DEADGIRL -- movie review by porfle

Recently I watched another coming-of-age film called "Bart Got a Room", which might be thought of as the happy flipside to today's very different coming-of-age story, DEADGIRL (2008). In this one, two high school misfits named Rickie and J.T. get a room too, only instead of being in a posh hotel it's in the dark basement of an abandoned mental institution, and instead of finding prom dates, they find a naked living-dead girl wrapped in plastic and strapped to a lab table.

Needless to say, this isn't your father's Archie and Jughead. While Rickie (the soulful Shiloh Fernandez, who reminds me of a pre-nutso Joaquin Phoenix) is disturbed by their discovery and wants to report it to somebody, the considerably flakier J.T. (Noah Segan) quickly sees Deadgirl as their own animated RealDoll. Before long he's as paranoid and possessive as Fred C. Dobbs and acting out his twisted adolescent urges with the undying corpse. In one startling scene, he proves to Rickie that she can't die by firing several bullets into her torso with no effect. Rickie is repulsed but intimidated into silence by the increasingly unbalanced J.T. Eventually others are brought in on the sick setup, with varying horrific consequences.

In a way, DEADGIRL reminded me of "The River's Edge", a fact-based story of some disaffected high school kids who find a murdered girl's body in the weeds and bring their friends out to gawk at her instead of doing anything about it. Here, however, we go way beyond merely "disaffected" and into full-blown "deranged." Many viewers will no doubt find it difficult to endure scenes of J.T. and his pathetic toady Wheeler (Eric Podnar) taking turns with the increasingly worse-for-wear Deadgirl as her chilling visage contorts, her eyes rolling and leering in their sockets. Equally repellent is the sight of J.T. poking at her pus-oozing bulletholes as he giddily marvels at her inability to die.

While J.T. has found the ghoul of his nightmares, Rickie still pines for the beautiful and unattainable popular girl Joann (Candice Accola), who, as J.T. points out with brutal frankness, would rather die than be with him. She'll eventually have to make that choice. Her bullying jock boyfriend Johnny (Andrew DiPalma) and his equally sadistic sidekick Dwyer (Nolan Gerard Funk) also get drawn into the situation, culminating in some of the film's most ghastly and nerve-wracking images. Even tied up, Deadgirl is dangerous, because when you least expect it, she bites. And the bites get...infected. What happens to Johnny in particular is, for me anyway, quite a jaw-dropper.

I wasn't altogether satisfied by the ending, although I suppose there was a kind of resigned inevitability to it. The leads play their parts convincingly--Segan is especially effective as the downwardly spiralling J.T., and Michael Bowen, who was "Buck" in KILL BILL VOL. 1, is one of the best character actors working today. Best of all, Jenny Spain's Deadgirl is a truly strange and frightening creation. The combination of the right makeup and her cunningly controlled performance, along with the imaginative direction of Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel, makes Deadgirl a memorable movie "monster." You're never quite sure what's going through her fevered mind and can't wait to find out what will happen when she gets loose from her bonds. Which she eventually does, of course.

DEADGIRL is not to be confused with the similarly-titled 2006 film "The Dead Girl." That was a thoughtful, bittersweet account of the affect that one girl's murder has on the lives of several people who are connected with her in one way or another. This, on the other hand, is a pitch dark, full-blown horror flick that sets out to disgust and disturb and succeeds by being one of the most deviously over-the-top cinematic fever dreams of recent years. As for Deadgirl herself, she is both loathesome and sympathetic, repellant yet compelling, horrific yet oddly heroic--and altogether fascinating.

Official site
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FEED YOUR FEAR! at Comic-Con

From Fox/MGM Home Entertainment:

Fans dare to test their strength in a truly terrifying virtual experience

Get An Electrifying First Look At 20th Century Fox and MGM Home Entertainment’s Halloween ’09 Blu-ray Disc Lineup

Plus, Join Us For An Exclusive Meet And Greet With Janet Montgomery, Star Of The Highly Anticipated Sequel Wrong Turn 3: Left For Dead

WHAT: Fearless fans strap themselves into an electric chair, don a set of virtual reality goggles and prepare for a frenzied montage of terrifying, delusional and iconic scenes from some of Fox and MGM Home Entertainment’s most frightening horror films. At the Feed Your Fear-themed booth, Comic-Con attendees can also check out an assortment of film props, and watch tamer footage of titles debuting on Blu-ray Disc this Halloween.

