My thoughts on this years WWE super show.
First off we get the usual "America The Beautiful" song which was done this year by someone called Kerri Hilson, I had no idea who this was and to be honest i thought it sounded bloody awful.What the hell is it with these singers who make their voice go up and down about ten times on every bloody word,it sounds shit so stop it.Anyway,after about 10 seconds i hit the mute buton untill it was over.
Next we got the host of the show The Rock come done to the ring,he did a promo while working in all his usual bits and catchphrases.It was fun and the crowd was well into it,chanting along with pretty much everything The Rock told them to.Maybe it was a tad over long but it got the crowd worked up at the start of the biggest show of the year.
The first match of the night was Edge v Del Rio for the world heavyweight title. I don't really understand the reason for putting on this match first,with the two top titles on the line tonight i would have expected one to be on halfway through and the other to close the event.Anyway the work from both was very good,the crowd seemed to be into it but saldy it only got around 11-12 mins.Edge won in the end which came as a real surprise as i think most people thought Del Rio was going over in this match.Edge,with the help of Christian smashed up Del Rio's car afterwards which was time they should have used in the match and not for this.Seems very strange that they build up Del Rio for weeks then have him lose at Mania.Not sure where they are going now with these two but i think a re-match will happen soon with Del Rio winning the belt.Over all i would give this match 3.5 out of 5.0, I enjoyed it,just wish it had gone longer.
Cody Rhodes v Rey Mysterio was up next, I had high hope for this match and was expecting this to be a candidate for match of the night, sadly it wasn't, it was a good match but something just didn't seem quite right and i'm not sure what it was.Both worked hard in the match and there were some great spots to enjoy and it was the correct choice to have Cody go over Rey,it won't hurt Rey's career to lose but it eill help Cody big time to get a win over Rey at Mania.I think i had my expectations set way to high for this match going in but it was still a good 3.5 out of 5.0.
There was some skit backstage involving Snoop Dog watch some of the WWE superstars do some singing auditions or some such crap,i used this time to take a pee break.
Next match on the card featured The Corre v Kane, The Big Show, Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston,this match,and i use that term very losely here was over before it really got started.It lasted about two or three mins at most and to add insult they even had the good guys go over The Corre.There was no excuse to have this crap on the card when you consider some of the talent that never even got a match.Not really worth a rating.
There was a bit backstage involving The Rock talking to Eve, Mae Young turned up but luckily she never did anything and Eve led her away pretty quickly. The Rock turned around only to come face to face with Austin,they had a few words and a bit of a stare down which was pretty cool to see.If at least half of the non wrestling bits had been as much fun as that then it would have been ok,sadly most of them were dire.
The next match up was Randy Orton v CM Punk,again i had high hopes for this match but it failed to deliver like it should have.Here we have to very talented guys but it just seemed slow.I didn't dislike the match but again i think my expectations were set way to high.Both guys worked well and the finish saw Orton catching Punk with an RKO in mid air as Punk came of the top rope,a great spot but sadly its been done to many times now and has lost its wow factor.I really did not know who was going to win this match so that helped it a bit.Over all i would give it 3.0 out of 5.0.
We got another backstage skit involving The Rock, Gean Oakland and Pee Wee Herman which was,like the rest,bloody awful.This was followed by the usual parade of HOF inductees.Shawn Michaels came out last to his own music,it says something when this bit was more Wrestlemania than some of the matches on the event.
Up next we get Lawler v Cole with Austin as the special ref,i doubt anyone watching was expecting this to go down as a classic Mania match but a very obvious "boring" chant from the crowd pretty much said it all.I don't blame any of the participants for this,i blame the bookers,this match should have been a quick five min filler with Lawler kicking the crap out of Cole,making him look like a moron and then finishing him off with one of his trademark punches.After that Lawler would have left the ring and Austing should have done his usual beer drinking and while Cole was lying spark out on the mat Austin would pour beer all over him to bring him round then give him a stunner to finish it off.To have Cole spend most of the overlong match on top of the veteran Lawler was just stupid.The sad thing is now we have to continue to hear Cole go on and on just like before Mania,some people can generate heat and do it well,Vickie Guerrero springs to mind here,but Cole is just totally annoying in this role and often ruines parts of raw with the bullshit he comes out with.Sadly we now have to listen to more of it instead of it being over and done with as it should have been after this match.Overall i give it 2.0 out of 5.0.
