88 Films resurrects the PUPPET MASTER (review)

Blade, The Jester, The Tunneler, Pinhead, and The Leech Woman make their screen debuts in David Schmoeller's PUPPET MASTER, back on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK from 88 Films.  Charles Band's and Full Moon Entertainment's most enduring series (nine installments so far), the original PUPPET MASTER finds four psychics called to a seaside hotel by a mysterious associate who was searching for the secret of Andre Toulon, an alchemist/puppeteer who carried the secret of bestowing life to inanimate objects.  Paul Le Mat (GRAVE SECRETS), Irene Miracle (INFERNO), and William Hickey (PRIZZI'S HONOR) star.

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

PUPPET MASTER DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by producer Charles Band (moderated by Chris Gore)
• Audio Commentary by HYSTERIA LIVES' Justin Kerswell and Calum Waddell
• "No Strings Attached" - The Making of PUPPET MASTER
• Introduction by Charles Band
• Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

Also available on Blu-Ray:
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88 Films and THE DEAD WANT WOMEN (review)

When talkies replace the silent films, the studio cancels diva Rose Pettigrew's contract.  In a rage, she murders three of her actor friends and slits her own throat.  Eighty years later, hot (and I do mean hot) realtors Reese and Danni take on the long abandoned property and spend the night cleaning it up for a prospective buyer.  As they celebrate their pending sale with champagne and fall asleep, the house starts to come to life.  Soon the two women are tormented by the monstrous apparitions of Rose's perverted actor pals because: THE DEAD WANT WOMEN!  Eric Roberts stars.

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

THE DEAD WANT WOMEN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Behind the Scenes
• Photo Gallery
• Original Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park
  

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Autonomy Pictures plays THE BUNNY GAME (review)

When her money and her stash are stolen by a trick, Bunny accepts a ride from a creepy trucker, and so begins her hellish nightmare.  Banned in the UK and purportedly based on the real life experience of the film's star.

REVIEW LINK: Autonomy Pictures (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE BUNNY GAME DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Adam Rehmeier and star Rodleen Getsic
• "Caretaking the Monster: Behind the Scenes"
• Trailer
• Alternate Trailer
• Photo Gallery

The TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL CONTINUES for Impulse Pictures and Nikkatsu (review)

Mayumi's TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: CONTINUES in this new Nikkatsu DVD from Impulse Pictures.  The heroine of TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: SEX HELL is fresh out of solitary and not taking any @&%# from anybody: not her cellblock's queen been, not the warden, not even the Yakuza!

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

TRUE STORY OF A WOMAN IN JAIL: CONTINUES DVD specs:

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

Code Red seeks RETRIBUTION (review)

Dennis Lipscomb (EYES OF FIRE) is an artist who survives a suicide attempt, but comes back with an unwelcome guest possessing his body in Guy Magar's RETRIBUTION.  One of the many little-known eighties horror films that languished on the video store rental shelves, RETRIBUTION gets the special edition DVD treatment with an audio commentary, deleted scenes (gore snipped by the MPAA), a still gallery, and trailers.

REVIEW LINK: Code Red Releasing (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-In)

RETRIBUTION DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Guy Magar
• Violent Deleted Scenes
• Trailers
• Trailers for other Code Red DVDs

More Code Red reviews at Update the Tags: Code Red Releasing.

MGM celebrates NEW YEAR'S EVIL (review)

Evil rings in the New Year when a psychopath taunts New Year's Eve TV show host Blaze by threatening to kill a different person each time the clock strikes midnight in time zones across the United States.  Will Blaze be the final victim?

REVIEW LINK: MGM (US) Manufactured on Demand Region 1 NTSC DVD-R (DVD Drive-In)

NEW YEAR'S EVIL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono

More MGM MOD reviews at Update the Tags: On Demand DVDs.

Olive Films resurrects THE BOOGENS on Blu-Ray (review)

Olive Films rescues THE BOOGENS from the Paramount vaults with a DVD and Blu-Ray release.  When a long-abandoned mine is re-opened, something long trapped and very hungry goes on the hunt for humans (and poodles) in this long-unavailable eighties horror pic that evokes the atmosphere of fellow mining horror films MY BLOODY VALENTINE and THE STRANGENESS.  SILENT SCREAM's Rebecca Balding stars.

