Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Review: Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues

When the live-action Red Sonja movie came out in 1985, I couldn’t have been more excited. I was in my early teens and playing Dungeons & Dragons as often as possible, and was eager to eat up anything that was in any way related to swords and magic. Now, coincidentally, with the release of the animated movie Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues, I am once again playing Dungeons & Dragons (though am far removed from my teens), and am again excited about this character. It is being released as a two-disc set, with both the Blu-ray and DVD in one package.

Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues is based on the recent comic book written by Gail Simone and illustrated by Walter Geovani, and it uses both the dialogue and illustrations from those books. Thus, it has an interesting and unusual look, and the characters’ movements have a somewhat awkward, slow, deliberate feel. I could do, however, without the shaky camera at moments near the beginning; that doesn’t really work well with animation.

The movie opens at the end of a battle, and quickly establishes the characters of King Dimath and his son. When going to release the prisoners from the dungeon, they find only two survivors, one of whom identifies herself as Red Sonja. Then, three turns of the seasons later, two young women approach Red Sonja on behalf of King Dimath, who seeks her help in protecting what’s left of his kingdom. There are some oddly humorous lines, like when one of the girls addresses Sonja as “Oh, she of the excellent cleavage.” Later she calls her “Queen of all fermented beverages” due to her passion for the drink.

The King wants Sonja to teach the population to be soldiers before they’re attacked by the Zamorans. And we see the training of women and children, and then Sonja leading them into battle. Dark Annisia, a woman Sonja refers to as her sister, leads the opposing force of monsters. Three years ago they were forced to fight each other as slaves, and now Annisia believes she’s haunted by the ghosts of other slaves they were forced to kill. This sequence features some very cool-looking animation, with Annisia surrounded by tormented souls. But Annisia’s line “They want hell to be full of souls to ease their solitude” makes no sense at all, as there are so many of them. What solitude?

King Dimath is slain and suddenly Annisia reveals that Red Sonja has the plague. There are hints of a past sexual relationship between Sonja and Annisia, as Annisia kisses her, but then Annisia forces Sonja to surrender and to agree to a life of exile in the mountains to the north in order to have the rest of the soldiers’ lives spared. The movie then follows her into exile, where she has visions and is reminded of her past. Meanwhile, Annisia is allowing the people of that kingdom to starve, so it can’t be long before Red Sonja returns.

The movie has an odd feel, with more dialogue and voice over than action, almost like the story is being read to us. But there is some wonderful animation. The movie features the voices of Misty Lee as Red Sonja, Shannon Kingston as both Ayla and Nias, Becca Strom as Dark Annisia, Scott McNeil as both Tiath and Bazrat, and Tyler Nicol as King Dimath.

Special Feature

Both the Blu-ray and the DVD include the special feature, The Making Of Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues. This includes an interview with Brian Ward, the supervising producer, who also produced and directed this special feature. He talks about the project, including using the original illustrator’s artwork. There are also interviews with writer Gail Simone and actor Misty Lee, and we’re shown some behind-the-scenes footage of the recording of some of the dialogue. This feature is approximately nineteen minutes.

Red Sonja: Queen Of Plagues is scheduled to be released on August 2, 2016 through Shout! Factory.

DVD Review: Evil Bong High-5

Evil Bong High-5 is the fifth movie in the Evil Bong series, following Evil Bong 420 (actually, it’s the sixth if you include Gingerdead Man Vs. Evil Bong), about a bong named Ebee (or Eebee, as it’s spelled in the end credits) that is queen of the Bong World. Obviously, just from the title you can tell this isn’t a movie that takes itself at all seriously. And neither should you.

The film begins with Larnell, Sarah and Velicity trapped in Bong World, with Larnell and Velicity apparently conversing telepathically, or perhaps she just reads a whole lot into his “Mmmm.” They decide they’ve been trapped in this world long enough and want to get back to their normal lives, and so enlist the help of Rabbit, who is busy playing Twister with a topless chick. Again, you shouldn’t take this movie seriously at all. Larnell tells him: “We’re all just wasting away in here. At least out there in the cruel, cruel world we have a chance to one day… Nah, I got nothing.” But nothing is key here, as Rabbit tries to teach them to achieve a state of nothingness in order to escape.

That turns out to be unnecessary, as Ebee, the evil queen in the shape of a bong, shows up with a task for them to perform back in the real world. Ebee (that’s how her name is spelled on the sign that is seen several times in the movie) is a delightfully crude lady bent on world domination. “I’ll need some seed money, though, and that’s where you motherfuckers come in,” she tells them. They need to help her raise a million dollars by selling her magic weed to all the stoners out there “at an incredibly fucked up price.” Yes, Ebee is far and away my favorite character in this film. She sends Larnell, Rabbit and Gingerdead Man out of Bong World to complete this task, keeping Sarah and Velicity there as insurance (and giving them a chance to indulge in their lesbian fantasies with two sexy vixens).

