CD/ BOOK/ DVD: LATEST AMAZON REVIEWS

The Essential Heart (2-discs, Columbia, 156mins, 2002)
Rating: 5 stars.

As the man said, unless you have all their original albums in which case you wouldn't want this anyway, this is the only Heart album you need.

And what an album it is. 2-CDs packed to the gills: 37 tracks with a running time around 156 minutes -you'd have a job squeezing another track on it- and truly the best, the essential Heart. If there's anything left off others might claim to be essential, then I've never heard it. A mix of memorable anthemic rockers, ballads, and general AOR tunes sung by the brass-lunged Ann Wilson, backed very ably by her musician and singer sister Nancy and generally good backup musicians. When Ann bawls out, "If looks could kill/ You'd be on the floor-ah", you don't doubt it for a minute, her voice alone would probably be enough to send anyone flying. All the hits are here, along with the best of the rest, and spanning 19 years so many I don't have time to list all of the great tunes. If I had to pick a top 5, I couldn't. Even with a limit of 10 I couldn't fit in all the tracks I love, and the rest are all pretty good.

Bold, brassy, electric guitar and voice-driven rock, this set is on fire.

Tony Nourmand, Film Posters Horror (Taschen, £7.99, 190pps, 2007)
Rating: 4 stars

I'm surprised I've never come across this before but better late than never. This is an very cheap price for a large 190pps book that is packed with a wide range of full colour reproductions. It ranges in time from the early silents to the 90's. Often different versions of posters for the same movie are shown, including many international versions. The range of horror movies covered is also international in scope. As you can imagine, the sheer range of visual styles on display is impressive, from the subtle and stylish, surreal and witty, to the in your face gore which reflects the range of those films selected for inclusion. There is an introduction, brief comments on each movie displayed, and a handy index of films.

At the price Amazon is currently asking, this is a steal for fans of the genre and of movie posters in general.

Now, unlike the other review, I hope Amazon does not include this under other film poster books. This review is for Film Posters: Horror, and a fine book it is too.


Nightmare City (dir. Umberto Lenzi, 1980, 92mins)
Rating: 3 stars.

To be honest, the only reason for watching this film is for constant carnage and gore. Oh sure, there are breaks where people talk to each other and officials vainly try and do something. But mainly it's infected people charging around killing other people in a variety of bloody ways. Are they zombies? They can only be killed by severe cranial damage which suggests a la Romero that they are. On the other hand, while unable to talk, they can plan traps, infiltrate by pretending to appear normal, operate guns and machinery and drive cars which is not typical zombie behaviour. But who cares as long as they are ripping people up, eating flesh and drinking blood which they do in great abundance. This may have the highest on-screen number of individual kills in any film I've ever seen.

On the other hand, the actors are wooden, the dubbing actors are even worse, and the film looks flat and bland with no visual style at all. The ending is totally stupid and annoying. There's little in the way of extras, mainly a not too bad interview with director Umberto Lenzi.

But if you like gory movies, then this is the one for you. I can't think of any other reason to watch it.

Post Script

Just for a change, none of the images above are the cover images of the items reviewed. Matango, Fungus of Terror isn't even in the posters book (though it should be, but I just love the movie.