Bluray Tuesday!

August 18th 2015

Bluray Tuesday is back! Very light week this week again, so our pockets will be happy. Shout Factory releases the 20th anniversary of Hackers starring Johnny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie. I don't really remember this film, I did see when I was younger. Next out is for the first time on bluray Psycho Beach Party with Nicholas Brendan from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. This I actually haven't seen and it seems interesting, so I may give it a look in the near future. Cub and Ejecta are new releases both out from this past year. Scream Factory / IFC Midnight release Ejecta a sci-fi thriller that looks just okay but do plan to watch soon. Cub is definitely one I hope will be screened soon at the Overlook and reviewed, so stay tuned for that one. Overall interesting releases this week, I am still looking forward to September & Octobers releases, there's a lot to look forward to. What will you be buying, renting or just skipping this week? Let us know in the comments and check us out on Instagram here. There are a few digital copy giveaways going on right now so check us out.

Hackers 20th Anniversary (1995): Amazon - $17.86

A young boy is arrested by the US Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.

 

Psycho Beach Party: Amazon - $17.99

Florence, a schizophrenic surfer chick, and her alter ego, Ann, a promiscuous partier with a violent streak and a mouth like a truck driver. When a rash of sun-drenched murders occurs, "both" women become prime suspects, along with a surfing guru, a B-movie actress and a Swedish exchange student. "Psycho Beach Party" is a manic party-mix of 50's psychological thrillers, 60's beach movies, and 70's slasher films. The story focuses on Chicklet Forrest (Lauren Ambrose), a sixteen-year old tomboy who's desperate to be part of the in-crowd of Malibu beach surfers. She's the typical American girl - except for one little problem: her personality is split into more slices than a pepperoni pizza.

 

Cub: Amazon - $17.99

An impressionable youngster (Maurice Luijten) sees and hears things that lead him to believe that his troop leaders' scary tale about a feral boy is true.

 

Ejecta: Amazon - $19.95

The story of two men who witness an unexplainable event in the atmosphere on the eve of a historic solar storm and must survive a terrifying life form that's hunting them. An anonymous group will stop at nothing to unearth the truth behind what happened that night to the men and prove to the world that we were never alone in the universe.

 

Nightmare Castle: Amazon - $29.99  

A sadistic count tortures and murders his unfaithful wife and her lover, then removes their hearts from their bodies. Years later, the count remarries and the new wife experiences nightmares and hauntings. The ghosts of the slain return to exact their bloody revenge, until their hearts are destroyed...
 

 

-The Impostor 

Overlooked Bay Area Showtimes, A Change of Pace from Straight Outta Compton

Hey guys! We've gotten so preoccupied with Scream debates that we have not been letting you know about all the reasons to make it out to the theatres lately. I'll make up for that now! 

This tail end of summer seems to be filled with film festivals, themed around specific directors. One of these is Hardcore Cronenberg and is happening in downtown San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Theatre, a very small and intimate screening room, tucked away in the upstairs corner of the art center. This is the same theatre that hosted the first ever screening of Maniac Cop 3 in the city, which was shown after the first and second films with breaks between each for questions and stories from director, William Lustig; an amazing event Lord Battle, KillDozer, and I were lucky enough to attend. This time the theatre came back on our radar because of this great film festival dedicated to the appreciation of David Cronenberg. We have made several small group excursions to see Dead Ringers and The Brood already. Both were great! This weekend we will be heading back for the 2pm screening of Crash. 

The Stanford Theatre (home of some of the best theatre popcorn I've ever had), is also having a film fest, Kurosawa flavored. This weekend is a good double feature to check out too. It will be running Saturday through Tuesday: 

Rashomon

7:30 and 3:50 (Saturday and Sunday)

with

Throne of Blood

5:35 and 9:20

I love this poster so much :) It'll be my first time seeing the film.

There's a new theatre near the Stanford, just a block away in fact, that is showing two movies that I really want to see. It's called the Aquarius Theatre and it just re-opened. Let's give it a warm welcome! They're showing Best of Enemies and The Stanford Experiment, and both are great looking movies. Check their site for showtimes.

