LionsGate invites you to MEET THE BLACKS (review)

Mike Epps plays a family man who flees Chicago with his family, a stash of weed and stolen cash to set up life in Beverly Hills.  Unfortunately, they move into their new McMansion on the day of the annual Purge and the neighbors are going to make sure they do not feel welcome.

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

MEET THE BLACKS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.40:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Making-of
• "Hit the Gas" music video
• Behind the Scenes of "Hit the Gas"
• "Don't Hate Wiring" parody commercial
• Outtakes
• Previews

Acorn Media investigates AGATHA RAISIN: SERIES 1 (review)

Based on the series of best-selling novels by M.C. Beaton (HAMISH MACBETH), AGATHA RAISIN stars Ashley Jensen as a high powered PR woman who quits London for the Cotswolds and country life.  After alienating the village and finding herself the prime suspect in a murder, she hopes to redeem herself by catching the killer.  Subsequent adventures find her playing amateur sleuth while trying to capture the heart of her charming next door neighbor.

REVIEW LINK: Acorn Media (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

AGATHA RAISIN: SERIES ONE DVD specs:

• Feature "Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death" and eight episodes on two dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Featurettes:
• Introducing Agatha
• About the Show
• Meet the Cast
• From Script to Screen
• Welcome to Carsely
• Agatha is Back
• From PR to PI
• Picture Gallery

Kino Lorber asks WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (review)

"The hand that rocks the cradle has no flesh on it" in WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO?, Curtis Harrington's and Shelly Winter's follow-up to WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?  Two orphans believe they have stumbled upon the gingerbread house of a wicked witch when unstable Auntie Roo picks the girl as a replacement for her dead daughter.  Child actors Mark Lester and Chloe Franks also star alongside Michael Gothard, Judy Cornwell, and Ralph Richardson.

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

WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by film historian David Del Valle and film scholar Nathaniel Bell
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

LionsGate breaks THE TRUST (review)

Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood star in this Vegas heist film as two police detectives who discover the location of a secret vault and risk the wrath of drug dealers and their colleagues in order to bust into it.

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

THE TRUST Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles
• Audio Commentary by directors Alex Brewer and Benjamin Brewer
• "The Dynamics of a Duo" featurette
• "Visual of Vegas" featurette
• Previews

Arrow Films returns with GOMORRAH: SEASON 2 (review)

Season two of GOMORRAH starts off with a bang as Don Pietro busts out of jail, a bullet-riddled Gennaro wakes up thirsting for revenge and control of the clan, and Ciro is now playing both sides of the conflict between Don Salvatore and his trusted dealers.

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

GOMORRAH: THE COMPLETE SEASON TWO DVD specs:

• Twelve episodes on four dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Behind the Scenes
• Cast Interviews

Arrow Films takes on GOMORRAH: SEASON ONE (review)

Based on the best-selling book by Roberto Saviano and the 2008 film, GOMORRAH finds Ciro manipulating his way up the chain of the Sevastano clan when Don Pietro is arrested.  Ciro plays both sides as Don Pietro's son and his long-suffering wife vie for power and a rival drug kingpin sets out to wipe them all out.

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

GOMORRAH: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE DVD specs:

• Twelve episodes on four dual-layer discs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Behind the Scenes

Kino Lorber seeks ABSOLUTION (review)

Richard Burton (EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC), Dominic Guard (PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK), and Billy Connolly (TV's HEAD OF THE CLASS) star in this low-key thriller from THE WICKER MAN's Anthony Shaffer.  When a hippie vagrant squats in the woods near an elite Catholic boys school, repressed Father Goddard's influence starts to wane on his brightest pupil setting off a battle of wills and manipulation and deadly secrets protected by the seal of confession.

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

ABSOLUTION Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Arrow Video USA commits CRIMES OF PASSION (Review)

Ken Russell's ballsy masterpiece CRIMES OF PASSION hit Blu-ray from Arrow Video.  Ex-high school jock turned suburban dad Bobby Grady awakens to his unhappy and loveless marriage when he does a surveillance job following an icy designer suspected of corporate espionage and instead discovers that she has adopted an alter ego as prostitute China Blue who uses elaborate games of fantasy to enthrall her customers and protect herself from true intimacy.  As the two enter into a passionate affair fraught with self-doubt, China Blue is also the object of obsession by a psychotic street preacher who wants to save her soul or become her.  Kathleen Turner, Anthony Perkins, John Laughlin, Annie Potts, and Bruce Davison star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video USA (US) Region A/B Blu-ray/Region 1/2 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

CRIMES OF PASSION Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LCPM 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Director's Cut (112 minute) and Unrated (107 minutes) Versions
• Audio Commentary by director Ken Russell and writer/producer Barry Sandler (director's cut only)
• "Barry Sandler: Life of Crime" featurette
• "Rick Wakeman: Compsing for Ken" featurette
• Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary by writer/producer Barry Sandler)
• "It's a Lovely Life" music video
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Comes with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Twins of Evil
• First pressing only includes an illustrated collector's booklet containing new writing from Paul Sutton, an archive interview with Ken Russell and correspondence between Russell and Kathleen Turner.