WHO: In a horror-filled first, Fox and MGM Home Entertainment unearth nerve-racking fright and bring chills to San Diego Comic-Con International as they showcase an assortment of some of the most highly anticipated Blu-ray horror titles of 2009. The line-up includes:

• The cannibalistic carnage continues with the graphic debut of the Wrong Turn Trilogy on Blu-ray Disc. Fans can stop by the booth Friday, July 24 for an exclusive photo opp with Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead star Janet Montgomery.

• Witness the birth of evil in spine tingling Blu-ray Disc clarity with the eerie and intense Hannibal Lecter Anthology.

• Voodoo and terror meet within an innocent-looking doll inhabited by the soul of a serial killer who isn’t ready to die, as the chilling Child’s Play is unleashed in full high definition gore.

• Adapted from a Stephen King story, experience the Misery of this heart-stopping Academy Award®-winning film available on Blu-ray Disc for the first time.

WHERE: Booth #3528 – Fox/MGM Home Entertainment
Comic-Con International
San Diego Convention Center
111 W. Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101

WHEN: Thursday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 26th

BART GOT A ROOM -- DVD review by porfle

Remember your senior prom? Not me--I didn't go to mine. Which makes me even more of a loser than Danny Stein, the main character of BART GOT A ROOM (2008). Worse than that, it makes me even more of a loser than Bart, the biggest loser in all of Hollywood Hills High and the guy against whom everyone else measures their own levels of loserdom. The fact that Bart has secured both a prom date and a hotel room and Danny hasn't provides the story's driving force and most of its exquisitely dry humor.

The setting is Hollywood, Florida, which means that this movie is filled with old people. They're all over the place--Danny seems surrounded by old geezers, forever subjected to their bemused reactions to his youthful social melodramas and constant meddling in same. His usual reaction to all this is a deadpan resignation which actor Steven Kaplan pulls off beautifully. Kaplan doesn't mug for laughs or spaz out like Jerry Lewis, or even whine neurotically like Woody Allen. He's funny because extreme adversity seems to overwhelm him with a sense of paralyzed mortification even though we can sense the frantic turmoil raging behind that stoic demeanor.

Danny's attempts to secure a date are marvelously doomed. In one of the best scenes, he's sitting in an ice cream shop with the sexy sophomore cheerleader whom he drives to and from school every day. In his mind, her slow, deliberate licking of her cone is a come-on, but when he mentions this, she's stricken with a quiet, incredulous disgust. "How do you eat your ice cream?" she asks before storming out of his life. Another scene in which he misses out on a blind date with the absolute hottest babe in town because his platonic childhood friend Camille (Alia Shawkat) shows up at just the wrong time is a grueling exercise in frustration that had me trembling in sympathetic agony.

Brandon Hardesty plays Danny's disaffected rich friend Craig, who dispenses worldly-sounding romantic advice while floating like a bloated corpse around his swimming pool. It's all worthless, but Danny doesn't find this out until it's too late, and even his standby last-resort date, Camille, has given up on him and accepted an invitation from someone else. We know, of course, that sweet, long-suffering Camille, who has always loved him, is the perfect choice but we also know, of course, that Danny will remain absolutely unaware of this until...well, you know. It's the inevitable way that this story is going to end, and knowing this doesn't take anything away from it. Heck, we're supposed to know it. Till then, though, Danny's impending prom nightmare keeps getting ever closer as his desperation mounts and everything starts going wrong.

His divorced parents, Beth (Cheryl Hines) and Ernie (William H. Macy), try to help but they have problems of their own. Beth fears for her future financial security and has just about settled on a new beau, Bob, played by the great Jon Polito with all the rumpled, hangdog smarm he can muster. The wonderfully talented Cheryl Hines is just too hot to be playing somebody's mom, which I find distracting. Whenever she and Kaplan are together I keep having student-teacher fantasies or casting them as Mrs. Robinson and Ben in a mental remake of THE GRADUATE. Still, she's pitch-perfect in this role.

