Here Comes The Devil (DVD Review) - Magnet Releasing

Mexico/2013
Directed By: Adrian Garcia Bogliano
Written By: Adrian Garcia Bogliano
Starring: Laura Caro, Francisco Barreira, Michele Garcia
Color/98 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
A married couple lose track of their kids around the outskirts of Tijuana during a family trip. The kids go missing in a cave but luckily are returned to their parents the next day. Losing your kids for a night would be bad enough for any parents but the kids that came back aren't exactly the same. The kids seem a bit off, and have some strange and surreal occurences surrounding them. As their parents try to find out what happened to their children that night in the cave they begin to find out about the legends and mysteries surrounding the area which may not be a myth.

HERE COMES THE DEVIL is a Mexican horror film that has a lot of great ideas but doesn't know what to do with them. Instead of digging deeper into the legend of the cave and the area, along with a couple other subplot ideas that are barely developed, they are simply breezed over giving us just enough information to string together the plot points into a story and we're left with a far more generic possession themed film than we deserve. Director Adrian Bogliano shows that he has some ability as the surreal nightmare scene was visually striking and one of the high points of the film, but even that suffered as it was cut short (we get the longer version in the special features). The biggest fault, beyond under developed subplots that would potentially set HERE COMES THE DEVIL apart is that it has far too many stretches where it is just not interesting and the viewer is left watching the film plod along to the next checkpoint in the script while essentially nothing noteworthy is taking place. HERE COMES THE DEVIL isn't bad, it is simply okay, and seems to be satisfied with that. There was potential for a more original, personal and interesting viewing experience here, which potentially could have failed but I'd rather see that failure than an unremarkable film just slide by.

The Audio & Video
Magnet Releasing has a very nice looking DVD for HERE COMES THE DEVIL. The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is bright and sharp with strong detail. I can only imagine how nice the Blu-ray looks with some colorful moments and plenty of skin tones that look very natural here and I'm sure look lifelike in HD. The 5.1 Dolby Digital track is available in the film's native Spanish or an English dub track. Optional English subs are available. The track sounds good, with the native Spanish being the best option but all are loud and clear with no background noise or audible annoyances. 

The Extras
- Audio commentary with the director
- Extended "nightmare" scene
- Behind the Scenes Comparisons
- AXS TV: A Look At HERE COMES THE DEVIL
- Stills gallery

The Bottom Line
I found HERE COMES THE DEVIL to be a missed opportunity at something with more depth and all together more interesting. Big fans of the demonic possession subgenre will most likely find enough to enjoy and for those big fans I'd suggest tracking down the available Blu-ray version of the film.

HERE COMES THE DEVIL is available HERE

Twisted Tales (DVD Review) - Image

USA/2013
Directed By: Tom Holland
Written By: Tom Holland
Starring: Danielle Harris, Angela Bettis, Ray Wise
Color/142 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
TWISTED TALES was originally developed as a web series for FearNet. The nine shorts are combined here as sort of an anthology film, each being introduced by  writer/director Tom Holland. Ranging from just a few minutes to 20 minutes in length each short or episode is different and unrelated to the rest. With themes ranging from a man who murdered his wife and is haunted by her through his GPS, to a bomb defuser threatening to blow up his friend and his girlfriend for their affair, and an Electro-Magnetic Pulse essentially ending the world to ghosts and demons TWISTED TALES provides a wide array of horror themes for the audience. The problem is that they all suck. A lot. Tom Holland is a name horror fans are familiar with as he wrote and directed Fright Night, Psycho 2 and Child's Play. Alogn with his acting credits in the Stephen King adaptation of The Langoliers and also in Hatchet 2. I am aware of the budgetary constraints a web series presents along with having to be mindful of content but the majority of the acting is just plain awful. There are plenty of notable horror stars here, with perhaps the best performances coming from Danielle Harris and Angela Bettis, and they're nothing to write home about. Most of the performances are high school theater level bad, and the effects are even worse. The car explosion at the end of "Boom" is as shitty as shitty gets. I wish I could say something good about this film/series but there's nothing to say. Maybe that it isn't the worst thing I've ever watched, but that isn't saying much. It is tame, poorly made and worst of all, boring.

The Audio & Video
It is obvious that TWISTED TALES was filmed on cheap cameras, so there is little Image Entertainment could do to make it look good. The DVD image is soft, and doesn't fare too well in darker scenes. Overall it is watchable but the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer leaves a lot to be desired. The 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack fares better, it is clear, and well mixed and is probably the best part of the disc. Image did the best they could for this release.

The Extras
Several of the episodes have a "making of" featurette.

The Bottom Line
Just about everyone involved in this has done something much better and I would suspect aren't exactly glowing over how this turned out, because shitting yourself is probably more fun than this release.