Arrow Video USA stitches SUTURE (review)

Inspired by THE FACE OF ANOTHER and various sixties paranoia films like THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and SECONDS comes this black and white nineties indie thriller.  Lookalike half-brothers Clay and Vincent (played by black actor Dennis Haysbert and white actor Michael Harris) meet shortly after their father's mysterious murder.  Vincent switches identities with Clay and then tries to kill him with a car bomb.  With his face destroyed and his memory gone, Clay wakes up in the hospital with everyone believing he is Vincent, including the police lieutenant who is investigating him for his father's murder.  As his face is reconstructed and he is filled in on Vincent's life, Clay is troubled by dreams that suggest an entirely different life which his psychologist interprets symbolically.  In the meantime, his brother Vincent has returned and is planning to kill him before he can remember his real identity.

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

SUTURE Blu-ray/DVD specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 stereo
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by directors Scott McGehee & David Siegel and producer Steven Soderbergh
• "Lacerations: The Making of Suture"
• Deleted Scenes (with optional filmmaker commentary)
• "Birds Past" short film
• Stills Gallery
• U.S. Theatrical Trailer
• European Theatrical Trailer

Vinegar Syndrome weds PETEY WHEATSTRAW (review)

Rudy Ray Moore sheds his Dolemite identity and makes a deal with the devil as PETEY WHEATSTRAW: THE DEVIL'S SON-IN-LAW.  When a comedian is assassinated by his rivals, he is given the opportunity to come back and take revenge if he marries the devil's daughter and produces an heir.  Petey comes back and unleashes telekinetic hell on his murderers and then must figure out how to keep the devil from collecting his due.

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

PETEY WHEATSTRAW Blu-ray/DVD 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
• Audio Commentary by Rudy Ray Moore biographer Mark Jason Murray, co-star & set designer Jimmy Lynch, and closing comments by writer & director Cliff Roquemore
• "I, Dolemite Part III: Petey Wheatstraw" featurette
• Shooting Locations Revisited
• Still Gallery
• Soundtrack (34 minutes)
• Trailers for DISCO GODFATHER, THE HUMAN TORNADO, and DOLEMITE
• Reversible Cover

Strand Releasing initiates the SWORN VIRGIN (review)

In order to escape the life of a wife and servant in the strict and unforgiving Albanian mountain village, orphan Hana becomes Mark, living as a man but swearing away her right to love.  When she leaves the village to find her long-lost cousin in Milan, she discovers that the relative freedom to live as a woman in the city comes with a very different set of challenges in this film from the novel by Elvira Dones.

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

SWORN VIRGIN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Albanian/Italian Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Strand Releasing grows up with BABA JOON (review)

In this coming-of-age story, Yitzhak pushes himself beyond endurance to build up his family turkey farm but discovers that his son Moti has not only inherited his mechanical acumen but also his stubbornness.  Moti has not love for the monotony or the cruelty of turkey farming and finds a kindred spirit when his uncle Dariush visits from America.  The battle of wills between father and son soon opens up old wounds between the two brothers and their differing relationships with their own alternately kind and cold father.

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

BABA JOON DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• Hebrew/Persian Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Frightfest is taught THE LESSON (review)

When two secondary school students run afoul of a teacher driven to the end of his wits, they are abducted and made a captive audience to a deadly nail gun-assisted lesson in empathy and human nature in this British gorefest.

REVIEW LINK: Icon Home Entertainment (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE LESSON DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Outtakes
• Frightfest Introduction
• Previews

Frightfest trips LANDMINE GOES CLICK (review)

Three friends vacationing in the mountains of Georgia are in for a hell of a time when one of them accidentally trips an old Russian landmine.  While one goes to get help, the other is rooted to the spot while the other is left vulnerable to the machinations of a predatory Georgian hunter.

