PANDEMIC (2016)

March 29, 2025 by J.R. in To Watch Pile and tagged bluray, horror, pandemic | 2 Comments

PANDEMIC (2016)

I was going to review this film about 5 years ago, but something happened in the world that seemed to make it a bad idea, and so I decided that in March 2025, 5 years after the World Health Organisation declared a world wide pandemic, that perhaps it was time to review this film, 2016’s Pandemic, directed by John Suits from a script by Dustin T. Benson, which, according to IMDB, is his only cinematic credit.

That’s a red flag, right there!

When I grabbed this movie on Bluray when it was first released, a pandemic seemed to be a science fiction concept from a zombie movie or a 50s science fiction short story from Analog Magazine. I grabbed this film because I have an affection for Rachel Nichols, who I liked in things like the Amityville Horror remake and P2, which is still a surprisingly ok thriller. Any of the goodwill that I had was lost after spending 90 minutes watching this garbage.

What I did not know about this film when I purchased it was that it is a found footage styled film. As it is I’m not a fan of found footage films. I never find it immersive. I think The Blair Witch Product is a terrible waste of time and money wrapped in an extraordinary marketing campaign like nothing that was seen before or since. I don’t believe the fandom of that film would be as high if the accompanying marketing… let’s call it what it was… lies were as well executed and I’m stunned how easily people are OK with bullcrap in a film advertising campaign but if it was a food stuff that told you you would be better looking and more muscular when it did not do those things, most would want their money back.

Pandemic tells of a world after a horrible virus that changes people into the flesh-eating cannibals that at various stages of viral incubation are still able to reason and use tools… actually, I feel like it’s never made entirely clear though there is a description of 5 level of infection so basically the story can make up what type of infected they have depending on what the story needs.

In a compound of uninfected doctors researching a cure, Dr Greer (CSI’s Paul Guilfoyle) assembles a team to rescue some victims who are held up in the city. In this team are Lauren (Rachel Nichols) a New York Doctor working with the CDC, Wheeler (Game of Thrones’ Alfie Allen) the driver, Gunner (Dawn of the Dead (2003) Mekhi Phifer) who acts as the worst security ever and Denise (Missi Pyle from Josie and the Pussycats) the navigator. There are all fitted with protective uniforms that have headcams on them for research purposes, according to Dr Greer, and this is how we get our story.

As you would expect, the mission goes to utter crap and one of the team isn’t who they say they are, and their personal mission may put everyone else in extreme danger…

The first person aspect feels more like the director didn’t know how to set the scene and opted for found footage look for no reason other than utter laziness. It’s NOT immersive. It DOES NOT add to the drama. If anything, it’s distracts from the drama and makes some quality actors look like they are rank amateurs,

Another problem comes from the costume design: you see, when characters spend time talking directly to each other wearing big transparent helmets that are obviously not well ventilated, the screens mist up, and the when light is shined directly onto that mask, the reflection obscures the faces of the actors. This is a another amateurish issue that even the worst of filmmakers who be aware of.

*A zombie from Rec… oh no, sorry, a scene from Pandemic*

Not that this actually matter too much because these four fairly good actors are simply terrible in this film. At no point do I sympathise or empathise with any of them at all. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disinterested in the plight of characters so much in a film.

There is an occasional bit of gore that works well, but it’s not enough, especially considering some of the CGI fire is utter crap!

This film is basically an amateurish pastiche of Hardcore Henry, Doomsday, Rec and 28 Weeks Later that is so confusing at times with the headcams that you can barely tell who is doing what.

Avoid like, well, the plague.

Extras:

The disc starts with trailers for Take Down and The Curse of Sleeping Beauty, and that’s the entirety of the extras. Having said that, both these films look low budget and ridiculous but I’m intrigued by both trailers and am going to seek them out!

Film: 1/10

Extras: 2/10

Rewatchability: 0/10

Purchased from JB Hifi. Still haven’t forgiven them for allowing me to do so.

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

March 15, 2025 by J.R. in To Watch Pile and tagged 80s, bluray, Friday the 13th, horror, jason voorhees | Leave a comment

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980)

*The Australian Bluray release of the film*

Film: So here’s the thing. I have always tried to make my reviews at minimum 500 words long so that at least there appears to be some kind of substance to my writing, but what does one write about a film that had SO much written about it over the years, not to mention countless YouTube videos and Instagram posts. I basically have two choices: start with a long preamble about what new could be written about a 45 year old horror classic to get to the hundred word mark, or just reflect on my thoughts in the film, and how much it means to me, not just as a singular film, but as a series.

Or I could do both!

As you well know, Friday the 13th was released in 1980, was written by Victor Miller and directed by Sean S. Cunningham and is one of the early slashers that spawned not just hundreds of imitators, but a load of sequels, merchandise, and most of all, horror fans.

Now I always do a plot synopsis at this point of the review and I shall here again, just in case there is that single person who has never seen Friday the 13th though i wonder why you would be here on this mainly horror and cult movie website.

(It has since been pointed out to me that this review, even though it is for a horror classic, is actually 45 years old, and how many films did I watch as a young horror fan that were 45 years old. My answer to that was bloody heaps of them, because 40 odd years before when I first became a horror fan was the 40s, when a shed load of amazing horror and sci-fi came out so there’s no excuse.)

Friday the 13th tells of Alice (Adrienne King) a young woman helping to get a new summer camp open at Crystal Lake, run by her maybe boyfriend Steve (Peter Brouwer), and the other councillors (including Kevin Bacon before he was cured properly).

The final councillor who is supposed to arrive, Annie (Robbie Morgan) has disappeared on her way to the camp though, and we, the viewers, know that she has been murdered by an unidentified assailant who picked her up as she was hitchhiking on her way there.

