Bob Rose
Critic, asitecalledfred.com
Freaked is a hand grenade of funny that most people have never had the pleasure of exploding to. I can know the future success and/or worth of a budding friendship based on a person’s fandom of Freaked. If you don’t “get it,” I really don’t see us working. Sorry! My personal favorite extra feature on the two-disc DVD is codirector Alex Winter’s student film, Squeal of Death.
The Deluxe Edition DVD of Deliverance is something I cherish mainly because of a 35th-anniversary retrospective. This is a film in which the reputation that precedes it is much more one-dimensional than the complex moral allegory that it actually holds. To me, Deliverance is much more than a mere “rape movie,” it is a film about the far off corners of our world we never see but that are close enough to reach, and the cold, quiet danger that lurks there.
Freaked
(USA)
1993, Anchor Bay
List price: $34.98 (two discs)
Deliverance
(USA)
1972, Warner Brothers
List price: $19.97
Kevin A. Perkins
Director, My Boring Zombie Apocalypse; myboringzombieapocalypse.com
Since we’re in the middle of summer, I picked films originally released in the summer, films that studios fully intended to BE summer blockbusters but went under like a rock. Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorites, and one I can watch over and over again. A perfect meld of action and humor. And Kurt Russell is the man.
Blade Runner is arguably my favorite film, the one I’d take if we play the desert-island scenario. Not the greatest film of all time but one that I saw at just the right age to leave an indelible impression on my mind. I’m one of the tiny minority to argue that the Harrison Ford voiceover adds to the film. You see something new every single time you watch — and by buying the suitcase, you get five different versions of the film to enjoy!
Big Trouble in Little China
(USA)
1986, Twentieth Century Fox
List price: $9.98
Blade Runner (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)
1982, Warner Brothers
List price: $50.99 (five discs)
P. Scott Moore
F/X makeup artist, My Boring Zombie Apocalypse
The trend of “forlorn” or “love struck” vampires prompted me to share films that depict a more classic, sinister, and powerful interpretation of the undead. Horror of Dracula may not be the best or truest telling of Bram Stoker’s novel, but its beautiful gothic sets, impressive cast, and atmospheric tone set the bar for every Dracula film to follow. As Dracula, Christopher Lee depicts a creature that’s predatory and savage, while still maintaining a strong eroticism, all without speaking a word!
Shadow of the Vampire is a film-within-a-film that takes a “what if” approach to the silent horror classic Nosferatu. F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich) is a director who wants to maintain the authenticity of his vampire story (stolen from Stoker) by secretly employing a real vampire, Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe). Malkovich and Dafoe give incredibly convincing performances and director E. Elias Merhige gives the film an eery realism.
Horror of Dracula
(England)
1958, Warner Brothers
List price: $9.98
Shadow of the Vampire
(England/USA)
2000, Lionsgate
List price: $14.98
Bob Rose
Critic, asitecalledfred.com
Freaked is a hand grenade of funny that most people have never had the pleasure of exploding to. I can know the future success and/or worth of a budding friendship based on a person’s fandom of Freaked. If you don’t “get it,” I really don’t see us working. Sorry! My personal favorite extra feature on the two-disc DVD is codirector Alex Winter’s student film, Squeal of Death.
The Deluxe Edition DVD of Deliverance is something I cherish mainly because of a 35th-anniversary retrospective. This is a film in which the reputation that precedes it is much more one-dimensional than the complex moral allegory that it actually holds. To me, Deliverance is much more than a mere “rape movie,” it is a film about the far off corners of our world we never see but that are close enough to reach, and the cold, quiet danger that lurks there.
Freaked
(USA)
1993, Anchor Bay
List price: $34.98 (two discs)
Deliverance
(USA)
1972, Warner Brothers
List price: $19.97
Kevin A. Perkins
Director, My Boring Zombie Apocalypse; myboringzombieapocalypse.com
Since we’re in the middle of summer, I picked films originally released in the summer, films that studios fully intended to BE summer blockbusters but went under like a rock. Big Trouble in Little China is one of my favorites, and one I can watch over and over again. A perfect meld of action and humor. And Kurt Russell is the man.
Blade Runner is arguably my favorite film, the one I’d take if we play the desert-island scenario. Not the greatest film of all time but one that I saw at just the right age to leave an indelible impression on my mind. I’m one of the tiny minority to argue that the Harrison Ford voiceover adds to the film. You see something new every single time you watch — and by buying the suitcase, you get five different versions of the film to enjoy!
Big Trouble in Little China
(USA)
1986, Twentieth Century Fox
List price: $9.98
Blade Runner (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)
1982, Warner Brothers
List price: $50.99 (five discs)
P. Scott Moore
F/X makeup artist, My Boring Zombie Apocalypse
The trend of “forlorn” or “love struck” vampires prompted me to share films that depict a more classic, sinister, and powerful interpretation of the undead. Horror of Dracula may not be the best or truest telling of Bram Stoker’s novel, but its beautiful gothic sets, impressive cast, and atmospheric tone set the bar for every Dracula film to follow. As Dracula, Christopher Lee depicts a creature that’s predatory and savage, while still maintaining a strong eroticism, all without speaking a word!
Shadow of the Vampire is a film-within-a-film that takes a “what if” approach to the silent horror classic Nosferatu. F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich) is a director who wants to maintain the authenticity of his vampire story (stolen from Stoker) by secretly employing a real vampire, Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe). Malkovich and Dafoe give incredibly convincing performances and director E. Elias Merhige gives the film an eery realism.
Horror of Dracula
(England)
1958, Warner Brothers
List price: $9.98
Shadow of the Vampire
(England/USA)
2000, Lionsgate
List price: $14.98