Jessis’s father died in a spelunking trip gone wrong when alien creatures attacked everyone. No one believes that to be what actually happened and, as usually happens, everyone pays the price. And by price, I mean some truly gruesome sound design that really is the star of this movie.
Either I’m getting old or people are making movies way too dark these days. Probably both. Either way, the end of this movie just got less claustrophobic and more confusing, which can’t have been the intent.
This was directed by Dan Allen (Unhinged), who co-wrote the film with Sam Ashurst, who has also directed a few motion pictures of his own like A Little More Flesh and Needle Drop. I wanted to like this more than I did, but when the brave explorers showed up to a cave with absolutely no real equipment knowing that a people-eating monster could be inside, I kind of stepped back.
It Came from Below is available on digitally from Uncork’d Entertainment.
I get it. I am not always all that aware of the music of today because I tend to thing everything should sound like Black Sabbath or The Rolling Stones around the time of Some Girls. I may be able to tell you all manner of arcane facts about the music of my youth — don’t get me started on the KLF or any associated bands — but most music today slips in one ear and out the other.
That said, I kind of liked what I heard from Sia. And I really enjoyed the fact that she remained anonymous so often, having actresses play her in videos and rarely showing her face.
So when she made an auteur project — a $16 million dollar movie written, directed and of course featuring her — I was pretty surprised. It’s one thing to not know how to read music, but all of this at once?
Sia said in a BBC interview, “For me, the process was basically, I work out the movie. I’ll act it out, I’ll have the dialogue already in my head… I can’t be bothered to learn Final Draft.”
Oh no, I thought. But part of me was like, oh yes. Because if there’s one thing better than a great movie, it’s a spectacular explosion of a film fueled by ego and hubris.
Some of the issues become apparent when you see how all of the place the process of creation was. The proagnist Zu was going to be Shia LaBeouf, then Jonah Hill, then after seeing Kate Hudson sing, she got the part. Speaking of the casting, most of it was done over social media. And then, after forty days of shooting, it took three years to edit this film.
Sia would tell Rolling Stone, “I couldn’t seem to find the right editor – someone who understood the magic I was trying to make happen.”
I would argue that this editor does not exist.
Maddie Ziegler may have starred in a series of Sia’s videos, but was she meant to play an autistic girl and go full blown like she does here? How about the fact that the movie shows a potentially dangerous physical restraint method called crushing? Or the fact that Leslie Odom Jr.’s character seemingly exists only to help white people get past their issues?
Also, there are flashing lights throughout this movie, so many of the autustic people who it could reach can’t watch it!
I know quite a few autustic people and not a single one of them are infants, despite this movie showing me they can be, as it veers between gritty drama and Bjork video. I take that back. Bjork makes good videos.
For everyone that ever made fun of The Apple or Can’t Stop the Music or Staying Alive or any number of horrible music-themed movies that I can’t help but love, I will use this as the example for what a truly bad movie is. Because man, I can remember songs from Xanadu and Sextette and I promise you that not a single moment of this film except for its endless montages of screaming headphone wearing children will stick with me. This movie has made me hate Sia, hate her music, hate children, hate communities and hate stages with floral arrangements like at the end of this movie.
Honestly, if you told me this was a right wing religious film, it would have made so much more sense to me. Actually, I’ve watched plenty of those and they’re way more entertaining than this.
Also: Sia plays herself and has this scheme where she’s using drug dealers to buy painkillers to send them to needy places in the world, which seems like the same kind of dumb idea as this movie, as if someone could have perhaps not been impulsive and tried to think of a better way to do things.
Somehow, this was nominated for both a Golden Globe for Best Picture and the Razzie Award for Worst Picture, which is the kind of thing only Pia Zadora has accomplished.
Man, this article feels like clubbing seals and shooting fish in a barrel. Realizing that doesn’t mean I’m going to start being nice though. That said, I wish I had seen this movie during its IMAX premiere because I thought no movie could be as loud and face destroying as watching the fecund Zack Snyder Watchmen from the front row and I feel that this is the movie that could erase that from my brain.
