Neuigkeiten

A little while ago I did an interview with Kane Hodder; in it we discussed a good portion of his out-of-costume acting work: stuff where he doesn’t have a mask on, and such. I brought up his quite good performance in director Michael Feifer’s previous serial killer biopic, Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield. I told him I was looking forward to his and Feifer’s newest collaboration, and a little while later B.T.K. showed up in my mailbox.

You’ve probably noticed the scores I’ve given the film by now. Keep in mind that Hodder’s still the man. His performance as Dennis Rader, the notorious killer on whom the film is based, really elevates the production a great deal, not just in the masterful physicality he exhibits, but in his truly inspired delivery. A lot of the dialogue in B.T.K. is fairly expositional, often telling...

If you have a love of cinema like I once did or if you appreciate competent filmmaking devoid of glaring faults like obvious lights and digital zooms and care about things like composition, acting, writing, direction, costumes, editing, lighting, focus, production values, character development or even the more subjective concepts of heart and decency, I implore you, for the sake of maintaining these invaluable passions, don’t see this film.

I simply cannot begin to describe the ineptitude director Ulli Lommel exhibits. From its opening frames Basline Killer is a soulless, horrid excuse of a film. This is coming from a guy who loves digital photography and Mumblecore. It’s best not even to describe everything that’s wrong with it in detail - it can't be done. I once wrote an 1,800 word diatribe about the Wicker Man remake detailing everything that was wrong with it. I called it the...

• Dark Sky Films gave Fango the scoop on the DVDetails for Plague Town, its first in-house production. The grisly killer-kids flick hits disc May 12.

Directed by DVD documentaries veteran David Gregory from a script he wrote with John Cregan, Plague Town is set in an Irish village where a family of stranded vacationers are terrorized by deformed children. The special features include:

• Audio commentary by Gregory • A Visit to Plague Town making-of featurette • The Sound of Plague Town featurette • Trailer

Retail price is $24.98. The movie will also hit more big screens (and our March Chicago and April La Fango cons) prior to disc; we’ll have that info shortly. See the official website here and read our set-visit report in Fango #281, on sale this month.

• E1 Entertainment, formerly Koch Entertainment, gave Fango the word that it will distribute Critical Mass’ DVDs of Maurice Devereaux’s End Of The Line and...

Barry Barnholtz of Barnholtz Entertainment has formed a new company, North American Motion Pictures, to produce and release movies for the DVD market. Its first horror title will be Dark Reel, which streets March 10.

Directed by Josh Eisenstadt from a script by Aaron (Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders) Pope, Dark Reel stars genre vets Edward Furlong, Lance Henriksen, Tiffany Shepis, Tony Todd, Alexandra (Dead End) Holden, Mercedes (Buffy/Angel) McNab and FX legend Rick Baker in the story of a B-movie set stalked by a serial killer. The disc will present the movie in 16x9-enhanced widescreen with 5.1 Surround and 2.0 stereo soundtracks, plus:

• Audio commentary by Eisenstadt • Audio commentary by the cast and crew • Deleted scenes with optional Eisenstadt commentary • The Making of Gnome Killer 2 featurette • Still gallery • Trailer

Retail price is $26.99; there will also be a Blu-ray, which at the moment is only being made available to stores free...

Barry Barnholtz of Barnholtz Entertainment has formed a new company, North American Motion Pictures, to produce and release movies for the DVD market. Its first horror title will be Dark Reel, which streets March 10.

Directed by Josh Eisenstadt from a script by Aaron (Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders) Pope, Dark Reel stars genre vets Edward Furlong, Lance Henriksen, Tiffany Shepis, Tony Todd, Alexandra (Dead End) Holden, Mercedes (Buffy/Angel) McNab and FX legend Rick Baker in the story of a B-movie set stalked by a serial killer. The disc will present the movie in 16x9-enhanced widescreen with 5.1 Surround and 2.0 stereo soundtracks, plus:

• Audio commentary by Eisenstadt • Audio commentary by the cast and crew • Deleted scenes with optional Eisenstadt commentary • The Making of Gnome Killer 2 featurette • Still gallery • Trailer

Retail price is $26.99; there will also be a Blu-ray, which at the moment is only being made available to stores free...