Deadly Blessing (1981)

DEADLY BLESSING

In what many call Wes Craven’s ‘lost’ film, “Deadly Blessing” is a curious entry into his filmography as it was a transitionary period between his early brutally primal horror films “The Last House on the Left” and the “The Hills Have Eyes” to his later more supernatural mainstream efforts like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Serpent and the Rainbow”. The result comes across seriously flawed yet not without beings oddly intriguing and should easily satisfy fans ‘craven’-ing some early 80s terror.

The film opens with a young couple expecting their first child having problems with the Amish-like religious cult living next to their property. The husband ends up dead in a questionable accident and two of our lovely young ladies gorgeous friends make a trek out to the county to cheer their BFF up. Someone doesn’t take kindly to the new neighbors and bodies begin to pile up.

Compared to Craven’s earlier efforts it’s easy to see he worked his way up the Hollywood ladder as “Deadly Blessing” is much more professional looking – including dolly camera moves and actual cinematography. This also marked Craven’s first time working with professional actors, most notably Ernest Borgnine who gives the film some serious presence as the psychotic religious cult leader (not far removed from his hammy performance in “The Devil’s Rain, just on the other side of the cross). Also notable in the cast is an early role for beauty Sharon Stone who was rumored to have had an affair with Craven’s then wife and caused a bitter divorce in the process. What’s a Craven film without a few familiar faces and good ‘ol Michael Berryman, poster boy for “The Hills Have Eyes” has a large role as one of the religious members to appease fans of Craven's earlier film.

Shades of Nightmare on Elm Street?

Craven plays around with some intriguing ‘nightmarish’ sequences that were sure to later inspire scenes in his popular “Nightmare on Elm Street”, including similar bath tub sequence that substitutes a snake for Freddy’s claw. Lots of creepy imagery of spiders definitely got my skin to crawl (I hate those eight legged freaks!) especially a memorable nightmare scene where a spider actually drops into Sharon Stone’s mouth! AWWWW! I bet Craven wished it were a poisonous spider if the rumors around Stone and his ex-wife are true.

The plot however has a tendency to become convoluted, especially with all the twists towards the end and the “WTF” ending (which I dug but at the same time doesn’t make a whole lot of sense). One can tell Craven was a director-for-hire as his heart doesn’t seem to be totally into the story but he did give the film some nice atmosphere and memorable nightmarish sequences to make this easily worth digging up for fans of the horror genre. Unavailable for many years and only released on VHS eons ago, Shout Factory’s sub-label Scream Factory unleashes this lost Craven effort on Blu-ray and DVD for fans to lay their hands on. Click on the link below to purchase.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)

FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD

Aka "Frankenstein vs. Baragon"

When I was in high school and caught “Frankenstein Conquers the World” on AMC I thought the idea of having a Frankenstein monster grow to be 400’ tall to be, quite frankly, fucking stupid. Now seeing the film all these years later I can honestly say it’s still fucking stupid, entertaining, but still dumb as all hell. What else can I say other than this is a truly bizarre entry into “Toho Universe” of science fiction films that are connected to the “Godzilla” franchise.

Durring World War II the Japanese military transports a heart from Frankenstein’s laboratory in Germany to Japan for further testing. Then comes the U.S. nuclear bomb attacks irradiating then heart with radiation. Jump ahead 20 years and a couple of scientists find a awkward fella wondering the streets, killing and eating animals. It just happens to be a Frankenstein monster and its radioactive heart is causing him to grow at an incredible rate. Soon he escapes form his cage and it’s up to our Frantic scientists to find a way to put him down but Frankenstein pulls a ‘zilla’ form the crummy American “Godzilla” remake and somehow disappears without a trace. But wait… that’s not the worst part! A subterranean floppy eared dinosaur has appeared and is tearing up the countryside and eating innocent folks. Who will win this battle of towering monsters?

Director Ishiro Honda (director of the original “Godzilla”) takes the ridiculous subject matter rather seriously and that just ands to the overall cornball enjoyment of the film. What’s amazing is that the giant Frankenstein monster idea was originally devised for the film “King Kong vs. Godzilla” but eventually Frankenstein was dropped from the film and replaced with King Kong. This explains why Kong in the film grows stronger with electricity in that very film. Funny enough Toho didn’t let the ridiculous concept die and later gave the giant Frankenstein monster his own fucking film – it just boggles my mind! Godzilla fans will also take notice as Frankenstein’s foe Baragon would reappear in the Godzilla franchise in a few films, notably “Destroy All Monsters” and “Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack”.

