At last year's Survivor Series (2014) the unthinkable happened, The Icon made his debut in WWE. Now as there is so many Attitude Era / Monday Night Wars documentaries out there, and the fact that TNA was actually decent back in the day, Sting has never really gone away but no one ever thought he would step in to a WWE ring EVER. STING: INTO THE LIGHT is the story/behind the scenes look at how Sting came into the WWE and the lead up to his WrestleMania match with Triple H. What sets this apart from the other build up to WrestleMania DVD's (and there are a fair few, including the DIRE Daniel Bryan documentary) is that Sting actually has a pretty epic history to look back on and the greatest moment of all.....WWE reluctantly letting Sting say the dirty word TNA.

This documentary was actually a very entertaining look at one of the biggest names in wrestling, I love the addition of extra stories before you get to the matches from way back when, I enjoyed the matches and I even enjoyed to look into Sting and his faith. Some of the WCW bits, after watching so many documentaries, do fill in the gaps in places in regards to Sting and the back stage goings on involving Hogan and Eric and the way the company was run, and seeing his history with the nature boy made me want to delve into the WWE Network and uncover those classic matches.

WWE Were beginning to lose favor with me on the documentary front in recent months, The Kilq DVD being another example of smoke being blown up the arses of past legends, but The Sting DVD was a step back into the greatness of Doc like the Mick Foley documentary.

This is a great buy for WCW fans, WWE fans and wrestling fans in general. 

"Foxcatcher" from Capote director Bennett Miller tells the story of champion wrestlers Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his brother David (Mark Ruffalo) become involved with John Du Pont (Steve Carell) an eccentric son of a Pennsylvania chemical corporation who wants to privately fund a olympic winning wrestling team with the brothers help this leads to tragic events.

The film is a slow burn initially Mark is in charge but its not working out so Mr Du Pont wants David to be a part of the set up despite his brothers plea's he's not interested because he doesn't want to move his wife (Sienna Miller) and kids around like his childhood was growing up but John believes its a question of money and won't take no for an answer.

"Foxcatchers" script by E Max Frye & Dan Futterman of two extremely off kilter men looking for acceptance and to build up there own legacy while living under the shadow of successful family members. An example of this John is coaching his " team" while his wheelchair bound mother (Vanessa Redgrave) looks on he's playing out his role trying to get her improvement but its all in vain shes more interested in horses not her flesh & blood.

Steve Carell is acting his way through prosthetics which gives him a hooked beak much like the birds he looks at through binoculars but its a departure from his normal roles that's somewhat successful but the standout role is from Channing Tatum who is normally seen as the pretty good looking guy of the Magic Mike movies he delivers a strong performance as Mr Du Pont's Plaything the underlying homo-erotic relationship they have isn't fully realised.

The film also gets strong performances from Mark Ruffalo as the more successful Schultz brother coaching the USA Wrestling team with a family Sienna Millers role as his wife seems to have been cut down as evident in the DVDs deleted scenes also look out for a "Breakfast Clubs" Anthony Michael Hall in a small role as John's fixer.
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"Foxcatcher" isn't a film that I could ever see myself watching more than once I had to write for this review as I felt it dragged in the middle and was a rather cold movie. This Entertainment One release also has a short making of telling stories of how the movie was developed and of its production.

"Stung" a B monster movie throwback tells the story of nice guy dope bartender Paul (Matt O'Leary) and Julia his dark haired small catering business running boss both working at a garden reception for a family in a rambling house in the middle of nowhere.

The party is going boringly well the weird collection of guests are getting sloshed the digging of a curious poodle suddenly leads to a plague of large mutated wasps attacking and taking over everyone our bland heroes along with some survivors escape to the rundown mansion will they survive?

"Stung" from first time director Benni Diez and writer Adam Aresty has some pluses but bland comedy moments,problematic plotting and pre vis looking CGI monsters bring down the film. When "Stung" opens our lead Paul is a loveable letch who has the hots for his employer but she's driven,work focused and not interested in her employees advances.

