Suzan Anbeh and Andre Hennicke’s romance takes a turn for the worse in “I Love You,” Buddy Giovannazo’s contribution to the anthology horror film THE THEATRE BIZARRE.
reign supreme in Karim Hussein’s “Vision Stains,” about a young woman who becomes a junkie for the images she receives from extracting a certain type of ocu- lar juice from her victims. The fi- nal act is David Gregory’s “Sweets,” an arty and archly comedic tale of love and food obsession with an appropriately Guignolian twist. THE THEATRE BIZARRE is a fascinating and unique mix of a film, with a loose but intriguing concept. There is something for everyone, whether it is the theme of old world witchcraft in “Mother of Toads” or the post-modern art-splatter of “Sweets.” In a way, this is a strength because there is rarely a boring moment and each individual segment has its own unique voice. However, the variety, at times, slightly hampers the theme with “The Accident” seeming especially out of place. The irony is that, on its own, it is one of the best segments, fea- turing a quiet, poetic quality and the loss of a little girl’s innocence when confronted with the gray shadow of death. It’s not Guignol, but it is fine. The rest of the seg- ments are more decidedly brim- ming with the sex and death one-two punch that made its in-
spiration still worth talking about to this day.
Spec-wise, the colorful digi- tal cinematography pops within a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with the carnival-type lighting of the “Theatre Guignol” and the rural green hills of France in “Mother of Toads” looking especially rich. There is also a bounty of extras, including director’s commentary tracks (sans one for “The Acci- dent”), behind-the-scenes foot- age, a trailer and interviews originally conducted for the Shock Till You Drop website. While it mildly suffers the curse of unevenness that plagues most anthology films, THE THEATRE BIZARRE is a kaleidoscopic, occasionally lurid and striking collection of horror cinema.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL... EXCEPT
aka STRYKER’S WAR 1985, Synapse,
$29.95, 82m 56s, BR/DVD By Shane M. Dallmann
Sergeant Stryker (Brian Schulz) has returned home from Vietnam after suffering a crippling leg wound. His war buddies Jackson (Robert Rickman) and Tyler
(Timothy Patrick Quill) decide to pay him a surprise visit along with Lt. Miller (John Manfredi), who dreads the reunion as it was his style of “leadership” that almost wiped out the entire Marine pla- toon in the first place. (Neverthe- less, he’s still considered part of the team.) But fun and games with Stryker’s private arsenal don’t last long: a maniacal cult leader (Sam Raimi, channeling Charles Manson) and his followers have initiated an orgy of torture and murder on the countryside and, among their other crimes, they’ve abducted Stryker’s girlfriend Sally (Cheryl Hausen). Naturally, the Marines aren’t going to take this lying down...
The film shot as STRYKER’S
WAR (an expansion of a demo film by the same name) marked the feature debut of director Josh Becker (who found his niche in television after 1991’s LUNA- TICS: A LOVE STORY) and serves as a reunion of Raimi’s EVIL DEAD crew, including producer Scott Spiegel and composer Jo- seph LoDuca. Conspicuous by his absence is Bruce Campbell (who starred in the aforemen- tioned demo): union rules pre- vented him from reprising his
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