Species II (1998) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Director Peter Medak follows up the somewhat tolerable original “Species” with a sequel that ups the ante in the narrative but doesn’t improve the story all that much. This time around Medak and co. completely abandon the idea of a genetically altered alien this time around for a much more traditional yet sexually charged alien invasion. When Commander Ross returns home from a space expedition with other astronaut explorers, the highly decorated man is revealed to have been taken over by an alien being. Said alien being is based around procreation. As Commander Ross slowly transforms in to an alien being, he begins scouring the city for sexual mates and turning them in to breeders for his army of off spring that begin populating the landscape.

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Disturbing Behavior (1998) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I’d be hard pressed to call “Disturbing Behavior” a stellar horror film, but as an artifact of the late nineties teen horror boom, it’s a worthwhile effort by an “X-Files” creative mind. “Disturbing Behavior” fosters a fascinatingly looney tone that works in favor of the premise, even when it strives for inadvertent camp. James Marsden plays Steve, a newcomer to Cradle Bay who has just move in with his family and little sister. Steve is instantly accepted in to the reject crowd of the school, as led unofficially by Nick Stahl’s character Gavin. Despite the strange rift between cliques in the local high school, Steve writes off the separation as simple pack mentality, but is told by Gavin that the popular crowd also known as “Blue Ribbons” are actually more sinister than they seem.

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You’re Killing Me (2015)

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Emilie Black

A group of gay friends welcome one of the guys’ new boyfriend in their mist. Joe is just like them they think, except for the fact that he is a serial killer who doesn’t bother to hide it. In fact, he flat out tells his new man George who thinks it’s some hilarious long running joke. As people around them start to disappear and the random idle chatter never ceases, George may need to reassess his new adorable boyfriend. The story written by Jim Hansen and Jeffery Self has a fairly simple premise: What happens if a serial killer, after admitting it to himself, is completely open about what he’s doing but no one pays attention because we are all too busy talking about our lives and celebrities?

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Plan 9 (2016)

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

There’s a huge problem when it comes to sitting through “Plan 9.” It’s essentially a remake of the infamous but hilarious Ed Wood disasterpiece “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” While Ed Wood never intended his film to be considered a comedy it ended up being accidentally one of the funniest movies of all time due to the ineptitude of its production. So how does a filmmaker with arguably more resources approach a remake of “Plan 9”? Basically director John Johnson tries to have his cake and eat it too, giving us a movie that’s literally all over the place. Sometimes “Plan 9” is a straight faced zombie movie with real stakes. Sometimes it’s a meta-remake with dark comedy. And other times it’s a pseudo-remake tha acknowledges the original film from Ed Wood exists in this universe. The latter idea makes no real sense when you consider the ideas presented in “Plan 9.”

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Just One Drink (2016)

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Director Andrew De Burgh does a good job channeling the classic revenge pictures that focuses on what’s going around eventually coming back around again. What I find fascinating about “Just One Drink” is that there aren’t any clear protagonists or clean cut noble heroes. Director De Burgh doesn’t really side or empathize with any one character per se, except examines the almost destructive and chaotic path of vengeance that can steam roll through people’s lives.

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A Short Interview with Miguel Rodriguez, founder of Horrible Imaginings Film Festival San Diego

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Emilie Black

Q. First things first: What is Horrible Imaginings and why did you start it?
I started Horrible Imaginings Film Festival after moving to San Diego in 2009 to discover there was not a regular film festival in the city—or any film event really—that examined or celebrated the horror genre. I had to drive to Los Angeles for an opportunity to meet other people who loved horror or see new genre films.

So partially, I started Horrible Imaginings simply to give a life to horror in San Diego. More importantly to our mission statement, though, I wanted to expand what I have been seeing as a narrow definition people have for horror, and even to legitimize horror as a means for artistic expression.

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The Vincent Price Collection III [Blu-Ray]

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Scream Factory is back with another in the collection of growing Vincent Price movies. Offering part three in the series, there’s “Master of the World,” a movie based on the Jules Verne novels. It’s a science fiction drama that follows Price as Captain Robur, a mad inventor who kidnaps a team on a government expedition to investigate a crater in Pennsylvania. Robur’s focus is to build a massive war weapon and rule the world, and experiences obstacles along the way. This arouses some conflict about morality and power. Starring a young Charles Bronson this is an interesting film as written by Richard Matheson.

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