It’s like when you get a song stuck in your head and the only way to get it out is to start humming Glenn Frey’s “Smuggler’s Blues.” Because then, you have “Smuggler’s Blues” stuck in your head. And that’s a losing proposition but one you can’t refuse. It’s the politics of contraband. It’s the smuggler’s blues.
“There’s bad and then there’s boring-bad and this is just bad, which is a nice thing to say.” — Sam Panico of B&S About Movies in his review of Brett Kelly’s Jurassic Shark
Great poster . . . one day, the film will live up to the one-sheets.Nah!
In our never-ending quest to review every shark flick ever released, we just have to. . . .
Besides, when you have Mark Polonia, who we jam on over here at B&S About Movies (who treaded these waters before with the bonkers Shark Encounters of the Third Kind) making a (unofficial) sequel to Brett Kelly’s nine year old film, who we also jam on at B&S (who slopped these waters before with Ouija Shark), well, we just have to. . . .
Do we have to tell you the CGI shark is bad and that the acting — babbling about the dangers of bio-engineering — is bad? That’s there not one practical, in-camera gunshot, blood drop, or explosion effect to be had? That the wide-to-close up continuity is beyond fubar’d? Yeah, we just have to. . . .
So, anyway, if you missed the Brett Kelly instigator: The (50-foot) megalodon unleashed by an oil rig frackin’ up the ocean floor in the first film is back, still swimming around the rig . . . one of the most understaffed rigs in the history of the fossil fuels industry because, well, the budget could only afford a cast of four. Well, there’s the folks in that local fishing village, flailing about as only bad “look at me” extras can.
“Dude, is the ’90s video game-era shark even original this film?”
Eh . . . with so many of these CGI “Shark Weak” films produced, these selachimorpha romps are probably recycling at a rate that would give Roger Corman pause. At least that shark jumping out of the ocean to clamp down on a CGI’d T-Rex poking along the beach — in a 50 million year flashback — looks new to the game. Why yes, that’s Polonia and Kelly — and sometimes Brett Piper — familiar stock players Jeff Kirkendall and Titus Himmelberger in the cast. At least, as Sam pointed out in his review of Brett Kelly’s Jurassic Shark, Mark Polonia’s sequel isn’t padded by twelve minutes of credits against fifty minutes of actual movie. To that end: we’ve only got two minutes of credits against a not-to-painfully quick 68-minutes . . . not counting the two minutes of opening titles of a shapely bikini babe wading in the water . . . who then swims for a minute, before her chomping. See, you can handle a 65-minute movie. . . .
Eh, stop your snobby bitchin’, ye film critic.
As is the case with any Brett Kelly flick (I liked Countrycide), or Polonia Brothers shingle swinger (which had the balls to mesh the shark genre and Amityville franchise via Amityville Island), or Brett Piper joint (who’s a god around here*) that comes down the streaming pipeline, we had a lot of ’60s retro drive-in fun. They all studied at the Dennis Divine School of Cinema**, so we likey.
In the middle of July, we rolled out a “Shark Weak” of reviews. During the earliest days of the site, we also rolled out a “Bastard Son of Jaws Week” and “Exploring: Ten Jaws Ripoffs” featurette. Yeah, that’s a lot of digital chum to swallow, but you can do it! Click those hyperlinks! Yeah, we know that Brett Kelly’s Raiders of the Lost Shark and Mark Polonia’s Virus Shark aren’t amid those reviews. Look, we are Polonia and Kelly fans, not masochists . . . but for more Polonia-related reviews, check out our reviews of Amityville Deathhouse, Amityville Exorcism, Empire of the Apes, Outpost Earth, and Return to Splatter Farm.
You can learn more about many of their films by visiting the Facebook page and official site of Wild Eye Releasing. Jurassic Shark 2 — as has Virus Shark — will probably end up on Tubi soon enough. But for those who can’t wait, it started streaming this week on You Tube and Amazon Prime. (Clicking either link will launch the official Wild Eye trailer.) Meanwhile, over at Asylum Studios, they’ve just released their own CGI shark fests that are Swim and Shark Season (I liked Swim; Shark Season not so much.) See, told you we are on a quest aboard the U.S.S B&S: all unofficial “Amityville” and “Jurassic” and “Shark” films will be watched!
