Tag Archives: 2001

ARROW BLU RAY RELEASE: J-Horror Rising: St. John’s Wort (2001)

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Otogirisō wasn’t marketed as a video game but instead a sound novel, today called a visual novel. Koichi Nakamura conceived the title after showing his work on the Dragon Quest games to a girl he was dating. She didn’t understand the game or why people would want to play it, so he decided to make a video game “for people who haven’t played games before.”

Obviously, his work was inspired by another video game that led to a series of better-known games (and movies), Sweet Home. Nakamura said, “The thing that was really interesting about Sweet Home was that it so scary that you didn’t want to continue playing. I wanted to create an experience where the user would be too afraid to press the button to continue the story, too.”

It’s less of a game and more of a Choose Your Own Adventure novel where you make choices at different point as you and your girlfriend Nami survive a car accident and arrive at a mansion. Nobody answers when they ring the bell, so of course they go inside.

If you play emulated games, you can try it out here in English.

Nami Kaizawa (Megumi Okina) has inherited her family’s money and gigantic home, which holds bad memories as her father, who abandoned her. Deciding that she should explore it, she takes her ex-boyfriend Kohei Matsudaira (Yoichiro Saito), who is a fan of her father’s sinister paintings. He has already decided that the house would be perfect for a new video game that he is working on with Nami, so he brings a web camera and sends back footage to his friends and fellow designers Toko Ozeki (Reiko Matsuo) and Soichi Kaizawa (Reiko Matsuo).

The film is not just a video game movie, but literally like a Twitch channel, as we see the designers drawing maps of the house as Nami and Kohei make their way through the secret rooms and keys that you would expect to look for in a game just like this.

Directed by Shimoyama Ten, this has strange multihued visuals that are very 2001, but that’s the joy of it to me. It plays with the idea of what is real and what is the game — like eXistenZ — and has creepy dolls, a frightening caretaker, a heroine with memory lapses and plenty of gore. As I got into other reviews, I couldn’t believe so many people didn’t like it as much as me. Maybe I watching other people enjoy games?

St. John’s Wort is one of the films on Arrow’s new J-Horror Rising set. It has extras including commentary by Japanese cinema expert Amber T.; a making of feature; interviews with actors Megumi Okina, Koichiro Saito, Reiko Matsuo and Koji Okura; trailers; TV commercials and an image gallery.

You can buy it from MVD.

ARROW BLU RAY RELEASE: J-Horror Rising: Inugami (2001)

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Akira Nutahara (Atsuro Watabe) has arrived on Shikoku island to be a schoolteacher. He has fallen in love with Miki (Yûki Amami), an older woman and paper maker who cares for an urn that is said to carry Inugami, a forest wolf spirit. Her family is set to commemorate the 900 Year Rites in which they will celebrate the forest and their past connection to it, as well as the fact that they still own much of the land.

Miki’s family has also guarded these spirits and kept the village safe from nightmares, but with the arrival of Akira, supernatural events have been occurring. After she and Akira have a romantic cave moment, she begins to grow younger and tells the spirit of her mother that she no longer wants the responsibility of keeping the spirits and wants to leave the island with Akira.

It also turns out that due to the curse placed upon the family, they have become intermarried or have to find men that have no idea of what the family must endure. No woman can leave the island and even if they try, they always return. The family patriarch Takanao (Kazuhiro Yamaji) keeps TV and radio away from his family and he is the only person connected to the outside world.

The rest of the village grows angry that there have been several accidents and deaths, which they blame on the family, and prepare to kill them, starting by destroying the studio in which Miki creates her intricate art.

Director Masato Harada has created a gorgeous movie that may not always be horror, but looks at how Japan’s past and superstitions still exist, as well as how family secrets never seem to go away. It’s a slow moving film that demands that you stay with it, but when you get to the scenes where the family goes into the forest and it becomes black and white, your patience will be rewarded.

Inugami is one of the films on Arrow’s new J-Horror Rising set. It has extras including audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jonathan Clements, an interview with director Masato Harada and an image gallery.

You can buy it from MVD.

Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible (2001)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Exploitation-film historian A.C. Nicholas, who has a sketchy background and hails from parts unknown in Western Pennsylvania, was once a drive-in theater projectionist and disk jockey. In addition to being a writer, editor, podcaster, and voice-over artist, he’s a regular guest co-host on the streaming Drive-In Asylum Double Feature and has been a guest on the Making Tarantino podcast. He also contributes to the Drive-In Asylum fanzine. His most recent essay, “Of Punks and Stains and Student Films: A Tribute to Night Flight, the 80s Late-Night Cult Sensation,” appeared in Drive-In Asylum #26.

Two of cinemas oldest and most venerable genres are horror and comedy. Thomas Edison famously produced a version of Frankenstein in 1910, but the earliest known silent horror film is Georges Méliès’s Le Manoir du Diable, a/k/a The Haunted Castle and The House of the Devil (1896), which followed fellow countryman Louis Lumière’s L’Arroseur Arrosé (1885), the first screen comedy. It took some time, but D.W. Griffith did a genre mash-up with the first horror–comedy, One Exciting Night, in 1922. And that genre has been going strong ever since. 

Yet for every wonderful modern horror–comedy like Shaun of the Dead or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, there are a half-dozen less-successful examples, like Pandemonium or the sequels in the Scary Movie franchise. Film critic Pauline Kael once wrote that it was the rare filmmaker who could mix comedy and horror successfully—with the comedy increasing the suspense and the horror making the comedy funnier. She cited Brian DePalma’s Dressed to Kill and Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as the best examples. I would add An American Werewolf in London, Return of the Living Dead, Dead Alive, Army of Darkness, and Night of the Creeps to the small list of funny/scary films.

But not all horror–comedies aspire to work at that dual level. Most are simply flat-out spoofs or parodies. And most don’t work because the filmmakers, instead of bringing something fresh to table, thought that all they needed was to insert a few random horror references, and fans would eat it all up simply by recognizing those references. This is the laziest type of filmmaking imaginable. (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer made a fortune doing this with their genre spoofs like Date Movie, Disaster Movie, Epic Movie, and Meet the Spartans.) The best parodies not only replicate the tropes but also having a genuine respect for the genre. For martial arts movies, for example, Black Dynamite and the A Fistful of Yen sequence from Kentucky Fried Movie are affectionate and hilarious. 

Which brings me to one of the best, but least seen, horror–comedies, Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible (2001), a six-episode TV series for BBC Two created by beloved comedian Steve Coogan and his long-time collaborator Graham Duff. This show is unique in that each episode parodies a different horror sub-genre from Britain in the 60s and 70s. In other words, it feels like it was made just for me, which warmed my heart to no end.

Dr. Terrible, a decrepit old codger—think a less skeletal Crypt Keeper—played by Steve Coogan in heavy make-up hosts the show. Coogan also shows up in each episode, along with some recognizable British actors. With that set-up out of the way, let’s look at the individual episodes.

Lesbian Vampire Lovers of Lust: The first-aired episode is a terrific take-off on Hammer Films’ Carmilla Karnstein series: The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, and Twins of Evil. Coogan plays a soldier, Captain Hans Broken, who along with his new bride, Carmina, runs afoul of the sexy vampire Countess Kronsteen. Supporting Coogan are fellow comedian Ben Miller, who starred in Primeval and Death in Paradise, and Honor Blackman from Goldfinger and TV’s The Avengers. In addition to the lovely Hammer touches, like the candlelit castle and lesbian bloodsuckers in diaphanous white gowns, the episode features the puns and double entendres that would distinguish the series: “He approached me from behind… I drew my sword.”

Frenzy of Tongs: This is a Terror of the Tongs/Fu Manchu spoof with Coogan as adventurer Nathan Blaze squaring off against horror superfan Mark Gatiss as the evil Hang Man Chang. Yep, it’s just as politically incorrect as those old “yellow menace” films. One character is named Sir Donald Tyburn. (Talk about an obscure horror reference!)

Curse of the Blood of the Lizard of Doom: The weakest episode of the series is a plain-vanilla riff on the “doctor meddling in things he shouldn’t” films like The Blood-Beast Terror; I, Monster; and The Creeping Flesh. Coogan injects himself with a serum that turns him into a large reptile. Simon Pegg from Shaun of the Dead has a cameo.

And Now the Fearing…: If you could tell from the title that this is a parody of a film from Amicus, noted for their horror anthologies, then you’ll love this episode. Parroting the familiar framing devices of Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, three strangers trapped in a stuck elevator tell each other stories of the supernatural. Oliver Tobias, from the The Stud with Joan Collins, is the guest star.

