Well guys, nothing but love as always with your continuing support of the old video store. It is your support that allows me to continue to bring in the sweet, sweet cinema that needs to be rediscovered or discovered for the first time. This week is no exception. From Gorgo to Hardcore, from Irwin Allen to Jean Rollin the shop is always trying it’s best to expand your cinematic minds. So let’s dive in shall we?
As always…back in stock the series known as The Plane Movie, The Logging Truck Movie, The Rollercoaster Movie, The Nascar Movie, and The Bridge Movie. Cheers!
BACK IN STOCK! The Steven Seagal Triple Feature!
When a robbery in New Orleans ends in disaster, the mercurial burglar Dova (Matt Dillon) escapes with his cohorts to a seedy, nearby bar. Capturing all those inside, the criminals trade barbs with the establishment’s feisty bartender Janet Boudreaux (Faye Dunaway). The pub becomes highly volatile, however, when the police encircle it; as it turns out, they were already there surveilling another of the bar’s patrons, a suspected illicit arms trafficker named Guy Foucard (Viggo Mortensen).
At a secluded mental institution, electricity fuels the hi-tech security system that keeps the nearby neighbourhoods safe from deviant menaces like Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance, Batman) and “Preacher” (Martin Landau, Ed Wood). Dr. Bain (Halloween’s Donald Pleasence) maintains strict order while a new doctor, Dan Potter (The A-Team’s Dwight Schultz), arrives in town with his family. But the inmates don’t take kindly to Potter’s presence and believe he has killed off their former therapist. Suddenly, a power outage leaves the town in chaos … and now the maniacs are free to roam the streets and hunt down the man they believe has invaded their lives. With the area quickly descending into riots and chaos, the innocent few must fight for their lives when they’re left terrified, cornered and Alone In The Dark! One of the most memorable and terrifying cult horror films of the 1980s, this white-knuckle shocker from director Jack Sholder (The Hidden) features gory make-up effects from Tom Brumberger (Don’t Go In The House) and Tom Savini (Friday The 13th), delivering one seat-jumping scare after another, along with a thick slab of pitch-black humour!
A sharp, clever twist on the Frankenstein plot, one with a racial and political edge. Chad L. Coleman, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Denzel Whitaker, Bomani J. Story, 2023.
Imagine walking down the street and finding an unmarked VHS tape. Curiosity piqued, you take it home and pop it in. What starts off as two men screwing around with a video camera quickly transforms into an ultra-realistic torture sequence where the unidentified psychopaths tape their exploits as they torment and violate a woman tied to a chair.
Kim Sun-woo is sent by his crime boss employer to shadow his young mistress, Heesoo, to find out whether she is seeing another man. His instructions are to kill them both if it is true.
Euro sleaze cinema featuring plenty of sadism and Satanism! Stars Rita Calderoni and Mickey Hargitay. Directed by Renato Polselli. 1973.
Policemen (John Saxon, David Huffman) are baffled when people disappear, sucked into the beach by a sand creature.
Based on the legend of Colorado Cannibal Alferd Packer, Cannibal the Musical tells Packer’s version of what really happened when he and a group of gold diggers embarked on their fateful trip into the Rocky Mountains. Gruesomely gory, savagely satirical and painfully funny, Cannibal the Musical stands as a predecessor to what would come next for Parker and Stone, and features several in-jokes that would become part of the South Park legacy! Further, Cannibal the Musical has become a worldwide cult sensation to rival The Rocky Horror Picture Show, inspiring stage revivals and sing-along screenings all over the world!
In a sleepy Southern town, the Larkin family suffer a terrible tragedy and they’re about to endure another. Traffic lights blink an eerie warning, a ghostly visage prowls in the streets, and graves erupt from the local cemetery in an implacable march of terror. And beneath the murky surface of the river, a shifting, almost human, shape slowly takes form to seek a terrible vengeance.
Remake of the classic zombie film where survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall. Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Zack Snyder, 2004.