Though I originally had trouble swallowing the concept of this film when I initially saw it, I can now actually enjoy the film in all its campy ridiculousness. The child in me just loves the idea of seeing a giant 400’ Frankenstein monster fighting a subterranean man-eating dinosaur! Also, depending on which version you watch, one can see the giant octopus from “King Kong vs. Godzilla” join the fight in the international cut of the film which just makes the comic art trashiness crash through the roof! The Tokyo Shock DVD release graciously contains all three cuts of the film (Japanese, U.S., and International Cut). Audiences in Japan had no problem with the idea of a giant Frankenstein monster and “Frankenstein Conquers the World” did well enough to warrant a sequel – “The War of the Gargantuas”.

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Thieves, The (2012)

Director: Choi Dong-hun
Notable Cast: Kim Yoon-seok, Lee Jung-jae, Kim Hye-soo, Jeon Ji-hyun, Kim Hae-sook, Oh Dal-soo, Kim Soo-hyun, Simon Yam, Angelica Lee, Derek Tsang

Initially, my impression with "The Thieves" was faulty. The film looked like a rather mundane rehash of the concept and idea behind caper films like "Ocean's Eleven", where a team of quirky characters get together to work out their differences and pull off some ridiculous theft that requires far too much effort and thought to be truly worth the money. I kept hopeful despite these thoughts going into the beautiful looking "The Thieves." The concept of a combination of Korean and Chinese cast was intriguing and the film certainly looked gorgeous, but sometimes it takes more than that to sell a film. To its benefit, "The Thieves" is a much better film than I expected even if it tended to hit the formulaic beats in the first half. Yes, the first half. It's the second half that really caught me off guard...in a great way.

It's the opportunity of a lifetime. At least for thieves any way. A group of South Korean thieves will have to team up with a group of Hong Kong thieves to make it happen though. A massive diamond is being held at a casino in Macau and a rebel thief mastermind Macau Park (Kim Yoon-seok) has to get the two teams to work together to pull it off. As tensions rise between the members, both within groups and against others, the mysteries of their pasts will begin to unfold as betrayal and double face pop up to threaten the entire operation.

Professional safe cracker...I would love to put that on a resume.

The comparisons to "Ocean's Eleven" are quite accurate in many ways. The sleek look of "The Thieves" caters to that larger than life block buster style with epic cinematography and lots of smooth Hollywood style that underlines the entire film. The often comedic bloated egos of are characters tend to be painted a little broad initially and as the groups meet to craft this caper. The acting is impressive enough to get us through a lot of the back stories as we are quickly introduced to a slew of different people and director Choi Dong-hun does an admirable job making sure the audience keeps up with the swiftly moving exposition going on so that we understand the basics of everyone's roles and where they fit into the plot.

How could I go without posting a picture of Simon Yam, one of my favorite cult actors.

Then "The Thieves" does something quite unusual. Instead of dragging out the "problems" with pulling a heist of this size, which it certainly does have as a pertinent place in the plot, it cuts right to the heist by the mid way point. At this time, I felt unsure of where the film would head after this...because it very much followed the formula of the modern caper film up to this point. Quirky characters, ridiculous odds, sleek and fun filming...but what now? At this point, the film jack knifes from comedic caper into a grittier film. A film that borderlines along the lines of a "Mission: Impossible" flick or other action packed espionage franchise. Twists and turns about who is working for who, where characters are, and what needs to accomplish for everyone to win errupt from the formula to bring the whole film to another level. Action sequences cascade down, including a fantastic gun/hand to hand fight while rappelling down the side of an apartment complex (easily the highlight of the film) and the rather mundane back stories of the first act suddenly carry deeper relevance and stronger emotional payoffs than I would have ever expected.

Hang on folks, shit gets real in the second half.