But as the film goes on he has to step up to the plate to rescue his damsel in distress this cliched genre trait is flipped when Julia (Jessica Cook) goes all "Ellen Ripley" on the creatures to find her man and by the closing scene are all over each other like a bunch of teenagers in a scout hall disco.

The practical special creature effects sequences hark back to John Carpenter's "The Thing" have pace in them but all the energy is sapped when the characters sit around in a cellar either relating the recent horrors to Korean War experiences,getting drunk on expensive wine or spouting the kind of vomit inducing dialouge you'd hear in a indie romcom.

Not even the presence of Lance Henriksen as the surly up for re-election Mayor Caruthers with bowel problems and a humpbacked Clifton Collins Jr as Sydney who likes beer along with gentically mutating wasps both men even in bad films like "Piranha 2: The Spawning" and "Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day" can deliver memorable performances sadly they aren't given much to do & are deeply missed when not on-screen.

This Entertainment One release contains trailers, a pointless blooper real that even Dennis Nordon wouldn't use in a episode of "Its alright on the night" a featurette and a collection of cast/crew interviews that are already used in the 20min making of. I love bug features with "Arachnophobia" being a genre high point but sadly "Stung" is more in the vein of "The Swarm"

​This first time release on dual format Blu Ray and DVD from Eurkea Entertainment is just in time for October 31st and is an interesting alternative to sitting through Michael Myers "Halloween" escapades.

The Skull (1965) directed by cinematographer Freddie Francis tells the story of Peter Cushing's Dr Christopher Maitland a collector and writer of all things occult who for a mere £500 can own the skull of the notorious Marquis De Sade.

This mysterious item sold by snuff sniffing dodgy dealer in all thing macabre Marco (Patrick Wymark) but is told by its previous owner Sir Matthew Phillips played by the late great horror Icon Christopher Lee appearing in four memorable scenes that Maitland should stay away from this dangerous relic but it already has the Dr  in its grasp leading him down a murderous path.

The scene where Maitland is taken away by policemen in trenchcoats and is then forced to play Russian Roulette by a judge is a wonderfully kafka like nightmare which doesn't advance the narrative but takes audiences on a interesting by way from the story.

While hardly to induce scares these days in the post torture porn era of horror cinema its an entertaining movie nevertheless. The paper thin plot adapted from a short story from "Psycho" author Robert Bloch by Milton Subotsky is a minor fault the effective surrealistic set design from Scott Slimon, the avant garde score by Elizabeth Lutyens and the fluid camera work from Francis give the viewer something interesting to look at even if its just a tracking shot of Cushing's Maitland sitting in his study reading a human skin bound book make up for this.

"The Skull" has been restored in 1080P for this Blu Ray release and contains two great interviews with Film Scholar Jonathan Rigby and critic/author Kim Newman both excellently dressed gentleman give us an extensive education on the history of Amicus films, the production of "The Skull", its cast members and cinema release.
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A must see if you have an interest in 20th century British Horror cinema.

"The Passage" or "Lemon Tree Passage" as it was known in its native Australia released by Metrodome beginning with a text crawl explaining the story of the Lemon Tree Passage road in New South Wales where teenagers drive along with the hope of catching a glimpse of a ghost which haunts the area which cuts to actual YouTube uploaded footage of the so called ghost which more resembles the alien that Homer Simpson found in the woods.

We are then introduced to the cast of several American tourists hook up with two boozy good blokes who they play cricket and tell ghost stories with around a camp fire who then decide to travel at speed up the infamous road themselves to see the "ghost" but not convinced the group attempt it again the following night when the supernatural shit hits the fan.

The myth of "Lemon Tree Passage" was a way to scare off teenagers from travelling at speed I'm afraid those 70s Public Information Films we saw as school children warning us off the dangers of crossing the street and men in cars with puppies where more chilling than "The Passage"

The acting feel like performances you would get from those episodes of the popular Aussie soaps where the bland but good looking group travel out of Summer Bay and Ramsey Street and something goes tragically wrong along some of "The Passages" cast have appeared in both series.
There was some minor jumps but these where mainly due to the nonsensical quick edit headache that it gave the kind of scares that a first year film student would make in his class project and a story that got tied up in its convoluted structure which made no sense whatsoever.

