From Sky Box Office: Stake Land Review

Though it cribs most of its best ideas from the cream of the post-apocalyptic genre, it does so in a way that is both compelling and exciting, creating a great apocalyptic atmosphere and bringing new life to a genre that is mostly ruled by the increasingly overplayed Zombie.

The Post-apocalyptic subgenre has seen rather a lot of attention in the recent decade, normally with a focus upon our undead friend. Even me, who loves everything Zombie, has grown to be slightly tired of what is now a tried and tested formula. Therefore when I heard of stake land, which attempted to switch out Mr Z. with a Vampire apocalypse, I was excited, though sceptical. Though my mind quickly jumped to visions of I am Legend (the novel), I quickly remembered I am Legend (the film), and lowered my expectations. What I was expecting wasn’t actually what I got, which was a nice surprise. What I was expecting was a pedal-to-the-metal throwaway apocalypse flick with lots of action, but little consequence. Rather what I got was a nicely balanced and well realised apocalyptic world with a personal touch which reminded me more of The Road, than say, Dawn of the Dead.

From the DVD Shelf: Hobo With a Shotgun Review

The ultimate homage to the low-budget exploitation thriller, Hobo with a Shotgun is a cacophony of blood, gore, and violence...though little else.

Hobo with a Shotgun is one of those films you take interest in purely because of its name. With a name like that, you pretty much know precisely what it’s going to be, and in that respect, it doesn’t disappoint. There are no minced words here, there’s a hobo, he has a shotgun, he uses said shotgun. Overall, I was rather excited to crack this badboy open and see the ridiculousness within. I was greeted with what I expected, joyfully low-budget violence with the tongue placed firmly within the cheek; by the end I felt that my stupidity quota had been filled for the day. That said, I came away not as totally satisfied as I would have hoped.

From the DVD Shelf: Mega Shark Vs Crocosaurus Review

Probably as low budget as you could probably ever get without breaching some kind of law, Asylum Film Studio’s brings us another mockbuster classic asking the pertinent question, who would win in a fight, a big shark, or a big crocodile? By the end of the film, you may have lost the will to live. I certainly had.

Asylum film studios are well known for their terrible direct to DVD releases, many of which rip directly from new releases in an attempt to make some quick cash. Let us not forget the Mockbuster classics that were ‘Sunday School Musical’, ‘Transmorphers’ and ‘Snakes on a Train’ (yeah, really). Alongside these examples of flagrant disregard for copy write law, Asylum has also created (I use that word loosely) a series of monster flicks, such as Mega Piranha, and most famously Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus. Well now the Mega Shark has returned, but this time, he is facing off against a different, but luckily equally sized foe, the Crocosaurus (which, if you didn’t guess, is just a huge crocodile).

From the DVD Shelf: La Horde Review

Edit: If you think about it...this could be a lost sequel to 28 weeks later. O' God don't I wish that it was!

La Horde doesn’t do anything special to the already saturated Zombie film market, that said, the action and special effects are good enough to make it enjoyable; it’s also French.

I have always thought that Zombies, and the Zombie Apocalypse (which is soon to come!) are always good subject matter for films. That said, there sure have been a lot of things with Zombies in over the past decade. Not only in films, but in books and in games as well. Perhaps this has led to some heightened Zombie saturation which makes it difficult for the more standard Zombie Genre films to stand out. That said, there is still room for the unique Zombie horror to stand up above the rest. La Horde certainly isn’t that film. It doesn’t really do anything new with the Zombie format, in reasons for their appearance or in attributes. Nor does its story focus on anything else enough to make it unique in that respect. It is truly your most standard of standard Zombie films. That said though, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t in some ways enjoyable. Afterall I presume many will be coming to this film, not for some new zombie innovations, nor for plot or character development, but rather to see some hardcore zombie killing action – and there sure is some hardcore Zombie killing action.

From Sky Box Office: Drive Angry Review

It might not be the crazy unhinged performance that fans of Nicolas Cage were hoping for, but for what it is, it is still an enjoyable low maintenance action film, if one that tries a little too hard to be intentionally dumb.

Dumb films can be fun, and I’m the first to embrace something that throws reality out the window and focuses on ridiculous onscreen antics. Drive Angry certainly attempts to be just this, mimicking the grindhouse/exploitation genre with all its blood, guts, naked ladies, fast cars and ridiculous over the top action. Sadly for Drive Angry, some of this total over the top-ness felt somewhat forced and somewhat at odds with other more serious aspects of the film. It is just trying too hard to be over the top, that in the end, it is dumb, but with little of the enjoyment that comes with that. That said, there is probably enough action (and just enough nakedness) to keep you from considering this question too deeply, that is until the credits roll.

From Sky Box Office: The Green Hornet

The Green Hornet is a pretty decent action flick, but apart from that it isn't really anything to write home about. That said, it could have been a lot worse.

