When evil is embodied in
the innocence of youth it becomes too horrible to contemplate. Such is the case of the DVD debut of 2
Little Monsters (aka: Little Monsters) from VCI
Entertainment on Apr. 1.
This true-life story spun
by writer/director David Schmoeller (Tourist Trap, Puppetmaster, Netherworld,
etc.) draws its horror from the infamous 1993 Brit murder case involving three
year-old James Bulger, who was stalked, kidnapped, tortured and beaten to death
by two ten year-old boys. That’s right,
his sadistic killers were just ten years of age.
The names and places have
changed (from Liverpool to Las Vegas), but the sheer terror of every parent’s
nightmare remains.
Schmoeller, whose early
filmmaking career included the 1979 iconic horror gem, Tourist Trap (with Chuck
Connors) and the multi-film franchise-starter in 1989, Puppetmaster (starring
Paul Le Mat and William Hickey), could have easily made this film a ghoulish
nightmare. He did not go down that path, but the
nightmare of the crime and its aftermath remains.
Instead of dwelling on
the lurid details of the kidnapping and murder, the focus of the story here is on
what happens to these fiends once they’ve “done their time.” We are introduced to the now fully-grown 18
year-olds — James (Ryan LeBoeuf) and Carl (Charles Cantrell) — who have spent
the last eight years in juvenile detention.
Although convicted of their crime, due to their tender years at the time
of the killing, this was the only punishment available.
They arrive back into society
— with new identities — complete with the requisite psyche evaluations, which
clearly point to two very broken individuals who do not seem “ready” for
re-entry into the real world.
How will the survivors of
the ordeal — parents, friends, etc. — cope with their freedom? Should they be free without justice? And, heaven forbid, did the horror of the
original crime put them on a course, no matter the punishment, where there is
simply no redemption. These are
questions that Schmoeller poses as 2 Little Monsters combines both a
dramatic narrative mixed with a one-on-one documentary feel … it becomes both
insightful and chilling as it unfolds.
Also announced this week
for an Apr. 1 DVD push are director Terence Fisher’s 1952
be-careful-what-you-wish-for thriller, Stolen Face, teaming Lizabeth Scott
with Paul Henreid, and director Montgomery Tully’s 1953 film noir, Terror
Street (aka: 36 Hours), starring Dan Duryea.
The following week, Apr.
8, those six-guns will blazing as three golden age Westerns make their way to
DVD. James Craig, Martha Vickers and
Edgar Buchanan star in Four Fast Guns (1960), while Hellgate
showcases the talents of Sterling Hayden, Joan Leslie, Ward Bond and James
Arness in writer/director Charles Marquis Warren’s 1952 frontier prison
drama. Lastly, director Lesley
Selander’s 1955 Western, Shotgun, also stars Sterling Hayden
as U.S. Marshal out for revenge … Yvonne De Carlo, Zachary Scott and Guy
Prescott are his co-stars.
Not done yet!!! The following week, Apr. 15, another film
from director Charles Marquis Warren is his seemingly routine 1951 Western, Little
Big Horn. The film has stood
the test of time … besides an interesting cast that includes Lloyd Bridges and
John Ireland (who also teamed in A Walk in the Sun), the film can
easily be seen as a metaphor for the futility of the Korean War (which had been
raging for one year when Little Big Horn opened
theatrically).
Also on Apr. 15 is
filmmaker Reginald Le Borg’s 1953 Western, Great Jesse James Raid … which is
far more interesting for the teaming of off-screen lovers Tom Neal and Barbara
Payton.
Apr. 15 also brings us
the DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Robert Orlando’s Apostle Paul: A Polite Bribe.
The early years of
Christianity are explored within the context of the Apostle Paul and his
philosophical conflicts with James. As
filmmaker Robert Orlando describes his work (some 30 years of research went
into it), “(it) is part biopic, part historical drama, and part bible reconstruction.”
To download this week's
complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report
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