Month: February 2021

Released: February 2021

Director: Mike P. Nelson

Rated R

Run Time: 110 Minutes

Distributor: LionsGate

Genre: Horror/Thriller

Cast:
Charlotte Vega: Jen
Adain Bradley: Darius
Bill Sage: Venable
Emma Dumont: Milla
Matthew Modine: Scott

One of the biggest problems plaguing movie series, especially those found in the horror genre, is that after a certain number of movies, they tend to lose sight of what made the original movie so interesting.  I’ve seen this happen with Friday the 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street, Terminator, and even Star Wars.  The filmmakers are either unable to capture the magic of the original film, or they are so blinded by ego that they think they can do better.  At that point, the series has gone so far off the rails that the only way to try and bring it back is to wipe the slate clean with a reboot.  We’ve seen it with Star Trek, Batman, Superman, and Godzilla.  I’ve gone on many a tangent about remakes and reboots and the qualities of such films.  What I haven’t done is discern WHEN and WHERE a film series has gone off the reservation.  There was one film series where I knew EXACTLY where it jumped the shark:  Wrong Turn.  The original film was a fun little cannibal hillbilly slasher flick that didn’t overstay its welcome.  The second film was direct-to-video and was still a decent time.  Number three had its moments but suffered from pretty lousy effects.  No, the series jumped the shark when they went the prequel route with 4,5 and 6.  It was at that point when Wrong Turn stopped being interesting and fun.  Now in 2021, we have a new Wrong Turn film, and it couldn’t be more different than the others.  Is that good or bad?  Let’s find out.

Wrong Turn follows a group of kids fresh out of college as they head to Virginia to follow the Appalachian Trail.  After spending time in a local town and being warned not to stray off the trail, Jen, Darius, and their friends make their up the mountains.  Instead of listening to the folks in the small town, Darius leads his friends off trail where they become lost and encounter mysterious skull-wearing beings in the forest.  It turns out that Jen and her friends had wandered into the territory of The Foundation, a forgotten tribe of mountain-dwellers who live off the land and try to keep strangers out of their home by any means necessary.  Realizing the trouble they’re in, Jen and company have to find a way to survive until Jen’s father, Scott, can find them.  If you’re going into this Wrong Turn hoping for another fill of your typical cannibal hillbilly hijinks, this ain’t that kind of movie.  While there are elements of required stupidity, the reboot is actually a lot smarter than any of the previous films.  Most horror movies have elements of social commentary and are kind of a mirror as to how we respond to certain situations.  While Wrong Turn is definitely on the nose about certain aspects of our society, it’s not always black-and-white about it’s characters.

Let’s be fair, you can’t have a movie like this without people making really stupid decisions.  It’s kind of a staple for the genre, and it’s no different here.  These kids end up making a dumb move that gets them into a world of hurt, yet The Foundation is trying to protect their way of life, regardless of how backwards it may seem.  The movie dares to ask who the real villains are and over the course of the movie, you’re left kind of wondering if The Foundation has a point, regardless of how brutal their methods are.  Let’s talk about the characters here.  Yeah, some of the kids are kind of dumb, but Jen at least makes an effort to try and survive until help arrives.  Charlotte Vega does a fantastic job giving the character a simultaneous amount of vulnerability and strength.  By the end of the film, she’s a tough cookie.  Matthew Modine plays her father, Scott, and I have to say that Modine is pretty good here.  He’s extremely serious when it comes to the welfare of his daughter, and he’s willing to do what it takes to get her back.  The real standout here is Bill Sage as Venable, the leader of The Foundation.  In terms of movie villains, his character is not strictly evil per se, but he’s very brutal and intelligent about his control over The Foundation.  These guys are not the stupid inbred hillbillies of the previous films.  The Foundation is actually portrayed as a group of people who have managed to survive outside of society, yet include various ethnicities.  Can we really say the same about OUR society these days?

For those expecting a wall-to-wall bloodbath, you might be disappointed here.  Don’t get me wrong:  It’s still a very violent movie, but Wrong Turn isn’t what I would call a traditional slasher movie.  There’s definitely some really gruesome moments peppered throughout the movie, especially when a rolling log smashes a characters head against another tree.  The best part about the effects here is that they are all practical.  I don’t think I’ve seen a single moment of CGI in the film.  If it was there, I didn’t notice it.  The practical effects are pretty good, but some of the kills are handled off screen, which is unfortunate.  There was ample opportunity for some serious carnage using The Foundation’s traps.  The fact that they didn’t was kind of disappointing.  Still, the use of actual prosthetics and effects is awesome.  The cinematography here is stunning.  The movie was filmed in eastern Ohio along the border of West Virginia so the look of West Virginia in the film is pretty authentic.  The set designs are pretty good and the costumes are fairly intricate.  When we finally see the enclave of The Foundation, it’s like looking at a world out of time.  It’s pretty cool, actually.

