"Scanners II" was better than it had any right to be. First of all original director/writer David Cronenberg had nothing to do with it in any any shape or form. To top that off there were no returning actors, a novice director at the helm and the regulation to direct-to-video hell. However the filmmakers rose to the occasion and the result was still a stylish, louder, faster paced film and that, in my humble opinion, was a worthy follow-up. Logic should follow that with the same crew a third film should follow suit... right? RIGHT? Oh hell no as lightning definitely did not strike twice for director Christian Duguay in the "Scanners" series.
Again the plot has no carry over actors or characters. It’s
a different group of scanners with the same type of problems.Steve
Parrish plays a
scanner that accidently kills his best friend at a Christmas party so he
decides to go all “Rambo III” and joins a monk monastery (seriously?!?!). His
down-to-earth sister (played byLiliana Komorowska)tries an experimental drug her adoptive father created and it
drives her mad, so naturally she decides to try to take over the world when by
accident she learns she can scan people through television broadcasts. Can our Coronel
Troutman stand-in convince our Rambo scanner to leave his simple way of life to
save the world?
The plot is workable andChristian
Duguaystill has style, but the problem I have is the tone of the film.
Here our director decides to go in a more cartoony direction and the result is
FAR less serious than its predecessors with many of the franchises’ iconic
scenes, like the obligatory head explosion sequence, resulting more in unintentional
laughter than shock. Was he trying something different for the franchise or was
this new tone the result of everyone involved not giving two shits as they were
drunk off the surprise success of part 2? The whole product has an aura of a cheap action flick as opposed to a cerebral piece of science fiction. In other
words it’s just lame.
As a sequel goes this is the “RoboCop 3” of the franchise.
One watches it hoping for even a light glimpse of the fire that burned so brightly
in the entries before but are disappointed to see the flame snuffed out. “Scanners
3” just lacks balls and the cartoony approach kills anything this sequel had
going for it, which is a damn shame as the filmmakers were successful with the
last entry. Surprisingly this C-grade sequel didn’t kill the franchise with “Scanner
Cop” released a few years later, with much better results.
Notable Cast: Billy
Warlock, Connie Danese, Ben Slack, Evan Richards, Patrice Jennings, Tim
Bartell, Charles Lucia, Heidi Kozak, Brian Bremer, Ben Meyerson, Devin
DeVasquez
Arrow Video Special Features
* Newly remastered 2K digital transfer of the film, approved by director Brian Yuzna * High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation * Original Stereo 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) * Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing * Brand new audio commentary by Yuzna * Governor of Society - a brand new interview with Yuzna *
The Masters of the Hunt - a brand new featurette including interviews
with stars Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Ben Meyerson and Tim Bartell * The Champion of the Shunt - new featurette with FX artists Screaming Mad George, David Grasso and Nick Benson * 2014 Q&A with Yuzna, recorded at Celluloid Screams Festival * Brian Yuzna in conversation backstage at the Society world premiere * 'Persecution Mania' - Screaming Mad George music video * Limited Edition Digipak packaging featuring newly-commissioned artwork by Nick Percival *
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Alan
Jones, illustrated with original archive stills and posters *
Society: Party Animal [Limited Edition Exclusive] - the official comic
sequel to Society, reproduced in its entirety in a perfect-bound book
The original cover.
While there are many Brian Yuzna films that remain in my
heavy rotation of film watching both as a producer (Re-Animator) and as a director (Return
of the Living Dead III), for some unknown reason the film Society has consistently evaded my
attention. Distinct memories of seeing its cover on the shelves of the local
video store and even seeing it in my brother’s collection have always made me
aware of its cult value, particularly to those of the horror fanaticism, but it
never popped up on my viewing queue. Thanks to Arrow Video’s most recent (and
valuable) attention to the film, Society
finally made its way into my viewing rotation. While the film may not be quite
as effective in its atmospheric surreal storytelling as Jacob’s Ladder or quite as disturbing with its body horror
metaphors as Cronenberg’s Videodrome,
Society is a vulgar auteur treat for
collectors if there ever was one.
