Scorpion Releasing fights a BLOOD FEUD (review)

Sophia Loren (LADY LIBERTY), Marcello Mastroianni (LA DOLCE VITA), and Giancarlo Giannini (MIMIC) star in BLOOD FEUD from Lina Wertmuller, the director of SWEPT AWAY.  The Widow Paterno has lived a solitary life since her husband was murdered and the locals refused to bring his killer - a Fascist bigwig - to justice.  When a wealthy socialist lawyer and her husband's gangster cousin both fall for her, all three will be swept into a triangle of passion and vengeance as the Fascists invade Sicily.

REVIEW LINK: Scorpion Releasing (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

BLOOD FEUD DVD specs:

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

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Film Movement asks WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW? (review)

In Arvin Chen's melodramatic romantic comedy, Wei-chung start to question his marriage to Feng when she wants to have another baby.  Running into photographer Stephen at his sister's engagement party, Wei-chung starts to yearn for his past as a gay man when he meets a handsome flight attendant.

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

WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW? DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Taiwanese Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with director Arvin Chen
• Short film "Mei" by Arvin Chen
• Trailer
• Filmographies
• Film Movement Trailers

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Wild Eye Releasing faces the INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS (review)

Donald Farmer's 1991 documentary INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS hasn't aged well, but it's now an interesting and amusing time capsule on the current crop of B-movie horror hopefuls from the legendary Mary Waranov, Michelle Bauer, Brinke Stevens, and Martine Beswick to the lovely Elizabeth Kaitan, Melissa Moore, and Monique Gabrielle, to the intriguing Vivian Schilling, Ruth Collins, Veronica Carothers, and Deborah Stern among others.

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

INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Introduction by director Donald Farmer
• 2013 Interview with Donald Farmer
• Deleted Scenes (47 mins)
• Behind the Scenes Still Gallery
• Linnea Quigley Excerpt from the INVASION OF THE SCREAM QUEENS book

Scorpion Releasing presents the JACKI WEAVER COLLECTION (review)

Award-winning actress Jacki Weaver (ANIMAL KINGDOM, THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK) is a supporting actress in these two very early entries at the start of her career.  In CADDIE, Helen Morse (PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK) plays a middle-class housewife forced to seek work during the depression to support her children when her husband abandons her for another woman.  In SQUIZZY TAYLOR, the famed Melbourne gangster uses the press and the police to build up his image from small-time hood to formidable man of mystery and local celebrity.

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

JACKI WEAVER COLLECTION DVD specs:

• Caddie (1976):
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Squizzy Taylor (1982):
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers

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Scorpion Releasing projects THE PICTURE SHOW MAN (review)

Rod Taylor (THE BIRDS) and John Meillon (CROCODILE DUNDEE) declare war as rival picture show men traveling the New South Wales territory entertaining the locals with silent films in the Australian classic PICTURE SHOW MAN, also starring Judy Morris (THE PLUMBER), Harold Hopkins (DON'S PARTY), and John Ewart (RAZORBACK).

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

PICTURE SHOW MAN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by production manager Sue Milliken and actors Harold Hopkins, Judy Morris, and Sally Conabere
• "Return to Oz" interview with actor Rod Taylor
• Theatrical Trailer
• Scorpion Releasing Trailers

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Scream Factory witnesses THE FINAL TERROR (review)

If you go down in the woods today, you're in for THE FINAL TERROR!  A lenient youth work detail supervisor and a counselor at a camp for rich girls come together with a couple of their charges for a weekend of rafting and camping in an unexplored area of the forest where there exists the myth of a mad fiend who murders anyone who wanders into the territory.  Daryl Hannah, Adrian Zmed, Rachel Ward, and Joe Pantoliano star in this eighties slasher from the director of THE FUGITIVE!