There are people out there that have seen this movie, and wonder why it’s called Wrong Turn in the first place.  It’s a fair criticism.  The only relation that this film has to the original, outside of the name, is the fact that it’s set in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains.  Outside of that, the film’s original writer, Alan McElroy, came back to write this movie, and I would say he’s done a pretty good job here.  The other issue that I have with the film is the pacing.  It’s a movie that runs at 110 minutes, but feels like a full two hours.  I think there were a few moments here and there that could have been sacrificed for better pacing.  I’m not saying it had to be action all the time, but there are moments in between set-pieces that kind of drag a little bit.  Outside of those nitpicks, what we have here is a really solid reboot of a franchise that that never really should’ve been able to take off the way it did.  Would I have called this movie Wrong Turn?  No.  That title is clearly indicates a different kind of movie than what we’ve actually got here.  A lot of people were suggesting that it be called The Foundation, and I think that would’ve been a more appropriate title.  Still, the movie we ended up getting surprised me in more ways than one, and it’s a solid thriller in its own right.

My Final Recommendation: Stay on the trail. 8.5/10

Released: September 2020(South Korea)

Director: Jae-Hoon Choi

Not Rated

Run Time: 104 Minutes

Distributor: Well GO USA(United States)

Genre: Action/Thriller

Cast:
Jang Hyuk: Tae-yul
Man-Sik Jeong: Min Seung-ho
Joe Taslim: Gurutai
Hyeon-soo Kim: Tae-ok

You know what I love about companies like Well GO USA and Magnet Releasing?  They have access to so many different kinds of movies from all over the world.  They don’t necessarily have access to ALL of them, but the amount of movies that they DO have access to is astounding.  You get movies from Indonesia, Thailand, and Hong Kong, obviously.  But I’ve been seeing some really good stuff come out of countries like Russia, Vietnam, and Cambodia.  It’s really impressive to see the stuff coming out of places like these.  Funny thing is, one of the heavy hitters in the Far East is South Korea.  I haven’t met a South Korean movie that I didn’t like yet.  These guys have put out some stellar martial arts flicks like Shadowless Sword and Memories of the Sword.  They’ve also given us some of the most brutal and hard-hitting thrillers the world has ever seen like Old Boy and I Saw the Devil.  If you think the United States has a monopoly on dark thrillers, all you need to do is look at the movies I just mentioned.  South Korean film-makers are not afraid to go to really dark places, and they don’t pull any punches.  Well, I’m here to tell you that they’ve got another winner on their hands, and this one is coming from a first-time film writer and director: Jae-Hoon Choi.  The movie?  The Swordsman.

Set during the Joseon Dynasty in the early 17th century, The Swordsman tells the story of Tae-yul, a legendary swordsman in the service of the king.  When Tae-yul’s king was being forced out of office, Tae-yul suffered a serious injury to his eyes.  Taking the king’s infant daughter under his care, Tae-yul escapes into the mountains and raises Tae-ok as his own.  Living in peace, Tae-ok realizes that Tae-yul’s sight is worsening because of his injury.  Taking it upon herself to get medicine for her adopted father, Tae-ok offers herself to a local trader as a foster daughter.  Unfortunately, she’s captured by human traffickers lead by Gurutai, a member of the Qing dynasty.  Tae-yul unsheathes his sword once more to find his daughter and to take down those responsible for her kidnapping.  If this story sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been told hundreds of times over the past 20 years.  It’s essentially Taken, but set in 17th century Korea….and it’s with swords.  Ultimately, the story is predictable and it goes exactly where you think it’ll go.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it eliminates the possibility of last-minute twists and overly complicated story-lines.  Sometimes, you just don’t need all that jazz.  All you really need is a movie about a guy that slices and dices his way to his kidnapped daughter, and The Swordsman provides that.