REVIEW LINK: Icon Home Entertainment (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

LANDMINE GOES CLICK DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Frightfest Introduction
• Previews

Frightfest haunts THE UNFOLDING (review)

As the threat of nuclear war looms large in the cities, a couple flee the wilds of Dartmoor to conduct a paranormal investigation on a centuries old estate.  They do not have to wait long before they receive confirmation that they are not alone, but are the increasingly violent presences warning them of a coming worldwide cataclysm or something even more evil lurking within the walls of the house?

REVIEW LINK: Icon Home Entertainment (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE UNFOLDING DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Frightfest Introduction
• Previews

Synapse Films reaps JUST DESSERTS: THE MAKING OF CREEPSHOW (review)

Warner's Blu-ray of CREEPSHOW may be no great shakes in the extras department, but Synapse Films has released this feature-length making-of retrospective along with several extras make-up for the lack of a special edition for George A. Romero's first studio film with Stephen King.  Actor Ed Harris, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins, David Early, and Bingo O'Malley along with George Romero, Tom Savini, and other crew members affectionately dish the dirt on the production from conception to release.  From casting to effects to creepy crawlies, everything you always wanted to know about CREEPSHOW is on this disc in the documentary or in the bonus featurettes.

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

JUST DESSERTS: THE MAKING OF CREEPSHOW Blu-ray specs:

• 1080i24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Michael Felsher
• Audio Commentary by actor John Amplas, prop master Bruce Alan Miller, and make-up effects artist Darryl Ferruci
• Interview with CREEPSHOW cinematographer Michael Gornick
• Tom Savini's "Behind the Screams" vintage video from the making of CREEPSHOW
• Behind the Scenes Gallery
• Vintage Evening Magazine 1982 Interview
• "Horror's Hallowed Grounds" Sean Clark visits the locations
• Fangoria Magazine's vintage "Scream Greats Volume One: Tom Savini" hour-long video documenary (with optional audio commentary by Tom Savini)

Vinegar Syndrome pimps THE CANDY TANGERINE MAN and LADY COCOA (review)

Producer/director Matt Cimber (THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA) tried his hand at Blaxploitation with the duo THE CANDY TANGERINE MAN and LADY COCOA.  In the first, John Daniels (BLACK SHAMPOO) is a pimp during the week and a family man during the weekend until the mafia tries to take over his business.  In the second film, Lola Folana is a gangster's girlfriend in prison for contempt of court who becomes a target for assassination when she finally agrees to testify for the state.

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

THE CANDY TANGERINE MAN/LADY COCOA Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary on LADY COCOA by producer/director Matt Cimber and actor/assistant John Goff
• Interview with producer/director Matt Cimber on THE CANDY TANGERINE MAN
• Reversible Cover

Severin Films operates on DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. (review)

DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. (MEDICAL DEVIATE) is making housecalls again in the world premiere Blu-ray release of the American theatrical cut of the Italian gorefest ZOMBI HOLOCAUST which added footage from an unreleased low budget horror anthology and a new score.  The original ZOMBI HOLOCAUST cut is also included in high definition, and the two Blu-ray discs in this set are packed to the gills with extras.  Ian McColloch (ZOMBIE), Alexandra delli Colli (NEW YORK RIPPER), Donald O'Brien (TRAP THEM AND KILL THEM), and Sherry Buchanan (WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO OUR DAUGHTERS?) star.

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

DOCTOR BUTCHER M.D. Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• DR. BUTCHER M.D. - US theatrical version
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono and LCPM 2.0 mono
• "Butchery & Ballyhoo" interview with Aquarius Releasing’s Terry Levine
• "Down On The Deuce: Nostalgic Tour Of 42nd Street with Temple Of Shock’s Chris Poggiali and filmmaker Roy Frumkes
• Roy Frumkes’ Segment from the Unfinished Anthology Film "Tales That Will Tear Your Heart Out"
• "The Butcher Mobile" interview with Gore Gazette editor & Butcher Mobile Barker Rick Sullivan
• "Cutting Doctor Butcher" interview with editor Jim Markovic
• "Experiments With A Male Caucasian Brain (…and other memories of 42nd Street)" illustrated essay by Gary Hertz
• American Theatrical Trailer
• Two Video Release Trailers
• Disc Two:
• ZOMBI HOLOCAUST - European Version
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono and Italian LPCM 2.0 mono
• "Voodoo Man" interview with star Ian McCulloch
• "Blood Of The Zombies" interview with FX Master Rosario Prestopino
• "Filmmaker Enzo Castellari Remembers His Father Director Marino Girolami" featurette
• "Sherry Holocaust" interview With actress Sherry Buchanan
• "Neurosurgery Italian Style" interview with FX Artist Maurizio Trani
• "New York Filming Locations Then Vs. Now" featutrette
• Ian McCulloch Sings "Down By The River"
• International Trailer
• German Trailer
• Reversible cover.
• Limited to 5,000 copies and if ordered on the Severin Films website, you'll also receive a Doctor Butcher M.D. barf bag.

