DVD Release List: Masters of Vacancy
Your bloody, chunky DVD offerings for Tuesday, August 14th shall be…
Acts of Death (2006)
Directed by Jeff Burton
As part of some sick hazing tradition, a bunch of theater students (ah, the most vicious kind) break into the Baxter University theater on night, but something goes terribly, horribly wrong. The next night the same actors are set to perform but the spirit of the young girl they “accidentally” killed enacts her revenge. Some points for ghostly revenge not waiting some random amount of years to show itself have to be given, I guess, but other than that is sounds like your typical stalk-n-slash with some ghostly elements. Originally called Final Curtain, in case you were curious. Buy it here!
Carved (2007)
Directed by Koji Shirishi
Legend has it, 30 years ago a quiet suburban town was beset by terror, terror caused by a jealous husband who grotesquely disfigured his wife. She would then wander the town in a long coat and surgical mask, approaching townspeople and asking if she was pretty when she removed it. Their reaction almost always meant death. Now children are missing again, and the ghost of the slit-mouthed woman is back on her trail of revenge. Buy it here!
The Empty Acre (2007)
Directed by Patrick Rea
A young farming couple have a good life; a nice marriage and a healthy son, but their farm is problematic. Seems nothing will grow in their fields, and cattle that stray too close to it go to the Great Meat Packing Plant in the sky. And the bitch of it? Everyday the field grows larger and larger. One night, their son is taken from them and the couple begins a frantic search for their baby, hoping against hope that the evil field they own didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance. I’m sure it didn’t. Check out our review of The Empty Acre (which is quoted on the DVD box art!) for more! Buy it here!
Masters of Horror: Valerie on the Stairs (2007)
Directed by Mick Garris
Taken from a story by a true Master of Horror, Clive Barker, this tale is about a writer who discovers a place where he can live for free in order to finish his masterpiece; a writer’s commune of sorts, though in an apartment complex. At night he stars to see a crying, naked woman on the stairs who’s afraid of a demon in her apartment. Before he can get to her, though, she disappears. The other residents think he’s crazy until they see both girl and demon, though they never live to tell about it. Check out our DVD review for “Valerie on the Stairs” for more! Buy it here!
Masters of Horror: We All Scream for Ice Cream (2007)
Directed by Tom Holland
And speaking of delayed revenge, here’s another example of it on this week’s list. Years ago, the neighborhood kids pulled a horrible, deadly prank on the ice cream man. Never a good idea, if you ask me, especially the deadly part. Now, as they’re all grown up, the spirit of the dead ice cream man is back for revenge on the children of the men who killed him, which I’m sure no one say coming. From the director of Fright Night and Child’s Play, if the name doesn’t jump out at you. Check out our DVD review of “We All Scream for Ice Cream” for more! Buy it here!
Movin’ Too Fast (2005)
Directed by Eric Chambers
It sure doesn’t look like a horror movie; indeed it looks like it’s trying to appeal to the Fast and the Furious crowd more than it is the Hitcher crowd. However, it is about two friends who are stalked by a psychotic highway patrolman while traveling across country, and there’s an enlarging trailer of bloody remains left behind in their wake. Can they become what is hunting them in order to survive? Let’s hope so! Buy it here!
Savage Harvest 2: October Blood (2006)
Directed by Jason Christ
Whoa, did I read that director’s name right? Jason Christ? Now that’s a pretty strong statement to be making right out of the box, no? This sequel is about an indie horror director who’s been making his living off of monsters of years. When one of his actors dies during a shoot, however, he returns to his quiet hometown to re-assess his life. However, he must have forgotten about the demonic entity that terrorized him and his friends ten years earlier in the very same town. Luckily for us, the demonic entity has not forgotten him. Buy it here!
The Severed Head Network (2007)
Directed by Tommy Biondo, Quinn Bottof
A compilation of short films from, and I quote, “America’s most controversial cult filmmakers”. Okay, sure. From the descriptions of said short films, however, it sounds like it might be just a lot of artsy fartsy blah. One is described as a “fever-dream” (i.e., it makes no sense), another is “expressionistic”, neither of which give me a lot of hope for good quality horror within. However, I’ve been surprised before and the DVD cover art is pretty badass, so perhaps this one is worth a shot. Buy it here!
Vacancy (2007)
Directed by Nimrod Antal
I will admit, any movie directed by someone named “Nimrod” does not give me a lot of confidence in it’s horror pedigree, either. Putting two stars like Luke Wilson (the “better looking” brother) and Kate Beckinsale doesn’t really move me, either. You can tell someone was trying to overcompensate a bad mediocre script with “name” actors, no? Yes. The story is about a couple hitting a rundown motel, only to learn that their room has been the site of many a snuff film before, and they’re the new stars. Check out our Vacancy DVD review for more! Buy it here!
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