I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010) -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 1/30/2011

 

As with Meir Zarchi's 1978 original, the 2010 remake of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE tells the simple story of a woman named Jennifer Hills who gets savagely gang-raped at her summer home in the country and then goes on a brutal revenge spree against her attackers.  I found the new version somewhat less satisfying as a film, but as an eyeballs-deep wallow in utter, sadistic depravity, it takes the bloody brass ring.

Judging from the "Dukes of Hazzard" accents, the location seems to have been switched from Yankie Land to somewhere way down South, where most of the demented yokels of moviedom seem to live these days.  (Naturally, one of them wears a Confederate flag bandana on his head.)  Another big difference is that Zarchi's film took the time to establish a deceptively tranquil mood before shattering it, with Jennifer's sense of security and well-being robbed along with everything else. 

Here, the music sets an ominous tone right off the bat, and Jennifer (Sarah Butler) is edgy and uncomfortable with her surroundings as soon as she arrives in the remote community.  Johnny the gas pump jockey (Jeff Branson) reveals his crudeness immediately rather than deceiving her with a folksy fascade (which this version of the character would be incapable of doing anyway) and the two start off on bad terms.


In addition to the interchangeable Stanley and Andy characters, the slow-witted Matthew (Chad Lindberg) returns as a plumber who fixes Jennifer's toilet and goes ga-ga when she gives him a friendly peck.  Johnny and company find such provocative behavior intolerable and, as they drool over Stanley's peeping-Tom videos of her, resolve to teach the uppity city gal a lesson while helping their mentally-challenged mascot lose his virginity.

What follows is the nocturnal home invasion which becomes the basis for Jennifer's inevitable revenge, with writer Stuart Morse pulling out all the stops to make these guys as unforgivably reprehensible as possible.  As with Zarchi's film, the sequence is designed to justify the filmmakers' indulgence in extreme violence against the rapists later on.  Still, it lacks the lingering impact and immediacy of the original (not to mention Camille Keaton's searingly realistic performance) and seems almost by-the-numbers, as though the film can't wait to get it over with and fast-forward to the juicy revenge stuff. 

At this point, the remake starts to throw in some new wrinkles, such as the introduction of a not-so-helpful sheriff (Andrew Howard), which makes it easier to judge on its own terms.  In fact, once Jennifer disappears from the film for what turns out to be quite a spell (which, unfortunately, means that we're not nearly as engaged with her character this time around), it's almost a completely different story.  When she finally returns, she has become a hardcore killing machine who stalks and dispatches her prey like a cross between Jason Voorhees and Rube Goldberg.

 
The second half of the original movie is positively sedate compared to this one, which is pretty much a torture porn free-for-all.  The filmmakers go all out to surpass the 1978 version by taking it to a new level that's beyond gratuitous.  "What are the most ghastly things you could do to a guy?" they seem to be thinking.  "Whatever they are, we get to show them, hee-hee, because by gum, these scumbags raped Jennifer!"  As such, the execution scenes are diabolically elaborate and profoundly depraved--so much so, in fact, that you might even start feeling sorry for these guys after awhile.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.  Subtitles are in English and Spanish.  Extras include a director-producer commentary, a "making of" featurette, deleted scenes, trailers, and a radio spot.

Whether you're rooting for Jennifer or just turned on by this kind of stuff, the cumulative payoff is pretty intense.  If you fit into neither category, then you're probably watching the way wrong movie.  Hard to believe that anything could make the 1978 I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE look like a model of restraint in comparison, but the no-holds-barred (and, let's face it, repulsive) remake manages to do so.  While it fails to surpass the original in some ways, fans of brutal cinematic sadism and extreme gore definitely won't be disappointed.  

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (2010) -- DVD Review by Porfle

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) -- DVD Review by Porfle

 Originally posted 1/28/11

 

No doubt about it--rape has always been a prime motivator for the revenge movie.  Whether by the victim herself or a husband, lover, or relative, audiences tend to excuse whatever horrendous acts they commit in the name of vigilante justice, and even cheer them on.  Open with a rape scene, and the filmmakers are free to make with the bloody violence.

Such is the case with the infamous I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, aka "Day of the Woman" (1978), one of the most extreme examples of this unsettling subgenre.  (One of its alternate titles is the built-in spoiler "The Rape and Revenge of Jennifer Hill.")  To me, the debates about the "deeper meaning" that this film has stirred up since its release are all a bunch of hogwash--depending on who you ask, it's either virulently misogynistic or "the ultimate feminist movie."  I think it's really just a case of cooking up a scenario in which the bad guys are so irredeemably vile that the filmmakers are free to depict the most violent and gruesome revenge sequences their hearts desire, and if people read more into it then so much the better.



Although writer-director Meir Zarchi's inspiration for the script was a real incident in which he gave aid to a woman who'd been raped in the park, the film is hardly a "Lifetime" special.  What it does, though, and quite effectively, is to present one of the screen's most convincing depictions of the physical and emotional devastation endured by a victim of violent rape.  The film is no less exploitative for this, yet the fact that Zarchi treats this aspect of it so seriously prevents it from being anywhere near the irredeemable trash it might have been.

Big city girl Jennifer Hills (Camille Keaton) sets things into motion when she drives to a rented summer home in the country to commune with nature and work on her novel.  The attractive stranger draws the attention of four unsavory locals, led by pump jockey Johnny (Eron Tabor).  Turned on by her looks but resentful of what they imagine to be a teasing and superior attitude, they begin to harrass Jennifer and then brutally rape her in a marathon ordeal, setting the stage for her bloody revenge.

