DVD Roundup: Triple Trouble

Final Draft (DVD)

Quit clowning around.

When I saw the cover of this DVD, I could have used the same painted-on smile which the horror-clown bears: But I just frowned. OK. Clowns are creepy. I'll give you that. But after Tim Curry in It, and Sid Haig in House of 1000 Corpses, haven't we had our fill?

Apparently not. Because here comes Final Draft, a cliché-riddled story about a scriptwriter (James Van Der Beek) who's got writer's block and lets his imagination run away with him. Yeah, yeah... sure. Happens all the time.

Van Der Beek is no Johnny Depp (Secret Window), but he manages to hold his own in an otherwise ridiculous situation that's further hampered by a bizarre script that's peppered with more f-bombs than you can shake a plastic flower-squirter at. And twists. Oh, the obligatory twists! In fact, our "hero" is named Paul Twist.

The horror here is on the surreal side, making the most of a very low budget. Jonathon Dueck shows some glimmers of talent, so it will be interesting to see what he does with his next movie and (hopefully) more cash. The cinematography is workmanlike, and the score is typically bland, while the sets and such are simply static.

Final Draft is a so-so timewaster, but unfortunately what little it does have going for it in the first place is undermined by a weak, callow resolution. Still, if you like psychological thrillers about writers (I do… but this is no The Shining or Naked Lunch), you may find it's worth a look.

Manhunter (DVD)

It's still got teeth.

This DVD of Manhunter, the first of the Hannibal Lecter movies, is not a special edition. It's not even in widescreen, for heaven's sake — and there is no additional release material, either. So why re-release it? Well… Halloween is coming up. And Manhunter is scary.

Do you need another excuse for this DVD? OK. How about the fact that it's just plain a good movie. Based on Thomas Harris's bestselling novel Red Dragon, and directed by the marvelous Michael Mann, this fright flick introduced the world to the wickedly sly killer Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter (played by Brian Cox). As his foil is a pre-CSI William Petersen as ex-FBI agent Will Graham (who'd later be played by Edward Norton in the remake), and each is more obsessed than the other to catch an evil entity who's known as the "tooth fairy killer".

You still need excuses? Here's the ultimate reason: When Resident Evil: Extinction hits theaters this September 21 and you hear Iron Butterfly's heavy-psychedelic epic In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in the beginning, just think of how much scarier it was in the end of Manhunter. Then, you will rush out to buy this DVD (and a toothbrush).

Food of the Gods (DVD)
Learn it… live it… gnaw it.

When they break into earth’s forbidden cookie jar, several species of animals miraculously grow to gargantuan sizes and develop an appetite for human flesh. After engaging in hand-to-wing combat with a mutated chicken, a local football star (played by Marjoe Gortner) thinks of a way to blow all the animals up at once — but not before an army of rapacious rats gets their licks in. The rats are real-life critters filmed scurrying over miniature sets and toy cars, then intercut with close-ups of oversized rubber rodent heads ostensibly attacking their puny human prey. Gnaw: Food of the Gods II chewed its way free in 1989. (Excerpt from the Animal Movies Guide book, by Staci Layne Wilson)

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson