Home Media Magazine - November 11-17, 2007 - (Page 28) REVIEWS I DRIFTWOOD Street 11/13 Image, Horror, $26.99 DVD, ‘R’ for violence, language and sexual references. Stars Raviv Ullman, Diamond Dallas Page, Talan Torriero, Cory Hardrict, David Eigenberg, Lin Shaye, Marc McClure, Jeremy Lelliott, Russell Sams, John Walcutt, Baelyn Neff. www.homemediamagazine.com wood attitude adjustment camp by his parents after a rough emotional response to his older brother’s death. The camp is run by the sadistic Capt. Kennedy (former WWE wrestler Page), who doesn’t hesitate to whore out his teenage daughter to the prisoners to gather information (it doesn’t help that he may be sleeping with her himself). Meanwhile, David is haunted by the ghost of a former inmate whose mysterious death casts a pall over the establishment. His investigation threatens the Captain’s land-scam deal involving turning former prisons into prime real estate. The cast — which includes McClure (the “Superman” films), Eigenberg (“Sex and the City”) and reality-TV star Torriero (“Laguna Beach”) — should appeal to fans of modern ‘B’ movies. The DVD is loaded with bonus features, including two commentaries, two behind-thescenes featurettes, deleted scenes and an alternate ending that highlights just how uneven the screenplay is. – John Latchem W I COUGAR CLUB Street 11/13 Vivendi Visual, Comedy, $26.99 DVD, Available in ‘R’ and unrated versions. Stars Jason Jurman, Warren Kole, Joe Mantegna, Faye Dunaway, Carrie Fisher, Loretta Divine, Joanie Laurer, Jon Polito. riter-director Tim Sullivan crafted a cult hit with 2001 Maniacs, but fans of that film may be disappointed by his latest effort, the unsettling Driftwood. The major flaw is a lack of focus. It begins with the feel of a tough prison drama and morphs into a ghost story, and ends up doing neither well. We learn from the featurettes that the supernatural element was introduced by executive producer Mike Richardson of Dark Horse Indie (the film division of Dark Horse Comics) to ramp up the graphic-novel spook factor. A troubled 16-year-old named David (Ullman) finds himself committed to the Drift- T he tagline for this film reads “Forget Youth. Go For Experience. Join The Club.” The debauchery and decadence of the main characters brings to mind another, more familiar saying: “Youth is wasted on the young.” Thankfully, the creators of Cougar Club are wise enough to recognize the moral and ethical ramifications of their story. They manage to have it both ways, sending their viewers on a zany, carnal journey that ultimately has their fresh-scrubbed but dirty-minded protagonists come out at the other end more mature, level-headed and well-educated in the lessons of dawning adulthood. Relative newcomers Jurman and Kole star as recent college graduates who appear to land their dream jobs. However, the dream soon becomes a nightmare as the two find themselves working for an upscale law firm where they are forced to perform acts of menial, often demeaning, labor at the whim of their maniacally sadistic bosses, played by the always entertaining character actors Mantegna and Polito. With prospects bleak in this dismal situation, the guys jump at a chance to improve their fortunes, establishing an exclusive dating club for young men who favor older women (cougars) and vice-versa. The hijinks arise when the work that they do for their day jobs begins to intertwine with their new business, which intrudes upon their work. With a talent-heavy cast that also includes heavyweights Dunaway and Fisher, director Christopher Duddy (a veteran high-end visual effects co-coordinator) impressively goes relatively small scale here with a narrative that relies more on the intricacies of human interaction than it does on the complexities of digital manipulations. The special features include bloopers and outtakes and an optional adults-only menu. – David Greenberg 28 Home Media Magazine November 11–17, 2007 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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