The true caper of "The Thieves" is how it sells itself in a mediocre big budget kind of way for the first half only to reveal that the true film, in the last half, is this massively effective espionage/action flick where all of the information giving is actually relevant. The film saved itself from a 2 and a half blood drop rating and kicked it to a four with this effective twist that I had no idea was coming. Choi Dong-hun definitely pulled one out from under me with his slight of hand scripting and brisk pace. Some of the sub plots might have been a bit underdeveloped (including many of the supporting cast's romantic affairs), but in the end, "The Thieves" was a visually strong and effective thriller whose own tricks worked on this reviewer.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

You know you want to be part of the action! So you might as well click the links below to score yourself a copy of "The Thieves" for its February 12th, 2013 release date courtesy of Well Go USA!

Hansel And Gretel (2007)

Director: Yim Pil-sung
Notable Cast: Jeong-myeong Cheon, Eun-kyung Shim, Eun Won-jae, Ji-hee Jin

After I discovered the existence of this film on accident via the internet, I have been waiting and waiting for this film to be released in the US. It had generally received critical acclaim, yet the elusive film remained only available in bootleg format. That is until I check Netflix Streaming a few weeks ago and voila! There it was, like it was some sort of destined event. It was my chance to finally see "Hansel And Gretel." Even though it's hard to say that this film is anything like a traditional horror film, the creativity and strong sense of style that the film presents make it a very unique viewing experience and one that definitely left its mark.

Lee Eun-soo (Jeong-myeong Cheon) is a young salesman whose lack of responsibility in his life has led him on a careening path of bad choices. When a car wreck leaves him wounded in the middle of a large forest, he is rescued by Young-hee (Eun-kyung Shim) the daughter of a family living in the woods. This seemingly too nice and pleasant family take him in to make sure he is feeling better. The two parents and their three children are almost too perfect. Things seem mysteriously off kilter. When the parents suddenly vanish over night, Lee Eun-soo is left to care for three increasingly volatile children...and a forest that won't let him leave.

"Hansel And Gretel" is not a retelling of the classic tale. That would have been too easy. What makes this Korean horror/thriller so intriguing was how it uses the themes and beats of the original children's story as a basis for an entirely new fantasy (and often disturbing) story. This is not the story of children over coming a witch. This is a story of a man seeking redemption and responsibility in the face of fantasy like elements brought on by this "world of imagination" created from the minds of those looking for love. It's a fantastic twist that really makes itself a very unique film experience, with particular nod to Yim Pil-sung's stunning visual style and odd mixture of black humor, horror, and fantasy.

At first, I thought the film was going to be a rather predictable one. I'll try not to give too much of the film's twists away here, but the beats of the film seem to be in a rather predictable formula. The film's "villains" are easy to spot in the first act, despite attempts at various red herrings, and from there the general character growth of our protagonist with the children seems to be pretty by the numbers. It doesn't make it any less effective here. The mysteries of how he will escape and who is the antagonist of the film are easily eclipsed by the eternal question of "why" and it makes "Hansel And Gretel" a fascinating watch. It's the odd depth to the writing and story progressions that made this film such an off beat success to me.

"Hansel And Gretel" also benefits from very strong execution. Although one does have to step back and keep that benefit of the doubt in their mind, the film has such a strong visual presence in how it tells the story that my pause at the ridiculousness of it all seemed far away from the front of my thoughts. The acting was superb, in particular from our protagonist and the children, and even the more broad stroke folk (like the deacon and his wife) flow right into the film and never feel that out of place.

This Korean spin on the themes of the children's story is definitely a unique and off beat film. It's often a bit cliche, but strong executions and a plot that engulfs the viewer minimize the damage created from some of its formulaic pandering. I was very curious to see Yim Pil-sung's critically acclaimed foray into horror (more so since I saw his work on "Doomsday Book") and "Hansel And Gretel" did not disappoint. Although the film is still waiting for a 'legit' US release, one should do a trial of Netflix Streaming to catch this film before it's taken down.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Son of Godzilla (1967)

SON OF GODZILLA

Well they finally did it… Toho finally degenerated Big G into a full-fledged children’s super hero that fights evil to save Earth and mankind. Not saying some of the sequels before didn’t have childish elements but here they lay it on thick form the get go pandering it to the 10 year old kids. Due to this “Son of Godzilla” has a rather mixed reputation among the older fan base. Some are offended by Toho’s approach to the character and others find the unintentional humor uproarious; which means it’s either loved or hated thus it brings out strong emotions among fans. For me I’m torn as I did enjoy some of the unintentional laughter but overall the childish approach rubbed me the wrong way.

