Arrow Video USA charts the fall of THE CLIMBER (review)

Andy Warhol vet Joe Dallesandro stars in the crime film THE CLIMBER as a young smuggler who is betrayed by his boss in Naples and forms his own gang in Rome to take revenge and take over.  Stefania Casini also stars.

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

THE CLIMBER Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English and Italian LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English and Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the English dub and English subtitles for the Italian
• "Little Joe's Adventures in Europe" new interview with actor Joe Dallesandro
• Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Roberto Curti, author of ITALIAN CRIME FILMOGRAPHY, 1968-1980

Arrow Video uncensors EVIL ED (review)

The low budget nineties Swedish gore comedy EVIL ED comes to limited edition three-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo in its "Special ED-ition" cut.  When mild-mannered editor Ed is hired by ruthless producer Sam Campbell (get it?) to cut the LOOSE LIMBS horror franchise for censorious foreign markets, he starts to go over the deep end and start cutting real life down to size.


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

EVIL ED Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Disc One (Special ED-ition Cut Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 stereo
• Disc Two (Special ED-ition Cut DVD):
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Optional Introduction by editor Doc and director Anders Jacobsson
• "You Keep 'Em Heads Rollin" behind the scenes
• "Before Ed" early filmmaking endeavors
• "Beyond Ed" later careers of the crew
• "Reconstructing Edward" preparig the Special ED-ition cut
• New Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailers and Teasers:
• Special ED-ition Trailer
• English Trailer
• Swedish Trailer
• Swedish Teaser 1
• Swedish Teaser 2
• "Bergman" Teaser
• "Nutty Professor" Teaser
• Image Gallery
• Easter Egg
• Disc Three (Limited Blu-ray):
• Original Theatrical Cut (93 minutes):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• "Lost in Brainland" three-hour extended behind the scenes featurette
• Making-of Bloopers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by horror journalist Michael Gingold

Full Moon Features stalks the LURKING FEAR (review)

Charles Band's Full Moon Pictures follows up his Empire Pictures triumphs RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND with an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's LURKING FEAR.  A wrongfully-convicted young man gets out of jail after a year and learns that his late father has left as his inheritance a cache of loot buried in the family plot in the remote town of Lefferts Corners.  He travels there on the night when the town's remaining citizens are planning to wage a final battle with the cannibalistic creatures dwelling in the tunnels beneath the town.  Also stumbling into this warzone is a British gangster after his stolen casino loot along with his glamorous moll and hulking bodyguard.  Jon Finch, Ashley Laurence, Jeffrey Combs, Paul Mantee, Alison Mackie, and Blake Bailey star.

REVIEW LINK: Full Moon Studios (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

LURKING FEAR Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by writer/director C. Courtney Joyner
• "Videozone" Behind the Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailer
• Teaser
• Previews

MVD Visual is stalked by CHILD EATER (review)

For twenty-five years, the town of Widow's Peak has been haunted by the memory eye-eating child murderer Robert Bowery whose spirit is rumored to still stalk the woods.  When young Helen babysits imaginative child Lucas one night, she discovers that there really is a monster in the closet and enters the woods to rescue her charge.

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

CHILD EATER DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.20:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by
• Deleted Scenes

Wild Eye Releasing digs up the ABANDONED DEAD (review)

Rachael Burke has lived in fear of the dark since childhood.  She works as a security guard and only takes day shifts.  When she is forced to take an night shift during the Memorial Day weekend at an addiciton clinic in a bad part of town, she starts to wonder whether she is going crazy or being haunted by something related to her childhood trauma.  Sarah Nicklin and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD's Judith O'Dea star.

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

ABANDONED DEAD DVD specs:

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

Cleopatra Films documents THE BURNINGMOORE DEATHS (Review)

Nobody saw the signs when family man James Parrish murdered his family and disappeared into the night.  Two years later, a home improvement show team decides to renovate a house not suspecting that they are trespassing on the grounds of an occult-obsessed serial killer who is about to strike again, and it will be caught on tape this time!