Sure, there’s not much of a plot, but there is a sex scene with Gingerdead Man and a girl named Candy. And there is Phoebe, an incredibly sexy blonde who shows up to help the guys bring in customers using her considerable assets. If you’re not enjoying this movie, it just means you’re not high enough. So, you know, go take care of that.

Before they start their quest, Larnell and Rabbit get stoned, so obviously the plot isn’t even all that important to them. And at some point Larnell meets his half-brother Jeff, but nothing really comes of that. There is also a series of commercials for action figures inserted into the film. I thought they were a joke, but it turns out these figures really exist, so it’s a bit of shameless promotion stuck into the movie. Very odd. And what is the deal with the executive producer credits? There are more than a hundred of them. Geez, did I get an executive producer credit on this? Did you?

Special Features

The DVD includes The Making Of Evil Bong High-5, a short montage of behind-the-scenes footage. Also included is the movie’s trailer, as well as the trailers for Evil Bong 420 and Gingerdead Man Vs. Evil Bong.

Evil Bong High-5 was directed by Charles Band. It is scheduled to be released on DVD on June 22, 2016 through Full Moon.

DVD Review: We Monsters

If your child confessed to murder, would you turn her in or do whatever you could to protect her? It’s an intriguing question, and one that is at the heart of the compelling film We Monsters.

The film opens with Sarah (Janina Fautz) in the back seat of her father’s car, lost in thought. Paul (Mehdi Nebbou), her father, is a musician and asks Sarah if she likes the song that is playing, adding that he wrote it for her. She makes a brief, negative comment, and Paul lets it go. Soon Sarah informs him that they’re to pick up her friend Charlie, that she’s going to the camp too. Something is clearly going on between them, and Sarah is upset that Charlie is receiving text messages from a certain boy. “What kind of friend are you?” she asks. When Paul stops the car so that Sarah can pee, Charlie follows her into the woods. The camera stays with Paul, who is on the phone making plans for a little later that day. But it already feels like too much time has passed, and it’s unsettling. When Paul finally finds Sarah at the top of a dam, he asks where Charlie is, and Sarah simply looks down into the water. Paul is able to find Charlie’s backpack, but there is no sign of the girl.

The film then cuts to the parking lot of the police station, where Paul asks Sarah to come in with him to report the accident. That’s when Sarah tells him she can’t, that she pushed Charlie. After a brief pause, Paul tosses Charlie’s backpack in the trunk of the car. He insists it must have been an accident, but he is already back behind the wheel, so clearly he doesn’t believe his own hopeful assessment of the situation. Then there is a shot of him then standing outside the police station, holding the backpack, unsure what to do. It cuts to a great wide shot, and suddenly he turns and runs out of frame, and we hear the car start up. It’s a fantastic opening sequence and set-up.

After Charlie’s father shows up at Sarah’s house looking for his daughter, Sarah tells her mom, “Charlie is dead.” It’s not by way of confession or an attempt at bonding, but almost an act of defiance, a challenge. Relations are not good between Sarah and either of her parents. This event brings Paul and Sarah’s mother, Christine (Ulrike C. Tscharre), together, even though their relations are quite strained, to say the least. Both Paul and Christine are in new relationships, which are put at risk. And once things are set in motion, it seems everyone is unable to stop them. It’s an incredible film, at times tense and stunning.

I love the use of extreme wide shots in this film. They are used sparingly and effectively. Most of the time, the film has a rather intimate feel, keeping us close to the action, unable to escape ourselves. The film also boasts some phenomenal performances, especially by Medhi Nebbou as Paul, Ulrike C. Tsharre as Christine and Janina Fautz as Sarah.

We Monsters was directed by Sebastian Ko, and was released on DVD on June 7, 2016 through First Run Features. The film is presented in its original German, with English subtitles. The DVD contains no special features.

Blu-ray Review: Die Fighting

When Die Fighting begins, the little red “REC” sign appears in the upper right corner of the screen, and I get a little nervous that this might be one of those “found footage” films, which some filmmakers still think are interesting. But it isn’t, at least not exactly, since the footage was made deliberately. It’s about a group of martial arts enthusiasts who want to break into Hollywood, and are forced into playing roles in someone’s odd idea of a movie. Die Fighting was written, edited and directed by Fabien Garcia, who also plays the lead role, a character named Fabien Garcia.

