The Forest (2016) [Blu-Ray/Digital]

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I wish Hollywood would stop trying to turn the legend of the Aokigahara Forest in to a horror movie. While the story of the forest itself is sad, and often times very creepy, it just doesn’t translate in to a good horror movie. Not in the slightest. One of the worst examples yet is Jason Zada’s “The Forest,” an absolutely lack luster and painfully dull mystery starring Natalie Dormer. Dormer, who is typically a great performer with a strong on-screen presence isn’t given much to do but run around and react to scary sights in the forest. And she plays twins!

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The Present (2014)

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Based on the comic strip by Fabio Coala, director Jacob Frey adds an almost Pixar twist to the famed strip about a boy and his dog, injecting so much more emotion and a touching final scene. If the original comic weren’t bittersweet enough, “The Present” realizes the concept for a full fledged animated short that deserves a feature film. Jake is a boy who spends most of his time in doors playing video games and avoiding the outside world. One day after work his mom comes home with a present, and Jake is elated to see it’s a puppy. Initially surprised, he’s disappointed when he notices the pup only has three legs.

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Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986)

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

“Madonna can go to hell as far as I’m concerned! She’s a dick!”

If aliens ever came down to Earth and wanted to know what the eighties were like, they could look no further than the time capsule that is “Heavy Metal Parking Lot.” It is, as many have described it, the viral video before viral videos existed. I’d love to see a documentary about this film some day, or perhaps an actual feature made around the events that occur in the fifteen minute documentary. It’s a hilarious and often absurd look at a certain time period where everyone wore mullets, walked around without shirts, bragged about doing drugs, and women were often very proud to admit they wanted to “fuck” certain band members’ “brains out.”

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Cherry Falls (2000) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

If anything, “Cherry Falls” is a valiant attempt to deliver a game changing slasher film that tries to challenge the conventions of the sub-genre left and right. It has all the right ingredients for one excellent horror film, but in the end is just a fine and serviceable genre entry. I wouldn’t be so quick to say it’s mediocre, but compared to a lot of other “Scream” clones released at the time, “Cherry Falls” is a fine companion piece. It’s not often we get a slasher film about a knife wielding killer hacking virgins to death. This time rather than slut shaming as we saw in “Scream,” the victims are punished for not having sex, and that’s a formula that almost works. Almost.

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Hush (2016)

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Emilie Black

A deaf writer lives and works in her secluded home in the woods where she gets few visitors. Then one night, a masked man shows up and stalks her in an unnerving game of cat and mouse. Director Mike Flannagan and lead actress Kate Siegel co-wrote Hush which all takes place in and around the lead’s, Maddie’s, home. The limited settings work here as Maddie is trying to escape this mad man without help or access to the outside world. This is a movie with a total of five characters, two of which support the bulk of the story. The characters here feel real, not caricatures of real people or stereotypes.

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Dazed and Confused (1993)

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Richard Linklater is a master at handling multiple storylines as well as various characters, allowing them to gel in to one very cohesive cinematic experience. Other directors would have a hard tie balancing out so many storylines, but “Dazed and Confused” manages to not only unfold in to a fun narrative, but also builds a myriad fascinating characters you’ll either love or hate by the time “Dazed and Confused” is over. A virtual successor to “American Graffiti,” this time Linklater follows a slew of characters over the course of one hectic night in the late seventies, as summer begins and school finally lets out. Director Linklater doesn’t have a singular thread bonding his characters, save for his ensemble’s core desire to find one last adventure before the summer comes around demanding some new form of responsibility outside of school.

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VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media (2016)

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

For other documentaries about the VHS resurgence and the nearing end of physical media, a lot of directors have spent their time trying to figure out where it all began and celebrate the idea of the VHS boom of the modern era. “VHS Massacre” seems to be standing in ground zero of the end of physical media and trying to figure out where it’s all going, rather than where it all began. For many of us that have reveled in the new wave of VHS appreciation, we all know how it began. VHS won over Beta, despite the latter have more quality simply because VHS had more appeal to its product. It cost less, the tapes stored more footage, and porn became almost exclusive to the format. But with the rise of digital media, VHS has gone the way of the dodo, now relegated to good will bins and mom and pop stores deep in small towns and counties.

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