Before I get into specifics with The Swordsman, I have to say something about the film’s writer/director, Jae-Hoon Choi.  I had never heard of this guy before The Swordsman.  There’s a reason for that.  He started out as a novelist.  The Swordsman is his feature film debut as both writer and director.  I tend to be very cautious about movies from first time directors, especially if they’re big-budget blockbusters.  But every once in a while, you get somebody that will surprise you in the best way possible.  I have to say that I’m incredibly impressed with what Choi has achieved with this movie.  It looks amazing with outstanding cinematography and wide shots.  You can see everything that’s going on here, especially during the action sequences.  In an industry and genre where the shaky-cam is used excessively, it’s awesome to see a first-timer actually stage his shots so that the audience can see what’s happening.  You rarely see that, especially in the west.  Right now, The Swordsman is the only credit to this guy’s name on IMDB, but what a debut it is.  Jae-Hoon Choi is a director that I’m going to be keeping an eye on from here on out.

The first thing that I have to say here is that The Swordsman takes it time setting up the world and characters before it gets to the action.  In fact, outside of the opening sword-fight, it isn’t until the 50-minute mark that the action starts.  Nope, Jae-Hoon Choi has the audacity to let the audience get to know some of the characters before putting them in peril.  That allows the audience to give a shit when everything falls apart.  Make no mistake, though:  This is an action movie through and through.  When Tae-yul draws his sword, the movie slams into 5th gear and it doesn’t let up.  This movie has some of the best on-screen sword-fighting I’ve seen in years, and I’ve seen a lot of samurai movies.  What I love about the sword-fighting HERE, is that there’s little in the way of wire-work.  It’s there, but it’s kept to a bare minimum, allowing for more grounded battles.  After the 50-minute mark, the battles keep escalating.  One of my personal favorites is when Tae-yul takes on a small garrison of soldiers and a group of ninjas single-handedly.  This movie is definitely violent, as there is plenty of blood-shed, but it’s not over-the-top gory.  I have to say that the fight sequences are incredibly satisfying.  The final battle between Tae-yul and Gurutai is one of the best one-on-one sword-fights put on screen, despite the fact it doesn’t go for very long.  So, yeah, the action in The Swordsman is second-to-none.

The acting here is pretty decent all around with Jang Hyuk taking the lead as Tae-yul.  He gives his character a very stoic and honorable quality, but at the same a degree of unpredictability that his enemies don’t see coming.  Tae-yul himself is an actual martial artist so he’s extremely convincing during the action sequences.  Man-sik Jeong plays Min-seung Ho, a high-ranking soldier/official.  This character is responsible for Tae-yul’s injury as Ho is also a talented swordsman.  Hyeon-soo Kim plays Tae-ok, Tae-yul’s adopted daughter.  She’s pretty good, even though the character does come across as irritating at times, but the character is supposed to be a teenage girl, so that’s going to happen, and Kim does what she can with the role.  Joe Taslim plays the slimy villain, Gurutai.  Joe Taslim made his breakthrough performance in The Raid which came out back in 2011-2012, one of the greatest action movies ever made.  Taslim has also made appearances in Fast and Furious 6 and Star Trek Beyond.  He can be seen playing the character Sub-Zero in the upcoming adaptation of Mortal Kombat.  This guy has got a real future in the business, and he’s also a fantastic martial artist.  While he has trained in Taekwondo and wushu, his specialty is judo.  You would never know that he never handled a sword before training for The Swordsman.  He moves incredibly natural with a sword as if it was second-nature.  That’s how talented a martial artist he is.  Now, I don’t know if it was choice that he made or the director made, but his character of Gurutai is a very one-note villain.  He constantly talks in a very low voice.  Now, I’m glad Joe Taslim didn’t go over the top with crazy antics, but his constant sneering and method of speaking got on my nerves a little bit.  He only has one fight in the movie, and it’s the final battle, but as I said before, it’s short but freaking awesome.  I think Taslim is awesome, but I kind of wished for a more three-dimensional villain, but I can attribute that to Jeo-Hoon Choi as a writer.

All the negatives that I mentioned are nothing more than nitpicks.  What we’ve got in The Swordsman is one of the best action movies in the last 5 years.  The fact that this movie came from a first-time director and writer makes it even more impressive.  The cinematography, the action, and a majority of the performances are outstanding.  I would say that if you are a fan of sword-fighting in movies, this is a must-see.  If you are a fan of Korean cinema, this is also a must-see.  It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch, but considering what went into it and what we got out of it, The Swordsman is about as rock-solid as you can get for a straight-forward action film.  I don’t think I can recommend this movie enough.  It’s one of my favorites now.

