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27 November 2017

Code Red worships THE WITCHMAKER (Review)

Deep in the Louisiana bayou, Sabbat master Luther the Berserk drains lovely maidens of blood to sustain his centuries-old existence.  When a team of parapsychologists travel to a nearby cabin to conduct experiments, Luther hunts them down one by one in order to induct their medium into his cult of thirteen.  Produced by L.Q. Jones, shot by John Morrill, and co-starring GREEN ACRES' Alvy Moore who would all partner up again for BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN and A BOY AND HIS DOG.

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

THE WITCHMAKER Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Audio Commentary by producer L.Q. Jones and cinematographer John Morrill
  • Interview with producer L.Q. Jones
  • Reissue Trailer
  • Code Red Trailers
  • Limited Edition Slipcover
Available from Ronin Flix and DiabolikDVD.

AGFA and Something Weird twitch with BAT PUSSY (Review)

The grungiest, dirtiest film that put storefront theater films back on the cultural map BAT PUSSY comes to Blu-ray in a 2K scan of the only surviving (possibly only existing) 16mm print.  While virtually nothing is known of when or where this film was made, it may very well be the first porn parody ever.  When Dora Dildo's twat twitches, she knows crime is afoot in Gotham City and assumes her alternate identity as Bat Pussy and bounces across town on her hippity-hop to root out the criminals: in this case, masochistic train wreck of a couple Buddy and Sam who have the tenacity to make a porn film without her.

REVIEW LINK: AGFA/Something Weird Video/MVD Visual (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

BAT PUSSY Blu-ray specs:
  • 2K scan of the only surviving 16mm print
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Audio Commentary by Something Weird's Lisa Petrucci and Tim Lewis, along with AGFA's Joe Ziemba and Sebastian del Castillo, and Bleeding Skull's Annie Choi
  • “Dating Do's and Don'ts” 1949 Corone Instructional short subject
  • “The Shoplifter” short film
  • “A Trip to the Storefront Theater” short
  • Crime-Smut Trailers from the Something Weird Vault 
  • Bonus Film: ROBOT LOVE SLAVES (1971)
  • Booklet featuring "I Saved Bat Pussy" by Mike McCarthy and an appreciation by Lisa Petrucci

VCI roots for SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS (review)

Sick of being taunted and teased by the cheerleaders of Benedict High, Satan-worshipping janitor Billy takes them and their coach on a detour to meet a Satanic cult looking for nubile flesh and blood sacrifices.  John Ireland, Yvonne de Carlo, and John Carradine star.

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

SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
    • English LPCM 2.0 mono
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
    • English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Greydon Clark
  • Audio Commentary by filmmaker David DeCoteau and film historian David Del Valle
  • Still Gallery

AGFA and Something Weird relive THE VIOLENT YEARS (review)

Suburban high school debutantes become girl gang terrorists during THE VIOLENT YEARS.  Paula wants for nothing as the daughter of a newspaper editor but she lives for the thrill of robbing gas stations and molesting necking couples with her three school friends in this Ed Wood-scripted film of juvenile delinquency.

REVIEW LINK: AGFA/Something Weird Video/MVD Visual (DVD Drive-in)

THE VIOLENT YEARS Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by filmmaker Frank Henenlotter and Ed Wood biographer Rudolph Grey
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Outtakes from Ed Wood's aborted JD film HELLBORN
  • Gutter-Noir Trailers from the Something Weird Vault
  • Bonus feature: ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO from a 2K scan of a 35mm print
  • Reversible Cover
  • Collector's Booklet

25 November 2017

Blue Underground has a DEATHDREAM (review)

Future A CHRISTMAS STORY and PORKY'S director Bob Clark and writer Alan Ormsby followed up CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY THINGS with this supernatural take on the effects of the Vietnam War as a soldier supposedly killed in action shows up on his family's doorstep with a very special kind of craving.

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

DEATHDREAM 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, French, and Spanish subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Bob Clark
  • Audio Commentary by writer/effects artist Alan Ormsby
  • Interview with writer/effects artist Alan Ormsby and actress Anya Liffey
  • Interview with actor Richard Backus
  • Interview with composer Carl Zittrer
  • "Tom Savini: The Early Years" featurette
  • Interview with production manager John "Bud" Cardos
  • Alan Ormsby Short Film "3:45 P.M."
  • Alternate Opening Titles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Photo Gallery
  • Booklet by Travis Crawford

23 November 2017

Second Run strikes the WITCHHAMMER (review)

A stolen wafer from the church leads to a hysteria of witch-hunting and torture in the Czech 1969 New Wave effort WITCHHAMMER that uses historical fact to parallel the Communist oppression of the Czechs following the Prague Spring.

