Would You Rather
Netflix Streaming | Amazon Instant Video
Directed by David Guy Levy
Written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen
Starring Brittany Snow, June Squibb, Jeffrey Combs, Jonny Coyne, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Enver Gjokaj, Sasha Grey, John Heard, Charlie Hofheimer, Robin Lord Taylor, Eddie Steeples, Robb Wells.
IFC Films | Periscope Entertainment
Rated R | 93 Minutes
Original Release Date: October 14th, 2012

The best places to find horror movies are on streaming sites. Most of the horror that ends up in theatres are money grabs that rely totally on jump scares and cheap parlor tricks… I’m talking movies like Ouija, Annabelle, and the dreadful looking, upcoming Sinister 2. But horror fans can rely on sites like Netflix to update regularly, and breathe some fresh air into otherwise stale genres. After nearly twenty minutes of “spin the queue” last night, I settled on Would You Rather. The film’s cast struck me right away as it’s two featured stars were Brittany Snow (great in Hairspray and the Pitch Perfect films) and Dr. Herbert West himself, horror veteran Jeffrey Combs. The plot seemed utterly simple: 8 people under desperate financial stress are invited to a dinner party hosted by an eccentric millionaire. Together, they’ll play a game, and the winner will be taken care of. What could possibly go wrong?

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau
Amazon Instant Video
Directed by David Gregory
Starring Richard Stanley, Fairuza Balk, Marco Hofschneider, and Rob Morrow
Severin Films
Not Rated | Running Time: 97 Minutes
Release Date: February 27, 2015

Twenty years ago, the visionary South African filmmaker Richard Stanley, adored by cult and horror audiences around the world for his uncompromising features Hardware and Dust Devil, ventured into a lush, remote region of Australia to make a film version of a book he had cherished since his youth: The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells. The finished film was released in the summer of 1996, the time when the alien invasion blockbuster Independence Day ruled the box office, but what audiences saw was radically different from what Stanley set out to make. That’s because he didn’t direct a single frame of the film.

The more experienced journeyman John Frankenheimer (Ronin, The Manchurian Candidate) was called in to replaced Stanley only a few days into principal photography for reasons that have since become legend. David Gregory‘s new documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau aims to tell as much of the horrific story behind the operatic unmaking of Stanley’s grandiose and grotesque vision for the latest cinematic iteration of the classic Wells novel as the living participants are willing to recall.

Zombeavers
Netflix Streaming | Amazon Instant Video | Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Jordan Rubin
Written by Jordan Rubin, Al Kaplan, Jon Kaplan
Starring Rachel Melvin, Cortney Palm, Lexi Atkins, Hutch Dano, Peter Gilroy, Jake Weary
Freestyle Media | Armory Films | Benderspink | Hypotenuse Pictures
Rated R | 85 Minutes
Original Release Date: March 20th, 2015

The movie is called Zombeavers! Right now, you know you’re either in or out. If the highlight of your summer is going to be the premiere of Sharknado 3… then hitch up, jump on Netflix, grab some mind-altering substances (legal ones), and prepare to rock out with the Zombeavers. And yes, they are zombie beavers, in case you didn’t get it.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
Original creator: Shun Saeki (art), Yuto Tsukuda (story)
Directed by: Yoshitomo Yonetari
Character Design by: Tomoyuki Shitaya
Produced by: J.C. Staff, Showgate
Voice cast: Minami Takahashi, Risa Taneda, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Takahiro Sakurai
Air dates: Fridays at 2:25 p.m. CDT on Crunchyroll

Food and sex. People have an endless fascination all over the world with both, and why not? They’re inextricably linked with our most basic drives, survival and procreation. The late Japanese director Juzo Itami poked fun at both in his landmark comedy, Tampopo, and who, of course, hasn’t seen 9 ½ Weeks? Now think of those themes in a fighting high school anime setting, and you’re ready for Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma. Actually, I may be overstating the case a little on the sex aspect of the show, but I got your attention, didn’t I?

Comical Psychosomatic Medicine
Original creator: So, Yu Yuki
Directed by: Hirofumi Ogura
Character Design by: Miki Ishino
Produced by: PONY CANYON Inc.
Voice cast: Shinichiro Miki, Yurika Endo, Kenichi Ogata, Maaya Uchida, Yoko Hikasa
Air dates: Thursdays at 4pm CDT on Crunchyroll

Educational. Informative. Funny as hell. What? Yes, you read that correctly. Educational television was never like this. Comical Psychosomatic Medicine, or Anime de Wakaru Shinryonaika, is a joyous romp through the world of mental disorders, from erectile dysfunction and voyeurism to panic attacks and anxiety disorder. At the Yuu Mental Clinic, psychologist Ryou Shinnai and staff nurse Asuna Kangoshi tackle a variety of mental disorders. Asuna generally plays comic foil to Dr. Shinnai’s attempts to explain the various maladies, and of course, things get out of hand with puns on terms such as “cognitive impairment” (Asuna pictures her grandfather surrounded by girls trying to get him to admit he’s the father of their children) and “rem sleep” (Asuna imagines “harem sleep” with her granddad dreaming about being surrounded by a harem of girls).