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Nightcrawler meets Se7en in Blood Hound

Leave it to High Octane Pictures to come up with some of the best mashup ideas, even if they aren't 100-per-cent successful.

The latest is Blood Hound, a P.I. thriller from the producer of Adam Green's Frozen and Hatchet II. It looks like it employs the documentary approach of Nightcrawler, the serial killer aspect of Se7en, and then puts a spin on it. Although there's the usual low budget, the acting in this trailer impressed me a bit.

Observe:

Private investigator Abel Walker, along with his cameraman Jim, are on the hunt for a missing woman. As they unravel the mystery of her disappearance, they become caught in a sick and violent game that will end in murder.

Jason R. Miller wrote and directed this one. Ed Ackerman, David Foy, Miles Dougal and Silvia Moore star. Blood Hound premiers on DVD and Digital Jan. 7, 2020.

Source: High Octane Pictures

Jay's Top 5 Christmas chillers

'Tis the season to be jolly... and more than a little bit spooky. Sure, there's lots of Christmas cheer to be found in movies like National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and It's A Wonderful Life, but there's also plenty of dark and horrific tales to haunt the Yuletide season.

Below are my Top 5 favourite horror movies set during the holiday season. So, in no particular order...

Silent Night

Steven C. Miller updates the notorious slasher flick Silent Night, Deadly Night with this fun, and violent, slasher film. We've got a great, over-the-top performance by Malcolm McDowell, and an effectively subtle one by Jaime King. Lots of good kills and boobs. Everything a growing boy needs

Black Christmas (1974)

Yes it was remade in 2006, and we're getting yet one more reboot next week, but none can surpass the low-key chills of Bob Clark's classic. This predated Halloween by four years, and arguably set the bar for every slasher movie to come. Crude and shocking in it…

Review: The Mandalorian Season 1, Ep. 5

The Mandalorian stalls a wee bit with this latest entry, subtitled The Gunslinger, but that isn't to say it's not a solid entry in what has quickly become the most in-demand TV show in the world. This should surprise no one though, as who didn't think a Star Wars TV series wouldn't play like gangbusters?

Although there's little in this episode to move the series forward, it does pay fans an amazing amount of service by making a pit stop at the most iconic planet in the Star Wars universe: Tatooine! That's right -- motherf--king Tatooine!

There are several moments in The Gunslinger where I had to pause the show, get up, and walk around, therefore relieving myself of some fanboy excitement. Some might balk at an episode that revisits the familiar, especially when so much of The Mandalorian has explored the unknown of the Star Wars universe. But, as long as they don't do it too often, this fan liked it just fine.

So, we hang out at Mos Eisley and that iconic …

Rock'n roll slasher Captured drops in January

We love our movies, we love our horror, and we love our music here in The Basement. Shawn composes music for movies, and is part of two metal bands. Me, I just know what I like to hear, and what I like to hear is heavy metal.

So the upcoming slasher flick Captured is not without interest. Sure, it looks like a low-budget horror movie with all the slasher tropes, but something about it feels right; like there's more going on beneath the surface.

What's it about? A weekend getaway to shoot a music video turns into a nightmare for a rock'n roll band when they become the obsession of an escaped convict who is purposefully targeting the female lead singer.

Take a look:

Kirsten Prout, Brittany Curran and Jasper Cole star. Captured is directed by first time Argentinian director Joe Arias. The flick comes out Jan. 1, 2020.

Source: Green Apple Entertainment

Marcus Flor and Overlord

Every now and then you're pleasantly surprised by a movie. I wasn't expecting to be pleasantly surprised with the Nazi-zombie flick Overlord.

I went in expecting pure schlock, but what I got instead was a solid little movie. Compared to most blockbusters, this film is simple and streamlined. It doesn't have a million different, half-baked sub-plots clogging the script. The focus is on our characters and their mission.

Those characters, while a bit stereotypical, are well developed and have complete arcs. They play off each other well, and bring a lot to the film, despite the fact they are lesser-known actors. It's refreshing to watch a blockbuster that doesn't forget the fundamentals of character.

Speaking of movie fundamentals; this story really gets set up and pays off. Very rarely are you teased with something that doesn't pay off in a satisfactory way. True, Overlord doesn't go full, insane, COD Nazi zombies, but it does exactly what this story called …

Retro Review: Blood Rage (1987)

We're back to 1987 with this edition of the Retro Review, a year that produced a lot of horror movies. Note, I didn't say good horror movies. Just a lot of horror movies.

Blood Rage, AKA Slasher, AKA Nightmare at Shadow Woods is a rare thing for the genre in that it takes place during Thanksgiving. Yup, this is a Thanksgiving slasher movie. Not Halloween. Not Christmas. Thanksgiving. We get very few of these, so rejoice... ish.

The plot focuses on twin brothers, one of whom commits a brutal murder as a boy and frames the other. What a dick! Years later, the innocent brother escapes from a mental institution on -- all together now -- THANKSGIVING and heads for home, prompting the dick of a twin to begin killing again. Why? Why not! There'd be no movie otherwise.

All the cliches are here. We get the jock, the slut and the final girl. The acting is either over the top or lazy. And, like many Halloween and Friday the 13th ripoffs, it's strictly amateur night in terms of d…

Escape the creature in these three Crypsis clips

A camping trip goes horribly wrong in the upcoming creature-feature Crypsis from Uncork'd Entertainment. And the world gets to witness it just in time for the holiday season.

Can't wait? That's OK, as we've scored three -- count 'em three -- clips from writer/director Paul Anthony Rogers' unnerving flick. Why? Because three time's the charm, that's why.

Predator

Cave

Run!

A group of friends make a bet to survive the night on an island. Unbeknownst to them, a mysterious creature begins hunting them. What began as an innocent bet quickly turns into a fight for survival.

Rogers co-stars alongside Michael Armata, Anthony Hoang, Jordan Mitchell-Love and Eddie Nason.

Crypsis hits DVD and On Demand Dec. 17.

Source: Uncork'd Entertainment

On film, movies and The Irishman

There was a lot of noise made about a month or so ago on what cinema is. The war of words started when acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese said the Marvel Cinematic Universe was not cinema. This caused a "great" debate among... well... pretty much everyone about what makes cinema, if the Marvel movies are cinema, and so forth.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

I didn't enter that debate. Our Mike S did, and did so eloquently. But having watched Scorsese's latest, The Irishman, in one marathon sitting, I think everyone missed the point. That's right, you're all wrong! Wanna fight about it? Didn't think so.

I think cinema can be broken down into two forms, and Quentin Tarantino nailed them in the highly underrated True Romance. There's a scene where Christian Slater talks with a movie producer about the difference between movies and film. I'm not going to do Tarantino's great dialogue justice, but to paraphrase; film is the higher art form, and movies are t…

Bond has No Time to Die in a wild new trailer

We teased it, and now we get to reveal it to the masses. The full trailer for No Time to Die is here, and it's a thing of visceral beauty.

When we last left Bond... James Bond... he'd quit the spy game and retired with his lady love. That was five years ago, and a lot has changed. Now 007 is called back into service to face a new threat in the form of Oscar winner Rami Malek, and trade barbs with a mysterious 00.

I could say more, but pictures work better than words any day...

This. Looks. Awesome. If this is truly Daniel Craig's last ride as Bond, it looks like he'll go out on an action-packed note. We'll find out for sure when No Time to Die hits theatres April 8, 2020.

Also, I need to get me a vehicle with gatling guns behind the headlights...

Source: James Bond