When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.’ With the U.S. in the grip of a zombie apocalypse, four desperate survivors find refuge in a shopping mall. But the flesh-eating hordes, still possessed by an instinctive desire to consume, are drawn to the same destination. What follows is a nail-biting fight for survival. George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead remains one of the greatest horror films ever made, often imitated but never equalled, and is now presented in a brand-new restoration. SPECIAL FEATURES: UHD DISC 1 – THE THEATRICAL CUT (Region Free) New 4K scan and restoration of the Original Camera Negative by Second Sight at Final Frame New York and London supervised and approved by DoP Michael Gornick Presented in HDR10+ Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono – New restoration of the original OCN Optical / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Commentary by George A Romero, Tom Savini, Christine Forrest NEW commentary by Travis Crawford New optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired UHD DISC 2 – THE EXTENDED (‘CANNES’) CUT (Region Free) Produced using 4K scan of the Theatrical Cut Original Camera Negative and 4K scan of the Extended Cut Colour Reversal Internegative Presented in HDR10+ DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono Commentary by Richard P Rubinstein New optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired UHD DISC 3 – THE ARGENTO CUT (Region Free) 4K scan of the Interpositive by Michele De Angelis at Backlight Digital, Rome Audio: DT-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 / Surround 5.1 / Stereo 2
After a raucous visit from the wealthy Uncle Arthur (The Death of a Lumberjack’s J. Léo Gagnon), working class Montreal couple Roland (O.K. … Laliberté’s René Caron) and Berthe (Mustang’s Luce Guilbeault) are left feeling slighted by his meager gift of $500. Hungry for more, Berthe hatches a plan to descend on Uncle Arthur’s remote country house and steal his small fortune with the help of her delinquent brother and cousin. When the robbery spirals out of control, allegiances shift, blood is spilled, and Roland’s dimwitted lodger Ernest (J.A. Martin Photographer’s Marcel Sabourin) takes center stage in a harrowing battle for Arthur’s stolen cash.
BUNNY THE KILLER THING: A group of seven Finnish friends head to the cottage in the middle of the forest, accompanied by a group of three foreign men they have just met, who are strangely conspicuous about something. The direction of the weekend changes constantly.
SKY SHARKS: A military task force is assembled to stop a group of genetically modified sharks.
The magical sword of Excalibur starts off in the hands of British lord Uther Pendragon (Gabriel Byrne) and then, years later, finds its way to his bastard son, Arthur (Nigel Terry), the knave destined to become king. Aided by the sorcerer Merlin (Nicol Williamson), Arthur fulfills his fate by bringing together the Knights of the Round Table at Camelot and unifying the country. However, this flawed monarch faces greater tests ahead in pursuit of love, the Holy Grail and his nation’s survival.
Fake it So Real follows a ragtag group of wrestlers in North Carolina over the course of a week leading up to a big show. The film explores what happens when the over-the-top theatrics of the wrestling ring collide with the realities of the working-class South. The wrestlers aren’t paid for their passion, but they treat wrestling like any artist treats their work. Fake It So Real shares the triumphs and heartaches of an often under-appreciated American art form. Blu-ray includes extra footage,
-A look at the NYC Rooftop Films NYC premiere
-MWF Mixtape
-Wrestling promos by indie film luminaries including: Alex Ross Perry (The Color Wheel and Listen Up Philip), Michael Tully (Ping Pong Summer and Septien), Lawrence Michael Levine (Wild Canaries), The Ross Brothers (Western and Tchoupitoulas), Michael Bilandic (Hellaware), Jarred Alterman (Convento), Mark Elijah Rosenberg, Tom Hall, Daniel Metz, Aaron Hillis, Adam Shartoff and Craig Butta.
-Talking Documentary Podcast Interview with Robert Greene by Scott Lacy
-Commentary track with Robert Greene and wrestling journalist David Shoemaker
-Looking back conversation with Chris Solar and Robert Green
-Booklet with an Interview with Robert Greene by Nadine Smith and essay by Sean Price Williams.
When a duplicitous scheme by the low-level yakuza, Kase (Shota Sometani) goes hilariously wrong, a terminally ill boxer, Leo (Masataka Kubota), and a disturbed drug addicted call girl, Monica (Sakurako Konishi), find themselves innocently caught in the crosshairs of two warring gangs.
Over the course of the increasingly ludicrous night, the two fall passionately in love, while the hail of bullets and blood fall quietly in the background. From prolific auteur Takashi Miike, this noir-tinged, violent yakuza film, is Miike at his most fun and anarchic.
Be afraid … be very afraid … Experience the ultimate in horror with The Fly Collection, featuring the chilling original trilogy, the eye-popping ’80s remake and its terrifying sequel.
Packed with hours of fascinating special features, this 5-disc set includes 1958’s The Fly starring Vincent Price; The Return Of The Fly, in which the son of the original scientist continues his father’s work; and The Curse Of The Fly, in which a woman finds she’s married into the wrong family.
David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of The Fly electrified audiences with its ground-breaking, gooey effects and the riveting performance by Jeff Goldblum as Seth Brundle, a scientist whose teleporting experiment takes a tragic toll. The hair-raising sequel to the remake stars Eric Stoltz as Seth Brundle’s son, who is beginning to show the effects of his father’s experiment. Get ready for hours of skin-crawling terror as you witness a transformation like no other – from man to fly.
Maverick writer/director Ralph Bakshi (Heavy Traffic, Wizards) made his feature-length film debut with this audacious foray into adult-content animation, creating one of the most successful animated features of its time! Based on a legendary character created by underground comic book artist/writer R. Crumb, Fritz the Cat is a brilliant commentary on ’60s life and a “snarling satire that stubbornly refuses to curl up in anyone’s lap” (Playboy). It’s the age of awakening and Fritz, one way-cool cat and NYU student, loves to embrace every experimental experience that crosses his path. Embarking on a fantastic journey of self-discovery, he indulges in everything from multiple bedroom follies to a wild joy ride through a dangerous Harlem. But when Fritz joins a group of radically aggressive hippies, he finds himself holding the dynamite that will detonate the ultimate ’60s statement—one that could cost him his life!
Back In Stock! All Three Canadian classics in one set on BLU RAY!
When an underwater volcanic eruption tears up the sea bed off the coast of Ireland, two treasure hunters make the discovery of a lifetime when they encounter a gigantic prehistoric monster that’s been unleashed from the earth’s crust. After capturing the beast, the pair transport the creature down to London where it’s given the name of “Gorgo” and put on display to an avid public. Little do they realize that Gorgo is just an infant, and that his exponentially larger mother is about to emerge from the depths to avenge the capture of her offspring. As Gorgo’s mother begins her advance on the British capital, not even the considerable might of Her Majesty’s Armed Forces can stop her colossal devastation!
When her oldest friend is plagued by horrific nightmares from the beyond, Monique is forced to travel to NYC. On the first night of the visit, Monique learns the dreams are contagious – and so is the HARBINGER, the plague mask-wearing demon who not only feeds on its victims’ souls, but warps reality itself to remove any trace of their existence. FEATURE-LENGTH COMMENTARY with Andy Mitton & Gabby Beans
DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES
EXCLUSIVE ESSAY with Author Paul G. Tremblay (CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD, A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS, SURVIVOR SONG)
– Alternate Ending
(Director’s Commentary Off/On)
– Raw Take from Alternate Ending
– Mavis Calls Monique
– Mavis Describes Her Dreams (Extended)
– Monique and Lyle’s Last Meeting (Extended)
– The Refrigerated Truck Nightmare (Extended)
Screen legend George C. Scott (Patton, The Day of the Dolphin) gives a strong, sensitive portrayal of a deeply religious Midwestern businessman whose daughter, while on a church-sponsored outing, runs away from home. He hires an oddball detective (Peter Boyle, The Brink’s Job), who learns that the daughter has been making cheap sex films. When the father realizes that he can no longer trust the detective, he decides to hunt for his daughter himself. Posing as a porno film producer casting a new movie, he gathers clues with ferocious determination. Finally, with the help of a prostitute (Season Hubley, Vice Squad), he locates his daughter. But is it too late? Paul Schrader, writer (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) and director (Blue Collar, American Gigolo), presents a powerful, unflinching glimpse into the dark, bizarre world of the pornography industry. Featuring cinematography by Michael Chapman (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and music by Jack Nitzsche (The Exorcist).
Special Features:
• Audio Commentary by Writer/Director Paul Schrader
• Audio Commentary by Film Historians Eddy Friedfeld, Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles
Steeped in controversy, unflinching, unforgettable. Dekanolog is proud to present Asia Argento’s adaptation of J.T. Leroy’s best selling novel The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, a searing exploration of trauma and survival in the underside of America’s heartland. Headlining one of the most intriguing casts of the 2000s, which includes Peter Fonda, Ornella Muti, Jeremy Renner, Lydia Lunch, Ben Foster, and Winona Ryder, Argento stars as Sarah, a woman who rips her son (played at various points by Jimmy Bennett, Dylan, and Cole Sprouse) out of foster care and throws him into her transient life as a sex worker at truck stops. Leroy was later revealed to be a fabrication of author Laura Albert and her sibling-in-law Savannah Knoop, a story that broke the year after The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things was released.
Adventures from deep space to futuristic New York, and beyond. Each world and story is dominated by the presence of the Loch’nar — the sum of all evils manifest as a glowing green sphere whose power infects all times, all galaxies, all dimensions. To some, it appears as treasure, a green jewel they must possess. Others worship it as a god. Few escape it. Even in death and through death its powers continue. From war to war and world to world it seems invincible.
Christine, a cheeky 16-year-old from Wollongong, decides to escape and hitch-hike around the world. She meets an intense young German and marries him. Slowly she comes to realise that her husband is involved in international terrorism.
On a dark road, taxi driver Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) comes across a scared female motorist stranded in a broken-down vehicle. He pulls over — but not to help her. When the woman’s head is discovered in a local river, her devastated fiancé, Kim Soo-hyeon (Lee Byung-hun), a trained secret agent, becomes obsessed with hunting down her killer. Once he finds Kyung-chul, things get twisted. After brutally beating the murderer, Kim lets him go free, and a demented game of cat and mouse begins.
