VOD Review: Blue Ruin (2014)

When we first heard about Blue Ruin -which was being billed as a Revenge Thriller- we immediately thought of another recent, gritty Revenge Thriller, Red, White & Blue; not that their plots are all that similar, but because both films are set around a derelict man who is out for bloody revenge, so our minds just automatically made that leap. In Red, White & Blue, Nate gets his revenge, and then some.

Blue Ruin though is a different animal altogether. Where as RW&B was gritty and straightforward, Blue Ruin is more contemplative and twisty with its narrative, and its main character is by no means a killing machine. He tries like hell, and has plenty of success along the way, but that success comes with more clunky mistakes than it does finesse. Blue Ruin is more about the concept of revenge, and how its fallout effects people, both directly and indirectly.

So, similar, and yet completely different. 

Blue Ruin tells the story of Dwight, a homeless shell of a man who has had a rough life. The brutal murders of his parents drove Dwight to live out of his old jalopy (which we're assuming is the Blue Ruin), quit shaving, and eat out of garbage cans. He's empty and broken, and quite possibly a bit insane.

And a bit creepy.

When Dwight learns that the man who murdered his parents is being released from prison, and odd focus comes over him, and he heads off to kill the man; almost as if he had put his entire life on hold for the entire time waiting for the very chance to do so.

Well, it looks like somebody died.

To say anymore of about the plot or how it unfolds would do the film a great disservice, but suffice it to say that as Dwight puts his plan for revenge into motion, things get really bad for him, and everyone else involved in his sad story of revenge, to the point of ruin... Blue Ruin!
 

Lone Wolf McDwight.

As a meditation on violence, and the effects it has on our lives, Blue Ruin is a haunting and dark piece of work. As a Revenge Thriller, Blue Ruin is gritty and real in its portrayal of a bumbling, would-be avenging angel. Either way, the movie is a very nuanced and intense experience, and at times, that tension was almost unbearable.

Does Dwight get his revenge? Yes, kind of. The point of the movie though, is about the price that revenge costs someone, and we're not just talking about Dwight here; his parent's deaths were born of revenge; he wants revenge; the people who he gets revenge on want revenge... it's a sick cycle that can only really be broken when someone says "alright, enough with the revenge!"

It's that entire dynamic that made Blue Ruin so compelling.

Even these little kids want revenge... where does it end?!?

Blue Ruin is a movie whose goings-on would fit perfectly into the fictional world of Elmore Leonard's Harlan County, if you look at Dwight as a guy with the heart of Raylan Givens and the abilities of Constable Bob, and the Cleland family as either the Crowes or Bennetts. Odd analogy, I know, but with the deep south vibe of this thing, it just struck us as fitting.

Macon Blair did a hell of a job as Dwight. As a character, Dwight seemed so sweet and unassuming, but then every so often he'd get these flashes of rage that ran through is eyes, and he became truly frightening. We don't really know who this Macon Blair guy is, but after Blue Ruin, we're sure we'll be seeing more of him.

Suckers!

We didn't like the ending. It was good, and more than fitting, but we just wanted things to... work out better than they did. Yes we're being vague, but when you see it for yourself, you'll know what we mean.

"The keys are in the car" says it all, I think.

What in the blue hell...

If anything about the movie disappointed us, or threw us off a bit, it would have to be when Dwight shaved his beard and got himself cleaned up. He was truly frightening to behold at the start of the movie, but once he went and got his hair did, he just seemed like a regular guy... which was probably the point.

Still, the change threw us, because it wasn't even hinted at in the trailer.

She can't believe it either.

 

When the gore hits in this one, it hits hard. Some throat slitting, some shootings, an extremely hard to watch scene where a guy digs a crossbow bolt out of his leg, and our favorite bit involving a sniper rifle... Blue Ruin has is bloody moments indeed.

Yes, that is Jan Brady, and she's apparently gone fully auto.

If you're looking for a Revenge Thriller that's about way more than mere revenge, then Blue Ruin is the movie for you. This is a movie about the effects of violence as much as it is the violence itself, and it will make you think as much as it does cringe. For our money, it doesn't get much better than that.

This is a good flick, and at $6.99 on VOD, it's almost too good to pass up.

Blue Ruin is available now on VOD (HERE), and in Limited Theatrical Release.

B+

We felt that the alternate poster art for Blue Ruin was so cool that we just had to share it with you, because nothing is better than visually evocative art. Mostly.

TV Review: Penny Dreadful (Showtime, 2014)

Pilot Episodes can be a messy thing. Even the best of shows tend to have Pilots that feel odd, uneven, or out-of-sync with the episodes that follow after; that's mainly because a Pilot exists to sell the show to a Network, so in a way, they nothing more than an audition. Most times, it takes a new show a while to find its voice, and hit its stride.

It's a rare Pilot that immediately leaves us in awe and wanting more; Game of Thrones did it with the "The things I do for love" scene; LOST did it with it's two-part, cinematic-quality epic feel, and with the final words of "Guys, where are we?"; The Shield did it with the "I'm a different kind of Cop" line, and with what Vic does at the end; The Walking Dead did it with Rick finding himself trapped in Atlanta... I could go on, but you get the point.

Earlier this week, Showtime posted the Pilot episode of its new show, Penny Dreadful, on its website and YouTube for the world to enjoy early. Having seen it, we can honestly say that it followed suit with the aforementioned great pilots with a final scene, that amidst all of the wonderful Gothic Horror, left us both unexpectedly wowed and moved.

I'm going to go out on a hyperbolic limb here and say that the final scene of the episode was brilliant on all levels.

Yes, Saucy Jack is in his prime during Penny Dreadful.

From Showtime:
"Some of literature's most terrifying characters, including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, and iconic figures from the novel Dracula are lurking in the darkest corners of Victorian London. PENNY DREADFUL is a frightening psychological thriller that weaves together these classic horror origin stories into a new adult drama."

*And let us not forget Josh Hartnett's Yankee gunslinger and Eva Green and her perfect breasts... because they are the main stars of the show. The actors, not Eva Green's breasts.

Then again...

Where American Horror Story is goofy camp that we can take or leave, Penny Dreadful is truly Gothic Horror that we ate right up. We expected the show to be more on the campy side, but were pleasantly surprised to find that it stuck to the dark and creepy side of the street instead. From start to finish, the episode got better and better, and when it was all over, we immediately took to Twitter to see if anyone else was as in love as we were with what we had just seen. Turns out that we were not alone in our admiration.

But where is her head?!?

Eva Green is the centerpiece of the show, and rightly so; her character is dark and mysterious, and we just know that she's harboring dark secrets that are going to spell trouble for somebody. Maybe everybody. As gorgeous as she is to behold, Eva Green's Vanessa Ives is equally as creepy, which only serves to make us love her more.

She's soooo creepy hot.

As for the classic characters of the show, Victor Frankenstein and his monster stole the show. Frankenstein has always been a sad tale to us, mainly because the famous monster always struck us as more sympathetic than terrifying, and that aesthetic is in full swing here. Oh, he'll probably rip some people apart with his bare hands at some point, but it was great to see them start his story out in a heartfelt way.

"WTF are you on about, Vic?"

When we first saw Josh Hartnett in that crazy wig, we thought "come on!" It was only a disguise though, and his Ethan Chandler is actually a pretty cool character. His American gunslinger not only gets caught up in the creepy goings-on of the London underworld, but he finds himself ensorceled by Eva Green's rack... so he's basically doomed on both counts. Josh Hartnett has always been underrated as an actor, and with his role in Penny Dreadful, he proves just how good he can be.

That wig!

Timothy Dalton has always been the man, and we don't care what anyone says; he made a good James Bond. Here he plays the menacing and secretive Sir Malcolm, whose daughter is kidnapped by the nefarious forces of the dark,prompting him to recruit a misfit gang of creeps to help him find her. As dangerous as we think he is, he's equally as heartfelt in his cause, and Timothy Dalton plays him to perfection.

He's got a Licence to Kill... monsters.

Will Dracula, or anyone else from his Classic tale, be joining Mina onscreen in future episodes? Will Van Helsing show up? Will we be seeing The Wolfman? The Mummy? Will Jack the Ripper make an appearance? Is Sembene some sort of African Witch Doctor or mystic? Will Vanessa and Mina make lesbian sex together? Why are there spiders everywhere?!? Are we asking too many questions?

We know nothing of the answers to these questions, but we do know that we'll be excited to see how they get answered, if in fact they ever do.

And why is this thing so angry?

There are only 8 Episodes of Penny Dreadful coming in this first season, so it's surely going to come and go as quickly as did True Detective. That irks us to no end, because we're greedy and we always want more of a good thing. If fewer episodes makes for a higher quality product though, we won't complain.... at least not too much.

Will the doctor get there in time?

The Pilot Episode of Penny Dreadful was excellent; The writing is tight, the acting equally so, it looks gorgeous, the blood flows freely, it's creepy, and there's an underlying current of emotion that made it all feel perfect. Will it be as good going forward? We can't say for sure, but with the talent that's involved -both in front of, and behind the camera- there's no reason to think that it won't be. As long as they can mix such classic characters and themes together in a plot that stays both engaging, and makes sense, then this is going to be a hit for Showtime.

Penny Dreadful premieres Sunday, May 11th, at 10 P.M. on Showtime, though you can watch the first episode early and for free on YouTube, right HERE.

A+

It honestly gets no sexier than Eva Green, does it? The girl is fucking electric... there's just no other way to say it.

The Theatrical Trauma of May 2nd

Are we going to even pretend that Theaters are not going to be owned by your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man this weekend? Because you know that they are.

The Amazing Spider-man was an enjoyable effort, and the combination of Andrew Garfield & Emma Stone are equally enjoyable, but ASM2 looks like it's going to be too heavy on the villains, which makes us a bit wary. If this movie ends up turning into the Jamie Foxx show, which it very well looks like it may, we'll be disappointed... and don't get us started on Rhino going from being an Altered-Human to a guy in a metal suit. Just don't.

We'll see The Amazing Spiderman 2, and we'll keep our fingers croossed that it's as good as the first one.

Everything else this week is either in Limited Release or has gone straight to VOD (which we covered here), and we'll be seeing them as time permits...

But really, this weekend belongs to Spidey.

What's new on VOD this week?

May is here, and with it comes a whole new batch of VOD Releases to get excited about!

Ti West's new flick, The Sacrament, is the one to see this week. It's received all sorts of solid buzz so far, and considering the fact that we loved House of the Devil & The Innkeepers, we have no reason to think that we won't enjoy this one too. I mean, it's been forever since we've seen a good movie about Cults, you know?

The Scribbler has us curious, because any movie involving Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Elisha Dushku, Sasha Grey, Gina Gershon and Ashlynn Yennie doing something called "The Siamese Burn" just begs for our attention. This movie is a Comic Book adaptation, so who knows how it will translate, but we'll give it a go on VOD anyhow. All we're saying is that this whole "Siamese Burn" thing better be sexy and explicit, or we will Tweet our displeasure in an angry fashion!

Finally we have Blood Glacier; an Austrian movie about a group of scientists that do battle with... a bleeding glacier. Or maybe the glacier's blood mutates the local wildlife into mongoloid abominations, and the scientists do battle with them. It sounds stupid either way, but the trailer looks pretty good, so why not give it a go, right?

In all honesty, that’s three movies with decent potential to entertain us well this weekend, so we consider this week on VOD to be a win... potentially.

*It looks as though The Scribbler is only playing on Cable In-Demand as of right now, where as The Sacrament and Blood Glacier are both available on Amazon Instant & iTunes as well. The links below will behave accordingly.

Curtains is coming to Blu-ray on July 8th!

We've waited for so long for someone to give us a watchable print of this Classic 80's Slasher, and the lovely folks over at Synapse Films are finally making our dream come true!

For the first time ever, the 1983 Classic Slasher flick will be hitting Blu-ray with what looks to be a gorgeous 2k mastering taken from the original 35mm interpositive print. Synapse has taken the better part of the past year restoring this one, and the results should be pleasing to the eye, to say the very least.

From the Press Release:

John Vernon (CHAINED HEAT, National Lampoon’s ANIMAL HOUSE) and Samantha Eggar (THE BROOD, THE EXTERMINATOR) star in this horror classic from the golden age of the slasher genre.

A group of women gather for a weekend casting call at the secluded mansion of director Jonathan Stryker (Vernon). He’s searching for the perfect woman to play the role of the crazed character “Audra”, and these women are just dying for the chance to play her! Stryker’s last star, Samantha Sherwood (Eggar), is so determined to get the part, she committed herself to an asylum to prepare for the role. Unfortunately for all, a crazed killer in a disgusting “hag” mask is viciously murdering everyone one by one. Who will survive the final curtain call?

Lovingly re-mastered in 2K resolution from original vault materials virtually untouched for over 30 years, CURTAINS makes its high-definition world premiere from Synapse Films.

Special Features:

• The Ultimate Nightmare: The Making of CURTAINS Retrospective.
• Audio Commentary with Stars Lesleh Donaldson and Lynne Griffin.
• Audio Interviews with Producer Peter R. Simpson and Star Samantha Eggar.
• Theatrical Trailer.
• New 5.1 Surround Remix.

To understand how poorly older prints of Curtains looked, and how much of a drastic improvement that this new Blu-ray transfer from Synapse is going to be, check the below pics.

1- DVD.
2- VHS.
*It could be the other way around, as Google didn't really specify. Either way, you get the point that both previous Home Video versions of Curtains were pure shit.

3- The Synapse Blu-ray.

Night & Day!

That is a HUGE improvement, and now we'll be able to see the movie the way it was intended... and not in the dark, shadowy way that the old prints allowed us to. We're not kidding when we say that it was near impossible to make out what was happening in the darker scenes of this movie, especially the ending, in previous versions.

This Blu-ray is going to be an absolute treat to own.

Curtains hits Blu-ray ($24.99) & DVD ($19.99) on July 8th, so get ready!