DVD and Blu-ray Releases: April 12, 2016
Sean Brickley
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We’ve got 16 more releases this week, and it’s a pretty even distribution as well. There are two minor discrepancies to speak of. German Angst may be coming out this week (possibly just on Blu-ray) but is listed on Amazon for next week. Expect to see it again for the 19th. Additionally, Androgynym was slated for release this week but is now showing as unavailable. In any case, this is the most up-to-date information I have for you regarding those two titles.
There’s a good handful of classics this week. From the Destroyer/Edge of Sanity double feature to the Bride of Re-Animator Blu-ray to Village of the Damned (okay, this isn’t quite a classic yet, but I’m bending the rules a bit), it’s a pretty decent week for “older” movies.
Collectors of steelbooks will be pleased to hear that It Follows is getting its own metal case tribute. Now you can own a special edition of the date movie that guaranteed you were not getting any that night.
There’s also a bunch of newer releases dropping this week, like this year’s The Forest, so check them all out. As always, pleasant viewing.
MOVIES
Androgynym (2016)
Starring:
Nicholas Zorro
Synopsis:
Nym is a young man who works for a criminal organization. He moves packages and collects money as part of his responsibilities and he also hurts or threatens people who get into trouble with the business. One of the perks of his position is access to prostitutes, for which Nym indulges every evening. After one of his jobs goes wrong, leaving the younger brother of a rival crime boss named Carlos dead, Nym’s boss, Lou, is assassinated and Nym is forced to flee town and go into hiding. Once in this new town, Asheville NC, Nym is forced to deal with his sex addiction. Unable to make the human connection necessary to engage in the sexual intercourse that he needs compounded with his new life crisis, Nym cuts his penis off and dresses himself up as the very object of his desire – a woman.
Nym decides to kill himself until a chance encounter with a young man, John, diverts his interest. As Nym and John grow closer and closer, Carlos and his men close in on him until his old life comes crashing into his new world and Nym is forced to see and deal with the consequences of the man he once was.
Purchase:
Bride of Re-Animator (1991)
Starring:
Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Fabiana Udeino, Claude Earl Jones, David Gale
Synopsis:
DATE. MATE. RE-ANIMATE.
The success of Stuart Gordon’s hit horror-comedy Re-animator meant that a sequel was all but inevitable. The resulting follow-up, Bride of Re-animator – this time helmed by director Brian Yuzna (Society, Return of the Living Dead 3 and Producer of the original Re-animator) – would prove that there was a good deal more life left in the story of Dr. Herbert West and his ghoulish exploits.
It is 8 years since the Miskatonic massacre. Unperturbed by the disastrous outcome of his previous meddling with the dead, Dr. West (again played by Jeffrey Combs) continues his research into the phenomenon of re-animation; only this time, he plans to create life starting with the heart of his young protégé Dan s dearly deceased, Meg Halsey. Surely nothing could go wrong?
With special effects master Screaming Mad George (the man behind the infamous shunting sequence in Society) on hand to contribute a host of characteristically weird and wonderful creations including zombified bats and a one-eyed finger spider Bride of re-animator is a more than worthy successor to Gordon s original cult classic.
Purchase:
The Conduit (2016)
Starring:
Wes Martinez, Monica Engesser, Mike Watkiss, Chris Cox, Carrie Fee
Synopsis:
Wounded by a recent divorce and haunted by a tragic event in his childhood, Eddie returns to his home town hoping to pick up the pieces of his broken life. There he meets Amy, a mysterious and beautiful young woman with an undeniable allure. Eddie falls for Amy, easing his personal pain with her love-and lust. Something dark and sinister lurks in Amy’s past- Amy is a conduit, a channel for an evil that she most spread to others through attraction. Will her love save Eddie, or will it take him to darker places?
Purchase:
Diary of a Deadbeat: The Story of Jim VanBebber (2016)
Starring:
Jim VanBebber, Phil Anselmo, Nivek Orge, Richard Kern
Synopsis:
Jim VanBebber, an uncompromising, underground, outlaw filmmaker from Greenville, Ohio has become one of the most infamous and controversial American independent filmmakers of our time. VanBebber brought us such cult classics as Deadbeat At Dawn (the first feature film made in Dayton, Ohio) My Sweet Satan, The Manson Family, and many others. Shot over the course of several years, Diary Of A Deadbeat is a documentary that follows VanBebber’s life from his early super 8mm films to his days in Hollywood. Directed by young auteur Victor Bonacore, the documentary features interviews with an eclectic group of artists including Pantera’s Phil Ansemlo, transgressive film director Richard Kern, Skinny Puppy’s Nivek Ogre, R.A. The Rugged Man, Heidi Honeycutt, Stephen Biro, Damon Packard, Jessie Seitz, and many more.