TWISTED TALES is available HERE

Return To Nuke 'Em High (Blu-ray Review) - Anchor Bay/Troma

USA/2013
Directed By: Lloyd Kaufman
Written By: Travis Campbell, Lloyd Kaufman, Derek Dressler, Casey Clapp, Aaron Hamel
Starring: Asta Paredes, Catherine Corcoran, Clay von Carlowitz
Color/85 Minutes/Not Rated
Region A

The Film
You may have been wondering what's been going on at Nuke 'Em High since the last film in series from legendary independent film studio Troma? Well, it has been two decades since we last strolled the hallowed halls of Tromvaville High, located right next to a nuclear power plant that caused the mayhem depicted in three previous films. The site of the nuclear power plant is now home to Tromorganics, a food company that is an entirely different type of "green" and has contracts with Tromaville High to serve their food.

Chrissy (Asta Paredes) runs a blog called Pollution Nerdz hellbent on exposing the shady shit going on around Tromaville. Her horndog boyfriend Eugene (Clay von Carlowitz) is always looking for action and has his mind on little else but Chrissy has her eye on the new rich girl Lauren (Catherine Corcoran) her loves her pet duck. These are the main students we follow around Tromaville High along with the nerdy Glee Club, and various other characters until Taco Tuesday, when the radiation exposed, green glowing tacos are served and mutate the Glee Club in to the violent marauding gang called The Cretins. The Cretins reign terror down on Tromaville, terrorizing students, parties and even pets. The Cretins are on a warpath and something isn't right with Chrissy and Lauren but we're a long way from finished with this chapter of Tromaville High School's storied history!

With everything from duck rape, to melting bodies, blood-spraying dicks and a kid running around on fire RETURN TO NUKE 'EM HIGH vol. 1 has it all. Fueled by the largely punk and metal soundtrack, along with one of the best theme songs ever, this movie proves that after almost 40 years Troma isn't even close to being done. Lloyd Kaufman returns to the director's chair for this non stop splatter and laugh fest, overflowing with fart jokes, boobs and gore. His cast includes a bunch of relatively unknown names, nothing new for Troma but the entire cast pours their love into the film. Asta Paredes is incredibly likeable as our lead, nailing the slightly confused and socially aware Chrissy while Clay von Carlowitz brings the hilarious Eugene to life and creates one of the most ridiculous car sex scenes I've ever witnessed. With cameos from Lemmy and Stan Lee it seems that everyone is on board with how awesome this movie is. If this is only the first half of the full story then I'm scared I won't be able to handle how much fun volume 2 will be. RETURN TO NUKE 'EM HIGH is one of Troma's best films ever.

The Audio & Video
Anchor Bay gives RETURN TO NUKE 'EM HIGH Vol 1 the HD treatment with Troma-endous success! There is strong detail level, and excellent color reproduction. This is a colorful film and they pop naturally. Skin tones are not at all waxy and are wonderfully natural. On the sound side of things the stereo track sounds great from hilarious and gross sound effects to the awesome soundtrack. It is well mixed and rounds out an excellent technical presentation.

Please note: Images do NOT represent the quality of this disc and are meant to represent the movie itself only. 

The Extras
As the old Troma DVDs said this disc is packed with "Tromatic extras" such as:

-Audio commentary with actors: Zac Amico, Clay von Carlowitz, Catherin Corcoran, Stuart Kiczek, and Asta Paredes
-Audio commentary with director Lloyd Kaufman, producer Justin A. Martell, executive producer Matt Manjourides, associate producer Regina Katz, and writer Travis Campbell
-"Casting Conumdrum" - a look at Troma's casting process for RTNEH
-"Pre-production Hell with Mein-Kauf (man)"
-"Special (Ed) Effects" - The effects and props of RTNEH
-"Cell-U-Lloyd Kaufman: 40 Years of TROMAtising The World"
-Architects Of Fear "Edison Device" music video
-Trailer for Volume 2

The Bottom Line
Are you a Troma fan? Are you a fan of gross-out horror films heavy in stupid humor, tits and debauchery? Are you awesome? If you answered yes to any of these questions you'll be doing yourself a favor by purchasing this disc. Long live Troma.

RETURN TO NUKE 'EM HIGH vol 1 is available HERE

And bonus fun, here's a video Q&A I was able to get with Asta Paredes and Clay von Carlowitz done last year! 