My Final Recommendation: Don’t take on swordsmen that may be going blind. 9/10

Released: 1981

Director: Bruce Clark

Rated R

Run Time: 81 Minutes

Distributor: New World Pictures/Shout! Entertainment

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

Cast:
Edward Albert: Cabren
Erin Moran: Alluma
Ray Walston: Kore
Bernard Behrens: Commander Ilvar
Zalman King: Baelon
Robert Englund: Ranger
Taaffe O’Connell: Dameia
Sid Haig: Quuhod
Grace Zabriskie: Captain Trantor

If you’ve read the title of this post, you have surely surmised that I will be discussing a specific B-movie.  This is going to be the first in a series of B-movies that I will be discussing over the next couple of weeks.  What is a B-movie, you ask?  Simply put, a B-movie is a low-budget film that doesn’t fall under the “arthouse film” category.  Specifically, most B-movies encompass certain genres like the western, action, science fiction, and horror.  These movies also last anywhere from 70-85 minutes in length and are generally made outside the usual Hollywood system.  Some of the more well-known B-movies include Enter the Dragon, Prophecy(1979), The Blob(1988), Ninja III: The Domination, and Psycho.  Over the past 40 years there have been two film-makers that were infamous for their B-movies.  The first was the late Larry Cohen, who directed movies like The Stuff and Q: The Winged Serpent.  The second guy has since become known as “The King of B-Movies:” Roger Corman.  Roger Corman was and still is one of the most prolific film-makers.  He’s produced more movies than he’s directed, though, with over 400 movies to his name.  The Dunwich Horror, Piranha, and Humanoids from the Deep are just a scratch on the surface of what this guy has put out there.  The one movie I will be discussing today is one of his most infamous movies that he’s ever produced: 1981’s Galaxy of Terror.

In the far future on a distant planet, a group of rescuers are sent on a rescue mission to recover the crew of a crashed spaceship on a different planet.  When they land on the planet, they not only discover the remains of the crashed ship, but also a mysterious pyramid nearby.  Unable to communicate with their home-world, the crew decide to explore the pyramid, not realizing that this structure was designed to bring their innermost fears to life.  B-movies aren’t exactly known for their complex story-lines.  Yeah, you might have a film here and there that could have a twist or two, but they tend to be very predictable.  Galaxy of Terror was often known as a knock-off of Ridley Scott’s Alien.  In terms of the story, outside of the opening sequences, the similarities actually end there.  Make no mistake here, this is not a spoof.  It really isn’t.  It’s an homage to a superior film.

Visually, even the most casual viewer can tell the difference between a large-budget blockbuster and a low-budget B-movie.  That’s not always a bad thing, however.  Sometimes the cheaper-looking visuals of the 80s B-movies have a particular….charm.  While some of the sets definitely look cheap, there’s also a particularly gritty aspect about these movies that you really can’t get with a higher-budget movie.  Besides, where else are going to find spaceship corridors that have ceilings made from those old fast-food foam containers?  While there are stories that have been going around that the film-makers have been dumpster-diving for materials for their movie, there is no doubt that they recycled a lot of stuff from other movies.  Sometimes, a low-budget forces you to get creative with certain ideas.  There’s a lot of stuff going on in this movie, visually.  It’s not just the sets, either.  It’s the costumes, the props, and the creature designs.  The gore effects are actually surprisingly pretty decent given what they had.

It’s very rare for one particular scene to define an entire movie.  Alien had the chest-burster sequence, The Way of the Dragon had the fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, and Saving Private Ryan had it’s opening D-Day sequence.  Would these movies have been as memorable without these moments?  Not remotely.  They would have been cast aside as just mere products of their respective genres.  For Galaxy of Terror, we have the worm rape sequence.  In the film’s story, the pyramid that these characters explore was designed to bring their worst fears to life.  Taaffe O’Connell’s character of Dameia happens to be afraid of maggots and her own sexuality, according to the script.  One maggot grows to an enormous size and has its way with her before she expires from the act.  It’s a sequence that only lasts maybe only two minutes tops, but it’s a sequence that had everybody talking about for decades.  Throwing rape into a movie for the sake of shock value is usually in extremely poor taste…but here, it’s so over-the-top it can’t be taken seriously.  It’s just so bizarre.  This isn’t the first time that Roger Corman has courted controversy.  He released Humanoids from the Deep the previous year, and that film’s story CENTERED on mutated monsters having their way with women.  The difference between Roger Corman and somebody like Meir Zarchi, who directed the notorious I Spit On Your Grave, is that Corman doesn’t linger on the act.  He gets it in there and gets it out of the way.  Like the aforementioned I Spit on Your Grave, the worm rape scene got the film banned in several countries and heavily edited in others.  Yet, the film would’ve faded into obscurity without the sequence.  This is the brilliance of Roger Corman.  He had his finger on the pulse of the genres that he worked in and he knew exactly what buttons to push.