Purchase:
Flight 7500 (2013)
Starring:
Leslie Bibb, Jamie Chung, Jerry Ferrara, Ryan Kwanten, Johnathon Schaech
Synopsis:
A plane takes off from Los Angeles and heads for Tokyo, but soon its passengers feel a mysterious force onboard.
Purchase:
The Forest (2016)
Starring:
Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Eoin Macken
Synopsis:
Rising with terrifying grandeur at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan, the legendary real-life Aokigahara Forest is the suspense-filled setting of the supernatural thriller. A young American woman, Sara (Natalie Dormer of “Game of Thrones” and The Hunger Games), journeys there in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared. In the company of expatriate Aiden (Taylor Kinney of “Chicago Fire”), Sara enters the forest having been well warned to “stay on the path.” Determined to discover the truth about her sister’s fate, Sara will have to face the angry and tormented souls of the dead that prey on anyone who dares come near them. These malevolent spirits lying in wait for Sara at every turn will plunge her into a frightening darkness from which she must fight to save herself.
Purchase:
German Angst (2015)
Starring:
Matthan Harris, Denis Lyons, Daniel Faust
Synopsis:
“German Angst” is an outrageous compilation of three tales, exploring all aspects of love, sex and death in Berlin. Directed and featuring Germany’s most shocking directors, Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik), Michal Kosakowski (Zero Killed), and Andreas Marschall (Tears of Kali).
Purchase:
Ghost Box (2016)
Starring:
Christopher Darby, Carol Florence
Synopsis:
Mark Hannum is an aspiring author tired of the routine and monotony of his life. When he decides to finally write his opus on the Paranormal, he gives up his day job to pursue his dream but his life begins a downward spiral. He becomes possessed with the supernatural and is constantly immersed in his research, alienating his girlfriend who then leaves him. Soon all he has left is the case of Mrs. Ester’s ghost. The old lady’s house is a strange paranormal trap that eventually consumes him day and night. He travels to the darkest places imaginable and realizes too late that he’s in over his head. This is one ghost that doesn’t want to be disturbed.
Purchase:
It Follows (2015) (Steelbook)
Starring:
Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, John Weary
Synopsis:
For 19-year-old Jay, fall should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Jay and her teenage friends must now find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind in this critically-acclaimed chiller that Bloody Disgusting calls the scariest movie of 2015.
Purchase:
Medousa (1999)
Starring:
Eleni Filini, Thanos Amorginos, Vana Rambota
Synopsis:
In this surreal retelling of the ancient myth of the Medusa, bizarre, clothed statues of men are appearing all over Greece. Only Perseus, the leader of a gang of modern Athenian thieves, holds the answer to the mystery. It has something to do with a beautiful, long-haired woman in black who is connected with his troubled childhood. One night his gang breaks into a deserted house in the countryside looking for goods to steal. What they find is entirely unexpected and leads Perseus on a dangerous journey into his past.
Medousa is one of the very few attempts to make a modern Greek horror film. Its intriguing plot unfolds in a surprising and yet entirely logical way, creating a memorably atmospheric thriller that reworks familiar myths into an original and highly personal narrative.
Mondo Macabro is very proud to be presenting for the first time on US video this overlooked gem of genre cinema. The film was screened at a number of international festivals and won a prize at World-Fest Houston in 1998. It’s a film ripe for rediscovery and this long overdue release announces the re-emergence of a unique film making talent.
Purchase:
Schramm (1993)
Starring:
Florian Koemer von Gustorf, Monika M.
Synopsis:
The story of a deranged serial killer from the director of Nekromantik. Lothar Schramm (Florian Koemer von Gustorf) is dying, face down in a pool of his own blood. Behind his closed eyes, fractured memories repeat themselves. He runs by the sea. He lusts after the whore (Nekromantik 2’s Monika M.) across the hall. He staggers through life uncertainly. He kills. Schramm is the story of the notorious Lipstick Killer Lothar Schramm’s last days on earth. Revealed in a series of tightly constructed flashbacks, the film offers an unflinching look into the mind of a serial killer. Uncompromising in its depictions of violence and perversion, Schramm is a poetic masterpiece of horror guaranteed to make you squirm.
Purchase:
Village of the Damned (1995)
Starring:
Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Mark Hamill
Synopsis:
A doctor battles children who exert deadly mind control over adults in a small Northern California town.
Purchase:
Where the Devil Dwells (2016)
Starring:
Walter Peña, Scott Anthony Leet, David O’Hara, Alexis Raben
Synopsis:
The year is 1989 and satanic paranoia runs rampant in America. Just out of the Sunnyvale Psychiatric Hospital, Lenard Vasquez, son of allegedly-slain serial killer Oren Butcher Vasquez, is remanded under house arrest with intensive supervision by Don Miller, a sadistic sheriff who abides by his own set of rules. Soon after moving in, Lenard is tormented by ominous signs that may be the design of a dangerous cult. Lenard s mental illness may never allow him to find out for sure. He enlists the help of a local student, Mitzi, to help him for the duration of his sentence. But when Lenard s father threatens to come back into his life and resume killing, he has to grapple with the question of what is real and how he will survive.