While on the first-ever voyage to the rings of Saturn, an unexplained phenomenon takes hold of astronaut Steve West and his crew, burning all but Steve to a crisp. Somehow able to return to Earth, Steve awakens in a hospital bed, only to discover that his body is disintegrating. Worse, he begins to develop an instinctual urge to kill, learning that this is the only way to maintain his strength. After escaping from the hospital, Steve begins to ravage the nearby countryside; brutally murdering all who cross his path, and leaving behind a series of mangled bodies covered in his dripping flesh…
A legendary drive-in favorite and showcase for some of special effects genius Rick Baker’s earliest work, William Sachs’ THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN offers an oozing 70s tribute to 1950s sci-fi cinema. Featuring veteran TV stars Burr DeBenning and Michael Alldredge, along with cult actress Cheryl Smith (Lemora, Fantasm Comes Again), a rare performance from director Jonathan Demme, and starring Alex Rebar as Steve West – The Melting Man, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to bring this quintessential cult classic to UHD and Blu-ray, newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative!
This 7-film set includes both TV & theatrical films from producer Irwin Allen: FLOOD (1976) / FIRE (1977) / HANGING BY A THREAD (1979) / BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1979) / WHEN TIME RAN OUT… (1980) / THE NIGHT THE BRIDGE FELL DOWN (1980) / CAVE-IN!
This seven-film set includes both television and theatrical films from producer Irwin Allen, the master of disaster films and who helmed prior hits in the subgenre such as The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.
All films have received new 2k transfer scans from the interpositive and features an all-star cast including Michael Caine, Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, Leslie Nielsen, Telly Savalas, William Holden, Sally Field, Roddy McDowall, Shirley Jones, Mark Harmon, Susan Sullivan, Ernest Borgnine, Patty Duke, Donna Mills, Robert Culp, Martin Millner, Carol Lynley, Barbara Hershey, Sam Groom, Bert Convy, Joyce Bulifant, Desi Arnaz Jr., Eve Plumb, James MacArthur, Barbara Rush, Edward Albert, Alex Karras, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita, Red Buttons, James Franciscus, Barbara Carrera, Edward Albert and plenty of screaming supporting actors!
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam war veteran attempts to discover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusion, and perception of death. Tim Robbins, 1990.
Johnny Kelly (Michael Keaton) lives a double life: at home, he’s the good apple, looking after his ailing mother (Maureen Stapleton) and sexually obsessed brother, Tommy (Griffin Dunne). But his not-so-secret life is as Johnny Dangerously, an up-and-coming criminal being groomed by local gangster Jocko Dundee (Peter Boyle). Johnny’s crime money puts Tommy through law school, but, when his brother becomes district attorney, Johnny must protect him from the murderous Danny Vermin (Joe Piscopo).
In Alfred Hitchcock’s most quick-witted and devilish comic thriller, the beautiful Margaret Lockwood, traveling across Europe by train, meets Dame May Whitty’s charming old spinster, who seemingly disappears into thin air. Soon enough, the young woman turns investigator and finds herself drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure. The Lady Vanishes, now in an all-new digital transfer, remains one of the master filmmaker’s purest delights.
Special Features
– DOUBLE DISC-SET INCLUDES
– New, restored high-definition digital transfer
– Audio commentary by film historian Bruce Eder
– Crook’s Tour, a 1941 feature-length Charters and Caldicott adventure, available for the first time on home video, starring Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne reprising their beloved The Lady Vanishes roles
– Excerpts from François Truffaut’s legendary 1962 audio interview with Alfred Hitchcock
– Mystery Train, a new video essay about Hitchcock and The Lady Vanishes by Hitchcock scholar Leonard Leff
– Stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos and promotional art
– PLUS: New essays by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and Hitchcock scholar Charles Barr
The Last Showing Trapped in a cinema, a young couples date night turns into a perilous battle for survival as a deranged projectionist (Robert Englund, Nightmare on Elm Street) manipulates them into becoming unwilling actors in his own vicious film captured by CCTV cameras.
Gruesome stop-motion fever dream produced, written, directed, designed and largely animated by legendary visual effects maestro Phil Tippett off and on for roughly 30 years. Alex Cox, Niketa Roman, Satish Ratakonda, Phil Tippett, 2021.
French torture horror about a woman, a victim of abuse, who’s desire for revenge takes her on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity. Pascal Laugier, 2008.
In Dark Meat City, a young man develops supernatural powers after an otherwise uneventful scooter accident.
Donald unwittingly stumbles upon a solution to his two major problems in his life his nagging wife and his lack of tasty meals when, one night, he bludgeons his better half to death with a pepper grinder in a drunken rage. Thinking on his feet, Donald dismembers the body and sets about microwaving the remains, which turn out to be rather delicious. Trouble is, now he s got a taste for human flesh that needs satisfying…
Eschewing all notions of good taste, Wayne Berwick s Microwave Massacre is a deliciously depraved exercise in political incorrectness that has gone on to gain a cult following thanks to a characteristically deadpan performance from lead Vernon, who delivers such choice lines as I m so hungry I could eat a whore . Vegetarians need not apply!
