Poison Ivy - The New Seduction
by Kurt Voss
from New Line Home Video
Joel Silver (48 Hours, Die Hard, The Matrix) has a theory about action movies--you need a good bang-up scene about every 10 minutes. The people who made The New Seduction operate on the same principle, only instead of car chases and explosions, the curvaceous Jaime Pressly takes her clothes off and then, more likely than not, has sex with someone. If Seduction had been made 60 years ago at Warner Brothers, nobody would have gotten naked, but otherwise this gleefully trashy bit of film noir would have fit right in. The plot's a reworking of the original; this time, Ivy's sister Violet returns after 11 years to wreak havoc on the family that turned her mother (the family maid) out onto the street for sleeping with the man of the house. Pressly brings both a smoldering energy and sense of fun to her very-bad-girl part. As the lonely daughter who was Violet's best friend, Megan Edwards is both appealing and strong enough to avoid being simpy. While this movie lacks the relative subtlety of the original, it's a whole lot more fun than the morose first sequel, Poison Ivy 2. --Geof Miller
Children of the Corn 5 - Fields of Terror
by Ethan Wiley
from Dimension
Prepare for edge-of-your-seat thrills with the latest and most chilling chapter in the popular series based on CHILDREN OF THE CORN by master of horror, Stephen King! Six college students take a wrong turn and find themselves lost in a strangely deserted rural town ... only to discover that this deceptively quiet place hides a murderous cult of children controlled by evil forces! Yet even as bodies begin cropping up all around them, the young friends decide to stay and rescue the children ... or die trying! Don't miss CHILDREN OF THE CORN V: FIELDS OF TERROR -- the shockingly entertaining sequel that delivers nonstop, big-scream fun!
Stuart Bliss
by Neil Grieve
from Vanguard Cinema
Stuart Bliss has everything one man could want, a good job, a big house in San Fernando Valley, a beautiful wife and a shiny red BMW. Everything, that is, except his sanity. After his frustrated wife abruptly walks out on him, Bliss's mind slowly slips into a muddled mixture of conspiracy fantasies, apocalyptic visions and rampant paranoia. Stuart, deftly portrayed by Michael Zelniker (Bird) watches helplessly as his television set becomes possessed, religious zealots surround him and his favorite cream soda turns radioactive. Walking the thin line between psychological terror and absurdist comedy. Director Neil Grieve's claustrophobic visual style vividly captures Stuart's unfolding as he quietly confront the complex issues of privacy, identity and religion with compassion and grim humor in this truly original black comedy.
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