wildsidecinema

Directed by Netherlander Roel Reiné and scripted by Tony Giglio, with a story by Paul W.S. Anderson, Death Race 2 serves as a prequel rather than a sequel, despite the "2″ designation. Not only does this installment introduce viewers to the beginnings of the Death Race but also the origin of one of Roger Corman's coolest characters, Frankenstein. Originally played by David Carradine in '75′s Death Race 2000 and Jason Statham in the 'o8 remake, Luke Goss delivers a fun, though entirely too short, sequence or two as the legendary bad ass. His primary character Carl Lucas on the other hand was a lackluster anti-hero with a great face but very little charisma. Surrounded by the likes of cult actor Danny Trejo, Ving Rhames and Sean Bean though, one barely takes notice of any shortcomings Goss (or the script) might have had.

Death Race 2 offers a bit more than the average direct-to-DVD sequel, delivering massive explosions, bloody violence, beautiful women, colorful villains and, naturally, a thrilling race. Surprisingly entertaining, this prequel disguised as a sequel comes clean with everything you see on the DVD cover plus a few shocking extras to boot. Nothing worthy of purchasing but a rental should be in order for fans of the previous films.

Awhile back I came across mention of this short film anthology and found myself incredibly intrigued as I'm a huge fan of post-nuke cinema, specifically the Italian variety. With a name like Shaky González attached to this project I was certain it would be entertaining at the very least but could a group of Danish filmmakers really craft their own distinct interpretations of the sub-genre while still maintaining a certain amount of respect for the source material? In my opinion the filmmakers and distro company behind Wasteland Tales have done a damn good job of doing just that! The first three selections on this anthology were definitely the best; González's "The Last Warrior" was outrageously cool and undoubtedly the most commercial of the lot but Christensen's "Connected" was nothing short of visually-stunning. Both shorts are begging for feature-length treatments. "Eastern Army" was decent as well though it suffered from weak fight sequences and a few predictable story elements.

The remaining three shorts we all good as well in their own way but each had issues I found hard to overlook, like the absurdity of Sakurai's "I Barbari Dei CPH" (reminded me of Mungia's Six-String Samurai) and the lack of even remotely convincing "zombies & mutants" in Jensen's "Max Fury." Concerning The Sun King's "Tutorial – How to Kill a Racist," well it sort of came across more like an anti-racism infomercial; like preachy propaganda mixed with some brutal, video game violence. There was certainly a point being made that I agree with but I wanted post-nuke action and it didn't satisfy that craving at all.

Bottom line, wonderful! Wasteland Tales kicks all kinds of ass with well-produced and entertaining shorts and is a must-see release for post-nuke fans and a must-have addition to cult cinema collections. Not only was this packed with cool shorts for our viewing pleasure but there were quite a few extras as well including trailers, Another World DVD trailers, bios, a intro on Movie Battle 2010 and some stills and artwork. Very fun and informative stuff. Let's hope the success of this release warrants future anthology releases or even a release of the last Movie Battle 2007: Grindhouse shorts.

I know this film has received quite a bit of press and discussion on the Wildside forums but for some reason I was at a loss for what this film was about when I first rented it. As it progressed, I got the picture rather quick as Prey doesn't take long at all to jump into the thick of things. It's no surprise (or spoiler) that Prey's killer pigs aren't normal but I probably should warn creature feature fans that these particular piggies aren't of the deformed variety. They do, however, appear to be real deal FX creations (which they reveal sparingly) instead of CG though and that really helped me remain within the film.

The actors all performed admirably but their characters were, in my opinion, rather bland and lacked personality. Not only did they come off flat but their motivations will be disappointingly apparent to astute viewers, leading to a predictability that siphons away some of the impact of the finale. I found myself losing interest in the fates of the characters, even the remotely likable ones, of which there weren't many. There's certainly more than enough tension to hold your attention though and it never lets up, not even for a minute.

Prey is a decent thriller with some gruesome sequences of woodland carnage but it's nothing I could see myself watching again or even purchasing for my personal collection. When it comes to killer pig flicks, it is infinitely superior exercise in suspense than a film like Pig Hunt, which was completely gonzo, but the ecological disaster concept is stale and the entire film lacks replay value for me. Still…not a bad film so give it a shot, you may enjoy it.