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30 November 2015

Scorpion Releasing on the run with BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW (review)

Before Lynda Carter was WONDER WOMAN, she was an excitement-starved car hop who wanted to be a country singer.  Her boyfriend was a hustler who dreamed he was Billy the Kid.  Together with her fellow car hop, her sister, and her sister's lover, they take to the road and rob banks like a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.  Marjoe Gortner, Merrie Lynn Ross, Jesse Vint, and Belinda Balaski star.

REVIEW LINK: Scorpion Releasing (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Audio Commentary by director Mark L. Lester
  • Interview with director Mark L. Lester
  • Interview with actress/producer Merrie Lynn Ross
  • Interview with actress Belinda Balaski

Arrow Video USA vents its BLOOD RAGE (review)

The Flordia-lensed eighties slasher BLOOD RAGE hits Blu-ray for all to appreciate the thoroughly splashy gore of Ed French that was slashed down by the MPAA theatrically and too dark to see on the home video versions ("That's not cranberry juice...").  Louise Lasser stars.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video USA (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/Region 0 NTSC DVD combo (DVD Drive-in)

BLOOD RAGE Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Limited Three Disc (2 Blu-ray, 1 DVD) Edition
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
    • English LPCM 2.0 stereo
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
    • English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Uncut Video Version from a 2K scan of the original negative
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director John Grissmer
  • Interview with star Mark Soper
  • Interview with star Louise Lasser
  • Interview with actor Ted Raimi
  • Interview with producer/actress Marianne Kanter
  • Interview with effects artist Ed French
  • "Return to Shadow Woods" locations visit
  • Video Title Sequence
  • Photo Gallery
  • Limited Third Disc (Blu-ray) featuring the alternate R-rated cut NIGHTMARE AT SHADOW WOODS, a composite cut with footage unique to NIGHTMARE AT SHADOW WOODS incorporated into the uncut version, and a rare outtakes reel
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Marc Schoenbach
  • Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Joseph A. Ziemba, author of BLEEDING SKULL! A 1980s Trash-Horror Odyssey

26 November 2015

Vinegar Syndrome delves into CORRUPTION (review)

Singular golden age porn auteur Roger Watkins' dark and fantastical CORRUPTION hits Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome on Black Friday!  Jamie Gillis stars as a businessman who has sold his soul for power only to realize how little control he has over his destiny when he is double-crossed by one of his underlings.  George Payne, Michael Gaunt, Kelly Nichols, and Vanessa del Rio also star.

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

CORRUPTION Blu-ray specs:
  • 2K scan from the original camera negatives
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0
  • Interview with cinematographer Larry Revene
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Pressbook Gallery
  • The Easter Egg to End All Easter Eggs!

Slasher Video hunts DEADLY PREY for THE DEADLIEST PREY (review)

REVIEW LINK: Slasher Video/Olive Films (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

DEADLY PREY Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080i60 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Interview with make-up artist Jack Hojohn
  • Photo Gallery
  • Outtakes
  • Trailer
THE DEADLIEST PREY Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
  • Interviews with actor Ted Prior, actor David Prior, actor David Campbell, and actor Fritz Matthews

22 November 2015

Well Go USA presents PARTISAN (review)

Vincent Cassel stars in this slow-burn thriller about a young boy who grows up in a mysterious compound and is trained to be an assassin at the age of eleven by a mentor/father figure whose benevolent facade hides deep-seated rage and violence.

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

PARTISAN Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Interviews with director Ariel Kleiman and actor Vincent Cassel
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews

20 November 2015

Film Movement under a FULL MOON IN PARIS (review)

Eric Rohmer's romantic comedy FULL MOON IN PARIS comes to Blu-ray from Film Movement.  Having transitioned smoothly from her parents' home to the homes of her boyfriends (falling for next one while falling out of love with the previous), Louise has never experienced loneliness.  Feeling trapped in the suburbs, she announces to her boyfriend Remi that she is not going to rent her apartment but plans to sleep there on the weekends after partying in Paris.  As she tries to assuage his jealousy, her own is peaked by guilt and suspicion.  Pascale Ogier, Fabrice Luchini, and Tcheky Karyo star.

