thelasernut Reviews

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Do watch Drag Me To Hell - but watch Night Of The Demon as well

[9/10 · 19 July 2014]

I just watched this film and found it very enjoyable with a good picture and also quite a few "chilling" and scary moments - the surround sound track was also good with plenty of odd noises and effects coming from the rear channels - I have to admit to having a grin on my face during most of the movie.

I would agree with other reviewers that this is a new classic well worth the watching - However - It is not really all that "NEW" because it is clearly a reworking of the 1957 B&W Classic "Night/Curse of the Demon" starring Dana Andrews.

Of course there are plenty of deviations from this earlier film but the basic premise is the same - a Curse is delivered - Things proceed to get worse - The only way out is to return the token holding the curse - the victim comes to a sticky end on a railway line.

Don't get me wrong - I think "Drag Me To Hell" is a good entertaining movie - but I think its roots in "Curse of the Demon" should also be acknowledged.

The Plank (1967)

People should know there are 2 versions of The Plank

[2/10 · 29 February 2008]

The Plank by Eric Sykes is one of my favourite Comedy Shorts so I was very glad when I found that a DVD version was available - that is until I actually bought one with the intention of replacing my ageing copy of The Plank on VHS tape.

Unfortunately I found the DVD was not the version I had gotten used to and despite having Eric Sykes and Jimmy Edwards repeating their TV roles, this DVD seems to be aimed at a cinema audience with an IQ of zero since the film Tittles are accompanied by a stupid laughter sound track which is both overbearing and unnecessary but seems to have been added in case people didn't know they were about to watch a comedy.

The DVD is clearly based on the the same script as the TV version available on VHS Cassette but there are many small changes which somehow conspire to cause most of the jokes, which are very funny with the VHS cast, to fall flat and as mentioned before, the sound track irritates rather than complements.

I find the VHS version to be extremely funny and if you like British Humour and enjoy trying to name all the people involved, you will find the VHS tape is packed with well known faces from TV, Film and Sport.

For me the highlight is Charlie Drake failing to deliver a cake but it's also fun to see Diana Dors sending herself up - as she used to in later life when she lost her slender shape - in fact I just cannot watch this film without getting a very broad grin on my face.

It was very disappointing to find this DVD was NOT of the TV production and in my opinion it is an unsympathetic production. Though similar in content to the Charlie Drake version it just doesn't manage to rise to the same level of comedy and the sounds over tittles on the DVD makes me cringe and want to turn it off without even watching it.

I genuinely urge anyone who has only known this DVD to try and see the VHS version before concluding that The Plank is not a very funny film indeed

The Shadow of Chikara (1977)

The Curse of Demon Mountain DVD DON4625 is truly awful - but its not the fault of the film

[1/10 · 25 February 2008]

I watched my new copy of this PAL DVD in disbelieve and felt certain I had been ripped off and sold a Pirate Copy instead of a good quality commercial Film Transfer.

It starts with Tittles which are blurred and goes on to a Picture which looks as if an old Vidicon camera had just been pointed at a TV screen. The picture smears on movement and is poorly focused even on static scenes, but I settled down to watch it, just to see if it would be worth looking for a copy on Laserdisc or another DVD issue having a decent picture.

I began to think there must be a fault with the soundtrack as well as the lousy picture but I eventually realised that every time some sort of insult or swear word occurred - the sound had just been switched off. This might not have been so noticeable if the background noise had remained but the sound really did just switch off at these points.

In short it looks as if this particular DVD release has been copied from a TV or perhaps a very bad VHS tape, and presumably at a time when young children would be watching and naughty words would not be appreciated.

i would like to think that anyone who purchases this DVD would return it and ask for their money back on the grounds that its a faulty pressing and there for not fit for its purpose - i.e. to show a good quality transfer of this film.

The film is actually not too bad and although I could not find it under any of its various tittles in Leonard Maltin's 2005 guide. I suspect this version has been edited down to its 90 minute running time as some action seems to jump from scene to scene in a rather contrived manner.