Brain Dead is a kickass mutant space zombie movie that hearkens back to the days when horror flicks aspired to entertain, rather than repulse, an audience. Full of ingenious gore effects, gratuitous nudity and witty repartee, Brain Dead is as much a parody of classic zombie flicks as it is a clever update of this much-loved genre. After playing the film fest circuit, it took home 12 awards, including Best Feature at the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival and Best Horror Feature at San Francisco Indiefest, as well as accolades for special effects at the B-Movie Film Festival and the Phoenix International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival.

As I mentioned above, Brain Dead is a bit of throwback. An extraterrestrial parasite crash-lands in a backwoods American town and sparks a fast-spreading zombie infestation. As the brain-hungry monsters multiply, three pairs of unlucky misfits gather in a deserted fishing lodge for shelter. With zombies pounding at the door, the stranded travelers have only two choices: band together to stop the invasion, or serve themselves up as a main course. Will the ill-assorted victims snap and kill each other before the zombies get the chance to do it for them? Or will the ravenous astro-zombies be slaughtered by this rag-tag bunch of characters? You’ll have to check out the DVD to discover the fate of those involved—but no matter how it ends, I promise you’ll have a blast watching it, because Tenney has delivered a totally entertaining little flick.

Tenney has filled Brain Dead with versatile performers, such as Joshua Benton, Michelle Tomlinson and Sarah Grant Brendecke, who are a lot of fun to watch. They can handle the snark as well as the gore—and there’s plenty of both here. Much like Sam Raimi, Tenney can balance humor with horror, and Brain Dead is a perfect example of his skill.

So, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Brain Dead this October. It’ll be available from Amazon.com and Netflix, so you won’t have to work hard to find it. And while you’re at it, get yourself a copy of Tenney’s Night of the Demons too. Together, they’ll make the perfect Halloween double feature: Tenney—past and present. It also presents an interesting topic for debate. Which does Tenney handle better, demons or zombies? Discuss among yourselves and get back to me with your arguments. And remember, it’s pass/fail, so no pressure.

~Theron Neel

Last week, Universal Studios Home Video and Twentieth Century Fox sealed similar deals with Netflix. In exchange for the moratorium on shipping new releases, Netflix will again receive numerous film and television properties for its streaming service. The pact with Universal also covers many flicks that have never been streamed in the past. The first Universal DVD to fall under the new deal will be It’s Complicated, the Nancy Myers comedy starring Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep. The first Twentieth Century Fox DVD will be Jim Cameron’s Avatar. The only star I need mention for Avatar is 3-D, who was pretty good but wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar. (By the way, Twentieth Century Fox wins the unofficial “First DVD to Be Delayed and Really Piss Off Netflix Subscribers” competition.) (And yes, a 3-D Blu-Ray release of Avatar is planned for later in the year—probably the first of many different versions. My bet is Twentieth Century Fox will do everything it can to maximize profits from this cash cow. Look for the “Limited Edition Ultimate Four-Disc Premium 3-D Blu-Ray Unrated Collector’s Director’s Cut” to arrive just in time for your Christmas shopping needs.)

Of course, this is a major win for Netflix. Video-on-demand is much cheaper to operate than the standard DVD-by-mail service. Netflix swears it will not discontinue DVD rental, but only time will tell. So, it makes perfect business sense for the company to seal these deals. But does it truly benefit the studios?

The movie studios believe these deals will increase sales of DVDs. The thinking goes like this: The unwashed masses love standard studio fare so much that, deprived of the ability to rent the DVDs immediately, they will go out and buy new releases rather than wait to receive them by mail 28 days later (or longer, depending on the film’s popularity—hey, Netflix, stock more copies of big releases). And I guess that makes sense…somewhat. But, just a couple of years ago, wasn’t piracy the studios’ main concern? It was, right? Hey Hollywood, I know you have a short memory, but did you stop to consider that this new paradigm might just increase piracy? You could be shooting yourself in the foot here. Good luck and all, but remember: File sharing is not your friend and you might actually encourage it if you make policy that keeps your product from the consumer. Just a thought.

~Theron Neel

How was your weekend? Did you see The Wolfman yet? I haven’t, though several of my fellow bloggers have. Apparently, it’s not bad. It’s just rather bloodless for a werewolf movie full of blood—you know, no there there. So, based on what they think, I think it’s going in the ol’ Netflix queue. (I trust them and so should you.) Plus, the last time I went to see a movie (Sherlock Holmes) at a theater, the whole experience was a horror: Three loud teenage boys sitting in the back talked very loudly, threw popcorn at everyone all during the flick and ran up and down the stairs repeatedly, loudly stomping their feet as loudly as possible. Oh, and did I mention they were loud? Then during the last five minutes, as the whole labyrinthine plot was being explained, the projector shifted up and all we could see were the actors’ legs. Argh! So, me and movie theaters are taking a break. We’re still friends, but we want different things, etc. Okay, enough chit-chat. I’m going to move right in to the “update” section of this post.

Slammed & Damned is moving in to its seventh month of existence and, much like America (and the office of president—hey, look at that. More presidential comedy!), it is a noble experiment in progress. I thank you for reading. Apparently more and more of you are stopping by, and returning even. Thanks so much! We’re still finding our way and figuring things out here. There are more reviews, interviews and profiles coming up that I hope you’ll enjoy and find interesting. Also, I’m thinking about ways to spice things up a bit, but more on that at a later date.