** What the hell, son? You never read our “Drive-In Friday: Dennis Devine” night tribute, either? You got sum hyperlinkin’ to do!
FYI: For our many European readers: Tubi is not available overseas without a U.S.-hosted proxy server. Please refer to You Tube or search on other streaming services. Wild Eye films are widely distributed, so you will surely find a streamable online copy in your country.
Disclaimer: We did not receive a review request for this film. We just like shark flick, and Polonia flicks, and what chum Wild Eye Releasing tosses into the digital streams.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes forB&S About Movies.
We first reviewed the writing and directing work of self-taught award-winning filmmaker Mike Cuenca with last year’s music ensemble drama I’ll Be Around. We enjoyed that eclectic-eccentric character study, so seeing Cuenca’s name on the one-sheet advanced his latest film to the top of the review stacks. Equally intriguing: Cuenca shot the film in one whirlwind week during the height of the Winter 2020 COVID lockdowns.
Note the homage of the Velvet Underground’s “Some Kinda Love” (lyrics) for the film’s title and tagline/streaming one-sheet.
If the title’s not giving it away, Mike Cuenca’s taken his same abilities at adeptly interweaving plots and characters — only in the context of a film noir, with the proceedings less James M. Cain commercial (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity) and more non-mainstream David Lynch (think Lost Highway). Upping the ante: Cuenca’s drafted the pandemic into the plot, which serves as the catalyst (in lieu of greed or sexual weakness) to a surrealist nightmare. While it plays, at first, as a disconnected anthology about unrelated people making due during the pandemic with a weak through line, it all comes together in a plot that’s nicely psuedo-Giallo’d along the way. While non-linear — and we know how that rubs the wrong way with some viewers — give it time: the dots connect.
What are the “dots” as it were?
A mysterious woman in the deserts surrounded by a cult-masked group. There’s two gun-toting thugs executing a kidnapping plot. A mysterious woman makes a phone call that sexually intrigues and frightens a man at once. A rare comic book is at stake. There’s a meeting in a city park with a person that may be “love,” but more wishful-illusion than reality.
Quentin Tarantino scripting meets Lou Reed’s lyrics/the festival one-sheet.
For a film shot-on-the-fly with no budget under pandemic restrictions: just wow. This film is twisty-scripted, nicely shot, Giallo-expertly lit, and the acting — which I’ll assume was done sans paychecks by the cast for the love of the craft with the need to create “something” to quell the lockdown madness — is well-concentrated, with everyone on-point with their characters.
Like a Dirty French Novel is everything you don’t expect to see in a streaming indie flick — and we love the film for it. The caveat is that I enjoy non-linear films: again, they are not for everyone. Truth be told: If not for Mike Cuenca impressing me with I’ll Be Around last year, I might have looked this one over and reviewed something else because, not all filmmakers can pull off multi-character plots and non-linear tales. Mike Cuenca, can.
If this is what he can do on the fly sans a budget, I look forward to what Mike Cuenca will do with a budget — possibly a studio shingle behind him — in a post-pandemic world.
Mike Cuenca is a writer-director to keep an eye on. He’s two-for-two in my review books.
Disclaimer: We were provided a screener copy of this film from the production’s PR firm. That has no bearing on our review.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook. He also writes for B&S About Movies.
There’s not too many films that sell me within a minute of its two minute trailer with a want, no, a need, to see the movie it shills. Oh, do I ever want to stream this movie.
“Don’t worry. This p**y’s got teeth!”
If Quentin Tarantino decided to make another retro-homage to his video store memories of old — only trading out the blaxploitation-slanted Jackie Brown or grindhouse-inclined Rick Dalton with a doesn’t-take-any-guff drag queen by the name of Champagne White for a celebration of ’70s Russ Meyer sexploitation flicks — this brilliant, deliciously decadent feature debut by the creative tour de force that is D’Arcy Drollinger is that movie.
