 From the moment iMURDERS (just out on DVD from Anchor Bay) begins, the viewer is struck with a feeling of, to use on-line slang, WTF? Halfway through the credits is a video interlude depicting a cheating husband getting busted by his wife, and a subsequent gunshot. We don’t see the faces of anyone involved, or even who takes the bullet. Once the remaining credits come to an end, this event isn’t brought up again for more than half the movie; we literally forget all about it until the shooting resurfaces. What unspools instead is a thinly veiled morality tale for the Internet generation, hiding behind a murder mystery.
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009 03:48 PM
Allan Dart
Books
 It’s hard to believe that Clive Barker’s THE HELLBOUND HEART was published more than 20 years ago. The novella first appeared in 1986’s NIGHT VISIONS collection, and was reissued later on as a standalone book. If you haven’t read THE HELLBOUND HEART or seen HELLRAISER, the Barker-scripted-and-directed movie it inspired, then you probably shouldn’t be reading Pocket Books’ recently published HELLBOUND HEARTS.
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 SEVENTH MOON is one of the new Ghost House Underground films and is a mix of zombie horror and Chinese mythology that has its moments but is ultimately unsatisfying. Melissa (Amy Smart) and Yul (Tim Chiou) are a newlywed couple spending their honeymoon in China . After experiencing the local flavor of the Festival of the Seventh Moon, they make a long trek to stay at Yul’s grandmother’s home, deep in the countryside. When their driver Ping (Dennis Chan) gets lost, he stops to ask for directions at a small village…and never returns.
 Dare I say it? I mean thousands of horror fans everywhere may launch back it me. I’m going to risk it and say it- I think WRONG TURN 2 is way better than the first WRONG TURN. Yes, I know….sexy Eliza Dushku and what-not. But really, I love WRONG TURN 2. Let me take a step back even further and say that I just love the whole cannibalistic-mutant genre in general.
 This past week a handful of standout DVD's hit the streets including the highly anticipated TRICK 'R TREAT and the Ghost House Pictures shocker THE CHILDREN. A few disjointed films also hit the public market, but I'll steer clear of those duds for the time being and share some insight into some worthwhile cinema.
Sunday, October 11, 2009 03:01 AM
Rich Mallery
Books
 In the not-too-distant future, humanity is so decimated by poverty that people will do anything for money. An innovative producer gives the poor hope by offering them work as extras in a series of “live death” films where they’ll be stalked by giant, blood-thirsty mechanical monsters. The job is easy - survive. First off, the concept behind Michael Shea’s THE EXTRA is brilliant. By taking a story like THE RUNNING MAN to a much darker place, this could’ve been an entertaining read. But it wasn’t.
Friday, October 09, 2009 07:30 PM
Paige MacGregor
Television
 If I have to watch Nina Dobrev make that I’m-so-confused-because-I-found-out-something-weird-and-can’t-quite-figure-out-what-to-do-with-it-but-it’s-probably-bad look one more time, I might not be able to stop myself from throwing something at my television. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. In fact, I rather enjoy ogling Paul Wesley (Stefan Salvatore), and sometimes Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore), on a weekly basis. But as the weeks wear on (and God help me, last week was only the fifth week of the series’ planned 22 episode season), I can’t decide if THE VAMPIRE DIARIES is a cheesy soap plagued by mediocre acting (queue Nina Dobrev and Katerina Graham) or a teen-focused drama that just happens to star a number of well-known soap opera actors (THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL’s Kayla Ewell, ONE LIFE TO LIVE and AS THE WORLD TURNS’ Zach Roerig, and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS’ Susan Walters, for example).
 SATANIC PANIC (out on DVD next week from Celebrity Video) is named after the wave of paranoia that swept across the U.S. in the early ’80s, inspired by reports and rumors that adults and children were being kidnapped by devil-worshipping cults and subjected to torturous rituals and sacrifice. It’s a potentially provocative and eerie premise for a filmmaker to build on—but here, writer/director Marc Selz doesn’t really try.
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 Have you seen THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE? Either the 1974 Tobe Hooper original or the 2003 remake? Then you’ve seen Anchor Bay’s new-to-DVD STAUNTON HILL. Except it’s nowhere near as good as the trailblazing former or surprising, way-better-than-expected remake. In fact, while watching this flick, I said to myself, “Hey, that crazy, corpulent redneck woman reminds me of that crazy, corpulent redneck woman from the TEXAS CHAINSAW remake and its prequel.” And—surprise! surprise!—when I checked out the actors’ names and credits, I discovered that the crazy, corpulent redneck woman in STAUNTON HILL actually is the same crazy, corpulent redneck woman from the TEXAS CHAINSAW remake and its prequel: Kathy Lamkin.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 04:44 PM
Jennifer Morrow
DVD & Blu-Ray
 AUDITION first hit American shores as one of the earliest entries in the late-1990s J-horror craze, and since then it has held an almost unassailable position as one of the masterpieces of the genre. The new two-disc Collector’s Edition from Shout! Factory attempts to capitalize on that renown by convincing nostalgic fans to purchase yet another edition of the film (there have been at least two others just for the Region 1 market), but unfortunately, there isn’t much here to make you open up your wallet if you already have before.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009 06:14 AM
John Porter
Books
 Andy Black’s latest contribution to the world of horror comes some six years after his last effort. During that time he has assembled a mixed bag of articles ranging from musings on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, the political views represented by the two versions of THE THING, torture horror, zombies, and a treatise on feminist film theory as it relates to the horror field. While consistency is a problem with NECRONOMICON BOOK 5 (some essays are light years ahead of others), it remains ultimately an enjoyable and readable book.
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