Universal Studios is invited to MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 (review)

Comedian Nia Vardalos and family are back for a bigger, fatter Greek wedding.  Now raising a moody seventeen-year-old daughter with her husband Ian, Toula is torn between her daughter pulling away and planning to go to college across the country and aging parents who discover that they were never legally married.  As the family rallies for a wedding, Toula realizes that she has neglected her own marriage.  John Corbett, Joey Fatone, Michael Constantine, and Andrea Martin also star.

REVIEW LINK: Universal Pictures (US) Region A Blu-ray/Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, French DTS 5.1, and Spanish DTS 5.1
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, French Dolby Digital 5.1, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles
• Gag Reel
• "My Big Fat Greek Dinner" featurette
• "Making the Greekquel" featurette
• Previews
• Digital HD Download Code

LionsGate investigates THE ADDERALL DIARIES (review)

James Franco, Ed Harris, Amber Heard, and Cynthia Nixon star in Patricia Romanowsky's screen adaptation of THE ADDERALL DIARIES.  Blocked while working on his second novel, Stephen Elliott pitches a true crime work based on the murder trial of a software developer but is forced to separate fact and fiction while confronting his own troubled pass when his abusive father resurfaces in his life.

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

THE ADDERALL DIARIES Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.40:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles
• Audio Commentary by writer/director Patricia Romanowsky
• "THE ADDERALL DIARIES: A Director's Perspective" featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• Previews

The Film Detective goes DEMENTIA 13 (review)

William Campbell, Luana Anders, and Patrick Magee star in this Roger Corman-produced PSYCHO-thriller lensed in Ireland as the directorial debut of Francis Ford Coppola (with additional horror sequences directed by Jack Hill).  An axe murderer roams the hall of Castle Haloran eager to avenge the memory of little Kathleen who drowned in the castle's pond years ago.  The crazy family is filled with likely suspects and potential victims.

REVIEW LINK: The Film Detective (US) Region ALL BD-R (DVDCompare)

DEMENTIA 13 BD-R specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles

Simply Media reunites MELVIN AND HOWARD (review)

Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards, and Mary Steenburgen star in this comic drama from Jonathan Demme.  Melvin Dummar goes from factory worker to milkman to media punchline when he is named as one of the benefactors of a mysterious will attributed to the late Howard Hughes who he claims to have once encountered in the middle of the Nevada desert.  Steenburgen won Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film and Bo Goldman won for Best Screenplay.

REVIEW LINK: Simply Media (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

MELVIN AND HOWARD DVD specs:

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

Simply Media promises NEVER SAY GOODBYE (review)

Rock Hudson, Cornell Borchers, George Sanders, Shelly Fabares, and an uncredited Clint Eastwood appear in this "women's picture" directed by Jerry Hopper with additional work by an uncredited Douglas Sirk.  When a doctor discovers that the wife and mother of his child that he believes was dead is in fact alive, he not only must seek her forgiveness for the event that tore them apart but also must reunite her with the daughter who has grown up without her and become jealously possessive of her father.

REVIEW LINK: Simply Media (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

NEVER SAY GOODBYE DVD specs: 

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.00:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• NOTE: The current disc is incomplete due to an authoring error.  Inquire with Simply Media as to when/if they will recall or replace the title.

Simply Media makes THE PROPOSITION (Review)

Kenneth Branagh plays a priest assigned to a rich New England parish who tries to avoid involvement with its biggest benefactors but inadvertently becomes entangled in a secret that leads to lust, betrayal, and murder in THE PROPOSITION.  Madeleine Stowe, William Hurt, Blythe Danner, and Neil Patrick Harris also star.

REVIEW LINK: Simply Media (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE PROPOSITION DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo

Film Chest Media joins the HELL HUNTERS (review)

When Ally discovers that her estranged, globe-hopping mother was murdered on her honeymoon in Rio, she learns that her mother was actually a Nazi hunter searching for a mad doctor developing a mind control drug somewhere in the Amazon jungle.  Teaming up with her mother's associates, Ally attempts to find the mad doctor's hideout while evading his assassins at every turn.  Maud Adams, Stewart Granger, George Lazenby, and Candice Daly star.