Practicing his craft with a series of campy stage productions at The Oasis, a famed San Francisco alt-lifestyle nightclub that he owns and operates, Drollinger (who’s portrayed Frank-N-Furter in productions of the Rocky Horror Show) takes those stage-steps to its ultimate, theatrical destiny as the writer, director and star of S**t & Champagne. During interviews, Dollinger describes his labor of love as “dragsploitation” and name-checks Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown and Linda Blair’s Savage Streets, along with the Zucker Brothers’ slapstick comedy films, as well as the ’70s TV series Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman as his inspiration.
Just a caveat: Outside of a couple drag-kings and men playing men, no one is actually a playing a “drag queen” as a character: they’re all females, got it? So plant your suspension of disbelief firmly between the teeth and gums, and enjoy.
Champagne White, actually Champagne Horowitz Jones Dickerson White (“So, I’ve been married a few times, it’s none of your fucking business!”), is a stripper, ahem “exotic dancer,” in 1975-era San Francisco. After witnessing the murder of Rod, her walrus-stached and polyester suit-clad fiancé (Mario Diaz), then having her “adopted half-sister,” Brandy (Steven LeMay), die in her arms, by the same thugs (the chemistry-perfect Adam Roy and Manuel Caneri) who murdered Rod, the cork, as it were, pops on the whoop-ass.
As Champagne descends into San Francisco’s sex and drugs and murder-ridden underbelly — complete with a back-to-school clothing ring stumbled upon by the retail-managing Rod — a world rife with one-liners and song and dance numbers, she comes face to face with underworld king, well, queen pin, Dixie Stampede, the corporate-owning mogul of the world-famous Mall-Wart (expertly played by Matthew Martin, who gives Dollinger a run for the award-winning thespin’ money). Along the way, Champagne finds romance with an oh-so-’70s-splotitive detective named Jack Hammer (a slicing it nice n’ thick Seton Brown) as she battles the Keystone Cops-ineptness of Dixie’s minions (I’m really diggin’ on Adam Roy’s — in his film debut — Jim Carrey-comedic vibe with his Tony character; here’s to seeing him in more roles; a Kung-fu fightin’ Manuel Caneri portrays his boss, Johnny the Gun).
In 2016 The Oasis gang put on a drag-king version of one of the original Star Trek episodes, “Mudd’s Women,” with actress Leigh Crow (center) as Captain Kirk. Also known throughout the Bay area as a popular Elvis impersonator, Elvis Herselvis, she stars in S**t & Champagne as Al, the owner ofthe Shaboom Boom Room,
Yeah . . . I had a lot of fun watching this: It is quite clear the cast is cognizant of their material’s John Waters, Mel Brooks (think of a glitzier-slanted High Anxiety), Russ Meyer (one of Drollinger’s stage productions was Above and Beyond the Valley of the Ultra Showgirls, if that’s a clue), and Charlie’s Angels (even campier) roots. They’re having a lot of fun . . . more fun than any Don Edmonds flick of old starring the awesome Dyanne Thorne.
D’Arcy Drollinger has made it quite clear: his celluloid jam is the ’70s drive-in exploiters of yore, which, for many of us, were absorbed during the VHS ’80s. So, if you feel a warmth in the ol’ analog cockles for sexually-liberated bachelorettes (or multiple divorcee/widows!) who work their long blonde hair and even longer, silky legs, à la Cherie Caffaro’s James Bond’in Ginger McAllister from Ginger (1971), The Abductors (1972), and Girls Are For Loving (1973), or Joyce Jillson working it in Crown International’s Superchick (1973), as well as Francine York and Tura Satana kicking it Ted V. Mikels’s The Doll Squad (1973), and 1967 Playmate Anne Randall takin’ names in Andy Sidaris’s Stacey (1973) — each which, ironically, foretold Charlie’s Angels — then you’ll appreciate Dollringer’s over-the-top homage. Is there a tip o’ the hat to Chesty Morgan’s Doris Wishman two-fer of 1974’s Deadly Weapons and Double Agent 73? You bet!
