Vinegar Syndrome's SWEET TRASH gets THE HANGUP (review)

This double feature represents two rarely seen works from director John Hayes (GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE).  In SWEET TRASH, a longshoreman in debt with a loan shark goes on the run and becomes entangled in an increasingly surreal and debauched nightmare world controlled by data spit out by a super computer.  In THE HANGUP, a cynical vice cop disgusted with the scum of the Earth becomes involved with a young stripper and vulnerable to manipulation by a master criminal.

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

SWEET TRASH/THE HANGUP DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen presentations
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Theatrical Trailers for both films

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

Vinegar Syndrome reflects on MY SINFUL LIFE with LAS VEGAS GIRLS (review)

Vinegar Syndrome's new double feature brings another duo of Carlos Tobalina epics.  In MY SINFUL LIFE, Jill tires of having sex with her parents so she goes to live with her aunt to enroll in college.  When her new best friend turns out to be a hooker in a local brothel, Jill sees a way to make cash and find out the identities of her birth parents.  In LAS VEGAS GIRLS, two New York detectives go search for a Texas billionaire's missing daughter who may be turning tricks on the strip.

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

MY SINFUL LIFE/LAS VEGAS GIRLS DVD specs:

• 2K scans of the original 35mm camera negatives
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen presentations
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Theatrical Trailers for both films

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

Second Run mounts a study in WAR AND PEACE (review)

Not based on the Tolstoy novel, Anand Patwardhan's stirring documentary WAR AND PEACE looks at the ways in which the arms race between India and Pakistan was not a security issue but a nationalistic statement that had the effect of destabilizing the region, mobilizing religious extremist movements (although it also inspired peace and anti-nuclear movements), poisoned their own people, and created martyrs out of soldiers in battles that resolved nothing.

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

WAR AND PEACE DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• Hindi/Urdu/Japanese/English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with driector Anand Patwardhan
• Pakistan TV Debate
• Deleted Scenes

More Second Run DVD reviews at Update the Tags: Second Run DVD.

Omnibus Entertainment presents STILL (review)

Aidan Gillen plays a man who has reached his limit when he becomes the target of a street gang in the British psychological drama STILL.

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

STILL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Interviews with director Simon Blake and actor Aidan Gillen
• Deleted Scenes
• Filmographies
• Trailer
• Previews

Scream Factory visits GHOST TOWN (review)

When a sheriff's deputy ventures into the desert in search of a runaway bride, he stumbles upon a ghost town in which the residents are neither fully living or dead, suspended in time and terrorized by the sadistic outlaw Devlin.  Tasked by the townspeople with getting justice for Devlin's victims, the deputy and the missing girl may be fated to join the town's ghosts.

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

GHOST TOWN Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles

Scream Factory investigates the TOOLBOX MURDERS 2 (review)

Nine years after Tobe Hooper's remake of THE TOOLBOX MURDERS, the sequel COFFIN BABY was finished and then sat on the shelf for another two years while it underwent further fixes to become TBK: TOOLBOX MURDERS 2 in which the undead killer abducts a young woman and makes her captive witness to his continuing atrocities.

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

TOOLBOX MURDERS 2 Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Trailer

Scream Factory thumbs through I, MADMAN (review)

Director Tibor Takacs followed up THE GATE with this surreal take on the slasher and nightmare logic genres about a young bookseller with a guilty pleasure for pulp fiction who is stalked by a madman.  As he starts slicing his way through her friends, she tries to convince her detective boyfriend and the police that the killer is not just following a copycat pattern but has literally stepped out of the pages of a book.  Jenny Wright (NEAR DARK) and Clayton Rohner (APRIL FOOLS DAY) star.

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

I, MADMAN Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Tibor Takacs and actor/effects creator Randall William Cook
• "Ripped from the Pages: The Making of I, MADMAN" interviews with Tibor Takacs, Randall William Cook, writer David Chaskin, and actors Clayton Rohner and Stephanie Hodge
• Behind the Scenes (with commentary by Randall William Cook)
• Stills Gallery (with optional commentary by Randall William Cook)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Video Trailer

More Scream Factory reviews at Review Archive: Scream Factory.

Wild Eye Releasing feeds FRANKENSTEIN'S HUNGRY DEAD (review)

When a misfit group of obnoxious high school students sneak into the local wax museum for sex and drugs, they provide the perfect donors for owner Dr. Carl Frank(enstein)'s experiments to create a race of superior beings.

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

FRANKENSTEIN'S HUNGRY DEAD DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Richard Griffin and actors Michael Thurber, Jamie Lyn Bagley, Ryan Hanley, Shannon Hartman, Johnny Sederquist, Jesse Dufault, and Nat Sylva
• Previews

MVD Visual screens Cameron Romero's AUTEUR (review)

Cameron Romero - son of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD's George Romero - directs this faux-documentary about a young filmmaker's search for a legendary young director who disappeared with the only copy of his final film DEMONIC.  Interviewing the film's crew and actors, he learns that something terrible happened during the filming of the movie's exorcism scene that no one wants to talk about (those who do wind up dead).  As he tracks down the filmmaker himself, he learns just how far the horror auteur will go for authenticity.

