Eureka Video reruns DEAD HEAD (review)

A caustic statement on patriotism as well as an eccentric and thrilling British television film noir waking nightmare, DEAD HEAD stars Denis Lawson (STAR WARS) as a smalltime crook at the center of surreal conspiracy involving a head in a hatbox and a potential modern-day "Jack the Ripper".  Lindsay Duncan (THE REFLECTION SKIN), Simon Callow (AMADEUS), and Norman Beaton (THE MIGHTY QUINN) also star.

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

DEAD HEAD DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• All four uncut episodes
• Audio Commentary on episodes 1 and 2 by writer Howard Brenton
• Deleted Scenes

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

Found Footage Review Archive

Love 'em or hate 'em, "found footage" horror features are a popular sub-genre.  They offer new filmmakers an economical opportunity for a debut feature that might have a chance of being distributed either on physical media or streaming services (or both) and mor experienced filmmakers an opportunity to play with the "language" of film.  The results aren't always pretty (well, they're never pretty aesthetically), but there are a few diamonds in the rough.  The list of reviews below are not a select list of the good ones; rather, it is a list of review links to the "found footage" titles I've covered thus far.

APARTMENT 143
ATROCIOUS
THE BAY
EVIDENCE
EVIL THINGS
HOLLOW
THE INSIDE 
A NECESSARY DEATH
A NIGHT IN THE WOODS
PARANORMAL INCIDENT
THE TAPES 

Scorpion Releasing feeds the ALLEY CAT (review)

When thugs beat and stab her grandparents, Black Belt hopeful Billie proves that this alley cat has claws in this 1984 Film Ventures exploitation flick.  Karin Mani (AVENGING ANGEL) and Robert Torti (THE DREW CAREY SHOW) star.

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

ALLEY CAT DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Interview with Igor Kantor
• Trailer
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers
• Kat Scratch Cinema mode with Katarina Leigh Waters

More Scorpion Releasing reviews at Update the Tags: Scorpion Releasing.

Breaking Glass Pictures is DEAD IN FRANCE (review)

"Tarantino meets Ritchie" in this quirky and gory British crime film shot in Cannes.  A germophobic hitman hires a woman to clean his villa while he goes out of town to complete his final killing before retirement.  Traveling back home with a trunk full of money (and the guy who tried to rob him), he is unaware that the cleaning woman and her boyfriend are using his house to scam potential tenants out of deposits and that a rival hitwoman is on her way from England to get revenge on him.

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

DEAD IN FRANCE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Photo Gallery
• Green Band Trailer
• Red Band Trailer
• Breaking Glass Trailers

More Breaking Glass Pictures reviews at Update the Tags: Breaking Glass Pictures.

Breaking Glass Pictures tries on BOB'S NEW SUIT (review)

A fine Italian suit (made in China from materials produced in India) seems to be destined to be the wedding suit of carpenter Bob who has finally proposed to his girlfriend Jenny.  His overbearing mother is overjoyed but his father is distracted by his own deep dark secret about his past, and his transgendered sister has decided to start living as a man and wants to marry her girlfriend.  There's plenty of family drama to ruin the nuptials; however, cousin George's illegal plant trafficking business could bring in the feds (and uncover even more damaging family secrets).

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

BOB'S NEW SUIT DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0
• Extended Interviews
• Photo Gallery
• Trailer
• Breaking Glass Trailers

More Breaking Glass Pictures reviews at Update the Tags: Breaking Glass Pictures.

Scorpion Releasing is stalked by THE INCUBUS (review)

LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE director John Hough mounts this Canadian-produced adaptation of Ray Russell's horror classic about a series of sexual assaults from a supernatural predator in a small American village.  John Cassavetes and John Ireland star.

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

THE INCUBUS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Trailer
• Optional "Katarina's Nightmare Theater" playback mode
• Scorpion Releasing trailers

More Scorpion Releasing reviews at Update the Tags: Scorpion Releasing.

Retromedia recovers the lost film MARK OF THE GUN (review)

Lost for forty-five years, Wally Campo's MARK OF THE GUN features Ross Hagen (NIGHT CREATURE) as a gunman on the run.  He stumbles upon a brothel whose guests include a band of outlaws setting up a quarter-of-a-million dollar score.  Not only do they have to worry about a mysterious and relentless sheriff, but also a rival gang that always seems to be one step ahead of them.  Buck Kartalian (PLEASE DON'T EAT MY MOTHER) also stars.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia/Bayview (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

MARK OF THE GUN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Ross Hagen Trailers
• Editor's Workprint Excerpts from "Pushing Up Daisies" (1973)

Charlotte Rampling is Artificial Eye's I, ANNA (review)

Charlotte Rampling (UNDER THE SAND) is the prime suspect for a murder and the object of a detective's obsession in the modern noir I, ANNA, based on the novel by Elsa Lewin.  Gabriel Byrne (GOTHIC), Jodhi May (NIGHTWATCHING), Max Deacon (FLASHBACKS OF A FOOL), and Honor Blackman (GOLDFINGER) also star.

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

I, ANNA DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Barnaby Southecombe and actress Charlotte Rampling
• Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary)
• Promo Film (with optional commentary)
• Making-of featurette
• Trailer

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

Momentum Pictures visits THE BAY (review)

Award-winning director Barry Levinson gives an eco-horror disaster angle to the "found footage" genre in THE BAY.  A reporter covering the 4th of July festivities in a Maryland fishing town is eye witness to a massive, mysterious (and gory) outbreak that finds the uninfected desperately trying to get out of a quarantined town and the government trying to cover it all up.


REVIEW LINK: Momentum Pictures (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)


THE BAY DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• "Inside the Bay" featurette
• Trailer

More Momentum Pictures reviews at Update the Tags: Momentum Pictures.

Oscilloscope Laboratories share 28 HOTEL ROOMS (review)

A man (THE MINDY PROJECT's Chris Messina) and a woman (Marin Ireland, I AM LEGEND) carry on an affair in a series of hotel rooms over a long period, even as their lives apart from each other seem to proceed happily.  Actor-turned-director Matt Ross (AMERICAN PSYCHO) directs.

REVIEW LINK: Oscilloscope Laboratories (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

28 HOTEL ROOMS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Deleted Scenes
• Alternate Ending
• Interview with director Matt Ross
• Original Trailer 

Scorpion Releasing goes Ozploitation with CELIA: CHILD OF TERROR (review)

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

CELIA: CHILD OF TERROR DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Vintage "Sunday Show" Interview
• Audio Interview with director Ann Turner
• German Trailer
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers

More Scorpion Releasing reviews at Update the Tags: Scorpion Releasing.

88 Films drinks from Full Moon's BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II (review)

Radu returns in BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II.  Newly-transformed vampire Michelle flees Castle Vadislas with the coveted Bloodstone and appeals to her sister Becky for help.  Becky arrives in Romania and teams up with an embassy agent, a folklore professor, and a skeptical local policeman to find Michelle.

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

BLOODSTONE: SUBSPECIES II DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Ted Nicolau, actor Anders Hove, and actress Denice Duff
• Making "Subspecies": the recollections of Ted Nicolau, Anders Hove, and Denice Duff
• Killer Montage
• VideoZone making-of
• Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

More 88 Films and Full Moon reviews at Update the Tags: 88 Films.

88 Films presents Full Moon's SUBSPECIES (review)

88 Films brings another of Full Moon's flagship titles SUBSPECIES to DVD and Blu-ray in editions that better the U.S. releases.  Three pretty grad students arrange to stay in a Transylvanian fortress in the vicinity of a castle that is supposedly inhabited by vampires.  The first of a successful four film franchise for Full Moon, SUBSPECIES boasts vampire make-up effects by Greg Cannom (predating his work on BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA) and visual effects by stop motion master David Allen (PUPPET MASTER).  One of the first American films shot in post-Chauchescu Romania.

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

SUBSPECIES DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by Charles Band
• Making of "Subspecies": the recollections of Ted Nicolau, Anders Hove, and Denice Duff 
• Killer Montage
• VideoZone making-of
• Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

More 88 Films and Full Moon reviews at Update the Tags: 88 Films.

Artificial Eye presents ALPS (review)

Giorgios Lanthimos follows up his arthouse hit DOGTOOH with ALPS, the quirky story of a secret group of people who comfort the recently bereaved by taking on the identities of the recently departed.

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

ALPS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Greek Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Trailer

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

Monster Pictures and Eion Macken explore THE INSIDE (review)

Corina and her friends make the mistake of celebrating her birthday in an abandoned warehouse where they attract not only the unwanted presence of three rapists, but also something very evil and very hungry.  Actor Eion Macken (SIREN) writes, directs, edits, photographs, and co-stars.

REVIEW LINK: Monster Pictures/Eureka Video (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE INSIDE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Picture-in-Picture Commentary by director Eion Macken, actress Vanessa Fahy, and producer Franco Noonan
• Making-of
• Trailer
• 3 Teasers

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

Scorpion Releasing unleashes ANGELS BRIGADE (review)

When her kid brother is beaten by drug deals, a Las Vegas singer recruits six fatal females to kick some ass in one of the grindhouse-iest of Greydon Clark's seventies action flicks.  Jack Palance (CITY SLICKERS), "Rat Packer" Peter Lawford, Darby Hinton (FIRECRACKER), Jim Backus (OPERATION BIKINI), Alan Hale (GILLIGAN'S ISLAND), Pat Buttram (GREEN ACRES) and Neville Brand (EATEN ALIVE) star.

