evilontwolegs.com » Commentary Tracks

Jennifer’s Body Debate on Dead Wrong Podcast

Corey — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:17:40 +0000

friend of the site, fellow blogger, horrorsquad contributor, highly opinionated goofball and all-around nice guy brad mchargue runs a horror film podcast called dead wrong!. each episode is recorded as a commentary track to a particular horror film, with brad debating the merits of the film with someone of a contrary opinion. past episodes have covered DAWN OF THE DEAD, INSIDE, DOG SOLDIERS, and THE DESCENT — but recently i was invited to participate in a debate covering diablo cody’s recent foray into the horror genre, JENNIFER’S BODY.

those who frequent this site may recall that i named JENNIFER’S BODY my favorite horror film of 2009, so it should come as no surprise that brad is taking the “JENNIFER’S BODY makes me want to a punch a baby in the face” stance, while i attempt to defend it. the movie. not the baby. although, i would, if there were an actual baby. i think it’s metaphorical. anyway — you can hear the episode at ilovehorror.net, horrorsquad or, better yet, subscribe to the entire podcast through itunes (go to advanced/subscribe to podcast).

dead wrong! podcast feed:
http://www.ilovehorror.net/feed/podcast

you could also just download the episode or listen to it below.

The Best of Twilight Rifftrax

Corey — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:37:01 +0000

buy the twilight commentary track at rifftrax.com/rifftrax/twilight

More Horror on Blu-ray

Corey — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:58:24 +0000

let the right one in
the uk edition of let the right one in is my favorite of my horror blu-ray purchases. the dvd copy i own has the non-theatrical (read: crappy) subtitles, and all blu-ray releases in this region are the same for the moment. i took a chance and ordered the uk version from amazon and was delighted to find out it was region free. (on a related note, if anyone has a region-free player and wants a copy of silent hill on blu-ray meant for region b, let me know). additionally, this is the only release of the film to include an english language commentary track. it features the writer and director and is well worth the small extra cost to have the blu-ray imported. you can find this version from several online retailers, but here’s the amazon link i ordered from.

friday the 13th 3-d
while the 3rd installment of the friday the 13th franchise blu-ray features no extra features over its dvd counter-part, i find it well worth the purchase for the bump-up in quality of the 3d experience. be warned though — while superior to the dvd, this is still an older 3d process film and doesn’t hold up terribly well on dvd or blu-ray, particularly in day shots and when approaching the extremes of depth. still, this is the best 3d version of the film you’re likely to see apart from a screening at your local art house theater.

cloverfield
godzilla in new york shot cinéma vérité style? count me in. despite my co-writer jon’s insistence this was just an over-hyped piece of nonsense with nothing but annoying characters… i love it. the blu-ray version features an exclusive ‘special investigation mode’ which places a government interface around the film which shows you bits of info relevant to the scene you’re watching as well as the current location of the military, the film’s main characters and the ‘clover’ beastie in relation to each other on a nifty map of manhattan.

the x-files: i want to believe
the simple fact that the latest x-files movie had 0% to do with the black oil/alien invasion/magic bee plot which never made a damn bit of sense made me like it instantly. the fact that the blu-ray version of the film features a picture-in-picture commentary from chris carter and co-writer frank spotnitz and an interactive timeline covering the entire x-files history makes me like it as well.

planet terror
watching a film that was purposely made to look like crap in hd may seem pointless, but i love this disk. as ironic as it may be, all the the scratches, dust and aging have never looked as clear on planet terror as they do on blu-ray. this disk has all the special features of the dvd release, as well as a special scratch-free version of the film ‘just discovered from a thought-lost negative.’ an interesting and curious feature, but the film is probably best viewed as it was intended – beautifully flawed.

death proof
i actually prefer death proof over planet terror, but i think i’m in the minority there — in any case, they’re both beautiful films. there are no special features on this disk not included on the dvd release, but if you’re going to own planet terror on blu-ray… then you better damn well own death proof. it’s the law.

