June 2, 2008 - New horror out on DVD this week, which includes my favorite film of the year so far...

This is actually a great week for horror DVD releases. It would be average, well... maybe slightly above average, if it weren't for the release of "The Machine Girl", which is downright awesome, my favorite film of the year so far... So, as always, you can go to our Youtube page and see the trailers for all of these and/or click on them to buy them off Amazon.

Without question, "The Machine Girl", as far as I'm concerned, is the first "must see" film of 2008. Well, must see for horror/gore fans. It's getting comparisons to Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror", but that's only because it features a girl who loses a limb and has it replaced by a machine gun, but dammit... the similarities end there. Rodriguez and Tarantino have NOTHING on Noboru Iguchi's "The Machine Girl". It's over the top, it's bloody, it's gory, it crosses every line that there is to be crossed AND it does it all without taking itself seriously. Please, get this film, get some booze, invite friends over, get wasted and take in what is, by far, the most entertaining film I've seen in a long time.

"The Eye" is the latest American 'interpretation' of a hit Asian film and, as usual, they drag a few quality, foreign filmmakers through shit while making it... In this case, it's The Pang Brothers, as well as Xavier Palud and David Moreau. The Pang Brothers are the writer/directors of the original "The Eye", which spawned two sequels, a Hindi version and this U.S. version and they're credited as the screenwriters here. Xavier Palud and David Moreau are the French filmmakers who recently made the indie-horror, "Them (a.k.a. Ils)", and they were credited as the directors on this. The Pang Brothers, Xavier Palud and David Moreau are all quality filmmakers and should not be judged by this PG-13 rated studio effort. So, uh... yeah. Next.

Believe it or not, "Shark Swarm" was actually picked up by the Hallmark channel and had its premiere there before being released on DVD tomorrow. It goes to show, you never know how you're going to get distribution. One of the cool things about "Shark Swarm" is that one of the writers, David Rosiak, is a regular contributor to Dread Central and frequently shows up on their podcasts... so, if you happen to listen to their podcasts, you may be familiar with the trials and tribulations that he's had with it. It's got a decent cast, with Darryl Hannah (Splash), John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard), Armand Assante (Judge Dread) and F Murray Abraham (Last Action Hero) and it's about mutant sharks.

...and the quality, low-budget fare just keeps coming! "Stump the Band" is an award winning indie-horror, having screened at various festivals (some which I didn't know about and will have to look into), including: The Hollywood DV Film Festival, Micro-cinema Festival and The Hauntcon Film Festival, winning a few awards along the way. Written by Jojo Henrickson and Fletcher Rhoden and directed by Jojo Henrickson and William Holmes, "Stump the Band" is about four hot chicks in a punk rock band who, while on tour, get lost in the wilds of Wisconsin and run into a guy with a very serious foot fetish who likes to collect feet like baseball cards. The reviews are awesome and the trailer looks great...

"Clean" is being distributed by Brain Damage and it was written, directed, produced and cut by Canadian indie-filmmaker Alexandre Michaud. No stranger to indie-horror, Michaud was also responsible for "Urban Flesh", "Time Enough: The Alien Conspiracy", "GoreGoyles: First Cut", among others. "Clean" is filled with senseless violence and brutality and is about a serial killer on a path of self-destruction, who then gets invited to a private snuff party and decides it's time to finally take action and clean off a little bit of everything he hates... go check out the trailer. Looks like a bit of unchecked aggression being let loose here, huh?

"The Innocent" is an indie-horror from Stuart Brennan, who wrote, directed and produced the 80 minute, shot on miniDV horror. It's about four students who camp overnight at a derelict hotel who soon start hearing more than just the wind... I haven't actually seen the film yet, but in researching it, I came across Stuart Brennan's website. First off, it turns out that "The Innocent" was actually shot in 2003, so it's taken a while to get its North American release and Amazon and imdb are lying to me, but that's besides the point. The point is, you should check out his website, it's really well put together. Very simple, but it really does a great job of promoting himself, his films and what he's up to. Good work, there...

"The Evil Woods" comes from writer/director Aaron Harvey, who we, of course, like because of his last name. This is his first feature film and he's currently working on his second, which has the awesome title, "Catch .44". It's being released by Lionsgate, but I can't find out much more about it. There's a group of teenagers, a desolate area in the woods, they find out about a killer ghost called the "Beer Hunter" who kills ignorant, careless teenagers who litter beer cans. Then, cell phones don't work, surprise slashed tires and dusk is approaching quickly...

Classic no-budget horror writer, director, producer, actor, Bill Zebub is back with "Rape Is a Circle". What else can I say about the guy who brought you "Assmonster" and "The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made: The Re-Make" that hasn't already been said? Not much... "Rape is a Circle" has full frontal female nudity, closet homosexuals, deranged women, rape, mutilation and... a lot more stuff like that. It's about two girls who hitch a ride from a woman, only to get kidnapped and then endure humiliating perversions and excruciating pain. Further, their friendship warps as they are forced to perform sexual acts on each other for the twisted amusement of their captor. The film explores the cycle of cruelty involved in these sensless acts of violence, thus "Rape is a Circle".

Lastly, I don't watch "Dead Zone", but they're always filming in my neighborhood, so I feel, for that reason only, that I should mention that "Dead Zone: The Final Season" is out on DVD, too.