Madness and murder prevail in "THR3E" (2oth Century Fox), a psychological thriller that's part action film, part nightmare drama.
Combining elements of "Fight Club," "Saw" and "Die Hard With a Vengeance," the movie stars Marc Blucas as Kevin Parsons, a seminary student who is forced to delve into his traumatic past after a series of terrifying incidents bring back the ghosts of his childhood. Each step of the way, he must field the riddles and challenges of a murderer (mostly involving finding hidden bombs) or die trying.
With the help of police officer Jennifer Peters (Justine Waddell), whose brother was murdered by The Riddle Killer, who also seems to be Parsons' stalker, Parsons scrambles through dizzying corridors of darkness and light in search of redemption.
From a medical standpoint, "THR3E" is pretty far-fetched, but the plot holds together well and the characters approach their realities with enough believability to keep the film from becoming absurd. And, Rob Zombie fans will love seeing Bill Moseley, who played Otis B. Driftwood in "The Devil's Rejects," return as a nutbag thirsting for bloody revenge.
Other noteworthy new DVDs:
Diary of a Cannibal (Lionsgate)/Cannibal (Anthem) Rammstein sang about him in "Mein Teil," Macabre in "The Wüstenfeld Man Eater" and Bloodbath in "Eaten," and now the tale of Armin Meiwes, the German cannibal who shocked the world in 2001, has been immortalized in two horror films. For those unfamiliar with the case, Meiwes was a gay computer programmer who placed an ad on the Internet for a man willing to be killed and eaten. Amazingly, he found a partner in Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes, and from there, the plot blood red. In "Diary of a Cannibal," director Ulli Lommel contorts the storyline so the main characters are involved in a heterosexual relationship. And, instead of seeking a partner to eat, the male lead searches for a girl to consume him so the two can become one. Clearly, "Diary of a Cannibal" is meant to be a love story, albeit a grisly one, but it comes across as somewhat amateurish. That's not the case for the similar, but far more unsettling "Cannibal," which sticks closely to the original tale of Meiwes and may leave you feeling nauseous and considering a switch to vegetarianism. Directed a couple years ago by Lommel's former Executive Producer, Marian Doran, the movie is unflinching in its graphic detail and features scenes of male nudity, gay sex, dismemberment, disfigurement, disembowelment and, of course, cannibalism. As disturbing and disgusting as it is, however, it's well shot, edited and acted and the horrific violence looks frightfully real.
Satan's Cannibal Holocaust (SRS) Cannibals are everywhere these days and might even be lurking around in high government positions. That's the premise of this nasty low budget slash-a-thon written by Ron Bonk and directed by Jim Wayer. When a female journalist interviews a local wino to write a fluff story about her father, the mayor, she learns about a satanic cult that cleans up the city by sacrificing and eating the homeless. The acting's not entirely convincing and the gore effects are far from the work of Tom Savini, but if you're interested in visiting a campy slaughterhouse, "Satan's Cannibal Holocaust" is worth the trip.
The Last Supper (MTI) Another tale of flesh-eating ferocity: Here, director Osamu Fukutami weaves a wicked story about a plastic surgeon who takes some liposuction fat home one day and, out of curiosity, decides to fry it up. He quickly develops a taste for cannibalism and spends the rest of the film hungering for fresh meat. Gruesome, but well done. Lunch time.
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