Voodoo Feet of Death: After a tragic—and hysterical—accident, it looks like ballroom dancing champion Coogan’s career is over. That is, until he receives a transplant, feet from a murderer, in an obvious nod to Hands of a Stranger and its many variations. Busy actor Timothy Pigott-Smith and Sasha Alexander from the Britcom Coupling stop by.

Scream Satan Scream!: Saving the best episode for last, Coogan and Duff take on the classic folk-horror film Witchfinder General. It’s a laugh riot with Coogan playing Captain Tobias Slater, Witch Locater. (Just typing that makes me laugh.) Angela Pleasance from José Larraz’s Symptoms and other genre items is here, along with former Ewok Warwick Davis, who plays a dwarf named “Tigon.” (If you don’t get that cute reference, then you need to brush up on your Brit horror.)

Dr. Terrible—despite being one of the smartest, funniest things around and starring the hugely popular Coogan—was not a ratings success for the BBC. It’s easy to see why: It’s just too “inside baseball.” Unless you’re intimately familiar with the films being parodied, you’ll be mystified and find it not very funny, like a lot of critics when it originally aired. But if you’ve seen even a few Hammer or Amicus films, you’re in for a treat. The show fulfills the requirements of the best horror–comedies: It replicates the tropes, not to mention each horror studio’s signature style, with wit and loving affection. Check it out—and be prepared to go “oh, what an obscure reference!” and laugh out loud. Dr. Terrible’s House of Horrible is fantastic, one of the best horror–comedies ever. The series is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Tuno Negro (2001)

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Black Serenade sits at the center of what is a slasher and what is giallo. It’s also the name of the masked killer in this film, who has embraced the legend of the Black Tuno, a monstrous being that punishes the stupid. Whoever they are, they have taken that even further and are killing students that cheat or don’t belong in some of Spain’s most well-known colleges.

Thanks to the Villains wiki, I learned that the Tuna is a Spanish fraternity that started when poor students couldn’t afford an education. To get in, they sang and played songs, which made them famous. Soon, rich students who could afford to get in were joining just to be popular and were taking money from people who really deserved it. The Black Tunos killed every one of these false Tunos and as a result were hunted by the Spanish Inquisition. They escaped by creating a secret passageway at the University of Salamanca’s Chapel of Students.

Whoever this killer is, they look incredible, like a giallo villain designed by a Japanese manga artist. They also have a strict code of honor, respecting those they believe are as intelligent as they are, but being brutal to anyone they feel are mentally inferior.

Directed and written by Pedro L. Barbero and Vicente J. Martín, this feels like a Spanish cover of Urban Legend but I didn’t see that as a bad thing. Álex (Silke Hornillos), Trucha (Patxi Freytez), Edu (Jorge Sanz) and Michelle (Rebeca Cobos) are four students who are trying to learn who the killer — also known as the Dark Minstrel — could be and eventually getting threatening text messages from them. Meanwhile, as new murders happen one year after another series of killings, Detective Victor (Fele Martínez) takes on the case.

There are some wild scenes in here, like a drug dealing thinking his blood has become animated as the drugs kick in and he bleeds to death and a series of carvings that point to how the original Black Tuna escaped, symbols that start showing up everywhere the killer appears. There’s also a scene where a cop kills a whole bunch of people in similar costumes to the killer, proving that the giallo police in every country should be defunded and the way that Dr. Loomis wildly shot up Haddonfield have been studied by slasher police departments all over the world.

UNEARTHED FILMS BLU RAY: August Underground (2001)

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Originally, this movie was going to be promoted by director, writer, actor and producer Fred Vogel leaving VHS tapes of this movie in random locations around the United States, such as parks and playgrounds. I have no idea what people would think when they saw this.

When he went to Canada to attend the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, Vogel was arrested, pending charges of transporting obscene materials into Canada for having copies of this movie.

That should tell you what you’re getting into.

Peter and his cameraman have a woman named Laura in his basement and they take their time killing her in a found footage kind of way that is never properly framed or filmed, which makes it seem real. There is no joy in what you watch, just a realistic version of what a serial killer’s footage would look like.

Sure, there’s a tour of Roadside America, one of the lost and sadly department parts of Pennsylvania kitsch history, but that’s just a short break before sodomy and hammers to the head dance as partners. Is it for you? I mean, is it for anyone? It definitely feels as real as it gets and I don’t know if that’s something I need to see.

