What We Left Behind (2019)

Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2019)

Dirs. Ira Steven Behr + David Zappone

A crowd-funded documentary that examines the legacy of DS9. There's some fan-input, but the bulk of it comes from the people who made the series what it was, from the traditionally unseen producers and crew to the onscreen cast.

The man on the cover cradling the station in his hands is Ira Steven Behr, whose role as show-runner from 1995 onwards was instrumental in shaping how DS9 evolved in its later years. The documentary feels very much driven by him, too.

That's not a criticism; the film is an engaging exploration that highlights the creative scope and accomplishments of all concerned - provided you like DS9. If you hate it or feel that it deviated too much from Gene Roddenberry's original vision, then you'll probably want to warp past WWLB.

Sadako (2019)

Sadako (2019)

Dir. Hideo Nakata

The Japanese Ring movies may be thematically similar but they aren't all part of the same in-world continuity. There's two separate lines, one that follows on from Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998), and one that follows from Jōji Iida's Rasen (1998). [1]

Naturally, Nakata's return to the franchise follows on from the one he established, which means it's advisable to have seen Ring and Ring 2 (1999) before seeing Sadako.

There's some parallels with the structure of the first film, although it won't be apparent for quite some time. But the story isn't memorable and the characters aren't very interesting. Its most accomplished scene is arguably a 'slow zoom with dialogue' moment that protagonist Mayu Akikawa (Elaiza Ikeda) shares with Masami Kurahashi (Hitomi Satô), the latter of whom is one of the few things that connects the work to Nakata's previous films.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Dir. Mike Flanagan

I expected an adaptation of a novel that I didn't like to be equally unpleasing, but hats off to Dir. Mike Flanagan, who made a film that's better than the book it's based on.

Not only does it succeed in tightening King's long-winded narrative for the screen, but it does a commendable job at uniting the differing creative points of view that exist in the original The Shining (1977) novel and Dir. Stanley Kubrick's controversial adaption of it.

At times it mimics the tonal language that was so meticulously crafted by Kubrick for his version, through movement, framing and even music, but those moments sit alongside an excellent rechannelling of the Dr Sleep novel.

Critters: Films (1986–)

Critters: Films (1986–)

Of the shovel-load of horror B-Movies that the industry shat out during the 1980s, Critters (1986) directed Stephen Herek was one of the more entertaining ones. It arguably still is. It's basically a sci-fi/horror hybrid with some accidental laughs and some purposeful laughs.

The creatures are like vicious little bastard cousins of the Gremlins. They wreak havoc, as you'd expect, but what makes the film work so well is that the family is at the heart of it. The bitey things don't kill off dumb, screaming, sex-crazed teenagers one by one - they threaten something important, something that's worth fighting for. That makes all the difference.

Critters 2: The Main Course (1988) directed by Mick Garris is set two years after the fuzzy feckers went wild in Kansas. Life goes on for the survivors, but nothing's peaceful for long in B-Movie Land. The space porcupines are back for more, and their numbers have increased

Ring Collection: Arrow Video Edition (2019)

Ring Collection: Arrow Video Edition (2019)

Dirs. Hideo Nakata / Jōji Iida / Norio Tsuruta

My first viewing of Hideo Nakata's Ring was recorded from Television onto VHS, which, given that the story revolves around a cursed video tape, was perhaps the best way to experience it for the first time. I'd probably not choose that option now that HD is the norm, but I'm glad it happened that way.

I've re-watched the film many, many times since that first encounter, on both VHS and later the UK Tartan DVD editions, but never had opportunity to see it in HD until now.

The pictured edition includes four films, namely Ring (1998); Rasen (1998); Ring 2 (1999), and Ring 0: Birthday (2000). For anyone interested, thoughts on each of the four works can be found below the cut.

Scream! Presents The Thirteenth Floor: Home Sweet Home (2019)

Scream! Presents The Thirteenth Floor:

Home Sweet Home (2019)

Author: Guy Adams | Illustrators: John Stokes / Vince Locke / Henrik Sahlström / Jimmy Broxton / Tom Paterson / Kelley Jones / Frazer Irving / Andreas Butzbach | Page Count 48

++ I was dormant too long. Rusty. Dusty. Musty. But not now. Now I'm better than I ever was. Sharp, shining, like a knife blade! ++

There's no Misty strips included this time, but in order to get the most from the Scream! only special you'll need to have read both of the previous Hallowe'en specials (2017 and 2018) because Home Sweet Home continues The Thirteenth Floor story begun in the relaunch.

There's three individual tales but they're all The Thirteenth Floor. The first of them is the one that the collection is named for, Home Sweet Home, and is both the longest (38 pages) and the one that continues from last year. It really benefits from the extra page length, enabling writer Guy Adams to devote multiple pages to some proper characterisation of people other than Max.