I don’t think you could have 2 movies hitting theaters that are so DIFFERENT from each other than what we have hitting this week: D-WAR and EASTERN PROMISES. Both look like fun to me, but in different ways, of course… It’s finally here on DVD, Stuart Gordon’s FROM BEYOND! Plus, a double feature of TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR, the Collector’s Edition of THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD(!), and SCARECROWS, which I know nothing about, except I dug the tagline. Lots of stuff out this week, I dare ya to dry and keep up!
DRAGON WARS
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and creature action.
Directed by Hyung-rae Shim
Starring Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks, Robert Forster
Run Time: 1 hr. 40 min.
A beautiful young woman possesses the power to transform a legendary giant serpent into an almighty dragon who can only ascend into heaven with the woman’s ultimate sacrifice. But the forces of darkness are out to claim the young woman as their own and her reincarnated lover and his aged mentor stand in their way.
EASTERN PROMISES
Rated R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, language and nudity.
Directed by David Cronenberg
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel
Run Time: 1 hr. 40 min.
The mysterious and ruthless Nikolai is tied to one of London’s most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna, an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. Now Nikolai must put into motion a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution.
FROM BEYOND (UNRATED DIRECTOR’S CUT
Rated: UnRated
Starring Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Run Time: 85 Min.
Scientists create a resonator to stimulate the pineal gland (sixth sense), and open up a door to a parallel (and hostile) universe.
SCARECROWS
Rated: R
Starring Ted Vernon
Directed by William Wesley
Five men heist the Camp Pendleton payroll and kidnap a pilot and his daughter, who are forced to fly them to Mexico. Enroute a double cross has one of the thieves parachute with the loot into an abandoned graveyard surrounded by strange scarecrows. The rest of the team jump after their loot and their former partner. Everything happens during the course of one very dark night.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT/ VAULT OF HORROR
Rated: PG / R
Directed by Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis
Starring Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Roy Dotrice
Run Time: 175 min.
TALES FROM THE CRYPT: Five people are trapped in a crypt and are shown their futures by the evil cryptkeeper. They are given the option of avoiding their fates – by avoiding living out the rest of their lives.
VAULT OF HORROR: Five men trapped in the basement vault of an office building share visions with each other of their demise. Stories revolve around vampires, bodily dismemberment, east Indian mysticism, an insurance scam, and an artist who kills by painting his victims’ deaths.
THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (COLLECTOR’S EDITION)
Rated: R
Directed by Dan O’Bannon
Starring Robert J. Bennett, David Bond, Don Calfa
Run Time: 114 Minutes
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the cemetery’ those brain-eating zombies are back and hungry for more tasty mortals. A fiendish mix of outrageous humor and heart-stopping terror, The Return of the Living Dead is a veritable smorgasbord of fun (LA Herald-Examiner) filled with skin-crawling jolts, eye-popping visuals and relentless surprise! On his first day on the job at an army surplus store, poor Freddy unwittingly releases nerve gas from a secret U.S. military canister, unleashing an unbelievable terror. The gas re-animates a corps of corpses, who arise from their graves with a ravenous hunger for human brains! And luckily for those carnivorous cadavers, there is a group of partying teens nearby, just waiting to be eaten!