This is a fairly entertaining horror comedy shot
with a fair degree of technical competence. Catherine (Felecia Pandolfi),
a female vampire, is on the run from a modern day Van Helsing. She
takes up residence in the redneck-riddled town of Backwash, where she
decides to turn the residents into an army of the undead to protect her
from the vampire hunter. Arriving in town at about the same time is
Jean Claude Les Eaux (Scott Shanks), a gay French interior designer.
He’s been hired to re-do a back room for the Poisser (pronounced pisser)
family, who are pretty much your standard hillbilly stereotypes – big
and stupid junior (Rob Merickel), sexy and stupid daughter Eva (Lindacy
A. Hope) and genial and stupid Ma (Carrie Davis). Pa’s around the house
somewhere, too, but doesn’t make an appearance until the end of the
movie. There’s also a height challenged cousin named Cletus (Bill
Bradford) who gets the best lines and turns in the best performance.
Most of the gags are cheap and involve flatulence,
boobs, midgets, extremely obese people, homosexuals and, of course,
rednecks. The acting is pretty dreadful, but that’s okay for a movie
like this. In fact, it adds to the humor. Violence and gore are pretty
minimal, but there’s a fair amount of nudity, including some of the
biggest breasts you’d never (and yes, I do mean never)
want to see. The main problem this movie has is that it’s way too long
at 108 minutes. It’s like the director didn’t want to lose a single
shot, so we’re treated to numerous scenes that go on long after they’ve
made their point. While a more tightly edited version still wouldn’t be
any kind of classic, it would be a much more entertaining movie. I’d
still recommend this for fans of dumb humor, but be advised you may be
reaching for the fast forward button quite a bit. (Bob Ignizio)
This is a fun little series of vignettes involving
people sitting at tables in various locations drinking coffee (or in a
couple cases, tea) and smoking cigarettes while talking. It’s shot in black
and white, which is really the only way to shoot a movie that involves as
much smoke as this one does. Sounds boring, but it isn’t, at least if you
enjoy good conversation. My favorite segments were Iggy Pop and Tom Waits
talking about how, once you’ve quit smoking, you can have a cigarette
because you’ve quit and Alfred Molina telling fellow actor --- that, after
doing genealogical research, he’s discovered the two are related. And of
course, the segment with Bill Murray trying to lay low as a waiter and being
recognized by RZA and GZA of the Wu Tang Clan. But even the segments that
didn’t interest me at much at first wind up working well in the overall arc
of the film, as the themes come full circle by the end.
Don’t let my talk of themes scare you off. This is
certainly an “art” movie, but not a pretentious one. Granted, the multiplex
crowd that only cares about action and “story” probably won’t care for this
movie, but if you like seeing little slices of life, well written dialogue,
and naturalistic humor this is a very rewarding film. It’s also a love
letter to the twin vices of its title, and will likely make an interesting
time capsule a few years from now when smoking anywhere in public will be a
thing of the past. So brew yourself up a pot of hot joe, get yourself a
pack of Lucky’s, and sit back and enjoy this film. (Bob Ignizio)
George Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ has seen
numerous incarnations on home video, but this one truly lives up to its
billing as the “ultimate” version. The four disc set includes the U.S.
theatrical cut, the international cut supervised by producer Dario
Argento and released as ‘Zombi’, and the extended Cannes film festival
cut that has in the past been erroneously referred to as the “director’s
cut” (Romero’s preferred version is actually the U.S. theatrical cut).
But now you, the consumer, get to decide which version you like best.
In addition to the three versions of the film, disc
four includes two documentaries. Roy Frumkes ‘Document of the Dead’
(missing a few scenes that dealt with the sequel to this film, ‘Day of
the Dead’), and a newly made production feature with plenty of recent
interviews with cast and crew. Scattered throughout the four discs are
also a wealth of other bonus materials including trailers, TV spots,
photo galleries, and Easter eggs containing interviews that didn’t make
the final cut of the new documentary. But wait, there’s still more.
Each version of the film has its own commentary. Romero, his wife and
assistant director Christine, and special effects artist Tom Savini talk
over the U.S. theatrical cut, actors Ken Foree, Scott Reininger, Gaylen
Ross, and David Emgee offer up a jovial talk on the international cut,
and producer Richard Rubenstein still manages to offer some unique
information on the Cannes version.
So are three versions of this film really
necessary? Believe it or not, yes. Each version has its own tone, and
its own set of strengths and weaknesses. The differences between the
U.S. and international versions are especially notable. Romero’s
version plays up his themes of mass consumerism and includes much more
humor. The international version goes more for a straight up
action/horror approach. Each version is also scored differently and
includes scenes not in any other version. Some lines are even spoken by
different actors in different cuts. My only complaint is that some of
the photo galleries didn’t work on my DVD player. Don’t even think
about renting this, go out and buy it. Unlike the recent remake, which
was okay but ultimately forgettable, this is a movie you’ll watch again
and again if you’re a true horror fan. (Bob Ignizio)
A long time ago, this
guy named Renny Harlin directed a movie called ‘Prison’. It was about a
dead prisoner returning to seek vengeance, since he was wrongly
executed. This movie was a fantastic late 80's gore fest. It has
moderately interesting characters and some impressive special effects.
