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Coming soon: Shaw Brothers Classics, Vol. 1 (Shout Factory)

Product Description This spectacular box set comprises 11 classic martial arts films from the famous Shaw Brothers' library, featuring some of their greatest stars – Jimmy Wang Yu (One-Armed Swordsman), Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink With Me), Lo Lieh (King Boxer), Ku Feng (The Five Venoms), and David Chiang (The Boxer From Shantung). Many of these films are debuting for the first time on Blu-ray. Get ready for some exciting thrills and chills as heroes meet villains in a duel to the death! Read More Shaw Brothers As you know, I’m a big Shaw Brothers fan, and have personally own over 75 DVDs and Blurays. As I previously mentioned, unfortunately these movies don’t sell well in America, so many of these Shaw Brothers titles never made …

I know I’ve previously said that there just wasn’t enough fans in America to warrant more Shaw Brothers Bluray releases. This is just based on speculating on some companies were losing money on Shaw Brothers releases or no marketing or releases in America.

Then, exciting news, during the pandemic people were buying films again to watch at home. So in 2020 we got UK releases from 88 Films. It proved so popular with American audiences, that they started releasing domestic releases in 2022.

For the US market, Arrow Video announced they were releasing two boxsets (based on the company getting the rights to 26 films). So the company released the first boxset in Dec 2021 and the second boxset in Dec 2022.

Since I also own about 30 Shaw Brothers titles from 88 Films, I thought that truly that was the end of the Shaw Brother releases.

Now enter Shout Factory, who also has a Shaw Brothers boxset in the works, set for release on June 13, 2023. They are releasing 11 titles, with special features yet to be announced.

Titles:

THE ASSASSIN (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 112 min.)

THE THUNDERING SWORD (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 90 min.)

THE GOLDEN SWALLOW (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 104 min.)

THE JADE RAKSHA (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 91 min.)

THE BELLS OF DEATH (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 85 min.)

THE SWORD OF SWORDS (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 106 min.)

KILLER DART (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 84 min.)

THE INVINCIBLE FIST (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 94 min.)

DRAGON SWAMP (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 105 min.)

THE FLYING DAGGER (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin & English Dub DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 93 min.)

THE GOLDEN SWORD (1080p High-Definition Widescreen (2.35:1) / Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio Mono / 101 min.)

Being a massive fan, I will, of course buy this. I just wish all the titles were licensed to one company, as now I know that among these various Shaw Brothers boxsets - they won’t fit together in uniform. We’ll have these super long Shaw Scopes, we’ll have all these single releases, and now a giant block. I know I shouldn’t complain, I should just be happy at least we’re getting these titles in HD. There’s never been a better time to be a fan of martial arts films.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

My Movies 4 Pro

Read More DVD I usually put on one of my DVDs (see picture) and sleep mode on my television, the noise it makes gentle puts me to sleep. ...

As many of you guys know, I’m an avid collector of DVDs since 1997. I even bought my first DVD of Reservoir Dogs before I had a DVD player! I love this format, because coming from VHS and Laserdiscs, this new DVD format was smaller and more versatile and collectible.

I had a very large collection of DVD, so it made sense, at least for me, to keep track of them using an application on my computer. And since 2000, I was using DVD Profiler. When they released their software for iOS in 2010, I was one of the first people to buy it. It was great for a while… but unfortunately, the software has not been updated since 2018. There are some bugs in the iOS software that drove me nuts. For example, you couldn’t create a brand new DVD entry - it would only add DVD that exists in their catalog.

Then recently, when I bought my Lenovo Legion Gaming PC, I tried to sync my DVD Profiler on my phone to my computer and my DVD was destroyed through bad syncing. I didn’t have a DVD Profiler backup (my only backup was on my old Fallout Gaming PC). No problem, I guess I can start over. Unfortunately, scanning in the UPC of DVDs and Blurays was not great on DVD Profiler. It took forever for the camera to focus on the UPC, it would be impossible to scan in my entire collection.

The final straw happened on Friday, when nothing worked on DVD Profiler, because their servers was offline. It was time for me to move on.

Looking online for alternatives, I came across My Movies 4 Pro for $15. There is a ‘demo’ version for you try out, if you aren’t convinced. The demo only lets you add 50 entries.

So far, it’s a massive improvement over DVD Profiler. The UPC scanner is amazingly fast, and if you have a lot of films, like I do, this will save you a lot of time.

My Movies 4 is also available for the PC, but it actually works a little differently on the PC. It’s more of a movie streaming application that uses Windows Media Server… so I recommend just using the My Movies 4 app as a standalone app.

My only complaint is that My Movies 4 may take forever to “synchronize” with their servers. It takes a long time sometimes because the app takes a moment to download the high resolution front and back cover of the DVD or Bluray. Since I set my app to the highest resolution, it takes a moment for everything to sync. When it syncs, the app won’t allow you to add anything, so you’ll just have to wait until it is all downloaded.

The beautiful thing about the syncing process is that any DVD/Bluray that you add on your phone will magically appear on your iPad. This works much better than the old DVD Profiler, which requires you to manually sync to your PC (since the database is stored on your local computer).

