Retromedia unleashes a BIOHAZARD (review)

Aldo Ray and Angelique Pettyjohn star in this fusion of fifties "man in a suit" monster movie and eighties sex and gore from Fred Olen Ray.  When a busty psychic, aided by a matter transfer machine, attracts an alien from another dimension, it goes on the rampage in the nearby countryside.  Made in 35mm right after Ray's SCALPS, it features many of the same cast and crew members along with future cast and crew for THE TOMB.

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

BIOHAZARD Blu-ray specs:

• Special Signed Edition
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer of the director's cut
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Fred Olen Ray, moderated by David DeCoteau
• "Remembering BIOHAZARD" interviews with Fred Olen Ray, actors Frank McDonald and Richard Hench, Christopher Olen Ray, and filmmaker David DeCoteau
• Unfinished BEYOND FEAR footage with Aldo Ray

Retromedia revs up HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS (review)

Michelle Bauer, Linnea Quigley, Jay Richardson, and Gunnar Hansen star in Fred Olen Ray's cult classic HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS.  When slice-happy sluts start making Chicken McNuggets out of unsuspecting johns, a hardboiled detective wonders if his latest comely missing persons case has gotten mixed up with an ancient Egyptian cult that worships Horus and chainsaws.

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

HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1
• Audio Commentary by director Fred Olen Ray, moderated by David DeCoteau
• "Remembering HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS 27 Years Later" featurette
• Original DVD Retrospective Featurette
• Nite Owl Theater Introduction
• Hollywood Premiere Clip
• Theatrical Trailer 

Retromedia battles the RETURN OF THE KILLER SHREWS (review)

THE KILLER SHREWS' James Best is back - along with his DUKES OF HAZZARD buddies John Schneider and Rick Hurst, along with WILLARD's Bruce Davison - as part of a reality TV crew filming on the island where the killer shrews attacked a scientific crew fifty years ago.  It turns out the shrews are still around and very hungry.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia/Bayview Entertainment (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

RETURN OF THE KILLER SHREWS DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary by director Steve Latshaw, moderated by Fred Olen Ray
• Behind the Scenes Featurettes
• Music Video
• Trailer
• Original 1959 film "The Killer Shrews"

Retromedia presents WONDER WOMEN (review)

Ross Hagen (ANGELS WILD WOMEN) is a Los Angeles police detective hired by an insurance company to find a missing athlete who has been abducted by the "Wonder Women" of Dr. Tsu, a mad doctor experimenting with total body transplants.  Nancy Kwan (NIGHT CREATURE), Maria de Aragon (BLOOD MANIA, STAR WARS), Roberta Collins (THE BIG DOLL HOUSE), and Vic Diaz also star.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia/Bayview (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

WONDER WOMEN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary with director Robert Vincent O'Neill, moderated by Fred Olen Ray
• Interview with second unit director Erik Cord
• Missing Euro Scenes
• Exclusive Scenes from the Unfinished Sequel "Warrior Women"
• Super 8mm Location Movies
• Trailers:
• Theatrical Trailer
• 60-second TV spot
• 30-second TV spot
• 10-second TV spot
• Radio Spot
• Image Gallery

More Retromedia reviews at Update the Tags: Retromedia Entertainment.

Retromedia faces off against the INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN (review)

Lon Chaney Jr. plays an executed murderer who becomes the subject of medical experiments and turns into INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN.  Impervious to bullets, he leaves a trail of bodies behind him on his way to Los Angeles in search of loot, a girl, and revenge on the three men who double-crossed him.

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

INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Lon Chaney Featurette
• Lon Chaney Trailer Collection
• Rare Lon Chaney TV episode: "The Whistler"
• Lon Chaney LIVE!

More Retromedia reviews at Update the Tags: Retromedia Entertainment.

Retromedia resurrects I, MARQUIS DE SADE (review)

Long lost and only recently discovered from a lone print in Sweden, I, MARQUIS DE SADE tells the story of Donald, a bookish translator who learns that he is dying from cancer and decides to embrace the philosophies of the historical figure whose name was coined for the term sadism.  Setting himself up with a walrus of a sugar mama, Donald pursues a number of beautiful young women for his carnal and possibly murderous delights.  Written and directed by Richard Hilliard (THE LONELY SEX), writer and cinematographer of the Del Tenney productions CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE and HORROR OF PARTY BEACH.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia/Bayview (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

I, MARQUIS DE SADE DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.66:1 letterbox
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Trailer
• "Hollywood Beauties" nudie short

More Retromedia reviews at Update the Tags: Retromedia Entertainment.

Retromedia goes H.P. Lovecraft in THE DARK SLEEP (review)

 DTV old school effects auteur Brett Piper (BACTERIUM) tackles H.P. Lovecraft in THE DARK SLEEP.  Loosely based on "The Dreams of the Witch House", THE DARK SLEEP tells the story of a divorced woman whose new house inspires nightmares about creatures from another dimension.  Is she having a nervous breakdown or is are her dreams allowing the "crawling chaos" to come into this world?

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia/Bayview (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

THE DARK SLEEP DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
•  Audio Commentary by writer/director Brett Piper, producer Mark Polonia, photographer Anthony Polonia, and actors Steve Diasparra and Ken VanSant
• Making-of
• Outtakes
• CGI or not CGI featurette
• Trailer

More Retromedia reviews at Update the Tags: Retromedia Entertainment.

Retromedia recovers the lost film MARK OF THE GUN (review)

Lost for forty-five years, Wally Campo's MARK OF THE GUN features Ross Hagen (NIGHT CREATURE) as a gunman on the run.  He stumbles upon a brothel whose guests include a band of outlaws setting up a quarter-of-a-million dollar score.  Not only do they have to worry about a mysterious and relentless sheriff, but also a rival gang that always seems to be one step ahead of them.  Buck Kartalian (PLEASE DON'T EAT MY MOTHER) also stars.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia/Bayview (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

MARK OF THE GUN DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Ross Hagen Trailers
• Editor's Workprint Excerpts from "Pushing Up Daisies" (1973)

Retromedia exposes THE BLONDE IN THE BLUE MOVIE (review)

Lando Buzzanca (Lucio Fulci's THE EROTICIST) and 1969 Playboy model Pamela Tiffin star in this Italian sex comedy by Steno (Stefano Vanzina).  An Italian shoe executive arrives in Copenhagen to launch an ad campaign and falls for a beautiful university student.  It isn't until after they marry that he discovers that she is one of Denmark's biggest "blue movie" stars.

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

THE BLONDE IN THE BLUE MOVIE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono

Retromedia visits the HOUSE OF TERROR (review)

If you liked Peter Carpenter's POINT OF TERROR and BLOOD MANIA, catch HOUSE OF TERROR by the same writer and with spooky cinematography by the same DP.  Jennifer Andrews (Jennifer Bishop, BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE) comes to work as a private nurse for the suicidal wife of a wealthy businessman.  When the wife turns up dead in a bathtub full of blood, Jennifer and her boyfriend scheme to get the husband's money.  Then the wife's twin sister shows up... Double-crosses, triple-crosses, and bloody murder are the order of the day in the HOUSE OF TERROR.  Arell Blanton and Jacquelyn Hyde co-star.

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia Entertainment (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-in)

HOUSE OF TERROR DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Super Horror Trailer-Rama (1 hour of horror and sci-fi trailers)

Retromedia visits the BIKINI DRIVE-IN, now uncut and uncensored (review)

Fred Olen Ray takes us back to the drive-in with some added nineties T&A in BIKINI DRIVE-IN.  When topless sunbather Kim inherits a run-down old theater, she learns that she has to pay the bank $25,000 by Monday or lose the drive-in.  What's worse is that a greedy real estate developer wants the land for himself.  Kim, her friends, and the son of the land developer decide to take the drive-in away from its recent family fare and back to the grindhouse with a quadruple feature starring bodacious Dyanne Lynne (Michelle Bauer, THE TOMB). 

REVIEW LINK: Retromedia (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD (DVD Drive-In)

BIKINI DRIVE-IN DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen (original aspect ratio)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Audio Commentary track with director Fred Olen Ray and star Richard Gabai
• Nite Owl Theater Collection
• Vintage Drive-In Intermission Spots