I'd rather sit through "Grave Halloween" 100 times than ever face "The Passage" again the review copy I had contained no additional features.

​THE STORY:
Set in 1979, the Sanchettis, Anne & Paul move into the Dagmar house to heal following the dearly departing of their son.  Convinced that he is trying to make contact with them from beyond the grave, Anne – Re-Animator’s Barbara Crampton – invites her clairvoyant friends to investigate.  Little do they all know that the house holds a dark and terrible secret.  And in the spirit of some of the Lucio Fulci’s greatest movies, all the real fun starts in the cellar...
 
Mr Geoghegan first caught my undivided attention as the scribe for super splatter movie, 2009’s Sweatshop, in which a monster meat-masher from hell obliterates his victims with a humungous hammer.  I just HAD to see this dude in action.  And whoa Nelly!  I don’t think even Thor could lift that fucker.  Despite being spread thinly over too many characters, almost none of them likeable, it delivered on the promised spectacle, but was let down by its overuse of computer generated imagery during the climactic dancefloor massacre sequence.  Still, I was satisfied.  Sometimes we just wanna watch motherfuckers die in interesting and fucked up ways: a fitting cue for Lucio.
 
The House by the Cemetery (1981) was the first Lucio Fulci movie I ever saw, hidden among the Hs of the horror section in my local HMV; safe in its card sleeving; Arrowdrome, in the red, white and black.  Little did I know then that it was the beginning of something dark, and totally fucking awesome.  From Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979) to The Beyond (1981) to City of the Living Dead (1980) – the horror of the supernatural had once again left its mark on me; touching on levels of fear and dread that I thought would remain dead and buried with my childhood and early teen years.
 
Inspired by Cemetery and just a hint of Beyond, Ted Geoghegan emerges triumphant as writer and director of We Are Still Here.  And what’s a Fulci tribute without not one, but two gory and gratuitous head explosions.  They don’t quite rival the complete cranial annihilation seen in The New York Ripper (1982), certainly not The Beyond, but it’s enough to rile a hormone-defying,       high-pitched “woo-hoo!” of exhilaration from this greatly appreciative viewer.
 
From that point, things only get better... and bloodier.  It is such a pleasure when a movie both exceeds and over exceeds your expectations.  You’re not supposed to play it safe with horror, and yet too many do.  We Are Still Here bears every middle finger it can muster to these corporate-controlled cowards, and goes to balls to the wall with some A grade carnage and a few moments of eviscerating brilliance.
 
LAST WORDS
There ain’t enough severed main arteries in my body to help me gush over this fantastic fright flick in the grisly fashion that it deserves.  Maybe I should’ve said something – anything! – about the actors, other select aspects of the movie.  S’all good!  But for me, the show belongs to Ted.  Where have you been hiding, mista?  Very excited to see what he can do when he’s not paying homage to THE king of Italian horror.  (Reviewer struggles to resist an evening long Fulci marathon with a midnight viewing of Sweatshop)  I am too weak…

I truly, honestly wanted to like this film. I loved the write up when the review disk arrived but as with so many films the PR people seem to do a better job.

When something slaughters a family camping in the French countryside, the freakishly large and powerful Talan Gwynek (Brian Scott O’Connor) is arrested for the crime.
While as his public defender Kate (A.J. Cook) argues his case, she begins to suspect he’s suffering from a rare medical condition that causes physical abnormalities. But as they begin the tests, Kate discovers his truth is far more monstrous that she ever imagined…

Wer takes a different approach to the overall stale Sub-Horror werewolf genre, going for more of a bigfoot vibe, which isn't a particularly bad thing overall as this would work well however this wasn't meant to be. As the film began I honestly thought we were in for yet another found footage horror, but as the story unfolds and we meet our cast of unlikable legal types it became clear that this was just VERY badly shot. The acting wasn't the issue, the acting was on par however the characters themselves were one dimensional and you just wished for them to die as quickly as possible.