Hopefully you guys can make it out to some of these! Let's support our independent theatres!

-Huntress

Scream Episode 7, "In the Trenches"

Oh. My. God. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve been waiting for this episode since the beginning of the show. I just didn’t know when it would happen. But instead of yet another recap (which I don’t understand the point of anyway), let’s look at some of the themes in episode 7, “In the Trenches.”

First, I want to mention something I forgot to add into the Mr. Branson argument last week. Something that seems too obvious, but I’ll say it anyway because it caught all of our attentions: the similarities in Brandon and Branson. Especially since Daisy’s nickname for him was Bran… This tidbit pales in comparison to the new reasons to suspect the mysteriously missing teacher. Noah reminded us that this man has no past to speak of, no history tied to his fingerprints, and no more malware incriminating his computer. Incidentally, he is also missing from this entire episode. And as for Audrey, she may have had an alibi for when things started getting crazy at the Bowling alley, but exactly how did she know where everyone was when she couldn’t even hear what Noah was saying on the phone? Come on, guys.

A lot of small things happen and are said when the quartet is at the abandoned bowling alley that want you to start suspecting everyone, but we are pretty sure there are explanations for all of these. Jake getting stabbed with his own knife, for example. This just screamed call back to the 4thScream movie, where Emma Roberts pushed a knife into her own shoulder. It’s suspicious partially because it happened off screen and should have been a bigger deal, and also because Jake just looked like he had padding under the wound. And also the fact that he lived. There is also a constant paranoia in the air; almost everyone making a case for one of the other kids when they split into pairs. This is just part of the fun. They’re saying what we’re thinking and the show is having fun with that.

The first time we watched this episode I didn’t notice a recurring theme that has been brought up in previous episodes. There is this constant call back to the weird speech Jake gave Brooke in episode 3, about the shark and bobcat. This “who really has the power in the relationship” idea gets brought up once when Noah says the killer “wants you to think you have some power so he could take it all away.” It comes back in a more subtle way in the bowling alley, in the mural on the wall, which depicts the same flavor of relationship; the jaguar and the squirrel. A predator and an innocent. Mr. Branson and Brooke?

As everyone reading this knows by now, we crossed another suspect off of our list at the end of episode 7, but we were also given a big piece of the backstory puzzle. I'm talking about the recording of Emma’s dad, talking about her mom and Brandon's relationship. The two men's images have completely switched since the beginning of the show, and this new piece of evidence seems to point in the direction that the Impostor was just thinking about earlier in the day. That Brandon James might be Emma's real father. However, you'll have to look past the blood splatter to realize how huge this reveal is.

-Huntress

Bluray Tuesday!

August 11th 2015

Bluray Tuesday is back! The month of August is a little light on the releases so far, but starting September many big titles will be released, like Mad Max, Shocker, The Editor, Fast 7, Poltergeist and more. This week brings us Unfriended on bluray. Some of the residents of the Overlook went opening night to see in theaters and we all surprisingly enjoyed it. I for sure am going to pick up my copy of this on bluray. James Wan's earlier work Dead Silence is released today for the first time on bluray. I haven't seen this film since it was first released back in 2007. Scream Factory is back this week with the release of  Wes Craven's The People Under The Stairs. This new bluray is loaded with bonus features and awesome new artwork, a must buy for sure. So what will you be buying, renting or just skipping? Let us know in the comments and check us out on or Instagram page here.

Unfriended: Amazon - $19.82

While video chatting one night, six high school friends receive a Skype message from a classmate who killed herself exactly one year ago. A first they think it's a prank, but when the girl starts revealing the friends' darkest secrets, they realize they are dealing with something out of this world, something that wants them dead.

 

The People Under The Stairs: Amazon - $19.89

When young Fool (Brandon Adams) breaks into the home of his family's greedy and uncaring landlords, he discovers a disturbing scenario where incestuous adult siblings have mutilated a number of boys and kept them imprisoned under stairs in their large, creepy house. As Fool attempts to flee before the psychopaths can catch him, he meets their daughter, Alice (A.J. Langer), who has been spared any extreme discipline by her deranged parents. Can Fool and Alice escape before it's too late?

