DVD Pick of the week: Frozen (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
One of the more prominent of up-and-coming horror filmmakers, writer/director Adam Green delivers his best film to date with this highly effective chiller (no pun intended) that plays its simple concept to the hilt.
Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore and Emma Bell (in her screen debut) play three friends on a weekend getaway whose decision to hit the ski slopes one last time for the night proves an unwise one, as the ski lift is shut down with them in one of the cars, halfway up the mountain. Before too long, the temperature drops and a blizzard rolls in.
The terrified trio must endure punishing cold, the height of the lift, and their mounting panic. And, unbeknownst to them but waiting below, is a pack of hungry wolves….
The key to the film’s success lies in how Green sustains the suspense, delivers the shocks, and keeps the action moving — and he’s aided by the three lead actors, who bring an empathetic intensity to their roles. There are even a few moments of black comedy, but make no mistake, this isn’t played for laughs. And although Green keeps some of the nastier moments offscreen, thereby engaging the viewers’s imagination even more, this is definitely not for the squeamish. Rated R.
ALSO ON DVD
THE EVIL/TWICE DEAD DOUBLE FEATURE (Shout! Factory): A DVD twin-bill ($19.93 retail) of low-budget shockers produced by the indefatigable independent-film legend Roger Corman: The much-missed Richard Crenna stars with Joanna Pettet, Andrew Prince and Victor Buono (as the Devil!) in 1978’s The Evil (**); in 1988’s Twice Dead (**), a Los Angeles street gang terrorizes suburban teenagers who have just moved into the local haunted house. Both films include audio commentaries and are rated R.
THE EXORCIST (Warner Home Video): Director William Friedkin’s landmark 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s best-seller makes its Blu-ray debut ($34.99 retail), which includes the original theatrical version, the extended director’s cut, and plenty of special features. Whether it’s the scariest movie of all time is debatable, but it’s right up there. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, with wins for Best Adapted Screenplay (Blatty) and Best Sound. Rated R.
GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, ALICE COOPER (Shout! Factory): The 1974 rock documentary, showcasing Alice Cooper in concert, makes its Blu-ray debut ($24.98 retail).
GROWTH (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Thanks to genetic research gone wrong, an island community is overrun by parasites in this generic shocker.
HAPPY TEARS (LionsGate Home Entertainment): Writer/producer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein’s brittle, bittersweet comedy stars Parker Posey and Demi Moore as sisters who return to Pittsburgh to care for their aging, eccentric father (Rip Torn). Family dysfunction made funny by a cast that also includes Ellen Barkin, Roger Rees, Victor Slezak, Patti D’Arbanville and ever-busy Salem College and UNC School of the Arts alumnus Celia Weston. Rated R.
“KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS”: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON (LionsGate Home Entertainment): For those who can’t get enough of Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and the rest of the Kardashians, here’s all 12 episodes from the 2009 season of the popular E! Entertainment Television reality series focusing on their high-profile lives. This two-DVD boxed set retails for $19.98.
“LEAVE IT TO BEAVER”: SEASON THREE (Shout! Factory): Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow return as Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver and brother Wally, in all 39 episodes from the 1959-’60 season of the prime-time ABC-TV situation comedy, still perennially popular in syndication. This six-DVD boxed set retails for $39.97.
“LESS THAN PERFECT”: SEASON ONE (LionsGate Home Entertainment): TV news is the backdrop for this award-winning, primetime ABC-TV sitcom, which stars Sara Rue, Eric Roberts, Andy Dick, Andrea Parker and a pre- ”Chuck” Zachary Levi. This four-DVD boxed set, which retails for $24.98, contains all 22 episodes from the premiere 2002-’03 season.
METAMORPHOSIS (MTI Home Video): Dumb American tourists encounter vampires while touring the Carpathian Mountains. A few bursts of energy aren’t enough to compensate for messy storytelling. Christopher Lambert hams it up as one of the bloodsuckers. Rated R.
PERSON OF INTEREST (Ariztical Entertainment): A series of murders in a coastal New England town arouses the interest of a female sheriff (Elise Rovinsky) and a homicide detective (Julie Bell) who’s also her lover, in writer/producer/director Christopher Ward’s lowbudget whodunit. The lesbian aspect is handled in sympathetic fashion, but the overall story is bogged down by bad dialogue, idiotic plot twists and uneven performances. It all goes wrong.
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): Producer Joseph Papp and director Wilford Leach brought their wildly successful, Tony Award-winning 1979 stage version of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic to the big screen in 1983, but by embracing (and even replicating) its stage origins it never finds its footing as a film — and didn’t come remotely close to replicating the success of the play. The original Broadway cast is on hand — Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, Tony Azito and George Rose, with Angela Lansbury stepping in for Estelle Parsons. This is one of those movies where it looks like everyone making it had a ball, yet it still doesn’t come across. Rated G.
RED DESERT (The Criterion Collection): Michelangelo Antonioni’s award-winning 1964 drama, set against the backdrop of industrialization and labor unrest in Italy, stars Monica Vitti as an emotionally troubled woman who drifts into an affair with her husband’s colleague (Richard Harris), Exquisite cinematography by Carlo di Palma — this was Antonioni’s first color film — but the narrative could have been tightened considerably. Still, this has its devotees among the Antonioni faithful. In Italian with English subtitles. The special-edition DVD and the specialedition Blu-ray each retail for $39.95.
THE RIG (Anchor Bay Entertainment): Subpar scare fare with the crew of the titular oil rig encountering an inhuman underwater menace during a storm. On top (or bottom) of everything else, top-billed William Forsythe exits the proceedings far too early. Rated R.
ROBIN HOOD (Universal Studios Home Entertainment): Russell Crowe is ideally cast in the title role of Ridley Scott’s colorful, actionpacked adventure saga, which combines historical fact with fictional license in its telling of the oft-told tale of Robin and his merry men. Cate Blanchett goes toe-to-toe with Crowe as Marian (no maiden she!), and the supporting cast includes William Hurt, Mark Addy, Mark Strong, Danny Huston, Eileen Atkins and the always-welcome Max Von Sydow. A bit longish, but quite entertaining and deserving of a better critical reception than it got. Available as a single-disc DVD ($29.98 retail), a two-DVD special edition ($34.98 retail), or as a DVD/Blu-ray combo ($39.98 retail). Rated PG-13 (also available in an unrated director’s cut).
SPLICE (Warner Home Video): Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley portray scientists whose illicit DNA experimentation results in a strange, ultimately lethal, new form of life (played by newcomer Delphine Chaneac). Before it goes off the rails in the third act, this is a sleek, well-made and even thought-provoking science-fiction yarn. Rated R.
STOMP THE YARD: HOMECOMING (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment): This witless sequel to the 2007 box-office hit focuses on a college hip-hop competition, with far too many detours into boy-meets-girl and student angst territory. A few fancy moves but little else. The cast includes Keith David, Jasmine Guy and the first film’s lead, Columbus Short, seen in footage from that film. Rated PG-13.
