House of the Dead
Released by: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Running Time: 90 minutes
Language: English
Directed by: Uwe Boll
Available On: UMD, DVD
Doctor Boll is apparently the new Freddy Kreuger of Hollywood. Creating nightmares from nothing with a seemingly bottomless pit of German funding, there aren't many filmmakers that have garnered such contempt from their audience in such a short amount of time. Like some foul apparition, Uwe Boll screams onto the scene with a new movie, an adaptation of something perhaps once-loved, and bursts back into his lair to respond to criticism with shock and bitterness.
In the film version of your very favorite zombie killing arcade game, college friends charter a shady boat to take them to, wait for it, the best island rave of all time! Too bad this kickin' party has been overrun by the living dead. Before they know it, they're in a fight for their life against brainless legions and their own messed up sense of survival logic.
But come on, one of his first stinkers is based on a light gun game where you down cackling demons and creatures from black lagoons. What do you want? Amazingly enough, House of the Dead is as bad as everyone's sworn to you it is. The only halfway decent aspect of the movie is the zombie makeup, everything else is like something from the realm beyond. It's not "good bad" either. Sure, there are a few things here and there that you and your friends will get a laugh out of, like the arcade game clips used as scene transitions, but it's mostly just boring. I'm amazed that people have just blamed Uwe Boll though. What about the writing, the cigarette pack of disposable actors, and the nasty post-production touches? Watch it once just to say you did.
Street Fighter Alpha: Generations
Released by:Magna Entertainment
Running Time: 90 minutes
Language: English, Japanese (with subtitles)
Directed by: Ikuo Kuwana
Available On: DVD
A decade ago, anime based on fighting games was all over the place. For every decent Fatal Fury flick though, there were countless Tekkens. The 2D legend of Capcom's Street Fighter has fared a little better, with a good television series and a couple of fun movies and OAVs (original animated video) in the bank. Now that these types of adaptations are less prevalent, it's a little more refreshing to see your favorite fighters running the animation circuit again. The latest Street Fighter Alpha OAV follows Ryu and his inevitable fight with Akuma (or Gouki, depending on your preference), while also offering up some interesting back story on the latter. This original story by Manga Entertainment, directed by Ikuo Kuwana, is an enjoyable take on a well-established universe, and is split pretty evenly between action and story during its short 45-minute running time.
It's nice to have a couple of the other Street Fighter regulars making appearances in Generations, but it seems a little too much like obligatory random insertions. A somewhat disappointing fight with a traveling Sakura serves as a plot device to urge Ryu on and reinvigorate his desire to fight Akuma, and Ken just kind of… appears. All in all, though, Street Fighter Alpha: Generations is an average game-based anime that is fluidly animated and shines at its brightest during the few fight scenes. Ryu vs. Akuma is a classic showdown that a lot of fans will want to flock to at any given chance, so if you're into Street Fighter then this quick burst of action should satisfy. A 12-minute feature profiling the Japanese voice actors rounds out the package, which is at least worth a rent for fans.