As one can tell from the title Big G gets a son in this entry. Who the mother is I’m not quite sure but let’s not sweat the small facts (Big G could be a hermaphrodite for all I know). A scientific team testing a weather control device on what is now dubbed ‘monster island’ discover the little fella after he gets the shit kicked out of him by some giant mantis’. Godzilla isn’t the best of fathers but he tries to teach his son the hardships of life but things get a little ugly when a giant spider wakes from its slumber and puts his son’s courage to the test.

Everything about this production is light hearted and geared towards kids, even the new crummy design of the Godzilla suit. They shortened his snout to give him a less aggressive, more human face. The other monster designs are equally uninspired, most notably the look of Godzilla’s son. Fans joke he looks like the Pillsbury Dough Boy but in all reality he does, just a moldy unappetizing version. Not much creative thought went into designing the villain monsters either; a giant mantis and giant spider? That’s it? They must have took quick ‘inspiration’ from the 50s Universal flicks “Tarantula” and “The Deadly Mantis”.

I will admit that I did get a few chuckles with the interaction between Godzilla and his son who would later be called Milla. Whenever Milla doesn’t want to do something he collapses on the ground, shaking his limbs while making a squeaking sound. The best however is when Godzilla is teaching his son how to breathe fire and all his son can do is blow smoke rings, that is until Big G steps on his tail which unleashes a hellacous stream of flame.

So is “Son of the Godzilla” one of the best or worst of the franchise? Depends on who you ask because as a kids film it was entertaining enough but many die-hard fans will hate what Toho did with the character. For my personal taste it was just too childish for me to truly like thus I rarely re-view this eighth entry into the franchise. For me it was worth a few laughs but that was about it. “Son of Godzilla”, along with its predecessor “Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster”, also weren’t deemed good enough to bother with a theatrical release in the U.S. and were regulated to debut on television.

Godzilla will return in "Destroy All Monsters"

Written By Eric Reifschneider



Dredd (2012)

Director: Pete Travis
Notable Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey 

Don't let those pesky box office 'flop' numbers sway you, "Dredd" is fucking awesome. I will state that I was skeptical about rebooting this franchise initially. I have a weird love of the original film featuring Sly Stallone in the titular role, but with some odd casting choices and very specific focuses to make this film 3D made me hesitate. Don't make my mistake, oh Blood Brethren, you need to immediately scroll to the bottom of this review and purchase your copy of "Dredd" before you even finish reading. No, seriously. Do that. "Dredd" is just so completely kick ass as an action film that you should stop reading right now and buy a copy.

When a series of murders happens at a housing block known as Peach Trees, the policing force is sent to investigate. They just so happen to send Judge Dredd (Urban), a legendary man of intense justice, and his new psychic partner Anderson (Thirlby) to take care of the issues there. What the two Judges discover is that the block is being run by Ma-Ma (Headey) as a cooking and distribution plant for a new drug called Slo-Mo. Now Ma-Ma has the entire building on lock down with no way out. So the Judges take a ballsy root of action to escape...go up to the top 200th floor and confront Ma-Ma for judgement.

Dredd. A man half in the dark...where he likes it.

There will be plenty of people that compare "Dredd" to "The Raid" due to its similar plot. Yes, the plot is similar, but the two films are completely different beasts in how they go about it. "Dredd" is definitely based on a comic book and some of the more outrageous elements are key indicators of that. Psychics, drugs that slow down time, and a viciously villainous baddie who confronts all of her obstacles with extreme violence make for a rather hard to digest plot. Yet, director Pete Travis does not take the colorful and somewhat tongue in cheek method that made the first "Judge Dredd" such a love it or hate it kind of film. In fact, he takes it the other direction. He darkens the plot. Makes it gritty. Jacks up the violence to 11. Hell, he even makes our 'hero' the anti-hero we all love in the cult world. This grounds the overarching concept and makes the audience feel like its less of a comic book film and more like the rated R action film we really wanted to see instead. It works like magic.

Hope she saved that bullet for herself.

