Displaying items by tag: DVD

I’ve figured out what’s wrong with movies.

This thesis prevailed on me as I went to see the 3-D Imax version of a new picture called The Great Wall. This picture opened to dismal reviews, but the previews had made it look righteous and the effects, I knew, would be fun, and they were and the whole experience wasn’t bad.

And on the way out, I was thinking of all these feckless movie reviewers who get published and why they would trash this movie. I thought to myself: “Why were they so hard on this movie? It’s just a fun “B” picture?”

And then I figured it out. They all are. 90% of what we see in the theaters are “B” pictures with “A” budgets.

Let’s discuss... [Read on here...]

Welcome to our newest column addition Scream for a Week!

Congratulations! You made it to 2017! Starting the column off for the New Year is Lifeforce (reviewed by good ole Dr. Jahnke), the amazing Tobe Hooper/Cannon Films, naked lady vampire masterpiece from the 80's. Following that up are a trio of new reviews, including one for the recently released Dreamscape, which has been given a spiffy new transfer and some nice extras. Next is Hellhole, the mostly-forgotten women in prison movie from the 80's, chock full of sleaze and oddball characters. The last of the new reviews is a relatively recent movie #Horror, which plumbs the depths of cyberbullying. And, last but not least, is an oldy but a goody: Nightmares, the anthology movie that was difficult to obtain for many years. [Read on here...]

Welcome to our newest column addition Scream for a Week!

Starting things off is the great ‘Dolph Lundgren hunting a killer alien’ movie Dark Angel (a.k.a. I Come in Peace). New here is a terrific double feature of Ghoulies and Ghoulies II, a fun pair of Gremlins knock-offs that popped up during the Empire Pictures’ reign. Following that is another new review, this one of a neat but oddball monster movie called The Beast Within, written by Tom Holland and directed by Philipe Mora. Next we have Astron 6’s The Editor, a fun homage to the Italian Giallos of the 60s and 70s. Finally, New Year’s Evil is a Cannon Films slasher that seems an appropriate title to go out on for the year.  [Read on here...]

Welcome to our newest column addition Scream for a Week!

We here at The Digital Bits are big fans of Shout!’s Scream Factory division and, not unlike Todd Doogan’s Criterion Spines Project, we wanted to cover Scream Factory’s releases by catching up on a bunch that we’ve missed while acknowledging the previous ones. We’ll also be covering new ones here as well. This column will go up on a bi-weekly basis, so be sure to check back in another two weeks for another pile of Scream Factory goodness.

First up is a double feature of Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, both terrific horror anthologies. Tales from the Crypt in particular contains one of the creepiest and more effective Christmas horror stories. Speaking of Christmas, new on the slate is a Collector’s Edition of Black Christmas, a title long sought after by Scream Factory fans and one that I believe many will feel was worth the wait. Also new on the chopping block is Jack’s Back, a great little thriller mostly forgotten by genre fans. Next is George A. Romero’s Monkey Shines, one of his most enjoyable non-Dead movies. And last but not least is a double feature of TerrorVision and The Video Dead, one of Scream Factory’s earliest releases and still one of their most fun. [Read on here…]

I’ve about decided that a full book could be written regarding just about every produced movie – Lord knows there’s always enough behind the scenes drama to fill a daytime soap. But I love it. Who was supposed to be in what? Who wrote the script? That stuff. The success of X movie produced Y.

OLIVE FILMS

And here’s a story about a Robert Redford motorcycle picture called Little Fauss and Big Halsey, recently released for the first time on home video by Olive Films.

Al Ruddy came to Hollywood in the early 60s and as a young pup sold what has become a classic sitcom called Hogan’s Heroes. Ruddy and Charles Eastman wrote the script for Little Fauss and sold it to Paramount with a then hot director named Sidney Furie (who was bankable because of The Ipcress File and The Naked Runner). Redford was brought on board in the process as was my friend and lifelong Ruddy partner Gray Frederickson. [Read on here...]

