Fool's Views (6/1 – 6/30)

As we reached the halfway point of 2015, all the good things started coming in twos. Primarily in the form of Shout! Factory’s double dose of double features (already having graced fans with the “animals attack” quartet of The Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Frogs, and Jaws of Satan, as well as the Carrie and Ghoulies two-fers). Not to be outdone, Arrow decided to lay the entire five-film Stray Cat Rock series on us, while a newly resuscitated Artsploitation served up Horsehead, House of 100 Eyes, and Der Samurai in one fell swoop.

In short, there was no rest for the wicked, and it was all we could do to keep up with things, considering we were then juggling Mockingbird performances and an ever-increasing class load in pursuit of my NASM personal training certification. Stamina was definitely the order of the day, with few opportunities to watch anything that wasn’t “assigned.”

The upside to this requisite reviewing is that I get to cut down on the apologizing for this particular installment (although we did finally make time to watch yet another double feature loaned to us back in November by Indy blood brother Craig J. Clark – the only two flicks that I didn’t review… because I didn’t have to).

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

AC deals with laptop issues in his usual calm, discreet manner.

DER SAMURAI (2014) Blu-ray Review

Der Samurai (2014) d.Till Kleinert (Germany)

Police officer Jakob (Michel Diercks) feels trapped in the small rural village he reluctantly calls home. Nights are spent playing cards with his dementia-affected grandmother, days are spent patrolling the sleepy burg where he commands no respect from the local troublemakers. His only duty of personal significance consists of carting bags of meat out to the woods in an attempt to keep a newly reported wolf from drifting too close to town. He’s also a deeply, deeply closeted homosexual, so mortified at the potential disapproval of the locals that he lives in a perpetual state of social catatonia. The arrival of a mysterious package at the police station – and a subsequent phone call from its owner – sends Jakob in pursuit of a flamboyant, well-muscled transvestite psychopath (Pit Bukowski), the mirror image of the young lawman’s isolated existence, an existence that will likely never survive the night.