The Next match up is HHH v The Undertaker,another match i was really looking forward to and for the first time in this years Mania i actually got what i hoped for.It wasn't the nest match ever but compared to a lot of what had gone before in this show it seemed great.They both worked hard to keep things moving along but in the end there were to many spots where nothing really happend.This actually felt like a Wrestlemania match though and was pretty brutal for the WWE recently with some decent violence and a wicked chair to the head shot which they haven't done for a long time now and even the Sledghammer made an appearance.HHH hit Undi with three pedigrees but even with those and the chair shots Undi was not going to stay down,HHH was even yelling at him to stay down as well,this was all good and by this point Undo could barely stand and for a brief second you actually thought HHH may have a shot at ending the streak.The ending came when Undo maganed to get the Hell's Gate on HHH and after what seemed like forever HHH finally tapped and the streak was kept intact.After the match Undi was carried out of the arena and it is possible he was actually hurt,but personally i just think he was selling the beating very well,something Cena and a couple of others could learn a lot from.Overall this diddn't match the awesome Undi v Michaels matches from the previous two Mania's but it was a solid outing from both men,i would give this match 4.0 out of 5.0.
Up next we get Snooki, Trish Stratus and John Morrison v Laycool and Dolph Ziggler. I'm not exactly sure why this was on the card as it lasted about four or five mins and the two main wrestlers never actually got involved.This would have been so much better as a singles match between Ziggler and Morrison.The good guys won as expected and no offense to any of the performers but this should have been a raw thing and not a Mania match.
Finally we got to the main event where Cena gose up against The Miz for the WWE Championship.We all knew that The Rock was going to be involved at some point and because of that this match was so dissapointing.The fans never seemed interested during the match, it seemed rushed and overall this had to rank as one of the very worst Mania main events ever.Whats worse is that after only a few mins the actualy match ended on a double countout.Of course everyone knew by then that The Rock was on his way and indeed he was,he said that the match would re-start and a few seconds after that he gave the rock bottom to Cena and The Miz got the pin.Nothing about this entire thing felt like a Mania main event as it was really about The Rock more than the title and if it had been one of the other supercards then maybe it would have been ok,but to have it like this on the biggest event of the year was just stupid and the people behind it should be ashamed of themselves.The match gets a 2.5 out of 5.0 as it was just to short.
As a Wrestlemania this was a poor event and not worth the money pure and simple,there were some fun spots,a couple of decent matches and one good match but there were so many good performers that were missing and to many crappy skits which spoilt the flow. I doubt i am not the only one who is feeling very let down by the event as a whole,and i also boubt Vince will take any notice of any complaints.I would rate the event a sad little 4.5 out of 10, I have seen worse WWE super shows but most of the standard monthly ones are better than this was.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Monday, 14 February 2011
My collectable DVDs - part 2
A few more of my collectable DVDs.
First up this time is one of the most infamous,graphic and nastiest movies of all,it is the legendary Cannibal Holocaust.Pretty much every horror related website/forum has lengthy discussions on this film,some love it and some hate it,i fall into the love it section.I will say that the animal cruelty in the film is horrific and i would have sooner this have been done using special effects but whats done is done and no amount of moaning about it will do any good.The good thing about this particular release is that you get the option to view the film either fully uncut or in an animal cruelty free version.Either way it makes for a viewing experience you wont ever forget.The special features on this release are amazing and include an audio commentary with Ruggero Deoato and Robert Kerman,a 60 min making of documentary,on screen interviews,trailers, galleries, liner notes by Chas Balun, a poster plus other stuff as well.Its hard to imagine this movie looking better or appearing in a better version.This was released in a limited edition of 11,111 and i have No3569.
Next up is the limited edition Hellraiser box,i think pretty much every horror fan that likes the movies has this in their collection.
