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DVD Review: FROZEN, a Psychological Survival Thriller
Written by Scott Katz   
Friday, 24 September 2010 14:01

Frozen-resizeA worthwhile entry in the stranded-and-must-survive sub-category of the horror genre, Frozen stars Shawn Ashmore (Iceman in the X-Men film series, appropriately enough), Kevin Zegers (Dawn of the Dead (2004), Transamerica), and newcomer Emma Bell.

Three college students, Dan (Zegers), his girlfriend Parker (Bell), and Dan's childhood friend, Joe (Ashmore) spend a Sunday at a ski resort – mostly babysitting Parker who is a complete novice at skiing as compared to Dan and Joe.  Joe is somewhat resentful about Parker's tagging along on the guys' ski trip, which prevented them from getting any real heavy duty skiing in.  Deciding, as night begins to fall, to go up the mountain for one last run before heading home, they find themselves stranded on the ski lift when, due to a miscommunication between the resort staff crew, the ski lift is shut down before the three get to the mountain top, and the resort is closed for the week and not scheduled to reopen until five days later for the next weekend.

In Frozen, the terror comes from that feeling of growing uneasiness as the full hopelessness of the dilemma begins to reveal itself in stages.  This is psychological terror, not the assembly line of "boo!" moments that makes up the running time of the typical horror flick.  Here, the cast is kept small, the setting kept appropriately bleak, and the tension ebbs and flows throughout – a quiet scene only exists to explore the characters and to lull the audience into a false sense of security before the next harrowing development in these young people's ordeal.

Written and directed by Adam Green, Frozen is not a perfect film, but its successes are more apparent than its shortcomings.  As director, Green knows how to keep the action flowing and the suspense taut.  Mounting desperation convinces Kevin Zegers' character, Dan, to attempt a jump from the ski lift on to the ground at least 50 feet below.  He does so, but succeeds in breaking both his legs with shattered bone protruding through flesh.  It isn't long before he's surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves and devoured as his friend and girlfriend still high up in the chair can do nothing but avert their eyes to their friend's fate.

With Zegers out of the film and at least 35 minutes left to go, we are left with Parker and Joe.  All three actors give good performances here, but once Joe and Parker are left alone together, we get deeper into the characters' backstories and Shawn Ashmore begins to shine and bring his performance to the forefront as he must now act as protector to his dead friend's girlfriend.  Stories are exchanged, and confidences are shared between the two who must now rely on each other in order to survive.  Newcomer Emma Bell does a great job commanding her role, and taking a character that could have been seen as an intrusive shrill annoyance in the hands of a less capable actor and turning her into a sympathetic heroine.

The aforementioned shortcomings of Frozen stem not from its direction.  Marketing copy in the form of pull quotes on the box art compares Green to Hitchcock – what, not Orson Welles as well?  That's pure hyperbole, of course – Green is not the second coming of Hitchcock, but as stated, Green does know how to build and maintain suspense quite effectively while creating an atmosphere of dread in order to keep the viewer's nerves on edge. Further, he creates set pieces that stay with you after the film has ended.  No, any issues the film may have had derive from its script.

For a film like this to work, plausibility is crucial and mandatory.  While the predicament is handled plausibly in most places once it's underway, getting there had its share of flaws.  A writer is allowed to have a single coincidence in his or her story in order to propel the plot where it needs to go, but Frozen is a chain reaction of worst case scenarios – a perfect snowstorm of bad luck that verges way too closely to parody at times.

The kids get stranded on the lift in the first place because, not two seconds after the kids are headed up the mountain, the lift operator finds out that his work schedule has changed and must leave to complain to his boss.  The new lift operator is told that there are still three kids left to come down before the equipment can be shut off.  However, there just happens to be three other kids already on the slope skiing their way down as Dan, Joe, and Parker are on their way up, and they get mistaken for our heroes.

After the kids have been dangling up there for awhile, with not a cell phone among them of course, the original lift operator starts driving toward them in his Snowcat vehicle.  The kids start screaming to him from above, but, wouldn't you know it, at just that moment, a call comes in to the driver to return to base.  When the trio finally get the bright idea to throw some of their equipment down toward the vehicle to attract the driver's attention, he doesn't see it because at just that moment, he's turning his head away as if he's backing out of his driveway.

