THE LAST WINTER (2006) Blu-ray Review

The Last Winter (2006) d. Larry Fessenden (USA)

An unscrupulous American oil company, hell-bent on drilling into the fragile Alaskan tundra, hires renowned environmentalist James Hoffman (James LeGros) to supervise and (hopefully) endorse their efforts. When the "greenie" takes a little long for comfort and profit margins (due to increasingly erratic temperature fluctuations), company man Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) is dispatched to expedite matters, specifically to get the ice roads approved so that heavy equipment can be brought in. Camp leader Abby Sellers (Connie Britton) is caught in the middle, involved in a romance with Hoffman but intent on getting the project up and running. Just as the imminent war of wills begins its opening salvos, a supernatural presence begins to exert itself over the health and sanity of the various skeleton crew members on site, including resident mechanic Motor (Kevin Corrigan), Pollack's nephew Maxwell (Zach Gilford), cook Joanne (Dawn Russell), go-to guy Lee (Pato Hoffmann), and tech assistant Elliot (Jamie Harrold). Is Nature rebelling against its most potent enemy at long last?

LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY'S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (2014) Blu-ray Review

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014) d. David Gregory (USA)

Having heard enough disastrous reports about 1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau, I successfully avoided watching it for nearly a decade. After all, there were enough GOOD horror movies that I still hadn’t seen; why would I want to waste my time sitting through the bombs? But eventually my curiosity – or more accurately, my insufferable completism – led me to Blockbuster one sweltering summer day to experience the cinematic trainwreck firsthand. Below is my 2004 capsule review:

THE LAST WINTER (2006) movie review

EDIT 11/12/2015: CLICK HERE FOR FULL BLU-RAY REVIEW

Last Winter, The (2006) d. Larry Fessenden (USA)

Via his breakthrough films, Habit and Wendigo, NYC indie director Larry Fessenden fashioned multi-layered characters dealing with supernatural situations...subtly informing viewers what we’re really scared of. In his largest scale effort to date, he approaches a much broader and overtly political canvas (that of global warming).  Unfortunately, by placing the fate of the Earth itself center stage, his usually reliable storytelling techniques lose some of their potency.

SEASON OF THE WITCH (2011) movie review

Season of the Witch (2011) d. Sena, Dominic

High profile B-movie starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman as two wisecracking thrill-killing 14th-century Knights Templar who suffer a crisis of confidence after offing one innocent victim too many and desert, only to be captured and pressed into duty transporting a young witch to a remote abbey in the hopes of ending the Black Plague.