DVD Collectors Online

The Terminator, a review by DJ Doena

February, 1st


Arnold Schwarzenegger   ...    The Terminator
Michael Biehn   ...    Kyle Reese
Linda Hamilton   ...    Sarah Connor
Paul Winfield   ...    Lieutenant Ed Traxler
Lance Henriksen   ...    Detective Hal Vukovich
Earl Boen   ...    Dr. Peter Silberman

Synopsis: Earth, 2029. The computer system Skynet is self-aware and highly intelligent. It was invented by men but it has wiped out nearly the entire human race. Shortly before its defeat it sends a Terminator back in time, a cyborg, human flesh over a metal endoskeleton. Its mission: To kill the mother of the resistance leader in the year 1984, before she gives birth to her son. But the resistance sends also someone back to protect her.

My Opinion: The original Terminator movie is a perfect example of a time loop. The fotograph Reese has is the same that Sarah gets at the end of the movie. Except for the logical hole that the one who wants prevent a change cannot travel back in time after the one who wants to change something, it's quite consistent. And it has aged suprisingly well. I had expected that the skeleton scenes would look rather lame comparing to today's FX but they weren't that bad. When the sekeleton was alone in the picture they were actually quite good, even when the full skeleton was in sight. Only when we see Kyle/Sarah and the skeleton they look rather bad.
I especially liked to hear all the one-liners again "for the first time". And I never even knew that "Come with me, if you want to live!" was even there in the first movie.

(From DJ Doena's movie watchings 2009 on February 2nd, 2009)

Encounter with the Unknown, a review by Jimmy

Title: Encounter with the Unknown (1973)

Genre: Horror
Director: Harry Thomason
Rating: PG
Length: 1h32
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1:78.1
Audio: English
Subtitles: None

Stars:
Rod Serling
Robert Ginnaven
Rosie Holotik
Michael Harvey
Gene Ross

Plot:
Rod Serling (TV's Twillight Zone) phones in a shocking trilogy of UHF television level thrills. A curse hits three frat kids when a homicidal mother decides they are resonsible for her son's death, and this prophetic mother won't stop untill she gains her twisted vengeance. Each frat boy meets with the most painfull death that you will encounter in a familly film. An inbred boy's dog falls into the pit of hell, and it's up his uncle/dag (standout performance by Robert Holton) to go down to investigate. Watch out when he returns! Third, an unsuspecting driver picks up lost girls, Rosie Holotik (Don't Look in the Basement, Horror High), only to learn that she died years before. Featuring box office champ Bill Thurman (Gator Bait), outrageous funnyman Gene Ross (the groovy judge in Here Comes the Judge), comedian Charlie Dell and Robert Ginnaven as the business-class-riding priest.

An uneven anthology with one excellent story (The Girl on the Bridge), one so-so (The Hole) and one awfully bad. It's a regional movie (Arkansas) with many regulars from the S.F. Brownrigg and Larry Buchanan pool of actors. As I said the first story is an awfull mess with a story repeated over and over. The midle one is about a hole in the ground that can be evil or not depending of what you believe (with a better writting and details this could had been a good story). The last one is about a dead spirit who is lost and wants to return home, ok this isn't a new theme but it's well written and well acted (certainly better than anything else in that). This is the first movie of Rosie Holotik (she played the Lady on the Bridge) and she do a great jobs.
   
Rating :

(From Jimmy's - 2013 Ooctober Horror Marathon on October 17th, 2013)

Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon, a review by Tom

20. The Prom (1999-05-11)
Writer: Joss Whedon (Created By), Marti Noxon (Writer)
Director: David Solomon
Cast: Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Seth Green (Oz), Anthony Stewart Head (Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Alexis Denisof (Wesley Wyndam-Pryce), Brad Kane (Tucker Wells), Emma Caulfield (Anya/Anyanka), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Bonita Friedericy (Mrs. Finkle), Andrea E. Taylor (Sales Girl), Mike Kimmel (Harv), Tove Kingsbury (Tux Boy), Michael Zlabinger (Student at Mic), Monica Serene Garnich (Pretty Girl), Joe Howard (Priest), Damien Eckhardt (Jack Mayhew), Stephanie Denise Griffin (Tux Girl)

I liked how Buffy gets the "Class Protector" award at the end. This episodes makes way for the Angel series with Angel's decision to leave Sunnydale. In my opinion a good move. I got tired of the whole Buffy/Angel drama.


Rating:

(From Tom's Buffy and Angel Marathon on March 6th, 2009)