Frankenstein Island (DVD) – An oddity of a film from 1981 that have some random dudes getting lost and stranded on an island by hot air balloon. Of course the island just happens to be filled with a bunch of glorious movie troupe of Amazon women and Dr. Sheila Frankenstein. Yes, yinz heard that right! After lots of filler of these ugly dudes trying to get dates the stranded crew meets Dr. Frankenstein who has continued the experiment, to perfect it you might say? Again lots of filler, a weird ghostly image of John Carradine laughing, and the actual Frankenstein monster not showing up till the end of the movie. Literally you would say this film was made for the mere reason to exist on MST3K as I give it 1 star.

Ghostkeeper (Plex) – This little 80s slow burn disguised as a slasher film has three lost travelers on snow mobiles on New Year’s Eve getting stuck at an abandoned mountain side hotel. Getting snowed in the three decide to make the best of it but quickly feel like they are not alone and they are correct. An old caretaker of the place and her offspring decided to stay and live away from the booming cities (old lady’s words). Besides the fact they elude immediately that they are cannibals this movie suffers from pacing and has you asking what is truly going on? But doing some research the film was troubled from the beginning to disappearing budgets to many rewrites to a completely different film being made than what the actors brought there did… There was a good reason horror fans haven’t heard much about this film as I give it 1 star.

Aliens Expanded (Shudder) – Holy nerdy ballsack kids as this over 4 1/2 hour documentary of the 1986 sci-fi sequel has been unleashed on the public. Just when you thought you were such a nerd (like a lot of us) about this wonderful film that graced our presence 40 years ago they decided to tell everyone “hold my beer or in this case hold my facehugger” and just bombard the viewer with stories, discussions, interviews, and everything ‘Aliens’ including James Cameron. I loved this movie and thought I knew a lot? But wow kids this documentary goes above, beyond, and in-depth into a film that is considered maybe the most perfect sci-fi film to be released as I give this 4 stars all the way as I swear you will not get bored with this.

Spiritboard: Doorway to Death (DVD) – A newer independent filmmaker to the scene has just completed his third project that begins in 1926 where William, an evil man is ripped from his home to be lynched. William knowing what was coming performs some black magic of sorts before he is hung. Now fast forward a hundred years and his Spiritboard is found then used during a small girlfriend get together while watching ‘Revenge of the Lobster People 2’ (which by the way I wanna see that flick). The three young ladies using it believe they are all just playing around until the evil William has been conjured and possess the roommate who is literally just trying to get sleep. A small get together quickly turns into a ghastly bloody time with no escape as William wants vengeance or more than anything just fun with his new ghostly powers. Shawn Wright’s feature has a few flaws but its small cast, mostly one location, bare bones filmmaking with gory possessions, and a wonderful ending intentional or not gives a very small company 1990-1991 direct-to-video vibe that only the original ‘Witchboard’ and ‘Witchcraft’ films were able to accomplish in this genre as Shawn Wright’s career should be on the rise as I give his latest 3 out of 4 stars.

CarousHell 4 (Blu-ray) – So the talented independent filmmaker Steve Rudzinski returns to his most absurd but entertaining as hell (I say this in a good way) horror series that centers around a killer merry-go-round horse, a unicorn, whatever you or Steve’s universe considers Duke. Anyhow things seem to be going great for Duke and his offspring Robbie (by the way Robbie is magical if you haven’t watched the other films) but it has been brought to the attention of Duke that Robbie may never want to grow up? So Duke facing a challenge decides it will be good for him and Robbie to head out to the “Raimi” cabin to help sort out with Robbie that it is okay to get older, that it is a natural part of order. The duo are warned about the cabin as evil lurks there and wants released! Calmly Duke isn’t worried about it as he is a lucky guy until Robbie happens to trip over the “Nekkomeowicon” and say out loud the words inside. This causes some super terrible things to be released, mainly victims Duke has murdered in his past as Duke is faced with fighting the past in order to help save the future for Robbie. Without going into much detail Steve uses this sequel to feature all of the influences in his life to make this passion project come true. It has a bit of everything from comedic aspects to some wonderful make-up and gore to a perfect running time for the film to a magical unicorn bitching about zombie demons to an ending that only could come from the amazing mind of Steve Rudzinski (oh, you will know when you see it) to possibly having the greatest cameo and not overdone by the way of any independent horror film I have had the pleasure of watching. This project, this sequel in a series of films for over ten years is not just a work of art but a work of passion that whether you care or not or will even admit Steve Rudzinski needs to be mentioned with the others of the genre like the Polonias, Farmer, Bookwalter, Sheets, do I need to go on? Anyhow 4 out of 4 stars kids if you miss this one shame on you for claiming to be an independent horror movie fan.

The Inglorious Bastards (DVD) – No we are not talking about the one with Brad Pitt that a lot of mainstream movie viewers love, we are talking the original that starred Fred Williamson, Peter Hooten, and Bo Svenson. The original I believe gets lost among the movie going public since we got that other fun project. This one takes place in 1944 France where American misfit prisoners under the leadership of Lt. Yeager volunteer for a mission to trade for their freedom. In reality they know this is probably a death sentence but this is the first time their talents have been really used and can make a difference against the Nazis as they try to steal parts of the V2 rocket. Beyond action-packed this film literally only has a region 2 blu-ray edition but this three-disc the from Severin is wonderful that includes a documentary and the soundtrack which is 4 stars all the way.

My Life with the Living Dead: The Story of John A. Russo (Blu-ray) – Talented filmmaker James Lockhart documents John Russo telling stories of the early days of filmmaking in Pittsburgh, early days hanging with George A. Romero, Night of the Living Dead, and what his friends were doing at that time. But this isn’t all about ‘NOTLD’ as Russo speaks about navigating all his projects over his 60 year career that includes the controversial mistake (my opinion, not Russo’s) 30th anniversary with the extra footage to one of the worst films ever made (my opinion not Mr. Russo’s) in ‘Children of the Living Dead’. Take out my opinion of how I feel this documentary was done with class by James Lockhart and will make ‘Living Dead’ fans happy to watch as I give the film 3 out of 4 stars. Believe me there is some actual interesting stuff that Russo did outside of the original zombie film but most will watch this for ‘NOTLD’

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