The gang.
Bill Whitney (Warlock) has always felt a little out of place
among his rich family and friends in Beverly Hills. Despite his popularity and
chance to run for class president, something has been off lately. When a fellow
friend Blanchard (Bartell) unveils a secret about ‘high society,’ Bill begins
to become paranoid and the world around him begins to dissolve into a
nightmarish spiral of back stabbing, secrets, set ups, and bugs.
Much of the entertainment derives from that previously mentioned
sense of dread and the film’s dedication to slowly spiral into a full on
nightmare by the end. Arrow Video’s new and remastered 2K digital transfer of the
film really benefits a lot of Yuzna’s wicked angle camera work and horrific
visuals for the third act as it goes full blown insane with its plot. Not to
give too much away about what the “society” is (not that the film full explains
it either – it tends to leave it vague and even goes as far as to hint that it
might all be a fever dream), but the body horror tag is not a futile attempt at
giving the film something to sell itself on. Goo, body deformations, and crisp
(horrific) sound effects make the final “shunting” sequence something to see
for horror fans.
Just a hint of what's in store in act III.
Society is far
from a perfect film as some of its plot threads tend to be dropped for the sake
of taking the film further and further down the rabbit hole as it progresses.
It also happens to be much smarter than many critics and fans seem to give it
credit for and the heart that the film makers and cast put into the film (which
is apparent through all of the new interviews and commentary featured on this
release) makes it a B-grade horror classic. This release is not only highly
recommended for its quirky and shockingly thoughtful horror film, but for all
of the work that Arrow put into this latest release. Fans and the curious will
want to purchase this as soon as it drops.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
Arrow Video's release of Society hits shelves on June 9...and it's limited to 3000 copies. So order below and become a member of the upper class!
Notable Cast: Ti Lung,
Chu Mu, Tien Ching, Yu Feng, Chiang Ling, Chiang Nan
When it comes to Shaw Brothers films, it’s almost a sure
thing that the combination of actor Ti Lung and director Chang Cheh is going to
deliver some serious entertainment. For better or worse, that combo is an
effective one that the studio used time and time again with various co-stars or
co-directors attached. Going into The Delightful Forest, it’s this
simple duo that drew me to the film – although it helped that it was one of the
few Shaw Brothers releases to receive a decent Blu Ray release in the United
States (thanks to Well Go USA). However, the quality of this film surely blew away my already high
expectations. The Delightful Forest is fun, efficient in its pace, and
ultimately impactful by the time the third act wraps up. I’m up to 60 Shaw
Brothers movies under my belt now and this is one of the best that I’ve seen.
Notable Cast: Donnie Yen, Wang Baoqiang, Charlie Young,
Michelle Bai, Alex Fong, Louis Fan, Xing Yu, David Chiang, Yu Kang
The career of Donnie Yen is something to admire, whether or
not one agrees with the quality of his most recent output of films. In an era
where there were few new action stars coming out of Hong Kong, he came out
fists first and some decent acting chops second, taking the Chinese market by
storm and earning quite the impressive world wide following. For his latest martial
arts flick, Kung Fu Killer (aka Kung Fu Jungle), Yen and company
homage the classic era of martial arts while taking an obvious modern spin to
it. While it wasn’t perhaps the straight up throwback film it could have been, Kung
Fu Killer is massively entertaining.
Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen) is a well-respected martial artist who
simply went too far in a match and landed himself a five-year prison sentence.
When a serial killer (Wang Baoqiang) starts picking off his old opponents and
masters of certain aspects of martial arts, he gets a brief release to help out
a determined police officer (Charlie Young.) Will they stop the killer in time
or will Hahou Mo have to take to fighting one more time?
"Give me my phone call!"
Kung Fu Killer has one thing that is certain to
please both old school martial arts fans and new ones: heart. Director Teddy
Chan has showcased himself as a director with both style and substance already
and while his execution of the film here is a bit hit or miss, this is one
thing he gets right. The plot itself could have easily cascaded into being a
horror-angled film and the atmospheric horror moments that do pop up here and
there – including the opening credits sequence, but Kung Fu Killer tends
to play it more as a gimmick to its basic martial arts core though. It works.
The film highlights the talents of both Donnie Yen as an empathetic hero and
Wang Baoqiang as a bat shit crazy villain, whose viewpoints on martial arts
conflict with one another. The latter steals most of the movie, both with more
fight sequences and with a more intense character arc, but both actors carry
such a screen presence that it’s hard to deny their inevitable collision
course.
The film also features the impressive action direction of
Donnie Yen. Even when a film doesn’t live up to its potential (see the action
thriller Special ID), his fight direction is always top notch and
becomes a reason to see a film alone. Kung Fu Killer resides at this
junction. While Wang Baoqiang gets most of the fight sequences as he faces off
against various ‘masters’ and defeats them using their own tactics, it’s the
finale where hero meets villain that earns the praise. Sure the chase sequence
at on the river has plenty of awesome action and the opening prison fight
showcases Yen’s blend of humor injected brutality, the final street fight is
down right impressive. The price of the movie is worth it for this final
throwdown just in itself.
Sticks and stones will most certainly break your bones...
While the old school heart and strong fight work make for a
film that is undeniably entertaining in the end, Kung Fu Killer does
struggle a bit in trying to make the film more than just an old school kung fu
homage. Teddy Chan opts for a film that leap frogs a bit in time and relies on
a lot of flashbacks to recall events and details that the audience was not
privy to before. The attempts at a somewhat non-linear narrative fall utterly
flat though and half of the time the flashbacks are unneeded. Yes, we remember
the reason our hero wears the bracelet and we don’t need a voiceover flashback.
Thanks. The film also tends to rely a bit too much on CGI. In particular, there
is a boat wreck that is almost laughably awkward and some of the sword work in
one of the more intense fight sequences (with the ever awesome Louis Fan)
doesn’t come off right. If anything, it’s these little things that undermine
the entire “throwback” feel of the film and sacrifice it for a more modern
spin.
Epic crotch kick.
Kung Fu Killer remains a mixed bag of sorts thanks to
a modern spin that doesn’t necessarily work with the film’s better elements,
but it is still some fun entertainment for action fans. Both Donnie Yen and
Wang Baoqiang are phenomenal in the film (as are many of the secondary roles)
and the fight sequences are expertly choreographed and shot – blending some of
the modern stuff with classic complexity. It’s not quite the instant kung fu
klassic I was hoping for in the end, but it still is going to remain a favorite
of mine even with its flaws.
BONUS PRAISE: I love all of the little cameos by Hong Kong
legends in the film and all of the bits and pieces of martial arts history. Lau
Kar Leung and Jackie Chan show up on movie screens with some of their iconic
roles and there is even a tattoo parlor littered with classic martial arts
posters. It’s the little details that certainly make me want to watch the film
again.
Arrow Video Special Features * New high definition digital transfer of the film prepared by Nikkatsu Studios * Presented in High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD * Uncompressed mono PCM audio * Newly translated English subtitles * Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp * Original Trailer *
Trailers for four of the films in the Meiko Kaji-starring Stray Cat
Rock series, made at the same studio as Blind Woman's Curse * Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx *
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese
cinema expert Tom Mes, illustrated with original archive stills.
Blood Brothers has always dedicated our coverage to the
likes of cult film, but we have yet to cover a film by The King of Cult
himself, Teruo Ishii. It was only a matter of time before we did and thanks to
the most recent Arrow Video Blu Ray release of Blind Woman’s Curse,
that’s the film that is going to get us into a whole new territory…a realm of
nonsense. Blind Woman’s Curse is a film that is utterly uneven, strange,
and quite often mind boggling in its juggling genres and style – but there is
certainly a charm to its unusual aspects that make it such a cult favorite.
This is not a film for those looking for some serious foreign cinema, but it
certainly lives up to its cult standing as one of the more unusual yakuza films
in my collection.
Eye popping action!