REVIEW LINK: Olive Films (US) Region A Blu-Ray (DVD Drive-In)

THE BOOGENS Blu-Ray specs:

• 16:9 widescreen (1.78:1 aspect ratio)
• English DTS-MA 1.0 original mono
• Audio Commentary by director James L. Conway, writer David O'Malley, and actress Rebecca Balding

Also Available on Region 1 DVD:
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Arrow Films looks into the DARK MIRROR (review)

When Deborah (Lisa Vidal, STAR TREK), her husband Jim (David Chisum, TV's ONE LIFE TO LIVE), and their son Ian move into a Victorian house in the Los Angeles suburbs, photographer Deborah notices that something is wrong with the ornate windows and mirrors in the home.  She sees ghostly apparitions and is stalked by a hooded figure and people begin to disappear around her as something in the house wants to claim her as its own.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Films (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

DARK MIRROR DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Behind the Scenes
• Audio Commentary
• Theatrical Trailer

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

Second Run DVD presents Zoltan Huszarik's SZINDBAD (review)

While mythical Sinbad the Sailor sailed the seven seas, Hungary's own Szindbad the Seducer navigates the countries restaurants, cafes, bordellos, and private bedchambers conquering women of all shapes, sizes, appearances, ages, and temperaments in Zoltan Huszarik's ornate and mercurial 1970 film that is still considered by film critics to be one of the best Hungarian cinema classics.  Now on DVD in the UK from Second Run.

REVIEW LINK: Second Run DVD (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

SZINDBAD DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Szindbad: An Appreciation" by filmmaker Peter Strickland
• Liner Notes Booklet by Michael Brooke

Scorpion Releasing's Canadian horror double bill: THE MARK OF CAIN/THRILLKILL (review)

Former CBC weatherman Robin Ward (DR. FRANKENSTEIN ON CAMPUS) headlines this eighties Canadian horror double bill from Scorpion Releasing and Katarina's Nightmare Theater hostess Katarina Leigh Waters.  In THE MARK OF CAIN, Michael commits the ritual murder of a young girl and is institutionalized for fifteen years.  When his twin brother Sean gets married and plans to sell the family home, Michael escapes and plans a very deadly homecoming for his new in-law.  In THRILLKILL, flight attendant Bobbie is terrorized by double-crossing murderous business executives when her game designer sister uses her computer savvy to steal three million dollars from a corporate account and hides the location of the money in her new videogame THRILLKILL "The Game That Plays You!"

REVIEW LINK: Scorpion Releasing (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-In)

MARK OF CAIN/THRILLKILL DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen (original aspect ratio)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Playable with optional KATARINA'S NIGHTMARE THEATER hostess segments
• KATARINA'S NIGHTMARE THEATER trailers

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Scorpion Releasing and Katarina Leigh Waters visit the MORTUARY (review)

Scorpion Releasing and Katarina Leigh Waters unearth another Film Ventures gem with MORTUARY.  Mary McDonough (THE WALTONS), David Wallice (HUMONGOUS), and Bill Paxton (ALIENS) star in this creepy tale of a young woman stalked by a hooded figure following the mysterious death of her father.  Could the answers lie in the local mortuary?  Christopher George (in his last role) and Lynda Day George also star.

REVIEW LINK: Scorpion Releasing (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

MORTUARY DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer from original internegative
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Interview with composer John Cacavas
• Theatrical Trailer
• Playable with optional introduction and closing segments by hostess Katarina Leigh Waters
• Trailers for other Scorpion Releasing titles

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Second Run presents Istvan Szabo's CONFIDENCE (Bizalom) (review)

Never released on DVD before, Istvan Szabo's CONFIDENCE (BIZALOM) gets first-class treatment courtesy of Second Run DVD.  During the Nazi occupation of Hungary, Kata is suddenly informed that her husband is a revolutionary and has had to go into hiding and that she too must go underground.  Given a new identity that includes Janos, a husband she's never met, Kata is forced to room with a stranger who is just as suspicious of her as he is of the Nazis.  Resentment and distrust eventually turn to lust as the isolated pair are pushed closer and closer together, but encroaching Nazi forces and remnants of their real identities may tear them apart.  Shot in 1979 and released in 1980, CONFIDENCE is a mesmerizing film that has been overshadowed by Szabo's next film MEPHISTO, which catapulted him to international recognition with an Academy Award.

