Nicky_Cage

As a Dolph fan it's great seeing him in bigger films again (Creed II (2018), Aquaman (2018), The Expendables 4 (2023)) and with this film finally returning to the director's chair in over a decade (with the last film, Icarus (2010) going through quite some changes from Dolph's original version), but don't worry he's still got it!

Unlike what you might expect from a Dolph and Adkins movie, this plays off more like a drama in the first 50 minutes and only after that dipping heavily into the action. The story itself keeps you engaged with Dolph and Adkins as long as you're a fan of either actors, but does have its flaws. The building that's being blown up within 90 minutes doesn't have any 'rush' to it, most characters act rather casual and the few locations where there are explosions planted (and they can't use guns) end up having little impact either. There are also plenty of other little gripes (rarely reloading guns, gunshots echoing through the building with nobody outside noticing, people falling off the building while dozens are watching it, etc), but they don't really affect the enjoyment of the film and are semi-forgivable considering tons of action movies have these smaller 'flaws' as well.

While the characters of Dolph and Adkins are well-developed the bad guys are as generic and uninteresting as you can get and sadly the 'leader' of the bad guys is a stunt performer (Scott Hunter), but his fights ended up rather disappointing. As for the rest of the action scenes, they're well directed, choreographed, edited and performed.

Some transitions (especially at the beginning) felt a little rough and the soundtrack also wasn't great (and even slightly out of place at moments), but in general this is a well-made DTV film that will please any Dolph or Adkins film.

After having enjoyed The Resonator: Miskatonic U (2021) and really feeling it was a step-up from some of Full Moon's other recent films, this sequel felt a bit underwhelming. Just like the previous (and upcoming) film, it again is split up/consists of 2 episodes, "The Rise of Kathogra" and "Herbert West Returns".

This film is basically a crossover between From Beyond (1986) and Re-Animator (1985). The tone is good, the acting was decent, the numerous gory practical effects looked solid and Herbert West was well portrayed. But sadly it altogether felt a bit shallow, some switching between scenes was rather sudden, character development is non-existent and the stretching out a film into 2 'episodes' still bugs me. I understand the decision why, since they're now able to put out 1 film 3 times (2 episodes and 1 feature-length release), but it honestly doesn't feel like there's much of a feature-length movie in here (combing both and removing credits of one leaves about 48 minutes).

Although not quite on the level of The Resonator: Miskatonic U (2021) for me, I enjoyed this and it's nice seeing Full Moon getting some 'bigger' names attached again, like Michael Paré.

4.5/10.

Lost until 2012 this Pulse Pounders (1988) segment is drastically better than the second released short Trancers: City of Lost Angels (1988) which was rather underwhelming.

The story is about Said Brady (played by Barbara Crampton) visiting her recently deceased lover's estate (played by Jeffrey Combs) where she is visited by a human faced rat and a dead priest who both have different intentions for her.

Production wise, the film looks good and takes place in (what I can only guess is Charles Band's) castle. The short is filled with a thick and moody atmosphere/soundtrack and very solid performances by the small, but great cast. The only critique I have is that I would've like to see this as a feature length adaptation instead of a 25-minute short (perhaps even directed by someone like Stuart Gordon even?).

7/10.