"Condemned" Set to Scare Your Home DVD & Blu-Ray

RLJ Entertainment recently send us over information for the upcoming DVD & Blu-Ray release of "Condemned". The film stars Dylan Penn, Ronen Rubinstein, Lydia Hearse and Jon Abrahams.

No special features were announced.

"Condemned" hits DVD & Blu-Ray on Janauary 5th.

Plot Synopsis:

Fed up with her parents’ bickering, poor-little-rich-girl Maya (Dylan Penn) moves in with her boyfriend who is squatting in an old, condemned building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. With neighbors that are meth heads, junkies and degenerates, this depraved hell hole is even more toxic than it appears: After a virus born from their combined noxious waste and garbage infects the building’s residents, one by one, they succumb to a terrifying pathogen that turns them into bloodthirsty, rampaging killers and transforms their building into a savage slaughterhouse.

Sci-Fi Thriller "Painkillers" Makes its Way to DVD

Image Entertainment recently released information for the upcoming DVD release of "Painkillers". The film stars Tahmoh Penikett (“Battlestar Galactica”), Lesley-Ann Brandt (“The Librarians”), Erica Durance (“Smallville”), Julia Voth (“Package Deal”) and Colm Feore (“Gotham”).

No special features were announced at this time.

"Painkillers" hits retail on January 12th.

Plot Synopsis:

PAINKILLERS tells the story of a squad of marines sent on a classified mission deep in the war-torn mountains of Afghanistan, but when they find the mysterious item they were sent for… it’s not what they were expecting. The next thing they know, Major Cafferty (Penikett) and the surviving squad members wake-up in a military medical facility with no memory of what happened or even who they are. Using an experimental drug, doctors try to “reboot” the soldiers’ memories, but one by one they fall prey to bizarre hallucinations and homicidal fits of rage. Only through snatches of resurfacing memories does Cafferty begin to question the true motives of the hospital staff and discover the shocking, deadly reality behind the otherworldly artifact they found.

Film Review: Roadside

When I first heard about “Roadside”, I was interested considering that it looked like one of those thrillers that I would enjoy. It has a mysterious killer plus the trailer and story looked interesting enough to check this film out and review it.

The film follows Dan and Mindy Summers, a couple who on the road along a mountain highway that is desolate and quiet. They are forced to stop in the middle of the road when a tree falls on the road and blocks their way. Before Dan can get back inside his car, he finds out that a mysterious man hiding in the woods is threatens him and wife with a rifle that is aimed at them. This forces both Dan and Mindy to play his sadistic game in the freezing cold. They must find a way out of his dangerous game, before becoming his latest victims.

I was hoping that I would’ve liked “Roadside” considering that Eric England’s last film got a lot of praise. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t get into this film at all. This film was a flat out boring thriller from start to finish. It’s also possibly the reason why this film too so long in being released than his last film “Contacted”.

This was one of those films, where it was hard to sit through. The main reason for that was England’s direction. This felt very flat in all aspects. He doesn’t do a good job making sure the scenes stand out. The problem of that was the fact that his film takes place in one area for most of the film. Still, that is something that should’ve been corrected with the way he directs his cast. Instead, I was waiting for this film to end. Speaking of the performances, they weren’t good at all. England doesn’t make sure the performances had a certain level of intensity to them. This is supposed to be a suspense thriller, instead this felt like a drama. The reason for that was that I didn’t buy into the performances. He doesn’t make sure that they are different from each other. Instead, you have main performances that feel flat and going on one note. When that happens you’re not feeling intensity, you’re feeling bored.

The screenplay written by England was also bad as the direction. One of the things that makes this screenplay bad was the fact that the characters weren’t interesting. They weren’t giving much personality, as they felt flat. It made me not care about anything in this film. The villain felt like it was something out of the “Scream” films with his voice. The other thing that made me not like this screenplay was the fact that scenes had no tension. Most of the reason for that was that it stays at one place for a good chunk of the film. It didn’t do anything to make me feel frightening enough to be engaged with the story. This and the fact that the villain didn’t make things scary, it made this film very boring film to watch. It also didn’t help that the mysterious villain and the deaths were predictable. When that happens, you lose all suspense like this screenplay did.

I was really hoping that “Roadside” was going to be one of thrillers that keeps you interested and entertained, but I was wrong. Instead, this film is one of those films that you pass on bye when seeing it stranded on the side of the road.

Review Rating: One Star

"Digging Up the Marrow" Review

When I first heard that Adam Green was having a new film, I was excited as I thought it was going to be like the “Hatchet” films or “Holliston” because he also stars in this. But when I started to read the synopsis, I could tell it wasn’t going to be a fun time like those two are. Instead, “Digging up the Marrow” looked more like his more serious films like “Frozen” and “Spiral”. Still I wanted to check this because his serious films tend to be his best ones.

The faux documentary follows Green as he is contacted by a mysterious man who believes that monsters are real and hide in the woods. Along with his Cinematographer Will Barrett, the two set to interview him and discover that they might be some truth to this. As they get closer to the truth, they don’t know what to believe as things about the mysterious man start coming to light and something or someone might be haunting them during their search for the truth.

“Digging up the Marrow” was for the most part a departure from Adam Green’s previous films. The film had a different feel compared to most of his films. Still, this is one of Adam Green’s best films, as I would put that up there with his best film “Frozen”.

One of thing that I enjoyed about this film was Green’s direction was that he takes a different approach in the way he has this film filmed with its faux documentary style. It helped make the film have its realistic tone to it that is needed if you’re trying to have it feel like a documentary with interviews with real people and realistic action. It made some of the scenes work well with the style it was going for.

The other thing that Green does very well was the way that he directs the acting. The acting was good, as it kept things interesting especially when it’s just Green and Will Barratt talking. You had the typical Adam Green performance that see on “Holliston”, but it works very well here as you needed a character to have a personality to keep you interested. It helped keep me interested as he tries to find proof of monsters. But the main star of the film is Ray Wise. He was great in this film. What I liked about the performance was the way he makes his character very dark. This didn’t feel like the typical Ray Wise performance that you would see from him. From the way that he talks to how he approach the character, everything had a dark feel to it. It made his character standout and very interesting to watch.

The screenplay also written by Green was very good. This screenplay does a very good job keeping your interest. Whether it was the way that he approaches each of the characters to how some of scares are built up, it manages to deliver to the point it kept my interest throughout. I was very interest in the film’s end result because of it. The other thing that I liked about the screenplay was the way that he makes the William Decker character very interesting. Whether it’s the way that the character’s dialogue was written to how Green makes the character very mysterious, everything helped make this character very fascinating to see on screen. This is makes this film very good from start to finish.

This is one of those VOD releases that you should find a way to check out, as this is the first film this year that’s very good. “Digging up the Marrow” is a very fascinating film that is both entertaining and scary. This will make you believe that monsters can be truly scary.

Review Rating: Five Stars.