Laserblast: Nim's Island, Starship Troopers, Rogue

A ton of titles hit video store shelves on August 5 – so many that it is hard to keep track of them all. But as the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy would advise: Don’t panic – because we are here to help sort the good, from the bad and the ugly.
Up first is the borderline fantasy-adventure NIM’S ISLAND, which quickly sank beneath the waves when released to theatres earlier this year. If you want to give the film a chance, it is now available on DVD in Widescren and Full Screen editions and onBlu-ray disc (pictured). The Blu-ray disc is loaded with supplemental features, including two audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and some HD bonus items not available on DVD (a picture-in-picture track, icon-based trivia, interactive games).
The other big new title of the week is ROGUE, writer-producer-director Greg McLean’s follow-up to WOLF CREEK. Although technically not a direct-to-video release (it got a handful of contractual obligation playdates earlier this year), it might as well be, as far as most viewers are concerned. The film is available on DVD only, in an unrated director’s cut that restores some character scenes missing from the theatrical version. Read our review of the disc here.

STARSHIP TROOPERS

STARSHIP TROOPERS was a box office disappointment when it came out in the late ’90s, but that did not stop it from launching a direct-to-video franchise. STARSHIP TROOPERS 3: MARAUDER hits shelves this week. Casper Van Dien is back in the lead, and Edward Neumeier (who wrote the original) is in the director’s chair. 
Cashing in on the new title, 2004’s STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION returns to DVD with a new disc that offers an opportunity to download a digital copy of the film onto your computer’s hard-drive. Home video enthusiasts have been ripping discs to their drives for years, but this practise is of dubious legality, so here is a legal way to continue the practise without fear that the FBI will come knocking on your door in the middle of the night.
As if that were not enough, the original STARSHIP TROOPERS arrives on Blu-ray disc, and you can get all three films in a Blu-ray box set. A DVD box set is also available, for those who have yet to upgrade to the high-def format.

  TELEVISION

Lots of television become available this week, including three DR. WHO series: “Black Orchid, “The Time Meddler,” and “The Five Doctors.” The later is historically important for being one of those anniversary adventures wherein all the different versions of the Time Lord appear together. It is a fun adventure although it is somewhat marred by the absence of Tom Baker (who is glimpsed only in stock footage) and of William Hartnell (the original Doctor, who had passed away and therefore was replaced by a slightly younger look-alike actor).
Other TV series on display are STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES – The Complete Second Season; GET SMART – Season 1; HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, and MASTERS OF SCIENCE FICTION. The later was a network spin-off of Showtime’s MASTERS OF HORROR anthology, but it did not live up to its predecessor. (Read our review of the episode “The Awakening” here).

 CULT MOVIES

Several cult titles and DTV movies are up for grabs. HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS is a would-be camp classic now available in a 20th Anniversary Edition DVD. I saw this once, during one of a handful of midnight movies screenings two decades ago, and it’s just goofy enough to generate a laugh or two. It is obviously not meant to be taken seriously, but that deliberate spoofiness is not enough to hide the fact that the film is still pretty schlocky.
BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA’S GUEST deserves some attention for the awkward title, if nothing else. Stoker’s short story (actually an abandoned draft for a first chapter of his novel Dracula) is not enough to base a movie on (as Universal Pictures found out when they allegedly used it as a source for DRACULA’S DAUGHTER); presumably, low-budget producers are simply using it to give their film some kind of name value.
Stuart Gordon’s FORTRESS, starring Christopher Lambert, also arrives on DVD. This tale of a facist future may interest fans of the director, but falls short of Gordon’s best work.
Other cult titles come in twos this week, thanks to a trio of double-bill DVDs: GORGO and PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES; THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE and WASP WOMAN; NIGHT FRIGHT and THEY CAME FROM BEYOND SPACE. Of the group, GORGO is by far the best – a sort of British variation on Godzilla, which introduced the plot novel device of a giant monster turning out to be a juvenile of the species, its capture prompting an angry mother trash much of London to regain her offspring.

NOSTALGIA

For people who can’t stand new movies – or simply enjoy revisiting old ones – Hollywood has come up with another method for repacking old wine in new bottles: this week sees the re-release of several familiar titles with the label “I Love the ’80s” splashed across the cover art. If you do not already own FRIDAY THE 13TH, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II, EXPLORERS, and D.A.R.Y.L., here is your chance to remind yourself of all the time you wasted watching bad movies when you were growing up. (To be fair, Joe Dante’s EXPLORERS has some redeeming features; it just somehow doesn’t all add up to what it could be.)

DIGITAL COPIES

STARSHIP TROOPERS 2 is not the only title to re-emerge on DVD this week with the offer of a bonus digital copy for your hard drive. Also available are KRULL, THE 6TH DAY, and GATTACA. The former is a botched effort at creating a sophisticated sci-fi fantasy adventure; it’s half Robin Hood and half STAR WARS, but it has a certain appeal for fans of ’80s Hollywood studio development thinking. GATTACA is a somewhat dull tale of a future in which a person’s life is legally determined by his genetic potential. You can read our review of 6TH DAY – a typical Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action opus – here.
You can find these titles and more below, or check out DVD releases for August 5 in the Cinefantastique Online Store.

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