These guys are the most cartoonishly sexist pigs that Zarchi could cook up--they're even vile and offensive when they're fishing.  Jennifer, on the other hand, is as sweet and innocent as the heroine in a dark fairytale, which this somewhat resembles.  We see enough of her friendly and open demeanor in the early scenes to sense it being destroyed during her dehumanizing assault.

The early part of the film is very slow, almost tranquil, as Jennifer is lulled into a false sense of security in her hammock under the trees or floating on sun-dappled water in a canoe.  Twenty minutes in, the assault begins and doesn't end until over half an hour later.  The utter simplicity of the story gives Zarchi time to dwell on the key events and explore them fully enough to make us feel as though we're experiencing them too--not as one of the rapists, as some contend, but through Jennifer's eyes.  The fact that almost the entire story is told from her point of view, and never encourages us to identify with her tormentors, is what makes it tolerable.



The almost cinema verite feeling of the film is largely due to the complete lack of music (ambient sounds and silence establish the mood) and the director's matter-of-fact, near documentary style.  This gives the harsher events an inexorable quality and a sense of immediacy.  There's so little film artifice to hide behind that viewers can't distance themselves from the terrible things that are happening, and there are no timely cutaways to relieve the tension.  When the final and worst attack occurs in Jennifer's own house, it's as though we're in the same room.  This is probably one of the things that bothers some people so much about this movie.

After the halfway mark, Jennifer's long, contemplative healing process gives way to her resolve to get revenge herself rather than go to the police.  At this point the film shifts noticeably from realism to improbable fantasy, with Jennifer becoming a fearless, seductive femme fatale with almost supernatural cunning and luck.  Those looking for the charnel-house massacre promised by the film's famous tagline may be disappointed--while Jennifer's killings display showmanship, only the cringe-inducing bathtub scene is truly shocking.  These scenes do, however, provide the necessary cathartic resolution to all that has gone before.  

Keaton (who later married director Zarchi) is a good enough actress for the most part, but during the rape scenes she becomes harrowingly convincing.  At times it's as though she isn't even an actress performing for the camera but someone who's being caught on film during an actual event.  The actors playing Johnny's friends give broad performances, especially Richard Pace as the semi-retarded Matthew, which serve the story while distancing us from them as human beings.  Eron Tabor as Johnny is a better actor and his character is fleshed out more--he has a family and talks fondly about his kids--giving an added dimension to the film's notorious latter-half setpiece.



The Director's Cut DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, and is definitely a step up from the Wizard Video VHS edition I bought back in the 80s.  Extras include a half-hour interview with Meir Zarchi, a poster and stills gallery, trailers, TV and radio spots, a clip of the alternate main title "Day of the Woman", and two commentary tracks.  Zarchi's is informative while the one with drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs is delightfully entertaining.

Despite the horrified misgivings of a number of critics, including an aghast Roger Ebert, I can't imagine very many people besides the truly twisted few who would identify with the rapists in this story and vicariously enjoy their actions.  As for myself, I find I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE to be a meticulously well-made film that's too sympathetic to its female protagonist to be as reprehensible as it's often made out to be.  An interesting thing to consider is that, after the more realistic events of the first half, what happens in the rest of the movie is so wildly improbable that it might simply be Jennifer's own revenge fantasy. 


Read our review of the 2010 remake here

I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978) -- DVD Review by Porfle

URBAN JUSTICE -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/2/11

 

Steven Seagal...a generic action-movie title...you pretty much know what to expect going into URBAN JUSTICE (2007).  But the big surprise for me is that it delivers it so well. 

The plot is simple: a young cop is murdered for getting too close to some shady dealings between his crooked boss, Det. Frank Shaw (Kirk B.R. Woller) and the East Side Gangstas, headed by Tony Montana wannabe Armand Tucker (well-played by Eddie Griffin).  The dead cop's dad happens to be Steven Seagal, who blows into town looking for--you guessed it--revenge. 

And you know what you're in for with this set-up: a lot of cocky, smart-mouthed gangbangers and other sleazy characters getting the ever-livin' crap beaten out of them or shot to pieces for the rest of the movie.  In other words--it's popcorn time!

Now, Steve's hair-and-makeup job in this movie is a bit startling at first.  After his initial closeup, I thought, "Omigod, Dracula just gained 50 pounds, fell asleep in a tanning booth, and joined the Mafia."  But I got used to it after awhile.  His acting, as usual, consists mainly of mumbling while maintaining a steely-eyed glare, but his dialogue isn't all that important as long as you can make out key phrases like "I'm gonna kill the muh-fuggah that killed my son."


We all know that, by now, Steven Seagal is past his physical prime, so most of the time he hides his somewhat substantial spare tire under big, thick jackets--he often appears to have been cocooned.  And when he drives his sports car, it almost looks like he's wearing it, too.  The fight scenes are edited so that all he has to do is stand in one spot waving his hands around in a series of quick closeups, and the stunt guys go flying. 

Thing is, though, the hits look and sound bone-crushingly hard, and when people get shot, squibs spew like geysers.  This movie is filled with several intense scenes that pay off in a big way, even if the main character isn't quite as dynamic as he used to be.

But heck, he's Steven Seagal.  If you're making a Steven Seagal movie, you don't hire a good actor who can leap and twirl like Baryshnikov, you hire Steven Seagal.  He may not be able to move very fast anymore, or display "ooh-ahh" acting skills, but when he goes into kickass mode, he's still da man.

There's a cool car chase that's filmed the old fashioned way--no zippity-doo-dah camerawork or fancy editing, just a couple of cars zooming through various locations at high speed with the occupants blasting away at each other, and ending with a satisfying crash.
 

This goes for the rest of the film too, which is refreshingly free of the pointless, distracting visual nonsense that many current films are stuffed with.  I have to hand it to director Don E. Fauntleroy for being a straight-ahead action director who isn't interested in stringing a bunch of half-assed MTV videos together and calling it a movie.