As Danny's down-on-his-luck dad Ernie, afro-bewigged William H. Macy is a delight. Reluctant new-bachelor Ernie takes an active interest in helping Danny through his romantic troubles while barely able to keep his own dates from excusing themselves during dinner and then fleeing in horror. His singleminded efforts to secure Danny a last-second prom date are hilarious, although the scene with him and Jennifer Tilly may give you a huge case of that sympathetic agony I was talking about.

The DVD is 1.85:1/16 x 9 with Dolby Surround 5.1 and English and Spanish subtitles. Included are trailers for this and other Anchor Bay releases, and a pop-up text commentary track that's so much fun it's worth rewatching the movie immediately. Another reason for doing so is to fully appreciate the diverse soundtrack which is a pleasingly eclectic mix of modern music, big band, jazz, and other styles.

A South Florida native himself, director Brian Hecker based most of this stuff on his own experiences and it shows in his witty, perceptive script and breezily inventive direction. This isn't your usual screwball, gross-out, PORKY'S-style teen T & A farce in any way, shape, or form. It's smart without really trying to be, heartfelt and moving in ways that aren't always obvious, and ultimately quite joyous. I don't think I actually laughed out loud a single time during BART GOT A ROOM, yet I found it to be one of the funniest and most enjoyable laugh-on-the-inside comedies I've seen in years. It almost makes me wish I'd had similar prom disaster experiences to look back on with retrospective amusement. Almost.

Buy it at Amazon.com

"BIG MAN JAPAN" and "SEVERED WAYS" - on DVD July 28th from Magnolia Home Entertainment

A Japanese Monster Movie For The Modern Generation, BIG MAN JAPAN Staring Pop Icon Hitoshi Matusmoto, Arrives On DVD July 28 from Magnolia Home Entertainment As Part Of The Magnet Six Shooter Film Series

“From deadpan to Ultraman”(UGO)

“Surpasses any mockumentary you've ever seen.”(Boxoffice Magazine)

Part live-action, part CGI, BIG MAN JAPAN follows the mundane, yet outlandish life of Daisato (Masumoto), a middle-aged man living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum.

Entrusted with defending Japan from its various villains and monsters, his bizarre job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a several-stories-high giant. Instead of rising up as a hero, he is an outcast among the citizens he protects, who bitterly complain about the noise and destruction of property he causes.

Putting a dark, comedic spin on the giant Japanese superhero, BIG MAN JAPAN is an outrageous portrait of a pathetic but truly unique hero.

Actors: Riki Takeuchi
Directors: Hitoshi Matsumoto
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Number of discs: 1
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009
Run Time: 108 minutes

Buy it at Amazon.com

An Epic Adventure Of Exploration, SEVERED WAYS Arrives On DVD July 28 From Magnolia Home Entertainment

“Beautifully shot.”New York Magazine

“A must see.”LA Weekly

“A visionary work from one of the promising new American narrative filmmakers in recent years.”Indiewire

In the 11th century, Vikings, Native Americans, and Irish monks collide on the shores of North America in a historical epic adventure of exploration, personal glory, and religious dominance. Abandoned by a Western exploration party and stranded in the New World, two lone Vikings wade through a grand primeval landscape, searching against all odds to find their way home. As they struggle to survive in the surrounding vast forests, their paths diverge as one pursues a spiritual quest and the other reverts to his primal instincts.

Written, directed by and starring Tony Stone in his feature length debut, SEVERED WAYS features a frosty black metal soundtrack, including Burzum, Morbid Angel, Judas Priest and Dimmu Borgir.

Actors: Gaby Hoffman
Directors: Tony Stone
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Number of discs: 1
Rating: Unrated
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: July 28, 2009
Run Time: 109 minutes
Buy it at Amazon.com

"THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD SHOW" -- DVD review by porfle

DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD SIGHTING!!!

That's right--I received a copy of "THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD SHOW" in the mail, popped it into my DVD player, and sure enough, I sighted him right off. Or perhaps it would be more grammatically correct to say that I "sought" him. Or maybe even "sawed" him. One thing's for sure, somebody definitely sawed him--his head off, that is!

