DVD and Blu-ray Releases: September 20, 2016
Sean Brickley
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Hello, folks. As we count down the weeks to Halloween (and I have celebrated aging yet another year this past Sunday), this is our shortest list until November 1st. There are only 12 releases coming to your local stores this week, and roughly half of them are classics.
Chronologically first of our classics is the nearly 75-year-old Cat People, followed by a double feature consisting of The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster. (Have you seen these on an Echo Bridge release at some point? Yes, you most likely have.)
Speaking of movies from the late 50s, the sequel to The Blob, 1972’s Beware! The Blob, is getting both a Blu-ray and DVD release this week. Up next, representing the iridescence of the 1980s, is Dead End Drive-in. Our final classic entry this time around is The Rift, which you may also know as Endless Descent.
Remember to keep checking back each week if you don’t see something here that piques your interest. There are plenty of titles dropping soon so something is bound to be appealing. Pleasant viewing, friends.
MOVIES
Alienween (2016)
Starring:
Guglielmo Favilla, Raffaele Ottolenghi, Giulia Zeeti
Synopsis:
Four friends decide to spend Halloween night partying in a country house with call girls. The house has been abandoned ever since a tragic death occurred there years ago. While they are partying, strange slimy meteors begin to fall from the sky. The raging storm outside brings them face to face with not only the house’s tragic past, but with an alien invasion of the strangest kind. This Halloween, the Aliens are here and it’s not good! They came from Outer Space… to make one HELL of a Party!
Beware! The Blob (1972)
Starring:
Robert Walker Jr., Gywnne Gilford, Godfrey Cambridge, Carol Lynley, Dick Van Patten
Synopsis:
Newly Re-mastered in HD! The Blob returns… more outrageous than ever in this 1972 sequel to the popular sci-fi classic! Plenty of familiar faces, including Robert Walker Jr. (Ensign Pulver), Larry Hagman (Dallas), Sid Haig (Busting), Burgess Meredith (Rocky), Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), Godfrey Cambridge (Cotton Comes to Harlem), Cindy Williams (Laverne & Shirley), Carole Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure), Gerrit Graham (Used Cars) and Shelley Berman (You Don t Mess with the Zohan) add to the fun. A geologist (Cambridge) unwittingly brings home an unusual frozen piece of debris from the North Pole. But when it accidentally thaws, the hungrier-than-ever Blob comes to life again, consuming nearly everyone in its path and terrorizing the town. No one is safe as it crawls into a bowling alley, oozes its way across an ice rink, becoming grotesquely bloated with the blood of its victims… can this bizarre creature ever be stopped? TV legend Larry Hagman directed this cult classic, the only feature film he ever directed upon its 1980s re-release, the film was tagged “The Film that J.R. Shot!”.
The Blackout Experiments (2016)
Starring:
Jessica Sowa
Synopsis:
The most extreme immersive horror experience in America is called Blackout. Not for the faint of heart, it is a terrifying, psycho-sexual thrill-ride designed to play on our deepest psychological fears. Rich Fox’s innovative horror documentary follows a group of friends whose experience with Blackout becomes deeply personal, developing into an obsession that hijacks their lives and blurs the line between reality and paranoid fantasy. Revealing an underbelly of private rituals and personal nightmares with footage that is 100% real, The Blackout Experiments is the story of our obsession with the darkness inside us. The Blackout Experiments premiered at Sundance 2016.
Blood Trap (2016)
Starring:
Costas Mandylor, Vinnie Jones
Synopsis:
When a group of criminals kidnaps a gangster’s daughter for ransom, they find themselves in way over their heads. They become locked in her compound until dark and are systematically hunted down by their victim who is actually a vampire! Stars Costas Manydlor (SAW franchise) Vinnie Jones (Snatch, X-Men – The Last Stand), and Gianni Capaldi!
Cat People (1942)
Starring:
Simone Simon, Kent Smith
Synopsis:
A New York architect marries a Serbian artist who turns into a black panther when aroused.
Dead End Drive-In (1986) (Special Edition)
Starring:
Ned Manning, Natalie McCurry, Peter Whitford, Wilbur Wilde, David Gibson
Synopsis:
THE PRICE OF ADMISSION IS THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.
One of Quentin Tarantino s favorite directors, Brian Trenchard-Smith was a key figure in the Ozploitation movement, responsible for The Man from Hong Kong, Stunt Rock, Turkey Shoot, BMX Bandits… and dystopian cult classic Dead-End Drive In!
Set in a near-future where the economy has crumbled and violent gangs play havoc in the streets, the powers-that-be have decided to lure the delinquent youth into drive-in cinemas and keep them there. No longer just a place to watch trashy movies and make out, these outdoor picture shows have become concentration camps for the unruly and unwanted.