Steve disappears into town to collect supplies after Annie is a no-show, and very quickly, the workers start getting picked off one by one. As the body count rises, we are left to wonder… who is the murderer? Is it one of the councillors? Could it be Steve? Maybe Ralph (Walt Gorney), the town crazy… who knows?

I can’t express just how important this film is too me. I have so much Friday the 13th stuff in my house: board games, soundtracks on vinyl, action figures of multiple characters, my first Fright Rags tshirt was a Jason one, and the thing that got me interested in vinyl model kits as a teen was a really cool one from the Japanese company Billiken, and then one from Screamin’ soon after.

This is the thing, though: most of that stuff is of Jason Voorhees… and not of the killer in this film. This is it, this is an important film and it launched a whole pile of stuff that i love… but it is not my favourite Friday the 13th film. It is violent and exciting and the cast in it are fine, the soundtrack is amazing and the gore effects are heaps of fun, but its a low budget film and it does show.

Just to clarify I do not thing this film is bad or worthless as it is not, but what it is is the beginning of something that i came to love as a horror fan.

If I am to criticise this holiest of holies in the horror genre, it’s just for a few things. The acting is quite horrible here and there, not all the cast, but a few of them have a very low score in the skill marker for this. That’s ok though, it’s a cheap horror film from the 80s and realistically, we don’t always expect too much and it adds to the charm.

*No matter the horror film, Annie (Robbie Morgan) always dies*

My second criticism is I feel the film occasionally, in my mind anyway, posits itself as being a whodunnit insomuch as I feel like we are supposed to be guessing who the killer is, like an Argento film or even a Hitchcock, but even though we are introduced to a bunch of weird characters in town with Annie, including crazy Carl, and even have a few moments where some of the councillors seem a bit off, like after one of them kills a snake and there is a lingering look at him musing on the creatures execution, when the reveal happens, everyone goes ‘who the hell is this?’ I keep coming back to this and looking for some kind of a clue but either it’s not there or I am simply a freaking idiot.

The latter is infinitely possible.

I have a lot of affection for this film, but if somebody said to me “want to watch a Friday the 13th film? Your choice!’, this would not be my go-to flick. That’s not to say it’s not a horror classic or it deserves to be rewatched regularly either.

Disc: There is a huge bunch of extras on this disc and whilst I appreciate the volume of content, I must admit that any extra on a Friday the 13th film is overshadowed by the amazing Crystal Lake Memories documentary and accompanying book (or vise versa). These extras are good ON THIS DISC but that doco offers so much more behind the scenes stuff that without plumbing that well, its hard to have original stuff.

Theres a decent Commentary by Sean S. Cunningham but its most of the same anecdotes you’ve heard before: hosted by Peter M. Bracke.

Return to Crystal Lake: The Making of Friday the 13th is fine, but as I stated previously, watch Crystal Lake Memories instead.

A Friday the 13th Reunion is a reunion from 2008 at a convention of Tom Savini, Ari Lehman, Victor Miller, Betsy Palmer, Harry Manfredini and Adrienne King. It’s a cute piece but it’s all the anecdotes you’ve heard before.

The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham is a short interview with Cunningham on his work.

Lost Tales from Camp Blood Part 1 was written and directed by Andrew Ceperley and it’s an amateurish take of the Friday the 13th movies: I have no idea why it’s on here.

The Friday the 13th Chronicles is more of the same with the same anecdotes but was probably of a previous DVD release.

Secrets Galore Behind the Gore is a very Quick Look at the for through the eyes of Cunningham and Savini.

Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th is again, interesting but not a great deal of fresh material.

There’s also a trailer.

*Marcie (JeannineTaylor) axed the wrong question*

Film: 7/10

Extras: 10/10 (with the aforementioned caveat)

Rewatchability: 10/10

This film was reviewed with the Australian Bluray release, purchased from JB Hifi.

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981)

March 1, 2025 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged 80s, bluray, Fulci, gore, haunted, horror, italian, italy, lucio fulci, Zombie, zombies | Leave a comment

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (1981)

*The cover to Cinema Cult’s bluray release*

I make massive attempts to not be a gatekeeper when it comes to horror. I am almost definitively a live and let live guy. Manos The Hand of Fate is the best horror film ever? Ok, sure thing pal. There’s nothing scarier than an Annabelle film? No worries, junior.

There is a caveat and that is Italian horror: you don’t like it, I doubt your horror cred, sorry, that’s just the way it is. Is it because I’m an arsehole? Maybe. Is it generational? Definitely.

For those who don’t know, let this Gen X dinosaur explain who Lucio Fulci was. Lucio Fulci was an Italian movie director who made his first film, a comedy, in 1959 and was in the middle of making the movie The Wax Mask in 1997 when he tragically passed away, a film eventually finished by Sergio Stivaletti.

Fulci is best know for his horror and giallo films of the 70s and 80s. Such films as the thrillers Lizard in a Woman’s Skin and Don’t Torture a Duckling, the slasher New York Ripper and what most horror films of a particular generation know him for, three unrelated in story but tonally equivalent City of the Living Dead, The Beyond and this one, The House By The Cemetery.

The House by the Cemetery tells of Dr Norman Boyle (Paolo Malco), his wife Lucy (Catriona MacColl, though listed in the credits as ‘Katherine’) and son, Bob (Giovanni Frezza) are moving to a strange house in New Whittby, Massachusetts so Norman can continue the work of his ex-colleague Dr. Peterson, a man who murdered his partner and then himself.

Strangely, Bob has been having strange visions of a girl named Mae Freudstein (Sylvia Collatina) who has been consistently warning him away from going to the house, something a child obviously has no control over.