REVIEW LINK: Scream Factory/Shout! Factory (US) Region A Blu-ray/Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

THE FINAL TERROR Blu-ray/DVD specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• DVD: 
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Andrew Davis
• Interview with actors Adrian Zmed and Lewis Smith
• Interview with post-production supervisor Alan Holzman and composer Susan Justin
• Theatrical Trailer
• Stills Gallery

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Scream Factory wishes upon THE MONKEY'S PAW (review)

From the director of HUSK comes this modern day adaptation of the classic W.W. Jacobs story THE MONKEY'S PAW.  Factory worker Jake has a hard life with his ex married to his boss, his mother stricken with cancer, and his brother on his back to help with the debts.  When a laid-off supervisor gives him a lucky monkey's paw, his first wish backfires on him and results in his best friend getting killed.  He wishes the man back to life but the undead man now wants his third wish and is willing to remove any of the burdens he might use the wish on to get it.  C.J. Thomason (HARPER'S ISLAND), Stephen Lang (AVATAR), and Corbin Bleu (HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL) star.

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

THE MONKEY'S PAW Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Brett Simmons, cinematographer Scott Winig, and actor CJ Thomason
• Making-of featurette
• Trailer 

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Cinema Libre files the RIDE REPORT (review)

Lacking mechanical experience and only just fluent in Spanish (and not at all in Portuguese), two suburban twenty-somethings hop on motorcycles for a sixty-nine day journey from Las Vegas to Rio for Carnaval.  Along the way, they couch surf, party, encounter strangers both sketchy and generous, and become part of an extensive, border-spanning riding community as they maneuver their struggle to get to Rio in time.

REVIEW LINK: Cinema Libre (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

RIDE REPORT DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Featurettes:
• Bike Build
• Couch Surf Contest
• Deleted Scenes
• Interview Outtakes
• Trailers 

Breaking Glass Pictures takes THE ODD WAY HOME (review)

Maya, a would-be singer flees an abusive boyfriend and takes to the road cross-country.  When she breaks down in the middle of nowhere, she steals a van from an old woman who has expired in front of the TV.  It is only when she is on the road that she discovers the van is the home of the old woman's autistic grandson Duncan.  Unable to abandon him by the side of the road, she decides to take him in search of his father.  In helping Duncan, she finds the strength to confront her own tragic past.  Brendan Sexton III, Veronica Cartwright, and Bruce Altman also star.

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

THE ODD WAY HOME DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• English Closed-Captioning
• Making-of
• Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Breaking Glass Trailers

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Second Run BIRDS, ORPHANS, AND FOOLS (review)

In this surreal take on Truffaut's JULES AND JIM, clownish Yorick, Polish photographer Andrzej, and Jewish orphan Marta take refuge from reality in madness and anarchy until love complicates matters, leading to a conclusion that is equally tragic and absurd.  From Juraj Jakubisko (BATHORY).

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

BIRDS, ORPHANS, AND FOOLS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.69:1 widescreen
• Slovakian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• 20-page booklet by Peter Hames

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Vinegar Syndrome takes a RUNAWAY NIGHTMARE (review)

Take a RUNAWAY NIGHTMARE with this limited edition Blu-ray/DVD combo of this little seen seventies/eighties low budget bizarre horror film.  After worm farmers Ralph and Jason rescue a woman from being buried alive, they are abducted by a cult of gun-running, pot-smoking, mostly man-hating women who plan to use them for nefarious purposes.

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

RUNAWAY NIGHTMARE Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo of 1000 copies (non-limited DVD-only version available in July)
• 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
• Audio Commentary by director/star Mike Cartel and production manager/actress Mari Cartel, moderated by Joel Rudin and Howard S. Berger
• Additional Video Scenes

Severin Films bares all for Jess Franco's BLOODY MOON (review)

Nubile, Teutonic coeds at a Spanish language school in picturesque Alicante know about the gruesome murder in bungalow number 13 five years before, but they do not know that the murderer is not finished and is soon slicing, dicing, and sawing his way through the student body in Jess Franco's German/Spanish take on the slasher genre starring Olivia Pascal (VANESSA).

REVIEW LINK: Severin Films (US) Region All Blu-ray (DVDBeaver)

BLOODY MOON Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 mono
• "Franco's Moon" interview with Jess Franco
• Theatrical Trailer

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Film Movement falls in love over 2 AUTUMNS, 3 WINTERS (review)

This French romantic comedy follows the lives of four thirty-somethings suddenly confronted with their mortality in different ways and their pursuit of relationships that are just as fulfilling as they are romantic.

