DVD and Blu-ray Releases: August 18, 2015
Sean Brickley
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Greetings, fiends! Welcome back to another DVD and Blu-ray release list. This week we planned to nab the release of 1987’s Angel Heart, which was supposed to be out on the 21st, but it has been pushed back to the 25th of August so check back here for that info next week. Additionally, Dressed to Kill has been pushed back to September 8th.
This week promises to be a good one for you fellow fans of older horror movies. We’ve got the Hammer Film Collection as well as a collection of movies by William Castle covering the 1960’s along with Burn, Witch, Burn! and Nightmare Castle.
Next up, spanning the 70’s is The Wife Killer, which you may have also heard referred to as Death Kiss, and 1971’s Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things.
There are even a few picks from the Reagan era. You pretty much know what you’re getting yourself into with a Troma title, so you won’t be let down to know that this week sees the Blu-ray release of Troma’s War. You can also check out 1985’s Nomads or see David Bowie and Susan Sarandon in The Hunger.
If your wallet isn’t completely empty after that lineup, there is even a handful of newer releases, such as the highly rated Cub, Kantemir and Ejecta, to pick up. I’ve even thrown in a mention of the Psycho Beach Party Blu-ray for you folks who enjoy the goofier aspects of murder.
15 releases this week, folks – which ones will you pick up? Pleasant viewing.
MOVIES
Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962)
Starring:
Peter Wyngarde, Janet Blair, Margaret Johnston
Synopsis:
The powers of dark magic rule the night in this chilling masterpiece of supernatural horror as a
college campus turns into a nest of evil. Professor Norman Taylor (The Innocents Peter Wyngarde) has been enjoying unusual success at work lately, but could it be due to the magic his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) practices in secret? A natural skeptic, Norman is infuriated upon discovering her methods, but when he destroys her protective spells, a vindictive force puts both of their lives in mortal danger, leading to a final showdown that ranks as one of the most chilling in horror history. Turn down the lights, curl up tight, and watch this all-time fright classic from legendary Twilight Zone writers Charles Beaumont and Richard Matheson in stunning high definition… if you dare.
Purchase:
Cub (2015)
Starring:
Maurice Luijten, Titus De Voogdt, Stef Aerts, Evelien Bosmans, Jan Hammenecker
Synopsis:
This dark, bloody imaginative fairy tale about a camping trip that turns into deadly carnage draws on such influences as Lord of the Rings, Friday the 13th and The Devil’s Backbone. The story follows 12-year-old outcast Sam who, along with his troop of cub scouts and their teenage supervisors, camp in woods rumored to house a mysterious and deadly werewolf. Inquisitive Sam, certain the woods are inhibited by something evil, soon stumbles upon a feral young boy and, eventually, his evil psychopathic mentor. But convincing the others of the danger falls on deaf ears, and soon ingenious traps begin to take their violent toll on the group. A wildly entertaining killer in the woods actioner.
Purchase:
Ejecta (2015)
Starring:
Julian Richings, Justin Darmanin, Lisa Houle
Synopsis:
A horrific alien invasion forces two men to fight for their lives during one universe-altering night of terror. This nerve-shredding film stars Julian Richings (Cube, X-Men: The Last Stand) in a tour-de-force performance as William Cassidy, a man who, following decades of frightening extraterrestrial encounters, is now trapped in a living hell of fear and paranoia. On the evening of a massive solar flare, Cassidy invites paranormal researcher Joe Sullivan (Adam Seybold, Exit Humanity) to his secluded home in the woods. What occurs there will change both men, and possibly the Earth, forever. Lisa Houle (Pontypool) and Dee Wallace (The Howling) also star.
Purchase:
Extreme Jukebox (2013)
Starring:
Alessio Cherubini, Elisabetta Loi, Guglielmo Favilla, Maurizio Lastrico, Pino Scotto
Synopsis:
Welcome to Nova Springs, a rock and roll metropolis chock-full of rising stars. Here you’ll meet Jessie Cake, a charismatic glam metal front man and his groupie girlfriend, Chloe. After unearthing a mysterious LP in the abandoned estate of legendary 80s superstar David Crystal, these young lovers unleash a bloodthirsty spirit… the infamous Killer of the Woods. Even worse is the flesh-and-blood maniac Naughty Rocky Boy, the skulking back-alley killer whose weapon of choice is a musical instrument! As the bodies pile up in Nova Springs, it’s up to Jessie, Chloe, and rock’n’roll priest Father Zappa (Italian heavy-metal pioneer Pino Scotto) to set things right. It’s Lords Of Salem by way of Rock And Roll High School, with a side of spaghetti!