*Pieroni is up to no good, or is she? It’s not really explained…*

Odd things keep happening though as Norman is recognised by several locals even though he claims to have never been there before, and the basement of the house is locked and boarded up… well, it was until babysitter Ann (Anita Pieroni) inexplicably removes the boards one night, but what is down there?

What is going on in the house? What do Bob’s visions have to do with it all? Is there someone else living in the house, or maybe someTHING is dwelling in the basement…

Honestly, I can’t tell you what the hell is going on in this film. There is so much stuff that’s unexplained like characters looking knowingly at each other like co-conspirators, but there time travel involved, are these ghosts… so many questions, so few answers.

I feel like Fulci was trying to make Norman some kind of enigmatic character like Jack from The Shining. All of the recognition from the locals is quite obvious and yet it is not even slightly explored. I kept expecting the film to end with a photo of the house from the 1800s with him standing out the front. It’s never exploited outside of the strange side-eyes and ‘have you been here before?’

There is a lot of fun gore though, and the dubbing of some characters, particularly Bob, is so laughable that it makes the movie even more fun to watch, and between those two things, all that confusion with the script washes away and it just become dumb entertainment.

Whilst this certainly isn’t top level Fulci, it IS infinitely rewatchable: I don’t know why, but it is! Yet another thing I don’t understand about this film!

Disc: There’s 4 interviews and a featurette on this disc.

Back to the Cellar is an interview with Giovanni Frezza aka Bob.

Cemetery Woman is a decent interview with Catriona MacColl. Lots of memories of Fulci here.

Finishing the Final Fulci is an interview with Sergio Stivaletti and him taking over the directorial role of Fulci’s final film, The Wax Mask, after he passed away.

Freudstein’s Follies is an interview with Gianetto De Rossi, the special effects man for the film.

Ladies of Horror is a look at various Italian horror movie stars.

These are all High Riding Productions shorts which are all directed by Calum Waddell whom usually works for Arrow Video with these shorts so I am assuming they have been purchased by Cinema Cult for this disc.

All interesting but of varying lengths. There is probably a really good solid singular feature about Fulci in here somewhere, but these shorts have some great anecdotes in them.

Film: 6/10

Extras: 8/10

Rewatchability: 10/10

*The real estate agent realises the housing crisis is worse than she thought!*

This Australian Bluray was purchased from JB Hifi.

TERRIFIER (2016)

February 15, 2025 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged art the clown, bluray, clown, horror, Slasher, Umbrella Entertainment | 1 Comment

*The cover to Unbrella’s Bluray release*

TERRIFIER (2016)

Film: Horror movie ‘franchises’ are made or broken on how charismatic or how visually striking their antagonist is.

The Freddys, the Jasons, the Michaels, the Ghostfaces all rely on those two points. The victims, the ‘final girl’, the story are all secondary to how appealing the bad guy superstar is! The caveat to that is recasting some don’t always work… sorry, Jackie Earle Haley, but I think you know it’s true.

Terrifier, with its new superstar antagonist, Art the Clown, came out of the blocks racing at full tilt. Suckling on the teat of coulrophibia and doubling down on it with a creepy mime costume, and acting choices, Art slipped it to a space in cinema where the old franchises, except for Scream, were missing in action, and perhaps too old to be revitalised effectively anyway.

Maybe Art is the first of a new generation, and we’ll start to see some REALLY screwed up stuff.

*Not all clowns are funny, especially this work of Art*

Terrifier, along with its two sequels (to date) were written and directed by Damien Leone, who created Art the Clown (he’s more of a mime but you get what I mean) for his earlier film, All Hallows Eve, an anthology film from 2013.

Terrifier tells of party girls Tara (Jenna Kanell) and Dawn (Catherine Corcoran)… are these Buffy references…who by sheer bad luck meet Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) at a pizzeria they stop at on their way home from a Halloween party.

Art creeps them out by, well, just being a creepy guy in a clown costume, and is quickly kicked out after he defecates all over the walls of the restaurants bathroom, only to return after the young women leave to execute the two workers.

Tara and Dawn return to their car only to find a tyre slashed and call Tara’s sister, Victoria (Samantha Scaffidi) to come and pick them up as the spare was already in use.

Unfortunately for them, Art catches up with them before Victoria’s arrival, and then the gory night of terror REALLY begins.

I’m gonna start with the gore as it really is in your face and all looks practical. Leone a-pears to have come from a make up and special effects background and it’s generally good when those people end up directing as they can see how an effect can be done practically and not resort to substandard CGI. The only effects work I don’t really like was the make up on the nonsensical prologue that ties in with the ending.

On make up, Art the Clown is a terrifying looking thing. The actor is tall and lanky and knows how to manipulate his body so he looks like a combination of a preying mantis and Dhalsim from Street Fighter. His smile is an awful thing to behold also. Doug Jones would be impressed with his physical performance and his lanky, tendrilous body is a sight to behold.

The acting of the four females leads is pretty good, with Canell and Scaffidi being the highlights. The male characters just seem to act by seeing how loud they can yell at each other. Sure I get the script calls for that but at points it was borderline Kitchen Nightmares.

The locations are occasionally laughable as well. The morgue in the basement with what looks like Kaboodle kitchen cabinetry is laughable.

As for the script, well there isn’t really much story here: prologue, killer kills, kills again, and again, and then again, ending. As horror fans we shouldn’t expect more than that, especially from a smaller budgeted film, but the lack of depth was apparent. To Leone’s credit, he certainly is a horror fan judging by the tributes to other horror films thrown in here and there but this was gory over story every inch of the way, and if that’s want you want, something that doesn’t challenge you and just shows cool kills, you will probably dig this, but for me, I just needed a little more of a tale told.

