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( Max score: 100 )

65

"Borderland" (Synopsis) When three Texas University students travel to a Mexican border town on the eve of their graduation, the last thing they expect is to face their own deaths. Without warning, they fall prey to an ancient blood cult hell-bent on finding candidates for human sacrifice. Inspired by a true story, Borderland tells a story which blends the raw fear of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the stark reality of In Cold Blood, evoking a world soaked in paranoia, fear, and dread.

This low budget shocker fails to provide many shocks and is more of a dramatic thriller than anything supernatural. Not a film you would remember for much longer than the 15 minutes it takes you to forget it.

"Unearthed" (Synopsis) A vicious creature that's been trapped for 900 years gets unearthed during an archaeological dig in the middle of a desolate town. As the carnage escalates, the local sheriff and a group of stranded civilians must find a way to destroy the creature that only has one mission - complete annihilation.

This is one of the better entries in this collection with very well done special effects. There are true shining moments in this film . The CGI effects come off as cheesy due to the lower budget of the film but whenever they stick to old school latex and makeup effects the film shines as a good low budget shocker.

"Tooth and Nail" (Synopsis) A small group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world take refuge in an empty hospital with plan on rebuilding society. They rescue a young girl who is the victim of a brutal attack, but soon discover that they were followed by a savage band of cannibals known as Rovers. The Rovers begin to kill them one by one, and the trapped survivors must find a way to outwit their stalkers.

This is another one of the better films in this collection . This post apocalyptic world is not brought on by nuclear destruction or anything of that nature but because we run out of gasoline. I found this to be a funny anecdote on today's fuel crisis. This is a splatteriffic movie full of bloody mayhem and you haven't seen anything until you have seen Michael Madsen in post apocalyptic regalia lopping off heads. Too bad more movies in this collection weren't half as good as this one.

"Crazy Eights" (Synopsis) Six people are brought together at the funeral of a childhood friend. While settling the estate, they discover a map, which leads them on a search for a long-forgotten time capsule, at the request of their dead friend. What they discover reawakens repressed childhood traumas and leads them on a journey through their long-abandoned childhood home: a home with a terrible secret and a mysterious dead girl who will lead them to their strange fates.

This one starts off very promising but soon delves into snoredom with very long periods of time where people wander about wild eyed for what seems like an eternity almost trying to will something interesting into happening onscreen. Sadly the best part about this film was taking the DVD out of my machine for good.

"Nightmare Man" (Synopsis) After receiving a mysterious mask, Ellen Morris believes she was attacked by an evil being she calls "Nightmare Man". Her husband, Bill, believes she is crazy. On their way to the mental hospital their car breaks down and Bill goes to get gas, leaving Ellen alone. When Nightmare Man appears, Ellen takes off into the woods, unsure whether she is hallucinating or not. She stumbles upon a cabin filled with friends who unknowingly become prey the moment Ellen steps inside.

Nightmare man indeed. This one was truly excruciating to watch as it had all of the characteristics of a bad soap opera with none of the entertainment value . The Nightmare man himself is an almost laughable excuse for a scary being. Even Freddy Krueger at his campiest (circa Dream warriors and all subsequent entries) was scarier than this. There were some really cute ladies in this though so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

The Deaths of Ian Stone (Synopsis) On an otherwise ordinary night, the young Ian Stone encounters a mysterious creature and is forced into the path of an oncoming train. Rather than facing certain death, Ian finds himself reborn into a new life that feels strangely familiar. After his second death, it becomes apparent that Ian is being hunted by an evil presence, and will be forced to die every day until he can solve the mystery of his own life.

This film was produced by creature effects guru Stan Winston and is one of the better entries in the collection. The makeup effects were very well done and there were some moments of near greatness. Problem is anytime the creature was shown full body it was done with some embarrassingly bad CGI effects which sadly tear you right out of the experience.

Lake Dead (Synopsis) Three beautiful sisters learn of a long-lost grandfather, but only make this discovery upon the news of his grisly death. Enticed to visit grandpa's old home after hearing of an inheritance, the sisters head to the back country with some friends. We quickly follow the group of friends through the gates of a redneck-infested hell. The psychotic family occupying the inherited property goes on a long awaited, and much enjoyed killing spree. As the family's twisted motives unravel, the sisters discover a terror worse than death.

