Second Run scores Shivendra Singh Dungarpur's CZECHMATE: IN SEARCH OF JIRÍ MENZEL (review)

Shiendra Singh Dungarpor's "own personal yellow brick road" of an exploration of the Czech New Wave, eight hours in length, and seven years in the making comes to Blu-ray in a 2-disc set featuring the memories of such luminaries as Milos Forman, Ivan Passer, Vera Chytilová, Miroslav Ondrícek, Eduard Grecner, Juraj Jakubisko, Juraj Herz, and more as well as viewpoints from international filmmakers like Woody Allen, Emir Kusturica, Ken Loach, István Szabó, Agnieszka Holland, and Andrzej Wajda.

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

CZECHMATE: IN SEARCH OF JIRÍ MENZEL Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• Czech/English/Slovak/Hungarian/Polish/French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Czech/English/Slovak/Hungarian/Polish/French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Jirí Menzel Short Films:
• "Our Dear Mister Foerster Died [Um el nám pan Foerster]" (1963)
• "Prefabricated Houses [Domy z panel]" (1959)
• Image Gallery
• 24-page booklet featuring extracts from the director’s shooting-diaries

Severin Films spotlights THE COMPLETE LENZI/BAKER GIALLO COLLECTION (review)

BABY DOLL starlet Carroll Baker fled a messy divorce and a bad contract with Paramount and ended up in Italy where her career took on a more outrageous and salacious turn with a quaret of sexy thrillers directed by Umberto Lenzi.

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

THE COMPLETE LENZI/BAKER GIALLO COLLECTION Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - Orgasmo (1969):
• Italian Director's Cut (97 minutes)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Italian and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• English (for Italian) and English SDH (for English dub) subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• American X-Rated Version (90 minutes)
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• English SDH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Mondo-Digital's Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth, author of "So Deadly So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films"
• "Giallo Fever" interview with director Umberto Lenzi
• U.S. Theatrical Trailer
• Disc Two - Orgasmo Soundtrack CD
• Disc Three - So Sweet... So Perverse (1969):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• English (for Italian) and English SDH (for English dub)
• Audio Commentary by Kat Ellinger, author of "All the Colors of Sergio Martino"
• "Lenzi’s Lenses: Backstage Chat with the Director at The 1999 Nocturno Film Festival" featurette
• "Equilateral Triangle: Screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi on Lenzi" interview
• Italian Credits Sequence
• English Theatrical Trailer
• Italian Theatrical Trailer
• Disc Four - So Sweet... So Perverse/A Quiet Place to Kill/Knife of Ice Soundtrack CD
• Disc Five - A Quiet Place to Kill (1970):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
• English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• English (for Italian) and English SDH (for English dub)
• Audio Commentary by author and critic Samm Deighan
• "Sex and Conspiracy" interview with director Umberto Lenzi
• Alternate Clothed Scene
• Extended Scene
• Credits Sequence: Non-negative Effect
• English-language Credits: VHS-sourced
• Disc Six - Knife of Ice (1972):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen 
• English and Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• English (for Italian) and English SDH (for English dub)
• "Until the Silence Screams" interview with director Umberto Lenzi
• "Carroll and Umberto’s Final Stab" interview with Stephen Thrower, author of "Nightmare USA"
• Italian Credits Sequence
• English Theatrical Trailer
• Collector's box limited to 4,000 copies. 

Scorpion Releasing hunts LONE WOLF McQUADE (review)

Before he was Walker, Chuck Norris was Texas Ranger LONE WOLF McQUADE on the trail of an arms smuggler when his daughter is caught in the crossfire.  David Carradine, L.Q. Jones, and Robert Beltran co-star.

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

LONE WOLF McQUADE 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 director Steve Carver, actors Robert Beltran and L.Q. Jones, producer Yoram Ben-Ami, moderated by C. Courtney Joyner
• Interview with actor Robert Beltran
• Interview with actor L.Q. Jones
• Interview with actor Leon Issac Kennedy
• Interview with producer Yoram Ben-Ami
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• Slipcover (while supplies last) 

Available directly from Ronin Flix and DiabolikDVD.

Mondo Macabro conjures SATANICO PANDEMONIUM (review)

A beautiful and devout nun meets a wolf in shepherd’s clothing who turns out to be Satan in the nunsploitation film SATANICO PANDEMONIUM (yes, this is the film that Salma Hayek got her stripper name from in FROM DUSK TILL DAWN).

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

SATANICO PANDEMONIUM Blu-ray specs:

• Two transfers from a pre-print element with some optical blemishes and a 35mm projection print
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historians Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan (both transfers) 
• Interview with Co-writer Adolfo Martinez Solares
• Interview with Nigel Wingrove of Redemption Films
• More from Mondo Macabro

Second Sight goes on WALKABOUT (Reveiw)

When their father suddenly tries to murder them, a British teenager and her younger brother escape into the Outback and meet an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive.  The journey changes all three of them, but not in ways one would expect in Nicolas Roeg's second feaure film starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, and David Gulpilil.

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

WALKABOUT Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English/Aborigional LPCM 1.0
• Optional English HoH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by actor Luc Roeg, moderated by David Thompson
• Archival introduction by director Nicolas Roeg
• "Producing Walkabout" interview with producer Si Litvinoff
• "Luc's Walkabout" interview with actor Luc Roeg
• "Jenny in the Outback" interview with actress Jenny Agutter
• "Remembering Roeg" interview with filmmaker Danny Boyle
• 2011 BFI Q&A with director Nicolas Roeg, actress Jenny Agutter, and actor Luc Roeg
• Limited to 3,000 copies, housed in a rigid slipcase with new artwork by Michael Boland with a softcover edition of the source novel 'Walkabout' with cover artwork excusive to this release, a softcover book featuring facsimile copy of the original 65-page First Draft Script with preface by Daniel Bird, and a softcover book with new essays by Sophie Monks Kaufman, Simon Abrams and Daniel Bird plus stills and lobby card images.

Kino Lorber hunts THE PALEFACE (review)

Jane Russell is Calamity Jane and Bob Hope is a hapless correspondance course dentist in the Old West in the comic western adventure THE PALEFACE.

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

THE PALEFACE 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 historian Sergio Mims
• "Entertaining the Troops"
• "Command Performance 1945"
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus Trailers 

Masters of Cinema has THREE EDGAR ALLAN POE ADAPTATIONS STARRING BELA LUGOSI (review)

After the successes of DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, Universal Pictures mined the works of Edgar Allan Poe for inspiration in making Bela Lugosi a horror star.  In MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, a mad doctor is looking for the "Bride of Science" for his intelligent gorilla.  Lugosi was then paired with Boris Karloff for the duo THE BLACK CAT - in which a honeymooning couple and a psychiatrist seek shelter from a storm in the hilltop fortress of a Satanist - and THE RAVEN in which a mad doctor enslaves an escaped murderer to do his bidding.

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

THREE EDGAR ALLAN POE ADAPTATIONS STARRING BELA LUGOSI Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono (original and alternate audio tracks)
• Audio Commentary by author/film historian Gregory William Mank
• Interview with critic Kim Newman
• "Bela Lugosi Reads The Tell-Tale Heart” audio recording
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery
• Disc Two:
• The Black Cat (1934):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono 
• Audio Commentary by author/film historian Gregory William Mank
• "Cats in Horror" video essay by film historian Lee Gambin
• "Mystery in the Air" Episode #12 (September 18, 1947) radio adaptation of "The Black Cat" with Peter Lorre
• "The Black Cat Contest" vintage footage
• Still Gallery
• The Raven (1935):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Isolated Music and Effects Track (in LPCM 2.0)
• Audio Commentary by author/film historian Gary D. Rhodes
• Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan
• "American Gothic" video essay by film historian Kat Ellinger
• "Inner Sanctum" Episode #31 (August 3, 1941) radio adaptation of “The Tell-Tale Heart” starring Boris Karloff
• Still Gallery
• Limited edition of 2,000 copies including an o-card slipcover and a 48-page collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film critic and writer Jon Towlson; a new essay by film critic and writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas; and rare archival imagery and ephemera.

Scorpion Releasing opens THE GATES OF HELL (review)

When a village priest commits suicide, he opens the Gates of Hell underneath the New England village of Dunwich and strange things begin to happen with the bodies of the recent dead.  A New York reporter and a psychic medium team up with an artist and a psychiatrist to close the gates before the living dead take over the world.  Lucio Fulci's gore classic in a new 4K master.  Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Janet Agren, and Carlo de Mejo star.

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

THE GATES OF HELL Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Stereo, and 2.0 Mono
• Italian DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles (for English) and English (for Italian)
• Audio Commentary by film historian Troy Howarth and Mondo Digital’s Nathaniel Thompson
• Audio Commentary by cinematographer Sergio Salvati and camera operator Roberto Forges Davanzati, moderated by film professor Paolo Albiero from 2004 NoShame DVD
• "We Are the Apocalypse" interview with screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti
• "Through Your Eyes" interview with actress Catriona MacColl
• "Dust in the Wind" interview with camera operator Roberto Forges Davanzati 
• "The Art of Dreaming" interview with production designer Massimo Antonello Geleng
• "Tales of Friendship" interview with cinematographer Sergio Salvati
• "I Walked with a Zombie" interview with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice
• "They Call Him 'Bombardone'" interview with special effects technician Gino De Rossi
• "The Horror Family" interview with actors Venantino Venantini and Luca Venantini
• "Building Fulci's City" appreciation by film historian Stephen Thrower
• "Reflections on Fulci" appreciation by filmmaker Andy Nyman
• "The Dead are Alive!: Lucio Fulci and the Italian Zombie Cycle" video essay by journalist Kat Ellinger
• Alternate Title Sequences:
• U.S. Opening Titles
• Italian Opening and Closing Titles
• Theatrical Trailers and TV Spot
• Italian Theatrical Trailer
• International Theatrical Trailer
• "The Gates of Hell" TV Spot
• 2 Radio Spots
• Revrsible Cover
• Slipcover

Available directly from RoninFlix.

Cult Epics solicits P.O. BOX TINTO BRASS (review)

Having built up a reputation as a master of erotica, director Tinto Brass is inundated daily with letters, photos, and videos charting the erotic imaginations of his female fans.  With his sexy secretary, he probes these fantasies in search of inspiration in this erotic anthology film.

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

P.O. BOX TINTO BRASS Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - P.O. BOX TINTO BRASS:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Italian DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital 2.0 mono 
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
• English Subtitles
• Interview with director Tinto Brass
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Disc Two - ISTINTOBRASS:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 Widescreen
• English/French/Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Burnt-in English Subtitles
• Interview with director Massimiliano Zanin
• Praise
• Photo Gallery
• Teaser
• Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• 48-page photo booklet with introduction by Ranjit Sandhu

Severin Films unearths the REVENGE OF THE LIVING DEAD GIRLS (review)

When three girls in a French village die mysteriously, suspicion turns to the German milk dairy company that employs most of the area's citizens.  Eager to avoid a scandal, the president of the company pays off a man to dispose of the plant's waste farther from the village.  Unfortunately, he choses the cemetery, and the fumes bring the girls back to live bent on revenge.

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

REVENGE OF THE LIVING DEAD GIRLS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen
• English and French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles (for French) and English SDH Subtitles (for English)
• "Revisiting the Revenge" interview with producer Jean Claude-Roy and special make-up effects artist Benoit Lestang
• "The Revenge of Pierre B. Reinhard" director interview
• "Inside Studio Lestang" interview with special make-up effects artist Benoit Lestang
• Theatrical Trailer 

Masters of Cinema orchestrates a CRISS CROSS (Review)

Burt Lancaster, Yvonne de Carlo, and Dan Duryea are an infernal love triangle in a heist gone wrong in Robert Siodmak's noir masterwork CRISS CROSS (remade by Steven Soderbergh as THE UNDERNEATH).

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

CRISS CROSS Blu-ray specs: 

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.37:1 pillarboxed fullscreen
• English LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by film historian Lee Gambin and actress Rutanya Alda
• Audio Commentary by film critic Adrian Martin
• Isolated Music and Effects Track (in LPCM 2.0)
• "Screen Director's Playhouse" radio adaptation directed by Robert Siodmak and featuring Burt Lancaster (1949)
• Theatrical Trailer
• 31-page booklet featuring "Criss Cross: Barry Forshaw on a Key Film Noir" by Barry Forshaw, "'You Really Loved Her; You Know I Did Too’: Robert Siodmak, Doomed Romance, and the Noir" by Kat Ellinger, "Criss Cross" by Adam Batty, viewing notes, and Blu-ray credits

Film Movement Classics presents a CLAUDE SAUTET AND ROMY SCHNEIDER DUO (review)

Film Movement presents two films by Claude Sautet starring Romy Schneider.  In CÉSAR ET ROSALIE, a young woman is pulled between her older boyfriend and an old flame, both of whom prove infuriating in their attempts to possess her and make her happy.  In LES CHOSES DE LA VIE, a man's life flashes before his eyes in the midst of a road accident, causing him to question his insecurities about starting a new relationship with his younger girlfriend and how he has taken his ex-wife and grown son for granted.  Remade as INTERSECTION with Richard Gere and Sharon Stone.

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

CLAUDE SAUTET AND ROMY SCHNEIDER DUO Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - César et Rosalie (1972):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen
• French LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "César et Rosalie, sérénade à 3" documentary featuring script girl Geneviève Cortier, editor Jacqueline Thiedot, producer Michelle de Broca, scenarist Jean-Loup Dabadie, actor Bernard Le Coq, and Claude Sautet's assistant Jean-Claude Sussfeld
• About Film Movement 
• Disc Two: Les Choses de la Vie (1970):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 Widescreen
• French LPCM 2.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• "Symphonie Metallique" documentary featuring assistant Jean-Claude Sussfeld, composer Philippe Sarde, editor Jacqueline Thiedot, script supervisor Geneviève Cortier, and screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie
• About Film Movement
• Insert booklet by film critic David N. Meyer

Eureka Classics puts the bite on MR. VAMPIRE (Review)

Producer Sammo Hung introduced Chinese hopping vampires to the world with MR. VAMPIRE in which a mortitian and his bumbling assistants must stop an undead fiend who is making a meal of the village.

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

MR. VAMPIRE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Cantonese LPCM 1.0 mono
• English LPCM 2.0 mono (European home video dub)
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (American home video dub)
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by Hong Kong film expert Frank Djeng
• Archival interview with actor Chin Siu-Hou
• Archival interview with actress Moon Lee
• Archival interview with director Ricky Lau
• Textless End Credits
• Hong Kong Theatrical Trailer
• The first 2,000 copies come with a limited edition O-CARD with new artwork by Darren Wheeling and a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jon Towlson and James Oliver