• Blu-ray Review – Scarlet Warning 666

    Palmer Rockey had a dream. He wanted to be a filmmaker, attempting to make his own movies on his own terms, pulling together a schedule and inspiration whenever he could arrange it. 1974’s “Scarlet Warning 666” (a.k.a. “It Happened One Weekend,” “Love is Deep Inside”) represents at least part of Rockey’s vision, and he accepts most technical credits on the endeavor, along with a starring role for an offering he also wrote and directed. One could easily list the effort as a vanity project, as every frame is basically dedicated to reinforcing Rockey’s physical appearance and witty writing, but “Scarlet Warning 666” is more than that. It’s a presentation of genuine panic, with the mastermind attempting to forge a story out of a personal collection of footage shot over many years and many attempts. Rockey flails with the endeavor, but he’s not giving up on his one wish to make a cinematic adventure, presenting a study of storytelling madness that will either test the patience of even the most adventurous cult film explorer or make them dizzy with delight. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – V/H/S/Halloween

    The “V/H/S/” franchise feels unstoppable at this point, with “V/H/S/Halloween” the fifth consecutive installment since 2021, and the eighth feature overall. That’s a lot of short films created by enthusiastic writers and directors, but now the franchise takes on Halloween frights for the first time, moving far away from the cosmic terror of 2024’s “V/H/S/Beyond.” There are six chapters in the new offering, and most seek to squeeze as much flavor as possible out of the spooky season, supplying tales of trick or treating gone wrong, while the rest look to get a little more hostile with their frights. As with all of these movies, the segments vary in quality, but “V/H/S/Halloween” has a real issue with tonal consistency, creating a rough viewing experience as the picture goes for silliness at times, also interested in detailing absolute viciousness, including the torture of children. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Hallow Road

    Babak Anvari, the director of “Under the Shadow,” “Wounds,” and “I Came By,” goes minimalist for his latest, “Hallow Road,” which is scripted by William Gillies. The picture mostly takes place during a single panicked car ride, tracking growing concern from the parents of a young woman who’s involved in an accident on a long stretch of forest road. It’s a race to reach the scene, but Gillies has something more in mind for the endeavor, which develops into a study of marital ties, guardianship, and trauma as the miles tick by for the main characters. “Hallow Road” is not a major production, running just 74 minutes (before end credits), and it could very well work more interestingly on the stage. However, tension remains in the feature, as Anvari keeps his actors nicely agitated and Gillies provides an acceptable mystery to solve as the long drive develops new emotional challenges. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Wrong Girls

    Dylan Meyer made a nice impression with her co-writing credit on 2021’s “Moxie,” creating a fulfilling book adaptation that also celebrated the ways of feminism and adolescent spirit with care. Meyer now upgrades to a directorial career, making her debut with “The Wrong Girls,” which tries to become a Cheech & Chong comedy for a new generation. The helmer (who also scripts) attempts to make a very silly picture, filling the effort with wacky encounters and a sustained use of marijuana to help lubricate goofballery. There’s a lot of bigness in the offering, but almost nothing translates into actual laughs, and even the film’s finest moments merely extract a faint smile. “The Wrong Girls” should be a riot, but Meyer has the wrong Cheech & Chong in Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat, who fail to conjure chemistry and deliver silliness as they fumble through this extremely tired endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The End of Oak Street

    After scoring a minor hit with the 2015 horror film, “It Follows,” writer/director David Robert Mitchell attempted to land a funkier follow-up with 2018’s “Under the Silver Lake,” which failed to attract much box office attention or critical love, evolving into a cult title for some. The pictures were smaller in scale and budget, and now Mitchell hopes to play in the Hollywood big leagues with “The End of Oak Street,” launching a blockbuster offering that features plenty of visual effects and heated moments of endurance. It’s a big summer movie from co-producer J.J. Abrams, but Mitchell isn’t interested in taking it easy on viewers. The helmer gives “The End of Oak Street” an inviting level of danger to go with its Spielbergian ways, and he’s mindful of emotional needs as the characters face personal problems while trying to remain one step ahead of a dinosaur invasion. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Don’t Say Good Luck