REVIEW LINK: Film Chest Media (US) Region 0 NTSC (DVDBeaver)

HELL HUNTERS DVD specs:

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

Filmbuff pleads SYMPATHY, SAID THE SHARK (review)

Told in overlapping first person POV sequences, SYMPATHY, SAID THE SHARK finds couple Justin and Lara's quiet Friday night at home crashed by estranged friend Church who claims that a cop tried to kill him.  As the couple try to get him on his way, the resentful Church divulges secrets that have the couple at odds with him and each other.  When the danger Church was running from turns out to be real, the three of them may no longer trust each other to face it together.

REVIEW LINK: Filmbuff (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD-R (DVDBeaver)

SYMPATHY, SAID THE SHARK DVD-R specs:

• Burned-on-demand DVD-R
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Icon and Frightfest peer behind CURTAIN (review)

When burnt-out hospice nurse Danni moves into a cozy new apartment, she starts to think she is losing her mind when her shower curtain keeps disappearing.  With the help of a co-worker, she discovers that her shower is the entrance to another dimension in this quirky but creepy indie horror film.

REVIEW LINK: Frightfest/Icon Home Entertainment (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

CURTAIN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director/co-writer/cinematographer Jaron Henrie-McCrea, co-writer/producer Carys Edwards, actors Danni Smith, Martin Monahan & Tim Lueke, and composer Adam Skerritt
• Frightfest Introduction
• Making-of
• Trailers for other Frightfest titles

Acorn is back IN THE CLUB: SERIES 2 (review)

Kay Mellor's series IN THE CLUB is back for a second season.  The members of the prenatal club have all given birth and are either adapting to parenting with their mates or alone while some are expecting again.  Their lives become increasingly entangled through an abandoned premature baby, an investigation into the midwives after a sudden death, and various affairs.

REVIEW LINK: Acorn Media (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

IN THE CLUB: SERIES TWO DVD specs:

• Six episodes on two dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Photo Gallery

Arrow Video USA takes on the RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES (review)

The tomatoes are back for revenge in New World's RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES.  THE ADDAMS FAMILY's John Astin plays a mad scientist who has found a way to turn tomatoes into super soldiers.  The only thing that stands between him and world domination are his out-of-this-world assistant Tara and pizza guys Chad and Matt (Anthony Starke and George Clooney in a role he probably leaves off his resume).

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

RETURN OF THE KILLER TOMATOES Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director John De Bello
• Interview with actor Anthony Starke
• Stills Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Reversible Cover
• Illustrated booklet by critic James Oliver

Arrow Video USA huddles with THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS (review)

Colleen Camp, Rosanne Katon, Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, and Jo Johnston are Jack Hill's THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS.  A journalism student joins the cheerleaders of Mesa State to expose the campus' sexism but not only discovers her misconceptions about her squad but also stumbles onto misdeeds by the staff and alumni that threaten to throw the team's undefeated season.

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

THE SWINGING CHEERLEADERS Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Jack Hill
• Interviews:
• director Jack Hill
• cinematographer Alfred Taylor
• director Jack Hill and Johnny Legend
• New Beverly Cinema Q&A with Jack Hill and actress Rose Katon & Colleen Camp
• 30-second and 60-second TV Spots
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

Strand Releasing haunts the CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR (review)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR is an abandoned school turned hospital in which the convalescing soldiers are falling victim to a strange sleeping sickness.  Volunteer Jen and psychic Keng encounter the unnatural in the most mundane settings in this work of magical realism.

REVIEW LINK: Strand Releasing (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

CEMETERY OF SPLENDOR Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• Thai DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE: Short film "Mekong Hotel" (60 minute)
• Behind the Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Apichatpong Weerasethakul Trailers
• Strand Releasing Trailers

Code Red shoots up ACAPULCO GOLD (review)

Marjoe Gortner (FOOD OF THE GODS), Robert Lansing (ISLAND CLAWS), and Randi Oakes (CHiPs) star in this comic thriller about gold and heroin smuggling from Mexico to Hawaii.  A wrongly accused man is busted out of jail to become first mate to a washed up sailor in a smuggling job that takes them to Hanelei Bay and right in the path of a DEA agent looking for a high profile bust.

REVIEW LINK: Code Red Releasing (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

ACAPULCO GOLD Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Making-of featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Code Red Trailers 

ACAPULCO GOLD is available directly from Code Red.