I’m constantly criticising Hollywood for its lack of originality with its incessant need for remakes and sequels and stuff based on comics or books, and whilst I don’t think this is the cure, it’s a great start.

Extras: There is a decent amount of extras on this disc:

‘All Hallow’s Eve’ the Anthology Prequel Film: it’s a great joy when a director’s earlier film is an added extra, it’s even better when that film features the same character from the feature you just watched and even better when it’s a full length film and not just a ten minute short. Winning all round!

Behind the Scenes featurette is a badly films pile of behind the scenes footage but at least they show the final film of some of the bits so you know what part of the film it came from.

Interview with Jenna Kanell sees ‘Tara’ talk about her experiences with the film and her history with Leone.

Deleted scenes shows two scenes that would have made little difference to the film at all.

Dread Central presents Terrifier San Diego Crowd Response is what you would expect: a bunch of people who loved the film… of course they did, why would you showcase the people who hated it. A bit onanistic as these things usually are.

Art the Clown Time Lapse Makeup – it does NOT look like a fun application, but it was fun to see the transformation: I wish there had been a talk through of what was being done.

Finally, trailers for Terrifier and All Hallows Eve.

Film: 5/10

Extras: 9/10

Rewatchability: 8/10

*Guess who isn’t coming back for the sequel!*

This Umbrella Bluray release was purchased from JB Hifi

ALIEN 2 ON EARTH (1980)

January 4, 2025 by J.R. in To Watch Pile and tagged 88 Films, bluray, horror, italian, Sci Fi, scifi | 1 Comment

Alien 2 On Earth (1980)

Did you know there was a sequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien that was made a year after Alien’s release? Surely, just because something isn’t ‘official’ doesn’t mean it’s not a sequel, right?

Fan fiction is legitimate writing, isn’t it? If that’s the case, I’m going to say that Alien 2 On Earth, aka Alien Terror, aka Alien 2 Sulla Terra is just as legitimate a sequel as Patrick Lives Again, and Zombi 2.

Alien 2 On Earth was written and directed (under instruction/ advisement of a Mario Bava) by Caro Ippolito under the pseudonym ‘Sam Cromwell’ and even though it’s not an actual sequel, and doesn’t look anything like Scott’s Alien, 20th Century Fox attempted to sue, but were stopped when it was shown that a book called Alien also existed.

The plot of the story is bizarre.

The world excitedly awaits the return to earth of some astronaut hits in their landing shuttle, but when it arrives, it’s found to be empty, just as weird blue rocks start to appear around the world.

Thelma Joyce (Belinda Mayne) is a spelunker who has a bizarre psychic seizure when being interviewed on a TV show about caves. The interview is cut short and she joins husband Roy (Mark Bodin) and the rest of her spelunking crew to go into some caves (filmed in the beautiful Castellana Grotte: a cave system in Italy).

On their way, one of the team Burt (Michele Saovi) finds one of the blue rocks and gives it to Thelma, knowing she loves geology, and of course for some strange reason, she takes it with her into the cave system.

Once down there, the rock starts to pulsate and a bizarre ‘thing’ comes out, attacking the crew, murdering them one by one in all manner of gory ways. Panicked, they lose their way in the caves but will any of them escape? And if that blue rock had that ‘thing’ in it, what of all the others above ground..?

Alien 2 On Earth is a silly as a film can be. It looks like an Irwin Allen science fiction TV series, has extreme gore that is actually quite indefinable, considering we never actually get to see the alien properly, and has bizarrely bad pacing with lingering shots of bowling alley ball returns that go on for so long that they are clearly there to stretch the time of the film. This all goes without commenting on how dismal the handheld camera work is; it’s so rocky at times that it makes The Blair Witch Project look like it was filmed on steadicam.

Sadly, and it is a reflection of my taste, I guess, I enjoyed watching every stupid minute, and this 88 Films Italian Collection release has treated it with far more respect than it possibly deserves.

An amusing story surround this film as it was originally supposed to be far more grand in scale, opening with the remains of the Nostromo from Alien crashing to earth (it must have traveled back in time) with the remains of the alien onboard, but legend has it that Ippolito spent a large proportion of the money raised for the film on an expensive car, escorts and casinos.

I really can’t express how stupid AND how much fun this film is. I’m almost embarrassed to like it.

*The menu screen from 88 Films’ bluray release*

Extras: The delightful folks at 88 Films have provided us with a handful of fun extras:

Special Effects Test is an interesting way to sit in silence for a few minutes whilst blank screens and blood and guts fill the screen. Would have been more interesting with some editing and maybe a commentary?

Franchised Terrorist: An Interview With Eli Roth, who is a big fan of 80s Italian horror and his enthusiasm for the film is visible, and he knows a lot about it! Interesting, but I would have preferred seeing someone who worked on the film chatting about it.

Alien 2 On Earth Trailer is exactly what it says on the box; the trailer for Alien 2 On Earth… but that’s not all, folks! We also have a trailer reel for other films like Creepshow 2, Invasion U.S.A., River of Death, Graduation Day, Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers, Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland, The Couch Trip, Cuba, Messenger of Death and The Dead Next Door! Whew!

Film: 5/10

Extras: 6/10

Re-Watchability: 7/10

This 88 Films release was purchased from Amazon.

AUDITION aka ǑDISHON (1998)

July 13, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged 90s, bluray, horror, j-horror, japanese, jhorror, takashimiike | Leave a comment

*The steelbook cover to Arrow Video’s Audition*

AUDITION aka ǑDISHON (1998)

I first saw Audtion many years ago on a terrible DVD released in Australia that was too dark and muddy and even in such an awful format, it effected me. This Bluray release has none of that and it is an even better watch, as you would expect.