Part of why the film works so well is the inspired casting. Instead of casting a recognizable face or name in the lead role "Dredd" opts for Karl Urban, a rough and tumble cult actor whom may not have the name recognition, but has the chops and aura to pull off the unlikable badassness of the title man. He does it admirably here in the film where the helmet is never removed from the character (a choice that I just reveled in) and scowling like it was going out of style. That and the supporting cast is just as good. Thirlby is a great stark contrast to Urban's Dredd (who ironically never wears a helmet) and Headey as the villain makes for in interesting concept with her scarred face and meth addict teeth.

Fire go boom.

As if to top off the cake of strong writing, direction, and casting - the action in "Dredd" is top notch. It's brutal and well shot making the most out of the key ingredients of Dredd (including a gun with different kinds of ammo activated by voice command) and it works well with the bleak art design of the film to maximize the carnage. Pete Travis even takes full advantage of the 3D idea by punctuating certain moments in 'bullet time' with the usage of the drug 'Slo-Mo.' This gives the film an almost avant garde feel at times, like an art house action film. This is the only film I've seen so far that makes me want to see it in 3D since I skipped out on that like I do with every film.

With this second golden age of action in full swing, it's great to know that even films that bomb in the box office can be as great as "Dredd." It's an inspired look at the Dredd story on film as it bites down on the dirty and mean spirit of the character and the world he occupies. The film is just top notch all the way around. A must see, must own, must watch repeatedly kind of film.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

You heard me. Must see, must own, must watch again and again. That means you should have taken my advice in the opening paragraph and already purchased your copy. Here's your second chance. Judgment's coming.

Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003)

Director: Jonathon Mostow
Notable Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken

From my childhood, I grew an undying love and devotion to the "Terminator" franchise. One of my first memories of being in a movie theater is seeing "Terminator 2", so when this third entry came out...my entire family went to the theater to see it. It was an event, people. So needless to say, when "Terminator 3" came out as a disappointing rehash of the second film - I was shocked. Confused. Angry. Thusly, I haven't seen the film since I saw it in theaters ten years ago. It's been a decade though and it was high time that this cult film fan gave it a second look... and it still doesn't sit well with me.

John Connor (Stahl) has been on the run for ten years since they were able to avoid Judgement Day. His paranoia of the end of the world remains though and when a new terminator (Loken), a combination of classic and liquid metal models, comes back to start killing Connor and his future Lieutenants he realizes that the future has not been avoided...just postponed. Now he must rely on another friendly cyborg (Schwarzenegger) and an old flame (Danes) to try and stop Skynet from destroying the world...again.

I know they were going for contrast in the casting of the villain, but Loken simply lacks the intimidation needed for the role.

 The biggest disappointment that reigns supreme in "T3" is the fact that it rarely adds anything new. I suppose a half assed romantic subplot is something slightly new to the franchise, but beyond that "T3" is truly "T2" rehashed with different characters and different action sequences. It's as if the makers of the film had nothing truly new to say about anything in the "Terminator" mythos so decided to cash on making an action film that thinks its clever. Nothing irritates me more than a film that thinks its clever when its so obviously not. For a science fiction film, it tends to force a lot of its "new" concepts out there including our new villain, a terminator terminator who rarely puts the frights in the audience like Arnold or Patrick did in the previous films. The plot is often rehashed and what is new doesn't necessarily make sense which is frustrating considering how well the blend worked previously.

That yellow bastard.

Then, of course, the film tries to recreate some of the humorous moments that "Terminator 2" pulled off. Because of the lacking depth and thought in the plot/characters though, the humor comes off as too tongue in cheek and is either completely hit or miss. Arnold talking into a man's hand when told "talk to the hand"? Pretty funny. Arnold pulling out stripper star sunglasses to wear as a visual punchline? Not funny at all.

All new meaning to 'wake of death.'

This odd over the top humor does lend itself to some outrageousness when it comes to the action sequences. If there is any reason that "T3" gets the rating that it does, it's because the action sequences are fun and exciting. Although having a crane truck chase seems redundant at this point (with both the previous films having massive semi chases), director Mostow does go all out with it swinging the massive arm to destroy buildings cars and even having Arnold hang from it and being pummeled with debris. The action is a blast to watch, who doesn't want to see one cyborg smash a urinal over the head of a female cyborg, and when "T3" sticks to the outrageousness of its action - then the film is enjoyable.

In the end though, "T3" is just a disappointment. Yes the film is fun and the action is potently over the top, but in comparison to the previous films, which pulled that off AND had great writing on top of that, "T3" stumbles right out of the gate. It's rehash "T2" with less pull and far weaker execution.

At least "Terminator: Salvation" tried something new.

Written By Matt Reifschneider

Need to complete your "Terminator" franchise? Well, "Terminator 3" is damn cheap. Click the links below to fight the future.

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)

GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER

Aka "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep"

Toho started feeling the pinch in the late 60s as they were starting to get clobbered by competition emitting from television stations. It’s hard for us to realize today but television series really hit the film market hard in the 60s as the quality of shows started to skyrocket and people where staying home instead of venturing out to theaters for their entertainment. As a result the budgets for their films fell and the first of the “Godzilla” franchise to feel the pinch was “Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster” and the pinch left a bruise, a deep purple puss filed bruise that was sure to scar the franchise forever.

We open with a young man and a group of guys that sail out to sea in order to find his lost brother. He takes this as fact because a psychic declares he lives! Their ship instead gets sunk by a giant lobster and they wash ashore on a island that terrorists are using to manufacture nuclear weapons. Unable to escape do to the giant arthropod scuttling off shore, they are lucky enough to find Godzilla sleeping in cave and they wake his ass up by, get this, attracting a lightning bolt to a sword! Big G then wakes up to save the day.

Fans may get a “King Kong” vibe from the plot and they should as this was originally intended to be a vehicle for the giant ape, whom Toho still retained the rights for after making “King Kong vs. Godzilla”. Though Toho did give Kong his own film with “King Kong Escapes”, Toho decided to replace Kong with Godzilla as he as a more marketable name at the time. This explains why Godzilla gets awoke by electricity (a plot device for Kong as seen in “King Kong vs. Godzilla”), likes to throw boulders and even gets infatuated by the beauty of a local girl which are all King Kong plot staples.

The lower budget also reared its ugly head as this time Toho decided to have the entire film take place on an island, which would become the setting for multiple sequels to come. This insured the budget would be kept low as they wouldn’t spend all this time and money on creating miniature model cities for Godzilla to stomp on. Also out was director Ishirô Honda and in comes Jun Fukuda, director of many of the lesser entries to come. With Fukuda the series even degenerates more into making Godzilla a “superhero” as opposed to a menace of death and destruction and even starts to pander the character more to children, which would hit full force with the next entry.

Any way you look at it “Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster” is a disappointment. Godzilla doesn’t show up until an hour into the film and he even has his worst fight ever with a giant condor, so poorly filmed the audience can’t tell what the fuck is going on. The budget constraints show up everywhere from the plot, setting and costume design and to top it off it doesn’t even feel like a Godzilla movie as it was originally written for King Kong. I also forgot to mention Mothra has a completely thankless cameo. “Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster is good for a few laughs but only for the most die-hard and forgiving fans of Big G.

Godzilla will return in "Son of Godzilla"

Written By Eric Reifschneider

Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER

Aka "Godzilla vs. Monster Zero", "Monster Zero"

The monster melee approach to the last “Godzilla” film “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster” proved to be a huge success so Toho continue the trend with this sixth entry into the franchise except for one minor difference… this time it’s on another planet! As you can tell director Ishirô Honda succeeds at making yet another campy delight into the series before the big green guy started to descend down a dark highway of despair and ilk.

A new planet, cleverly dubbed ‘Planet X’ (is this “Duck Dodgers”?!), behind Jupiter. A Japanese rocket is sent to explore the new world and our two astronauts stumble across an alien race that has a little bit of a monster problem. The monster they dub “Monster Zero” is actually Ghidorah, excuse me Ghidrah, and he’s causing them quite a headache. It seems the alien race is peaceful and all they want is to borrow Earth’s monsters Godzilla and Rodan in order to defeat the beast. Being a Toho film we know this alien race can’t be trusted and soon they take control of all three monsters and unleash them on Tokyo. Whatever shall the Japs do?!

