New Release Tuesday (10/25/11)!!!

Must Buy DVD of the Week!

ATTACK THE BLOCK:  My favorite film of the summer (and possibly the year) hits the street today and even though this flick is in some serious danger of Over Hype I can't help but gush more fanboy love upon it.  It takes the best parts of kids wish fulfillment flicks like The Goonies & The Montster Squad, adds some hip British flavor, and drowns the score with some choice John Carpenter beats.  An absolute good time at the movies with some of the best New Monsters to come down the pipe in quite some time.  #Trust #Believe #Blockhead

Buy!

CAPTAIN AMERICA THE FIRST AVENGER:  Okay, so the last third of this movie really drives me bugnuts but the first two thirds of the movie are absolutely thrilling.  Chris Evans is spot-on as Cap and I really can't wait to blitz through the Marvel Studios movies leading up to The Avengers next year.  We Dorks live in a beautiful time.  Still, Needs More Nazis.

JURASSIC PARK TRILOGY (BLU):  It feels like it's been forever since I watched Spielberg's CGI tentpole extravaganza and I'm ready to gaze back in wonder.  I hate, hate, hate the second film but I enjoyed Joe Johnston's third film enough to reccomend.  But really this blu ray release is all about the original and Sam Jackson telling you to "Hold On To Your Butts."  However, as I type this I'm watching the new blu.  Gotta say that there's a little too much digital noise for my taste.  Not noticeable in all the scenes but in some it's rather annoying.

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (CRITERION BLU):  I think I saw this a long time ago, but if I did it was a really crappy print and I remember nothing about it.  Quite excited to see this Criterion release of one of the earliest HG Wells adaptations.  Plus, The Panther Woman!

ZOMBIE (BLU):  Such an important movie to my High School Self.  This and Gates of Hell (aka City of the Living Dead) introduced me to the splattery world of Italian Horror (and foreign films in general).  Lucio Fulci's not-really-sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead is all kinds of ridiculous (Zombie Vs Shark!) but it's a hoot of exploitation.

HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY (BLU):  I've only seen this the once.  I don't remember it being as mondo bizzaro as some of Fulci's other flicks but I do remember my friends and I cracking up at the villainous Dr. Freudenstein.  In some ways I'm more excited about this blu ray release than Zombie just to experience something semi-new to my gorehound heart.  I'm definitely in that Horror Feast kinda mood this month.

THE CONVERSATION (BLU):  I heart Gene Hackman.  If you twist my arm I might even tell you he's my favorite actor.  And The Conversation is essential Hackman viewing.  Francis Ford Coppola crafted a taught slow burn of bit of paranoia that definitely deserves a place next to The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.  Not enough folks talk about this film anymore it seems and that's a damn shame.  

RARE EXPORTS A CHRISTMAS TALE:  The story of demonic Santas wreaking havoc across Finland is not only hilarious in its absurdity it's also rather effective as a horror tale.  Rare Exports definitely eats its cake and has it too and if you missed it in the art houses than you definitely owe it to yourself to grab the blu ray.  

ROGER CORMAN CULT CLASSICS LETHAL LADIES COLLECTION:  I love TNT Jackson.  It's simple, cheesy blaxploitation fun.  Never seen Firecracker but the trailer below definitely gets my Corman Dork Heart thumping.  And I hear Too Hot To Handle is only so-so.  That being said, Shout Factory rarely disappoints with its Roger Corman Cult Classics line and I'm willing to drop the cash for each one of their releases.

Rent!

FACES IN THE CROWD:  Milla Jovovich develops facial blindness after she survives an attack from serial killer Tearjerk Jack.  I'm gonna go ahead and guess this films sucks, but I have a soft spot for Jovovich and I'll give it a spin in the player.

--Brad

Dork Art: Fantastic Mondo Horror!