Sparks (DVD Review) - Image/RLJ Entertainment

USA/2013
Directed By: Christopher Folino, Todd Burrows
Written By: Christopher Folino
Starring: Chase Williamson, Ashley Bell, William Katt
Color/98 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
I'm not familiar with the graphic novel this film is based on. I haven't a clue who Ian Sparks is in the superhero world. I don't know if he is popular or for more of a die-hard audience looking for something to call their own. The book isn't printed by one of the major labels. I fully expected SPARKS to be an inept superhero film, totally hampered by a budget that is well short of blockbuster status.

It is the 1940s and Ian Sparks lives with his grandmother after his parents were killed (in true superhero fashion) by being rammed into a moving train by the police who were in the middle of a chase with bank robbers. Ian was covered in some sort of liquid being carried by one of the tanker cars on the train. Ian has decided to put an end to the crime and grime of his city that the police can't or simply won't deal with. After getting his grandmother to make him a suit Ian is now simply SPARKS, and teams up with other crime fighters known as "Supers" around the city. Most notably Lady Heavenly, with whom he falls in love. As the duo gets deeper into the corruption of the city SPARKS learns more about his past and the people in it, has to deal with losing his love and his grandmother and learn who he can really trust because not everyone is who they seem to be.

SPARKS is the origin story of Ian Sparks and is actually a pretty damn solid comic book movie. The styling of the film reminds me of Dick Tracy but not quite as colorful. The direction from the duo of Christopher Folino and Todd Burrows allows the movie to work despite crying out for a bigger budget. The performances are good throughout from Chase Williamson in the lead to supporting players such as Clint Howard and Jake Busey. There are plenty of other familiar faces around the film too, and nobody drops the ball. The score is very much what you'd expect for a superhero film. The CGI is the weak point of the film and before watching SPARKS I figured it'd be an absolute death nail for it but the movie is good enough to prevail in the face of some weak visual effects. There is plenty of action but also a pretty captivating story to draw you in to the story of SPARKS.

The Audio & Video
Image Entertainment brings the film adaptation of SPARKS to DVD with a solid looking 1.78:1 widescreen transfer. Detail level is strong, colors are vibrant and the overall picture quality is very good. The only downside is that some dark scenes have a bit of compression issue with the black levels. It's a minor complaint. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is very good, making good use of the various gunshots, explosions and other sound effects.

The Extras
Special features include:

-"The Making Of SPARKS"
-Audio commentary
-Outtakes

The Bottom Line
It almost amuses me that SPARKS is better than a large portion of the DC cinematic output despite not having the star power or deep pockets that DC has. SPARKS isn't perfect, and a Blu-ray would have been nice, but for comic book fans looking for something off the beaten path you'll have some fun with SPARKS.

SPARKS is available HERE

Big Bad Wolf (DVD Review) - Horizon Movies

USA/2013
Directed By: Paul Morrell
Written By: Sydney Corpuscle
Starring: Charlie O'Connell, Natasha Alam, Marie Bollinger
92 Minutes/Color/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
Huff (Charlie O'Connell) is a maniacal, bible obsessed stepfather to three girls who he abuses every way possible. Their mother is too weak to do anything to protect them. Huff makes his living dealing drugs, he has planned a major deal that will make him enough money to retire with his lover to Mexico. Huff rapes the eldest of his stepdaughters, which finally snaps the mother into being a bit of a mother. While Huff is gone she packs all of the drug money into backpacks for the girls and tells them to run and not look back. When Huff finds out that his money is gone and that he won't be able to pay off his cartel debts before the big deal he snaps and goes on a rampage killing his wife and hunting down the girls to get his money back, while the people he has terrorized have had enough and crave vengeance.

BIG BAD WOLF, originally titled HUFF, is an okay piece of revenge exploitation that was popular during the 70s. The main difference is that BIG BAD WOLF doesn't have the balls that films had decades ago. It seems the film makers wanted to make this film but were afraid to go too far with it as to not offend too a portion of the viewing audience. Paul Morrell's direction is adequate, never venturing far from comfort of standard framing and angles. He does manage to get some good performances out of the younger members of the cast, including the three stepdaughters and one boyfriend. Charlie O'Connell's performance in the lead is uneven, bouncing back and forth from menacing and sick to over the top and hammy. Unfortunately he spends more time in the latter. BIG BAD WOLF can best be summed up as an appetizer, or the training wheels on an exploitation film bike. It isn't enough for a main course and it doesn't give you the full exciting ride that films such as I Spit On Your Grave, Last House In The Left, or Night Train Murders do.

The Audio & Video
 Horizon Movies gives BIG BAD WOLF an attractive 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The image is clean and features strong detail levels. The audio stereo audio track is clear and steady, no background noise.

The Extras
Extras are limited to interviews and trailers.

The Bottom Line
BIG BAD WOLF barely whets the appetite but if you can find a good price on the DVD it isn't terrible and would be worth checking out if you're wondering if this type of film may be for you before you get into harder fare.