And why exactly did the girlfriend go up with the guys for that final run, again?  The guys said that they didn't get the chance to have a really epic run down the mountain because of Parker's lack of experience, so how exactly were they going to achieve that memorable run if they dragged her up with them once more?

The finale also has an unexpectedly funny moment as the surviving character or characters – no spoilers here – slide past the wolf pack and are essentially just waved through by the beasts without issue as they continue to chomp on one of the other characters.  We felt this fell a little flat as the surviving characters must go through more than their fair share of horror in order to justify their survival over the others.  Here, the one or ones that suffered the least were the ones who were allowed to survive.  That final cathartic release that serves as the climax to any great horror movie was simply not present here.  Adam Green definitely has talent, and is worth watching for in the future, but if he is going to continue both to write and direct, he needs to tighten up his scripts going forward.

Techically, the disc is well done with nice a nice transfer and decent atmospheric 5.1 sound effects.  There are also some well done behind-the-scenes featurettes and a few minutes of deleted scenes.  Finally, the three leads join writer/director, Adam Green for a full-length audio commentary.

Overall, this film has enough to recommend it for a rental as it is a welcome change of pace from the usual slasher piece that makes up the bulk of the horror genre.  The quieter, more everyday dilemma often yields the most effective terror because it's something that is not so far outside the realm of possibility that the viewer can safely remain an impartial innocent bystander while watching the story unfold.  This is definitely a case where the viewer is compelled to insert himself into the story and play out the various obstacles and choices in his or her own mind, and this film convincingly assures us that if we were in that exact same situation – no matter about the string of coincidences that got us there – that it would have played out for us with the same unnerving finality that it did for the characters in the story.  A good effort from Mr. Green this time, and we want to see him up his game in the future.

 

BOTTOM LINE

RECOMMENDATION:

1rent graphic

 

 
DVD Spotlight on: MPI HOME VIDEO
Written by Scott Katz   
Thursday, 26 August 2010 01:14

MPI Home Video distributes numerous special interest DVDs including classic TVFounded in 1976 by brothers Waleed and Malik Ali, Chicago's MPI Home Video (part of MPI Media Group) has issued an array of classic television series and specials on DVD over the last several years.  Many of their titles are longtime cult favorites that hold special places in the hearts of generations of television viewers.  While we often shine the spotlight on the major releases from the big studios and home video distributors, we are also firmly committed to expanding our coverage of the DVD marketplace to include the smaller, independent video distributors who publish a variety of offbeat and interesting titles.

 

What follows is our exclusive look at some of the more praiseworthy titles released by MPI Home Video that could easily find a place in the homes of serious DVD collectors.

 

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DVD Review: THRILLER: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Written by Scott Katz   
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 14:44

Thriller: The Complete Series (Image © 2010 Image Entertainment, Inc. Used by Permission)In the early years of television, there were several genres of programming that were immensely popular with the viewing audience that today have become all but extinct.  These include the western, the variety show, and the anthology series.  The anthology series was unique in that it had no regular cast of characters or actors.  Each week promised a new miniature play of sorts linked by only a common theme and, often, a series host.  Shocking or ironic plot twists to end the episode with a flourish were also quite common for this genre.  Perhaps the most successful and famous of the classic anthology series were The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, both available on DVD.  However, other series have gained strong cult followings over the decades due to their intriguing themes and strong scripts.  One such series was The Outer Limits, a two season anthology with a science fiction bent, which has likewise been released on DVD.  Another is a series, also lasting only two seasons, that is finally set to be released on Tuesday, August 31Thriller – telling stories of suspense, horror, and the supernatural, hosted by horror icon, Boris Karloff.

