Calum Best

Brotherhood of Blood
$14.98
First, I want to start out by saying that I was attracted to this flick because Sid Haig and Ken Foree were in it. The cover art reminded me of From Dusk til Dawn and I figured with these horror icons in the film that it couldn't be that bad.

I was unfortunately unpleasantly surprised. This is not shot on film but on Digital Video, that's not always bad if it's done right.

The story revolves around a vampire group that is trying to fight very evil forces from the past. The story slowly comes together throughout the 80 minute running time with lots of flashbacks. The majority of the main story is told through paintings and dialogue, there is nothing really seen in live action due to the low budget of this production.

Pro's:
Ok Acting
Good Audio (except for when the actors have to talk through overly large incisors, I mean these things are the size of pool chalk that you use for pool sticks)
Ok Story

Con's:
Poor camerawork
Amateur Special Effects (can't even call them effects really, I mean orange blood?)
3 sets total throughout the movie
Open ended ending
Picture Quality was obviously not film, fuzzy in some places

This reminded me of Dark Shadows but slower and less action in it. People literally just stand around and talk. There are no bats and the only time we really see a special effect it's towards the end when we see a vampire dissolve in a CGI stoked fire.

This is not the worst thing I've ever seen but it's very hard to recommend except for the vampire collectors that just have to have every vampire flick.

View at your own risk but my copy is going back to the store where I found it.

National Lampoon's Holiday Reunion
$9.98
I orginally saw this on television when it was called Thanksgiving Reunion. I had high hopes for it for a couple of reasons. National Lampoon Christmas Vacation is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies. In addition, there are simply not enough Thanksgiving movies - the whole holiday seems to get skipped over between Halloween and Christmas.
The story was not a bad premise. However, it is the kind of movie that I kept watching thinking that I would laugh at any more moment. The story just keeps wandering with not much humor weaved in. The lack of laughter lead to a boring movie. I think I actually, and painfully, finished watching the whole movie. It had a lot of promise and failed to deliver.
Add to it that they renamed it to Holiday Reunion (PC move? - since when is Thanksgiving considered offensive..... to whom?).
Pass on this movie and pick up Christmas Vacation instead.

Commando: Battle of Britain - Scramble!: The Ten Best Commando Battle of Britain Comic Books Ever! (Commando 70)
$19.28
For everyone in Britain, these were the darkest days of the Second World War. Our army, or what was left of it, had been withdrawn from France via the beaches of Dunkirk, disabling and abandoning arms and equipment during the desperate evacuation. While they reorganized and re-equipped there was no effective fighting force to stand against Hitler's Wehrmacht should they choose to invade. Crossing the channel with an invasion fleet was, however, not an operation to be contemplated without complete control of the sky, otherwise the transports and landing craft would be blown out of the water by the RAF. The Nazis' answer? Neutralise the RAF. Destroy its runways, destroy its aircraft on the ground, destroy its support networks and, most of all, kill its pilots. The RAF, of course, had other ideas and during the summer of 1940 the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies over southern England. The courage and skill of the RAF pilots and ground crews during those few hectic weeks has formed the backdrop to some of the most outstanding Commando tales ever published. Stories like "Ace Without Honour", "Island of Heroes" and "Brigand Squadron" as well as "Blind Courage", "Fly Fast-Shoot Fast" or "Spitfire Spirit" bring the atmosphere of the battle spinning into the 21st century. Presented 25 per cent larger than when originally published, this special edition drops you out of the sun into the midst of the dog fights, the howl of the Merlin engine on full boost almost drowning out the roar of the Brownings thundering away in the wings either side of your cockpit. Whether you are a novice 'sprog' comic book pilot or a seasoned veteran, the fantastic aero art created by the Commando artists and the compelling stories will leave you gasping for the next 'Scramble'!

"Commando": D-Day Fight or Die!: The Twelve Best D-day "Commando" Comic Books Ever!
$19.20
D-Day was the largest amphibious invasion in history and one of the world's most famous military actions. It has become the stuff of legend through films such as "Saving Private Ryan" and TV series such as "Band of Brothers". To commemorate its 65th anniversary, Carlton is proud to present Commando's hardest-hitting anthology of war comic stories ever, covering all the heroic action of 'The Longest Day', 6 June 1944. From "Ambush at Dawn", "Normandy Drop" and "Blood of Heroes" to "Operation Bulldog" and "The Footsloggers", "Commando: D-Day Fight or Die!" features a dozen action-packed stories of the Tommies who stormed Hitler's formidable Atlantic Wall from air, land and sea-and won.