DVD Collectors Online

A Virgin Among the Living Dead, a review by Danae Cassandra

Year of Release: 1971
Directed By: Jess Franco
Starring: Cristine von Blanc, Britt Nickols, Rosa Palomar, Anne Libert, Howard Vernon
Genre: Horror

Overview:
After losing her mother at an early age and being raised at a boarding school, Cristina Reiner is notified of her father's death and summoned to Monserrat Mansion for the reading of his will. Other members of her strange, accursed family are found there awaiting the imminent demise of Cristina's ailing stepmother, Hermione, whom she has never met. When Death finally visits the castle in the person of an elegantly attired Queen of Darkness, Cristina is approached by the ghost of her father - the noose of his suicide permanently around his neck - who advises her to flee the castle and her cold-skinned, bloodthirsty relatives. But is it already too late? Has she already lost touch with reality? Learn the answers, if you dare, in this legendary cult classic from Jess Franco - uncut in America for the first time!

My Thoughts:
This is my second watch for this film, and I definitely enjoyed it more this time. It's a beautiful, bizarre film that never gives up the full answers to what is going on. Much is left to the viewer to decide. This is not a film about plot. This is a film of visual beauty and genuinely creepy atmosphere. It also contains a lot of nudity. Our heroine is nude as often as she is clothed, and two other ladies bare it all as well. Franco certainly has a eye for eroticism - the scenes of Christine in bed display her gorgeously.

Having watched it and enjoyed it more this second time round, I'm interested to check out more of Franco's oeuvre.

Watched For: Scavenger Hunt #19, Hoop-tober 3.0

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Pass

Overall: 3/5

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

The Children's Hour, a review by Tom

Title: The Children's Hour
Year: 1961
Director: William Wyler
Rating: 12
Length: 104 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Mono, German: Dolby Digital Mono, French: Dolby Digital Mono, Italian: Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Audrey Hepburn
Shirley MacLaine
James Garner
Miriam Hopkins
Fay Bainter

Plot:
A child's lie has life-shattering consequences in this daring adaptation of Lillian Hellman's celebrated play. Starring Academy Award winners Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine and co-starring James Garner, Miriam Hopkins and Fay Bainter, this landmark film is "one of the most finely wrought dramas in the history of the screen" (Motion Picture Herald).

Karen (Hepburn) and Martha (MacLaine) are the headmistresses of an exclusive school for girls. When they discipline a malicious little girl, the vindictive child twists an overheard comment into slander and accuses her teachers of questionable behavior. Soon the scandalous gossip engulfs the school's community, with repercussions that are swift, crushing... and tragic.

Extras:
Scene Access

This movie is now almost 50 years old, and for that, it is quite daring for its time. Although the play, it is based on, predates it even almost a further 30 years.
I came to attention of this movie, when I recently watched "If these walls could talk 2", where in one segment the main characters watched this movie at the theater. The scene they had shown in that movie was the following

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX6EhE1ZPXU

Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on June 7th, 2009)

Tom's TV Finales marathon, a review by Tom

Undeclared: The Complete Series (2001/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia Shout! Factory, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (United States) Length: 403 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles:

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Plot:
College life as seen through the eyes of Steven Karp, a freshman determined to reinvent himself at a new school. Faced with dilemmas as miserable as being "sexiled" to the rec room while roommates use the bedroom and as dire as confronting a girlfriend's jealous stalker-ex-boyfriend, Steven and his new friends tackle the challenges of higher education. Named one of Time magazine's top ten television shows of 2001 and praised for its "pitch perfect" casting, Undeclared is "one of the cum laude comedies of the new season . . . a sneaky funny hoot with endearingly offbeat characters." (Los Angeles Times)




Undeclared
Season 1.18 Eric's POV
Writer: Judd Apatow (Original Characters By), Judd Apatow (Writer), Nicholas Stoller (Writer)
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Jay Baruchel (Steven Karp), Carla Gallo (Lizzie Exley), Charlie Hunnam (Lloyd Haythe), Monica Keena (Rachel Lindquist), Christina Payano (Tina Ellroy), Seth Rogen (Ron Garner), Timm Sharp (Marshall Nesbitt), Loudon Wainwright (Hal Karp), Ben Stiller (Rex), Jason Segel (Eric), David Krumholtz (Greg), Kyle Gass (Eugene), Jarrett Grode (Perry), Sarah Ann Morris (Janice), Kim Fifield (Alice), Leroy Adams (Adam), P. B. Smiley (P.B.), Alex Breckenridge (Celeste)

A nice little series. The last episode was fun, but nothing special. Jason Segel plays a derailed ex-boyfriend really well. You saw hints of this with his character in Freaks & Geeks. But here it is a completely different level.



(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on February 18th, 2022)