Director Takahashi Miike (Ichi the Killer) has created such a mind blowing psycho-sexual piece of cinema that to stick it in a box marked ‘psychological thriller’ or ‘horror’ is to take away its impact. When first released in Japan in 1999 as Odishon, it was played in such a poor array of dead-end theatres that it whimpered out and looked like it was going to disappear without a trace. Luckily, in 2000, Audition was then picked up for film festivals in both Vancouver and then Rotterdam, where it won both the FIPRESCI prize and the KNF award, and in the following year at Fantsporto in Portugal, it won the International Fantasy Film Award – Special Mention award and was nominated for International Fantasy Film Award.

Based on a story by Ryu Murakami, Audition is the tale of a man, Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), who, after the death of his wife, finds it hard to meet a new woman. Inspired by comments made by his son, Shigehiko (Tetsu Sawaki), as to how loneliness is making him prematurely age, he embarks on a mission to meet women. Using his position as a video producer he starts a series of auditions for a fictional project.

After looking over many women, he finally meets Asami (Eihi Shiina), whose exquisite delicateness intrigues Aoyama, and her quiet demeanour intrigues him, even though she is close in age to his son.

Asami and Aoyama slowly develop a friendship which blossoms into something more intimate, but after they make love for the first, Asami disappears and Aoyama starts an investigation to find her, but what he finds is that she may not have been telling him the entire truth…

*The seemingly delicate Asami (Eihi Shiina)*

All through this movie there is such a feeling of claustrophobia and discomfort that unlike many films gets right under your skin, as do most of Miike other films. The juxtaposition of moments of quiet beauty and subtle relationship building, combined with some of the shock moments (that I won’t reveal here) are truly amazing. The real trick here is that there are moments of intimacy that are filmed more like claustrophobia than closeness, and that adds to the unsettled nature of this new relationship between the main leads.

Although Miike doesn’t make horror films per say, he is however a reluctant genre film director who has had horror cult status thrust upon him, which is why films like this, and his others like Visitors Q and his comic adaptation Ichi the Killer are such fascinating watches.

This story works so effectively as it doesn’t adhere to stereotypes, as one would expect from a film that didn’t get punched out of the Hollywood thriller cookie cutter. This film reminds me of the first time I read American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, the combination of subtle day-to-day suddenly flipped on its head. This is a movie that will stick with you for a long time after you watch it.

*The menu screen to the Arrow Video Blu-ray*

Disc: An absolute treasure trove of extras on this disc. I must also point out that the film can be watched with an introduction by Miike.

First, we have two commentaries, The first by director Takashi Miike and screenwriter Diasuke Tengan, and a second by Tom Mes. The first is in Japanese so it is subtitled and is enthusiastic and interesting. The second is performed by Mes, a writer who has written books about Miike’s career. It is interesting but less so that the aforementioned one. It is in English.

There is a series of interview with cast and crew: Takashi Miike, Ryo Ishibashi, Eisis Shiina, Renji Ishibashi and Ren Osugi. These interviews are each quite long and not like the ones you would get from American films with a few sound bytes of actors and directors massaging each other’s egos. These are fascinating insights into the film and each individuals history.

Damaged Romance; An Appreciation by Tony Ry looks both at Miike’s career and specifically the making of this film, and even the history of Japanese genre films.

There are two trailers for the film, one Japanese and the other the international one.

Another useless image gallery.

RING (1998)

July 6, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged 90s, bluray, horror, j-horror, japan, jhorror, ring | 1 Comment

*The cover to Arrow’s Ring Bluray, taken from The Ring Collection*

RING (1998)

This is where you start with J-horror, right? This was the one that got us all involved in the late 90s. Ring is the parent that introduced us too all the Japanese horror we ended up craving: The Grudge, Dark Water, Pulse… not to mention directors like Takashi Miike, Hideo Nakata and their contemporaries.

Personally, I think a lot of the increased mainstream love of anime came from that time, as horror fans became more involved in the culture of various Asian countries, it leeched into the regular nerds and normal people via some good and some not so good remakes, and that trickled all the way through pop culture. I pretty much went think the popularity of Junji Ito relates directly to it.

That’s just my observation of the time.

(NB: I’m well aware that there were anime and manga fans before this time, heck I was one of them as I grew up loving Japanese cartoons, which is what they were called before the word ‘anime’ came to western culture properly, but my observations say the world seems to be more into it since 2000. Post COVID and lockdown even more so!

Anyway, enough about my musings. Ring is based on the novel by Kôji Suzuki, with a screenplay by Hiroshi Takahashi. The film was directed by Hideo Nakata, who didn’t not want to be a horror film director, but basically became the spark that turned the west predominantly into j-horror fans.

Ring tells of journalist Reiko Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima), who has started a quite aggressive investigation into the urban myth of a VHS video tape that kills you 7 days after you first watch it, and warns you with a phone call where just the words ‘7days’ are whispered to you. This investigation is so urgent as it has just killed her niece, Tomoko (Yûko Takeuchi).

Asakawa eventually finds the tape, watches it and reveals that the myth may be true, and now she has 7 days to find a ‘cure’ to this spiritual virus that lies within the cassette. She shows he ex-husband the tape and the two of them research the footage on the tape in an attempt to find a cure… this attempt becomes more frantic when her young son also watches the tape.