I guess that’s all for now. I just wanted to check in and touch base with you, my dear readers. I will let you get back to your President’s Day celebrations. I’ve been searching the web, looking for fun ways to celebrate President’s Day that I could suggest to you. One site recommends building a log cabin from Popsicle sticks. So there’s that. But I think maybe a scary presidential horror movie is called for. While there apparently is a slasher film out there called President’s Day, I’m going to suggest a flick that is based on terrifying true-life events—events so horrific that one shudders to think they could have actually occurred, and in America no less. The film I suggest is All the President’s Men. Great movie, true story, unbelievably scary president.

~Theron Neel

This is a great deal for both Netflix and Warner Brothers. Netflix lowers its costs and obtains more product for its streaming service. (Let’s face it, video on demand is the future of movie rentals.) And Warner Brothers gets the chance to sell more product without the worry of Netflix rentals hurting sales. (Most DVDs are sold within a month of release.) Of course, if you’re a Netflix subscriber who mostly rents new releases (and a large percentage of Netflix subscribers are just that), it’s a bad deal—not only because you’ll have to wait for new WB flicks, but because other movie studios are sure to follow WB’s lead and strike similar deals.

In the scheme of things, I suppose it’s not so awful. There are plenty of movies out there to tide us over for the 28 days we’ll wait for a new WB flick. I tend to worry more about the fact that streaming video is the future. This is too much change for a man of my advanced years. I’ve only recently gotten used to CDs and DVDS. And I hate to watch movies on my computer. Yes, I know I can stream to my television set, but that involves connecting new boxes to my already-overcomplicated setup. Or I could plug my computer into my TV—but, c’mon, I do well just to get my shoes tied each day. I know, I know. I must embrace the future and keep repeating “change is good, change is good, change is good.” But, oh, the horror!

~Theron Neel

Taste the Blood of Dracula is not at all a bad film. Consumer Alert: If you read the Netflix description of this flick (Count Dracula is back in action when three swingers turn to black magic to boost their sex-drive slump), you will definitely get the wrong impression. That makes this sound like a soft-core porn movie, and nothing could be further from the truth. The setting is Victorian England, and the “three swingers” in question are actually three middle-aged men who are pillars of their community. But on the last Sunday of each month, they gather in a brothel on the wrong side of town to enjoy whatever salacious delights are available—the more bizarre, the better. This being 1869 by way of 1969, “bizarre” equals topless women and a belly dancer wrapped in a boa constrictor. Now, for a Hammer film, this is racy stuff (we actually see a bare breast or two), but these gentlemen are growing bored with it. Enter the arrogant Lord Courtley.

Young Lord Courtley promises the men delights previously unimagined, if only they trust him and pony up 1,000 guineas ($5,250). For this then-kingly sum, they will purchase Dracula’s cape, signet clasp and a vial of his powdered blood. With that, they will supposedly be able to resurrect the Master by performing a satanic rite and, apparently, enjoy pleasures not of this world. Granted, it’s all rather vague but they go along with it, fools that they are. And as any sane person might expect, these fools are soon in fear for their lives as an annoyed Dracula hunts them down to take vengeance for Lord Courtley, who died in the ceremony. Here’s the twist: Dracula uses the men’s teen children to exact his revenge.

I suppose this is Hammer trying to impose a socially relevant metaphor into its flagging Dracula series. I don’t know if it boosted the movie’s commercial potential upon release, but in 2009 it’s fun to watch these hypocrites get their comeuppance from the younger generation. Sure, these guys can hang out in bordellos, but they won’t allow their kids to go to a party? Well, Count Dracula has something to say about that. Hungry freaks, daddy, indeed!

Taste the Blood of Dracula, directed by Peter Sasdy, picks up right where Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (directed by Freddie Francis) ends, and it’s an interesting contrast. Sasdy started directing in the late ‘50s and Taste the Blood of Dracula looks like a film directed by a journeyman trying to adapt to a new era. It moves slowly, but has a few of the “freak-out” camera moves popular at the time. Freddie Francis got his start as a camera assistant in the ‘30s and moved up to cinematographer, working on classic films such as The Innocents before he began directing, and Dracula Has Risen From the Grave is a better film for his extensive experience.

Sir Christopher Lee has had an amazing life and career. Sure, there have been lean times, but how many actors have been able to reinvent themselves and establish a new persona for several new generations? Think about it for a second. Lee has played Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, Fu Manchu and the Mummy. You youngsters out there might know him as Count Dooku (he battled Yoda, fer chrissakes) or Saruman. He was in the original version of The Wicker Man and was a Bond villain in The Man With the Golden Gun—he’s also Ian Fleming’s step-cousin. Directors he’s worked with include Laurence Olivier, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg. He actually knew J.R.R. Tolkein, and he is on the cover of Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run album. He’s in the Guinness Book of World Records as “tallest leading actor.” He has even hosted Saturday Night Live. And, as if that’s not enough, he’s now been knighted by the Queen of England—talk about an overachiever.

But even if he becomes king, Sir Christopher Lee will always be Count Dracula to me. His Dracula wasn’t the suave bloodsucker that Bela Lugosi gave us. Lee’s Dracula was a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” fanged feral animal. He might not have been politically correct, but he knew what he wanted and he got it. Actually, his Dracula really did get it. I believe he died at the end of each of his films but, like Jason Vorhees today, he always managed to come back. Now that I think of it, that’s not a bad description of Christopher Lee himself.

~Theron Neel