The acting in Galaxy of Terror was never going to win anybody any awards.  It’s one of those B-movie schlock-fests.  That being said, Galaxy of Terror was the jumping off point for a number of talented people involved in the movie.  Robert Englund, who played Ranger, would go on to become one of the most iconic horror villains in cinematic history: Freddy Krueger.  Sid Haig would continue to be presence in horror up until his death in 2019.  He only had one line in this movie and it was awful, so he asked the film-makers if he could play it mostly mute, and he nailed it.  He was fantastic.  It wasn’t just actors that got a boost from this film.  Galaxy of Terror’s production designer and second unit director James Cameron would become a legendary film-maker in his own right.  In fact, you can tell that some of the shots in the film were not from the main director and are foundations of the stuff that he would shoot in his future movies.  There was also another person who became something special in his own way, but wasn’t credited in this film: The late great Bill Paxton was a set designer on the film.

Galaxy of Terror occupies a strange space within the B-movie field.  On the one hand, the limitations of its tiny budget are painfully obvious at times, but you can also tell the people working on the film were passionate about the film they were trying to make.  Roger Corman was never going to be able to make a movie that was going to dethrone Alien as a sci-fi/horror hybrid, but there are elements here that do work do a certain degree.  At one point, the film takes on a more psychological aspect.  Does it work?  Not always, but I have to give Corman credit for trying and doing something a little different.  Is Galaxy of Terror a good movie?  Not really, but on a technical level it’s astounding what the film-makers managed to do with limited resources.  Yeah, without the worm sequence, this movie would be a forgotten footnote in the history of cinema, but despite all that, it’s an important part of B-movie history.  If you have an affinity for cheesy B-level horror movies or are a huge fan of Roger Corman, Galay of Terror is required viewing.  It’s just really weird.

My Final Recommendation:  Avoid going into strange pyramids.  8/10

Let me ask y’all a question:  Have you ever had an itchin’ to read a book, watch a movie, or a play a video game that you haven’t seen in years or decades, but can’t find them anymore?  There’s a really good reason for that:  It’s out of print.  Now, why would something go out of print in the first place?  Simply put: A complete lack of demand.  A lack of demand leads to less and less copies of something being made.  Once it gets to the point where that particular item either doesn’t make any money more or at the very least, not enough to warrant continuing to produce said product, it gets pulled and put on a shelf somewhere in the back or some warehouse.  It happens all the time.  Especially before the digital age.  For movie fans, finding a specific title can be pretty tough.  During the 80s and 90s, there were tons of movies being made, but some of the low-budget indie flicks ended up getting lost in the shuffle, because the marketing wasn’t as good or the films were too similar to whatever else was playing at the time.  For some collectors, having some of these titles is rarely anything more than having bragging rights about having a movie that’s no longer available.  I get it, I’ve got a few of them myself.  A lot of the movies that ended up going out of print were usually low-budget B-movie sci-fi/horror films that most people turned a blind eye to.  Over the last decade or so, however, we’ve seen DVD/Blu-Ray distribution companies find these “missing” titles and remaster them for modern collectors.  Some of these Blu-Ray sets include a huge amount of extra features including new interviews with cast and crew members, as well as other forms of trivia and marketing materials.  For this post, I’m going to go over a number of movies that have either been out of print or notoriously difficult, at least here in the United States.

Blue Monkey(Insect)

This one is actually has a very recent Blu-Ray release, courtesy of Dark Force Entertainment and Code Red DVD.  I gave the film an 8/10 in my review, which you can reach by clicking the reviews tab above.  The movie is about a hospital that is under siege by a giant bug that is also spreading a deadly disease all over the place.  I referred to the film as an Aliens rip-off, but it’s also an homage to the giant bug movies of the 50s, just with more gore.  This one was notoriously hard to find, because it was only available on VHS from the 80s and once it stopped selling, it disappeared.  I ended up getting a bootleg DVD copy about two years ago, but the picture quality was awful.  They had ripped their VHS copy and put it onto a DVD.  This was from an online store that specialized in dealing with out-of-print movies.  I found out a couple of weeks ago that the movie was going to show up on Blu-Ray, so I had to have it.  The picture and sound quality of the film is phenomenal.  It’s the best the movie has looked in years.  Unfortunately, the only extra feature that the disc had was the film’s trailer.  I get the feeling that they had problems finding the people involved with the film and having them talk about it.  The film’s lead, Steve Railsback had been reported as regretting being a part of the movie.  Was it worth the 30 bucks I paid for it on Amazon?  In terms of picture and sound quality, yeah.  I just wish the disc offered more than just a trailer.

