DVD Collectors Online

Black Sabbath, a review by Danae Cassandra

Black Sabbath (I tre volti della paura)
Year of Release: 1963
Directed By: Mario Bava
Starring: Michele Mercier, Lydia Alfonsi, Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, Susy Andersen, Jacqueline Pierreux
Genre: Horror

Overview:
One of the great horror anthology films, and Bava's personal favorite of his works, BLACK SABBATH solidified the director's reputation as Europe's maestro of the macabre.

In "The Telephone," a woman is haunted by menacing phone calls from a former lover. "The Wurdulak" stars Boris Karloff as a vampire hunter whose family is stalked by the wandering spirit of an undead ghoul. "A Drop of Water" involves a nurse who steals a ring from a corpse-not realizing the curse that is carried with it.

This Kino Classics edition showcases Bava's original European cut of the film (I tre volti della paura, or Three Faces of Fear), before it was re-edited and re-scored for American release.

My Thoughts:
On second viewing, I still think this is one of the best anthology horror films. Each of the stories is a good one, and each is better than the one before. "The Wurdulak" is still my favorite, but I also still think that "The Drop of Water" is actually the strongest story. Having seen two other fine films from Mario Bava (Blood and Black Lace and The Whip and the Body), I appreciate even more his art direction and use of light and color. He really knows how to create a great atmosphere, tell a spooky story, and get a great performance out of his cast. Well worth watching.

The one thing I do wish is that there wasn't the epilogue. i had forgotten about it, and it rather detracts from the great thing Bava has going on here. I'm knocking the film down half a star for it's presence.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Pass

Overall: 3.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 46/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on November 1st, 2016)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a review by Danae Cassandra

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Year of Release: 2005
Directed By: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
Genre: Comedy, Suspense/Thriller, Crime

Overview:
They say love and money don't mix, but you can't blame Harry Lockhart for trying. He's been whisked from a life of petty crime to Hollywood, where he'll audition for the role of a movie detective and be tutored for the part by a private eye. Now all he has to do is convince the dream girl he meets that he's a real detective. And not stumble over the corpses as reel life abruptly gives way to the real.

Lights, camera, plenty of action! Shane Black (Lethal WeaponKiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Watch Watch.

My Thoughts:
This film was a lot of fun.  The performances are all great, the script is fast and witty, and the mystery does keep you guessing (especially in the beginning).  Yes, it's self-aware, breaks the 4th wall, and is almost deliberately hip.  But that also part of it's charm.  It's a film that never takes itself seriously, but invites the audience to laugh with it in its send-up up of noir cliche and Hollywood life.  I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed "Snatch," which is the only film I've seen that this reminds me of.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3.75/5

(From Within My (Mom's) Lifetime Marathon on April 3rd, 2015)

"Stargate SG-1" Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: After a world war that was implicitly caused by SG1's arrival on the planet, Daniel is stuck there. A religious leader has overcome his goverment and has the Stargate under his control. With the help of the soldiers of the old administration and some SG teams he tries to regain control over the situation.

My Opinion: This episode failed to give the feeling that you are in a post world war situation. This is mostly due to the fact that we didn't see much of the planet and what we saw was undamaged.

Synopsis: Teal'c is testing a new machine that embeddes the consciousness into a virtual reality. But the program adapts itself and makes winning harder for Teal'c - until he wins no more. Unfortunately Teal'c can only leave after a having completed the scenario. Teal'c is trapped and he could very well die in real life.

My Opinion: Great episode. The First Person Shooter feeling was much better than in the movie Doom. I really liked the scenes when they showed the surveillance monitors in which Teal'c was seen as game character. The way Teal'c ran through the corridors also looked as if he was a player avatar and not a real person. But they should have given Daniel the god mode cheat.

Synopsis: Teal'c has moved into his first appartment outside the base. But he has problems to adapt to the lives of "normal" people. However, his neighbours like him, especially the good looking woman next door. But she has also problems of her own.

My Opinion: I also would like to have "T" as a neighbour. If I hadn't read Erica Durance's (Lois Lane in Smallville) name in the intro, I am not sure I would have recognized her. I had the feeling she was much more natural here, in Smallville she seems to be much more factitious and - alarmingly - old. I liked the episode, yet I found it unrealistic that Daniel has gone alone.

Synopsis: The industrialist Alec Colson discloses that alien exists in a press conference. He even presents a living Asgard. He got this information because his company has helped to build the F-302 and has analysed a part of the Asgard DNA. But there are forces outside the SGC who also have no interest that the truth comes out.

My Opinion: I liked this episode, too. Especially Carter's and Thor's attempts to cover it up with the help of the hologram technology. But the end felt a bit constructed with him having to leave Earth to avoid assassination.

(From "Stargate SG-1" Marathon on April 22nd, 2008)