BIG BAD WOLF is available HERE

Pig (DVD Review) - Horizon Movies

USA/2013
Directed By: Henry Barrial
Written By: Henry Barrial
Starring: Rudolf Martin, Heather Ankeny, Keith Diamond
Color/90 Minutes/Not Rated
Region 1

The Film
A man wakes up in a desert, hooded, with his hands tied. He knows not where he is and his memory is wiped clean. The only clue he has to to go on is a sliver of paper with a name written on it. After being nursed back to health the clue leads the man to Los Angeles where his past begins to get pieced together. A name. A residence. An occupation. The problem is that none of this is at all familiar to the man, who learns alternate truths on a chance encounter with someone he used to know. Eventually he learns the actuality of his situation, or enough of it, but is there a way to help himself? Or does he even want to know the truth to his past? He is PIG.

PIG was written and directed by Henry Barrial and stars veteran actor Rudolf Martin. Barrial's direction and Martin's (along with the rest of the cast, who is on point) really allow PIG to be a believable trip through a man's journey of rediscovery. Barrial's script is good but the film ends abruptly and leaves things more open ended than I'd like. Considering the events that play out in the film the end isn't as open and shut as it may seem and I'd have liked to see more from it. The ending works but in my opinion it doesn't satisfy when the subplot is introduced. PIG is a puzzle worth your time worth your time however, and for a film based around the idea of "who are we without our memories?" it does a good job.

The Audio & Video
Horizon Movies gives PIG a nice looking 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that has strong clarity and detail. The scenes in the desert shine, and while there isn't much in the way of flashy visuals or special effects the transfer is strong. Audio is also strong, with a 2.0 stereo track, nothing Earth shattering here, just a good quality track. 

The Extras
Special Features on PIG include:
-Director's Commentary Track
-Deleted Scenes
-Kickstarter Pitch Video
-Lonely Boy Video
-Nashville Film Festival Video
-Nashville Film Festival Q&A
-Sci-Fi London Q&A
-Trailers

The Bottom Line
PIG deserves the accolades it has received. It is a tightly made thriller on an equally tight budget. It is not a perfect film and I would have liked a longer run time but as it stands it is an engaging film that will likely satisfy viewers. Recommended.

PIG is available HERE

Deep Roots / Starlet Nights (DVD Review) - Vinegar Syndrome

USA/1978
Directed By: Lisa Barr
Written By: Joseph Bardo
Starring: Jesse Chacan, Liz Renay, Lesllie Bovee, Candy Nichols
Color/157 Minutes/Rated X
Region FREE

The Films
This double feature of smut starts with DEEP ROOTS, the story of a youthful man named Billy who is curious to see what life is like outside of his Indian reservation even when his friend/girlfriend/love interest asks him not to go. Billy leaves for Hollywood and quickly finds life to be faster and the women to be easier. Billy's stay in Hollywood is a revolving door of women. He paints them, deflowers them, shares them and just has a great time riding his motorcycle when the ladies aren't riding him. Eventually Billy gets his fill of city life and returns home to the reservation where he's greeted with open arms by his admirer. DEEP ROOTS is simple smut. The narrative is thin and hardly exists but there are a few creative scenes sprinkled throughout.

STARLET NIGHTS is a bit more creative venture into the adult film world as it is a porno adaptation of Snow White... sort of. We have a character named Snow White, we have the mirror on the wall (who comes to life and fucks Snow White) and we have he poison apple... tainted with Love Potion #69. Sibling rivalry is the main theme here, as two daughter fight for the affection and respect of their father, and a career in Hollywood. There's a lot of sucking and fucking on the way to the top... or bottom... or behind. STARLET NIGHTS is a bit humorous, and plenty sexy enough to be an adored piece of 70s erotica and is without a doubt the highlight of this double feature.

The Audio & Video
Vinegar Syndrome delivers both films in their original 1.85:1 aspect ratios, restored from 35mm archival prints and scanned in 2K. Each film has a strong color palette, and good detail level. DEEP ROOTS has some speckling and scratches throughout and a few moments where the frames jump a bit but overall it is a good presentation. STARLET is a cleaner print, with a bit less intrusive imperfections but they are still present and constant. The audio tracks are surprisingly clear, with no background noise on either film. Overall a very solid presentation for these smut films fom 1978.

The Extras
Bare boners... I mean bones. 

The Bottom Line
Some Indian loving and a fairy tale gone XXX... something for everyone? Maybe not. But there's a lot to enjoy in this pair of rescued vintage pornos from director Joseph Bardo under the pseudonym Lisa Barr. 

DEEP ROOTS / STARLET NIGHTS is available HERE