For the most part, My Movies 4 catalog works well. Sometime I do run into a film that is not on their database. You can manually add in the UPC and photos of the cover artwork, so it works as you would expect (you couldn’t do that on DVD Profiler if you have a new iPhone).

Pro Tip: If you own a lot of discs, set the scanner to Multi-Scan and also set the Country to “All”. This is especially useful if you own a lot of movies from other countries. I wish I had known this when I started rescanning my collection!

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

7 Grandmasters (film) at Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis (05 Feb 2023)

Jue quan (1977) An aging martial arts expert is gifted a plaque from the Emperor declaring him the Kung Fu World Champion. Unsure of whether or not be is deserving of this title, he embarks on a journey to defeat the 7 Grandmasters. Director: Joseph Kuo Writers: Da-Wei Kuo (story), Joseph Kuo, Ching-Kang Yao Stars: Yi-Min Li, Jack Long, Kuan-Wu Lung Read More Shaw Brothers As you know, I’m a big Shaw Brothers fan, and have personally own over 75 DVDs and Blurays. As I previously mentioned, unfortunately these movies don’t sell well in America, so many of these Shaw Brothers titles never made …

We caught the last showing for 7 Grandmasters, as part of the An Exploitation Extravaganza showcase, at the tiny 90-person non-profit Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis.

Turn out was terrific, although I heard Friday night’s showing was entirely sold out and there were talks that it might sell out based on pre-sales. Fans who showed up have never seen this independent 1977 production from Taiwan.

7 Grand Masters (DVD)

Of course, as an avid film collector, especially in the Kung Fu genre, I own the DVD release from Tokyo Shock (Media Blasters). The disc came out in 1999, and the video was taken directly from the source at Mei Ah Film Production Co., Ltd., which did a great job restoring the film for licensing. In many ways, the DVD copy is a better representation of the film, because it has the English dub (as well as original Mandarin with English subtitles).

According to film collector and programmer, Dan Halsted, he spoke to director Joseph Kuo, and said that what we’re about to see is the only 35mm print of the film. It’s a rare treat to see these films on 35… but unfortunately, due to time passage, the print has not aged well. Colors were washed out, in some area of the film, looks like it could be a black and white film.

Despite poor subtitle translations (and sometime impossible to read when there’s a white shirt in the shot…), you do get the general idea of the story. Speaking of which, the story is about a retiring Kung Fu master named Sang Kuan Chun who was challenged before his retirement. He takes his three students and his daughter to defeat the 7 Grandmasters to become the ultimate Grandmaster.

Along the way, an unknown young man begs the Grandmaster to take him as a student. It’s a fairly simple story, but they try and add in more plot, such as how the Grandmaster only knew 9 of the deadly Pai Mei strokes as a masked man stole the other 3 deadly strikes. It seems sometime that the filmmakers were making up the story as they started filming (since so many of these elements weren’t established early in the story).

Look, you don’t watch these films for the amazing stories, you watch them for the action… and this film delivers. The teacher has to fight 7 fighters, resulting in what seems like a super long fight after fight. In fact, during his fight with the Mantis Fist style, I was left wondering, “Is this number 5 or 6?” There were so many masters to keep track of!

With these films, it’s always better to watch it with an audience. The audience would laugh at some scenes… which you wouldn’t know it was funny if you watched it alone. Also, when the film ended, everyone was clapping in approval. I love that kind of experience; it tells me that there are many fans who appreciate these films.

Dan Halsted at Trylon Cinema, Minneapolis (05 Feb 2023)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Smile for M3GAN

M3GAN Read More Chucky Child’s Play is not one of my favorite. That’s because I just find the doll killer just too silly. In fact, in the later films, they are just straight up comedies. …

M3GAN (2023)
universalpictures.com

The first horror film of 2023 is called M3GAN. To be honest, it’s not really a horror film, more like comedy/horror…

M3GAN is from James Wan, who created Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises.

The story is simple, it’s about a doll with artificial intelligence, designed to be a friend and protector to recently orphaned 8-year-old. Unfortunately, M3GAN’s programming and logic is out of control, as the doll murders everyone it thinks is a treat.

The film suffers a little from pacing. It took a long time before we’re introduced to M3GAN. I thought they spent too much time setting up back stories and build characters. However, once M3GAN is introduced, every moment the doll’s on screen is a treat. You love watching the evil doll and attitude. At times it felt like this could be the latest Child’s Play film and sometime I thought wouldn’t it be cool to have a M3GAN vs Chucky film?

I know it’s not the child’s fault, but at times, I found the character infuriating. When M3GAN is taken away from her, she’s screaming and crying and I just wanted to shut her up! I guess it’s great acting on Jenna Davis’ behalf, but I hated the spoiled brat so much towards the end of the film.

My one big complaint about the film was the dancing/killing part of the film. It just comes out of nowhere, there was really no setup why she’s doing it.

If you saw the trailer and loved it, you’re going to love the movie. It’s all very predictable… if you were hoping for more, you’re not going to find it.