Besides Eddie Griffin, the capable supporting cast includes Danny Trejo as Chivo, the leader of a Latino gang that Steve initially suspects may have offed his son, and Carmen Serano as a liquor store owner who rents Steve the crummy apartment out back.  It looks as though she may be a romantic interest too, but this doesn't go anywhere.  At one point, though, her character does get to give Steve the old revenge-never-solved-anything routine with the line "You're just as bad as they are", to which he coolly replies: "No, I'm a lot...fuggin'...worse."

There's a rousingly good shoot-out between Steve and a whole bunch of East Siders that could serve as the finale for a lot of straight-to-video action flicks.  But this is topped by the climactic battle, in which Steve goes it alone against the rest of the gangstas and the crooked LA cops, too.  Lots of bad guys get killed real bad, and the fake blood goes flying in all directions.  I won't give away the outcome, but one thing's for sure--you don't want to be the guy who gunned down Steven Seagal's son.  You don't want to work for him, either.  Hell, you don't even want to know the muh-fuggah.

URBAN JUSTICE is a kickass action movie.  The ending's cool as hell.  And, for now anyway, I'm a Steven Seagal fan again.

URBAN JUSTICE -- Movie Review by Porfle

Coolest Steven Seagal Ending Ever? ("URBAN JUSTICE", 2007)(video)

 

(SPOILER ALERT!)

As hokey as it may be...

...I think "Urban Justice" is one of the most fun Steven Seagal direct-to-DVD flicks.

It's a straightforward 70s-style action thriller.

And one of the best things about it...

...is what I consider to be a surprisingly cool ending.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Coolest Steven Seagal Ending Ever? ("URBAN JUSTICE", 2007)(video)

Incredible Earthquake Effects In The Silent 1923 Lon Chaney Classic "The Shock" (video)

 

 

We've seen plenty of earthquake effects in modern movies.

But here's how the special effects wizards did it way back in the silent days of 1923...

...as the great Lon Chaney exhorts mighty nature to wreak terrible vengeance for him.

 

Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

 

 

Incredible Earthquake Effects In The Silent 1923 Lon Chaney Classic "The Shock" (video)

LADY VENGEANCE -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 1/26/22

 

I first thought LADY VENGEANCE, aka Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005), was going to be another hot-action-babe flick along the lines of MS. 45. So it came as a pleasant surprise to find that it's the most thoughtful, richly artistic and deeply introspective film in Park Chan-wook's notorious "vengence trilogy." It's also the one in which Park Chan-wook seems to express his most heartfelt, poetic, and yes, sympathetic thoughts on the subject.

The story begins with Geum-ja Lee (Yeong-ae Lee) being released from prison after serving 13 years for the kidnap and murder of a little boy, Won-mo. Former cellmates with whom she reunites on the outside are shocked to find that the cheerful and loving "angel" they knew before now appears to be cold and emotionless.

In reality, she's been gaining their allegiance in order to use them to help carry out a plan of revenge against Won-mo's actual killer, Mr. Baek (OLDBOY star Min-sik Choi), a serial child murderer who threatened to kill Geum-ja's infant daughter if she didn't confess to the crime. The fact that she aided in Won-mo's abduction (naively thinking it to be the same sort of "good" kidnapping as described in SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE) makes her desire for atonement and redemption all-consuming.

Geum-ja tracks down her now 14-year-old daughter Jenny (Yea-young Kwon), who thinks that her mother "dumped" her, and desperately tries to reconcile with her. In the meantime, she has found Mr. Baek, still working as a school teacher and preying on children.

She summons the families of several murdered children to an abandoned school, shows them Baek's own videotapes of his gruesome deeds, and reveals to them that he is bound and gagged in the next room. Geum-ja then gives them all a choice--turn him over to the legal system, or deal with him themselves.

Flashbacks of the beatific image Geum-ja projected while in prison are starkly contrasted with her later zombie-like state, which reflects a deep self-loathing. These jarring impressions are often depicted with abrupt editing and off-kilter camera angles.

Only when she reunites with Jenny does she allow her feelings to overwhelm her again, and as the story becomes more emotional Park Chan-wook's direction settles into a more stately and elegant style while remaining fluid and inventive.

This is especially true of the protracted revenge sequence in the abandoned school, as Park lingers on the inner conflict and seething rage of the family members. As the film winds down to a wistful and almost dreamlike denouement, with Geum-ja grasping for a last fleeting chance at redemption, we're left with haunting, delicately-wrought images of serene beauty and sadness.

There are several fascinating closeups of the remarkable Yeong-ae Lee as she runs the gamut of emotions with impressive depth. One that's particularly striking comes near the end, when her face twists into a masklike rictus of mindless, sadistic glee. Hardly the typical action heroine, her anger is expressed in messy, kinetic bursts.

There is one thrilling sequence, however, in which she fights off two attackers hired by Mr. Baek (Ha-kyun Shin and Kang-ho Song of SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE) in a snowy alleyway at night, and for a brief moment is given full cinematic awesomeness by Park Chan-wook.

It's been said that LADY VENGEANCE lapses into the conventional by having a one-dimensional bad guy devoid of the usual shadings. I think it's good that Park ends the trilogy by finally giving us a bastard who clearly and richly deserves his punishment, which serves as an uneasy catharsis for the viewer as well as the story's participants.

Still, their satisfaction is short-lived and brings not happiness, but merely another level of spiritual uncertainty that they must continue to deal with. If Park hadn't touched on this aspect of revenge and explored its consequences, the trilogy begun by SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY would have been incomplete.

