88 Films unleashes Stuart Gordon's CASTLE FREAK (review)

RE-ANIMATOR stars Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton are back in Stuart Gordon's CASTLE FREAK.  An American family inherit an ancient Italian castle that is not quite as empty as it is believed to be.  Strange noises and moving shadows are just the start.  Soon the bloody bodies are piling up and the family find themselves at the mercy of the CASTLE FREAK!  Jonathan Fuller (PIT AND THE PENDULUM) and Elisabeth Kaza (THE BEAST) also star.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

CASTLE FREAK DVD specs:

• New HD-mastered transfer
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio
• VIDEOZONE behind the scenes featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

More 88 Films reviews at Update the Tags: 88 Films.

Image Entertainment visits THE THEATRE BIZARRE (review)

Udo Keir introduces six GORE-iffic tales directed by six popular horror director.  In Richard Stanley's MOTHER OF TOADS, an anthropologist and his girlfriend encounter pagan superstition in the Pyrranees.  In Tom Savini's "Wet Dreams" a man's nightmares of jealousy and mutilation might be all too true.  In "Buddy Giovinazzo's I Love You" a paranoid man is pushed to his limits by his unfaithful wife.  Douglas Buck's "The Accident" sees death through the eyes of a child who witnesses a road accident.  In Karim Hussain's "Vision Stains" an author experiences the lives of her victims through the fluid in their eyballs.  Finally, in David Gregory's "Sweets" an ill-matched couple take the "joys of mastication" to gory extremes.

REVIEW LINK: Image Entertainment (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE THEATRE BIZARRE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Audio Commentary on all episodes except THE ACCIDENT
• Behind the Scenes
• "Shock 'Til You Drop" Director Interviews
• Theatrical Trailer

Artificial Eye presents THE THEO ANGELOPOULOS COLLECTION VOLUME III (review)

Artificial Eye presents their third volume of films of Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, including exclusive releases of ULYSSES' GAZE and ETERNITY AND A DAY.  The set also features the first two entries in his trilogy THE WEEPING MEADOW and THE DUST OF TIME (the third film THE OTHER SEA remains unfinished due to his untimely death during production).  In ULYSSES' GAZE, a filmmaker (Harvey Keitel) crosses war-torn Yugoslavia in search of three undeveloped reels from a pair of Greek filmmakers working at the turn of the century.  In ETERNITY AND A DAY, a dying poet (Bruno Ganz) relives his past while trying to get an Albanian boy back across the border.  In THE WEEPING MEADOW, refugeees Alex and Eleni grow up together and fall in love just as the coming war threatens their happiness.  Finally, in his last film THE DUST OF TIME, another filmmaker (Willem Dafoe) making a film about his mother's attempt to reconnect with her exiled husband.  Irene Jacob, Michel Piccoli, and Bruno Ganz also star.


REVIEW LINK: Artificial Eye (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE THEO ANGELOPOULOS COLLECTION VOLUME III DVD specs:

• Four disc set
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen presentations of ULYSSES' GAZE, ETERNITY AND A DAY, THE WEEPING MEADOW, and THE DUST OF TIME
• Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio (5.1 surround on THE DUST OF TIME)
• Optional English subtitles
• Theo Angelopoulos Interview (on THE WEEPING MEADOW)
• Theo Angelopoulos Filmography/Biography (on THE WEEPING MEADOW)

More Artificial Eye reviews at Update the Tags: Artificial Eye.

Forthcoming from Momentum Pictures: THE RAID (announcement)

An elite SWAT team of twenty cops is in for thirty floors of hell when they infiltrate a fortress-like apartment building in the slums of Jakatara that is home to bloodthirsty killers, gangsters, and a dangerous crime lord.

• Winner: Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award (Toronto International Film Festival)
• Winner: Audience Award for Best Film and the Film Critics Award for Best Film (Dublin International Film Festival)

In UK theaters on May 18th and forthcoming on DVD from Momentum Pictures!

Explore THE WILD WORLD OF BAT WOMAN with Shout Factory and Mystery Science Theater 3000 (review)

Shout Factory brings the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode featuring Jerry Warren's stupefying THE WILD WORLD OF BAT WOMAN back onto DVD as part of their Shout Factory Select line (order exclusively through Shout).  Bat Woman and her bodacious Bat Girls try to foil Rat Fink as he endeavors to steal an atomic hearing aid!

REVIEW LINK: Shout Factory (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-In)

THE WILD WORLD OF BAT WOMAN DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Short film "CHEATING"

More Shout Factory reviews at Update the Tags: Shout Factory.

88 Films lures you into the TOURIST TRAP (review/comparison)

Six youngsters on a roadtrip in the Texas back roads break down near Slausen's Lost Oasis Museum, which houses kindly Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors) and some very lifelike mannequins.  A memorable seventies sleeper from Charles Band and writer/director David Schmoeller (CRAWLSPACE) starring Chuck Connors, Tanya Roberts, and Jocelyn Jones.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

TOURIST TRAP DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director David Schmoeller
• Interview with director David Schmoeller
• Theatrical Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

Other 88 Films reviews:

• Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (DVD comparison)
• Pit and the Pendulum (DVD review)

Shout Factory and Mystery Science Theater 3000 groove with THE GIRL IN GOLD BOOT (Review)

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of Ted V. Mikel's stupefying ode to the go-go age THE GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS is back on DVD after being out of print for some time courtesy of Shout Factory's "Select" line (order directly from Shout Factory's website).  Michele works in a diner with her wino father and wants to become a dancer in the big city.  She hooks up with scuzzy Buz and draft-dodging college dropout Critter.  They head to Los Angeles where Buz's drugged up sister heads a go-go act.  Will Michele sell her soul and pass up true love to be a top dancer?