To that “’70s” end: A special shout-out is necessary to Production Designer Olivia Kanz, Art Director Elena Nommensen (the upcoming Venom: Let There Be Carnage; the great Texas-bred horror shot, The Devil’s Passenger, and looks awesome horror-western, Ghost in the Gun), and Costume Designer Maggie Whitaker, as this film is a retro-junkie feast of the senses that looks way more expensive than its production budget probably allowed.
Drollinger, left, a stellar James Arthur as club-pal Sergio, and a just nails it RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ Alaska Thunderf**k as Dixie Stampede’s retail minion, Janis.
So, what’s the deal with the title . . . and the coprophilia of plot? Well, to hear Drollinger tell it, many of those films and TV series of the ’70s always had a subplot with the bad guys shootin’ up prostitutes or those “too smart for their own good,” with heroin, then selling them into white slavery. But heroin “isn’t funny.” So he developed the “Booty Bump”: a new, fab drug raging across San Francisco that causes, well, a very bad case of diarrhea.
Considering the just-go-for-it scripting and over-the-top thespin’ of the material, I can see Drollinger’s comedic point. However, I feel the coprophilia “drug addiction” sub-plot is actually to the determent of the brilliance of the material, as not everyone thinks defecation is funny. Part of my inner critic wishes the film was simply titled Champagne White (the title of the originating stage play) and another “comedic” drug addiction, à la a Kevin Smith or Cheech and Chong joint, was developed for the story, instead of an overly-extreme Todd Phillips (think The Hangover series meets the retro Starsky and Hutch) or Judd Apatow (think The 40-Year Old Virgin meets Pineapple Express) raunch-approach.
Does that mean I am hating on the film? No, not at all.
If Dollringer sold this script to a major studio shingle, and Phillips or Apatow took hold of the production reigns, how could you not see Amy Schumer as Champagne, Eddie Izzard as the terrorist-pimp-retail mogul Dixie Stampede, John Goodman as Al, the owner the Shaboom Boom Room, Jim Carrey as Tony, Bruce Willis as Johnny the Gun, Steve Carell as Jack Hammer, and a cameoin’ Nick Cage as Rod? Sounds like a friggin’ Coen Brothers “Raising Champagne” joint, right? But, hey, I’m the smarmy critic who loved George Gallo’s ’70s retro-remake (that everyone else seems to hate) of camp-meister Harry “Tampa” Hurwitz’s The Comeback Trail (2021), so what in the hell do I know about film.
Well, I know that Drollinger’s 44-keyin’ is that good . . . and I’m already jonesin’ for D’Arcy’s next flick. I want more Champagne! Anne Randall’s Stacey Hanson was a private eye who sidelined as race car driver. Perhaps an Andy Sidaris homage: Champagne Express. Make it happen, D’Arcy!
Yeah, this is a great film, but the title — and the meaning behind it — may turn away streamers. But, to be honest, isn’t the fact that this is a “dragsploitation” movie already turning the weak of humor, away? That’s their streaming loss. S**t & Champagne isn’t a drag . . . it’s a full-on retro-celluloid hip thrust that sold me within one minute of its two-minute trailer.
Making its debut as a festival rollout from June through September, S**t & Champagne was acquired for international distribution by Utopia Media, which also brought the British rock document on Suzi Quatro, Suzi Q, to the world stage. Utopia’s other award-winning documents are Martha: A Picture Story, concerned with Martha Cooper, a New York-based, trailblazing female graffiti artist and street photographer, WITCH – We Intend to Cause Havoc, about the ’70s Zambian progressive-rock band of the title, For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, regarding the influential comedy writer, and Sara Dosa’s really fine The Seer & the Unseen.
Utopia is headed by Robert Schwartzman — of the band, Rooney, and a writer and director in his own right — who made his feature film directing debut with the really fine comedy, The Argument, released last September. You can learn more about the launch of Utopia Media with this February 19, 2019, article at Deadline.com.
Release Information: You can enjoy the VOD release of S**t & Champagne exclusively on Altavod on September 7. If you’re an AppleTV subscriber or Amazon user, you’ll be able to stream it on October 12, 2021. For those who prefer a hard copy, a special edition Blu-ray of S**t & Champagne will also be available for purchase from Utopia Media exclusively at Vinegar Syndrome.