halloween (1978)
halloween is my favorite film of all time, so i am powerless not to purchase it anytime it’s released in a new version, format, or with new holographic cover art. the blu-ray version does feature a new ‘trivia track’ which features little pop-up-video-esque factoids, most of which you’ll already know. halloween is really best enjoyed grainy and dark, which makes me feel weird about buying it in hd… but if i squint real hard and push the brightness way down on my tv, it looks just like my old vhs, which is really how the film should be experienced.

halloween (2007)
apart from the original halloween and the evil dead series, i can’t think of another horror film to have more pointless re-releases and multiple versions than rob zombie’s amateur-piece, halloween. still, there are things to enjoy in this film, and this is definitely the version to own if you’re going to have one. the picture is beautiful and all the special features are here, including the commentary track and the four and a half hour long (!) making-of documentary. watch this in beautiful hd to get yourself prepared to be moderately disappointed all over again when h2 hits theaters on august 28th.

Horror on Blu-Ray

Corey — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:59:13 +0000

i recently got married (yay, me!) and, in addition to several kitchen appliances and place settings, as a wedding gift we received a super fancy blu-ray player. i didn’t know much about the format when the gift arrived, but as it turns out, several blu-ray disks offer features absent from their dvd releases (apart from the obvious bump up in picture and sound quality). rather predictably, i’ve spent the last few weeks researching and purchasing the best that the format has to offer in the horror genre, and i thought i’d share a few of the ‘must-have’ blu-ray disks that i’ve found.

friday the 13th (2009)
the friday remake has polarized horror fans, but love it or hate it — this blu-ray is definitely worth having. in addition to the features present on the dvd, it has several blu-ray exclusives, including two featurettes (one on the history of the series and another that examines each of the film’s best kills in-depth) and a bd-live sneak preview of trick ‘r’ treat. the star of the disk, however, is the mis-named ‘trivia track’ which is actually a full-length picture-in-picture commentary featuring interviews with cast and crew and alternate versions of scenes (including the scene where jason gets his mask). i’m personally a fan of the remake, but i came to appreciate it even more after watching this track.

my bloody valentine 3d
the only blu-ray exclusive feature worth mentioning on mbv 3d is ‘molog’, which allows users to create their own visual blog entries that others can view during the film. i can’t say i was overly impressed with this feature as i didn’t see many such entries online, but that was a while ago and perhaps things have changed. what i am impressed with, however, is the 3d on this disk. while still not the same as the theatrical experience, the 3d present on this blu-ray release is far superior to that of the dvd, likely due to the resolution and clarity hd offers. at least for the moment, this is the best 3d experience one can have at home.

constantine
while a bastardization in many ways of the comic it’s based on (hellblazer), i still enjoy many aspects of constantine (alas, keanu is not one of them). this blu-ray version features all the extras of the special edition dvd release plus an additional picture-in-picture commentary track that delves into the history of the project and why john constantine ended up being portrayed as he is. similar to the friday remake, this commentary is interesting if you’re a fan of the source material, even if you’re not of the film itself.

the thing
the thing is definitely worth owning just to see in hd, but the blu-ray also includes a picture-in-picture commentary. most of the material contained in it is from the ‘terror takes shape’ documentary you can see elsewhere, but seeing pieces of it spliced along-side the film is definitely worth watching even if you’ve seen the doc before.

dawn of the dead (2004)
dawn of the dead is one of the few recent remakes to live up to its source material. the dvd release was loaded with extra features, but the blu-ray goes one step further by including a behind-the-scene/documentary style picture-in-picture commentary track that goes further into the making of the film.

land of the dead
similar to the dawn of the dead disk, land of the dead also features a picture-in-picture commentary track comprised mostly of behind-the-scenes footage. in addition to the typical interviews you’d imagine, it also includes john leguizamo leading a set tour where he and dennis hopper inform a pa that they don’t feel like working and are just going to dick around for a while.

the descent
the next-gen edition of the descent can be watched in one of three ways — the r-rated version, the unrated, or ‘the underground experience.’ the latter is another excellent picture-in-picture commentary track featuring just about every cast and crew member you can think of and does an excellent job of covering the film from conception to completion.

return to the house on haunted hill
while not a great film by any means, return to the house on haunted hill does feature one of the most unique uses of blu-ray technology seen thus far. the film is cheesy and filled with expendable characters, which fits perfectly with the choose-your-own-adventure-esque ‘watch the movie your way’ mode exclusive to the blu-ray edition. at pivotal moments in the plot, you’re given control of the characters actions and can influence the way the story plays out. with 96 possible permutations, it will be a while before i’ve seen every possible version of rtthohh.

