THE BLADE CUTS DEEPER: Almost an Homage

THE BLADE CUTS DEEPER (Blu-ray)

2024 / 84 min

Leomark Studios

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Well, at least director/co-writer Gene Dolders did some of his homework…

In The Blade Cuts Deeper, John Abbott (John Tueart) is the sleazy creator and host of “Light, Camera, Kill,” a sensationalistic TV show that exploits tragedy by flippantly reenacting real life murders. However, his latest episode, depicting a serial killer’s handiwork, pisses off the wrong guy, who commences killing off everyone associated with that episode. In true giallo fashion, the killer isn’t revealed until the end, but the viewer ain’t gonna need a slide rule to immediately know who’s doing the carving.

As an intended giallo homage, there are some other similarities, primarily its aesthetic. There's a mysterious black-gloved killer, extended stalking sequences that are emblematic of the genre, and of course, plenty of death by cutlery, including a jaw-dropping scene where one victim is repeatedly - and convincingly - stabbed in the face. On occasion, the film manages to generate some genuine tension . 

When someone brings donuts to the staff meeting.

However, there’s typically more to giallo than pure murder and mayhem. They’re generally structured like a mystery, even those that are more style over substance. Most of this film consists of Abbott being a dick while the killer picks off everyone around him. Storywise, this is just a slasher film filled with characters whose entire narrative purpose is to die.

That doesn’t mean The Blade Cuts Deeper isn’t enjoyable. Dolders is no Argento or Bava, but considering what appears to be a low budget, this is a pretty good looking film. Additionally, the death scenes are mostly well-executed and extraordinarily brutal. As slasher movies go, trust me, you’ve seen far worse. But while it sometimes resembles giallo, the spirit just ain't there. Maybe Dolders should've actually finished his homework.

BEAST OF WAR: A Solid Slab of Sharksploitation

BEAST OF WAR (Blu-ray)

2025 / 87 min

Well Go USA

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Bigger Boat😸

Ah…another day, another low budget shark movie.

I generally don’t mind reviewing these things, because even the bad ones (which is most of ‘em) are usually good for a few shits & giggles, often at their own expense. And like many of you, I never go in expecting another Jaws because that’s never gonna happen.

Beast of War hails from Australia and purports to be “based on a true story.” Fans of ferocious fish probably don’t care how much of the “true” part ends up in the movie, as long as there’s plenty of shark action, which this one eventually serves up in abundance.

I say eventually because the first act takes time to introduce its main characters. Set during World War II, a squad of new recruits are training for an upcoming mission. Leo (David Coles Smith) is an indigenous Australian haunted by a past tragedy involving a shark, Will (Joel Nankervis) is a smart but inexperienced young man who Leo takes under his wing, and Des (Sam Delich) is a racist, self-aggrandizing bully. Though other characters mostly exist to be fish food, the narrative does an excellent job fleshing out these three, assuring that we’re invested in their survival…or horrible deaths. 

A Farewell to Arm.

On the way to the mission, the troop’s ship is torpedoed by Japanese forces and sinks, stranding a half-dozen survivors on a slab of debris in the middle of the Pacific. They have little food and no fresh water, but their more immediate concern lurks under the surface: a great white shark that might just be the hungriest fish in movie history, relentlessly stalking these guys and putting the bitedown on anyone unfortunate enough to end up in the water.

Because bad shark movies far outweigh the good ones, I kept waiting for Beast of War to descend into silliness or stupidity, but it never does. Though there are lapses in plausibility, it was around the halfway point that I found myself thinking, Hey, this is actually pretty good. Sometimes really good, in fact. In addition to engaging characters and decent overall performances, writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner manages to create plenty of tension and atmosphere despite obvious budgetary limitations. Best of all, this one doesn’t appear to rely too much on CGI. The shark isn’t always convincing, but at least we feel it’s physically sharing the screen with the cast. Additionally, the attack scenes are brutal and bloody, punctuated by pretty realistic gore effects. 