 

Dead Silence: Amazon - $16.99

After his wife meets a grisly end, Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) returns to their creepy hometown of Ravens Fair to unravel the mystery of her murder. Once there, he discovers the legend of Mary Shaw (Joan Heney), a murdered ventriloquist whose eerie presence still looms over the town. As he desperately digs for answers, Jamie encounters the curse that took his wife's life and threatens his own.

 

  -The Impostor 

Scream Episode 6 "Betrayal"

Last week was a tough episode to top, but episode 6 was still great! Unfortunately, it didn’t give us too much to talk about. We’re sticking to our theory; it’s got to be Audrey and Mr. Branson. Both of these characters have been looked at pretty closely in the past two weeks (we got to see it all coming thanks to some overly revealing commercials…), but the suspicions they both invoked have since been explained for the most part, or just forgotten about in the chaos of everything else that’s going on.

Berkeley Blazer joined our screening this week and added a note that placed Noah under some scrutinization; when Emma picks up a long, suspicious knife in Audrey’s room, he stops her and says, “It’s Elvish,” to which our resident scholar commented, “Actually, it’s Elven. Elvish is technically the language.” Not that we needed any more reason to give the murder-obsessed tech-savvy nerd a second look, but this just added to his problems.

So in the episode called “Betrayal” most of the character personality changes that happened last week were still in play; Jake still sounds crazy every time he opens his mouth, Mr. Branson still slinks into rooms and sounds super creepy, Brooke’s dad is still capable of more than we realize. But there are some key points that keep us convinced that we are on the right track with our accusations. Let’s recap.

Mr. Branson played puppet master and paired everyone up for their scene project (which is a little weird to do in high school, now that I think about it). The partnerships put certain people in the perfect places to be picked off or at the very least put in the line of danger. On one of these instances, the knife was between Borrke and Riley, and Mr. Branson was the only one who could have known where Brooke was. There are also new reasons that people were too quick to forgive him for, such as the malware that was found on his computer that was blamed on Nina, who is dead and can’t defend herself. And his name changes, which were just forgotten once Mr. Branson turned the charm on Noah. And as for Audrey… she’s already been known to manipulate people, which she managed to do with Emma, whose reputation saved her from police suspicion. Her DNA was found on the inside of that Brandon James mask, and no one else’s. Were we supposed to forget? Or was it selective contamination?

During our second screening of the episode, we decided to get into the same spirit as the characters and pick our wild card suspects. Personally I could believe the argument for any of them! Lord Battle was first to proclaim that Noah was his suspect. There is a lot of high tech conspiracy in the air, and Noah was in the paper for his abilities in that exact field. He also developed that hacking app, which he only told Riley about. The Impostor was next to announce that Piper Shaw was much too shady. He actually started questioning her last week and never took his eye off of her. She follows sensational murder mysteries from town to town! Or do they follow her? And no one has really trusted her from the beginning. My wild card is one I have not put too much thought into before this week; Emma’s dad. After we found out that Emma’s mom and Brandon James were actually friends, and that she doesn’t believe that he really snapped, it became all too easy for me to imagine him as the jealous boyfriend, who wanted more than anything to get rid of the competition for his lady’s attention. He would know everything about her past and which buttons to press to get into her head.

After all this, we still had time to parooze some of the weirdest and creepiest videos on YouTube all relating to Scream.

They range in both categories. The first one kind of set the bar and none of the others could touch it, because both the interviewer and the interviewee were great and totally honest. Neve Campbell may not be in the tv series, but who could resist asking her about it?

Then we got sucked into watching some of the worst and most awkward interviews that I've ever seen immortalized to YouTube.

We just couldn't look away...

... like a  train wreck.

Then things got weird and this happened. The best thing about this video is the frame they chose to advertise it. That was the only reason we watched it.

