Anchor Bay spouts BLUNT TALK: SEASON 1 (review)

Patrick Stewart stars in this Starz series as outspoken talk show host Walter Blunt who must starts to reassess his life and his goals while trying to rehabilitate his professional reputation after being busted for drunk driving, assaulting an officer, and soliciting a prostitute.  After a near-death experience, Walter resolves to be a better father to his audience and his children but soon discovers that his dysfunctional staff is in just as much need of paternal guidance.

REVIEW LINK: Starz/Anchor Bay (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

BLUNT TALK SEASON 1 DVD specs:

• Ten episodes on two dual-layer discs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
• Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles
• Featurettes:
• "Inside the World of BLUNT TALK"
• "First Look"
• "Meet the Newsroom"
• "Walter & Harry"

Ruthless Studios braves THE PURGING HOUR (review)

Shortly after moving into their home in the California mountains, the Diaz family disappeared without a trace.  When a disturbing home movie of the family's last night alive turned up on the dark web, speculation about the sanity of some of the family members, other disappearances in the area, and ghostly local legends come to light.

REVIEW LINK: Ruthless Pictures/MVD (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

THE PURGING HOUR DVD specs:

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

Vinegar Syndrome woos COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE (review)

"El Hombre Lobo" Paul Naschy takes a stab at Dracula with this odd twist on Bram Stoker's popular tale.  Four busty German babes hook up with a Hungarian charmer for a sightseeing trip along the Borgo Pass.  When the carriage loses a wheel, they are forced to take shelter in a nearby abandoned clinic recently bought by an Austrian doctor.  Soon enough, they start falling victim to the clinic's vampiric residents and the last of the girls is set to become Dracula's bride and bring his cruel daughter back to life.

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

COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English and Spanish subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Javier Aguirre and writer/star Paul Naschy (in Spanish with English subtitles)
• Interview with actress Mirta Miller (in Spanish with English and Spanish subtitles)
• U.S. Theatrical Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• Reversible Cover
• Liner Notes Booklet by Mirek Lipinski

Vinegar Syndrome's CHINA AND SILK (review)

Harry Reems is a Los Angeles cop on the hunt for drug smugglers when his partner (Paul Thomas) is murdered. Meanwhile, customs officer Eric Edwards and undercover cops Ginger Lynn and Herschel Savage are converging on the operation of Lily Wong.

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

CHINA AND SILK Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• DVD: 
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by cinematographer Steve Scott, moderated by David McCabe
• Audio Commentary by actor Hershel Savage, moderated by William Margold

Vinegar Syndrome visits HORROR HOUSE ON HIGHWAY FIVE (review)

Richard Casey's punk-influenced, oddball slasher film HORROR HOUSE ON HIGHWAY 5 has a group of college students researching a Nazi scientist in a small California town while a Nixon-masked killer is thinning out the populace.

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

HORROR HOUSE ON HIGHWAY 5 Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• DVD: 
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Richard Casey
• “Return to Horror House on Highway 5” making-of featurette
• “Beach Party with Vom” music video directed by Richard Casey
• Reversible Cover

MVD Visual enters THE DEVIL'S FOREST (review)

In 2012, graduate student Rachel, her cameraman Joe, and soundman Tom entered Romania's Hoia Baciu forest - the sight of much paranormal phenomena - and never came out.  Two years later, the contents of Joe's camera was revealed to the world when Rachael's university professor committed suicide.

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

THE DEVIL'S FOREST DVD specs:

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

MVD summons THE INVOKING 3: POLTERGEIST DIMENSIONS (review)

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

THE INVOKING 3: POLTERGEIST DIMENSIONS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic multiple aspect ratios
• English/Czech/Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo

Scream Factory is haunted by LADY IN WHITE (review)

In 1962, nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti grows up more than he is supposed to when his friends play a prank on him and lock him in the school cloakroom on Halloween night.  He not only witnesses the ghostly reenactment of the murder of a little girl but also himself barely survives an attack when the living killer shows up.  Haunted by the girl's ghost who begs him to find her mother, Frankie discovers that she was the first of a series of child murders and resolves to discover the killer's identity.  Alex Rocco, Len Cariou, and Katherine Helmond star.

