Blood Money, Vol. 17
By on May 2, 2012
Greetings gorehounds! It’s time for another installment of Blood Money, where the good folks at Chiller TV compile all of the week’s new releases in theaters and on DVD/ Blu-ray. With Marvels’ The Avengers arriving in theaters Friday, May 4, there’s not a whole lot in the way of genre counter-programming, but there are nevertheless a handful of titles that should satisfy your appetite for death and dismemberment.
The week’s first theatrical release is Meeting Evil, director Chris Fisher’s tale of a weak-willed realtor who’s forced into a murder spree by a stranger he offers to give a ride to. Given the fact that it stars Luke Wilson and Samuel L. Jackson, it’s a little bit of a mystery why this film is so little-known, but that obscurity is also why we haven’t had a chance to check it out. Nevertheless, it’s got a promising premise, so if it turns up in theaters near where you live, check it out and let us know what you thought.
The other big theatrical release is also showing only in a limited run: Mother’s Day, Darren Lynn Bousman’s remake of Charles Kaufman’s 1980 film of the same name. This film was completed in 2010 and has taken a long time to work its way into theaters, but it’s suitably nasty for folks who thin that Saw is a good time at the movies. Rebecca DeMornay plays Mother, the sadistic matriarch of a brood of criminals and killers, who subjects a group of partying couples to a series of violent and dehumanizing tests after her kids stumble into their house believing it’s hers. Bousman, aiming for the sleaziest bit of exploitation he can create (and we mean that as a compliment), dials up the brutality to almost unbearable levels. But even though it’s a little bit too much for even us, if you have an opportunity to support the film, you should.
On home video, Warner Home Video is starting to offer some interesting value sets for some of their lower-profile titles, starting with a triple feature of Otis, Rest Stop: Dead Ahead and Rest Stop: Don’t Look Back. Otis, a 2008 film that sadly is not about my pet cat of the same name, follows a serial killer who finds the tables turned on him after an intended victim escapes, and she soon returns with her siblings in tow to exact some revenge. Oddly, the Rest Stop films are installments two and three in the series, begging the question why Warner wouldn’t just package the first one with them, but we suppose that if you’re buying Otis, these two films would be added-value content, or buying them would be an opportunity to round out the franchise in your collection while also taking home another cult film that you may or may not have seen.
Also available this week is the triple feature Phantoms, Darkness and Venom. Described by even its star Ben Affleck as “a sewer monster movie,” Phantoms is a about a xenomorphic creature that resides in a small town and rises up to kill the townspeople. Darkness stars Anna Paquin and Lena Olin and chronicles the supernatural occurrences that happen after a family moves into a new home on the site where an unfinished occult ritual resulted in the disappearance of six children forty years prior. And Venom is based upon the video game Backwater, focusing on a group of teenagers who fall prey to voodoo rituals, and of course, some nasty violence. The Blu-ray promises high-quality presentation, but again, this is quantity over quality, which is why the extras will be negligible if there are any at all.
Finally, there’s the Mimic 3-Film Set, which at least focuses only on one franchise, and features all of the installments. All three of the films feature some impressive bonus features, including a video introduction by Mimic director Guillermo del Toro, featurettes and other goodies, making this the best pick of the week. With the extended-edition Blu-ray having just been released a few months ago, Mimic is sure to look great, and it’s worth having just for the sake of being able to see all three.
