Universal Pictures goes back to DOWNTON ABBEY (Review)

Welcome back to Downton Abbey where the Crawley family and their servants must prepare for a royal visit from the King and Queen of England amidst personal dramas and tragedies.

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

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE MOTION PICTURE Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, French and Spanish DTS 5.1, and English DVS Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English, French, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, as well as English DVS Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles 
• Audio Commentary by director Michael Engler
• Cast Conversations
• The Royal Visit
• True to the Twenties
• Deleted Scenes
• Welcome to Downton Abbey
• The Brilliance of Julian Fellowes
• Series Recap (Blu-ray exclusive)

Arrow Video is on the EDGE OF THE AXE (review)

An axe-wielding murderer stalks Paddock County in Jose Larraz's America-set/Spain-lensed eighties slasher EDGE OF THE AXE.

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

EDGE OF THE AXE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English and Spanish LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH (for English) and English (for Spanish) subtitles
• Audio Commentary by actor Barton Faulks and former student Matt Rosenblatt
• Audio Commentary by The Hysteria Continues
• “Gerald’s Game” interview with actor Barton Faulks
• “The Actor’s Grind” interview with actor Page Moseley
• “The Pain in Spain“ interview with special effects and make-up artist Colin Arthur
• Image Gallery
• English Theatrical Trailer
• Spanish Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Justin Osbourn.
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Amanda Reyes

Scream Factory gender switches DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (review)

Dr. Jekyll gets a new perspective on life when his experiments to extend life and preserve youth turn him into a woman in Hammer's DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE starring Ralph Bates and Martine Beswick.

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

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary with author/film historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck
• Audio Commentary with actress Martine Beswick, director Roy Ward Baker, and writer Brian Clemens; moderated by Hammer Film historian Marcus Hearn
• "Becoming Sister Hyde" interview with actress Martine Beswick
• "Ladykiller: Inside Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde" featurette
• Radio Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover

Scream Factory pledges TO THE DEVIL... A DAUGHTER (review)

Young Nastassja Kinski is a nun who discovers that she has been pledged to Satan on her eighteenth birthday in the last Hammer horror film TO THE DEVIL... A DAUGHTER.  Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark also star.

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

TO THE DEVIL... A DAUGHTER Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historians Steve Haberman and Constantine Nasr
• “Dark Arts: Inside To the Devil a Daughter” featurette
• "To The Devil: The Death Of Hammer" featurette
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Reversible Cover

Severin Films conjures VIY (Review)

A young mischievous monk encounters ultimage evil when he is tasked with saying prayers over the body of a beautiful young woman recently dead in VIY, based on the novella that inspired Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY.

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

VIY Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 fullscreen
• Russian and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English subtitles (for Russian) and English SDH (for English)
• "Viy the Vampire" discussion by filmmaker Richard Stanley
• “The Woods to the Cosmos: John Leman Riley on the History of Soviet Fantasy and Sci-Fi Film”
• Short Silent Films:
• “Satan Exultant”
• “The Queen of Spades”
• “The Portrait”
• Theatrical Trailer (1:53)

Mondo Macabro travels with EMANUELLE IN AMERICA (review)

Laura Gemser is the globe-hopping photojournalist and fashion photographer Emanuelle who goes on a series of adventures documenting a gunrunner's harem, the orgies of an aristocratic art smuggler, a club for wealthy single women in search of young men, a corrupt politician, and a snuff ring (effects by ZOMBIE's Giannetto de Rossi) in EMANUELLE IN AMERICA from Joe D'Amato.

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

EMANUELLE IN AMERICA Blu-ray specs:

• Limited numbered edition of 1,500 copies
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Cinema Arcana's Bruce Holecheck and Mondo Digital's Nathaniel Thompson
• "Joe D'Amato Totally Uncut: The Erotic Experience" documentary
• "Emmanuelle: From 2 M's to One: The Story of Emmanuelle" video essay by author David Flint
• More from Mondo Macabro

Vinegar Syndrome excavates TAMMY AND THE T-REX (Review)

Denise Richards and Paul Walker made their debuts in this bizarre nineties monster comedy about a girl whose boyfriend's brain winds up in a mechanical dinosaur that goes on a murderous rampage in TAMMY AND THE T-REX.  Released direct to video in a cut-down PG-13 version, the film comes to Blu-ray in its gory R-rated version for the first time ever.

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

TAMMY AND THE T-REX 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
• Optional English SDH Subtitles 
• Audio Commentary by director Stewart Raffill and producer Diane Kirman, moderated by Brt Berg of The American Film Genre Archive
• Full-length PG-13 Version of the film
• "Blood, Brains and a Teenage T-Rex" interview with director Stewart Raffill
• "A Blast from the Past" interview with actress Denise Richards
• "Having the Guts" interview with actor Sean Whalen
• "A Testicular Stand-off" interview with actor George Pilgrim
• Reversible Cover

Available directly from Vinegar Syndrome
with a 3D lenticular slipcover designed by Tom Hodge of The Dude Designs limited to 3,000 copies.