Seriously, though, getting this DVD was a big surprise. Sure, I requested a copy, but getting it was a big surprise. That feeling continued throughout my entire viewing, as I kept asking myself, "How do they get stuff like this to stick to one of those discs?" And when it was over, I knew that I would never, ever, ever, never, ever forget this memorable occasion of me watching this thing where some people did stuff.

Yes, "The Drunken Severed Head Show" has actual people in it, just like a Steven Spielberg movie! Blogosphere superstar Max Cheney is the perpetually-soused title character in one of the finest neck-up performances since Jack Webb in DRAGNET. When he gets together with Chuck Alexander as the mad Dr. Emil Demahn, you'll think you've been transported back to the glory days of the old vaudeville teams like Schmeckel and Mountbatten, or those two guys who tried to escape from Alcatraz disguised as giant tubes of Preparation H.

"Last week, you may remember," the Drunken Severed Head addresses us, "we made a cocktail known as the Jack-o-Lantern. One gulp, and you're lit up and lying in the driveway. This week, we're gonna make a drink called the Gay Vision. One gulp, and you can't see straight."


My favorite part of the show, however, is the beautiful and sexy and beautiful Bella Morta, who is played by the--ehhh--Amberleigh Miller, who is played by herself. She has big boobies!!! And is a great actress. Ehhh. And last but certainly least is Lance Jerlsberg as Flotsam the Hunchback, who is played out.

DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD: "That poor man. How did he get that hump?"

DR. DEMAHN: "From smoking too many Camels."


The thrill-packed story comes to its shattering conclusion when Dr. Demahn gives the head a mechanical body and it goes on a frenzied rampage of destruction the likes of which the world hasn't seen since Elizabeth Taylor's last bon-bon rolled under the couch back in 1987. And the very last shot was, like, totally copied by Stanley Kubrick in DR. STRANGELOVE! I smell a lawsuit! Anyway, I smell something.

Bonus features, we got. In fact, three whole commentary tracks we got. "But even CITIZEN KANE didn't get three commentary tracks!" you're thinking. FEH! CITIZEN KANE had a giant head, not a drunken severed head. Oxydation of the nitrate, it should get! So anyway, in the first commentary you get the Head, beloved film auteur Ted Newsom, and the venerable Jon Carradyne, as channeled by Ted Newsom. In the second, you the Head and the venerable Jon Carradyne, this time channeled, spanked, bikini-waxed, and hung up to dry by Ted Newsom. And in the third you just get the Head and Ted Newsom, channeled by Ted Newsom. Then there's a selection of deleted scenes and bloopers. Bloopers? Are those the scenes where they didn't screw up? Lastly, there's a photo gallery, which, to my surprise, contains actual photos.


According to the Hollywood rumor mill, this film went so far over budget that it singlehandedly drove Severed Head Productions, along with Someone Somewhere and Zeno Films, into total bankruptcy. Estimated final cost of the production is believed to have been well into the teens.

Co-director and star Cheney himself fills us in on the film's premiere "at a private gathering held at the recent Monster Bash convention. Actors Janet Ann Gallow, Jonathon Haze, Mark Redfield, and Jennifer Rouse were among those in attendance. And the amazing David Colton, too! The poor saps.

"Reviews were mixed.

"Ms. Gallow said it was cute and funny, and reminded her of a recent comic indie film she had a part in.

"My friend Rob Tullo said, 'Four copies would make a nice set of coasters.'

"My friend Robert Taylor said it was 'A horror pun-fest that only Max could have created. My prediction is that he will be up for an Academy nomination OR an atomic wedgie!'"

"Where in the world can I get my own copy of this masterpiece?" you may ask. Who are you talking to? I can't hear you. But to answer your question, you can get a copy of THE DRUNKEN SEVERED HEAD SHOW in either of the following two ways (three, if you have Max Cheney's home address and a box of Ding-Dongs):

1. Contact The Drunken Severed Head at his own incredible BLOG!
2. See it right now on YouTube!

After watching "The Drunken Severed Head Show", you won't believe it's only ten minutes long. Why, it seemed like it lasted forever! And even after repeated viewings, I seem to notice something completely different every time. Last time I watched it, I noticed that my toenails needed trimming and that there was a dark splotch on the wall behind the TV that looked just like Elvis--with big boobies!!!