DVD Collectors Online

Stay, a review by Rich

Title: Stay

Movie Count:33  
TV Ep. Count:17  

Runtime:99
Certificate:R
Year:2005
Genres:Suspense/Thriller, Horror

Plot:A suicidal college student and his doctor enter a twisted world of supernatural horror in 'Stay'. Henry Lethem (Ryan Gosling) plans to kill himself in three days, unless psychologist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) can stop him. Henry's been hearing disturbing voices and experiencing horrifying visions, but where does imagination end and reality begin? Sam suddenly finds he's losing his own grip on reality, as he, too, is thrust into a hellish place between life and death. With the help of his girlfriend (Naomi Watts), Sam races to unlock the terrifying secret behind Henry's waking nightmare before it's too late!

My Review:
Not sure why this has a horror genre, although it is strangely haunting and mystifying. Challenging and unusual piece from the director of Quantum of Solace, Monsters Ball and Finding Neverland, it was difficult to pull your eyes from the screen so it definately had something. I found myself having to rewind back a few times to fully grasp the direction the film was taking, as some parts I found quite difficult to follow and piece together.
Baffling for most of the film, but the final 10 minutes helps explain elements of it, including the concept of the film but still will leave me lying awake wondering what a few parts actually were telling us. I can see how this film can be criticised for being too clever for its own good, and a lot of people would label it as boring, but if you are willing to invest some time and full attention it is quite deep and absorbing.
Different, but a good different.


(From Rich's October Horror Fest on October 26th, 2009)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, a review by Jimmy

Title: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)

Genre: Horror
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Rating: NR
Length: 1h36
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:85.1
Audio: English
Subtitles: English and Spanish

Stars:
Jordana Brewster   
Taylor Handley
Diora Baird
Matthew Bomer
R. Lee Ermey

Plot:
Take a bone-chilling journey into evil, and witness how Thomas Hewitt became the infamous and deranged serial killer Leatherface.

Born under the most gruseome of conditions, an abandoned baby is found and taken in by the demented Hewitt family. As he grows under their morbid nurtuting, Thomas develops a ravenous appetite for chainsaws and torture. This is unfortunate for four teens captured by the shady local "sheriff" and brought to the Hewitts' sadistic house of horrors. There, the teenagers must fight to surivive as Thomas' murderous desired are unleashed and Leatherface is born.

Typical horror movie made in the years 2000: it's very violent, bloody and over the top. No that it's that much of a negative but more subtlety and restraint is more efficient to create a suspense. Of course this film make the same error than many other recent horror movies do: the killer is misunderstood and he was bullied as a kid so it's not his fault if he is like that (newsflash for you filmmakers, all of us were in their youth and 99.999% of us turn as normal adult. Enough with that it's the society fault not mine crap). I won't say the evidence that this movie had too many characters (I know they wanted to expand the family, but that doesn't work). Anyway this is the R. Lee Ermey show and this is the real reason to watch this film, since he is great in this and bring back his Full Metal Jacket personality. Evidently the film is previsible, but it is called "the beginning" so you know that it won't end well for the protagonists.

It isn't a great film per se, but the film is better than most recent remake.

Rating :

(From Jimmy's - 2013 Ooctober Horror Marathon on October 14th, 2013)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

M*A*S*H



What's the show about?
The 4077th M*A*S*H is a field hospital in the Korean War. The inhabitants of that hospital are a wild bunch of crazy people but they are also the best doctors and nurses on the front.

What happened before?
The series is based upon the novel "MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors" and the 1970 movie "MASH" but there's no necessity to have read / seen this before.

"Mobile Army Surgical Hospital"
"Hawkeye" and "Trapper" have the plan to send the local boy Ho-Jon to medical school in the United States. For this they have to raise $1,000 by doing a lottery...

My Opinion
M*A*S*H is a great show, always good balanced between fun and seriousness.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 5th, 2008)