REVIEW LINK: MVD Visual (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

AUTEUR DVD specs:

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

Wolfe Video gets loud with TIGER ORANGE (review)

The only thing brothers Chet and Todd have ever had in common is that they are both gay.  While jock Chet kept stayed in the closet to please his father at the cost of painful loneliness, actor Todd fled to Los Angeles in search of fame and vindication.  When Todd returns home after their father's death, he has no interest in fitting in no matter how badly his behavior reflects on Chet who is struggling with his own self-worth as he reconnects with an old crush.

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

TIGER ORANGE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Frankie Valenti Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Garden Thieves Pictures presents BLOOD CELLS (review)

When the family farm goes under during the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic of 2001 and his father commits suicide, Adam flees to the city in a self-imposed exile of transient jobs and relationships.  When his younger brother calls him to tell him he is expecting his first child, he gives Adam an ultimatum: come home now or never again.  Adam begins the long journey home, confronting his painful past with the temptation always looming to return to his empty but emotion-free existence.

REVIEW LINK: Garden Thieves Pictures (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD-R (DVDBeaver)

BLOOD CELLS DVD-R specs: 

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround

Wolfe Video dreams OF GIRLS AND HORSES (review)

From director Monika Treut (SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN) comes this subtle tale of confusing feelings of friendship intertwined with first love as troubled Alexa takes an internship at a farm.  When holiday guest Kathy arrives, the two girls are not sure they can overcome the social differences between them but soon find themselves enjoying one anothers' company.  As the holidays come to an end, the two must confront their feelings.

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

OF GIRLS AND HORSES DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• German Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Wild Eye Releasing confronts an ALL AMERICAN BULLY (review)

FRIDAY THE 13TH's Adrienne King co-stars in this portrait of modern day high school bullying.  When gamer Devon tries to fight back against drop-out John and his cocaine-addled friends, he is beaten and the event becomes a viral sensation.  His friends suggest turning the tables on his tormentor with a little blackmail, but no one is prepared for the deadly consequences of the actions of the bullies and the victims.

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

ALL AMERICAN BULLY DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Cast/Crew Interviews (72 minutes) 
• Trailer
• Previews

Warner Archive presents THE STRANGER COLLECTION (review)

American actor Tony Anthony (COMIN' AT YA) makes a bid for Clint Eastwood-esque spaghetti western stardom in THE STRANGER COLLECTION, three Italian westerns produced by Allan Klein with "The Other Man with No Name".  In A STRANGER IN TOWN, The Stranger tangles with Mexican bandits (lead by Frank Wolff) over a fortune in gold.  In THE STRANGER RETURNS, The Stranger hopes to profit from a gang of bandits' (lead by Dan Vadis) robbery of a stagecoach carrying gold.  In THE SILENT STRANGER, The Stranger heads to Japan to return a stolen scroll for $20,000 only to find himself in the middle of a war between two clans.

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

THE STRANGER COLLECTION (A STRANGER IN TOWN/THE STRANGER RETURNS/THE SILENT STRANGER) DVD-R specs:

• Three films on two DVD-Rs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Theatrical Trailer for THE STRANGER RETURNS

Etiquette Pictures presents SOME CALL IT LOVING (review)

Future RED SHOE DIARIES creator Zalman King stars in this obscure, arty modern take on the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.  Sax player Robert Troy lives in a seaside villa with his wealthy mistress who plays a series of games with her maid/playmate for his entertainment.  When he purchases a Sleeping Beauty act from a carnival and the young woman wakes for the first time in eight years, he is unprepared for the feels that she stirs in him just as much as she is unprepared to function outside of the world of fantasy and make-believe.  Tisa Farrow (ZOMBIE) also stars.  From director James B. Harris, producer of Stanley Kubrick's early films up through LOLITA.

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

SOME CALL IT LOVING Blu-ray/DVD specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director James B. Harris and Sam Prime
• Interview with director James B. Harris
• Interview with cinematographer Mario Tosi
• Outtakes
• Liner Notes Booklet

More Vinegar Syndrome and Etiquette Pictures reviews at Update the Tags: Vinegar Syndrome.

Retromedia unleashes a BIOHAZARD (review)

Aldo Ray and Angelique Pettyjohn star in this fusion of fifties "man in a suit" monster movie and eighties sex and gore from Fred Olen Ray.  When a busty psychic, aided by a matter transfer machine, attracts an alien from another dimension, it goes on the rampage in the nearby countryside.  Made in 35mm right after Ray's SCALPS, it features many of the same cast and crew members along with future cast and crew for THE TOMB.

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

BIOHAZARD Blu-ray specs:

• Special Signed Edition
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer of the director's cut
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Fred Olen Ray, moderated by David DeCoteau
• "Remembering BIOHAZARD" interviews with Fred Olen Ray, actors Frank McDonald and Richard Hench, Christopher Olen Ray, and filmmaker David DeCoteau
• Unfinished BEYOND FEAR footage with Aldo Ray

Film Movement tracks THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE (review)

Comedian Pierre Richard, Jean Rochefort, and Mirielle Darc star in this well-loved French comedy from Yves Robert (director of MY FATHER'S GLORY and MY MOTHER'S CASTLE) and writer Francis Veber (THE DINNER GAME and LA CAGE AUX FOLLES).  A bumbling violinist becomes a pawn in an interdepartmental war between two high-ranking secret service agents plotting against one another.  Remade (badly) as THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE starring Tom Hanks.