For those wanting a Rated-R cut of the film, look for the new version on streaming soon.

Smile Read More Horror This is one of my favorite horror film this, and last year. The film was actually based on a short story (Oculus: Chapter 3 - The Man with the Plan) which may explain the lack of story... but what it lacked, it made up for such a horrific, satisfying ending. …

Smile (2022)
amazon.com

One of last year’s best horror film, Smile, is out now on Bluray/DVD and streaming on Paramount+. If you’ve seen the film It Follows, it has a similar premise.

In Smile, the main character Rose Cotter witnessed a horrific suicide, with the person smiling as they killed themselves. Since then, she’s plagued with this supernatural entity. After researching, with the help of her ex-boyfriend, a police detective, she finds out that she can only break out of this chain if she murders someone.

It’s a very good film. Very good pacing, and very good uses of sound to create tension and unease.

Perhaps the reason why the film seems so refined, it is because the director Parker Finn, actually kind of a did a test run with his short horror film Laura Hasn't Slept. I haven’t seen the original movie, but I’m assuming he took what he learned from making that original film, and, with a bigger budget and extra casting, he was able to put together a better film.

While audiences overwhelmingly loves the film, some critics said it was too formulaic and felt the story was padded to a two hour feature from its original 11-minute short. You know what I say, critics have never liked genre films, particularly gruesome, horrific films like Smile. If you like The Ring (both the American version and the Japanese version) or It Follows, you’ll be entertained by Smile.

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Violent Night, Deadly Night

Read More Stranger Things I’ve been enjoying Stranger Things since it debut in 2016, and, personally speaking, I think Season 4 is one of their strongest season yet. The show’s really matured, and that’s not to mention how all the child actors have all …

Read more Movies and Television.

Violent Night (2022)
universalpictures.com

Violent Night is a super violent comedy movie, starring David Harbour (Hellboy and Stranger Things) as Santa Claus. To best describe it, it’s a Die Hard meets Home Alone, in the holiday traditional movie.

The violence is over-the-top, so you cannot take it too seriously. I found it funny, but for the faint of heart, it is sometime a bit gruesome. Personally speaking, I found it funny, but that’s my sense of humor.

It turns out that Santa Claus used to be a Viking marauder who worked miracles with his trusty bloody hammer… somehow became Santa Claus. He has a magic bag that delivers wrapped gifts to good boys and girls. For the naughty, he leaves them a lump of coal.

Anyway, during his delivery to a wealthy family, Santa Claus found himself caught in a home invasion/hostage situation. He must fight the mercenaries to save a little girl.

Like I said, I found the movie funny, in some parts. I love that sleight diss to Halloween by citing that line, “Christmas dies tonight!”. I laughed so hard at that line. If you’ve seen the new Halloween film, you know how dumb that “Evil Dies Tonight” line was.

I don’t think the film was critically acclaimed. In fact, I’m pretty sure the critics hated it. It’s not really the type of film that would appeal to critics… I think this holiday/comedy film appeals to a very small group of people, like myself, that enjoys these super cheesy violent deaths and equally cheesy lines (delivered in a serious tone).

Read More Vestron Video One of the Bluray that I recently purchased during my Black Friday purchases was Earth Girls Are Easy, number 27 in the latest Vestron Video Collection. …

Silent Night, Deadly Night (3-Film Collection)
lionsgate.com

The latest Vestron Video release is Silent Night, Deadly Night (3-Film Collection), which came out December 13th. I found it at Walmart for $17, which is a great price for three remastered films.

As usual with these newer Vestron releases, they all came with a digital code, which you can redeemed at Vudu or iTunes (I usually choose Vudu as that service is available everywhere).

Before you complain, yes, this “collection” does not include the first two films or the last film (which came out in 2012). This collection is strictly Vestron Video-released films: which is Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

You see, what happened was when the filmmakers were shopping for a distribution for their third film, they decided to sign with Vestron (International Video Entertainment). When the people at Vestron saw that they were making a third film, they made the creators an offer take over creating the film (from writing to filming to distribution). Negotiations led Vestron doing a three-film deal.

Based on the 4:3 aspect ratio for all three films, I believe these were “direct to video” (or direct to television) films.

In Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!, this brought back the killer who died in Part 2 with a weird see-through brain cap. The protagonist is a blind girl with psychic powers.

In the fourth film, Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation, this is where the series goes off the rail. Instead of Santa-turned-serial-killer theme, it’s actually about witches. While it’s the strangest of the series, I also think it’s one of the better films, thanks to Brian Yuzna (who is famous for Re-Animator, From Beyond, and Warlock).

The last of the Vestron films, Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker continues the none-serial killer theme. You do not need to watch the previous films, but some of the same characters (such as Clint Howard’s character) returns in this film.

All three films includes audio commentaries, so it’s worth checking out if you want to learn more about each of the film.

Most fans have never seen these films (including myself) or have forgotten them… so it’s nice to see that these films are available in glorious high definition. Even though some people think they’re trash cinema, I am happy to see that Lionsgate have treated these films with the respect they deserved.

