Facets Video investigates William Friedkin's THE PEOPLE VS. PAUL CRUMP (review)

Facets Video brings to DVD for the first time William Friedkin's first film in a new HD restoration.  Paul Crump was implicated in a daring payroll robbery that resulted in the killing of a guard.  Based on the testimony of a witness who claimed to recognize his voice, another suspect who himself was accused of the murder, and a confession extracted with police brutality, Crump became the youngest man on Death Row.  Amidst thirteen stays of execution, Crump became a changed man under the guidance of a rehabilitation-minded warden, but he was due for another appointment with the electric chair.  Director William Friedkin - then a TV filmmaker for a Chicago news station - heard about Crump's case and decided to make a film that would prove his innocence.

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

THE PEOPLE VS. PAUL CRUMP DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen (original aspect ratio)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Collector's Booklet

Redemption Films exorcises THE DEMONS (review)

Jess Franco goes witchhunting with a side of nunsploitation in his sexed up take on Ken Russell's THE DEVILS, Michael Reeves' WITCHFINDER GENERAL, and his own THE BLOODY JUDGE.  Britt Nichols (A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD), Anne Libert (EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN), Howard Vernon (THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF), Karin Field (WEB OF THE SPIDER), Luis Barboo (FEMALE VAMPIRE), and John Foster (THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN) star.

REVIEW LINK: Redemption Films/Kino Lorber (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDBeaver)

THE DEMONS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.25:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with director Jess Franco
• Deleted Scenes
• Two Trailers
• Redemption Films Trailers

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Scream Factory crams for the FINAL EXAM (review)

It's time to cram for final exams at Lanier College, but some of the student body might not survive to pass the tests in this 1981 slasher film from Motion Picture Marketing hitting Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory's Scream Factory line.

REVIEW LINK: Scream Factory/Shout! Factory (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

FINAL EXAM Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by actors Joel S. Rice, Cecile Bagdadi, and Sherry Willis-Burch
• Interviews:
• actor Joel S. Rice
• actress Cecile Bagdadi
• actress Sherry Willis-Burch
• Theatrical Trailer

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Polyscope and Jim Wynorski present GILA! (review)

No necking teen is safe when a mutated giant Gila monster starts prowling the woods in search of food in Jim Wynorski's tribute to the classic sixties film.

REVIEW LINK: Polyscope Media (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

GILA! DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono

Polyscope letterboxes THE LOST EMPIRE (review)

When her brother is killed in the robbery of a Chinatown jewelry store, policewoman Angel Wolfe goes undercover in the assassin training camp of religious guru Dr. Sin Do only to discover a world magic, devil worship, brainwashed female slaves, and horny gorillas in Jim Wynorski's directorial debut THE LOST EMPIRE, out on DVD in widescreen for the firs time.  Angus Scrimm, Raven De La Croix, Melanie Vincz, Angela Aames, and Robert Tessier star.

REVIEW LINK: Polyscope Media (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE LOST EMPIRE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.23:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Jim Wynorski
• Still Galleries
• 10 Soundtrack Cues

Redemption Films suffers THE BLACK TORMENT (review)

In this classic slice of British horror from the sixties, an English lord and his new bride return to their country estate only to discover that he is suspected of a number of rapes and murders in the area during his absence.  When he starts seeing apparitions of his dead first wife and the chambermaids begin disappearing, he wonders if he is going mad or if there is some deviltry afoot.

REVIEW LINK: Redemption Films/Kino Lorber (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE BLACK TORMENT DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Interview with director Robert Hartford Davies
• Redemption Films Trailers

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Breaking Glass Pictures presents the HENRY JAGLOM COLLECTION 3: THE WOMEN'S QUARTET (review)

Henry Jaglom's quartet of films looks at issues that figure into the lives of women.  In EATING, a birthday party for three women entering new decades (30, 40, and 50) proves revealing about their attitudes about food and how it is used to control their tumultuous lives.  In BABYFEVER, a career woman's fear that she has gotten pregnant and may have to settle down with her safe boyfriend (rather than her exciting movie star ex played by Eric Roberts) is compounded by attending a baby shower in which she learns how her friends truly feel about motherhood.  In GOING SHOPPING, a spoiled boutique owner must mount the mother's day sale of her life when she learns she may lose her shop when her husband stops paying the rent.  IRENE IN TIME looks at the complex relationships between women and their fathers and how it colors their subsequent relationships with men.

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

HENRY JAGLOM COLLECTION VOL. 3: THE WOMEN'S QUARTET DVD specs:

• "Eating" (1990)
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Henry Jaglom
• EPK Clips
• The Cast on the Phil Donahue Show
• Trailer
• Henry Jaglom Colleciton Trailers
• "Babyfever" (1995) 
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Introduction by Henry Jaglom
• Theatrical Trailer
• Henry Jaglom Collection Trailers
• Filmographies
• Weblinks
• "Going Shopping" (2005)
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.85:1 letterbox
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Henry Jaglom and actress Victoria Foyt
• IFILM@IFC: Henry Jaglom and Shopping
• Theatrical Trailer
• Biographies
• Trailers
• "Irene in Time" (2009)
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Henry Jaglom and actress Tanna Frederick 
• Trailer
• Short film "First Date" by Sabrina Jaglom

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Eureka Video presents THE BRITTAS EMPIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (review)

RED DWARF's Chris Barrie stars in this seven season Britcom as the thoroughly oblivious manager of a leisure center who drives the staff and members often to the brink of violence with his well-intentioned advice.