After a duel between Yakuza clan leaders leaves a young
woman blind by accident, she vows vengeance against the leader of the rival
Tachibana clan Akemi (Meiko Kaji). Five years later, the Tachibana clan is
finding itself on the brink of war against a rival outfit and the thoughtful
and restrained leadership of Akemi is being challenged. When Akemi starts to
find a series of dead yakuza members, including her own entourage of women with
their dragon tattoos removed, she finds that the past has come home to haunt
her.
You know when the director makes a statement that says: “As
far as being coherent, I feel the movie was nonsensical” then you’re in for a
wild ride. Blind Woman’s Curse is a roller coaster of style. Whether
it’s the core yakuza clan plot that drives most of the film, the occasional
bits that feature a cursed cat running amok, or the horror streaks derived from
a hunchback with a strange penchant for dancing, licking, and dressing up as
corpses, the film whips around at rather break neck speeds. It’s relatively
unpredictable to even the most seasoned film fanatic. It’s hinged on the rather
uniquely empathetic performances of Meiko Kaji and her blind rival which bring
a thoughtfulness and humanity to a whirlwind of WTF – where villains range from
hunchbacks to loin cloth wearing thugs. It’s a strange balance where everything
is taken seriously, not matter how out of the blue it might seem.
Screen presence is her biggest ability.
The new high definition digital transfer does bring out the
best of Blind Woman’s Curse… that just so happens to be the visual flair
of The King of Cult. Throughout the entire film, Ishii slathers every scene in
lavish tone and thoughtful visual depth. Whether it’s a camera shot looking up
at a character through haphazardly spaced floorboards or his effective use of
mirrors to create dynamics, each scene feels like it’s intentional in its
craftsmanship. This in particular goes for the finale, which careens from a
gory sword battle to an atmospheric and ghostly duel with our two rivals. If
anything, Blind Woman’s Curse is the kind of film where it isn’t
necessarily style over substance, but where the style is the substance.
...when the film 'heads off' into the horror realm.
Blind Woman’s Curse might be a film that confuses
with its patchy script and wicked fast tone changes, but it’s also a film that
remains remarkably memorable and unique for those exact same elements. Without the
stylistically painted visuals, strong and dedicated performances, and the
jarring genre shifts, this film might have just been another yakuza flick based
on its core idea. It’s a strange film for sure, but the King of Cult delivers a
film destined to retain its cult status here.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
If you would like to order Blind Woman's Curse, below is a link to its Amazon page so you can enjoy the nonsense too.
Notable Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark
Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, James Spader,
Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul
Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan
Skarsgard, Andy Serkis, Josh Brolin
After recently watching the Daredevil
series that premiered on Netflix in April, I was under a strong suspicion that
Marvel couldn’t do any wrong. Just looking at Marvel’s slate of films since the
box office crusher that was the first Avengers indicates a sort of
massive upswing of talent and thoughtfulness of the ‘summer blockbuster.’
Marvel is simply dominating when it comes to massive spectacle with heart.
Unfortunately, what goes up must ultimately come down and for their second time
around with the full Avengers team, carrying the badass subtitle Age of
Ultron, Marvel missteps. I’m not saying that Age of Ultron is
terrible film. No. In fact, it’s still a hugely entertaining summer blockbuster
full of high-octane action and enough fun to keep the Marvel train chugging
along confidently. What I am saying is that it’s simply not up to par with the
streak that this franchise was shooting along.
The gang's all here.
The Avengers have taken on their own initiative
since the collapse of SHIELD. It has been their main goal (outside of their
various side missions) to find Loki’s scepter that was hijacked by Hydra. Once
discovered though, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark
Ruffalo) realize the potential of the stone in it: to create a self-sufficient
artificial intelligence to act as a sort of world protector so they can go back
to living their own lives. Its name is Ultron (James Spader). However, Ultron
has determined that the only way to save the Earth is to protect it from its
greatest enemy – the human race. Now it's up to the Avengers to assemble once
more to stop Ultron from taking human extinction into his own hands.
"No strings on me...but I do have a shit ton of exposed wiring which is bad."