Fabien and the other members of Z Team, a martial arts group, have won an award and have come to Hollywood to pursue their dreams of making movies. But at Fabien’s birthday, which some friend is videotaping (and which outside someone else is videotaping), one of the members says he’s leaving the group to take a job in China because he’s impatient and because it’s difficult to get money to make a feature film. But soon Fabien’s wife is kidnaped, and the guys get a phone call from a man who has her tied up. He begins giving them instructions, telling them if they don’t follow them precisely, the girl will be killed. The first thing he has these four unarmed men do is rob an armored truck. So four guys, without any plan or strategy, are able to take out the guards of the truck, as well as policemen who happen by, and make off with the money. Soon the villain tells them that he’s filming them, using them to create an action film, and making them the stars they want to be. Apparently, he has cameras set up everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

The whole idea and set-up of the film is absolutely ridiculous, but it leads to some really good fight sequences. If you enjoy martial arts and fighting, it might be worth getting this Blu-ray, and then just fast-forward through the rest of the scenes. Because the only parts worthy of anyone’s attention are the fights (mostly because they seem to be the only parts that got any attention from the filmmaker). The plot is just so absurd. Not only has this villain planted cameras everywhere, but he’s also hired thugs to play villains, including several guys who have tied up a priest in a church (unless, perhaps, the priest was also hired?). If the guy has this much money, why didn’t he just hire the Z Team to do a real film? They’re hungry for roles, and would have done it for less than scale. Then he’d have more control over the environment and would have better-looking shots, better wardrobe, and also a script. Imagine a script, and what wonders it could do for your movie. At one point, the villain does say “It’s in the script” to one of his hired thugs, but the thug is just as confused by this idea of there being a script as we are. And later there are more references to this mysterious script. But it’s not a script. What it is is a series of scenarios in which the Z Team gets into danger and has to fight its way out. That’s it. That’s not a script.

And as they get into more serious danger, you wonder why they don’t just walk away. Do they really care all that much about Fabien’s wife? I certainly don’t. She was in the movie for like two minutes before being kidnaped, and had no personality or charm whatsoever. I didn’t even realize she was his wife at first. I thought she was just some girl at the birthday party and that once the film got going, she would never be mentioned again. All the members of Z Team had to do was refuse to play the game, and everything would have been fine. But they jump through every hoop, even after one of them is killed in a gun battle.

There is a twist near the end that does answer some of the questions you will certainly have while watching, but this twist also is kind of unbelievable and ridiculous. Basically, it’s a terrible film, but it does have some excellent and impressive fight sequences.

Special Features

The Blu-ray includes a behind-the-scenes look, which includes interviews with cast members Fabien Garcia (who also wrote and directed the movie), Laurent Buson (who also produced the movie), Didier Buson, Jess Allen and Dave Vescio. Fabien talks about the idea behind the film. And they do talk about using their real names. They also talk about the movie’s look and about some of the injuries they suffered while making it.

There is also a music video. Well, it’s actually just a bad song accompanied by still images from the film. And the movie’s trailer is included.

Die Fighting was released on Blu-ray on April 26, 2016 through MVD Visual.

Blu-ray Review: Rollercoaster

Rollercoaster is a seriously good and completely entertaining suspense film about a man trying to extort money from owners of amusement parks by planting bombs on park rides. It stars George Segal, Richard Widmark, Timothy Bottoms, Susan Strasberg and Henry Fonda. And now, thanks to Shout! Factory, it is getting a Blu-ray release, with some special features.

The film opens with Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show, That’s My Bush!), in the credits named only as “Young Man,” walking along the pier, presumably to fish. An amusement park is visible in the distance. Soon it’s clear that the park is his focus, particularly the roller coaster, and he watches through binoculars as a man inspects the track. While he watches, he listens to some relaxing classical string music. Interestingly, as the man’s focus becomes clearer, the music begins to take on more ominous tones. It’s a really nice touch. Soon we see the Young Man is walking the track himself, and places a device on it. It is still early, and folks are setting up before the park opens. The film’s entire opening sequence is excellent, and builds the suspense is such an unusual way. Firstly, introducing what will be the movie’s villain before any other characters is interesting. And then setting up the film with very little dialogue works to add to the suspense and realistic feel of the film. That evening the Young Man walks through the crowd, smiling, as people load onto the roller coaster. There is a nice bit of humor as the attendant reminds people to close the safety bars. Soon an explosion goes off, causing the roller coaster to derail, killing and injuring multiple people.

