Dante’s Penance (Music Video) (USA) (2016)
A rap music video showing a man ready to commit murder for a beautiful woman based on the 9 circles of Hell, this video written and directed by Dante Moran who also did the cinematography, editing, casting, was a part of the effects team, etc is a visually interesting but its story feels as though it’s part of something else, something as of yet incomplete. The cast led by Thomas Gunter gives decent performances and the effects look good. It will be interesting to see how it ties into the bigger Penance project.
Category Archives: Halloween Horror Month
Glen or the Bride of the Night of the Plan 9 from Outer Space (2015)
The winner of the Best Picture Award at this year’s New England Underground Film Festival, this amusing 25-minute from filmmaker Jesse Berger slices and dices scenes and dialogue from four anti-classics from the notorious Edward D. Wood Jr. – “Glen or Glenda?”, “Bride of the Monster,” “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and “Night of the Ghouls” – into a wonderfully warped blend of lunacy that perfectly captures the inane spirit of Wood’s work in a fraction of their running time.
Yo-Kai Watch: The Movie Event (2016)
After storming the box office in its native Japan, “Yo-Kai Watch: The Movie” comes to America in a very limited run for hardcore fans of multimedia series. If you haven’t had enough of the TV series, the video games, and the toy line, fans will get to watch the big screen adventure of hero Nate, and his friends, the Yo-Kai. For those unaware, Yo-Kai are spirits in Japan that can be good or evil. Nate has a magical Yo-Kai watch that allows him to summon, catch, and catalogue the various Yo-Kai. And they’re a massive variety that stem from nature, the city, and literally anywhere else.
The Mask (1994)
Based on the ultra-violent underground comic book of the same name, “The Mask” is a perfect vehicle for Jim Carrey at the peak of his career. In 1994, star Jim Carrey was capable of being in anything he wanted, and “The Mask” propelled him in to the image of an actor who could transform in to a living cartoon. “The Mask” is not at all faithful to the source material, aiming more toward the PG crowd, while dropping enough adult overtones to appeal to a broader audience. Much in the way Looney Tunes and MGM cartoon shorts once did. Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, a normal banker who lives alone with his dog Milo and disappears in to his love for classic cartoons on his spare time. After a bad night at a local night club, he finds a mysterious mask floating in the ocean and takes it home.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
“E.T.” is pretty much the quintessential Steven Spielberg film. It’s very much an autobiographical tale, and speaks waves about the life Spielberg led and the life he almost wished he’d had. “E.T” is about a weird boy from a divorced family who gains a kinship with yet another outcast who happens to be from another world. The way protagonist Elliott is able to bond with the alien that is stranded on Earth is possibly because Elliott is something of an alien in his own world as well. Despite his best intentions to mix in with his family and his class, he’s something of an oddity who gains something of a sense of identity after garnering a bond with someone from a whole other galaxy.
My Pet Monster (1986)
In the eighties if it was popular it had to have a tie in to something that involved merchandise. It didn’t matter what it was, whether it was Rubiks Cubes, Mad Balls, or even the Garbage Pail Kids, companies were always thinking about new ways to squeeze as much money out of their products as possible. In the eighties, My Pet Monster was a very popular kids toy that was simple in premise. It was a cute horned monster with plastic cuffs that kept its claws secure. The monster was gross enough for kids that loved monsters, but cute enough to warrant being a bed time toy. So naturally Hi Tops gave us an animated series for “My Pet Monster” and a much derided straight to video movie that reeks of a cash grab.
The Thing (1982): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]
Back in 1982, American audiences were enamored with the extraterrestrial. We were in a time where the prospect of aliens was cuddly and friendly, and we were capable of exploring vast new worlds. What with “ET” and “Close Encounters” and “Star Wars,” who didn’t want to visit new worlds? Then John Carpenter came along in 1982 with his version of “Who Goes There?” a short story about an amorphous alien entity that could consume human bodies, and America wasn’t too kind to it. John Carpenter’s masterpiece is notorious for not being welcomed by critics or the box office during its release date, but thankfully years later, horror fans and movie buffs alike have embraced “The Thing” for the sheer pitch perfect masterpiece it is. John Carpenter doesn’t provide us with a more positive outlook of an alien visitor as he did with “Starman.”