A few years ago I had the pleasure of reviewing the excellent drama/thriller A Necessary Death, in which a documentarian films the final days of a man who’s decided to kill himself. Writer/director Daniel Stamm would go on to film the far more well known The Last Exorcism, but his gripping debut is just now becoming available on DVD as well as on demand on May 29th. My review.

I interviewed Stamm and cinematographer Zoltan Honti at SXSW 2008, where the film debuted. Both on video and as a (longer) podcast.

Here’s the trailer:

Afghan Luke tells the story of a journalist (Nick Stahl) who journeys to Afghanistan unravel a conspiracy involving Canadian snipers. The satirical drama hails from director Mike Clattenburg (Canadian television hit Trailer Park Boys) who co-produces with Barrie Dunn and Michael Volpe. Critizice This! interviewed Clattenburg and Dunn about the film, but if prefer your interviews with actors and on video, here are a couple from Press+1:

Vik Sahay (Chuck) and Stephen Lobo

Nicolas Wright and Steve Cochrane

Afghan Luke arrives May 15th.

Reviews for Die, in which captives are forced to roll a die that will determine how their fellow captives will die (get it?), generally regard the film as a low grade Saw derivative. Richard Scheib at Moria describes it as “an oddly unconvincing film,” adding:

One gets the impression that the creative team were given orders to create another Saw and went away and did their best but the elements never came together with the essential spark.

Straight.com’s Steve Newton notes that the film has a lighter touch than Saw, depicting “a kinder, gentler world of torture porn,” and has kinder words for the effort:

The convincing performances, restrained direction, and engrossing score of Die keep you interested, for the most part, but there’s a pretentious vibe about the film that gets increasingly noticeable as you near its lofty conclusion.

Meanwhile, Horrorphilia Jason at Horrorphilia (natch) boils it down to the essentials:

Die is essentially a pg 13 version of Saw. The main differences are that Saw has some cool traps and some kick ass gore while Die is mainly dialogue that uninspired and pretty predictable.

Die, starring John Pyper-Ferguson and Elias Koteas, is out now.

The Odds tells the noir-ish tale of a teen gambler (Tyler Johnston) who, in investigating the apparent suicide of a friend, finds the dark underbelly of his favorite pastime. The film, which had its premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, is the feature debut of Canadian writer/director Simon Davidson, an editor on the most recent incarnation of Flash Gordon. IMDb user reaction to the film is quite good, if drawn from a small sample size, scoring 8.5/10 stars from 45 votes. An even smaller sample of two critics on Rotten Tomatoes are split on the matter.

The Odds arrives tomorrow on DVD.

Treasure Buddies, the latest installment in the now seven deep Buddies franchise, is on top of the straight-to-DVD charts as of February 12th. After debuting as the number one DVD release overall in its first week, it then dropped to number four on that measure, just behind A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas. The film has grossed over $11.9 million putting it on track to best the previous entry, Spooky Buddies, which had only made $7.9 million by its second weekend before going on to max out at $15 million.

The strangely inevitable Tooth Fairy 2 sees Larry the Cable Guy donning the wings so famously fluttered by The Rock in the original. The “case worker” role once inhabited by Stephen Merchant is now played by a little girl; and Billy Crystal is now, I don’t know, a flying pig.  Perhaps most strangely inevitable of all is the directorship of Alex Zamm, whose credits include Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Dr. Doolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, Inspector Gadget 2, and the Carrot Top classic Chairman of the Board. He’s next slated to direct Eddie Murphy as the voice of Hong Kong Phooey.

Tooth Fairy 2 arrives March 6th on Blu-ray and DVD.

Video game adaptation Tekken has won Best Picture in the 3rd Annual Straight-to-DVD Movie Awards, also grabbing the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy award. Other winners include Tamer Hassan who won best actor for his performance in Bonded by Blood, which also took Best Director for helmer Sacha Bennett. Romola Garai won Best Actress for her work in Glorious 39. Ballistica took both Worst Picture and Title-S0-Bad-It’s Good kudos.

Here’s the full list:

Best Picture: Tekken

Best Actor: Tamer Hassan, Bonded by Blood

In The Rebound, Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a recently divorced mom who goes all cougar on a new neighbor (The Hangover‘s Justin Bartha), begging the question if the relationship will turn out to be what the title implies.  Bart Freundlich (The Myth of Fingerprints, Trust the Man) wrote and directed the film, which took a world tour in theaters before arriving on DVD in the States.  John Schneider and Art Garfunkel co-star.

The Rebound arrives February 7th on DVD and Blu-ray.

The Hunters is the debut feature from director Chris Briant, who also stars as Le Saint, a detective who uncovers a human game reserve near an abandoned fort. The reviews are strong, citing the slow build from crime drama into all out horror at the end, bolstered by solid characterizations.  Michael Allen at 28 Days Later Analysis calls it “very compelling,” noting the “strong visual style” and “great intercutting and use of impressionism.”   Horror Asylum’s Ian Martin says Briant “successfully moulds some very believable characters, without needing to feed us too much information on them.” Alice Nelson of DVD Verdict calls the film “unorthodox but quite enjoyable,” adding, “If this film is any indication, Chris Briant has talent as both a director and an actor.” She warns however, that “the synopsis is wrong everywhere you look, even on [the film's] own packaging,” and that Glee star Dianna Agron’s role in the film is grossly overstated in the advertising, “…if you’re expecting to get your Glee fix while watching The Hunters, you’re going to be sorely disappointed…”

In a stark contrast, IMDb users give the film 4.3/10 stars with 751 votes counted.

The Hunters is available now on DVD and Amazon instant video.

Warning: This is a red-band trailer.

In the upcoming action-thriller Sinners and Saints, Johnny Strong (The Fast and the Furious) plays a cop-on-the-edge investigating a homicide in New Orleans that involves a childhood friend (The Boondock Saints‘ Sean Patrick Flanery). In this clip, Flanery comes up with a pretty extreme solution for a hopeless gunfight.

The film, which drops tomorrow, also stars Kevin Phillips, Costas Mandylor, Bas Rutten, Clifford “Method Man” Smith, Kim Coates, Jolene Blalock, and Tom Berenger.