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

LADY IN WHITE Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• Director's Cut (118 minutes)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Frank LaLoggia 
• Introduction with Frank LaLoggia
• Behind-The-Scenes Footage (with introduction and optional commentary by Frank LaLoggia)
• Deleted Scenes (with introduction and optional commentary by Frank LaLoggia)
• Extended Behind-The-Scenes Production and Post-Production Footage (73 minutes)
• Promotional Short Film
• Theatrical Trailer
• Alternate Trailers
• TV Spots
• Radio Spots
• Behind-The-Scenes Photo Montage
• Extended Photo Gallery
• Disc Two:
• Theatrical Cut (112 minutes) and Extended Director's Cut (126 minutes)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Reversible Cover 

Scream Factory hunts METALSTORM: THE DESTRUCTION OF JARED-SYN (review)

Future Empire Pictures/Full Moon producer/director Charles Band hit the big time when Universal Pictures needed a 3D pick-up for the theaters they had outfitted to screen JAWS 3D.  METALSTORM: THE DESTRUCTION OF JARED-SYN takes place on a desert planet where warlord Jared-Syn incites war among the nomadic Cylcopeans and ranger Dogen is tasked with capturing him.  Jeffrey Bryon, Michael Preston, Kelly Preston, Tim Thomerson, and Richard Moll star.

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

METALSTORM: THE DESTRUCTION OF JARED-SYN Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One (2D version): 
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• "High Noon at the End of the Universe" featurette with director Charles Band, actor Jeffrey Byron, actor Richard Moll, actor Tim Thomerson, screenwriter Alan J. Adler, composer Richard Band, and more
• Promotional and Behind the Scenes Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spot
• Disc Two (3D version):
• 1080p24 MVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles 

Criterion Collection purrs for CAT PEOPLE (review)

Val Lewton's and Jacques Tourneur's classic of suggestive horror CAT PEOPLE comes to Blu-ray from The Criterion Collection.  A young woman fears that physical intimacy will change her into a panther woman who will kill those she loves, but it seems as though jealousy over another woman pursuing her husband can just as easily bring out the animal inside.

REVIEW LINK: Criterion Collection (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

CAT PEOPLE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary from 2005 by historian Gregory Mank with excerpts from an audio interview with actress Simone Simon
• "Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows" feature-length documentary
• 1979 Interview with director Jacques Tourneur
• CAT PEOPLE remake cinematographer John Bailey on the look of the film
• Theatrical Trailer
• Fold-out poster and liner notes

Reel Gore Releasing dons MASKS (review)

Reel Gore Releasing's second release is Andreas Marschall's visually striking homage to Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA.  Aspiring actress Stella applies to the summer program at the mysterious Mateusz Gdula stage school and encounters a teaching style that takes method acting to the extreme.

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

MASKS Blu-ray/DVD/CD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• German Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English and Spanish subtitles
• Behind the Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Video Clip
• Original Trailer
• 2016 Trailer
• CD Soundtrack (21 tracks)
• Booklet with director interview and review of the film

Vinegar Syndrome on Wakefield Poole's TAKE ONE/MOVING! (review)

The fourth volume of Vinegar Syndrome's The Films of Wakefield Poole series brings two features the director mounted after moving to the West Coast and settling in San Francisco.  TAKE ONE is a "docufantasy" in which Poole visualizes the sexual fantasies of a series of gay men in explicit and visually dazzling surreal sequences.  MOVING! is a loop featurette Poole approached without much care in order to take care of a cash flow problem that nevertheless made a splash theatrically and on the home entertainment market for if groundbreaking and taboo-bursting sequences.  Casey Donovan from Poole's BOYS IN THE SAND headlines the the film.

