Notable cast: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Alice Braga,
Charlie Heaton
The New Mutants is one of those movies that people
thought was cursed. Not in the sense of Poltergeist, but in the
“finished but maybe never released” sense. The House Of 1000 Corpses, John
Dies At The End, Roger Forman’s Fantastic Four kind of way. Two of those
three came out eventually, and as of this week, it’s three out of four. A troubled production, reshoots far after principal photography, and the Disney buyout of
Fox were all major factors at play here. None of this has any particular
ultimate bearing on the quality of the movie. But any reviewer would be
remiss not to mention it. That combined with the roller coaster flying off the
rails feeling that is the year 2020 makes this movie a wild release. A
theatrical only release when some major markets still aren’t allowing open
theaters? (Full disclosure, I live in one such market, and saw this film at a
drive-in). But how does it stack up as an adaptation of a beloved series, and more
simply as a movie?
Notable Cast: Rosanna Arquette, Jason Robards, Tom Hulce,
Mark Joy, Ron Rosenthal
“We steal if we touch tomorrow. It’s God’s.”
Quite frankly, when Arrow Video announced that they would be
releasing a new Blu Ray release of Black Rainbow, I had very little
expectations. Arrow has recently been tipping their hat in the direction of the
slightly supernatural dramatic thriller, in particular, their release of Apprentice
to Murder works as a perfect double feature with this one, and it’s
something of a lost genre that deserves a bit more attention. Black Rainbow
is a film that ably slides through the various elements of genre, delivering on
just enough dramatic heft, thematic commentary, character study elements, and an
assassination plot to be a thoroughly enjoyable film with just enough layers to
mark its audience. It’s never a film that defines itself as the most stylish or
most intense, but it’s subtlety in its depths and strength in its small moments
make it an overlooked diamond film from the late 80s.
Notable Cast: Jung Jae-young, Kim Nam-gil, Uhm Ji-won,
Lee Soo-kyung, Jung Ga-ram, Park In-hwan, Shin Jung-geun, Oh Eui-shik, Goo
Bon-woong
Also Known As: The Odd Family: Zombie for Sale
Now that South Korea has solidified themselves as a place
that delivers some fantastic zombie films, including the recently released Peninsula
which is raking in some serious dough at the foreign box office, it only makes
sense that a western distribution company would grab a zombie comedy (zom com) to
capitalize on the boom. The subject for this review is Zombie for Sale
and the distribution company in question would be Arrow Video. Now, as a
preface to this review, I should mention that I am not the biggest fan of
comedies, nor am I the biggest fan of zombie films. Thus, a zom com is not the
kind of cinematic experience that I necessarily look forward to. Just go look
at my review for Yummy from a couple of months ago. Yet, as soon as Zombie
for Sale started marching through its familial caricatures, silly set up,
and eventual eruption into zombie chaos, the film revealed itself as fully
engaged with its material and charm oozing out of most sequences.
Through the charming execution of its broadly painted
concept, Zombie for Sale is able to navigate so many of the usual tropes
and pitfalls of the genre-bending style. The film is firmly rooted in its
comedy first, a tactic that allows the story and narrative, about a questionably
shady family who stumble onto a zombie wandering around their small town, to
establish its characters and quirky setting. While the initial zombie
appears immediately in the narrative and plot, the manner that he stumbles
around, being chased by a dog for a large portion of the opening sequences, or haphazardly trying to kill people with little
success, is fully played for comedic bits. The tactic works though since the
cast and crew seem fully dedicated to selling the tensely humorous relationships
for the family and the little world that they live in. Highlights of this portion of the film, prior to their
discovery and attempts to capitalize on their newfound zombie and his powers,
is all through their banter and interaction. Right down to how the film has one
character explain zombies to his father by having him watch clips from another
South Korean zombie flick, Train to Busan.
The horror of the film rarely rears its head until the final
act, when the full out zombie apocalypse starts to spread, and even then the film
is more focused on the dramatic impact of the family trying to survive and find
a way out than it does on the horror set-pieces. There are some entertaining
moments to the rising action of the film, but horror fans will probably not
find a ton to love as the film focuses on its other genres. When it is aiming
for horror and tension, it’s mostly the zombie basics of being swarmed and the
potential of being devoured. Due to its strong direction, some great
cinematography, and entertaining performances, Zombie for Sale gets away
with far more than it should have in these regards. It's notable though that the comedy comes first, second, third, and the horror comes fourth. It's not inherently a terrible choice, particularly since the comedy and performances carry so much weight, but it's something to be aware of for people walking into this film for the first time.
As with so many of Arrow’s releases, Zombie for Sale
is a fairly stacked release in terms of features. The full list is below and
for anyone interested in South Korean cinema, zombies, or comedies, then this
release comes highly recommended. The most valuable feature I found was the fun
video essay by Pierce Conran for his analysis on satire in South Korean cinema
which adds a glorious layer to the film for multiple rewatches.
Ultimately, Zombie for Sale is a film utterly powered
by charm and strong execution of its silliness and social commentary while
using the zombie formula to explore its themes and ideas. There is very little
true horror to the viewing experience which is something to note for fans
looking for that perfectly balanced zom com, but it’s not a deal-breaker thanks
to its strong sense of visual punch, entertaining set pieces, and relentlessly firing
banter and jokes. Truthfully, while not a perfect film, Zombie for Sale
is the best zombie comedy since Shaun of the Dead, just for the sheer energetic
outpour of its style, tone, and delivery. It’s highly recommended.
ARROW VIDEO FEATURES:
High-Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original uncompressed Stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA options
Newly-translated English subtitles
Brand new audio commentary with filmmakers and critics Sam
Ashurst and Dan Martin
Q&A with director Lee Min-jae from a 2019 screening at
Asian Pop-Up Cinema in Chicago, moderated by film critic and author Darcy
Paquet
Eat Together, Kill Together: The Family-in-Peril Comedy -
brand new video essay by critic and producer Pierce Conran exploring Korea's
unique social satires
Making-Of Featurette
Behind-the-Scenes footage
Original Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned
artwork by Mike Lee-Graham
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet featuring new
writing by Josh Hurtado
Growing up in a Godzilla household, there was always
the mindset that Gamera was just a Big G knock off. The flying, fire
eating turtle certainly came out in the wake of Godzilla stomping
through the Japanese box office, but for much of the Western cult film fans
Gamera was seen as a joke. Godzilla’s first film received a Criterion release,
but Gamera’s first film was mostly known because of Mystery Science Theater
3000. Yet, just in my life time, there has been a resurgence in viewing Gamera
as its own merits and as a series with its own themes and tropes. There was
certainly help from the strength of the 90s reboot trilogy, but even the
original run has had a revitalization worthy of revisiting.
To give even more power to this reclamation of everyone’s
favorite jetpack kaiju, Arrow Video has amassed a massive new collection of all
12 of Gamera’s films. With the original run of 8 films, the 90s trilogy, and
the final film – Gamera the Brave from 2006, this collection features
them all. This series of reviews for the set will go briefly through each entry
and then recap at the end thoughts and opinions on the set itself. Considering
the amount of films included, this series of articles will definitely be as
massive as Gamera, but will serve as a guide to all the films.
Notable cast: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote.
Jeremy Stanford
I've said before, both briefly in writing and many times
broadly in my life, that the reason I love horror as a genre more than any other
is that it's the only genre that can tell any kind of story. This is for a few
reasons, it and comedy share pacing concepts, and it shares drama's allegorical
abilities. It shares action's spectacle and still brings a flavor uniquely its
own. It's why the genre ranges from titles like Gingerdead Man to The
Silence Of The Lambs. I have always felt, however, that it's greatest
strength narratively (there are psychological benefits to enjoying horror as
well, as it's a safe space to explore the darker emotions of life) is that of
metaphor. By exploring the horror that's generally popular at any given time
you can see what society at large was afraid of. Relic uses horror as a
lens to explore some of the most fundamental fears that exist, and I think that
feat alone makes it worth viewing.
Notable cast: Elisa Lasowski, Anders Heinrichsen,
Christian Erickson, Joëlle Berckmans
It would be both easy, and understandable, to want to call Blood
Machines surreal, to say that's it's an experiment of style over substance.
I don't even think you could call someone wrong for saying so, although I don't
agree. For one, the plot is firmly rooted and consistent with its lore.
