Fangoria Blood Drive (Shorts)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Shorts: C
When Fangoria Magazine first launched, it was supposed to
be an all-encompassing Horror version of the very successful Starlog
Magazine. At first, it was a fun, smart
multi-media publication that loved the entire Horror genre in all of its
eras. However, its timing happened to
coincide with the beginning of the reactionary “slice & dice” slasher film
cycle that came out of the commercial success of John Carpenter’s 1978 genre
classic Halloween. Of course,
many of the imitators were awful.
Nevertheless, the magazine soon switched gears to accommodate the trend
and sadly never looked back.
When the 12” LaserDisc format came into vogue, Fangoria
was one of the first magazines along with Playboy, to move in on the format and
see what they could do with it.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a one-shot that had its moments but
did not realize its potential. So now,
the magazine’s first DVD is here and Fangoria Blood Drive (2004) does
not recycle the Laser’s content or duplicates its format, but is simply a
collection of shorts from their first contest to see what readers could pull
off on a low budget.
Rob Zombie hosts the program within the menus, something
relatively new we have seen on DVDs like “Weird Al” Yankovic on UHF, and
the shorts are:
1)
The Hitch (Drew Rist) – A man
intends to terrify and mutilate a woman, but all is not what it seems. Predictable, but still plays against the
genre, so one can see why it was picked.
2)
A Man & His Finger
(Patrick Rea & Ryan Jones; 1.78 X 1) - A man keeps losing fingers in a gag
short where they come to life on their own.
Reminds one of classic 1970s Saturday Night Live, which is not a
bad thing.
3)
Inside (Christopher P. Garetano; 1.78
X 1) – Is a lone witness to a bizarre incident dying or just about to be
murdered? The most ambitious short in
this set almost pulls off what it is trying.
Hope to see more work from this guy.
4)
Shadows Of The Dead (Joel
Robertson; 1.78 X 1) – A tribute to George Romero’s Dead films (and
maybe The Crazies) trying to do it seriously. The results are mixed.
5)
Mr. Eryams (B.C. Furtney; 1.78 X 1)
– Is he a date or a killer? Is he even
himself? An ambitious idea that does
not know where to go, but odes its best to weird out its audience.
6)
Disturbances (Patrick Rea; 1.78 X 1)
– Is a disturbed woman a killer and can the dead get revenge? Not bad and unlike the other shorts, tries
to avoid looking like amateur video, though it was hot on tape.
7)
Song Of The Dead (Chip
Gubera) – A short-short that very much wants to be a tribute to George Romero’s
Dead films. Amusing enough.
The various aspect ratios are listed above and have a
consistent look of new but limited from their NTSC sources, whether digital or
not. The sound also varies, but is all
Dolby Digital 2.0, sometimes they are simple stereo, but very rarely are they
with surround information of any kind.
Extras run over an hour and include visits with Clive Barker & Stan
Winston, both recently taped especially for this collection and intended to
inspire more filmmakers and hopefully those who have an opportunity to be part
of future contests. The Winston
interview goes all the way to Terminator 3, while Barker shows his
painted canvas collection in a way that gives us a new side of him. Even when the shorts do not work, these
extras make up for it and make Fangoria Blood Drive worth a look
overall.
- Nicholas Sheffo
