DVD Roundup

The Dead One

Dead on arrival.

Diego (Wilmer Valderrama) is dead, and that's a real bummer. Especially since it's been a whole year since he died and he just woke up. Or something like that. I'm not sure, but I know he was killed and is now a superhero kind of like The Crow (but without the hottie good looks and the hard rocking musical accompaniment). While Eric Draven was brooding and weighty, Diego is just whiny and put-upon.

Anyway, Diego was killed by a bolt of lightning while on his way to a Day of the Dead celebration, making him a pawn of the gods. Why him? That's a good question. If you have read the El Muerto comic by Javier Hernandez, you might know. If you haven't, you might not care. As it turns out, imbued with his supernatural powers Diego can heal people, yet somehow those around him keep getting killed and before long the reluctant zombiefied superhero finds himself inextricably drawn into a web of murder and mayhem.  

While the DVD's packaging seems to imply that this is a horror movie — and the storyline bears that claim out, somewhat — it's really more a mope-fest about the dread of being dead.

Masters of Horror - Sounds Like

Do you hear what I hear?

Sound can be a treat, or a terror. For Larry Pearce (Chris Bauer), the sense we take for granted has been preternaturally sensitized to the point of pain — every sound is amplified to the point of distraction, driving poor Larry irretrievably insane.

One of the more psychologically scary episode in Masters of Horror Season Two, Sounds Like (directed by The Machinist's Brad Anderson), is also the least gory. The story is unsettling, if not very fleshed out — it's the acting and directing that make Sounds Like worth a look.

= = =

Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson