Weekly DVD Dissection
A solid handful of potential rentals this week, but nothing in the "add it to your collection" category. Which is good because you're saving money this way!
By Scott Weinberg
First up we have Asylum, which comes from Snakes on a Plane director David Ellis, and focuses on a girl who discovers that her college dorm was once ... an asylum. And then a bunch of idiots get knocked off. A rental AT BEST, trust me. In a similar vein, today we also get Jeff Buhler's Insanitarium, if nothing else I love the title. Say it with me: Insanitarium!
Also in the "disappointing yet watchable" category we have Trapped Ashes, a horror anthology that comes from a bunch of directors (Sean Cunningham, Monte Hellman, Ken Russell, Joe Dante, John Gaeta) whose collaboration should be a whole lot more satisfying than this. But I'm a sucker for the anthologies...
The latest offering from Dimension Extreme is something called Steel Trap, and of course the DVD cover is powerfully reminiscent of the Saw series. The flick is known as "Butchered" and "Condemned" in its native Germany, so obviously we're not talking about a Kate Hudson rom-com here.
Then there's the Japanese import Voice, which also goes under the titles Ghost Voice, Girl's High School Horror 4, and Ghost School Trilogy. Already I'm confused. But the DVD cover does show a hand forcing its way out of someone's mouth, and that's pretty creepy, so it's probably a rental. (Yeah, I'm a sucker for slick horror covers too. Aren't we all?)
Today we also get the Unrated Edition of the virtually worthless J-horror remake Shutter, and a strange little indie that isn't exactly horror, but it's certainly weird: The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell. Don't let that National Lampoon label fool you: This is actually an amusing little indie in the vein of Buckaroo Banzai.
Next week: The latest from the always cool Larry Fessenden and a Criterion re-issue of a true genre classic.