There research finds a connection to a psychic woman who died many years earlier, and the mystery of her daughter, Sadako (Rei Ino’o)…

There is no doubt that Hideo Nakata has created an almost perfect horror film with this movie. It is weirdly over-dramatic with its acting at times, and borders into pantomime but it somehow all sits correctly. When it came out it was such an extraordinarily different thing, seeing as how the 80s was all about the creation of franchises, a mistake cinema is repeating now with the desperation to find the next Marvel or Star Wars series, and the 90s was predominantly a pop culture wasteland, especially with horror seeing as how self-referential stories became the norm after the popularity of the Scream franchise.

Basically I love this film. After being so disappointed how how awful horror had become in the 90s, this was like a breath of fresh air.

The story itself being a strange take on ‘hauntings’ and ‘curses’ was great, and probably due to the fact that Japan doesn’t have its creepies and crawlies based in Christianity like we still do in the west, judging by the popularity of the Conjuring universe. This added with, at the time, my lack of exposure to Japanese culture in general other than Robotech and Akira, just the different lifestyle, cities et cetera made it a visual feast. I actually name this film as being the thing that made me interested in watching Japanese architecture YouTube channels, especially the ‘tiny apartments’ ones.

I cant recommend this film enough. If you haven’t seen this Japanese ‘Ring’ but have seen the Gore Verbinski remake starring Naomi Watts, still give this a go as it is still a fantastic watch with a few differences in the story.

Disc: This Arrow video disc was available singularly, but also as a part of the Ring Trilogy box set which featured Ring, Ring 2 and Ring 0.

This disc has a bunch of cool extras on it though.

There is an Audio Commentary by David Kalat, author of J-Horror, The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond. His is an enthusiastic commentary which reveals him to be very ‘in’ with the whole J-horror sub genre of horror, even though he has a disclaimer that he doesn’t speak Japanese so some of his pronunciations may be inaccurate.

The Ring Legacy looks at the entire scope of the Ring series, from the source material, to films, to video games and to the western remakes. A real fascinating inside into the entire scope of the series.

A Vicious Circle sees author and critic Kat Ellinger explore director Hideo Nakata’s career and the Rings influence on western horror.

Circumnavigating Ring is a video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicolas, who here explores the evolution of the series.

Sadako’s Video is an opportunity for us, the film fan, to see the SADAKO video in its complete form… don’t forget to copy it and give it to someone else.

Three ring trailers including 2 for the Ring and Spiral double bill (which have far too groovy a soundtrack considering the subject matter), and a UK Trailer.

There’s also a useless image gallery.

*The image everyone knows: Sadako revealed!!*

This review was done with a copy of the Bluray of Ring taken from Arrow Video’s Ring Collection. Their was purchase from Arrow’s website

IMMACULATE (2024)

June 29, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged bluray, horror, Nun, nunsploitation | Leave a comment

*The cover to the Australian Bluray release*

IMMACULATE (2024)

I find that sometimes the best way to watch a film is on the odd occasion when you have been lucky enough to avoid all media based around it. In this day and age that is a difficult thing to do, but I managed it with this film. This film, Immaculate, is knew nothing about: i didn’t see a trailer, no comments on my social media… it just slipped me by.

All I knew about it was that it starred current ‘it’s girl (not a female Pennywise but instead the latest movie star social media crush) Sydney Sweeney, and honestly, the only thing I really even knew about HER was that she was one of the stars of the Sony turd-that-sunk-to-the-bottom Marvel film, Madame Web.

This film was really driven by Sweeney. She first auditioned for the film in 2014, but the film was never made but the story by Andrew Lobel really resonated with her. Later, she pursued the script, took on the producer’s hat and was the driving force behind getting the film made, employing the directorial talents of Michael Mohan, who previously directed her in The Voyeurs and Everything Sucks!

Immaculate tells of young nun, Sister Cecelia (Sweeney) whose parish in Detroit closed down and she made the decision to travel to Italy and take on a role of assisting older nuns transition to Heaven in a convent/ hospice.

The usual jealousies that can happen when an interloper comes into a new environment, but those jealousies escalate when after a few weeks, Sister Cecelia, is discovered to have had an immaculate conception.

The church is dubious at first but eventually excited by the prospect of their environment being the place that the rebirth of Jesus himself may take place. None are more excited than Father Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte), a former biologist now member of the clergy, who seems to be resisting taking Sister Cecelia to a proper hospital, instead keeping the pregnancy amongst only those within the convent, including the in-house doctor, Dr. Gallo (Giampiera Judica).

As the pregnancy continues, the members of the order become more and more strange in the attitude towards her, and secretive… are they involved in this immaculate conception, and who are the clergy in red masks that she keeps seeing…

There’s no doubt that Sweeney’s passion for the project wasn’t unfounded. It is a very clever story steeped in religious iconography but not so deep that someone with only a surface level understanding of Catholicism or Christianity would be lost.

*Tarantino may NOT appreciate the foot stuff in this flick*

The tale has three very distinct acts which coincide with the idea of the trimesters of pregnancy and each trimester reveals more of the mystery and steadily the situation becomes worse and worse for the main character and more and more exciting for us the viewer.

This film was a pleasant surprise in a world of sequels, remakes and attempts at making ‘universes’ and franchises. I would even say that not seeing anything about the film beforehand was a blessing in disguise.

*The menu screen of the Australian release of Immaculate*

Disc: There is a series of interviews on this disc: actor/ producer Sweeney, director Mohan, and actors Morte and Giulia Heathfield Di Renzi, who played Sister Isabel, one of the sisters jealous of Cecelia’s choice as the mother of the rebirth of Jesus Christ. These make for a quite interesting collection of information in regards to the film. Well worth watching even though the way it’s presented is with text questions followed by the videoed answers.

*Convent or not: skin care should always be a priority*

This Blu-ray was reviewed with a copy of the film purchased from JB Hifi in Australia.

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017)

June 22, 2024 by J.R. in digital retribution review, To Watch Pile and tagged bluray, horror, King Kong, monsterverse | Leave a comment

*The cover to the Australian Bluray Steelbook of Kong Skull Island*

KONG: SKULL ISLAND (2017)

I never like to think of any movie I enjoy as a ‘Guilty Pleasure’. I figure if you feel embarrassed about something you love, you probably don’t actually love it but enjoy it for nostalgic or other reasons… but today I watched Kong Skull Island.

KSI is the second part of the ‘Monsterverse’ series of films… you know, because EVERYTHING has to be a ‘universe’ these days… which is also known as the ‘Legendary Series’ that started with 2014’s kinda-boring Godzilla, that starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen.

This film was written by a handful of screenwriters: Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Max Borenstein (Hypnotic, with Robert Rodiguez), Derek Connolly (who, honestly, seems to be consistently a ‘team-player’ writer) and John Gatins (Flight) and it is obvious insomuch as there is a bunch of different stories a happening simultaneously, and whilst I appreciate that most movies are like that, this was very much very different stories in a similar situation.

The film was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Successful Alcoholics and The Kings of Summer, did a great job with this film as he clearly saw that monster movies aren’t just about the monsters, but also the human stories that exist within them; something many horror movies forget… and superhero movies, and sci-fi movies… basically any ‘pop culture’ films.

Its not always about selling toys, Hollywood!

When you consider that the first film of King Kong was created in 1933, and influenced so many sequels, remakes and themes, it isn’t a surprise that films based on the character aren’t still being made. What is surprising though is that this was made so soon after Peter Jackson’s 2005 hit film which is far more a character piece rather than a monster movie like this one. Kong appears very early in this film and there is no hesitation in telling the viewer just exactly who is the star of this film.

Kong: Skull Island starts in 1973, with the Vietnam war almost officially over and Bill Randa (John Goodman) is in charge of an expedition to travel to a previously unexplored island that has remained hidden behind a serious weather anomaly.

Coming with his team are members of Landsat, a computer mapping organisation, with the intention of dropping seismic bombs on the island to get an idea of the landmass, assumed to be hollow. The transportation is provided by a platoon of Vietnam soldiers, under the command of Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) in their choppers, now dormant with Americas withdrawal from the Vietnam war. Finally, a former SAS James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and a press photographer, Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) round out the motley crew.

After traversing a quite heinous storm to get to the island, the teams set up their equipment, and start dropping the seismic devices from the choppers but they find that there is resistance to the bombs being dropped in a giant ape called Kong.

Kong attacks the helicopters, separating the teams. Packard and his becomes obsessed with destroying Kong as he so viciously attacked them, but the other team, including Conrad and Weaver, meet a tribe of natives and Marlow (John C. Reilly), a WW2 pilot who became lost on the island during that war, and who knows, after his years on the island, that Kong has an important role in nature… keeping the horrifying Skullcrawlers at bay…

Will Kings defenders get to Packard in time to stop his attempts at killing Kong, or is mankind doomed…

*Samuel L. Jackson in angry soldier mode*

I have to start with the cast of this film when discussing it. Its a combination of Marvel second fiddles (Dr. Doom, Loki, Captain Marvel and Nick Fury aka Toby Kebbell, Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson respectively) mixed with character actors and ‘I know that persons face, whats their name again’ actors like John Goodman, John C Reilly, Thomas Middleditch and Shea Whigham. I LOVE this cast as I was so shocked BY their performances. Hiddleston as the military expert takes the heroic spot like it should always have been his. Jackson plays to type as the shell-shocked army colonial still fighting a war that America lost but its a different style of performance, almost Apocalypse Now-ish in its obsession. Brie Larson, who I liked in Scott Pilgrim but detested as Captain Marvel is warm as the photographer, and surprisingly likeable. Toby Kebbell was great as a ‘doomed’ soldier (sorry) stuck by himself on Skull Island trying to get home to his family, when you consider I have only seen him in the awful 2015 Fantastic Four and as an ape in the more recent Planet of the Apes flicks, anything would have been different!

John C. Reilly was a lot of fun in his role too as the displaced World War 2 soldier as well, playing crazy but not irredeemably psychotic like some of these sorts of roles can end up.

Kong himself was beautifully designed as nature intended and ape to look but he has a fantastic presence here, and always look great in his animation expect where there is water as some of the water scenes look rough. Most of the other creatures look great except for the ‘bad’ creatures, the so-called Skullcrawlers, are supposed to be horrific and whilst there presence and intention is, they look stupid with a human looking upper body attached to a snake tail and heads that look like horse’s skulls. Surely they could have come up with a better design that this. It looks like it was designed by a bunch of suits talking about things that scare them.

Speaking of looks the entire look of the overall film is fantastic. It has a stunning visual palette that’s half (the aforementioned) Apocalypse Now mixed with a Wild West feature. There is some amazing shots of Kong with the sun at his back and they make for exciting visuals due to their used of bright yellow and red. On the flips side, the lush green environments of Vietnam are apparent and beautiful.

Like I mentioned earlier, there’s no shying away from the monsters in this film either. Kong is seen in the first few minutes and then as soon as the expedition hits the island is monster-a-go-go, with all the beast clearly on display, none of that slow reveal rubbish here: money shot up front!

The story is a great deal of fun too. It takes its silly premise just seriously enough that you actually get involved in it without it seeming like parody, but not so serious that it loses its sense of enjoyment.

I honestly didn’t think I’d like this film as i found the predecessor of the series, 2014’s Godzilla, to be plodding and uninteresting except for when the King of Monsters himself lumbered across the screen. This, however, was truly a blockbuster of the highest order. Like a Fast and the Furious film, there was always something happening and at no point did I look at my phone or watch as I was completely enthralled and entertained.

