The Movie:
Low budget films can be hit and miss. Despite the passion and commitment of their creators, they can often be inept, poorly executed disappointments. Deadfall Trail is a clear exception to this. A tightly crafted thriller, it clearly demonstrates that loads of cash are not necessary to make a quality film.

Paul, John and Julian (played respectively by Cavin Gray, Slade Hall and Shane Dean, this last most familiar to this reviewer for starring in Texas schlockfest The Death Factory Bloodletting) are setting out on something of a minimalist camping trip, bringing with them only a bottle of water each, a backpack and the clothes they are wearing. John and Julian are both old hands at this sort of thing, living off the land for weeks at a time, but Paul is a newbie.

Julian is a li...Read the entire review

The Movie:

One of those rare, micro-budgeted features that somehow manages to overcome its poverty row origins and really shine on the strengths of a solid cast and some fun and creative filmmaking. Don't get me wrong - this doesn't look, sound or feel like a multimillion dollar blockbuster but it is an entertaining and well made B-picture that manages to squeeze some originality out of a genre that's been flogged to death over the years, that being the vampire film.

The film follows an assassin for hire named Frank Ng (Dharma Lim) who is given a contract to kill a Chinese drug kingpin. When he accepts the job and shows up to take care of business, he finds out the hard way that his intended target was no mere mortal but actually a powerful vampire who has been running a pretty substantial criminal empire with his gang. Those accustomed to standard North American and European vampire...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Bloodlock, director William Schotten's attempt at a fresh take on the vampire genre, winds up being an ineffective muddle. Though obviously lacking in budget, the film is also deficient in inspiration and verve, and that makes for a hard slog of a viewing.

Husband and wife Chris (Ashley Gallo) and Barry (Domanic Koulianos) are just moving into their new home. Chris' half sister Lisa (Karen Fox) lives with them, and she and Barry have a somewhat more familiar relationship than would seem to be appropriate for in-laws. All three are intrigued when they discover a solid steel door in the basement sporting an enormous padlock that seems to have no keyhole, but Chris is positively obsessed. What's behind the door? Trying to push her suspicions of adultery aside, she goes about figuring out how to get the door open, even obtaining the assistance of local locksmith Luke (Gregg Bi...Read the entire review

Destined To Be Ingested:
Since the wife was going to be out of town for a week, I thought I'd load up on exploitation DVDs and have a real old weeklong movie party. Of course my stay-at-home-dad duties cut my projected movie tally by half. So I didn't make it to Destined To Be Ingested until she got home. Too bad since this bizarre head-scratcher - albeit light on real gore - is strange enough to make it feel wrong in many right ways.

The great thing about writing reviews is you get to step back out of the experience and examine a movie in a very conscious way. That's helped me realize that Ingested has a plot. A group of obnoxious, privileged white folks take an island cruise, they wind up stranded on what they believe to be an unoccupied island, only to discover that it houses a small tribe of cannibals.

If only it were that simple. What's immediately noticeable; there is ...Read the entire review