Grenouille, a man born with a superhuman sense of smell, vows to learn and master the art of creating perfume and preservation of sent in 17th Century France. His life mission leads him to become a very prolific serial killer in the search to preserve beauty.

This is a very beautiful movie. Very beautifully shot and very beautifully written. The colors of lights and darks are bold and bright. This movie was thought to be impossibly adapted from the brilliant novel from David Suskind mainly because it’s almost impossible to describe smell and sent. The film forges on and gives a college try with positive results. Dustin Hoffman almost steals the movie as the elder perfumer. You get the impression that if there was a companion piece, Dustin’s Baldini would definitely a central character. Tom Tykwer does a very good job with this film.

There are some faults. It’s a bit slow and paced for your casual movie goer. Another thing is that it’s a movie about a murderer. Is this bad? No. It’s just that casual filmgoers are a bit more hardwired to predictable variables. The final sequences did lose me a bit. I had to watch the movie a couple times to get it. It also seemed to lose focus in the middle of the film just immersing itself in perfume and smell.

As a movie, it’s great, but as a DVD it kills. It sucks. First of all, I’m sick and fucking tired of the anti-piracy ads that auto start when you play the discs. You treat the public like fucking morons when you do this. Especially the ones who collect DVDs. To have SEs, Box Sets, two years worth of DVDs with that ad on it really is pushing the point too far. Another thing is this DVD is almost bare bones. It’s like they didn’t give a shit about the movie. Just slapped it on a disc with it’s Showtime documentary and some trailers of movies that doesn’t even have a thread related to the main movie and just threw it out. Bad form Paramont. Bad form. There was a lot you could have done in supplement material and you threw it away.

31/2 stars.

After rupturing top secret bio waste drums, two bumbling clerks and the manager of a medical storehouse try to get rid of the reanimated remains only to accidentally seed the rainclouds above and have it rain on a graveyard.

God! This film hasn’t changed when I first saw it. This was a silly stupid fun film back in the day. Seeing this movie is like unearthing that toy you played with so much as a kid and you just find it in the back of the attic or basement or even pawnshop. The characters are fluid and real. The makeup effect is awesome for the time. While Russo tried to revitalize the “zombie genre” without stepping on George Romero’s toes and pulls it off with flying colors. And if you all don’t know why Linnea Quigly got famous, check out this movie and you will pretty much find out why. Mind the Barbie codpiece.

I really have nothing bad to say about the movie. Yes, the movie is cheesy, but it’s supposed to be cheesy. It’s supposed to be funny. That’s the purpose of the whole thing. For those who throw temper tantrum that Zombies don’t run, they run, work and talk. So all you getting your undies in a bunch need to sit down, shut up and watch this movie. Not only do the zombies bring a good amount of comedy as well as the element of impending doom and horror. Other then that and maybe the styles at the times which is a nitpick, this is a classic.

The DVD is cool. I love the DVD. Visuals and audio is alright. The extra include documentary on the movie with interviews with most of the cast, a look at the effects art that was used as inspiration for the special effects. Film and TV trailers and two commentaries. One by O’Bannon and will Stout and another by the cast. While I like the O’Bannon commentary, the cast commentary wasn’t my cup of tea. The reason being that they added “zombies” to the commentary. Why? I don’t know. Maybe to be hip with the kids or something. You might like it though. All this covered with a glow in the dark sleeve.

four stars.

A gypsy couple release a werewolf from deep slumber while robbing his tomb. The werewolf goes on a rampage and is finally stopped by international playboy Waldemar Daninsky. Wounded, Daninsky now carries the werewolf’s burden and finds out the reason why his fore-bearer did not take a possible avenue for a cure.

Not only is this the first movie in the Waldemar Daninsky series of movies, turning shy scriptwriter Jacinto Molina into Paul Naschy, international horror star, but this is the first Spanish horror movie ever. The Franco regime was strict during it’s day and it’s movie censor board even stricter. Without German money and American distribution, this movie would not have been big as it is. Based off of Universal and Hammer pics, this movie works high on gothic settings and uses ruins effectively to augment the chaos of Naschy’s powerful and animistic performance as Daninsky, exceeded all other performances of tormented monsters. This movie was originally shot in 70mm which makes the film more vibrantly colorful then other film. Sometimes, the color patterns are the most beautiful in the film.

There are some low points. The American distributor tries to forcibly shoehorn a ridiculous premise of why there was no Frankenstein in the whole picture. While it doesn’t hurt the movie, it’s just plain stupid to try to form it around the name instead of vice versus. The movie also had times where it was very slowly paced and was making some scenes longer then they should be. The film had to be clipped to fit run times. I think they could have done a bit more here and there, but other then that, it was a good college try.

The DVD from Shreik Show is Fan-tastic. The video is a bit unsteady. The editing of both the European and American print restores the full movie, but gives you patches of soft and sharp stock in the movie. The audio is great. You get all the American promotional materials (trailers, posters, radio spots, etc.), an interview with Paul Naschy, liner notes from DVDdrivein.com’s George Reis and a commentary from the American distributor Sam Sherman who talks about how he found and should this movie, what makes a great horror movie from an artistic and marketing standpoint and how this movie was tied up into the fall of 3-D technology. A very fun and informative commentary.

4 stars.

Three people flying to make a cabana show get engine trouble and land on an uncharted island occupied by a mad scientist who is trying to look for a way to contain an old Nazi bioweapon consisting of flesh eating bacteria.

This is a very interesting feature by Jack Curtis. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous for an indy feature. The script and storyboards was done by Arnold Drake, who is known mostly for his work in comics. The script is actually intriguing and mixed with somewhat gory effects, makes this feature somewhat groundbreaking. They also make very good use of one beach as a full island. Improvisation at it’s finest. Fast fact: The was the movie that prompted George Romero to change the name of his movie to Night of the Living Dead

Is there any downsides to this. Other then cheesy effect (which were used quite well, I might add), I think after a while, you get tired of beach shots. Sure, you know it’s on a deserted island, but after a while, you just want to see a bit more of the inland. Give the island a sense of depth.

Dark Skys does real well with making this into a DVD. The stock is cleaned up to the best it possibly could be. Giving it a slightly natural feel. The audio is crisp and clear. Extras include short and long trailers, a radio spot and some deleted footage by Curtis of Nazi testing sequences and blooper reel. The sequence wasn’t added because not only was it almost reliant on shock, it just didn’t look right in the whole story. If it was added though, it would have beaten NoTLD as the benchmark of modern horror by four years.

3 and a half stars.

A viral curse goes through cell phones and sends “messages” to the owners giving them evidence of their deaths at a certain time in the future. It’s up to a woman and the brother of a former victim to figure out how this started or risk becoming their next victims.

This is Takeshi Miike’s jaunt in “mainstream” picture. His first time away from indy and V-cinema and his handling of “new wave” cinema. While I do want to say something good about the picture, this is a…standard effort from Miike. I think he took this job to see if he can work under set and dried rules instead of working with his own. All he put out was a standard. Sure, his cinematography and certain themes he works with is in there (dysfunction, The Outcast), if you put this side by side with other technocurse genre, you wouldn’t be able to pick out his. There is some great scare sequences and stuff that builds suspense though. I do like the idea that the curse transmits via cell phone. Over in Japan, The cell has got this omnipresent presence in culture. It’s a perfect subject to prey on.

I definitely find it funny that Hollywood, out of all the movie catalogue of Takashi Miike, choose this movie. The movie that has the least amount of Miike How retarded are they? “Let’s see. We can never win with Fudoh, Visitor Q, Dead or Alive or Happiness of the Katakuras. I can’t make fuck all of Audition and Ichi the Killer….*sigh*…wait. Long haired ghost girls? Cell phones? What Is this movie!?!” I will laugh my fucking ass off if they bring Miike in to direct an Erin Kreuger written sequel. It’s freaking silly.

Tokyo Shock has put out a two disc feature. First disc is the movie with English Subtitle and Dub. The second disc is interviews with the cast. Deleted scenes which are nothing to write home about, trailers and an interview with Miike himself.

I’d recommend it to Miike completest. Nothing more. General fans can rent it when they want to. Again, it’s not a bad movie, but if you seen one scary ghost girl movie, you saw them all.

three stars.

A woman and her husband returns to the home of the aunt who raised her on the eve of her 25th birthday, only to find out that she is the basis of curse that sees her become  forced into the resurrecting of La Llorona.

A lot of people who I’ve talked to about this movie has stated that it has a very Black Sunday like vibe to it. I tend to agree. Black Sunday was released a year before this picture and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rafael Baledon, the director was inspired by Bava to make this film. What makes it interesting is that you can not say it’s a copy. While it does have the basic structure, Baledon amps up the Gothics and adds a bit of supernatural psychedelics to make it his own. His play with shadow and light, as well as working in just one large set makes the movie truly unique. The music also works well with  the movie. I wish the score was availible to purchase. The actors work well off one another, especially between Rosa Arenas, Rita Macedo and Abel Salazar, who by this time have worked on projects together before.

I think the only thing I had trouble with was the pacing. There were several moments that felt like they dragged on and on. Now granted, my first and second viewing of the movie was hindered because I was quite tired the time I was watching the movie. The third and fourth viewings however had myself nodding a bit.Things were a bit too silent and a bit too slow. I’d have preferred a bit more dialogue to kill the monotony.

I love Casa Negra. They’re like that cool new friend you just made who finds out some of your hobbies and leads you to a whole basement of glorious joy because he or she knows you’ll probably put it to the best use. They give you a very well made package. Not a DVD, a package. You get a bilingual disc with the original print and the K.Murray Prods. dub (I dig the original because it flows smoother.) The video is brilliant and the audio, despite some wear is quite good. Extras include stills and poster gallery, an essay on Baledon by David Wilt, bios, a commentary track done quite well by Casa Negra veep and historian Michel Luizza and an insert containing another essay by Entertainment Weekly’s Peter Landau as well as original art done by Rue Morgue Magazine’s Gary Pullin. See! A package!

I urge the horror and general film fan alike to pick this up and give it a once over. You will not regret watching this movie.

Four Stars.

A group of mountain climbers go off to the Ozarks to climb the range only to run into unexpected visitors who know the mountains more then they do. They now need to survive to actually make it back.

Made by Jeff Lieberman, the director of Squirm, this is a competent slasher movie. A lot of people like to compare this movie to The Hills Have Eyes, but I really don’t see it. First of all, it’s to beautifully framed to be a copy. Also, the big bad hides in plain sight. The people just doesn’t notice it yet until it was too late. Be it something subtle like hiding in the foliage or something forced while being diverted like jumping on top of a Winnebago while the rear view mirror is used for cosmetic purposes. They might night see them but we do. Another reason this movie is good is the soundtrack. While the soundtrack is awesomely made by Brian Fiedel of Terminator 2 fame, the most suspenseful parts was done without music. The forest provides the soundtrack. It also got a very interesting ending to it as well.

While I can’t see anything wrong with the movie, if I was a casual just watching this movie, I’d be wondering when the killing starts. While you’re given a taste in the beginning, it doesn’t start really going until the later half of the film. If you’re impatient, this is not a movie for you.

Shriek Show does an awesome job with such a little movie like this. Two discs of content is waiting. You got the movie and a good commentary from Jeff Lieberman on one disc and on the other you have trailers, printed materials as well as an hour long documentary about the movie as well as the people involved in the process in making it. You got to check it out. The movie is a bit on the “natural” side, but I’m somewhat a fan of aged film. The sound is crisp and clear.

three stars.