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

ANGELS BRIGADE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Original "Seven From Heaven" cut (95 minutes)
• Theatrical "Angel's Brigade" cut (86 minutes)
• Interview with cinematographer Dean Cundey
• Hostess segments by Katarina Leigh Waters

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Retromedia exposes THE BLONDE IN THE BLUE MOVIE (review)

Lando Buzzanca (Lucio Fulci's THE EROTICIST) and 1969 Playboy model Pamela Tiffin star in this Italian sex comedy by Steno (Stefano Vanzina).  An Italian shoe executive arrives in Copenhagen to launch an ad campaign and falls for a beautiful university student.  It isn't until after they marry that he discovers that she is one of Denmark's biggest "blue movie" stars.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

THE BLONDE IN THE BLUE MOVIE DVD specs:

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

Retromedia visits the HOUSE OF TERROR (review)

If you liked Peter Carpenter's POINT OF TERROR and BLOOD MANIA, catch HOUSE OF TERROR by the same writer and with spooky cinematography by the same DP.  Jennifer Andrews (Jennifer Bishop, BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE) comes to work as a private nurse for the suicidal wife of a wealthy businessman.  When the wife turns up dead in a bathtub full of blood, Jennifer and her boyfriend scheme to get the husband's money.  Then the wife's twin sister shows up... Double-crosses, triple-crosses, and bloody murder are the order of the day in the HOUSE OF TERROR.  Arell Blanton and Jacquelyn Hyde co-star.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia Entertainment (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

HOUSE OF TERROR DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Super Horror Trailer-Rama (1 hour of horror and sci-fi trailers)

Severin Films wages war in ZULU DAWN (review)

REVIEW LINK: Severin Films (US) Region ALL Blu-ray and Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

ZULU DAWN Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-MA 1.0 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio
• Theatrical Trailer
• Outtakes
• History of the Zulu Wars
• A Visit to the Battlefield
• Recreating the Zulu Wars
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS 1.0 and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio
• Theatrical Trailer
• Outtakes
• History of the Zulu Wars
• A Visit to the Battlefield
• Recreating the Zulu Wars

More Severin Films releases at Update the Tags: Severin Films.

Shout Factory doubles Jackie Chan's CRIME STORY with THE PROTECTOR (Review)

REVIEW LINK: Shout! Factory (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

CRIME STORY/THE PROTECTOR DVD specs:

• CRIME STORY (1993)
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English Subtitles
• Deleted Scenes
• US Trailer
• Original Trailer
• THE PROTECTOR (1985)
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English Subtitles
• Interview with director James Glickenhaus
• Hong Kong Trailer
• US Trailer

Buy on DVD from:

Also available on Blu-ray (with additional extras):

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

Impulse Pictures tells SERENA: AN ADULT FAIRY TALE (review)

Late LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT actor/porn auteur Fred J. Lincoln does an adult take on the Cinderella fairy tale with superstar Serena.  Jamie Gillis also stars.

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

SERENA: AN ADULT FAIRY TALE DVD specs:

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

More Impulse Pictures reviews at Update the Tags: Synapse Films.

Vinegar Syndrome takes in a double bill with EXPECTATIONS and CONFESSIONS (review)

In this X-rated double bill from Vinegar Syndrome, we get two classics from Anthony Spinelli.  In EXPECTATIONS, wealthy, divorced, bored Margo decides to switch identities with "loose woman" Montana and soon regrets it... or does she?  In CONFESSIONS, bored housewife Beth indulges in a secret life as a prostitute while her husband is at work during the day.

REVIEW LINK: Vinegar Syndrome (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

EXPECTATIONS/CONFESSIONS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen presentations of both films
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono

Breaking Glass Pictures flashes back to MADRID, 1987 (review)

An aging leftwing journalist and a pretty student find themselves trapped in a bathroom together with more than their bodies to expose amidst the political turbulence of 1980's Spain.  Jose Sacristan stars in this film directed by David Trueba (adapted from his own novel).


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


MADRID, 1987 DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles
• Still Gallery
• Trailer
• Breaking Glass Trailers

More Breaking Glass Pictures reviews at Update the Tags: Breaking Glass Pictures.

88 Films and Full Moon present MANDROID

In Eastern Europe, scientists battle for control over the "Mandroid" robot and its future use as a potentially lethal killing machine.

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

MANDROID DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• VideoZone featurette
• Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

More 88 Films and Full Moon reviews at Update the Tags: 88 Films.

88 Films and Full Moon party with BEACH BABES FROM BEYOND (review)

When Xena and her fellow space babes steal the space equivalent of her daddy's T-bird and crash land on Earth, they'll have to win a bikini contest to help their Earth boyfriends (in between getting laid) and get back home.  Directed by David DeCoteau (SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA).

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

BEACH BABES FROM BEYOND DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Extended Scenes (16 minutes)
• Trailer
• Full Moon Trailer Park

More 88 Films and Full Moon reviews at Update the Tags: 88 Films.

Redemption Films takes a dip in ZOMBIE LAKE (review)

Decaying Nazi zombies declare war on naked French babes in Jean Rollin's waterlogged ZOMBIE LAKE from Eurocine.  Howard Vernon stars.


REVIEW LINK: Redemption Films/Kino Lorber (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)


ZOMBIE LAKE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 widescreen 1.66:1
• English and French LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• English Title Sequence
• Alternate Scenes
• French Trailer
• English Trailer
• Trailers for other Redemption Films releases

More Redemption Films releases at Update the Tags: Redemption Films/Kino Lorber.