Purchase:
COLLECTIONS
Destroyer / Edge of Sanity
Starring:
Anthony Perkins, Deborah Foreman
Movies:
Destroyer
An electrocuted murderer stalks the writer, stuntwoman and cast on the set of “Death House Dolls.”
Edge of Sanity
Cocaine turns Dr. Jekyll into nocturnal Mr. Hyde, Victorian London’s Jack the Ripper.
Purchase:
The Doctor Mabuse Collection
Starring:
Jerry Lacy, Kathryn Leigh Scott
Synopsis:
Inspired by the character made famous by director Fritz Lang, Doctor Mabuse returns in two new features — Doctor Mabuse and Doctor Mabuse: Etiopomar, starring Jerry Lacy as Mabuse and written and directed by rising filmmaker Ansel Faraj.
In the psychological thriller Doctor Mabuse, the criminal mastermind plots a new reign of terror, with only Inspector Lohmann standing in the way. Infiltrating the demon’s inner circle, Lohmann learns that the cost for defying Mabuse is a fate far worse than death.
The steampunk shocker Doctor Mabuse: Etiopomar uses six interwoven tales to tell the story of the villain’s quest to establish a kingdom for his followers. To create what he calls his ‘Etiopomar,’ Mabuse enlists an army of automatons created by a mad scientist…who will be very familiar to fans of classic German cinema.
Purchase:
Sex Murder Art: The Films of Jorg Buttgereit
Starring:
Florian Koemer von Gustorf, Monika M., Beatrice M., Daktari Lorenz, Mark Reeder
Synopsis:
Cult Epics presents Sex Murder Art: The Films of Jorg Buttgereit, a collection of his four horror underground films; the necrophilia classics Nekromantik & Nekromantik 2, the death and suicide anthology Der Todesking (The Death King) and the premiere of the serial killer film Schramm on Blu-ray. Includes exclusive Soundtrack CD’s of the films and a 40-page booklet containing interviews and photos with Jorg Buttgereit and collaborators. Fully Uncut & Uncensored versions.
Movies:
Nekromantik
The controversial horror film that shocked the world in 1987, when it was banned in Germany, censored in Japan and simultaneously became a huge underground hit in the US (now long out of print.) Nekromantik tells the story of Rob (Daktari Lorenz) who works at a street-cleaning Agency, who visits roadside accidents to clean up the scene. Incidentally Rob collects the body parts and shares them with his girlfriend Betty (Beatrice M.) When Rob presents a complete corpse taken out of a swamp, their undying love reaches its peak, but soon after Betty gets a more liking towards the corpse and leaves Rob, which takes him to the sick end of his destruction.
Nekromantik 2
From director Jorg Buttgereit comes Nekromantik 2, the gore horror sequel to his 1987 classic Nekromantik. Monika (Monika M.) is a beautiful necrophiliac who lives alone in Berlin. By day she works as a nurse. By night she prowls through cemeteries while searching for fresh corpses. When she reads about the suicide of Rob (Nekromantik’s Daktari Lorenz) she finds his grave to dig up his body and brings it home. Mark (Mark Reeder) lives across town and makes his living dubbing “sex films”. After meeting Monika, romance blossoms and they fall in love. But all is not well in Monika’s world. Her relationship with Mark begins to falter and she has to make a final choice between loving the living or the dead.
Der Todesking
Cult Epics presents the third release in the series Corpse Fucking Art; Jorg Buttgereit’s powerful masterpiece Der Todesking (aka The Death King), made in-between Nekromantik (1987) and Nekromantik 2 (1991). Seven stories on Death and Suicide, each taking place on a different day of the week, enframed by the decomposition of a human body. Warning: extremely graphic.
Schramm
The story of a deranged serial killer from the director of Nekromantik. Lothar Schramm (Florian Koemer von Gustorf) is dying, face down in a pool of his own blood. Behind his closed eyes, fractured memories repeat themselves. He runs by the sea. He lusts after the whore (Nekromantik 2’s Monika M.) across the hall. He staggers through life uncertainly. He kills. Schramm is the story of the notorious Lipstick Killer Lothar Schramm’s last days on earth. Revealed in a series of tightly constructed flashbacks, the film offers an unflinching look into the mind of a serial killer. Uncompromising in its depictions of violence and perversion, Schramm is a poetic masterpiece of horror guaranteed to make you squirm.
Purchase:
Categorized:News
