DVD Collectors Online

The Old Dark House, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Old Dark House
Year of Release: 1932
Directed By: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lillian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Weary travelers find shelter in a mysterious Welsh manor in this definitive "Old Dark House" thriller and cult movie favorite by horror pioneer James Whale (the director of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein, and subject of the recent film Gods and Monsters).

Greeted with an animal-like grunt by the mansion's hideously scarred butler (Boris Karloff), three disoriented voyagers (Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey and Lillian Bond) find themselves in the unwelcoming company of the psychotic Femm family, whose members include a religious fanatic obsessed with mortality and other matter of the sinful flesh (Eva Moore), her browbeaten brother (Ernest Thesiger), and a scripture-quoting homicidal pyromaniac (Brember Wills)... all watched over by their androgynous, 102-year-old father (Elspeth "John" Dudgeon). Relieving the story's overwhelming weirdness are Charles Laughton and a young Gloria Stuart (Titanic) as two confused visitors to the strange estate.

As witty and surprising as it is darkly unsettling, The Old Dark House is a ghoulishly delightful treat, a one-of-a-kind macabre comedy blanketed with rain-soaked, gothic eeriness orchestrated by one of the foremost directors of the American horror film.

My Thoughts:
I find, for whatever reason, that I'm not as fond of this film today as I was when I first watched it four years ago. I still like Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff's performances. I still think that the cast do a good job creating unique, eccentric characters - and that not only Karloff, but also Eva Moore. That level of religious zealotry is both extremely off-putting and genuinely frightening. Gloria Stuart's character, however, seems even more silly, stupid, and just plain annoying today. The cinematography still creates a really spooky, old, dark house, but the print is in need of a good restoration/HD remaster. That shouldn't matter, but I think it actually does. Still, the script is good and the cast is top notch, so I'd still recommend it to fans of old films and classic horror.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 4/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 5th, 2016)

The Truman Show, a review by Tom

Title: The Truman Show
Year: 1998
Director: Peter Weir
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 99 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Other: Dolby Digital 5.1, Other: Dolby Digital 3, Other: Dolby Digital 3
Subtitles: Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Jim Carrey
Laura Linney
Noah Emmerich
Natascha McElhone
Holland Taylor

Plot:
Truman Burbank is a normal man, living in a normal town. He grew up to be a desk clerk for a insurance company, living an ordinary life, having an ordinary wife, an ordinary neighbour and an ordinary bud, who pops in from time to time with a sixpack. But Truman is not happy with his life. He wants to see the world. He wants to get away from his happy-happy, ever tidy, nice'n'shiny little island town at the seaside. In reality, Truman was an unwanted pregnancy. His 'father', Christof, a reckless TV-Producer whom he never met, made up the Truman Show - the greatest show on earth - a show in which life is live. So, everyone around poor Truman is an actor with a little headphone in the ear. One day, Truman accidentally bumps into a catering area backstage and gets pretty suspicious. His plan now is: Pretend to be sleeping and steal away...

Awards:

Academy Award	1998	Nominated	Best Director	Peter Weir
Academy Award	1998	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Ed Harris
Academy Award	1998	Nominated	Best Writing, Original Screenplay	Andrew Niccol
AFI	1998	Nominated	100 Years... 100 Cheers (2006)
ASCAP Awards	1999	Won	Top Box Office Films	Philip Glass, Burkhard von Dallwitz
BAFTA	1998	Nominated	Achievement In Special Visual Effects	Michael J. McAlister, Brad Kuehn, Craig Barron, Peter Chesney
BAFTA	1998	Nominated	Actor In A Supporting Role	Ed Harris
BAFTA	1998	Nominated	Cinematography	Peter Biziou
BAFTA	1998	Nominated	Film	Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, Adam Schroeder
BAFTA	1998	Won	Original Screenplay	Andrew Niccol
BAFTA	1998	Won	Production Design	Dennis Gassner
BAFTA	1998	Won	The David Lean Award For Achievement In Direction	Peter Weir
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	1999	Nominated	Favorite Actor - Drama	Jim Carrey
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	1999	Won	Favorite Supporting Actor - Drama	Ed Harris
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	1999	Nominated	Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama	Laura Linney
British Society of Cinematographers Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Cinematography Award	Peter Biziou
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Picture
Costume Designers Guild Awards	1999	Nominated	Excellence in Costume Design for Film	Marilyn Matthews
Directors Guild of America	1999	Nominated	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Peter Weir
European Film Awards	1998	Won	Screen International Award (for a non-European film)
Golden Globe	1998	Won	Actor in a Leading Role - Drama	Jim Carrey
Golden Globe	1998	Won	Actor in a Supporting Role	Ed Harris
Golden Globe	1998	Nominated	Director	Peter Weir
Golden Globe	1998	Won	Original Score	Burkhard Dallwitz, Philip Glass
Golden Globe	1998	Nominated	Picture - Drama	Edward S. Feldman, Andrew M. Niccol, Scott Rudin, Adam Schroeder
Golden Globe	1998	Nominated	Screenplay	Andrew M. Niccol
Hugo Award	1999	Won	Dramatic Presentation
MTV Movie Awards	1999	Won	Best Male Performance	Jim Carrey
MTV Movie Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Movie
National Board of Review Awards, USA	1998	Won	Best Supporting Actor	Ed Harris
Online Film Critics Society Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Director	Peter Weir
Online Film Critics Society Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Film
Online Film Critics Society Awards	1999	Won	Best Screenplay, Original	Andrew Niccol
Online Film Critics Society Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Ed Harris
Satellite Awards	1999	Won	Best Art Direction	Dennis Gassner
Saturn	1998	Nominated	Best Actor	Jim Carrey
Saturn	1998	Nominated	Best Director	Peter Weir
Saturn	1998	Won	Best Fantasy Film
Saturn	1998	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Ed Harris
Saturn	1998	Won	Best Writing	Andrew Niccol
Writers Guild of America Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen	Andrew Niccol
Young Artist Awards	1999	Nominated

Extras:
Scene Access
Trailers

This is my favourite Jim Carrey movie. This movie was released before there was Big Brother. At the time this seemed a little like Science Fiction, but not long after people voluntarily did go on TV shows with being filmed 24 hours a day.
It is sad to think that Truman had to go through this fake life. The most disturbing is that his best friend since he was seven is the one most responsible to hide the reality from Truman.
The ending always gets to me

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on April 11th, 2010)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

21. Power Play
Original Air Date: 5/12/2004
Angel's strange behavior convinces the gang that he's joined an elite group of evildoers called the Circle of the Black Thorn - a group he could have only joined by killing one of his own.

Guest Stars:
Christian Kane
Dennis Christopher
Alec Newman
Jenny Mollen
Adam Baldwin

My Thoughts:
Starting to get really good again. This is basically the first part of the series finale. The team thinks Angel went bad... but that is what he needed them to think.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 25th, 2010)