I don’t know much much of this true story is actually true, nor do I care. What ultimately matters is that Beast of War is a surprisingly solid slab of sharksploitation. Running a lean 87 minutes, it benefits from a brisk pace, and other than an amusing aside depicting how these guys manage to solve their thirst problem, a mostly serious approach to its premise.

THE LONG WALK and the Long Wait

THE LONG WALK (Blu-ray)

2025 / 108 min

Lionsgate

Review by Princess Pepper😸

As a Stephen King fan most of my life, I’ve been waiting for a movie adaptation of The Long Walk for nearly as long. But I’ve also learned to temper my expectations over the years, since there have been plenty of great King stories that ended up being disappointing (and sometimes terrible) films. 

That being said, it was still hard not to get revved up over this one. Not only did the film have a decades-long, on-again-off-again production history, it’s been my view that most of the best King adaptations have been those that are not based on one of his horror novels. Though frequently horrifying, The Long Walk is not a horror story, but often labeled as such because of the author’s reputation. 

Fortunately - and at long last - the film does not disappoint. As directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by JT Mollner, The Long Walk is not-only the best film either of these guys have been involved with, it’s one of the better King adaptations of the past 20 years. Most importantly, this feels like Stephen King, not just because of its general faithfulness to the novel, but in the grim tone, anti-authoritarian themes prevalent in much of his work, and well-drawn cast of characters.

The basic story is simple: In an alternate dystopian America, one young man from each state is selected by lottery to participate in the titular event, an annual competition in which everyone commences walking and do not stop until only one remains. Anybody falling below three miles per hour is given three warnings to pick up the pace before being shot. Overseeing the event is The Major (Mark Hamill), an enigmatic symbol of the totalitarian regime the country has become since an unspecified war has rendered it into a permanent state of economic depression.

The walk itself comprises a majority of the narrative, presented from the point-of-view of its competitors, primarily Ray Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) and Pete McVries (David Jonsson), who quickly develop a close bond. Along the way, other participants are introduced, as well as their motivation in volunteering for a competition that’ll likely result in their deaths. For most of these characters, it’s the prize that awaits the winner…massive wealth and the granting of any single wish they want. But some others, like the main protagonists, have more esoteric reasons.

Worst. Parade. Ever.

The concept alone has always been morbidly compelling, which is vividly depicted onscreen. Not only is the film extremely violent, it becomes vicariously exhausting as the walk drags on for hundreds of miles and the attrition grows. But what makes it a truly harrowing journey is the assortment of engaging characters. As friendships develop and more is revealed about each of them (for better and worse) we become emotionally invested in their fates. This is especially true regarding Ray and Pete, whose relationship develops into brotherly love…even as they realize one or both of them are certain to die. Bolstered by strong performances from Hoffman and Jonsson, their brief friendship as endearing as Red and Andy’s in The Shawshank Redemption, or perhaps more accurately, Gordie and Chris’ in Stand by Me.

Though there’s occasional levity and inspirational moments, The Long Walk is relentlessly downbeat, exacerbated by the characters’ desperation and brutal death scenes that are sometimes tough to watch, as well as the hauntingly sparse rural landscape through which they’re walking. Speaking of which, the film’s production design is unusual for a dystopian film, with vehicles, signage and houses that appear lifted from the 1960s. At the same time, there’s technology shown that didn’t exist back then, so we’re never certain exactly when this story takes place. Such aesthetic ambiguity is a neat creative touch, and along with excellent cinematography, it keeps things visually interesting.

Then there’s that ending, which takes a significant detour from the original novel. It isn’t better or worse than what King came up with, but certainly unexpected and I suppose some fans of the book might balk at the new climax. Beyond that, however, The Long Walk is a beautifully bleak and brutal adaptation that stays true to the spirit of its source material. Some of us waited a long time for this one, but it was worth it.

