DVD Collectors Online

Alien, a review by Dragonfire

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Alien In the first chapter of the terrifying Alien saga, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo answers a distress signal from a desolate planet, only to discover a deadly life form that breeds within human hosts. Now the crew members must fight not only for their own survival, but for the survival of all humankind.

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This is the first time that I've watched this movie.  I've heard a little about it over the years, but I just never saw it for some reason.  I'm still not sure why.  I'd been thinking about getting it for a while when I finally picked it up.  I went into watching this not knowing any more about the plot than what was on the back of the case - though I did know about one thing that would happen.  I think that was the best way.  The movie is very well done and has held up incredibly well.  Most of the effects were created in a more practical way - puppets or someone in a rubber suit - and that works great for the movie.  It allows for the tension to slowly build and makes things creepier and scarier overall than if the creature had been shown right away.  The characters work well, though most of them aren't that developed.  Ash is creepy as hell right from the start, even before everything is known about him.  Ripley is a great character and one of the best female characters in movies.  She deals fairly well with the situation she ends up in, and doesn't cower in a corner and wait to be saved. 

The movie is wonderful and I'm glad I finally watched it.  Especially that I watched it before Prometheus.  I saw definite connections there...small, but they are there.  I would have missed all that if I hadn't watched this one.



I did get a longer review posted on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

Alien


(From Marie's Random Movie Viewing on June 17th, 2012)

Return to House on Haunted Hill, a review by addicted2dvd

Return to House on Haunted Hill
The house has a second story, even more terrifying then the first! When a new group of unsuspecting visitors enters the legendary 'House on Haunted Hill,' they come face to horrifying face with an unimaginable, unrelenting evil. Trapped with the spirits of the sadistic Dr. Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs) and the insane asylum inmates who died there, the newcomers discover one by one that this time the house won't let anyone leave alive.

My Thoughts:
Another one I really enjoyed watching a lot. I went into it not expecting much... what with being a direct-to-dvd release and all... so that probably helped me a bit. But even though it did have a couple small slow spots... for the most part I really enjoyed this movie. This DVD is unrated.. so it is no real surprise that there is a fairly nice amount of gore in it. The quality looks good... and as for extras... there is a few things here... but I really didn't take the time to look at them this time around.

For those that are interested Here is the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqzZjx8ScDM

(From Weekend Movie Marathon: 5/23-5/25 on May 24th, 2008)

My PILOT Marathon, a review by Rich

RAY MEARS WILD FOOD - SERIES 1 - EPISODE 1 AUSTRALIA



Australia: Ray travels to the other side of the planet to hear from Australian Aboriginals about what food means to a hunter-gatherer and the role it plays in their culture as well as their society.

I fancied a change from the typical fare, so dipped into a couple of documentary series around cooking/nature. Not sure what it is about survival programmes and how to live off the land, but with Ray Mears the series are always fascinating and enlightening. This original episode from Wild Food is no exception, and was totally absorbing, following the traditional methods of Australian Aboriginees and their diets and hunting/gathering in the wild.




(From My PILOT Marathon on May 28th, 2008)