The Song of Solomon blu-ray + Extras (2018: Unearthed Films)

 It's been a hot minute, but Saturday Screamers are back with the blu-ray release of The Song of Solomon!  Thanks to Unearthed Films and MVD for hooking us up with this disc for review.

When I first opened the plain manilla envelope and pulled this case out I got super psyched on that cover image.  How could you not?  A bloody priest straddling the body of a possessed women?  Sign me the fuck up!  Now the question is, does The Song of Solomon live up to the hype on the box?

Considered part of "The American Guinea Pig" films, The Song of Solomon focuses on the possession of a woman named Mary and the pending birth of the Antichrist.  Not too far into the film we find that the church is sending in exorcists less to remove the demon from Mary but more so to assist the coming evil.  The church spokesperson explains that once the Antichrist is born, then Christ will return seven years later.  So I guess they're looking at it as a "the ends justify the means" situation.

I really like the general plot of this film.  Maybe it's too many horror movies and black metal, but I can have that moment of "sure, the church could do something like that."  I found myself wanting more from of this story though.  Each exorcist is armed with some sort of Castlevania sounding holy relic but none of them really lead to anything.  Aside from her name, why is Mary chosen?  Why are each of these specific exorcists chosen?  The whole story is secondary to gore and mayhem, and this movie is like a Gwar concert turned up to 11 in that aspect.

Don't get me wrong, I love good practical effects, but this film is really an effects portfolio that just happens to have a plot around it.  Everything looks great but the shock and excitement get lost after the first few gallons of blood and each scene with an appliance goes on forever.  This film could've lobbed off a half hour just by editing down stuff like the priest yelling with his eyeballs in his hands.  Even the "behind the scenes" feature is just them laying out effects shots, making appliances for the shots, testing the appliances, and then shooting the scenes.  I get it!  The shit looked great but I shot my load over 20 minutes ago and I need some recuperation time before I'm ready again.

Despite that paragraph of complaining I will most likely watch The Song of Solomon again.  I think that this is the kind of movie you put on when you have someone over that thinks that since they've seen all 900 Saw films they can handle some crazy shit.  Then you put this crazy shit on and they apologize profusely for ever thinking they knew shit about dick.

EXTRAS:

I covered the Behind the Scenes above and there really isn't much more to add to that.  We do get a series of interviews with the actress that played Mary, the writer/director, and a few other people.  I watched those initial two interviews to get some insight but they were loosely structured and weren't what I was expecting.  This isn't to say that I didn't gleen some info from them, I just found it a bit hard to watch directly after having just finished The Song of Solomon.  I do plan to go back and finish the others and check out the commentary tracks as well.

Thanks again to Unearthed Films and MVD for this blu-ray.  If you're interested in picking up a copy for yourself you can pick it up here from Amazon for around $25.  If you end up buying it from the link there then 30 Days of Plight gets a bit of the sale and that goes back into paying for this site and fueling it with energy drinks.

Abominable 2-Disc + Extras (MVD)

We're coming back at you with another Saturday Screamers!  This time we're going to talk about the MVD 2-disc release of the 2006 film Abominable as well as the extras included.  A quick shout out to MVD for hooking us up with a copy of this to review.  You may remember that they sent us last week's The Return of Swamp Thing.

In the "making of" featurette with this film, the director (Chris Schifrin) sums Abominable up perfectly:  What if a monster movie met Rear Window?  After a climbing accident killed his wife and left him in a wheelchair, Preston returns to his cabin in an attempt to overcome his trauma.  A group of college aged girls arrive to spend the weekend at the cabin next door.  Preston just happens to see a large beast drag one of the girls away in the night but he isn't accustomed enough to his condition in order to warn the other girls and no one else will believe him.  Can he save himself and the girls before this sasquatch claims them all?!

This movie has some star power in it.  Rex Linn, Lance Henriksen, Matt McCoy, Paul Gleason, scream queen Tiffany Shepis, and Herbert West himself, fucking Jeffrey Combs!  The film poster/cover was done by Drew Struzan who you might know from doing the Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Harry Potter movie posters.  It's just an odd collection of who's who.