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

2 AUTUMNS, 3 WINTERS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.33:1 pillarboxed widescreen
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Biographies
• Short Film "Voyages d'Affaires" by Sean Ellis
• Theatrical Trailer
• Film Movement Trailers

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Vinegar Syndrome exposes MARILYN AND THE SENATOR (review)

In this epic (in length only) satire on corrupt Washington politics from Carlos Tobalina, female CIA special agent Marilyn decides she wants a child and uses her cover intelligence to select Senator Wolf with the help of his favorite prostitute.  She drafts a contract and cuts him a check for $10,000 and they plan to fulfill that contract at the Watergate Hotel.  Unbeknownst to them, the room is bugged by his secretary and wife, and Wolf is having trouble getting it up to complete the deal.

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

MARILYN AND THE SENATOR DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by star William Margold
• Theatrical Trailer

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Vinegar Syndrome buys a ticket for the BIJOU (review)

Wakefield Poole's visually stunning and surreal follow-up to his film BOYS IN THE SAND takes a construction worker on a ritualized erotic journey into the labyrinthine BIJOU club.  Scanned in 2K from the original 16mm elements and packed with extras.

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

WAKEFIELD POOLE'S BIJOU DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Wakefield Poole
• Introduction by director Wakefield Poole
• Theatrical Trailer
• Unused Auditions
• Linda Williams on BIJOU
• BIJOU and Easter Sunday featurette
• Vintage Wakefield Poole TV appearance on EMERALD CITY

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Severin Films celebrates a BLOODY BIRTHDAY (review)

Have a BLOODY BIRTHDAY with a trio of terrible tykes in Ed Hunt's memorably sick eighties slasher film starring Lori Lethin (THE PREY) and featuring special appearances from Susan Strasberg (SCREAM OF FEAR), Joe Penny (JAKE AND THE FATMAN), and Michael Dudikoff.

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

BLOODY BIRTHDAY Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 mono
• Audio Interview with director Ed Hunt
• Video Interview with actress Lori Lethin
• "A Brief History of Slasher Films" featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Easter Egg

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Kino Lorber embraces BIG JOY: THE ADENTURES OF JAMES BROUGHTON (review)

BIG JOY is the story of James Broughton, a Modesto boy who grew up under a domineering mother in earlier half of the twentieth century before fleeing to the Bay Area and becoming a poet and underground filmmaker who followed his own weird through the Beat era, the Summer of Love, and beyond.

REVIEW LINK: Kino Lorber (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

BIG JOY: THE ADVENTURES OF JAMES BROUGHTON DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Deleted Scenes
• Extra Interviews
• Keith Hennessy Presentation
• Short Film "The Golden Positions"
• James Broughton Poetry (DVD-ROM)

Brain Damage Films illuminates GHOSTLIGHT (review)

Burdened with a staggering hospital bill after the car accident that took the life of his daughter, Andrew jumps at the chance to spend the night in a haunted theater for a $50,000 prize.  Since the murder suicide of the owner, his wife, and her love, nine more murders have occurred over the building's eighty year history, and the spirits in the theater may have found another victim.

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

GHOSTLIGHT DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by writer/director Jeff Farrell and actor Brian Sutherland
• Making-of (74 minutes)
• Short Film "Morella"

Strand Releasing paints THE MISSING PICTURE (review)

In this French/Cambodian documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh uses expressive clay figures and intricate scale models to illustrate his personal memories as a teenager during the Khmer Rouge revolution, filling in the missing pictures of suffering, hunger, and death of those oppressed by the revolution.

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

THE MISSING PICTURE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• French and English narration tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1
• English subtitles for the French track and English SDH subtitles.
• Trailer
• Strand Releasing Trailers

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Redemption Films infiltrates EDEN AND AFTER (review)

In a pop art-laden labyrinthine club called Eden, a group of jaded French students play games of hide and seek (which sometimes result in gang rape), Russian roulette, perform improvised stories, and enact death rituals.  A stranger called the Dutchman wanders into their midst and beguiles them with magic, sadomasochistic games, and a "fear powder" (cocaine is already on the menu at Eden) that vaults heroine Violette into a whirlpool of manipulation, betrayal, theft, abduction, and murder in the Tunisian desert.