You can learn more about the film’s digital roll out at its official website and Facebook. You can also follow D’Arcy Drollinger at his official site.
Disclaimer: We were provided a screener copy of this film from the production’s PR firm. That has no bearing on our review.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook. He also writes for B&S About Movies.
Talk about a release that’s of the moment. My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan was made by Phil Grabsky (who produced and directed several of the Exhibition On Screen films and an early version of this story called The Boy Mir in 2011) and Shoaib Sharifi (who has worked on several films in Afghanistan) to tell the story of Mir, who starts the film as a seven-year-old child who lives in a cave alongside the recently destroyed Buddhas of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan.
Over the next two decades, the film follows Mir’s journey from boy to man in one of the most damaged parts of the world. By the end of the film, Mir is 27, with children of his own, and he’s never known a time when his country was not at war. And now, with the Taliban reclaiming his country, that may never change.
So often, we watch the news or read opinions about it online, but we never see what it’s like to endure life in wartime as a captive of a country forever in the midst of conflict. This may be the closest we ever get and for that we should feel some level of blessed.
You can learn more about this film at the official site. It is exclusively screening from August 27 to September 2 at two theaters: Laemmle Newhall at 22500 Lyons Ave, Santa Clarita, CA 91321 and Laemmle Monica Film Center at 1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401.
While most streamer opines weren’t kind, we dug Verotika: Glenn Danzig’s feature film debut that played with the Elizabeth Bathory legend. What can we tell ya: we adore auteur projects as much as we do movies with rock stars in them. As with his debut film, through its cognizance of Giallo-styled camera angles, Danzig displayed his knowledge of Fulci and Bava, and that class and style continues with his second feature film.
However, instead of Giallo, Danzig’s tackling the Spaghetti Western genre . . . with a Quentin Tarantino flare by introducing vampires into the frames.
The always welcomed Devon Sawa (Final Destination) is our resident “man with no name,” the “Death Rider,” who travels the deserts on horseback as he searches for Vampire Sanctuary to do battle with Count Holliday (Julian Sands), Vampire Lord of the Sanctuary, along with the likes of Carmillla Joe (Pittsburgh home girl Kim Director), and the afterworld gunslingers Drac Cassidy (Eli Roth), Bad Bathory (Glenn Danzig), Kid Vlad, and Duke VonWayne. Manning the bar is none other than Lee Ving of Fear, along with Danny Trejo, and director James Cullen Bressack (For Jennifer), in support.
Following two successful advanced screenings in Los Angeles and Las Vegas this past weekend, Death Rider in the House of Vampires will open across the U.S. at 200-plus screens in select theaters, Friday, August 27th, with most first showing at 9 and 10 PM. You can get tickets — as well as future streaming information — at deathridermovie.com. Just enter your zip code to find a theater near you.
You can learn more about the film with extended interviews from Glenn Danzig, along with actors Julian Sands and James Cullen Bressack on Glenn Danzig’s official YouTube portal.
Our Post-Premiere Review
Yes! We finally got our screener!
So, yeah, critics were not kind to Verotika and likened Danzig’s efforts to that of Tommy Wiseau . . . but I spoke in the positive of The Room, so, well, you know: What da frack do I know about film?
Those same critics weren’t onboard with Danzig’s sophomore effort, either. Me? Danzig’s grown as an against-the-budget indie filmmaker, but I’d still like to see improvement on his craft. Is it flawed: Yes. Is there a lot of passion and heart on the screen to compensate for the flaws: Yes. Should Danzig not serve as his own writer, director, and producer . . . as well as cinematographer and editor, turning the reins over for one to two disciplines to a more experienced craftsman — and let them have the last say? Probably. Danzig also scored the film — but that is the one craft he must keep to himself; in fact: I love the score and like to see Danzig compose for the films of others.
The “plot,” such as it is, well, there’s not much more to tell you beyond what we received in our promotional press kit to help launch its 200-screen U.S. theatrical debut in August 2021.