Purchase:
The Hunger (1983)
Starring:
Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young, Dan Hedaya
Synopsis:
Miriam Blaylock collects Renaissance art, ancient Egyptian pendants, lovers, souls. Alive and fashionably chic in Manhattan, Miriam is an ageless vampire. Although “vampire” is not a word you’ll hear in this movie based on the novel by Whitley Strieber (Wolfen). Instead, debuting feature director Tony Scott fashions a hip, sensual, modern-gothic makeover. Catherine Deneuve radiates macabre elegance as Miriam, blessed with beauty, cursed with bloodlust. David Bowie is fellow fiend and refined husband John. In love, in life, in longing, they are inseparable. But when John abruptly begins to age and turns to a geriatric researcher (Susan Sarandon) for help, Miriam soon eyes the woman as a replacement for John. The Hunger is insatiable.
Purchase:
Kantemir (2015)
Starring:
Robert Englund, Diane Cary, Stuart Stone, Justine Griffiths, Daniel Gadi
Synopsis:
A group of actors gather in a remote Northeastern town to rehearse for a mysterious stage production, only to be plunged into a hellish world where their real lives mirror the grisly story of the play.
Purchase:
Nightmare Castle (1966)
Starring:
Barbara Steele, Paul Muller, Helga Liné
Synopsis:
At the height of her career as the dark goddess of Italian horror, the legendary Barbara Steele (Black Sunday) delivered two of her most memorable performances in this tale of obsession, madness and depravity. Steele stars as a cheating wife who is chained, whipped and tortured to death by her sadistic scientist husband, and as her unstable blonde stepsister whose fate may be even more ghastly. Paul Muller (Vampyros Lesbos), Helga Liné (Horror Express) and Rik Battaglia (Sister Emanuelle) co-star in this twisted shocker directed by Mario Caiano, featuring stunning black & white cinematography by Enzo Barboni and the very first horror score by Ennio Morricone.
Purchase:
Nomads (1985)
Starring:
Pierce Brosnan, Lesley- Anne Down
Synopsis:
Evil spirits haunt a French anthropologist and inhabit the doctor who treats him.
Purchase:
Psycho Beach Party (2000)
Starring:
Lauren Ambrose, Thomas Gibson, Nicholas Brendon, Charles Busch, Matt Keeslar
Synopsis:
Psycho Beach Party is a wickedly fun satire of Hollywood movie genres. Chicklet (Lauren Ambrose – Can’t Hardly Wait, HBO’s Six Feet Under), a wannabe surf-girl with a split personality, becomes the primary suspect after a string of humorously gruesome murders terrifies the teen set. When the clues take her to the beach, the fun and suspense begin.
At the beach, Chicklet crosses paths with burnt-out surf guru Kanaka (Thomas Gibson, Criminal Minds, Dharma & Greg), dreamy surfboy Starcat (Nicholas Brendon, Buffy The Vampire Slayer), and stylish homicide detective Monica Stark (Charles Busch, Die Mommie Die!). Psycho Beach Party also stars Amy Adams (American Hustle, Big Eyes), Matt Keeslar (Scream 3), Beth Broderick (Sabrina The Teenage Witch), Kimberly Davies (The Next Best Thing) and Kathleen Robertson (Beverly Hills, 90210).
Purchase:
Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things (1971)
Starring:
Abe Zwick, Wayne Crawford, Don Craig, Robin Hughes, Yanka Mann
Synopsis:
While on the run from the law, two criminals decide to hide out in a small Florida town. The ringleader, Paul, concocts a plan to pretend to be his child-like accomplice Stanley’s estranged Aunt Martha. Taking over a large old house, Paul and Stanley attempt to lay low, but trouble soon arises when a local girl takes a liking to Stanley and invites him out with her friends. Paul, becoming increasingly paranoid, decides that the only way they can maintain their cover is by murdering everyone who has even the slightest suspicion of what’s really going on, but Stanley isn’t so sure he wants to keep on hiding…
This bizarre, Florida shot regional film made by one-time director Thomas Casey is less a horror movie than a hybrid of crime thriller and vaguely homoerotic relationship drama, with some bloody death scenes and moments of T&A thrown in for good measure. Nearly impossible to see for years, Vinegar Syndrome and AGFA bring this totally unique piece of low-rent trash to DVD, in its proper aspect ratio for the very first time.
Purchase:
Troma’s War (1988)
Starring:
Carolyn Beauchamp, Sean Bowen, Rick Washburn, Patrick Weathers, Jessica Dublin
Synopsis:
A small group of typical Tromaville citizens find themselves in the path of a terrorist army controlled by the power elite. The freedom of Tromaville and the world is at stake! TROMA’S WAR creates new kinds of heroes. A used car salesman, a handsome environmentalist, an obese junk-food gourmand, a seventy-year-old housewife, some sensational young women, a year old jingoistic baby and more sensational women all become deadly soldiers in the most unusual and explosive, action-packed combat film ever produced by the Troma Team.