You could also be an edgelord and be like, “I’m cooler than you because I endured this.”

This Unearthed Films blu ray release has extras including an audio commentary by actor/director Fred Vogel and Ulta Violent Magazine‘s Art Ettinger, 10 Questions with Fred Vogel, TOETAG Masterclass: From Storyboard To Screen, an interview with Vogel, three commentary tracks — Vogel, Vogel with Aaron and Ben LeBonte and one by the Killer — a location tour, a photo gallery, trailers and much more. You can get it from MVD.

MILL CREEK BLU RAY BOX SET: Dawson’s Creek (1996-2003)

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I know no bigger fan of Dawson’s Creek than my friend Jim Sloss, who was kind enough to teach me that Pacey’s boat is named True Romance and to write this:

Over the years Sam has asked me many times if I’d like to write something for B&S and I’d always hem & haw and then never get around to it. Then came the box set of all box sets, the show that is like a time capsule to the 1990s and one of my all-time favorites, Dawson’s Creek.

In 1998 when this show came out I can remember vividly watching it on my VCR the following morning (because I had to work the night before) and from the first moment of the pilot to the last I was hooked, the dialogue was nothing that I’d heard before in a teen soap. They took a chance at treating the audience like adults rather than kids and it paid off. So, from that night on I followed the “kids” from Capeside each week for six seasons.

Created by Kevin Williamson, the co-creator of the horror franchise Scream, this series is a fictionalized account of a young film buff from a small town just trying to find his way. Pretty much what Kevin Williamson did was pitch what he knew and so he told a fictionalized version of his growing up in North Carolina. The show was launched on the WB network in January 1998 and was an instant hit with the show being parodied on MTV and Saturday Night Live. Their use of current pop culture and hit music for the time was what kept it relevant each week and talked about on school campuses.

During the late 90s, Dawson’s Creek was considered cutting edge for teen angst, touching on issues that were not talked about on TV and even less so in public. The first season dealt with drug abuse, addiction and infidelity along with every teenage boys dream… the inappropriate relationship with a hot teacher. In 1998 that was a huge story arc for a main character with the teacher just leaving to avoid scandal. These types of stories were becoming more and more common during this time and now leads to the teacher spending long stretches in prison rather than just moving on to another school.

Yet along the way these colorful kids learned from their mistakes and grew into functioning adults just trying to make their way. With the main character Dawson Leery, played by James Van Der Beek, not getting his High School crush Joey Potter, played by Katie Holmes, but instead getting to fulfill his dream of working in movies and TV where he turned his life into a teen drama TV show just like Kevin Williamson.

I would be remiss if I didn’t leave you with the greatest quote and moment of this fantastic tv show. In the finale we find our core characters several years in their future living their lives with little interaction when everyone is reunited for a wedding they immediately learn that one of the main characters, Jen Lindley, is dying of cancer. While Dawson is spending time with his close friend at a hospice facility she has this Hollywood filmmaker record a video for her infant daughter to watch when she’s older. In that video one line she says that gets me every time is “Be sure to make mistakes. Make a lot of them, because there’s no better way to learn and to grow.” While she’s saying that you can see the anguish on Michelle Williams’ face, showing the audience how fragile she is at the end of her short life and how she just wants the best for her child.

This show never shied away from tough storylines and in the end wrapped up everyone’s arc phenomenally.

I would give this series a 10 out 10!!

P.S. The popular Jenna Ortega can be seen watching Dawson’s Creek in Scream 5 out in 2022 and currently on Paramount+.

Thanks again Jim.

The Mill Creek release of the entire series has all 127 episodes across six seasons, along with seven hours of bonus extras, which include Entertainment Weekly‘s 20th Anniversary Reunion, audio commentaries on select episodes, a retrospective featurette and alternate scenes and an alternate ending to the pilot episode.

I watched several of the episodes on this set as, surprise, I never watched this show, despite Jim telling me near consistently — we lived in a house with six people while this show was popular, so I have no idea how I didn’t watch it with him — that I need to watch “The Dawnson,” as he put it.

Surprisingly — as I have often remarked about Williamson’s other work — I really liked what I watched. It felt honest and truthful, nearly lived in. I’ve been watching a few episodes a week now and really enjoying the opportunity to be part of the lives of these characters.