We got curious about what other people were saying about the episode and series, but this was the only thing we could find. It really does leave something to be desired but there is a moment that makes the video almost worth it. Almost. 

But we all didn't end up finishing it. 

This one had something mildly disturbing about it...

... but this one definitely made off with the prize for most creepy. If you watch just one of these, watch this one. It has the makings of a found footage abduction movie. I don't want to give away too much, but notice that she never even glances at the cameraman. You'll find out why.

Till next week!

-Huntress

Ashura - Better Myth Than Movie

3 of 8 viewers "Liked" "Ashura" (Japan, 2005)

Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

B4DK - "About six or seven minutes into this movie I was so stoked. The fighting and action sequences were so bad ass. It was like watching a live action anime... Then that was that. Expecting more to just be thrown into a really boring story. Movie was way to long and dragged on and on till the end where it finally picks up. Definitely one not to remember. Sad because I really wanted to like it. Big let down." - 2 Stars

Kapuki Senpai - "A good retelling of the Ashura myth." - 3 Stars

KillDozer - "'Starts with a bang ends with a whimper' as the old saying goes. This visually epic Japanese love story pulls the audience in with promises of demon battles and hell fire falling from the sky. Sadly these are over and done with in the blink of an eye. Obviously not everything is easily translated from the play this film is based on. Subplots pop up and distract more than the bad special effects. This film could have worked as a love story or epic battle between good and evil but throwing both in the mix was confusing to say the least. Other film makers are able to pull it off unfortunately Yojiro Takita was not." - 2 Stars (Not collection worthy)

Math Mage - "I'm trying to think of an Asian film I've seen lately that isn't disappointing in exactly the same way as this one, but I can't think of one. I keep seeing, cool action, dull awkward love story, neat comedy/dropped plot threads, less cool action." - 3 Stars

Huntress - "The first 20 minutes of Ashura had all the elements of an awesome fantasy movie, but somewhere along the line the genre changed and the energy level of the story dropped. It got kinda hard for me to follow, maybe because I'm not used to how convoluted Asian cinema story-lines can get." - 2.5 Stars

Lord Battle - "This is one of those films you used to blind-buy in Japan town, rush home to watch, and come out bored and upset you paid so much. This film is by no-means horrible, in fact I really enjoyed a couple characters and a lot of the choreography. The problem with Ashura lies in the pace. Opening with 15 minutes of Versus-style sword play, then switching to a 2 hour rom-com centered around a kabuki actor, and then to a 15 minute finale in a floating castle filled with orcs... And even then this could be cool, yet it feels like a million other films from assorted Asian cinema." - 3 Stars

The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

(Below is for after you've seen the film)

Ashura opens up like Blade or Underworld with a team that raids a small town filled with demons feasting on the unknowing villagers. It reminded me of another movie directed by Yûji Shimomura called Death Trance, with more action. It deals with a young girl who has an anti hero protecting her; she eventually dies and morphs into a grown woman goddess that the anti hero now has to kill. The legend of Ashura comes from a Buddhist myth which is in the same vein as the Greek version of god vs demi gods. This theme comes up a lot in movies and video games.

The cgi in Ashura looks like the norm for a 2005 movie, which means it isn't bad but also is not the best. The practical effects, such as the demon's green glowing blood and tapetum lucidum (night time reflective eyes), were more impressive. The filmmakers managed to keep these glowing whenever they needed to be, even in lighted scenes, which meant that they had a massive UV light on set, alongside normal lighting equipment. And reflective eyes are tough to pull off when they need to glow as in The Howling, the Pitchblack series, and This is the End. To get this effect just right, that actor must wear specific contacts and be lighted from the right angle.

The movie also has some really beautiful settings, especially the ones that are littered with cherry blossom petals. The village in which this was filmed in looked like Edo Wonderland Nikko Edomura in Tochigi, which made it look authentic, but it also made me think of the festival scene in Afro Samurai. The switch in the middle of the movie threw me off but it was still a good retelling of the Ashura myth.

- Kabuki Senpai

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Bluray Tuesday!

