Scream (2022)

After Wes Craven’s unfortunate passing, the “Scream” franchise went in to a limbo where its fate seemed uncertain. It was still a hot property with a lot of ideas to bring forth but without the engineer Craven behind it, there didn’t seem much point. And with the MTV series and horrendous follow up mini-series, it definitely felt like there wasn’t a point in continuing the movie series. Thankfully, “Scream” (or “Scream 5”) doesn’t just do a bang up job of carrying on the legacy of meta-humor, movie commentary, and subverting movie tropes, but it brings a powerful statement about legacy.

The legacies we build, and the legacies we leave behind.

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The Vampire Lovers (1970): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]

A replacement disc program is currently available for this disc. FOLLOW THIS LINK to request one. The cut of the film featured on the first pressing has an alternate edit of the iconic moment of Ingrid Pitt rising from the bathtub.

Filmmakers, writers, and artists alike have always been enamored with the legend of the vampire Carmilla. She’s a mystifying vampire and seductress who bewitches literally every woman she comes across, and “The Vampire Lovers” sets her front and center. While Ingrid Pitt as Carmillla is arguably the central character, she’s hardly what you would define as a heroine. She exists to feast on men and indulge in other women.

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Slumber Party Massacre (2021)

Amy Holden Jones’ original 1982 “The Slumber Party Massacre” is considered one of the great trashy slasher classics of the 1980’s. It’s a movie that’s so irredeemably stupid but is still celebrated by many fans. I personally think the sequels are better, if infinitely stupider, but that’s neither here nor there. 2021’s “Slumber Party Massacre” is both a meta-satire and re-imagining that follows up on the original events of the premise of the original movie and turns it on its head.

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“I Know What You Did Last Summer” Is a Failure on Every Level [Digital]

After whatever that MTV reboot of “Scream” was, networks and companies seem to be learning all the wrong lessons from it. Rather than breathe new life in to a once solid slasher series, Amazon has botched it from out the gates. Instead of a tense, white knuckle slasher/murder mystery, Lois Duncan’s novel is adapted in to an erotic teen drama thriller. Think less “Slasher” and more “Riverdale.” It’s a glacially paced glorified drama with a horror tint that downplays the horror and slasher aspects of the aforementioned movie series in favor of gratuitous sex, pointless nudity, and droning dialogue.

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Potato Dreams of America (2021) [FilmOut San Diego 2021] 

A coming-of-age story about a young gay boy whose mother marries through the mail order bride system to an American to give them both a better life. Once in America, the boy grows up questioning himself and life until he finds his place among his peers. 

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In the Heights (2021) [Blu-Ray/Digital]

In a really crappy summer and a pretty hectic year in Hollywood, one of the bigger releases in 2021 was “In the Heights.” It’s a movie I’d been looking forward to for a long time, since Lin Manuel Miranda is one of my personal heroes. It’s finally brought to film by director Jon M. Chu after being in literal development hell since 2008. Jon M. Chu is no stranger to films involving dancing and urban settings, thankfully, and we’re given an absolutely dazzling, emotional, and energetic musical.

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