A recent addition to my little collection is this wonderful DVD set all about the video nasites madness from the early 80s.I was around during that time and know what a load of bollocks it all was.During its height if you told some one you were a horror fan you were pretty much treated the same as if you told them your were a peadophile.What made it worse was that most of the movies being singled out for banning were nothing more than cheap,low budget gore films,if it wasn't for the fact they ended up on the list they would have vanished into obscurity and off the shop shelves almost as quickly as they arrived.For those who have seen movies like Blood Rites (AKA: The Ghastly Ones), Don't Go In The Park and Frozen Scream will know that when films as bad as these are banned for being obscene then something is seriously wrong,not with the people who watch them but with the moronic MPs and do gooders who actually said they were obscene in the first place.Mary Whitehouse took out a private prosecution against the Tobe Hooper film Death Trap even though she admitted that she had never watched it, "I don't have to watch it to know what's in it" she once said.I could do masses of stuff on this subject but if you want a good idea of what it was all about then get this 3 disc DVD set and be amazed.The first 5000 were put out with 6 postcards which contain artwork for 5 of the most notorious movies on the list and one containing the cover artwork for the superb book The Art Of The Nasty.The standard release dose not contain the postcards.This one is No 3866.
More soon.
First up this time is one of the most infamous,graphic and nastiest movies of all,it is the legendary Cannibal Holocaust.Pretty much every horror related website/forum has lengthy discussions on this film,some love it and some hate it,i fall into the love it section.I will say that the animal cruelty in the film is horrific and i would have sooner this have been done using special effects but whats done is done and no amount of moaning about it will do any good.The good thing about this particular release is that you get the option to view the film either fully uncut or in an animal cruelty free version.Either way it makes for a viewing experience you wont ever forget.The special features on this release are amazing and include an audio commentary with Ruggero Deoato and Robert Kerman,a 60 min making of documentary,on screen interviews,trailers, galleries, liner notes by Chas Balun, a poster plus other stuff as well.Its hard to imagine this movie looking better or appearing in a better version.This was released in a limited edition of 11,111 and i have No3569.
Next up is the limited edition Hellraiser box,i think pretty much every horror fan that likes the movies has this in their collection.
A recent addition to my little collection is this wonderful DVD set all about the video nasites madness from the early 80s.I was around during that time and know what a load of bollocks it all was.During its height if you told some one you were a horror fan you were pretty much treated the same as if you told them your were a peadophile.What made it worse was that most of the movies being singled out for banning were nothing more than cheap,low budget gore films,if it wasn't for the fact they ended up on the list they would have vanished into obscurity and off the shop shelves almost as quickly as they arrived.For those who have seen movies like Blood Rites (AKA: The Ghastly Ones), Don't Go In The Park and Frozen Scream will know that when films as bad as these are banned for being obscene then something is seriously wrong,not with the people who watch them but with the moronic MPs and do gooders who actually said they were obscene in the first place.Mary Whitehouse took out a private prosecution against the Tobe Hooper film Death Trap even though she admitted that she had never watched it, "I don't have to watch it to know what's in it" she once said.I could do masses of stuff on this subject but if you want a good idea of what it was all about then get this 3 disc DVD set and be amazed.The first 5000 were put out with 6 postcards which contain artwork for 5 of the most notorious movies on the list and one containing the cover artwork for the superb book The Art Of The Nasty.The standard release dose not contain the postcards.This one is No 3866.
More soon.
Friday, 11 February 2011
My collectable DVDs - part 1
Compared to a lot of people who collect limited edition DVDs my selection is tiny.It mostly down to money,these things cost it and i don't have it.In this post i will share a couple of the ones i have and then do a few more in other posts as time gose on.I am not doing a review of each film but this first one is not exactly well known so i thought it would be fun to have a go at writing one.
PIG
Directed by Nico B and created in the tortured mind of the late Rozz Williams (lead singer of Christian Death),this is a surreal assault on the senses that's not for the squeamish.The story is simple,a guy in a pig mask picks up a hitchhiker,takes him to an isolated shack where he proceeds to inflict a series of S&M type tortures on him.
Some of these include an eye watering bit involving the guys penis,nipple piercing and the torture "highlight" the victim has the word "pig" carved into his chest with a razor blade.All this is done in unflinching close up and to make it even harder to stomach there are no special effects involved here,everything you see is done for real in front of the camera.
Pig is only 23 mins long and was filmed on 16mm in B/W and with no dialogue and therefore wont be to everyone's taste,it is however worth a look if you are a fan or surreal,arthouse cinema and can actually find a copy of the DVD,it had a very limited release of only 1334 and if you do come across a copy it wont be cheap,at the time of typing this the last couple i saw were priced at $189 and $222.It was released on the Cult Epics label.
