DVD Collectors Online

The Haunting (1963), a review by addicted2dvd

Title: The Haunting (1963)
Movie Count: 30
TV Ep Count: 6
Time Started: 3pm
Plot:
"It was an evil house from the beginning, a house that was born bad." The place is the 90-year-old mansion called Hill House. No one lives there. Or so it seems. But please do come in. Because even if you don't believe in ghosts, there's no denying the terror of "The Haunting."

Robert Wise returned to psychological horror for this much admired, first screen adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House." Four people come to the house to study its supernatural phenomena. Or has the house drawn at least one of them to it? The answer will unnerve you in this "elegantly sinister scare movie. It's good fun" (Pauline Kael, "5001 Nights at the Movies").

My Thoughts:
After watching... and enjoying the remake I thought it was about time to check out the original. I did enjoy this one... though for some reason I was expecting a little more from it. It is a good story... if not a little long. Especially considering how old the movie is. It seemed to move along a little slow for my taste... but not so slow that it bothered me much. It is good enough that I am glad I added it to my collection.



(From My Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2008 on October 8th, 2008)

Braveheart, a review by DJ Doena

Mel Gibson   ...    William Wallace
James Cosmo   ...    Campbell
Brian Cox   ...    Argyle Wallace
Patrick McGoohan   ...    Longshanks, King Edward I
Peter Hanly   ...    Edward, Prince of Wales
Sophie Marceau   ...    Princess Isabelle
Angus Macfadyen   ...    Robert the Bruce
Catherine McCormack   ...    Murron MacClannough
Brendan Gleeson   ...    Hamish Campbell
David O'Hara   ...    Stephen, Irish Fighter

Synopsis: William Wallace's father and brother haven fallen in battle while he was young. His uncle has taken him to France and Rome but now he has returned home: Scotland. Scotland is ruled by the english king Longshanks but when an english magistrate kills Wallace's wife he starts a rebellion and that rebellion escalates into a war for the freedom of Scotland.

My Opinion: The very first DVD I ever bought and one of the first movies I've watched in english. The movie isn't historical correct but hey - it's a movie and history is written by those who hanged their heroes. What I also liked about this movie was the fact that the people bled when they received blows by swords, axes and other sharp objects while in the sword-fighting movies of the fifties and sixties no wounds were to be seen. The good guy usually stabbed the bad guy in the belly and then the bad guy fell from a wall or a cliff. But not in Braveheart. Here throats are slit, extremeties hacked off and skulls are cracked open. But in the end, they've won their freedom.

(From The "What I watch when I don't watch TV shows" thread on June 20th, 2008)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: After having been exposed to radiation poisoning, O'Brien is being thrust forward five hours in time and then back again. This happens at a regular intervals and O'Brien sees his own death as well as the destruction of DS9 in that future. And he plans to prevent both from happening.

My Opinion: Despite once again having some flaws in the time travel logic, I liked this episode, especially the parts where there were two O'Briens and one helped or protected the other. And they've finally installed the Darts board in Quark's bar. I like all of O'Brien's and Bashir's recreation time activities.

Synopsis: After Bashir has been attacked by an alien, he awakes at the infirmary. But except for him, Quark and Garak and that alien the station seems to be abandoned. He wanders through the place, trying to figure out, what has happened and why he is hearing distant voices.

My Opinion: This one was an OK episode but since it didn't happen much in it, there's also not much to say about it.

Synopsis: O'Brien threatens Sisko with a phaser and beams them both off the station. It's "Smiley", the O'Brien from the mirror universe and he needs Sisko to help him. Sisko's wife on the other side - Jennifer (who died at Wolf 359 on this side of the mirror) - is building a sensor array that would crush the Terran resistance.

My Opinion: This one I liked again. Out-of-character-episode. What can I say. The only thing that bugged me a bit was that Sisko slept with Mirror-Dax just to maintain his cover. It's basically the same as Faith being in Buffy's body and sleeping with Riley or Bizarro pretending to be Clark and sleeping with Lana. It's just not right.

Synopsis: Garak's shop gets blown up and Garak is hurt. Odo starts to investigate and soon discovers that the Romulans might have something to do with it. When Garak learns that five of his former associates were killed on the same day, he tries to contact Enabran Tain - the former head of the Obsidian Order - because he fears for Tain's life.

My Opinion: This was a great Garak episode. His interpretation of the "cry wolf" fable ("Never tell the same lie twice."), it being him who had blown up the shop, him rejoining with Tain - it fitted the character and helped shape it even more. I also thought that this plan was indeed something the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar (romulan intelligence) would come up with.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on November 1st, 2008)