Blood, the Last Vampire
Sony
DVD and Blu-ray

I’m a sucker for vampire flicks and also martial arts of the Crouching Tiger, etc. variety. So Blood, the Last Vampire offers up a double-shot, thank you. Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai, is sent by the mysterious shadow org, the Council, to a U.S. military base, as demons are set to launch an offensive and an uber-vamp lies waiting.  Plenty of sword-fights, vampire action, and a solid comic book-ish story based on a graphic novel of the same title.  Yeah, there’s gore and then some, but what do you expect from a bloodsucker-meets-samurai selection — a tea dance?  This is a good romp — a Friday or Saturday night special when you don’t want something heavy on the brain but do want to be entertained.

Year One
Sony
DVD and Blu-ray

Remember (maybe) Ringo Star in Caveman decades ago? Well, this comedy is kind of like that, though set during ancient times, when man was finally out of the caves and attempting to create civilizations. Year One is hardly Jack Black’s best, as director Harold Ramis overplays the slapstick and dopey humor routines. Black and Michael Cera encounter all sorts of Bible scenarios such as Cain and Able, Abraham and his son Isaac, a trip to Sodom and more. Black mugs a lot — big surprise, huh? — and the gags just aren’t all that funny in this throwaway movie.

Dark Country
Sony

Thomas Jane (Punisher and HBO’s Hung) stars and directs this thriller, which is b-movie fare all the way. Dark Country isn’t overloaded with cliches, but things are pretty obvious.  Jane finds himself married to a woman after a lost weekend-type romp in Vegas, then on the road with his new bride when an accident happens and things take multiple turns for the worst.  Trust erodes, paranoia sets in, and things get harrowing and a little weird too.  Though not a great film, it’s better than similar fare you might find on…say USA or SyFy as a TV movie.

Deadgirl
Dark Sky Films

Coming from the producers of Hellraiser and Heathers, this is a movie with all the makings of a future late-night type of cult classic. Deadgirl is disturbing, amusing, and chilling as well.  Two high school outcasts wandering through a nearly crumbling hospital stumble upon a naked woman chained to table who seems dead, but then…well, things build from there.  This is a little film that rises about pandering horror genre flicks to become something a little more.

Monty Python
Almost the Truth (Lawyer’s Cut)
Vivendi
DVD and Blu-ray
(October 27th)

Insightful and darn funny with the bits you get, Almost the Truth is a terrific mockumentary (airing on the IFC channel in six parts) about the celebrated Monty Python. The UK ensemble of clever fellows reunite for the first time in more than 25 years with some contemporary comics on hand, some up to par (Eddie Izzard), some not (Jimmy Fallon — sorry, he just ain’t funny at all). However, the interviews about all that Python achieved are solid, and pleasure bits include the Life Of Brian TV Debate from 1979.

Monty Python
The Other British Invasion
A&E
(October 27th)

Essentially a best-of kind of documentary collection, M onty Python: The Other British Invasion features two excellent histories of the Pythons: “Before the Flying Circus,” which looks at the pre-history of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam, while “Monty Python Conquers America” looks at those (especially with PBS) who backed the cheeky, wacky, off-the-wall approach to humor that was really unlike anything seen before in the U.S.  Clips here include the pre-Python children’s show Do Not Adjust Your Set, plus there are home movies and a fine bunch of interviews by celebrity fans that include Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce, South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and another comedy legend, Carl Reiner. A great release for true Python purveyors.

Comic Legends
MPI

A sampler platter, DVD-style, Comic Legends are Dick Van Dyke, Phyliss Diller, Groucho Marx, Tim Conway and Red Foxx. People always remember Van Dyke for his landmark sitcom and his roles in Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but he was also a funny stand-up/monologue guy, and that’s pretty much what you get here. Diller’s wacky, harpy bits still hold up, generally, and she welcomes Don Rickles and Dean Martin as guests. Conway is always remembered as part of the Carol Burnett TV troupe, but here it’s his stage performances going back some 40 years with appearances from  Bing Crosby, Phil Harris, David Janssen, Steve Lawrence and more.  The final disc in the four-disc collection spotlights Marx interviewing audience members as they ask about his fabled career, and Foxx, ever filthy and outrageous, pre-Sanford and Son.

Nostradamus Files
History Channel
(October 27th)

With the dreaded 2012 approaching, there are loads of releases focusing on doomsayer/supposed prophet Nostradamus, and Nostradamus Files is one of the better ones, collecting The Lost Book of Nostradamus and Nostradamus 2012. Some of his predictions, if interpreted in the right manner, have come to pass, and perhaps the rest will happen too.  It’s all certainly enough to raise your spooky/paranoia level, that’s for sure. Even if you’re more of a skeptic, you can’t deny how fascinating it all is.