THE LAWNMOWER MAN (1992) Blu-ray Review

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Total Movies Watched: 14
Total First Time Views: 7
Amount raised for BOXVILLE: $998.48

The Lawnmower Man (1992) d. Brett Leonard (UK/USA) (108 min) (2nd viewing)

Dr. Lawrence Angelo (Pierce Brosnan) is a brilliant scientist obsessed with perfecting virtual reality software. When his experiments on animals fail, he finds the ideal substitute: Jobe Smith (Jeff Fahey), a slow-witted gardener. Dr. Angelo's goal is to benefit his human guinea pig and ultimately mankind itself, but evil lurks the guise of "the Shop," a shadowy group that seeks to use the technology to create an invincible war machine. When the experiments change the simple Jobe into a superhuman being, the stage is set for a Jekyll-and-Hyde struggle for the control of Jobe's mind and the future of the world.

10 TO MIDNIGHT (1983) Blu-ray Release!!

10 to Midnight (1983) d. J. Lee Thompson (USA) (102 min)

Charles Bronson plays Leo Kessler, a cynical Los Angeles cop on the trail of Warren Stacy (Gene Davis), a homicidal maniac who turns rejection from beautiful women into the ultimate revenge. When the legal system sets Stacy free, Kessler plants evidence to put him behind bars for good. But Kessler's plan backfires, leaving him with only one option: to hunt down Stacy on his own before the crazed killer can strike again!

NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984) DVD/Blu-ray Review

Night of the Comet (1984) d. Thom Eberhardt (USA)

The good doctor grew up in a house devoid of cable (or even much in the way of network television), so many of the nostalgia items that make up many of my fellow genre fans’ ’80s pop culture bedrock were not available to me, at least not in the heavy rotation kind of way. Such was the case with writer/director Eberhardt’s cult classic Night of the Comet, which I only encountered decades later via MGM’s bare bones DVD release. While I wasn’t displeased, the “Valley Girls meet the Apocalypse” saga didn’t instantly burrow its way into my heart, in spite of the terrific offbeat cast of Catherine Mary Stuart (The Last Starfighter), Kelli Maroney (Chopping Mall), Robert Beltram (Eating Rauol), Geoffrey Lewis (Every Which Way But Loose) and Mary Woronov (Death Race 2000, among many others). However, after recently gorging myself on Shout! Factory’s Collector’s Edition BR/DVD combo release of the film, stuffed to bursting with special features that genuinely live up to the name, I can definitely say that I’ve been won over in a big, big way.

TRILOGY OF TERROR II (1996) movie review

Trilogy of Terror II (1996) d. Dan Curtis (USA)

After terrorizing a generation in the 70s with his spooky television output, producer/director Curtis revisited his roots first via a reboot of his cult soap opera Dark Shadows in 1991, followed by this sequel to the celebrated 1975 anthology TV-movie starring Karen Black. In the original version, Black played the lead character in all three segments; here, Lysette Anthony (who had played Shadows’ Angelique for Curtis) takes up the mantle, switching up hairstyles and accents for a trio of enjoyable horror yarns that very nearly match the entertainment value of its predecessor.