Welcome to our newest column additionScream for a Week!

We here at The Digital Bits are big fans of Shout!’s Scream Factory division and, not unlike Todd Doogan’s Criterion Spines Project, we wanted to cover Scream Factory’s releases by catching up on a bunch that we’ve missed while acknowledging the previous ones. We’ll also be covering new ones here as well. This column will go up on a bi-weekly basis, so be sure to check back in another two weeks for another pile of Scream Factory goodness.

First up is Beneath, a Larry Fessenden giant fish movie that I’m actually a little less hard on than I was when I originally wrote the review. Today, I’d probably give it more of a B or a B- as it’s grown on me since then. New to Blu-ray this week are both Rabid and Dead Ringers, a pair of David Cronenberg movies that are stacked with some great extras worth digging into. Also new, at least as far as catching up with older Scream Factory titles is concerned, is The Monkey’s Paw, a Chiller movie that actually has some merit. And last but not least, Paul Schrader’s terrific remake of Cat People. [Read on here…]

Welcome to our newest column addition Scream for a Week!

We here at The Digital Bits are big fans of Shout!’s Scream Factory division and, not unlike Todd Doogan’s Criterion Spines Project, we wanted to cover Scream Factory’s releases by catching up on a bunch that we’ve missed while acknowledging the previous ones. We’ll also be covering new ones here as well. This column will go up on a bi-weekly basis, so be sure to check back in another two weeks for another pile of Scream Factory goodness.

First up is Escape from New York, a title that Bill covered sometime ago. It’s a solid release with a great transfer and extras, and just happens to be one of my favorite movies. New to Blu-ray this week is Bubba Ho-Tep, another personal favorite of mine, with a barrage of terrific extras to check out. Following that up is the great Amityville Horror Trilogy boxed set, which is another older review, but this time from good old Dr. Jahnke. Also new to the chopping block is the Blacula/Scream Blacula Scream double feature Blu-ray release. And last but not least, Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing, one of Scream Factory’s very first releases. [Read on here…]

Welcome to a new edition of Pick-Ups!

I hope you’re all enjoying your various Halloween marathons, parties, and other activities. I’ve been busy getting a lot of reviews ready as this has been a heavy couple of months for horror releases, as I’m sure you already know. I know I won’t get to all of it before the month is out, but I’ll get to as many of them as I can. I have some good titles lined up for the rest of this week and, hopefully, we won’t have a repeat of Friday and we can stay on schedule.

Anyways, let’s move on to some reviews. [Read on here…]

Welcome to a new edition of Pick-Ups!

More Halloween goodness on the way. This past week, we finally managed to get up all of our decorations, which was a huge job, both inside and outside the house. We’ve also been watching a ton of Halloween-related movies, like I’m sure most of you have. It’s certainly more appealing than keeping up with the current election, that’s for sure.

Anyways, don’t forget that both Turner Classic Movies and IFC are showing a ton of great horror movies this month. Not to be outdone, you may want to check out what AMC is doing this month as well. There’s certainly plenty of options in the horror department.

Anyways, let’s move on to some reviews. [Read on here…]

Welcome to a new edition of Pick-Ups!

Whew. Lemme tell ya. I love Halloween, but it wears me out every year. There’s so much going on, including tons of reviews for the site, that it’s difficult to keep track of it all and still be standing at the end of the day. And unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the Young Frankenstein screening that I mentioned last week as it was sold out, but I may or may not try to attend the encore presentation of it. We’ll see.

Also, I mentioned last week that Turner Classic Movies is showing a ton of great horror movies this month, but you may also want to check out IFC’s schedule. They have some great old B-movie from the 1950s and 1960s that they’re airing regularly, every morning. Definitely something worth putting on while having your coffee if you’re a horror fan.

Anyways, let’s move on to some reviews. [Read on here…]