DVD Collectors Online

Gamera: The Giant Monster, a review by Danae Cassandra

Gamera: The Giant Monster  (Daikaiju Gamera)
Year of Release: 1965
Directed By: Noriaki Yuasa
Starring: Eiji Funakoshi, Harumi Kiritachi, Junichiro Yamashita, Jun Hamamura
Genre: Science-Fiction, Action, Disaster, Tokusatsu, Kaiju

Overview:Fires On The Plain), find a way to stop this invincible supermonster . . . or is mankind doomed?

Directed by Noriaki Yuasa (who would oversee all eight of the original Gamera entries of the 1960s and 1970s) and created by the same studio that brought Zatoichi to the screen, Daiei's titanic terrapin became the only true rival to Toho's King Of The Monsters. Gamera was able to hold its own at the box office and secured a place in the hearts of kaiju eiga (Japanese monster movie) fans around the world.

Now, for the first time on DVD, Shout! Factory presents the original Japanese version of Gamera with new English subtitles and anamorphic widescreen from an all-new HD master created from vault elements!

My Thoughts:
Introducing Gamera! His origin story! See him rudely awakened by the blast of the bomb! See him bring destruction as he goes forth in anger! and hunger! He breathes fire! He flies! Watch mankind tremble as they realize their weapons are ineffective!

In truth, not a bad opening film. More than a bit of a rip-off of Godzilla, but Gamera isn't created by the bomb, he's simply awakened by it. He's a force of nature rather than mutated by man's weapons. The story's very thin, but we have lots of scenes of Gamera rampaging and causing destruction. Fun kaiju film, and if you're going to watch the old Gamera films, I'd definitely start with the first one.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 3/5

(From Gamera! on February 27th, 2016)

Decoys, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Decoys Year: 2004 Director: Matt Hastings Rating: R Length: 96 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English

Stars:
Corey Sevier
Stefanie von Pfetten
Kim Poirier
Elias Toufexis
Meghan Ory
Enis Esmer

Plot:
Some students aren't exactly what they seem to be in DECOYS, a sci-fi/horror adventure starring Kim Poirier (Dawn of the Dead), Richard Burgi (Starship Troopers 2), Corey Sevier (TV's "North Shore") and Nicole Eggert (TV's "Baywatch").

If college coeds Lily and Constance look like two out-of-this-world blonde beauties, that's because they're actually intergalactic space invaders with a mission: to breed with humans before taking over the Earth. And even though the girls' mating skills have proven fatal to their victims, they keep on trying. So when Luke, a hard-partying freshman, accidentally witnesses the shapely shape-shifters in their full-bodied alien state, he knows it's up to him to save the planet before he truly gets wasted.

Extras:
Scene Access
Bonus Trailers
Featurettes
Closed Captioned

My Thoughts:
I went into this one not expecting too much.... and it is a good thing I didn't. While not a terribly bad movie... it was no more then an average low-budget fair. It seemed like I seen it all before. It was like they took the idea of 2 or 3 different movies... slapped it together.... and then put it into a cold setting. It even had the all too expected "surprise" ending that I saw coming a mile away. I would say the only thing this one really had going for it is pretty girls in skimpy clothes. Well the did make the aliens in their natural form look pretty cool... but even that reminded me of aliens from another movie.




Count:
Movie Count: 21
TV Ep. Count: 11
Other Count: 1
Time Started: 10:30am

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 7th, 2010)

"Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009), a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: For a thousand yahren the war with the Cylons has lasted. The Cylons are machines and their creators - the original race called "Cylons" - have died out long ago. But now an armistice was negotiated by Baltar and the fleet of the Twelve Colonies of Man meets with the Cylons to sign a peace treaty. But Baltar has betrayed his own species to seize power and the Cylons launch a large-scale attack on the colonial fleets and the colonies. Only one Battlestar - the Galactica - and a few refugees survive that holocaust. But there's a myth about a thirteenth colony of Kobol. Commander Adama and his fleet of 220 ships leave the colonies behind to find that legendary colony: Earth. But it won't be an easy journey and there are still those who believe that mankind should lay down its weapons and seek peace with the Cylons.

My Opinion: The show begins with an epic three-parter which was re-cut and re-published as a movie. The designs of that show are still great. The Galactica, the Cylons ("walking chrome toasters"), the Cylon Raiders, the Basestars. Although the deception of mankind and the destruction of the fleet was a bit too easy, it was a decent start for the story and it showed that Adama is an astute commander and that he has the best pilots in the fleet. I also liked their sense of humour: One of the ships had an advertisement printed on the side: "Colonial Movers - We Move Anywhere". The characters are also good. They may not have the depth of nowadays's characters, but they have charm: Adama, Apollo, Starbuck, Athena, Cassiopeia, Serina, ... and of course the diabolical Baltar.

(From "Battlestar Galactica" Marathon (1978-2009) on March 13th, 2009)