Arena Wars (DVD) – Here is a fun sci-fi B-flick that is set in the future… 2045 to be exact that has appearances of some cool stars in Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts, and Robert Lasardo. The film revolves a streaming TV show called “Arena Wars”: Seven rooms, seven extreme murderers, with a group of death row prisoners being sent through without weapons to survive. If they make it through the violence of course they are promised freedom. If not it’s no big loss to the legal system since the inmates are on death row. Of course everyone from all walks of life watches the show but TV execs are very concern with ratings as they seem to be in a downslide. So why not make a hero for the people to get behind? In comes Luke Bender who is innocent and undercover but to the TV execs this doesn’t matter as they have access to all prisoner info for their TV show. What also doesn’t help the execs ultimate financial goal is their killers or ‘specially formulated soldiers’ formula may not be working any longer? The execs are all in on Bender but Bender is not all in on their idea as he and his group are gaining support as they move through the rooms. Many small and big Indy projects have tried this “The Running Man” formula and failed. ‘Arena Wars’ has found an entertaining and watchable way of presenting itself as to me it feels like Arnold’s “The Running Man” of course, mixed with the lesser known “Final Round” with Lorenzo Lamas, with a splash of the recent horror film “Haunt” which means some good bloodshed! Sounds like a great screwed up future to me so I’m in as I give this action filled flick 3 out of 4 stars.

The Villain (DVD) – Before we all knew our boy Arnold as Conan and The Terminator, he was known as the “Handsome Stranger” in this Hal Needham comedy about the Old West. Imagine “Hooper” and “Cannonball Run” set in the old west with a little less laughs? Kirk Douglas plays a bumbling bad guy (Cactus Jack) who after a botched bank robbery is thrown in jail but approached by the banker to screw someone over. From there it is pretty much a live action cartoon throughout. Actually thought Arnold did a great job just don’t think it was the right project for him at the time but that was proven with his other projects as I give this 2 stars.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Theater) – It is exactly what you thought it was and what you were going to get. It’s the origin story of the Furiosa character from “Fury Road”. If you were a fan of the last Mad Max film you will mostly enjoy, if not then I suggest finding something else to watch instead of bitching about this project. George Miller and crew did almost everything right again in bringing the world of Mad Max to life again, almost…? I had to pick something and that would be as much I enjoy this character, the film itself, and this for selfish reasons, I need me some Max! The three second screen time was cool and satisfying but that is what I am always going to want from this franchise. Great film again and hopefully we get one more as I give this 3 ½ stars.

HeBGB TV (Blu-ray) – Wow, right out the gates this thing screams mid-90s Nick shows! This era is a little past my time but I was still able to appreciate what a great viewing pleasure of this project was. It begins with a rando package on a front doorstep picked up by siblings who were hoping it was pizza. This out of this world cable box once inside immediately hooks itself up and out comes “The Purple Guy” to explain and entertain the siblings. As The Purple Guy allows the siblings to watch the programming and advertisements we keep getting newsbreaks that the cable box is going everywhere and taking over the world. But the siblings in the end are not having what The Purple Guy is offering. The production and presentation of this project is just absolutely entertaining along with the young sibling characters giving this horror delight an innocence you don’t see often or pulled off correctly. Horror fans if you grew up in the 90s make a point to pick up a copy of this as these fantastic independent productions are rare as I give it 4 stars.

Verotika (DVD) – Well I finally decided it was time to see why some horror fans were calling this “the worst horror film” of all time as this was Glen Danzig’s first feature. After seeing his most recent one “Death Rider” and how weird some of that was this finally struck my curiosity? This anthology is broken down into three segments which the first is about a girl with eyeballs on her boobs and a giant spider dude who is screwing a hot babe! I am guessing Mr. Danzig is just a fan of Charles Band’s “Monsterbra” (remember those?) and what was it with the bad French accent? Anyhow the second segment is about a woman who likes to kill women to slice their faces off and display them. The last segment is about a countess who travels the countryside for beautiful women to bathe in their blood and enjoy the beheadings and bloodshed when she is done. The movie is neither good or bad, hell really felt like it doesn’t go anywhere but I will say I am glad I watched “Death Rider” first as I give this film 1 star.

The Dark (VHS/YouTube) – Stephen McHattie plays a scientist who gets into an incident with a cop played by Brion James concerning something mysterious living under a graveyard. Two years go by and McHattie’s character is still wanted as he shows back up in town again. This at the same time two graveyard workers uncovers the giant rat creature and its lair! The scientist of course thinks it is a link to the past as the cop just wants revenge for his partner to kill the creature. Think “Creature from the Black Lagoon” with a splash of “Lurking Fear” in this Canadian early 90s creature feature as I give it 2 ½ stars.

Twin Dragon Encounter (YouTube) – A Canadian mid-80s action mess about twin brothers knowing the art of ‘kung fu’, hell they even explain it in the opening scenes of the film about heroes in Hollywood. The main plot of the film concerns the twins taking their girlfriends on vacation only to be bothered by some Z-grade weekend warrior types. After the weekend warriors get their asses kick in slow motion a few times they decide to take action during their ‘war games’ to kidnap the girlfriends. This sets up more cheesy dialogue, more slow motion fighting, and action scenes that might make you piss yourself laughing as I give this entertaining movie  mess 2 stars and not for being good.

Omen (On Demand) – Sometimes I go out of my comfort zone of movies and watch non-horror or just strange crap. This international project falls into that territory as in this dramatic tale a man goes back to his home country to confront his mother and family even though they believed he had the ‘mark of the devil’ on him. In his culture you want the blessing of your parents when getting married or having kids but mainly this was last chance to reconnect before his twins are born. Not the usual stuff you will see me review but it was just interesting enough for me to watch something about a man being shunned by family because he was the ‘devil’ as I give this 2 ½ stars.

Boy Kills World (On Demand) – In an alternate world where a deaf boy has his mom and sister murdered by a dictator. After being found in the jungle a Shaman trains him from a boy to adult to be the perfect killing machine. The boy never forgets what drives him as he wants revenge in this chaotic world of dreamy weirdness. But you have to pay attention to the complete insane story because not all is what it seems as this feels like someone threw Peter Jackson’s “Dead Alive”, the over the top action film “Hardcore Henry”, and one of my favs “Raid the Redemption” into a blender! The final product is a wonderful wacky huge body count of an action film that I will be enjoying many times over as I give it 4 stars.

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