DVD Collectors Online

Skeleton Man, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Skeleton Man
Movie Count: 21
TV Ep Count: 4
Other Count: 0
Time Started: 11:15am
Plot:
In the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, four top soldiers in the Army Special Forces disappear on a routine training mission. 'Michael Rooker' and 'Casper Van Dien' lead a crew of eight top-notch soldiers to track down the inexplicable demise of their comrades.

Though the soldiers have no idea what they are looking for, their search leads them to an old, blind Indian who tells them the tale of Cotton Mouth Joe -- the bravest and most ferocious warrior in an Indian tribe that, four hundred years previously, slaughtered his entire tribe in a fit of rage. Only one young girl was spared -- the Morningstar. According to legend, she alone has the power to send Cotton Mouth to his mortal grave.

The soldiers believe the old Indian is crazy and that the story is nothing more than a myth...until the terrifying spirit of Cotton Mouth ominously materializes upon a black stallion, wielding a lethal spear. 'The Skeleton Man' has returned from the depths of hell to rain death and destruction upon any mortal who dares cross his path...this time it is the soldiers who are locked dead in his sights.

My Thoughts:
I bought this movie never seeing it before. I mainly got it because it was really cheap and sounded like it could be good. Going into it I figured it would definitely be low budget... but I have seen good low budget movies before. Unfortunately I didn't see a good one this time. I mean it did have it's moments... and a few half way decent effects... but at the same time some bad effects and a mixture of stupid and boring storyline. The look of "Skeleton Man" was basically a man in a (fairly cheap looking) skeleton mask... even though he was not meant to be. Was supposed to be a curse come to life. Not very impressive at all.



(From My Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2008 on October 5th, 2008)

Forty Guns, a review by Rogmeister

To paraphrase Will Rogers, I've rarely met a western I didn't like...but this one tested that saying.  I didn't exactly hate it, but it'll never be my favorite...



Forty Guns (1957)
Written, Produced and Directed by Samuel Fuller
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry

An authoritarian rancher, Barbara Stanwyck, who rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new marshall arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling, brutally for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers. That's the gist of this unusual western.

The storyline is almost hard to understand and you sometimes get lost in the plot. At first, Barbara Stanwyck's character seems like pure evil and then you start to see her gain a few soft touches here and there. The photography is unusual...weird close-ups (we see a woman through the barrel of a rifle, making me wonder if that's where they got the idea for the James Bond opening), much of the action seems to be shot from cameras about a foot off the ground. There is some nice stunt work in here, including a scene where Miss Stanwyck falls off her horse but, her foot stuck in a stirrup, gets dragged a fair peace in what looked like a very dangerous stunt. Was it really her and not a stuntwoman? It sure looked like her. Unfortunately, the movie is so stylized that it doesn't really seem to have any heart. I found myself not really caring about any of the characters. It was pretty short at 79 minutes which was probably just as well...much longer and I might've gotten a bit bored. I did like the ending which was a bit different. Usually, the hero leaves town alone and that was happening here...but then Miss Stanwyck races after the buckboard the hero is driving and they leave town together. Oh yes, Hank Worden is in this movie, too. I really enjoy this character actor...unfortunately, he departs the storyline pretty early.

As far as the DVD goes, it is two-sided. One side is full-framed while the other side has a widescreen presentation in its proper 2.35: 1 aspect ratio. It has no real extras, apart from the theatrical trailer. There is an error on the DVD case, by the way. It states the movie is in color but it is actually is in black & white. 

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on June 26th, 2009)

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

Synopsis: The Defiant follows a distress signal of a woman whose ship was destroyed. Her escape pod made it to a planet but it can barely sustain life. The Defiant has six days to reach her before she dies. While they try to reach her the crew of the Defiant talks to her because she's alone out there and scared. Meanwhile Quark tries to pursuade Odo to celebrate his and Kira's first month anniversary in order to sell some illegal goods when Odo is distracted.

My Opinion: This was a well-told episode. I really liked the idea that everyone got the chance to talk about the things that were laying heavily on their mind. And I also really liked how Odo let Quark get away with his scheme because Quark has helped him with Kira.

Synopsis: Starfleet has decided to abandon their defensive strategy and strike back against the Dominion. Sisko develops a plan in which a combined fleet of Starfleet, the Klingons and the Romulans attack the Chin'toka system on cardassian soil. But Sisko also gets a warning from the Prophets that he shouldn't leave DS9 in this critical time. And right they were: Dukat is back and he has found a way to attack the wormhole beings directly.

My Opinion: They killed Jadzia! I find it often hard to see someone leaving a show. I can accept it when it's due to dramaturgical reasons, because it was necessary. But I hate it when it's due to financial issues. And while the battle scenes were great again I also hated the author's decision that it was an error on Sisko's side to be a Starfleet officer instead of the Emissary.

The Season - My Opinion: All in all this was a great season. The number of episodes I didn't care for is on an all-time low. Unfortunately it won't go on this way. The death of Jadzia marked a turning point for me and from now on it will go downhill. There are just too many developments in the seventh season I don't like.

(From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Marathon on February 28th, 2009)