Boris Karloff, born William Pratt in London, arrived in Hollywood during the early years of film and appeared irregularly in many movies during the silent era.  However, he didn't become a star until the sound era where he played the monster in the classic Universal horror flick, Frankenstein in 1931.  He followed that up in 1932 by starring in Universal's The Mummy.  Karloff, along with fellow star, Bela Lugosi, became the most famous and popular horror actors of the 1930s and 1940s.  During the television era, Karloff was able to parlay that success into numerous appearances on the small screen including hosting gigs on series such as 1958's The Veil (an unreleased series not actually seen by the public until the 1990s on home video), 1962's Out of This World for British television, and, of course, Thriller, which ran from 1960 to 1962 on NBC.

Although it has become a cult classic thanks to its resurrection on cable television, Thriller was not a hit during its initial run despite having such notable writers as Robert Bloch (the author of the novel Psycho among many other accomplishments) on its roster.  During its first season from 1960-1961, it followed Alfred Hitchcock Presents Tuesday nights on NBC, but while that may have seemed like an ideal pairing, Thriller was no match for The Red Skelton Show on CBS.  A timeslot change to Mondays for its second season sealed its fate as it went up against ABC's freshman hit, the medical drama Ben Casey.

Now, thanks to Image Entertainment, who has also released the complete series of The Twilight Zone to DVD, fans of classic television will be able to enjoy all 67 one-hour episodes of Thriller restored and remastered with tons of bonus features in one complete DVD box set of 14 discs.  For our review, Image Entertainment supplied us with a check disc containing two sample episodes, "Pigeons from Hell" and "The Grim Reaper," and we'll base our review on those.

 

Boris Karloff appears in Episode 2.22, "The Incredible Doktor Markesan" (Image © 2010, Image Entertainment, Inc. Used by Permission)

"Boo!"

 

 

 

Our impressions of the DVD are as follows:

Video: Thirteen of the fourteen discs contain five episodes with each clocking in at approximately 50 minutes.  Episode promos for "next week's" story are not included with the episode, but when available, are included as a bonus feature attached to the episode they preview.  These promos come from video collectors and are unrestored.

As for the episodes themselves, we were quite impressed with the video restoration work undertaken to bring these classic shows back to nearly-pristine quality.  Episodes of this age are bound to have some scratches and dirt marks on them, and the restoration process can only remove so much without spending a prohibitive amount of money.  Overall, the episodes from the check disc look really nice, and if we were to assign a numerical value to them, we'd grade the restored episodes a solid 9 out of 10.  Thriller was shot very differently from most television series at the time as episodes made extensive use of day-for-night photography in exterior scenes, and the interiors were wonderfully photographed by some of the best cinematographers to work in television to create environments that were full of foreboding shadows – no sitcomish flat lighting here.  Shadows and light, and the interplay between the two, were integral elements in Thriller.  The restoration work done on these episodes, which must have been difficult given the complexity of the photography at work here, brings the picture into sharp focus, allowing the shadows to appear luxuriously black while still enabling all the detail of the scene to come through.

Each episode is presented in its original 1:1.33 aspect ratio, which as we've stated in other DVD reviews, is something we are fans of.  Yes, this means that if you're watching the series on a widescreen television, there will be black bars on the left and right sides of the picture, but changing the aspect ratio to fit a widescreen would cut material off the top and bottom of the episodes.  In general, we feel that video material must be presented unchanged from its intended aspect ratio in order for the audience to get the most authentic experience.

The two episodes presented on the check disc we received, "Pigeons from Hell" and "The Grim Reaper" are both quite good and quite different.  "Pigeons," one of the more famous episodes of the series, concerns itself with decrepit old plantation mansions, gloomy atmosphere, and "zuvembies" (female zombies) who hypnotize their victims before splitting their skulls open with a hatchet.  This cheery little ditty was adapted from famed pulp fiction author Robert E. Howard's story from the May 1938 issue of Weird Tales magazine.  Howard is also notable for basically having created the story genre known as "sword and sorcery" and the character of Conan the Barbarian.  In his non-fiction book of essays, Danse Macabre, author Stephen King gives special praise to both the series Thriller and to Howard's story "Pigeons from Hell."

 

Episode 1.36: "Pigeons from Hell" (Image © 2010, Image Entertainment, Inc. Used by Permission.) Episode 1.37: "The Grim Reaper" (Image © 2010, Image Entertainment, Inc. Used by Permission.)