EXTRA KIBBLES

EVER ONWARD: MAKING THE LONG WALK - This is an excellent 75 minute making of documentary with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with most of the cast & crew.

TRAILERS

DIGITAL COPY

TOGETHER Sticks With You

TOGETHER (Blu-ray)

2025 / 102 min

Neon

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

2025 has been a pretty damn good year for horror. Not just good horror, but original horror made by directors who appear to have more on their minds than just cheap thrills. Even Final Destination: Bloodlines reflected a lot more creativity than was probably required. 

Michael Shanks’ feature debut, Together, is another example. On the heels of last year’s The Substance comes another vivid foray into body horror. While it never reaches the same gruesome heights (or depths, depending on one’s tolerance for this sort of thing), the film boasts a bizarre premise, convincing performances and smart writing that also explores the complexities of modern relationships…especially troubled ones. And of course, it features plenty of butt-puckering visual nastiness.

Real life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco play Millie and Tim. Outwardly congenial, they are experiencing something of a relationship crisis. When she takes a teaching job in a small town, they move from the city into a remote old house. While walking in the woods, they become trapped overnight in a cave, where Tim drinks some of the water. After emerging, Tim finds himself increasingly drawn to her…physically, as depicted through progressively unnerving scenes in which they’re literally stuck together. 

"We'll be okay. I brought fire."

It turns out the town and surrounding woods have a dark past, which is directly related to another couple that previous went missing and were never found, which I won’t spoil with elaboration. However, it does explain why (and how) Millie and Tim become literally unable to stay apart (rendered by wonderfully icky make-up effects). The plot is actually pretty simple, but made a little more complex through the couple’s growing estrangement, sometimes exacerbated by their dire predicament.

The film culminates with a wild finale that, considering the protagonists’ relationship, seems inevitable, but comes as sort of a surprise anyway. I guess whether or not it’s a happy ending depends on the viewer’s investment in these characters, though it sure is a haunting one. In a year that’s given us a lot of great, original horror, I wouldn’t rank Together up there with Weapons, Bring Her Back or Sinners, but it’s well worth seeing…probably more than once.

EXTRA KIBBLES

INTERVIEWS  - Individual interviews with writer/director Michael Shanks and Alison Brie & Dave Franco.

ALISON BRIE & DAVE FRANCO’S CODEPENDENCY TEST - The two stars take a quiz together.

TRAILERS

THE X TRILOGY and My Cinephile Friend

THE X TRILOGY Collector’s Edition (Blu-ray)

2022 & 2024 / 312 min (3 movies)

A24 Films

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

I have a cinephile friend who’s really into these movies. We aren’t so close that we regularly exchange gifts during the holidays. But if we were, I’d consider gifting him this nicely packaged Blu-ray boxed set of Ti West’s entire trilogy, even if he already has physical copies of them.

Ultimately, I think it’s releases like The X Trilogy that'll continue keeping physical media alive for those who still treasure it…such as yours truly and obviously you, since you’re reading this. For us, movies aren’t simply disposable entertainment to be consumed and discarded with the click of a remote. The ones we hold near and dear to our hearts are meant to be revisited and appreciated whenever we wish, now matter how much time passes. They’re meant to be proudly displayed on the shelves of our own personal libraries, even if nobody else we know actually cares about such things. 

Collector’s Editions are especially neat because nothing signifies one’s love for a particular movie or franchise like a big boxed set with great new artwork and physical supplements you simply can’t get digitally. That being said, The X Trilogy is obviously intended for people like my cinephile friend. The three films in this collection feature the exactly same Blu-ray transfers as earlier editions, and with the exception of new audio commentaries for each, there are no new bonus features.

Still, this is a really cool set. The outer box is as thick and sturdy as a hardcover book, with a transparent slipcover baring the titles and credits. The discs themselves are stored in a gatefold digipak, and along with it is a 64 page booklet loaded with great artwork inspired by the films (Maxxxine, in particular), as well as stills, concept art, storyboards, costume sketches, faux posters and an essay by Jon Dieringer. The overall package also set features interesting cover art.

