Severin Films goes Grand Guignol with THEATRE BIZARRE (review)

Udo Keir introduces six GORE-iffic tales directed by six popular horror director.  In Richard Stanley's MOTHER OF TOADS, an anthropologist and his girlfriend encounter pagan superstition in the Pyrranees.  In Tom Savini's "Wet Dreams" a man's nightmares of jealousy and mutilation might be all too true.  In "Buddy Giovinazzo's I Love You" a paranoid man is pushed to his limits by his unfaithful wife.  Douglas Buck's "The Accident" sees death through the eyes of a child who witnesses a road accident.  In Karim Hussain's "Vision Stains" an author experiences the lives of her victims through the fluid in their eyballs.  Finally, in David Gregory's "Sweets" an ill-matched couple take the "joys of mastication" to gory extremes.

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

THEATRE BIZARRE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo
• French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• 2011 audio commentary with director Jeremy Kasten and actor Udo Keir on "Theatre Guignol" wrap-arounds, director Richard Stanley, actress Victoria Maurette, and cinematographer Karim Hussain on "Mother of Toads", director Buddy Giovinazzo on "I Love You", director Tom Savini, producer Michael Ruggiero, and co-producer Robert Lucas on "Wet Dreams", director Karim Hussain, actress Kaniehtiio Horn and editor Douglas Buck on "Vision Stains", and director David Gregory on "Sweets"
• 2020 audio commentary by "Theatre Guignol" wraparounds director Jeremy Kasten, title music composer Marcus Howell, choreographer Amanda Marquardt, special effects make-up artist Brian Kinney, associate producer Adam Neubauer, and actors Amelia Gotham, Jeremy Gladen, Liberty Larson, and Nicole Fabbri, "Mother of Toads" director Richard Stanley, "Wet Dreams" director Tom Savini, producer Michael Ruggiero, and co-producer Robert Lucas, "The Accident" director Douglas Buck, "Vision Stains" director Karim Hussein, "Sweets" director David Gregory, actress Lindsay Goranson, and hair and make-up artist Aubrie Davis
• "Backstage: The Making of The Theatre Bizarre" 2020 documentary
• French TV On-Set Report with director Richard Stanley
• "Making of Vision Stains"
• "Making of The Accident"
• Shock Till You Drop "Choice Cuts" Interviews:
• director Buddy Giovinazzo
• director David Gregory
• director Jeremy Kasten
• "Boswell Scores" interview with composer Simon Boswell
• Extended Cut of "The Mother of Toads"
• 2 Theatrical Trailers

Arrow Video resurrects Asia Extreme with VERSUS (review)

Although he’s not as well known as the likes of Shinya Tsukamoto or Takashi Miike, Ryuhei Kitamura defined Asia Extreme with VERSUS (2000) in which an escaped convict battles immortal samurai and zombies over the 666th portal to hell.

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

VERSUS Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - Original Cut (120 mins):
• 1080p24 MPEG-AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles (for Japanese track) and English SDH Subtitles (for English track)
• Audio Commentary by director Ryuhei Kitamura, actors Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Shoichiro Masumoto, producer Keishiro Shin and second unit director Yudai Yamaguchi (in Japanese with English subtitles)
• Audio Commentary by director Ryuhei Kitamura and Producer Keishiro Shin, moderated by Napalm Films marketing director Vanessa Shin (in English)
• "Body Slamming Body Horror" visual essay by Jasper Sharp
• "The Encounter" archival interview with editor Shûichi Kakesu
• Deleted Scenes with Audio Commentary by Ryuhei Kitamura, Tak Sakaguchi, Minoru Matsumoto, and Shoichiro Masumoto
• "Versus: FF Version" condensed recut of the film
• Archival Featurettes:
• "First Contact: Versus Evolution"
• "Tak Sakguchi's One-Man Journey"
• "Behind Versus"
• "Part 1: Birth of a Dark Hero"
• "Part 2: Versus The Legend"
• "Team Versus"
• "Deep in the Woods"
• Festival Screenings
• "Versus Side Stories" Shorts:
• "Nervous"
• "Nervous 2"
• "The Making of Nervous 2"
• Photo Galleries:
• Promotional Stills
• Posters
• Japanese Press Book
• Japanese Press Kit
• Promo and Theatrical Trailers
  
• Disc Two - Ultimate Versus Cut (130 mins):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 and LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by director Ryuhei Kitamura and actors Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki and Shoichiro Masumot (in Japanese with English subtitles)
• "Sakigake! Otoko Versus Juku" behind the scenes featurette
  
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film and a reprinted interview with Kitamura by Tom Mes, and notes on the making of the film by Kitamura
  

Kino Lorber sings with the DEANNA DURBIN COLLECTION I (review)

The short career of Winnepeg's Sweetheart gets an overview in the DEANNA DURBIN COLLECTION I with the fourteen-year-old actress conniving to get conductor Leopold Stokowksi to audition a one-hundred man band in ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL, scheming for the romantic happiness of both of her older sisters in THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP, and maturing into a screwball comedy dame in IT STARTED WITH EVE.

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

DEANNA DURBIN COLLECTION I Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One - One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937):
• 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 Stephen Vogg 
• Bonus Trailer
  
• Disc Two - Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.33:1 Pillarboxed Fullscreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
• Optional English SDH Subtitles 
• Theatrical Trailer
• Bonus Trailers
  
• Disc Three - It Started With Eve (1941):
• 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 Samm Deighan
• Theatrical Trailer

 

88 Films develops DARKROOM (review)

A family gathering turns murderous when an axe-wielding killer lurks in the DARKROOM in this eighties slasher from producer Nico Mastorakis.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

DARKROOM Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• "Developing Fear" interview with actor Aarin Teich
• "Exposing the Truth" interview with actor Jeff Arbaugh
• Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer 
• Reversible Cover
• The first 3,000 copies come with a limited edition slipcover and four collectible postcards
  

88 Films goes on a BLIND DATE (review)

Joseph Bottoms is a blind man who undergoes a surgery to implant him with a high-tech device that allows him to see by sonor, and he may have just come face to face with The Scalpel Killer in Nico Mastorakis' eighties thriller.  Kirstie Alley, Marina Sirtis, Lana Clarkson, Valeria Golino, and Keir Dullea also star.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

BLIND DATE Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 Widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• "The Films of Nico Mastorakis" four-part feature-length documentary
• Music Videos
• Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover
• The first 3,000 copies come with a limited edition slipcover and four collectible postcards
  

88 Films trades in KNOCK-OFF (review)

Jean Claude Van Damme, HK director Tsui Hark, and Rob Schneider(!) take on terrorists operating within Hong Kong's knock off industry in the nineties action flick KNOCK OFF.

REVIEW LINK: 88 Films (UK) Region B Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

KNOCK OFF Blu-ray specs.

• Strictly limited to 3,000 copies (no standard edition)
  
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• English/Russian/Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Optional English HoH Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
• Interview with writer Steven E. de Souza
• The Making of KNOCK OFF
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible cover
• Numbered slipcover
• A3 Poster
• Four postcards
  

Arrow Video transgresses YAKUZA LAW (review)

From JOYS OF TORTURE director Teruo Ishii comes an anthology of Yakuza warfare and depravity in three different time periods where the strict laws of Yakuza mean brutal and dire consequences for those who break them and those who manipulate them.

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

YAKUZA LAW Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 Widescreen
• Japanese LPCM 1.0 Mono
• Optional English Subtitles
• Audio Commentary by author and critic Jasper Sharp
• "Erotic-Grotesque and Genre Hopping: Teruo Ishii Speaks" interview
• Image Gallery
• Reversible Cover
• FIRST PRESSING ONLY: collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Tom Mes