VFW (2019) Blu-ray Review

VFW (2019) d. Joe Begos (USA) (92 min)

After attempting to stretch with his modern vampire flick Bliss, Begos crashes back to earth, seemingly content in being the worst kind of Tarantino imitator, i.e. interested only in serving up “tributes” of established tropes and subgenres under his own byline. Having done body snatcher (Almost Human) and psychokinetic (The Mind’s Eye) flicks, he now offers up a siege film (Assault on Precinct 13 is the obvious model and, yes, I know that John Carpenter was himself riffing off Rio Bravo, thank you very much) combined with Stallone’s The Expendables series by hiring over-the-hill cult actors (Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove, Daniel Patrick Kelly, George Wendt, Fred Williamson) to play a group of retired soldiers defending their local watering hole from a horde of strung-out (and wildly ineffectual) druggies.

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972) Blu-ray Review

The Last House on the Left (1972) d. Wes Craven (USA)

Groundbreaking offering from the nascent producing/directing team of Sean S. Cunningham and Wes Craven borrows the elemental plotline of Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, then marinates it with brutality and shocking discomfort the likes of which moviegoing audiences had never witnessed before. While attempting to score some pot en route to a rock concert, two teenage girls (Sandra Peabody aka Sandra Cassel and Lucy Grantham) are kidnapped, raped, and murdered by a “family” of ex-cons. Then, in an ironic twist of fate, the killers’ car breaks down, forcing them to take refuge in the home of one of the dead girl’s parents (Richard Towers aka Gaylord St. James and Cynthia Carr) … who soon learn the truth about their new guests.