REVIEW LINK: Shout Factory (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-In)

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

More Shout Factory reviews at Update the Tags: Shout Factory.

Impulse Pictures plunges into SEX HELL! (reveiw)

Impulse Pictures and Nikkatsu Studios plunge viewers into the TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: SEX HELL.  Framed by her lover, nurse Mayumi is among the new band of prisoners at a womens correctional center, and she's in no mood to make friends with the prostitutes, baby killers, and sadistic staff.  All she wants is revenge!

REVIEW LINK: Impulse Pictures (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: SEX HELL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Liner Notes by Japanese film scholar Jasper Sharp

Celebrity Video asks WHAT REALLY FRIGHTENS YOU (review)

Ghastly Horror Magazine asks three New Yorkers WHAT REALLY FRIGHTENS YOU in this throwback creature feature.  Little do they know that their deepest fears are going to be creeping up on them from under the bed.

REVIEW LINK: Celebrity Video Distribution (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

WHAT REALLY FRIGHTENS YOU DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Audio Commentary by writer/producer/director/editor Richard W. Haines
• Still Gallery
• Trailer

Impulse Pictures unleashes DEBAUCHERY (review)

Nikkatsu rips of Luis Bunuel's BELLE DE JOUR with the explicitly kinky DEBAUCHERY, directed by Hidehiro Ito.  A housewife takes a dayjob at a brothel while her husband is at work, and is ensnared into the dark desires of its clients (including her husband's perverse best friend).

REVIEW LINK: Impulse Pictures (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

DEBAUCHERY DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Liner Notes from Japanese film scholar Jasper Sharp

MTI Home Video detours into RESURRECTION COUNTY (review)

When four city slickers decide to camp in Devil's Den National Park right in the middle of RESURRECTION COUNTY (with a detour through Enoch City), you can be pretty sure they're in for a night of torture and gory death.

REVIEW LINK: MTI Home Video (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

RESURRECTION COUNTY DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional Spanish subtitles
• English Closed Captioning
• Theatrical Trailer
• Trailers for other MTI Home Video releases

More MTI Home Video reviews at Update the Tags: MTI Home Video.

Arrow Video unleashes THE DEADLY SPAWN (review)

Toothy parasites of extraterrestrial origin invade New Jersey suburbia when a meteor crashes to Earth and the slithery creatures are hungry for human flesh!  Only a monster movie-loving kid can save the neighborhood from being eaten!

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video (UK) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE DEADLY SPAWN DVD specs:

• 4:3 window-boxed 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by producer Ted Bohus
• Audio Commentary by producer Ted Bohus and editor Marc Harwood
• Alternate Opening Sequence
• Comic Prequel
• Outtakes
• Audition Tapes
• Archival TV appearances
• In the Workshop of John Dods
• Theatrical Trailer

More Arrow Video reviews at Update the Tags: Arrow Video.

Impulse Pictures files the SCHOOLGIRL REPORT VOLUME 8 (review)

Impulse Pictures presents Ernst Hofbauer's SCHOOLGIRL REPORT 8 "What Parents Must Never Know", in which a troupe of well-developed schoolgirls head out on a two week trip to a country hostel.  Evi hopes to score with the new biology teacher, Gisela tells her friends how she seduced her family's apprentice gardener, Susanne tells of her affair with her father's boss, Annette confesses her unplanned pregnancy (and her planned clandestine meeting with her boyfriend during the trip), Jutta and Evi describe how they hired a stud to seduce their spinster teacher, Gabi describes how she and her cousin Uschi ran into a horny fisherman while skinnydipping, and Inge has some secrets of her own.

REVIEW LINK: Impulse Pictures (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-In)

SCHOOLGIRL REPORT VOLUME 8 DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles

Artificial Eye is terrorized by LOS BASTARDOS (review)

Two illegal immigrants cross the border daily looking for construction work in Southern California.  Today, however, they've been offered a very lucrative business proposition: to kill a single mother.  What should be an easy job goes quickly off kilter as the two men become entranced with the meager luxuries of the suburban home.  The film culminates in a shockingly violent scene that will have audiences jumping.

REVIEW LINK: Artificial Eye (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

LOS BASTARDOS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Spanish/English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer

More Artificial Eye reviews at Update the Tags: Artificial Eye.

MVM scores CROWS ZERO (review)

Newcomer Genji sets out to conquer the warring factions of Japan's lowest-scoring, most violent boys' school in Takashi Miike's CROWS ZERO, an exciting and audacious adaptation of the popular manga.  He faces off against Katagiri, the Mikami brothers, the hulking Rinda Man, and the Yakuza; building towards an all-out down and dirty final battle on the schoolyard.

REVIEW LINK: MVM (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

CROWS ZERO DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo