I managed to watch a few DVDs this weekend and wanted to share some thoughts. I guess I should write up full-fledged reviews for these, but I don’t have that much to say about them so here are some quickie reviews..

The Redsin Tower (2006) This is the first “traditional” movie from Fred Vogel’s Toetag Pictures, whose previous endeavors didn’t really have a plot or narrative and were mostly faux-snuff showcases for grisly fx work. The Redsin Tower follows a group of teens as they have a rowdy beer-and-pot party in the titular tower. Some dude named Redsin did horrible experiments in the tower many years ago, so it’s naturally haunted. The malevolent spirits are roused by the airhead teens and carnage ensues. Strong points are Toetag’s trademark gore work and higher-than-usual production values for a straight-to-DVD indie affair. Weak points are some of the performances, a puzzling ending and an unbelievably wacky jilted lover character. Overall, I can recommend it for a single viewing on a lazy weekend - 5/10.

Vacancy (2007) This is sort of like a “torture porn” movie processed into a more mainstream and slightly higher-brow flick. A very small cast is headlined by relatively big names Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, who play a husband and wife whose marriage is falling apart over a family tragedy. They take the scenic route on a long road trip and wind up at a remote hotel in the middle of nowhere. The hotel management has made a cottage industry of producing snuff films. It’s a short movie with a very small-scale story and only a few characters. I thought it worked pretty well and I’d say it’s a solid rental - 5/10.

Necropolis Awakened (2002) I watched this because Steve listed it as one of several zombie movies that were available as we prepare for a zombie-themed episode of the Splattercast (look for that soon). This is one of those shot-on-video micro-budget indie horror flicks. I’ll save some thoughts for the Splattercast, but I will say this one was has a couple noteworthy things going on. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a terrible movie, but I liked the amount of car-chase action they did; you don’t see a lot of vehicle action in these movies. Also, the characters/actors are some of the most remarkably obnoxious I’ve ever seen in a movie. It’s like they’re so obnoxious that you give them props for pulling off that level of obnoxiosity - 2/10.

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