These Mill Creek TV sets are great because they really give you the opportunity to do the same, exploring or binging or however you choose to watch. And unlike streaming, they’re always there for you, not being edited or taken down when you’re in the middle of watching a season.

You can buy the Dawson’s Creek set from Mill Creek at Deep Discount.

CULT EPICS BLU RAY RELEASE: AmnesiA (2001)

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AmnesiA (2001): Directed and written by Martin Koolhoven, AmnesiA is the story of two A’s: Alex and Aram (both played by Fedja van Huêt) and their attempts at reconnecting as they attempt to care for their elderly, dying, constantly drunk and frequently hilarious mother (Sacha Bulthuis). That sounds like anything but something I’d usually want to watch, except that there’s also the suicide of their father which has been a point of secrecy and contention for years, as well as the constant power games that Alex unleashes on Aram, including turning his girlfriend Sandra (Carice van Houten) against him. Oh yeah. She’s also a pyromaniac who just appeared in his car one day.

At the same time, Aram has come back to the family home with Wouter (Theo Maassen), a friend who had a crime go wrong and is dying from a bullet to the stomach. This will not help Alex, who can no longer take photographs, as every time he focuses on a subject, he sees the face of a woman who utterly upsets him. One brother is at war with everyone; the other just wants to hide inside himself. There’s no way they can agree, get along or make it through life without great tragedy.

Also: This movie has a lot of female urination to the point that you wonder if it’s some kind of symbolic thing or it’s a Tarantino feet moment.

That said, this is a dark and surreal journey into long-kept family secrets, including a murder in addition to that suicide, and a movie that was meant to be a black comedy, which was lost on audiences, according to the director. Not everything is explained and yet filling in those holes makes this an even more intriguing watch.

Also: Aram’s car has the license plate 28IF, just like Paul’s on the cover of Abbey Road. He’s also barefoot for most of the film, so if I follow the logic that I learned through record album conspiracy theories, he’s already dead.

Suzy Q (1999): Based on the childhood memories of Frouke Fokkema, who wrote the script together with director Martin Koolhoven, Suzy Q is about Suzy (Carice van Houten), a young girl coming of age in the 1960s. The title refers to The Rolling Stones’ cover of the Dale Hawkins song “Susie Q” and the Stones — most importantly Mick Jagger and his lover Marianne Faithfull — figure into the plot, as Suzy finds her way into their hotel room and is kissed by Mick, a fact that no one wants to hear or believe.

Her mother is lost, her father is abusive yet powerless and her brothers are trying to escape with either guitar or young lust. Suzy yearns for a time when she will escape these origins, but it won’t happen just yet. But she will get away.

This is a strong early film for Fokkema and Carice van Houten is incredible. Demetri Jagger was set to play his uncle Mick, but he backed out with some worry that the rock star would not approve. Instead, that’s Andrew Richard — Andy Bird, a one-time lover of Madonna — playing the singer.

All of the music rights kept this from coming out on DVD for some time. Koolhoven encouraged people to post the movie online and did it himself on YouTube.

Dark Light (1997): A burglar (Marc van Uchelen) gets caught breaking into the farm of an old woman (Viviane de Muynck). She’s obsessed with religion. Her body is covered with sores. Things get weird.

She believes that the thief is there by divine intervention and she must enact his penance, which means forcing him to slaughter a pig and lick her body, which is a horrifying moment in direct contrast to the barren and beautiful location that this is set at.

He remains handcuffed throughout as they both throw Biblical passages at one another and battle for some kind of power over one another. She sees herself as Job, afflicted with sores of some plague. We never see her face.

For an early film, Dark Light proves the talent of its creator, director and writer Martin Koolhoven.

The Cult Epics blu ray of AmnesiA has a 4K HD transfer (from the original camera negative) and restoration of the movie, plus an introduction by Martin Koolhoven, commentary by Koolhoven and Fedja van Huet that is moderated by Peter Verstraten, a conversation with Koolhoven and Carice van Houten, a making of, behind-the-scenes footage and a trailer. Plus, there’s a second disk with two TV films by Koolhoven: Suzy Q and Dark Light. There’s also new slipcase art by Peter Strain and a double-sided sleeve with original film posters. You can order this movie from MVD.

Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001)

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Diana Collins (A.J. Cook, Criminal Minds) has accidentally unleashed the djinn, who is now played by John Novak. His first movie is to grant the wish of Professor Joel Barash (Sean’s son Jason Connery) and give him a deadly threeway that fulfills two of the needs of the direct to video sequel: blood and boobs.

The djinn wants Diana to be the one to make three wishes and unleash his djinn brothers on the world. Her first wish is given when the djinn makes her friend Anne (Daniella Evangelista) puke her guts out. Instead of watching her friend be in pain, Diana wishes for an end to her suffering.

Her second wish is for the power of St. Michael the Archangel — is he the patron saint of fighting djinn? — and her boyfriend Greg (Tobias Mehler) jumps in the way and becomes St. Michael, who gets all sorts of wild powers like being able to slice off demon hands.

Directed by Chris Angel (who also made the sequels The Fear: Resurrection and Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled) and written by Alex Wright (who directed and wrote The First 9 1/2 Weeks, which is also 9 1/2 Weeks 3 and that would be 66 days x 3 = 198 days; unsurprisingly Malcolm McDowell is in the cast) and credits Peter Atkins (who also knows sequels, as he was the writer of Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III and Hellraiser Bloodline) for the characters he created in the first Wishmaster, this was supposed to have Divoff in the cast as the djinn.

He loved the series so much that he wrote the Y2Ksploitation Wishmaster: The Third Millennium, which started with an American warship getting hit by a Chinese missile and the UN being attacked by demons. When Divoff gave his script to the producers, they turned it down, as it would have been too expensive. When he read Alex Wright’s script, he quit the series.

This film and the fourth were made in 16 days. They took a weekend day off though.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Plaga Zombie: Zona Mutante (2001)

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Just minutes after the end of Plaga Zombie, the sequel lets us know that the Argentine government is working with the alien zombies in exchange for protection from the dreaded virus that has started to change the world.

Only Bill Johnson (Pablo Parés), John West (Berta Muñiz) and Max Giggs (Hernán Sáez) have survived the initial outbreak and they are to be released back into their overrun neighborhood. That is unless Agent James Dana (Esteban Podetti) and his death squad don’t kill them first.

If you follow the river of blood and gore, you go from Sam Raimi to Peter Jackson to this film, which delights in showing ways that zombie bodies can be desiccated, destroyed and decimated. And if you love wrestlers beating up the undead, well, John West has an entire musical number where he explains how tough he is and how much he loves to rekill the living dead.

Anyone who doesn’t like this movie has no idea how to have fun. I’ve read some reviews that say, “Well, it gets complicated” or “It’s too long.” I have no idea how one can be critical of a movie where a zombie has its intestines torn out and then sprays diarrhea all over the place. I mean, how many Merchant Ivory movies can give us that? This is pure joy, made by people who are in love with making it. Just sit back, shut off your hypercritical mind and enjoy what they have made for you.

You can watch this on Tubi or get the entire series from Severin.

HorrorVision (2001)

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Also known as FEAR.com, HorrorVision is The Matrix from Full Moon, which means you get Brinke Stevens and Len Cordova as people named Toni and Dez whose job is getting more porn on the internet, which in 2001 wasn’t what it is in 2023. But after Toni and his girlfriend Dazzy (Maggie Rose Fleck) both go missing thanks to a creature born of the inherent negativity of the web, well…

Yes, the couple at the center of this movie is comprised of two people named Dez and Dazzy.

Anyways, Dez gets help from the wise Bradbury (James Black), who has to help Dez learn how to fight and how to get over his loss of creativity, as he gave up screenwriting for creating on-demand pornography.

Don’t be fooled. This is not a movie about a cool looking monster, although it has that. It’s really about endless drives to God Lives Underwater-sounding generic post-NIN music, a long trip to the goth store and lots of desert. So much desert that I’m shocked that Kyuss doesn’t show up to play a song.

This ends with no resolution and it feels like there’s about half the movie left but no. That’s all you get.

Charles Band intended to direct this, then J.R. Bookwalter and finally Danny Draven, who made the remake of Death Bed in 2002 and also was the guy who directed Cryptz. 2000s Full Moon is…rough.

There is a pretty rad cyborg demon who is downloading people onto CDs and you know, I would watch that dude for the entire length of this movie instead of what I saw.

You can watch this on Tubi.