Another month is upon us which means a whole bunch of new and old cinema will come crashing into the videostore. This week’s highlight is CRAZY SAMURAI with Tak Sakaguchi fighting 400 warriors in a one take, 77 minute action flick. Crazy shit indeed. On top of that a lot of uncovered 80s and 90s gems are hitting blu ray for the first time ever so let’s dive in to this week’s handful of movie bounty shall we….
Once again the 5 movie set of Final Destination series keeps on selling so once again it returns to the shop.
6 of everybody’s favourite 90s films with children: My Girl / My Girl 2 / Wild America / Radio Flyer / North / Troop Beverly Hills
In this throwback to the Italian giallos of the 70s, a magician finds himself the target of a sadistic killer. Luciano Onetti, Nicolás Onetti, 2018.
People are being taken hostage by aliens and subjected to unbearable terror. Only a completely fearless task force that has the mission to track down intruders and destroy them can stop the aliens.
Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles stars in this frothy college coming of age comedy set in Southern California. Dedee Pfeiffer, Pam Grier, Joan Cusack, 1987.
Italian thriller, A small-time homicidal maniac kidnaps the daughter of a rich man, prompting a hardened detective to work outside the law to pursue him. Umberto Lenzi (1974)
Respected scientist and psychology professor Edward Jessup (William Hurt) decides to combine his experiments in sensory deprivation tanks with powerful hallucinogenic drugs, convinced that it may help him unlock different states of consciousness. The experiments are a success at first, but as Jessup continues his work, he begins to experience altered mental and also physical states. As he spends more time in sensory deprivation, his grip on reality begins to slip away.
Shadow Moon, a man serving three years in prison who is given an early release. Shadow Moon is hired as Mr. Wednesday’s bodyguard and finds himself in a hidden world where a battle is brewing between the Old Gods and the New Gods.
A stripper tricks a rickshaw runner into filming a sex tape but becomes embroiled in the murder of an evangelist’s son when he takes the wrong tape. With the help of an Asian witch, he sets out to clear his name. Donald Pleasence, Sergio Martino, 1989
ANGEL HEART: Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is a private detective contracted by Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro) to track down the iconic singer Johnny Favorite. However, everybody that Angel questions about Favorite seems to meet a tragic demise. Eventually the trail leads Angel to New Orleans where he learns that Favorite had dabbled in the black arts. As Favorite’s whereabouts and true identity become clear, Angel learns that being hired by Cyphre was not a random choice
JOHNNY HANDSOME: A disfigured petty criminal is given plastic surgery in prison and, unrecognisable as his former self, plans his revenge on the ruthless associates who betrayed him. The doctor hopes the painful operations which give Johnny a new look will help him to reform, but he is bent on settling the score with the gang who killed his only friend and left him to carry the can for their last heist.
Superhero genre pastiche about a homeless drunk who may or may not be an interdimensional warrior. Joe Manganiello, Skylan Brooks, Adam Egypt Mortimer, 2020.
Suffering and death await a group of party-goers at a water park in this horror comedy from Quebec. Renaud Gauthier, 2019.
South London teenagers (John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones) defend their neighborhood from malevolent extraterrestrials.
High school cheerleader wakes up drugged, bound and gagged in the trunk of her boyfriend’s car before she runs into the forest of Hangman’s Hollow, only to meet an urban legend. Isabella Alberti, Michael Anthony Bagozzi, 2020.
Starring Pamela Anderson, during the Second American Civil War in 2017, Barb Wire owns a nightclub called the Hammerhead. Things become complicated when her ex-lover re-enters her life. David Hogan (1996)
A young man carrying a big basket that contains his extremely deformed Siamese-twin brother seeks vengeance on the doctors who separated them against their will. Frank Henenlotter (1982)
An Englishman is hired to create sound effects for a horror film studio in 1970s Rome, but the job ends up taking a heavy toll on his mental health.
Six young adults in the woods run afoul of a berserker’s rage, a viking warrior who dons the skins and snout of a bear. Jefferson Richard (1987)
A rare wilderness survival / rape-revenge film about a softball team terrorised by hillbillies. Gregory Scott Cummins, Laura Albert, Lee Benton, Tanya Rosenberg, 1990.
Starring James Earl Jones. A treasure hunter in Greece awakens a sea monster and the locals begin sacrificing virgins to placate it. Richard Jefferies (1982)
Lifeboat survivors board a German boat that’s crawling with vampires during World War II.
Sparks fly when Violet (Jennifer Tilly) sets eyes on Corky (Gina Gershon) in an elevator. Violet is the girlfriend of a violent gangster, Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), while Corky is fresh out of prison and doing renovations on the apartment next door. As the two women launch into a passionate love affair, they assemble an intricate plan for Violet to escape from Caesar, with two million dollars of the mob’s money — but the important part is to make it out alive.
Legendary Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis star as elderly Elvis and geriatric JFK, who end up in the same old age home, but the two must join forces to battle an ancient Egyptian Mummy and save the souls of their fellow residents. Don Coscarelli (2002)
Amiable British comedy about 19th-century corpse stealers / retailers Burke and Hare. Simon Pegg, Simon Pegg, Tim Curry, John Landis, 2011.
Assaulted high-school coeds (Debi Thibeault, Karen Nielsen, Lisa Schmidt) set out to punish so-called male slimeballs.
A married couple find themselves trapped in their frozen vehicle after a blizzard and struggle to survive amid plunging temperatures and unforeseen obstacles. Mavis Simpson-Ernst, Vincent Piazza, Genesis Rodriguez, Brendan Walsh, 2020.
Three malfunctioning security droids terrorise a group of teenagers locked inside a shopping mall.
Two mischievous boys (James Freedson-Jackson, Hays Wellford) stumble upon a seemingly abandoned police cruiser and steal it, unaware that its murderous owner (Kevin Bacon) has stashed a hostage in the trunk.
As they visit New York City, a pair of cowboys have to become unlikely heroes when their friend is kidnapped. Woody Harrelson, Kiefer Sutherland, Dylan McDermott, 1994.
When a master samurai arrives to duel the disgraced Yoshioka dojo, he walks into an ambush. In the world’s first 77-minute, one-take action filmsequence, Miyamoto Musashi (Tak Sakaguchi) fights for his life against 400 warriors, earning a place in history as the CRAZY SAMURAIMUSASHI.
One of the last films directed by Spain’s notorious Juan Piquer Simón, a lavish and expectedly grotesque H.P. Lovecraft inspired chiller that, despite its early 90s production date, is firmly rooted in the aesthetics, gore, and creature effect work of pratical FX.
Dante (Graham McTavish) must battle demons and monsters to save his beloved Beatrice (Vanessa Branch) from Lucifer.
A suspenseful supernatural shocker about a luxury high-rise in the center of Barcelona haunted by a murderous ghost. Michael Moriarty, Jenny Agutter, Freddie Francis, Ken Wiederhorn, 1989.
Horror anthology directed by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows) and written by Richard Matheson (Twilight Zone). Patrick MacNee. 1977.
During a routine nighttime training mission in the Scottish Highlands, a small squad of British soldiers expected to rendezvous with a special ops unit instead find a bloody massacre with a sole survivor. The savage attackers of the special ops team return, and the men are rescued by Megan (Emma Cleasby), a zoologist who identifies what hunts them as werewolves. Without transport or communications, the group is forced to retreat to a farmhouse to wait for the full moon to disappear at dawn
An unhappy housewife (Phoebe Cates) gets a lift from the return of her imaginary childhood friend, Drop Dead Fred (Rik Mayall).
The rural community of Paddock County is being rocked by the crazed exploits of an axe-wielding psychopath, who stalks the night in a black trenchcoat and mask. José Ramón Larraz (1988)
A sweet import collection of some Ray Harryhausen gems!