This one was one of the worst of the lot. I usually watch such lower budget fare with low expectations firmly intact as forgetting to do so leaves me with the incredible urge to yell expletives at the screen . Even with low expectations engaged I was extremely disappointed in this film and found myself longing for the credits to roll. The makeup effects were substandard at best and as hard as I tried to find some redeeming qualities in this film I was left almost comatose from boredom.

Mulberry St. (Synopsis) The city that never sleeps may shut its eyes for good when a deadly infection turns its residents to savage creatures. There is only hope for a small few, including six recently evicted tenants who must protect their crumbling apartment complex as the city around them is thrown into chaos...

This one is hands down my favorite film of the entire collection. Imagine your favorite gangster movie characters suddenly thrust into a bloody zombie movie. That’s about the gist of this film. The characters are very well developed and utterly ooze NYC attitude. The dialogue is very well written and is akin to what most people talk like instead of the useless assemblage of sentences that pass for a script that you usually see in most lower budget fare. I can only imagine what this director could have done with a Hollywood sized budget. The monster effects in this film are great and the zombies themselves are totally unique in that they are rodent based in nature and from this horror fans standpoint a very welcome addition to zombie lore.

These films are Rated R and Unrated, deservedly so as they are riddled with scenes of gratuitous violence ,adult language and situations. Some scenes of drug use and brief nudity.

REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65

(Each paw rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 paws per category)

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(Each paw rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 paws per category)

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The video presentations on these films are just a notch above VHS quality and have a almost furry look to the saturated colors. The black levels are much higher than they should be and had me checking my Pioneer Kuro plasmas settings to assure that nobody in my household had mucked around with my settings. It was not the case as only these films exhibited this higher black level . After adjusting the brightness control to compensate I was able to achieve a image with better depth but still did not look quite right to my eye. Compression artifacting reared it‘s ugly head on every film and constantly reminded me that I was watching a pretty bad DVD transfer by anyone‘s yardstick.

The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound tracks were competent at best but never once did they sound like a good 5.1 soundtrack is supposed to sound. Most films had great dialogue reproduction but deep bass was almost non-existant. With the exception of Mulberry Street which had some wall shaking bass at times. Funny thing was that they were heavy handed on scenes which really wouldn‘t sound bassy in real life, but they elected to put little or no bass in scenes that would expect there to be some..

Features: Borderland - Rituales de Sangre - The True Story Behind the Cult Murder Investigation - Audio Commentary with Directory Zev Berman, Actor Brian Presley, Director of Photography Scott Kevan and Producer Lauren Moews - Inside Zev's Head: A Filmmaker's Diary

Unearthed Features Not Specified

Tooth and Nail Features Not Specified

Crazy Eights Features Not Specified

Nightmare Man - Commentary with Actor Tiffany Shepis, Director Rolfe Kanefsky and Producer Esther Goodstein - Extended Scenes - "Creating a Nightmare" The Making of Nightmare Man - "Flubbing a Nightmare" Gag Reel - Tiffany's Behing the Scenes - Stills Gallery

The Deaths of Ian Stone Features Not Specified

Lake Dead Features Not Specified

Mulberry St. - Storyboards - Deleted Scenes - Outtakes - Early Director Sketches - Behind the Scenes - The Rats - Makeup Test - Visual Effects Test

Lionsgate went to great lengths to promote these films as being too terrifying to be seen by the general public citing this as the reason that they elected to show them in their annual Horror fest . Being a fan of all things horror I was really expecting more from these films than they actually delivered . Even our modern Pinocchio ( Mr. wooden himself ) Keanu Reeves would be aghast at the marionette show most of these films fall victim to. None of these films are particularly good , I would say that 5 out of the 8 were just terrible. The remaining three although passable would never be considered good horror films .

It seems the life of a modern horror fan is rife with disappointment. The only films in this series worth watching are Mulberry Street, The deaths of Ian Stone , and Tooth and Nail. Whether or not they are worth the price of the rental is ultimately up to you .

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