DVD & VHS This Week: April 2

By: John Thonen
Date: Tuesday, April 02, 2002

VIDIOCY NEWS

LORD OF THE RINGS information is starting to come out regarding the DVD release of the film on August 6th. First up will be a two-disc "Theatrical Edition" with disc one offering the film as seen during its highly successful theatrical run. Disc two will feature over two hours of supplementary materials, including a preview of the next film hosted by director Peter Jackson, the Fox Network's "Quest For The Ring" special, the Sci-Fi Channel's "A Passage To Middle-earth" special, over a dozen featurettes which are currently available only on the film's website, an Enya music video, trailers and TV spots, a preview of a video game and a preview of an upcoming, extended version of the film. That version of the film, which will be a four-DVD set, will be released November 12th and the packaging being planned for it will apparently resemble an ancient, leather-bound book. There will be thirty additional minutes of footage added to the film - some of which may well garner it an "R" rating - and that version will occupy two of the DVD discs. The third and fourth discs will feature an astounding six hours of supplemental materials, most of it not yet announced. There will be a director's commentary track and the new footage will feature new music from composer Howard Shore. The new footage reportedly includes better development of the Hobbit characters which join Frodo on his quest, a sequence depicting the destruction of the dwarves in the mines of Moria, and an extension of the battle of Amon Hen.

BOOGEYMEN was one of the more disappointing releases of last year. The heavily promoted compilation tape, which featured footage of the (supposedly) most infamous human monsters of film, turned out to be a serious snore-fest. Surprisingly, a follow-up has been announced, one which sounds like it has the chance to better its predecessor. FANGORIA.COM  reported recently that the new compilation is being assembled by directors Mike (THE CONVENT) Mendez and Dave (THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING) Parker, both of whom are genuine horror fans and know the genre. In addition to their guidance in selection of the featured clips, the duo also interviewed a worthy collection of horror filmmakers for on-camera comments. This group includes Dario Argento, George Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper, among others. Parker and Mendez also promise some yet-to-be completed featurettes and a few other goodies. The first BOOGEYMEN collection was a definite pass, but this one just might be a gasssss.

THIS WEEK'S NOTEWORTHY NEW RELEASES

BANDITS is

a movie with so much going for it a fine director, strong cast, fun concept that it's easy to be disappointed that the final results aren't better than they are. Which may just be missing the point, because it's still a very fun film. Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton are a pair of semi-bumbling bank robbers and the amazing Cate Blanchette is the neurotic woman who ends up joining, and loving, both of them. Yes, it's over-long and the last half drags here and there, but there's lots of laughs and some good action along the way, and all of the cast have their "charm" quotient cranked up to eleven. Forget that it should have been great and just enjoy the fact that it's good.

13 GHOSTS is the latest updated remake of a William Castle film from the good folks at Dark Castle Productions. While the original was a light-hearted semi-comedy, there's little humor in this one well, maybe Matthew Lillard's "acting" which instead offers snippets of gore, gruesome makeup and a story line that moves so quickly that one can almost miss how little there really is to it. An almost brilliant title sequence sets up that the Kriticos family has been devastated by the loss of one of their members and by severe financial hardships. Along comes a surprise inheritance from a nearly forgotten relative: an amazing house, one built of glass with ancient writings etched into the surface. Once inside the house which is one of the most amazing sets ever built for a film the family finds themselves trapped with a dozen violent spirits who are out to make it a baker's dozen. This is a pretty dumb film complete with gaping plot holes, underdeveloped characters and stylish but vapid camerawork but it's also pretty fun.

BIKER ZOMBIES FROM DETROIT is the kind of title where the best you can hope for is a film that's bad enough to be fun. Sorry, no such luck. This shot-on-video tale is so poorly made that I honestly never finished watching it. So, if the title tempts you, I guess you can hope that the second half of it is a huge improvement over the static camerawork, unintelligible sound and grade-school level acting which marred the first half a bit. If not, don't blame me for your suffering.

BLOOD TIDE is one of the slew of horror titles that appeared from nowhere during the home video boom of the '80s and which are now resurfacing from over a decade of obscurity thanks to the DVD boom. This one has some great Greek scenery, would-be Suzanne Sommers clone Lydia Cornell in a bikini and some kind of people-munching underwater monster that we never really see. Oh yeah, it also has a pair of great, veteran actors: James Earl Jones and Jose Ferrer, who apparently collected a quick paycheck while wasting their talents on the beaches of Greece. This one's for completists only.

CHILLER is a pretty solid, if largely forgotten, offering from the erratic Wes Craven, who turned out this TV movie during the years between A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and SCREAM, when he struggled to find a hit. For this tale, a cryogenically frozen man is accidentally brought back to life, but returns without a soul, seemingly intent on making sure that others find the peace in death that he missed out on. Not half bad.

DEAD AND ROTTING / STITCHES is the latest in a string of double-feature DVDs from Full Moon/Tempe, which pair an earlier release with a more recent, though equally micro-budgeted, offering. I've only seen half of this pairing, the unfortunate STITCHES, which might have made an OK thirty minute TWILIGHT ZONE styled tale, but is deadly dull at feature length. While unseen at this time, DEAD AND ROTTING's trailer (viewable at tempe.com) suggests a backwoods voodoo kind of concept a little reminiscent of PUMPKINHEAD, though resulting in cheesy zombie make-ups instead of cool Stan Winston monsters. Still, it seems different enough right down to sporting country music on the soundtrack that it might be worth a look.

DOCTOR WHO: [IMG4L]REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS comes from the years when Sylvester McCoy played BBC-TV's time traveling eccentric, Doctor Who, not long before the series ended its remarkable, twenty-five year run. This is also the last of the episodes to feature the show's most famous creation the Daleks, atrophied aliens who can exist only within robot-like housings. McCoy is far from my favorite Dr. Who, but this is a fun outing with a little better budget than that afforded the show in the years of Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker in the titular role.

THE FRIGHTENING is the latest from David DeCoteau's Rapid Heart Productions and it follows a similar formula to those before it, such as THE BROTHERHOOD and FINAL STAB. There's a lot of attractive people, an emphasis on the male form, minimal gore and effects and a few plot twists to make sure you stay awake. This one takes place at an apparently haunted high school and just may surprise you with its ending. Check out the Vidiot's talk with the film's screenwriter, Matthew Jason Walsh, elsewhere on the site.

JOE VS. THE VOLCANO will probably be best remembered as the first pairing of America's cinematic sweethearts, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and also as one of the few flops in the careers of either performer. Hanks is a corporate drone in an almost METROPOLIS-like alternate reality of our world who learns he has only six months to live. Offered the chance to live like a king on a tropic island for a month, after which the natives will sacrifice him to their volcano, he takes the offer. However, along the way he learns the value of love and life, meets Meg Ryan thrice playing diametrically opposite sisters and manages to find a happy ending. This is an uneven, often sappy film, but it has an innate sweetness which, along with its charming leads, makes it hard to dislike.

SLEEPY HOLLOW HIGH / NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is a rather odd pairing of George Romero's classic B&W zombie tale and a relatively recent entry in the SCREAM-styled teens and terror sub-genre. NOLD remains a masterpiece, but this is another crappy print taking advantage of the film's public domain status. Catch Elite's recent restoration of this film to see it the way it was meant to be seen. SLEEPY HOLLOW HIGH is a badly acted, badly written and badly lit story about some guy decapitating irritating high school cliché kids. See any episode of SCOOBY DOO for a better time.

MIDNIGHT'S CHILD is an already forgotten 1983 TV movie which may have taken its inspiration from William Friedkin's THE GUARDIAN. Like that film, this one involves a nanny who is involved in supernatural mumbo jumbo and wants to use her young ward in a satanic scheme. Very forgettable beyond the presence of lovely Olivia d'Abo and VOYAGER's Roxanne Biggs, sans her usual butt-head make-up from that series. It's a tolerable time-waster, but nothing more.

RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES brings back one of the odder phenomenons of the '80s, John De Bello's Killer Tomatoes. Somehow, De Bello's wacky idea of a horror movie spoof about hostile vegetables (yeah, I know, tomatoes are really a fruit) became a cult success that resulted in three sequel films (this is the first), a cartoon series and even a toy line. This follow-up is far superior to the original film and boasts an over-the-top John Astin as Professor Gangrene and a not-on-his-resume-anymore George Clooney in a supporting role and even why-won't-he-go-away Rick (WHO WANTS TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE) Rockwell. It's all very stupid, but you'll probably laugh anyway.

RETURN TO HORROR HIGH is a supposed slasher movie "spoof" about the making of a slasher movie at a high school where a real series of slasher crimes took place. Yeah, it could have worked, but it doesn't because this was never intended to be a spoof. It was just so terrible that the distributor tried to market it as one in the hopes people would think it was bad on purpose. Still, it's almost worth watching to again catch George Clooney in one of his many pre-stardom duds.

SHE CREATURE is [IMG3R]the biggest direct-to-video surprise in ages. The film is part of a series of movies produced for Showtime with the dubious idea of utilizing the titles of schlocky American International Pictures movies from the '50s that otherwise bear no resemblance to the original films. Most of the films in the series range from awful to reasonably OK, but this one is a gem. Carla (SPY KIDS) Gugino is one of the operatives of a British sideshow who manage to steal a real-life mermaid and head off on a ship to America to make their fortune with this unique attraction. However, while her co-workers dream of money, Gugino realizes their prisoner is far more than she seems. Gugino does some of the best work of her career here, Rufus Sewell is nearly as good as her less than honorable partner and Rya Kihlstedt will make you forever forget Daryl Hannah in SPLASH. Toss in a cool, Stan Winston designed monster and you've got a film that should have gone theatrical instead of being lost on cable and video. Highly recommended.

THE TERROR is a title on some lists of releases for this week. Damned if I can figure out what movie it is, but it's most likely the 1963 Roger Corman produced, Jack Nicholson and Boris Karloff starring, incomprehensible pseudo-Poe film of the same name, as that one is public domain. It might also be the fairly decent, but very obscure, 1978 British film from schlock producer/director Norman J. Warren. No idea really. Might even be some re-title of a different movie altogether. Let me know if you see this one anywhere as it's being released on a small, new label and probably won't appear in many stores.

TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000 is a delayed release which was covered in an earlier column. So, in short, great cast, great comic concept, really bad movie. Though Geena Davis does look amazing in her vampiress costume.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS is the long awaited DVD special edition release of one of the most enjoyable films of the past two decades. Wonderfully directed by Bryan (X-MEN) Singer, superbly acted by a cast headed by Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne and Benicio del Toro and boasting an internecine, Academy Award winning screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, this is a film which any detailed description might rob of its considerable pleasures. Suffice it to say that a group of career criminals find themselves the apparent target of a legendary criminal named Kaiser Soze, who may, or may not, even exist. The DVD offers deleted scenes, audio commentaries by Singer and McQuarrie, an interview with composer/film editor John Ottman, plus several featurettes, a gag reel, and trailers and TV spots. This one is pretty much a must have.

EASTER EGG HUNT

Last week I recommended DONNIE DARKO and hopefully all of you caught Andy Hershberger's clever review of the film's DVD. The following hidden goodies on the disc provide yet another reason to check out this great movie on DVD. Starting on the "Special Features" menu, select "The Philosophy of Time Travel." Now, continue to press the "Right" button until you get to "Appendix A," which features a human torso. Now, highlight the circle on the torso with your cursor and press "Enter" for a deleted scene. Repeat the above process, but stopping on "Appendix B" and then highlighting the arrow on the skeleton shown on that page will also let you see an alternate theatrical trailer for the film.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Next week, spy games, mind games, mummy movies and the horror that is... Corey Feldman. Dear God, no. Anything but that.

Vidiocy is our weekly Video & DVD column.