Vinegar Syndrome enters the HOUSE OF THE DEAD (review)

A saleman takes shelter from a storm in a funeral home where the mortician treats him to four stories about how his recent clients met their untimely ends in this Oklahoma-lensed seventies horror anthology from some of the people behind those Sunn Classics documentaries.

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

HOUSE OF THE DEAD 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 Interview with director Sharron Miller
• Audio Interview with writer David O'Malley
• Still Gallery
• Reversible Cover

Also available in a limited run of 1,500 copies with a slipcover directly from Vinegar Syndrome.

Masters of Cinema crowns the KING OF HEARTS (Review)

When word reaches the Allied Forces that the Germans have left a bomb in a village they are set to liberate, the Scottish brigade recruit a meek ornithologist to infiltrate the village and disarm the bomb.  Unbeknownst to him, the villagers have already fled and the town is now populated by the escaped inmates of the local asylum who proclaim him the KING OF HEARTS in Philippe de Broca's stirring anti-war comedy.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

KING OF HEARTS Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• French/English/German LPCM 2.0 mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• French/English/German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English Subtitles 
• Audio Commentary by film historian Wade Major
• Interview with actress Genevieve Bujold
• Interview with cinematographer Pierre Lhomme
• Interview with director's widow Michelle de Broca
• Theatrical Trailer
• Collector's booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp
• First print run includes a limited O-card

Shameless Screen Entertainment takes a bite out of CANNIBAL FEROX (review)

Umberto Lenzi's gory cinematic endurance test CANNIBAL FEROX hits Blu-ray courtesy of Grindhouse Releasing.  When two drug dealers rip off the mob, they flee New York to Colombia in search of emeralds and run afoul of cannibals.  Also on the menu are an NYU graduate student, her brother, and their hot-to-trot friend.  "Too disgusting to watch... Too bizarre to resist!"

REVIEW LINK: Shameless Screen Entertainment (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

CANNIBAL FEROX Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• “A Taste of the Jungle” last interview with Umberto Lenzi
• “Hell in the Jungle" interview with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice
• Restoration Demo
• Photo Gallery
• Reversible cover
• BARF: Vomit Bag

Scorpion Releasing witnesses THE UNSEEN (Review)

Barbara Bach, Sydney Lassick, Stephen Furst, and Doug Barr star in this early eighties horror film in which a trio of female reporters accept the hospitality of an eccentric museum owner to stay in his isolated Victorian home while covering a local festival.

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

THE UNSEEN Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Katarina's Nightmare Theatre Mode
• Audio Commentary with producer Tony Unger and star Stephen Furst; moderated by Lee Christian
• Interview with producer Tony Unger
• Interview with actor Douglas Barr
• Interview with actor Stephen Furst
• Interview with make-up effects artist Craig Reardon
• Interview with make-up effects artist Tom Burman
• Interview with editor Jonathon Braun
• Craig Reardon's Make-up Test Stills, Slides Sketches
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• Slipcase

Available directly from Ronin Flix and DiabolikDVD.

Scorpion Releasing boards DEATH SHIP (Review)

The handful of survivors of an ocean liner crash take shelter on an abandoned WWII ship.  Once they board the ship, it begins to come back to life with the intent of terrorizing and killing them... of course, it could have just let them drown in the first place (but then it wouldn't be a DEATH SHIP).  Richard Crenna (THE EVIL), George Kennedy (BOLERO), Nick Mancuso (MILENA), and Saul Rubinek (BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES) star.

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

DEATH SHIP Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen version of the extended cut
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Alvin Rakoff
• Isolated Score Track
• Katarina's Nightmare Theatre Mode Playback Option
• Stormy Seas: The Voyage from Bloodstar to Death Ship (42 mins)
• Bloodstar: Script Pages
• "Learning What the Ship is Saying" featurette
• Still Gallery
• Two Theatrical Trailers
• Trailers
• Reversible Cover
• Slipcover

Available directly from Ronin Flix and DiabolikDVD.

Umbrella takes BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR and BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR Beyond Genres (review)

Herbert West, Daniel Cain, and Dr. Hill's head are back in producer Brian Yuzna's BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR.  Having survived the Miskatonic Massacre, West and Cain refine their reagent with the goal of creating life using a few spare parts from the hospital.  Kathleen Kinmont also stars.  In BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR, Herbert West has spent the past thirteen years in prison when the facility's new doctor proposes working with him on perfecting his reagent.

REVIEW LINK: Umbrella Entertainment (AUS) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR/BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• Bride of Re-Animator (Unrated Version)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Brian Yuzna
• Audio Commentary by director Brian Yuzna, star Jeffrey Combs, special effects co-ordinator Thomas Rainone and the effects team including John Buechler, Mike Deak, Robert Kurtzman, Howard Berger and Screaming Mad George
• Audio Commentary by stars Jeffrey Combs and Bruce Abbott 
• Bride of Re-Animator (R-Rated Version)
•  1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Brian Yuzna Remembers Bride of Re-Animator
• Splatter Masters: The Special Effects Artists of Bride of Re-Animator
• "Getting Ahead in Horror"
• Behind the Scenes: Special Effects Artists
• Deleted Scenes
• Dark Adventure Radio Presents: "Herbert West: Re-Animator" (71 mins)
• Trailer
• Disc Two:
• Beyond Re-Animator (Unrated Version)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary with director Brian Yuzna
• The Making of Beyond Re-Animator
• "Move Your Dead Bones" music video by Dr. Re-Animator
• Interviews
• Behind the Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Slipcover

Umbrella goes Beyond Genres with RE-ANIMATOR (Review)

Medical student Herbert West has a good headon his shoulders... and another one in a dish on his desk in Stuart Gordon's outrageous, gore-drenched unrated directorial debut H.P. LOVECRAFT'S RE-ANIMATOR.  Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, Robert Sampson, and David Gale star.

REVIEW LINK: Umbrella Entertainment (AUS) Region B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

RE-ANIMATOR Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• Unrated Version
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary with director Stuart Gordon
• Audio Commentary with producer Brian Yuzna, and actors Jeffrey Combs, Robert Sampson, Barbara Crampton and Bruce Abbott
• "Re-Animator Resurrectus" documentary (66 minutes)
• Extended Scenes (20 mins)
• Deleted Scene
• Disc Two:
• Integral Cut
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Interview with director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna (47 mins) 
• Interview with writer Dennis Paoli
• Interview with Richard Band
• Interview with Fangoria editor Tony Timpone
• Music Analysis by composer Richard Band
• TV Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Collector's Slipcover

AGFA challenges LADY STREET FIGHTER (review)

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Enterprising female exploitation filmmaker Renee Harmon made her debut in front of and behind the camera with director James Bryan in this ultra low-budget thriller about a prostitute on the run from assassins and the FBI.  The story behind the film is even more interesting and there's an audio commentary to tell it.

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

LADY STREET FIGHTER Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director James Bryan and the AGFA Team
• Unreleased sequel REVENGE OF LADY STREET FIGHTER
• Trailers
• Liner Notes Booklet by Bleeding Skull's Anne Choi

Arrow Video asks WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS? (review)

The discovery of the body of a pregnant fifteen year old girl whose apparent suicide turns out to be murder uncovers a teenage prostitution ring that those in power will kill to cover up in Massimo Dallamano's follow up to WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?  Claudio Cassinelli, Giovanna Ralli, Mario Adorf, and Farley Granger star.

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

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English and Italian LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles for the Italian track and English SDH subtitles for the English track
• Audio Commentary by film historian Troy Howarth
• Video Essay by Diabolique Magazine's Kat Ellinger
• "Eternal Melody" interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani
• "Dallamano's Touch" interview with editor Antonio Siciliano
• Unused Hardcore Footage
• Italian Theatrical Trailer
• Image Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais.
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: An illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Mackenzie

Arrow Video enters the DOOM ASYLUM (review)

Ten years after her mother and her sleazy divorce lawyer were killed in a car crash near an abandoned asylum, the woman's daughter, her boyfriend, and pals decide to investigate the local legend of a killer called "The Coroner" who murders the curious with autopsy equipment.  They become distracted with a turf war with a lesbian communist punk band to notice that the killer has taken a special interest in one of them.


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

DOOM ASYLUM Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC presentations of the film in 1.78:1 widescreen and 1.33:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• English LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by screenwriter Rick Marx
• Audio Commentary by The Hysteria Continues
• Interview with actress Ruth Collins
• Interview with director of photography Larry Revene
• Interview with effects artist Vincent J. Guastini
• Archival Interviews with director Richard Friedman, production manager Bill Tasgal, and producer Alex Kogan
• Stills Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourne.
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: a fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Amanda Reyes.

Scream Factory spawns PIRANHA II (Review)

James Cameron made his inauspicious debut with a sequel to Joe Dante's PIRANHA in which the mutant strain have grown wings and attack a Jamaican resort. From the producer of such ripoffs as TENTACLES and BEYOND THE DOOR.

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

PIRANHA II: THE SPAWNING Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Interview with actor Ricky Paull Goldin
• Interview with effects artist Brian Wade
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover

Kino Lorber documents THE RETURN (review)

Brothers Andrey and Ivan have always been close, but their relationship is tested when their father returns after a twelve year absence and expects them to treat him as if no time has passed.  On a fishing trip, elder brother Andrey hangs on his father's every word, incurring the resentment of younger brother Ivan who becomes openly defiant in the face of his father's increasingly unfeeling and brutal attempts to secure their respect in the debut feature of Andrey Zvyagintsev.

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

THE RETURN Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• Russian DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Interview with director Andrey Zvyagintsev
• "The Return: A Film About the Film" documentary (63:31)
• Reversible Cover
• Digital Copy Code

Rooster Teeth colors in RWBY: VOLUME 5 (review)

Team RWBY (pronounced "Ruby") are back to prevent an all-out assault on the kingdom of Mistral in the fifth volume of RWBY.

REVIEW LINK: Rooster Teetch/Cinedigm (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

RWBY: VOLUME FIVE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Directors' Commentary Track
• Crew Commentary Track
• "5 Years of RWBY" featurette
• 14 CRWBY Behind the Episode featurettes
• Photo Gallery
• Trailers

Second Sight explores BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ (review)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's epic fifteen-hour, fourteen-part adaptation of Alfred Döblin's novel BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ comes to limited edition Blu-ray.  Released from prison after a four year sentence for the murder of his lover, Franz Biberkof struggles to stay honest in Weimar Germany.

REVIEW LINK: Second Sight (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ Blu-ray specs:

• Thirteen episodes and an epilogue on four Blu-ray discs with a fifth bonus disc
• 1080i50 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• German LPCM 1.0 mono
• Forced English subtitles
• "Fassbinder: Love Without Demands" feature-length documentary (107 minutes)
• An Appreciation by Tony Rayns (44 minutes)
• "Fassbinder Phantasmagoria" a visual essay by Daniel Bird
• "Berlin Alexanderplatz: A Mega Movie and Its Story" featurette (65 minutes)
• "The Making of Berlin Alexanderplatz" (44 minutes)
• Restoration Notes by Juliane Lorenz (32 minutes)
• Restoration: Before and After
• Original Broadcast Recaps
• Berlinale 2007 Trailer
• 60-page perfect bound booklet featuring new essay by Cahiers Du Cinema's Stephane du Mesnildot and archive material by Wim Wenders, Thomas Elsasser and Christian Braad Thomsen

Second Run spies on BLACK PETER (review)

Director Milos Forman's feature-length debut is the tale of an aimless sixteen-year-old youth's first uncertain steps towards adulthood in work and love, and the ambiguities and contradictions that come with it.

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

BLACK PETER Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• Czech LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Michael Brooke
• Interview with director Milos Forman
• Interview with actress Pavla Martinkova
• Theatrical Trailer
• Booklet by Jonathan Owen

Scream Factory casts THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (review)

The sequel to the RKO hit CAT PEOPLE takes on a more fanciful and dramatic yet still dark spin as Irena's widower husband Oliver worries that his daughter's active imagination and her latest "imaginary friend" may be leading her down a dark path.

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

THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Steve Haberman
• Audio Commentary by film historian Greg Mank featuring recorded comments by actress Simone Simon
• Audio Interview with actress Ann Carter
• "Lewton's Muse: The Dark Eyes of Simone Simon" featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• CAT PEOPLE (1942) Trailer

Arrow Video investigates THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL (review)

In Sergio Martino's follow-up to THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH, George Hilton, Anita Strindberg, and Evelyn Scott investigate THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL.  A widow whose husband died under mysterious circumstances travels to Athens to collect an insurance payout pursued by an insurance investigator, her husband's scheming mistress, and a knife-wielding killer slicing his way through the suspects.  Alberto de Mendoza, Janine Reynaud, Luis Barboo, and Luigi Pistilli co-star.


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

THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English and Italian LPCM 1.0 mono
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the English dub and English subtitle for the Italian track
• Audio Commentary by screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (in Italian with English subtitles)
• New Interview with actor George Hilton
• New Interview with director Sergio Martino
• Appreciation by film historian Mikel J. Koven
• Audio Essay by film historian Troy Howarth
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: an illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Rachael Nisbet and Howard Hughes, and a biography of star Anita Strindberg by Peter Jilmstad.

Scorpion Releasing conducts HUMAN EXPERIMENTS (review)

When a short-tempered singer-songwriter stumbles upon a multiple murder, she is railroaded through the justice system and given a life sentence at a women's correctional facility where she catches the eye of a psychiatrist who conducts extreme rehabilitation experiments.  Linda Haynes, Geoffrey Lewis, and Ellen Travolta star.

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

HUMAN EXPERIMENTS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Gregory Goodell
• Katarina's Nightmare Theater mode
• Theatrical Trailers
• Trailers
• Reversible Cover
• Slipcover

The Blu-ray edition is exclusive to Ronin Flix.  A DVD edition is available from other retailers.

Code Red makes a date with EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD (review)

Laura Gemser, George Eastman, and Mark Shannon encounter the living dead while boinking on a remote cursed island in Joe D'Amato's answer to the Italian zombie flicks of the eighties with EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD.

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

EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Interview with actor Mark Shannon
• Alternate Footage
• Laura Gemser Photo Gallery
• Trailers

This limited edition of the uncut hardcore version is an exclusive from DiabolikDVD.