There is no mistaken our Tarantino assumptions: you’ll get the From Dusk Til Dawn shakes. Sawa’s “Death Rider” is a mysterious cowboy who arrives in town on horseback with a naked, virgin sacrifice for entrance to Sanctuary: a brothel-cum-saloon flowing with rotgut, vamped-up hookers, and blood.
As we guessed: Fulci and Bava, the latter more so, rules the frames with lots — and maybe too many — zooms from Danzig’s Gialli-love emulated in the frames. Whatever weakness you see in the film from Danzig’s end are compensated by solid performances by Devon Sawa as our Death Rider, and Julian Sands — who I haven’t seen in ages on screen (but recently in a 2000s-shot U.S. TV re-run of NBC-TV’s Law & Order) — is top notch as the warlock-ruler of Sanctuary.
All in all: I am stoked to see what Danzig comes up with for his next project.
You can get Death Rider in the House of Vampiresmerchandise through Cleopatra Records, which also carries the Verotika Blu-ray/DVD/CD combo pack. Death Rider is out there as a single-disc 2K Blu-ray, we think: it was announced in 2021 at Blu-ray.com, but shows that it is “not rated” and has no release date. The film’s official site also offers no update on a streaming or a hard media release date, although it’s recently listed as part of the release schedule of VMI Worldwide.
About the Author: You can read the music and film reviews of R.D Francis on Medium and learn more about his work on Facebook.He also writes for B&S About Movies.
If the title doesn’t give it away: Hank Braxtan, who gave us the uber silly but really fun mockbuster that is Snake Outta Compton (2018), is mixing Universal Studios’ Michael Crichton-bred dinosaurs* with Richard Connell’s later apoc-influencial The Most Dangerous Game (1932)**. However, since we’re talking ’bout movies and not books: Craig Zobel’s critically derided The Hunt (2020) is the other half of the mockequation. But since this is a more a cost-effective version: High Octane Pictures’ rip on that Blumhouse Pictures’ shingle flopper that is American Hunt (2019) is the model at task, here. But since this is B&S About Movies: we’ll always err to the side of Brian Trenchard Smith’s Turkey Shoot for our “human death sport” jonesin’.
To say we had our doubts with Snake Outta Compton is an understatement . . . and it surprised us. So, knowing Hank Braxtan’s past abilities in creating a fun and entertaining film that wears its awareness and influences on its sleeve, we requested a screener for Jurassic Hunt . . . and Braxton impressed us, once again. In fact, I’ve since gone back and watched Braxton’s Unnatural (2015), which deals with a genetically tweaked polar bear, à la William Girdler’s Grizzly, on the loose, and Dragon Soldiers (2020), which deals with a dragon on a rampage.
You know what: I’m digging on Hank Braxtan in a higher-budgeted Brett Piper*˟ kinda-way. The CGI may not be up to the major studio shingle-level that is Universal. You’re justified in your reasons to rag on the acting. However, I’m having a whole lot of fun sucking on Braxtan’s brain candy. Ain’t that the whole point?
A group of hunters, including our four leads of Parker (feature film debut for Courtney Loggins), Valentine (Tarkan Dospil, aka “Beez Neez,” from Snake Outta Compton), Torres (TV familiar and solid Ruben Pla from Dragon Soldiers), and Blackhawk (Antuone Torbert, also Dragon Soliders) are flown in, hooded, to a remote, hidden game preserve to hunt the ultimate game: a genetically-cultured dinosaur in a game known as “Jurassic Hunt” — overseen by enigmatic billionaire Lindon (a very good Joston Theney; a writer and director in his own right with Axeman (2013), and equally good in front of the camera in the aforementioned Snake Outta Compton).
The rules are simple: You’re tagged with a tracking device. Pick a weapon, be it rifles, grenades, or a good ‘ol fashioned bow and arrow, protect your preserve guides, and bag the dinosaur. Of course, watch out for the raptors (who swallow the guides and strand the gamers, natch). Oh, and one of our dinos is DNA-tweaked to spit acid. Oh, and Lindon has sent in a band of mercenaries to up the ante to hunt the hunters, because, well . . . turns out Parker is a corporate spy sent to expose the animal cruelty and take down Lindon’s empire.