A teenage prostitute escapes from a juvenile prison with a 16-year-old serial killer and both go on a destructive road trip to Mexico in this twist on the “Hansel and Gretel” fairy tale. Matthew Bright (1999)
Import Blu Ray edition of De Palma’s 80s cult classic! When a devious plot separates CIA agent Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas) from his son, Robin (Andrew Stevens), the distraught father manages to see through the ruse. Taken because of his psychic abilities, Robin is being held by Ben Childress (John Cassavetes), who is studying people with supernatural powers in hopes of developing their talents as weapons. Soon Peter pairs up with Gillian (Amy Irving), a teen who has telekinesis, to find and rescue Robin.
In this Japanese animation, cyborg federal agent Maj. Motoko Kusanagi (Mimi Woods) trails “The Puppet Master” (Abe Lasser), who illegally hacks into the computerized minds of cyborg-human hybrids. Her pursuit of a man who can modify the identity of strangers leaves Motoko pondering her own makeup and what life might be like if she had more human traits. With her partner (Richard George), she corners the hacker, but her curiosity about her identity sends the case in an unforeseen direction.
A woman with dreams of being a dancer moves to Hollywood with her draft dodging boyfriend. While the man is forced to take a job as a janitor, his girlfriend enters the glamorous world of go-go dancing and the criminal world of drug trafficking.
Twin boys move to a new home with their mother after she has face changing cosmetic surgery, but under her bandages is someone the children don’t recognize. Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz, 2014.
Starring Gabriel Byrne, five famous friends spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in a frenzy of shocking lunacy and horrifying visions as Mary Shelley conceives Frankenstein on a night in Lord Byron’s home. Ken Russell (1986)
Witness the downfall of a franchise with each sequel getting worse and worse all in one collection.
Loosely based on serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, the film follows Henry and his roommate Otis who Henry introduces to murdering randomly selected people. The killing spree depicted in the film starts after Otis’ sister Becky comes to stay with them.
Aaron, a psychopath and expert in Kinbaku, a Japanese fetish art of tying knots, ties a couple to their kitchen ceiling in an elaborate rope web. He forces the couple to reveal their transgressions and acts as a catalyst for extreme liberation.
Import Blu Ray edition. Desperate to make some money so she can move into a new apartment, college student Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) takes a mysterious babysitting job. When she arrives at the house, Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) mentions a full lunar eclipse and explains there is no child, but that Samantha will be watching his mother instead. After exploring the sinister-seeming house, Samantha soon comes to realize that her employers are hiding a horrifying secret and have plans to use her, dead or alive.
When a master monster make-up artist is sacked by the new bosses of American International studios, he uses his creations to exact revenge. Herbert L. Strock (1958)
Nikki (Laura Dern), an actress, takes on a role in a new film, and because her husband (Peter J. Lucas) is very jealous, her co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) gets a warning not to make any romantic overtures — especially since the characters they play are having an affair. Both actors learn that the project is a remake of an unfinished film in which the stars were murdered.
One of the greatest and most influential Sci-Fi films of all time! A doctor in a small town discovers there just might be something to the hysterical patients who believe that their loved ones have been replaced by aliens. Kevin McCarthy, Don Siegal.
During his time as a police captain in Foshan, legendary Ip Man is targeted by a vengeful gangster just as the Japanese army invades the region. Yu-Hang To, Michael Wong, Wanliruo Xin, Liming Li, 2019.
Includes: Ace Ventura Pet Detective / Ace Ventura When Nature Calls / The Cable Guy
One of the better of the Italian cannibal films raises the bar in terms of extreme gore & nastiness, instead of just wallowing in exploitation! A civilized man must survive the jungle his encounter with the primitive. Ruggero Deodato, 1977.
A once-celebrated kid detective, now 31, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity. Until a naive client brings him his first `adult’ case, to find out who brutally murdered her boyfriend.
Beloved / hated 80s cult children’s film about a boy who discovers an incredible and gruesome world of monsters under his bed. Fred Savage, Howie Mandel, Daniel Stern, Richard Greenberg, 1989.
Seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, Joel Dawson, along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. After reconnecting over the radio with his high school girlfriend, Aimee, who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony, Joel begins to fall for her again. As Joel realizes that there’s nothing left for him underground, he decides to venture out to Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.
Lovecraft Country follows Atticus Freeman as he joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father.
A supernatural, maniac killer cop teams up with a Times Square serial killer to get the revenge on those who killed him in prison. Written by Larry Cohen. Robert Davi, Claudia Christian, Michael Lerner, Willian Lustig, 1990.
Doug Kinney (Michael Keaton) is a busy construction worker struggling to make time for his family and his demanding job. When a scientist offers to clone him, Doug accepts and spawns a slightly more macho version of himself. He decides to create a second clone, but this sparks a series of duplications when his second clone begins to feel overwhelmed. Doug attempts to manage his many clones while trying to keep his wife (Andie MacDowell) in the dark.
A mentally deranged maniac stalks victims to fulfill his drug addiction and sedate psychosis until he becomes the victim of an unexpected invasion of the undead. .
Includes: The Net (1995 – Sandra Bullock) / The Net 2.0 (2006)
After a criminal motorcycle rider is put to death, he comes back from the dead to seek murderous revenge against the residents of a Florida town. James Justice (1989)
A blade-wielding psychopath is on the loose, turning The Big Apple bright red with the blood of beautiful young women. As NYPD detectives follow the trail of butchery from the decks of the Staten Island Ferry to the sex shows of Times Square,
Gino Felino (Steven Seagal) is a Brooklyn police detective whose partner and longtime friend is shot down in the street in front of his wife and children. The culprit is Richie Madano (William Forsythe), a drug lord in the neighborhood who has known Gino since they were kids. With the blessing of his captain (Jerry Orbach), Gino is sent alone into the drug underground to find Richie by any means necessary. Along the way, Gino uncovers secrets about his deceased partner that he never suspected.
Beloved cult horror about a group of teens who inadvertently kill the child of a backwoods witch who unleashes a monstrous demon called Pumpkinhead to exact her revenge. Lance Henriksen, Jeff East, Stan Winston, 1988
Based on the popular Marvel comic book, this film begins with Frank Castle (Dolph Lundgren) as a respected police officer dedicated to eradicating the Mafia’s influence — that is, until the mob responds with a lethal car bomb that decimates Castle’s family. Now, filled with rage and presumed dead from the horrific explosion, Castle takes to the city’s underground sewer tunnels to bring his own brutal brand of vigilante justice to the streets and wreak vengeance on those who killed his family.
A heart-wrenching slacker revenge feature set in Austin, Texas. A hit at Fantasia. Simon Rumley, 2010.
In this cult Spanish horror, a young couple are tricked into going into a sinister house where a coven of devil-worshippers waits for them… Carlos Puerto, Juan Piquer Simón, 1978.
4K Restoration of one of silver masked Mexican wrestler Santo’s odder adventures featured here in the uncut European print. After inventing a time machine, Santo, travels back in time to track down the location of Dracula’s hidden treasure. 1969.
When David Greene (Brendan Fraser) receives a football scholarship to a prestigious prep school in the 1950s, he feels pressure to hide the fact that he is Jewish from his classmates and teachers, fearing that they may be anti-Semitic. He quickly becomes the big man on campus thanks to his football skills, but when his Jewish background is discovered, his worst fears are realized and his friends (Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell) turn on him with violent threats and public ridicule.
Includes: DEAD RIOT (2006 – Tony Todd) / FLESH FOR THE BEAST (2003)
In Seattle during the era of grunge music, the lives and relationships of a group of young people, all living in the same apartment building, go through a period of flux. Among them are waitress and aspiring architect Janet (Bridget Fonda), who finds herself obsessed with bad boy musician Cliff (Matt Dillon) ; Linda (Kyra Sedgwick), an emotionally fragile environmentalist on the look-out for love; and Steve (Campbell Scott), a quintessential nice guy who studies traffic patterns.
Eight people are invited to their old high school for their ten-year reunion where a fellow former student, disfigured from a prank gone wrong, is out to seek revenge. George Dugdale (1986)
Four teenage friends from Hell’s Kitchen end up being sent to reform school after almost killing a man. There they are brutalized by the guards. John (Ron Eldard) and Tommy (Billy Crudup) grow up to be hit men who recognize their abuser years later and kill him. Their trial is prosecuted by another member of their gang, who is now the assistant DA.
A Beverly Hills teen (Billy Warlock) discovers his parents are part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.
In a densely overpopulated, starving New York City of the future, NYPD detective Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston) investigates the murder of an executive at rations manufacturer Soylent Corporation. With the help of elderly academic Solomon “Sol” Roth (Edward G. Robinson), Thorn begins to make real progress — until the governor mysteriously pulls the plug. Obsessed with the mystery, Thorn steps out from behind the badge and launches his own investigation into the murder.
Ben Kingsley stars where an alien transmission details how to splice alien and Human DNA, resulting in a seductive killer woman/monster. Scientists try to track down and trap her before she successfully breeds with a human. Roger Donaldson (1995)
In this Russian horror film, the lone survivor of an enigmatic spaceship incident hasn’t returned back home alone-hiding inside his body is a dangerous creature. Egor Abramenko, 2020.
After being institutionalized in a mental hospital, Korean teen Su-mi (Yeom Jeong-ah) reunites with her beloved sister, Su-yeon (Su-jeong Lim), and they return to live at their country home. The girls’ widower father (Mun Geun-yeong) has remarried, and the siblings are immediately resentful of his new wife, Eun-joo (Kap-su Kim). As Su-mi and Su-yeon try to resume their regular lives, strange events plague the house, leading to surprising revelations and a shocking conclusion.
In this startling 4K restoration for this beloved cult film an evil scientist implants the brain of a murdered high school student into a Tyrannosaurus. Denise Richards, Paul Walker, Stewart Raffill (1994)
Double feature of films by Israeli porn auteur Jaacov Jaacovi: Taxi Girls / Heavenly Desire. Serena, Aubrey Nichols, John Holmes, Seka and Jamie Gillis
Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers, Morgan (Bill Paxton) and Virgil (Sam Elliott), have left their gunslinger ways behind them to settle down and start a business in the town of Tombstone, Ariz. While they aren’t looking to find trouble, trouble soon finds them when they become targets of the ruthless Cowboy gang. Now, together with Wyatt’s best friend, Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), the brothers pick up their guns once more to restore order to a lawless land.
Heroin addict Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends — Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Begbie (Robert Carlyle), Spud (Ewen Bremner) and Tommy (Kevin McKidd). He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane (Kelly Macdonald), along for the ride. After cleaning up and moving from Edinburgh to London, Mark finds he can’t escape the life he left behind when Begbie shows up at his front door on the lam, and a scheming Sick Boy follows.
Disguising itself as a human female, an extraterrestrial drives around Scotland attempting to lure unsuspecting men into her van. Once there, she seduces and sends them into another dimension where they are nothing more than meat.
Supernatural horror trilogy follows an evil warlock from the 17th to the 20th century who works to unleash Satan. WARLOCK (Steve Miner 1989) WARLOCK: THE ARMAGEDDON (Anthony Hickox 1993) WARLOCK III: THE END OF INNOCENCE (Eric Freiser 1999)
Horror-comedy about 3 best friends who embark on a road trip to a heavy-metal show, where they bond with three aspiring musicians and head off to one of the girls’ country home for an after-party. Alexandra Daddario, Johnny Knoxville, Maddie Hasson
Friends hiking the Appalachian Trail are confronted by ‘The Foundation’, a community of people who have lived in the mountains for hundreds of years. Matthew Modine, Emma Dumont, Charlotte Vega, 2021.
And there we go guys. Hope a title or two has caught your interest and if all goes right they will be on the new wall this coming Thursday. Remember the videostore loves you. Cheers!