Harry Calder (George Segal) is also introduced in an unusual way. When we meet him, he is taking part in a strange experiment to help him quit smoking. From the number of cigarette butts in front of him, the method doesn’t seem to be working. Harry works for the Department of Standards and Safety, and had inspected that roller coaster just two months earlier, and so is called in after the disaster. As Harry investigates, the Young Man is off creating mayhem elsewhere. Interestingly, this time we see him just at the car rental place, picking up and then returning the car, and in between those two shots we see emergency vehicles rushing to an amusement park. I love the pacing of this film. For the first disaster, we see all of the build-up, and the second time, none of it. Both are equally effective, and the first makes the second all the more frightening.

Harry begins to think that the two amusement park disasters are related, and convinces his boss (played by Henry Fonda) to pay for a trip to Chicago, where the owners of the parks are meeting. That’s where the Young Man first learns of Harry’s involvement, and develops something of an attachment to him. What I love is that the film handles its subject with intelligence. When the federal agents are called in, it isn’t like they’re buffoons and Harry has to work around them, as is done sometimes in lesser films. And when they take over, Harry actually goes home without arguing the matter, which is also refreshing. It is the villain who reels him back in, after overhearing what he takes to be compliments coming from Harry.

This film creates believable characters, particularly Harry, a delightfully flawed hero that is well fleshed-out. George Segal turns in an excellent performance here. Sometimes I think it would have been nice to learn a little more about Timothy Bottoms’ characters, but other times I think it works just as well that he is something of a mystery. We do get little hints that he served in the military, but don’t learn much else.

The sequence where the Young Man keeps Harry moving through an amusement park as federal agents try to keep up with him is excellent. I love how unenthused Harry is at his involvement as the sequence stretches out. The film does some wonderfully surprising things. For example, when Harry’s daughter ends up at the amusement park, Harry actually runs into her and tells her to go home, and she does. Any other film would have had her disobeying and going on the roller coaster and unknowingly putting herself in danger. Harry’s daughter, by the way, is played by a young Helen Hunt. Also making an appearance in this film is Craig Wasson as Hippie Boy (Wasson would later go on to star in Schizoid, Body Double and other films).

Special Features

The Blu-ray disc includes an interview with writer Tommy Cook, who talks about going on roller coasters as a child, and about the original idea for the story. He also mentions his enthusiasm for the film’s music. This interview is approximately thirteen minutes.

There are also four radio spots, a still gallery and the film theatrical trailer.

Rollercoaster was directed by James Goldstone, and is scheduled to be released on Blu-ray on June 21, 2016 through Shout! Factory.

Film Review: Girl In Woods

Girl In Woods is a suspenseful horror film about a woman who gets lost in the woods after her boyfriend is shot. It stars Juliet Reeves as Grace, a woman whose traumatic and questionable childhood has never really left her, and Jeremy London as Jim, Grace’s boyfriend. The film opens with Grace as a child suddenly coming awake in the middle of the night. Her closet door begins to open, and she screams for her father. It then cuts to Grace in the present, lying in bed, immediately drawing a strong connection to her childhood self, and also showing a shaky sense of reality colliding with her rather strong nightmare world.

The film works quickly to create a creepy and unsettling atmosphere. It also provides moments that seem designed to get the audience questioning the film’s sense of reality. There is a shot of Grace looking in the mirror, saying that everything is fine, that Jim just went for a walk and will be right back, and it’s unclear just when that is happening. For then we go to Grace and Jim arriving at a cabin, where that night he proposes to her. Later that night she wakes from another nightmare, this one about seeing her father killing himself. And it is her strange relationship with her parents that continues to plague her.

In the morning, Jim takes her on a hike through the woods. Before they leave, she asks if they’ll be back before dinner, as she’s trying to decide whether to take along her medication. He says yes, so she leaves her pills behind. Uh-oh. At this point we’re not sure just what these pills are for, but clearly they’re important. Also important, and a bit odd, is the fact that Jim brings a gun along on their hike, apparently in case they run into a bear. Also odd is that when they reach their destination in the woods, they are seated some distance from each other. Jim asks, “Remember when we first met,” then adds, “We were a mess.” It’s a bit of clunky exposition, but it’s soon clear that Grace hasn’t changed. Jim then gets up to see about finding an easier way back to the cabin, an awkward contrivance. But it’s followed by a really interesting shot, in which Grace is in the foreground, looking at her unsteady hand, while Jim is deep in the background. The camera pushes in slightly on Grace, and suddenly there is a gunshot and Jim falls. There is a shot of their backpack and the gun, but it’s not clear where they are in relation to either character. And it’s interesting and telling that Grace doesn’t seem frightened that there might be someone else in the woods shooting at them. She goes running for help and is soon lost.