Eureka Classics surfaces OPERATION PETTICOAT (review)

Cary Grant is a submarine commander who winds up with playboy Tony Curtis and a bevy of female officers at the bottom of the sea in a pink sub in the Blake Edwards comedy OPERATION PETTICOAT.

REVIEW LINK: Eureka Video (UK) Region B Blu-ray/Region 2 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

OPERATION PETTICOAT Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer

Unearthed Films starts a FAMINE (review)

20 students, 20 hours, 20 horrible ways to die for the student body of Sloppy Secondary in this Canadian slasher from the late Ryan Nicholson (COLLAR).

REVIEW LINK: Unearthed Films/MVD Visual (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVDCompare)

FAMINE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS 5.1
• Trailer
• Still Gallery
• Bonus Trailers

Eureka croons WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT (review)

Peter Sellers, Peter O'Toole, and Woody Allen chase and are chased by a bevy of beauties through Paris in the sixties comedy WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT featuring a theme song by Burt Bacharach and Tom Jones.

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

WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film critics Emma Westwood and Sally Christie
• Theatrical Trailer
• Collector's booklet featuring a new essay by Simon Ward

Scream Factory transfuses DRACULA (review)

Dracula is back and sexier than ever when Frank Langella steps off the Broadway stage and onto the screen in the 1979 version of DRACULA directed by SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER's John Badham and co-starring Laurence Olivier.

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

DRACULA Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One (John Badham's Preferred Desaturated Color Timing Version):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary with director John Badham
• Introduction by director John Badham
• "King Of My Kind" Interview With John Badham
• "What Sad Music" interview with writer W.D. Richter
• Interview with Editor John Bloom
• Interview with assistant director Anthony Waye
• Interview with production manager Hugh Harlow
• "Dracula's Guest" interview with camera assistant Jim Alloway
• Interview with make-up artist Peter Robb-King
• Interview with hair stylist Colin Jamison (HD, 4:36)
  "The Revamping of Dracula" documentary
• Disc Two (Original Theatrical Color Timing):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Introduction by director John Badham
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery
• Radio Spots
• Reversible Cover
• Collector's Slipcover

Scream Factory fulfills the PROPHECY (review)

A scientist and his wife travel up to Maine to do an ecological investigation during a land dispute between a logging company and a Native American tribe and discover toxic horrors in John Frankenheimer's monster movie PROPHECY.

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

PROPHECY Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• "All of Our Sins" interview with actress Talia Shire
• "Bearing Up" interview with actor Robert Foxworth
• "Bear and Grin It" interview with screenwriter David Seltzer
• "Hard to Bear" interview with special make-up effects designer Tom Burman
• "Prophecy Prodigy" interview with special make-up effects artist Allan Apone
• "The Man Behind the Mask" interview with mime artist Tom McLoughlin
• Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spots
• Still Gallery
• Reversible Cover

Scream Factory fires SILVER BULLET (review)

In the Spring of 1975, the small town of Tarker's Mills is beset by a series of brutal murders.  Only paraplegic boy Marty suspects that the killer is actually a werewolf, and he must convince his sister and uncle when the killer (in both human and beast form) targets him.  Corey Haim, Gary Busey, Megan Follows, and Everett McGill star in this Stephen King adaptation.

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

SILVER BULLET Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Daniel Attias, moderated by Michael Felsher
• Audio Commentary by producer Martha De Laurentiis, moderated by Michael Felsher
• Isolated score selections and audio interview with composer Jay Chattaway 
• "A Littel Private Justice" interview with actor Kent Broadhurst
• "Cutting to the Bone" interview with editor Daniel Lowenthal
• "The Wolf Within" interview with actor Everett McGill
• "Full Moon Fever: The Effects of Silver Bullet" interviews with special effects artists Michael McCracken, Jr. and Matthew Mungle
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spot
• Radio Spot
• Image Gallery
• Reversible Cover
• Slipcover 

Film Movement unveils FRITZ LANG'S INDIAN EPIC (review)

A forbidden love triangle between a maharaja, a temple dancer, and a German architect paves the way for tragedy on a grand scale in Fritz Lang's Indian Epic pairing of THE TIGER OF ESCHNAPUR and THE INDIAN TOMB, restored from a 4K master on Blu-ray from Film Movement.


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

FRITZ LANG'S INDIAN EPIC Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - The Tiger of Eschnapur:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian David Kalat
• "The Indian Epic" documentary
• Theatrical Trailer
• About Film Movement
• Disc Two - The Indian Tomb:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• German LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian David Kalat
• "Debra Paget, For Example" documentary by film historian Mark Rappaport
• Theatrical Trailer
• Essay booklet by film scholar Tom Gunning

Second Run interrogates THE EMPEROR'S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON (review)

Daring documentary filmmaker Kazuo Hara follows the intense quest of political provocateur Kenzo Okuzaki as he endeavors to find out the truth about the two soldiers in New Guinea who were executed several days after Japan surrendered during World War II.

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

THE EMPEROR'S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.55:1 pillarboxed widescreen
• Japanese LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Interview with director Kazuo Hara
• Kazuo Hara Masterclass
• Booklet with essays by Tony Rayns, Jason Wood, and Abé Mark

Cult Epics rides the DUTCH SEX WAVE COLLECTION (review)

Before Paul Verhoeven's TURKISH DELIGHT and SPETTERS, the Dutch Sex Wave was kicked off by upstart filmmakers Pim de la Parra and Wim Verstappen who turned the stodgy Dutch filmmaking industry and its censors on their sides with a series of taboo-breaking low-budget mainstream dramas and thrillers.  In teh Hitchcockian OBSESSIONS, a young medical student discovers a peephole into the next door apartment and gets entangled in the strange goings-on involving sex, prostitution, and illicit drug use that turns deadly when the watcher becomes the watched. . In FRANK AND EVA, married couple Frank and Eva are "living together apart" in a one-sided open marriage upset by alcoholism, womanizing, betryal, and death.  In BLUE MOVIE, a young man gets out of prison after serving five years for a "social offense" and tries to live a respectable life only to find ennui and sexual distraction in his apartment block where he hits upon a profitable new line of work.  Finally, in MY NIGHTS WITH SUSAN, SANDRA, OLGA AND JULIE, a drifter gets a handyman job on a farm populated by a reclusive model and sex-starved and possibly murderous "family" of runaway girls and a peeping tom lover.

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

SCORPIO FILMS: THE DUTCH SEX WAVE COLLECTION Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - Obsessions:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono 
• Introduction by director Pim de la Parra
• Introduction by actor/producer Dieter Geissler
• Interview with actor/producer Dieter Geissler
• Interview with director Pim de la Parra
• Scorpio Films featurette
• Text interview with screenwriter Martin Scorsese conducted by Bor Beekman for Volkskrant
• Original Script Notes by Martin Scorsese
• Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Disc Two - Frank and Eva:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Dutch DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Pim de la Parra
• Introduction by director Pim de la Parra
• "Up Front & Naked: Sex in Dutch Films" video conversation with actress Willeke van Ammelrooy and filmmaker Eddy Terstall
• Photo Gallery
• Sylvia Kristel Film Poster Video Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus Trailer
• Disc Three - Blue Movie:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• Dutch/German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• 1971 interview with director Wim Verstappen
• 2018 Cinémathèque Française introduction and interview with producer Pim de la Parra
• 2018 interview with actor's son Hugo Metsers Jr.
• Eye Film Institute featurette
• Poster and Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Scorpio Trailers
• Disc Four - My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga and Julie
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Dutch and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Introduction by director Pim de a Parra
• Scorpio Short Films:
• "Heart Beat Fresco"
• "Joop"
• "Joop Strikes Again"
• Theatrical Trailer
• Scorpio Films Theatrical Trailers
• Poster & Photo Video Gallery
• 16-Page Booklet "Scorpio Films & The Dutch Sex Wave" with essay by journalist Guido Franken
• Slipcover designed by Gilles Vranckx

Blue Underground spies TWO EVIL EYES: 3-DISC LIMITED EDITION (review)

Masters of horror George A. Romero and Dario Argento tackle the maestro Edgar Allan Poe with a duo of terror tales.  In THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF MR. VALDEMAR, a trophy wife and her husband's doctor scheme to gain her dying husband's fortune but the doctor's experiments with hypnotism take an undead turn.  In THE BLACK CAT, a crime photographer is persecuted by the cat his wife has just adopted and begins to psychologically unravel.  Special effects by Tom Savini.

REVIEW LINK: Blue Underground (US) Region A Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

TWO EVIL EYES Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 and 2.0 Stereo
• French Dolby Digtial 1.0
• Optional English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Troy Howarth
• Theatrical Trailer
• Disc Two:
• "Two Masters' Eyes" interview with directors Dario Argento and George Romero, special make-up effects supervisor Tom Savini, executive producer Claudio Argento, and actress Asia Argento
• "Savini's EFX" behind the scenes video
• "At Home With Tom Savini" personal tour of Tom Savini's home
• "Adrienne Barbeau on George Romero" interview
• "Before I Wake" interview with actor Ramy Zada
• "Behind the Wall" interview with actress Madeleine Potter
• "One Maestro and Two Masters" interview with composer Pino Donaggio
• "Rewriting Poe" interview with screenwriter Franco Ferrini
• "The Cat Who Wouldn't Die" interview with assistant director Luigi Cozzi
• "Two Evil Brothers" interview with special make-up effects assistant Everett Burrell
• "Working with George" interview with costume designer Barbara Anderson
• Disc There (CD):
• 21-track CD soundtrack by Pino Donaggio
• Booklet by FANGORIA's Michael Gingold
• Reversible Cover
• Holographic Slipcover

Warner Archive warns DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (review)

Kim Darby moves into her grandmother's creepy old mansion and accidentally unleashes three demons that terrorize her and have everyone else questioning her sanity in this sublimely creepy seventies TV movie (remade by Guillermo del Toro in 2010).

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

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK 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 Dread Central's Steve 'Uncle Creepy' Barton, "Final Destination" screenwriter Jeff Reddick, and Fangoria magazine writer Sean Abley
• Audio Commentary by Made for TV Mayhem podcaster Amanda Reyes