Rarely does a film make me wish I had paid more attention in high school. I read Oscar Wilde’s THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY in 10th grade—well, kind of read it. As memory serves, I skimmed it and relied heavily on CliffsNotes for quizzes. However, upon first viewing this latest screen adaptation (on DVD and Blu-ray from E1 Entertainment), I was compelled to get a copy of the book and read it once again, this time paying attention. I then watched DORIAN GRAY (yeah, the filmmakers dropped “the picture”) a second time, feeling far more informed. But not only did the film influence me to revisit the source material, it stands up on its own as a fine movie.
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The first installment of NANNY & HANK, from Bluewater Comics, is a refreshing and charming start to a four-issue miniseries about death, marriage and immortality. It’s all about what happens when an elderly couple, your everyday grandpa and grandma, crosses paths with a disgruntled vampire.
Oh, the things men do to torture themselves. BURLESQUE PARAPHERNALIA AND SIDE DEGREE SPECIALTIES AND COSTUMES is an amazing flashback to a time before the Internet, television, radio, movies and pretty much every other form of entertainment.
Wildstorm Comics’ IDES OF BLOOD has debuted as a most inventive take on Roman history and vampire fiction. The first issue delivers a thrilling mystery encompassing politics, scandal and murder.
A comet crashes into the earth and sparks a zombie infestation in a mid-19th-century London neighborhood. After the government regains control, they destroy all of the evidence, blaming the mass deaths on a cholera outbreak.
In INSATIABLE, THE PRINCESS DIARIES author Meg Cabot (pictured) has left princesses behind and brought the Prince of Darkness out to play. Sick of vampires, you say? Well, so is INSATIABLE’s main character, Meena Harper.
At first glance, William Clift’s BABY JANE? looks like an over-the-top send up of 1962 Grand Guignol/black-comedy classic WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, which united Hollywood legends Bette Davis and Mommie Dearest herself, Joan Crawford. But appearances can be deceiving. It is much more a reimagining of that film, with male actors taking on the roles originally portrayed by women. Sure, there is humor throughout the movie, but much of it is sly and subtle, not the extravagant, flamboyant type often seen in drag cinema.
THE LAST EXORCISM is an exciting film. It’s exciting to watch, be a part of and then eagerly discuss after. It has an incredible amount of merits and no matter what you think of the now much discussed last 10 minutes, you’ll leave the theater with some sort of stimulation and lasting impression. A fresh story in an old subgenre; a new, talented director; excellent acting; developed characters; an overall sense of craftsmanship and eerie atmosphere make THE LAST EXORCISM a movie that horror fans have very much been asking for.