DVD Collectors Online

Near Dark, a review by addicted2dvd

Title: Near Dark Year: 1987 Director: Kathryn Bigelow Rating: R Length: 94 Min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: DTS: 5.1, English: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English

Stars:
Adrian Pasdar
Jenny Wright
Lance Henriksen
Bill Paxton
Jenette Goldstein
Tim Thomerson

Plot:
In the dusty heart of the American southwest, innocent country boy Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar of MYSTERIOUS WAYS) is seduced by a beautiful girl (Jenny Wright) into joining a roving pack of vicious drifters led by the enigmatic Jesse (Lance Henriksen of THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS). But this is no ordinary band of outlaws; Caleb is now trapped in a nightmare of soulless evil that waits in the shadows, hellish mayhem that thrives on blood and absolute horror that begins NEAR DARK.

Bill Paxton (TWISTER) and Jenette Goldstein (ALIENS) co-star in this extraordinary shocker co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (STRANGE DAYS) that Entertainment Weekly calls "ultrastylish, ultraviolent and altogether brilliant." This is more than simply the most ferociously original vampire movie of our generation; NEAR DARK is one of the best horror movies of all time.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Production Notes
DVD-ROM Content
Closed Captioned
THX

My Thoughts:
This is a movie that has seemed to fly in under the radar for most people. I discovered it while I was working as a manager of the local video store.... and everyone I ever suggested it to never even heard of it. But yet of the MANY people that took a chance on this movie because of my recommendation... I don't remember ever hearing bad feedback. As far as I remember everyone enjoyed it!

One of the things I like about this movie is that even though while watching it there is no doubt in your mind this is a vampire movie... they never once use the word vampire in the movie... and you never once see a set of fangs.  Another thing I like in this movie is the awesome bar fight scene. I have seen a few bar fight scenes in horror movies... and this is one of the best. Then you have the added bonus that one of the stars of this movie is Lance Henrikson.... a great genre actor.

Needless to say I was thrilled when I first heard this movie was coming out on DVD. I pre-ordered the title as soon as I was able to. And even better was the fact that the release is a 2-disc edition with a nice selection of extras. If you never seen this under-rated movie... I urge you to give it a chance... I really don't think you will be sorry.




Count:
Movie Count: 100
TV Ep. Count: 50 I Made It! (10/20)
Other Count: 8 I Made It! (10/15)

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon: 2010 on October 28th, 2010)

The Tale of Zatoichi / The Tale of Zatoichi Continues , a review by Antares

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) 4/5 - My favorite genre in films is Film Noir, but running neck and neck with it is jidai-geki chanbara films from Japan. A few years ago I started catching a lot of these films on IFC on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, they would start at 9AM and being in the hospitality industry, I'm usually still sleeping at that time. So I've caught most of these films in midstream. One of my favorites of these genre of films are the Zatoichi films. Now that Criterion is streaming free films on Hulu, I've gotten to see the first two films in their entirety. A lot of the character traits of the blind masseur are still to be worked out in the following installments, but the basis of the character is intact. He's a master swordsman who likes to gamble. He calls himself a yakuza, but the moniker doesn't fit. In this first film, we get a Yojimbo style screenplay with Zatoichi in the middle of two rival yakuza clans. It takes a while for Zatoichi to draw his sword, but when he does the action is fast and furious. Subsequent films would get to the action much quicker, as fans wanted to see the prowess of this master swordsman and less of the character development that this film had. What also sets this film apart from it's successors is that Zatoichi is a bit more cynical in this one. Later on, he would come across as comical, and that's why I think the first few outings are the best.

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962) 3/5 - With the success of the previous film, Daiei Studios knew that they had a profitable alternative to Toho's Yojimbo character and they quickly shot this film to capitalize on it. The hurried nature is well evident in the patchwork screenplay. The story itself is good, but there really isn't anything to sink your teeth into. The fight scenes are frequent and relatively good. But as sequels go, this pales in comparison to Kurosawa's . Even though this entry is rather light, I'm looking forward to the next four films in the series, as they are also freely available on Hulu.

(From Antares' Short Summations on January 10th, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Wonderfalls
Season 1.13 Caged Bird
Writer: Krista Vernoff (Writer)
Director: Michael Lehmann
Cast: Caroline Dhavernas (Jaye Tyler), Katie Finneran (Sharon Tyler), Tyron Leitso (Eric Gotts), Lee Pace (Aaron Tyler), William Sadler (Darrin Tyler), Diana Scarwid (Karen Tyler), Tracie Thoms (Mahandra), Neil Grayston (Alec), Jeffrey R. Smith (Mall Security Guard), Glenn Fitzgerald (Bank Robber), Jewel Staite (Heidi), Elissa Lansdell (Reporter), Diego Fuentes (Cop #1), Susie Dias (Cop #2), Demetrius Joyette (Shoplift Kid), Bryan Hart (Night Cleaner), Michael Anthony (Costumer #1), Stefanie Drummond (Costumer #2), Scotch Ellis Loring (Muse Voice (voice))

A great show with only great episodes (except one: "Totem Mole" was garbage full of unindented racism). This last episode is just as good as the others. And a good conclusion. I have read how the series would have continued if it had another season or two. Could have been interesting, but could also have been bad. This way we got one great season without a major cliffhanger.



(From Tom's TV Finales marathon on January 13th, 2022)