Dailies
In an era when movie musicals can live or die for a myriad of reasons, it’s tough to reconcile with the idea of actually making one, unless you’re chasing a success, such as Universal’s 2024 smash hit Wicked. In all fairness, that film took years to come to the screen after a massively successful run as a stage musical. There was an audience already in place to embrace it, and it not only managed to satisfy its fan base, but bring in outsiders in droves, becoming something of a pop culture phenomenon. It also had an extravagant budget for costumes, sets, make-up, and visual effects on par with many bigger budget comic book movies. Yet despite the ongoing notion that the movie musical is something of a dead genre, it was wildly successful. That’s certainly something that Hollywood, and even entities outside of Hollywood, would want to replicate.
None of that has anything whatsoever to do with Dream!, but it gives you some perspective when a true passion project comes down the line that others may dismiss as woefully derivative. Dream! is nothing of the sort. Instead, it’s the first full-length movie musical made in Thailand in fifty years, complete with an all Thai cast, composer, and orchestra. Directed by actor, writer, and cinematographer Paul Spurrier, and co-written with Jiriya Spurrier, Dream! pays homage to the classic movie musicals of old, with direct allusions to Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz, The Music Man, and The Sound of Music, among others, while establishing a fairy tale atmosphere.
Lek (Amata Masmalai) is a virtuous young girl with an unhappy home life in the mountains of Northern Thailand, dreaming of a day when her and her mother can find happiness. When her mother tragically dies, Lek runs away from home, seeking out a better life on her own terms. Along the way, she meets a variety of characters—some who want to help her, some who want to harm her, and others who choose to ignore her. As a consequence, Lek’s naivete will be tested, while also inadvertently teaching those that she meets the value of being a part of the world. [Read on here...]
When it comes to the depths of obscurity, few companies manage to put out consistently under the radar material like Severin Films.
Digging up everything from cult horror oddities to lost exploitation classics, it’s clear that little known and underappreciated cinema is their bread and butter.
Some of the company’s most notable releases include Bloody Moon, Hardware, BMX Bandits, Santa Sangre, The Other Hell, Cathy’s Curse, and The Devil’s Honey.
Today, we’re going to be taking a look at a few of their more recent releases, including many we haven’t reviewed here at The Digital Bits before. [Read on here...]
As many of us already know, when you’re searching for a film that has been elusive as far as DVD and Blu-ray are concerned, looking elsewhere in the world might just yield you a copy of what you seek. To that end, on the other side of the globe (Australia to be exact), Umbrella Entertainment is releasing a number of hard to find titles, as well as upgrades of already existing ones. From the obscure to the mainstream, there’s always something in their library worthy of your attention.
For example, their recent Blu-ray release of Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films and Machete Maidens Unleashed!. It’s an exclusive title piled high with extras, almost none of which you’ll find on the DVD-only state-side releases. Be sure to check out our review of it as well. And while their DVDs are Region 4 encoded, ALL of Umbrella Entertainment’s Blu-ray releases are Region Free, regardless of what the online description or final packaging states. So no matter what your setup is, you can watch their Blu-rays. Speaking of which, here are several recent titles worthy of your attention. [Read on here...]
After a bit of an absence from the site, my annual Scream for a Week column makes its return with a batch of new great titles!
It’s been a few months since I’ve been able to do one of these, due mostly to some site work preventing me from doing so. Instead of mixing it up with both old and new content like before, I’ll be covering several recent releases instead.
Scream Factory has been putting out so much great content lately that it’s been a bit difficult to keep up with. Regardless, here’s a grouping of their more recent titles that we haven’t covered here at The Bits previously, with more to come in the future. [Read on here…]
When it comes to the depths of obscurity, few companies manage to put out consistently under the radar material like Severin Films, as well as Intervision Pictures. While the former deals primarily in everything from cult horror oddities to lost exploitation classics, the latter tackles many shot-on-video features from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although both companies also occasionally do contemporary titles, little known and underappreciated cinema is their bread and butter. Some of each company’s most notable releases include Bloody Moon, Hardware, BMX Bandits, Santa Sangre, The Other Hell, Cathy’s Curse, Things, Murderlust, Phobe, and Sledgehammer, just to name a few.
Today, I’m going to cover some of their more recent releases, but I’ll start off with one we haven’t managed to include on The Bits before. [Read on here...]