    We’re now in the era of Sandler expansion, with Adam Sandler’s daughters embarking on their own acting careers after the success of 2023’s “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” which delivered some of the best reviews production company Happy Madison has ever enjoyed. Sadie Sandler went off to make her own crude college comedy in “Roommates,” which turned away from the sincerity of “Bat Mitzvah,” determined to be a rougher ride of R-rated humor. Sunny Sandler is going the softer route with “Don’t Say Good Luck,” taking the lead role in a study of high school musical theater and crushing family issues, with the whole thing meant to extract tears from viewers. Heartbreak is big in the movie, and co-writer/director Julia Hart (“I’m Your Woman”) mostly earns the emotional response, moving carefully with this tender study of the arts and complicated relationships. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Nimrods

    When Metallica made a movie, they elected to create a city riot to accentuate the thunderous ways of their music. When Foo Fighters had their chance to create a film, the group decided to act in their very own horror picture, bringing their screwball sense of humor to genre entertainment. Now Green Day is giving cinematic representation a chance, and while they certainly have the financial means to generate an epic of some shape, the band elects to stay true to their origins and deal with the feistiness of the adolescent experience. “Nimrods” remains with teenage interests, putting writer/director Lee Kirk to work generating a road trip scenario for a three young men trying to change their frustrating lives through music. The helmer doesn’t have anything profound to share about boyhood urges, but “Nimrods” is entertaining enough, getting far on restless energy while Green Day and other artists keep the soundtrack shaking along with hits. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Rivals of Amziah King

    Writer/director Andrew Patterson impressed some with his 2020 debut, “The Vast of Night.” It was an unusual viewing experience, and apparently not a fluke for the helmer, who returns with “The Rivals of Amziah King,” which is also an extremely odd movie. For his latest, Patterson examines the rough and tumble ways of the honey business, assessing the fight for market dominance as crime and punishment enters what’s initially believed to be a peaceful industry. Patterson has a mood he wants for the feature, and that involves numerous musical performances, adding a distinctly folksy twang to the production between hits of criminal activity and revenge plotting. “The Rivals of Amziah King” is a very idiosyncratic endeavor, and Patterson asks a lot of his audience with a 130-minute-long run time, but he maintains a strange flavor to his filmmaking, and acting can’t be beat, helping to realize cultural touches and atypical emotions spinning around this offering. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie

    “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” is the third big screen endeavor for the animated franchise, with the other two pictures (released in 2021 and 2023) managing to slightly impress with scale and interest in generating an action-packed good time for younger viewers and their multiplex guardians. The recipe mostly remains the same for the new film, keeping up with the main characters and their sworn duty to rescue those in need. “The Dino Movie” makes a knowing creative choice to add big creatures to the mix, looking to tempt kids with this combination of brightly colored adventure sequences and dinosaur activity, including plenty of cuteness. As with the other installments, there’s no significant effort to generate a meaningful viewing experience, but it does deliver enough screen activity to pass, along with adding a few new characters to keep things reasonably interesting. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Birthday Party

    Co-writer/director Miguel Angel Hernandez adapts a 2007 novel by Panos Karnezis, with “The Birthday Party” exploring a particularly tense day in the life of a shipping magnate trying to retain control over his empire during a time of celebration. It’s a tale loosely inspired by the ways of Aristotle Onassis, but Hernandez doesn’t fixate on the business side of control. He’s more interested in familial troubles coming for a man typically in command of his destiny. The picture gives star Willem Dafoe plenty of room to feel around edges of his character, capturing a special level of paranoia for a very slow-burn endeavor. “The Birthday Party” doesn’t develop into a riveting study of relationships, but the helmer finds a few unions worth examining, adding unusual eroticism and levels of suspicion as the story takes in life-changing turns for people attending an opulent celebration of youth. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Hellcat

