Code Red Releasing ventures into THE FOREST (review)

"If you go into the woods today, you might not get out ALIVE!"  Director Don Jones (SCHOOLGIRLS IN CHAINS) takes on the slasher genre in this story of two Los Angeles couples who go camping and are stalked by a cannibalistic killer.  Gary Kent stars.

REVIEW LINK: Code Red Releasing (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

THE FOREST Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono
• Audio Commentary by director Don Jones and cinematographer Stuart Asbjornsen, moderated by Greg Goodsell
• Audio Commentary by director Don Jones and actor Gary Kent
• Interview featurette with director Don Jones, cinematographer Stuart Asbjornsen, and actor Gary Kent
• Theatrical Trailer
• Code Red Trailers

Intervision exposes CHRISTINA (review)

Jewel Shepard fully embodies Christina Van Bell, jet-setting heroine of over fifty Berkeley/Playboy paperbacks in the seventies and eighties, in the softcore CHRISTINA.  Zipping around the globe in search of fast cars and hot men, Christina is abducted and held for ransom by two different groups who are just as interested in her body as they are in her money.

REVIEW LINK: Intervision Picture Corp. (US) Region ALL Blu-ray (DVD Drive-in)

CHRISTINA Blu-ray specs:

• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 mono

Scream Factory stalks MANHUNTER (review)

Before Jonathan Demme's award-winning SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, Michael Mann brought Hannibal Lector to the screen in MANHUNTER based on Thomas Harris' earlier novel RED DRAGON.  CSI's William Peterson stars as retired FBI profiler Will Graham brought back to work to discover the identity of "The Tooth Fairy Killer" before he claims the lives of another entire family.  To find the killer, Graham must think like him, taking him back into dark places he inhabited when he was hunting Hannibal Lector whose help he seeks on the case.  Joan Allen, Tom Noonan, Dennis Farina, Stephen Lang, and Brian Cox also star.

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

MANHUNTER Blu-ray specs:

• Disc One (Theatrical Cut):
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• New interviews with actors William Peterson, Joan Allen, Tom Noonan, and Brian Cox as well as director of photography Dante Spinotti
• "The Music of MANHUNTER" featurette with composer Michel Rubini, Barry Andrews of Shriekback, Gary Putnam of The Prime Movers, Rick Shaffer of The Reds, and Gene Stashuk of Red 7
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery
• Disc Two (Director's Cut):
• Director's Cut in HD with SD
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.35:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 stereo 
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by writer/director Michael Mann
• Director's Cut in SD in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
• "The MANHUNTER Look" vintage featurette with cinematographer Dante Spinotti
• "Inside MANHUNTER" vintage featurette with actors William Peterson, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, and Tom Noonan
• Slipcover and reversible cover

Arrow Films investigates HINTERLAND: SERIES 2 (review)

Richard Harrington returns as DCI Tom Mathias, a London detective who has banished himself to Wales after a personal tragedy.  In the New Year's Special and second series, Mathias deals with the fallout from "The Girl in the Water" case including an internal investigation and the doubts of his superiors and colleagues about his focus.  In the five episodes in this set, Mathias investigates murders, unearthing family tragedies and long buried secrets; but his own past may be catching up with him in the fiery finale.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Films (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

HINTERLAND: SERIES 2 DVD specs:

• New Year's Special and four series two episodes on three dual-layer discs
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English/Welsh Dolby Digital 5.1
• Forced English subtitles for the Welsh dialogue

Simply Media bets on THE LADY GAMBLES (review)

Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston, Edith Barrett, and Stephen McNally star in this obscure film noir.  On honeymoon in Las Vegas while her husband works on a news story, Joan Booth becomes addicted to gambling and enters a downward spiral into illegal activities and heartbreak.  A young Tony Curtis makes one of his first appearances here as a bell boy.

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

THE LADY GAMBLES DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono

Vinegar Syndrome probes the PSYCHIC KILLER (Review)

Former actor Ray Danton tackles the parapsychological horror in PSYCHIC KILLER.  Wrongfully convicted and confined to an asylum, Arnold Master is taught astral projection by a fellow inmate.  When he is released, he sets about engineering the telekinetic deaths of those responsible for railroading him and killing his mother.  Jim Hutton, Paul Burke, Julie Adams, Mary Wilcox, Aldo Ray, Della Reese, and Neville Brand star.

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

PSYCHIC KILLER Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0
• DVD:
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen
• English Dolby Digital 1.0
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• "The Danton Force" interview with Steve and Mitchell Danton, actress Julie Adams, and assistant director Ron Smith
• "The Aura of Horror" interview with producer Mardi Rustam
• "The PSYCHIC KILLER Inside Me" interview with writer/associate producer Greydon Clark
• TV Spots
• Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Cover

Arrow Video USA is HIRED TO KILL (review)

George Kennedy, Jose Ferrer, Oliver Reed and Brian Thompson star in Nico Mastorakis' quirky action thriller HIRED TO KILL.  A soldier of fortune is hired to pose as a gay fashion designer and lead an army of women disguised as fashion models into a dictatorship to bust out a leftist rebel and start a revolution.

REVIEW LINK: Arrow Video USA (US) Region ALL Blu-ray/Region 0 NTSC DVD combo (DVD Drive-in)

HIRED TO KILL Blu-ray/DVD combo specs:

• Blu-ray:
• 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1
• DVD: 
• 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen
• English LPCM 2.0 stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1
• Optional English SDH subtitles
• Audio Commentary by editor Barry Zetlin
• "Hired to Direct" interview with director Nico Mastorakis
• "Undercover Mercentary" interview with actor Brian Thompson
• Theatrical Trailer
• Stills Gallery
• BD-ROM and DVD-ROM: Original "Freedom or Death" Screenplay (.pdf)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by critic James Oliver