Horror

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
  • IMDB: link

“Whatever you do, don’t eat the fucking candy.”

hansel-and-gretel-witch-hunters-posterHansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters offers audiences the further adventures of Hansel (Jeremy Renner) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton), the young brother and sister first introduced by the Brothers Grimm 200 years ago. After a brief retelling of the classic fairy tale (with one or two important tweaks) in which the young children fight off and kill a powerful witch living in a candy house in the woods, we catch up years later with our hero and heroine after they have become the world’s most famous witch hunters.

The plot by Tommy Wirkola (who also directs) and Dante Harper isn’t all that imaginative as Hansel and Gretel are pitted against a grand witch (Famke Janssen) with plans to use the rare event of a Blood Moon to make her coven invincible. What makes the film work, often in spite of itself, is its sense of humor and constant awareness of what it is. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is dumb fun embracing the ridiculous with witches more than a little reminiscent of Deadites and a pair of likable heroes that get knocked around repeatedly over the course of the film. It’s a film about life and death that never takes either all that seriously.

…

Hansel & Gretel: Witch HuntersRead More »

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Read More »

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #17

/ / Comics

Buffy Summers‘ world gets even more complicated by the arrival of Illyria who uses her mostly restored powers to rip the Slayer from her battle with zompires (forcing Billy and Detective Dowling to make do on their own) and transporting Buffy to a gathering of magical beings.

As Buffy meets with a council of magically-imbued creatures trapped in this dimension (including D’Hoffryn), Billy’s faith in his new profession is shaken, Dowling is almost killed, and back at home Xander‘s anger is out of control and Dawn is felled by some unseen force.

Unaware of what is happening with her friends, Buffy agrees to help the council stop Severin whose power continues to grow. She even accepts the help of Illyria and Koh, neither of whom Buffy is sure she can trust as the powerful threesome walk right into Severin’s trap.

A good issue and I’m happy to see Illyria, although her account of her recent activities does seem to contradict Angel After the Fall. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #17 Read More »

Fatale #11

/ / Comics

fatale-11-coverRather than start a new arc, the latest issue of Fatale offers up a single issue devoted to an experience from Josephine‘s past on the run in 1930’s California during her early days dealing with her curse.

Still unable to control her effect on men, Josephine’s journey forces her to seek out author Arthur Ravenscoft whose horror pulp story rings a little too familiar with our protagonist. In that empty old house Ravennscoft shares his own experiences with the cult and shows Josephine something which will make her flee his home in terror.

The one-off works well not only giving us more of a glimpse into Josephine’s past (and how the early days of the curse nearly destroyed her and any man who came into her path) but as an isolated horror story as well. We’re also introduced to a police man who had the unfortunate luck to encounter Josephine and become trapped under her spell so completely that her disappearance leaves him despondent with only one one way out. Worth a look.

[Image, $3.50]

Fatale #11 Read More »

Frankenweenie

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Frankenweenie
  • IMDB: link

frankenweenie-blu-ray-dvdTim Burton goes back to the well again with Frankenweenie, a remake of his short film and obvious parody of Frankenstein. Set in the town of New Holland, our story centers around social outcast Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) who sets his genius to bringing his dog Sparky back to life after he is hit by a car.

What follows are the misadventures of Victor, Sparky, and Victor’s various classmates who use his knowledge to bring back other pets from the grave in an attempt to win the school science fair. The film also throws in a preteen love story between Victor and the equally socially awkward Elsa van Helsing (Winona Ryder).

Burton has some fun in casting old friends, particularly with Martin Landau as the school’s science teacher who is attacked after the town discovers what Victor used “science” to do.

…

FrankenweenieRead More »

Frankenweenie Read More »

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #16

/ / Comics

btvs-season-nine-16-coverAfter Jane Espenson‘s two-part story Season Nine returns its focus to Buffy Summers taking on Zompires on the streets of San Fransicso, although it looks like the character of Billy will be sticking around for the foreseeable future and may have a larger role this season than I’d like.

Even with the addition of Billy, and the continued absence of Willow, things get back to normal as our slayer gets her love interest for the season, finds out some zompires are more powerful than others, and gets a surprise when a Whedon favorite makes her first appearance in Season Nine.

Honestly, the Billy storyline curtailed my interest in the season by quite a bit. However, flipping through the comic and seeing the introduction of (the still magically-imbued) Illyria into the new arc was enough for me to pick this one up and stick around to see where things go from here. Worth a look.

[Dark Horse, $2.99]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #16 Read More »