All roads lead here when the Reel Nerds review Bad Times at the El Royale.
The Reel Nerds take one giant leap into the unknown when they review First Man.
The Reel Nerds interview actress Sophie Grace from the Lifetime movie Terror in the Woods premiering Sunday, October 14 at 8pm ET/PT.
Inspired by true events, two pre-teen girls obsessed with a fictional internet-spawned monster, lure a friend into the woods with murder in mind.
At first glance, Kaitlyn (Sophie Grace) and Rachel (Ella West Jerrier) are typical 12-year-old girls. They love sleepovers, thrive on keeping secrets, and are plugged-in to anything that tunes-out the daily angst of middle school. But they are also outliers, infatuated with a monster called Suzerain, a supernatural character invented by someone online that’s gone viral. In the vein of ancient fairy tales and “boogie man” stories, Suzerain is a clawed monster who lures children to his forest kingdom for nefarious purposes. While fictional, Kaitlyn and Rachel come to believe that Suzerain is not only real, he demands they perform a blood sacrifice. Moreover, if they refuse or fail to kill someone, he will hurt their families. Compelled by this imaginary ultimatum, the girls reluctantly choose their friend Emily (Skylar Morgan Jones) to sacrifice. Together they lure the unsuspecting Emily into the woods where they stab her repeatedly with a pair of scissors, leaving her to die.
Miraculously, Emily survives the brutal attack, and Rachel and Kaitlyn are picked up by the police. The ensuing investigation uncovers the girls’ fanatical fixation on Suzerain and the integral role mental health plays in this stunning, disturbing, inspired-by-true events story.
The cast also includes: Angela Kinsey (“The Office”), Drew Powell (“Gotham”), and Carrie Hood (“Devious Maids”).
“Terror in the Woods” is produced by Thinkfactory Media in association with Swirl Films for Lifetime Television. Executive Producers include: Leslie Greif, Christina Ricci, and James Heerdegen. Produced by Eric Tomosunas. D.J. Viola directs from a script written by Amber Benson.
Welcome to the Scream Factory Crypt! In this binge series I will be watching all my Scream Factory titles I own alphabetically! Scream Factory is my favorite imprint of Blu-Ray’s because they take movies that studios and the public might not adore but have fans and deserve to be given respect. This will take a long time as I have over 120(!) titles and counting, I know I will have more before I finish, so stay tuned! Not only will I talk about them on the podcast but I will review them here as well so you can see how I feel about aspects of each release. Part 18 is the sequel, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh!
Candyman is one of the best horror films to come out of the 90’s. (A special edition is being released by Scream Factory on November 20, 2018 and you owe it to yourself to pick it up.) Starring the aweome Tony Todd, Candyman is a boogeyman that can be summoned by chanting his name five times. Killed in 1890 by a lynch mob, Candyman has his hand cut off and replaced by a hook. In Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, the movie shifts from Chicago to New Orleans where the legend of Candyman is expanded. The movie however struggles to live up to the original. Despite having a more than capable cast and one hell of a director, Bill Condon, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh sort of just meanders along with Candyman stalking a descendent of the woman he loved before he was murdered.
Where Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh does get good is during the flashback scenes explaining the Candyman’s origin. Normally over explaining your boogeyman can hurt a film (see; Jason Goes To Hell for what not to do), Candyman’s origin is sad and terrifying. Of course it all works because of Todd’s sympathetic and scary villain. The kills are fun, the film is well made, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh just never really takes off.
The video presentation is a lot like the film, just ok. It does look sharper in hi-def but the softer colors and some crush issues hamper the overall quality of the video transfer.
The audio however is great. The score creeps through and is highly effective. Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh does suffer from quite a few jump scares but the awesome audio mix makes them sound really good.
On the extras side, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh is not a collector’s edition but it does offer some really good extras. First up is an interview with the amazing Tony Todd. I have had the privilege to have conducted an interview with him, (it hasn’t seen the light of day yet, because unfortunately I think it was lost when our hard drive crashed a year ago…I will check with our producer and double check because it was a lot of fun.) and here he does not disappoint, fun and extremely charismatic it is a great watch. Veronica Cartwright also provides a solid interview with some truly great moments from her career. Bill Condon supplies a commentary that is well spoken and Condon keeps the track moving along.
Film: C+
Video: B-
Audio: A
Extras: A
Overall: B
Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh had a tough time following up on a classic horror film, while the film is not great, it has its moments. Those looking to continue the Candyman saga should be pleased to know that Scream Factory has done a great job bringing Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh to Blu-Ray.
The world has enough superheroes when the Reel Nerds review Venom.
The Reel Nerds travel back 10 years to list each of their top ten movies from 2008.
Welcome to the Scream Factory Crypt! In this binge series I will be watching all my Scream Factory titles I own alphabetically! Scream Factory is my favorite imprint of Blu-Ray’s because they take movies that studios and the public might not adore but have fans and deserve to be given respect. This will take a long time as I have over 120(!) titles and counting, I know I will have more before I finish, so stay tuned! Not only will I talk about them on the podcast but I will review them here as well so you can see how I feel about aspects of each release. Part 17 is a triple review, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Burning, and Caged Fury!
