Sinister Squad (2016)

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Once again The Asylum tip toes all the way to the finish line to avoid copyright infringement, offering up their own third hand version of “Suicide Squad.” Relying heavily on public domain characters and concepts, “Sinister Squad” isn’t your usual terrible Asylum fare. It’s more lackluster and tedious with a lot of the cast seemingly pushed in to mirroring the personalities they saw in trailers for “Suicide Squad.”

So star Johnny Rey Diaz is so not the Joker as a green haired maniac with odd teeth named Rumplestiltskin, while Talia A. Davis is so not Harley Quinn, as the mad red queen who is hopelessly in love with Rumplestiltskin. These stock fairy tale villains are assembled by Alice (a very fetching Christina Licciardi) who is left with no choice to call upon these baddies when their own Carabosse, who is so not Enchantress, breaks out to enact her own evil scheme. She plans to unleash the evil Death (can’t copyright Death), who with his cult, wants to either dominate the world, or garner a final form on Earth to rule over the realm.

It’s never clear what Death intends to do with Carabosse working with him, nor is there a whole lot of explanation as to where a piece of Alice’s looking glass factors in. Either way, like most Asylum productions, “Sinister Squad” is set in one place, primarily Asylum’s studios, where the entirety of the movie unfolds. Every action scene, dramatic confrontation, fight sequence, shoot out, and magic battle ensues within the corridors of the warehouses owned by Asylum, adding to the bargain basement aesthetic the film tries to side step so eagerly.

Aside from Licciardi, the only cast member who really rises above the tedium is Nick Principe who has a good time adding some variety to such a broadly sketched character, and tries to turn the generally boring villain in to a memorable nemesis. “Sinister Squad” is yet another knock off from The Asylum hoping to make some quick cash from easily confused foreigners, and relatives looking for a cheap present on the way to a third cousin’s birthday party. Only the morbidly curious need apply.

Now available on VOD.

The Return of the Living Dead (1985): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

It’s not often that filmmakers strive to set themselves apart from what’s been widely embraced by the horror community and manage to properly redefine a subgenre. Before “Return of the Living Dead” fans accepted the walking dead shambled slowly toward you and ate flesh, but Dan O’Bannon transformed his zombies in to undead crack heads. Said undead crack heads bolted toward their prey like lightning, were devilishly clever, and craved human brains as a source of nourishment. Though “Return of the Living Dead” has a remarkable sense of humor and will inspire a lot of uneasy laughs from the audience, it’s through and through a creepy horror thriller about groups of people fending off undead monsters from every corner while trying to escape Kentucky as it’s ravaged by brain eating ghouls.

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Devil Girl (2007)

Posted on July 7, 2016 by Emilie Black

In an isolated desert town, a girl travelling cross country after the death of her father has car trouble after a drag race. This forces her to stay in town for a while which means finding a place to stay, getting work, and mingling with the locals. She ends up dealing with a weird motel owner, a preacher with odd leanings, a clown-faced man, and a stunning devil girl.

“Devil Girl” is directed by Howie Askins who co-wrote with Tracy Wilcox Gillie. The story they put together here should be a great story considering its components, but instead of focusing on the titular Devil Girl, they relegate her to a few too short appearances, letting the film be about Fay, the girl on a road trip who ends up working as a stripper to survive. The story also has a clown who seems to have been added for shock and weirdness factor which he does bring , but for all his screen time, he has very little impact on the story until the very end where he could easily have a been replaced.

The characters are decently written but not given much of interest to do. The few twists and turns in the story are not quite enough to make it riveting or even all that interesting. Most of the cast gives ok performances with few stand-outs. Lead actress Jessica Graham gets the most screen time and gives a good performance through most of it but she does look absolutely bored in a few scenes, most specifically the strip club scenes where once can guess she was trying to convey discomfort or shame as she did get the job reluctantly. The one actress who really stands out the most and only gets a few scenes is Vanessa Kay who is the Devil Girl.

She has a very short time to make an impression but makes the most of it with a performance full of glee and charm, giving good reason for the movie to be named after her minor character. With a film called Devil Girl, one would expect more of a horror film but this is not it. There is a little blood and some special effects; the design of the Devil Girl is pretty and sexy, her outfit being nearly nothing but red paint, which leads to a stunning attractive presence on screen for the curvy actress. The main point of interest here, outside of the red hot girl, is the cars. A bunch of old school muscle cars, racing each other and being eye candy.

For all of its muscle cars and the sexiness of the title character, the film is quite bland, boosting a group of basic, expected desert town settings and a lackluster story. The film uses occasionally shaky camera and a lot of mild grindhouse looks to add to its story but it just doesn’t grab the viewer to make them care. The last act twist basically kills the entire film and story built so far.

20 Past Films From Fantasia International Film Festival Worth Looking For

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Emilie Black

Fantasia International Film Festival is having its 20^th edition this July and I am proud to say I have only missed 4 of them, the first one, 2006, 2012, and 2014. That being said, I’ve played catch up and seen some of the films from those years and can say without a doubt that Fantasia International Film Festival plays a fantastic selection of films from around the world, with a penchant for the odd, the weird,. And the often overlooked by mainstream movie goers.

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Pig Pen (2015)

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Emilie Black

Thirteen year old Rick lives in less than ideal conditions but social services don’t seem all that worried. After things go from bad to worse, he runs away and becomes one of many street kids. When he witnesses a brutal murder, Rick ends up going back home where a gruesome scene awaits him.

Pig Pen is directed by Jason M. Koch who co-wrote it with Mark Leake. The film is unrelentingly dark and creates an oppressive atmosphere that should put viewers in an uncomfortable place. The entire film is built on negativity and what little light or positivity there is gets snuffed very quickly every time. The feeling and atmosphere created are oppressive and depressing. The whole film is very very effective at this. The characters that live in this environment are sad, desperate, or evil. These people are almost all negative people, human beings anyone wouldn’t necessarily want to be around ever. They are damaged souls who do damage onto others.

The dialogue is basic but fits the characters and advances the story without cluttering the film with long conversations or monologues. The people involved are unhappy and living hard lives, so their language and conversations reflect that. The cast here is fairly small, most scenes involving Rick (Pig Pen), his mother Sandy, her boyfriend Wayne, or a combination of them. Rick is played by much older than 13 years old actor Josh Davidson who plays the early teen part very well, especially considering his age (born in 1975 per IMDB), his interpretation is sad and desperate, and making the viewer feel for him. Sandy is played by actress Nicolette le Faye who also gives a sad turn as her character, adding sheer fear which makes the viewer worry for her, her safety, and well-being.

As her boyfriend Wayne is Vito Trigo who brings menace and violence with all his being. His character comes off as flat out nasty and scary as the abusive asshole who makes Rick lose it. He brings out a visceral reaction to his character, enough to make the viewer hate him as he is just evil. The characters all do come off as unhappy people with little to live for. Pig Pen being a very independent film made with the help of an Indie Go Go campaign, the few effects there are have to be expected to be on the inexpensive side but they also look great. The central piece of effect, which will not be spoiled here to keep its surprise as big as can be, is very well done, looking real and painful, hitting a nerve as soon as it’s revealed.

Kaleigh Brown did fantastic work with that scene and the others where her special effects talents were needed. She shows that she can work in little time, with a small budget to deliver big budget shock and horror.Pig Pen is not only an independent film made on a tight budget, it was also made with a small crew with a lot of that crew having worked with Jason M. Koch on his previous film 7^th Day. Having not seen that film, it cannot be compared here. Solely based on Pig Pen however, let’s hope Koch keeps making films as he has a style that works and is a talented story teller. Pig Pen is depressing and dark, a slice of desperation from one kid’s life, almost completely devoid of any light or hope.

It’s very violent in spots, with its violence not all being physical. Thankfully it has some moments to breathe or it would have become too much or completely lost its impact. This is not a feel good film and it should and probably will, make most viewers uncomfortable, a sign of a successful dark film.

The Pack (2015) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Once again, “The Pack” is another in a long line of modern horror films that feel as if they were once written for the late seventies. Nick Robertson’s horror thriller is a very stripped down and simplistic survival thriller that packs in enough excitement and suspense to compensate for the lack of plot. “The Pack” is a combination of a home invasion thriller, and a nature run amok movie, where a seemingly normal family of four is attacked by a pack of large black wolves that arrive out of the wilderness of the Australian outback one night. The wolves are large and powerful as well as relentless, making the fight for survival absolutely intense.

The Wilson family are going through their troubles, as dad Adam finds out their farm is about to be foreclosed on. This creates familial tension, especially with daughter Sophie who wants to move to the city and be among actual people for once. Suddenly the pack of wild wolves burst from the woods and begin terrorizing the family, causing them to look for a way out of their farm and in to civilization. This proves to be more difficult than they could ever imagine, since they have no radio contact with the outside world, and any efforts from local authorities to rescue them results in the wolves literally tearing apart anyone that enters the threshold. A good amount of “The Pack” is built around the family spread apart and looking for a way to outwit and outmatch the wolves.

Their hunger is insatiable making them vicious and powerful in their pursuit. Robertson films some really tight and intense moments of evasion, as the characters hide in corners and small rooms trying to stay as quiet as possible while they devise a route out of the farm without being mauled. Though the budget obviously keeps us from seeing a full on attack by the wolves every minute, director Robertson works well with the limitations, making the wolves feel almost supernatural at times. Many of the best moments feature our characters making wise moves while the deck is stacked against them with these fierce clever monsters, and I was rooting for this family until the very end.

Though the final scene is a bit goofy for its blatant way of leaving the door open for a follow up, “The Pack” is a very good survival thriller and one I could definitely re-watch. The blu-ray from Scream Factory and IFC Midnight features an eight minute “Making Of” focusing on the dogs in the film, and how they worked with them, along with typical interviews about working with the director. There’s also the original theatrical trailer.

Batman v Superman: Extended Cut or Why You Can’t Pour Perfume on a Pig

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Pearls. Again. Bruce Wayne’s origin. Again. Joe Chill. I’m presuming. Again. I can still hear the echoes of fan boys rejoicing that “Batman v Superman” wouldn’t be another origin story, and yet director Zack Snyder allows us the thirtieth origin of Bruce Wayne, all for the purpose of squeezing in Bruce muttering “Martha.” Which is his mother. And so a thousand memes were born.

Director Zack Snyder doesn’t allow us the benefit of young Superman or Clark Kent with his mother, also curiously named Martha, because that would make sense. Plus, Snyder never worked with Diane Lane or Kevin Costner. It would be funny though to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan playing John and Martha Kent.

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