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

WITCHHAMMER Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
  • Czech LPCM 2.0 Mono
  • Optional English subtitles
  • "The Womb of Woman is the Gateway to Hell" an appreciation by Kat Ellinger
  • "The Light Penetrates the Dark" 1931 Short Film
  • Essay booklet by Samm Deighan

21 November 2017

Kino Lorber sings I'LL BE SEEING YOU (review)

Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, and Shirley Temple star in this wartime romance in which a woman on furlough from prison for the holidays and a convalescing soldier with debilitating shell shock fall in love over the holidays and try to make the most of the short time they have together.

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

I'LL BE SEEING YOU Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by film historians Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews

Code Red rides the DEVIL'S EXPRESS (Review)

Marial artist Warhawk Tanzania (BLACK FORCE) hops the DEVIL'S EXPRESS to do battle with a demonic force that has followed him back to New York from China and is picking off subway workers and passengers in search of a powerful medallion in this funky seventies horror/blaxploitation pic.

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

DEVIL'S EXPRESS Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Trailers
  • Reversible Cover
  • Limited Edition O-Card
Available directly from Ronin Flix.

19 November 2017

Film Movement crowns THE SISSI COLLECTION (review)

Romy Schneider appears in the trilogy that made her an international star as Sissi, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of Hungary, charting her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph and the early years as she battled with her scheming mother-in-law Archduchess Sophie and charmed a nation.  Also included are VICTORIA IN DOVER in which Schneider plays a young Queen Victoria and FOREVER MY LOVE, the two-and-a-half hour English-dubbed condensation of the Sissi trilogy with a theme song by Burt Bacharach.

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

THE SISSI COLLECTION Blu-ray specs:
  • Disc One: Sissi (1955)
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen and 1.33:1 fullscreen presentations
    • German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
    • Optional English Subtitles
  • Disc Two: Sissi, The Young Empress (1956)
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen and 1.33:1 fullscreen presentations
    • German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
    • Optional English subtitles
  • Disc Three: Sissi, The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957)
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen and 1.33:1 fullscreen presentations
    • German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
    • Optional English subtitles
  • Disc Four: Victoria in Dover (1954)
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
    • German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1
    • Optional English subtitles
  • Disc Five: Bonus DVD
      • "Forever My Love" (145 minutes), 1962 English-dubbed condensation of the Sissi trilogy with a theme song by Burt Bacharach
        • 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
        • English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
      • "From Romy to Sissi" 1956 vintage featurette
      • "Sissi's Great-Grandson at the Movies"
      • Trailers
  • 20-page commemorative booklet

16 November 2017

Scream Factory's company loves MISERY (Review)

James Caan and Kathy Bates star in the film that made "I'm your number one fan" a glaring red flag with Stephen King's MISERY.  When a writer crashes his car in a blizzard, he is nursed by his number one fan who turns violent when she discovers that his latest novel kills off her favorite character.  Directed by Rob Reiner and scripted by William Goldman.

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

MISERY Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Rob Reiner
  • Audio Commentary by screenwriter William Goldman
  • Interview with director Rob Reiner
  • Inteview with effects artist Gregory Nicotero
  • "Misery Loves Company" featurette
  • "Marc Shaiman’s Musical MiseryTour" featurette
  • Vintage Featurettes:
    • "Diagnosing Annie Wilkes”
    • "Advice For The Stalked"
    • "Profile Of A Stalker"
    • "Celebrity Stalkers"
    • "Anti-Stalking Laws"
  • Theatrical Trailers
  • Reversible Cover and Collector's Slipcover

Arrow Video USA takes J.D.'S REVENGE (review)

When a young law student participates in a hypnotism act, his mind is opened up to the influence of a razor-wielding mobster from the forties who uses him as a vessel for his revenge on the people who set him up and murdered him in this Blaxploitation classic.

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

J.D.'S REVENGE Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
    • English LPCM 1.0 mono
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
    • English Dolby Digital 1.0 mono
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • "The Killing Floor"
  • Audio Interview with actor David McKnight
  • Gallery
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Radio Spots
  • Arthur Marks Trailer Reel

Vinegar Syndrome probes A WOMAN'S TORMENT (review)

Roberta Findlay riffs on REPULSION with A WOMAN'S TORMENT in which a mentally unbalanced woman flees her sisters home for their family's desolate beach house where her grip on reality begins to crumble.

