Western
Rod Lott
Not a fan of Westerns? Or are you just not sure?

Horror
Rod Lott
Underwhelming on first viewing, 2009's "Laid to Rest" has grown on me. Robert Hall's attempt at creating a new horror icon in Chromeskull was a committed one, if not exactly valiant. Ditto for the sequel, which graduates the slasher to top-of-title prominence, "ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2."

Thriller
Rod Lott
Promises the cover of 1968’s “The Venetian Affair” from Warner Archive, “Murder! Spies! Women!” They left off “Disappointment!” Released in conjunction with a multi-disc set of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” feature films, the film stars Napoleon Solo himself, Robert Vaughn, but as ex-spy Bill Fenner, and with the espionage exploits as straight and bleak as “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.”

Comedy
Rod Lott
Two new movies tackle the coming-of-age dramedy in entirely different ways, yet neither succeeds in being particularly moving or reaching its goals, despite some strong moments. Meet "Hesher," which earned a theatrical release, and "Just Peck," which didn't.

Action
Rod Lott
I can't think of the last time a straight-up martial arts film got a wide theatrical release. Ten, 15 years ago, it used to happen all the time after Jackie Chan burst through with "Rumble in the Bronx." Not every Hong Kong actioner is worth importing these days, of course, but "True Legend" s widespread love that one hopes it will find on Blu-ray and DVD.

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
As a huge Vincent Price fan, I’ve literally been waiting more than a decade for 1961’s “Master of the World” to hit DVD. At one time, it was slated to be released under MGM’s “Midnite Movies” line — I remember reading in a magazine that screenwriter Richard Matheson either completed interviews or commentary for it — before the studio abandoned that umbrella.

Letters to the Editor
Jeremiah Baer
Please bring back more movie reviews, DVD reviews and TV reviews. Why have you limited your movie review section down to one or two movies per issue? I do not want to read your movie reviews online.

Comedy
Rod Lott
“Son of Morning” is so poorly executed, it did not deserve to see the light of day. Its opening scenes of quirkiness are endearing until its story dawns.

Horror
Rod Lott
While Herschell Gordon Lewis has made a fortune in the advertising business, it's his earlier career as a drive-in filmmaker that fuels his still-going legacy. He's still kicking — 2010's gruesome game-show parody "The Uh-Oh Show" is his latest, while several of his movies have been remade — and Something Weird Video and Image Entertainment have released a new documentary about him, "Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore.” But more importantly, they’ve unleashed arguably his most notorious works on Blu-ray.

Documentary
Rod Lott
Originally aired on PBS’ long-running “American Experience” series, the hour-long “Houdini” documentary is a crash course on escape artist Harry Houdini, arguably pop culture’s “greatest showman.”