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

THE BRITTAS EMPIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles (only on series three, six, and seven)
• Seven series (49 episodes) on seven discs
• 1996 Royal Variety Performance
• Star Profiles
• TV interviews
• Two Christmas Specials
• Series Four Outtakes
• Still Galleries

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Strand Releasing cruises INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. (review)

Part time provocateur/Hollywood actor James Franco paired up with indie filmmaker Travis Mathews to "imagine" the forty minutes William Friedkin claims to have cut from his film CRUISING to appease the MPAA, and he drags a host of "Playhouse West" actors, models, drag queens, dancers, and people who just want to be James Franco-adjacent in on his fantasy in INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR., a semi-documentary/semi-fictional story of an actor (Val Lauren) searching for meaning in an outrageous project in which he has been cast in the lead.

REVIEW LINK: Strand Releasing (US) Region 1 NTSC (DVDBeaver)

INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR. DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Interviews with co-directors James Franco and Travis Mathews
• Short Films by James Franco and Travis Mathews
• Trailer
• Strand Releasing Trailers

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Vinegar Syndrome double bills THE JEKYLL AND HYDE PORTFOLIO with A CLOCKWORK BLUE (review)

In this obscure double bill of softcore films from Eric Jeffrey Haims, THE JEKYLL AND HYDE PORTFOLIO follows the series of ritualistic murders of nurses at the "Florence Nightingale Institute for Nursing" while A CLOCKWORK BLUE takes a bumbling research assistant on a time travel tour of sexual history.

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

THE JEKYLL AND HYDE PORTFOLIO/A CLOCKWORK BLUE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfers of both films
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono

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Grindhouse Releasing takes a dip with THE SWIMMER (review)

Burt Lancaster stars in this sixties studio-funded, turbulently-produced cult film as a man who decides to swim a path through the swimming pools of Connecticut's suburban hell crashing hangovers, lazy afternoons, assignations, and orgiastic parties towards a devastating revelation.  Based on the New Yorker story by John Cheever.

REVIEW LINK: Grindhouse Releasing (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

THE SWIMMER Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
• DVD: 
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Isolated Stereo Music Score Track
• "The Story of THE SWIMMER" documentary (~140 minutes)
• Allison Anders interviews Marge Champion
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• 7 Stills Gallery
• Talent Bios
• Title Sequence Outtakes (Blu-ray only)
• Grindhouse Releasing Trailers (Blu-ray only)
• Easter Egg
• Liner Notes Booklet by Stuart Gordon

88 Films unleashes Blu BLOODSUCKING FREAKS on the Brits! (review)

Joel Reed's infamous BLOODSUCKING FREAKS finally gets an HD upgrade courtesy of British company 88 Films in this "extreme uncut collector's edition" in association with Troma Films.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDBeaver)

BLOODSUCKING FREAKS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 
• English LPCM 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary By Hostel Director Eli Roth
• Introduction By Troma President Lloyd Kaufman
• Original Trailer
• Tour Of Troma
• Interviews With The Cast And Crew
• Aroma Du Troma
• Lloyd Kaufman s Autobiography Promotional Video
• Radiation March
• 2 Troma Public Service Announcements
• Troma Trailers
• Liner Notes Booklet

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

Feature Resources assists the DEMON RESURRECTION (review)

In this entertainingly grisly bit of shot-on-video horror, a group of friends descend upon a farmhouse in the woods to carry out an intervention for one of their friends.  The problem is that she isn't on drugs, she's being pursued by a cult of demon worshipers who want her to give birth to a whole new race of ancient demons.

REVIEW LINK: Feature Resources (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

DEMON RESURRECTION DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary
• Behind the Scenes
• Interview with director William Hopkins
• Interview with producer Frank Cilla

 

Scream Factory hides in DEAD SHADOWS (review)

A shut-in since he witnessed his father murder his mother on the night a comet passed the Earth ten years before, IT tech Chris' forebodings about another comet that might pass into Earth's atmosphere prove justified when the Parisian locals start behaving oddly and the city descends into an all-out apocalypse.

