Blu-Ray Review: The Slayer

The Slayer_AV101Well, hell. The Slayer actually surprised me with how good it was and once again, Arrow Video drops the microphone with a stellar print of this eagerly awaited slasher with some nice bonus features. While the film has its share of flaws, it’s got a small and interesting cast that’s not made up of the usual sex-starved teens getting killed off by the slasher of the week. Okay, it’s more mature adults getting killed off, but hey, it’s a step up in any event.

The film also predates A Nightmare on Elm Street in having its fiend just so happen to do its dirty work as its wide-eyed female lead sleeps. While probably not at all an influence on Wes Craven’s masterpiece, it’s impossible to watch the film without making a connection somewhere along the line.

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Review: Kong: Skull Island

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Yo. That’s a BIG ape. Apocalypse, Wow.

One of these days, some film distributor such as Mill Creek or some other spot that gathers up movies and presents them as multi-disc packages will get hold of Kong: Skull Island and re-release it with the subtitle “No, Sam Jackson… You’re NOT Gonna Get That Big Ape!”. The film is indeed a piece of work in that you certainly get your money’s worth provided you go in with your brain turned off as expected with the usual blockbuster. On the other hand, following the plot too closely will have your eyeballs rolling around in your head like greasy marbles.

This new Kong is an attempt at Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers unifying its Godzilla and King Kong franchises with a few films that will seemingly culminate in a big ol’ Kong vs Godzilla flick a few years from now. Yeah, well… good luck with that. This film isn’t perfect at all and while it’s a mess of ideas that work for the short attention span crowd, the overall impact is one where you wish Ray Harryhausen was still alive and animating just to keep the scale more manageable and fun.

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