Read our full review of Palisade Tartan Asia Extreme's eight-disc DVD set THE VENGEANCE TRILOGY

Read our review of SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE
Read our review of OLDBOY

LADY VENGEANCE -- Movie Review by Porfle

WALKING TALL: LONE JUSTICE -- Movie Review by Porfle

(Note: this review originally appeared online in 2007.)


Back in the 70s, there was this no-nonsense Tennessee lawman named Buford Pusser who got fed up with the rampant crime and corruption in his home of McNairy County and vowed to take decisive action against it, despite the cost--which eventually included his wife being killed and his jaw being shot off. Hollywood made a hit movie out of the story called WALKING TALL, which starred Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Pusser. Bo Svenson took over the role in two follow-ups, PART 2: WALKING TALL and FINAL CHAPTER: WALKING TALL, and in '04 the original movie was remade starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Since MGM knows a good property when they own it, they've decided to keep making WALKING TALL sequels regardless of the fact that they're no longer about a guy named Buford Pusser. Pusser's daughter Dwana isn't too happy about this, but Kevin Sorbo has to be thrilled since it's giving him something to do now that he isn't "Hercules" anymore. 2007 has already seen WALKING TALL:THE PAYBACK, and now we get the further adventures of Sorbo as some guy named "Nick Prescott" in WALKING TALL: LONE JUSTICE (2007).

To me, Sorbo is miscast as a hard-ass lone justice type of action hero--he's just too loose and easygoing, not exactly cut from the same material as Joe Don Baker, Bo Svenson, or The Rock. Most of the time he seems as though he'd rather be in something lighter, with more chances to toss off mildly witty lines and look bemused, and when he has to be really serious he's not all that convincing.

But the story has to give his character something to become really righteously vengeful about, of course, so it turns out his girlfriend Katie (Yvette Nipar) is a federal agent whose testimony is about to put a really bad drug kingpin named Perez (Rodrigo De La Rosa) behind bars. As you might guess, she and the other witnesses are brutally gunned down by Perez' goons, so Nick turns into a one-man killing machine and goes out looking for some "lone justice", WALKING TALL-style.

Or not. Actually, he rescues the surviving witness from another attempted hit and takes her to his mom's house in his tiny hometown in Texas to hole up and wait for the bad guy's trial to resume. So instead of going out looking for the bad guys, the bad guys come to him. And he isn't quite "lone"--there's two local lawmen and a few feds helping him out. It's not exactly the brand of heroic exploits that made Buford Pusser famous. So how does this even qualify as a "Walking Tall" movie as opposed to your usual grade-B action flick? I don't know.

Most of the cast are pretty good. Yvette Nipar is likable as Kate, and 15-year-old Haley Ramm (young Jean Grey in X-MEN: THE LAST STAND) gives possibly the best performance of the movie as Kate's daughter, Samantha, who naturally ends up in the clutches of a bad guy with a gun to her head as he growls at Nick to "drop the gun!" (In an early scene, Sam's mother tells her that Nick will be walking her to school in the morning, and she quips, "Great...I'll be on a milk carton by noon.") One of the other feds looks sorta like a grown-up "Beaver" Cleaver, which is always fun. And this movie has some pretty good bad guys in it, especially De La Rosa as "Perez." He plays the part with an understated menace that lends realism to the character except for the times when the script forces him to act like the standard bugged-out villain.

The action starts early with one of the oldest cliches in the book--our hero strolls into a convenience store and finds himself in the middle of a hold-up, in which the spittle-sputtering robbers little realize that they've just stumbled into a "Walking Tall" movie and are about to confront the star of it. It's the sort of thing that happened to Dirty Harry a lot, but instead of pulling out a hand cannon and blasting away, Nick Prescott pops up from behind some shelves, throws a can of whole-kernel corn, and knocks out the clerk. Then he takes out the totally ineffective gunmen with some clumsy moves that would have Chuck Norris either laughing his ass off or setting his TV on fire just by looking at it.

Some of the scenes here and there manage to get pretty good, especially the one in which Nick is trying to hide the gravely-wounded witness as a hit squad stalks the hospital looking for her. There's a thumb-snipping bloody torture sequence later on that should set your nerves on edge. And a confrontation between the good guys and the bad guys in a remote cornfield starts out well, but soon falls victim to what proves to be this movie's ultimate downfall as a whole--the outta control non-stop stylistic freakout of its aptly-named director, Tripp Reed.

The camerawork and editing here are an ADD nightmare--Twitchy-Zoom, Shaky-Cam, speed-up/slow-down and double-image effects, focus fiddling, sequences that appear as though the film were simply chopped up and stuck back together at random and then sprayed with Cheez-Whiz, and every other pointlessly distracting effect you can think of.  If that kind of stuff doesn't really irritate you, great, but if it does, prepare to be really irritated.

The unfortunate thing about WALKING TALL: LONE JUSTICE is that there might actually be a fairly entertaining low-grade shoot-em-up here if you didn't have all that visual confetti flying at you from beginning to end. In the future, director Tripp Reed needs to stop trippin', settle down, and use what talent he seems to have trying to shoot a movie that doesn't fidget all over the place like a speed freak in Sunday School.

WALKING TALL: LONE JUSTICE -- Movie Review by Porfle

RONDO -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/27/19

 

"Sex. Murder. Revenge." is the tagline for the colorfully noirish RONDO (Artsploitation Films, 2018), and it's as good a summary of the action as you could ask for.  Even better if you preface it with the words "Really, Really Twisted" and then add a few expletives such as "Yikes!" and "Holy squibs, Batman!"

Indy filmmaker Drew Barnhardt has written a doozy of a weird-but-fun script and directed the heck out of it by spinning his low budget into cinematic gold that looks as sharp and visually interesting as most movies you'll see on the big or small screen. And he has the kind of cast to work with in which there is no weak link.

Paul (Luke Sorge) is a PTSD-plagued war vet living with his sister Jill (Brenna Otts), who sends him to a therapist for help. Her diagnosis is odd--she not only suggests Paul keep drinking, but recommends he get a "good lay" and turns him on to a local fetish group that meets in a high-rise apartment where the password is (you guessed it) "Rondo."

The narrative up till then seems pretty straightforward, albeit with some distinct tongue-in-cheek touches like an overly arch narrator dispensing exposition and a bone dry, deadpan sense of humor that really comes into play after the "therapist prescribes drunken fetish orgy to disturbed war vet" moment.

What to reveal without spoiling it...?  Suffice it to say that once Paul says the magic word "Rondo" he enters into a world of illicit sex of the extremely weird kind.  And since RONDO is a horror-thriller with the tagline "Sex. Murder. Revenge.", things don't go well. In fact, Paul finds himself hunted by very bad people and his sister Jill gets sucked into the whole very sordid and very, very bloody affair.

It's sexy but in a "I feel so dirty" kind of way, and then comes the violence and extreme gore and nail-biting suspense which Barnhardt stages like a seasoned pro, pulling off several whiplash-inducing plot twists that yank the rug right out from under us. 

This is especially true during the scene where a couple of ruthlessly efficient killers invade Jill's home late at night while she and Paul are asleep, and in another sequence later on which finds Jill foolishly offering herself up as a sexual submissive in hopes of infiltrating the "Rondo" collective. 

Hitchcock fans may recognize a couple of plot elements that are very similar to PSYCHO and darn near as effective, including the introduction of a strong, take-charge character halfway through the story who we feel is going to really get to the bottom of this whole demented business and kick a few bad guy butts.

I also kept thinking that the oddball dialogue, quirky characters (especially the irredeemably vile villains), and off-kilter situations which quickly escalate into nerve-wracking peril for the protagonists were a lot like what might happen if Quentin Tarantino and Dean Koontz got peanut butter on each other's chocolate and vice versa.

Anyway, you got your prolifically-homicidal bad guys, your good guys drawn into a (seemingly) inescapable death trap of horror, graphic violence and gore, that irresistible Tarantino/Koontz sort of zing, and a director who makes it all look good. What's left? Ah, yes...revenge. 

That's where we find out that the tagline isn't just three separate words, but the ingredients which blend together into one of the most satisfying "revenge porn" endings you'll ever see.  As good as RONDO has been up till then--and it's been very, very good--it's during the last five or ten minutes when several dozen well-placed squibs give us that warm, fuzzy feeling that all's right with the world.


Official webpage

Watch the trailer



    Format: DVD
    Catalog: ART65
    UPC: 851597006759
    Number of discs: 1
    Country: USA
    Language: English (captions available)
    Rating: NR
    Year: 2018
    Length: 88
    Audio: Dolby 5.1
    Aspect ratio: 1.77:1    
    Bonus features: Director's commentary,
                    music commentary,
                    deleted scenes (with and without commentary),
                    art featurette,
                    two trailers

RONDO -- DVD Review by Porfle

HARMONIUM -- DVD Review by Porfle

HARMONIUM, aka "Fuchi ni tatsu" (Film Movement, 2016), is a very neatly-rendered Japanese film by director Kôji Fukada (SAYONARA, AU REVOIR L'ETE) which should appeal to anyone who wants a little more tragedy in their lives. Or at least in their movies.

I thought at first it was going to be some kind of harrowing CAPE FEAR-type thriller.  After all, it's about a fairly normal family--a somewhat distant, disaffected husband and father Toshio (Kanji Furutachi), his dutiful, religious wife Akié (Mariko Tsutsui), and their sweet young daughter Hotaru (Momone Shinokawa)--suddenly having to deal with Toshio's ex-convict friend Yasaka (Tadanobu Asano), who comes seeking employment and a place to stay after an eleven-year stretch in prison for murder.

Gradually we learn that there's more to Yasaka's crime than anyone realizes--namely, Toshio's involvement, for which he went unpunished and free to live his life (which he takes for granted) while his friend languished behind bars.

We feel about as awkward as Akié about the whole thing and wait for the violence and terror to begin, but a funny thing happens--Yasaka turns out to be a gentle, patient, and seemingly caring man who's everything that Akié could want in a husband. 

He even takes the time to teach Hotaru how to play the harmonium for her upcoming talent concert, assuming the role of both teacher and surrogate father. In short, he's starting to make Toshio look like yesterday's chopped liver.

Already this scenario has the potential to turn out a number of bad ways, and all we can do is grit our teeth in quiet dread and wait to see what direction it takes. 

This is exacerbated by the growing closeness between Yasaka and Akié, with the ex-convict covetously regarding Toshio's life as the one he himself should have had. Eventually, we fear, he'll begin to take whatever steps are necessary to make that a reality.

And yet even at this point, HARMONIUM refuses to settle into the course we keep predicting for it.  After a single shocking moment that drastically changes everything, the rest of the tale comes to us more in a haze of resignation and regret than anything resembling your standard thriller. 

The fear and anxiety are still there, but not because we're worried about any kind of violence and retribution.  Instead, we must watch the dissolution of a family that has lost its reason to exist and descended into suicidal despair. 

Not even the promise of possible revenge, legal or otherwise, is enough to hold them together.  They're like a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces falling away one by one. 

Kôji Fukada directs it all with crisp, economical efficiency and is blessed with a cast who give their all in their roles.  While lacking the usual tension and suspense of a thriller, the story holds us firmly in a grip of morbid curiosity as to just how much worse things can get for these poor people.

HARMONIUM resembles a Park Chan-wook "vengeance trilogy" tale without the climactic visceral catharsis.  Instead, we're left only with the mundane sadness of everyday existence amplified by the crushing weight of circumstances too heavy to bear.  It's an effective slice-of-tragedy story that will leave you heartsick.

Buy it from Film Movement

DVD Extras:
Interview with star Kanji Furutachi
Bonus Kôji Fukada short film "Birds"
Film Movement trailers

5.1 Surround Sound/2.0 Stereo
Japanese with English subtitles
1.66:1 widescreen
120 minutes

HARMONIUM -- DVD Review by Porfle

EVEN LAMBS HAVE TEETH -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 5/7/17

 

If you're partial to rape-revenge movies but I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is just too serious and downbeat, you'll probably love EVEN LAMBS HAVE TEETH (2015).  It's kind of like a Romy and Michele movie if Romy and Michele got abducted and forced into prostitution, and then escaped and started killing everybody.

Things start out with a definite tongue-in-cheek tone as ditzy blondes Sloan (Kirsten Prout, ELEKTRA, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE) and Katie (Tiera Skovbye) make their way into the heart of Yokelvania to work at a "community supported agricultural farm" for a month just to earn enough money to spend a weekend shopping in New York.

But the film takes a serious turn on the way to the farm when these borderline farcical characters meet up with a couple of semi-handsome country boys who give them a ride in their pickup and take them home to meet Mother (Gwynyth Walsh, best known as Klingon sister "B'Etor Duras" in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS).

 

Two drugged cups of java later, Sloan and Katie are chained inside a couple of cargo containers in a field somewhere while a procession of horny hillbillies pay to have sex with them. None of them, needless to say, is a prize, but the worst is the grunting psycho in the pig mask. (His identity is one of the film's best surprises.)

This traumatic sequence is when the movie is at its most hopeless and grim, since a good rape-revenge flick must build up sufficient "hate points" against the bad guys for us to welcome seeing them get theirs in the most horrible ways possible. 

Which, of course, is exactly what happens when the girls manage to escape on the eve of their "retirement" and, after a fun-filled shopping spree at a hardware store, they go after their erstwhile captors and customers with a manic, bloodthirsty glee.  (And I'm not even giving anything away since all of this is right there in the trailer.)



EVEN LAMBS HAVE TEETH is directed by Terry Miles, who previously gave us such films as STAGECOACH: THE TEXAS JACK STORY and LONESOME DOVE CHURCH.  From its first moments--a pleasantly amusing main titles sequence which bodes well for the film's technical merits--it easily maintains a breezy watchability throughout its length, with good performances all around.

Michael Karl Richards ("Stargate: Universe") co-stars as Katie's uncle Jason, an FBI agent investigating the girls' disappearance, while Craig March is backwoods slime personified as the crooked Sheriff March.  The rest of the cast is filled with plenty of colorful yokel-types, some merely comical and others richly deserving the horrible deaths in store for them.

Naturally, Sloan and Katie's rip-roarin' rampage of revenge is this Twinkie's sweet cream filling and it doesn't disappoint.  It may not be quite as gory as you'd imagine, but it's still plenty splattery and the girls display both a giggly industriousness and lots of imagination as they go about their bloody business, hacking their way up the slime chain right to the top--Mother and her two rotten sons--for the film's lively, satisfying climax. 

While not exactly world-shaking or terribly original, EVEN LAMBS HAVE TEETH is a candy-coated revenge romp that's as much fun as a box of glazed donuts.  Splattered with blood, that is. 

EVEN LAMBS HAVE TEETH -- Movie Review by Porfle

Awesome John Matuszak Car Stunt Scene ("ONE MAN FORCE", 1989) (video)

 

Pro football legend John Matuszak was a really big dude...

...who delivered some really big vehicular action thrills...

...in this scene from his frantic 80s action classic "One Man Force"!


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Awesome John Matuszak Car Stunt Scene ("ONE MAN FORCE", 1989) (video)

"THE FLOOD" Release Date Announcement & Official Trailer

 

OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE ANNOUNCEMENT

"THE FLOOD"

Arrives on DVD, VOD and Digital Platforms This November

 

When a woman's husband, daughter, land and innocence are ripped from her, she embarks on a brutal journey of retribution and revenge.

WATCH TRAILER:

Release Date: November 2, 2021 (Digital, VOD & DVD)
Written/Directed By: Victoria Wharfe McIntyre
Produced By: Victoria Wharfe McIntyre, Amadeo Marquez-Perez
Starring: Alexis Lane, Shaka Cook, Dean Kyrwood, Dalara Williams
Distributor: 4Digital Media
Production Company: Wagtail Films
Genre: Western Action
Rating: N/A
Language: English
Runtime: 117 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1
Audio: 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo
Bonus Features: Audio Commentary with Director and Producer, Behind The Scenes

SYNOPSIS:
Set during WWII this is the story of Jarah’s coming-of-age in a brutal and lawless land – growing from a sweet child to a strong, independent and ferocious woman taking on Australia’s corrupt and bigoted system one bad guy at a time. In the best tradition of the gunslinging outlaw, when the enigmatic Jarah is pushed to the limit she explodes in a fury of retribution. But for a revenge western there is a surprising series of twists and turns that lead us closer to redemption and reconciliation.

---------------------------
For more information about THE FLOOD:
IMDB

"THE FLOOD" Release Date Announcement & Official Trailer

Supernatural Horror Title "NO SIN UNPUNISHED" to Debut on DVD this January 21st -- Watch the Trailer HERE!

