PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH (2018)

USA/2018
Directed By: Sonny Laguna, Tommy Wiklund
Written By: S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Thomas Lennon, Jenny Pellicer, Nelson Franklin
On VOD and Digital HD August 17

In a small Texas town in 1989 a German puppet maker is killed by police after his puppets commit a pair of murders. The puppet maker was Andre Toulon (Udo Kier), a Nazi who left Germany for America shortly after the end of World War II. Toulon used all forms of science and the occult to engineer his puppets to be deadly killing machines with a psychic link to do him to do his bidding. Now thirty years after his death a convention is being held in the town he died in and collectors from all over have come to buy and sell the puppets of Andre Toulon ignorant to the danger their valuable possessions pose.

Edgar (Thomas Lennon) along with his new girlfriend Ashley (Jenny Pellicer) and boss and best friend Markowitz (Nelson Franklin) attend the Andre Toulon convention to sell his deceased brother's old Andre Toulon puppet but after returning to his hotel room he finds the puppet missing. When the police arrive to investigate they find that many other guests' puppets have also gone missing and that missing puppets is the least of their concern as many guests have been brutally murdered. The puppets have returned to life and with their implements of death they are carrying out the wishes of their Nazi creator.

PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH follows in the footsteps of Full Moon Features' flagship franchise that began in 1989 with creator and director's Charles Band's horror film concerning an old hotel full of psychics who are investigating the death of a colleague who discovered murderous World War II era puppets. The film spawned ten sequels many of which retaining the WWII setting or theme and were video store era staples. Fans fell in love with Blade, Torch, Pinhead and all of Andre Toulon's other creations that split their time between being villains and antiheroes but there's no mistake that Andre Toulon and his puppets have never been nastier than they are in THE LITTLEST REICH. This reboot from writer S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) and directors Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund who previously directed the Swedish horror film Wither together gives a fresh start to the series but honors its Full Moon roots and history.

I have a love/hate relationship with the franchise. I think the first three films are pretty great and the fourth and fifth entries take a more supernatural turn and are entertaining. Then the bottom fall out and the quality of the films takes a steep decline eventually turning in to nothing but a clip show before returning to its WWII roots with some rather poor and obviously low budget affairs in the "Axis Trilogy". The series was long overdue for a fresh voice and I put faith in S. Craig Zahler immediate upon hearing of his involvement. He has become a name to watch after his western horror film Bone Tomahawk and his ultra violent prison thriller Brawl In Cell Block 99 both of which have been well received by genre film critics and fans alike. Add in the duo of Laguna and Wiklund helming the film and you have a team that has recent horror success under their belt to try and breathe new life to a franchise that has been drowning for several entries.

And that they did. PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH is the Puppet Master film fans have been waiting for over 20 years. The story is mean spirited as the puppets target Jews, gypsies and homosexuals and kill anyone else that just plain gets in their way. This ethnic cleansing attempted by the puppets can be a bit uncomfortable at times but in the same way that a rape/revenge film is uncomfortable and eventually satisfying when the attacker(s) get their comeuppance. And they deserve everything they get and more. The puppets slice, burn, decapitate and disembowel their victims with blood, limbs and innards flying everywhere. This is easily the goriest Puppet Master film to date, and it isn't even close. The extreme violence is presented in a way that lightens the tone of the film so that it is easily digestible. Plus any movie with Udo Kier and Barbara Crampton gets a little bonus.

I felt like a kid again getting excited over a decapitated head falling into a toilet and a pile of guts falling out of a sliced stomach. The special effects from Tate Steinsiek are not only plentiful but well done as well. Something that plagued the Puppet Master franchise as the series went on was the puppeteering and the look and movement of the puppets. At their worst it looked as if they were dolls being held and shaken around by a hand just off screen until they jumped toward a victim and I use the term "jump" very loosely. It was more of being randomly tossed in the direction of a victim. That was one fear I had that would carry over to this entry and in some instances the movement of the puppets isn't so hot but more often than not the puppets have really decent looking movement and animation which pleased the hell out of me. The music also pleased the hell out of me. Richard Band provided the score and theme for the original franchise and provides a theme here as well but the majority of the music was handled by Italian maestro and frequent Lucio Fulci collaborator Fabio Frizzi and his score adds a foreboding atmosphere that I'd never felt in a Puppet Master film before. Frizzi's work really is top notch and along with the ultra gory moments it was reminiscent of some of the classic Fulci moments.

PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH does have its flaws and setbacks. While I think the set up of the story is fine the writing has holes in it that are frustrating such as Andre Toulon's connection with the puppets and how he is manipulating them after his apparent death and why he has waited 30 years to bring them back to life. The film does end with a "to be continued" which could eventually lead to some insight and fill in some gaps but it was frustrating at times. The puppets themselves have several distinct styles and designs but each of those has different versions running around simply to create a higher number of puppets. This feels like a cop out to me but when I get to see Torch (or in this case Kaiser) totally melt the flesh from a few faces I'll let some things slide like minor continuity errors and some sporadically awkward editing.

PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH might be unnecessarily mean and could have easily left the Nazi theme out this time around but they made it work. The film's positives vastly outweigh the negatives and along with easily being the best entry in two decades it is also the most entertaining and I'm fully on board for another.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2 (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

USA/1988
Directed By: Ken Wiederhorn
Written By: Ken Wiederhorn
Starring: James Karen, Thom Mathews, Michael Kenworthy
Color/89 Minutes/R
Region A
Release Date: August 14, 2018

The Film
Following in the footsteps of the original Return Of The Living Dead, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2 has a similar set up and plot revolving around a group of people fighting to survive a zombie outbreak after a toxic gas has been unleashed from a lost Army container. Unlike the first film that while having a healthy dose of comedy was definitely geared toward adult audiences with plenty of gore and nudity, the sequel is based more in comedy than horror and is a much more family friendly affair.

Writer and director Ken Wiederhorn is best known for his work in the horror genre having helmed films such as the Nazi zombie drive-in staple Shock Waves and the early 80s serial killer flick Eyes Of A Stranger, Wiederhorn's most notable and popular work is RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2. Ironically Wiederhorn isn't much of a fan of the horror genre and has gone on record many times stating that. Knowing that it is obvious why he took this sequel in a decidedly more humorous and family friendly direction concerned more about laughs than shocks. From the opening ten minutes of the film it is immediately apparent that this is not going to be a tonal rehash of the first film as we're quickly introduced to a trio of kids, not old enough to be in high school. Along with the youthful presence is a whimsical score that wouldn't be out of place in a children adventure movie like The Goonies.

Fans of the first film may have been thrown for a loop early on but I suspect a wave of comfort (and slight confusion as well) washed over them when James Karen and Thom Mathews appeared on screen. These two played a classic duo in the original and despite having died make their return as different characters in the sequel albeit in similar roles. They even repeat their classic "Watch your tongue boy, if you like this job!" "Like this job!?" exchange much to my personal delight. Then the zombies start coming and any remaining doubt that this isn't going to be like the first film is erased as the slapstick is introduced. Instead of making these zombies menacing and scary Ken Wiederhorn has them bumbling around the graveyard, stepping on each other's heads as they climb out of their resting places, falling into empty graves and eventually driving military jeeps around town while flailing about.

These zombies are still dangerous and gross. These undead monsters want brains and will chase you down to get them. Like the first film these zombies run and even a gunshot to the head won't stop them. There's a bit of gore on display to keep a slight edge to the film and make-up effects artist Kenny Myers and his team created dozens of decayed designs that I think are overlooked in the world of zombie design because they're in a more comedic film. That's not Kenny Myers' fault who I think did a superb job in keeping the horror aspects of this horror movie in tact enough so that it works because without the horror in this movie it would be a big goofy mess. And while it is goofy it's goofy in a charming way and there's enough horror to keep things moving along at a nice pace. If there's one thing RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2 could never be accused of it is being slow or boring. There's always something to laugh at or get excited by.

Yes, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2 is a wacky departure from the first film and no, it is not a slice of counter culture goodness that the first film is but it is a wildly entertaining film that has its tongue planted firmly in cheek and after nearly a quarter century of me being a fan of it I think I can safely call it timeless. It is funny in ways that will always be funny and the scary bits are scary in ways that will always be scary. It may not be as good as the first but I will shout it from the mountaintops that I love RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2.