REVIEW LINK: Cleopatra Films (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

THE BURNINGMOORE DEATHS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Photo Gallery
• Trailer
• Previews

Vinegar Syndrome celebrates "Halfway to Black Friday" with RED MOB (review)

Vinegar Syndrome steps behind the iron curtain to unearth this 1993 American-styled action flick.  When his son is kidnapped, veteran Oleg must agree to lead a caravan of weapons smugglers to get him back.  With the help of his war buddy, he wages war against the mob.

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

RED MOB Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Full-length Russian-language version in Russian Dolby Digital 1.0 mono with optional English and Russian SDH subtitles
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the English version
• "Producing RED MOB" interview with associate producer Arthur Schweitzer
• "Shooting from the Hip" interview with associate producer Arthur Schweitzer
• Theatrical Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• Reversible Cover
• Limited Slipcover
• Limited to 1,000 copies available directly from Vinegar Syndrome.

Vinegar Syndrome celebrates "Halfway to Black Friday" with SWEET SUGAR (review)

Entrapped by the Mexican authorities and railroaded into agreeing to cut cane on a private farm for two years, prostitute Sugar rallies her fellow captives to rise up against the mad doctor who runs the farm and his sadistic guards.  Phyllis Davis stars.

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

SWEET SUGAR Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Interview with screenwriter Don Spencer
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• Limited Slipcase
• Limited to 1,500 copies
• Available exclusively from Vinegar Syndrome.

Paramount and Comedy Central untap DRUNK HISTORY: SEASON 4 (review)

Derek Waters is back for a fourth season as the "Drunk Whisperer" hosting inebriated storytellers who give us their skewed takes on the friendship of Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald, the original Ponzi scheme, the friendship of FDR and Winston Churchill, and much more.  Hosts include Bob Odenkirk and Jenny Slate.

REVIEW LINK: Paramount Pictures/Comedy Central (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

DRUNK HISTORY: SEASON 4 DVD specs:

• 10 episodes on two dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• "Election Special"
• Deleted and Extended Scenes

Arrow Academy's THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION: DUELLE/NOROIT/MERRY-GO-ROUND (review)

THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION collects three of Rivette's transitional and wildy-experimental films.  In DUELLE, a hotel porter, her neerdowell brother, and his lover become entangled in a supernaturally-tinged mystery involving two bewitching women.  Juliet Berto and Bulle Ogier star.  In NOROIT, Morag swears revenge against the pirates who murdered her brother and infiltrates the castle of pirate queen Giulia.  Geraldine Chaplin and Kika Markham star.  In MERRY-GO-ROUND, a French woman urgently summons her American boyfriend and her sister to France for help and they become involved in a delirious mystery of faked deaths and stolen cash.  Maria Schneider and Joe Dallesandro star.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

THE JACQUES RIVETTE COLLECTION Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Duelle (1976):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• "Remembering DUELLE" inteview with actresses Bulle Ogier and Hermine Karagheuz
• Noroît (1976):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• French/English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the French dialogue
• Merry-Go-Round (1981):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• English/French LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the French dialogue
• "Scenes from a Parallel Life: Jacques Rivette Remembers" archive interview with the director
• "Rosenbaum on Rivette" interview with critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
• Exclusive perfect-bound book containing new writing on the films by Mary M. Wiles, Brad Stevens, Ginette Vincendeau and Nick Pinkerton
• Reversible sleeves with original and newly commissioned artwork by Ignatius Fitzpatrick
• Limited to 3000 copies

Also available in the UK from Arrow with the addition of Region B Blu-rays and Region 2 NTSC DVDs of the films OUT 1 and OUT: SPECTRE:

All-region Blu-rays and Region 0 NTSC DVDs of OUT 1 and OUT: SPECTRE are available separately from Kino Lorber:

Arrow Video USA howls with WOLF GUY (review)

Sonny Chiba stars as a reporter by day, werewolf by night in Toei's crazy anime adaptation WOLF GUY.  When he sees a man torn apart in public by invisible claws, reporter Inugami starts looking into a series of murders and a sinister government organization.

