I’m afraid the DVD drought isn’t over — not quite yet. We’re getting a few sprinkles of worthwhile new releases, but by and large, the pickings are somewhat sparse. The upside of that is there’s nothing out this week that’s going to spark any wildfires of excitement. It’s more of a spooky, creepy camp week, not really cool, and certainly not chilling.
The Hills Have Eyes 2 (Unrated) is the sequel to 1985’s remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 cult classic. As you might expect, this one is strictly a paint by numbers affair. This time out, hapless National Guardsmen on a training exercise in the New Mexico desert are beset by the cannibal mutants, with predictable results. But this is the unrated version, so it must have a few surprises too hot for theatrical release, right? Don’t bet the farm on it.
Mass marketers are cross-promoting Hills as a purchase lead-in for Perfect Creature, an obscure vampire movie from New Zealand. It’s set in an alternate reality wherein humans and vampires peacefully coexist in a symbiotic relationship. Vampires save humans from deadly diseases, and humans, in return, supply blood to sustain the vampires. It’s a sweet deal, until one malcontent vampire goes old school. He has to be stopped, of course, so yin and yang can rule the world in harmony.
If there was ever any doubt that Sandra Bullock is a little loopy, Premonition should lay those doubts to rest. In this movie, her life is in a virtual time loop. One day her husband dies in a fiery car wreck, the next day, he’s snacking at the kitchen table, the next day, she’s at his funeral, and so on and so on. That would be okay as a plot device. Unfortunately, the movie never connects the dots in a way that makes any sense. Instead, it teeters between religion, quantum physics, psychological mumbo jumbo and Sandra looking appropriately confused and distressed. It must be important, though — it’s being simultaneously released on Blu-ray.
Article comments
1 - daryl d
"If there was ever any doubt that Sandra Bullock is a little loopy, Premonition should lay those doubts to rest."
Ray, is this the "professional criticism" that you brag of all the time?
2 - Ray Ellis
What are you babbling about now, Daryl? If you look at the header of this column, it's "news" not a review. And no, it's not "criticisn"-- a review requires more than a few flippant lines. It's conversational repartee to break up what would otherwise be a dry listing of new DVD releases.
Now scoot along, and don't come back til you have something worthwhile to say.
3 - Glen Boyd
"scoot along" ... priceless Ray. Just priceless.
-Glen
4 - Mary K. Williams
I love Sandra Bullock! You're a bad, bad man.
oh wait..I actually read the post. You weren't even dissing the girl - just doing a play on words.
You're a clever, clever man.
I thought The 300 came out this week? or is that next week