Director Ishirô Honda is no stranger to science fiction as he was the go to man for Toho in a majority of their science fiction epics, and many of his famous films in the genre include evil alien invasion plot devices. Though he toyed with aliens a bit in the last film, this love for the genre come spilling over full force in this entry as he takes his films “The Mysterians” and “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster” and slams them together to make this insanely entertaining concoction. Honda also continues his use of small instances of light hearted humor, most notable in a scene where Godzilla celebrates a win over Ghidorah with a ridiculous victory dance… one can’t make this shit up!

“Invasion of Astro Monster” (released in America as “Godzilla vs. Monster Zero” and simply “Monster Zero”) is one of my personal favorites of the “Godzilla” franchise. I thoroughly enjoyed the science fiction heavy plot and loved the idea of our monster fighting on another planet (this is the only entry where the monsters fight somewhere else other than earth). The sci fi heavy plot may turn off some fans along with the continual injection of humor but for me “Invasion of Astro Monster” is an absolute winner and would really mark the end of the solid entries of the franchise as the series would start to drown in the deep end of the pool soon after.

Godzilla will return in "Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster"

Written By Eric Reifschneider

V/H/S/2 (2013)

No official poster is yet available.

Director(s): Simon Barrett, Jason Eisner, Gregg Hale, Eduardo Sanchez, Adam Wingard, Gareth Evans, Timo Tjahjanto

*Note: At the time that I saw this film, it was under the title "S-VHS." Since that time it will be released under the title "V/H/S/2." My review still uses the original title from the Sundance showing. Just to clear up confusion I changed the film title in the main title.

"V/H/S" certainly took me by surprise with how it impressively navigated the halls and boundaries of 'found footage' horror and anthology films. Although the film wasn't great (mostly due to inconsistency between the segments), it certainly impressed above my expectations. That's why when they announced that "S-VHS", the very quickly put together sequel, would be at Sundance Film Festival this year. I had to go. Could the style actually be improved upon? What stories could they come up with to make it bigger? Was "V/H/S" a one trick pony?

 Two investigators are hired to find some lost college student. A mother hasn't heard from her son in a couple of days and she's worried. When the two investigators break into his house to look for clues to his whereabouts, they are met with an odd scene. A scantily clad place with piles of static televisions and stacks of VHS tapes scattered about. When they begin to watch the tapes to see if any of those hold clues they find a series of unexplained events on each one and with each one, they seem to be caught in one of those events themselves.

Ghostly little girls? A now favorite in the genre.

To answer those questions above in the shortest manner possible, yes, "S-VHS" does actually improve on the concept that the original film laid out. Instead of trying to create a logic to bend around the found footage style to give us new takes on some of the classic horror genres, "S-VHS" decides to say 'fuck it' and throw the attempts at logical writing out the window. To its benefit, this allows "S-VHS" to take each story to extreme new levels with more entertaining (and often surprisingly fun) results. While "V/H/S" opted for lots of 'in the moment' horror, the almost gimmicky styles of each short in this sequel allot the directors and writers for each segment to do more creative things. Camera wise, we get electronic recording eye ball implants, bicycle cameras, and even a small recoding device attached to a dog that makes each portion of the overall film a bit more unique and definitely a riot.

The tape says 'watch'...too bad I haven't owned a VCR in like five years.

To add to this, the overall feeling of the film tends to be a bit more care free. Gone is most of the darker and serious tones and in their place, "S-VHS" injects dark humor and over the top terror. Just when you don't think the film will go someplace it does. If you have an implant eye that allows you to see ghosts...wouldn't you want to get it out? How about with a straight razor. If you were investigating a cult in the rural regions of Southeast Asia...do you think they would be suicidal? Or would you think them to be demonically possessed? These are the areas that "S-VHS" treads and it makes for a film that consistently knocks up the level that it is moving towards and ultimately makes for a horrifying (and gratifying) experience.

The real question? Have bad things already happened or are they going to happen at this point...

The film is not perfect. Some of the crunchy camera edits get a bit annoying as they cover up changes of time and there are some oddities in the writing including an odd ending to the zombie POV segment that had me scratching my head, but overall I had a blast watching "S-VHS." It's another impressive addition to a franchise that is looking to be a fantastic way to cultivate mainstream attention to some of horror's great underground directors and crews. "S-VHS" might not be for everyone with its cult like tendencies, but for those looking for a fun and over the top viewing time - it comes highly suggested.

Written By Matt Reifschneider