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

WOLF GUY Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• Japanese LPCM 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Japanese Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with star Sonny Chiba
• Interview with producer Toru Yoshida
• Interview with director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Wes Benscoter
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Patrick Macias and a history of Japanese monster movie mashups by Jasper Sharp.

Sony holidays with MAD FAMILIES (review)

Charlie Sheen, Leah Remini, and Naya Rivera star in this comedy about three families who wind up fighting over the same campsite for the Fourth of July weekend after a computer mix-up.  Insults lead to fighting and to all-out war as the three dysfunctional families engage in a series of competitions to determine who will be sent home, but they may all be losers when winning becomes more important than family.

REVIEW LINK: Sony Pictures (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

MAD FAMILIES DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English, English SDH, and French subtitles
• Start-up Trailers

The Film Detective conjures up VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST (review)

Entombed alive for his forbidden love for the chief's daughter, a Haitian mummy rises one thousand years later to find the reincarnation of his long lost love.  Utterly absurd, schlocky seventies Spanish horror take on THE MUMMY with Aldo Sambrell, Eva Leon, Alfredo Mayo, and Fernando Sancho.

REVIEW LINK: The Film Detective (US) Region ALL BD-R (DVD Drive-in)

VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST BD-R specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles

Intervision has a MURDERLUST for PROJECT NIGHTMARE (Review)

In this double bill from filmmakers Don Jones and James C. Lane, MURDERLUST anticipates the gritty serial killer films along the lines of HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER as it details the dead-end life of the Mojave Murderer: respectable Sunday School Teacher by day and prostitute strangler by night.  In PROJECT NIGHTMARE, two campers find themselves on the run from an alien force in the middle of the woods.

REVIEW LINK: Intervision Picture Corp./Severin Films (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

MURDERLUST/PROJECT NIGHTMARE DVD specs:

• Murderlust (1986):
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by co-writer James C. Lane
• Project Nightmare (1979):
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Partial Audio Commentary by writer James C. Lane

Breaking Glass Pictures embraces UTOPIANS (review)

Director Scud returns with his most daring project yet.  A homage to Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Derek Jarman, and Yukio Mishima, UTOPIANS is the story of young Hins who has already forsaken his girlfriend Joy for his obsession with dead Japanese author Yukio Mishima only to fall for out-and-proud professor Ming who introduces him to a world of eroticism and free love that causes him to question his sense of self.

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

UTOPIANS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Cantonese/Japanese/Mandarin/English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• 2017 Interview with Scud by qFlix producer Thom Cardwell
• Making-of
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• "30 Years of Adonis" Trailer
• Previews

Breaking Glass drives BREAKDOWN LANE (review)

Traveling to the city to see her boyfriend in her tank-like SUV, Kirby breaks down in the desert in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.  Relying on the voice of Max on her car's emergency service program, she braves zombies, looting bikers, and other strange characters to reach civilization and rescue Max.

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

BREAKDOWN LANE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• English Closed Captioning
• Behind the Scenes
• Trailer
• Previews

Strand Releasing is STAYING VERTICAL (review)

Director Alain Guiraudie's follow-up to his notorious hit STRANGER BY THE LAKE finds a filmmaker suffering a creative block and wandering the French countryside for inspiration.  He soon finds himself hopelessly entangled in the lives of the people he has been observing and living a life no longer his own.

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

STAYING VERTICAL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen
• French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Second Sight exposes THE DIARY OF A NOBODY (review)

DOWNTON ABBEY's Hugh Bonneville puts on a one-man show as clerk Charles Pooter who decides to put to paper his observations of people and daily life and ends up exposing his own embarrassments and social faux pas as he aspires to a middle class existence.

