DVD Collectors Online

Four Times That Night, a review by Achim

Title: Quante volte... quella notte
Year: 1972
Director: Mario Bava
Rating: NR
Length: 83 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1
Audio: Italian: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Daniela Giordano
Brett Halsey
Dick Randall
Valeria Sabel
Michael Hinz

Plot:
For his sole foray into the sex comedy genre, Mario Bava delivers a swinging orgy of mod design, leering humor and daring late '60s erotica. American leading man Bret Halsey and former Miss Italy Daniela Giordano star in this Rashomon-inspired tale of a playboy and a virgin's first date that may or may not have included rape, nymphomania, lesbianism, and groovy inflatable furniture.

Extras:
Scene Access

I have yet to see Kurasawa's Rashomon (now rather sooner than later) to judge just how close this film was to it, but Bava's inspiration is undeniably clear ( only after typing this sentence did I realize that the cover blurb actually gives it away ). The same story is told from 4 perspectives (hence the title), with each one shedding a different light on how and why things happened. Saying much more about the plot would spoil it for first time viewer, so I'll stay away from that.

Bava starts out (again, as per cover blurb) in telling the story like a sex comedy which were so popular in Europe at the time. However, then the tone shifts and everything seems rather dark when the claims to her mother that she's almost been raped. Only when we head into the second telling of the events do we realize, that things may not be as they seemed and begin trying to put the puzzle together to find the truth.

I highly enjoyed the witty dialog, especially in the beginning; it fell partly flat in later parts The film is shot with some inventive camera work, giving the limited locations a sufficiently fresh fell throughout the film. It has not entirely aged well, but ignoring some signs of the times it was made in it's still much enjoyable today.



(From Mario Bava marathon on July 13th, 2009)

The Beast & the Beauty, a review by Tom

The Beast & the Beauty (2005/South Korea) IMDb | Wikipedia (Taiwan) Director: GaeByok Lee Writing: JoYoon Hwang (Screenwriter), Tony Han (Screenwriter) Length: 102 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85 Audio: Korean: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Korean: Dolby Digital 5.1 Subtitles: Chinese, English

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Stars:
SeungBum Ryoo as DongGun Goo
MinA Shin as Hae-Ju Jang
KangWoo Kim as JuneHa Tak
KilKang An as DoSik Choi
YoungSook Lee as JaeJu's Mother

Extras:

• Photo Gallery
• Scene Access

A nice romantic comedy. A guy who isn't the best looking guy learns, that his blind girlfriend will get her eyesight back. Ashamed by his appearance, and because he described himself as handsome to her, he is hiding from her now. Added to that an old handsome school friend of his has entered the girlfriends life.
South Korea seems to be a nice source to get some charming romantic comedies. I have watched and enjoyed a few so far. I even ordered a few more recently.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on October 9th, 2010)

Angel Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: A group of youngsters fights on their own account and with self-made weapons against vampires. But the vampires intend to strike back and to strike back hard. Angel has to intervene to prevent a bloodbath.

My Opinion: The words "gang warfare" gets a whole new meaning. But the leader of the humans had to learn the hard way that the price can be high and that it is sometimes too high. This episode shows that very impressively.

Synopsis: A young woman attacks Angel and she can practically anticipate his moves. But there is a catch: she is blind and shouldn't be able to see anything at all.

My Opinion: This reminded me a bit of Daredevil with the exception that she went blind voluntarily. Why? To be able to see more. Unfortunately the attempt of Lindsey to return to the path of righteousness didn't last long.

Synopsis: A demon is summoned by Wolfram & Hart to retrieve the scroll that Angel stole. Additionally he is supposed to hurt Angel's friends.

My Opinion: I wasn't aware of the fact that Darla - Angel's Sire (the vampire who created another vampire) - was dead. If they've mentioned it in "Buffy" I must have missed it. But aside from that the season finale wasn't that interesting. The reason for that is that Angel didn't have a season enemy like it was usual in "Buffy". But at least Lindsey was punished for his betrayal.

The Season - My Opiniotn: To be honest, I am not very thrilled. That it would be different than "Buffy" was a given. But the show hasn't fully taken off yet and I would say this season was weaker than any "Buffy" season. But at least they have given Angel a goal. Now they have to make sure that he gets there.

(From Angel Marathon on February 15th, 2008)