Mia steps on a Lego.

As for the movies themselves…while I’m not quite as enamored with them as my cinephile friend, this is still a pretty great trio of horror films, each with their own unique aesthetic and tone (befitting the decades when they take place). The first film, X, is an obvious homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (at least visually), which has a group of young people renting a remote cabin to make a porno, but the old couple who own the place turn out to be murderous psychopaths. Loaded with sex and over-the-top violence, it’s well directed for a slasher film and features a star making performance from Mia Goth as Maxine (she also plays Pearl, the primary antagonist).

While X is a better than average slab of exploitation, Pearl is the trilogy’s highpoint. Trading in cheap & nasty thrills for disturbing psychological horror, this one is actually a prequel with Goth returning to play a younger version of the title character. Once again, director Ti West wears his influences proudly, this time drawing visual inspiration from the likes of The Wizard of Oz and other colorful classics of Hollywood's so-called golden era. With gorgeous production design & cinematography to offset an increasingly malevolent tone - and some extreme gore - this one is damn near a masterpiece. Goth is magnificent and probably should've gotten an Oscar nomination.

A direct sequel to the first film, Maxxxine isn’t quite as compelling, but is certainly a lot of gonzo, gory fun. With 1980s LA as the setting, Maxine (Goth) is a porn star trying to break into mainstream films. However, she’s also being stalked by someone who knows of her past. Concurrently, the notorious serial killer, the Night Stalker, is loose in the city, who may or may not be the same person terrorizing Maxine. There ain’t much subtly here, but the cast and performances are good, as are the spectacularly violent death scenes.

Is this version of The X Trilogy essential? Not really, but since when has that ever dissuaded a collector from sticking a set like this on their shelf? Consider it more of a great looking souvenir for people like my cinephile friend, who will certainly find this to be a worthy addition to his collection.

EXTRA KIBBLES

SUPPLEMENTAL BOOKLET

X

FEATURETTES - That X Factor is a making-of featurette; “The Farmer’s Daughters” is the amusing faux-movie of the porno the group was shooting in the film (minus the porn, of course); Pearl Make-Up Timelapse is a visual of the process turning Mia Goth into the monstrous antagonist.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director of photography Eliot Rockett & production designer Tom Hammock.

TRAILER

PEARL

FEATURETTES - Coming Out of Her Shell: The Making of Pearl; Time After Time focuses on the film’s production design.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By director of photography Eliot Rockett & production designer Tom Hammock.

TRAILER

MAXXXINE

FEATURETTES - The Belly of the Beast is a making-of featurette with interviews with most of the main cast; XXX Marks the Spot; Hollywood is a Killer focuses on the nasty special effects; Q&A with Director Ti West; Deep Dive with Composer Tyler Bates.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By production designer Jason Kisvarday & set decorator Kelsi Ephraim.

2 TRAILERS

THREE and THREE…EXTREMES: Aptly Named Anthologies

THREE & THREE…EXTREMES (Blu-ray)

2002 & 2004 / 254 min (2 movies)

Arrow Video 

Review by Josey, the Sudden Cat🙀

Three…Extremes was released on this side of the pond in the early 2000s, and I was aware of its reputation. More specifically, I was aware that Takashi Miike was one of the directors of this horror anthology. For those unfamiliar, Miike’s prolific career includes Ichi the Killer, Audition and the nastiest episode of Showtime’s Master of Horror series. So nasty, if fact, that Showtime refused to air it, and after later catching it on DVD, I could see why.

He’s a good director, but the films I’ve seen (those above-mentioned titles) wallow in levels depravity and violence that are tough to endure…and I can generally endure a lot. But the violence isn’t just graphic. The context in which it’s inflicted is what makes it so brutal. So, tail between legs, I took a hard pass on Three…Extremes.