Ever heard of the Green Hornet before? No? Well neither had I, and I suspect not many other people would remember this one time comic and radio series from the 30’s to 50’s and television series from the 60’s. Don’t fear though, you don’t have to know the lineage to understand this latest Green Hornet comeback – He’s a vigilante, he has a cool car, stuff explodes. It doesn’t really get simpler than that and in the end its main flaw is that it doesn’t do much to break free from this simple mould.

From the DVD Shelf: Machete

Dumb with a capital D, but in all the best ways; If you like your films fast, gory and ridiculous, don’t look any further than Machete.

Machete has strange origins, originating as a 2 minute fake trailer for Robert Rodriguez’s Quentin Tarentino’s film, Grindhouse. If you’ve seen the trailer in all its generic ridiculous action movie-ness, you may well doubt the possibly of turning the idea of a machete wielding Mexican into something resembling a full length feature. Well Rodriguez not only manages this, but he manages this with some style.

From the DVD Shelf: The Warrior’s Way

Ninja's fighting Cowboys is always good, right? ...WRONG!

The trailer for Warrior’s Way lied to you. It promised pedal-to-the-metal guns blazing craziness and little else. Sadly, for every ridiculous fight sequence, there are a hundred truly awful moments, mainly due to an over use of CGI and some terrible acting, dialogue and plotting.

From the DVD Shelf: Season of the Witch

Nicolas Cage: the first crusader with an American accent. Oh and Hell Boy is there too.

Not many films deal effectively with the medieval period, most normally distorting it out of context horribly by relying upon worn out historical stereotypes to get them along – witches, the Black Death, the Crusades, Mud filled towns, Rain – all that jazz. Well Season of the Witch is pretty much precisely one of those films. Boy are there historical inaccuracies (don’t even get me started! – as someone who likes the crusades...I think I nearly cried) and these probably can be forgiven, I mean it never promises to be the next Braveheart, but the lack of exciting action, rather poor pacing and more often than not silly and dull dialogue, means it doesn’t even really deliver on the whole ‘fun’ part of dumb historical (ish) action movies of this type either.

From Sky Box Office: The Devil's Tomb

So I’ve been gone for a while, getting all that university business out of the way. But now I’m back! (Waits for applause)...to review more great (...) films!

The Devil’s Tomb is an alright ride, but is almost instantly forgettable – remembered only for average acting and sometimes laughably bad special and physical effects.

I don’t watch too many straight-to-DVD releases, and you can probably guess why: they normally always suck (if they were any good they would come out in the cinema...right?). Coming into Devil’s Tomb I had no idea about its direct to DVD origins, but by the end I had my suspicions, which tells you a little of what you are going to get if you get round to watching this ‘action horror’ flick.

From Sky Box Office: The Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Like Owls? Like Owls In Helmets? Like Australian Owls in Helmets? No? Well that's probably for the best.

Legends of the Guardians has one serious problem, it’s trying to do way too much at once. Imagine if Peter Jackson had attempted to cram all three Lord of the Rings books into one film and the mess that would have been the result. Well that’s pretty much what has been attempted in Legends of the Guardians, The Owls of Ga’Hoole, and it certainly shows.

From the DVD Shelf: Burke and Hare

Burke and Hare is an alright film, it just isn't funny; what's the point of the comedy that isn't funny?

I was rather interested in seeing Burke and Hare. Quite recently (well about 6 months ago) I travelled up to Edinburgh and came into contact with the legend of Burke and Hare, the true story of two illustrious evil-doers who took grave robbery to a whole new level by murdering people and selling their corpses on. I thought to myself, how do you make something as horrible as that, funny? That was obviously the problem facing those behind Burke and Hare, and plainly they made the wrong decisions.

From the DVD Shelf: Timecrimes (or Los cronocrímenes)

A breath of fresh air for the Time-travel genre, this low budget Sci-fi thriller is certainly mind-bending, but in an extremely good way.

At first glance this film seems to have everything going against it. First of all it has a silly name, a poor translation of its original Spanish title, Los cronocrímenes? (I don’t know, I don’t speak Spanish!). Secondly it’s directed by someone you most likely haven’t ever heard of, Nacho Vigalondo, who sounds more like a bad Mexican super-hero than a great director (no offence Nacho!). While finally, at first glance it looks like a poor, low-budget, slasher-flick, with a main antagonist that resembles a trench coat wearing, scissor wielding, Mummy (If you see the DVD cover you’ll know what I’m talking about). Hence, though I had even been recommended this film by other websites and purchased it, it sat sadly on my shelf for months before I finally got round to watching it. Plainly though, this film is demonstrates clearly why you should never judge a book (or in this case DVD) by its cover, for what we have here is something both imaginative, exciting and extremely thought provoking.