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

EDEN AND AFTER Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "N Took the Dice" 79-minute TV production utilizing alternate takes and outtakes from EDEN AND AFTER with a different narrative
• Interview with Alain Robbe-Grillet
• Theatrical Trailer
• Alain Robbe-Grillet Trailers

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Scream Factory gets RAVENOUS (review)

Antonia Bird's satirical period horror film RAVENOUS hits Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory.  A disgraced captain from the Mexican-American war is transferred to the remote Fort Spencer in California where various misfit officers while away the long winters.  When a preacher stumbles in from the mountains telling a story about a wagon train lost in the Rockies and the members resorting to cannibalism, the soldiers head out to rescue any survivors and wander right into a deadly trap.  Guy Peace (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL), Robert Carlyle (PRIEST), Jeremy Davies (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN), Jeffrey Jones (SLEEPY HOLLOW), and David Arquette (SCREAM) star.

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

RAVENOUS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Antonia Bird and composer Damon Albarn
• Audio Commentary by writer Tim Griffin and actor Jeffrey Jones
• Audio Commentary by actor Robert Carlyle
• Isolated Music and Effects Track (in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo)
• Interview with actor Jeffrey Jones
• Deleted Scenes (with optional director's commentary)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Costumes and Production Design Gallery
• Reversible Cover

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Cult Epics snuggles up in DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS (review)

After years of bootlegged copies, the long lost seventies regional horror film DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS got an official release in 2003, and then on DVD in 2004.  Ten years later, it gets a high definition makeover with brand new extra features courtesy of Cult Epics and NIGHTMARE USA's Stephen Thrower.

REVIEW LINK: Cult Epics (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

DEATH BED: THE BED THAT EATS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 mono
• Optional Introductions by director George Barry and film historian Stephen Thrower
• Audio Commentary by director George Barry, moderated by Stephen Thrower
• Behind the Scenes
• "Nightmare USA" - Stephen Thrower and George Barry discuss horror films of the seventies and eighties
• Original DEATH BED Credits Music Track

Vinegar Syndrome tastes SUGAR COOKIES (review)

Vinegar Syndrome treats SUGAR COOKIES, an oddball Troma softcore arthouse acquisition to a gorgeous 4K restoration.  When producer Max Pavell kills porn star Alta Lee in a sexualized game of Russian roulette, Alta's bisexual lover Camelia provides an alibit.  When she meets aspiring actress Julie - an exact double of Alta - she sets about remaking the starlet in order to draw Max into a sexy and deadly game.  Mary Waranov, Lynn Lowry, and George Shannon star.  Directed by Theodore Gershuny (SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT).

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

SUGAR COOKIES Blu-ray/DVD combo:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-MA 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Interview with actress Lynn Lowry
• Interview with producer Lloyd Kaufman (DVD only)
• Interview with actress Mary Waranov (DVD only)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Alternate Trailer (DVD only)

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Vinegar Syndrome's BABY ROSEMARY packs a HOT LUNCH (review)

Vinegar Syndrome's latest Peekarama Big 2 Unit Show! features two oddball XXX entries from John Hayes (director of the drive-in favorites GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE, GARDEN OF THE DEAD, and DREAM NO EVIL).  In BABY ROSEMARY, a repressed young woman experiences strange events when her estranged father dies.  Sharon Thorpe, John Leslie, Ken Scudder, and Leslie Bovee star.  In HOT LUNCH, schmuck Andrew loses his job and his cheating wife in the same day, but his new job as an encyclopedia salesman provides new opportunities (for horny customers and coworkers to get into his pants).  Jon Martin, Juliet Anderson, Sharon Kane, and Desiree Cousteau star.

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

BABY ROSEMARY/HOT LUNCH DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• BABY ROSEMARY Theatrical Trailer
• "Hot" and "Cold" Theatrical Trailers for HOT LUNCH
• Alternate Soft Shots for HOT LUNCH

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