I will be buying all the Vestron releases and was very happy to add this to my collection.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Shawscope: Volume Two Review

Product Description Picking up where Volume One left off, this sophomore collection of Hong Kong cinema classics draws together many of the best films from the final years of the Shaw Brothers studio, proving that while the end was nigh, these merchants of martial arts mayhem weren’t going to go out without a fight! Armed with stunning special features and ravishing new restorations, this boxset is even bigger and bolder than the last one. We begin with kung fu master Lau Kar-leung’s instant classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, in which his adoptive brother Gordon Liu achieved overnight stardom as the young man who unexpectedly finds spiritual enlightenment on the path to vengeance; Lau and Liu followed the original with two comically inventive sequels, Return to the 36th Chamber and Disciples of the 36th Chamber, both included here. Already established as a genius at blending dazzling action with physical comedy, Lau himself plays the lead role in the hilarious Mad Monkey Kung Fu, coupled here with Lo Mar’s underrated Five Superfighters. Next, we once again meet Chang Cheh’s basher boy band the Venom Mob in no less than four of their best-loved team-ups: Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians and culminating in the all-star Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, co-starring Ti Lung and Fu Sheng. After Lau brings us perhaps his best high-kicking comedy with My Young Auntie, a playful star vehicle for his real-life muse Kara Hui, we see Shaw Brothers fully embracing Eighties excess in our strangest double feature yet: Wong Jing’s breathtakingly wild shoot-‘em-up Mercenaries from Hong Kong, and Kuei Chih-hung’s spectacularly unhinged black magic meltdown The Boxer’s Omen. Last but certainly not least, Lau Kar-leung directs the last major Shaw production, Martial Arts of Shaolin, filmed in mainland China with a hot new talent named Jet Li in the lead role; it is paired in this set with The Bare-Footed Kid, a reverent remake of a Chang Cheh classic with Johnnie To (Running Out of Time) in the director’s chair and Lau back on fight choreography duties, in arguably the ultimate filmed tribute to Shaws’ everlasting cinematic legacy. Read More Shaw Brothers As you know, I’m a big Shaw Brothers fan, and have personally own over 75 DVDs and Blurays. As I previously mentioned, unfortunately these movies don’t sell well in America, so many of these Shaw Brothers titles never made …

I’m so happy that Arrow Video finally released Shawscope: Volume 2 boxset. It’s been a long road… I pre-ordered the boxset in August 2022, so I can make sure it arrived for my birthday… unfortunately, the release was delayed. While I’m happy to finally get my hands on it, this is probably the last time I do pre-orders. It was such a long time, and, in addition, I paid full price. When the boxset was released, Arrow Videos did a sale on the item, punishing me for pre-ordering. Sure, Amazon refunded the difference, but next time, I think I’ll just wait for the product to come out.

This Volume 2 may actually be the last Shaw Brothers release from Arrow. I read the rumor that they only secure 26 titles from Celestial Pictures (the current license holder), and Arrow has released all 26 title through these two boxsets and two single releases (for Come Drink With Me and The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter).

The highlight of Volume 2 is clearly the The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin trilogy: The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin (aka Master Killer), Return To The 36th Chamber, and Disciples Of The 36th Chamber. Every film is unrelated to the previous film, they are only tied together by the title and also its star Gordon Liu and directed by Lau Kar-leung… sort of like how the Dollars Trilogy was tied together by its titles (even though none of the films were related but all were directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastman). With that said, you can enjoy and treat each of the 36th Chamber film as a stand-alone film.

For the price, I did have a little disappointment in Volume 2. Mainly I was really disappointed in the commentary for My Young Auntie, which only comes up on some selective scene, and not throughout the movie. If you are to do this, have other commentaries filling in the gaps, or maybe just hire someone who can talk throughout the whole film.

The worst special feature is the single-disc for My Young Auntie which features a full length “VHS copy”. What the heck? Why would you want or care for an inferior version of the film? The VHS copy of My Young Auntie is absolute garbage. You guys couldn’t put on a 1080p version of the film (from the original Celestial DVD release) or a 2k scan?

There were a few special features, mostly some made-for-television documentaries from 2003 called Cinema Hong Kong. If you’ve seen them in 2003, it’s somewhat disappointing.

Not really a terrible thing, but disc 5 and 7 has the same name when you put it in your disc in your bluray drive. Disc 7 does have the correct content (Mercenaries From Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen), but it was very confusing when your computer pops up with the wrong titles.

Otherwise, I’ve been enjoying the Venoms-films, Invincible Shaolin, The Kid With The Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians, and Ten Tigers Of Kwangtung. The latter is not one of my favorite, as the film is told through flashbacks.

It’s also been a long time since I saw Magnificent Ruffians, and I thought I hated the film, but re-watching it on Bluray, it’s like seeing it for the first time. This is not a bad Venoms film. The film is about some homeless kungfu experts who befriended a fellow fighter. It’s like a series of misunderstanding, like Invincible Shaolin.

