DVD Collectors Online

Strangler of the Swamp, a review by Danae Cassandra

Strangler of the Swamp
Year of Release: 1945
Directed By: Frank Wisbar
Starring: Rosemary La Planche, Robert Barratt, Blake Edwards, Charles Middleton, Effie Parnell
Genre: Horror

Overview:
A ferryman who was wrongly hanged for murder is now a ghost, and he's more than a little perturbed. He wants revenge, and he's inflicting strange, violent deaths on the townsfolk responsible for this execution.

The ghost (Charles Middleton, best-known for playing Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon series) is all the scarier for his simplicity: a grim shape that gradually manifests itself, blending into the shadows and the night. Blake Edwards, in a rare acting appearance before he became a famous director, is Christian Sanders, Jr., next on the ghost's list of victims, and Rosemary La Planche is his lover who's willing to sacrifice herself to save his life. Robert Barrat is the community leader who fights the villagers' superstitions.

Steeped in gothic atmosphere, STRANGLER OF THE SWAMP recreated director Frank Wisbar's extremely stylish classic fantasy film, Fährmann Maria, made in Germany before Wisbar came to Hollywood and directed such movies as the Devil Bat's Daughter. Wisbar's inventive use of lighting, camera and sets makes STRANGLER a stand-out.

My Thoughts:
This has great atmosphere for a 40's B-movie. There aren't many sets, and you can tell they didn't have much budget, but add a fog machine and the sort of swampy scenery you might put up for a community theatre production, and it somehow creates a wonderfully creepy feel to this film.

While some of the dialog isn't great, and the acting is servicable at best, I really liked the character of Maria and the way they visualized the ghost. The ghost is dark and murky, never fully seen, which really works for the story and makes the ghost seem more threatening. Maria, meanwhile, is a remarkably strong character for the time period. The lurid cover has little to do with the actual film. She is the actual hero of the film, the one who confronts the ghost and defeats him. The cover should really replace her with Blake Edwards character being threatened instead. Well worth watching for those who enjoy low-budget films of this era.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Fail
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 28/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 16th, 2016)

Planet Blood, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Planet Blood
Year: 2008
Director: Scott Patrick
Rating: NR
Length: 57 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Extras:
Scene Access

Stars:
Brett Kelly
Lisa Meuser
Ray Besharah
Teresa Pike
Jenna Jay

Plot:
After a comet struck the Earth, destroying most of the populace, a man Justin lives alone in his house, haunted by fear and guilt. As he fights with his inner demons, he also must deal with swarms of flesh-eating vampires who appeared from the bowels of the Earth after the apocalypse.

My Thoughts:
After looking over Jimmy's thread I noticed this is one of the ones he liked... so thought I would start with it. This movie is from that cheap 50 movie boxset... Mortuary of Madness. While far from the worst movie in this set... I didn't appreciate it quite as much as our friend Jimmy did. I basically found it to be an average movie... not bad... but not good either. I think what really bothered me the most was the blood effects. I just couldn't get past how badly that was done. But the movie does have some good points too. The movie being as short as it is... it doesn't lag any... so keeps your interest. And the main guy... Brett Kelly... was pretty good in it.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on October 30th, 2009)

Tom's Random Reviews, a review by Tom

Title: South Park: Season Twelve
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: FSK-16
Length: 310 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: German: Dolby Digital Stereo, English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: Dutch, English, German

Plot:
All fourteen uncensored episodes from South Park's twelfth season are now available in this exclusive three-disc set. In this colection, South Park follows the new president-elect from is acceptance speech to his first official duty as Commander in Chief. The boys keep busy helping a pop princess who's down on her luck, negotiating a truce for striking Canadians, and preventing giant rodents from destroying the world. For them, it's all part of growing up in South Park!


Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Scene Access

I always felt that South Park got better and better with each season. But this season is a bit of a let-down. Seems like they are running out of steam a little bit.
My favorites in this season are the episode were Wendy challenges Cartman to a fight and he tries to get out of it, and the two-parter "Pandemic", which is a great Cloverfield parody with giant guinea pigs attacking. I think they did a great job with the hand-held camera "footage".
The episode "Elementary School Musical" makes me a little bit curious to watch the "High School Musical" movies, to see if they are really that bad

#	Episode	Rating
01	Tonsil Trouble
02	Britney's New Look
03	Major Boobage
04	Canada On Strike
05	Eek, a Penis!
06	Over Logging
07	Super Fun Time
08	The China Problem
09	Breast Cancer Show Ever
10	Pandemic
11	Pandemic 2: The Startling
12	About Last Night...
13	Elementary School Musical
14	The Ungroundable

(From Tom's Random Reviews on January 4th, 2010)