REVIEWS
Cinema, Blu-ray/4K, Streaming and VOD Releases - Reviewed By Fans For Fans
MABUSE LIVES!
MABUSE LIVES! - Fritz Lang’s immortal supervillain makes a welcome return to home video in his return to 1960’s Germany over six increasingly outlandish yet entertaining films. Iain MacLeod reviews this handsomely presented limited edition from Eureka Entertainment.
SCANNERS
SCANNERS - David Cronenberg’s sci-fi body horror classic of warring psychics finally gets an upgraded home release courtesy of Second Sight. The greatest exploding head of all time has never looked so good and the rest of the film more than matches up to it. Iain MacLeod reviews this essential upgrade of Cronenberg's influential classic.
THE BROOD
THE BROOD - What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than a look at David Cronenberg’s characteristically grisly look at parenthood in extremis? Iain MacLeod reviews this stacked 4K release from Second Sight that presents one of the Canadian auteur's most fascinating and disturbing films to stunning effect.
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 1 & 2
An iconic cult classic and its divisive sequel get the 4K treatment: The Slumber Party Massacre blends sharp satire, dark humour, and slasher thrills, while Slumber Party Massacre II struggles with cheesy antics but offers a rare unrated cut for fans of the genre.
THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER
A classic 80s fantasy film that delivers thrilling action, memorable villains, and impressive practical effects, now enhanced in a stellar 4K re-release.
THE EXORCIST III
William Peter Blatty’s cult sequel to one of the greatest horror films ever made receives the 4K treatment from Arrow Video.
THE HITCHER
Rutger Hauer’s finest hour finally arrives on 4K in the most essential release of the year.
CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
Riddick returns with this ambitious, yet much maligned sequel re-released by Arrow Video in a stacked 4K edition.
CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD
Following on from last year’s 4K UHD release of Lucio Fulci’s THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY, Arrow Video have turned their attention to another of Fulci’s so-called ‘Gates of Hell Trilogy’ titles with 1980s CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (which means you know what will be coming soon… hopefully).
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
In this remake of the 1956 sci-fi classic, Donald Sutherland plays Matthew Bennell, a health inspector who puts his colleague Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) in touch with his psychiatrist friend Dr. Kibner (Leonard Nimoy) after her boyfriend Geoffrey (Art Hindle) starts to act distant around her. At the same time, Matthew’s friend Jack (Jeff Goldblum) and his wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright) discover a body that bears a resemblance to Jack but still appears to be growing, even displaying the same nosebleed that Jack has. Something strange is in the air…
ALLIGATOR & ALLIGATOR II: THE MUTATION
If for whatever reason this is your first-time watching Lewis Teague’s superior creature feature, you may think that whoever was in charge of the 4K remaster here has done too good a job. From the minute the world-weary Robert Forster shuffles onto screen investigating a spate of pet kidnappings, the signs of what appear to be hair plugs or a hair transplant are all too apparent no matter what size of screen you are watching on. However, the film, and Forster, tip their hand making this act of male vanity an essential part of his character. This smart handling of monster shenanigans and smart character work have ensured that ALLIGATOR has cemented its place in cult cinema and well worth revisiting in this excellently remastered package with a generous helping of revealing behind the scenes interviews and features.
PEEPING TOM
It began with a Freudian script by Poe fan, playwright and cryptographer Leo Marks, who considered his role as a (famous) WWII codebreaker a highly voyeuristic one. It was such a personal project for director Michael Powell that he cast himself and his son as (abusive) father and (disturbed) child. It was famously condemned by critics of the time: Sight & Sound’s Derek Hill likened it to concentration camp atrocities, while, in 1994, Dilys Powell boldly admitted it was a masterpiece, reversing the hatred she expressed decades earlier.
HIGH TENSION
Released as HAUTE TENSION in its native France in summer 2003, Alexandra Aja’s calling card modern slasher enjoyed huge festival buzz en route to its U.K. release as SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE and (censored) U.S. bow as HIGH TENSION. This intense, stripped-down cat-and-mouse game between brutish, relentless killer Philippe Nahon and repressed, resilient Cecile de France heralded a cycle of “extreme”, ultra-violent French horror films that would peak with the despairing MARTYRS in 2008. These, of course, ran parallel to America’s own post-9/11 hard-R splatter movie trend, itself including Aja’s Hollywood debut – a savage reworking of THE HILLS HAVE EYES.