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

THE DIARY OF A NOBODY DVD specs:

• Four episodes on one dual-layer DVD
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles

Second Run's TASKAFA: STORIES OF THE STREET reveals ESTATE, A REVERIE (review)

Andrea Luka Zimmerman explores gentrification and displacement in two vastly different documentaries.  TASKAFA: STORIES OF THE STREET is told through the eyes of the street dogs of Istanbul and the people who call them pets, friends, and protectors.  In ESTATE, A REVERIE, Zimmerman offers portraits of the daily lives of a group of residents living in a problem council estate bound for demolition.

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

TWO FILMS BY ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN DVD specs:

• Taskafa: Stories of the Street (2013):
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• Turkish/German/English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles
• Estate, a Reverie (2015):
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78: widescreen 
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Interview with director Andrea Luka Zimmerman
• 24-page booklet featuring a personal text by John Berger, an essay by Ali Smith, as well as new writings on the films by US academic Colin Dayan and OpenDemoncracy editor Rosemary Bechler

The Film Detective possesses VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST (Review)

Entombed alive for his forbidden love for the chief's daughter, a Haitian mummy rises one thousand years later to find the reincarnation of his long lost love.  Utterly absurd, schlocky seventies Spanish horror take on THE MUMMY with Aldo Sambrell, Eva Leon, Alfredo Mayo, and Fernando Sancho.

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

VOODOO BLACK EXORCIST BD-R specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles

Vinegar Syndrome returns to MALIBU HIGH (Review)

When her mother nags her, her teachers threaten to flunk her, and her boyfriend dumps her for a bitchy rich girl, Kim turns "lovely but deadly" as a loose, pot-smoking teenager turned high school hitgirl for the mob in the Crown International cult favorite MALIBU HIGH!

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

MALIBU HIGH Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by producer Lawrence D. Foldes and actres Tammy Taylor
• Interview with producer Lawrence D. Foldes
• Interview with actress Tammy Taylor
• Interview with actor Garth Pilsbury
• Q&A from a screening at the New Beverly Cinema with producer Lawrence Foldes, actress Tammy Taylor & actor Alex Mann
• Short Films:
• "Struggle for Israel" (1976)
• "Grandpa & Marika" (1975)
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery
• Reversible Cover

Vinegar Syndrome drives THE HEARSE (review)

THE CHANGELING's Trish Van Devere encounters more supernatural terror as a divorced woman who inherits her mysterious aunt's house and is stalked along country roads by THE HEARSE.  Joseph Cotton, Med Flory, Perry Lang, and Christopher MacDonald also star.

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

THE HEARSE Blu-ray/DVD combo:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Interview with actor David Gautreaux
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Stills Gallery
• Limited Edition O-Card comes with the first 1,000 copies purchased directly from Vinegar Syndrome.

Intervision reaps a DARK HARVEST with ESCAPES (review)

Intervision brings another shot-on-video double bill back from the rental store grave to DVD.  In DARK HARVEST, a group of campers get stranded in a desert and stumble across an ancient burial ground guarded by killer scarecrows.  In ESCAPES, Vincent Price hosts six weird tales of monsters and retribution.

REVIEW LINK: Intervision Picture Corp./Severin Films (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

DARK HARVEST/ESCAPES DVD specs:

• Dark Harvest (1992):
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Interviews with actress Patti Negri and actor Dan Weiss
• Escapes (1986):
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Producer Tom Naygrow on director David Steensland

Magnet Releasing takes a DETOUR (review)

When law student Harper's mother gets into a car wreck and is put on life support, he blames his stepfather.  Meeting two-bit criminal Johnny Ray in a bar, he drunkenly makes a deal to pay the man twenty grand to teach his stepfather a lesson.  When the Johnny appears on his doorstep the next day, Harper's life splits into two parallel realities: one where he goes with Johnny and hooker Cherry to Vegas to kill his stepfather, and another in which he remains home only for things to go equally awry.  Tye Sheridan, Bel Powley, Emory Cohen, Stephen Moyer, and John Hannah star in this film noir homage from Christopher Smith (CREEP, TRIANGLE).

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

DETOUR Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles
• Behind the Scenes
• Deleted Scenes
• Interviews with director Christopher Smith and actor Tye Sheridan
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Strand Releasing celebrates MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI (review)

Narrated by Keanu Reeves, this intimate documentary looks at the life of actor Toshiro Mifune through the eyes of his children and the people who worked with him.  Starting with his childhood and military experience, the film finds the future star getting into acting merely to eat in post-war Japan and looks at his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa and other major figures of Japanese cinema.

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

MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English/Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles for the Japanese dialogue
• Trailer
• Previews

Strand Releasing sings LOVESONG (review)

Jena Malone and Riley Keough star in this indie drama as two college friends whose relationship becomes deeper during a road trip until one of them cuts the trip short.  Three years later, they reunite for a wedding and must confront their feelings before one of them takes the plunge.

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

LOVESONG DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Filmmaker Interview
• Previews

Cinema Libre unites WORLDS APART (review)

This Greek blockbuster tells three parallel stories of love set against the backdrop of the European economic crisis.  A Syrian refugee rescues a Greek student from a mugging and they begin a secret affair unaware that the girl's father is part of a fascist anti-immigrant group.  An account executive suffering from depression and panic attacks puts his family life in jeopardy when he enters into an affair with a Swedish efficiency expert sent to gut his company for a buyout.  A German history teacher and an unhappy housewife meet weekly for grocery shopping but must confront their own life choices before trying for a second chance at love.  Oscar winner J.K. Simmons stars.

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

WORLDS APART DVD specs: 

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen
• English/Greek Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles
• Behind the Scenes
• Director Interview
• Trailer
• Preview

Cinema Libre tracks THE GIRL FROM THE BROTHEL (review)

Out of rehab and wanting to start a family, Mia travels to Cambodia to surprise her husband only to discover him with eleven-year-old Srey in a brothel.  Mia buys the girl's freedom with the intention of taking her back to her home village, but two other girl stow away on their journey and they are soon on the run from the pimp who purchased them.  Made with the sponsorship of UNICEF and Amnesty International, this fictional film from actress Ilaria Borelli sheds light on the tragedy of human trafficking, child prostitution, and sexual tourism in the Third World.

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

THE GIRL FROM THE BROTHEL DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.30:1 widescreen
• English/Khmer/French/Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in English subtitles for foreign dialogue and English Closed Captioning for English dialogue
• Behind the Scenes
• Music Video
• Trailer
• Photo Gallery
• Previews

Quiet Village Films takes in an OCCULT DOUBLE FEATURE (review)

Carsten Frank and Margarethe von Stern collaborate on this psychedelic and experimental two-part OCCULT DOUBLE FEATURE.  In SECRETS OF A SOUL, macabre artist/stage performer Margarethe is beckoned towards suicide by inner voices.  Is she the victim of an occult conspiracy or going mad?  In BESTIE!, Margarethe is assaulted and murders her attacker.  She soon starts to undergo an insectoid, flesh-eating metamorphosis.

REVIEW LINK: Quiet Village Films (Germany) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

OCCULT DOUBLE FEATURE DVD specs:

• Two films:
• "Secrets of a Soul" (84 minutes)
• "Bestie!" (85 minutes)
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• German Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English and German subtitles
• Opening Promo for "The Day of the Purple Sun"

Limited Edition of 500 copies available directly from Quiet Village Films.