REVIEW LINK: Film Movement (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Film Movement Trailers

More Film Movement reviews at Update the Tags: Film Movement.

Well Go USA plays FOR THE EMPEROR (review)

A baseball player with a shoulder injury turns to fixing games for a gambling ring and soon rises through the ranks of a loan shark's empire in this ultra-violent Korean crime film.

REVIEW LINK: Well Go USA (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

FOR THE EMPEROR Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• Korean DTS-HD Masetr Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Comedy Central's WORKAHOLICS: Season 5 (review)

Adam, Blake, and Ders are back for a fifth season of scamming and slacking as TelAmeriCorps office drones livening up their existence with eighties trivia, peyote smoothies, Dolph Lundgren tributes, porn shoots, backyard wrestling, crashing pride parties, and high school reunions.

REVIEW LINK: Comedy Central/Paramount (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

WORKAHOLICS SEASON FIVE Blu-ray specs:

• Thirteen episodes on two Blu-ray discs
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Blooper Reel
• Deleted Scenes
• #FreetheButtCheeks
• Dolph Lundgren Tribute
• DeMamp Camp Volume 2
• Season 5 Trailer
• Behind the Scenes of the Season 5 Trailer
• Drugs on Season 5
• Acting Vs. Writing

Strand Releasing indulges in GERONTOPHILIA (review)

From director Bruce LaBruce comes this bafflingly mature and mainstream treatment of an outrageous subject.  Young Lake starts to believe something is really wrong with him when he develops a fetish for old flesh.  Working in a nursing home, he develops a relationship with an elderly resident and takes him on a trip to see the Pacific Ocean.  Is he indulging his fetish or really falling in love?

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

GERONTOPHILIA DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Q and A with director Bruce LaBruce at MoMA
• Theatrical Trailer
• Strand Releasing Trailers

More Strand Releasing reviews at Review Archive: Strand Releasing. 

Scream Factory wanders in CELLAR DWELLER and CATACOMBS (review)

Scream Factory's latest double feature brings you a pairing of Empire Pictures productions.  In CELLAR DWELLER, a comic book artist resurrects that deadly final creation of her artistic idol.  In CATACOMBS (released here as CURSE IV: THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE), a young woman travels to an Italian monastery and is vulnerable to demonic possession when a monk excavates an evil force trapped below in the catacombs.

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

CELLAR DWELLER/CATACOMBS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director David Schmoeller on CATACOMBS

Scream Factory presents ROBOT JOX (review)

The most expensive Empire Pictures production that ended up bankrupting the company ROBOT JOX hits Blu-ray in a special edition from Scream Factory.  Fifty years after the nuclear holocaust, war is outlawed and battles over territory are settled with crowd-pleasing robot wars.  Gary Graham, Paul Koslo, Anne-Marie Johnson, Robert Sampson, Jeffrey Combs, Ian Patrick-Williams, and Carolyn Purdy-Gordon star.  Directed by Stuart Gordon.

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

ROBOT JOX Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Stuart Gordon
• Audio Commentary by visual effects artists Paul Gentry, Mark Rappaport, and Paul Jessell
• New Interview with actor Paul Koslo
• Archival Interviews with Stuart Gordon, Paul Gentry, Paul Jessell, Joe Viskocil, Chris Endicott, and Mark McGee
• Behind the Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer 
• TV Spot
• Still Galleries
• Reversible Cover

More Scream Factory reviews at Review Archive: Scream Factory.

Big World Pictures tries to STOP THE POUNDING HEART (review)

Growing up in an insular East Texas Christian community on an artisan dairy farm, young Sara is unprepared for the complex and warring emotions she starts to feel when she meets a young rodeo hopeful in this docudrama from Roberto Minervini.

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

STOP THE POUNDING HEART DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• English Closed Captioning
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews 

Second Run DVD tells THE STORY OF MY DEATH (review)

From director Albert Serra comes this singular work that imagines the clash between eighteenth century rationalism and nineteenth century repression in a meeting between an aging Casanova and Count Dracula in the Carpathians.

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

STORY OF MY DEATH DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Catalan Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Short Film "Cuba Libre"
• Liner Notes Booklet featuring a conversation between filmmakers Albert Serra and Ben Hodges

More Second Run DVD reviews at Update the Tags: Second Run DVD.

Film Movement trades in HUMAN CAPITAL (review)

In this Italian-transplanted adaptation of the Stephen Amidon's 2004 novel, the lives of a nouveau riche family and a middle class family become criminally entangled with the 2010 European debt crisis when their children are involved in a hit-and-run accident along a snowy country road.

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

HUMAN CAPITAL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Behind the Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Video
• Theatrical Trailer
• Filmographies
• Short Film "The Interview"
• Film Movement Trailers

More Film Movement reviews at Update the Tags: Film Movement.