But here we are, 20 years later, and Arrow Video has put it out on Blu-ray, along with the first film, 2002’s Three. And guess what…I was today-years-old when I learned the film I was reluctant to watch two decades ago was a sequel. Actually, that might surprise a lot of people, since Three was only released in the U.S. (as Three…Extremes II) after Three…Extremes made waves here. Not that it matters, since they’re anthology films anyway.

Not knowing what to expect, I put on my big-boy pants and dug in, fully prepared to witness stuff I’ll never unsee…

But Three is a surprisingly subdued and deliberately-paced trio of stories by directors from Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong. In fact, the overall tone is similar to what we now might call ‘elevated horror.’ The first tale, “Memories,” features a man who appears concerned about his missing wife. Concurrently, she awakens in the middle of the street with no idea how she got there, then proceeds to make her way home. There are some effective scenes here and there, but most horror fans will see the twist ending coming from a mile away. “The Wheel” deals with a cursed marionette that wreaks havoc on the man who took it for himself after its original owners died. “Going Home,” is about a cop whose young son goes missing. While searching, he’s taken captive by his reclusive neighbor, who is trying to resurrect his dead wife. There’s more plot here than the story really needs, but it’s the best of the three, with an ironic twist and an intriguingly ambiguous denouement.

Overall, Three is longer than it needs to be, with directors Kim Jee-woon, Peter Chan and Nonzee Mimibutr all guilty of a little self-indulgence. But for the most part, it’s visually interesting, with an emphasis on atmosphere over scares and violent thrills. In fact, it’s damn near bloodless.

You won't find these at a food court.

Conversely, Three…Extremes is aptly named. “Dumplings” is Fruit Chan’s sick and twisted tale of a former actress desperate to stay young. She hires the services of a mysterious dumpling maker whose secret to eternal youth is pretty shocking (to say nothing of stomach churning, thanks to some repellant visuals and sound effects)…and the story is just getting started. In Park Chan-wook’s “Cut,” a film director and his wife are held captive and tortured by one of his former extras, who forces him to make some terrible decisions in order to save her. This one is brutal and bloody, marred by a somewhat silly ending. 

The biggest shock is saved for last, with Takashi Miike’s “Box.” But what’s shocking is that this one is not driven by violence and gore. In fact, it’s an exercise in surrealism about a young woman who has spent her life mourning the twin sister she accidentally killed when they were children. Haunting and atmospheric, this one may disappoint those accustomed to Miike’s more bloodthirsty work, but I really enjoyed the director’s emphasis on mood over logic. As the final story, however, it does end the Three…Extremes rather anti-climactically, at least compared to the visceral viciousness of the first two.

These six stories play more like individual films - complete with their own credits - than part of a whole, and the tone is mostly serious (sometimes almost melancholy). As horror anthologies go, they don’t quite deliver the sense of fun that a Creepshow episode might, but are certainly worth checking out, although Three…Extremes is definitely not for the squeamish. In addition to solid 2K restorations of both films, Arrow has included an good batch of new & archival bonus features. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

NOTE: Free Kittens Movie Guide was provided with a promo disc for review purposes. Physical supplemental material included with the final product (booklets, artwork, inserts, etc) were not available for review.

THREE

INTERVIEWS - New and archival individual interviews with “Memories” director Kim Jee-woon, “Memories” cinematographer Hong Kyoung-pyo, “Going Home” director Peter Ho-Sun Chan, “Going Home” actor Eugenia Tuan.

MAKING-OF FEATURETTE

TRAILER

THREE…EXTREMES

INTERVIEWS - New and archival individual interviews with producer Peter Ho-Sun Chan, “Box” director Takashi Miike, “Dumplings” director Fruit Chan, “Dumplings” actor Bai Ling.

MAKING-OF FEATURETTES - One for each film.

2 TRAILERS - Three…Extremes; feature length version of Dumplings.