The most enjoyable film so far has to go to Five Superfighters. This plot is absolutely terrible, but it’s so entertaining. The story is a Kung Fu expert walks into town and beats up everyone for “their bad kung fu”. He runs into a teacher and his three students and kicks the snot out of them. So the students decides to seek out new masters and agreed to meet back in six months so they can take their revenge.

The last movie disc of this set has two films, which I don’t really consider as part of the heyday of the Shaw Brothers. They are Martial Arts Of Shaolin, starring a young Jet Li, and The Bare-Footed Kid, a 90s film, directed by Johnny To. You see, in the mid-80s, Shaw Brothers shifted to television production through their TVB production. Some films, such as Martial Arts Of Shaolin already began as a series, with Shaolin Temple in 1982, and Kids From Shaolin in 1984 (this film is awful)… so I can see that it could signal the end of the Shaw Brothers era.

The Bare-Footed Kid (aka Professional Fighter), to me, wasn’t even a Shaw Brothers film. It was produced by Mona Fong for Cosmopolitan Film (which is tied to Shaw Brothers somewhat). You can argue that it is a sequel or remake of Chang Cheh’s Disciples of Shaolin… but I still don’t even consider Bare-Foot as part of the Shaw Brothers. It’s a shame, because I would have prefered that they included a real Shaw Brothers film, like Bewitched, which was the prequel to The Boxer's Omen.

Speaking of which, The Boxer's Omen, is pretty gruesome. I’ve seen it before, on DVD, and I praised director Kuei Chih-Hung previously for his amazing Killer Constable. I love his Hex films, but perhaps did not love The Teahouse.

Rounding out the rest of the boxset are two soundtrack CD. If you love these films, you’ll really appreciate and recognize many of these background music. Hearing these songs will conjure up images of these Shaw Brothers films.

While this Volume 2 of the Shaw Scope boxset is worth it to me… I find it hard to recommend these boxsets to casual Shaw Brothers fans. It’s very expensive… owning both sets will set you back about $300, which is not cheap (especially if you might not enjoy half the films). For a diehard fan and collector, I don’t mind the price, because, let’s face it, some of these films won’t get a single release. I can see Arrow Videos re-visiting and re-releasing some of these titles in a standalone. For example, they could easily rake up some money if they release the 36th Chamber of Shaolin trilogy set or a Venoms set. I would re-buy it again!

I am hopeful that Arrow Videos will get more license and release a Volume 3 in this Shaw Scope series… but my heart tells me that there are not enough Kung Fu fans out there to justify a third set. For those interested, I suggest buying the Volume 2 to send a message to Arrow Video that we want a third volume!

Shaw Brothers Boxset (Arrow Video)

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Vestron Video: Earth Girls Are Easy

Read More Vestron Video Here is a Bluray series that I love: Vestron Video Collector's Series. When they first came out in 2016, the retail prices were very, very expensive. Normal prices were $40 (and that didn’t even include digital copies!), so I …

One of the Bluray that I recently purchased during my Black Friday purchases was Earth Girls Are Easy, number 27 in the latest Vestron Video Collection.

I remember actually seeing this film in the theaters, thinking how strange it was to see stars Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum together again after seeing them in David Cronenberg’s The Fly remake. What I didn’t know then, and what I found out listening to the commentary of this film, was that the Davis and Goldblum were actually dating at this time.

The other funny thing was that Earth Girls Are Easy was supposed to star writer/creator Julie Brown (based on her music EP Goddess in Progress). The studio executives thought it would be better if they had a “real” star in the film to draw in a crowd. Better yet, since Davis and Goldblum were a two-for-one deal, they could double their star power, so they gave the lead role to Davis.

They did give the role of Davis’ best friend to Julie Brown, who had originally written the role as a gay man.

Not much of a story that you can base on a few songs… but it was a fun little weird comedy about aliens picking up on Earth girls.

As with all first-run Vestron Videos, they come with a nice slip case and the price is decent ($13), and it comes with a digital code. I highly recommend picking this up if you’re a Vestron fan or just a fan of those late 80s comedy.

The next Vestron release will be a Silent Night, Deadly Night collection. It’s number 3, 4, and 5, which means that Vestron didn’t distribute or released the first two Silent Night, Deadly Night films. I’ll also be picking this up when it comes out. Thankfully, you can find them at Walmart or Best Buy easily… but there’s always Amazon if you don’t live by either retailers.

VESTRON VIDEO COLLECTION

	01 Chopping Mall (1986) Concorde Pictures September 27, 2016		02 Blood Diner (1987) Lightning Pictures September 27, 2016
	03 Waxwork (1988) Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992) Vestron Pictures/ Electric Pictures September 27, 2016		04 Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993) Trimark Pictures November 22, 2016
	05 C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989) Vestron Pictures November 22, 2016		06 The Lair of the White Worm (1988) Vestron Pictures January 31, 2017
	07 Parents (1989) Vestron Pictures January 31, 2017		08 The Gate (1987) New Century Vista Film February 28, 2017
	09 Wishmaster (1997) Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999) Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001) Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled (2002) LIVE Entertainment Artisan Entertainment March 28, 2017		10 The Unholy (1988) Vestron Pictures June 27, 2017
	11 Warlock (1991) Warlock: The Armageddon (1993) Warlock III: The End of Innocence (1999 ) New World Pictures / Trimark Pictures / Tapestry Films July 25, 2017		12 Slaughter High (1986) Vestron Pictures October 31, 2017
	13 Gothic (1987) Vestron Pictures January 30, 2018		14 Class of 1999 (1990) Lightning Pictures January 30, 2018
	15 Beyond Re-Animator (2003) Lions Gate Entertainment July 24, 2018		16 Dagon (2001) Lions Gate Entertainment July 24, 2018
	17 Maximum Overdrive (1986) De Laurentiis Entertainment Group October 23, 2018		18 Shivers (1975) Cinepix September 15, 2020
	19 Little Monsters (1989) Vestron Pictures September 15, 2020		20 The Wraith (1986) New Century Vista Film July 20, 2021
	21 Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1991) Vestron Pictures August 17, 2021		22 Dementia 13 (1963) American International Pictures September 21, 2021
	23 Steel Dawn (1987) Vestron Pictures October 26, 2021		24 Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999) Artisan Entertainment January 18, 2022
	25 Dream a Little Dream (1989) Vestron Pictures March 15, 2022		26 Extreme Prejudice (1987) Carolco Pictures May 17, 2022
	27 Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) Vestron Pictures November 8, 2022		28 Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989) Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990) Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991) International Video LIVE Entertainment December 13, 2022

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vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Black Friday 2022

Read More Black Friday Sure, I didn’t need all those extra things in my life, but I couldn’t pass up these deals. The prices are Black Friday level (even better in many cases). …

With Black Friday coming up this Friday (November 25), we are already starting to see some really good deals on Bluray/UHD discs. Some of my favorite A24 films are on sale, including X, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and The Green Knight. I bought a ton of discs this week. Most UHD discs are $10 and Bluray are either $5 or $8. It’s really the only time that I make mass Bluray purchases.

Over at Target, the best deal I’ve seen is $200 for the Xbox Series S. That’s $50 off and a $50 Target Gift card (which is as good as cash). I’m very tempted to try and buy it, even though I already own the Xbox Series X (the superior version). But the price is so good that I’m really thinking about it. If you are going to buy an Xbox this year, you might as well get Elden Ring for $40. This is the lowest price I’ve seen for this amazing game. Honestly, Elden Ring is my Game of the Year.

Walmart has the best deals on 4K TV. They have a 50 inch ONN 4K LED for $150. Onn is Walmart’s brand, and for that low bottom prices, I’m not sure if it’ll have the quality. On the bright side, the TV has Roku built into the television. If you want to upgrade, Walmart also sells a TCL 65” 4k TV for $228 (also with Roku).

If you’re looking for a Macbook, Best Buy is selling the M1 MacBook Air 13.3” for $800 (a $200 savings). If you want this year’s MacBook Air, with the M2 chip, you can get it for $1,050… but from what I’ve read, it’s not worth the upgrade.

LG 48” 4k WebOS TV for $570

Also, the best OLED TV prices I’ve ever seen is for the LG 48” 4k WebOS TV for $570. This is a $730 savings, and I’m definitely looking at this very closely. I think the biggest problem is that I rarely watch TV. I spend all my time sitting at my computer and watch YouTube videos or movies I’ve ripped from my Bluray…

So maybe the better money might go to another 4k monitor? My current favorite monitor is on sale for $230. I bought the monitor for $320 in Apr 2022 and absolutely love the “Picture in Picture” feature: “There is another feature that they highlight, and I found it really useful. The monitor has the ability to do Picture in Picture (or as Samsung lists it PBP). What this means is that the monitor can display two simultaneous sources on the monitor at the same time. You have some options, side-by-side or a small popup screen (which you can position in four areas and with varying sizes). The P-i-P is the best thing about this monitor.”

If you’re looking for a new PC or laptop, I would recommend looking at MicroCenter’s Black Friday sale. They have my Lenovo Legion PC for the same amazing price of $850. I’ve said it before, the video card (3060) costs $400 by itself(!), so to have it come with your computer, it’s a steal.

MicroCenter also sells really cheap Wyze cameras. Their v3 camera with color night vision is $30. I currently own two Wyze cameras that I use for my security cameras.

This year, I’ve already started my Black Friday shopping last week. Most retailers already started their sale last week. I’ll be looking at bigger purchases sometime this week, since some retailers won’t unveil their biggest deals until closer to Friday.

Read more Black Friday, Movies and Television.

Vu’s Early Black Friday Bluray/UHD purchases

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Minneapolis: November 19 to November 25

11/19 The Princess Bride ⏤ An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes at The Fitzgerald Theater

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

11/19/2022 Saturday

The Princess Bride ⏤ An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes
at The Fitzgerald Theater
first-avenue.com

The Princess Bride is one of my favorite films. It has the best sword fighting scene, and some of the best lines, such as “Inconceivable” by Vizzini and, of course, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Actor Cary Elwes will screen the film with an audience, and I’m assuming a Q&A with the actor.

