the elements of the story together obviously was not his strong suit and CRIMSON ends up being just a fraction of the success that it had the potential to be.

The Audio & Video
Redemption Films is back with their first Blu-ray release in a number of months once again in conjunction with Kino Lorber and they've picked up right where they left off. CRIMSON starts out a little rough around the edges with some noticeable wear and tear to the original 35mm film element source material. That doesn't last too long and the picture quality quickly turns around into a natural film looking transfer with healthy and fleshy skin tones, vivid colors and strong detail levels in surfaces and textures. Speckling remains throughout but the vast majority of the this 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is great. There are two audio options depending on which version of the film you watch - the shorter English version features an atrocious English dub that sounds ridiculous. Now the quality was fine but the dub itself is laughable. I only scanned through that version as I was more interested in watching the extended French version that has a French audio track with optional English subtitles. The sound is crisp and clear, with a stable mix and no damage or background noise. The subtitles are translated properly and are timed perfectly.

The Extras
An audio commentary by horror film historian Richard Harland Smith is included.

The Bottom Line
There's a couple reasons to pick up CRIMSON and they include Paul Naschy being under represented in your collection and supporting Redemption Films because I want them to get back to a more frequent release schedule!

CRIMSON is available HERE

CIRCUS OF FEAR / FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS - Blue Underground (Blu-ray Review)

UK/1966, 1967
Directed By: John Moxey, Jeremy Summers
Written By: Peter Welbeck
Starring: Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski
Color/195 Minutes/Not Rated
Region FREE
Release Date: June 28, 2016

The Films
This pair of films based on the work of novelist Edgar Wallace each feature, appearances by the late great Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski. That was enough to get me excited about them, especially CIRCUS OF FEAR which is a film I've long wanted to see but the film and I never ended up at the same place at the same time. FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS was of less interest as the Harry Alan Towers produced spy film's I've seen don't really get my blood pumping but again, Lee and Kinski in the cast made it a must see.

CIRCUS OF FEAR is from 1966 and directed by John Moxey who is best known to me as the director of City Of The Dead aka Horror Hotel which is a brilliant gothic horror film from 1960 starring Christopher Lee. He would pair up with Lee once again here where an armored car heist leads London's detectives to a mysterious circus where a disfigured lion tamer (Christopher Lee) is one of several suspects in a series of accidents and murder but nobody is as innocent as they seem.

I enjoyed CIRCUS OF FEAR it's a well made crime mystery with a strong cast including Suzy Kendall, Margaret Lee Leo Genn and Klaus Kinski. There's enough action to keep things moving along at a comfortable pace and the plot is constantly thickening. The danger of the lions add an element of horror to the picture and there are a couple of more gruesome scenes that had been cut in some releases.

The film's mystery is quite obvious and there's little surprise to the big reveal that comes in the third act. The weak reveal doesn't hurt the picture too much thankfully as the movie is never more than just good. I'd never call the film great but it is an enjoyable watch from start to finish.

FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS is easily the more visually appealing of the two films. This Jeremy Summers (House of 1,000 Dolls, Vengeance Of Fu Manchu) stars Bob Cummings in what would be the former Hitchcock cast member's final feature film. Cumming stars as Bob Mitchell, a wealthy American playboy type (why they chose a rather washed up actor at the end of his career for this doesn't make sense to me) who is quickly thrown into a dangerous and life threatening situation between local mobsters and a group known as the Five Golden Dragons who hope to take over the world's economy without revealing their identities to each other until some grandiose ritual of key turning, box opening and gun shooting. It's up to Mitchell to reveal the identities of the Five Golden Dragons if he can survive long enough.

FIVE GOLEN DRAGONS is easily the more visually stimulating and appealing of the two films. Shot at Shaw Brothers' Studio in Hong Kong this film has a very exotic flavor filled with beautiful bikini clad women, boat chases and strikingly colorful costumes including the golden dragon masks. The visuals of FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS are its best asset as the writing is awful. The film is apparently a comedy because Bob Mitchell takes the entire thing as joke despite very real danger and attempts on his life he's laughing and joking throughout. That may be forgivable if the movie didn't have extremely out of place and down right bizarre music and sound cues that would fit more in a 3 Stooges slapstick act than a spy thriller.

On top of this the majority of the cast is given nothing to do, including Klaus Kinski who shows up every half hour for about 15 seconds and Christopher Lee who is relegated to taking off a mask and is given about 10 seconds of screen time. I like the art direction in this film but sadly that's about it.

The Audio & Video
Blue Underground makes sure you have no reason to search down any other version of these films as they've presented both films uncut with gorgeous 2K scans from the original negatives. Both films feature strong detail in textures, surfaces and especially in close-ups. The grain in wood and the fabric in clothing is immediately evident. Colors are faithfully reproduced from the darker and drearier CIRCUS OF FEAR to the far more bright and vivid color palette of Hong Kong and the costumes in FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS. The black levels are deep with no signs of blocking up and the more vibrant colors shine without bleeding or looking artificially enhanced. Each film features an English DTS-HD Mono mix that are free of any background noise or distortions. I feel that CIRCUS sounds slightly better with a more crisp and clear sound overall. There's nothing drastically wrong with DRAGONS audio but I don't think it was quite as crystal clear sounding to my ear which leads me to believe it has to do with how the audio was originally recorded.

The Extras
-Audio Commentary with Director John Moxey on CIRCUS OF FEAR
-Theatrical Trailer Collection
-Poster and Still Galleries

The Bottom Line
Blue Underground's excellent presentation of these films is probably better than the films themselves but I found CIRCUS OF FEAR plus the appearances by Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski in both films to be enough to warrant a recommendation.


CIRCUS OF FEAR/FIVE GOLDEN DRAGONS is available HERE

CONDUIT - Brain Damage Films (DVD Review)

USA/2016
Directed By: Sixto Melendez
Written By: Sixto Melendez
Starring: Wes Martinez, Monica Engesser, Mike Watkiss
Color/100 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1
Release Date: April 12, 2016

The Film
Eddie is haunted by a tragic event from his childhood when his mother brutally murdered his father and sister leaving Eddie for dead. Now dealing with a recent divorce Eddie enters group therapy to try and put the pieces of his life together and continue on. He meets Amy who is beautiful and alluring and dealing with a drug addiction. Amy eases Eddie's pain with a series of hookups but soon after meeting her people around Eddie start turning up missing and dead and Eddie learns that Amy may be a demonic force that needs to spread her evil to others.

CONDUIT is the feature film debut from writer and director Sixto Melendez and he creates a pretty good looking independent horror film. The film feels bigger than it's limited handful of locations would normally allow. The photography studio is sparsely but smartly decorated giving it an eerily empty but genuinely authentic feeling.

The cast is good and better than most similar direct to video horror films from top to bottom. Wes Martinez is a solid backbone for the cast as Eddie and plays well alongside Monica Engesser and Carrie Fee as the new women in his life. Mike Watkiss is also worth mentioning as Gabriel, the reclusive man who knows all about Amy's history.

I found CONDUIT to be engaging even though it isn't the most exciting horror film you'll watch this year. The film is very much a thriller as it is a horror film with only a couple of explicit horror movie moments and far more moments dealing with the unsolved disappearances and murders. It's really the third act where CONDUIT turns into a horror film and it certainly leaves you wanting more in that regard, selling it a bit short. The movie's 100 minute runtime gives plenty of room to develop the story and characters and work in a more exciting horror element that isn't so fleeting when all is said and done.

CONDUIT ends up surprising me and being better than I would have expected. It's far from perfect but there are far worse films that get higher praise and more attention than CONDUIT.

The Audio & Video
Brain Damage Films gives CONDUIT home on DVD with a 16x9 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The picture is clean has pretty good sharpness for a standard def release. Much of the film takes place in darker locations and thankfully this release handles black levels fairly well. There are some instances of blocking and compression but overall it's fleeting and more often than not the black levels are decent. The English audio sounds good with either a 2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround mix. The audio is clean and dialogue comes across clear and stable.

The Extras
Bare bones.

The Bottom Line
I don't love CONDUIT but I certainly didn't hate it and it's better than I thought it would be. Worth a look.

CONDUIT is available HERE