Purchase:
The Wife Killer (aka Death Kiss) (1976)
Starring:
Larry Daniels, Dorothy Moore, Vagelis Seilinos, Leslie Bowman, Dimitris Bislanis
Synopsis:
Penniless playboy Captain Jim is in hock to his rich older wife, Helen. She has even bought him the fancy yacht that now bears his name. But Jim does not want to be Helen’s toy boy any more. He wants to marry his lover, Laura. He pays a psychopathic killer of women to murder Helen so that he will inherit his wife’s millions. But the psycho killer has his own plans. Suspecting Jim will double cross him, he engineers a complex scheme that will give him the upper hand.
Very much in the style of the violent and baroque Giallo thrillers from 1970s Italy, The Wife Killer is a twisted, shocking and brutal exploration of the devious male psyche. Previously only released to cinemas in a cut version, this is the first official DVD release of the film in the U.S., complete and uncensored.
Purchase:
COLLECTIONS
Cannibal Terror/Devil Hunter
Starring:
Robert Foster, Pamela Stanford, Burt Altman, Ursula Fellner, Al Cliver
Movies:
Cannibal Terror
Even by the sleaziest standards of 80s EuroTrash, it remains a film that must be seen to be believed: When a pair of criminal knuckleheads and their busty moll kidnap the young daughter of a wealthy tycoon, they foolishly choose to hide in a local jungle infested with ferocious cannibals. What follows is a mind-roasting exercise in atrocious acting, gratuitous nudity and gut-munching mayhem by a ravenous tribe of flesh eaters who inexplicably sport comb-overs and Elvis sideburns. Robert Foster (Inconfessable Orgies Of Emmanuelle), Pamela Stanford (White Cannibal Queen) and Burt Altman (Zombie Lake) star in this infamous Spanish/French co-production that was banned in Britain as one of the original Video Nasties and is now presented uncut, uncensored and mastered in Hi-Def for the first time ever in America!
Devil Hunter
King Of EuroSleaze Jess Franco (Bloody Moon, Macumba Sexual) takes on the 80s Cannibal genre and delivers a jungle sickie like no other! When a safari of sexy babes and violent boneheads ventures into native-crazed wilderness, Uncle Jess unleashes a deluge of relentless nudity, dubious anthropology and his own brand of cut-rate carnage. Ursula Fellner (Sadomania), Al Cliver (Zombie), Robert Foster (Cannibal Terror) and Gisela Hahn (Contamination) co-star in this original Video Nasty also tastefully known as Sexo Cannibal and Mandingo Manhunter with something to offend everyone, now fully restored from the original Spanish negative and presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America!
Purchase:
Hammer Film Collection – 5 Movie Pack
Starring:
Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Paul Massie, Susan Strasberg, Terence Howard
Movies:
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
Victorian London gets a load of bearded Dr. Jekyll’s bad side, the cleanshaven sinner Mr. Hyde.
Scream of Fear
A young woman in a wheelchair sees a corpse no one else sees on the French Riviera.
The Gorgon
A 19th-century professor’s assistant has snakes for hair and turns her victims into stone.
Stop Me Before I Kill
A psychiatrist works with a Grand Prix driver plagued by the urge to strangle his bride.
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb
Disaster soon ensues when the U.S. backer of a cursed Egyptian dig takes a mummy to England.
Purchase:
William Castle Horror Collection
Starring:
Rosemary DeCamp, Glenn Corbett, Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Murray Hamilton
Synopsis:
Enjoy 5 spine-tingling classics from Castle!
Iconic horror director William Castle created a simple, but winning formula for his films: a little comedy, a lot of scares, a preposterous gimmick, and a clear sense that fright films should be fun. This even meant Castle would, like Alfred Hitchcock, appear in his trailers and even the movies themselves.
Though his career spanned 35 years and included everything from westerns to crime thrillers, he’ll always be remembered for his horror films from the late 50s to the mid-60s. Enjoy 5 of his spine-tingling classics!
Movies:
13 Ghosts (1960)
When an eccentric uncle wills a huge, ramshackle house to his impoverished family, they get the shock of a lifetime. Their new residence comes complete with a spooky housekeeper, plus a fortune in buried treasure and 12 horrifying ghosts.
13 Frightened Girls (1963)
The girls of a Swiss boarding school have one thing in common they are all daughters of diplomats. One in particular finds out that she has a knack for espionage, and uncovers the murder of a Russian diplomat. Now she must escape using her girlish wiles.
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Desperate to retrieve a winning lottery ticket, a greedy man unearths his father’s corpse. An enormous jackpot is his reward, but not without a price: his face is frozen permanently into a hideous grin. He enlists his one-eyed servant to help him lift the curse.
Homicidal (1961)
In the small town of Solvang, there’s a killer on the loose and the nurse taking care of a wheelchair bound stroke victim has a bedside manner is to die for. As the truth is uncovered, a town’s most chilling mystery will be revealed… and a family’s darkest secret.
The Old Dark House (1963)
An American car salesman living in London, is invited to spend the weekend at the Femm Estate. The Femms, trapped in the house due to an ancestor’s will, live in fear as they are taken out one at a time. Tom is left to figure out who the killer is before he becomes a victim himself!
Purchase:
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