As for the Abominable as a film, I have an oddly specific way to describe it.  It made me think of being a teenager in the 90's and being stuck inside on a rainy Saturday afternoon.  This is the kind of movie that I would end up watching on the USA Network at like 2p during those kind of days.  It's a B-movie with a little bit of budget and clout.  The practical effects and the monster all look great and the acting is solid as a rock.  My only complaint is a small one and that's in the beginning when the farmer couple goes to check a noise they assume is coyotes there's a shot of the wife shining a flashlight in the tree tops.  What fucking flying coyotes are you looking for?!

EXTRAS:

This release has a great set of extras.  We have the "making of" I mentioned above, some deleted scenes, and a short blooper reel.  There are also two short films added on.  The first being a student film Chris did entitled Shadows which, let's be honest is capital "S" Student film.

The other short though is what makes all of these already great extras even better.  The second is an adaptation of a comic book I never heard before named The Adventures of Basil and Moebius.  What starts off seeming as a heist at a private high-roller apartment casino turns supernatural as fuck quick.  With Ray Park (Darth Maul) as one of the leads, Malcolm McDowell in a crime boss roll, Kane Hodder playing a goon and a monster, and a monkey fighting with a straight razor, you're in for a good time!

If you like cheesy monster movies then this set is a must.  Amazon currently has this set around $20 so if you click on the link there then you can pick it up and also help out the site because we are part of Amazon Associates and any money from that goes into paying our domain name fees and energy drinks.

Thanks again to MVD for sending us this disc for review.  If you have a horror film or book release that you would like us to review, or you just want to say "hi," you can reach us at 30daysofplight@gmail.com.

The Return of Swamp Thing 2-Disc + Extras (MVD)

When I was a kid I used to watch the Swamp Thing TV show all the time.  So when I received a copy of The Return of Swamp thing from MVD, words can not describe how hyped I was to do a write-up about it!  So thank you MVD for not only putting this out but hooking me up with a copy for review.

While this is a sequel to the original Wes Craven (yes, Wes fucking Craven) film, The Return of Swamp thing moves away from its horror foundation and well into the realm of camp. It toes that line of crossing over into Troma-esq territory but luckily there are some amazing costumes and make-up for all of the un-men as well as Swamp Thing and no gratuitous boobs.  Don't get me wrong, Arcane does have a lot of one-piece bikini clad women with guns guarding his house, but I guess that's what you did in the swamps back then?  I don't know, I can't justify it.

The plot is pretty simple:  Arcane is trying to find a way to live forever and create Dr. Moreau style un-men.  Swamp Thing wants to stop him.  Heather Locklear comes to visit her step-father (Arcane) and speak mostly in terrible jokes.  Yet, when you bring all of this together it makes a fun film.  My only complaint are the scenes with the children which were actually added to the script by the director after the script was finished.  They do break up the flow of the film a bit.  Also, the weird psychic sex scene between Swamp Thing and Heather is really awkward to be privy to.

The extras on this disc are relatively standard.  You have your commentary tracks as well as interviews with the director, producer, editor, and score composer.  Unfortunately Swamp Thing's Dick Durock passed away a few years ago so he wasn't able to add anything to this disc.  The big thing in the extra are the two TV spots that I absolutely forgot existed.  These are anti-littering ads where the two boys from the film mumble through something about a cup floating in the swamp and Swamp Thing comes out, talks about how long it takes plastic to break down, and then thumbs up.  The second is a shorter version of the first (since the first is close to two minutes long) but they are both art in their own floundering way.

So that's The Return of Swamp Thing 2-Disc set from MVD.  I say thank you again to MVD for re-releasing this as I forgot about my love for the TV show this film spawned.  If you're a fan of campy Kaiju Big Battle-esq films then pick this one up!  You can get pick it up from Amazon right now for about $20 and if you click that link and order from it then you'll help out this site as well.