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

A WOMAN'S TORMENT Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • 2K remasters of the X-rated and R-rated versions
  • 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 on the R-rated version by director Roberta Findlay
  • Q and A with director Roberta Findlay
  • Interview with actor Michael Gaunt
  • Reversible Cover Artwork

12 November 2017

Kino Lorber remembers SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (review)

The David O. Selznick production SINCE YOU WENT AWAY is the story of a housewife who must keep the home fires burning while her husband is sent off to war.  Juggling two teenage daughters, two borders (including an old flame), her own loneliness, and the realities of war as they hit too close to home, Claudette Colbert stars along with Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple, Joseph Cotton, Monty Woolley, and Robert Walker.

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

SINCE YOU WENT AWAY Blu-ray specs:
  • Three-hour Roadshow version
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews

Breaking Glass Pictures opens a RIFT (Review)

When Gunnar receives a call in the middle of the night from his ex-lover Einar who is staying at his family's vacation cottage in Rokkur, he drives there believing Einar is suicidal.  Gunnar begins to believe Einar's fear that they are not alone, but is the lurker outside in the night a prowler, a hookup gone wrong, or Einar's malevolent imaginary childhood friend who has not outgrown him?

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

RIFT DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen
  • Icelandic Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Burnt-in English subtitles
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Trailer
  • Previews

Acorn Media closes the case of INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY: SERIES EIGHT (Review)

The INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY series comes to a close with two final cases set in the socially turbulent 1970's.  In the first, Gently and Bacchus butt heads when the discovery of a body means revisiting a case Bacchus worked on years before in which the killer may have been wrongfully convicted.  In the second and last, Gently investigates the cold-case of a murdered scab worker while Bacchus and Coles investigate the more recent murder of a scab worker during a labor and union dispute, both of which are linked by a politician who could very well be running the new government.

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

INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY DVD specs:
  • Two feature-length episodes on one dual-layer DVD
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English HoH subtitles
  • Featurettes on both episodes
  • Interviews with Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, Richard Harrington, the writers, production designer, and costume designer
  • Picture Gallery

Second Sight investigates THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (Review)

Masterpiece Theatre and the BBC attempt to provide an ending to Charles Dickens' unfinished novel THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD with this 2012 television adaptation in which opium-addicted choirmaster Jasper (Matthew Rhys) lusts after the promised betrothed of his carefree nephew.  As their wedding day grows near, he may turn to murder to attain the object of his desire.

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

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English HoH subtitles

Strand Releasing delves into NISE: THE HEART OF MADNESS (review)

This affecting biopic looks at the revolutionary efforts of Dr. Nise da Silveira who is horrified by the barbaric new treatments she sees being used to treat mental illness.  Refusing to learn the new methods, she is consigned to the occupational therapy wing where she develops a method of self-expression through art that focuses on healing rather than curing those dismissed as incurable.


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

NISE: THE HEART OF MADNESS DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
  • Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Optional English Subtitles
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews

Kino Lorber investigates THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE (review)

Rod Cameron and Vera Ralston star in the film that lost Republic Pictures president Herbert Yates his studio: THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE.  A recently-widowed nightclub singer becomes caught up in drug dealing and murder when she witnesses the death of a man who plunges off her apartment balcony.  She has more to worry about than remembering the murderer's face when her husband's brother starts investigating and a pair of hitmen come looking for something that her husband was holding for their boss in Chicago.

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

THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Audio Commentary by film historian Toby Roan
  • Previews

11 November 2017

Kino Lorber takes on THE AMBASSADOR (review)

Robert Mitchum, Ellen Burstyn, Rock Hudson, and Fabio Testi star in this political thriller somehow based on a novel by Elmore Leonard.  An American ambassador attempts to intervene in the Israeli-Palestine conflict and is opposed on all sides by the Mossad, a PLO splinter group from Syria, and a hitman in this Cannon production.

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

THE AMBASSADOR Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Audio Commentary by editor Mark Goldblatt and film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger
  • Domestic and International Trailers

Kino Lorber reins in DEATH RIDES A HORSE (review)

In this spaghetti western, Lee Van Cleef stars as a framed man who gets out of prison after fifteen years to claim his share of a robbery from a quartet of culprits.  Unfortunately, the same four are being tracked down by a young man (John Phillip Law) whose family was murdered by them when he was a child.  Ennio Morricone's score was reused by Quentin Tarantino in KILL BILL.


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

DEATH RIDES A HORSE Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
  • English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by filmmaker Alex Cox
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews

10 November 2017

Kino Lorber hatches STAR CRYSTAL (Review)

In the year 2035, scientists discovered a new life form... they wish they hadn't in the New World Pictures sci-fi film STAR CRYSTAL.  A handful of survivors flee a space station during a nuclear meltdown aboard a ship whose crew returned dead with an alien life form that is still on the ship.

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

STAR CRYSTAL Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews

08 November 2017

Unearthed Films opens LILITH'S HELL (review)

A British filmmaker pairs up with a skeleton Italian film crew including a horny producer and a hapless cameraman to make a mockumentary horror film featuring a porn star diva, a goth make-up artist, and a cameo by CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST's Ruggero Deodato but they soon discover that the country house in which they are staying has ancient demonic secrets within its walls waiting to possess the innocent (and not so innocent).

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

LILITH'S HELL DVD specs:
  • 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English/Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Cast and Crew Interviews
  • Ruggero Deodato Interview

Second Run puts the bite on VAMPIR, CUADECUC (review)

On the set of Jess Franco's EL CONDE DRACULA, Catalanian experimental filmmaker shot his own "vision" of horror film, less a documentary than an avant-garde telling of the same tale that also deconstructs the nature of storytelling and filmmaking.


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

VAMPIR, CUADECUC Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.40:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • English LPCM 2.0 mono
  • Interview with director Pere Portabella
  • Appreciation by BFI curator William Fowler
  • Two Short Films by Pere Portabella
  • Twenty-page booklet by Stanley Schtinter

06 November 2017

Well Go USA praises the GOD OF WAR (review)

The story of General Qi's defense of the Chinese coastlines against Japansese forces in the sixteenth century comes to the screen in the epic GOD OF WAR from the director of FIST OF LEGEND and THE MEDALLION.

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

GOD OF WAR Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.40:1 wiescreen
    • Mandarin DTS:X and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 2.40:1 widescreen
    • Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Making-of
  • Trailer
  • Preview

Kino Lorber romances YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE (review)

City Hospital's newest roster of interns is looking for romance and intrigue in the hospital soap send-up YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE, the debut feature of Garry Marshall.  Michael McKean, Sean Young, Dabney Coleman, Michael Richards, and Hector Elizondo star.

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

YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by Actor/Filmmaker Pat Healy and Film Curator Jim Healy  
  • Previews

05 November 2017

Kino Lorber studies LA CHINOISE (review)

In Jean-Luc Godard's summer of 1967 political film - which anticipated the May 1968 Paris riots - five students cloister themselves in an apartment to form a Maoist cell, but political theory soon turns to violent practice as they decide that only violence can bring about revolution.  Anna Wiezemsky and Jean-Pierre Leaud star.

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

LA CHINOISE Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
  • French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
  • Optional English subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by critic James Quandt
  • Interviews:
    • actor Michel Semeniako
    • second assistant director Jean-Claude Sussfeld
    • writer Denitza Bantcheva
    • assistant director Charles L. Bitsch
    • writer, historian, and film critic Antoine de Baecque
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Previews 

03 November 2017

Scream Factory unearths the PAUL NASCHY COLLECTION II (review)

Scream Factory brings another quintet of Paul Naschy adventures to Blu-ray with THE PAUL NASCHY COLLECTION II.  In THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE, morgue attendant Gotho is driven off the edge when the hospitalized girl he loves dies.  Hiding her in the catacombs, he soon finds himself under the thumb of a mad scientist.  In A DRAGONFLY FOR EACH CORPSE, a Milanese police inspector investigates the murders of social deviants by a killer who leaves a blood-soaked dragonfly on his victims.  In THE DEVIL'S POSSESSED, a French knight turns to alchemy to find the philosopher's stone and soon unleashes a reign of terror on the local villagers when virgin sacrifices are required in his quest to achieve immortality.  In EXORCISM, a priest tries to determine if the increasingly erratic and aggressive behavior of a young heiress is a case of teenage rebellion, mental illness, or demonic possession.  In THE WEREWOLF AND THE YETI, an expedition to Tibet is attacked by yetis, werewolves, bandits, and a sadistic mountain fortress despot.

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

THE PAUL NASCHY COLLECTION II Blu-ray specs:
  • Disc One - The Hunchback of the Morgue (1972):
    • Covered and Uncovered Cuts
      • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
      • English and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
      • Optional English subtitles
    • Audio Commentary by Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn of NaschyCast
    • Spanish and English Theatrical Trailers
    • Spanish Opening Credits
    • Spanish End Title Card
    • Spanish Intertitles
    • Stills Gallery
  • Disc Two - A Dragonfly For Each Corpse (1975):
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
    • English and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
    • Optional English subtitles
    • Audio Commentary by Troy Howarth
    • Spanish Theatrical Trailer (no audio)
    • Spanish Opening and Closing Credits
    • Still Gallery
  • Disc Three - The Devil's Possessed (1974):
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
    • English and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
    • Optional English subtitles
    • Spanish Opening and Closing Credits
    • Spanish and English Theatrical Trailers
  • Disc Four - Exorcism (1975):
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
    • English and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
    • Optional English subtitles
    • Audio Commentary by TroyHowarth 
    • Clothed Scenes from the Spanish version
    • Spanish and English Theatrical Trailers
    • Stills Gallery
  • Disc Five - The Werewolf and the Yeti (1975):
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
    • English and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
    • Optional English subtitles
    • Still Gallery
  • 24-page booklet by Mirek Lipinski

01 November 2017

Kino Lorber is seduced by NIGHT ANGEL (Review)

From the makers of WITCHBOARD and NIGHT OF THE DEMONS comes this sexy slice of eighties horror as the demon Lilith is reborn from the Earth and seeks to spread her evil through the pages of a glamour magazine and claim the heart of a man in love.

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

NIGHT ANGEL Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen 
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
  • Audio Commentary with director Dominique Othenin-Girard, moderated by filmmaker Heather Buckley
  • Audio Commentary by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Film Historian Jason Pichonsky
  • Interview with Star Isa Jank
  • Interview with Screenwriter Joe Augustyn
  • Interview with effects designer Steve Johnson
  • Night Angel Tests
  • Head Erosion Tests
  • Chest Grab Tests
  • Animated Behind-the-Scenes Image Gallery
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
  • Reversible Cover

Blue Underground goes DOWN the shaft (review)

Dick Maas takes THE LIFT down THE SHAFT again in his 2001 American remake DOWN in which a New York skyscraper's elevator system is struck by lightning and goes haywire causing a series of increasingly violent freak accidents.  A repairman and a reporter start to investigate into whether the machine actually has a life of its own.

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

DOWN Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
    • English and French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
    • English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and 2.0 Stereo
  • Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Dick Maas and stunt coordinator Willem de Beukelaer
  • "The Making of Down" featurette
  • Trailers:
    • Theatrical
    • Teaser #1
    • Teaser #2
  • Poster & Still Gallery
  • Reversible Cover
  • Booklet by Michael Gingold

Vinegar Syndrome gets caught by THE CORPSE GRINDERS (review)

Cats are finding their owners irresistible... that is, their owner's flesh, when a new brand of cat food hits the market.  Unbeknownst to the doctor and nurse investigating the spate of cat-related murders, the owners of Lotus Cat Foods are using human ingredients in their gourmet grand and no one is safe from the kitties or the killers.

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

THE CORPSE GRINDERS Blu-ray specs:
  • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono
  • Optional English SDH subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by filmmaker Elijah Drenner featuring archival recordings of director Ted V. Mikels
  • "Ted Talks" 2007 interview with Ted V. Mikels
  • Stills Gallery
  • Reversible Cover

Blue Underground gets AMSTERDAMNED (updated review)

A knife-wielding maniac is stalking victims along the famous canals of Amsterdam in Dick Maas' ambitious follow-up to THE LIFT.  Huub Stapel stars as the investigating police detective and Monique Van Voren is the comely diver/tour guide.  Featuring a show-stopping speedboat chase that rivals the one from PUPPET ON A STRING.

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

AMSTERDAMNED Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:
  • Blu-ray:
    • 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
    • Dutch DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo, English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo, and French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • DVD:
    • 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
    • Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo, English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
  • Optional English (for Dutch audio), English SDH (for English audio), and Spanish subtitles
  • Audio Commentary by director Dick Maas and editor Hans van Dongen, and moderated by David Gregory
  • "The Making of Amsterdamned" vintage featurette
  • "Tales from the Canal" interview with actor Huub Stapel
  • "Damned Stuntwork" interview with stunt coordinator Dickey Beer
  • Loïs Lane "Amsterdamned" music video
  • Still gallery of poster and video art and lobby cards
  • Dutch and American Trailers
  • Liner Notes Booklet by Michael Gingold