Nightbeast (Blu-ray) by Ian Jane The Movie:The true shining star of the late Don Dohler's storied career, 1982's Nightbeast shows us what happens when an alien spacecraft crashes on the outskirts of a small, Midwestern American town. The creature that piloted the craft escapes, but its vessel explodes, which draws the attention of some of the locals, most of whom are killed by the alien now skulking about the area.Enter Sheriff Jack Cinder (Tom Griffith), a top-notch lawman of the highest order with funny curly hair and a great moustache. He's a hit with the ladies. When he loses some men to the beast, who doesn't just strike during the day night but also during the day, he gathers up Deputy Lisa Kent (Karin Kardian) and local yokel Jamie Lambert (Jamie Zemarel) to do something about it. After a quick talk with Mayor Bert Wicker (Richard Dyszel), he wants to clear out the town so that the beast c...Read the entire review »

The Projectionist (Blu-ray) by Jesse Skeen When I heard that Kino was releasing this title I thought it was going to be the 1974 movie with that name, which featured an early appearance by Rodney Dangerfield. It ended up being a new unrelated documentary from Abel Ferrara, about New York area movie theater operator Nicolas Nicolaou. Having worked in the movie theater business myself from 1991-2001 and once hoping to spend my lifetime in it, this was still of great interest. We learn a bit about Nicolaou's early years in the Mediterranean country of Cyprus, and then his family's move to New York City in 1970. One of his first odd jobs was at a local movie theater, and ended up staying in that business working at several theaters and eventually managing and owning some of ...Read the entire review »