The Audio & Video
Scream Factory has restored the film with a new 2K scan of the original interpositive to very nice results. The film has always had a hazy and soft look from the way it was lit and photographed and that remains the case here but that doesn't detract from the obvious and sizable upgrade over the old DVD release of the film. Colors are vivid but realistic while detail is enhanced quite a bit which makes the zombies look even more ghoulish. Black levels are appropriately dark and there's no signs of pixelation or blocking up. The DTS-HD Master Audio is crystal clear and provides a crisp listening experience. The mix is perfectly done letting the dialogue come through loud and clear while the music shines when it needs to. The audio is free of any sort of damage or distortions like crackling, popping, or hissing.

The Extras
I... Want... Your... Brains!!! Whoops, I mean special features and there are plenty of them.

-Audio commentary with star Suzanne Snyder
-Audio commentary with Gary Smart (Co-author of The Complete History Of The Return Of The Living Dead) and filmmaker Christopher Griffiths
-Audio commentary with writer/director Ken Wiederhorn and actor Thor Van Lingen
-"Back To The Dead" - Featurette with special effects supervisor Kenny Myers (and others)
-"The Laughing Dead" - Featurette with writer/director Ken Wiederhorn
-"They Won't Stay Dead" - a look at ROTLD2
-"Undead Melodies" - Featurette with composer J. Peter Robinson
-Archival featurette from the set
-Archival interviews
-Interview with actor Troy Fromin
-Behind-the-scenes footage
-Theatrical trailer
-Teaser trailer
-TV Spots
-Poster artwork still gallery
-Special effects makeup still gallery

The Bottom Line
This sequel's Blu-ray release was long overdue but Scream Factory made the wait worth it with a release featuring a great transfer and a slew of special features that definitely lives up to its "Collector's Edition" banner. And let us not overlook that the movie finally has been released with its original soundtrack for the first time since the VHS days. If you have any brains you'd go get it now.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2 is available HERE

BREAKING IN (Unviersal Home Video Blu-ray Review)

Directed By: James McTeigue
Written By: Ryan Engle
Starring: Gabrielle Union, Billy Burke, Richard Cabral
Color/88 Minutes/PG-13
Region A
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD

The Film
After the recent death of her father a mother (Gabrielle Union) brings her kids to his sprawling estate to prepare it for sale but find that the house is already occupied by a group of criminals looking for the safe they believe is hidden and full of cash. With her family in mortal danger Union must fight back to save their lives.

Let's start with the good, shall we? Gabrielle Union is pretty decent here, capable of handling the physical and emotional sides of her character well. The on-location shooting at a real house gives a sense of realism to the film even if the house is an absolute mansion compound with state of the art of security that no normal person could ever dream of affording. Director James McTeigue makes good use of the location. Otherwise the film sets itself up to be a digestible slice of Hollywood despite being something unremarkable or particularly memorable and that is perfectly fine. Not every movie has to be groundbreaking or a new spin on a genre. BREAKING IN, for the first half of the film was on its way to being that.

And then the bottom dropped out.

The second half of BREAKING IN is a train wreck filled with plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon, editing that if I called it sloppy I'd be extremely kind and forgiving because it is really just plain awful, performances from the cast that are simply not good but to be fair that's really due in part to the writing at this point as well. The entire movie asks you to overlook so many inconsistencies for the sake of convenience for itself and the situations it wants to set up that it is downright insulting.

Cookie cutter isn't necessarily a bad thing. I like when my cookies are the same size and I know what to expect when I bite in to them. You won't win any fancy awards or be the next big thing making cookie cutter cookies but you can at least make a product that the party will enjoy. BREAKING IN is the equivalent to biting into a cookie and finding out that chocolate chip is actually a cockroach and nobody wants to eat a cockroach.

The Audio & Video
Universal's Blu-ray of BREAKING IN is gorgeous. The 1080p presentation looks stellar, with deep, inky black levels that show no signs of compression or blocking issues. Colors are vivid and lifelike while detail levels are very high including finer detail like facial hair and surface textures. The audio is crisp and clear with a strong mix across the 5.1 lossless audio mix. From a technical standpoint this release is top notch.