August 04, 2015

The first Bluray Tuesday of the month is here. Biggest release this week is the Divergent sequel Insurgent that has many retailer exclusives. Best Buy will carry a steelbook version of the film with the 3D version included. Target's version will include special packaging as well as an exclusive bonus disc. There will be a regular 2D version available as well if you are not into 3D. On the Horror front Scream Factory is back for another week releasing The Toolbox Murders 2 for the first time on Bluray with many new bonus features. I have not seen The Toolbox Murder films so may check out soon in the near future. IFC Midnight releases Wyrmwood on Bluray this week,  looks kinda cool I look forward to watching this week for sure. The documentary The Nightmare will be released today as well, The residents of the Overlook Theatre attended a screening of this recently back in June that was followed by a Q&A from the director that was a nice experience. Many different titles are released this week to start of the month of right. What will you be buying, renting and or skipping this week? Let us know in the comments and don't forget to follow us on Instagram Here.

Wyrmwood: Amazon - $9.99

Barry is a talented mechanic and family man whose life is torn apart on the eve of a zombie apocalypse. His sister, Brooke, is kidnapped by a sinister team of gas-mask wearing soldiers & experimented on by a psychotic doctor. While Brooke plans her escape Barry goes out on the road to find her & teams up with Benny, a fellow survivor - together they must arm themselves and prepare to battle their way through hordes of flesh-eating monsters in a harsh Australian bushland.

 

Toolbox Murders 2:  Amazon - $14.88

Samantha is kidnapped by a serial killer, locked in a cage, and forced to witness dozens of people being killed. After 10 days in captivity, the killer begins to fall in love with her until she is rescued by police.

 

Insurgent 3D: Amazon - $19.99 

Now on the run from Jeanine (Kate Winslet) and the rest of the power-hungry Erudites, Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) search for allies and answers in the ruins of Chicago. They must find out what Tris' family sacrificed their lives to protect and why the Erudites will do anything to stop them. Side by side, Tris and Four face one seemingly insurmountable challenge after another, as they unravel the secrets of the past and -- ultimately -- the future of their world.

 

Regular Edition $17.99

 

 

Best Buy Steelbook $19.99

 

Target Bonus Disc $17.99 in store $22.99 online 

 

The Last Survivors: Amazon - $9.98

Seventeen-year-old Kendal can barely recall when the Oregon valley was still lush. It's been a decade since the last rainfall, and society at large has dried up and blown away. When a greedy water baron lays claim to what little of the precious resource remains underground, Kendal must decide whether to run and hide or bravely fight for the few cherished people and things she has left.
 

 

Barely Lethal: Amazon - $14.99

Seeking a normal adolescence, a special-operations agent (Hailee Steinfeld) fakes her own death and enrolls in high school as an exchange student.

 

The Nightmare: Amazon - $34.95

The documentary focuses on eight people suffering from sleep paralysis, a phenomenon where people find themselves temporarily unable to move, speak, or react to anything while they are falling asleep or awakening. Occasionally this paralysis will be accompanied by physical experiences or hallucinations that have the potential to terrify the individual. In the film Ascher interviews each participant and then tries to re-create their experiences on film with professional actors 

 

Orphan Black Season 3: Amazon - $19.99

Sarah is a street-wise woman with a troubled past as an English orphan who bounced around foster homes before being taken in by Mrs. S, who uprooted her and her foster brother, Felix, to North America. She has made bad decisions in her life but always strives to do right by daughter Kira. When Sarah witnesses the suicide of a woman, Beth (who looks like her) she decides to steal Beth's identity -- boyfriend and money included -- in an attempt to begin a new life for herself and Kira, with whom Sarah hopes to reunite. But assuming Beth's life -- Sarah eventually learns that Beth was her clone -- doesn't go as smoothly as she anticipates because Beth was a cop caught in the middle of a deadly conspiracy, making Sarah the new target. Sarah must fight to stay alive while trying to escape from the complex web. As more threads appear, Sarah is pulled deeper, and Felix becomes her one true confidant.

 

-The Impostor