Code Red champions THE DEVASTATOR (Review)

DEATHSTALKER's Rick Hill stars as a Vietnam vet who takes on a militant gang of marijuana growers in Cirio H. Santiago's THE DEVASTATOR (aka THE DESTROYERS).  Actors turned directors Katt Shea and Terrence O'Hara also star.

REVIEW LINK: Code Red Releasing (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

THE DEVASTATOR Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescren
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Introduction and post-script by Katarina Leigh Waters
• Interview with actor Terrence O'Hara
• Theatrical Trailer

Available from Screen Archives Entertainment.

Scorpion Releasing swelters in 92 IN THE SHADE (review)

Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, Margot Kidder, and Burgess Meredith star in this sun-scorched character study of a beach bum who decides to become a fishing guide in a small Florida beach town only to run up against competition from two rival guides: one pressured by his wife's spendthrift habits and the other at the end of his tether.  "As the temperature rises, the tension mounts and someone just might get killed."  From the writer of THE MISSOURI BREAKS.

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

92 IN THE SHADE DVD specs:

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

Big World Pictures presents AFERIM! (review)

In this award-winning Romanian period drama, a constable and his son travel across Wallachia in search of a runaway Romany slave.  Meeting with various sections of 1830's Romanian society, the son is exposed to their various prejudices and looks to his father for guidance, but the older man may be too set in his ways to take a stand when it appear that their captive is innocent of his crimes but may be killed anyway by his master.

REVIEW LINK: Big World Pictures (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

AFERIM! DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Romanian/Romany/Turkish Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Short film THE TUBE WITH A HAT

Frightfest Presents LAST GIRL STANDING (review)

What happens after the slasher ends?  LAST GIRL STANDING explores the loneliness and psychological damage of the sole survivor of a camping trip massacre as well as her suspicion that the terror is about to begin again  when she makes friends with a new group of potential victims.

REVIEW LINK: Icon Entertainment (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

LAST GIRL STANDING DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Benjamin R. Moody and producer Rachael Moody
• Behind the Scenes
• Outtakes
• Frightfest Introduction
• Trailers for the four other Frightest 2016 titles

Arrow Films investigates THE DISAPPEARANCE (review)

Likened to a French version of BROADCHURCH or THE KILLING, THE DISAPPEARANCE is actually a remake of a Spanish series, itself based on a true crime.  When Lea goes out with her brother and cousin to a music festival for her seventeenth birthday and never returns home, the police investigation unearths a web of secrets and lies that turn suspicion upon her family and close circle of friends.

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

THE DISAPPEARANCE DVD specs:

• Eight episodes on two dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles

Second Run unveils JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER: 12 EARLY WORKS (review)

Before his provocative and award-winning works THE LOOK OF SILENCE and THE ACT OF KILLING, Joshua Oppenheimer honed his audio-visual style and explored his political and ideological concerns in a series of short films moving from the darker and desolate flipside of America the Beautiful to an Indonesia shaped by death squads in 1965 and globalization today.

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

JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER: EARLY WORKS DVD specs:

• 4:3 fullscreen presentations of LIGHT TEST (1995), CAMERA TEST (1995), HUGH (1996), THE CHALLENGE OF MANUFACTURING (1996), THESE PLACES WE'VE LEARNED TO CALL HOME (1996), THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE (1997), THE GLOBALISATION TAPES (2002), MARKET UPDATE (2002), A BRIEF HISTORY OF PARADISE AS TOLD BY THE COCKROACHES (2002), MUZAK: A TOOL OF MANAGEMENT (2002), and POSTCARD FROM SUN CITY, ARIZONA (2003)
  16:9 anamorphic widescreen presentation of LAND OF ENCHANTMENT
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (Bahasa Indonesian on THE GLOBALISATION TAPES and MUZAK: A TOOL OF MANAGEMENT with burnt-in English subtitles)
• Interview with director Joshua Oppenheimer
• Essay Booklet by Gareth Evans

Wolfe Video mixes with THOSE PEOPLE (review)

In this beautifully-shot and emotionally-resonant film, poor kid Charlie has long pined for his charismatic and wealthy friend Sebastian.  With his father in jail for fraud, Sebastian has become the most hated young man in New York and in need of his insulating circle of friends.  When Charlie starts a relationship with a charming pianist, it drives a wedge in his friendship with Sebastian that could have tragic results.

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

THOSE PEOPLE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Deleted "Christmas" Scene
• Audition/Reading/Final Scene Comparisons
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews