There's no way around it: If there's anyone who deserves the title "Master of Horror", well, dammit, it's Italian horror-god Dario Argento. No one makes films like Argento have you seen Suspiria? Opera ? Phenomena? If not, go out right now and watch them, and don't speak to me again until you have. With all this, it's only fitting that his entry in the Masters of Horror series is also the most stylishly creepy of the lot. Adapted from a '70s Creepy magazine story by Bruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson, Jenifer is the story of a horribly disfigured girl with no past and the havoc that ensues as she enters the life of a depressed cop. And if you're a fan of Argento, you know no one does disfigured psychos better than him. Louis Fowler
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Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes (Uncensored) (NR)
Paramount/Comedy Central DVD
Before his supposed meltdown, Dave Chappelle and his crew had a handful of sketches in the can that, before DVD, would have been left on the cutting-room floor. But, luckily for his fans, they were spliced together, made into quasi-episodes hosted by Charlie Murphy and Donnell Rawlings, shown ad nauseum on Comedy Central, and then placed on DVD. Is it worth it? Yeah, if you're a fan, it's great to have and it's priced at around ten bucks. But, to be honest, there's more misses than hits on this compilation. Some bits are classic the racial imps or the MTV "Cribs" parody, for instance but on whole, it completely lacks the sprit and focus of the previous two seasons. Maybe it's a good thing Chappelle cut out when he did.
Louis Fowler
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Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf (NR)
Directed by Teruo Ishii
Panik House Entertainment
How can you not be intrigued by a movie with a title like Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf? Well, the images that title might conjure in your head are probably nothing compared to the bizarre, ultra-surreal spectacle that plays out on film. Based on a story by the Japanese Edgar Allan Poe (Edogawa Rampo, whose name is a Japanese rendering of Poe's) BB vs. KD is about ... well, it's hard to exactly describe what's on-screen in print. There are so many images, so many anachronisms, so many dream-like states of being, that even after two watchings, I'm still not sure what happened. But it's such an involving nightmare that I'm willing to re-experience it again and again to figure it out. Completely, totally and without question, recommended. Louis Fowler