Admittedly, it's exceptionally dense lore with no entry point, no exposition,
only what you infer from itself and its predecessor (we'll touch on that
momentarily), and what you osmose from official sources and a little bit
online. In a way that would make it more in line with something like Primer,
though not as pretentious or narratively satisfying. More emotionally so perhaps.
Notable Cast: Brett Stimely, Rajinikanth, Anna Nicholas,
Charlie Brill, Jack Kehler, Christopher Neame
For those of you that grew up in the home video boom of the
1980s and early 1990s, there are going to be a handful of films that have a
nostalgic power that trumps the actual quality of the film. For many, it’s
films of their childhood or ones with strong memories attached to them.
Sometimes it’s one moment, perhaps a man with a silly voice saying “The Bloodstone,
please.” Perhaps that last example is more personal for me than a general one
for the masses, but it’s the reason that Bloodstone always stuck with
me. When the opportunity to revisit this childhood memory came about, thanks to
a new Blu Ray release from Arrow Video, I was happy to leap into Bloodstone
and see if it could live up to the fun feelings and brilliant cover artwork of
my memories.
Growing up in a Godzilla household, there was always
the mindset that Gamera was just a Big G knock off. The flying, fire
eating turtle certainly came out in the wake of Godzilla stomping
through the Japanese box office, but for much of the Western cult film fans
Gamera was seen as a joke. Godzilla’s first film received a Criterion release,
but Gamera’s first film was mostly known because of Mystery Science Theater
3000. Yet, just in my life time, there has been a resurgence in viewing Gamera
as its own merits and as a series with its own themes and tropes. There was
certainly help from the strength of the 90s reboot trilogy, but even the
original run has had a revitalization worthy of revisiting.
To give even more power to this reclamation of everyone’s
favorite jetpack kaiju, Arrow Video has amassed a massive new collection of all
12 of Gamera’s films. With the original run of 8 films, the 90s trilogy, and
the final film – Gamera the Brave from 2006, this collection features
them all. This series of reviews for the set will go briefly through each entry
and then recap at the end thoughts and opinions on the set itself. Considering
the amount of films included, this series of articles will definitely be as
massive as Gamera, but will serve as a guide to all the films.
Notable Cast: Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, David McCallum,
Robert Morley, Steve Railsback
Now, it may come as a surprise to no one – particularly
those who have followed Blood Brothers for a while, but I am not one of Nico
Masterokis’ biggest fans. The cult Greek director has his merits as an
entertaining one, grasping onto whatever trend is currently popular and
delivering his own brand of knock off, but for this reviewer that’s mostly what
he delivers – knock offs. This isn’t necessarily such a bad trait, although I
will never sing the praises of Island of Death as long as I live, and it
can produce some interesting films. The Wind, for example, is one of those
movies. A strange mixture of European thriller and American stalk and slash,
this little horror flick delivers on a variety of moments. While the ultimate
result is perhaps a bit too tame for either parts of its concoction, the
mixture is intriguing enough that cult fans should certainly dig up this one. The
Wind doesn’t blow nearly as hard as it might have.
Notable Cast: Scott Adkins, Honor Kneafsey, Andrea
Vasiliou, Yuliia Sobol, Anna Butkevich, Martin McDougall
Well, say what you will about 2020, but it has not stopped
the massive run of films that Scott Adkins is having in the last handful of
years. With only a handful of misses in the run, Adkins continues to impress
and his latest, Legacy of Lies. A multi-national film, although the
Ukrainian and Easter European influence can most certainly be felt in the tone
and use of its setting, there is a sense of seriousness and darker atmosphere
that makes it a perfect counterbalance to Adkins’ other action highlight of
the year, Debt Collectors. Legacy of Lies pulls heavily from the modern
meets old school tonality that has become its own style in the 00s, but the
combination of some sharp direction, great characters, and Adkins’ impactful
screen presence makes it one of the highlights of a rather dismal year in
action cinema.
An ex-MI6 agent, Martin (Adkisn) finds himself caught
between American and Russian agents when an old case, one that left him and his
daughter widowed comes back to life. With his daughter (Kneafsey) is
kidnapped, he will have to team up with a shadow of his past (Sobol) to unravel
the missing threads.