If you love the film, this screening is a must… even if you own the DVD or Bluray.

Tour Dates

10/07/2022 Chico, CA Laxson Auditorium
10/08/2022 Sacramento, CA Crest Theatre
10/16/2022 Syracuse, NY Crouse Hinds Theater
11/19/2022 Saint Paul, MN Fitzgerald Theater
11/26/2022 Wallingford, CT Toyota Oakdale Theatre
11/27/2022 Medford, MA Chevalier Theatre
12/09/2022 Omaha, NE Kiewit Hall
12/10/2022 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
02/04/2023 Red Bank, NJ Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre

11/19 The Garden with Machine Girl at First Avenue

11/19/2022 Saturday

The Garden
with Machine Girl
at First Avenue
first-avenue.com

The upcoming The Garden show got a venue upgrade. They will now play the bigger First Avenue, originally from the Fine Line. The experimental rock/punk duo (twin brothers Wyatt & Fletcher Shears) is touring in support of Horsesh** on Route 66.

Machine Girl to open.

Tour Dates

10/22 – Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival
10/23 – Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival
10/26 - Pomona, CA @ The Fox Theater
10/27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
11/08 - San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater
11/10 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at The Factory
11/11 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
11/12 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
11/15 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
11/16 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
11/17 – Detroit, MI @ Eastern
11/18 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
11/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
11/20 – Omaha, NE @ Slow Down
11/21 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
11/23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
11/25 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
11/26 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
11/27 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/29 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
11/30 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
12/01 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst

11/20 The Happy Fits with Daisy The Great and Phoneboy at First Avenue Read More Daisy the Great Openers Daisy the Great are actually a Brooklyn-based duo, fronted by Kelley Nicole Dugan and Mina Walker who made waves last fall when they teamed with AJR on the song, “Record Player”, a re-worked version of their own 2017 folk-pop song. ...

11/20/2022 Sunday

The Happy Fits
with Daisy The Great and Phoneboy
at First Avenue
first-avenue.com

Lively alt/indie-pop trio The Happy Fits will headline First Avenue on November 20, in support of their highly anticipated third studio album, Under the Shade of Green.

All the US dates will feature Daisy The Great and Phoneboy as support acts.

Tour dates:

Oct. 17 - Glasgow, UK - Attic
Oct. 18 - Manchester, UK - Night & Day
Oct.. 19 - London, UK - Colours
Oct. 22 - Berlin, DE - Pratchwerk
Nov. 9 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom
Nov. 11 - Washington, DC - Union Stage
Nov. 12 - Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Hall
Nov. 13 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall*
Nov. 15 - Detroit, MI - El Club
Nov. 16 - Indianapolis, IN - Deluxe
Nov. 18 - St. Louis, MO - Delmar Hall
Nov. 19 - Chicago, IL - Metro
Nov. 20 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
Nov. 22 - Denver, CO - Summit Music Hall
Nov. 23 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
Nov. 25 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
Nov. 26 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
Nov. 29 - San Francisco, CA - August Hall
Nov. 30 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
Dec. 1 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda
Dec. 5 - Dallas, TX - Trees
Dec. 6 - Austin, TX - Scoot Inn
Dec. 7 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall
Dec. 9 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live
Dec. 10 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade
Dec. 11 - Nashville, TN - Basement East
Dec. 13 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Dec. 14 - Washington, DC - Union Stage
Dec. 16 - Boston, MA - The Paradise Rock Club
Dec. 17 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
Dec. 18 - Philadelphia, PA - TLA*

* without Daisy The Great

11/25 Raffaella with Hank and Ryann at 7th St Entry Read More Raffaella New York’s Raffaella (with live backing band bassist Charlie and drummer Alonso) opened up the show with a very brief 30-min set. This was the singer/songwriter’s first time in Minneapolis, and she started her set with her first single, “Bruce Willis” …

11/25/2022 Friday

Raffaella
with Hank and Ryann
at 7th St Entry
first-avenue.com

Recently Raffaella released her new single/video for “Grown Up”, directed by Nathan Castiel.

Raffaella (30 Sep 2019)

We saw Raffaella in Sep 2019 and wrote, “New York’s Raffaella (with live backing band bassist Charlie and drummer Alonso) opened up the show with a very brief 30-min set. This was the singer/songwriter’s first time in Minneapolis, and she started her set with her first single, “Bruce Willis” (which she jokingly called it “yippee ki-yay motherf***er”). Although she’s still very new to the music scene (with only one EP called Ballerina released in August 2019 via Mom+Pop), you can tell that she’s been performing for a while now. It probably won’t be long until she’s back in town, and with a strong audience support, given that she’s won over quite a few fans in the audience.”

Although it was her first time in Minneapolis in 2019, she quickly adopted the city as one of her “two hometowns”, as mentioned below. Minneapolis must have been very good to the singer.