MST3k Does Horror

Corey — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:53:00 +0000

i’ve been a die-hard mystery science theater 3000 fan since the early 90s, and i was deeply saddened when the show ended in 1999. i always thought i’d be fantastic if there was some way for the mst3k crew to do modern, big-budget films instead of the low-budget and mostly unknown films they were forced to do on television, but something like that ever happening seemed impossible. well, fast-forward a few years, toss in advances in the interwebs and the invention of ipods, and voila– rifftrax is born.

starring most of the original mst3k crew (most notably mike nelson, bill corbett and kevin murphy) and the occasional special guest star (e.g., weird al), rifftrax are podcasts you download and play along-side your favorite films (using your ipod or their specialized dvd player… or you could burn them to a dvd if you have a little video editing skill). so far they’ve covered dozens of hollywood films including the entire star wars prequel trilogy, the first two lord of the rings films and harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone. it’s not all pg-13 fare though, as they’ve often wandered into the horror end of the genre pool as well.

below i’ve listed the major horror episodes released thus far. those featuring only one participant (e.g., house of wax and dark water) are usually a little less fun to listen to than those with two or three, but they’re all worth a listen. my favorites include halloween, saw and the grudge. i’m hoping for some of the halloween sequels or a friday the 13th rifftrax to be released this halloween.

DVD Commentary Tracks That Don’t Suck

Corey — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:42:47 +0000

i love dvd commentaries. my decision to buy a dvd is often based simply on whether there’s a commentary track… largely because even if the film sucks (as most of the ones i buy do), the commentary might still be interesting. in fact, the worse the movie the better as there’s few things better than hearing filmmakers discuss the process of making a truly horrible film. hearing william friedkin babble on about the exorcist might be educational in some respects, but mostly it’s just sleep-inducing. hearing what made someone think that making rock-n-roll nightmare was a good idea or who was sleeping with who on the set of jeepers creepers 2… now that’s fascinating. in order to maximize the utility of your netflix queue, i offer the following suggestions for those seeking worthwhile horror dvd commentaries.

the thing

this was the first dvd i ever bought and (with the exception of an evil dead commentary bizarrely released on vhs), the first commentary track i ever heard. it remains one of my favorites, and not just for nostalgic reasons. john carpenter’s films vary in quality, but his enthusiasm for the creative process is infectious regardless of the film. here he’s joined with his obviously close friend kurt russell. when speaking about the film they discuss how difficult it was obtaining beer at the set, how far wilford brimley was from those quaker oats commercials and ask difficult questions about the film’s premise (e.g., would a person taken over by ‘the thing’ know it?). most often though they roam off topic and seem to forget where they are, going so far as to start discussing how their kid’s little league teams are doing before realizing that this really isn’t a private conversation. what results is a candid, funny and honest commentary track by two close friends for one of the greatest horror/sci-fi films ever.

return of the living dead 3

this under-appreciated zombie version of romeo & juliet actually has two tracks (one with the director, one with the lead actress and effects guy), but the one worth listening to is the latter featuring actress mindy clarke and special effects supervisor tom rainone. they’re both lively and entertaining people and their stories are funny, but the interplay between them is the highlight of the track. its obvious tom is flirting with mindy heavily and attempting to impress her with arcane knowledge of military trucks and weaponry. his flirting gets worse as time goes on as he seems to have a flask of ‘jack daniels’ with him and mindy’s remarks mentioning her husband/children seem to go unnoticed. its never enough to halt the conversation or make mindy overly uncomfortable, but its quite enjoyable to witness never-the-less.