With its day-glo colour scheme, new wave soundtrack and extraordinary stunt work, Dead-End Drive-In is in the tradition of Ozploitation milestones Mad Max and The Cars That Ate Paris only very, very eighties.
Fright Night 2: New Blood (2013)
Starring:
Will Payne, Jaime Murray, Sean Power, Sacha Parkinson, Chris Waller
Synopsis:
By day Gerri Dandridge is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. So when a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in Gerri’s chilling web of lust and terror. Charley and “Evil” Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a “new moon virgin,” which just so happens to be Charley’s ex-girlfriend, Amy. They enlist help from Peter Vincent, the vampire hunting host of a reality show called “Fright Night,” to drive a stake through Gerri’s plan and save Amy from a fate far worse than death.
Mai-Chan’s Daily Life: The Movie; Bloody Carnal Residence (2014)
Starring:
Koshi Ann, Akane Miyako, Maruyama Shogo, Roman Soako
Synopsis:
Based on the popular manga by Uziga Waita, Mai-Chan’s Daily Life is a diabolical dark comedy that takes fetish violence to shocking new extremes. A young woman, Miyako (Akane Miyako) responds to an advertisement for a live-in maid, and is given a job alongside the playfully alluring Mai-chan (Koshi Ann). Miyako quickly learns that housecleaning is the least of her duties, as the master (Maruyama Shogo) and his wife (Roman Soako) use the maids as toys in their unbridled erotic fantasies. Since Mai-chan possesses the uncanny ability to recover from any injury, no matter how severe, every violent desire is indulged, and Miyako soon finds herself actively involved in Mai-chan’s horrific destruction (and miraculous resurrection).
Queen of Spades: The Dark Rite (2016)
Starring:
Alina Babak, Valeriya Dmitrieva, Igor Khripunov, Evgeniya Loza, Sergey Pokhodaev
Synopsis:
Legend has it that any mirror may become a portal into the world of the dead. It is said the Queen of Spades gets her energy from reflective objects and anyone who sees her will go insane or die. When four teenagers summon the Queen as a joke, one of them dies suddenly and the group realizes they have conjured up an inexplicable and deadly evil.
The Rift (aka Endless Descent) (1990)
Starring:
Jack Scalia, R. Lee Ermey, Ray Wise, Deborah Adair
Synopsis:
Ray Wise (“Twin Peaks”, Robocop) stars in this underwater horror film in the tradition of Leviathan and DeepStar Six! The experimental submarine Siren 1, designed by Wick Hayes (Jack Scalia, Fear City), is missing. The rescue team, headed by Captain Phillips (R. Lee Ermey, Full Metal Jacket, The Siege of Firebase Gloria) and scientist Robbins (Wise), embark on a mission to find the missing sub. Complicated by the addition of Wick s estranged wife Nina (Deborah Adair) to the rescue team, the tension mounts as the Siren 2 dives deeper than any sub has gone before. What the crew finds in the furthermost darkest recesses of the ocean is more ghastly and horrifying than they could ever imagine! Also known as Endless Descent, co-starring Ely Pouget (Death Machine) and directed by cult director Juan Piquer Simon (Pieces, Slugs) now see this thrilling horror classic from a brand new HD master.
Sacrifice (2016)
Starring:
Radha Mitchell, Rupert Graves
Synopsis:
Disturbing secrets lie buried in the bogs of a remote island in this spellbinding thriller. Shortly after surgeon Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell, Silent Hill, London Has Fallen) moves with her husband (Rupert Graves, Sherlock) to the Shetland Islands – 100 miles off the coast of Scotland – she makes an unnerving discovery: the body of a young woman with strange symbols carved into her flesh and her heart ripped out. When what at first appears to be the remains of a victim of an ancient ritual turns out to be a fresh corpse, Tora is plunged into a dangerous mystery that may be connected to the dark myths of the island’s folklore.
COLLECTIONS
The Killer Shrews / The Giant Gila Monster Widescreen Double Feature
Starring:
James Best, Ken Curtis, Don Sullivan, Fred Graham, Ingrid Goude
Synopsis:
Two drive-in fan favorites appear for the first time in beautiful widescreen 16×9-enhanced transfers from 35mm film elements! Shiver in fear as a small island is over-run by giant man-eating Killer Shrews. Nothing can stop them, but James Best (“Dukes Of Hazzard”) brings on the fight till the end, while teenage rockers slam the gas pedal in their souped-up Hot Rods to take on a giant crawling Gila Monster in one the most striking double features from 1959. Bonus feature: original trailers. Both films are presented in their original black & white versions in 1.66:1 enhanced-widescreen from 35mm film elements.
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