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

THE FILMS OF WAKEFIELD POOLE: TAKE ONE/MOVING! DVD specs:

• New 2K restorations of surviving 16mm materials
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional director's introductions and audio commentaries on both films by director Wakefield Poole
• Deleted Scenes from TAKE ONE
• Short films ROGER and FREEDOM DAY PARADE
• "Wakefield Poole in San Francisco" featurette
• "More on MOVING!" featurette
• Theatrical Trailer for MOVING!

Arrow Video USA gets slimey with SLUGS (review)

PIECES director Juan Piquer Simon's gory and cheesy adaptation of the grisly Shaun Hutson novel SLUGS comes to high definition in Arrow Video's special edition Blu-ray.  A small upstate New York town is rocked by a series of deaths that lead the town's Health Department officer to suspect that the culprits are giant mutant slugs breeding below in the sewers and coming up for meals.

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

SLUGS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by source novel author Shaun Hutson
• Audio Commentary by filmmaker Chris Alexander
• Interview with actor Emilio Linder
• Interview with effects artist Carlo de Marchis
• Interview with art director Gonzalo Gonzalo
• Interview and location tour with production manager Larry Ann Evans
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• Collector's Booklet

Vinegar Syndrome rocks Hyapatia in BODY GIRLS/LET'S GET PHYSICAL (Review)

Vinegar Syndrome brings us more Hyapatia Lee in this double bill of the back-to-back 1983 features BODY GIRLS and LET'S GET PHYSICAL.  In BODY GIRLS, Jackie Le Lay and her girls train for an international women's body building contest and deal with the unscrupulous competition in creative ways.  In LET'S GET PHYSICAL, choreographer Maria wants to try modern dance but her husband wants her to be a prima ballerina.  Eric Edwards and Paul Thomas also star.

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

BODY GIRLS/LET'S GET PHYSICAL DVD specs:

• 2K scan and restorations of 35mm pre-print materials
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono

Strand Releasing builds the WEDDING DOLL (review)

Mildly mentally handicapped since some older kids injured her as a child, Hagit lives with an overprotective mother and works in a toilet paper factory.  She has a secret lover in the owner's son but the owner's plans to sell the factory and her mother's plans to move them away to be with her own lover drive a wedge between Hagit and her dreams of independence and happiness.

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

WEDDING DOLL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Hebrew Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English and French subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Strand Releasing desires FROM AFAR (review)

Fifty year old loner Armando propositions nineteen year old gang member Elder, but the older man only likes to watch.  Elder initially rebuffs him but softens when the older man cares for him when he is beaten in a gang fight.  Damaged by emotional and physical abuse from his father, Armando keeps Elder at distance but the younger man decides to do something about Armando's recently returned father.

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

FROM AFAR DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.66:1 widescreen
• Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• Short Film "Elephants Never Forget"
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Film Movement presents TAKE ME TO THE RIVER (Review)

California teenager Ryder is dragged along to Nebraska for the family reunion of his mother's side of the family.  His plans to come out to the family are quashed by his mother, but a confused incident with nine-year-old cousin Molly soon has his uncle accusing him of molestation.  Things settle down the next day, but an invitation to lunch with the family from his uncle turns into a tense battle of wills.

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

TAKE ME TO THE RIVER DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• English Closed Captioning
• Audio Commentary by director Matt Sobel and actors Robin Weigert & Logan Miller
• Interviews with actors Robin Weigert and Logan Miller
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Film Movement experiences THE AUTOMATIC HATE (review)

Out of the blue, restaurant chef Davis Green meets Alexis, a girl who claims to be his cousin even though his psychologist father claims to have no brothers.  The only child of cold, academic parents, Davis warmly embraces his backwoods cousins and uncle only to discover that his forbidden attraction to Alexis is not the only skeleton in the family's closet.

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

THE AUTOMATIC HATE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• English Closed Captioning
• Audio Commentary by director Justin Lerner and actor Joseph Cross
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus Short Film "Patriot"
• Previews

Arrow Films defends THE BORDER (review)

As the only survivor of a bombing that took out his entire border patrol team including his girlfriend Ewa, Wiktor becomes the prime suspect in the incident but carried out his own investigation as his knowledge of the terrain makes him indispensable to the new commander and team.  When he discovers the earring his girlfriend was wearing during the blast in a remote cabin, he begins to suspect that his girlfriend may have been the main target instead of him.

