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Blood of Dracula's Castle, a review by Jimmy

Title : Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969)

Overview
A chilling, blood-curdling tale about a young couple that inherits an old castle but finds it already inhabited by a crusty butler, an obsessed killer and a couple of vampires, who kidnap and sacrifice young girls in order to live on and on....

My Impression
This is an Al Adamson's movie so it's weird and way too complicated for its own good. So here we go a couple of vampire (Alexander D'Arcy and Paula Raymond) with the help of the shapeless Mango (Ray Young) capture young girls for their blood (yeah they are blood drinkers not biters). Also living in their castle (who isn't their anyway since they rent it) with them are their butler (John Carradine) and a psychotic killer (Robert Dix) but only when the moon is full. They live an happy live untill the moment or a young couple (Gene Otis Shayne and Jennifer Bishop) inherit the castle and want to kick them out. I forgot sometimes they sacrifice a young girl to the God Luna when the moon is full. The synopsis is the only interesting part since the acting is really bad wich is surprising since the cast include a lot of veteran actors, nothing exciting happen at all (the most exciting moments happen in the beginning when the couple is at Marineland and we see the dolphins, the walrus and the sea lions), the vampires are incredibly easy to kill and the movie print is very at the end of the line (lots of green scratches, red spots, faded colors and jump cut). The only saving grace of this film are Robert Dix and John Carradine. To make the thing even worst Rex Carlton, the producer of this film, kill himself in 1968 (the film was made in 66, but released only in 69) because he was unable to to reimburse the money he borrowed from the mob...

I think you can pass this one

Rating :

(From Jimmy's 2010 Horror Marathon on October 2nd, 2010)

Hellboy, a review by Jon

Hellboy
4 out of 5



When a Nazi mystical experiment goes awry in 1944, the target of a wizard's spell, the child of Satan, Hellboy, is wrenched from his home, and adopted by the U.S. agents who intercept his arrival.

Hellboy is a wonderfully inventive and entertaining film, though it’s a hard sell and many novice viewers will be left scratching their heads. You have to “get” this film to have any chance of liking it! For me, I was familiar with the marvellous comics by Mike Mignola and he was heavily involved in the films development, so it’s all good.

It’s madder than a box of frogs and Guillermo Del Toro is the perfect director for something akin to Men In Black on drugs. It’s visually dazzling, but exciting too, as he is an accomplished action director. It’s more fantasy than anything else, but its tale of prophecies and demons makes it a bona fide horror too and Del Toro has a better understanding of classic horror than any other director working at the moment (one of his many upcoming films is a remake of Frankenstein).

The story is typical comic book stuff. The Nazi’s are messing with the occult and summon a demon. Unfortunately for them, said demon is a just a kid and is raised by the Government (specifically John Hurt’s kindly professor) as a member of a special task force to deal with paranormal. The problem is, Hellboy is part of a prophecy and his effective stone right hand is actually a key that could end the world!

Phew. What makes the film and comic so entertaining are the incredible characters, who are very human despite their appearance. The bruising unstoppable hulk that is Hellboy (Ron Perlman, having the time of his life), is actually a petulant, overgrown lovesick teenager, always in trouble with his “Dad” and pining after Selma Blair’s fiery (literally) Liz. It’s very much a sitcom at heart and it works very well indeed. So long as you are already on its wavelength! So the moment a corpse is resurrected to get directions and ends up in a hilarious argument with our hero will either be the moment you become a fully paid-up member of the Hellboy fan-club or you scream in frustration!

The villains are just as fantastic as the heroes, especially the clockwork assassin, and the ending is suitably serious, so far as something like this can be. The film is let down by concessions to making it marketable, such as the very human new-comer to the team (although the long-suffering boss is great). It’s a lazy plot device that hampers the film, but overall, it’s big and funny, just like its lead character.


(From Jon's Marathon of Horror! 2009 on November 1st, 2009)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

Day Break
Did you ever have a day so bad you couldn't wait to get past it? The kind of day where nothing goes your way and everything turns out wrong. What would happen if you couldn't put this day behind you...literally?

Today, Detective Brett Hopper will be accused of shooting state attorney Alberto Garza. He will offer his rock solid alibi but will realized that he has been framed and will run. Then he will wake up and start the same day all over again. This time he'll do it differently - and will continue to - until he finds out who's framing him, get his gang witness to court to testify and save the lives of his loved ones. Hopper has only one advantage to his favor - he remembers everything he did the "day prior" that didn't work. It's a painful way to learn because he also carries the bruises and battle scars with him from every mistake-filled day.

Daybreak features Taye Diggs (Private Practice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back) as Detective Hopper in this action-packed thriller from director Rob Bowman (The X-Files, Reign of Fire) and writer Paul Zbyszewski (After the Fire). Also co-starring are Moon Bloodgood and Adam Baldwin. Along with all 13 episodes of this program are special features which include interviews with the cast and producers, behind-the-scenes footage and audio commentary from the cast and crew.

Day Break (Pilot)
When Detective Brett Hopper woke up this morning, he thought it was a normal day, a day like any other one, but he soon learns he has been accused of killing Assistant District Attorney Alberto Garza. Even after offering a solid alibi, no one believes him. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds out he is reliving the same day and his loved ones are in danger.

My Thoughts:
This a show I bought blind... I never even heard of it till I decided to order it. It is a short lived TV Series that only lasted 13 episodes (only 6 episodes originally aired before cancellation). But I got it cheap and decided to take a chance on it. I always liked the movie Groundhog Day... so I thought it would be a fairly safe purchase. Going by the pilot episode only it seems to be a pretty good series. I enjoyed it. Though I do have to wonder how much they can do with him for an entire series

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on November 29th, 2009)