 

The other episode on the disc, "The Grim Reaper" stars 1960s icons William Shatner and Natalie Schafer (neither of whom are pictured above, unfortunately) before they achieved their biggest successes as the stars of Star Trek and Gilligan's Island, respectively.  In "Reaper," Shatner visits his aunt, played by Schafer, and warns her that a painting of the Grim Reaper that she purchased is cursed with many of the previous owners ending up dead under mysterious circumstances.  Shatner is quite good here in an uncharacteristic role, but Schafer really turns in a bravura performance that, in addition to showing off her off-kilter comedic line delivery so evident later in Gilligan's Island, is layered with an undercurrent of sadness and melancholy as she portrays a 50-something woman married to a much younger man who is clearly only interested in her money.  A twist ending, that frankly we saw coming about a half-hour before it arrived, ends the story on a still-satisfying note.

 

Audio: With audio, we're not quite as strict with changes as we are with video, and if the DVD producers can take an old mono track and properly transform it into a multi-channel track, the results can lead to an enhanced experience.  With Thriller, the episodes are presented in stereo, and the soundtrack is very crisp and clean with no hissing or popping to betray the age of the underlying material.  A scene at the beginning of "Pigeons from Hell," where a car is driving over gravel is highly detailed and one can clearly hear the pebbles crunch under the tires rolling over them.  Dialogue is bright and distinct throughout with none of the muddiness that often plagues unrestored – or badly restored – material.  The soundtracks from such notable composers as Jerry Goldsmith are presented in all their shrill glory with lots of goosebump-inducing shrieking violins.  From what we could tell, all the original music is presented intact, and no music substitutions were made.

 

Convenience Features:  

Menu selections: A video sequence takes us through spooky corridors before stopping at the episode titles where the viewer can select a particular episode or use the "play all" feature.  Episodes are selected by clicking on its title.  There are no video thumbnails of the episodes in the menu.

Foreign language tracks: None on the check disc

Subtitles / Closed Captions: None on the check disc

 

Special Features: Tons of audio-only material and lots of nice video clips including episode promos (i.e. scenes from "next week's" episode) and an overall promo for the series itself hosted by Boris Karloff.  The audio material consists of music-only tracks by series composers Jerry Goldsmith or Morton Stevens and is available for more than half the episodes of the series.  Jerry Goldsmith was an important composer for both television and movies from about 1950 until his death in 2004.  His early television work included scoring series for CBS including episodes of The Twilight Zone.  When he joined Revue Studios in 1960, his work could be heard on a number of its series such as The Man from UNCLE and, of course, Thriller.  His work in film scoring was legendary, appearing in such hit movies as Planet of the Apes, Chinatown, Poltergeist, Star Trek, Alien, Logan's Run, The Omen, and many others.  Therefore, it is a particular treat for any serious fan of television or film to be able to study some of this master's early work in isolation unencumbered by dialogue.  Morton Stevens, the series' other composer, studied under Jerry Goldsmith, and they collaborated often.  Stevens composed almost exclusively for television, and is probably best known as the composer of the theme for the television series, Hawaii Five-O.

More than two dozen of the episodes have audio commentaries by knowledgeable writers for television or magazines or actors who appeared in the episodes themselves and provide useful nuggets of trivia, critique, and insight into the filming of the particular episode and the series in general.

 

In conclusion: For fans of classic black-and-white television programs or stories of suspense and terror, getting this series is a no-brainer.  However, we feel that the quality of the writing and acting evident throughout Thriller's two season run will be of interest to fans of great television overall.  There is a reason why this series continues to win new fans with each passing decade: moody and evocative scripts coupled with Karloff's campy-creepy opening narrations make for an irresistible and highly entertaining combination.

 

BOTTOM LINE

RECOMMENDATION:

This!...is a THRILLER!

Recommendation: BUY

 

 

 
DVD Review: HUNTER: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Written by Scott Katz   
Tuesday, 20 July 2010 03:35

Hunter: The Complete Series cover sleeve viewAiring for seven seasons on NBC from 1984-1991, Hunter teamed football-star-turned-actor, Fred Dryer, with actress Stepfanie Kramer.  The series marked the first major starring roles for each actor (Ms. Kramer was only 28 when the series began), and, while it was not an immediate hit, it soon grew into one of the more memorable 80s action series.  Dryer's character, Detective Sergeant Rick Hunter, was seemingly modeled after Dirty Harry, although after Season 1, his violent tendencies were toned way down.  Kramer portrayed Detective Sergeant Dee Dee McCall, at first nicknamed "the Brass Cupcake."  Hunter was created by Frank Lupo, and produced by Stephen J. Cannell Productions, whose long roster of (mostly action-oriented) television hits includes: 21 Jump Street, The Greatest American Hero, Cobra, The Commish, Renegade, Riptide, Silk Stalkings, Stingray, Wiseguy, and many others, including The A-Team.

Despite coming from the world of sports, Fred Dryer made an easy transition into acting and displayed a natural comfort and charisma in front of the camera.  In fact, a few years before the premiere of Hunter, he was one of the few actors to be considered for the part of Sam Malone on Cheers that eventually went to Ted Danson.  His on-screen chemistry with Stepfanie Kramer was instrumental to the success of the series and made it a fan favorite throughout the mid-to-late 1980s.  Scripts were generally of good quality, and the relationship between Hunter and McCall was allowed to develop and deepen over the seasons.    Hunter was a top 30 staple for four of its seven seasons (Seasons 3 through 6), and achieved its highest ratings in Season 5.  Kramer left the series after Season 6 in order to pursue other acting opportunities and a music career and seemingly got out of Dodge in the nick of time.  The absence of Kramer in Season 7 coupled with a timeslot change to Wednesday from its usual Saturday night perch doomed the series even though it was up against ratings-anemic forgettables such as the one-season wonders WIOU on CBS and the dreaded Cop Rock on ABC.

Now, Mill Creek Entertainment brings together all 152 episodes of Hunter into one 28-disc box set, Hunter: The Complete Series. They were kind enough to send us a copy for review in advance of its street date of Tuesday, July 27 and to join us on our Internet Radio Show today at 2pm Eastern.

 

Our impressions of the set are as follows:

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US Townhall RealStories presents: MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT
Written by Scott Katz   
Monday, 19 July 2010 04:01

Hunter: The Complete Series (Image © Mill Creek Entertainment 2010)This episode of the US Townhall RealStories radio show recorded on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 2pm eastern.  CLICK BELOW TO PLAY!

 

Join us for the next episode of our Internet Radio Show, US Townhall RealStories, as we interview Jeff Hayne, the Vice President of Acquisitions for Mill Creek Entertainment.  Mill Creek is set to release Hunter: The Complete Series on July 27, a 28-disc DVD box set containing every episode of the 1984-1991 television series starring Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer.

We'll speak with Mr. Hayne about the set and get the scoop on upcoming projects from Mill Creek, who has been licensing many of the classic Stephen J. Cannell produced television series besides Hunter, as well as many of the animated titles previously released by BCI Eclipse (where Mr. Hayne worked prior to Mill Creek) before it folded.

To listen to the show live, visit us here on Tuesday, July 20 at 2pm Eastern and click on the link below.  Otherwise, come back later in the afternoon, and the entire show will be posted here.

If you have a question, you 'd like us to ask Mill Creek Entertainment, you can email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Maybe yours will be read on air!

Also, we've been given a sneak preview of the Hunter: The Complete Series DVD set, and we'll have our exclusive review posted here also on Tuesday afternoon.

  

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Reviews & Previews:

Summer 2011 Movie Preview

Fall 2010 Television season

Fra Diavolo

Die Drei Pintos

Romeo and Juliet in Brooklyn

MPI Home Video

Timless Media Group

Boris Karloff's Thriller

Hunter: The Complete Series

Polly and Her Pals

Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee

Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman

Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern

Spider-Man musical delayed again

Frozen

Dead Space: Aftermath

Altitude

 

 

    

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ABC Cancels Both All My Children and One Life to Live

Guiding Light: A Look Back

 

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