There is a great story to be had in Age of
Ultron. The concept of humanity being its own worst enemy and having to
survive might be science fiction 101 at this point, but with Spader as the
titular villain and the rest of the charismatic crew on board (with director
Joss Whedon overseeing the entire thing) this film should have knocked it out
of the ballpark. However, Age of Ultron has to settle for a bunt because
it suffers from the strange fate of having both toomuch going on
and notenough going on. Critics and audiences alike seemed to be
amazed at how Whedon handled the massive cast and plot of the first Avengers,
but he doesn’t fare so well here. Not that he doesn’t try, by golly he tries
very hard to get it all in, but even at two and a half hours the film simply
cannot fit in enough character development and plot work to get it to flow
properly. Thusly, the film sort of stutters along feeling like it is setting up
more future installments instead of focusing on its own narrative as a film.
Part of this issue arises from the sheer amount
of characters that are needed to a) keep fans happy and b) set up new lines for
future films. Age of Ultron leaves many of the main Avengers as more
powerful chess pieces for the game and doesn’t move their characters forward
nearly as much, but it does have the smarts to deepen the work for fan
favorites Black Widow and Hawkeye. A romantic subplot between Widow and Bruce
Banner works splendidly for both of their character arcs and some background
for Hawkeye gives him a reason to be on the team this time around.
Unfortunately, the film decides to add at least 4 major players to the game –
including the villain Ultron, a new android Vision, and the twins: Quicksilver
and Scarlet Witch. Now I won’t give away too much of the plot here as these
characters are substantial to how the film wraps itself up, but I simply have
to mention that not nearly enough time is given to any of them for it to be as
impactful as it should have been. Ultron is limited to simply being a Bond
villain, they build up a story thread to the creation of Vision that utterly
falls flat in the final act, and the twins are given some Eastern European back
stories that feel like they should resonate with the audience but don’t. The
film then spends so much time on getting all of these characters and plot
progressions into the film that it has to simplify its main concept to: badguy
wants to kill mankind, we must stop him. Really? With all of the great power
struggles, debates on freedom, and corporate meddling of various villains
previous, they limit Ultron to this? It’s massively disappointing.
"Uh, we'll somehow fit you guys in. Somewhere. It's gonna be tight."
To be honest though, despite its obvious faults
in jamming so much in but leaving too much out, Age of Ultron does
succeed as a piece of entertainment. The action is damn near relentless and the
banter is appropriately fun with quips and sly references through and through –
something that comes expected from Whedon at this point. The characters are
still massively charming to watch and there are a handful of things that the
film does right by them – including some fun throwback pieces of dialogue and
setting up future installments. A few of the action set pieces are a bit too
dark to truly see what’s happening (the first time Ultron shows up at the
party, for example) and the finale does feel a bit redundant to what we saw in the
first Avengers with the team battling a slew of nameless flying enemies
and trying to prevent the big bad from pushing a button, but it’s still
entertaining enough. The opening sequence might steal the show for the rest of
the film with its massive vehicular destruction and twisting camera shots. It
leaves one wondering why this wasn’t the finale, but I digress.
Hulkbuster vs Hulk. One of the more memorable sequences of the film.
In the end though, The
Avengers: Age of Ultron finds itself feeling like one of the weaker
Marvel Cinematic Universe entries. It can’t find its flow and the massive
amount of new material tends to fall apart as it plays its desperate juggling
act. It’s still entertaining, if you like watching vehicles flip, things go
boom, and more than enough flying things to shake a stick at – but compared to
what the MCU has accomplished thus far, it’s hard to say it lives up to the
standards. While Ant-Man this summer lends itself to simplifying the MCU
a bit (after this it needs it), I’m somewhat worried about the complexity of Captain
America: Civil War only taking up one film considering how Age of Ultron
tries to do far too much.
