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)

Labyrinth, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Labyrinth
Year: 1986
Director: Jim Henson
Rating: PG
Length: 101 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
David Bowie
Jennifer Connelly
Toby Froud
Shelley Thompson
Christopher Malcolm

Plot:Extras:
Scene Access
Feature Trailers
Featurettes
Production Notes
Closed Captioned
6-Page Booklet


A classic! Jim Henson magic at it's finest. This has always been my favorite David Bowie performance. He blends his music into his role perfectly and is deliciously evil. A cute Jennifer Connelly, on the brink of being breathtakingly gorgeous, takes us on a magical quest born of her imagination. Only Jim Henson could make his muppets looks so ugly and yet be so endearing, often delivering performances that make them more believable than those of their human acting counterparts.

My daughter made it through about half of this movie before she fell asleep, asking me every 5 minutes if they were going to save the baby boy. I'll have to put the rest of it back on for her tomorrow.

KC


Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on September 15th, 2010)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Babylon 5



What's the show about?
It's about Babylon 5. About the people that lived, loved, fought and died there. Babylon 5 is a human-built space station oribiting an (presumably) uninhabited planet in neutral territory. It's a port of call and a place to come together, to negotiate, to keep the peace in the galaxy. But in this it failed. Instead, it becomes the last, best hope for victory against an ancient and very powerful enemy.

"The Gathering"
A human space station called Babylon 5 was built in neutral terrritory between several star empires including the Minbari Federation, the Narn Empire, the Centauri Republic and the Earth Alliance. The construction finished ten years after the Earth-Minbar war where the Minbari nearly annihilated the humans but then surrenderd on the eve of victory. Now the station is complete to prevent such wars and every race sends an ambassador including the mysterious race called the Vorlons. But when the Vorlon ambassador Kosh arrives he is attacked and things get out of hands.

My Opinion
My marathon.
Babylon 5 is one of my top-favourite Sci-Fi TV shows. It has a great story arc and superb characters.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 4th, 2008)