DVD Collectors Online

The Haunted Palace, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Haunted Palace
Year of Release: 1963
Directed By: Roger Corman
Starring: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr, Frank Maxwell
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Based on an Edgar Allan Poe poem, this Roger Corman chiller starring Vincent Price is "filled with terror and macabre events [and] guaranteed to bring shudders" (Boxoffice)! A perversely evil 18th-century warlock is burned at the stake. A century after the human barbecue, the warlock's great-great-grandson returns to the family castle where he falls under Gramps' ghost's spell...beginning the evil all over again.

My Thoughts:
Vincent Price meets H.P. Lovecraft.  Two great things that go great together!  What more could I ask for?  I adore Price, and Lovecraft has long been a favorite as well.  Sure, AIP markets this as a Poe picture, but it's actually based in Lovecraft's story with Poe's poem tacked on to market his name.  I suppose Poe was much more commercially known in 63 than Lovecraft.

This is a really good interpretation of Lovecraft's story.  The atmosphere is great.  Loads and loads of props to art director Daniel Haller, whom Corman says in an interview deliberately tried to make the exteriors seem claustrophobic and the interiors unnaturally spacious.  Haller's work really sets the tone of the film, and Lovecraft's atmosphere over gore aesthetic really shines.  Price, of course, is great, as is horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role.  The ambivalent ending only makes the film better, as you leave uncertain that evil has been destroyed.  Price plays it perfectly.

If you love Vincent Price like I do, this is a must see.  Highly recommended.  On a note to the blu-ray, this is as beautiful as the other two films I've watched from the Price sets, and the PBS intro/exit is in the best shape for this film thus far.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 4/5

2015 Horror Movie Count: 5

(From Horror/Halloween Marathon 2015 on October 10th, 2015)

Dead Calm, a review by samuelrichardscott

Dead Calm (1989) R2 United Kingdom

Overview:My Thoughts:
Having enjoyed some of Phillip Noyce's other thrillers and being a fan of both Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill, I decided it was high time I actually watched Dead Calm all the way through as every other time I've tried to watch it on TV, I have been sidetracked into doing other things. I'm glad I finally did buy the DVD because this is yet another great Noyce thriller brought to the level it is at by great casting. Zane and Neill are are great as completely opposite men who find themselves in an intense battle as Neill tries to save his wife played by Kidman. What can I say, despite minimal locations (it is set on a boat after all so where else can they go?) and a straightforward plot, it is a step above other genre films and is one I will likely revisit, even if just for the Kidman sex scene and the hilariously dated CGI in the final satisfying shot. 4/5

(From Never Ending Movie Marathon (short reviews) on June 21st, 2010)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

2.07 Juliet is Bleeding (1996-02-01)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Kathy Slevin (Writer), Jeff King (Writer)
Director: George Bloomfield
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Daniel Kash (Detective Louis Gardino), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Lee Purcell (Louise St. Laurent), Carrie-Anne Moss (Irene Zuko), Jim Bracchitta (Frank Zuko), Hannes Jaenicke (Michael), Sherry Miller (Commander Sherry O'Neil), Louis Di Bianco (Charlie), Pat Farenga (Pat), Falconer Abraham (Bomb Squad Leader), Joe Pingue (Jimmy Roastbeef), Harve Sokoloff (Zwick), Chelsi Smith (Wife #1), Shanna Moakler (Wife #2)

Too much tragedy at once for this series. I like that they , but it then got too much about Ray and his love of this life (of which we never heard anything about before if I remember correctly). Although Carrie-Anne Moss did a good job.
R.I.P. Riviera 2

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on August 14th, 2009)