    During its opening act, “Hellcat” sets up an intriguing mystery and arranges a small space of investigation for the main character, who’s stuck inside a trailer as it blazes down a rural road, unable to understand where she is or why she’s been taken. There’s a lot to explore in this situation, and writer/director Brock Bodell is striving to make something more than a thriller, playing with genre touches and emotional wounds to best connect with viewers. There’s an initial rush to the production that’s compelling, coming close to promising a nail-biter to come, but Bodell doesn’t keep his foot on the gas with this endeavor. “Hellcat” eventually loses its momentum, and the trade-off into sensitivities and customary antagonism doesn’t work. However, there’s enough here to hold attention, and Bodell has a semi-decent puzzle to solve with the central crisis, getting reasonably far with the clues in the writing. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

    2024’s “I Saw the TV Glow” represented a major step forward in the career of writer/director Jane Schoenbrun. The picture didn’t attract a major audience, but it found viewers capable of connecting to its enigmatic and perhaps deeply personal ways. Schoenbrun set out to make a brain bleeder, and one that wasn’t easily decoded, relying on tried and true Lynchian ways to fog meaning with artistry, generating a puzzle some viewers were delighted to solve. Schoenbrun returns to their filmmaking fetishes with “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” which carries marketing efforts selling the feature as a sort of riff on the influence and problematic ways of slasher cinema from the 1980s. Of course, the offering isn’t really about satire or even criticism, instead focusing on sexual experiences and personal connections while trauma and pleasure are set up for analysis. “Teenage Sex and Death” keeps Schoenbrun in their comfort zone, but viewers are left with a picture that doesn’t fulfill on a dramatic level, as the endeavor is more interested in hitting a cosmic G-spot instead, which has its cinematic limitations. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • 4K UHD Review – Frankenhooker

    If you’re a person of a certain age, 1990’s “Frankenhooker” is probably best remembered as a video store staple, complete with a “Talking Box” cover that offered a faint “Wanna date?” sound clip to help entice renters who normally wouldn’t be drawn to such B-movie entertainment. In the world of VHS history, the picture is memorable, almost legendary. The film itself is less so. Co-writer/director Frank Henenlotter has a strong idea for cinematic mischief with the feature, mixing sexploitation with bits of campy horror, but he’s often gasping for air in this mostly inert offering. “Frankenhooker” should be fun, or at least wild, but Henenlotter takes the long way to goofy entertainment, remaining shockingly slow with an endeavor that, amazingly, contains extraordinarily little Frankenhooker. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Out Come the Wolves

    Director Adam MacDonald (who was just in theaters with “This Is Not a Test”) aims to explore relationship woes and the horrors of nature in 2023’s “Out Come the Wolves.” It’s a minimalist chiller that doesn’t contain any overt threat for most of its run time, with screenwriter Enuka Okuma working on psychological issues for the three main characters, trying to complicate relationships with unspoken feelings and barely concealed hostilities. The picture eventually switches over to killer wolf mode, and it’s the rare offering that doesn’t really benefit from an escalation into animal attack violence. “Out Come the Wolves” isn’t as satisfying as it could be, though it teases some interesting complications during its first half, getting into a tight situation of obsession and silent longing that’s more suspenseful than any forest dangers. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Embalmer

    Writer/director S. Torriano Berry wanted to launch his own horror franchise with 1996’s “Embalmer.” There was even a plan to add to a growing list of Movie Maniacs, introducing the malicious ways of Undertaker Zach and his plan to stalk, kill, and zombify victims around his neighborhood. Berry also attempts to examine the ways of urban legends, but he selects a shot-on-video approach to the making of the movie, and it takes quite a bit of creativity to turn flat, low-res visuals into a growing screen nightmare. Berry doesn’t help the cause with his writing, showing little concern for consistent tone and suspenseful escalation as the picture basically sticks with four characters having conversations in a single space, periodically menaced by a madman who doesn’t even show up until the final act. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Rebuilding