Hank (aka Sara L’Abriola) and Ryann to open. Ryann is the moniker for New York-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Victoria Ryann Zaro, who is also in the band Peach Fuzz.

Raffaella writes:

:)my first two headline shows in my two hometowns lucky to have my wickedly talented friends Hank, Ryann & Nick Cianci joining whatta dream !! TIX on SALE this FriDaY

tickets at https://raff.world.

If your band is coming to the Minneapolis/St Paul area, please email details to [email protected] with a good lead time. Thank you.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Countdown to Halloween

Read More Hellraiser Some commonly seen t-shirts were Nightbreed and Hellraiser, which I thought were cool, since I have always thought Clive Barker is genius. Also, this year they had music as part of the show. …

October is the month of horror, as we countdown to Halloween.

Hellraiser (2022)
hulu.com

The first really good horror film to come out this year is the new Hellraiser film, exclusive to Hulu. The 2022 Hellraiser film based on and re-imagined Clive Barker’s Hellbound Heart novella. Barker, himself, wrote and directed the original Hellraiser film in 1987, which set a new standard for horror films.

Instead of just another sequel, like so many of the other Hellraiser films, this new Hulu version created new rules and lore on the Lemarchand’s puzzle box… namely that the box can cut you with hidden blades to feed the box. Once you are marked, the Cenobites will appear to destroy you. The other new rule is that if you solve the box’s six configuration, you are granted with an audience with the Cenobite’s god Leviathan.

I like the new additions to Clive Barker’s original story, and I think it is fresh and exciting to get new ideas to this franchise. I didn’t even mind that Pinhead is now played by a woman. We’ve had different actors played Pinhead in the past, so it’s not out of the realm of possibly to replace the original Pinhead played by Doug Bradley. There’s also a new Chatterer, a new Angelique, and some new Cenobites that I’ve never seen before.

Next to Hellraiser and Hellraiser II: Hellbound, this new 2022 Hellraiser is worthy of the title.

Note: When I first heard that Hulu was making a Hellraiser film, I immediately thought it was a television show. To me, that made a lot sense, to treat the franchise as a regular television program. For example, you can have a death every episode, as the box travel from hand to hand. You can tell so much different stories, based on the box. The comic book did a good job in telling different stories in that universe… and a television show could have the same structure.

Read More Let the Right One In I will admit to having reservations about the American re-make of Let the Right One In, called Let Me In. I mean, if you ever saw the 2008 Swedish film (based on the 2004 best-selling book "Låt den rätte komma in" …

Let The Right One In (2022)
sho.com

I’ve never read the original book, but I am a fan of the 2008 Swedish horror film Let the Right One In. I even thought the American re-make of the film, titled Let Me In (2010), starring Chloë Grace Moretz, was not bad and it told a more cohesive story.

If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s about vampire child who befriends a 12-year-old boy. The way the story is told, it’s not really a horror film, but more like a weird love story.

The new Showtime television series, Let the Right One In, is loosely based on the book. Right away, they made all sorts of changes to the novel, like changing the race of the 12-year-old boy. Eli the vampire girl, they made her Spanish. Her father (perhaps?) is Lebanese, and the whole story takes place in America. They also introduce this secondary story about how they are trying to solve the vampire problem by hunting down and killing the original vampire. There’s also another family with a vampire child. I don’t think these new storylines … I think they did this so they can stretch out the story in a new directions. Again, I haven’t read the novel, so I don’t know how true they are to the story, but I suspect these new ideas were created for the television show.

While it’s too early to judge the series, right now, I am not loving this new TV show. The only exception is that they cast Grace Gummer (Meryl Streep’s daughter) as Claire Logan. I love Gummer when she was in Mr Robot, so I love seeing her in Let the Right One In.

Read More Werewolves In my final installment of Halloween treats, I'm going to compile some songs about Werewolves. I actually had a lot more Halloween-related posts I wanted to do, but lately I have not been home. …

Werewolf by Night (2022)
disneyplus.com

Based on the Marvel Comics of the same title, Werewolf by Night is the latest horror film from Disney Plus.

This might be the first of the new type of Marvel’s Horror titles, which will likely to include Blade, Son of Satan, and other Supernatural horror in their back catalog.

While I understand the film maker’s decision, I actually did not like watching Werewolf by Night as a Black & White (with some splashes of red) film. I think the B&W made it look hokey and cheesy. Like it is a bad Roger Corman film… and perhaps that is what they were going for.

The one redeeming thing about Werewolf by Night is that they introduced Man-Thing, which is one of my favorite “Swampy” creatures (with Swamp Thing and The Heap in that same family).

Description:

On a dark and somber night, a secret cabal of monster hunters emerge from the shadows and gather at the foreboding Bloodstone Temple following the death of their leader. In a strange and macabre memorial to the leader’s life, the attendees are thrust into a mysterious and deadly competition for a powerful relic—a hunt that will ultimately bring them face to face with a dangerous monster. Inspired by horror films of the 1930s and 1940s, the chilling special aims to evoke a sense of dread and the macabre, with plenty of suspense and scares along the way as we explore a new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Read more Movies and Television.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com