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DanXIII

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Blu-ray Review: Ghost Ship (2002)

Back in 1962, pleasure cruise ship the Antonia Graza has nearly it’s entire occupancy scissored in two by a seemingly freak accident involving a broken cable. Flash forward to the modern age, and a group of rough n’ tumble salvagers lead by the no-bullshit Murphy (Gabriel Byrne) catch wind of the ship just floatin’ out on the Bearing Sea just waiting to be plundered! Once on board, our heroes soon find they are up to their assholes in supernatural goings-on, and the ghosts that now inhabit the vessel are none-to-eager to give up their secrets! While the story isn’t going to set the wicked world ablaze with it’s originality (though credit where credit is due, the sequence where we discover the truth behind the ghost ship is top-notch indeed), Ghost Ship has plenty of things in it’s favor. Chief among them is the absolutely top-notch set design, with the titular location being fully realized, and completely (and fittingly) off-putting with

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DanXIII

Sep 9, 2020

MoviesReviewsThrillerTrue Crime

Blu-ray Review: Dahmer (2002)

Remember when mother fuckin’ Hawkeye played (literal) man-eater Jeffrey Dahmer? Yeah, me freakin’ either… but he did, so here we are! The long and the short of Dahmer goes as follows: going out of his way to prove he’s no Willy fuckin’ Wonka, chocolate factory worker Jeffrey Dahmer (Jeremy Renner) prowls Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for young male victims to turn into brain dead (and eventually dead dead) sexual playthings. Along the way, he reminisces about earlier murder biz, and his relationship with his pappy (Willard himself, Bruce Davison) who thinks something is off about his boy, but isn’t sure just what. It’s non-stop spills and thrills as we learn just what this serial killin’ scamp was up to before his ass got thrown in the hole forever and a day… Besides boasting a gritty, almost grindhouse style (in terms of aesthetic if not on screen carnage) the main draw to this flick is the performance of Renner who manages to make

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DanXIII

Sep 9, 2020

MoviesReviews

4K Ultra HD Review: Flash Gordon (1980)

Before I begin jawin’ about the movie itself, I feel it appropriate to share some thoughts on Flash Gordon. If you aren’t interested in such things… or having your’s cruelly uncharacteristically lay his soul bare, just skip down a bit. Anyway, back in December of 1980, my desire to see Flash Gordon was at an almost unbelievable level…and my parents blew my mind and agreed to drive me, and the prettiest girl in the second grade who agreed to be my date, many towns over (yes, I grew up in the literal middle of nowhere) to see the film… but mother nature had other plans; and a nor’easter (to those not in the know; Upstate New York has about 14 months of winter per year… at least it did back then) kept us in town, and Altman’s Popeye was what it had to be (and for the record, that is a charming film and a ton of fun… but it

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DanXIII

Sep 6, 2020

IndieMoviesParanormalReviews

Short Film Review: #NotAllGhosts (2020)

A woman (Amy Ciupek) debates how to eject the toxic dude in her life which isn’t going to be easy considering he’s a rather nasty tempered, abusive, ghost! Filmed with the new Optical Radiance technology that makes film color look vintage without any post-production color correction (read more about the process right here), #NotAllGhosts looks like a million beastly bucks for sure, with bright, eye-popping color… but that isn’t all the visual splendor this bite-sized trip into our beloved horror biz has to offer! You know that ghoulish guest I mentioned up yonder? Well the visual representation of said spirit is a psychotronic fever dream involving, but not limited to, bubbles, possessed televisions, skeletons, smoke, and haunted photographs that reveal private details of how our heroine spends her down time. Speaking of said heroine, Amy Ciupek (who also starred in Distiller, which was directed by this film’s director Andy Schroeder) is pretty damn fantastic as our pseudo-fifties housewife character, and

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DanXIII

Sep 5, 2020

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Final Caller (2020)

Todd Sheets is one maniac mother fucker of a fright flick filmmaker that I’d follow anywhere… movie-wise, I’m not some deranged stalker after all. Anyway, I was pleased as putrid punch when Todd sent your’s cruelly his new picture for a lil’ bit of that revoltin’ review voodoo I do moderately okay-ish! Final Caller concerns abrasive late night shock jock Roland Bennett (Douglas Epps), who’s show ‘On Through The Night’ is about to get a lot more interesting thanks to a lil’ ringy-dingy from The Outsider (Jack McCord); a druid lore addicted literal lady killer with a real hankerin’ for putting the slice n’ dice on the woman folk! Of course Big O isn’t satisfied just chewin’ the fear fat over the telephone, and gets it in his head to make a personal appearance at the station… which puts a bit of a snag in the whole “let’s stay alive” thing the denizens of that building are so fond of!

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DanXIII

Sep 4, 2020

DocumentariesMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro (2019)

Ian Richard Hodgkinson, or Vampiro as he’s known to you cats n’ creeps, is one hell of a dude. Born in Montreal, Canada, Vampiro got it in his head (after a few mishaps we’ll get to in a bit) to head to Mexico, learn Spanish, and even though he had no clue how to wrestle, become one of the most legendary figures to ever step into the squared circle south of the boarder. Now there is conflict and drama involved, but this doc let’s you know from the get go that things turned out pretty damn good for our vicious vamp as it shows him in his current role of talent director for Lucha Libre AAA in Mexico and Lucha Underground in Los Angeles. But, as stated things are still complicated for our hero as he is working two jobs, while trying to be a good father to his teenage daughter who lives in Ontario. It’s this element that brings

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DanXIII

Sep 4, 2020

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: The Good Things Devils Do (2020)

Richard (genre vet Bill Oberst Jr.) is a thief out for one last kick. Along for the final heist is his daughter and partner-in-crime Mouse (Mary Katherine O’Donnell) and Percy (Kane Hodder; THE Jason Voorhees mother fucker!), a true psychopath of an individual who truly annoys the ever-lovin’ piss out of Rich. Meanwhile, Melvin (David Rucker III) and his stepdaughter Caroline (Kelley Wilson Robinson) are hangin’ around their museum of outre oddities, just taking care of their newest acquisition; the supposed remains of a vicious vamp known as Masquerade (Veronika Stoykova). Of course those remains are legit A.F., and soon Masquerade is up and about, and you know damn well she’s crosses paths with that criminal crew mentioned up yonder… on Halloween night no less! Writer/director Jess Norvisgaard wastes no time with The Good Things Devils Do; and delivers plenty of murder n’ mayhem from nearly beginning to end, with plenty of the red sauce splashed about when called for!

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DanXIII

Aug 30, 2020

MoviesReviews

4K Ultra HD Review: Pitch Black (2000)

A space freighter gets damaged to fuck and back by some rogue comets and makes an emergency landing on a barren alien world, killing all but nine of the crew. Speaking of survivors, one such individual is bad-ass convict Riddick (Vin Diesel), who is now on the loose. As if that unpredictable psycho wasn’t enough, the planet is also home to a vicious lil’ gaggle of toothy creatures that come out once every 28 years during an eclipse… and the time for that cosmic spectacle is nigh! Now can Riddick be counted on to add to the survival rate of these hapless cosmic castaways? Pitch Black is an unbelievably entertaining sci-fi/action creature feature, and one of the reasons for it’s success is that co-writer/director David Twohy, who was also responsible for this film’s sequels; The Chronicles of Riddick (2004), and Riddick (2013), keeps things nice n’ simple as far as the basics go; this is a straight up cat n’

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DanXIII

Aug 27, 2020

MoviesReviews

Blu-ray Review: Split Second (1992)

In a fucked-up, flooded, “future” (the film is set in 2008) London; cigar chomping, black clothing connoisseur and all around shit-kickin’, out of control bad ass Detective Harley Stone (Rutger Hauer) searches for the serial killer that put a murder on his partner three years prior. As Stone investigates further, and the body count rises, he discovers he has a psychic bond with the killer… oh, and that the maniac in question is, in fact, a ten-foot tall alien monster! Comprised of a wet, grimy future, an over-the-top anti-hero, and a slavering alien beast, Split Second would be right at home in the pages of legendary long-running British comic book series 2000 A.D. (home to Judge Dredd), so if you dig on that, you’ll know exactly what to expect from this film, ambiance-wise. Hauer absolutely steals the show as Stone, a man who’s every statement is a clench jawed one-liner or or outrageously macho slogan. He’s a walking cartoon character;

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DanXIII

Aug 27, 2020

MoviesReviews

Short Film Review: Guest (2020)

The long and the short of the new bite-sized fright flick from writer/director Finn Callan goes as follows: Mary (Melania Crisan), who just shows up at the home of a woman (Jessica Munna) suffering from self inflicted injuries, is balls deep in trouble town when she tries to kick a real pain in the arcane ass out of her life; namely a disturbing creature (Anna Fraser) that plagues her on the regular. Seems like a simple enough conceit, eh boils n’ ghouls? Well it is, and the way Callan (and his crew including cinematographer Fyodor Houtheusen, and editor Trifa Keedo) tell it is masterful indeed. The visuals are presented in a near monotone palette of cool blues that offers a cold tone that matches the relationship between our heroine and her guest… well at first anyway. Things get a bit more heated… and terrifying, once we see the guest for who she really is, and let me tell ya cats

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DanXIII

Aug 27, 2020

DanXIII

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