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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Shorts > Fangoria Blood Drive (Shorts)

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


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