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Hellbound: Book of the Dead, a review by addicted2dvd

Hellbound: Book of the Dead
While living in a small costal town, Lane and Diane are about to have their lives torn apart by an ancient book of magic that was originally created to bring the dead back to life. In her desperate attempt to resurrect her dead sister, Diane accidentally kills a man. When Lane decides to dismember the victim with the intention of tossing his pieces into the bay, the spell begins to kick in.

My Thoughts:
This is part of Hostile Hauntings... a low-budget horror movie set I have containing 6 movies. This movie is also known as Cadaver Bay. For the most part I am disappointed as the storyline had potential to be more then what it turned out to be. Don't get me wrong... as there is some good points in this movie. They really try hard at supplying the right atmosphere even though they failed. But there is some decent effects... the bad acting could have been worse. They seemed to have tried... but felt like a movie created by a first year film student.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: Unwatched DVDs on April 25th, 2009)

Dial M for Murder, a review by Dragonfire

Dial M for Murder My Thoughts I think this is the first time that I've seen this entire movie.  I saw part of it on tv before.  I have also seen another version of the story, A Perfect Murder, a few times.  I think the movie is very entertaining and it has an interesting plot.  The way things are presented keeps the movie from being as suspenseful as some of Hitchcock's other movies, but I do think there is still suspense to what is going on.  Tony describes exactly how things are supposed to happen, but he doesn't take into account the fact that things rarely go exactly as planned in any situation.  When things start to go a bit wrong, some suspense is added to what is going on.  The mystery is mostly focused on how Tony will deal with how things worked out and if he will get caught.  The movie takes place almost completely inside Tony and Margot's apartment without a few short shots outside of it.  I honestly really didn't notice that while watching the movie.  This isn't the first Hitchcock movie with a more confined set and it won't be the last.  I don't remember knowing before that the movie was based on a play.  Things do move at a slightly slower pace for much of the movie that may not appeal to some viewers.  That works to build up what is going on and add what suspense there is.  There isn't a lot of action in the movie either, apart from the one important scene.  The movie does have a lot of talking which might bore some people, but I didn't think it was boring.  The talking was needed to introduced certain story elements..like how Tony puts his plan in motion.  The characters are interesting, though there could have been a bit more development for some of them.  Tony is sort of presented in a more sympathetic way at first because of Margot's affair.  Even with that, I really didn't like him.  He came across as smarmy and manipulative to me.  That comes out more and more as the movie progresses.  He is very calculating and things he has everything planned out perfectly.  He isn't happy when things go wrong, though he adapts fairly quick.  Ray Milland does really well with the part.  Margot seems to be trying to make her marriage work though she clearly still has feelings for Mark.  She thinks she has kept things from Tony.  She is clueless about a few things.  Grace Kelly does well with the part.  Mark is a writer and the man that Margot had an affair with.  They haven't seen each other in a year, but it is clear the feelings are still there.  Mark seems nice enough, though he really isn't developed much.  Chief Inspector Hubbard is the police officer investigating everything.  He keeps popping up with additional questions.  He picks up on much more than it seems at first. The two extras on the DVD are interesting and entertaining.  It is brought up how the movie was made in 3D because of how popular that format was at the time.  By the time the movie was ready to be released, it wasn't as popular anymore, so most theaters showed the movie in the normal format.  When I was at Universal Studios in Florida several years ago, they had a show thing about Hitchcock.  Part of it showed the one scene from this movie in 3D.  That shot worked really well..better than most of what I've seen more recently. This movie does move a bit slower than other Hitchcock movies and doesn't have as much suspense overall, but it is still really entertaining and worth watching. I did get a review posted on Epinions. Dial M for Murder

(From Alfred Hitchcock Marathon on June 29th, 2010)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

Star Trek
1.27 The Alternative Factor
Writer: Don L. Ingalls (Writer), Gene Roddenberry (Original Characters By)
Director: Gerd Oswald
Cast: William Shatner (Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), Robert Brown (Lazarus), DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), Janet MacLachlan (Charlene Masters), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Richard Derr (Barstow), Arch Whiting (Assistant Engineer), Christian Patrick (Transporter Chief), Eddie Paskey (Lesley)

I never really liked this episode. I find it boring. Some guy is in conflict with his anti-matter universe self.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on October 27th, 2011)