Director: Kang Hyeong-cheol Notable Cast: Yoo Hae-jin,Choi Seung-hyeon, Shin Se-kyung, Kwak Do-won, Lee Ha-nui, Kim Yoon-seok, Lee Geung-young, Kim In-kwon, Oh Jung-se, Park Hyo-joo, Go Soo-hee
The hilarious, and wild-ride of a follow-up to 2006's Tazza: The High
Rollers a.k.a The War of Flower, which was delivered via director Choi
Dong-hoon (The Big Swindle, The Thieves), is this time around,
brought to us via Kang Hyeong-cheol (Speedy Scandal, Sunny) and complete
with his visual flair and unique sense of comedy. But, you're not here
for my bragging of a filmmaker (though it will be brought up again, I'm
sure), so is the film good? No... it's great!
Tazza: The Hidden Card is set X years after the events of the first
film (I can't really remember the years said or shown), in which we see
the return of Go Gwang-ryeol (played wonderfully by character actor Yoo
Hae-jin), though this time in flashback form, talking to a little boy
whilst visiting so and so's house (sometimes the details slip you, damn
it). Anyway, point being, we see this little boy get handed money from
Go due to his polite manners. The boy goes on and on stating different
reasons why Mr. Go should be handing him more and more money (not
cheating, being respectful, and so on), and Go chuckles and refers to
the kid as a 'tazza' (hustler or player)... and BOOM... title screen!
Knights of the round table...or something.
So, little tazza is now older tazza, played by always exceptional
Choi Seung-hyeon (TOP of Bigbang), living his little hustler life,
beating people at the game of hwatu (Korean card game that is the main
focus of both films). Twist here, twist there, everywhere a twist,
twist, and lots of craziness ensues.
I really, as usual, don't want to get too much into the actual plot
of the story. It's simple in the means that it's a bunch of people in the
corrupt world of gambling, backstabbing and quadruple-crossing everyone
in their realm, but it is more than just a cash in on the first film. It
was 8 years before this sequel ever came along. As mentioned before, I
planned to bring the director of the film up, and now here we are.
The Master
Originally the film was planned to be lead by Jang Joon-hwan (Save
the Green Planet, Hwayi: A Monster Boy), which could have been
interesting, but when this film was being talked about being made, I really didn't have huge interest in it. I couldn't
understand why a sequel was being made so long after the first one (not that rare, but still unusual), but then later on realized the film
is based of a series of graphic novels (4 volumes of them to be exact.) So I guess in due time, we may see two more installments. Later,
it was stated Jang was dropping out and director Kang Hyeong-cheol was
attached. Now I was stoked.
This man made two of my favorite Korean films of all time... Speedy Scandal (2008), and Sunny (2011)... I was in.
Now with that out of the way, and getting back on track to actually
reviewing the film, I want to mention the film has Kang's unique way of
doing visual jokes via camera movement, and editing. It's difficult to
explain, but if you have seen either of his films, you will know. He is
here full-on in this movie, and that was something I was absolutely
worried about. I know Korea isn't quite as company controlled when it
comes to the bigger studios, but since this is a property, all sorts of
red flags were raised knowing one of my favorite directors was in.
The film does go from being quite funny and a bit silly to being
very dark and very serious, which is something some people may not like
about this film. It never bothered me at all due to the fact that
even in the more serious moments, Kang manages to still throw in even
the tiniest of jokes and they still work, giving you a moment to laugh even
though every character on screen may be just one wrong look away from
being slaughtered. For that, I have to give this movie total props.
This review is ultimately long-winded, but to condense down in a
short recap... here: The film looks wonderful and moves along at a brisk
pace. The acting is spot-on from everybody. Everyone in the film has
wonderful comedic chops and presence (when needed). When the film goes
dark, it doesn't go stupid, and stays fully intriguing and keeps you on
your toes. It's nice to see some of the characters come back from the first film and to see them be important this time around as well.
He thinks you should see the movie too.
If you want a great Korean film with a great blend of humor and
gritty atmosphere, Tazza: The Hidden Card may just be right up your
alley... just be sure to check out the first film beforehand, if you want
to give two flips about certain characters. Tazza 2 is definitely one of
my favorite films of this year, and I can't wait to see what Kang does
next.
