DVD Collectors Online

Silent Night, Bloody Night, a review by Jimmy

Title : Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974)

Overview
A man inherits his family's mansion that has been unoccupied for years and was at one time a mental hospital. Desperate to sell for much-needed cash, he sends his attorney to the mansion to prepare it for sale. Unfortunately at the sime time, a deranged killer escapes from a nearby institution and returns to the town and the mansion, both wich hold some dark and sinister secrets.

My Impression
First time that I've watched this one and I was pleasantly surprise. This is a really well done movie, in fact this is more a thriller than an horror film (even if the synopsis tell the contrary). There are some blood, one of the first murder is particullary bloody and realist, but most of the murder are offscreen (take note that some of them are really obviously cut on the print use for my dvd). The story is really good too and this is surprising since it's only the third movie script written by Theodore Gershuny. Like the naration use and the flashback story (this is at this moment that you really understand this film). For those flasback the cinematography is all in sepia (just like the old silent movie) and this is really imaginative. The cast is ok, but Mary Woronov is the only one that shine and it's easy to understand why she continue to act for 42 years. The only downside of this film is the quality of the print : the sound is correct but the image is full of scratch, light spot, ... It would be nice to have a remastered special edition for 2009 since it will be the 35th anniversary of this film, but my hopes are not really high.
 
Rating :

Number of film watch : 47

(From My October Horror Marathon on October 29th, 2008)

Death Note, a review by Tom

Title: Death Note
Year: 2006
Length: 126 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Japanese: DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English, Japanese, Korean


OK, so I couldn't wait any longer to watch this movie 
I have read the first 5 volumes of the manga so far and it was enough to not spoil later volumes by watching this movie. I had lowered my expectations for this movie because of this thread but I must say, that this wouldn't have been necessary. I really liked this movie adaptation of the manga. Of course the movie deviates from the manga, but I think they made the right choices. The manga is mostly characters talking. Which is great for the manga, but would have not been fitting for a movie. Plotwise the first half of the movie follows more or less the manga. The second half uses a lot of elements from the manga but leaves out a lot and changes a lot of things.
Regarding the two main characters:
Light: In the beginning I almost thought they had ruined this character. He was too hot-headed. But I think during the course of the movie he becomes closer to his manga counterpart.
L: He was surprisingly true to his manga counterpart! He was also the main reason I couldn't wait to take a look at this movie. When I saw screenshots of him in the booklet, I was surprised to see how closely he resembles the character of the manga. So I wanted to see, if his mannerism is also true to the manga. And yes, it was

Now I will have to wait until June, when the 12th volume of the manga is released in Germany, to be able to see the second movie. I will probably become weak long before then

Rating: 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4NmhxbLXQbg

(From Tom's Random Reviews on February 28th, 2008)

Caroline in the City Marathon, a review by Tom

Caroline and the Married Man (1996-01-11)
Writer: Wil Calhoun
Director: Tom Cherones
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Andy Lauer (Charlie), Beau Gravitte (Tom Barna), Tom La Grua (Remo), Jessie Jones (Receptionist)

Average episode. Beginning of the unrequited love of Richard.



Caroline and the 28 lb. Walleye (1996-01-25)
Writer: Ian Praiser, Carol Gary
Director: Tom Cherones
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Andy Lauer (Charlie), Paul Castree (Chris Duffy), James Callahan (Mayor Paisley), Patrick T. O'Brien (Councilman Hardy), Beth Wishnie (Lindsay), Patricia Gaul (Mrs. Baerwald), Earl Holliman (Fred Duffy), Mariette Hartley (Margaret Duffy)

A good episode. Caroline gets a park in her hometown named after her, but her brother steals her thunder as usual.



Caroline and the Watch (1996-02-01)
Writer: Mark Wilding
Director: James Burrows
Cast: Lea Thompson (Caroline), Eric Lutes (Del), Malcolm Gets (Richard), Amy Pietz (Annie), Andy Lauer (Charlie), Rose Marie (Stella Dawson), Morey Amsterdam (Vic Stansky), Robert Cesario (Mr. Dunn), Beans Morocco (Minister)

The opening titles change with this episode. Sadly they have done away with the little animated comic strips which they did for opening each episode.
Also new is that in this episode Caroline got the new work desk. Which means that finally Richard and Caroline can work at the same time

(From Caroline in the City Marathon on September 16th, 2008)