Ever After (2018 Blu-ray*)/House That Jack Built (2018/Umbrella Region B Import Blu-ray)/Killer Nun (1979/Arrow Blu-ray/*all MVD)/Record Of Sweet Murder (2014/Unearthed Blu-ray)/Terror 5 (2016/Artsploitation DVD)/Undertaker (2012/Synapse Blu-ray)

Picture: B+/B/B/B/B-/B+ Sound: B+/B/B/B/B-/C+ Extras: D/D/B/C/C-/B Films: C+/B/C/C/C/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The House That Jack Built Import Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia, can only play on 4K and Blu-ray players that can handle Region B-locked discs and can be ordered from the link below.

Here's a new group of horror releases trying to be terrifying. Do they work? Read on...

The German Zombie film Ever After (2018) features fast moving zombies akin to the 28 Days Later series rather than the slower moving ones we come to love in the works of George A. Romero. A drama at its core, the film has a few nail bitting scenes with zombies and a whole lot of walking around and drama between two sisters that weighs it down a bit. Still, Ever After is a bit better than your normal episode of The Walking Dead so it may be worth checking out if you're hungry for zombie action. Otherwise, there's nothing too new here unfortunately.

Two years after the zombie outbreak occurred in nearly every German city, two sisters their once peaceful community of Weimar in an attempt to reach another safe place in Jena. However, the trek to the safe place is a rough one... and they may not make it their alive.

The film stars Marco Albrecht, Trine Dyrholm, and Gro Swantje Kohihof.

Ever After is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a German 5.1 DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mix, as well as a 2.0 LPCM stereo mix. The film is nicely shot and colorful with a lot of stylistic liberties taken that elevates it above others.

No extras.

Next, Matt Dillon stars in Lars Von Trier's The House That Jack Built (2018) which is a dark, realistic, sadistic, and twisted serial killer film that's quite well made despite its drastically disturbing content. Divided into five dark incidents, the film shows the progression of the serial killer's homicidal career from humble to experienced that pushes the envelope in a way only Von Trier could conjure. Relating his murderous work to work of art, Jack tells his story to an unknown voice in the after life that judges his sick actions, which he finds commendable and artistic.

The film has several recognizable stars including Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Riley Keough, Bruno Ganz, and Jeremy Davies to answer a few. This is definitely not your normal slasher and was surrounded in controversy upon its initial release and didn't go wide because of it. (Most likely for a low sequence where Jack hunts down two children and their mother in brutal fashion.)

The House That Jack Built is presented in 1080p high definition is a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a 5.1 DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mix. The film is shot very well and looks fine on Blu-ray disc and realistic in tone. The one song that's played repeatedly throughout the film is 'Fame' by David Bowie. While I'm not sure how much different the eventual American release will look on disc to compare it to, I'd say this Umbrella release is a fine way to watch the film.

While its content is pretty extreme and it's definitely not for the faint of heart, The House That Jack Built is a stunningly realistic look at what it might be like to climb inside the head of a serial killer similar to Man Bites Dog (1992). Matt Dillon is certainly an underrated actor and really pulls off the part here well. The last act tends to drag as the movie is way too long at over two hours and thirty minutes, but there's a lot of weird and evil stuff in there for horror/true crime fans to bite into. Lars Von Trier films are certainly not for everyone and some may find his style a bit too self serving. I did enjoy this film more than some of his others that I've seen.

No extras.

Nunsploitation is a bizarre sub-genre that many have embraced with some films as Dark Waters and The Other Hell (which are on disc from Severin Films.) Killer Nun (1979) was on the Video Nasties list, and gets a new restoration on disc from Arrow that's easily the best the picture has ever looked. Full of sex, violence, and everything that you would expect from a movie called 'Killer Nun', this film doesn't disappoint in the 'exploitation weirdness' department.

Also known as Suor Omicidi, the film stars the great Anita Ekberg, Paola Morra, Alida Valli, Lou Castel, Massimo Serato, and others with direction by Giulio Berruti. The film centers around a Killer Nun who tortures and kills patients, while having a sexual affair with another nun. But that's just the beginning!

Killer Nun sports a new 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative in this 1080p high definition Blu-ray presentation. The original widescreen aspect ratio is 1.85:1 and the audio is a nice uncompressed Mono 1.0 LPCM audio mix. The film also features original English and Italian soundtracks, titles, and credits.

Special Features include:

New audio commentary by Italian genre film connoisseurs Adrian J. Smith and David Flint

Beyond Convent Walls, a new video essay on nunsploitation and Killer Nun by critic Kat Ellinger

Starry Eyes, a new interview with director Giulio Berruti

Cut and Noise, a new interview with editor Mario Giacco

Our Mother of Hell, a new interview with actress Ileana Fraia

Original Italian and international theatrical trailers

Image gallery

and Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Daryl Joyce

A Record Of Sweet Murder (2014) lands on Blu-ray courtesy of Unearthed Films and is directed by Koji Shiraishi. While the film has a semi-original concept, it relies a bit too much on the found footage angle which works at some points and grows tiresome at others.

A Korean journalist and her cameraman uncover a sinister video tape of a killer who has killed 25 people and claims that if he kills two more that his dead friend and the rest of his victims will be resurrected. Seeing this from the perspective of an interview type scenario that the reporter and her cameraman set up. Things turn zany when they catch some of his murderous actions on tape and a weird apparition appears in the sky...

A Record of Sweet Murder is presented in 1080p high definition with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy Japanese/Korean 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo mix with optional English subtitles. The lot of the film is found footage which adds to the uneasy feeling it gives to the viewer. If you have a problem with the camera shaking all around then you may want to reconsider this film.

No extras aside from a still gallery and a trailer for this and other Unearthed titles.

Straight from Argentina comes Terror 5 (2016), which is an interesting genre horror vision that fans will want to check out. Five urban legends become true in Buenos Aires featuring the undead, evil spirits, and other sinister conjurings following a building collapse.

Terror 5 tries a little too hard to be controversial by throwing bondage, torture, zombies, and snuff films into a mix and seeing if they all work together and the result is a film that tries way too hard for its own good and just isn't scary. The film is a commentary on how sexual addiction and primal urges distract away from the bigger picture, but hits you over the head a bit too hard with the concept in the third act.

The film stars Airas Alban, Augusto Alvarez, and Naiara Awada with direction by Sebastian Rotstein and Federico Rotstein.

Terror 5 is presented on an anamorphically enhanced standard definition DVD with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.39:1 and a lossy Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mix with optional English subtitles. The compressed image would obviously look better in HD, especially some of the digital enhanced effects, but it looks as good as it can.

The only bonus material is a trailer.

Finally, the zombie apocalypse (again!?!?!?!) has ravaged the land and the government's solution is to evacuate the healthy people and quarantine those in the infected zones. Ryouihi as a young boy was separated from his friends and family during the evacuation. Now, years later, he works as an 'undertaker', a person who is hired to 'take care' of people's loved one in the infected zones and to bring them peace and closure in Naoyoshi Kawamatsu's Undertaker (2012).

Ryouichi as a boy was forced to leave his mother behind and watch his best friend die and turn into a zombie. He was rescued by an undertaker and years later he also decides to become one. People hire 'undertakers' for jobs to kill zombie family members they left behind and bring them proof of their 'deaths'. An aging older couple comes to him to find and take care of their daughter they left behind. Armed with his shovel axe he enters the quarantine zone, but Ryouichi has to deal with his own fears and PTSD, the most trouble he has are with zombies are those who still have bits of their consciousness and can speak a few words.

This was a low budget zombie movie, while the characters and costume were not bad, each time there is an action scene, a car crash, a zombie fight it the screen turns black and then jumps to the next scene.

The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer and DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 or 5.1 lossless mix look and sound as good as they can for a release with this genre style, but I don't think we'll see a 4K version anytime soon. Extras include making of the movie, On Your Back - short film, deleted scenes, still gallery and trailer.

To order The House That Jack Built Umbrella import Blu-ray, go to this link for it and other hard to find releases at:

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

- Ricky Chiang (Undertaker) and James Lockhart

https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/