Tag Archives: MVD Entertainment Group

Blu-Ray Review: The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Miss Osbourne

Posted on by
1

MVD7208BR Jekyll_OsbourneWalerian Borowczyk’s The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Miss Osbourne is a straight up shot of arty nightmare fuel that will seep into your pores and haunt you for a while after viewing. The director takes the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale and like the perverse Jekyll and Hyde here (played here by Udo Kier and Gérard Zalcberg), has his way with the it and creates a pretty stunning and memorable piece of work. This isn’t your garden variety horror flick of the week and nope, it’s not for the kids or easily disturbed at all.

During an engagement party for Jekyll and Fanny Osbourne (Marina Pierro), sexual violence and assorted murders take place over the course of one terrifying evening. Initially, women are targeted but no one is safe from the clutches of Hyde’s perversions. Despite the mansion’s visitors and staff being whittled down every few minutes, none of the well-heeled guests has a clue as to who’s the culprit. As the debauchery continues, Miss Osbourne gets a clue as she’s looking for a hiding spot and spies Jekyll going through his transformation in a can’t take your eyes off the screen scene. Does she flee the mansion and try to find help or at least attempt to escape with her life? Let’s just say Fanny is repulsed on one hand, curiously compelled on the other and the combination makes her want to take a dip into that bathtub full of chemicals. Continue reading →

Society Blu-Ray Review

Posted on by
Reply

Society BR-DVD SetWhile I missed out on seeing Brian Yuzna’s Society during it limited run, I’d been hearing quite a lot about this 1989 film over the years while still managing not to see it until a review Blu-Ray popped up in the post. The outrageous “body horror” flick packed with intentionally campy performances, icky practical makeup effects by the legendary Screaming Mad George and a finale for the ages makes for one of those films that will cling to one’s grey matter for a while. Those squeamish to gore or sexual themes will be reaching for something to barf in, but there’s a definite “last gasp” of the 80’s Reagen era excess in the film’s themes and overall tone. Plus there’s just an overall sense of pure insanity that makes the film seem like both the best and worst nightmare you’ll ever have.
Continue reading →

Three More Arrow Blu-Rays To Heat Up Summer

Posted on by
Reply

Arrow Video June 2015 Releases
 

Amusingly enough, Arrow and MVD have more than three new releases for June through August, but I’ll get the rest in a separate post as today is a bit haywire. Pit Stop, La Grande Bouffe, and Blood Rage all come to Blu-Ray in outstanding newly restored prints all ready for your viewing and collecting purposes. I’m actually thrilled about seeing Pit Stop make it to Blu-Ray as it’s a film I’d only seen once before on a beat up VHS copy of questionable quality. I haven’t seen La Grande Bouffe in years and I don’t think I recall Blood Rage unless I saw it under one of its other titles back in the 80’s. Well, catching up with these old film friends will be fun for sure.

Back in a bit.

Blu-Ray Review: Blind Woman’s Curse

Posted on by
Reply

Blind Woman's Curse BR_DVD Cover (Custom)One of those wild Japanese films packed with striking imagery and offbeat performances, Teruo Ishii’s 1970 hybrid Blind Woman’s Curse makes for another excellent Blu-Ray release from Arrow Video. It wraps up action and revenge flick aesthetics with a creepy tone, loads of late 60’s era sexiness and violence with a solid performance from beautiful Meiko Kaji. She plays Akemi, the head of a yakuza clan sometime during the 1920’s who’s been released from prison only to find there’s a pretty efficient pair of assassins as well as other folks after her and what remains of her loyal gang.

The main assassin (Hoki Tokuda) happens to be the sister of a rival boss out for her own revenge. Akemi accidentally blinded her during the fierce and beautifully shot sword battle that opens up the film and she now she’s somewhat hard to stop as she whittles down Akemi’s gang. Her assistant, a muttering and really creepy killer with wild hair (Tatsumi Hijikata) is one of those characters who gets under your skin and remains there from the moment you see him. Both he and the black cat that appears during the film lend a supernatural tone to the proceedings that lend the film a nice horror vibe. That said, if you pay close attention, you’ll see that the film tends to toss a lot at you with expectations that you’ll keep up.

Continue reading →

Blu-Ray Review: Retaliation

Posted on by
1

Retaliation BR_CoverRetaliation (Shima wa moratta), Yasuharu Hasebe’s follow up to his 1967 yakuza flick Massacre Gun is another gem from the director worth a look. Packed with great Japanese actors throwing themselves fully into their roles as gangsters and plenty of full color violence, the film’s only “weak” point is a plot where you can often see what’s coming a mile away. But Hasebe’s technique shines here as the director pulls off some great shots and keeps you hooked in right from the beginning.

Akira Kobayashi plays Jiro Sagae, a gangster fresh out of prison after an eight-year stretch for murdering a rival yakuza. He’s followed from jail by Jo Shishido’s Hino, the brother of the man he killed who’s been planning his revenge for years. As Hino attacks Jiro, Hino’s girl (who’d been following him) rushes in and interrupts the battle, forcing Hino to put off his vengeance until later. Jiro eventually goes to see his aging and indebted to another crime boss Godfather who sends him to pay his respects to his former rival. That Boss makes Jiro an offer he can’t refuse in the form of busting up another gang trying to buy up farmland in a tiny village so a factory can be built. Jiro gets a ragtag group of assistants from a failed actor, a card shark, a pair of singers and amusingly enough Hino, the man who tried to kill him at the beginning of the film.