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

THE BORDER DVD specs:

• Six episodes on two dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles

Arrow Video USA takes in a show at DEAD END DRIVE-IN (Review)

The Star Drive-in lures the young and wild into a deadly trap in STUNT ROCK director Brian Trenchard-Smith's Ozploitation classic DEAD END DRIVE-IN.  When a young couple visit the local drive-in, they become stranded and spend the night only to discover that Australia's post-nuclear government has turned the place into a concentration camp for the country's undesirables.  Theatrically released in the United States by New World Pictures, this eighties cult classic is stuffed with punk rockers, neon lights, and a bangin' rock soundtrack.

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

DEAD END DRIVE-IN Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Brian Trenchard-Smith
• Vintage documentary "The Stuntmen"
• Short film "Hospitals Don't Burnt Down!"
• Vladimir Cherepanoff Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

Olive Films digs up THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK (review)

Barbara Steele, Robert Flemyng, and Harriet White Medin star in one of the key titles from the Italian golden age of gothic horror.  Dr. Hichcock has a necrophilia kink that he indulges with his wife and his experimental anaesthetic.  When he accidentally overdoses her, he leaves London and returns twelve years later with a new bride but soon finds himself drawn back to his old habits and the haunting apparition of his first wife who may not actually be dead.

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

THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK Blu-ray specs:

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

Magnolia Pictures fears THE ONES BELOW (review)

Career-oriented Kate and Justin are finally expecting, as is the new couple Jon and Theresa below until a tense dinner party ends in inexplicable tragedy.  As Kate gives birth to her baby, she soon starts to grow suspicious of and fear THE ONES BELOW in this British paranoia thriller.

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

THE ONES BELOW Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles
• "Creating a Cinematic Moment: Under the Bridge"
• "Going Below the Story"
• "Beyond the Cast and Characters"
• "Car Stunt: Breaking Down an Action Sequence"
• Theatrical Trailer

Vinegar Syndrome violates a TABOO (review)

Kay Parker stars in the controversial and extremely successful TABOO as a housewife abandoned by her husband who starts to have feelings for her eighteen-year-old son... feelings that he returns.  Juliet Anderson, Mike Ranger, and Michael Morrison also star.

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

TABOO Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by actress Kay Parker
• Audio Commentary by producer/writer Helene Terrie
• Archival Audio Commentary by actress Kay Parker
• Archival Audio Commentary by director Kirdy Stevens and writer/producer Helene Terrie
• Archival Video Interview with actress Kay Parker
• Reversible Cover

Kino Lorber goes on a HAUNTED HONEYMOON (review)

Gene Wilder, Gilda Radner, and Dom DeLuise star in Wilder's eighties throwback to the old dark house films of the thirties.  "Manhattan Mystery Theater" radio star Larry Talbot is set to wed his co-star Vickie Pearle at his creepy ancestral home where a werewolf stalks the grounds and one of his relatives may be trying to kill him when his aunt (DeLuise) changes her will and leaves him everything.  Jonathan Pryce, Peter Vaughn, and Paul L. Smith also star.

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

HAUNTED HONEYMOON Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 stereo
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Vinegar Syndrome dances with DISCO GODFATHER (Review)

Rudy Ray Moore is the DISCO GODFATHER, an ex-cop turned disco DJ who goes back on the job after his nephew falls victim to the Angel Dust epidemic.  By day he works as an activist, by night he uses his martial arts skills to "attack the wack."