Monarch Home Entertainment Presents

"NO SIN UNPUNISHED"

On DVD January 21st

La Vergne, Tennessee (Monday, December 16th, 2019) - No Sin Unpunished is a horror film from production house King Windom. Developed by director Matt Green (Digging Up Graves), the film focuses on Taryn. Abused in a foster home, Taryn is killed to keep her quiet. From the grave, Taryn seeks the help of a clairvoyant, to uncover the secret of her death. No Sin Unpunished will release this January, through Monarch Home Entertainment. And, the film stars: Jonathan Horne (Your Worst Nightmare), Amber Erwin (The Gifted), Krissy Notes, Ron Prather and Alonzo Ward.

The film’s official trailer shows more of Taryn’s (Erwin) struggle . After her death, the clairvoyant begins to have visions of Taryn’s murder. Searching for clues, this connection to the dead discovers evidence of an untimely death. But, the local authorities believe Hero (Horne)  is the one responsible for Taryn’s murder.

WATCH THE OFFICIAL TRAILER:

Monarch Home Entertainment will show No Sin Unpunished, on DVD, this January 21st. This release has not been rated. And, the DVD cover is available now, ahead of the 2020 release. Available for pre-orders, No Sin Unpunished blends the supernatural with the gifted, in this unique release.

Official synopsis: Taryn Melwood was abused as a teen by Sheriff John Stone, her foster father. Now a young adult, Taryn is trying to pull her life together when the sexually-obsessed Stone stalks and kills her. In the three days between her death and ghostly eternal-afterlife, her spirit bonds with the clairvoyant Hero, when he contacts her. Taryn and Hero must race the clock to expose Stone as the abuser and murderer so she can have a peaceful afterlife.

Street Date: January 21st, 2020
Rating: Not Rated
SRP: $19.95
Genre: Horror
Cat #: MHV 7985
UPC: 723952079855
Run Time: 85 Minutes.
Release Date: January 21, 2020 (DVD).

Director/writer: Matt Green.

Cast: Jonathan Horne, Amber Erwin, Krissy Notes, Ron Prather and Alonzo Ward.

More details at Monarch: https://www.monarchhomeent.com/m/No_Sin_Unpunished

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/No-Sin-Unpunished-Matt-Green/dp/B07ZLJ7DQS/

Supernatural Horror Title "NO SIN UNPUNISHED" to Debut on DVD this January 21st -- Watch the Trailer HERE!

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #38: Matters and Things, "The Big Trail" (1930) (video)

Breck Coleman (John Wayne) returns to the wagon train after a long absence...

...to the surprise of the bushwackers who thought him dead.

Breck makes it clear that he still has unfinished business with them.


Read our review of "The Big Trail" HERE.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #38: Matters and Things, "The Big Trail" (1930) (video)

ICEMAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

I like a good old-fashioned revenge tale, and you can't get much more old-fashioned than 5,300 years ago.  That's when ICEMAN, aka "Der Mann aus dem Eis" (Film Movement, 2017) takes place, in some of the remotest areas of Germany, Italy, and Austria, in a time where bad guys already roamed the land and good guys felt a moral duty to hunt them down.

The main character of Kelab (Jürgen Vogel) is based on "Ötzi", a man whose frozen body was found in 1991 in a glacier where it had lain for over five millennia in the Ötztal Alps near the border between Austria and Italy.

Director and writer Felix Randau (THE CALLING GAME, NORTHERN STAR) has given him a fictional history that begins when he goes off from his village to hunt for food, whereupon a gang of three homicidal sadists descend upon the peaceful collective and wipe out everyone in sight, raping and pillaging before setting fire to all the huts--some with children inside--and making off with the tribe's most sacred religious artifact.

It's one of the most simple set-ups there is, with a returning Kelab grief-stricken beyond belief and, naturally, grimly determined to hunt down the murderers of his wife and son and recover the holy McGuffin.  Making this more difficult for him is the fact that his newborn foster child has survived, and Kelab must take along both the baby and a goat for milk. 

What makes ICEMAN different from the usual revenge tale--besides the unusual time frame--is that Kelab is a decent, peace-loving man who, even after the outrage committed against his people, fits awkwardly into the role of avenger.  It's a deep moral dilemma for him, but one which he must resolve one way or another.

The primitive conditions during the prolonged chase sequence give this quest a unique flavor.  Basically, it's simply one man doggedly trudging through the harsh, often frozen wilderness after three equally dogged men who sometimes turn around and fire arrows at him.  And even during this conflict, the men must all deal with the ever-present matter of basic survival.

Though sparsely inhabited, the trail brings Kelab into contact with a few interesting strangers.  One young man whom he rescues from yet another pair of murderous thieves tries to partner up with him but is shunned by the mournful loner.  Then he encounters a rarity for those times--a gray-haired older man (special guest star Franco Nero), whose young female companion (daughter? mate?) ardently desires sexual congress with Kelab for reasons we'll soon discover.

The film itself is beautifully shot and directed in authentic locations with very fluid camerawork.  Performances are spot-on and very believable, with Jürgen Vogel just right as a regular guy forced into extraordinary circumstances and faced with the daunting task of avenging both his own family and his entire tribe. 

Just how willing Kelab is to become a killer himself will help give the story a resonant ending which invites more than a little contemplation.  With elements of QUEST FOR FIRE, JEREMIAH JOHNSON, and a few other films that may come to mind while you're watching it, ICEMAN still manages to be a unique, thought-provoking, and emotionally resonant vicarious adventure into the distant past which is also relevant for today. 


Order it from Film Movement

Also available on iTunes, Fandango, Vudu
Available 5/21/19

2.35:1 widescreen
5.1 Surround/2.0 Stereo
Bonus: Making-of featurette, Trailer

ICEMAN -- DVD Review by Porfle

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #34: Not My Friend, "The Big Trail" (1930) (video)

Frontier scout Breck Coleman (John Wayne) confronts the men he suspects...