But Grace isn’t just lost in the woods. She is lost in her own mind, in some combination of memory and dream, in which her dead parents and grandfather are very much active. It’s a great set-up. The problem is that Grace doesn’t seem all that interested in getting out of the woods, not even at first. She doesn’t have any plan for getting out, but just sort of hangs out by the river, and keeps washing her face in the water. She worries about food and drink, though when she ends up back where she started, she does find a bottle of water in the backpack. But she also takes off her engagement ring, puts it back in the case (which for some reason is in the backpack – why did Jim take the empty case along on their hike?), and tosses it. It’s such a cold thing to do, that we lose a great deal of sympathy for her. She does finally come up with a good plan for getting out of the woods, but then abandons it rather quickly.

I am intrigued enough about her backstory, but never really concerned whether she makes it out of the woods or not. That’s partly because she herself doesn’t seem to be concerned, and partly because she’s not a likeable character. Sure, that might be by design, but the ending would be more powerful if the journey she took had more of a progression, if she were more human at the beginning. And some of the things revealed later on are obvious from the start. What is interesting is that this film works almost like a prequel to the sort of slasher and horror films popular in the 1980s. It’s a different perspective.

Girl In Woods was written and directed by Jeremy Benson, and was released on VOD on June 3, 2016.

DVD Review: Elstree 1976

I am a big Star Wars fan, and have been since 1977. Lately it’s been a bit difficult being a fan, because of that horrid atrocity that Disney spat out at us under the Star Wars name. That movie has left a foul stench in the air that promises to linger for … well, the foreseeable future. But don’t worry. The new documentary Elstree 1976 gives us a chance to look back at the real Star Wars films, and provides a perspective different from that of other Star Wars documentaries.

Elstree 1976 focuses on eight actors who played small parts in the original film, as well as one actor who played a major role, and one actor who played a small but beloved role in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. The film begins with close-ups of various action figures, while several voices comment on the idea of having an action figure made of them, including one woman who asks, “How many actors can say they’ve got their own action figure?” The film has a more serious tone than I would have expected, which was jarring only at first. This movie not only provides some interesting anecdotes from the set of the original film, but also allows those actors to tell more of their personal stories, how they got into acting, how they got agents, and so on.

The folks interviewed for this film include Paul Blake (one of two actors who donned the Greedo suit), Anthony Forrest (who played Fixer and a sandtrooper), Garrick Hagon (who played Biggs Darklighter), Laurie Goode (who played a stormtrooper – the one who famously bumps his head), John Chapman (who played an X-wing pilot), Pam Rose (who played an alien in the cantina), Derek Lyons (an extra in the throne room scene at the end), and Angus MacInnes (who played Gold Leader). Also interviewed are David Prowse (Darth Vader) and Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), actors who obviously played much more significant roles, but whose faces are never seen in the films.

The actors talk about getting cast in Star Wars. Garrick Hagon mentions how George Lucas rated everyone on a scale of 1 to 10, and that he himself got a 7, and so was able to play a more substantial role, though most of what he did ended up cut from the final film (I’m not counting the awful “Special Edition” version). He does talk about his Tatooine scene being cut, as does Anthony Forrest. And the film does show us a bit of that deleted scene. Angus MacInnes talks about being told to do all his lines without the cues, and how he ended up reading his lines from a script placed on his lap. The documentary shows his scene, and now that I know he had the script there, it’s completely apparent that he’s reading.

Of course, David Prowse provides some great anecdotes, not just about Star Wars, but about wanting to be Mr. Universe and about doing A Clockwork Orange. He gives his perspective on his dialogue being dubbed by James Earl Jones, and the film includes a bit of original footage with David Prowse’s voice. Another thing I found interesting is that he’s apparently been banned from a couple of Star Wars conventions – the Celebration and the Disney Star Wars Weekend. Weird.

Several of the actors talk about signing autographs at the conventions, and it isn’t until the film gets into this area that Jeremy Bulloch appears. He talks about getting the role of Boba Fett, and comments on why his autograph is sought after. It’s interesting that some of those interviewed get into the minor controversy over whether people who were just extras should be signing at conventions. I never would have guessed that those with speaking roles would be upset over this, but I guess it’s a small world. While it might occasionally strike you as sad that their lives still in some way revolve around a brief job they had forty years ago, you have to remember that that is the focus of the film, so of course that’s what they’re going to talk about. They do talk a bit about their lives since Star Wars, and other roles they’ve done, as well as other non-acting work.

Elstree 1976 was directed by Jon Spira, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on June 28, 2016. The DVD does not contain any special features.