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

FULL MOON IN PARIS Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • French LPCM 2.0 mono
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Interview with actress Pascale Ogier
  • 2015 and original theatrical trailers
  • Liner Notes Booklet by David Thomson

88 Films enrolls in SPLATTER UNIVERSITY (review)

The Troma pickup SPLATTER UNIVERSITY hits Blu-ray in the UK courtesy of 88 Films.  Forced to retake sociology after their "stupid teacher got murdered" the previous semester, the students of St. Trinian's discover that their are worse things than failing midterms when a knife-wielding killer starts slicing his way through student bodies and the faculty.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

SPLATTER UNIVERSITY Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English LPCM 2.0 mono
  • Audio Commentary by director/editor Richard W. Haines
  • "Splatter Scholar" interview with slasher expert Justin Kerswell
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • TV Spot
  • Bonus feature: What Really Frightens You

Second Run hails ALL MY GOOD COUNTRYMEN (review)

Vojtech Jasny's banned 1969 masterpiece presents a series of scenes of country life after WWII as a group of friends find their relationships ruptured by the onset of communism with opportunism and vindictiveness leading to abuse, arrests, and murder.

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

ALL MY GOOD COUNTRYMEN DVD specs:
  • 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.37:1 fullscreen
  • Czech Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Short film "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  • Liner Notes Booklet by Peter Hames

Blue Underground and Tony Anthony GET MEAN (review)

The Stranger (BLINDMAN's Tony Anthony) returns in the sprawling adventure GET MEAN as the cowboy is hired to provide safe passage for a gypsy princess to her kingdom in Spain and finds himself in the middle of a battle between Moors and Vikings.  Diana Lorys, Mirta Miller, Lloyd Battista, and Raf Baldassare star.

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

GET MEAN Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
    • English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
    • English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
  • Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by producer/star Tony Anthony, co-writer/star Lloyd Battista, and executive producer Ronald J. Schneider
  • "The Story of the Stranger" interview with producer/star Tony Anthony
  • "Looking for Richard" interview with co-writer/star Lloyd Battista
  • "Beating a Dead Horse" interview with executive producer Ronald J. Schneider
  • "Tony & I" intervew with director Ferdinando Baldi
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • French Trailer
  • Four Radio Spots
  • Poster & Still Gallery 
  • Liner Notes Booklet by Spaghetti Western expert Howard Hughes

18 November 2015

Scream Factory stares into the WHITE OF THE EYE (review)

Director Donald Cammell (DEMON SEED, PERFORMANCE) proves into the WHITE OF THE EYE with this long neglected eighties serial killer thriller starring David Keith, Cathy Moriarty, Art Evans, Alan Rosenberg, and Alberta Watson.

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

WHITE OF THE EYE Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
    • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
    • English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by Donald Cammell biographer Sam Umland
  • "Into the White" interview with cinematographer Larry McConkey
  • "Into the Vortex" interview with actor Alan Rosenberg
  • "Eye of the Needle" interview with actor Art Evans
  • Deleted Scenes (with commentary by Sam Umland)
  • Alternate Credit Sequence
  • Bleach Bypass Sequences

14 November 2015

Cinema Libre tracks ROTOR DR1 (review)

In the world's first drone community collaborated feature film ROTOR DR1, a young man in a post-apocalyptic world comes upon a strange drone that may be a clue to the whereabouts of his long-lost father.  Taking to the road with a runaway, they follow the drone's path and encounter various dangers along the way.