...of murdering his friend and stealing his wolf pelts.

The trail they're on definitely isn't big enough for all of them.

And Coleman lets this be known in no uncertain terms...


(Read our review of the movie HERE.)




I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #34: Not My Friend, "The Big Trail" (1930) (video)

"CROSSED THE LINE" Ice-T Revenge Drama Arrives on Digital and DVD/BD -- See The Trailer HERE!

NOVUS CONTENT AND GRAVITAS VENTURES INVITE HOME AUDIENCES TO EXPERIENCE THE REVENGE CRIME DRAMA

"CROSSED THE LINE"

Starring Ice-T, Caryn Ward, La'Myia Good, Lauren Pendington, Shanell Mondane and Vanessa A. Williams, CROSSED THE LINE is the story of 4 sisters wronged by a local kingpin. Fueled by family loyalty and a desire for justice, they set out for vengeance.

Arriving On VOD And Digital HD On Leading Digital Platforms And DVD/BD On January 29, 2019

CROSSED THE LINE (OFFICIAL TRAILER)

SYNOPSIS
A young woman refuses to bow down to the local criminal kingpin who wants to take control over her late mother's flower shop in order to run drugs. However, when he crosses the line, she and her siblings seek revenge.

PROGRAM INFORMATION
VOD: Available on Cable, Apple iTunes and other Leading Digital Providers
DVD/BD: Available at Amazon, Walmart.com, Target.com, BN.com, Best Buy and other leading retailers across the country.

Directed By: Dennis Conrad
Written By: Dennis Conrad & Laura Scheiner
Starring: Ice-T, Caryn Ward, La'Myia Good, Vanessa Williams, Sam Sarpong, Lauren Pendington, Shanell Mondane
Producers: Dennis Conrad, Ice-T, David Japka, Sean Butler
Production Company: Back Of The Bus Productions
Distribution: Gravitas Ventures and Novus Distribution

Run Time: 92 Minutes
Rating: NR
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 
Language: English

"CROSSED THE LINE" Ice-T Revenge Drama Arrives on Digital and DVD/BD -- See The Trailer HERE!

Jennifer Garner in "PEPPERMINT" -- New Trailer & Poster Now Available

Jennifer Garner
"PEPPERMINT"

New Trailer & Poster

Peppermint is an action thriller which tells the story of young mother Riley North (Garner) who awakens from a coma after her husband and daughter are killed in a brutal attack on the family. 

When the system frustratingly shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerilla. 

Channeling her frustration into personal motivation, she spends years in hiding honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force - eluding the underworld, the LAPD and the FBI -  as she methodically delivers her personal brand of justice.

In Theaters from STXfilms September 7, 2018

https://www.facebook.com/PeppermintMovie/
https://twitter.com/peppermintmovie
https://www.instagram.com/peppermintmovie/
https://www.peppermint.movie/
#PeppermintMovie


WATCH THE TRAILER

Jennifer Garner in "PEPPERMINT" -- New Trailer & Poster Now Available

5TH STREET -- DVD Review by Porfle

It looks like it's going to be yet another variation on the classic revenge thriller, but 5TH STREET (Indican Pictures, 2013) veers its way through enough unexpected twists and turns to keep us both guessing and thinking.

Writer Eric Arthur Martinez stars as Joe Montoya, a chiropractor whose loving relationship with wife Sarah (Anne Leighton) is about to be blessed with child.  But while hunting for a new house, they enter a way-wrong neighborhood where Sarah is shot down in the middle of a sudden gang hit.

Before you can say "Death Wish" the newly-widowed Joe, now mad with grief, gets armed and forms a plan to find out who was responsible for the killing so that we can enjoy some good old-fashioned bloody payback.  He even enlists a couple of dads who've suffered similar unavenged losses as his crew.

The story chugs along as expected for awhile.  It's a slowburn that we know is building to something while keeping us pretty occupied even during a few slightly draggy spots.  Making it all the more watchable is the solid direction by Alex Meader, who delivers a quality indy film that looks good.

While Joe and his guys work their way up the criminal food chain, we see the big fish Beto (Christian Monzon), a cold-blooded narcissist who does business in sadistic fashion that even has his own men in fear of what he'll do next. 

But even Beto is a loving father, which is just one of the ways 5TH STREET screws around with our expectations.  Joe himself meets a vivacious young lady named Jessica (Annie Fetchu) who works with troubled kids, and from her he's reminded of how even the good ones can go bad due to unfortunate circumstances rather than some inherent evil. (A flashback to Joe's own childhood is harrowing enough.)

So at just about the point where the usual revenge flick would be shifting into top gear, violence-wise, this one eases back and offers some food for thought.  Mind you, there's still some satisfying (though mainly non-graphic) violence against the bad guys here and there, without which I'd have felt really cheated.  But the causes and consequences of it all are thoughtfully explored as well. 

Making things more interesting is the presence of a cop, Detective Gonzalez (Joe Voltierra), who suspects Joe of being behind some recent bad-guy deaths and starts shadowing him and his friends. 
This subplot conjures still more legal and moral ambiguity for both us and the characters to ponder.

Performances are fine and, for the most part, pleasingly realistic.  The film is above-average in all technical aspects including good production design and an effective musical score.

I'll admit, there will always be a place in my DVD player for a bit of the old mindless ultra-violence as far as revenge tales go.  But in the case of 5TH STREET, it's nice to see how such a loaded premise can develop in ways other than the usual lather-rinse-repeat fashion.


Tech Specs
Runtime: 93 minutes
Format: 1:78 HD
Sound: Dolby SR
Genre: Action/Crime
Country: USA
Language: English
Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/5th-Street-Feature-Film/125797384195745

5TH STREET -- DVD Review by Porfle