19.5" x 37.5" $40

Tomorrow at a typically random time, Mondo will finally put their Fantastic Fest posters up for sale on their site.  And as usual, they are beautiful.  My favorite is definitely the Phantom City Creative print of The Gate, which is one of my favorite Kids vs. Monsters movies.  But you can't really go wrong with that trilogy of Fulci art in The Beyond, Zombie, and Hosue By The Cemetery (all three of which will be getting the blu ray treatment fairly soon).

24"x36" $40

24"x36" $45

18"x24" $35

--Brad

A Fistful of Horrific Death! (Brad's Picks)

For the month of October, we here at ITMOD are going to be dishing out Horror themed Fistful Fridays (yes, I know it's Moday.  We're gonna get back on schedule here).  First up, we're celebrating our favorite Horror Film Deaths.  And as much as I would love to show off some obscure selections I gotta be honest and go with the classics.


5.  The Head Pop (Scanners):  Stare into the void that is the gif below, gaze upon it's beauty.  Gross.  Scanners may be far from my favorite Cronenberg flick (Videodrome!  The Fly!  Eastern Promises!  So hard to choose) but you gotta bow down to that Head Pop gore effect.  Go Ironside Go!

4.  The Splinter (Zombie):  This pseudo-sequel to Dawn of the Dead was my first incursion into the brutality of Italian Giallo and I was never quite the same.  But to choose one death from this gore fest is quite tough; I had to fight the dramatic urge to choose the infamous Zombie vs. Shark sequence.  But The Splinter bit is easily the most (honestly) terrifying moment from the film.  Suspense stretched to ridiculous lengths as one of the island zombies slllllllooooooooowwwwwwwwwlllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy drags the unfortunate maiden to her splintery doom.  Fulci definitely separates the men from the boys.

3.  The Chestburster (Alien):  Forget Rosemary's Baby, the scariest birth in cinematic history belongs to the Xenomorph bursting forth from Space Trucker Cain's chest as the crew of the Nostromo attempt to chow down on their evening meal.  I wish I could experience this for the first time every time.  I originally saw this flick when I was 11 or 12.  It was traumatizing.  Scary, scary, scary.  But it was also AWEsome.  Having now seen the film 50 times or so the AWE has dwindled a touch, but the effect is still astonishing and quite unsettling 

2.  The Jaws of Death (Jaws):  Robert Shaw's Quint has seen and survived the horrors of war, and he's developed quite a chip on his shoulder as a result.  But when he comes face to face with The Great White even the ultimate Man's Man will succumb to nature's Jaws of Death.  This was the first Death on Screen that really shook me up as a kid.  It was like watching my grandfather meet his teethy fate.  Hard to wrap my child's brain around such a horror.

1.  The Chest Mouth (The Thing):  My all time favorite straight-up, scary as hell Monster Movie.  And it's intro via Norris' not quite heat attack is still as effectively horrifying today as it was in 1982.  Rob Bottin's mastery of visual effects is the stuff of cinematic legend and deserves to be hung on a wall next to your favorite Picassos.  I'm thinking you're going to be seeing a lot of The Thing in these upcoming Fistful Fridays.  Prepare yourself.

--Brad

Lucio Fulci's Zombie Blu Ray!

When I was fourteen years old I discovered Horror films when my buddy Jason brought over a copy of Clive Barker's Hellraiser.  From there I started reading Barker's novels, Stephen King (which lead to my discovery of Stanley Kubrick via The Shining), and Richard Laymon.  Then I discovered Lucio Fulci.  And my life was forever changed.  The first film I devoured was Fulci's Zombie, the unofficial sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.  Worm Eyes!  Slow Motion Eyeball Impalings!  Zombies vs Sharks!  From there it was Italian Horror all the time; the rest of my high school years were consumed with that very particular form of exploitation.  I fell in love with Gates of Hell (aka City of the Living Dead), The House By The Cemetery, and The Beyond.

Now, the good folks at Blue Underground are finally awarding us dorks with a blu ray edition of Fulci's zombie island horror and it looks utterly fantastic.  Just hearing that score sends goosebumps across my flesh. I'm gonna need to do a Fulci Movie Night at this apartment soon.  Invite all my uninformed friends over for some gooey Italian cinema.

--Brad