Narrow Margin (1990) (Blu-ray) by Tyler Foster When Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer) meets up with her blind date, lawyer Michael Tarlow (J.T. Walsh), they're both understandably nervous, but it turns out they both have something to be far more concerned about than their chemistry. Ten minutes into their meeting, they both drop by Michael's apartment so he can attend to a client emergency, only for Michael's mobster boss, Leo Watts (Harris Yulin) to show up unexpectedly. While Carol secretly watches from the shadows, Leo murders Michael for stealing money from him. A few days later, deputy district attorney Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman) tracks down Carol in the Canadian mountains, attempting to convince her to come back to Los Angeles to testify. Carol's hand is forced when Watts' goons, the charismatic Nelson (James Sikking) and the silent Jack Wooton (Nigel Benning), to murder them both. They manage to escape to the relative safety of a westbound t...Read the entire review »

Jungle Holocaust (Special Edition) AKA Last Cannibal World / The Last Survivor / Ultimo mondo cannibale (Blu-ray) by Kurt Dahlke Jungle Holocaust: Ruggero Deodato towers over the short-lived cannibal genre like a malignant god. I'm sure he's a decent person overall, and this early entry into the canon is a fine film as such things go. Artistic, brisk, and at times truly thrilling, Jungle Holocaust is somewhat light on people getting killed and eaten on camera, a staple of the cannibal movie diet, but it makes up for that in both degradation and animal killing. Robert (Massimo Foschi) Harper's small plane crash-lands in the god-forsaken jungle with his peppy, drunken pilot, buddy Rolf (Ivan Rassimov), and the pilot's girlfriend. It's interesting to note the focus on the cursed, hated status of the jungle, as that filmic attitude extends towards its inhabitants. So feared are they, that when the girlfriend leaves the plane at night to pee, and immediately starts to scream, the helpful men all restrain each other ...Read the entire review »