The amount of special features on the dvd are remarkable to say the least.You get a commentary from Nico B, behind the scenes images, outtakes with optional commentary, a photo gallery with an unreleased music track by Rozz Williams, the original super-8 test footage of Pig with commentary, excerpts of the last interview with Rozz Williams, Biographies and to top it all off the DVD comes with a wonderful 40 page booklet which is a re-production of "why god permits evil" that was created by Rozz Williams.
As said this is pretty graphic,intense and strange and sure as hell wont appeal to the casual film fan or those that cannot handle the darker side of cinema.If however you want something a bit different then this is worth hunting down.
Limited edition number 428 / 1334
This next one is a limited edition hard box of the wonderfully sick Island Of Death by Nico Mastorakis.Once one of the most infamous of all the "video nasties" here in the UK back in the early 80s. Times sure have changed as its now on DVD in a fully uncut version.This hard box was a limited number of 1000 and i have No 336.
The following is a limited edition metal tin of the graphic and ultra violent Cannibal Ferox.One of the main titles in the video nasties panic back in the early 80s here in the UK there will never be an uncut version released here today (the early 80s pre-cert tape from Reply was uncut) due to the excessive animal cruelty that is in this movie.This was a limited edition of 3333 and i have No 99.
I will do a part two to this at a later date.
PIG
Directed by Nico B and created in the tortured mind of the late Rozz Williams (lead singer of Christian Death),this is a surreal assault on the senses that's not for the squeamish.The story is simple,a guy in a pig mask picks up a hitchhiker,takes him to an isolated shack where he proceeds to inflict a series of S&M type tortures on him.
Some of these include an eye watering bit involving the guys penis,nipple piercing and the torture "highlight" the victim has the word "pig" carved into his chest with a razor blade.All this is done in unflinching close up and to make it even harder to stomach there are no special effects involved here,everything you see is done for real in front of the camera.
Pig is only 23 mins long and was filmed on 16mm in B/W and with no dialogue and therefore wont be to everyone's taste,it is however worth a look if you are a fan or surreal,arthouse cinema and can actually find a copy of the DVD,it had a very limited release of only 1334 and if you do come across a copy it wont be cheap,at the time of typing this the last couple i saw were priced at $189 and $222.It was released on the Cult Epics label.
The amount of special features on the dvd are remarkable to say the least.You get a commentary from Nico B, behind the scenes images, outtakes with optional commentary, a photo gallery with an unreleased music track by Rozz Williams, the original super-8 test footage of Pig with commentary, excerpts of the last interview with Rozz Williams, Biographies and to top it all off the DVD comes with a wonderful 40 page booklet which is a re-production of "why god permits evil" that was created by Rozz Williams.
As said this is pretty graphic,intense and strange and sure as hell wont appeal to the casual film fan or those that cannot handle the darker side of cinema.If however you want something a bit different then this is worth hunting down.
Limited edition number 428 / 1334
This next one is a limited edition hard box of the wonderfully sick Island Of Death by Nico Mastorakis.Once one of the most infamous of all the "video nasties" here in the UK back in the early 80s. Times sure have changed as its now on DVD in a fully uncut version.This hard box was a limited number of 1000 and i have No 336.
I will do a part two to this at a later date.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
My Toetag signed DVDs
Yeah i know these movies bring up a load of arguments from people all over the net.Some love them some hate them,that's fair enough as,lets face it,they are not for everyone and a general movie fan who stumbles on one of the Toetag films without knowing anything about them will sure as hell be in for shock.
Personally i think that Fred Vogel is a talented bloke and the FX crew responsible for the gut wrenching gore in these films are among the best in the business right now.Why do i think this?,well unlike some at least these people make an effort to at least make their movies as realistic as possible,no point in making a film such as August Underground and then fill it with shitty and totally unconvincing CGI gore,and just check out the female victim tied to a chair in the first AU movie,there isn't an actress in Hollywood who could be even remotely as convincing in that role.If i have a complaint about these types of films,not just the AU films but other low budget films as well,its the scenes of vomiting but this is mainly because i suffer from emetophobia so any scenes of it no matter if they are real or fake makes me hit the chapter skip button on my remote in an instant.
Anyway as i have said if you like the Toetag movie or not it up to you but i am proud to have these signed editions in my DVD collection.