REVIEW LINK: Cinema Libre (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

ROTOR DR1 Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
  • English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Chad Kapper, writer Megan Ryberg, and actors Christian Kapper & Steve Moses
  • Deleted and Alternate Scenes
  • Outtakes
  • Featurettes:
    • "What is Rotor DR1"
    • "Drone Race"
    • "First/Last Shoot Days"
    • "Maya Screen Test"
    • "Original Test Footage"
    • "Rotor Science/Tech"
    • "Rotor Community Concept"
  • Timelapse Storyboards
  • Trailers
  • Previews 

11 November 2015

indiepix casts a WHITE SHADOW (review)

The award-winning WHITE SHADOW is the story of Alias, an Albino teenager sent to live with his uncle in Dar Es Salaam after his father is brutally murdered by hunters who supply Albino parts to witch doctors.  He hopes that he is leaving superstition behind in the villages but finds little difference between the outback and the city in the struggle to survive.

REVIEW LINK: IndiePix (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

WHITE SHADOW DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • Swahili Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Burnt-in English subtitles
  • Behind the Scenes segments and Deleted Scenes

Arrow Video suffers THE TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES (review)

Before THE BOOGEYMAN and THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR, Ulli Lommel honed his horror skills in Germany with this arty take on the murders of Fritz Haarmann, the country's first serial killer.  Working with writer/star Kurt Raab and mentor Rainer Werner Fassbinder's stable of talented actors and crew, Lommel presents a vivid and intimate portrait of a murderer and the situations in post-war Germany that enabled him to seduce and murder as many as forty young men.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video USA (US) Region AB Blu-ray/Region 1/2 DVD Combo (DVD Drive-in)

THE TENDERNESS OF THE WOLVES Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
    • German LPCM 1.0 mono
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
    • German Dolby Digital 1.0
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Ulli Lommel, moderated by Uwe Huber
  • Interviews with Ulli Lommel, actor Rainer Will, and cinematographer Jurgen Jurges
  • An Appreciation by Stephen Thrower
  • Still Gallery
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Reversible Cover
  • Collector's Booklet

09 November 2015

Strand Releasing assumes A BORROWED IDENTITY (review)

When Palestinian Eyad is accepted into a prestigious school in Jerusalem, he encounters bigotry from some of his Jewish classmates but also finds love with Naomi and friendship with Yonatan, a student with Muscular Dystrophy.  As American troops march into Iraq and tensions between Israelis and Palestinians heat up, Eyad finds himself in a smaller version of the conflict as he must choose between his future and the happiness of those he has come to care about.

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

A BORROWED IDENTITY DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
  • Hebrew/Arabic Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews 

07 November 2015

Wild Eye Releasing tunes into THE HORROR NETWORK (review)

"It's prime time for evil" when Wild Eye Releasing tunes into THE HORROR NETWORK.  Five stories of ultimate horror include a woman on an isolated farm tormented by strange phone calls and things that go bump in the night, a patient who tries to convince his psychiatrist that his sleepwalking is something far more sinister, a deaf girl stalked through the countryside by a mysterious van driver, a mother and daughter's legacy of brutal abuse, and a suburban psycho who could be your next door neighbor (or worse).  From the creators of TRASHOLOGY.

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

THE HORROR NETWORK DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic widescreen (multiple aspect ratios from 1.76:1 to 2.98:1)
  • English/Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
  • Burnt-in English subtitles (for the Spanish dialogue)
  • Alternate cut of "The Deviant One"
  • Image Gallery
  • Trailer
  • Previews

Film Movement tells MARIE'S STORY (review)

Based on a true story, a turn of the century French nun at a convent school for the deaf takes on the momentous challenge of teaching a blind and deaf young girl how to connect with the outside world.

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

MARIE'S STORY DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
  • French Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English subtitles and English Closed Captioning
  • English Descriptive Audio Track
  • Making-of
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Short Film 'Motherly' by Navid Nikkhah Azad
  • Previews 

Film Movement studies the STATIONS OF THE CROSS (Review)

A member of a fundamentalist Catholic sect, fourteen year old Maria is estranged from her classmates and is told by her religion to look inwards for the blame for the torments she feels when met with experiencing the new feelings of a teenage girl just a week before her confirmation as a "warrior of Christ."  With visions of self-sacrifice in her heart, young Maria may be on her way to sainthood sooner than anyone expected.