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

DISCO GODFATHER Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono; French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono; German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English, French, and German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Rudy Ray Moore biographer Mark Jason Murray, Ruddy Ray Moore, writer/director J. Robert Wagoner, co-writer Cliff Roquemore, and rare on-set audio
  "I, Dolemite Part IV" featurette (25:14)
  Soundtrack (35:01)
  Still Gallery (2:18)
  Theatrical Trailer (3:30)
  Trailers for "Dolemite" and "The Human Tornado"

Vinegar Syndrome braves the EVILS OF THE NIGHT (Review)

Mars needs teenage blood in producer/director Mardi Rustam's sexy, cheesy slasher send-up of fifties alien invasion movies.  John Carradine, Tina Louise, and Julie Newmar play aliens who use mechanics Aldo Ray and Neville Brand to secure the blood of horny spring breakers to extend their alien life span.  Porn stars Jerry Butler and Amber Lynn are among the potential victims.

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

EVILS OF THE NIGHT Blu-ray/DVD combo:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Isolated Robert O. Ragland Score (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• "Alien Blood Transfusion" interview with producer/director Mardi Rustam
• Alternate feature-length TV edit (92 minutes)
• Work-in-progress Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot

Second Run DVD patronizes THE SHOP ON THE HIGH STREET (Review)

The 1966 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, THE SHOP ON THE HIGH STREET (released stateside as THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET) has been cited by critic Kenneth Tynan as "The most moving film about anti-Semitism ever made."  A well-meaning carpenter is appointed as "Aryan controller" of a Jewish shop run by a deaf widow with whom he forms a warm friendship and goes from shielding her from knowledge of the newly-adopted Slovak policies regarding Jews and then attempting to protect her when the deportations begin.

REVIEW LINK: Second Run (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE SHOP ON THE HIGH STREET Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen
• Slovak LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• An Appreciation by film historian Michael Brooke
• US Press Kit
• Collector's Booklet by film historian Peter Hames

Arrow Video USA busts out FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (review)

Meiko Kaji created her most memorable character Scorpion in Toei's FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION series, restored on Blu-ray by Arrow Video.  Set up by her narcotics officer boyfriend, Nami incurs the wrath of the warden by her constant escape attempts in FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCOPRION.  When she intervenes to prevent the prison's sadistic favorites from setting up another prisoner, the warden looses an eye and Nami is sentenced to back-breaking hard labor.  When her punished fellow prisoners start a riot, Nami finds herself facing danger from both sides.  In FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41, Nami faces more sadistic torment from the warden but manages to escape with five other prisoners and take a tourist bus hostage.  In FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: BEAST STABLE, Nami is on the run and finds herself entangled with an incestuous brother and sister and forced into prostitution by the yakuza.  In FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: GRUDGE SONG, Nami allows herself to trust and love another man, but their love is tested by the ruthless machinations of a relentless cop who wants to execute Nami with his bare hands.

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

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION Blu-ray/DVD combo:

• 2K restorations from low-contrast 35mm prints on Blu-ray in 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen and DVD in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen
• Japanese LPCM 1.0 mono (Blu-ray)
• Japanese Dolby Digital 1.0 mono (DVD)
• Optional English subtitles
• "Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion" extras:
• An Appreciation by Gareth Evans
• "Shuna Ito: Birth of an Outlaw"
• "Yutaka Kohira: Scorpion Old and New"
• Theatrical Trailers for all four films
• Credits
• "Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41" extras:
• An Appreciation by Kier-la Janisse
• Jasper Sharp on the career of Shunya Ito
• "Tadayuki Kuwana: Designing Scorpion"
• Theatrical Trailers for all four films
• Credits
• "Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable" extras:
• An Appreciation by Kat Ellinger
• "Shunya Ito: Directing Meiko Kaji"
• Unchained Melody: A visual Essay by Tom Mes
• Theatrical Trailers for all four films
• Credits
• "Female Prisoner Scorpion: Grudge Song" extras:
• An Appreciation by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
• "Yasuharu Hasebe: Finishing the Series"
• Jasper Sharp on Yasuharu Hasebe
• "They Call Her Scorpion" A Visual Essay by Tom Mes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Credits
• Limited to 4,000 copies.
• Comes with a double-sided fold out poster of two original artworks, reversible sleeves for all films featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan.  
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Chuck Stephens, a brand new interview with Toru Shinohara, creator of the original Scorpion manga and an archive interview with Meiko Kaji by Chris D. illustrated with original stills.