Guilty pleasure indeed, but with zero guilt, so I guess that means this is just a pleasure.

*The menu screen to the Australian Release on bluray*

Disc:

A whole bunch of bananas on this disc!

Creating a King, which is broken down into two parts, Realising an Icon and Summoning a God. Honestly I don’t know why these are two features as they could have been cut together nicely into one 25 minute feature. Together they look at the themes of mans intrusion into the primative world, much like Cannibal Holocaust did, and his destruction of it, combined with the cinematic history of the monster that is Kong, but transforming the character into a god-like character. Lots of amazing design paintings and special effects explanations for those who love HOW movies are made.

On Location: Vietnam is almost a travelogue of how lush and beautiful some parts of Vietnam are. I have gone from no interest in travelling there to a GREAT DEAL of interest!! Hiddleston does say its more beautiful than the other locations of Hawaii and Australia so screw that guy.

Tome Hiddleston: The Intrepid Traveller follows Hiddleston’s journeys across the world as the feature was filmed and the interesting things he found about each location.

Through the Lens: Brief Larson’s Photography is a selection of photos and footage of Larson taking said photos. I think its pretty cool that Larson was actually taking these pics that her character was taking.

Monarch Files 2.0 (Companion Archive) is a fictional file of Monarch’s exploration of Skull Island. It is a delightful addition to the mythos.

Commentary is performed by Vogt-Roberts, and is an enthusiastic and informative commentary. Its always nice to watch a film with a commentary by someone who is so influenced and informed by film, comics, manga and video games.

Deleted Scenes are, as usual, unnecessary additions that the film benefits from their absence, though Hiddleston’s and Jackson’s character’s first meeting was deliciously uncomfortable.

FINDERS KEEPERS (2014)

May 26, 2024 by J.R. in To Watch Pile and tagged bluray, doll, horror, made for tv, possessed, possession | Leave a comment

FINDERS KEEPERS (2014)

I don’t always research a film I’ve not heard of before reviewing. I find that if I know too much up front it could influence my opinion of the film so I’ll make a point of avoiding anything about it. The reason that, at the time of viewing, that I decided to grab this movie on Bluray was due to mainly two things: Jaime Pressly, whom I’ve alway had a bit of a bitchy-high-school-girl-who’d-spit-on-me-rather-than-talk-to-me crush on, and Tobin Bell… the Jigsaw Killer himself: how could I resist them.

What I found out afterwards was that in the few months that I’d taken break from writing for Digital Retribution, I’d become a rube. Not only had these two names influenced my purchase, but I’d spent good money on a ten year old, made for TV film.

Sigh. I’ve lost my edge.

Too many Marvel and DC films have dulled my keen mind.

Finders Keepers starts with a flashback to a boy, possessed by something, and OBVIOUSLY possessed as his eyes are completely black, on a killing spree… flash forward to now, when young recently separated single mum, Alyson Simon (Jaime Pressly) and her daughter, Claire (Kylie Rogers) move to a small country town and into an unfeasibly big house for whatever wage a single mum is pulling from seemingly doing nothing.

Since the separation, though, Claire has become reserved and introverted, and not even kindly psychologist Dr Freeman (Tobin Bell) can help her, especially considering her entire being seems to be focused on an ugly toy doll that she found in the house.

Fairly quickly, weird things start happening, like crazy cat lady Janine (Marina Sirtis) find her cats killed in her back yard, and Claire violently freaks out whenever she is separated from the doll, and not even help from her dad, and script-driven white knight, Jonathon Simon (Patrick Muldoon) can save the day.

Things escalate quickly as the film only goes for a thankfully brief 98 minutes, but who will survive? How will the police excuse the fact that it seems that a single mum is beating her child and that a child seems to be committing murder?

Only the Syfy network can answer those questions…

So as you can see by the plot synopsis, the only thing that this film brings to the table is… um… I guess, absolutely nothing. Stock standard ‘doll possession’ movie that is so cookie cutter I’m surprised it’s not made by Arnotts.

That’s not the REALLY awful thing about it though. The script is what a B movie fan would expect, as is the plot, but if you want to talk about miscasting, this film is a TED Talk on it. Jaime Pressly is wonderful, in anything else. In this, she swans around looking spectacular and not at all like a caring mother concerned for her child. Patrick Muldoon feels like he’s not playing a estranged dad role, but instead is playing Kevin Bacon, playing an estranged dad role. Tobin Bell as the psychologist, and this may be a typecast thing, seems like a murderer posing as a doctor, which would have been an amazing plot twist! Finally, Marina Sirtis as the crazy street cat-lady must have been identified as unconvincing during the script run-through as her obsession is more based around all the ‘cat’ icons in her house rather than her performance.

What is the real shame is that Rogers, as the daughter, is the only one convincing in this whole debacle. She holds her own quite well whilst the rest of the cast wander around wearing the shoes of people who didn’t get cast. Honestly, Muldoon would have been better as the doctor so at least their could have been some temptation for Pressly’s character in the town rather than an old guy who sounds like he has a sex dungeon and the bedside manner of an undertaker.

I’ve decided that what I am going to do with this film is bury it in the floorboards of my house, so in many years time when a new family come in, or a single mum with her daughter, one of them will find it and they’ll hunt down one of those old ‘Bluray player’ things and get obsessed by it…

… though I’m pretty sure they just cry out ‘what the hell is this crap’ and rebury it like the stale old bone that it is.

Extras: No extras on this Bluray.

*Marina Sirtis… Deanna Troi didn’t see THAT coming!*

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