Continue reading →

Blu-Ray Review: Massacre Gun

Posted on by
1

massacre gun Arrow_MVDYasuharu Hasebe’s brooding but action-packed Massacre Gun (Minagoroshi no kenjū) is a great example of the Japanese gangster film that’s well worth a look. Starring chipmunk-cheeked Jô Shishido (he has plastic surgery to look that way), the film packs in plenty of beatings and shootings into its 91 minute running time while maintaining its not so sunny outlook for just out everyone in its cast. Then again, when the “happiest” looking guy in the movie is the angry one with the titular firearm you know you’re in for a wild ride.

Shishodo stars as Kuroda, a hit man who turns on his employers after being sent on a job to kill his girlfriend. Kuroda fires himself after the work and teaming up with his brothers Saburo (Jirô Okazaki)and Eiji (“Tatsuya Fuji”, or director Hasebe’s acting persona) also wronged by the crime boss, set off to take down his empire. This trio of men setting out for vengeance on other men thing is a high risk gig and yes, the film has a very fatalistic tone running throughout that works heavily in its favor. Some Japanese gangster films tend to have running themes about codes of honor and men maimed or dying in as respectful a manner possible (well, given the violent ways in which they meet their ends). There’s a lot of that in Massacre Gun, but Hasebe’s fluid, innovative direction and use of a jazzy score make the film compelling even in its most violent moments. That and the film is amusing when it needs to be. Someone gets a nice surprise in the form of a booby trapped coffin and some of the sudden violence can be funny because it arrives when least expected and lasts longer than you’d think.

Continue reading →

Film Review: Memory Lane

Posted on by
Reply

Memory Lane MPPacking in a compelling story that’s part thriller and murder mystery with a supernatural bent into seventy minutes is a tricky thing to do well. Nevertheless, Memory Lane is one of those odd yet impressive little indie films deserving of a wider audience. Director Shawn Holmes gets some decent mileage from his ridiculously small budget of $300, making a flawed yet powerful, emotion packed ride. While the film has echoes of Memento, Flatliners and oddly enough, Groundhog Day, that small amount of money spent doesn’t exactly buy you always stellar acting or prime locations to shoot in.

The cast of eager unknowns does what they can with the melodramatic material, but some are better than others in conveying the dense but compact script. The brief running time means some plot points get slimmed down or booted in the logic balls to make way for story advancement with the clock ticking away. But if you go in with no expectations, you may end up enjoying this one a lot more than you thought. When Nick (Michael Guy Allen), a PTSD afflicted Afghanistan veteran decides to end his life after his girlfriend Kayla (Meg Braden) takes hers, he sees a vision of what looks like her being murdered. Brought back to life by some friends, Nick realizes he “needs” to die again and again in order to find out what actually happened to the love of his life… Continue reading →

Memory Lane Trailer: Be Still, My Beating Heart (Once More)

Posted on by
Reply


 

Question of the day (or at least the very second you’re reading this): Would you kill yourself (and a few times at that) in order to solve the murder of someone you love? That’s the somewhat shocking premise of Memory Lane, a thriller coming to Blu-Ray/DVD on March 24, 2015 courtesy of MVD Visual and Wild Eye Releasing.

Memory Lane MP
 

How’s this for a plot:

“When PTSD-plagued war vet Nick returns home and finds that his finance Kayla has committed suicide, he decides to take his own life, but what he sees in flashbacks moments before he is resuscitated leads him to believe Kayla was murdered. Now Nick must travel back and forth between our world and the afterlife in a search of her killer – but to do it, he will need to die over and over again.”

Memory Lane has already been compared to films such as Memento, Primer and Pi, and that’s some pretty decent company, I’d say. Of course, I’d probably add in references to everything from Flatliners, Jacob’s Ladder and Groundhog Day (minus the humor, of course), but I haven’t yet seen this flick. I want to, though. The premise is intriguing enough to get me to want to sit down with this from start to finish, something not a lot of modern horror-like films do.

MVD and Arrow Films Shoot More Mature Movies Your Way Soon

Posted on by
Reply

Wow. Since I was so darn busy these past few weeks (and still am), I missed the second email from Clint over at MVD and almost missed the third until a friend reminded me to check and see what movies Arrow Films was getting out on DVD here in the U.S. of A. over the next few months. Well, here you go, then – six more films ABSOLUTELY not for the kiddies coming to Blu-Ray or DVD. Three in April, three more in May. yes I can count – you’ll see if you keep reading… Continue reading →

DVD Review: Here’s Edie – Early 60’s Time Capsule Makes A Mostly Glorious Return To Earth…

Posted on by
Reply

Here's EdieI had an English teacher in high school who was obsessed with Edie Adams to the point that he actually stopped a fight in class by singing part of a Muriel Cigars commercial that made the two girls fighting stop and stare at him as if he were completely insane. Of course, by then I’d seen some reruns of The Ernie Kovacs Show on PBS and had a whisper of an idea of what he was going on about. However, I also recall bumping into him during a lunch break (he was outside smoking a Muriel Air Tip, of course) and hearing tales of a TV series starring Edie that no one else I asked seemed to have a clue about.

It turns out what I thought was one man’s fantasy life getting a wee bit too real was actually a real TV variety show. MVD Visual is about to unleash Here’s Edie, a 4-disc set of her 21 half-hour specials unseen anywhere since they first aired. After spending some quality time this past weekend with this incredible lady and her talented friends, I can very safely say that fans of classic variety TV will absolutely want this one in their collections… Continue reading →