Galaxy of Terror

When it comes to B-movies, Roger Corman is king.  Sure, the late Larry Cohen had a few movies to his name, but nobody could match Mr. Corman in terms of quantity.  This guy was putting out movies left and right including Death Race 2000 and Humanoids from the Deep.  The movie was about a group of space explorers as they intercept a signal coming from a mysterious planet and they go to explore it.  What?  An Alien rip-off?  Say it ain’t so! #sarcasm.  Galaxy of Terror was notorious for a lot of different reasons, including being a blatant rip-off of Ridley Scott’s sci-fi/horror masterpiece.  There’s no getting around.  The movie featured early performances from genre favorites like Robert Englund and the late, great Sid Haig.  This was also one of the first movies that legendary director James Cameron had worked on as a production designer.  Really, though, the big reason why this movie is infamous is because of the “worm scene” in which a worm gets a little too cozy with Taaffe O’Connell’s character.  Roger Corman was infamous for putting his female characters in extremely compromising positions and situations.  This movie was out-of-print until Shout! Factory’s Scream Factory division got a hold of the rights and put out a pretty decent collector’s edition with a lot of extra features.  It’s a damned goofy-ass movie that people tend to refer to when it comes to notorious movies.

DeepStar Six

Okay, this one wasn’t as hard to find as the previous two films, as DeepStar Six actually got a DVD release back in 2001 when the format was still new.  But when Artisan Entertainment got sold to LionsGate Entertainment, a lot of films released under Artisan got left behind.  DeepStar Six was one of those movies.  The film was about a crew of underwater scientists who inadvertently unleash a giant creature at the bottom of the ocean.  It was a pretty solid late 80s creature feature, and while it was the first of several similar movies, it got pushed aside when James Cameron’s The Abyss was released in 1989.  I had the movie on VHS for years and then I bought a used copy of the DVD at GameStop when they sold used DVDs.  DeepStar Six finally got a proper home video release on Blu-Ray last year from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.  Not only was the video improved, but so was the sound.  We also got a number of fantastic features including two commentaries from the film-makers as well as interviews from the film’s two leads.  It was a film that was a lot better than it had any right to be.  Great acting, decent set and creature designs, and spooky music encompass a solid monster movie.

Drive(1997)

It’s not very often that an over-looked low-budget indie flick can end up being one of the best action movies ever made, especially during the late 90s.  Drive(not to be confused with the Ryan Gosling movie of the same name)was a huge surprise, especially to fans of Jackie Chan-style kung fu movies.  The film is about a renegade Chinese agent, Toby, who is on the run from his former employers.  He has a bio chip in his chest that allows him to be faster and stronger than anybody else.  It’s a simple enough setup, but what really sets this movie apart from everything else is not just the incredible fight scenes.  Oh no, the chemistry between Mark Dacascos’ Toby Wong and Kadeem Hardison’s Malik Brody is hilarious.  When they meet up with the late Brittany Murphy’s character, things really get out of control and end in absolutely amazing finale.  Drive is one of the best movies of its kind, and the fact that there hasn’t been a proper DVD/Blu-Release yet is shocking.  Good news: MVD Rewind will be releasing a collector’s edition of the film in May that includes an extended director’s cut of the film as well as the US “theatrical” cut of the film.  It’s about damn time.

These are just a small handful of movies that I’m glad are getting a second chance at being in people’s collections.  I think it’s amazing that some of these companies like Shout! Factory and Kino Lorber are seeing the value of these “forgotten” films and are re-releasing them to potentially new audiences that may have never seen them before.  But these are also a way of saying: “We appreciate what these movies mean to you.”  That’s why we are seeing releases with a lot of care and effort put into them.  While Blue Monkey deserves a little bit more, it’s still leagues beyond what we had before.  Now, with digital media and streaming platforms, preserving these films for future generations is easier than ever.  Yeah, not every film can be a Star Wars or a Lawrence of Arabia.  That much is clear, but some of these movies were made just for the sake of being fun and goofy, and there is nothing wrong with that, but giving these films a second chance is an appreciation of the art form.  It really is, regardless of how silly it gets.  These movies are some of the reasons why I love film.