Bubba Ho-Tep is an odd concept. An elderly man (Bruce Campbell) who believes he is Elvis, teams up with an African American man (Ossie Davis) who believes he’s John F. Kennedy must fight an ancient mummy who feeds on their fellow residents at a retirement home.
Hearing a synopsis like that might make you think this movie is too far bonkers to be any good. You would be wrong. The movie is tons of fun with Campbell delivering one hell of a performance. Davis too, is amazing. Directed by Don Coscarelli (Phantasm) Bubba Ho-Tep succeeds because all three men are at the top of their game. Although this is a horror film, Bubba Ho-Tep also deals with aging and dying, so if you come into the movie expecting tons of horror and gore you might be disappointed. However, what you do get is a fun, silly movie.
Bubba Ho-Tep isn’t going to win any awards for being a good looking movie. Dimly lit hallways and a sort of grungy yellow look to it, Bubba Ho-Tep also supports a healthy amount of grain. However the picture is clear and as pretty good detail, my guess is the low budget aspect might be the biggest culprit in the way the film looks.
No issues in the sound department. From creepy crawling bugs, to crisp dialogue, Bubba Ho-Tep sounds great.
Bubba Ho-Tep is packed with extras. From new interviews to vintage features, this disc more than earns its collector’s edition status. Bruce Campbell as always delivers a fun interview and you get two of them on the disc, one new, one vintage. Plus new interviews with Robert Kurtzman, and Don Coscarelli. Carried over are two commentary tracks from the DVD, plus a new one with the author of the short story John Lansdale.
Film: A
Video: B
Audio: A
Extras: A+
Overall : A
The Burning is one of Scream Factory’s earliest efforts and it delivers.
The Burning is a slasher film that came out in the slasher boom of the early 80’s. Telling a different tale of the Cropsy legend, The Burning also sports an impressive cast of up and comers, Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens lead a cast of unlucky campers who and terrorized by caretaker who was horribly burned in a prank years earlier.
The Burning is not that great of a slasher film. It is more known for Tom Savini’s incredible make-up work, most noticeably on a center piece attack on a raft. Direction is somewhat aimless and the acting borders on passable to downright wooden. For the most part though everyone comes to slasher films for the violence and boobs, The Burning does deliver on those promises.
The Burning has no right to look as good as it does here. Scream Factory does a great job cleaning up the picture. I have seen The Burning in its lo-def glory and it looks amazing on Blu-Ray. Blood is red and the colors are deep. Detail can be seen on Cropsy and the clothes worn by the cast. This is a great looking disc.
Also getting a nice clean up is the films audio transfer. The 80’s music pops. Dialogue is crystal clear. Another winning transfer.
The Burning comes packed with some really terrific extras. My favorite being an interview with Tom Savini. Savini is always fun to listen to, he always delivers some truly great stories. A couple of other interviews pepper the disc as do a couple of commentaries. The commentary with the director is fun, however he mentions Harvey Weinstein in his commentary, because this is the Weinstein’s first film, so it is a little jarring hearing Harvey being mentioned positively (of course this track was recorded a long time ago, before the allegations were known).
Film: C+
Video: B+
Audio: B+
Extras: B+
Overall: B+
Caged Fury is a classic (?) women in prison movie that is so insanely bad that it is super awesome.
Caged Fury has it all. Crooked cops. Sleazy movie producers. And a dude with a mullet that turns into an unbeatable martial arts machine…wait, what? Yup, at one point someone needs to save all the women who are sent to a bogus prison so they can be sold on the sex slave market! Plus Eric Estrada! A super- hot lesbian evil warden! And finally adult film legend Ron Jeremy as an evil jail deputy! You like motorcycles, Caged Fury has them as well! (I really don’t know how to summarize the crazy plot in Caged Fury).
I have no previous experience with Caged Fury, I totally blind bought this. I will say that the transfer looks great. Clean and detailed throughout, I am guessing this is the best this film has ever looked. It looks so good I can make out the marquee for “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” at the end.
In another shock, the audio for Caged Fury is top notch. From punching to motorcycles, Caged Fury is a great sounding blu-ray.
The only disappointment is that the only extra is a trailer. I am guessing that Scream Factory had no idea if Caged Fury would sell and sunk most of the money into the transfer.
Film: B-
Video: B+
Audio: A-
Extras: D-
Overall: B-
All three of these releases are lots of fun, Bubba Ho-Tep is a must buy. The Burning is a fun movie and a must for slasher fans, it might not be for everyone. If you want to turn off your brain, Caged Fury is a fun distraction.
Reel Commentary: Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
The Reel Nerds present this Halloween treat, recorded in 2009, of Ryan and Brad talking over Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives on their original podcast.