I'm back baby and better than ever with plenty of dvds you should pick up next paycheck or whenever you are browsing Amazon.

More Brains!: A Return to the Living Dead

From the creators of the Never Sleep Again documentary comes another solid feature that goes far behind the scenes of the classic 80's zombie film, Return of the Living Dead. The DVD also has other kick ass features to go along with the doc such as shorter retrospectives for the second and third films, a look at the film's locations today, a music video for "Tonight" by Stacey Q and the last interview Dan O'Bannon ever had. If Clu Gulager and James Karen don't entertain you enough during the doc to make this worth your money, then you truly have no soul and deserve to die.

8/10

In A Glass Cage (AKA Tras El Cristal)

Cult Epics has released this DVD one year before the film celebrates it's 15th anniversary and it has really been very far under the radar. Not only is this one of the most disturbing cult classics from the 80s, but this is potentially the best DVD release of the year. The film is beautifully remastered in a new high definition transfer (1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen) with a 5.1 surround sound and some sweet extras such as short films and a Q&A with Agusti Villaronga. Great film, great DVD, well worth the price tag.

10/10

Not Another B Movie

The first of Troma's five best acquisitions of this year, John Wesley Norton's film is a great example of what Troma should be acquiring for distribution instead of crap like Eyes of the Chameleon. It's witty, goofy, and it hits the nail on the head when dealing with what it is trying to accomplish. It focuses on three business partners, a writer and his two shallow minded associates (who happen to be the producer and director of most of his ventures) spit-balling ideas about what their new feature should be and how the plot should go. While the acting is lacking in parts and the waitress seems to be a tad thrown into the movies plot,the partners' conversation in the restaurant and the "cop scenes" (with David Faustino and Joe Estevez stealing the spotlight) should be enough to entertain the viewer. Not bad for a film about brainstorming ideas and discovering self value.

7.5/10

Psycho Sleepover

This film has just about everything that you'd expect from a Troma release: Hot chicks, humor, violence, over the top scenarios, and enough silliness that would hopefully keep any audience from believing that this is a serious movie. The movies main points are the last half an hour, the very campy acting (benefiting the film), the isolated location, and the first, second and third twists which all added to the zany plot the film was going with. The main bad points I have about the film are that it should possibly have been a little less over the top silly (you'll know what I mean when you watch it) and the character of Mrs. Dicky. With few truly bad points, I'd say this warrants at least a couple of views.

7.5/10

This is the first review of this product available (to my knowledge). I recieved this from CAV Distributing on behalf of Troma along with the Dennis Woodruff Collection Vol.1 . The press release for this does not list a specific date that it will be released but I believe it's slated for a release within the next few months. There is seemingly no information about it anywhere on the internet (I couldn't even find a picture of the cover, so I took my own), so let this be your guide until other sites like "Fangoria" bury this into obscurity with their "brilliant" articles. Long live independent cinema, and long live Troma!!!
                                                                   - James Burden

EDIT: (8/4/11) Just found out this will be released in 5 days on August 9th, 2011. GO GET IT!!!

This is a great way to start off my return. I am a huge fan of Troma and I am also looking into film being a career for me in the future. I own 41 DVDs that Troma has released including the Make Your Own Damn Movie! and Direct Your Own Damn Movie! dvd boxsets. 

As far I see it, Lloyd is a testament to anybody who wants to achieve their goals. He started off with nobody knowing him and, after some ups and downs, is arguably the most well respected figure in independent cinema. He has been a leader and avid supporter in the field for almost 40 years and has written several books to guide the future filmmakers of the world in order to ensure their success. His Make Your Own Damn Movie! dvd was the first video guide he released. 5 DVDs and about 12 hours long, it gives you a great overview about the main points of making a film. Ever since then, he has been releasing more books and video guides in order to elaborate on specific parts of the film making process and this is his third dvd guide.

The first thing to note is that while MYODM! and DYODM! are 5 and 4 disc sets respectively, the PYODM! set is just 2 discs. There are no documentaries such as All the Love You Cannes on the set and instead Lloyd has taken the route of showing what other independent film makers have done to ensure that their visions get seen on screen while still adding his two cents into the mix. He does this by basically doing alot of shooting behind the scenes of alot of indie films he has cameos in. He also offers a few lessons like making a green screen (in a segment involving Greg Lamberson of Slime City fame), how to take advantage of the possible tax incentives your state may have, and even how to get chicks to get naked for your film. He also has experts like Herschell Gordon Lewis (Wizard of Gore, Blood Feast, 2000 maniacs), which is a must watch segment in my opinion, and James Gunn (Slither, Tromeo and Juliet). All of that pretty much encompasses the first disc. I do wish that Lloyd would have talked a little more about his experiences in the past for producing Troma films.

Disc two is what I like to call the "nitty gritty" and that is the interviews. Lloyd has gotten some great people to help out including the legendary Roger Corman (Producer of over 200 films),David Cronenberg (Scanners, Videodrome),Joe Dante (Piranha, Gremlins, The Howling), Mick Garris (various Stephen King adaptions) and many more. The notible absences from this dvd that were on the past two releases were Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and Eli Roth. This is probably because of scheduling conflicts but atleast Lloyd made up for it with the other filmmakers. 

Overall this is a great release if you are looking into a future as a filmmaker or if you are just a fan of independent cinema. The MYODM! book started the madness and after 3 other books and two more dvd releases, here we are still learning some new tricks to the trade. Lloyd is currently in production for the dvd adaption of his latest book Sell Your Own Damn Movie! and I cannot wait for it. 


Long live Lloyd and Long live Troma!!!

Upcoming Troma Reviews:

Dennis Woodruff Collection Vol. 1
Eyes of the Chameleon
Killer Yacht Party

Welcome back sirs and mams to the place for all of your true horror business. I review alot of films for you guys and well, I really enjoy it. That's why I love getting exclusive content like this to review before it get's a street date because then I can possibly sway you into purchasing a product on DVD/BLU-RAY or I can tell you to burn all of the remaining prints of a film. Now, since last Friday was April 1st, I bet you all thought I watched April Fool's Day and that would be what I would've reviewed next. Well fuck you I'm not a sheep. I hate that film with a passion and I'll save that for a more appropriate time when words aren't so costly. In two days, It'll be time for the 2nd Annual Birdie Awards so I must give something new a chance to win a category, and that's where Blood Junkie and Blood Oath come in. In fact I must say that for this whole month, besides the awards show of course, I'm going to be spending most of my time reviewing nothing but Troma flicks. That's right, April is TROMA MONTH!!!!!!!!!!

BLOOD JUNKIE (2010)
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Plot: Two high school babes, two happening dudes, and a boy who's five dollars richer all set off on a camping trip full of drinking and sex. The females and guys are expecting a party, but what they get is a massacre!!!!
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My Thoughts: Now this first film was marketed completely as an 80s styled slasher film shot as though it were made back then. And for once, I can say that this was executed as perfectly as it could have been done. It had everything that epitomizes the archetypal slasher flick of that decade. Decent story with small explanations as the film progresses, fun/creative kills, and one bad-ass looking killer (note: This last part isn't necessarily always true. Memorial Valley Massacre Anyone? Followed the formula but had a fucking caveman as the killer. Ugh we'll get back to that later on.)

I'm not gonna lie, this film bothered the shit out of me (In the annoying department not the disturbing one.). First off, the acting is really strange. When listening to the people speak, you can't tell if it's horrible acting or if it's just overacting on purpose and that distracts the viewer while he's/she's trying to pay attention to the story. One second I'm listening to the two guys talk about picking up chicks and then it cuts to the two girls who are saying, "I like love beer alot. Could you do us a favor and let us buy some AAAAALLLLLCOHOOOOOL?" as those they were the goofiest chicks to ever walk the earth. The other big thing that annoyed me was that besides the opening scene, it's about an hour until we even see the killer. And with a run-time of only 72 minutes, that's not good.

If you are a fan of 80s slashers, you'll love this film as it truely does portray itself as an 80s styled slasher. The ending, while I don't see how it makes sense, is a nice one with a decent twist and the Friday the 13th-esque kills should keep atleast some people happy.
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The Verdict: 7.8/10

Blood Oath (2010)
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Plot: A couple took a blood oath to insure that their newborn twins and crops would be saved, but instead they are tricked into a deal with the devil ending in a car crash in which the couple died, one of the twins was ejected from the vehicle and the other burned alive in the fire and left disfigured yet alive. Fast forward many years later, a group of friends go off to investigate the urban legend of the disfigured twin roaming the woods killing people.
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My thoughts: Unlike Blood Junkie which takes place in the 80s and goes for that retro feel, Blood Oath is just simply put an 80s throwback. It's story is the traditional "Let's look to see if he really exists" plot that killed so many teens back then.

The acting is a drastic improvement over Blood Junkie. It's as if the actors in Junkie were just pals of the director and the ones in Oath are seasoned vets. I can actually sense changes in emotion and everything you'd expect. The kills are in some ways are an improvement too as they are insanely gory compared to the one's in Junkie. The acting and kills just add more scoops of deliciousness to the top of the decent enough story.

THE THING THAT KILLS THIS MOVIE THOUGH IS THE FUCKING LAME-ASS KILLER! Remember how I said I'd bring up Memorial Valley Massacre again? Well that's the first thing I thought about was MVM's goddamn caveman. The killer looks like the product of Howard Stern, Captain Caveman, Fred Flinstone, and Andre the Giant's mixed up spooge that's used to artificially inseminate Whoopi Goldberg. It kills the whole mythology and ruins the feel and atmosphere that the movie had set up as before. And it just drives the idea even more that if you don't have an intimidating killer then your film won't succeed. If the killer looked different and looked more disturbing then I'd gladly give this a score of a 9/10 but I can't. It just distracts and takes away from the movie far too much.

I'd say that as Blood Junkie is recommended for slasher fiends, then I'd have to recommend Blood Oath to fans of over the top cheesy flicks or especially to Troma fans.
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The Verdict: 7.5/10

I would like to thank CAV Distributing and Troma for the movies they sent me to review.

Both are available right now for pre-order on Amazon.com and Troma.com.

Both will be available online on April 12th and in stores on May 10th So pre-order them now so that you could get them as soon as possible.