STACK Jul #129

056

JULY 2015

JB Hi-Fi

www.jbhifi.com.au S

chwarzenegger in a zombie movie – it's about time!

ut before you get too excited at the prospect of big

rnie terminating the living dead, it should be noted

hat

Maggie

has more common with TV's

In the Flesh

han

The Walking Dead,

focusing on the intermediate

tage of a zombie virus, before a bitten victim is fully

ransformed. That's what's happening to Arnold's

eenaged daughter (the terrific Abigail Breslin), who is

eing held in a quarantine facility awaiting execution.

etermined that she spend her final days as a human

in his care, Arnie convinces the doctors to release her, and struggles

to come to terms with the inevitable action he has to take. It's a twist

on both the zombie film and terminal illness drama, and a chance to

see Arnie cast against type in a rare dramatic role.

The talking dead.

MAGGIE

A remake of the 2008 Belgian

thriller of the same name (with the

same director, too),

he title refers

to the den of infidelity rented

by five smug married guys – a

place to indulge their extramartial

activities. When a girl turns up

handcuffed and dead in the loft, it

triggers a series of serpentine plot

twists and revelatory flashbacks.

It's

Very Bad Things

without the

stag party and black humour; the

plot will intrigue but you certainly

won't feel any sympathy for these

philanderers, who are played

by James Marsden, Karl Urban,

Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet

and rising star Matthias

Schoenaerts, who reprises the

role he played in the original.

THE LOFT

Release Date:

01/07/15

Format:

Organ thieves steal Jean Claude

Van Damme's kidney – and he

wants it back! Seriously, how

can you resist a premise like

this? The organ in question was

destined for his dying niece, and

after quickly recovering from the

unscheduled surgery, the stage

is set for a bloody showdown

between the aging '80s action

star and the human organ

traffickers. JCVD's former black

ops agent despatches these bad

guys with his kickboxing skills

and even uses the Bible as a

murder weapon (seriously!).

Evoking both

Crank

and the good

old days of major Van Dammage,

Pound of Flesh

is a frenetic

action fest for genre fans.

POUND OF FLESH

Release Date:

22/07/15

Format:

Release Date:

16/07/15

Format:

ot on location in Canowindra and Broken Hill, NSW, the

rshness and isolation of the Australian outback is used

great effect in this intriguing mystery thriller from first-

tim

e filmmaker Kim Farrant. Having moved to the desert

wn of Nathgari, Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes are

nfronted with every parent's worst nightmare when their

o teenaged children go missing. Hugo Weaving plays the

tective in charge of the subsequent search, and with a

assive dust storm engulfing the area, the chance of them

ing found alive grows slim. Moreover, family secrets

surface during the investigation, including the reason for the family's

relocation from the city. Haunting, beautifully shot and featuring strong

chemistry between Kidman and Fiennes,

Strangerland

is ultimately one of

those Australian films where the landscape is the real star.

To find the truth they must lose themselves.

STRANGERLAND

Adapted from a Stephen King

novella,

Big Driver

is basically

King's take on the rape-and-

revenge theme. But since it

was made for TV, don't expect

the harrowing horror of

I Spit

on Your Grave

. Maria Bello

plays a mystery writer who is

violated and left for dead by a

hulking, brutish trucker after

taking a backroad shortcut home

following a speaking gig. Using

her skills as a crime writer, she

manages to track him down

for some serious payback. It's

familiar territory, but King and

screenwriter Richard Christian

Matheson provide a couple of

unexpected twists, and Bello

delivers a gutsy performance.

BIG DRIVER

Release Date:

01/07/15

Format:

Anything with cult director Joe

Dante's name attached is worth

a look in our opinion, especially

a zom-com.

Burying the Ex

has