Coinciding with the DVD release of Living Arrangements (read my review), Astrix Home Video has released a step-by-step series of videos to help you in preventing werewolves from invading your home. It is safe to say that these videos are freaking fantastic, and I can’t oversell them enough. I’m embedding the first one but be sure to head over and check out all of them. You won’t regret it.
House of the Devil is a bit of a favorite around the site, so much so that James and I devoted one of our few Spoiler Alert podcasts (Download Here) to it, and it is with great pleasure and excitement that I discovered a few days ago that it would be released today on DVD. And not just DVD but Blu-ray as well. And while I’m not a fan of Blu-ray I have to admit the film should look fabulous in that format.
But in a rather shocking twist, I also found out that House of the Devil can also be purchased on VHS! Oh that’s right, for just a few dollars more you can have your very own VHS copy of this film along with your DVD copy. And unlike Blu-ray I am a huge fan of VHS and this kind of release is sheer brilliance considering the style and tone of the film. Kudos to whomever came up with the idea, you’ve totally sold me.
And now, just when I thought VHS was dead and buried I now have a reason to dust off the old head cleaner and fire up the VHS player. Scha-weet!
Pontypool is a bit of a favorite both here and at Row Three, so the chance for Andrew and i to sit down with producer Jeff Coghlan and ask him some questions about the film was a real treat. Is the trilogy still in the works? How awesome is Stephen McHattie? And just what is up with the final scene in the movie? All those questions and more are answered, and listen up for a rare podcast cameo from Film Junk’s Jay Cheel as well.
Just in time for our upcoming High & Low (Brow) podcast that will focus on two HP Lovecraft film adaptations, there is a new documentary devoted to him being released this week. While I am a fan of Lovecraft I’ve always felt he never has seemed to have received the amount of mainstream popularity he deserves, especially compared to other horror writers. He’s always seemed to be a bit more respected by horror nerds then general audiences, which is a shame.
Part of the reason might be that his stories tend to be a bit cumbersome to the uninitiated, with their flowery prose that is not often seen, especially from more modern authors like himself. His stories have also become rather notorious in Hollywood for how difficult they are to adapt, resulting in people being less impressed with his work by proxy and with a general reluctance from the studios to adapt his works.
Lovecraft: Spreading the Madness looks to correct these oversights and misconceptions on the man and his mythos, and they do so by rolling out an impressive group purveyors of the weird and wonderous like Neil Gaiman, John Carpenter, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Straub, Stuart Gordon, Ramsey Campbell, S.T. Joshi, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Andrew Migliore and Robert M. Price to talk about Lovecraft and his influence on horror as well as their own lives. Its an impressive group, to be sure, and I can barely contain my excitement at getting a chance to watch this film. While I won’t have time to watch this before James and I record, you can be sure within the next few weeks I will make sure to get my hands on a copy of this potentially fabulous documentary.
Jeffrey Goodman’s 2008 film The Last Lullaby is a subtle and riveting tale of betrayal and revenge. Jack Price, a retired hitman, is drawn into a web of deceit when he stumbles upon a kidnap victim at a run-down house in the woods. As a consequence of his actions he appears on the radar of Martin Lennox — a brutal and aloof millionaire in a jam. Drawn out of retirement by Lennox, Price is put on the trail of the beautiful Sarah, but he soon finds there is more to his quarry than first meets the eye. Of course, things turn out to be not at all what they seem, and Price finds himself in hot water with a number of different players in this suspenseful drama.
The oft seen scenario of the helpless victim and duped would-be assassin is given a refreshing treatment in this lean production. Neither a thriller nor an action film, this one is best described as a grim and suspenseful character study that nonetheless features moments of action, mystery, and intrigue. Penned by Max Allan Collins — well-known mystery novelist, author of the graphic novel Road to Perdition, and former writer of the comic strip Dick Tracy — and Peter Biegen, The Last Lullaby will keep even the most jaded video viewer guessing until the end. It effects a mounting tension from its brutal beginning to its suprise conclusion, and even then leaves the viewer wondering what will come next.
Tom Sizemore portrays retired hitman Jack Price with a cold brilliance that assures this performance a place alongside his other celebrated performances. And Sasha Alexander, as the mysterious Sarah, proves that she doesn’t have to be playing a member of naval intelligence to turn in a convincing and effective performance. Bill Smitrovich and Jerry Hardin round out this cast of familiar faces, and Ray McKinnon’s performance (billed only as ‘Ominous Man’) is eerie and memorable. Especially observant reviewers will recognize him from another of his memorable performances in the Coen brother’s film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Last Lullaby is well worth your time, and fans of Road to Perdition will especially enjoy it. It was recognized at the Brooklyn International Film Festival and the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival, among others. You can visit the filmmaker’s blog to check out other reviews and read about the project. The DVD will be available for purchase through the film’s official website beginning October 19th, and you can save it for future addition to your Netflix queue now.
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