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

STATIONS OF THE CROSS DVD specs: 
  • 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
  • German Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English subtitles and English Closed Captioning
  • Audio Commentary by director Dietrich Brüggemann
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Bonus Short Film "One Shot" by Dietrich Brüggemann
  • Previews


Marty Gross Films visits KYOTO: HEART OF JAPAN (review)

Kon Ichikawa's memorable, unclassifiable art film documentary KYOTO, commissioned by Olivetti Arte as a goodwill present to Japan, is memorable less for its informative content than for the director's visual exploration of the Kyoto landmarks and cultural traditions accompanied by the scoring of famed composer Toru Takemitsu.

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

KYOTO: HEART OF JAPAN DVD specs:
  • 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
  • English, Japanese, or Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono narration tracks
  • Kyoto and Tokyo Premiere Footage

Arrow Films counsels DAG: SEASON ONE (review)

In this dark Norwegian sitcom, Dag is a marriage counselor who has come to the conclusion after a hundred patients that people are better off alone.  Nine out of ten of his patients have divorced and his secretary - whose kink is other people's misery - has him counseling more unconventional couples.  Meanwhile, his best friend is trying to escape the wrath of his ex-girlfriend's family of Serbian butchers and his sister is trying to set him up with eligible women who range from the quirky to he unstable.  When his sister's bed friend Eva comes home after being a hippie for ten years in Goa, she sees Dag as a challenge, and both find themselves exploring new relationships even as their friends give them plenty of evidence that couplehood is more miserable than loneliness.

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

DAG: SEASON ONE DVD specs:
  • Ten episodes on two discs
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English subtitles

Oscilloscope Laboratories explores LA CIUDAD (THE CITY) (review)

Shot between 1992 and 1997, LA CIUDAD was an intimate attempt by filmmaker David Riker to tell the stories of Latin American immigrants in New York City in their own words.  A day laborer meets a tragic end at a job site, a young man far away from home falls in love with a girl also from his village, a homeless puppeteer tries his best to raise his daughter, and a seamstress in a sweatshop discovers that her daughter is in a hospital back in Mexico and needs $400 for treatment.

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

LA CIUDAD (THE CITY) DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • Spanish/English/Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles
  • Making-of featurette (in English with optional Spanish subtitles)
  • Fifteen Years Later: Director and Cast discussion (in Spanish with optional English subtitles)
  • Theatrical Trailer

05 November 2015

Vinegar Syndrome's THE EXECUTIONER PART II and FROZEN SCREAM (review)

Vinegar Syndrome's latest Drive-in Collection volume showcases two works by producer/actress Renee Harmon.  In THE EXECUTIONER, PART II (from DON'T GO IN THE WOODS' James Bryan), Chris Mitchum hunts a masked vigilante blowing up pushers, pimps, and punks with live grenades.  Aldo Ray also stars.  In FROZEN SCREAM, a detective investigates the connection between a series of grisly murders and a doctor's extended consciousness experiments.

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

THE EXECUTIONER, PART II/FROZEN SCREAM DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
  • THE EXECUTIONER, PART II mastered in 2K from the original 35mm negatives
  • FROZEN SCREAM mastered in 2K from the original 16mm negatives
  • "The Executioner's Song" interview with director James Bryan
  • Theatrical Trailer for THE EXECUTIONER, PART II

03 November 2015

Film Movement seduces THE MARQUISE OF O (review)

In Eric Rohmer's mannered by gorgeous adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist's tale of "forced seduction" a widowed marquise is rescued by a Russian count from being dishonored by soldiers only to find herself pregnant without knowing how it occurred.  Although the marquise is thrown out of her father's home, she is shocked when the count proposes marriage to her.  Bruno Ganz stars.

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

THE MARQUISE OF O... Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen
  • German LPCM 2.0 mono
  • Interview with Eric Rhomer
  • Interview with actor Bruno Ganz
  • Original and 2015 Theatrical Trailers
  • Booklet by critic David Thomson