Screenwriter Jeffrey Giles maybe new to the game on the ol’ 44 keys (2013’s Knight of the Dead, 2016’s David and Goliath, and 2018’s Alien Expedition, thus far), but he’s extensively skilled as a producer (via Hank Braxtan’s resume) and distributor (The Expendables and Drive Angry to name two). So he’s given us a bloody script (part practical, part CGI) that keeps the action moving at a decent pace with engaging subplots (concerning on everybody’s mind Afghanistan) moved by nicely fleshed-out and motivated characters.
Yeah, I’m dismissing the naysayers on this one.
I’m over my whining about CGI blood and have come to accept that digital effect as the new “indie normal” in the streamingverse. Corded, hardline telephones aren’t coming back and neither are squibs and blood packs, so deal. Asylum-styled films are the new normal, the new “Roger Corman” if you will, so deal.
Jurassic Hunt is well shot, the editing is solid, and the streaming-acting is better than most swirling ’round the Tubi rim of box-office hopes. So pop the popcorn, pour that Dr. Pepper, disconnect the brain, and enjoy . . . as you retrograde to your dad and grandad’s days of kaiju scalers like Sidney Pink’s Reptilicus(1962) and the James Franciscus-starring The Valley of Gwangi (1969).
You can stream Jurassic Hunt on Amazon Prime courtesy of Lionsgate, starting today, August 24. You can learn more about Lionsgate releases via their official website.
We’ve since reviewed Joston Theney’s latest writing-directing effort, Wanton Want.
Disclaimer: We were provided a screener copy of this film from the production’s PR firm — upon our request after discovering it on social media. That has no bearing on our review.
About the Author: You can learn more about the writings of R.D Francis on Facebook.He also writes forB&S About Movies.
Ashley, a young cheerleader, may seem like she has a perfect life. But the trust is that her parents are really the killers of her birth parents. And sure, they’re parents and you expect any mom and dad to have some problems, but I mean, they really have issues. When a home robbery happens, Ashley gets the chance to either escape or be part of this family for good.
A man named Mark has broken into Ashley’s home, but he learns that her family may be even worse criminals than he is. He’s willing to whatever it takes to survive, but they’re doing everything they can to make sure he won’t.
Nicole Henderson, who plays Ashley, is pretty great in this, taking on a role that hovers between someone you sympathize for and may even fear a little. She’s got a good script from Laura Ashley Polisena to work from and the direction of Eddie Augustin, making his full-length debut, to guide her.
The conclusion to this movie — which struck me as very A Bay of Blood — actually shocked me. That hasn’t happened in some time, so well done to all involved.
You can watch Hostage on digital from Terror Films. It’s also on Tubi.
Bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) and hit man Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) are back back together. Still unlicensed, Bryce is forced ito come back into the killer’s orbit by Darius’ wife, con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek). Now, they have to save Europe from a killer virus and the plan to make Greece great again from Aristotle Papdopolous (Antonio Banderas). And just who might Morgan Freeman be?
This film is a sequel to the 2017 film The Hitman’s Bodyguard and features Reynolds, Jackson, Hayek and Richard E. Grant reprising their roles, with Frank Grillo (alwats welcome in more films!), Tom Hopper, Banderas and Freeman joining the guns and comedy party. Around 150 of the crew came back to work on this sequel as well.
Incredibly, while Jackson met Freeman when both were struggling stage actors in New York, this is the first feature film they’ve ever appeared in together!
The story really isn’t as important as the fact that this movie is filled with action setpieces. I’d never seen the original, but was instantly taken in by this fun film. It’s mindless explosions and stunt-filled mayhem, but after the end of a long week of work, isn’t that what you want sometimes?
The 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD of The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard will be available for the suggested retail price of $42.99, $39.99, and $29.96. You can get plenty of extras no matter what version you select, including making of features, the trailer and even a gag reel. It’s available from Lionsgate, who also have digital and on demand options. You can learn more on the official website or official Facebook page.
B&S About Movies 
You must be logged in to post a comment.