“There’s a helluva lot more action and crashes just in the trailer for MIDNITE SPARES than there is in the first two FAST AND FURIOUS movies put together!”- Quentin TarantinoThey didn’t get angry… they got even.Set against a background of high-risk sprintcar driving, MIDNIGHT SPARES tells the action-packed story of a motley team of grease monkeys and speedway freaks who take on a massive car stealing and stripping racket in the west of Sydney.They quickly discover that they’re not only battling a tough and highly organised auto crime cartel – but also the bent cops who protect them.Packed with jaw-dropping crashes and smashes, bitumen-burning chases and adrenaline-pumping speedway action, MIDNITE SPARES features scene-stealing performances from Ozploitation superstars Bruce Spence and David Argue, alongside Gia Carides (in her film debut) and spunky Amanda Dole (1983 Playmate of the Year). – 16 page comic book adaption from Dark Oz
– Never before released uncut alternate soundtrack
– Audio commentary with producer Tom Burstall moderated by filmmaker Mark Hartley
– NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD interview with producer Tom Burstall
– Cannes promo reel
– Stills and poster gallery
– Original theatrical trailer
– Deleted Scene
– THE RELUCTANT AUTEUR – a visual essay on director Quentin Masters presented by author and film historian David Del Valle
– FILMCO trailer reel
– TV Spot
MUNCHIES (Tina Hirsch 1987)
Cecil Watterman, Simon’s evil twin brother and snack food entrepreneur, kidnaps the creature. What Cecil does not know is that the creature, when chopped up, regenerates into many new creatures — and are they mean!
STARS: Harvey Korman, Charlie Stratton, Nadine Van der Velde
MUNCHIE (Jim Wynorski 1992)
The ever hungry and funny Munchie is back in this sequel to “Munchies”.
STARS: Loni Anderson, Andrew Stevens, Jamie McEnnan
A man remembers finding a stranger burying his son and the gruesome night that followed with a backwoods family.
One of Jean Rollin’s least-seen and most underrated works, The Night of the Hunted (La Nuit des traquées) finds the director moving away from his trademark tales of vampirism to explore a nightmarish, dystopian world.
In the dead of night, Elisabeth is rescued from unknown pursuers by Robert and taken to safety. But, after she is kidnapped and taken to an austere clinic whose distressed and abused patients are suffering from progressive memory loss, Robert sets out to find her and discover what is taking place in the clinic.
Shot at night on a shoestring budget, with a cast mostly drawn from France’s adult-film industry, The Night of the Hunted stars Rollin regulars Brigitte Lahaie (Fascination) and Natalie Perrey (Lips of Blood), and offers a stark and melancholic take on contemporary society.
That infamous cat and his twisted life are back! Staying within the tradition set by the audacious and racy Fritz the Cat, director/co-writer Robert Taylor takes R. Crumb’s way-cool feline character from the boundary-pushing ’60s to the harsh realities of Vietnam, racial riots and Watergate of the ’70s in a sequel ripe with “pure silliness [and a] hip story-telling style” (Variety)! Fritz has got the post-college blues—he’s married to a mouthy wife who berates him constantly, and he’s out of work and on unemployment! To escape his sad, nagging reality, Fritz launches himself into a psychedelic haze with a mind-blowing catnip that takes him to his eight other lives. There, he lives out fantasies as an out-of-this-world astronaut, an aide to President Kissinger and worse—an orderly to Hitler! But as his star-crossed hallucinations put him on a collision course with reality, Fritz becomes a casualty just waiting to happen!
A world-weary group of mercenary soldiers are sent to investigate a long-since used WWII bunker where something dark and dangerous lurks.
From the producer and director of Enter the Dragon Writer/director Robert Clouse, whose Enter the Dragon delivered hard-hitting action and whose Deadly Eyes provided gnawing rodent terror, combines both fright and fight in this survival tale where a walk in the woods becomes a long, dark journey into fear. Set on a remote island, where vacationers have senselessly abandoned their unwanted pet dogs, The Pack shows man’s inhumanity coming back to haunt him with fanged fury. The confused, starving pets form a rampaging pack—and man’s best friend becomes his worst fiend. Joe Don Baker (Walking Tall, GoldenEye, The Living Daylights) stars as the heroic marine biologist who comes up with a do-or-die scheme that will either reestablish man as top dog—or turn him into a tasty tidbit. The suspense is ferocious.
Newly restored in HD from a 4K scan of the original camera negative! 3-D restoration by the 3-D Film Archive! In the future, cities are ravaged by atomic fallout and controlled by evil corporations that have developed a mutant pair of flesh-eating parasites. One is feeding inside the man who created it. The other has escaped. Now with the help of a young woman left orphaned in the wasteland (Demi Moore, The Scarlet Letter), a scientist (Robert Glaudini, Wavelength) on the run must destroy these horrific creatures before they can reproduce. But the more a parasite feeds, the bigger it becomes. And the more it grows, the hungrier and angrier it gets. Released to theaters as “The First Futuristic Monster Movie in 3-D,” this sick shocker co-stars rocker Cherie Currie (Foxes), drive-in goddess Cheryl ‘Rainbeaux’ Smith (Caged Heat) and Broadway legend Vivian Blaine (Guys and Dolls). Directed by cult great Charles Band (Trancers, Blood Dolls) and featuring juicy creature effects by Academy Award-winner Stan Winston (The Terminator, Aliens), Parasite is now available for the first time in HD and 3-D!
forerunner of the American horror film, and one of the most lavish productions of the silent cinema, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has inspired countless remakes and imitations. But none of its successors can rival the mesmerizing blend of romance and mystery that haunts every frame of the Lon Chaney original. This edition presents the 1929 theatrical version, restored from archival 35mm elements by Film Preservation Associates. It is highlighted by the Technicolor Bal Masque sequence (in which the Phantom interrupts the revelry wearing the scarlet robes of the Red Death), as well as meticulously hand-colored sequences (replicating the Handschiegl Color Process). The film is presented at two different historically-accurate projection speeds, each with two different soundtrack options. Also included is the 1925 theatrical version, which survives only in poor-quality prints, but contains scenes that were removed from the 1929 release version.
Special Features: Original Screenplay (91 Min. video scroll), Montage of Stills (13 Min.), Interview with composer, Gabriel Thibaudeau (9 Min.), Two travelogues by Burton Holmes, depicting Paris in 1925: PARIS FROM A MOTOR (3 1/2 Min.) and A TRIP ON THE SEINE (3 1/2 Min.)
THE PIED PIPER (KRYSAŘ), 1986, Czechoslovakia, 53 min. Director Jiří Barta’s stop-motion animated masterpiece, based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin, is set in a dark and twisted medieval village of narrow streets and weird Gothic arches, half-CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and half-Jan van Eyck. The money-obsessed citizens, carved out of wood blocks and speaking in an onomatopoeic babble, are like George Grosz caricatures, literally spouting coins from their mouths instead of words. The rats are far more organic and sympathetic, made of real fur and whiskers, constantly tunneling and burrowing under the towering arches and cobblestone streets above. (In one of the film’s many surreal moments, a rat emerges from a gargoyle’s gaping maw.) Fans of fellow Czech animation legend Jan Švankmajer and the Brothers Quay will adore Barta’s eerie, Expressionist gem, recently restored for its first-ever U.S. Blu-ray release through Krátký Film Praha, Deaf Crocodile and Comeback Company. “Barta’s mastery of all aspects of filmmaking are evident: staging, production design, lighting, animation, editing, sound and music combine into dark worlds of repression and revolt with ironic conclusions.” – Phil Tippett (MAD GOD).
The late 70s and early-mid 80s in Poland were a time of incredible censorship and, miraculously, a time of phenomenal output from Polish filmmakers. Often overshadowed on the world stage by his peers, Piotr Szulkin was a visionary pioneer in the dystopian Sci-Fi genre. Presented here are the four films that comprise Szulkin’s Apocalypse Tetralogy, originally released between 1980-1986, arguably the busiest period for the scissors of Polish censors. Cleverly working around content restrictions, Szulkin delivers tense and disturbing Sci-Fi, telling fantastical, and often horrific, allegories of living in a corrupt bureaucracy and police state. From aliens to artificially-created beings, from brainwashed masses and ultra-violent indulgences, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present Piotr Szulkin’s Apocalypse Tetralogy, making its Worldwide Blu-ray debut.
GOLEM. Pernat finds himself in a police interrogation, accused of a murder, and unable to recall any details of the crime, or even his own life. He’s released back into a world of raving lunatics and deranged dentists, murderous doctors and scientists who believe the secret of human creation is inside the walls of a cast-iron oven. Pernat’s odyssey to find out who he is, and what it is to be human, will force his path to cross with all of them.
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS: NEXT CENTURY. The Martians have landed and they’re not to be feared! Or at least that’s what TV personality Iron Idem has been telling people. Soon after their arrival though, his apartment is ransacked and his wife kidnapped. He’s tagged like a wild animal and his nightly scripts are being changed. What Idem’s eyes are seeing no longer matches what he tells audiences night after night. Are the Martians as good-natured as he believed, or is he being used in a more sinister plot that endangers the entire planet?