Severin Films stitches together BLACKENSTEIN (review)

You've heard of BLACULA and DR. BLACK, MR. HYDE, but nothing will prepare you for BLACKENSTEIN.  When her fiance loses all of his limbs in Vietnam, a female scientist appeals to Dr. Stein to use his experimental DNA serum to aid a daring transplant.  When a jealous assistant sabotages the dosages, the patient turns into a hulking, primeval, limb-ripping, throat-tearing killer.

REVIEW LINK: Severin Films (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

BLACKENSTEIN Blu-ray specs:

• Theatrical Cut (77 minutes) and Extended Video Release Cut (87 minutes)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles (theatrical cut only)
• "Monster Kid" interview with writer/producer Frank R. Saletri's sister June Kirk
• Archive News Broadcast on the Murder Of Frank R. Saletri
• Producers/directors/actors Ken Osborne and Robert Dix remember Frank R. Saletri
• "Bill Created Blackenstein" interview with creature designer Bill Munns
• Theatrical Trailer

Sony warns WE DON'T BELONG HERE (review)

Catherine Keener and Anton Yelchin (in his final role) star in this story of a dysfunctional family wracked with mental illness, loss, and tragedy.  Riley Keough, Molly Shannon, Maya Rudolph, and Cary Elwes also star.

REVIEW LINK: Sony (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

WE DON'T BELONG HERE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• English and French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English, English SDH, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai subtitles

Wolfe Video hooks up in PARIS 05:59 THÉO AND HUGO (review)

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Ruthless Pictures passes through THE PORTAL (review)

Ten short horror films look at the fear of death from diverse points of view. A young man learns what happens when you unfriend a dead lover, a jogger encounters the true face of death, a school class lives under a death curse, and more.

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

THE PORTAL DVD specs:

• Ten short horror films
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen (various aspect ratios)
• English/Spanish/Danish Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Burnt-in subtitles for foreign languages

Wild Eye Releasing plays with HEIDI (review)

Two teenage video pranksters learn what happens when you mess with a possessed doll in the found footage chiller HEIDI.

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

HEIDI DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind the Scenes Gallery
• Trailer
• Previews

Synapse Films drags Coffin Joe Back From Hell (review)

Brazilian cult figure Jose Mojica Marins' and his Sadeian alter ego Coffin Joe (Ze de Caixao) search for the perfect woman to produce a superior human being free of moral fetters in the first two entries of THE COFFIN JOE TRILOGY.  In AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL, gravedigger Coffin Joe murders his barren wife and his best friend to get to lovely Terezinha, but she kills herself and promises supernatural retribution from a god Joe does not believe in.  In THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE, Coffin Joe returns to his frightened village and sets about looking for the perfect woman.  One of his failures curses him and his quest, casting a pall on his seemingly perfect union with the mayor's twisted daughter.

REVIEW LINK: Synapse Films (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

AT MIDNIGHT I'LL TAKE YOUR SOUL DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Optional Introduction by Jose Mojica Marins
• Making-of Featurette
• Jose Mojica Marins on his short film REINO SANGRENTO
• Interview with Jose Mojica Marins
• New Scene filmed in 2002
• Theatrical Trailer
• Rare Promotional Trailer

THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Optional Introduction by Jose Mojica Marins
• Making-of Featurette
• "The Universe of Mojica Marins" TV special
• A Visit to the Coffin Joe Museum
• Interview with Jose Mojica Marins
• Theatrical Trailer
• Photo Gallery

Also available together with EMBODIMENT OF EVIL in:

Garagehouse Pictures digs up THE DISMEMBERED (review)

The long forgotten Philadelphia-lensed regional horror comedy THE DISMEMBERED rises from the grave courtesy of Garagehouse Pictures.  Hiding out in an abandoned mansion after a jewelry heist, Max, Carlo, and Jerry run afoul of the house's undead residents as well as a mysterious Victorian ghost girl, and the living dead "dismembered" who haunt the next door graveyard.

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

THE DISMEMBERED Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Ralph Hirshorn and filmmaker Andrew Rapasky McElhinney
• Hirshorn's 1959 short film "The End of Summer" (also with optional audio commentary)
• Previews

Vinegar Syndrome goes out for LADIES NIGHT with HER WICKED WAYS (review)

Annette Haven stars as a dissatisfied housewife who goes out with her girlfriend to a male strip club in LADIES NIGHT.  Herschel Savage and Lisa DeLeauw also star.  In HER WICKED WAYS, Jesie St. James is a merry widow of a billionaire until her daughter-in-law throws a monkey wrench into the works.  Eric Edwards and Paul Thomas also star.

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

LADIES NIGHT/HER WICKED WAYS DVD specs:

• 2k scans from 35mm original camera negatives
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Audio Interview with The Lewis Brothers on LADIES NIGHT 

Arrow Academy tells the STORY OF SIN (review)

After making a name for himself internationally as an aesthete of erotica, Walerian Borowczyk returned to Poland to make STORY OF SIN, a period melodrama in which good girl Ewa falls in lust with a married anthropologist and into spiritual ruin in economically depressed Warsaw.  Although more mainstream than his other works, the film nevertheless explores some of the recurring themes of Borowczyk's erotic ouevre.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Academy (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/DVD combo (DVD Drive-in)

STORY OF SIN Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Disc One (Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• Polish LPCM 1.0 mono
• Disc Two (DVD):
• 16:9 amamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• Polish Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio commentary with Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger
• Introduction by poster artist and illustrator Andrzej Klimowski
• "The First Sinner" interview with actress Grażyna Długołęcka
• "The Music Box" interview with film maker David Thompson
• "Stories of Sin: A Guide to Walerian Borowczyk" visual essay by Daniel Bird
• Short Films and Miscellaneous:
• "Once Upon a Time" (1957; with optional commentary by art historian Szymon Bojko and moderator Daniel Bird)
• "Dom (1958; with optional commentary by composer Włodzimierz Kotoński and moderator Daniel Bird)
• "The School" (1958; with optional commentary by Daniel Bird)
• "Miscellaneous: Newsreels and Documentary" visual essay
• "Street Art" (1957)
• "Tools of the Trade" featurette
• "Poster Girl" interview with poster artist Teresa Byszewska
• Theatrical Trailer
• 44-page booklet with writings by Andrzej Żuławski & Daniel Bird and an interview with Stanisław Różewicz by Daniel Bird.  Also a reprinted Polish interview with Borowczyk

Arrow Video USA warns DJANGO, PREPARE A COFFIN (Review)

While Franco Nero was off in Hollywood making CAMELOT, future Trinity star Terence Hill assumed the mantle of Django in DJANGO, PREPARE A COFFIN as a vengeance-driven cowboy turned hangman building an army of wrongfully accused men to take on the mastermind of a series of gold transport ambushes (the first of which claimed the life of his wife).  Horst Frank and George Eastman also star.

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

DJANGO PREPARE A COFFIN Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Disc One (Blu-ray):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• Italian and English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Disc Two (DVD):
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• Italian and English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the Italian track and English SDH subtitles for the English track
• "DJANGO Explained" featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Booklet by Spaghetti Western expert Howard Hughes (first pressing only)

Vinegar Syndrome's SHERLICK HOLMES investigates REUNION (review)

Harry Reems stars as the brilliant detective SHERLICK HOLMES who invents a time machine for crime fighting and accidentally transports himself and Dr. Watson (Zebedy Colt) to a seventies New York of loose women and murderous pimps (Bobby Astyr).  REUNION is a sexy take on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" as six high school friends reunite for a mysterious island party and find themselves sexually stalked by the resentful class clown.  Bree Anthony, Tony Richards, Nancy Dare, Vanessa del Rio, and Alan Marlowe star.

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

SHERLICK HOLMES/REUNION DVD specs:

• 2K scans of 35mm archival elements
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono