Home Media Magazine - January 27, 2008 - (Page 28) REVIEWS I FIERCE PEOPLE Street 2/5 Lionsgate, Drama, B.O. $0.09 million, $27.98 DVD, ‘R’ for language, drug use, sexuality/nudity and some violence. Stars Diane Lane, Anton Yelchin, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Perkins, Kristen Stewart, Paz de la Huerta, Chris Evans. www.homemediamagazine.com wall that separates fantasy from reality. But the idyll is shattered by a horrifying act of violence. There are a number of things to like about Fierce People, chief among them Sutherland, whose performance is always pitch perfect and true, even when the movie sinks into illogic, as it occasionally does. Evans as the grandson is very good as a young man with an overdeveloped sense of noblesse oblige, which obscures his very dark heart. Yelchin is very appealing as a confused young man. Griffin Dunne, the film’s director, provides a commentary track. Dunne, an actor best known for his movies from the 1980s, including After Hours and An American Werewolf in London, tells amusing anecdotes effectively. A short making-of documentary focuses on translating the original novel to film. And a deleted-scenes reel includes only four excised scenes, largely because the director shot on a very tight budget and used virtually all of the footage he shot. – Anne Sherber I n Fierce People, a boy obsessed with an exotic tribe of South American Indians finds himself living among a different kind of tribe, closer to home, but with equally strange habits. Lane and Yelchin are a mother and son who, through a series of unlikely events, find themselves living on the gated estate of a fantastically wealthy family, headed by an eccentric old coot. Lane is employed as the old man’s on-call masseuse and the boy has the run of the place, along with the happy-go-lucky grandson, with whom he bonds, and the pretty granddaughter, with whom he also, umm, bonds. Life is idyllic, except for the occasional appearance of elaborately made-up tribal warriors, who seem to break through the I THE RAGE Prebook 1/29; Street 2/26 Universal/Screen Media, Horror, $24.98 DVD, Available in ‘R’ and unrated versions. Stars Andrew Divoff, Erin Brown, Reggie Bannister. W ith The Rage, Robert Kurtzman has concocted the perfect recipe for horror. Take one mad scientist out to destroy the world with a lethal virus that turns people into ravenous monsters. Add five sex-crazed, drug-addled friends (two guys and three gals) taking a backwoods shortcut home after partying at an all-night concert. Top it off with a splash of blood, a handful of decapitations, a pinch of cannibalism and some grotesque makeup and special effects, and you have Kurtzman’s latest highly entertaining 1980s-style splatterfest. The film begins in the makeshift laboratory of Dr. Viktor Vasilienko (Andrew Divoff), who is working to perfect his “Rage” virus. Before he can release it, one of his test prisoners escapes. It takes only a few hours before the mutated subject succumbs to the virus and lies dying in the woods where vultures feed off his infected corpse, automatically transforming them into bloodthirsty birds. These vultures attack a family on a fishing trip before finding the group of irresponsible young adults lost in their beat-up RV, which is when the real fun begins. From start to finish, Kurtzman, the special-effects genius behind such classics as Hostel, Wishmaster and Army of Darkness, has constructed a brilliant horror film. The Rage has received accolades at film festivals worldwide and garnered a nomination for the Most Anticipated Film of 2007 on Spike TV’s Scream Awards. The film delivers nonstop action and slaughter with some wicked special effects and a killer soundtrack featuring industrial metal band Mushroomhead (who has a live performance in the film). Audiences also will love the casting of ‘B’-movie cult actress Erin Brown (a.k.a. Misty Mundae) in one of the lead roles, while comic book enthusiasts will enjoy seeing the “Beneath the Valley of the Rage” series, which was a prequel to the film, brought to life. – Matt Miller 28 Home Media Magazine January 27–February 2, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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