O-BI, O-BA: THE END OF CIVILIZATION. The world has been ravaged by nuclear war. The planet is frozen and radiation kills anyone or anything that ventures outside of ‘The Dome’. Soft is a shepherd for the last remnants of humanity who have gathered together as they await rescue from a mysterious craft known only as ‘The Ark.’ He wanders among the masses, performing his regular daily tasks; keeping morale from plummeting, wooing prostitutes, squashing rebellions, and sometimes feeding the hungry. But as the true and sinister nature of ‘The Dome’ comes to light, Soft must ask himself if humanity is worth saving?
After Anna (Isabelle Adjani) reveals to her husband, Mark (Sam Neill), that she is having an affair, she leaves him and their son. Mark is devastated, and seeks out Heinrich (Heinz Bennent), the man who cuckolded him, only to receive a beating. After a series of violent confrontations between Mark and Anna, Mark hires a private investigator to follow her. Anna descends into madness, and it’s soon clear that she is hiding a much bigger secret — one that is both inexplicable and shocking.
Internationally acclaimed director Louis Malle (Elevator to the Gallows, Au Revoir les Enfants, Damage) has taken a taboo subject—child prostitution—and created in Pretty Baby a film of humanity and beauty. Keith Carradine (The Long Riders) is E.J. Bellocq, a photographer in 1917 obsessed with the prostitutes in New Orleans’ red-light district. Brooke Shields (The Blue Lagoon)—whose “subtlety and depth are astonishing” (Roger Ebert)—is Violet, a 12-year-old girl who bewitches Bellocq with her curiosity and naïve coquettishness. Malle’s level-headed treatment of this controversial theme, sumptuous cinematography by Sven Nykvist (Persona) and exceptional performances by the entire cast—especially Susan Sarandon (Atlantic City) as Violet’s mother—make Pretty Baby a must-see for all serious film fans. Pretty Baby was co-produced and co-written by Polly Platt (Broadcast News, Say Anything, Bottle Rocket), the iconic producer who helped launch the film careers of legendary filmmakers James L. Brooks, Cameron Crowe and Wes Anderson.
BIZARRE, BAFFLING AND BRAVE… I IMMEDIATELY FELT THE DESIRE TO WATCH IT AGAINFILM REVIEW
By day, a small group of engineers work for a large corporation. By night, they conduct extracurricular experiments in their garage. While tweaking their latest project, they accidentally discover it has highly unexpected capabilities … ones that may enable them to do and gain anything they conceive. Taking advantage of this opportunity is the first challenge they face. Dealing with the consequences could be their last.
MIND-BLOWING… PLUNGES AUDIENCES INTO A REALM OF UNKNOWN PLEASURES.THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
During transport from the Philippines to South Korea, a group of dangerous criminals unites to stage a coordinated escape attempt. As the jailbreak escalates into a bloody, all-out riot, the fugitives and their allies from the outside exact a brutal terror campaign against the special agents onboard the ship.
Gory, goofy, and all around good “wholesome” fun, director Jerry Ciccoritti’s feature filmmaking debut, PSYCHO GIRLS is an unjustifiably rare Canadian slasher which wastes no time delivering a non-stop barrage of bloodshed, all sandwiched within a deliriously over-the-top and darkly humorous script from Michael Bockner and director Ciccoritti. Never released on disc and long out of commercial circulation, Vinegar Syndrome is proud to present this outrageous course of fine Canuxploitation on Blu-ray for the very first, and presented in its complete version, bursting with brand new extras, and all newly restored in 2K by Vinegar Syndrome.
The completely underrated PURGE TV series. It came and went like a fart in the wind but deserves to be visited.
Three Women, strangers with no premeditated thoughts kill a male shopkeeper in the middle of the day, a female psychiatrist (Cox Habbema) is assigned to the case to find out why. This provocative, radical, acclaimed feminist film was a hit both in Holland and abroad when it was released in theaters and is a feminist classic today, directed by Marleen Gorris of the Oscar winning “Antonio’s Line.”
The Adventures Of Dr. Herbert West All In One Set!
When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death (Bengt Ekerot) to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof (Nils Poppe) and his wife, Mia (Bibi Andersson), and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
Stephen King’s masterful werewolf novelette comes alive! In Stephen King’s thrilling adaptation of his novelette, Cycle Of The Werewolf, a peaceful town is suddenly terrorized by a maniacal killer.
The townsfolk think a madman is on the loose, but a wheelchair-bound 13-year-old (Corey Haim, The Lost Boys) knows the truth … a werewolf is on the hunt.
With the help of his Uncle Red (Gary Busey, Lethal Weapon), young Marty Coslaw sets out to stop the half-man/half-beast before he sinks his teeth into another innocent victim. Now, time is ticking … and the full moon is about to rise.