sleepaway camp

this film is often remembered for its unexpected revealing of the killer and unrealistic death sequences. the commentary features the director, leading actress felissa rose (14 years old during the film, 36 during the commentary), and the webmaster of the sleepaway camp fansite. the latter’s love for the film is apparent, and he does a good job of mediating the commentary without stepping all over it. interesting bits include hearing felissa discuss her experiences as a teenager on a movie set and the crush she had on her co-star (and the drama that subsequently ensued).

bare wench 2: book of babes

jim wynorski is one of my favorite directors for two reasons — first, he makes horrible horror films with an unabashed love of the genre and no apparent desire to move beyond ultra low-budget restraints. second, he almost always does a commentary track. this particular one also features nikki fritz, and jim spends a ridiculous amount of time discussing her newly purchased breasts (i.e., “nikki fritz and her brand new…”). his films may be self indulgent and lacking in craftmanship, but its obvious from every frame that all he cares about is having fun while making them while turning a small profit. if you want to learn about making modern low-budget exploitation flicks… this isn’t a horrible place to start.

cheerleader massacre

another jim wynorski jiggle-fest. here the commentary features jim and actress gigi erneta. jim says he wanted to make a slasher film like it was 1982 again… unfortunately, i’m not sure he really remembers what those films were like. friday the 13th didn’t have a lot of breasts covered in chocolate syrup as far as i remember. it also didn’t have a laughable CGI decapitation… but this film gives you both. one of the more interesting tidbits of behind-the-scenes gossip is jim discovering ½ way through shooting that one of the leads was a hardcore porn star. there’s also quite a few times when jim lets people’s real names slip who clearly didn’t wish to be mentioned. the film is entertaining despite failing to emulate the tone of a traditional slasher and, truth be told, i’m not convinced that was ever really the goal anyway.

house of the dead

oh, uwe boll, how i love you. this was my first boll picture, and it won’t be my last. his complete incompetence is impossible to turn away from and, like ed wood jr. before him, he possesses that rate talent of making something so bad it’s good. in this track he rambles on about what kind of coffee he likes and embarrasses his fellow commentators with personal stories such as mentioning that one of the actors (present in the commentary) hooked up with and was subsequently dumped by one of the actresses in the movie. hearing uwe defend his use of crappy, lo-res dreamcast video game footage in a feature length film alone is worth owning this disc, but producer mark altman (‘free enterprise’) also does a separate track. mark is far more intelligent than the german director, and this track is actually rather enlightening. both tracks should be commended for being one of the rare times where people actually say what they think. it’s obvious mark isn’t very fond of how the film turned out and uwe doesn’t pull any punches when discussing his critics or defending his own creative vision.

urban legend

urban legend is one of the better slasher films cranked out after scream hit it big, but it never quite lives up to the quality of its premise. still, the commentary is definitely worth a listen. the cast and crew obviously know exactly what they were making and had a lot of fun doing it. expect to hear many self-deprecating observations about how ludicrous some of the plot holes and situations are… such as the red herring involving someone wearing a snow parka to an indoor swimming pool.

resident evil

ah… i saved the best for last. for some reason this track just never gets old. paul anderson (director), jeremy bolt (producer), milla jovovich (star) and michelle rodriguez (co-star) make for an interesting combo of unintentional wackiness and sexual tension. paul’s ego fills up the room, as does jeremy’s obvious infatuation with the two women in his proximity. the primary fun comes from milla and michelle, however. you get the distinct impression these are 12 year old girls trapped in 25 year old bodies. milla makes quite a few fart jokes, but it turns out she’s far and away the more intelligent of the two females. two sections of the commentary featuring michelle require special attention.

1. at one point michelle mentions a crematorium. quickly realizing that michelle isn’t entirely sure what that is, milla tells her that it’s the place where you make milk. michelle completely believes this and continues… then you can hear milla giggling and say “oh my god” to the males in the room while michelle finishes with her story, oblivious.

2. michelle decides to get intellectual and goes on a diatribe about what this movie is “really about.” it’s not a “zombie movie” she says… it’s actually clearly about 3 things… the dangers of genealogy, biohazardous research and metamorphoses. i have no idea what any of that means in terms of this movie… but i’m pretty sure resident evil had more to do with zombies than medical waste, caterpillars or how dangerous looking into your family tree can be.