    Writer/director Max Walker-Silverman attracted some attention with his work on 2022’s “A Love Song.” He found praise for his sensitive handling of characterization and performances, on the hunt for emotions and people typically ignored by major releases. His indie heart remains beating in “Rebuilding,” which continues his journey into intimate storytelling, this time examining the worries of a cowboy who’s lost his ranch to a ferocious wildfire, left to rebuild his life with little to show for his work. It’s a timely tale of displacement, though Walker-Silverman isn’t making a disaster picture, willing to explore a human response to catastrophe. “Rebuilding” has every opportunity to slip into melodramatic extremes, but the helmer has no interest in overcooking the material. He goes mournful and oddly peaceful instead, creating a lovely understanding of resilience and community in a tender film that’s gracefully made. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – The Last House

    Netflix found tremendous success with 2018’s “Bird Box,” which offered viewers a bleak view of suburban survival, watching a family try to manage a mysterious, apocalyptic event. Screenwriter Matthew Robinson (who scored a critical hit with last winter’s “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die”) takes on basically the same premise for “The Last House,” which also follows the struggles of a family caught in a strange endurance challenge during what appears to be the end of the world. There could be a sensitive understanding of despair and isolation, following the characters as they handle a desperate situation. However, this is a Louis Leterrier picture, and the man who gave the world “The Brothers Grimsby” and “Fast X” isn’t too concerned with human nuance. Instead, he turns “The Last House” into a crude monster movie and, at times, a deeply unpleasant viewing experience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Super Troopers 3

    2001’s “Super Troopers” was a minor theatrical hit that exploded on home video, developing a fanbase for the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, though not one that followed the team into subsequent efforts. It took 17 years, but eventually there was a “Super Troopers 2,” with Broken Lizard turning to crowdfunding to partially finance their dream of a follow-up, and the movie made a shocking debut, ending up with a healthy opening weekend gross after many doubted the brand name’s appeal. Once again, the filmmakers have taken their time, and now there’s a “Super Troopers 3,” with director Jay Chandrasekhar once again overseeing a loose collection of plotting and cop comedy bits, while the new picture tries to jazz things up with a wedding weekend story (the actual title of the feature is “Super Troopers 3: Farva’s Wedding”). The 2018 endeavor wasn’t anything remarkable, but it found a way to make Broken Lizard shenanigans semi-fun and passably exciting. “Super Troopers 3” feels more like an episode of television, with the offering going mild and mediocre with its presentation of comedic insanity. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Tony

    Earlier this year, director Matt Johnson delivered an offering of cinematic joy with the Canadian comedy, “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.” It was a hilarious, irresistible blend of character work and absurdity, hitting all the right notes as a freewheeling viewing experience that played to Johnson’s strengths as a manager of wonderful nonsense, backed by strong technical credits. Now he’s ready for more of a dramatic challenge with “Tony,” which explores a summer in the life of Anthony Bourdain, inspecting the formation of his passions for writing and cooking in the summer of 1975. Johnson doesn’t lose his nervous energy for “Tony,” but he strives to calm his usual jitteriness, trying to replicate his 2023 success with “Blackberry” with another loose take on bio-pic happenings, eschewing history to find his way to the core of Bourdain’s personality. And it clicks, finding a story of character development that’s superbly supported by acting achievements and atmosphere. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – One Night Only

    A combination of a holiday release date and zero competition for months certainly helped 2023’s “Anyone but You” become a sizable hit for director Will Gluck, with the studio providing a romantic comedy option at the multiplex for those hungry for anything softer and sexual. The recipe is back in play for “One Night Only,” with Gluck returning to material that aims to be slightly spicy and sweet for audiences, working with screenwriter Travis Braun’s concept of a dystopian future where sexual intercourse is only permitted for one 12-hour period every year. The movie offers a riff on “The Purge” and assorted entertainment, only Gluck hopes to find the funny in a bizarre concept for slightly madcap entertainment. “One Night Only” has jokes one can spot coming a mile away, and casting doesn’t bring out big chemistry, leaving the feature oddly deflated while Gluck strains to make something wild involving oversexed people racing to relive their urges. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com