The Extras
There are several featurettes included in the release taking us behind the scenes to look at various aspects of the filmmaking including Gabrielle Union's performance and her role as a protective mother, James McTeigue's direction and use of the real life location the movie was produced in and the film's action scenes. Also included is an alternate opening and deleted and extended scenes each with optional commentary from the director and a full length audio commentary track from the director and writer.

The Bottom Line
BREAKING IN had the potential to be a standard but altogether successful home invasion thriller but it completely falls apart and descends into the type of movie that if you're not rolling your eyes at it you're simply staring wide-eyed at the screen in amazement of how ludicrous what you're watching is.

BREAKING IN is available HERE

Bill Zebub Announces New Film: The Most Offensive Movie Ever Made

Bill Zebub has made dozens upon dozens of films and has been distributed all over the world. He's been a B-movie king for decades with titles such as Holocaust Cannibal, Dickshark, Santa Claus: Serial Rapist and Antfarm Dickhole under his belt you can bet you're in for something special. He's also also someone I've shared a couple too many drinks and plenty of laughs with at conventions and can tell you he's good people. The point is if you support his upcoming film Clowna Nostra you will be supporting independent art and you can rest assured that you will get everything you are owed.

Check out the IndieGoGo HERE

Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich Red Band Trailer

FLORA (Mill Creek Blu-ray Review)

Canada/2016
Directed By: Sasha Louis Vukovic
Written By: Sasha Louis Vukovic
Starring: Teresa Marie Doran, Dan Lin, Sari Mercer
Color/100 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Blu-ray/Digital

The Film
Set in 1929, a team on an expedition to an uncharted forest to map the terrain and document the local plant life finds the team that arrived before them have gone missing. They realize that the native flora contain a deadly bacteria and that their lives depend on escaping the mysterious forest with limited supplies as they're being attacked by nature itself.

FLORA is an ambitious debut project for writer/director Sasha Louis Vukovic who was pretty freshly out of film school when this production went underway. Not only did he take on a period piece but he focused the film on an invisible antagonist which makes the audience focus entirely on the story and doesn't give himself any wall to hide behind as he could have with a more special effects driven horror movie. And to his credit I think Vukovic is largely successful. FLORA is a tense thriller, with fleshed out characters who have genuine intentions and purpose within the film. There are a few moments where the direction gets a bit too into itself and goes for flare over simple effectiveness. I chalk this up to a new director trying to show what he's capable of and I understand that but it's not always necessary. Sasha Vukovic is a young director and I think he'll be able to dial in his style and feel out when to reel it in a bit in the future.

The cast is comprised of a group with limited experience and like their director, there's more to praise than to critique. Instances of stilted performances are spread amongst a believable ensemble who are more than up to the task of not only a dramatic but at times a physical performance as well with plenty of sprinting and carrying heavy equipment through the actual Canadian forest this movie was shot in. A period piece is only as believable as the set dressing and wardrobe and that is tough to accomplish with millions of dollars let alone with the $120,000 (Canadian) budget that the film had according to IMDB and I never once questioned that this film was taking place in the late 1920s. I applaud the Vukovic's writing and costuming of Olivia Ball to make sure the characters spoke and wore the era.

FLORA isn't perfect but it is quite good. Sometimes less is more and in separate instances FLORA both adheres to that rule and breaks it. The script has questionable character decisions and potential plot bumps if not holes regarding this unseen organism but I found myself engaged, entertained and totally invested by this adventure in minimalist horror that reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening if The Happening if Shyamalan had written a script that was worth a damn. FLORA is a debut that avoids many of the stumbling blocks a young rookie director and writer fall victim of and is a promising start. I hope Sasha Vukovic works more in the horror and thriller genres in the coming years.

The Audio & Video
Mill Creek gives FLORA a home on Blu-ray and it looks very nice. The digital photography shines in the 2.00:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer with the lush greens of the forest popping and engulfing the screen. Skin tones look fleshy and natural with no signs of waxiness or pink coloring. There are no noticeable issues with black levels clumping up or becoming pixelated. The 5.1 DTS-HD audio mix sounds fantastic with the beautiful score shining through when it needs to be more in the foreground but blending nicely with the dialogue the rest of the time. The audio is crisp and clear with no distortion issues.

The Extras
Bonus features include a short behind the scenes featurette which provide a bit of insight into the development of the film and its production. Also included are deleted scenes and an audio commentary track with writer/director Sasha Louis Vukovic and stars Teresa Marie Doran and Dan Lin.

The Bottom Line
FLORA had success on the festival circuit and deservedly so. It now has a very respectable home on Blu-ray and I think it deserves a place on every horror fan's watch list.

FLORA is available HERE

ANOTHER WOLFCOP (Blu-ray Review)

Canada/2017
Directed By: Lowell Dean
Written By: Lowell Dean
Starring: Leo Fafard, Yannick Bisson, Amy Matysio
Color/79 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A
Release Date: July 3, 2018


The Film
A year after the events of the first film the town of Woodhaven is home to a new brewery being opened by a devious entrepreneur named Swallows (Yannick Bisson) who plans to use his new Chicken Milk Stout to attack the local population with stomach bursting monsters. It is up to the local police force led by the wolfcop himself Lou Garou to stop Swallows and save Woodhaven.

A few years have gone by since the release of Wolfcop but it is still fresh in the mind's of horror fans including myself and I was cautiously excited about the sequel being released. My trepidation comes from plenty of prior experiences where a successful modern indie horror movie spawns a far less successful sequel, losing the magic that the first film had created. ANOTHER WOLFCOP clocks in at only 79 minutes and upon seeing that runtime I was a bit less worried as it seemed that writer/director Lowell Dean had a tight idea for a sequel that can hit all the beats and get us in and out in a whirlwind of lycanthrope action but what I was presented was a mess of a story that only sort of comes together and more ideas that are used for laughs than to actually progress the story. The stomach monster angle only gives the character of Willie Higgins (Johnathan Cherry) a minor inconvenience to deal with and otherwise doesn't have any real point.

The special effects are a high point for the film with the wolf suit looking excellent yet again including some simple yet effective transformation scenes. There's plenty of gore including limbs getting lopped off and guts getting ripped out all of which are dripped with blood and will please the gore hounds. The effects work on the stomach monsters isn't bad either except for the one on Willie Higgins which looks like a cheap piece of rubber with a shitty face painted on it. I can see that monster design being a style choice based on how good all of the other effects were but it doesn't work either way. It's played for laughs but it's painfully unfunny which is a running theme as this is very much a horror comedy but the laughs are sporadic.

I am being rough on the movie because even though I approached the film with tempered expectations I still felt disappointed and cheated. Wolfcop had a great idea and was well thought out and executed with skill. Perhaps most importantly it felt fresh and didn't force itself to be everything else, it was happy being Wolfcop for better and for worse. ANOTHER WOLFCOP tries so hard to be everything all at once. It is bloated with references and nods to make it feel relevant to current genre trends. It has a bunch of ideas but none of them are thought through to conclusion and there's a lot of clutter in its 79 minutes. There are moments I enjoyed and I thought the use of the moon rock was ingenious but ANOTHER WOLFCOP feels more like any film that would have come out a decade ago towards the start of this "grindhouse revival" we find ourselves in than a sequel to one of the great horror comedies of the last few years.

The Audio & Video
ANOTHER WOLFCOP comes to Blu-ray courtesy of RLJE Films who previously released the first film and it looks and sounds excellent. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer features a crystal clear picture with a vibrant color palette, especially with the bloody reds. Detail is strong letting the special effects work shine and giving way to great looking surfaces and textures. There's no signs of edge enhancement or excessive DNR use. The audio is presented in a 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio mix that is crisp and mixed perfectly between the dialogue and rocking soundtrack. There's no distortions or other audio hiccups to mention.

The Extras
-"The Making Of Another Wolfcop"
-"Friends & Foes: Meet The Cast"
-"The Monster Shop" - Special FX featurette
-"Shoot Or Die: Surviving On The Set"

The Bottom Line
While there's a good bit of gore and some scattered laughs, ANOTHER WOLFCOP simply felt slapped together and a weak story with very little actual Wolfcop makes for a rather disappointing follow up.

ANOTHER WOLFCOP is available HERE