The Talan character did work, he was menacing and beast like, so it is a huge shame that aspect of the film let it down. A technical point which was brought up to me by fellow reviewer (and one half of the Cousins Grimm) was the inconsistent time stamps. There is a part of the film where Talan is being tested which sees a conversation with one of the doctors jump from 1.00 to 0.001 in the space of seconds, and this was only one of several moments where this happens....it happens ALOT.

Do i dare say it.....WER would have actually worked a hell of alot better as a Found Footage film, a creepy Werewolf film in this style would be pretty cool and you would forgive some of the less flattering parts of the film.

The film is watchable, a fun cheap film you will do doubt be able to buy on amazon for a few quid in November and it wasn't INBRED levels of awful (seriously I hated INBRED)

This film is rather clever but involves a fair bit of thinking from the audience. Based in the near future in London the film has some beautiful shots and high tempo music complimented by the acting of the cast. The narrative got me a bit lost during the end once all the questions got semi-answered, I still don't truly understand a few minor points of the film but generally the narrative was coherent and refreshing. Narcopolis looks like it had a much bigger budget than it had which says a lot about the production of it and the amount of hard work it must have been to make this film look so finesse. The rough outline of the film is a cop is investigating a suspected new drug which has been linked with some suspicious deaths around his patrol area. While investigating he stumbles on the truth which involves time travel and corporate dictatorship. 

Firstly I am going to analyse the narrative and acting in Narcopolis. Elliot Cowan plays the rogue cop pretty well but even more impressive was his portrayal of a loving dad. The interactions between Cowan's character Frank and his son feels genuine and so emotional, everything Frank does is for his family. The audience witnesses Frank's dark days involving drug abuse and sleeping around while married. These flashbacks were a nice addition to the story as we get a first hand experience why he is against drugs now which is a driving force of the film, his pure hatred of drugs and their dealers. The narrative does time hop a few times going from 2044 to 2024 and even flashbacks going further before that. The films does pull off the time switches but to me the final conclusion of the film is a bit confusing. There is a massive build up and things slowly get revealed, for instance a gunshot wound which is a bit of a red herring but helps reveal some of the enigmas. Despite the good flow of unravelling the ending was just a bit rubbish for me and left me still confused. The supporting cast pulled off their roles perfectly with the young boy playing Frank's son did an amazing job for such a young lad as his scenes with his dad were absorbing and really engaging. Some of the other supporting cast such as Jonathan Pryce and Adam Sims really brought their characters to life and I felt connected well with the audience. Other cast members were less convincing and sometimes distracted me from the film.  

The production of the film was top for such a low budget film with each shot looking crisp and framed perfectly. There were some beautiful landscape shots of London which is always nice to see. The post-production crew should pat themselves on the back as the film looked great. The editing worked and created the tempo of the film, making it really tense in some scenes. The grade was nice although in my opinion was a bit extreme in some shots but nonetheless the colours did look really nice. Sound design for me stand out as it really created some of the scenes for me, but I am a sucker for a nice soundtrack. Unfortunately I could notice a few sound issues when the shot changes and I really noticed the difference in Frank's voice from being well recorded to having a bit grainy. But each scene does look great because of the skilled crew from production to post.  

All together this is a really nice British film with a modest budget. For me I think some audiences wouldn’t get the film but I'm sure would enjoy the look of it anyway. This film feels a bit like Limitless but with time travel and darker tone, which isn't a bad thing. It is hard to pin-point a genre for this but it is mainly an action film so any fan of that genre would probably enjoy this. I think if the story was worked on a bit more to get it making more sense then this would have been an epic film to watch, sadly though I think all the unanswered or un-finished answered questions ruins the film. I would watch the film again though and I would highly recommend people watch it once it is out in cinema's.  ​