AUGUST UNDERGROUND - 2 DISC SNUFF EDITION - No 874 / 1000
AUGUST UNDERGROUND MORDUM - SNUFF EDITION - No 269 / 1000
AUGUST UNDERGROUND PENANCE - SNUFF EDITION - No 238 / 1000
MURDER COLLECTION VOL 1
SELLA TURCICA - No 104 / 1000
Not sure if there was a signed edition of The Redsin Tower,i have never seen one for sale anywhere.I only have a standard release version,not that it really matters as its a great film.I also wasn't fast enough to get a copy of Maskhead with the signed poster,i think it was only the first 150 orders that received one of those.I have learned my lesson and now get my pre-orders in for their new stuff well in advance.
Personally i think that Fred Vogel is a talented bloke and the FX crew responsible for the gut wrenching gore in these films are among the best in the business right now.Why do i think this?,well unlike some at least these people make an effort to at least make their movies as realistic as possible,no point in making a film such as August Underground and then fill it with shitty and totally unconvincing CGI gore,and just check out the female victim tied to a chair in the first AU movie,there isn't an actress in Hollywood who could be even remotely as convincing in that role.If i have a complaint about these types of films,not just the AU films but other low budget films as well,its the scenes of vomiting but this is mainly because i suffer from emetophobia so any scenes of it no matter if they are real or fake makes me hit the chapter skip button on my remote in an instant.
Anyway as i have said if you like the Toetag movie or not it up to you but i am proud to have these signed editions in my DVD collection.
AUGUST UNDERGROUND - 2 DISC SNUFF EDITION - No 874 / 1000
Not sure if there was a signed edition of The Redsin Tower,i have never seen one for sale anywhere.I only have a standard release version,not that it really matters as its a great film.I also wasn't fast enough to get a copy of Maskhead with the signed poster,i think it was only the first 150 orders that received one of those.I have learned my lesson and now get my pre-orders in for their new stuff well in advance.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
My First post
Thought i would make my first post on here a quick one to let people know what my blog will be about.Mainly it will be about anything i want to write about,I have an interest in heavy metal,horror movies,tv,pc gaming and other stuff.I will do some posts showing some of my fave/rare dvds and pre-cert videos and if i fancy a rant about something that pisses me off in the news then i will.
I'm not great at grammar so don't expect to much of that from me, and i despise political correctness so i will say what i think and if people don't like it then tough,i don't go out to offend people,but neither do i care about a bunch of morons who have nothing better to do than complain about every tiny little thing that people say.
I will leave this first post with a quick run down of a few of my fave movies,bands and tv shows.
FAVE MOVIES
Been a horror fan for most of my life and love films across the entire genre,from old classics to modern,low budget gore nonsense.Just a few of my all time faves include...
The Wicker Man - original
The Thing - Carpenter version
The Beyond
Phantasm
Curse Of The Demon - 1957
Freaks
Cannibal Holocaust
Inferno - Argento
Battle Royale
Vampyres
Dawn Of The Dead - original
So Sweet So Dead
TCM - original
The Exorcist
Bad Taste
Well you get the idea.
FAVE BANDS
Black Sabbath
Therion
Metallica
Iron Maiden
Alice In Chains
Cradle Of Filth
Dark Tranquillity
Machine Head
Ozzy
Rammstein
FAVE TV SHOWS
Family Guy
The Simpsons
Steptoe And Son
Angel
Bottom
American Dad
Blackadder
The Young Ones
That will do for now.
I'm not great at grammar so don't expect to much of that from me, and i despise political correctness so i will say what i think and if people don't like it then tough,i don't go out to offend people,but neither do i care about a bunch of morons who have nothing better to do than complain about every tiny little thing that people say.
I will leave this first post with a quick run down of a few of my fave movies,bands and tv shows.
FAVE MOVIES
Been a horror fan for most of my life and love films across the entire genre,from old classics to modern,low budget gore nonsense.Just a few of my all time faves include...
The Wicker Man - original
The Thing - Carpenter version
The Beyond
Phantasm
Curse Of The Demon - 1957
Freaks
Cannibal Holocaust
Inferno - Argento
Battle Royale
Vampyres
Dawn Of The Dead - original
So Sweet So Dead
TCM - original
The Exorcist
Bad Taste
Well you get the idea.
FAVE BANDS
Black Sabbath
Therion
Metallica
Iron Maiden
Alice In Chains
Cradle Of Filth
Dark Tranquillity
Machine Head
Ozzy
Rammstein
FAVE TV SHOWS
Family Guy
The Simpsons
Steptoe And Son
Angel
Bottom
American Dad
Blackadder
The Young Ones
That will do for now.
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