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John Allman

If you’ve ever wandered the aisles at the video store or surfed the DVR pay-per-view options and seen a bunch of movies that you’ve never heard of, chances are John has watched them. Why? He loves movies. All kinds of movies. Good, bad, so-bad-they’re good, even the truly unwatchable ones. He mostly loves horror and science-fiction and drive-in exploitation movies that most upstanding model citizens wouldn’t dare watch. Then he writes up his thoughts so you can decide - watch, don’t watch or avoid at all costs. Sometimes he even gets to talk to the cool folks who make some of your favorite films.

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John Allman

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New Releases for Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011

Posted Nov 16, 2011 by John Allman

Updated Nov 16, 2011 at 09:50 PM

What’s new in stores and on video shelves this week:

Frankenhooker
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Directed by: Frank Henelotter
Run time: 90 minutes
Rating: R
Format: Blu-Ray

The Lowdown: Famed genre director Frank Henelotter is best known for the twisted Siamese twin schlockfest series, “Basket Case,” but in 1990 he gave fans one of the decade’s most irreverent slices of subversive gore.

“Frankenhooker,” a loose retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic misunderstood monster tale, asks several important questions that few other films might, namely would someone you loved be angry if you brought them back from the dead and if you use wanton hooker parts to reanimate your beloved’s head, will she become a hooker too?

This is a classic example of the silly, gory gross but fun films that populated movie theaters in the late 80s and early 90s. And that’s the best way to approach something like “Frankenhooker,” by just going into it expecting nothing but fun.

There’s no deep story here, no defining character development. The lead actor, James Lorinz, a dead ringer for Andrew McCarthy, isn’t even very likeable. If Jennifer Delora, one of the “hookers” whose body parts help build the title character, is to be believed on one of the disc’s insightful extras, Lorinz wasn’t well-liked on set either.

But the film itself is an absolute blast, behind the scenes friction or not.

Henelotter is no stranger to working with practical special effects, and the various reanimated body parts that eventually take center stage in the third act are superior to his early work, most notably the detached Siamese twin Belial, whose herky-jerky stop-motion movements in Henelotter’s first film were distracting, have been vastly improved on here.

Just the sight of a bunch of weeble-wobbling body parts with mutated mouths and teeth and claws dragging the poor pimp Zorro into a stand-up freezer to devour him is hilarious.

Longtime fans, this disc should be at the top of your holiday wishlist!

The Stuff You Care About:
Hot chicks – Yes, but none hotter than Jennifer Delora, looking just as dirty hot as she did in her 1986 debut, “Bad Girls Dormitory”
Nudity – Yes
Gore – Yes
Drug use – Yes
Bad Guys/Killers – Zorro, the killer pimp
Buy/Rent – Buy it.
Blu-Ray Bonus Features – Audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter; three featurettes, including “A Salad That Once Was Named Elizabeth” and “Turning Tricks: Jennifer Delora Remembers Frankenhooker”; Jennifer Delora’s Frankenhooker photo scrapbook; trailer.
On the Web – http://synapse-films.com/dvds/horror/frankenhooker-blu-ray/

13 (Anchor Bay,90 minutes, R, Blu-Ray): “13,” the Hollywood remake by director Géla Babluani of his own 2005 black and white French feature, has an A-list all-star cast(Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Ray Winstone, Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgård, just to name a few) and a B-movie’s pulpy, goofy heart. That means for every absorbing sequence in the film, there are a handful of clunky moments or transitions that jar you and force you to remember “13” is more conventional and less controversial than it might wish to be. That doesn’t mean it’s not an interesting, entertaining movie. It’s just not a great one. But Rourke and Statham deliver the goods, with Rourke being more vulnerable than in recent work and Statham playing a rare bad guy role. Shannon comes off as crazed and unpredictable, which is exactly what you would hope(and expect) to see. Winstone turns in yet another solid, understated performance in a career filled with memorable moments. And Sam Riley, the in-over-his-head protagonist, willing to go to any lengths to help his family through an expensive ordeal, is memorable not so much for playing it low-key, allowing his bigger-named co-stars to shine, but for striking the right balance between unlikely underdog and improbably lucky. The main problem with the film, which again is not a huge detriment, is pacing. Babluani keeps the action crackling along throughout the first two acts. It’s only in the third act that you notice lulls and lags, which are to be expected given the level of sustained tension he maintains for the first 70 minutes.

Bedlam: Season One (BBC, 300 minutes, Unrated, DVD): An amazingly spooky, surprisingly sexy supernatural show from across the pond, the BBC’s “Bedlam” is an enjoyable mash-up of popular paranormal shows from the U.S. that places much of the action in a former institution that is converted into upscale housing. Of course, the place is haunted, but these ghosts don’t just linger in the shadows. They aren’t afraid to make their presence known in a big, bad way, often with deadly consequences. This isn’t a hit on par with “Doctor Who,” “Being Human” or “Torchwood,” but it is far superior to “Primeval” or “Demons,” two other, similar sci-fi shows from the BBC.

The Change-Up (Universal, 112 minutes, Unrated, Blu-Ray): Dude, Ryan Reynolds did not have a good summer. First, he tanked as DC Comics’ superhero “Green Lantern,” and then he got stuck in this dreadful comedy with Jason Bateman where someone thought it would be fun to revisit the body-switching comedies of the 1980s like “Like Father, Like Son” or “Vice Versa.” Bad, bad idea. The jokes fall flat almost immediately, there’s zero chemistry between Reynolds and Bateman, circumstances get tolerated by bosses that would justify immediate termination in real life and for some unknown, but appreciated, reason, Leslie Mann flashes her bare breasts like three times.

The Cannonball Run (HBO Studios, 95 minutes, PG, Blu-Ray): They don’t make movies like this anymore, all-star ensembles that stretch a silly idea to the breaking point but still somehow manage to entertain. Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, though, most every film like “The Cannonball Run” featured Burt Reynolds and a revolving door of A-to-D-list celebrities in cameo roles. You can’t beat the chance to see Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Dom DeLuise, Adrienne Barbeau, Farrah Fawcett and more, especially since most all of the top stars have since passed away.

Also Available:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

Sleeping Beauty

Band of Brothers/The Pacific Gift Set (Full review coming, 2011 Holiday Gift Guide)

The Perfect Age for Rock and Roll

Alleged

Blue Velvet

Gia

Atlas Shrugged

A Better Tomorrow

Little Big Man

Not To Be Overlooked:

Pearl Jam Twenty (Columbia, 146 minutes, Unrated, DVD): Cameron Crowe has always been a music lover first. His films all move with a rhythmic grace, propelled by meticulously crafted soundtracks and/or concert performances that enhance and elevate the story, not merely fill space. Here, Crowe, showing his early journalistic roots, chronicles the band that has meant much to him over the past 20-plus years, the seminal rock band Pearl Jam, whom Crowe has been a fan of since their early days as Mookie Blaylock. This is a fantastic documentary, filled with quiet moments of film captured by the band members themselves, that gives longtime fans a peek behind the curtain. At times, you almost feel guilty for eavesdropping in on conversations that are refreshing for their frankness and surprising because they reveal that even a band like Pearl Jam has moments when everyone doesn’t get along and the band’s very existence is thrust into peril. Above all else, “Pearl Jam Twenty” will immediately make you seek out the band’s back catalog, as well as albums by Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Green River and Soundgarden.