The plot was mostly cliché, but it was put to film with a feisty energy
that made is much better than a lot of similarly themed horror movies
that came out at that time. Harlin’s ‘Die Hard 2’ came after that.
Everything since then has been bomb after bomb, letdown after letdown.
Movies like ‘Cutthroat Island’, ‘Long Kiss Good Night’, ‘Driven’, etc.,
with Harlin seemingly never living up the talent that his earlier
feature had promised. So it comes as no surprise that his version of an
Exorcist prequel is junk of the worst kind. It should also be stated
that Paul Schrader directed this film first, but was fired after he
would not add things (at the studios insistence) to his finished
product. So Renny Harlin took over. Minimal footage from the Schrader
filmed version is used.
The plot follows
Father Merrin through his earlier years, to East Africa, where we see
how he loses his faith and later on, regains it. I guess a prequel to
the "scariest movie ever" (not in my opinion) should have been scary,
right? That is not the case. Most of the scares here are generic,
lifted from any random slasher movie, and are of the "character jumps
into frame" variety. Stellen Skarsgard is good here, excellent in
fact. He has long been a supporting actor and here he shows he is
perfectly capable of carrying a film. It is just a shame that this was
not a good film he was given. And once again, the biggest downfall of
this movie was the use of CGI. Way too much CGI. And not even good
CGI, but rather CGI of the distracting and annoying type. So
distracting to the point where a scene would play out and the effect
would look completely out of place in the scene. And the real life make
up effects that are here are just as bad.
Don't get me wrong, I
wanted this to be great as much as the next guy. I wanted to go and see
a great scary horror movie, the kind you remember for years and want to
see over and over again. That's what I hope for. But instead, we get
another movie that replaces real scares with cheap CGI and horror
gimmicks. I was very disappointed and I gladly file this right behind
‘Alien Versus Predator’ as another disastrous movie that had such great
potential. (Edward Black)
This is a fairly entertaining horror comedy shot
with a fair degree of technical competence. Catherine (Felecia Pandolfi),
a female vampire, is on the run from a modern day Van Helsing. She
takes up residence in the redneck-riddled town of Backwash, where she
decides to turn the residents into an army of the undead to protect her
from the vampire hunter. Arriving in town at about the same time is
Jean Claude Les Eaux (Scott Shanks), a gay French interior designer.
He’s been hired to re-do a back room for the Poisser (pronounced pisser)
family, who are pretty much your standard hillbilly stereotypes – big
and stupid junior (Rob Merickel), sexy and stupid daughter Eva (Lindacy
A. Hope) and genial and stupid Ma (Carrie Davis). Pa’s around the house
somewhere, too, but doesn’t make an appearance until the end of the
movie. There’s also a height challenged cousin named Cletus (Bill
Bradford) who gets the best lines and turns in the best performance. 
This is a fun little series of vignettes involving
people sitting at tables in various locations drinking coffee (or in a
couple cases, tea) and smoking cigarettes while talking. It’s shot in black
and white, which is really the only way to shoot a movie that involves as
much smoke as this one does. Sounds boring, but it isn’t, at least if you
enjoy good conversation. My favorite segments were Iggy Pop and Tom Waits
talking about how, once you’ve quit smoking, you can have a cigarette
because you’ve quit and Alfred Molina telling fellow actor --- that, after
doing genealogical research, he’s discovered the two are related. And of
course, the segment with Bill Murray trying to lay low as a waiter and being
recognized by RZA and GZA of the Wu Tang Clan. But even the segments that
didn’t interest me at much at first wind up working well in the overall arc
of the film, as the themes come full circle by the end. 
George Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ has seen
numerous incarnations on home video, but this one truly lives up to its
billing as the “ultimate” version. The four disc set includes the U.S.
theatrical cut, the international cut supervised by producer Dario
Argento and released as ‘Zombi’, and the extended Cannes film festival
cut that has in the past been erroneously referred to as the “director’s
cut” (Romero’s preferred version is actually the U.S. theatrical cut).
But now you, the consumer, get to decide which version you like best. 
A long time ago, this
guy named Renny Harlin directed a movie called ‘Prison’. It was about a
dead prisoner returning to seek vengeance, since he was wrongly
executed. This movie was a fantastic late 80's gore fest. It has
moderately interesting characters and some impressive special effects.
The plot was mostly cliché, but it was put to film with a feisty energy
that made is much better than a lot of similarly themed horror movies
that came out at that time. Harlin’s ‘Die Hard 2’ came after that.
Everything since then has been bomb after bomb, letdown after letdown.
Movies like ‘Cutthroat Island’, ‘Long Kiss Good Night’, ‘Driven’, etc.,
with Harlin seemingly never living up the talent that his earlier
feature had promised. So it comes as no surprise that his version of an
Exorcist prequel is junk of the worst kind. It should also be stated
that Paul Schrader directed this film first, but was fired after he
would not add things (at the studios insistence) to his finished
product. So Renny Harlin took over. Minimal footage from the Schrader
filmed version is used. 