REVIEW LINK: Scream Factory/Shout! Factory (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

DEAD SHADOWS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.00:1 widescreen
• French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with director David Cholewa
• Making-of Special Effects
• Deleted Scenes
• Unfinished Visual Effects Scene
• Trailer
• Teaser
• Reversible Cover
• Slipcover

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Film Movement prays IN THE NAME OF... (review)

REVIEW LINK: Film Movement (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

IN THE NAME OF... DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Biographies
• Short film "Summer Vacation" (Sharon Maymon and Tal Granit)
• Film Movement Trailers

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Second Run projects the CELLULOID MAN (review)

Epic documentary about the efforts of P.K. Nair - the equivalent of the Cinémathèque Française's Henri Langlois - to preserve India's rich cinematic history which had been largely neglected when he started in the mid-sixties (from the silent period, he was only able to recover twelve of the roughly twelve-hundred productions) and had similarly fallen into neglect after his retirement as he and director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur discover when they revisit the significant places of Nair's career.

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

CELLULOID MAN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English/Hindi Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles
• In Conversation with director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
• Liner Notes Booklet

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Jinga Films carried away on the ANGEL EXPRESS (review)

Get carried away by the ANGEL EXPRESS in this sexy and violent portrait of nineties Berlin nightlife in which the lives of hookers, criminals, and players intertwine as they seek out diversions and new sensations.

REVIEW LINK: Jinga Films/MVD Visual (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

ANGEL EXPRESS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• German Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles
• Trailer

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

Jinga Films digs up the ANDREW PARKINSON TRILOGY (review)

Only available separately but billed as "The Andrew Parkinson Trilogy", Jinga Films presents the three feature works of this underrated British independent filmmaker.  In I, ZOMBIE, a young man becomes a zombie when he is bitten by an infected stranger.  Repulsed by his own existence, he goes into hiding and lures victims into his rundown flat to feed upon.  In DEAD CREATURES, a group of women feed upon the flesh of Londoners, but a new addition to the group may put them in the path of a brutal zombie hunter.  In VENUS DROWNING, a woman mourning for her fiance and baby finds a strange creature on the beach and forms an addictive pseudo-parental/sexual relationship with it until it starts feeding upon her lovers.

REVIEW LINK: Jinga Films (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

I, ZOMBIE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Making-of
• Trailer

DEAD CREATURES DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary
• Making-of
• World Premiere
• Outtakes
• Trailer

VENUS DROWNING DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Trailer

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Breaking Glass Pictures delves in JUNK (review)

The makers of the cult film ISLAMA-RAMA 2 find themselves guests of honor at the Seattle Outsider Film Festival and engaging in a cut-throat game of maneuvering to pitch their next film - a "pro-choice zombie western" - to a sinister Japanese producer (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA's James Hong).  From the makers of ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

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

JUNK DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.00:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by writer/director Kevin Hamedani, co-writer/actor Ramon Isao, and actor Brett Davern 
• Making-of featurette
• Deleted Scenes (52 minutes)
• OK Go Music Videos: "This Too Shall Pass" and "White Knuckles"
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Breaking Glass Trailers

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Arrow Films presents KLOWN: THE MOVIE (review)

When Frank learns that his girlfriend has kept her pregnancy secret because of her doubts about his potential as a father, he kidnaps his nephew Bo and takes him on a camping trip with his best friend Casper.  Casper, however, has planned the trip as a bit of sexual tourism with a stop at a teenage summer camp, a music festival, and a brothel open only one night per year.  Frank's attempts to entertain the sheltered Bo and teach him about being a man create more outrageous problems than they solve as the trio are caught up in underage drinking, drugs, and gunplay in this raunchy and hilarious feature version of the Danish TV series.

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

KLOWN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Danish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles

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

Scorpion Releasing steps out ON THE YARD (review)

John Heard (CAT PEOPLE), Thomas G. Waites (THE THING), Lane Smith (PRISON), Mike Killin (SLEEPAWAY CAMP), Richard Bright (THE GODFATHER) and James Remar (THE TIGRESS) star in prison drama about a murderer who runs afoul of the prison's major operator but refuses to compromise his principals even as his life is threatened.  From the novel by Malcolm Braly.

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

ON THE YARD DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Interview with actor Thomas G. Waites
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers

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Scorpion Releasing dons a PAPER MASK (review)

Paul McGann (THE RAINBOW), Amanda Donohoe (LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM), and Tom Wilkinson (FIRELIGHT) star in this British thriller about a hospital orderly who steals the identity of a young doctor killed in a crash and takes a position as an emergency room physician in a hospital.  A beautiful nurse falls in love with him, but will she keep his secret when he makes a fatal error?  And how far will he go to keep his identity from being exposed?

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

PAPER MASK DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Theatrical Trailer
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers

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Vinegar Syndrome is seduced by A WOMAN, A SAINT, A DEVIL! (review)

More sexually disturbing than SYBIL with more faces than THE 3 FACES OF EVE, A SAINT...A WOMAN...A DEVIL - also known as SYLVIA - is the story of an unstable woman with multiple personalities, all of which are horny and one of them will go to dangerous extremes to take over.  Directed by actor Peter Savage.

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

A WOMAN, A SAINT, A DEVIL! DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• X-rated cut (108 minutes)
• R-rated cut (90 minutes)

More Vinegar Syndrome reviews at Update the Tags: Vinegar Syndrome.