Severin Films is damned to THE OTHER HELL (review)

Bruno Mattei (HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD) and Claudio Fragasso (TROLL 2) visit THE OTHER HELL in this Italian telekinetic gore nunsploitation flick.  After two bizarre murders at a convent, a priest conducts an investigation.  While he believes a sick mind is behind the killings, the Mother Superior believes the devil himself is responsible.  Franca Stoppi (BEYOND THE DARKNESS) and Carlo de Mejo (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD) star.

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

THE OTHER HELL Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen
• English, Italian, and French LPCM 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentary by writer/co-director Claudio Fragasso (in Italian with English subtitles)
• Interview with actress Franca Stoppi
• Interviews with director Bruno Mattei and actor Carlo de Mejo
• Theatrical Trailer

Film Movement gets lost in THE ARDENNES (review)

From the producers of BULLHEAD comes this Flemish noir in which Kenneth serves four years for a home invasion gone wrong, keeping silent about the involvement of his girlfriend and brother in the crime. When he gets out of prison, his brother attempts to help him straighten out his life while keeping secret the fact that Kenneth's girlfriend is now pregnant with his child leading to misunderstandings, murder, and pitting the two brothers against each other in the expanse of the Ardennes forest.

REVIEW LINK: Film Movement (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE ARDENNES DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
• Flemish/French Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• English Closed Captioning
• Audio Commentary by director Robin Pront and star Kevin Janssens
• Making-of Featurette
• Interview with director Robin Pront and star Kevin Janssens
• Theatrical Trailer
• Short Film 'Injury Time'
• Previews

Strand Releasing pieces together FRAGMENTS OF LOVE (Review)

Rodrigo is an angsty burnt-out composer who gets by tuning pianos for rich clients until he meets Susana, the wife of a businessman, who entices him into an affair and then drives him to distraction and then inspiration with tales of her lusty past relationships.

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

FRAGMENTS OF LOVE DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English subtitles
• Theatrical Trailer
• Previews

Dazzler Media investigates THE KETTERING INCIDENT (review)

When London doctor Anna Macy blacks out and wakes up in her home town of Kettering, Tasmania, she realizes that a traumatic incident from her youth in which her childhood friend mysteriously disappeared into strange lights in the woods may be happening again.  When another local girl disappears, members of the town suspect Anna but she may be they only one who can help when the town is suddenly quarantined.

REVIEW LINK: Dazzler Media (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE KETTERING INCIDENT DVD specs:

• Eight episodes on three dual-layer DVDs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English HoH subtitles

The Film Detective hires JOE BULLET (review)

THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY's Ken Gampu stars in this rare example of South African Blaxploitation.  When a criminal gang attempts to fix the World Cup, private detective Joe Bullet is hired to protect a team's most valuable players and the manager's beautiful daughter.

REVIEW LINK: The Film Detective (US) Region 0 NTSC DVD-R (DVDBeaver)

JOE BULLET DVD-R specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• English Closed Captioning
• Audio Commentary by writer/producerTonieVan Der Merwe
• Restoration Demo
• Trailer

Arrow Video delves into Takashi Miike's BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY (review)

Takashi Miike's first theatrical films as a director comprised the BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY, three crime films about Japanese and Taiwanese race relations and yakuza intrigue.  In SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY, a half-Japanese police detective discovers that his younger brother is working for a Taiwanese gangster who is muscling in on yakuza businesses through assassination and mutilation.  In RAINY DOG, a Japanese hitman must lay low in Taipei when his boss is assassinated.  Taking jobs from a local gangster, he soon finds himself hunted by the vengeful brother of one of his targets.  In LEY LINES, three half-Japanese youths run away to Tokyo to make it big and get entangled with drug dealers, prostitutes, and gangsters.

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

BLACK SOCIETY TRILOGY Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfers of SHINJUKU TRIAD SOCIETY, RAINY DOG, and LEY LINES on two Blu-ray discs
• Japanese/Chinese LPCM 2.0 stereo
• Optional English subtitles
• Audio Commentaries on all three films by Tom Mes
• Theatrical Trailers for all three films
• New interview with director Takashi Miike
• New interview with actor Sho Aikawa
• Reversible Cover
• FIRST PRINTING ONLY: Liner Notes Booklet

ITN swipes right for SLASHER.COM (Review)

With a killer stalking victims through online dating sites, it is just as well that Jack and Kristy decide to take their first date to the woods.  Unfortunately, they rent a cabin from the Myers family who treat them to some backwoods terror.  Jewel Shepard and R.A. Mihailoff star.

REVIEW LINK: ITN Distribution/Cinedigm (US) Region 1 NTSC DVD (DVDCompare)

SLASHER.COM DVD specs:

• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• Trailer