BACK IN STOCK! Still a best seller!
Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi get the shock of their lives when they discover a parallel world populated by the intelligent descendants of dinosaurs. It seems they weren’t destroyed by a meteor millions of years ago but hurled into another dimension and, now, they have plans to rule our world. It’s up to our unlikely heroes to battle the evil King Koopa and his Goomba guards, free the beautiful Princess Daisy and save mankind in this adventure of a lifetime.
Explosive special effects and high-caliber weapons make for the ultimate manhunt in this hard-hitting action-adventure starring Ice-T, Rutger Hauer, Charles S. Dutton, Gary Busey and F. Murray Abraham. Ice-T is Mason, a homeless man recruited by a band of wealthy hunters to lead an expedition into the Pacific Northwest. But on the first day of the hunt, he discovers a lethal surprise…hes the prey. Its gut-wrenching action from start to finish as the game begins and the hunters learn a deadly lesson: Never underestimate a man whos got nothing to lose.
Three men arrive at a local funeral parlor to retrieve a lost drug stash held by the mortician Mr. Simms (Clarence Williams III). But Mr. Simms has other plans for the boys. He leads them on a tour of his establishment, introducing them to his corpses. Even the dead has tales to tell, and Mr. Simms is willing to tell them all. And you’d better listen – because when you’re in his ‘hood, even everyday life can lead to extraordinary terror!
Two girlfriends try to relax at Lake Tenkiller, but a slasher won’t let them.
An assortment of unruly and misfit teens have all been forced to attend camp at a wildlife preserve which happens to be next to a an illicit marijuana growing op that uses a pesticide that mutates ticks to gigantic size. Rosalind Allen, Seth Green, 1993.
A scarcely seen and distributed regional SOV slasher saga, the Tortured Soul trilogy is the masterwork of legendary Minneapolis, Minnesota filmmaking madman Michael W. Johnson (Serial Killer Massacre, Blood Kiss, Tales From The Cannibal Side), whose features were notorious for pushing the boundaries of extreme violence and graphic sexual content far beyond that of his ‘90s SOV contemporaries. Featuring performances by horror legend Kyra Schon (Night of the Living Dead), scream queen Stephanie Beaton (Eyes of the Werewolf, The Evilmaker), & AVN nominated porn starlet Avy Scott, Saturn’s Core is proud to present the first ever, director’s approved release of the Tortured Soul trilogy; freshly packed with an abundance of new and archival special features. It’s our most exhaustive and comprehensive set to date with over 9 hours of content spread across 2 fully-loaded Blu-Ray discs!
In Tortured Soul (1992), a psychotic cannibalistic serial killer named Stevie and his equally demented, dim-witted brother Ike are terrorizing Minnesota’s Twin Cities; savagely eviscerating nude young women in their homes and devouring their remains. When an innocent cyclist is kidnapped and murdered, her vengeful boyfriend Mike Hamilton (Michael W. Johnson) becomes determined to track down the killers and exact a bloody vengeance of his own.
In Tortured Soul II: Ike & Mike (1994), the stocking-clad killer Ike returns and continues his murderous rampage! Goaded even further into insanity by the spectral voice of his deceased brother Stevie, Ike begins slaughtering the family and friends of his nemesis Mike; culminating in a barbaric creekside fight to the death!
In Tortured Soul 3: The Willing Flesh (2004), a buxom criminology student (Stephanie Beaton) attempts to interview Mike for her thesis on the Black River slayings. As the pair becomes romantically entangled, the murder of nubile females begins anew. Is Ike still alive? Is there a copycat killer on the loose? Or was it all just the hallucination of a delusional, psychotic mind?
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, an orphaned teen (Munro Chambers) must battle a ruthless warlord (Michael Ironside) to save the girl (Laurence Leboeuf) of his dreams
The feature film debut from writer-director Lindsay Denniberg and co-writer Chris Shields, VIDEO DIARY OF A LOST GIRL is a hypercolored dreamland that combines a love for genre film history with a gorgeous handmade aesthetic. Louise (Pris McEver) works in a video store. But she’s also a demon. A descendent of biblical demon-mother Lilith, Louise fulfills her predestined obligation to have sex with a man—and then kill him—every full moon. When she meets Charlie (Shields), a reincarnated partner from her past, Louise struggles to not do what she does best. Meticulously crafted with the use of repurposed art materials and green screen, VIDEO DIARY is a valentine to the VHS aesthetic and an exploration of personal themes via the guise of body horror. The movie was influenced by everything from LIQUID SKY to ROCKULA, from HEATHERS to DEAD RINGERS, resulting in an absurdist, experimental horror-comedy that was years ahead of its time.
And there we go guys. Another week of cinema magic crashes in the shop later in the week. Maybe something caught your eye. Cheers!