REVIEW LINK: Second Run DVD (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

CONFIDENCE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic widescreen
• Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with director Istvan Szabos
• Liner Notes Booklet by Catherine Portuges

Eureka/Masters of Cinema converts HAWKS AND SPARROWS (review)

Pier Paolo Pasolini's arty comedy HAWKS AND SPARROWS gets a new widescreen DVD release courtesy of Eureka Video's Masters of Cinema.  Italian comedy legend Toto and Pasolini regular Ninetto Davoli play a father and son traveling by foot on a hot summer day with a left-wing intellectual raven that tries to explain class warfare, religion, and sex (of course) to the pair.  Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone.


REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (UK) Region 2 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)


HAWKS AND SPARROWS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Liner Notes Booklet

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

Eureka/Masters of Cinema has a PIGSTY (PORCILE) (review)

Pier Paolo Pasolini's controversial PORCILE gets the Masters of Cinema treatment through Eureka Video.  Pierre Clementi (BELLE DE JOUR) stars as a cannibal roaming the desert landscapes in search of food while, Jean-Pierre Leaud (THE 400 BLOWS) plays a bourgeois son of an ex-Nazi who prefers communing with farm animals to oppressing the workers.  Franco Citti (ACCATONE), Ninetto Davoli (HAWKS AND SPARROWS), and Anna Wiezemsky (TEOREMA) also star.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (UK) Region 2 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

PIGSTY (PORCILE) DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Liner Notes Booklet

More Eureka Video Masters of Cinema reviews at Update the Tags: Eureka Video.

MGM MOD spies on Talia Shire through WINDOWS

Long unavailable after its theatrical release and never released on video, GODFATHER cinematographer Gordon Willis' sole directorial effort WINDOWS has made its digital bow courtesy of MGM's manufactured-on-demand DVD-R program.  Emily (Talia Shire, ROCKY) is assaulted in her apartment and quickly moves into a new apartment building.  This does not sit well with her obsessive neighbor Andrea (Elizabeth Ashley, COMA) who starts spying on her and terrorizing her and killing anyone who gets between her and her object of desire.  Joseph Cortese also stars.  Music by Ennio Morricone.


REVIEW LINK: MGM (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD-R (DVD Drive-In)


WINDOWS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono

More MGM MOD reviews at Update the Tags: On-Demand DVD.

Eureka Video and Giorgio Moroder present METROPOLIS (review)

Eureka Video presents Giorgio Moroder's 1984 cult-film reconstruction of Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS.  Working from then-available materials, Lang's script and tinting instructions, Giorgio Moroder recorded a new score featuring Adam Ant, Billy Squier, Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar and others and added additional visual effects to introduce this silent masterpiece to the eighties music video generation.  This version inspired the official restorations of Lang's original (including Eureka's Masters of Cinema releases of the 2001 and 2010 restorations with rediscovered footage).  Now Giorgio Moroder's version has also been given an HD-mastered restoration with an optional new 5.1 surround track.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (UK) Region 2 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

GIORGIO MORODER PRESENTS METROPOLIS DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen (original aspect ratio)
• Giorgio Moroder's score in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround
• "The Fading Image" documentary on the making of Moroder's version

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

Artificial Eye tells A SWEDISH LOVE STORY (review)

It's love at first sight when Par meets Annika... or something, because these two have never been in love before and the first romantic stirrings of their relationship are sensitively explored by TV commercial director Roy Andersson in his feature debut. Andersson's film is a deceptively simple look at first love against social backgrounds, family problems, and the awkwardness of just being young (but, to be young in Sweden 1970...).


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


A SWEDISH LOVE STORY DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Swedish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Excerpts from Roy Andersson's films

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