Couch Potato - DVDs out this week

It’s Tuesday, a day the Greeks consider to be an unlucky day. I, on the other-hand, happen to think is really rather lucky, because we get a whole batch of brand new DVDs to watch from the comfort of our own homes. This particular Tuesday sees the release of a really quite excellent horror film from genre master Sam Raimi, a fun summer computer animated B-movie homage, a Hallowe’en themed direct-to-DVD horror, and another batch of TV shows from the States.

Darren’s Movie News 08/06/09

I went to see Drag Me To Hell yesterday and it was surprisingly brilliant. A perfect blend of kitsch comedy horror and some genuine scares. I don’t know how Raimi has done it, but he’s create the best horror movie since The Ring, with enough comedy to match Scream. Fantastic. In other horror news, it has been confirmed that plans are afoot to make two follow ups to this October’s Saw VI, giving us our annual dose of gore until 2011 at least. But there is also rumour that they may continue beyond that. I love them, so I say bring it on. Also on the horror front, The Real Story of the Exorcist is to be filmed. It’s not a sequel, prequel or remake, but it seems to be a docu-horror, similar to The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I’m not hopeful. Heroes’ Hiro, Masi Oka, has sold a movie … There’s more

Drag Me To Hell: It Will Make You Afraid Of Buttons

Growing up horror was always my first love of the film genres. I relished that feeling of fear knowing that outside the doors of the cinema, away from the screen there was the comfort and safety of the real world. My ninth birthday, or maybe my tenth involved a marathon of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, culminating in the newly released Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare 3D. My pre-pubescent cohorts and I gathered around our 14 inch, flimsy cardboard glasses in hand and let the fear embrace us. And so it went for many years. But recently I have become jaded by the trawl of Craven wanna-bes and grotesque packages that the studios have latched onto as the definition of current horror. I want the fright, I want to sit glued to my seat both craving as much as dreading the next scare and tensing until my muscles hurt. … There’s more